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Kodor cleared his throat before continuing.
"Many years later, after Melica and I had been married for some time, we came to a grouping of dark fortresses..."
The towers were said to be the home of the ancient race of Avatars, beings who had come to this world to purge it of the Soulsmith's taint, and to hunt down the Chaos Lords where possible.
Inside we met the divine being Aliwe Lesionchapel. He stood a sleepless watch with his magical spear, Mortaldear, forwever at his side.
The avatars are faceless, yet see and listen as well as any of us, and they speak into your very mind. It is quite intimidating to deal with them.
Aliwe informed us that he was bringing together an army of progeny to confront the greater threats to this region. It was hoped that with our combined might we could forever quell their hopes of resurrecting their dead master into this world.
The wait was a long one... but they arrived in a couple separate groups.
I feel I owe it to them to at least note their names.
From the north came the Ashglows brothers, Diakron, Omrist-Kurig, and Entropy. A trio of bold warriors.
From the east came Likhan Guardslock and Jintor, a brave pairing of ex-soldiers.
And from the west came Jack Rabbit, an individual named 'Bob the Lovable Scamp' (he was not all that lovable, however), and the captain of a ship, Kalen Lashtower. She was quite the hardened soul.
Aliwe informed us that history would not forget our names when we were done, and that our first task would be to defeat a vile Bane Dragon.
The Bane Dragons exist as corrupted versions of the regular Gray Dragons. As creatures of the Soulsmith, their presence in our world is an affront.
The one that Aliwe had marked for death was named Uslot Blistergems, and dwelled in a foul cave to the west, known as Webbedscars.
It seemed as though this monster had been terrorising the neighbouring human kingdom for a very long time.
We neared the site at sunset, and it was a cool, starry, and most importantly moonless, night when we arrived. We had intended to make camp before plunging the depths of the cave in the morning, as a twilight dungeoneering expedition did not sit well with us. To our misfortune, the dragon was not in the cave, and was given to other ideas.
As we were making camp, it descended upon us in all of hell's fury!
It raked us with deadly fire before returning to its cave, laughing its coarse laugh as it plunged into its depths.
With the forest now on fire, and the dragon knowing we were here, we had little option but to follow it, despite our weary bodies, and despite knowing it was a trap.
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"This bastard is layin a trap!" Kalen declared as she followed Kodor.
"Aye," agreed Diakron. "We've no way of knowing from where the beast will come. Suffice it to say that I'd rather have fought him on the land above, despite his flyin' and despite the forest being ablaze!"
"I've done this twice before... albeit this is the first time one got the drop on us. We should be okay."
"Ye did it by yourself?" asked Diakron in disbelief.
"No... I had help." Kodor admitted.
"What happened to your help? Don't be telling me it was Melica! Girl probably never saw a dragon before tonight!" snapped Kalen.
"They're all dead now. Not all to the dragons, though."
"Real morale booster that." murmured Kalen, as she urged her own compatriots to follow closer.
"I got a bad feeling about this one." whispered Kodor to Melica. "Just between you and me, that is."
"What do you mean?" she replied, frightened. This was a bit much for her.
"Aliwe sending us after a dragon. Got to be something special about it. Seems a tad sturdier than did the others."
"We're going to win, though, right?"
"Probably."
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We kept a loose formation, all tending to travel in the same path. I headed down a particularly dark cave. I wasn't shocked when burning eyes revealed themselves in the umbral darkness.
"Proooogeny!" it hissed at me. It knew my nature, and therefore must have known the purpose I had arrived here with. "You and your kindred shall die!"
Jintor rounded the corner, hearing its voice. As he did so, the tunnel lit up in fearsome dragonfire!
I covered us both with my tower shield, the metal glowed with heat as the torrent of flame was turned aside by it.
With a growl the beast leapt at me, and I was fortunate enough to jump back in time. Again it roared dragonfire at me, mere paces away. Again I turned it aside with my shield, thanking providence I had taken it with me all those years ago.
I stumbled back towards my comrades under the brunt of the dragon fire, as the dragon tried to blind me with my own shield as I turned aside the flame, in order that it could attack me more easily.
My comrades swarmed to my aid, as the beast's attention flecked from one of us to another.
Using their distraction, I slashed a hole in the beast's gut. The monster vomited all over us, hideous bile giving a scent that would linger for days.
Diakron plunged his spear into the monster, too, penetrating deep into its organs.
The monster screamed, and slashed at Diakron, whose spear-arm was lost to the attack. It hit the wall and landed nearby. Diakron looked immediately sick with shock, and likely with the poison the monster carries on its talons.
He collapsed next to me as I plunged my sword into the monster's leg and twisted as hard as I could.
His brothers strove to avenge their fallen brother and rushed forward.
Seeing me as a mere nuisance, it slapped me against the side of the cave. I was unhurt, but my grip on my sword slipped, and I was thrown to the ground near Diakron's leaking body.
Kalen leapt over me in a blaze of fury. "DIE!" she screamed, plunging her sword into both its eyes, and slashing its throat away. She plunged the blade downwards into its skull, intending a final blow.
To her horror, it was not.
Melica rushed forward, only to be swatted aside (thankfully unharmed) by the now blind monster.
The others attacked it too, hoping to use its blindness to finish the deed.
"My sword is stuck!" cried Kalen, trying to extract it from the monster's head.
"Hold on!" I shouted back, grabbing the hilt of my sword once again, intending to yank it free.
The cave was a disgusting mess by now, blood and vomit and the stench of toxic death rising from Diakron.
I yanked at the sword, only to cause the dragon to flinch away, losing my grasp on it once again.
Foiled in this respect, I was glad that I always carry a spare.
Together we slashed away at the monster, inflicting wound after wound. Blood formed a river at our feet, running down the corridor into the darkness, causing the floor to become slick. We fell over more than once, and had to keep our wits about us to avoid injury by our own hand.
The monster was covered with gory wounds, and bolts pincushioned it everywhere.
My second sword struck deep into the beast, and stuck fast. With that blade lost to me as well, I began to look for other options.
I rolled beneath the beast to where Diakron's spear now lay, grabbing it and thrusting upwards, only to have it turned asided by dragon scale.
It became clear to me that I wouldn't be able to use this unfamiliar weapon in a battle like this.
Then it struck me, I could use Fistruled, the weapon I had liberated from the Chaos Lord.
I searched my pack for it quickly, not finding it. Then I spied it at the edge of the darkness. It must have fallen there somehow during my furious battle.
I ran to it while the others tried to hold the dragon down in its death throes.
To my horror, even this magical blade was barely adequate for the task.
As I pondered this the Dragon's tail flicked out and plunged through Wild Goose's gut, tearing him apart.
"That's two to nil, so far!" shouted Kalen, the exhaustion evident in her voice.
"Where's Entropy!?" I shouted, wanting to know the location of the last Ashglows brother.
"He's off on some separate mission! He didn't come with us! Didn't ye notice!" Kalen admonished me.
"How can I keep track of all of you!?" I cried.
"There'll be a few less after today!" she growled, giving a final twist. The dragon lurched, to her surprise, and collapsed.
Given the ordeal, we were hesitant to approach it until we were sure it was dead.
It turned out it was, and we all managed to retrieve our weapons. After burying our dead, we returned to meet with Aliwe who congratulated us on a task well done.
However, he had a new mission for us...
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Topic: Nist Akath - The Complete Story (Read 603334 times)