#60 - Tarnished Copper

Journal of Clarion Tritone, Champion of Dol Arrah, Vassal of the Sovereign Host - Zarantyr 11th, 999 YK 

I was very worried to leave Sorethyress the Viridescent, the great green wyrm—whom we had freed from her stare into the dark mirror and the eyes of a demon in what appeared to have been Khyber—alone while we would face whatever Raster-Reshizak, the copper dragon, who had obviously claimed sovereignty over her lair and had undoubtedly prepared for our arrival outside. Sorethyress was unquestionably amongst the most powerful creatures in the presence of which I had ever been, as much as she now felt small in comparison to the great red dragon, Lucerix, who we glimpsed through the portal at the other end of the Tunnel we had crossed while some aspects of us walked the depth of the most forsaken Khyber.

I had just promised her that I would watch over her until she had recovered. Magnus seemed to think my promise foolish, for her full recovery in his opinion could take many many months if not years. I was worried that our absence from her side could provide an opportunity for the copper to perform some gruesome act upon the still-weakened dragon.

At least we had been able to undo the three ghouls that had been chained to the bottom of her pool and were surely intended to weaken her. My hasty attack on them had left me with far more damage than had been necessary and reminded me to practice more patience.

As the diminutive demonic servant of Raster-Reshizak entered the lair and would thrust another finger of the obviously hapless green dragon into the waters next to me it became clear that we could no longer delay our encounter with the copper dragon who had brought Sorethyress’s younger kin into his power.

We made our way towards the exit, vividly discussing whether we should abide by the dragon’s ruling that we were to come without our weapons. As much as it pained me to break my word and march into this battle with full gear I was convinced by my companions that the dragon had no other goal than to overwhelm us with all of his powers, no matter what other pretenses he might offer.

As we were about to leave we were met by Thrisst, the female green dragon we had first encountered on the way into Sorethyress's lair. She had been sent by Raster-Reshizak to ensure that we would come without weapon,s making it very clear to her that he would kill her brother should we deign to disobey. Thrisst asked about the condition of Sorethyress, whom we knew to be her aunt. The moment we told her that we had freed Sorethyress and were doing our best to hasten her recovery, she brushed through us to see for herself. She returned shortly and informed us that Sorethyress had instructed her not to interfere with us and that she would remain in the lair for as long as she could reasonably pretend to have been looking for us without enraging the copper and endangering her brother. She did not fail to assure us that she held us entirely responsible for her brother’s safety. We kept our weapons.

"If my brother dies, you die," Thrisst warned us.

A still weary Matheurixivilum could be convinced to use some of his magic on Rendar, again allowing him to walk the walls with ease. I asked Dol Arrah for her blessing for our mission and we proceeded. With Matheurixivilum’s help, Rendar’s spider-like abilities to climb and plenty of rope, we were able to readily execute our plan of arriving at the entrance plateau at the top of the chasm swiftly and unnoticed until the last second. The waterfall under which we climbed provided good cover until the last small climb unto the plateau, during which we accidentally clanged our weapons, inadvertently making so much noise that it seemed as if we had purposely attempted to announced ourselves.

Immediately, I sensed the presence of three undead, who would turn out to be reanimated Aundarian warriors. Once upon the plateau we also became aware of the presence of the dryad to our left and, given his garb and almost undead features, clearly a necromancer at the other end of the bridge which crossed the ravine. The necromancer was also not human. A lizardfolk and likely a shaman of some kind, if I recall the name humans have given them.

The young copper dragon was perched 16 feet above our level, surveilling and mockingly commenting on our loud arrival from his seat above the cave mouth with its portcullis that marked one entrance to the lair of Sorethyress the Viridescent. The green dragon’s badly hurt brother was entirely in his power—Raster-Reshizak half perched upon the dragon in demonstration—and he swiftly displayed his superiority by dissolving a third of the poor dragon’s digits with the acid of his breath after we had received the other two as “invitations” to meet the copper beast at this place.

Even though Raster-Reshizak was a young dragon, he was still a dragon, any of which is a formidable opponent. In addition to that we had learned from Matheurixivilum that this cunning creature was well studied in the use of magical powers, an impression that his appearance almost seemed designed to reinforce. Most markedly one of the dragon’s eyes appeared extremely unusual for it looked more like a magical orb of obsidian than an eye, and half of the dragon's horn-plated face was darkened by its presence.

He repeatedly ordered that we would drop our weapons. We were able to very slowly but still successfully move away from the subject. He never agreed that we would keep our weapons but we never dropped them. He then explained that he had only found us curious and had wanted to learn more about us. Obviously only a very partial truth, yet I have many stories to tell that in my opinion would not compromise our position but it seemed that my companions, particularly Magnus, had no interest in hearing any.

Increasingly ill-amused by our evasion of his questions and unwillingness to accept his sovereignty over these parts of the land, he demanded that we open the chest filled with the Sorethyress’s treasure, which had been left by Brelish government envoys over the last few years and which we all knew was heavily magically guarded from claws that were not Sorethyress’s.

I was still studying our tactical position, which I was sure my companions were eagerly doing as well, hoping to see an opportunity for us to carve out an advantage through some stroke of luck or lapse of attention on the part of our assailant. I volunteered to open the chest, but explained that I could do so only with the help of my music. Deeply suspicious and wary of my proposal he still allowed me to do so.

As I summoned a servant that could open the chest for me without anyone being harmed I played a song telling of the greatness of metallic dragons and how they are destined to rule the world, hoping that the copper could for a moment lose himself in some reverie that could give us a chance to overcome him. Once the vibrations had gathered and interwoven into the form of my helper I commanded for it to open the chest. The top of the chest swung open, a sigil at the front began glowing and the magical wards energy unleashed itself upon and banished my servant, who I knew was of no form that could be harmed.

The chest was now open and the dragon peered greedily and eagerly at its content. My hope was that he would not be able to contain himself and drop to our level to examine the content more closely. I gravely underestimated him, he did no such thing, but ordered us now to remove objects and show them to him.

Cypher advanced to the chest, touching one of the objects within, but not moving it, which he had learned in a most humbling manner right after our initial arrival at this place, when the dryad had magically suggested for him to do so. He seemed deeply engaged with the object and ignored the copper dragon's repeated demands for him to go ahead and remove the object from the chest. I was not sure if he had a plan but was studying the constellation within which all actors were arranged.

Here the increasingly impatient Magnus took another step towards our assailants. It was one step too many for Raster-Reshizak who, with a dark smile upon his scaly, mischievous features began casting a spell focused on Magnus. To his great surprise the dark energies that had begun emerging from his hands unceremoniously dissipated. Aleae, as she later explained, had acquired the power to fully counter another’s caster’s spell—a power that would prove incredibly helpful again towards the end of our battle as the necromancer on the bridge would attempt to greatly empower Raster-Reshizak with a hastening spell that was all too familiar to Aleae and which she could not allow to complete.

Shorty after this, Rendar, Aleae, and I found ourselves engulfed by a mighty inferno as we were the target of a ball of fire the dragon thrust upon the ground upon which we stood. Rendar seemed to grow what looked like strange, thorny crown on his head, taking a look down the bridge and seeing the necromancer focused on him I could only assume that he had placed him under some kind of charm. Alerting the others to stay clear of Rendar, I thrust myself at the first undead Aundairian warrior who was after Cypher (he had begun climbing the rock leading up to the dragon), seeking to swiftly provide them, one by one, the peace they had been so gruesomely denied. Channeling the divine powers of my beloved Dol Arrah into my blows the first undead was quickly diminished.

The dryad cast a spell to entangle Rendar, me, and Aleae. It was hard to tell whether she did so to help us or whether she would continue to abide by the will of the copper dragon who had her tree in his magical grip—but none of us were harmed by it. Rendar found himself compelled to attack a surprised Magnus who had engaged the other undead warrior and pierced him with an arrow in the shoulder.

Magnus was rushed by the dryad and by the time I was able to steal away another glance from the once formidable Aundairian champion, they had both disappeared. I would only much later learn that she had taken him through the trees right to where Raster-Reshizak had made his initial stand and thus played a major part in the success of our efforts. Just as I thrust the radiantly glowing dragonhawk-banner into the the second undead warrior for the last time before he collapsed I saw that Rendar was now taking aim at Aleae who appeared to have contented herself with her position amongst the vines from where she wove powerful spells. I rushed over, deflecting the arrow with my shield before it pierced her.

We could only hear the fierce battle that was raging atop the porticus between Cypher, Magnus and the copper beast. A moment later the dragon flung himself into the air and with a loud rumble landed on the other side of the bridge right behind the necromancer.

It was here, that we would again learn to thank Aleae’s newfound power to end a spell prematurely, for if the necromancer had succeeded at hastening the dragon magically it could have well been the end of us all.

Render had finally been able to shake the charming force that had driven him to attack his companions and was engaging the last of the undead right by our end of the bridge where I now joined him. Raster-Reshizak must have found us a ready target right at the center of his view down the bridge. He took a few mighty steps in our direction causing the bridge to shake under every one of them and clouds of acid came gushing from amidst his bruised jaws.

I felt the intense burn of the dragon’s acidic breath as it poured over Rendar and I both. Once again I found myself hearing the voices of the Host as they carried me through my state of unconsciousness. It must have been no more than an instant after I was incapacitated that Cypher used his artifice to return me to the battle. Dol Arrah had recently provided me with powers that would allow me to return life to the hurt and weary, so before I rose I grasped the arm of the mortally wounded Rendar who had fallen right next to me and I channeled divine powers that healed the worst of his wounds and who in turn undid the pitiful state of the last of the once mighty Aundarian warriors.

A great series of fiery rays filled the space between Aleae, the copper dragon and his necromancer. The necromancer dropped and succumbed to these burns, Raster-Reshizak was hurt and immediately lunged himself off the bridge and right in front of the still entangled Aleae. Looming over her, she looked quite small and the dragon, young though it was, never seemed so large. Aleae spent all her energies to break free from the vines, then ran with her spell-enhanced speed faster than the eye could see, out of reach of the mighty beast that would have surely ripped her in two had he managed to get his claws into her.

An old copper dragon would be
considerably larger than Raster-Rashizak

Infuriated by her escape, he flung himself into the air again, now dropping next to Cypher who was able to parry most of his assaults. I became aware of a blood-drenched and barely standing Magnus who was again focused on a last-ditch effort preparing to unleash his blows upon his enemy in a fiery rage. I managed to land my hand on his shoulder and heal a portion of his barely recognizable back, which had been bathed in the dragon’s acid breath.

Amongst a series of blows and spells from all of my companions the rotten creature found himself swiftly overwhelmed. “No, no, NO, NO, this cannot be!” he roared in outrage and despair and made an attempt to escape his demise by launching into the air, spreading his wings, and sailing through the air away from us.

Thinking quickly, Cypher let out one last barrage of magical missiles hitting the blood-dripping, fleeing beast squarely in its chest, ripping him from the sky. A cacophony of breaking wood filled our ears and marked the spot where the creature would leave this world.