Xaeyruudh's Index

The Dragon’s Bane

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Nothing really jumps out as a vital topic for the first-post-after-the-first-post.  So I give you an afternoon’s daydream based on a few words from a classic work of Realmslore: Old Empires [TSR 9274].

The Xaeyruudh Campaign

The Dragon’s Bane was an adventuring company, active in Chessenta from 3115-3133 MC (980-998 DR).  In the early years, the name of their band was just ambitious bravado, but in time they grew strong and hastened the demise of several violent young dragons.  The company gathered in Cimbar in 3132, in what proved to be their final campaign, with the goal of destroying the more powerful long-term threats in the lands around Chessenta.  They succeeded in defeating a few of their greatest foes, and their fame reached new heights when they donated the hoards to the coffers of cities which agreed to give citizenship to immigrant demihumans and giants who wished to live peacefully among humans.  Sadly, the Dragon’s Bane met their end in the following year when they faced the last and most powerful of the dragons, an old red wyrm named Guyanothaz.

Gahadunaddim, a stone giant of Fuirgar, founded and led the Dragon’s Bane.  Sharan Poennus, a half-elven priestess of Sehanine Moonbow, was one of the giant’s first and truest friends in the lands of the “little people” as he called non-giants, and it was no secret that the two shared an affection that went far beyond mercenary comaraderie.  The dwarf Khal Mulad was recruited for his expertise in finding and disarming traps, but he was also skilled with his axe and crossbow.  Faleius Hestius and Percero were Chessentan mercenaries, retained over the course of many adventures due to both their fighting prowess and their honor when the time came to divide up the spoils.

The tale of their doom is still told in Cimbar, and among sages who track the rise and fall of dragons.  Guyanothaz was a rapacious raider in those days, by far the most arrogant of the dragons in the Old Empires, and less than wise when it came to concealing his comings and goings.  The Dragon’s Bane stalked him without difficulty, waited for him to raid the fields outside Cimbar, and removed most of his hoard from the lair to prevent it from being damaged when they fought him later.  Guyanothaz returned that night to find his hoard plundered and armored adventurers waiting to attack him.  He immediately launched himself into melee with them without acknowledging the possibility that they might be able to hurt him.  After several minutes of fighting, the Dragon’s Bane was wounded but not in disarray.  Gahadunaddim kept the dragon’s attention focused on him by virtue of his great size and brightly glowing greatsword.  Sharan fervently channeled her goddess’ healing power into the giant, and the others focused on staying out of the dragon’s breath and attempting to exploit his vulnerabilities.

The battle might have turned in the adventurers’ favor when Khal Mulad’s bolt of dragon slaying pierced the dragon’s right eye, but Guyanothaz survived the bolt’s powerful curse.  Half-blinded and shrieking in agony, the dragon threw himself against the walls of the cavern to crush his attackers.  The adventurers nimbly avoided the dragon’s charges, but his wrath began to collapse the cavern around them and Gahadunaddim ordered them to retreat.  Each member had already sustained life-threatening injuries, and they had not yet managed to mortally wound the dragon.  The giant deemed it wise to live and return to the dragon’s lair after resting and recuperating from their wounds, and perhaps gathering some additional reinforcements.  The dwarf and the Chessentan men obediently ran for the exit, but Sharan could not turn her back on her love and continued healing his wounds.  As fiery death filled the cavern, Gahadunaddim’s greatsword plunged into Guyanothaz’s left eye, fully blinding the dragon.  Guyanothaz twisted and writhed, and withdrew into a deeper cavern, his roars and thrashing tail collapsing the tunnel behind him.  Gahadunaddim turned to push his companions out of the cavern, and found them all dead.  The men had almost escaped the cavern with their lives, but Sharan, the friend whose love sustained him and whose spells had saved his life uncounted times, was within touching distance of him as always.

Amid the dragon’s echoing roars and the falling stones, Gahadunaddim carefully scooped up what remained of his companions and carried them outside.  He buried the men in the center of a grassy field at the base of the dragon’s mountain, respectfully reciting prayers to Moradin and Tempus to honor his companions’ loyalty and bravery.  To this day the weathered cairn still stands, and the plain which once turned to yellow and brown in the dry summer now remains lush and erupts in bright wildflowers.  Gahadunaddim gave the entirety of the dragon’s treasure to the families of his fallen comrades in Cimbar, then sailed to Laothkund and was not seen again in human lands.

He carried Sharan’s bones into the Yuirwood, to lay her to rest among her elven ancestors.  Unfortunately, the stone giant’s presence attracted the hostile attentions of the forest’s wardens —paranoid at the best of times and recently more vigilant due to incursions by giantkin from Laothkund hired by the other coastal cities to extend the reach of human loggers— and he was struck down by spells and arrows before he was able to explain his mission.

The half-elves recovered Sharan’s remains, and when the truth was divined they honored both her and the giant according to their customs, but something —perhaps a fragment of Sharan’s spirit— remains in Guyanothaz’s lair.  Adventurers who have entered the dragon’s lair in the intervening years, and lived to tell the tale, have reported hearing the faint echoes of a woman’s song in the rubble-strewn antechambers.

DM’s Notes

At first glance Gahadunaddim’s fate may seem cruel, but after learning the giant’s name and intention in stepping into the Yuirwood a priest among the elves attempted to resurrect him and the giant’s spirit declined the opportunity to return to Faerûn.  He was embarking on his next mission: a march to Arvandor, to find his love.

Sharan’s soul was swiftly claimed by the Seldarine, as she was singing the praises of Sehanine in the very moment that her life was snuffed out.  However, she is not completely content; she frequently becomes restless and seeks to discover the fate of her mortal love.  On these occasions the haunt will do more than intone the glory of Sehanine, for adventurers who happen to lure Guyanothaz into the antechamber.  So far, none have, and so Sharan has remained unseen.  When Guyanothaz (or any evil dragon, if another eventually takes this lair) approaches within a hundred feet of the place where she died, against a certain pillar deep inside the first cavern, Sharan’s spirit will abruptly blaze with white light, becoming quite visible and healing those who strive to kill the dragon.  Her ethereal song will fill the cavern then, effectively bestowing fast healing 10 and fire resist 10, both of which stack with other similar effects the PCs might have, and immunity to fear.

Her voice may also distract the dragon.  He remembers her, the frustratingly elusive elfblooded one who healed the worst enemies he’s known in all his centuries, and although he’s loath to admit it, he would have greatly enjoyed the beauty of her song under different circumstances, so hearing her voice again will stir simultaneously his love for music, his mighty wrath at all adventurers and particularly at this unwelcome memory, and a significant twinge of fear at the realization of the half-elf’s immortality.  The game-effects, if any, are up to the DM.  Sharan’s spirit is invulnerable to all forms of damage, unresponsive to all forms of communication, and will provide her blessings for as long as anyone faces the dragon.  If/when Guyanothaz is slain (she will appear at the moment of his death, even if it’s somehow far from this cavern), the spirit will sigh and fade into nothing.  As the last of her song fades, the victorious adventurers will be healed of whatever ails them at that point, provided it’s curable by anything up to a miracle spell.

Some bards suggest that Percero’s spirit lingers in Faerûn as well, citing the swashbuckler’s penchant for wooing attractive ladies with a double fistful of wildflowers accompanied by his ever-present impish grin and silken words.  Bards are a sentimental lot, though, and the perennial proliferation of wildflowers surrounding the cairn outside the dragon’s lair could be nothing more than remarkable coincidence.  Still, the sentiment is enough that the field is known in Chessenta as Percero’s Tears, and young men who are inclined to romance and softening the hearts of women still come to gather wildflowers and bend a knee before the cairn to ask for the old rogue’s blessing.

Source

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