//
//Context: Exniar was an Ancient Red Dragon, a foe to not be underestimated, and the players confronted him a little too early in their campaign. Rather than foolishly fight and die, one of them negotiated their escape by offering an extremely rare relic that could amplify magical power, and I knew there would have to be dire consequences down the road. I wrote this out as a “background story” so that I could establish the internal narrative, and let the players tease out the information from various investigations and conversations after refugees and friends from halfway across the world showed up on their doorstep.
//

 

---

 

The morning sun rose above the harbor in Drakk only to be blotted out by the shadows of the wings of the ancient Chroma monarch. Those citizens out at dawn couldn’t even clearly identify the shape on the horizon before beam of fire ignited the docks. Dozens were vaporized instantly as the air itself combusted.

Drakk’s militia began to deploy to try to contain the damage, and Exniar descended with a sonic burst of speed, and never had the red tyrant appeared so fearsome as he did with the sun wreathed behind him and a ruby gleaming in his crest. He drew in another deep pull of air, and as he opened his smokey maw, people began to run and scream with even more panic. The roar came… then, nothing. The fire that spewed forth looped back, crowning Exniar’s face, absorbed into the ruby as quickly as it billowed from his mouth.

A moment passed. A moment of stunned silence and pensive relief, that someone had saved them… then the ruby unleashed its magic. There was a surge of unseen heat first, and then the channeled fury came full force, a line of fire that cut through dirt and stone like a vorpal blade through a soft caramel. Where once stood onlookers, there was now nothing but smoke and debris.

The militia, to their credit, did not waver. They peppered the sky with arrows and spells, unsure if they could even wound the beast, but unwilling to die without making the attempt. The Drakk-kin valiantly rallied, simultaneously trying to evacuate civilians while mounting what little defense they could. Exniar inhaled once more, and most folks in Drakk closed their eyes, not wishing to watch their loved ones vanish in a gout of hot death.

Keht, a Drakk-kin fisherman and sailor, was an exception. He saw the spell focus charge up with Exniar’s breath attack. He stared in stubborn defiance as the evil Chroma aimed towards the largest gathering of witnesses, and Keht was the first citizen of Drakk to cheer when the Metalla protectors arrived. Bronze and copper, silver and platinum, and even several gold dragons filled the sky and engaged Exniar in close aerial combat.

Exniar released his stored breath and immediately took down two of the metallic drakes. The largest of the golden dragons was dwarfed by just one of Exniar’s wings, but there were enough noble Metallas to take Exniar’s focus away from the siege.

Swarming him quickly, Exniar was unable to prepare another fireblast immediately, and they worked in tandem to keep his head tilted away from the city and each other. Even so restrained, Exniar fought fiercely, using fang, tail, and claw with rapid and lethal efficiency. He tore great holes in wings, while pulling his own tight into his body, forcing the Metallas restraining him to contend with his weight, and gravity, in addition to his focused breath weapon.

As they descended, more fell; some wounded, many dead. Another crackling beam of energy let loose as the scaly mass plunged into the water, obliterating a platinum dragon diving after his comrades. There was a huge splash when Exniar and the Metallas finally fell into the sea. A handful of the remaining dragons landed in the city to aid in the evacuation, while the rest sped towards the ocean’s surface to join the fight underwater.

At first, it was unclear to Keht and the others watching just how events were progressing under the surf, but the appearance of shining scales floating to the surface was the first sign that the Metallas were outmatched. The water was very still as dismembered wings and other parts floated to the surface. There was an audible gasp from the crowd when they recognized the jaw of one of the older Gold dragons bob to the top of the waves.

The water started to churn violently, and a Bronze youth took to the skies, abandoning combat and clearly fleeing for her life. Seconds later, a Silver dragon likewise got his neck free of the waves, only to be quickly pulled back under. Blood foamed as the fight continued, and the last few Metallas trying to restrain Exniar were becomingly rapidly aware of how utterly incapable they were of defeating him.

Their failure became most apparent when one of Nosia’s younger siblings shot out from the water at full speed, only to be utterly annihilated by a fire beam from the King in Crimson. An instant later, Exniar himself broke free and took to the sky, headed west at full speed. A few dragons survived, and Drakk, though devastated, still stood.

Nosia himself was badly wounded. Bloodied and drained, he used the last of his magics to try to heal Keht and other Drakk-kin who survived, insisting that he’d lived through much worse in his many long years, and would manage to recover in time. In spite of his assurances, the citizens were shaken to their cores. Many felt that the only proper recourse would be to abandon their town and flee across Thea, lest Exniar return to finish what he started. Others argued against such an exodus for a variety of reasons: Drakk was their home; they refused to submit to a tyrant; the feared the way that other races would treat them for their Draconic heritage.

Keht tended to Nosia as much as the Golden Heir would let him, and offered himself as a humble servant to Reonam and The Burning Heart, vowing that he would do whatever he could to help stop what happened to Drakk from happening anywhere else. Nosia insisted that his “father and our organization” would be capable of actively pursuing Exniar. Keht motioned around the wreckage of his city and the bodies of so many Metallas drifting like limp flotsam, and suggested that perhaps it would work to Nosia’s advantage to use someone of less size and notability… and, he pointed out, Keht was uninjured, knew the local currents, and could depart immediately and pursue Exniar’s trail quickly, versus Nosia waiting for his brothers and sisters to heal before possibly being forced to re-engage their superior foe.

Nosia gave his blessing and thanks to Keht, and with the last of his strength, summoned a strong westerly wind. The young sailor took off for Avaj’Riss the moment he located a seaworthy vessel. He arrived in record time, only to find that he’d still arrived too late. He saw the plumes of smoke from a league away, and as he pulled up to what remained of the harbor, he had to delicately avoid hitting the hundred or so burnt bodies floating in the water.

The city was even worse than the docks, and Keht felt a newfound gratitude that Nosia and the Metalla dragonflight intervened to save Drakk, given the utter devastation he now beheld. A large warehouse in the middle of town had simply exploded, and there were no building or souls left standing across the whole area.

As Keht was about to give into despair, he heard coughing and choking from a pile of rubble off of the main square. He ran over, struggling to lift the scorched beams and collapsed stone, and found a half-orc, barely alive, shielding a blind old human from the fallen architecture. Fojwon stood proud in spite of his injuries, and Markeus was hardly any worse for wear. The same could not be said for any other citizens of Avaj’Riss.

Fojwon confirmed that a great red dragon wrought the destruction around them, and Keht told them how and why he’d come to their town in the first place. Markeus suggested they take their conversation on the road, lest Exniar return to finish the job, to which the two younger men agreed. They headed to the nearby forests, hoping to avoid any spotting from the air, as they were headed in roughly the same direction that Exniar did. He took off from Avaj’Riss to the SSE, traveling towards an unknown destination. The trio, at Fojwon’s suggestion, were headed to the alliance village in the steppes. The half orc traded extensively with Skysplitter’s people and the three refugees agreed that they would be more likely to survive among the warriors and mages there, versus the road, alone.

On the way there they saw several signs of Exniar’s passage: swathes of the forest were burnt to cinder and ash, and roasted livestock and game stripped of meat were periodically strewn about in impact craters along the way. By the second day of their travel, the corpses they found were no longer warm; the King in Crimson had gotten much further ahead of them, and they took solace in the thought that he had somewhere else to go.

By the week’s end they made it to Skysplitter’s lands. There, the people of the Alliance took them in, rendered aid for their wounds, and exchanged information about the attacks. A half elf cleric named Dru informed them that Exniar did try to attack them, but was held at bay by powerful shamans and determined rangers.

They held a feast that night to celebrate life and plan for their next trip: Fojwon heard that the mercenary outfit Extraneus Bigas had established a fort and trading outpost in the ruins of Wonusport, and Dru agreed with him and Markeus that the adventurers were likely to be the best hope for stopping the burning rampage. Skysplitter’s scouts had last seen the gargantuan fire lizard heading towards the Maw, and while they hoped he might fall to the nest of white Chromas therein, they didn’t feel safe leaving it to chance.

With the aid of magic and fresh mounts, they made it to Colareton in a few days’ time. Dru greeted Siverj at the gate of the city, and the attendant in turn brought Quay to verify the cleric’s identity. Recognizing her, Fojwon, and Markeus, the eccentric gnome welcomed them inside and listened closely to their tale. Though wracked with guilt, Quay didn’t confess that he was the one to arm Exniar with the Primal Spell Focus. He only confirmed that ExBig knew both of Exniar and the anomaly of the Maw, and agreed that something would need to be done before Exniar set his sights on Colareton.

Dru also returned the Necron tomes to Quay, stating that she has “learned all that I sought to learn” from them, and that she thought the books would better serve Quay in his engineering efforts; they did, enabling Quay to finish developing the new Tuned Engine research immediately, such that he would only need the Classis docked in Colareton to perform the retrofit.

With the refugees and tomes delivered safely, Dru headed back to the Alliance and her people. After seeing her off and finding accommodations for Keht, Fojwon, and Markeus, Quay contacted the party.