The Bat and the Dragon 1 is an encounter in Dark Dynasty.
Enemies[]
- Zombie Brute (1235 Gold, 152 XP, 95 Energy, 7 HP)
- Vampire Warrior (1235 Gold, 152 XP, 95 Energy, 7 HP)
Transcript[]
Introduction[]
Ralmarthan, during the Drake War...
"Bring the bastard down!" Baron Arcadius Selutha roared.
"Bring him down!"
"Kill the damned wyrm!"
Dozens and dozens of others took up the cry, adding their own taunts, exhortations, and profanities. Both the baron's warriors and the civilians who looked on from windows or distant streets gave voice to their righteous bloodlust.
The dragon roared. Flames spluttered in his throat and died -- quelled and quashed by a mage's ice spell that had flown with blessed serendipity or laudable accuracy. He pulled out of his swoop, as arrows and sling bullets tore at his leathery wings, as spells burst against his scaly golden hide.
He tried to rise, to ascend beyond the reach of arcane blasts and piercing metal missiles. But great weights pulled at him. The drake glowered this way and that, scanning the city streets below. Lengths of rope hung from his body, glimmering with eldritch light -- borne and embedded there by the warriors' projectiles. Their other ends were tethered to great masses of stone, to buildings, and other things that schemed with gravity to thwart the dragon's escape.
The wyrm roared once more, his terrible voice bellowing across the city, emptying the bladders and bowels of craven hearers with its ferocity. He flapped his mighty wings, strained to remain aloft. On the ground below, Baron Selutha leapt onto one of the weights to which the drake was bound. Other soldiers followed suit, lending their mass.
But the dragon was powerful. Some of the ropes fell down into the square. A huge marble statue of Terracles shuddered and grinded as a gigantic base which had stood unmoving for centuries began to shift.
His wings tore at the air, snatching it with greedy folds. One tip scraped against a tower and broke the banner from its summit. The other slapped against the wall of the city's great temple -- from which rose an even taller tower.
That latter structure drew Arcadius Selutha's gaze.
"Now, Otto!" he whispered. "Now!"
The markgraf couldn't have heard him. Not even a vampire's hearing could have spanned such distance. But nevertheless, a dozen dark shapes leapt from the top of the temple's spire. Their billowing cloaks fluttered against the cyan sky, making them into immense bats.
They landed on the dragon's right wing, and fastened there -- anchored by fang and blade.
The dragon's roar changed. It became a howl. The flapping of his wings slowed, weakened. No longer sufficient to keep the great beast aloft. Baron Selutha and Markgraf Otto hadn't known whether a vampiric bite could subdue a dragon as it would a human. But it seemed to have done enough.
Soldiers scattered as the beast crashed down in the square. But only for a moment. Then they surged forward, screaming their war cries and their profanities.
Arcadius Selutha charged with them, brandishing his axe.
A lance of shining purple energy pierced the wyrm's left wing as it thrashed and clawed, tearing a vast hole in its flesh. The vampires were still on his right wing, and other soldiers swarmed over it to lend their weapons to the crippling butchery.
A lone dark figure, the markgraf himself, stood atop the beast's head -- somehow holding his balance even as the howling aureate visage snapped this way and that. He nodded down at Arcadius.
The baron's axe bit into golden scales.
Conclusion[]
"Well fought, Baron Selutha," the markgraf said.
His mouth was close to the baron's ear, yet his voice was still barely audible over the cheering that resounded through the streets.
"You von Malhavens deserve the honors," he replied.
Otto shook his head.
"No! The plan was yours. And it was your bravery that inspired the soldiers. It was an honor to fight beside you."
"Thank you, markgraf."
"What will you do now?"
"Another beastman army marches from the east. I'll lead my men to meet it."
"And I shall ride with you."
Their goblets, one filled with dark purple wine, the other with the deep crimson of draconic blood, clinked. Then both men drank deep.