Chapter 3: Dragon of Suldanessellar

Rivian looked at the artifacts the group had collected; an inactive moonblade, which had belonged to an elf who had sacrificed his life to banish the fiend into the abyss, thus leaving the moonblade on the ground. Rivian had picked it up carefully. She had read from books in Candlekeep that only the owner of a moonblade may touch and draw the blade without damage. She had been careful to cast some magical protection on herself and wrapped her hand with a thick cloth before she pocketed the moonblade into her bagpack. The moon elf was surprised that she did not feel any burst of hostile magic from the moonblade. She knew then, it was inactive.

The group had already obtained the talisman by solving the puzzle in the last building. They would need to look for the Goblet of Life before they can invoke the ritual to summon the city's guardians, as the high priestess Demin has told them. The city was smoldering and parts of it already in ruins from the destruction dealt by the battles. As she thought more about the defenders and the vile creatures unleashed by her nemesis, Irenicus, her frown deepened. She could feel her rage increasing and the darkness in her soul tempting her to indulge in her anger. She fought internally to control her emotions.

As though the pink-haired girl understood Rivian's turmoil within, Imoen placed her hand on her sister's shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "Be strong, sister. Fight it," she said. Imoen was also a child of Bhaal as Irenicus revealed. Unlike the moon elf, Imoen only felt the intensity of her internal struggles after she, too lost her divine soul to Irenicus's sister, the vile vampire Bodhi. The group had killed the vampire and she had regained her soul back. Even then, the thief did not forget the darkness she had felt in her soul and she had no doubt that what her sister felt was ten-fold of hers. Even the crazy wizard had confirmed that the moon elf was a powerful child of Bhaal.

Rivian gave her sister an assuring smile and nodded her agreement. In the group, only her sister could understand the struggles within her soul, even thought she doubted that the younger human realized the extent of her darkness. Perhaps all children of Bhaal faced the same struggles within, thought she knew hers was a lot worse, somehow.

The adventurers found a stairway in the eastern most side of the Suldanessellar. As the group prepared to descend the stairs, the moon elf felt an uneasy feeling of dread; something was beneath the stairs and it was waiting for them. She turned around and placed a finger on her lips and gestured silence from the rest of the group.

"What is it?" Imoen tiptoed over from the back of their formation and whispered.

"I don't know. Something feels wrong. We should rest and prepared our spells before we proceed further." The moon elf whispered back.

The pink-haired girl nodded and tiptoed back to her position.

"We find a nearby place and make camp." the leader said softly. No one protested, so the adventurers camped at a nearby building they had cleared out earlier.

After a few hours of rest, the group descended cautiously down the stairs. They had drawn their weapon and buffed themselves up with protection spells.

The stairs led to a huge plain that looked like a large garden. Rivian's heart gladden that the plain was undisturbed and untouched by the battles going on above it, until she caught the stench of decay. Alarmed, she scanned the plain cautiously. As the one with the keenest eyesight, the moon elf caught sight of the creature that lurked at the far end of the plains. It was huge and the sorceress heard her companion's gasp behind her. They had seen it too.

It was a black dragon and a huge one at that. She could see the thick black scales that gave the dragon its color and the size of its powerful jaws. She had read from books that black dragons were leaders of the dragonkin. It seemed to be asleep and had not yet noticed them. At its foot laid pile of bones with flesh still hanging. Flies were hovering around the decaying flesh but the dragon did not seem to mind. The moon elf saw an object gleamed under the bright sunlight and it was partially hidden by the dragon's huge wings. On closer look, it looked like a goblet. That had to be the Goblet of Life.

The leader pointed at the goblet and the druid confirmed that she had also seen it.

"Fight or flight. Looks like we can't choose the flight option." The moon elf grinned back at her friends.

"Aye, I'm itching for a good fight against evil." The knight, Anomen agreed, patting his war hammer.

"I SEE YOU UNDERLINGS." A loud voice bellowed and the earth felt the tremors as the huge dragon moved towards the adventurers.

Rivian snapped back her attention at the creature and quickly used the drow sign language and signed to her companions to prepare for battle and wait for her signal to attack. None of the group were dark elves but they had all followed Irenicus to the Underdark and met a silver dragon who transformed them to dark elves. After the spell wore off, Rivian was pleasantly surprised when she realized the knowledge of both the spoken language and the silent one remained. While she held no love for the cruel race, she had appreciated the knowledge given. They had used the obvious advantage of the silent sign language to communicate with each other during battles, and when in need of stealth.

"I SMELL MAGIC ON YOU." The huge dragon sniffed the air and eyed the adventurers lazily. "WHY DO YOU TRESPASS MY LAIR?" it bellowed.

Rivian grimaced and covered her ears. The voice was loud enough to be heard across Faerun and at such a close proximity, it was deafening to her. She saw Jaheria doing the same as well.

It was Anomen who answered the dragon. He pushed the moon elf gently behind him and used himself as a shield for the sorceress. "Who are you?" he asked cautiously. Dragons were a quick-tempered and proud race. He did not wish to invoke the wrath of the winged creature if there was a possibility to deal with it peacefully, though if the winged creature wanted a fight, he would be glad to oblige.

"I AM NIZIDRAMANII'YT! HAVEN'T YOU HEARD OF ME? IGNORANT UNDERLINGS." Nizidramanii'yt sneered.

"We want the goblet in your hoard." Rivian replied. Past conversations with dragons had not ended peacefully for her and she doubted it would be any different this time.

"YOU DESIRE THE USELESS GOBLET IRENICUS DUMPED ME." The dragon mused and tapped its claws on the ground, giving the group the feeling that he was thinking. "GIVE ME ALL THE MONEY AND MAGIC YOU HAVE IN EXCHANGE FOR THE USELESS THING." He offered.

"No sister. Without our gear, we would be too weak to fight Irenicus." Imoen whispered from her position at the back.

"Imoen is right." The druid agreed, drawing her scimitar from her scabbard.

"Bah! Let's just kill him. He would just be another dragon we killed." Anomen said in earnest.

"Tempest blesses us." The leader mumbled a prayer to the God of War and nodded her approval. The group took up battle stances.

"FOOLISH UNDERLINGS. I WOULD ENJOY YOUR FLESH AS MY DINNER." Nizidramanii'yt bellowed and flapped his wings at his small opponents.

While Nizidramanii'yt had the advantage of size and strength, Rivian and her group was much more agile and nimble and were able to weave in and out of the menacing claws without much effort. Even Minsc who was usually less agile, was doing well keeping out of reach. The melee fighters used a ‘hit-and-strike' tactic, taking turns running around the black dragon and scoring hits on parts of the dragon. The spellcasters remained well out of claws range and dealt magic on Nizidramanii'yt .

Rivian had devised the tactics over the past few months where they killed two other dragons – the shadow dragon in the temple ruins in Umar Hills and the red dragon in Windspear. Everybody in the group knew their task. While the melee fighters kept the dragon away from the spellcasters, they were in fact acting only as a decoy. Imoen's task was to weaken and lower the natural defense the serpent had against magic, and to renew casting these spells. Jaheira's was to distract the enemy with her favorite spell – Insect Plague and continued to summon allies to boast their numbers and healed any of them who needed it. Rivian held the task of dealing the actual damage. She would first cast Mass Haste to boast the melee fighters, protection from acid, followed by her more powerful spells.

Seeming to sense the adventurer's tactics, the dragon stopped trying to grab at Minsc and Anomen. Instead, he took in air and ready its acid breath weapon on them.

"Watch out, dragon breath!" Rivian shouted in the middle of a spell and the magical energy she was conjuring dissipated. "Nine hells." she cursed.

With the magic boasted by his Bracers of Dexerity, given by the sorceress, Anomen rolled himself out of the acidic cloud. He patted the bracers, retrieved his war hammer from the ground and turned to strike the dragon at its back.

The ranger rolled out of the cloud a breath too late and the half-elf druid helped him to his feet, casting a light healing spell on the berserker. Before long, Minsc too resumed the melee.

Rivian took a quick look at her sister to catch her eye. Deal damage. They need help. She signed quickly.

The pink-haired human responded with an equally quick nod.

The sorceress turned her attention to the battle again. The fighters were doing their best to keep the dragon occupied and Anomen's Crom Faeyr – a highly enchanted war hammer – managed to deal more damage through the dragon's thick armor. An idea occurred to Rivian. She needed to switch to her enchanted blade as well and younger mage would be able to cover her part in dealing magic. Her fingers moved through the gesture for the spell Tenser Transformation which would give her an edge in melee fighting. Without the spell, the moon elf was a competent fighter but she was taking no chances this time. As the spell completed, the sorceress drew Equalizer - her long sword from the silver scabbard.

The moon elf waited for a chance to strike. She gulped an invisibility potion and moved silently near the black dragon and bade her time. Anomen had opened several wounds on Nizidramanii'yt and he was striking a heavy blow at the dragon's left wing which was bleeding profusely.

The air around them grew stiff and heavy. Imoen had cast a spell at their enemy to drain any moisture and water. It was a powerful spell that only harmed enemies within the range of the spell. The spell was also absorbing the dragon's blood on its many wounds. Rivian took a quick look at the mage who had begun chanting another spell. The huge dragon started to cast a healing spell, its tail waving menacing at the fighters to keep them away.

It was the chance she needed. She skipped nimbly out of the great serpent's tail and drove her sword in with all her might at the tattered wing, opening the wound Anomen had made further and slid the blade along the wing and nearly severed it from the body.

Nizidramanii'yt roared in pain, and the healing spell was disrupted. Anomen took the cue and ran towards the broken wing and slammed the war hammer against the bones. The dragon tried to brush the other wing towards them, attempting to knock them down but Rivian held on to her sword which was still impaled in the wing. Minsc also drove his bastard sword into the other wing.

With both his wings injured, Nizidramanii'yt used his powerful jaws and tried to snap at Anomen who rolled out of range. The moon elf took the chance and jumped off the dragon's wing and rolled aside. She quickly cast a spell for levitation. Two more fire elementals were summoned and sent to keep Nizidramanii'yt occupied. Once the spell was completed, Rivian willed herself towards the dragon's massive head. Seeing where she was heading, Anomen used himself as bait and stood in front of the serpent. The great reptile smashed its jaws at the knight and knocked him flying hard against a tree. The moon elf took the chance and slammed her sword into the dragon's skull where the scales were thinnest.

The battle was over. The moon elf hurried over to Anomen and the others followed. The knight had broken a few ribs in the impact and he was had difficulty breathing under his heavy armor. The druid quickly prayed to her god and cast a healing spell on the man while Imoen tried to remove the armor. The moon elf uncorked a healing potion and tried to force it down his throat. Anomen coughed and wheezed. A green glow appeared under Jaheria's healing hands and color returned to the man. He allowed the elf to sit him up with some effort and drained the potion.

Finally after a few more potions and healing, he flashed an assuring grin at his friends. "I'm fine. No need to fuss over me."

"That thing could have killed you! What do you think you were doing?" The sorceress chided the man lightly.

"I say he's just dying for us to fuss over him." Imoen teased. "How else do you think he put such risk on himself?"

"Bah! That thing is dead. I knew you will kill him. I had to buy you some time." The knight said and eyed at the fading bruises on his chest.

"Thanks but I can manage. I know you are brave but don't risk yourself like that again." The leader studied the bruises, her smile fading.

"I'm fine really." The man flushed at the attention and quickly donned his tunic over and got up.

"Let's get the goblet and I suggest we rest for a few hours before we go to the temple." Jaheria suggested.