Arcadius and the Shadow Dragon

(From notes written several months past)

PART II - THE COUNTERATTACK

I camped for the night, not close, yet not far enough from the lair of the Shadow Dragon. I found a hidden place among some crags, and set such limited magics as I could to avoid detection. However, I was found. Little did I understand what foe I faced. The dragon had been neither idle nor foolish in the interim.

By the grace of Pelor I awoke with the feeling of impending danger. I armed and armored myself, blazed forth the light of Pelor, and was soon set upon by hordes of things shambling forth out of the darkness. Swarms of skeletons, zombies, ghouls, and strange shadowy things attacked me. Calling upon Pelor I destroyed or drove them away, only to have more appear to take their places. They were a small army, though how many I had no time to count. Unlike the swift battle against the Dragon itself, the fight against its minions raged on and on. In the end, my powers of turning and destruction were spent and I was left fighting them with but sword and inner faith.

Protected on one side by the sheer rocks that hid my camp, I would soon be surrounded on the other three, and I knew I had no choice but to fight my way out. Seeing a slight gap on the left of their line, I charged and cut my way through. The undead things turned instantly to follow. I circled around and up the rock formations until I found a defensible place on high ground, where they could attack me only a few at a time. Here I cut them down one by one. Yet not unscathed. Skeletal hands wielded old and rusting swords, and some of those swords found their mark. Things of cold and darkness gnawed at me. Gradually I pulled back, sometimes finding a moment to heal myself, until I was at last at a peak and could give no more ground. I took wound after wound, and even as I felt myself near collapse, felt death creeping towards me, I hewed down the last of them, and saw before me only a field of corpses... corpses that had been such even as they walked.

Truly great is Lord Pelor, and vile are those things that walk when they are dead. He is ever their foe, and he shall prevail.

I however, the mere servant of Pelor, was in a woeful state. Unfit to face any further foe, I accepted the truth and knew I must leave this lair alone and prepare, somehow, for the true battle. I resolved to heal, strengthen and better equip myself, and then seek again for the Shadow Dragon itself. However, I was wounded near to death and in a desolate place beyond help. I considered what I could do.

My thoughts hit upon two things I had at my disposal, one was the sea-sword I had found in an earlier battle. It was a powerful thing, but far more useful for those in frequent combat with things of the sea. It would be of little use to me in my own cause. Reflecting upon the matter, I remembered the Sea Elves of the north, who were locked in struggle against the power that lurked in the sunken city. Perhaps they could use it, and would trade it for or other items of power, or wealth that could be used to acquire them? But how, in this far land, to reach those Elves? How indeed to even leave this place, in my condition? Then I remembered the magic amulet, given to me by the noble lady Alis Gozen, of the Drow. It allowed one, in a moment, to journey to a far city where she sometimes dwelt. Her cause had in the past been in agreement with that of my companions and I. Perhaps I could use the amulet to travel to her city, there to offer service in return for transport back to the Northlands?

It was a complex plan, involving much attention to wealth and mundane considerations, more befitting such a one as Hrogar perhaps, but involving no stain to honor and indeed in the service of a very great cause. Moreover, I hold and held the lady Alis in the greatest respect, and it would be a worthy task to aid her house once more against their vile alienist foes. My mind made and my heart at ease with what I intended to do, I took action at once.

I pulled forth the amulet, marveled not for the first time at its strange yet beautiful design, and set it for transport.

Magic glowed and swirled about me, and the visible world parted like mist.