Post by Derthaad on Jun 28, 2023 8:32:03 GMT
Co-written with the ever wonderful Youki
Derthaad is thankful that nature decided to stop baking the Dawnlands and delivered a milder evening, a sky patched with clouds and a gentle wind to cool the streets of Daring Heights. Not that he can feel that wind specifically when flying through the sky. The weather is indeed milder compared to the scorching heat wave that came when Derthaad and his friends made a hike toward Galavir the previous day. The hike was indeed a welcomed respite, but one that he had to pay for the following day as work, undoubtedly, piled on. Still, it is the end of the day, and the sun has fully set, leaving only the dim sliver of light of the day that still clings to the sky. And like on all of his non-adventuring days, Derthaad takes comfort in the short time he spends flying on Ulhar around the outskirts of Daring Heights. They run out of sunlight, and the flying is cut short as the two find themselves at the edge of a cornfield, watching as the sky fills with stars and a storm brewing in the west.
"So, I assume you've heard what Ethelex said?"
Ulhar nods, folding his leather wings behind his back, serpentine eyes following the constellations, a thoughtful expression across his features.
"Of course. You could hear her... him.. across the valley."
Derthaad turns towards his friend, eyebrow raised. "Across the valley?"
"The valley with the lake. Galavir, is it? Ethelex is easy to hear. Very loud," Ulhar says and there's just a bit of snideness in his tone, and the smallest smile tugging at the edge of the toothy maw.
"Hmh... is that just a dragon's keener sense of hearing, or is it because you're now incorporeal when you're not being summoned?"
Ulhar rolls his shoulders and settles down on the corn, taking some pleasure in breaking the grass stems with the remnants of his physical manifestation. He gives Derthaad a skeptical look.
"It's because we were in her lair," he says in a flat voice. "Like you can tell Celina's apple shop from another apple shop, right? You don't need to see her there. Something like that."
"True... forgot for a moment that Ethelex is a dragon," he replies, rubbing his face, an act spawned out of exhaustion more than anything else. "Well, what do you think? You think Tiamat may try something as well in the way Primus did, or has she already started something that we're not aware of?"
The dragon spirit chuckles. It is a low, grumbling sound, like a far-away thunder. "Oh, I think she did something worse." He turns, and Derthaad is treated to a rare sign of a dragon grinning.
"Like?"
"She got you lot involved. I'd like to see Primus matching that," Ulhar replies coyly.
Derthaad mirrors the chuckle. "Figured that would be the case, just didn't want to give myself too much importance being part of a god's plan. But... it does make sense. We, the adventuring type, have been making things complicated and sometimes not in the best of ways."
Ulhar shrugs, peering into the distance. Derthaad's vision is a bit blurry, but through Steve's eyes he can just about see a proper thunder storm starting in the direction of the Sunset Spines, dark veil of rainfall obscuring the mountains.
"I mean, plans or not, maybe you can allow yourself some importance. I've lived for a good several hundred years before running into you, and I've never met any gods. And now, in less than a decade, I've met... well, half of our pantheon," he says with just a hint of envious bitterness. "Not to mention the Queen herself, which is an immense honor. And yes, our gods tend to be complicated... Well, I heard Null is pretty straight-forward, but noone's dying to meet him," Ulhar adds with a dark chuckle. "Unless you count that old weirdo in Hollow Spine..." He trails off, mesmerised by far-away lightnings.
Derthaad shares the chuckle at Ulhar's inspired Null joke. "Are dracoliches viewed in the same negative way among dragons as liches are viewed among us?"
Ulhar frowns, considering his reply carefully. He clearly hasn't given it a lot of thought before.
"Well, they kill other dragons. More than dragons normally do, that is. And then make chandeliers of our bones. So... I guess I'd call them eccentric?" He thinks out loud. "They usually do that on their own, that one has a patron, so... I mean, I don't judge... just... unusual." He says, finally.
"A patron," repeats Derthaad with a slightly surprised tone. "How do you know that he has a patron?"
"Lots of Null magic there. Felt it. Again, if you see a person throwing around eldritch blasts - you kinda know they're probably getting help."
The dragonborn nods, knowing well how that cantrip works from his time spent with Sparks and Silvia. "Well, I've been a bit too preoccupied with not getting eaten by him that I didn't get a closer look at what he was firing. But you are right on eldritch blasts." A small smirk forms as he gives the dragon a side glance. "What do you think about Minerva?"
The dragon, his body now conjured of arcane lightning and thunder, rolls his eyes and hides some of his neck into his shoulders. "I mean... She's fine I guess... Not like fine- fine, but... well, technically she is, but... Point is, I've never been much of a kids' minder. I suppose it's nice to share a lair, and have a brood once in a while, just... I dunno," he shakes his head, appearing slightly smaller than he is. "Minerva's fine. We wouldn't get along long-term, but she's... nice."
Derthaad’s smirk only becomes more defined upon seeing Ulhar this way. He chuckles shortly.
"It's that hard being a dragon, huh?" The tone isn't teasing, but rather a tad downcast, like coming to a sad realization. "I mean, probably you're used to it, but I'd find it rather lonely knowing that I'm gonna be living my life alone, never being able to settle with someone long-term."
Ulhar scoffs - the force of his lungs, had he any, would've leveled another patch of corn. As it is, it's just a sound in between the distant rolls of thunder. "Luckily I don't have a life to live. Just hanging around. Besides, even living dragons rarely 'settle'. Who are you gonna settle with when people good for one of your forms are too obsessed with gold, and for the other - don't live that long?"
Derthaad nods in agreement, but doesn't say anything. He stares at the stars, the clouds parting a bit more; a small calm before the storm from the Spines hits. He suddenly remembers the night he flew into the stars, into the Plane of Midnight. It was the first night he summoned Ulhar.
"You know... I always felt that your name was Ulhar. I had no memory of that one night we met near the Ardeep, but I somehow felt it. From the first day I used this spell my mind ended up on Ulhar: I knew your name, without even asking." Derthaad brings up his small spellbook, feeling the silver carving of what he envisioned his dragon summon would look like, of how Ulhar looks like. "But there was one thing that I wondered ever since I stepped back into my memories... Why did you decide to come back as a spirit?"
Ulhar is visibly more at ease talking about himself. He stretches his neck and curls up his tail.
"Well, there I was, living quietly in my cave, flying to stretch my wings, eating an occasional bandit or whoever else decided they'd take on a dragon for the fun of it. It's been... peaceful," he scrunches his muzzle. "Couple of scholars coming round to do their studies, couple of misguided paladins on a quest... Interesting conversations, but sparse. I even wandered around Waterdeep at some point. Nice city, but too loud. So I went back home. I had a small hoard, small stature, small life. Mostly trying to stay out of other dragons’ business. Then along comes this bunch of weirdos that says they're on a mission from Tiamat, drag me to fight another bunch of weirdos controlled by a guy who thought he'd get the Dragon Queen to do his bidding. The next moment I'm dead, someone gives me a pat on the head, says I was a good boy, and asks if I want to pass over. I took my time thinking, and apparently it was quite some time. Next thing I hear is you, again, asking for a draconic spirit. Almost like you remembered my request…” The dragon adds, but, remembering himself returns to his carefree tone. “In short, I thought - what the hells, the first time was... interesting, so I might as well stick around, see where it all goes. Haven't regretted it yet," he grins, still looking at the horizon.
"Well, I'm glad." The reply comes with a smile and a sense of relief. "After I learned who you were, I kinda felt bad having to drag you through all the mess that I constantly seem to get myself in, especially if it was against your will. And regarding your current 'life'... if there was something I could do about it, I would: but sadly this is as much as I am able to... for now."
Ulhar frowns. "Well, don't lose sleep over it," he grumbles. "I'm fine as I am. It's not like you don't have your own problems..."
Derthaad gives a small chuckle. "Sometimes I feel like bothering over the problems of others is beneficial for me. Mulling over others' problems..." Before he is about to continue, his expression shifts from one of light-hearted banter to one of downcast contemplation. "It kept me going. After that night near the Ardeep, I didn't care where everything was leading, I didn't care that I accepted something that could have condemned my soul, I didn't care if I burned up on that volcano, I didn't care if everything just... ended." The word comes out like the thud of lead against the bottom of a student's chemistry vial. "But then the gith happened... and my friends... well, they lost... some more than others. Let's just say that me losing sleep over the problems of those I care about is a reason for pushing forward."
Ulhar gives Derthaad a long look, the lace of lightning flashing of the fields reflects in his big ephemeral eyes. The tip of his tail comes up to give Derthaad a playful noogie. "You're such a copper," the dragon scoffs. "Makes me think..." He frowns and turns back to the oncoming storm. Despite his effort to turn away, Derthaad manages to catch a glimpse of the dragon's expression: there is contemplation, surprise, and even... concern. "We serve different dragons, and I thought that makes us different. Perhaps not different enough. But the last thing I did in life was to help with someone else's problem." With a sigh he glances down at Derthaad. "You might end up the same as me. Are you ready for it?" A sound of thunder rolls over the corn field.
Derthaad's head hangs back, eyes gazing up at the stars, their light now being snuffed out by the incoming storm. He contemplates on whether he will share their fate. But will it be just a fleeting moment, would his light return once the storm has passed just like the stars above? Or will his be forever extinguished?
"No whole person wishes their own death. Neither do I... especially not now..." He sighs as his head drops down. He feels the taste of dust as it settles down, pushed by the heavy air. His eyes then turn towards the forceful display of chaotic light. "But, nonetheless, I am a soldier, I have been conditioned into the mindset. If it comes to, I will be ready for it."
To Ulhar, who’s lived for centuries, even the tales spun by the best spies are nothing more than lies of a naive child. Maybe that’s why he doesn’t show outwardly that he knows Derthaad is lying. He gives a tired, ancient sigh, and stretches out his wing, covering his friend from the first droplets of summer rain.
Derthaad is thankful that nature decided to stop baking the Dawnlands and delivered a milder evening, a sky patched with clouds and a gentle wind to cool the streets of Daring Heights. Not that he can feel that wind specifically when flying through the sky. The weather is indeed milder compared to the scorching heat wave that came when Derthaad and his friends made a hike toward Galavir the previous day. The hike was indeed a welcomed respite, but one that he had to pay for the following day as work, undoubtedly, piled on. Still, it is the end of the day, and the sun has fully set, leaving only the dim sliver of light of the day that still clings to the sky. And like on all of his non-adventuring days, Derthaad takes comfort in the short time he spends flying on Ulhar around the outskirts of Daring Heights. They run out of sunlight, and the flying is cut short as the two find themselves at the edge of a cornfield, watching as the sky fills with stars and a storm brewing in the west.
"So, I assume you've heard what Ethelex said?"
Ulhar nods, folding his leather wings behind his back, serpentine eyes following the constellations, a thoughtful expression across his features.
"Of course. You could hear her... him.. across the valley."
Derthaad turns towards his friend, eyebrow raised. "Across the valley?"
"The valley with the lake. Galavir, is it? Ethelex is easy to hear. Very loud," Ulhar says and there's just a bit of snideness in his tone, and the smallest smile tugging at the edge of the toothy maw.
"Hmh... is that just a dragon's keener sense of hearing, or is it because you're now incorporeal when you're not being summoned?"
Ulhar rolls his shoulders and settles down on the corn, taking some pleasure in breaking the grass stems with the remnants of his physical manifestation. He gives Derthaad a skeptical look.
"It's because we were in her lair," he says in a flat voice. "Like you can tell Celina's apple shop from another apple shop, right? You don't need to see her there. Something like that."
"True... forgot for a moment that Ethelex is a dragon," he replies, rubbing his face, an act spawned out of exhaustion more than anything else. "Well, what do you think? You think Tiamat may try something as well in the way Primus did, or has she already started something that we're not aware of?"
The dragon spirit chuckles. It is a low, grumbling sound, like a far-away thunder. "Oh, I think she did something worse." He turns, and Derthaad is treated to a rare sign of a dragon grinning.
"Like?"
"She got you lot involved. I'd like to see Primus matching that," Ulhar replies coyly.
Derthaad mirrors the chuckle. "Figured that would be the case, just didn't want to give myself too much importance being part of a god's plan. But... it does make sense. We, the adventuring type, have been making things complicated and sometimes not in the best of ways."
Ulhar shrugs, peering into the distance. Derthaad's vision is a bit blurry, but through Steve's eyes he can just about see a proper thunder storm starting in the direction of the Sunset Spines, dark veil of rainfall obscuring the mountains.
"I mean, plans or not, maybe you can allow yourself some importance. I've lived for a good several hundred years before running into you, and I've never met any gods. And now, in less than a decade, I've met... well, half of our pantheon," he says with just a hint of envious bitterness. "Not to mention the Queen herself, which is an immense honor. And yes, our gods tend to be complicated... Well, I heard Null is pretty straight-forward, but noone's dying to meet him," Ulhar adds with a dark chuckle. "Unless you count that old weirdo in Hollow Spine..." He trails off, mesmerised by far-away lightnings.
Derthaad shares the chuckle at Ulhar's inspired Null joke. "Are dracoliches viewed in the same negative way among dragons as liches are viewed among us?"
Ulhar frowns, considering his reply carefully. He clearly hasn't given it a lot of thought before.
"Well, they kill other dragons. More than dragons normally do, that is. And then make chandeliers of our bones. So... I guess I'd call them eccentric?" He thinks out loud. "They usually do that on their own, that one has a patron, so... I mean, I don't judge... just... unusual." He says, finally.
"A patron," repeats Derthaad with a slightly surprised tone. "How do you know that he has a patron?"
"Lots of Null magic there. Felt it. Again, if you see a person throwing around eldritch blasts - you kinda know they're probably getting help."
The dragonborn nods, knowing well how that cantrip works from his time spent with Sparks and Silvia. "Well, I've been a bit too preoccupied with not getting eaten by him that I didn't get a closer look at what he was firing. But you are right on eldritch blasts." A small smirk forms as he gives the dragon a side glance. "What do you think about Minerva?"
The dragon, his body now conjured of arcane lightning and thunder, rolls his eyes and hides some of his neck into his shoulders. "I mean... She's fine I guess... Not like fine- fine, but... well, technically she is, but... Point is, I've never been much of a kids' minder. I suppose it's nice to share a lair, and have a brood once in a while, just... I dunno," he shakes his head, appearing slightly smaller than he is. "Minerva's fine. We wouldn't get along long-term, but she's... nice."
Derthaad’s smirk only becomes more defined upon seeing Ulhar this way. He chuckles shortly.
"It's that hard being a dragon, huh?" The tone isn't teasing, but rather a tad downcast, like coming to a sad realization. "I mean, probably you're used to it, but I'd find it rather lonely knowing that I'm gonna be living my life alone, never being able to settle with someone long-term."
Ulhar scoffs - the force of his lungs, had he any, would've leveled another patch of corn. As it is, it's just a sound in between the distant rolls of thunder. "Luckily I don't have a life to live. Just hanging around. Besides, even living dragons rarely 'settle'. Who are you gonna settle with when people good for one of your forms are too obsessed with gold, and for the other - don't live that long?"
Derthaad nods in agreement, but doesn't say anything. He stares at the stars, the clouds parting a bit more; a small calm before the storm from the Spines hits. He suddenly remembers the night he flew into the stars, into the Plane of Midnight. It was the first night he summoned Ulhar.
"You know... I always felt that your name was Ulhar. I had no memory of that one night we met near the Ardeep, but I somehow felt it. From the first day I used this spell my mind ended up on Ulhar: I knew your name, without even asking." Derthaad brings up his small spellbook, feeling the silver carving of what he envisioned his dragon summon would look like, of how Ulhar looks like. "But there was one thing that I wondered ever since I stepped back into my memories... Why did you decide to come back as a spirit?"
Ulhar is visibly more at ease talking about himself. He stretches his neck and curls up his tail.
"Well, there I was, living quietly in my cave, flying to stretch my wings, eating an occasional bandit or whoever else decided they'd take on a dragon for the fun of it. It's been... peaceful," he scrunches his muzzle. "Couple of scholars coming round to do their studies, couple of misguided paladins on a quest... Interesting conversations, but sparse. I even wandered around Waterdeep at some point. Nice city, but too loud. So I went back home. I had a small hoard, small stature, small life. Mostly trying to stay out of other dragons’ business. Then along comes this bunch of weirdos that says they're on a mission from Tiamat, drag me to fight another bunch of weirdos controlled by a guy who thought he'd get the Dragon Queen to do his bidding. The next moment I'm dead, someone gives me a pat on the head, says I was a good boy, and asks if I want to pass over. I took my time thinking, and apparently it was quite some time. Next thing I hear is you, again, asking for a draconic spirit. Almost like you remembered my request…” The dragon adds, but, remembering himself returns to his carefree tone. “In short, I thought - what the hells, the first time was... interesting, so I might as well stick around, see where it all goes. Haven't regretted it yet," he grins, still looking at the horizon.
"Well, I'm glad." The reply comes with a smile and a sense of relief. "After I learned who you were, I kinda felt bad having to drag you through all the mess that I constantly seem to get myself in, especially if it was against your will. And regarding your current 'life'... if there was something I could do about it, I would: but sadly this is as much as I am able to... for now."
Ulhar frowns. "Well, don't lose sleep over it," he grumbles. "I'm fine as I am. It's not like you don't have your own problems..."
Derthaad gives a small chuckle. "Sometimes I feel like bothering over the problems of others is beneficial for me. Mulling over others' problems..." Before he is about to continue, his expression shifts from one of light-hearted banter to one of downcast contemplation. "It kept me going. After that night near the Ardeep, I didn't care where everything was leading, I didn't care that I accepted something that could have condemned my soul, I didn't care if I burned up on that volcano, I didn't care if everything just... ended." The word comes out like the thud of lead against the bottom of a student's chemistry vial. "But then the gith happened... and my friends... well, they lost... some more than others. Let's just say that me losing sleep over the problems of those I care about is a reason for pushing forward."
Ulhar gives Derthaad a long look, the lace of lightning flashing of the fields reflects in his big ephemeral eyes. The tip of his tail comes up to give Derthaad a playful noogie. "You're such a copper," the dragon scoffs. "Makes me think..." He frowns and turns back to the oncoming storm. Despite his effort to turn away, Derthaad manages to catch a glimpse of the dragon's expression: there is contemplation, surprise, and even... concern. "We serve different dragons, and I thought that makes us different. Perhaps not different enough. But the last thing I did in life was to help with someone else's problem." With a sigh he glances down at Derthaad. "You might end up the same as me. Are you ready for it?" A sound of thunder rolls over the corn field.
Derthaad's head hangs back, eyes gazing up at the stars, their light now being snuffed out by the incoming storm. He contemplates on whether he will share their fate. But will it be just a fleeting moment, would his light return once the storm has passed just like the stars above? Or will his be forever extinguished?
"No whole person wishes their own death. Neither do I... especially not now..." He sighs as his head drops down. He feels the taste of dust as it settles down, pushed by the heavy air. His eyes then turn towards the forceful display of chaotic light. "But, nonetheless, I am a soldier, I have been conditioned into the mindset. If it comes to, I will be ready for it."
To Ulhar, who’s lived for centuries, even the tales spun by the best spies are nothing more than lies of a naive child. Maybe that’s why he doesn’t show outwardly that he knows Derthaad is lying. He gives a tired, ancient sigh, and stretches out his wing, covering his friend from the first droplets of summer rain.