aircannonsinc Page 38
Page 38
A special torture and interrogation operation targeting the dragon lich thus began.
Just got home
I went out with the baby and just got home...
9. Major events that never attract the dragon's attention
With the Iron Dawn teleportation activated, Casalos led the "prisoners of war" back to the sealed rift valley.
Two kobold dragonvein sorcerers skilled in healing magic were brought down to treat Bellamy; then Shakales was handed over to the guards, who placed the treacherous green dragon in a dragonbind and a gag with physical silence, and took him to the dungeon to live among the drow dragons for a few days. Finally, the skull head of Lelothar was given to the kobold dragonvein sorcerers, who were given instructions and left to their own devices. Casaloz had thus completed the initial results of the dragonflight's first "expedition."
As for Lylothar's treasury, Casaloz didn't intend to wait until he had to pry it open to search and excavate. Even if the dragon lich had hidden most of its treasure, its lair should still contain enough to satisfy its daily needs. Once preparations were complete, the engineering excavation team could set off ahead of schedule, and they could also establish an outpost on the abandoned green dragon territory, providing the scouts with a base for rest and habitation, laying a better foundation for future development.
The advantage of building a dragon territory and becoming a dragon lord instead of a lone dragon is that Casalos can completely delegate messy matters to professionals, without having to spend too much energy dealing with various complicated and trivial matters, and thus focus on improving his own strength.
Although it didn't show it, the transformation of the old nemesis, Lylothar, into a dragon lich instilled in Casaloz an unprecedented sense of urgency—even witnessing the near annihilation of the Athenathian race hadn't ignited any sense of "urgency" in its burning rage and hatred. The reason for this, besides the inherently procrastinating nature of long-lived beings, was that it knew perfectly well who was behind this genocide and knew it couldn't rush things.
No matter how powerful the Dragon Vault is, it can't make Casaloz a god-like being in a short time. So far, it has only managed to kill a mediocre god-like being once in the Vault dungeon. To avenge the Atheros, it would have to directly confront a true god-like being, which is a long-term strategy that will take hundreds or even thousands of years to develop.
It was only the reminder from the High One Zoquian, and the fate of the Dragon Cult, that made it truly feel the urgency. Before this, it had no interest in paying attention to the major events happening on the continent of Faerûn, because it felt they were irrelevant to it.
Casaloz was born in the Year of the Gates (DR1341), the same year the first Fel-Creating Lizardman raiding party arrived in Faerûn. In the same year, Gnaheim was unified.
When he was four years old, the War of the Darkwalkers occurred. Baal's agents corrupted one of Mother Earth's Moonwells, and Khaz'goroth emerged from the Darkwell to the surface, attempting to kill Mother Earth and wipe out the Moonshadow Isles. Khaz'goroth's human form, Sergo Ironhand, led an army to invade Kal'cowell but was defeated. Finally, Khaz'goroth fled into the corrupted Moonwell and was killed by Tristan and his companions.
A plague swept through several port cities in the Sword Bay, causing a precipitous drop in the Sword Bay's population.
The following year, around the same time that Casalos entered his intergenerational slumber, another major event occurred on the continent of Faerûn.
The evil god Baal plots to send a demon, the "Destroyer," to the Moonshadow Isles through a corrupted Moonwell, unleashing another reign of terror. Meanwhile, Samantha notices the earth's weakness and decay, and begins to fight back against Baal's schemes against the islands. With the blessing of the Earth Goddess, the druid elder, Lopin the Moonsinger, uses her new divine power to banish Baal's avatar back to the Dark Well.
Based on the timeline, High King Tristan has now sealed the Moonwell portal hatched by Baal with the Sword of Kimricha Xiu, severing Baal's connection to the Moonshadow Isles.
In the coming year of glorious blades, High King Terestan Kendrick will use his royal charisma and power to force the Folfolk and the people of the Northland to sit peacefully at the negotiating table and sign the famous Treaty of Oman, bringing hard-won peace to the Moonshadow Isles.
However, on the continent of Faerûn, all peace is a false illusion. The constant struggles and conflicts among the various races of the continent have never ceased and will never cease, which truly has nothing to do with Casalos for the time being. But Baal, having experienced numerous defeats, is probably now conspiring with the other two of the three deadly gods to create a super event that could stun even the gods of Faerûn.
They actually coveted the items belonging to the divine AO!
The Supreme One Zoquian had warned Casalos that the God-God was preparing to find a reason to completely reshuffle the gods and their rules in Faerûn, but these three fools had jumped out and run into it themselves.
The turbulent year was the only major event Casalos could conceive of from his God-like perspective that matched the warnings of the Supreme Being.
At that time, many of Faerûn's divine powers will be banished to the continent of Faerûn by the supreme god Ao in the mortal form of a saint, including Tiamat, the mastermind behind the great dragon Chassa, the evil dragon god, and the five-colored dragon queen!
Honestly, Casa
Chapter 98
Loz originally had little interest in the grudges and feuds between the saints during the turbulent year. It had no intention of rescuing the imprisoned goddess of magic to win over this first-level dog of Faerûn, nor did it intend to steal Cyric's credit, retrieve the Tablet of Fate in advance, and offer it to the god IO in exchange for powerful divine power. Among the many major events of the turbulent year, these two were undoubtedly the most influential.
Given the advantage of having a God-like perspective and prior knowledge, one would naturally want to actively get involved to maximize their benefits.
But this world is slightly different. Putting aside the differences between the real world and the fantasy works in our original memories, the Gods Above Gods AO are the true rulers of the kingdom and the heavens, not the gods.
The fall of the goddess of magic and the ascension of Cyric were part of a script prepared by the supreme god; He would never allow a dragon to obtain the Tablet of Destiny.
Getting involved in other matters during this turbulent year might not be as beneficial as winning a few more trials in the Dragon Treasury and taking the opportunity to quietly develop the Dragon Territory.
But the problem was that the Five-Colored Dragon Queen also descended in the form of a saint during this turbulent year.
This massive event, initiated by the supreme god AO, will disrupt all of Tiamat's meticulously planned schemes and arrangements over millions of years in Faerûn.
Once the turmoil subsides and the gods return to their positions, and their grudges are temporarily put to rest, this psychopathic and insane conjoined dragon will launch its most insane plan: to completely exterminate the dragon race of Faerûn!
10. Important Matters the Dragon Must Pay Attention To
Why would a dragon god want to exterminate his own race?
It's quite simple. The current continent of Faerûn doesn't have Tiamat, the Five-Colored Dragon Queen!
The green dragon couple didn't believe it, the drow dragon didn't believe it, and the orange dragon Bellamyt didn't believe it either... The colorful dragon legion that attacked the sacred land of the Athelonian dragons, apart from the three chosen ones of Tiamat, including Nachassa, did not have a single dragon belonging to Toriel-Faelen. They were even judged to be otherworldly creatures and could not stay in Faelen for long.
Tiamat is now known in Faerûn as the human goddess Tiamat of the Enser pantheon, not as the multicolored dragon queen Tiamat.
The reason for this can be traced back to a distant era that even the dragons themselves have forgotten.
In short, the War of the Dragons, waged by Bahamut and Tiamat in the name of holy war, was a complete genocide. After experiencing the devastating war firsthand, the dragons of that era learned their lesson, stopped the war, and truly began to consider the significance of the dragon gods to their species. Consequently, they completely abandoned their faith in the dragon gods, respecting them only as ancestors of their race, and instead pursued the development of their own civilization, thus ushering in the Age of Dragons.
The history of mythology is too distant to be traced in detail, but in short, Bahamut and Tiamat, having lost their dragon worship, completely disappeared until recently when they each instigated a human god of the Enser pantheon to once again project their influence onto the continent of Faerûn.
Their current followers are mainly humans who worship their dragons... Let alone worship them, very few dragons even know their names!
This wouldn't have been a big deal. For some reason, all the energy and thoughts of these two were actually focused on killing each other under the car. The fact that the dragon didn't believe them just meant they had fewer cannon fodder and henchmen. They could continue to deceive humans as well.
However, the reshuffling of the rules of divine power in the realm by the supreme god during the turbulent years shook the very foundation upon which Bahamut and Tiamat maintained their divine power and even their very existence: if they no longer had dragon followers on the continent of Faerûn, they would no longer be dragon gods.
A better outcome would be that they would be assimilated into the likeness of Enser, manipulated by them, and completely transformed into a god-like being. The worst outcome would be that they would "die" directly due to the disappearance of faith—not a true death, of course, because the dragon god is not just the dragon god of Faerûn, but the common dragon god of all worlds in the multiverse.
Casalos knew several of Tiamat's appearances in other worlds.
However, the High One Zoquion had warned Casalos that the realm of Faerûn held a special significance for the gods. The High Ones and others did not care much about this, and thus allowed their faith to dwindle. But Bahamut and Tiamat seemed to care a great deal, as they were unwilling to "die" in Faerûn.
However, to continue existing as a dragon god in Faerûn, one must have a sufficient number of dragon followers.
But dragons aren't as easily fooled as humans. In a time when the history of dragons themselves has been forgotten, who would believe it if two unheard-of creatures with flashy appearances suddenly appeared claiming to be dragon gods?
Bahamut's name is not among the three righteous dragon gods revered by the metal dragons, and those corrupt rainbow dragons even consider themselves to be from Asgras's blood, scales, and skin scraps. What are you, Tiamat, a human god, doing pretending to be the god of rainbow dragons?
Therefore, the best way to restore the devout followers of the Faerûn dragons is to exterminate the existing true dragons and then restore the Faerûn dragon race through some mechanism left by the Nine-Headed Dragon Gods, or to bring some of their believer dragons from other worlds to settle and reproduce, and brainwash the dragons from the eggshell. This would become the solid foundation for their existence in the kingdom's heavens, allowing them to continue their inexplicable hatred and war.
These two dragon gods never regarded true dragons as their own kind and descendants. In their eyes, dragons were nothing more than "consumables" that could be discarded at any time. They were the first to be targeted because they could not enter the Dragon Treasury to earn extra money.
Although Casalos doesn't yet know who created the Dragon Vault or for what purpose, his disdain for Bahamut and Tiamat is unmistakable. Casalos suspects that Bahamut and Tiamat are unaware of the Dragon Vault's existence. They are even less aware that Casalos exists on the continent of Faerûn, and that he has mysteriously made contact with the ancient dragon gods who have gradually faded into obscurity.
From Casalos's God-like perspective, the most incredible thing is that Tiamat actually succeeded in the future.
Not long after the turbulent years, in the Year of the Dragon, Samaster, the now-lich leader of the Dragon Cult, guided by Tiamat, will find the forgotten Arctic Fortress. In a flash of inspiration, he will discover the true secret of the Dragon Frenzy Lock, combine it with his own phylactery, and channel the cursed power of Kingkiller Star—Bahamut's true form, which can incite the wrath of all true dragons—to the continent of Faerûn. This will trigger a never-ending dragon frenzy, completely annihilating the true dragons of Faerûn with the wings of a dragon, and exclusively enjoying the faith of the newly born dragons of Faerûn.
Unbeknownst to Tiamat, Bahamut also had his own plans, and he included Tiamat in his schemes, preventing her from achieving her ultimate strategic goal of exclusively possessing the Faerûn dragon faith. As a result, the two reignited the Dragonfall War on the continent of Faerûn...
At that time, Bahamut and Tiamat will gradually become the only dragon gods on the continent of Faerûn. One will devour the face of Simmer, one of the three righteous dragon gods, and become the platinum dragon god, king of justice, and lord of benevolent dragons known to all in later generations. The other will reveal the five-headed face of a chromatic dragon, donning the titles of chromatic dragon god and five-colored dragon queen, and together they will swindle and eliminate heretics. Even the gem dragon god Sadiva could not escape their clutches.
Of course, none of that has happened yet, and there is still hope.
However, the time was too close. If you calculate the time, when the final extinction of the Year of the Dragon begins, Casalos will only have just entered adolescence. It does not believe that it will be able to fight against the two gods at that time.
Fortunately, it may not need to directly confront two divine beings to prevent the extinction of the Faerûn dragon.
Bahamut is still imprisoned on the planet of kingslayers and cannot escape. The face of Enser, Marduk, which Bahamut controlled, perished in the final war of the gods over two thousand years ago, along with Tiamat's face of Enser. Tiamat was thus wounded and fell into purgatory, becoming a demon, unable to return to her former life.
Chapter 99
Ferren appeared.
Completely unaware that the Dragon Cult, used as a pawn by Tiamat, was the one who ignited the torch of extinction, Casalos felt it was time to give these fools a good beating.
11. Little Daily Life
"So, did it confess?" After completing another round of warrior training, Casalos connected via mind link and asked Svent, the loyal kobold guard of Lelotar on duty.
"I'm sorry, my lord, we still haven't been able to extract any useful information from it..."
For days, similar conversations had taken place countless times in the mind-to-mind connection between the dragon and its servants, and the kobolds' interrogation of Lylotar had made no substantial progress.
Lylothar was fearless; as a dragon lich, it was utterly unafraid of any threats from the kobolds: nothing could truly kill it unless its life chalice was found. On the contrary, the kobolds responsible for interrogating it were often quite exasperated by it, and had to be rotated frequently to alleviate their mental burden.
There was no other way. In the kobolds' own legends, their ancestors and true gods were born from the blood of a green dragon. In their understanding, the green dragon was their dragon ancestor, and asking them to interrogate their ancestor was simply too much for them.
In addition, Lelothal would love to drive the kobold insane and kill it, so that it could escape by being resurrected from the phylactery.
The dragon lich is immune to any spells that directly affect the mind, including psionic spells. Even the dragon pact warlocks and dragonheart warlocks trained by Casalos, who are of extremely high spellcasting level, have no magical means to uncover its secrets.
Worse still, the kobolds' most proficient methods of physical torture and interrogation had no effect whatsoever on the dragon lich, who was now reduced to a bald skull. In short, it was no surprise that they made no progress.
Casalos had anticipated this, and whether its proposed method would work would require some time to verify. Handing Lelotar over to the kobolds now was merely giving them practice.
"Have you considered trying other methods? You are no longer the kobolds struggling to survive underground. You are now subjects of Dragon Territory, the rulers of Dragon Territory. You must understand that not everything can be achieved through cruel torture and coercion."
"I don't quite understand what you mean, my lord..."
A combination of coercion and enticement is the most effective way to extract information. The kobolds, who are inherently lawful evil and weak, and who have inherited the incomparable greed of dragons, are good at coercion, but they find it difficult to understand enticement that requires them to give something in return. Casaloz can get along so well with the kobolds of the Kalik tribe simply because of the kobolds' fanatical worship of dragons, which can overshadow everything else. If any other race were to rule these kobolds, no matter how much charm and ability they had, they would be overwhelmed by these vicious dogs.
What the dragon said to the kobolds was the truth. The Kalik tribe had become the dragon's servants in Casalozan, so its commands were their destiny. Therefore, it could easily make the kobolds of the Kalik tribe do things against their greedy nature, which led to the rapid development of the Dragon Territory.
However, expecting them to learn on their own how to achieve their goals through bribery is asking too much of them.
But that's alright. As the dragon veins awaken, the kobolds will become smarter and understand the philosophy of dragons more and more. They are the servants of Casalos, and the philosophy of dragons they can understand is, of course, Casalos's.
“It’s alright, we can learn slowly. We’re not in a hurry to get anything directly from Lylotar, are we?” Back in his private spot in front of the Rift Guardian Memorial, Casalos invited Bellamy to enjoy the feast prepared by the kobolds. He then severed the mental link and began to talk to the orange dragon.
"How is the recovery going?"
“Very good. You have a group of loyal and useful puppies. It’s a pity that my inheritance does not include the knowledge of managing territory, otherwise I should be able to raise such a group of puppies.”
"You? If you encountered kobolds, you would only torture them to death and laugh at their miserable state." Casalos clicked his iron beak, refuting the orange dragon's statement.
“Ah...yes, that’s right. I just love seeing these lowly creatures in their miserable state, I love hearing their painful cries and desperate howls as they are engulfed by my breath, dying yet not quite dead in the firelight.” The orange crocodile-like dragon was slightly taken aback by Casalos’s assessment, but then readily admitted it all: “That’s just my nature. It’s the most primal instinct flowing in my blood, the most instinctive desire filling my soul.”
If it weren't for the oath I was bound by, I would have gladly slaughtered every living creature here long ago... Strange, I haven't felt that urge at all. What did you do to me?
"It's nothing. I just had a mind sorcerer build up a little psychological defense for you while you were seriously injured and your mental defenses were weaker. The effect won't last long. Whether you prefer to stay in your current relatively rational state or revert to your original crazy, silly self is entirely up to you. Anyway, I don't care. I don't expect you to become some kind of leader or dragon. To me, you're just a vicious dog that I can unleash at any time to tear the enemy apart."
"As long as you submit to me, you will have a large number of servants at your disposal and a vast treasure to fill your treasury—of course, don't expect me to reward you with anything; if you want the treasure, you will have to seize it yourself. Whenever I send you into battle, the spoils you obtain are currently your only effective source of treasure; hand over 60% of them..."
Upon hearing this, the orange dragon suddenly turned bloodshot and lunged forward, opening its massive maw filled with sharp teeth to bite Casalos. Clearly enraged, it no longer cared about its oath.
Casalos wasn't going to let this guy get away with it. He unleashed a rapid burst of dragon breath, the iron ore he was chewing blocking the outlet of the breath. Sparks exploded in the almost enclosed space, creating immense pressure that pushed the broken ore out at high speed.
A shotgun attack of iron ore was generated, and the dense "projectiles" covered the orange dragon's face, knocking it back. Its fragile mouth and crocodile-like face were covered with bloody pits.
Immediately afterwards, Casalos folded his wings and unleashed two consecutive slashes, tearing open the orange dragon's belly and outer thighs. He then leaped out and pinned it beneath him, pressing its head to the ground with one claw until the dragon slowly regained some of its sanity from its dragon rage under the soothing spells of the dragon vein sorcerer.
"It seems you're not satisfied with the 60% allocation method, so let's change it to 80%."
The orange dragon struggled, its eyes flashing with furious red light once more, but under the intimidation of the cold, sharp wing hooks that were getting closer and closer to its eyeballs, it regained its senses.
"Congratulations, you wisely chose to save your life over getting an extra 20% of the spoils."
The author says:
Author's note: This has been a truly difficult month, filled with illness and hardship. My eyes are swollen, and the doctor told me to minimize screen time these next few days. Sigh...
12. Dragon Hound
Casalos released his paw from Bellamy's face, allowing it to stand up again, before continuing.
"You'd better remember this: you're only alive because I spared you from roasting you into a golden-brown whole dragon, out of consideration for us both being children of Asgrath. But my mercy has its limits. This time, I'm revoking your 20% share of the spoils as punishment. If you dare to defy me again, without the oath of the Balancer taking effect, I'll cut off your six limbs, hang you up in dragon-binding chains, and feed you like livestock. I'll cut off several pounds of your flesh every day to feed my dogs to stimulate their dragon veins to awaken. Do you understand?"
Staring directly into Casalos's cold, indigo eyes, the orange dragon shivered and lowered its head, suppressing its humiliation.
Chapter 100
And anger indicates understanding.
“I know you’re filled with resentment right now, but I don’t care. I don’t care what you think or how you curse me behind my back. As long as I don’t hear it, I’ll pretend it doesn’t exist. But if you take any actual rebellious action, even if it’s just a little hesitation or delay in following my orders, or any form of over-execution, I will immediately punish you accordingly.”
Now, I'm giving you your first mission. Take that cunning fool Shacales with you to this lake, find the group of Kotō fishmen hiding there, and capture them! Remember, my requirement is to capture them alive—every single Kotō fishman alive, every single unhatched Kotō fishman egg, bring them all back safely.
"Don't give me that long face. These Kotao fishmen used to have a model priest, and the underwater mineral resources are so abundant. Their underwater lairs probably hold countless treasures—even a fraction of what you could possibly find on land in your entire life."
Bellamy's eyes lit up, but then he remembered something and said in his heavily accented dragon language, "Don't worry, I can catch all the slimy murlocs myself. I don't need that crippled green dragon's help!"
"Hehe, don't worry, it won't take away any of your treasures. I told you, you are a vicious dog I raised, while it is nothing more than a slave without any dragon power. Vicious dogs get bones to eat and extra rewards for good performance, but slaves don't deserve anything."
As they spoke, the green dragon Shakales, led by Svent, lowered its head and walked up the stone platform. Its wings had completely disappeared, and only two camel-hump-like bulges remained at the base of its wings, surrounded by its well-developed pectoral and back muscles, swaying back and forth with the movement of its lower limbs.
Its hindquarters were no longer dragging on the ground; its powerful thighs, combined with its forelimbs, propelled it forward with cat-like steps, and the green dragon's distinctive short, thick tail swayed from side to side, clearly indicating that it had fully regained its ability to move normally.
Casalos turned to Shacales and continued instructing Bellamy: "I've removed its crippled wings and cured its hindquarters paralysis. You have another task during this operation to exterminate the Koto fishmen: keep an eye on it. If you spot any unusual movement or attempt to escape, bite off its limbs and bring it back alive as meat for the puppies."
Remember, it's alive!
If you kill it, I'll let you take its place.
After a brief pause, Casalos said to the green dragon again:
Similarly, Shacales, if you find Bellamy doing anything inappropriate, you can report it directly to me. If you can satisfy me, the roles of vicious dog and slave may be switched at any time…”
"Yes, my lord, Shakales will remember your instructions and will do everything in his power to shed his slave status and strive to become your henchman in conquering the Underdark as soon as possible!"
After saying that, Shakales glanced at Bellamy, who was silent and keeping his head down, with a look full of sarcasm and ridicule, which made the latter jump up and glare back fiercely.