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Captain Ironblood had been listening with interest to his brother's exploits.
He took the break in the story to interject. "Progeny? I know you wouldn't have mentioned that unless there was some reason behind it."
Kodor smiled. "I am coming to that, brother, be patient."
Ushmal Buriedivory, the Bane Dragon, was a particularly notable task for that area.
Dwelling in the cave known as Newtscars the Smeared Cusp, he terrorised the surrounding Swamp of Lashes, and had done since the dawn of time.
We crept, quietly, into its lair. We were, and I tell you this without reservation, completely terrified. Dragons, as you know, are monsterous creatures, and we couldn't help but wonder if we were up to the challenge.
Bane Dragons in particular possess an apparent immunity to pain and never seem to tire. A fact that certainly explained the vast hoard we walked through.
Suddenly a monsterous dragon approached us. "I am Ak Flickerghosts the Dead Blisters!" it roared.
This was not, it seemed, the dragon we had come to fight. We had not been told there might be more than a single dragon here.
She laughed hideously at us, and reeled off a number of heroes he had slain. Largely, from the sounds of it, kobold warriors. Not really boastworthy in my book, but there you have it.
The passageway was too tight for us to have any real chance at fighting the beast. It roared furious dragonfire at us. Both Mondark and I felt the heat of the flames, but Mondark found his hands aflame, and the dragon was fast upon him.
I ran at the monster, only to find that it knocked me down and proceeded to take an unpleasant interest in myself. The tower shield I recovered from the lizardman who slew The Pidge came in handy, as it's claws clattered uselessly against the heavenly metal and I even managed to turn aside its dragonfire.
Kel and Drakolus leapt over Mondark and myself to join the extremely cramped fray. I took the opportunity to regain my feet, and stabbed the monster with my best blade, cutting deep into its left foreleg.
The blade slashed a gaping wound, but unfortunately I found my blade to be stuck. I attempted to dislodge it but lost my grip.
I'm never without a backup, however, and I took my spare blade from its sheath, and slashed at it.
Wary now of my blades, the dragon recoiled, only to collapse upon its wounded leg. I used its confusion to leap atop it, stabbing again and again in the hope of finding a weak spot.
All my attacks glanced away, and it shook me off, sending me behind it whilst my companions were in front of it.
All our attacks came to nothing, I am sad to say. Only my best blade, the one now lodged in the dragon's leg, could have had any impact.
I remember, very distinctly, being killed. Burned by flame, and my body torn apart by the dragon before it turned on my fellows.
"You remember being killed?" Captain Ironblood asked. "That's not the sort of thing most people remember."
"Yes, I know." agreed Kodor. "I don't know how it happened, but I woke up, the day before. We all did. And the others didn't remember."
"So it was a dream, then?"
Kodor shook his head emphatically. "Definitely not. No dream could be like that! Maybe a vision of things to come. Maybe it didn't happen. But when I woke up, and checked myself over, I found this!"
He pulled back a sleeve to show a vivid red circle on his left wrist, as clean as a fresh tattoo.
"I've never been tattooed in my life! Yet here we have this! I certainly wasn't going to chalk that up to coincidence!"
"So what are you saying here?" asked Captain Ironblood carefully.
"I'm still getting to that part." Kodor growled, and resumed his story.
My unexpected ressurection, and my confusion surrounding it, delayed us. In turn, quite luckily, we met with a brave soul known as Darksaiyan Romancemost. A hard woman, who despite being married with a son and a daughter, both nearing adulthood now, wished to join us to see the world.
She told us she was becoming wearied of the drudgeries of everyday life and wanted some adventure before the inevitable end.
Unfortunately, her inevitable end came all the faster for fighting with a dragon.
When we happened upon Ushmal BuriedIvory, the creature was very nearly dead. It took us only a few moments to finish the job that hundreds of warriors had started.
once again, we were met by his mate, Ak Flickerghosts.
Ak annihilated Darksaiyan in an instant, tearing her torso apart in her savage maw.
My old friend Kel was next to fall. His shield arm fell from him as the beast's razor sharp claws passed effortlessly through flesh and bone. The toxins secreted by the monster took immediate effect, and he fell to the ground in paralysis before being crushed.
In the very next moment, I struck a mortal wound on the creature, instantly sending it into unconsciousness.
But dragons take more killing than that. Using the opportunity presented to us, we struck at the unconscious beast again and again, wanting to finish it off before it could awaken and present a threat once more.
I hacked into its neck. I slashed out its eyes. I cut into its spine with all my might.
Yet still it reawakened.
Blind and confused, it could do little to defend itself. Thankfully, I managed to strike it once again in the head, knocking it unconscious for a few more precious moments.
I struck my blade deep into the monster's head, and began the sickening task of twisting it deeper into the wound. Drakolus stabbed the monster in the gut, and I received a surge of vomit for his efforts.
Yet, even with all of this, the monster still reawakened. It glared at me and tore out my blade from its skull. With a tremendous roar, it gave one last shot at destroying us, before suddenly dying after a sluggish attack against Mondark. It hissed in futile anger as it collapsed for the final time.
My remaining comrades rested themselves against the nearby walls, hands on weapons, just in case the monster managed to come back from the dead.
Drakolus stood up and looked around at all the carnage. "Lets get out of here." he growled. "We killed two of them, and we lost two. That makes us even. I hope they enjoyed the draw."