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Maegwyn -> Issue 15 - DragonSlaying 301: Applied Advanced Techniques (westwind) (1/23/2008 14:12:14)
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DragonSlaying 301: Applied Advanced Techniques
By westwind
This letter was found discarded in Battleon Park, the envelope covered with tuna salad and melted ice cream, its bearer apparently distracted by something shiny. Though this was a private letter, The Zardian has a responsibility to its readers: to accurately report newsworthy happenings. We feel you can handle the truth. We feel you have a right to stay abreast of the world's significant events. (We also feel that the warding spells on our offices are second to none and will, with the support of an army of our loyal readership, keep angry dragonslayers at bay if necessary.) Thus, we have gone forward with the decision to publish this letter in full.
My dearest Cousin:
He said it was an honor. He said I would be an important part of bringing about a renaissance age of dragonslaying. He said my name would go into our Order's histories.
He didn't say I would do that by being beaten into a pulp every day.
After the Dragon King's spirit was banished, he just wasn't the same. For a while he was quiet... too quiet. He was always lost in thought. We thought there was something still wrong with him, something left behind. Soon enough, though, he was a whirlwind of action. He ordered supplies, readied his lieutenant to take over for a little while, and pulled me aside. He went on about being trapped in his own body, seeing everything but being unable to stop it. When we drove out the spirit, though, he says it left behind a lot of knowledge about dragons, things only dragons would know...like where to hit them to make it count.
Hearing this, I was infected by his excitement, and offered to help in any way I could. I swore oaths I now regret. More painful than his practice of the new techniques here in seclusion... he made me join the Dracomancers covertly and study their ways. Oh, the indignity! He said their half-dragon transformative mysteries were the only way he could test his knowledge of weak points and the new dragonsbane concoctions on a friendly subject. I feel soiled every time I put on their armor instead of my own Elite Dragonslayer mail.
And I. Hurt. All. Over.
He started first with what he calls Dragon Strike. It's not the same one we were taught, though. He's expanded it from a single type of powerful attack. It's more like a fighting style that sets you up to cut deeper through their scales. All I know - firsthand - is that it is painfully effective. He is always practicing it as well. He even shifts into this stance when he is working on developing the other techniques, so they are more powerful and effective too.
Then he brought out a vial of dragonsbane poison. Dragonsbane shavings, assorted herbs and spices... I don't know yet what he mixed up in there, but when he coated the edge of his blade in it, oh by the Eight it burns. The pain lingers in my body long after the bladestroke. He said the dragons killed the man who first brewed it and kept the knowledge hidden. He hopes that if he spreads it to our whole order it will be impossible for them to do the same thing; I pray that he is right.
He also put his new insights into the finer points of draconic anatomy to work... on me. He is working on perfecting two new techniques: one that will daze a dragon and reduce its mental and physical reserves, and another that will cripple it, severing ligaments and muscle. Both can mean the difference between life and death in a fierce battle. With its mental and physical energy stores drained, it can no longer cast spells or use its breath attack, and crippling it obviously weakens its simply intimidating combat prowess. The moglin we keep on retainer healed extra hard that day. I will forever associate the scent of fish with fiery agony and ice cream with concussions and unconsciousness.
I only hope that one day I will be experienced and powerful enough to properly execute the final attack he has devised: Dragonheart Strike. He turns the tide of battle in one swift strike, sapping the powerful lifesblood of his foe to heal himself and simultaneously dazing the dragon. To watch it is poetry in motion; I just wish now that I was not the notebook. He says that when we perform this technique perfectly, we will be able to call upon the spirit of a great dragon we have slain to lay waste to our foes.
I am entrusting this letter to the small moglin. I pray that it reaches you safely, Cousin, and that you find this information useful. There will be great changes coming to our order, but we will need all the power and knowledge we can muster in our battles. I'm certain you too have heard that this knowledge is not the only new power in Lore in the wake of the Dragon King's spirit. If the Reaper does not decide one of these days that I owe him enough favors, then we will meet again, and side by side we shall face the coming threat.
Sincerely,
(name redacted)
PS: There is one redeeming feature of my study of the dracomantic arts, though. As my grasp of their language has improved, I am able to communicate much more easily with my drayk. I find that he is far more responsive, effective, and friendly now than he was.
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