Roric Wyrmbane

Dragons are Firstborn — some of the oldest beings in creation, and all now are Demonspawn servants of Siroth. They are immortal and so powerful that they are all but indestructible. While their mortal form can be vanquished, their soul will be sent back to Anathraad upon death, from where they can one day return to Teleria through any one of many portals, as ferocious as ever before. One Dragon, Hellrazor, wreaked havoc in the Confederation of Frostheim after the Second Great War. The six kings of Frostheim gave up hope of slaying the beast, but their Dwarven-trained smith – Askara Dwarfkin — made a proposal. With an unbreakable chain forged with Dwarven runescript and Aravian arcanistry, they could trap not only the dragon, but even its soul, and thus keep it from returning to Anathraad. The six kings agreed, but there was a flaw to this plan — how to convince the monster to land, and how to keep it there long enough for Askara to attach the chain. And so, they turned to Roric. One of the few yarls of the kingdom who survived the Second Great War, he was the finest commander in Frostheim. He was one of their strongest warriors, and wielded an enchanted hammer so powerful it could crush Hellrazor’s skull. His duty would likely lead to his death — Hellrazor had already killed hundreds in a matter of days. Roric had no delusions regarding the danger, but he knew his duty, and he knew the stakes. He agreed to the kings’ request, and formulated a plan. At Roric’s request, the six kings ordered select contents of their treasury to be laid out in a cave on a mountainside, to lure the greedy Hellrazor within its depths. Askara bolted one end of her chain to the cave wall, and she and Roric went into hiding. When the dragon landed, Askara remained out of sight, a length of chain bundled her arms. Roric however emerged and blocked the exit to the cave behind the dragon, hammer in hand. The battle between the yarl and the dragon was fierce and terrible — Roric broke bone, shattered scales, and cracked teeth, all while dodging every blow – but even Roric’s skill was not so great he could avoid Hellrazor’s strikes indefinitely. He was finally caught in a burst of the dragon’s flaming breath and the creature smashed its tail into him. He screamed in pain, losing his hammer and falling to the ground next to one of the monster’s broken teeth. He had distracted the dragon enough however for Askara to weave between the combatants and magically bind her chain to the dragon, trapping it in the cave. When Hellrazor realized it was held, it spun around, tugged furiously at the chain, and unleashed gouts of flame upon it, but to no avail. Enraged, it threw itself against its bonds again and again, and roared its fury to the mountainside. As it thrashed and flailed, it left itself open. Summoning the last of his strength, the burned, dying Roric climbed upon the beast’s back, scaled its long neck, and hammered the broken tooth he had found directly into the monster’s skull. At this, Hellrazor screeched, flailed, and finally collapsed, lifeless. Unlike all other Demonspawn to have been slain before it, its soul remained trapped in its body. While it would inevitably return to physical life, it would be trapped here, unless the chain or its magic were ever broken. Roric Wyrmbane fell to the ground from the beast’s neck with a crunch of mail and breaking bones. Askara rushed to aid him, but his burns and other injuries were too terrible even for a skilled mage to treat. It would take a miracle to save him, and that is what he received. A glowing, golden light descended from the cave mouth, and a beautiful, elegant figure with shining armor and flame-red hair weaved between stalagmites and stalactites. She came to the dying Roric and offered him a Shard, in which he might preserve his life to defend Teleria for the rest of time. Roric was exhausted. He was in agony, so much so he could barely think. He was afraid, but through the haze of his life’s last moments, he felt pride. He had saved his people, and could not bear to leave them forever. He agreed. Then he was gone, his body vanished and his soul absorbed into the woman’s golden crystal. Askara returned to the six kings, to tell them of Roric’s victory. They declared him the Wyrmbane.