'Twas along time ago. Mordread and his parents art rangers like my family. On a fateful day Mordread's parents were tending a herd of deer, when suddenly a Dragon flew over the herd. The dragon panicked the herd of deer and in the stamped the parents were cut up. Thou must know..the hooves of deer art sharp. 'Twas terrible. Mordread survived it and he vowed to kill every deer in Britannia. Mordread turned his back to the forest. He became a mage. I hath no idea what evil magery he did, but an accident made him a lich and an unusual one. Mordread still remembered his past and his skills as human, so the lich went on a killing spree, killing animals and mostly the deer. He entered the lands my family guards. Many times we hath to kill the lich. But alas..he came back after all the time. Finally on a terrible day, which was at first a day of joy. My sister Hope got married and we partied and got..eeh drunk. Mordread choose to attack at that moment. We could not defend ourselves. We were killed. Many Dragons flew over the lands... puting with their hot breath all in fire. I barely.. *swallows* barely escaped and fled into the woods, with my red crossbow as only thing I hath of my father.

For 50 solstices I remained hidden in the woods avoiding any contact with humans. I tended the deer and other animals, but I felt that I hath to come out of hiding. All that hunting of the deer that hath to stop. So...and 'tis why I am back. And it went quite well until last week. Last week Mordread was killing the Deer in the HedgeMaze. Terrible! But with the brave help of Kazola and many other brave people.. Mordread was stopped..and he hath to flee. But before he left..he vowed that he would find me. Now, what Mordread did is send Azhur the Dragon to locate my cave and to kill me. Well he tried..but thanks to help of my friends all of thee here, I survived. But now I must find away to kill that Lich."

It seems that Mordread is not too fond of Rhysart the Hermit. Stung by his defeat this weekend, the evil lich has sent out Azhur the Dragon to find Rhysart at his cave. The Dragon, wearing his magical cape assumes "HU..man" form, and the bald, bleach-skinned one carries a black staff and casts lightning while wielding his staff. Do not mistake him for a mere human though! He can vanquish most anyone with one hit from his staff. Ostensibly he still carries the strength of a dragon. I witnessed the hatred between drakes and dragons in Destard, from which he has not ventured forth till last night. He felled two drakes with a simple cast of lightning. Perhaps he spoke too much when mentioning that a lich does not carry his heart on his body, which is why they can return time and time again. My friends and I believe that the key to defeating a lich thus lies in finding where the heart of the lich is stored, yet we could be mislead, for the air was thick and many took to fainting spells. I do not believe the dragon to be evil, but rather mislead and bent to the will of the evil master Mordread. He partakes in fair fights and does not kill randomly.

When first meeting him he asked me to take him to the Hermit's cave, so I ripped him a gate to a trapped building, which I found rather amusing. I assumed he would be trapped there for eternity, for there is no way out. Yet, his master saw it fit to spirit him out. For some reason now he does not trust my gates. I cannot fathom why. =) The two of us exchanged some banter in between fights and after fighting and parted on somewhat neutral terms, for I do not believe him to be inherently evil.

After three fights I stand at two wins and a loss to Azhur. It is not mere strength, but rather guile that will kept me alive, as in his words, "a true adversary." (Okay three wins if you count eternal imprisonment via a moongate. *still grinning* ) Azhur will have to come through many including myself to reach Rhysart. Let us hope to break Mordread's grasp on this misguided dragon and to defeat the lich before Rhysart is harmed.

I had arrived late on the scene with Torix and Thraxion IV. We briefly dispensed of some orcs and hell hounds and moved on towards Rhysart's cave. I had been absent for the preliminary battle, so I will skip to the part that has to do with the storyline. The three of us met up with the main defense force at Rhysart's cave. A large black dragon, who was later determined to be Azhur's cousin, still stalked the area. Templar and myself summoned daemons and distracted the dragon. Then I proceeded to blade spirit the dragon and trap it in between the two daemons a house and a blade.

Vindicator quickly followed up with a blade of his own. Following with another blade spirit and three energy bolts from Templar, Vindicator and myself we finished it off. I regret that my recording device did not note anyone that had been shooting arrows, so I apologize now for any lack of credit. In any case, Azhur's cousin was dead and the attack was repelled. An odd cursed shrine had been left on Rhysarts bed with the message that his home was now known to Mordread.

Now, at this point most people do not know the story. I personally do not believe Azhur the Dragon to be an evil creature. He himself has admitted to me before that he cannot resist the will of his master, Mordread. Therefore, I plan on breaking Mordread's grasp on Azhur and freeing him. My will is stronger and besides, I'm a much nicer master. *smirk* In any case, I make no secret of my plans. Azhur does not attack people unprovoked. His only objective is to kill Rhysart. Because Azhur is as determined to kill Rhysart as I am to protect him, simply killing Azhur will not solve the problem at this point in time. Therefore, whenever I see Azhur I go out of my way to inconvenience him, much to his chagrin I imagine. Our record stands with me leading him 4-2. Got you again Azhur. And this is where the second part of the night began.

Thinking the battle was done and no further blood would be shed, I retired at Kazola's Tavern with a few others. Kazola and I jumped a gate by chance following a friend. We heard that Azhur was at Rhysart's cave and proceeded to the scene. As expected some had not heard of the strength of this dragon, so let me reiterate this once more. Azhur's lightning kills in one strike, and I have personally witnessed this on drakes. A swing from his staff fells all but the mightiest warrior. In any case people seemed determined to fight Azhur and subsequently died. I was still unable to ferret which two knaves had revealed the location of Rhysart's cave. And after warning people not to fight the dragon hand to hand and watching serveral fall, I dropped an EV on Azhur. Vik had his deamon attack. And either Kendar or Pane Darksteel dropped another EV on Azhur, right before my second one. Three EVs and a daemon later, Azhur was dead, despite healing himself many many times. Against the very vocal behest of many in the crowd I took Azhur in a gate to Trinsic. So, I suppose I ended up as the villian in this story. In any case, after Dai resurected Azhur, we had an interesting exchange. Kazola tried to tell the truth of how Mordread's parents were killed and I professed my intentions of breaking him of Mordread's will and bending him to my own. Well after trying to reason with the dragon he finally disappeared. Funny how far Rhysart's cave is from Trinsic isn't it? I think that Azhur has a long walk ahead of him.

It seems that Azhur the Dragon has made his way from Trinsic where he was deposited last night. He approached Kazola's Tavern where Rhysart the Hermit was relaxing among friends. Ostensibly, Azhur still intends to kill Rhysart, despite trying to convince him otherwise the other night. He told Rhysart, "Thine friends cannot guard thou all the time!" After an extremely brief exchange Mordread opened a red moongate for Azhur the Dragon and spirited him away. I hope that Mordread the Lich shall be vanquished and hopefully freeing Azhur the Dragon. But if that cannot be done, then master and servant must perish for the greater good and to save Rhysart.