[b]Tandar Fortress : The Republic Of Keldarna[/b]
"It's another quiet day at the Fortress Lord Captain." Lord Guthrey nodded at Sergeant Rommel. It was almost eight in the evening, and most likely, according to Lord Guthrey, there weren't going to be any trouble from law breakers of the marauding bandit sort or even so much as a fanatic Templar zealot's murder of heretics and the like to start any time soon. Guthrey was excessively old for a man in such extremely fine bodily condition, and although he didn't wish to start a fight, he was aching for a battle. He had not been in a war for twenty years. At the age of seventy, Guthrey was well known for winning arm wrestling, body wrestling, and other strength based matches with thirty year olds on a regular basis. The respected elder could and did cut through his enemies, whether armored in full plate or not with a single slash, slicing them in two. He smiled at the memory. It wasn't that he liked people to feel pain or that he liked killing or even fighting, although truth be told, he didn't shy away from a fight. It was just that he was getting bored of not being on the Sea Front. Sea Fronts were where there were battles and exploration. At least here though, here though he would be among friends and those who respected him. He would be among his grown children,and their grown children. 

He smiled at the thought. He looked down at the desk he was sitting at and was finished counting his golden coins. Another profitable day of trade with the East. Suddenly, there was a large explosion heard coming from outside the tower. He looked outside, and squinted. . . "Yikes." He could see that a trader's camp was on fire. "This had better not be another bandit raid. I told their leaders I'd have them drawn and quartered down to the last man if this happened again." He was all the way down the tower and out of the Fortress with more alacrity than most people half his age could muster. He grabbed a torch and noticed something very distressing. . . those figures. . . off in the distance. No, he had to come closer. "Dragons? Dragons?!" The red skinned monsters were roaring with triumph as he stated his words with a gasp. 

"DRAGONS! DRAGONS!" The screaming came from the trader's camp. Two of them. A male and a female. Azshra and Gunas. Gunthrey quickly took out his Zand steel bastard sword. . . it wouldn't be much use if he was breathed on by their fire, or worse. . . In the camp, there were bodies everywhere. Already over one hundred civilians had been eaten, burned or cut in pieces with the mighty drake's talons. The guards who poured into the camp to protect the survivors were almost overwhelmed with repulsion. The pure arrogance and pride they felt from the monsters mere appearance was revolting. Finally a handful of Zaandites had managed to come out of their beds in order to see the situation with their own eyes. "Damn. This isn't good." The oldest of the five stated the obvious. "These things haven't been seen for millenia." 

At the camp, the men were only managing annoying scratches with their bows and crossbows with the finest of Zand bodkins, while the Azshra and Gunas had already taken out over twenty of them with trivial ease. Gunthrey remembered something. He took the alchemical potion from his pouch and coated an arrow with the mysterious looking substance, and fired the arrow at the creature as it breathed fire on the last non flaming tent, and it exploded dramatically and quite brilliantly against Gunas'es face, knocking it clear on it's back. Gunthrey smirked. His grin of victory disappeared however when Azshra noticed where the source of this arrow had come from and the female dragon drove her horned head towards the Captain of the Gaurd. He wasn't going out without a fight. 

The old man jumped, onto her head like he was a man in his twenty's out competing athletes his age. Gunthrey landed on her head and slid down just at the back of her neck, and drove the sword deep into her skull. The monster roared with an almost earth shattering cry of pain and agony as it's brain was pierced, and it fell to the ground. By then though, Gunas had noticed what had happened, and was on his feet. Zaandite magicians had arrived to notice with another gasp that the dragon female was still breathing what they hoped would be her last breath. Gunas breathed a massive cone of flame towards Gunthrey, it was too late to run as the honorable warrior's flesh was consumed with the flame, and his bones were turned into ash before the magician's eyes. 

The Zaandite's eyes widened further as they saw Azshra beginning to heal her head wound. . . "Alright then." The older Zaandite wizard threw his staff like a javelin towards Gunas, impaling his head. The crystallized staff caused his head to utterly explode. Aszhra screamed at the site of her mate's death. The other mages were already on her before she could finish regenerating from her injury, and their hands were on her, encasing her in a massive bed of ice. The Zaandite wizard's staff was conjured into his hand again. The now helpless dragon was unable to prevent her destruction at the hand of the approaching, almost elderly Human as he climbed onto her head, and drove the staff through the ice, killing her as her entire head just vaporized. 

Wide eyed with awe for just a short moment. The gaurds went to the task of putting out the fires. The wizard rejoined his young companions on the ground and sighed. They were elated that this was finally over, and it was evident on their faces. The wizard had an expression on his face. "They aren't dead." They were confused. "What?" He breathed deeply. "Their gone for now. They're technically dead, but they'll be back. It wasn't natural for them to be here. They were taken out of the world centuries ago, and the only way for them to show their ugly presence on the world again. . . is if. . . someone [b]"BROUGHT"[/b] them here." The second oldest, a woman who appeared to be around thirty, was paling in her face as her wide eyes expressed terror. [b]"The Lord of Maddening"![/b]