THE LAIR OF DRAGON UNTHOIZ

I woke up after a few hours of rest. All of my enchanted rings and things had fully re-charged, so there was no longer any reason to delay.

I stepped through the door and immediate noticed the stench of dead bodies all around the room. Unthoiz noticed my arrival, and stood up on his hind legs, unfolded his great wings, and roared loudly. The sound of his anger reverberated on the cavern walls in response.

Yet, he did not attack, seeming to be content upon the upper portion of the cave he had been resting on.

"Hail, Eldorf Dragonmeal. I am Unthoiz, Lord of the Dragons. What is the reason for your visit?" I started to answer, but he interrupted before I had a chance to say anything. "Don't answer," he continued, "for I know what you search for. Don't play games with me. I am old and wise beyond your mortal years." He paused for a moment, gazing with amusement at the look on my face. "I suppose you are also looking for the Gem of Peryite and the Staff of Tharn." I couldn't help but look shocked that he would know about it. Unthotz noticed the look, and continued "The expression on your face shows me that I am correct. I have them both' it was very kind of that other wizard to bring them here."

"I saw his body before I came in." I replied. "Why did you kill him?"  

 

The dragon lowered his huge head towards me and replied "When someone wants to take over the world, he must be prepared to take risks. But those risks amount to nothing compared to controlling my brothers and me. The old wizard was wrong about many things. He did not fully understand the power that the staff holds.   

 

I decided to play innocent. "What sort of power is this staff supposed to have?" I said.  

 

The dragon snorted, not fooled by my question. "He thought the staff was able to control dragons, as other fools do. Let me guess: Is Illwing involved with your trek here? He has been causing problems for the imperial court for a long time now, so it's no wonder they sent him off to this island to try and fix it."

"Tell me about the staff." I asked.  

 

"The staff was made by Jagar Tharn to make his minions grow faster." he replied. "No wizard alive today has the power of Tharn to make the staff work. The old wizard thought that the gem could help him, but the staff has too great a power for the old man. The gem only works on dragons, you see."

I had a sudden thought: "Then, it is you who wants to make an army of dragons with the help of the staff?" 

 

The dragon hissed, "It would have taken me ages to make such an army, but with the staff, it will be a matter of weeks. I have dreamed for many years of how to obtain the staff, and now, I have it. I thought it had been lost long ago, but apparently those wizards  at the Imperial Court are not as worthless as they seem. The first to fall will be those dragons that accept the mandate of the empire. Then the empire itself will be destroyed, and a new order will arrive. Dragons will take their rightful place as lords of this realm."

That was a bit too much for me. "Not if I can stop this." I replied.  

 

Unthoiz turned, and slowly walked to the steps leading to the upper part of the cavern, apparently feeling much too safe in his own lair to consider me a threat.

"Why would you want to stop me?" he asked. "You've defeated my brothers, and even some of my sons. You have proven yourself to be a great warrior. Certainly you must yearn for more in this life? Why not be on the side of the winners? It is only a matter of time now before we cleanse this island." He reached the top step, and turned towards me, continuing "I can give you legions of dragons under your command, and more treasure and wealth than you can imagine." His voice became louder. "Together, we will rule. What say you?"

My first thought was Laurenna, then of everyone here, as food for these creatures. There was no question as to what my answer should be.

"Don't try to trick me with your lies!" I replied. "Be ready to fight!"

His response was swift: "Then prepare to die, like the others before you have."  

 

I didn't have to think twice - quickly, I summoned a daedric bow and shot off one of my enchanted arrows, in the hope of paralyzing Unthoiz as he lunged at me from his upper berth of the cavern.

 

The first arrow didn't work, but the second one did. I was very, very glad I had increased my marksmanship skills over the last couple of months.

Unthoiz was caught in mid bite, frozen like a statue. The spell would only last 5 or 10 seconds at the most.   

 

The spell of the arrow wore off before I had a chance to do anything else, and he shot off a blast of poison at me, which billowed forth from his mouth into a huge green cloud.

I ran to the left, trying to hold my breath. Quickly, I did a spell to cancel out the poison effect, then did a spell of my own.  

 

Using my ring of Golden Saint and ring of Frost Antroch, the summonings arrived, not knowing at first what to attack. Just a quick shot with one more arrow gave them the hint.  

 

I summoned a few more creatures, further annoying Unthoiz even further. He clawed and snapped at them, destroying one after another after just a few attacks of his mighty jaws.

This was, indeed, a very powerful dragon. 

 

Unthoiz let loose a blast of fire from his mouth directly at me, realizing that if I were killed, the summonings tormenting him so would disappear. Using a spell scroll, I formed a 6th barrier around me, then using another ring, I brought forth a winged twilight to continue the battle.

Unthoiz wasn't done yet.  Neither was I.  

 

"Little man!" Unthoiz shouted, "Do you think these little creatures can kill me? I'll bite them all into little pieces."

"Do so," I shouted back, sending two more creatures at him, "I'll make more."

"Is this the best you can do?" the dragon snorted back.

"Oh, no," I replied, "I'm just warming up."   

 

Unthoiz lept into the air, his great wings unfolding into a magnificent form, and came right towards me.

I lept to the left, dodging his attack.   

 

I wasn't kidding when I said I was warming up. As I rolled to the side, and the dragon overshot my position, I quickly got up and did a spell called "The Wall of Bones." It's a slow spell, but in a few moments, my other summoned creatures were joined by an army of the dead, each with his own weapon.

While he was busy with that, I shot off a poisonbloom spell at him.   

 

Unthoiz tried to leep out of the way, but he wasn't fast enough, as the wall of bones kept him distracted.

And I was just getting started with him.  

 

 

PAGE 55