Thread: A Mean's to an End (alakazam and I)

Dragons A powerful bestial race thought by mortals to be immortal. A rather common misconception as to their lives are extraordinarily long, even to the standards of the long-lived elves. Masters of magic and lovers of treasure, it's worth the robber's very life to raid a sleeping dragon's lair and abscond with even the smallest portion of their often substantial treasure hoard. This dragon was no different. A young Blue Dragon of 3 centuries, just a young Wyrm, made a small village of Canderoth a part of his territory, lording over all the denizens there. Making his home in a sheer cliff outside in the arid Geerino Desert, he stayed just close enough to work his illusory magic on the town, delighting in torturing them with imaginary raids, making them drink sand believing it to be water, and using his lightning breath to destroy their crops and livestock. He took delight in their suffering, but that was soon going to change. Over the 20 years of his rule, he eventually became complacent, arrogant even that there would be nobody that would contest to his power. He was wrong. Sending their plight to a group of roving dragon slayers, they came and laid a trap outside the town with a herd of cattle. When he attacked them, several ballistas fired their bolts at him, taking him by surprise. Wounding him, he wasn't able to concentrate on his spells and he was harried by many flights of arrows, forcing him to leave. Angry, he licked his wounds and sought retribution, but as soon as he left, a barrier spell was erected over the town, held in place with 8 crystal staves put in place around the perimeter of the village, preventing anyone that didn't have human blood from crossing the boundary. Severely chagrined, he vowed that he would find a way around that barrier and take back that village. That was a century ago and much has changed for the village. The population growth brought about by it's magical barrier, the threshold was extended to twice it's original size, replacing the 8 crystal staves with 12 large black crystal towers, making it a more permanent fixture and thus turning it a bustling city. Because of the protection from all sorts of fell beasts, the city was soon called the Jeweled Eye, a tranquil city perpetually sitting in the shadow of the dragon that it ousted. The city has almost forgotten about the dragon that once held her under his claw. The dragon, however, didn't forget. Remaining in his roost in a sheer granite cliff, he always kept an eye on the city, still nursing his wounded pride from losing it in the first place. Jeweled Eye, humph. He snorted, sitting on his haunches, eyeing the city with anger still in his eyes. I can't believe I was so stupid to let these petty humans get the best of me. Now their barrier is the only thing keeping me from taking it. Well now the only thing that will cross it is one of their kind, a human. As soon as he said it, it finally clicked. Narrowing his eyes in glee, he finally figured out a way to circumvent the barrier. I just need a human thrall to take the barrier down. Snorting, he looked back at his roost and then thought, Now how am I going to lure them in. He then chuckled low in his throat, it sounding like a low rumble of thunder. Of course, there's usually some enterprising robber eager to try and take my hoard. Instead of killing it, I'll capture it and break it. Laughing, he fluttered his wings and then stood up, cleaning his azure scales. He then thought silently about a plan and then flew up to the mouth of his cave. It was placed on a sheer granite cliff and over time he modified it to become a place of his own. Using his claws and breath, he tunneled several other holes around the cliff and networked them into a type of labyrinth, eventually leading it to his large hoard of gold and magical artifacts, enough to make a mage salivate in glee. The other mouths of the cave were not without some sort of protection. In each opening, he placed powerful spells that which when they're tripped, lightning erupts from the very rock and smotes the trespasser where he or she stood. Smirking, he winged down to one of the holes that sat on the dark end of the cliff, low to the ground and removed the spell of slaying, and replaced it with a spell of paralysis, strong enough to trap even an ogre, set to activate when the intruder came within sight of his hoard. Congratulating himself on the cleverness of the trap, he winged himself back up to the summit of his cave and touched down, curling up like a cat and laying his tail over his eyes, falling asleep. The trap was set, and now, all he has to do is wait.