Sharzorgok

Sharzorgok, also known by the self-granted title of Blightbaker, was a black dragon that claimed the ruins of Ancruor as its lair.

## Description

A young dragon, Sharzorgok was deeply ambitious and yearned to become feared for their terrible might and cruelty. Deeply at odds with the expansion and prosperity of the surrounding nations - particularly so that of neighbouring Atralran - Sharzorgok sought to build their renown and infamy by infecting a number of herd animals and other domesticated beasts with a number of afflictions of their own devising before loosing them into the lands to the west and south to cause havoc. It is uncertain however whether this plan was one of their own creation, or instead the whims of their patron, the demigod Kyuss, with whom they had entered into a pact at some point in the past.

As part of this pact, Sharzorgok gained a deepened understanding of the arcane, empowered magical potential by means of a crystalline Rod of the Pact Keeper, and regenerative abilities brought about by their infection with thousands of festering maggots and worms within their form. It is again uncertain whether Sharzorgok was aware that their body also served as host to an avolakia, a large worm-like aberration with psionic abilities. Upon the Blightbaker's death, the parasitic entity burst free from the body in a surge of psychic energy, serving as an additional threat to the party.

## Legend Lore

When Anivia cast *Legend Lore* in an effort to learn more about what they might face on their journey into the Ironfangs, she was delivered the following description by means of the divination spell.

*“Where walls of sand once stood, against the Forgotten Folk waged,”*

*A roost of glass and stone, jagged and cruel, slice and break,*

*But not upon the mountain it perches, for once Tempest Everstretching raged,*

*To acrid mineral depths, an emissary bathed in green scintilla bakes."*

*"Scale using scale, canker’s touch, breath and victory surely assured,*

*For the gifts granted pulse as vein and heart, marrow and bone,*

*A being within, as flesh united, connection in life secured,*

*Surrounded by the ruins of theocracy’s end, where the drowned remains of dust still groan.”*

## History

The residents of Amber Run first learned about Sharzorgok by means of Thoz, a hill giant residing within the Heartsword Pass. The giant had spied the dragon, presumably during one of their trips to collect up test subjects for their ongoing experimentation into disease vectors and spread. With plans in mind to construct Largon's Spear to connect Amber Run to Snowdrift Respite, the adventurer Rover Custard Augustine persuaded a group of his peers to travel with him to hunt down the dragon and deal with the threat they posed.

Tracking the creature to the ruined glass and stone city of Ancruor, after extensive scouting of the area, the group descending beneath the city into the natural tunnels below that had subsequently been claimed by the Blightbaker for their lair. Finding the cavern to have developed a number of hazardous crystal growths - posited to have been spawned by the whims and presence of Kyuss' influence - they managed to bypass the ancient gates repurposed by Sharzorgok to guard the entrance to their lair, and found themselves in combat with reanimated Anorcorian soldiers, and then the dragon themselves, having been watching the party from within the body of a purple worm and waiting for the right moment to strike.

Skarzorgok would, despite steady regeneration from the infestation of Kyussian Worms within their body, was eventually slain by the party, the final blow dealt by Faustus Howell by means of a well-placed crossbow bolt fired from his Buccaneer's Bulwark that pierced directly into the dragon's festering eye socket and through into the mulching brain beyond. Upon their death, the avolakia parasite within burst free, prompting another showdown, before they too were defeated by Anivia Reman using Threnody.

## Hoard Contents & Other Treasures

**Magic Items:**

* Anorcorian Shield x 6 (35gp each, 210gp)
* Elemental Gem, Blue Sapphire (750gp)
* Elemental Gem, Red Corundum (750gp)
* Lightning Khopesh (2750gp)
* Thunder Khopesh (2750gp)
* Rod of the Pact Keeper, +2 [A slither of pale green crystal with bands of cream-white] (4000gp)
* Shard of Divinus, Agility (6000gp)

**Mundane Treasures:**

* 230pp, 4800gp, 8000ep
* Art Objects
	+ A pair of sandals wrought from gold (125gp)
	+ An iron throne with bands of lapis lazuli (250gp)
	+ Pair of ceremonial daggers set with an electrum filigree (250gp)
	+ A silver headband decorated with iron stakes (75gp)
	+ Paint jars shaped from ivory (175gp)
	+ Model boat made from polished Sultan Ash wood (200gp)
	+ Golden Death Mask set with gemstones (750gp)
* Assorted gemstones (3650gp)
	+ Predominantly opals, however also lapis lazuli, turquoises, carnelians, garnets and obsidian