Karsunex the Spiteful

Karsunex the Spiteful was an Ancient Black Dragon whose territory spanned all of Willowroot, Sea Haven, and the Copper Peaks. She was known for terrorizing the peoples of these territories throughout the ages until her death at the hands of the Dragonslayers of Willowroot. Her title, 'The Spiteful', was given to her by the dwarves of the Copper Peaks.

> With her hoard reclaimed and her lair destroyed, her attacks are no expression of strength or dominance. They are a pitiful lashing out, the temper tantrum of a crying baby. When she slinks away from our mountains looking for easier prey to terrorize, let her reputation precede her there. The vile wyrm will be known wherever she goes as 'Karsunex the Spiteful', an insecure beast of vindictive cruelty. The acid she breathes is proof enough the nastiness burning her heart. Anyone who's had a romance go sour should have the experience needed to manipuate the dragon to her demise. ~Marhanna Copperheart
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## Description

Karsunex was an archetypal black dragon, with the tattered wings, deteriorating facial flesh, and curved horns signature to the species. Her precise age was unknown, but judging by her power, one can assume she was well over 800 years old.

As her title suggests, spite dominated her personality. She considered it her duty as a member of the mighty dragon race to punish and enslave smaller folk. Her actions were often motivated by insults to her power or displays of a civilization's arrogance. Her desires were always to crush, belittle, punish, steal, and harm to sastisfy her ravenous ego. She tolerated no challenge to her might.

## History

#### Early Years

Little to nothing is known about the life of Karsunex before her first encounters with the dwarves. Willowroot scholars theorize she was responsible for the fall of civilizations whose ruins were discovered in the years following her death.

#### Clash with the Copper Peaks

Approximately 350 years before the White Plume Mountain Incident, Karsunex launched a campaign of attacks against Thelfadihr, the only dwarf stronghold in the mountain range and only developed civilization in the region at the time. Under the leadership of King Rurik Copperheart and his daughter Marhanna, the dwarves fortified and repelled Karsunex time after time.

The Rynstir clan blacksmiths, after centuries of trying, reactivated the powers of Whelm, an ancient magic warhammer, and bestowed it to Marhanna to wield. Whelm in hand, Marhanna led an offensive against Karsunex's lair and forced her abandon her hoard of stolen dwarf treasures and retreat from the Copper Peaks. Karsunex's following attacks were fierce, but futile, and it was after these retaliations when Marhanna first uttered the phrase "Karsunex the Spiteful," meant as an insult to her stature. Karsunex instead took the title as a compliment, and allowed her servants and victims to address her as such, so long as it inspired fear.

#### The Fall of Riverdazzle

After Marhanna Copperheart drove Karsunex from the Copper Peaks, she spent several years without a proper lair. Seeking to reclaim her lost power, she focused her attention on Riverdazzle, a burgeoning human city-state. She believed the humans were becoming arrogant, and knew she would enjoy destroying them.

As the humans destroyed their surrounding natural environment to feed the city's growth, Karsunex covertly laired upriver and began subtly poisoning the water supply using her toxic powers, just enough so that the humans' health deteriorated. As internal strife grew and reached its peak, Karsunex attacked. She dragged the attack out for days, beseiging the humans within their homes and reveling in their screams as she crushed them one building at a time. She allowed a small group of refugees to escape under the protection of Gallus Dunbarton, hoping that they will spread word of her might.

Karsunex laired in the ruins of Riverdazzle Castle, and arranged her new hoard of human treasure around the throne. In the years following, her presence corrupted the river running through the Riverdazzle further, and the entire city sunk into a brackish, toxic swamp.

#### Willowroot and Sea Haven

Karsunex utilized her draconic cult to spy on the growing civilizations in the region. She struck out for periodic attacks against Willowroot, usually devouring grazing livestock or obliterating merchant caravans. On occasion, Karsunex cruised over Willowroot's capital to test their anti-dragon defenses, finding pleasure observing the Wing Guard scurrying about below her.

As Sea Haven grew, its citizens, too, learned to fear Karsunex the Spiteful. Though the caldera was technically the territory of a dormant Kraken (unbeknownst to any mortal), she took advantage of its slumber to play the part of sea monster and attack ships from below. After delighting in the sailors' deaths, she would spirit the ship's treasures away to her lair.

It was through these attacks against ships coming and going from Sea Haven that she discovered the Wand of Orcus as it was moving from the Sword Coast to Willowroot. Its inherent evil was too disturbing even for Karsunex the Spiteful, and she concealed it in an isolated compartment adjacent to the rest of her hoard.

#### Death

The events leading up to Karsunex's death were prompted by an unusually aggressive attack by Karsunex against Willowroot. Unhappy with Willowroot's growing arrogance, Karsunex flew low through the city and unleashed acid breath attacks upon people in the streets. The city's well-drilled anti-dragon measures were set in motion, and functioned admirably. As civilian disaster-management units helped people find shelter and assisted the wounded, the Wing Guard's ballista towers were able to score several hits. Enraged, Karsunex weaponized her sheer weight and rammed one tower, causing it to collapse, after which she retreated.

Trevor's White Knights were, at the time, enjoying the height of their infamy. Emboldened by the chaos in Willowroot caused by Karsunex's attack and their ongoing crime wave, the arch-criminals decided to attempt their greatest heist yet: stealing from the hoard of Karsunex the Spiteful. The rogues reconoitered the swamp surrounding Riverdazzle Castle, 'casing the joint', as their flumph patriarch would say, when Karsunex confronted them. Annoyed at their apparent lack of fear for her, she decided to punish the rogues' insolence by launching yet another attack against Willowroot. When the rogues returned home, they discovered the Wing Guard in disarray and the city's healers impacted by a far greater number of casualties than the previous attack.

The morning after this attack, Casimir Dunbarton, Henrique, and Vistra Sunforge put out a call for adventurers willing to follow them into a battle with Karsunex; Lilith, from parts unknown, and Jia, from Trevor's White Knights, volunteered. These five heroes rode to the midpoint between Riverdazzle and Willowroot. Casimir cast a spell to project his voice to Karsunex's lair and challenged her to battle. The dragon obliged.

Karsunex expected to make short work of the heroes, but she severely underestimated their capabilities, especially those of Lilith and Jia, whom she was not spying on due to their obscurity. Karsunex attempted a low strafing run, but Henrique managed to ground her, giving Vistra and Casimir an opening to cast powerful spells to damage her. She expected to be able to escape, but she did not expect Jia, apparently the weakest of the five adventurers, to approach her and utilize a Ki-powered Stunning Strike to paralyze her. Though the paralysis was only momentary, it was enough. Karsunex could not even roar in rage as the adventurers converged on her and finished her off.

Unbeknownst to the adventurers, Marhanna Copperheart, Karsunex's long-time nemesis, had been spying on her from a traveling bar-cart serving a treasure-hunter encampment outside Riverdazzle. Having observed the dragon's death from a special vantage point, she wrote home to her father to deliver the good knews: "Spiteful and stupid to the very end. The dumb lizard couldn't best one adventurer in her own lair. What made her think she could survive five in an open field? Her pissy temper was easily manipulated, and the human wizard knew it well. Looking forward to never fighting that wyrm again."

#### Aftermath

As Karsunex died in the distance, Trevor's White Knights, along with Marhanna Copperheart herself (they believed her to be a simple drunken outcast, which wasn't terribly innaccurate at the time), infiltrated the dragon's lair, slaughtered her newborn offspring, and made off with a significant portion of her hoard. In the days following, the Wing Guard arrived and carried off the rest of the hoard aboard over a dozen heavy wagons. One of these wagons was stolen en route, but the rest made it to Willowroot. As a symbolic gesture, the treasure was distributed evenly among every individual in Willowroot. This was a joint decision by Henrique, Casimir, and Vistra. The nobles had other designs for the treasure, but the political capital of the Dragonslayers could not be denied. The greediest noble families harbored resent for the Dragonslayers hence. Sea Haven protested the way the treasure was divided, claiming that much of Karsunex's hoard was stolen from their ships. Realizing this truth too late, Casimir rushed to cite historical precdents of other societies claiming the hoards of slain dragons regardless of the treasure's origin. Though Sea Haven conceded, historians speculated that this incident contributed to the onset of the War of the Three Kingdoms.

The Wand of Orcus was discovered in the weeks after by Casimir Dunbarton, its original recipient, and was brought back to the College of Magic, where it, too, would soon by stolen by Trevor's White Knights.

The death of Karsunex the Spiteful dramatically affected the development and politics of every civilization in the region. Without the constant threat of dragon attack, Willowroot and Sea Haven experienced booming economies and grew to rival the Copper Peaks in terms of economic, military, and cultural significance. Exploration of the uncharted lands to the south and west commenced as well, promising new connections with unmet civilizations beyond.

Karsunex's territory was one of the largest of any dragon, encompassing all the Three Kingdoms, and her death left a power vacuum among the draconic community. Dragonologists hypothesized that her territory would be divided amongst much younger dragons entering the region. Her potential successors at the time of her death included Jarl Toivra the Calm, and Chyzen the Briny, both of whom were in competition with one another.

Karsunex's body was kept under close guard by the Wing Guard, though Trevor's White Knights were not done with her. Hoping to charter the Headhunter for a voyage, the rogues decided that the best form of payment to her trophy-obsessed captain was the head of the mightiest dragon in the land. The rogues infiltrated the Wing Guard encampment, distracted the soldiers using stolen illusion magic, and made off with Karsunex's head. They then used the head as payment for a voyage aboard the Headhunter. After the voyage, Dran and Bonnyy had the head taxidermied and mounted on the Headhunter's prow, having lost the previous figurehead in a storm. Karsunex's head remained part of the Headhunter for the remainder of the ship's existence.

#### Karsunex the Undying

After her demise, Karsunex's soul was drawn into the Raven Queen's realm in the Shadowfell. The Raven Queen enjoyed observing Karsunex's spite and cruelty and the suffering it caused within her, and, as a result, deemed the dragon's soul worth keeping in her Fortress of Memories.

When Wyldgrowth began, and the Shadowfell incurred upon the Material Plane, Karsunex escaped the Fortress of Memories and returned to the Material Plane, now in the form of a Shadow Dragon. Her mind warped with spite, she immediately traveled to the Copper Peaks and attempted to take control of Thelfadihr. Though most of the dwarves had all died or evacuated, there was one obstacle to her revenge: Marhanna Copperheart.

Just as she had in her youth, the ancient dwarf refused to yield her home to Karsunex. Karsunex the Undying and Marhanna Copperheart played a continuous game of cat and mouse for the entirety of seventy-five years. Both of them occasionally took breaks from one another to slay other intruders, but always returned their rivalry. Both of them devolved into madness until all that remained in their shattered minds was their mutual obsession with slaying one another.

Seemingly out of nowhere, the Rangers of the Wylds arrived by train, and were unwittingly drawn into the battle between Karsunex and Marhanna. While Marhanna distracted Karsunex, the adventurers reactivated the stronghold's power grid to rob Karsunex of her native darkness, recovered Whelm from Itxthp the beholder, and discovered the means to revive the petrified Casimir Dunbarton. Upon turning the lights on, returning Whelm to Marhanna, and un-petrifying Casimir, Marhanna and Casimir fought side-by-side and slew Karsunex once again.

## Draconic Cult

As one of the most powerful chromatic dragons in the world, Karsunex drew a great number of followers in draconic cults. A few hundred cultists carried out her will in covert cells throughout the Three Kingdoms. Their operations consisted mainly of spying and fearmongering. Karsunex found humanoids irritating and had no desire to be a leader. She appointed a human leader who led and managed cult cells from his residence in Riverdazzle Castle. Even while sharing a building with Karsunex, he met with her very rarely.

In Willowroot, there were rumors circulating behind closed doors that one or more noble families were members of the draconic cult, and had aligned themselves with the dragon to protect themselves. Given Willowroot's history, such an alliance would amount to high treason. Even after Karsunex's death, any noble family found to have collaborated with Karsunex would have been forced to flee the kingdom.

Sea Haven, too, found itself wondering if the draconic cult had a strong foothold there. Karsunex's raids always seemed to find the most valuable cargos. While some believed dragons like her had strong instincts for seeking treasure, others wondered if there were informants amont the Merchant Princes' enterprises slipping manifests to Riverdazzle.

After Karsunex's death, the cult fragmented, each cell left to either disband or seek a new dragon lord. In one instance, the cultists in Shimmershore pledged loyalty to Chyzen the Briny, hoping to elevate the young blue dragon to a status similar to Karsunex one day.