Radulf: The Unlucky [Act 1]

Chapter 2: Lindwurm (Enormous Fire-breathing Flying Lizards!)

Enormous Fire-breathing Flying Lizards!

Chapter 2: There Be Dragons

Lindwurm

So, I have this artifact from an attempt upon my life. No. No, that is not accurate. The artifact, a short sword, or long knife, is a beautiful beautiful thing. It has a darkish purple blade with an apparent texture that reminds one of a plum. There is no guard which would be dangerous, I suppose, if a person intended to wield it like a sword. I assume it is either not meant to be used as a weapon directly, or it'd be more of a hack and slash than a stabbing tool.

Long long ago, I was apparently marked for death based either on my association with a hardy, though sympathetic, militia, or because I was assumed to be a witness to their massacre. I had always assumed that I was simply unlucky. For most of my adult life, I did not know the details, but things became clear around the time events herein took place. Remind me to tell you about all the accidents which lead to my continued survival, it will make quite the harrowing read.

Possibly hundreds of people have died in the lengthy hunt for me and my colleague, another soldier whom I had always called Earl. There were several close calls. And possibly others I didn't know about or shrugged off.

Back to the weapon, the artifact. Iapyx found an unusual man in the valley and instructed his servants to imprison him. Later on, it dawned upon Iapyx that this man had murdered me—OK, this is a long story.

I met Iapyx in the Archangel Valley several months ago. He was standing over me when I drew breath and came out of what I had assumed was a deep sleep or a blow to the head or a night of overindulgence.

Have I mentioned that Iapyx can revive the dead? I have mentioned that he has apparently lived for 500 million years, I just reread the scroll above to confirm, made an editorial note and I'm back here, head spinning. There are so many details that the floor around me is scattered with notes of all kinds.

I met Iapyx in the Archangel Valley several months ago. He was standing over my corpse and decided to inspect my body. He discovered a couple things. Number one, I'd been murdered. And, number two, he could revive the dead. After a few false-starts, he allowed me to slide off my shelf so my personal project would be made to continue. That I'd been murdered was important, as the other soldiers' bodies in the valley had apparently died from dragons and giants. You know, charcoaled flesh bits and bone meal deposits strewn upon the ground punctuated by the intact, though smashed, bodies of soldiers crushed beneath boulders hurled into the sky by humongous orc projections. Yes, it was very dramatic.

Iapyx helped me find my necklace, more on that later. He then walked off, mumbling to himself and leaning heavily upon his staff. I was thus alone in a field filled with the dead and mangled bodies of the army I had only recently, or so it seemed to me, joined.

And I was thirsty. I wandered for hours and the Sun began to set, and the thirst was a demon on my tongue whose dry scaly tail tickled my throat to a raspy cough. I did track Iapyx—he called himself Tyzmon back then—to a bonfire where he, in a half stupor, sitting upon a felled tree, was talking with his brother…

Fast forward. The three of us are hiking bagefter The Wolf and Icon is tinkering with little små elektroniske maskiner and catching and harnessing the kind of små firben one finds in the scrub grass, shrubs and under the flat rocks in this area. Other scaled reptiles abound, venomous snakes which, I am told, haven't changed since the time of Iapyx and Icon's childhood with a warning rattle attached to the tail, and limbless lizards which are not snakes and, and, well, if you are curious look them up, there are several species. Naturally, for his experiments, Icon was limiting himself to nonvenomous swifts.