Dragon Battle Tutorial
Format: On rails
Theme: Ephesians 6:12. This mission was designed as a primer for running dragon encounters.
Author: "Dad"
Available from: this website, in our Homemade Adventures
Adventure Master: Dad, AM for his 16th mission.
Mini-Mission
Date in Real Life: Sunday, 7 August, 2022
In Game Day: Khamesh, the 15th of Samwol (late spring)
Player Characters:
Dorei the Potential
Gundo the Potential
Rumbold the Potential
Salvato the Potential
Meanwhile, at Ras Telesar, a team of Potentials was in the open air arena with Master Gavrus, practising archery.
“We’ll figure out which weapons suit you best as time goes on. Today, it’s the long bow.”
“I’m already an experienced archer,” Gundo admitted.
“I’m aware of that,” Master Gavrus said. “Have you ever tried a crossbow?”
“No,” Gundo shook his head.
“Then you can try the crossbow this morning, and the rest will be using long bows.”
Salvato held the bow awkwardly. Master Gavrus was talking to Gundo about his crossbow. Salvato leaned closer to Dorei, “I thought the cleric said in chapel last night that our struggle is not against flesh and blood. What’s with all the weapons training?”
“Don’t let Master Gavrus hear you say that,” Dorei admonished.
“Good,” Master Gavrus said loudly. “Okay, everyone watch me. When shooting the bow, this arm is straight, and you pull back the string to the corner of your mouth, like this. You aim along the shaft of the arrow, and let go with your fingers, without moving anything else.” An arrow sailed out of the master’s bow and hit the center of a target several feet away.
Each of the Potentials tried it out, firing several arrows, retrieving them, firing again, retrieving them again, and repeating until they lost count. Master Gavrus gave them pointers on position and breathing techniques, and gradually they were all hitting the target most of the time.
Suddenly, Salvato heard screams, and saw smoke somewhere in the distance, beyond the targets, over the wall. Master Gavrus held up his hand, a signal to pause the practice. The studentslowered their bows and watched the wall, eyeing the smoke with concern.
Salvato’s eyes widened as a creature came flying over the wall. It sailed over their heads, and Salvato spun around to watch. The creature stopped, hovering above the arena. It was large and reptilian, but translucent. The sunlight glinted through its body in beautiful patterns.
“It’s a crystal dragon!” Gavrus yelled. “Quick, behind the targets!”
Dragon? Salvato turned and sprinted for the targets, diving behind one. He had been hearing about dragons all his life, and recently learned they were primarily spiritual beings, even though they manifested themselves physically.
“How did it get here?” Dorei called out, scrambling after the group. Dragons weren’t able to get past the mist barrier to get into the Liberated Lands.
“No time for that, now. We need to stop it!” Gavrus said.
Salvato peered around the edge of his target as Gundo slid in behind the target beside him. There were other potentials in the arena as well. He could see an instructor with a group of students cowering together in a cluster. A couple of others had been sparring with swords. A few more were off by themselves in various corners.
Master Gavrus peered around the edge of a target, “Dragons always attack with Mind Speech first. They want to corrupt your soul. You have to use your knowledge of the sacred scrolls to defend against it, or else you become enchanted.”
The dragon flapped its wings and looked at the Lightraiders running around in the arena and laughed. “LightRaiders! What a fun way to start life in this body!”
“We’re not even Lightraiders, yet. We’re just potentials,” Rumbold commented.
Salvato then heard a voice in his head,
“It is good that you are practising with those weapons. The battle is always against flesh and blood.”
Although the voice sounded like Salvato’s own, he realized it must be the dreaded Mind Speech. He recalled the message from chapel the night before. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, he thought. But against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. The spiritual world is real, and they are our real enemy.
Salvato looked around. He didn’t feel any different. Did it work? He glanced at Gundo and Rumbold.
“Glad for chapel last night,” Rumbold grunted.
“Praise the Overlord,” Gundo agreed.
The dragon started glowing orange, as if a fire had been lit inside. It’s mouth opened and spewed fire towards the two Potentials who had been sparring with swords. Salvato saw the bright purple flash of their spiritual armour. Amazingly, they seemed unharmed. The dragon turned and shot fire at one of the Potentials who was alone. A girl who just came in a week ago. Salvato had just met her. Stephanie. She was left twitching on the ground, badly burned. Salvato thought he might be sick.
Master Gavrus gestured to the group. “Fire Attack! If we stay together, our shields of faith are stronger. On the other hand, if we split up, it can’t target all of us at once!”
The dragon landed on the ground, reared its head and Salvato could see more flames start to trickle out.
“Let’s attack it!” Gundo yelled, stepping out from behind his target. Dorei and Rumbold stepped out as well.
“Get back here, you fools!” Master Gavrus yelled. Salvato squeezed his eyes shut as flame and heat came shooting their way. He heard Dorei and Rumbold yell in surprise.
He opened his eyes, sure his fellow potentials would be charred messes on the ground. Some of the targets had been roasted to ashes, but Dorei and Rumbold were unharmed. “The Shield of Faith works,” Salvato mumbled.
“Of course it does,” Master Gavrus grumbled. “But that’s no excuse to be reckless. Get back behind cover, and let’s try shooting some arrows at it.” The dragon had turned his head towards other potentials who were slinging stones at it.
Dorei and Rumbold backed up behind the burnt remains of their targets. “Not much cover anymore,” Rumbold said, nocking an arrow.
Twang. Salvato was readying an arrow and realized Gundo hadn’t retreated to cover. He was firing his crossbow, still boldly standing out in the open.
“Gundo!” Master Gavrus yelled. “Get back here!”
Salvato let his arrow fly. It fell short of the target.
“I hit it!” Dorei called out in triumph.
“I didn’t,” Rumbold said.
The dragon turned their way. With surprising speed for its size, it ran several feet away from them, then turned towards them again. What was it doing?
The dragon laughed. “I am Fugos! You cannot defeat me so easily!” The dragon opened its mouth. Salvato braced himself for another blast of flame, but none came. Instead, he felt warm, moist air. The sudden humidity made him feel dizzy.
“It’s a Dragon Breath Attack!” Master Gavrus yelled.
“What does that mean? What do we do?” Gundo asked, scrambling back behind the target.
“It depends on how you guys have been doing on your fruit of the spirit!” Master Gavrus yelled back. “Some of you might get infected. Watch each other for strange behaviour.”
Salvato felt the same. He glanced at his teammates. Dorei made eye contact and shrugged.
“Do we shoot?” Gundo asked. He had just finished reloading his crossbow and held it up, taking aim at the dragon.
“No!” Gavrus called out, “After a Breath Attack, only WordRunes will work! Psalm 68:19, ‘Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. Psalm 68:19.’ Use your WordRunes!”
Salvato repeated the words from the Sacred Scrolls. The dragon flinched as if it had been hit with something. It flinched several more times, as if WordRunes were coming at it from multiple directions.
Salvato spotted a Potential dash out from the other side of the arena, waving a battle axe. He recognized him as Stephen, brother of Stephanie. Stephen rushed to the dragon from behind. Salvato held his breath. Will he make it?
Without even looking, Fugos flicked his tail and sent Stephen flying.
“That was not wise,” Gavrus said. “Dragons can attack with their tails. They can also attack with their claws and teeth as well.”
“Maybe Stephen was enchanted from the breath attack,” Rumbold suggested.
Gavrus grunted and readied another arrow. “Maybe. Dragons prefer to attack with claws, since the head is more vulnerable, but their bite would hurt more! If they attack physically, we can attack physically. Let fly some arrows!”
Salvato was surprised by this. He looked down and saw that he still had an arrow nocked on the string. He lifted his bow, took aim, and sent the missile at the dragon. It missed again. How could he miss such a large target? Several more arrows flew from the others, and he saw stones being slung from the other class. The dragon turned towards them when Gundo’s bolt dug into its side.
Fugos the dragon stalked towards them. Salvato readied another arrow, but was unsure if it would work.
“Hold,” Master Gavrus said, raising his hand. “Save your arrows. We don’t know what will work next until we know what the dragon will do next.”
The Dragon opened its mouth, but instead of fire or moist breath, smoke came billowing out.
“It’s a smoke attack!” Gavrus calls out.
Gundo started coughing first. Salvato tried holding his breath, but had to give up after a moment, and began hacking on the smoke. He felt like his lungs were on fire.
“Watch for strange behaviours, now,” Master Gavrus managed while hacking.
“Get me out of here!” Rumbold cried, dropping his bow and struggling to run away. Salvato reached out and grabbed his arm, Dorei grabbing Rumbold from the other side. “Stay here!” Rumbold flailed his arms around, panicking.
Salvato heard Gavrus call out, “Just like a Breath Attack, only WordRunes will work after smoke attacks! Use your WordRunes!”
Salvato’s mind went blank. He didn’t know any other WordRunes.
“I know one!” Dorei called out. “1 Peter 5:7. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you, 1 Peter 5:7.”
The smoke was already clearing in the wind. Salvato was amazed to see the dragon stopped in its tracks. Its head swayed, as if stunned.
“We bought time, good job!” Master Gavrus said. “Talk some sense into Rumbold.”
Salvato was struggling to hold onto Rumbold.
“Rumbold, Rumbold, listen to me!” Dorei said, facing him. “You’re safer here, with us! If you run out there, you’ll be out in the open and exposed! Stephanie and Stephan have already been hurt or killed.” Salvato felt Rumbold’s struggles subside. Dorei’s counsel must be working.
Salvato looked across the field again to where Stephanie was laying on the ground. He couldn’t tell if she was dead or alive. Then, he saw her arm move. Stephanie then rolled over and tried to crawl away. “She’s still alive!” Salvato cried out.
“Stay here,” Master Gavrus instructed, then ran off, ducking low to the ground, heading towards Stephanie. Salvato eyed the dragon, who was distracted by the class of slingers.
Yin and Yang. Dark is equal to light. Who will win this time? Salvato felt himself thinking. Wait! That didn’t make sense. Was this the Dragon’s Mind Speech again? “God is bigger,” he thought, and stood and fired an arrow at the dragon.
Gundo grabbed his arm. “What are you doing? Weapons don’t work during Mind Speech.”
“Huh?” Salvato said.
“The Sacred Scrolls say the Overlord is supreme. Refute the Mind Speech with arguments from the Sacred Scrolls!”
Salvato found himself drawing another arrow.
Gundo continued. “Like in Revelation it tells about his sovereign reign over creation. The Overlord is coming back in power and glory to defeat the evil one once and for all. The Red Dragon has already been defeated. The Overlord is all powerful, and already has the victory. It isn’t an even match.”
Salvato rapidly blinked at the Truth. As he let the reality described in the Sacred Scrolls wash over him, he felt the need to shoot the dragon subside. He dwelt on the Truth. He might have imagined it, but it looked like the dragon flinched a bit when he did this.
The dragon charged at Stephen, who was up and swinging his battle axe again. Salvato saw the dragon’s neck bend with mind numbing rapidity, and the head struck. He didn’t see the blow, but Salvato felt sure Stephen wouldn’t survive. He heard the slingers gasp in dismay.
“Overlord, help us,” Salvato murmured. He could see that Master Gavrus had reached Stephanie, and was picking her up off the ground.
The dragon’s wings spread, and with a few powerful flaps, lifted into the air. The creature then flew out of the arena, breathing fire at some other part of the academy campus.
“It left?” Rumbold exclaimed.
The team seemed dumbfounded with disbelief.
Master Gavrus arrived, carrying Stephanie. “We need to get her to the infirmary.”
“Stephen!” Salvato exclaimed. He left the cover of the targets, dropping his bow. He rushed over to where the slingers were gathered.
Salvato took one look and threw up. Stephen’s head had been bitten right off.
The dragon, Fugos, was slain in the courtyard by several experienced Lightraiders and Instructors, so the threat was gone. Many of the cadets were shown the body. The explanation of what had happened slowly came together over the next few days. One of the new Keledan who had come through the passage lakes had foolishly brought a dragon egg with them in their belongings. The egg had hatched almost immediately on the shores of the lakes. Stephen was dead. Stephanie was going to be okay, but had to spend several days in the infirmary.
That weekend was the Summer Solstice festival. Salvato was sitting on the steps of the main entrance to the Ras Telesar fortress. He was fiddling with a few sticks of wood. He always liked making things. It was familiar and soothing to him.
Dorei walked up to him. “Hey, there you are.”
Salvato looked up. “Hey,” he returned. Dorei was the closest thing he had to a friend at the Academy. They had both been rescued from Shimo Island about a month ago. It sometimes felt like the only thing he had in common with anybody.
“You okay?”
“Still thinking about the dragon. I’m still scared out of my mind. And Stephen and Stephanie. It isn’t what I signed up for.”
“You didn’t sign up,” Dorei said softly. “You were called. Come on, they’re looking for us.”
Salvato got up wordlessly and followed her to the dining hall. He was called. It was true. He didn’t choose this life. The Overlord had chosen him.
At the feast, it was announced that the Potentials who were in the arena that day (and survived) were declared acceptable candidates for the Academy. They were granted the rank of Initiates.
Salvato found himself accepting the promotion. It meant he was committed to the Lightraider life, no matter what that meant.
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