vncnus Page 61
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He wasn't really confident about taking on the ancient red dragon Casalos, but now that the Thinker was interested in Mysdrono, calling on Toothpicker to join forces for a righteous three-on-one fight was the perfect solution.
But the reasons behind this are not something that can be easily explained to the dragons that it brought in as henchmen. Let the misunderstanding of the Tooth-Shaving Dragon go; perhaps this is a good thing, as it can alleviate their suspicions.
If this trip goes smoothly, the vast grasslands of Tindor and even large areas of the Churt Peninsula will forever belong to "Seshita," and Casaloz will be better off hiding in the background and making a fortune quietly. If Seshita is obedient, it wouldn't be bad to keep her as a puppet mascot on the snow mountain, feeding her well. If she is stubborn, turning her into a dried red dragon would be enough to eliminate any potential problems.
"What, the red dragon has a bad temper? Can't we tame it first?" Casaroz retorted, causing Cecita's scales to burst open as it stepped on her. The elf that the silver dragon had transformed into also showed obvious displeasure on its face, clearly believing this nonsense.
"Tch, even the devil doesn't know what kind of wicked scheme you're plotting now." Hearing Casalos say this, Shaving Tooth was less convinced of its own nonsense, but it didn't seem inclined to investigate further: "What's next? Shave you, little red dragon, and get out of here?"
“It’s probably not that easy.” The Thinker responded first, taking off his monocle and putting it in his pocket. He raised his head with a solemn expression: “A great evil is coming towards us. That’s your real target, Casalos.”
Then, the silver dragon Otalelia sensed the approaching evil and turned her head to look in the direction the Thinker was gazing. Only then did Shaving realize what was happening. And by the time Casaroz, the least perceptive of the four dragons, sensed the scorching sulfurous aura that even his dragon soul felt, the red dragon's wings had already blotted out the sky.
"Haha, you're all doomed! Hurry up and get your stinky hands off my face, or my mother will kill you later..."
Casaroz slammed Cecita's head into the soil with his tail to silence her babbling. He then looked up and stared at the ancient red dragon that was swarming towards him with fire elementals. He whispered, "This Nargarthra seems to have even more power than Flying Flame... Are you ready? Didn't you want to mess with Klaus? This one in the ruins is the perfect target for practicing his claws."
"Hehe, this is the ruins of Mysdrono, the burial place of the high elves. I wonder how long this guy has been hiding in there. How could he not have gotten some benefits? Although I don't know what this guy did to offend you and make you try to trick us into coming here to cause trouble for him, I will never miss this kind of battle." As he spoke, Razor cast a spell to conceal his figure. In his invisible state, he reverted to his dragon form and burrowed into the giant tree forest, seemingly preparing to give the red dragon a hard time.
The Thinker adjusted his bow tie without immediately transforming back into his dragon form, muttering to himself, "Is this what you meant by simulated tactical drills? An ancient red dragon with some strength is indeed an excellent simulation target for fighting against Old Roar."
Silver Dragon was somewhat bewildered, but she would never abandon her friends at this moment: "Although I don't know what you're up to, this is an ancient red dragon, much stronger than any of you! I'll help you hold it off, you should prepare to escape..."
112. Justice Three Against One
Casalos, who was preparing to summon the creature, glanced down at the wood elf that the silver dragon had transformed into, but did not utter a word in rebuttal. She didn't think she would continue to deal with this silver dragon in the future; since her old flame, the Thinker, hadn't said much to her, there was no need for her to waste her breath explaining.
The summoning spell took shape, and the intense elemental fluctuations startled the silver dragon, who was preparing to revert to her dragon form. Even her transformation was delayed by a fraction of a second; she hadn't fully reverted to her dragon form by the time the elemental creature materialized from the magic circle. When Casalos merged with the elemental creature, Thalya Kanos, now fully revealing her enormous true form, was so astonished that she forgot to flap her wings. Her body, which should have taken flight first, plummeted back to the ground, staring blankly and incredulously at those behind her.
Chapter 185
Casalos, enveloped in thick rock, soared into the sky.
Casalos summoned a high-level earth elemental this time. Earth elementals rarely fly, and those that do are even less adept than dragons. Fighting a red dragon one-on-one in the air would be far from ideal. However, it wasn't fighting alone; it was engaged in a righteous three-on-one or even four-on-one battle, so it had to consider other factors. Bronze dragons are far less powerful than red dragons, and the Thinker is a generation younger than Nargathra. It's unrealistic to expect it to withstand an ancient red dragon, let alone a weak, young dragon like the Fanged Dragon.
The two reinforcements it tricked into joining could only serve as spellcaster positions in this battle. The only one who could hold the line was Casaroz himself, whose skin was covered in runes. The ancient silver dragon was not part of its plan. Even if Talylia Kanos withstood Nargathra's ferocious attack, her saintly nature as a silver dragon would make her highly likely to let the red dragon escape at a crucial moment, which would not be in Casaroz's best interest.
Logically and emotionally, Casalos should be at the forefront, making the Earth Elemental, which provides high defense and additional strength bonuses, the perfect choice for it.
Upon seeing Casaloz encased in a thick shell of rock and earth, the Thinker immediately understood the tactical plan. It reverted to its dragon form, sprang backward, and then climbed vertically into the sky, its unique war aura enveloping Casaloz, Razor, and the still bewildered silver dragon.
"What the hell?"
Seeing a large clump of earth suddenly emerge from the dense forest sheltered by tall oak trees and fly towards him, the ancient red dragon Nargathora was momentarily bewildered: Weren't those adventurers beating up his good-for-nothing daughter? How did a near-legendary earth elemental suddenly appear? Could it be summoned by the adventurers? But summoning an earth elemental to fight a dragon in the air—isn't that a sign of poor judgment? Could it be… Yes, those adventurers must have sensed my arrival. Right now, they must be terrified and trying to use the extremely defensive earth elemental to hold me off while they escape!
Didn't you see that bronze dragon, who might be mixed in with the adventurers, had already escaped into the sky?
"Haha, you cowardly and arrogant wretches, the great Lord of Mystron has seen through your little tricks, you can't escape!"
Instead of using a breath attack to begin, Nargazara roared and unleashed its dragon might, while simultaneously tilting its body to the right to avoid Casaroz's flight path, attempting to bypass the cumbersome "earth elemental" and directly attack the "fleeing" adventurers.
However, Casaloz was not the earth elemental it had imagined. It turned right and suddenly accelerated, circling at high speed in the red dragon's astonished gaze. It intercepted the red dragon, which was returning to its original flight path, from the side. A breath of lightning mixed with sharp stones was sprayed out like a shrapnel bomb. The explosion and sparks scattered, causing the red dragon to lose its balance and roll into a stall state... Dragons are not airplanes, so stalling is not a big problem.
The red dragon rolled over, flapping its enormous wings and stirring up a violent storm to regain its stability. It roared and sprang out its neck, biting down on Casalos's tail, which was crossing its path. With its brute force, it dragged Casalos down and slammed them both to the ground.
Enraged by the provocation, the red dragon had forgotten its initial intention of bypassing the "earth elemental" to attack the adventurers. Now, consumed by fury, it only wanted to tear apart the earth elemental that dared to splatter it with electric sparks and rubble. Casalos was now only a little over a third of its original length, and its size appeared to be only about one-fiftieth of Casalos's, as insignificant as an ant.
Before the two dragons, one large and one small, could even hit the ground, the bronze dragon high in the sky folded its wings and swooped down. The world suddenly darkened, its emerald-like eyes gleamed, and thick, blinding lightning tore through the air and burst forth from its parrot-like mouth, accurately striking the back of the red dragon that was tumbling and falling while holding Casalos. Crimson dragon scales and dragon blood bloomed with the blast wave.
Immediately afterwards, a gray dragon shadow burst out from the towering oak thicket and bit into the huge wound in the red dragon's defenses, which had been breached by the bronze dragon's breath. It was the Fanged Dragon, which had entered the jungle to ambush the dragon earlier.
Negative energy instantly swept across the red dragon's entire body, then converged towards Razor's mouth before subsiding. The ancient red dragon's size shrank slightly, while Razor grew a little larger—the Fanged Dragon is the only known true dragon that does not breathe fire; instead, it possesses a strange power that can draw upon its "physical constitution" through biting.
Shaving Tooth didn't linger in the fight. It dodged the red dragon's counterattack and fled, throwing out a few spells that, while not particularly powerful, were full of visual effects to distract the red dragon's senses. Then it darted back into the jungle and disappeared without a trace.
Having suffered two devastating attacks in succession, Nargathra descended into a deeper rage. It released its grip on Casaloz and was about to chase after the bronze dragon Thinker who had first injured it when it suddenly realized that the "earth elemental" that it had just completely suppressed with its absolute power was completely unharmed and was instead tightly gripping the plate scales on its chest.
The dragon-shaped "earth element" gripped the edges of the plate scales with its four limbs, and its sharp front toes had already inserted into the gap between the plate scales at the junction of its neck and chest. Using the wrist joint as a fulcrum, it pried open a gap of several tens of centimeters in its perfect neck, chest and abdomen defense.
Not far away, a silver dragon, not much smaller than the ancient red dragon, flew out of the forest, its wings shimmering with a silvery light, the tall oak trees rustling in the cool wind...
The ancient red dragon Nargarthra, who had lingered in the ruins of Mysdrano for countless years, finally perished under the siege of justice.
Its death was gruesome; not a single piece of its dragon skin remained intact. Its body was covered in wounds from lightning breath and magical bombardment, as well as many jagged teeth marks that revealed the bone. The red dragon's entire body was shriveled up like a human drained of blood by a vampire, lying quietly at the bottom of a large crater blasted by an area-of-effect spell in the burning oak forest, like a starving wild dog.
113. Failed Simulation
"That's it?"
A young iron dragon, its scales etched with mysterious runes; a ferocious, mature fanged dragon covered in bone spurs; and an elegant ancient bronze dragon with verdigris markings on its body—each sat around the corpse of an ancient red dragon that Tiamat could hardly recognize, discussing the battle that had just taken place. The ancient silver dragon, now back in its elven form, sat beneath a tall, unusually large oak tree in the distance, somewhat out of place with the other three dragons—Cassaros hadn't given her a chance to join the battle; the needless killing of a red dragon clashed with the silver dragon's philosophy of life.
Of course, as a paragon of justice, the silver dragon Otalelia simply dislikes participating in such activities, but she doesn't criticize or slander this proactive act of "eliminating evil," nor does she feel any aversion to it. Silver dragons don't like imposing their morality on other species; their sense of order manifests as strict self-discipline and consideration for others—which is why the iron dragons, who despise gold dragons, don't feel any ill will towards silver dragons. Aside from truly twisted and evil creatures, very few people would dislike silver dragons.
The fact that she is keeping her distance from the three dragons now is simply to show that she will not share in their spoils, since she was unable to help in the battle.
Unfortunately, Casalos' expectations were too high, and by comparison, Nalga Salad was simply too "weak".
According to Casalos's thinking, even if an Ancient Red Dragon is somewhat inferior to a Primordial Red Dragon, it shouldn't be too significant. Using itself as a standard and reference point, it knew that whether it encountered an Ancient Red Dragon or a Primordial Red Dragon alone, it wouldn't have much of a chance and would have to flee. Therefore, it could be concluded that Nalgarzara could at least be considered a practice match against Grommash Hellscream and Klaus, but in reality, the fight turned out to be quite different.
The three-on-one attack by Justice actually gave Nalgar Salad an absolute advantage!
Blessed by the Bronze Dragonflight aura and hampered by his movement, Casaroz, clad in Earth element, withstood Nargatha's melee attacks thanks to his superior defense, even surpassing that of the Ancient Red Dragon.
Chapter 186
Fang, however, completely suppressed it with magic, thus sealing the fate of the ancient red dragon.
"Even so, I never expected the Red Dragon to be so stupid."
Similarly, Casalos puts himself in the role of Nargathra. If he were an ancient red dragon, upon discovering that the earth "element" defense rushing into his arms was beyond his expectations, he would immediately use his strength advantage to shake off this smelly and hard thing, and then turn to chase after the seemingly less threatening support bronze dragon, The Thinker.
Limited by innate subspecies differences, age gaps, and subsequent growth paths, the advanced war lord's arcane abilities are at a disadvantage compared to Nargarthala, who seems to have gained some knowledge of high elf magic. His melee abilities are also far inferior, and his flight and mobility are slightly weaker, making him basically easy prey.
Once this source, which comes with a ton of active and passive buffs, is eliminated, the Archmage of the Fang Dragon's arcane suppression over the Ancient Red Dragon will be greatly reduced. It's quite possible that the advantage brought by his vast dragon magic will completely make up for the difference in spell level, making it entirely possible to defeat the three dragons one by one.
Unfortunately, the red dragon chose the most foolish and hopeless strategy. It actually engaged Casalorus in a deadly battle, grabbing it and slamming it to the ground without letting go, determined not to give up until it peeled off Casalorus's earth elemental shell and hide. It withstood the barrage of spells and bites from the Tooth Picker and the dragon breath attacks from the Thinker, tearing at Casalorus on the ground for more than ten minutes.
By the time it realized something was wrong after its chest and belly scales had been forcibly stripped away, the tooth-picking dragon had already swallowed almost half of its body. The spells and dragon breath had also completely blasted its back open, exposing its damaged spine to the air. The once invincible ancient red dragon had lost even the hope of escaping.
“It’s clear that it’s caught in an uncontrollable dragon’s rage.” The Thinker sighed and looked up at the sky, which was obscured by the canopy of the hundred-meter-tall tree. “A red dragon that has lived to ancient times should be able to control its anger and think calmly. It shouldn’t be behaving like this. I suspect this is the effect of being trapped in the Twisted Lock for a long time.”
"No doubt about it, it's the influence of the illusion." Picking his teeth and shaking his head, he said, "I can clearly feel the negative energy in these ruins constantly surging and leaping, invading the bodies of every living thing it can reach, twisting and changing their thinking... Although this negative energy is still very weak and cannot affect us at all, it is omnipresent and all-encompassing. If we live in it for a long time and feed on the prey living in it, then it is inevitable that we will drift in a more chaotic direction."
“You miscalculated. This thing is not qualified to be our hypothetical enemy at all. Old Roar is different from it.”
“Yes, Old Roar is like a green lizard, treacherous, cunning, and ruthless.” Casalos sighed, “Moreover, based on the limited information revealed so far, Old Roar has also entered the legendary realm in arcane abilities, and can even suppress you from a distance.”
"That was my carelessness, I didn't dodge!" As a fellow dragon, Toothpicker was clearly dissatisfied with Casalos's decision to have its teleportation interfered with by Grommash Hellscream's long-range interference, attributing it to the suppression of its arcane abilities.
Casalos had no interest in arguing with it on this point; its spellcasting skills were far too poor to be convincing: "Even so, it's impossible for you to suppress Grommash Hellscream in the same way you suppressed Nargarthella. Judging from its size, Grommash Hellscream's melee combat ability far surpasses that of an ordinary ancient red dragon. Conservatively speaking, even if I were to don high-grade earth elemental armor, I could only last two or three minutes under its claws at most. The Thinker's dragon breath might not even be able to break through its scales, and your body-absorbing bites would be ineffective against it."
"In other words, even if Old Roar were enraged, it could still defeat our combined attack head-on..." The Thinker concluded, "Moreover, it would never be so out of control."
“It won’t even show up when all three of us are present; instead, it will try to divide us and defeat us one by one,” Casalos added. “If it knows that we have formed an alliance against it.”
“Even if it didn’t know before, our support for you in Ximen City exposed our alliance to it.” The Thinker then pondered further: “I don’t believe that someone with your strategic vision wouldn’t have considered these issues beforehand. Yet you still asked us for help, which is practically tantamount to deliberately revealing our alliance to it. So, what exactly is your plan?”
"It's nothing, just stalling for time." Casalos's plan gradually became clear: "Old Roar has been watching us for a while now. I believe it will soon find out about our battle with Nalgarthella. Knowing its personality, it will definitely guess that this is a simulation battle against it..."
114. Distribution
In the minds of the people of Faerûn, the red dragon is synonymous with impulsiveness, irritability, and anger, and Nalgar Salah's behavior actually fits this impression very well.
But such an impression is ultimately a one-sided observation from the perspective of anthropomorphic society. For dragons, impulsiveness means a short life—a fact written in countless bloodstains. Dragons that live to old age, even the most impulsive red dragons, should have long since undergone the harsh lessons of reality, gradually transforming into more cunning and calculating individuals. Every ancient red dragon in Casalos's memory, even those with names and identities, was associated with treachery, including Nargarthala, now a mangled corpse beneath his claws—if it hadn't been so severely affected by the Twisted Lock, its fate might have been different.
Old Roar Klaus is definitely a red dragon standing at the top of the treacherous pyramid.
The biggest challenge in truly resolving this threat isn't combat, even though it might be one of the most powerful dragons to ever appear on the continent of Faerûn. The primary issue in dealing with this old dragon is how to lure it out and force it into direct combat. Otherwise, Roar will just endlessly lurk in the shadows, using all sorts of schemes and tricks to wear you down...
Casalos hasn't found a truly feasible solution yet. Since Grommash is a red dragon suspected of possessing legendary prophetic abilities, and also a notorious magical voyeur, its ability to foresee threats and its sensitivity to intelligence are almost passive, perhaps no less than that of a certain IA from Casalos's past life memories. What can a mere young dragon possibly do?
However, Roar's threat to Toona is undeniable. Although no one knows about Casalos's ambiguous relationship with Toona, who can guarantee that Roar won't use Shenbi's prophetic abilities to find it?
To minimize unforeseen circumstances in its future growth, ensure the safety of its future mate Taona's dragon form, and maintain the stability of its newly established small circle, it needed to find a way to eliminate the uncertainty posed by Old Roar. Since a complete solution was currently impossible, it could only settle for finding a way to contain Old Roar's threat and ensure that this "temporary" period of uncertainty could be dragged through. With the Dragon Treasury by its side, this "temporary" period wouldn't last too long.
Grommash Hellscream's old-fashioned, lizard-like nature became a exploitable factor, making the goal of stalling for time relatively easy to achieve: if Grommash were shown that the three dragons currently posed a threat to its life, it would inevitably drastically modify its strategy for capturing Waterdeep, focusing its main efforts on eliminating the threat first. Given its ancient dragon mindset, increasingly corrupted, and its time perception stretched to a point that even elves couldn't comprehend due to its long lifespan, spending decades revising its strategic plans was perfectly normal.
In fact, in the original story, this old guy dragged his feet for over a hundred years without taking any real action because he couldn't find an opportunity—of course, this might be the result of the toilet paper mess and the constant retconning. But Casalos only needs to delay for a few decades... or even less, which is more than enough to erase that "temporary" powerlessness.
"I'll keep its carcass, and the rest will be divided equally."
"No, this corpse takes up at least half of its treasure trove!" (Shaving teeth covered in...)
Chapter 187
Bone spikes exploded, baring their teeth as they blocked the red dragon's corpse: "You can have its corpse, but only if you bring out enough treasures to make up the difference."
The gentlemanly bronze dragon remained seated elegantly, but the words uttered from its parrot-like beak were anything but gentlemanly: "Yes, the reward for tricking us into coming here is separate."
"No, no, no, you all know very well that the corpse of a red dragon has very little practical value. Its flesh and internal organs will rot away within four or five hours under the corrosive influence of highly abundant active fire element. At the same time, its scales and bones will quickly become loose and fragile due to the rapid dissipation of elements after death. I need to spend a considerable amount of materials to preserve its corpse in order to make it even slightly useful, and that would only be as material. Even if it were made into finished magical equipment, its value would be negligible compared to its treasure trove. Don't forget, it was an ancient red dragon that had occupied Mystron for hundreds of years!"
A large part of the significance of "adventure" lies in the thrilling distribution of spoils. Even if it's just to expand their treasury by a mere copper coin, any dragon will try its best to obtain it in a way that aligns with its philosophy of life. Casalos, of course, would never back down.
"Besides, I want its corpse for you, not to expand the treasure vault."
"Heh, what kind of trick are you up to now? Besides eating it and making it into magical equipment, what use is an ancient red dragon's corpse?" Shaving Tooth habitually mocked. Upon hearing this, the Thinker tilted its head and gave it a look as if it were an idiot. It immediately realized that it had said the wrong thing.
“Very well, you admit that the corpse has no value, at most it’s just an extra, then it’s settled…” Before the Thinker could object, Casalos continued, “I recently took some time to organize all the war knowledge I have acquired, and had Iris compile it into a set of progressive and systematic war theory textbooks, which will serve as payment to you, how about it?”
The old bronze dragon's eyes blazed with a vibrant green light that literally swelled several feet, and the magical glow illuminated the area under the trees, turning it a deep emerald green. Clearly, it had approved the distribution of the spoils.
"The flight manual is almost finished, and I'll make sure Iris gives you a 50% discount." Casalos then turned his head to the sulking, sulking Toothpick, bringing back its frustrated dragon spirit.
"Very well, let's split it equally!"
Flying was a major weakness for Fanged Dragons. Aside from the Brown Dragons with deformed wings that couldn't fly and the Deep Sea Dragons with wings resembling seaweed-like pseudo-fins, Fanged Dragons were among the worst fliers of the already poorly flying True Dragons. Casalos had promised that Iris's research could fundamentally change the predicament of dragon flight, and the results would be shared with them—of course, not for free. This would be invaluable to any ambitious and driven dragon, and now with a 50% discount, Fanged Dragons were extremely satisfied.
"It's settled then, so... where is this Red Dragon's treasure vault with its brain fried?"
The three dragons turned their heads at the same time and looked at the little female dragon Sersitta, who had somehow woken up from her coma a little further away. She quietly pulled her head out of the pit, lay on the ground pretending to be a corpse, and slowly moved a few meters into the depths of the forest.
Stared at by the three dragons who had just killed the ancient red dragon, Seretha, who had been feigning death, found her scales involuntarily bristling. She tucked her tail under her belly, her body trembling slightly: "I know... I know where her treasure vault is. I'll take you there, but there are many traps inside that I don't know how to avoid..."
Major good news!
School's started! School's finally started! My two little devils are finally back to school!
115. A fruitful harvest
Due to physiological factors, Nargarthala, who gave birth to Cecita during the late Ancient Dragon period, did not hide the location of her treasure vault from her beloved daughter. Even after entering the Ancient Dragon stage, while Nargarthala's attitude towards Cecita underwent a complete reversal, she still did not move the vault—the Ancient Dragon vault was simply too vast. The complexity and scale of the various traps and magic laid within it over time were likely so immense that even the red dragons themselves were somewhat bewildered; moving it would be a monumental undertaking.
Since the weak and pitiful Sersitta couldn't break through any of the defenses of its vault, Nargazella didn't take any action against it. At most, she moved and changed a few outer defensive spells to guard against Sersitta, but this did nothing to hinder Archmage Shave Tooth.
Even so, breaking through the defenses of the Nargarthala Vault is not something that can be done in a short time, especially since the Twisted Locks severely interfere with the ability to analyze arcane magic.
After the three dragons decided on the distribution of the spoils, the silver dragon withdrew from the ruins of Mysdrano. According to the Thinker, she seemed to have some intention of leading the group of wood elves who were unwilling to leave to retake the ruins of Mysdrano, a suggestion that Casaloz scoffed at.
It wasn't Nargarthra who conquered Mysdrano. Like all the major wars in Faerûn, the War of the Crying was essentially a microcosm of the wars of the gods, a targeted action by dark forces against the forces of the good gods. The dark army disbanded on the spot after conquering Mysdrano, which led to Nargarthra's occupation of the ruins. If the silver dragons and elves thought that taking Nargarthra would reclaim Mysdrano, they were being incredibly naive. What were the ancient red dragons in the War of the Crying? The ancient dragons and archdragons that died on Mysdrano during the war were countless, and many heroes on the Mysdrano side who could single-handedly kill an ancient dragon perished one after another under the charge of the dark army.
An evil dragon has taken over the ruins of Mysdrano. Countless dark creatures roaming the great forest can ignore it or even accept its nominal rule, but if the elves dare to return to Mysdrano, the dark army will immediately return.
The ancient silver dragon couldn't possibly be unaware of this principle, but she still wouldn't give up trying. At worst, she could retreat if things went wrong; after all, the dark army needed time to regroup—this was perhaps a key factor in her ability to control herself from participating in the distribution of spoils. Even the entire treasury of Nargarthella couldn't compare to the value of a single corner of the ruins of Mysdrano.
But that has absolutely nothing to do with Casalos. It's too busy with its two territories, the Tindor Plains and the Underground, to have any interest in occupying the disputed ruins of Mysdrono.
While Shaving was unraveling the secrets of the ancient red dragon, Casalos and The Thinker, guided by the guide Cecita, wandered through the ruins of Mysdrano, using their claws and breath to "befriend" the various powerful factions entrenched in the labyrinthine ruins shrouded in the Twisted Lock. They also took the opportunity to conduct a firsthand recap of the Weeping War, leaving The Thinker quite satisfied with the trip.
After two whole months of hard work, Razor finally broke through the defenses of the Dragon Vault. With the next opening of the Dragon Vault approaching, Casalos's journey through the heart of Faerûn had to be temporarily halted, and he would return home after completing the Vault trial. Thus, the three dragons divided their spoils and went their separate ways.
With their unique storage magic, the dragons could easily empty the ancient red dragon's treasury of gold, jewels, and other treasures. However, transporting Nargarthera's enormous corpse was a bit of a problem. Moving such a massive object out of the Comanso Forest would be incredibly conspicuous, and Casalos didn't want to attract that level of unwanted attention. To avoid revealing its dragon territory and intentions, it reluctantly parted with a few useless items from its own spoils, paying Razor to teleport the ancient red dragon's corpse to a deserted island in the Radiant Sea for safekeeping, intending to find a way to transport it back to Tindor later.
Once at sea, the concealed transport vessel, nearly thirty meters long and weighing over a hundred tons, wouldn't be a big problem. Bellamy and Shakales could simply tow it back to Tindor from underwater...
The five treasure vaults of Nargarzara, large and small, contained mostly gold coins and various jewels.
Chapter 188
The ruins of Mysdrono, which should have been the most abundant source of high elf magical artifacts, actually contained very few—in the general dragon value system, magical artifacts were worth only half their value. Casalos guessed that this was probably because, after entering the barbaric age, the arrogance of most dragons made them disdain using these things that were not designed for dragons, yet actually greatly enhanced and facilitated their own power.
Dragons like Roar, with a wand on each wing and a barrage of wand-gun fire at the start of every battle, are extremely rare.
To be honest, Casalos, whose wealth was growing ever larger, actually looked down on the gold and jewels in Nargarthra's treasury. Desera was developing extremely rapidly, relying on its revolutionary tertiary industry advantages, and was already poised to replace the Golden Vale as a crucial transit point on the maritime gold route between Faerûn and Karatú. Nargarthra's entire treasury was equivalent to only about five years of Desera's tax revenue, which was rather unworthy of its status as an ancient dragon overlord… but no dragon would complain about having more gold coins in its treasury, would it?
Its greatest gain from this trip was the complete corpse of an ancient red dragon, something that would be of little value to other dragons but was of great use.
In addition, Casaloz unexpectedly obtained from Nargarthra's vault an important item it had always wanted to dig out of the Green Dragon Vault but had never been able to: the Blank Devil's Contract. It could finally let the Charson brat out and cause trouble!
On the surface, demonic contracts aren't uncommon, and their actual value isn't particularly high; the Waterdeep City Auction House sells a few at every auction. But anyone with even a basic understanding of demonic matters knows… the kind of demonic contracts sold at the Waterdeep City Auction House—Kelburn's Black Staff wouldn't dare use them, Elminster wouldn't dare use them, and Casaloz certainly wouldn't dare use them either. Anyone who uses that thing is doomed; it's simply not even worth considering.
The key is the blank space. Only blank devil contracts, directly traded between powerful and cunning evil beings, are truly safe to use. The fact that Nargarthra's vault contains such things likely means it was stolen from some green dragon. There were quite a few green dragons hiding in the ruins of Mysdrano after the Weeping War, and most of them are now in Nargarthra's belly…