The lands of Aiskore have been somewhat peaceful for the past couple hundred years. The Elder Council and Black Rose have been rather peaceful around each other. Some would argue that the rose is just building power for an attack. While others simply hope that that the peace is how it seems. Though all should know that such a corrupted force as the Black Rose cannot be peaceful for long. The Elder Council has begun an effort of trying to get the independents on their side for they know not the numbers of their enemies. Meanwhile the Black Rose is coming together to see they are ready for anything major. Some believe that Gigeth completed or was close to completing a portal to the shadow lands. They believe that going back to the source of their power will make them even stronger. Both sides seem to be slightly worried about what the other might do. Though a few times the two groups had worked together to fight. Such as what happened with any other group that seemed to gather to much power. As of lately the two some small skirmishes have happened, but each group has seemed to ignore them. Both groups seem to be holding a meeting. The elders will try their best to decide what to do with their people. While within the Black Rose everyone has a voice. Though many with the same opinion will join together into a faction, letting one of themselves speak for the group. If these two great powers crash in the first time in centuries, what will become of the world, and those who have not joined ether side. What will become of them? Graguth laid on the side of a grassy hill. His gray and silver scales softly shined in the afternoon sunlight. His head barely peeked over the top of the hill as he watched a group of bandits move towards a cliffs of the middle sea. The group had be raiding small settlements in the area. Graguth had decided to make sure that they were stopped. The group began to climb down the side of the cliff. Down to their camp most likely, Graguth thought to himself. As the last one left his sight he stood and stretched. With a yawn he reached out his wings. After a moment he began to flap them and took of for the cliff side. Circling around to come at them from the sea, a roar escaped from his jaws. The group of bandits had gotten to their camp at the base of the cliff. A few boats sat on the shore, and the only real building has a small wooden cabin. Graguth breathed his purple fire while flying over their boats. They were up in a blaze within moments. Some of the bandits had begun to trying to fight him, arrows and Spears bounced off his scales. He roughly landed on the cabin crushing it and a few other sheds. Some have given up and began to run back up the flight of stairs. Reaching his clawed hand up, he tore the stairs from the cliff wall sending rocks and bandits alike crashing to the ground. A sudden feeling of cold hit his back. Turning he cam to face a young human mage boldly standing before him while his allies run in terror. Before the mage could attack again, Graguth grabbed him. Knocking him out by flicking his head, Graguth set him on top of the cliff. shouldn't let a good soul die in a place like this, He thought to himself. By now most of the bandits are ether dead or hiding. To any who are still alive, this is your second chance. Do not make me regret it, he bellowed out. Grabbing a few bodies he took off heading north. The Council had given him orders to speak with Scolopendra. He also hoped that he would help him with an experiment. Graguth landed in on the edge of Scolopendra's territory, and waited for one of his tribesmen to tell the multi-headed dragon of his arrival "My lord, they say many want to return to the frozen wastes. Why would we need to go there?" One of Drumagth's followers had begun a conversation with him. "It is rumored that Gigeth had worked on a portal to the shadow lands." he said to the green and black youth. Glancing at Bigray as he speaks, "since the the castle was made for mortals, my father never saw the to inside. Thus he has not been able to confirm this rumor."The young dragon looked a bit confused but nodded. "On top of that there should be a great number of frozen dead there. With enough power we could have an army to be feared," Drumagth made a mental note to make sure that he teaches the young dragon, Dirath history. They quickly arrived at the shrine. "Lord Drumagth has arrived," the shout was heard as the six dragons landed on the crowded walkway. Some of those closest to the group gave a slight bow, but all of them made a path towards the meeting hall. Dirath had taken a place right next to Drumagth. He seemed amazed that at the humongous building that was built to hold many dragons. Drumagth took a spot in the top of the circular building. From here he could see everything, and it was also away from most of the younger generation. Who seemed to almost fight for a spot in the front. He laid down on his usual spot, and his followers instantly formed a ring around him. Drumagth sided and waited for the meeting to began.

Deep inside a giant cave within Lonely Mountain, just overlooking the Mistmoar Marsh, Smaug rests ontop of his giant stash of gold after a long night of raiding a nearby village for gold and food. It was a successful raid, with everyone below hopeless to stop him. While some soldiers and mages began to fight back, their weapons were no match for his armored hide, which are like tenfold iron shields. They also say that his teeth were like swords, his claws spears, his wings like a hurricane, his tail like a thunderbolt, and his breath like death. Smaug was indeed feared by many, yet he is not unstoppable. Yes he was once indeed the last great leader of the infamous Fire Drakes during the war, but he and his army were defeated. As a result, the survivors were all forced to go into hiding, including he himself. Still, Smaug was not to be messed with. He continues resting in his treasure trove, ready to find food later in the evening. That is... if no one disturbs his rest.

He looked down from atop of broken brick tower, eyeing the next batch of humans that filed into his sanctuary. The dark woods of the forest hid them from aerial sight but he could clearly hear the corrupted beast outside his range, prowling and hoping for a chance to snatch one of them up. They were smart enough to know not to enter his domain but instincts drove them to try, every few moons hungry took them to extreme. He let loose a warning screech, tearing the air and shaking the trees to deter them. The corrupted beasts ran and feathered birds flew off from the treetops. With a sigh, he rolled his neck and let his horns scratch his back before taking off eastwards to survey his territory. That roar should have given him a few hours of peace. If nothing else.

Smaug Yet Beyza's screech was not only heard by the corrupted beasts that dared to approach him, but also disturbed the peace of Smaug himself. His eyes fling open and gives an annoyed growl from his maw. Who dares to disrupt his peace as he sleeps? He then slowly begins to move as gold falls from his crimson hide. He then shakes off the remaining gold and yawns, ready to find this intruder. He then makes a running start towards the entrance of his mountains and with several powerful flaps of wings, he became air born. He goes north to where the dragon's screech was heard and prepares to encounter the dragon.

Beyza flew until he encountered another of his kind, without claws to fight him off and only armed with his talons, the porcelain dragon halted, flapping his wings to keep him afloat. "What's your business here?" he demanded, horns hiding the sharp gaze of his yellow eyes.

It was the middle of the night, when a frigate crossed the northern waves of the Middle Sea. Captain Jebediah knew about the disappearing ships in these waters, but he was convinced that he was suited to steer his vessel through the wildest storm, where lesser men may have failed and caused wild and nonsensical rumors to spread. There was a decent wind going, the sea was relatively calm and a myriad of stars blessed his passage. The only thing missing was the moon, locked away behind a prison of clouds at the edge of the horizon. And though the circumstances seemed perfectly peaceful, the captain insisted on staying awake, steering his old lady through the brine. As if to announce the following events, the wind grew weaker. A man's voice commented on this with a few shouts from the front of the ship, but Jebediah already knew. Stroking his unkempt beard, he pondered if it was enough to carry her onward. At least there was no current they had to struggle against. "Keep 'er going, slow and steady wins the race." He shouted at the few uncertain faces of one third of his crew, the rest below deck and sleeping or gambling, most likely. Something threatening was in the air, a sour smell of sorts. The seafahrer didn't believe in stories of man-eating monsters dwelling in the oceans, nor did he believe in dragons, had he never seen one with his own eyes in thirty years of his career at sea. His subordinates however... It started with a splash of water. The unmistakable sound of a man falling into the cold waves, never to surface again. "What in damnation was that!" Jebediah growled, as his men raced to both sides of the ship to look for the man overboard. "'es gone..." someone proclaimed somewhere. "There's something in the water!" another cried out, scared. "Sharks no doubt, and they'll get a nice snack if ye don't man up, Richards." was the dry answer of the man at the wheel. "Every man back on their posts!" They scuttered away again, unwillingly. In the dark of the night, nobody noticed the towering black serpent emerging from the brine, right-hand in front of the ship. It wasn't until the monster opened its maw and bathed half of the deck in the light of its purple glowing mucus-like saliva that people became aware of its presence, and panic-like shouting was the answer. The beast looked at the men trying to flee from this side of the ship for a few seconds, before spitting a load of sizzling, glowing liquid on top of the deck, and closed its mouth to disappear in the blackness again, the only proof of its existance being the acidic goo and two eyes in the dark glowing in the same eerie tone. The captain didn't have line of sight on the creature, thus the only thing he was able to perceive was his panicking crew. He left his post at the wheel to step down on their level and notice the oddly glowing ooze. Just in time to witness how it began to eat its way through the planks, corroding the wooden floor and dropping down into the cargo deck. "What in the world is that." "It's a monster, cap'n!" the frightened men all gathered around the purple mass that was about to eat through some barrels with unknown content. "That shite is going to burn a hole into the damn ship. Do something already!" the captain pulled the nearest man closer to the hole in the upper deck, easily big enough to have two people fit through at once. "Get a broom and stop the damned goo!" As irrational as the command was, both the man in his clutches and several others complied, jumping down the new entrance to the cargo deck to look for tools to wipe away the sizzling liquid. Everybody froze in place when a tremor went through the whole ship. Something had collided with them. From below. "What in the cursed seas is going on here!" the captain demanded to know. As if to answer him, two more quakes shook the ship in rapid succession. More and more men appeared on the deck as they woke up from the sound of breaking wood. A rupture went through the frigate as it received another hit, this time from the side opposite of the first serpent's head appearing. Purple glowing, oversized maws opened on both sides of the ship and lunged at the crew at the same time, biting one member of the crew each and violently flinging them high up in the sky, far higher than the mast of their ship. Now everyone on deck began screaming as the beast finally revealed itself. What little weapons they had with them seemed futile against the enormous size of the monster alone - the crew realized this was the end of their journey. The only one still in denial of the situation was captain Jebediah. He stumbled back into the captains cabin, to emerge moments later with an old flintlock pistol in his clutches. At this point, more than half of his crew was already either bitten in half or covered in acidic mucus, while two more heads of the creature had appeared to decimate his men. The wood below his feet moaned painfully as the ship slowly broke in two, a clean separation right in the middle. Neither that nor the carnage all around him seemed to phase the captain, he made his way back up to the wheel where another head of Scolopendra greeted him, stared at him with its menacing purple eyes, its mouth forming an eternally mocking grin of purple outline. The head was slightly more massive than the others, and the captain knew that it was 'the' head of the monster. "Get. Off. My. Ship." he growled, threatening the creature while pointing the flintlock right at the center of the head. The captain pulled the trigger, felt the recoil rocking through his arm, but the creature didn't flinch. It didn't even blink. It opened its jaws slightly, a thundering roar sounding from the depth of the purple glowing abyss. It sounded like an unholy language to the captain, not meant for human ears. Still staring at it angrily, he simply stood there and waited for the beast to retaliate. Which it did. It flicked its head against the body of the captain, catapulting his body off the ship and into the see, but not quite as hard as it could have since he didn't feel his bones break. The next thing he felt was being dragged down below the waves by something he couldn't see. He opened his eyes to see the full size of the monster that just ripped his boat apart, but the salty assault on his eyes and the infinite darkness of the night denied him his last request. "Damned beast." was his last train of thought, before his lungs gave in and tried to breathe water. Captain Jebediah drowned, while his crew was being torn to shreds by Scolopendra. The beast systematically cracked the ship with precise collisions that broke it in two, separating the cargo area from the crew cabins like countless times before. It then made sure not a single soul of the crew survived the night to bear witness of the attack and carefully preserved the body of the captain for later use as a necromantic puppet. It waited for the two halves of the ship to fully submerge in the brine before it shoved the majority of bodies into the cargo loaded part and grabbed it with its two appendages to slowly push it towards familiar shores, dragging the lifeless body of Jebediah along. Scol had prepared a submerged access to its sub-terranean cave system for occasions like these. It pushed its broken prey into the hidden caverns and up something similar to a roomy bay, so that the shipwreck and its cargo would lie dry. None of all this was even the slightest bit visible from above the waters surface. As per usual on these occasions, the monster fell into a channeling trance, as it let part of its conscience slip into the lifeless body of the captain. The appearance of a hooded, hobbling stranger in the temple of the serpent was no unusual occurance. Most of the cultists knew what it meant, though only for few it had decisive consequences. Something was different this time, however. Usually, the appearance of the emissary would have caused for the circle to gather and confer, but this time a cultist - seemingly insignificant, hooded and masked alike the others - stepped up to the undead and addressed him directly. There was only one with the authority to do so without repercussions: the oracle. The woman whispered a single inaudible word to the dead seafarer. Whatever it was, it caused the emissary to turn around on his heels and return to the underground caves urgently. This turn of events was unusual and lead most regular cultists to exchange worried looks. Minutes later, they all witnessed the rise of Scolopendra from the waves and the begin of its journey into the jungles. Neither of the beasts heads honored the humans with attention while the morning sun mirrored in its wet, black scales. And so Scolopendra traversed the Witchlight Jungle, an event of a certain rarity that was hard to miss, and though the earth was shaking slightly as the monster traveled the land, it made a lot less noise than one would expect from a being of this size. The fastest hunters of several small settlements it came by attempted to follow the beast to behold the object of their religious worship, but only few had the required endurance and speed to even barely keep up the pace. With Graguths arrival foretold by its oracle, the serpent and its followers broke through the thicket shortly after the dragon reached the borders of Scols jungles. All six of its heads regarded the dragon with suspicion, waiting for the intruder to state his intentions. A handful of humans hiding between the trees to observe the unearthly exchange.

Graguth had begun to wonder how long it would be until he was noticed. He wasn't that hard to miss. He turned his head west, across the ocean. A look of longing in his eyes, I wonder what he's doing. His thoughts were interrupted by a loud noise heading his way. That wasn't too long, He thought to himself as the multi-headed dragon stepped out of the treeline, and his people standing just within the shadow. Scolopendra was an impressive sight. With a bow, "greetings lord Scolopendra, I have come from the Elder Council to make sure that you and your people are faring well. My name is Graguth, grandson of Rylarth." he said as he raised his head. Then pointing at the few bodies he had brought, " If you are willing, I would also like to ask you for help on an experiment. I have brought these here as a gift. he grabbed three of bodies and set them in a pile. Taking the fourth, "if you don't mind doing the experiment, then I liked to use this body." It seemed to be the bandit leader. Who died while trying to run up the stairs.

"Could you pass me that cuirass please?" Krag asked as he stared down focusing on the Dwarven forge before him. "Sure thing!" Grak said happily and chipper as his massive, one-eyed head reached over and picked up a Dwarven cuirass made mostly from a bronze metal. Grak handed the piece of armour over to his brothers mouth who then proceeded to chomp down on it and lower it down to the burning hot magma below. The metal melted fairly quickly but Krag made sure to keep the contents within his own mouth so as though not to loose any materials. Once the armour was in a completely liquified state the dragon lifted its head up and began spitting the metal within a mould of Grak's head. After the metal began settling Grak began bashing his head within the metal in order to get the non-hardened metal out. After about an hour a bronze alloy helmet was completed for Grak and the dragon tried it on while swinging his head all around happily "feels great!" Grak said to his brother Krag "nice! Now let's go see how it fares against some opposition!" Krag said as the dragon began heading outside. There was a patch of ground on the small island that had a ton of disturbed dirt which seemed like it had been tilled or something. Krag and Grak both open their mouths and let an eerie mist flow out and onto the ground. The mist seeped into the earth below and out from the ground about two dozen hands broke free and began to raise from the ground. At this point Krag had given total body control to Grak so that Krag could focus on controlling the undead while that other had the freedom to fight them. The zombie dwarfs came forth with their rusted weaponry and armour and rushed the dragon while stabbing and slashing at it as they came in closer. Grak started swinging his head and bashing the undead with his now fortified noggin and sent them flying into the water. A few managed to get close enough to actually slash at the dragon but didn't get to many hits in as the dragon simply waved its wing and blew them away. Most of the undead were incapacitated by this point but Krag still had a trick up his sleeve that he had been meaning to try out. He commanded the undead to come together at a safe distance and they began toppling on top of one another to make a larger, stronger being "did you think of that?" Grak asked his brother to which Krag nodded. The undead monster ran in and began swiping at the dragon with its long appendages which managed to connect and actually hurt the two. Grak began taking measures to dodge the attacks and was somewhat successful and got its own few hits in. As the undead behemoth began to weaken from the natural strain of having all of the weight resting on just a few bodies, Krag rushed the creature and flew right through it. As Grak got back his control on his half of the body he smiled "now was that cool or what?" Krag said with a smile and Grak nodded in agreement.

An hour after he took flight from his home at Lonely Mountain, he encounters the dragon who disturbs his rest. Beyza. He comes to a halt as his wings continued to put him afloat. "WHO ARE YOU that would stand against me?" he answers back with a growl and a flare from his lips, "You have disturbed the peace of my land. You have awakened me from my beauty sleep, including my WRATH that comes with it! Turn back now, while you still can, or I will rip you apart, limb from limb!"

A huff of smoke expelled from his barely visible nostrils, a crimson hue emanating from his chest. This dragon must have been corrupted or something, to believe that he could travel into his territory and command him to leave was direct challenge to himself. He flapped his wings harsh, throwing the currents towards the challenger. "You're in my land," he told him, a growl echoing in his throat. "You have but one more chance before I send you to Rylarth."

Smaug was not daunted by Beyza's display. Soon, his chest began to glow a fiery orange hue from his chest, with fire brewing right at the back of his throat. He then suddenly boasts out a laugh as his wings also began to beat faster. "Rylath you say?" Smaug sneers as his voice begins to boom, "You are forsaken... no HELP will come!"

"I need no help for the likes of you. I will rip your wings you and send you spiraling to the depths." He flew off towards Smaug, spiraling in a fashion that brought him over the large reptile. He brought his talons down onto space that connected his shoulders and wings, ready to through his flight off balance with powerful force.

As soon as Beyza began to speed at him, Smaug roars as he speeds towards him with thundering speeds. Yet it fell short once his wings got caught by the talons of his enemy. Roaring in rage and pain, his neck then bites Beyza's tail, allowing him to escape the talons and beginning coming back for another attack.

Pain rippled up his tail, making him release the dragon in hurry. In the next moment however, he sped towards the dragon. It was a risky move but risks were meant to be made. He let out a fierce roar and charged the beast, hoping to pierce his back or wings. A dragon's wings were pretty weak, even if they were bulky and strong.

The six headed serpent let loose a thundering growl from all its heads simultaneously, sounding much like thunder in a great distance and only very remotely like a single, short laugh. 'Lord Scolopendra' was certainly no title anyone ever thought of adressing it with before. It kept its distance while the dragon spoke, and only after he finished Scol opened the maw of its main head and two smaller ones so speak in the old dragon tongue, incomprehensible for its human followers, and further distorted from not really using its vocal chords in centuries. Even to Graguth it would sound thick with accent and rattling with the burning acid in its throat. "DESCENDANT. OF. RYLARTH." Every word came from the main head, but also from one of the insignificantly smaller ones, and the latter changed with every word. The monster nodded all of its heads once, paying respect to the bloodline for a brief moment before picking up again. "WHAT. KIND. OF. EXPERIMENT." Though the pile of corpses was a rather obvious tell, Scol didn't know just how much the council knew about its abilities. It didn't bother with how far the rumors originating at the borders of the Witchlight Jungle travel around the world. For the first time, it pondered how much good or bad the spreading superstition could do to its plans. Either way, it would have Graguth spell it out himself, eager to learn if the world was over- or underestimating its abilities.

Yet as Beyza sped towards the mighty Smaug, the crimson dragon was already ready for a counter attack. He snarls as his belly began to light up with a fiery hue and blasts fire all over his enemy. He will not allow such a measly dragon to beat him! He then swoops towards Beyza, trying to latch onto his giant side horns.

Graguth was slightly surprised by the accent, but tried not to show it. He did have a small shine of excitement in his eyes in his otherwise composed expression. "The experiment would consist of you raising one of these bandits for me to breath fire around. As is rumored my fire is corrupted and creates a toxic smoke that eats at living materials." He gave a moment to collect his next train of thought. " Though I have no idea if it has any effect on the undead," he said with a glance towards the west. Then with a sort of surprised yip, " not that I would plan to use it against you, or any number of those who serve you. I would rather you consider some form of alliance with the counsel. You seem like a very honorable dragon. Truth is Graguth would have loved to even try to ask his brother if it had an effect on the undead, but he was sure it would lead to some form of fight. Though meeting with Scolopendra was a good compromise. A dragon that had fought along side his grandfather was a very good compromise indeed.

Ro roosted on top of his tower, unable to enter it due to his massive form his massive wings spanned out over the entire top leaving very little room for the group of followers who were arrayed out near the stair well. One of the mages he had in charge of necromancy bowed and spoke very nervously. "My lord, it's ready." Ro raised his head and looked the nervous man over. "Good..." He said, his voice shaking the man to his core, as the dragon rose and the minions quickly cleared the top of the tower as he took flight. His wings making a large gale of wind as he circled the tower and landed in the village square. As he drew near he heard what seemed to be a million voices enter his mind, the voices of his most loyal followers. "Master" They seemed to whisper in his head, as the undead in the city hailed their great leader. He owned them body and soul and he loved it. He heard the sounds of the door to the tower opening and out came a hideous beast, a dragon that had been twisted. Grafted onto it's skin were metal plates, and it's mind entered Ro's and it spoke in gibberish. Ro tried asserting his will over it but it resisted it's mind too broken it would need to go back and more experiments performed on it before he could control it. "It's no good, it won't listen go back to working on it." Ro snapped at the gathered mages who trembled at their lords anger. "Yes Dead Father." Said the leader who bowed and exited, rolling the beast back inside. Ro looked at the black legionnaire who seemed frightened of him. "Go and gather your leaders and empty the land we are going without the beast. And anyone who stands in our way will fall." Ro said, his voice calm but the anger that boiled beneath the surface came out, the legionnaire bowed and ran to go notify his leaders as once again Ro took flight and flew over his city more and more voices filling his mind as they cheered their leader and the aspect of feeding on the living.

Scolopendra repeated the small eruption of a laugh. Graguth was either quite blatantly trying to flatter, or his assessment of Scol was terribly off. Either way, the six heads implied a nod. "VERY. WELL." Curious about this peculiar flame breath itself, Scol began to perform its magic, a process that was never witnessed by human eyes before. It would give them an idea of how defenseless their deity was when performing this kind of magic, but that mattered little for the serpent. At this point, the humans would not consider rebelling, Scol simply gave them no reason to. Two of its heads fell into a low channeling tone, taking breath in turns so the deep sound would never be interrupted. They both stared blankly at something in the far distance beyond Graguth. Another two heads of the beast kept focused at the destined corpse, conducting snake-like movement through the air but keeping quiet. The main head spoke a few words, older than the dragon language itself. Words the corruption wrote into its mind, words not even the serpent itself fully understood. The sound of its voice nothing more than a whisper, but at the same time all-present and seemingly coming from all directions at once, including from inside the listeners head. After a few minutes of this procedure, the body slowly rose, with exhausted movements and visually tormented in incredible pain when the dead muscles broke free from the stasis of death. The undead turned around to face Graguth, and as its lips moved, so did the mouth of the sixth head of Scolopendra. The only sound however came from the still intact vocal chords of the dead man. "Go ahead." And he spread his arms as if to embrace what was coming his way.

Taking a step back from his great library, Tsim gazed upon it fondly as a new scroll was added to the collection. This one on the Razor-Quill Boars that made their home in the Desert of Flames. They really were quite interesting beasts. How they could survive the heat of the day was beyond him yet but he would learn eventually, he just needed to commission a scholar and maybe a hunter. Being as big as he was did have some disadvantages, alas there was no way of changing that. With That though he went on his way, it had been so very long since he had taken time for himself and decided now would be the time. Walking upon his great wings like a macabre bat Tsim left his cave and took to the skies after a long stretch of his odd wings. Soaring through the sky brought out a great glee from Tsim, for all his eloquence and knowledge he was still a dragon. Deciding to indulge on his baser pleasures he quickly flew and dove into the great sands of the desert and began to move through it like a serpent of the seas in search of a meal. Traveling swiftly through the sands Tsim found what he was looking for, relatively. Stopping his movements, Tsim raised from the sands slightly, only enough for his horn and snout to leave the sand. Smelling the air Tsim unveiled his target to be a Gurn, a large lumbering thing with tough meat but alot of it. The creature was old, exceedingly large, and at the end of its rope. Perfect. Dipping down back into the sand, Tsim dug deep before surging upwards and exploding from underneath the beast. Up in the air it rose as Tsims jaws punctured its rough hide and crushed the organs underneath, its death was painless and swift. After gorging on the soft innards and larger meats of the creature, Tsim took to the air once again and left the rest for the scavengers. After several circles he found the largest rock in the Desert of Flames, the uppermost part of a once great mountain, and laid himself upon its surface. Preparing for a long nap upon its sun warmed surface.