Dorakhan the Red
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Character: Dorakhan the Red
Login: Dorakhan((Before you start reading, keep in mind this character is by no means a half- or any part - dragon, he's merely bound to one.))
Dorakhan the Red was once Donovan Haff, a plain and ordinary half-elven farm hand from a village in Aglarond - a peaceful village set between Escalant and Yuirwood. He worked a farm there with his family.
This particular village, and those in the surrounding area had been protected by an ancient golden dragon for as long as any village elder could remember.
If you were to find one of the nearby villages by chance (at least one still standing,) and if you had the fortune to find a villager willing to tell you the tale - perhaps after quite a few ales, I might add - you would hear the same tale from any narrator, though the slant would be quite different depending on the skald.
Bathed in the sweet smell of smoke from the hickory burning on the fireplace in the only tavern in the town, most would tell you of how it was the dragon who, in the end, brough misfortune to the village. Self-absorbed in his own efforts to rid the land of what he deemed to be evil drew the attention of the Red Wizards, and it was them who had burned most of the villages in the area to the ground only seven years ago. This is obviously but mere conjecture. There are no details to be heard in this tale.
In truth, it may or may not have been the Red Wizards who burned the villages, but of three things I can assure you:
Firstly, this dragon, though very old and weak, was strong in magic, specializing in binding and the planes.
Secondly, whomever wounded the dragon, which eventually lead to his death, was searching for an artifact in the dragon's possesion. An artifact that allowed one to travel the planes freely.
Third, the legacy of this benevolent dragon is not quite finished.
The dragon's lair was attacked on two separate occassions - each at dawn, hoping the rising sun in the east would pour into the mouth of the cave and obscure the dragon's vision.
On the first morning, the dragon was mortally wounded by what many guess to be three dozen or more powerful mages and warriors. Not much is known of this battle, as no human or elven eyes saw it. Still, the dragon drove off his attackers.
On the second morning, the villagers came to the aid of their long-time protector. This time, the villagers fended off another group of attackers, with the dying dragon's help.
After this assault, the dragon requested, from amongst the villagers, a volunteer. It is at this point, where young Donovan Haff enters the tale.
The dragon, knowing it was dying, wished for the planar artifact to be protected, and he did not wish to place such a burden on the village.
After enlisting the aid of the villagers to construct the proper ritual circles, the dragon, with his last few breaths, cast a spell, binding his soul to Donovan. The dragon vanished.
He slept for nearly three days after the ritual's completion, awakening to the dank air of the cavern which was once the dragon's lair. He looked over his naked body, now covered with an intricate scrollwork comprised of runes written in dragon's blood. He felt no different. Laying on the ground beside him was a red robe, which he used to clothe himself. In a pocket in the right sleeve were a few coins, a book, and a strange stone - almost a crystal of sorts. This he left there knowing not what it was.
He stumbled from the cave and wandered for a week without food, at last coming across an inn on the outskirts of Escalant. It didn't take long for the innkeepers to realize that he had lost his memory as he stared blankly at the ledger when asked to write his name. Not knowing how to identify himself, he looked to one of his few belongings and used the name on the cover of the book: Dorakhan.
Some six years later he took a boat across the Sea of Fallen Stars, and up the Easting Reach - to the land of Narfell.
Perhaps it was the color of the robe which earned him the name "Dorakhan the Red" though, as much as it sounds like the name of a powerful mage, he had earned his keep over the years performing parlor tricks with prestidigitation at various taverns and inns across Aglarond.
Though only pieces of his memory have returned to him, he now realizes - or rather speculates - that his magical powers come from the dragon's soul, which lays hidden deep within the depths of his own soul. Though Donovan himself has no trace of dragon blood in him. The dragon bound to him only manifests itself on occassion in the form of a pseudodragon named Argamelle. He still carries the planar artifact on him at all times, though he knows not what it is.
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Reviewed - XP Pending.
