Dragonbait

Dragonbait, also referred to as Champion, was the finhead saurial paladin companion and the soul-brother of the adventurer Alias, who was transported to Toril, alongside a small community of his people, by the Rotting God Moander.

"She thought very hard about Dragonbait, about all he'd done for her, all she knew about him, all the things she felt about him. He was the least human of her companions, he couldn't talk to her, and she had little idea what went through his mind, yet Dragonbait was the only member of the party she trusted completely... She knew that the two of them, lizard and swordswoman, had an understanding. "You're not my bondservant, are you?" Alias whispered to the sleeping lizard. "You're my brother.""

- Alias

Description
Dragonbait stood at in height, not counting his single head fin, the telltale sign of him being a finhead saurial. His low height was due to his posture, canted towards his hips, and balanced by a long thick tail. His mouth was short, thinner, and more rounded than that of lizardfolk. Inside it was a row of powerful sharp teeth in front of the maw, and bull molars at the back. His body was covered in small smooth green scales. His eyes were lizard-like and yellow. He bore shimmering magical tattoos - azure bonds, similar to those his sister had on her forearm. The tattoos were the byproduct of Alias' creation and originally were adorned by glyphs symbolizing Alias' masters, but after their demise, the bonds transformed into a ring of blue ivy.

Personality
Dragonbait was adaptable and quite intuitive. Like many other paladins, he was good, caring, kind, and righteous, a being of a pure soul. That was the reason why he was chosen as a sacrifice to bring Alias to life by Cassana, and Phalse. Dragonbait always used his abilities to defend his friends, family, people, and a good cause.

Dragonbait preferred close combat because the felt that ranged weapons were dishonorable.

Abilities
As a paladin of the god of justice of his realm, he had access to the divine spells he often used to heal his companions. While on Toril, his divine powers came from Tyr the god of justice. Saurial paladins possessed the ability called shen sight, somewhat similar to the ability of Toril's paladins - divine sense. This ability grants paladins a second sight, the ability to see the individuals' thoughts, feelings, desires, goals, the ability to see into the spirit and the soul. The soul is presented to the paladin in complex swirls of forms and colors, such as gray - the color of neutrally aligned creatures, purples and reds indicated the evil, the black void was indicating the evil undead creatures, blue for the powers of good, yellow indicated greed, and the clarity of the colors indicated the purity of the soul. Generally, Dragonbair could see using his shen within a 60-ft. radius.

Dragonbait was a skilled combatant, his weapon proficiencies included saurial and regular broadswords, bastard swords, longswords, light crossbows, and battleaxes. He also possessed exceptional direction sense and endurance.

Dragonbait knew the ancient saurial close-combat tradition that utilized the race's natural weapons - their claws and tail. Like all saurials, Champion was resistant to sound-based attacks but extremely vulnerable to cold.

Dragonbait could not speak Common and communication was often difficult for him. Instead, he communicated using a complex system of clicks, chirps, whistles (often almost inaudible to the human ear). Another big part of the Saurial language was body language and scents emitted (that ranged from brimstone, to ham, to honeysuckle, etc.). Eventually, Alias taught him thieves' hand cant (to Olive's irritation). Eventually, Alias used the Finder's Stone to cast a permanent tongues spell on herself, enabling her to speak Dragonbait's native language.

Dragonbait was a capable juggler, laying on his back, he used all 4 of his limbs and his tail. He entertained Gaylyn's wedding guests in such manner to the stern disapproval of the bride's mother without dropping a single piece of the lady's fine crystal.

Possessions
Before it was destroyed, he wielded a strange sword (saurial broadsword) named Hill Cleaver that featured a small hilt that was sized for his slender hands, with a blade that ended in a wide wedge with serrated teeth on the hiltward side. Hill Cleaver could negate magic on command.

For a time, after Hill Cleaver's destruction, Dragonbait used a non-magical version of the saurial broadsword, as he adventured with Alias.

Later, he came into possession of more magical items: a +1 flame tongue longsword, possibly a gift from Finder Wyvernspur, +2 flaming burst longsword, a +3 cloak of resistance, a belt of giant strength, bracers of armor, a +2 ring of protection, and a handful of Keoghtom’s ointments.

Relationships
Dragonbait's closest friend, his soul-sister was Alias, who was brought to life using a splinter of his own soul. How it was possible remained a mystery, even though both Alias and Dragonbait felt a close kinship towards each other. Their sibling relationship has reinforced the gods when Alias became a soul singer, a saurial gift that apparently followed genealogical lines.

Dragonbait's past mate Coral (saurial) was enslaved by Moander, forcing the saurial paladin to kill her. That loss weighted heavily on Dragonbait, and only reinforced his commitment to defending the saurial community of the Lost Vale. Eventually, Dragonbait met his second mate Copperbloom with whom he settled and fathered offspring.

Other friends and companions of Dragonbait's were Akabar Bel Akash, a merchant and a mage from Turmish who joined Alias on her very first adventure, Dragonbait grew to care for, and respect the mage. Olive Ruskettle was a bard who Dragonbait often teased, Olive lost her trust in the saurial after she found out he was a Paladin, but they reconciled eventually and remained friends after surviving much together. Mintassan the planeswalker was a one-time ally of Dragonbait and Alias. And lastly, he was old friends with Grypht, a saurial wizard, who knew and respected Dragonbait. They went back together all the way to the lime before Moander's corruption and transportation to Toril.

History
Before his arrival on Toril, Dragonbait's true name was Champion. He, along with his fellow saurials hailed from an alternate Material Plane. Before his life was uprooted, he was a part of a peaceful community, he served the god of justice of his world, he was in love with a cleric Coral who worshiped the goddess of luck. Dragonbait's pious and righteous nature brought the lover to arguments over their faiths. Dragonbait did not approve the ways of the goddess of luck, he did not like Coral blessing the undeserving. Coral refused to leave her goddess for Dragonbait's deity and in fear of being tainted by the love for a worshiper of the unjust god, he left his tribe on a holy quest to the plane of Carceri.

Wandering the infinite worlds of Carceri, Dragonbait was captured by the fiend Phalse. The creature recognized the paladin's goodly pure soul and it was exactly what he needed to create his perfect assassin and servant - the construct woman who will later become known as Alias. During he time Dragonbait spent in Phalse's dungeon, the Saurial goddess of luck appeared in front of him. She told the paladin that the Sauril god of justice implored her to save Dragonbait's life, and she offered the paladin a deal, freedom in exchange for an unspecified service. Dragonbait agreed to it, serving both gods of Justice and Luck.

Dragonbait's life was saved by luck. The construct awoke too soon, before the saurial's sacrifice was completed. By luck, or an error, or divine intervention, a splinter of Dragonbait's soul was transferred into Alias, igniting the flames of life and consciousness. Alias' "father" Finder Wyvernspur witnessed her newborn self cradling and singing to a gravely wounded Dragonbait. Finder realized that competing ritual would turn the new pure soul into a slave, and he decided to help them escape. Alias was given potions of healing which she selflessly used on her soul-brother. Finder pleaded with the paladin to take the newborn woman as far from Westgate as he could. The saurial fled with the woman all the way to Suzail.

Dragonbait left her semi-conscious body on the stoop of the Hidden Lady inn, making sure to leave a bag of coins so she would be given a room by the kind innkeeper. She woke up 3 days later, with false memories and a glowing magical tattoo. She though her loss of memory of the recent events was a curse and she embarked on a quest to have them removed. Dragonbait followed the saleswoman, but when she was ambushed by the Fire Knives assassins, he aided her in combat and joined Alias on her journey. The name Dragonbait was given to the paladin by Alias in jest but he seemed to like it and it stuck. The woman felt an immediate closeness to Dargonbait as if they shared an invisible bond.

Eventually, Dragonbait and Alias settled in the Lost Vale with the displaced saurials to aid them in their new settlement. A short time later, however, they started adventuring again.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Curse of the Azure Bonds • Tomb of Annihilation


 * Card Games
 * AD&D Trading Cards • Spellfire: Master the Magic


 * Comics
 * Converging Lines • The Great Game • Fools Rush In


 * Novels
 * Azure Bonds • Song of the Saurials • Masquerades


 * Video Games
 * Curse of the Azure Bonds • Tales from Candlekeep: Tomb of Annihilation • Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms