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Dretchroyaster (pronounced: /ˌdrɛtʃroʊˈjɑːztɛr/ DRETCH-ro-YAZ-ter[1]), or simply "Dretch", was an ancient green dracolich.[1]
Description[]
Personality[]
Dretchroyaster was well known as a merciless hunter, an avaricious builder of hoards, and as a cunning adversary. Yet his perhaps most defining characteristic was his desperation to avoid death, which ultimately motivated him to become a dracolich. Still, because Dretch was so rarely challenged, his confidence had not grown to the point where he exhibited the fearlessness common to many other dracoliches. Dretchroyaster would usually only fight when cornered, and preferred to weaken and distract his foes with traps and foils rather than face them in the open. He had a keen mind for tactics and often sought to use familiar terrain to his advantage.[1]
In terms of diet, he greatly enjoyed the flesh of centaurs and considered elves an unfortunately too-rare delicacy. Most of the time he was forced to eat more plentiful fare: humans and horses, either of which could be found in abundance in most any caravan. For the sake of his twisted humor, he would sometimes also eat treants. Aside from his relative cowardice, one of Dretchroyaster's primary weaknesses was letting his guard down too much when eating. Naturally, after his dracolich transformation his enthusiasm for food was lessened somewhat (but not entirely), and a few near-death experiences eventually taught him to be more alert when dining.[1]
His primary goal was transforming himself into a spelljammer and flying into space.[1]
Abilities[]
Possessions[]
Insert wit here.
Relationships[]
History[]
(Born between 365 DR and 564 DR)
The Cult of the Dragon had long sought to convince Dretchroyaster to undergo transformation into a dracolich, but the green dragon refused to even consider it. Ultimately, it would take over a century of persuasion and two close brushes with death to coax him. The first of these occurred in the Year of the Snarling Dragon, 1279 DR, when Dretchroyaster awoke from a hundred-year slumber and decided to terrorize the region.[1] He devastated Battledale, Tasseldale, and Featherdale in a two-month long campaign that ultimately claimed the lives of over 700 Dalesfolk and destroyed more than six villages.[4] The menace was so great that several normally independent adventuring companies banded together to form the Crossed Swords and hunt the dragon down. Dretchroyaster was seriously injured in the ensuing fight but managed to escape to his secret lair. The Crossed Swords could not find the lair, and so stopped the hunt.[1] The events of Dretch's rampage were later recounted in the ballad "The Clouds Came Rolling In".[4]
The second incident took place in the Year of the Crown, 1351 DR, when the Merry Marauders ambushed Dretchroyaster while he was feeding on three centaurs of the Cloven Hoof tribe south of Myth Drannor. The green dragon was taken by surprise and sustained severe injuries that forced him to flee back to his lair. The Merry Marauders pursued him but could not find the lair proper, only a narrow ventilation shaft. The adventurers cast several spells of cloudkill and incendiary cloud down the chute, further injuring Dretchroyaster. But they could not finish him off.[1]
What neither Dretchroyaster nor the Merry Marauders knew was that the adventurers had been covertly hired by Larkonlan, a wizard in the Sembian cell of the Cult of the Dragon. The wizard's gambit was meant to frighten Dretchroyaster enough so that he would finally accept the Cult's offer of dracolichdom.[1] Larkonlan had even equipped the Marauders with swords of dragonblood, magical blades of his own making that were especially potent when wielded against dragons.[5] Shortly after the attack, Larkonlan approached Dretchroyaster bearing spectacular offerings. The wizard once again raised the possibility of dracholichdom and offered Dretch a new lair:[1] the Monarch's Fall Glade. The green dragon, who had thought about relocating regardless, accepted Larkonlan's offer and moved to the Glade in the following year, the Year of the Dragon, 1352 DR, but remained unconvinced that he should become a dracolich. Over the next thirteen years, Larkonlan continued his courtship of Dretchroyaster, providing gifts and playing on the dragon's fears—and in the Year of the Staff, 1366 DR the wyrm finally relented, though not unconditionally. Dretch demanded Larkonlan construct a phylactery with numerous safety features to increase his chances of survival should his dracolich body be destroyed.[6] The result was Dragonslair, a magical longsword—modeled on Larkonlan's own swords of dragonblood—that held the actual phylactery in its pommel, allowing Dretch to influence its wielder from within the sword itself.[7]
Dretch was first recorded in chronicles when, in the Year of Watery Graves, 1091 DR, he battled the old female black dragon Naxorlytaalsxar the Terror Tenebrous, in an aerial duel. In the so-called Battle of Falling Fishkill, Dretch accidentally poisoned Lake Sember, forcing the aquatic elves living there into exile. During this time, Dretch regularly mated with a venerable female green dragon Verthandantalynx, the Verdant Cloud, and considered her his mate.[1]
At that time, the wizard Larkonlan, a high-ranking member in the Sembian Cult of the Dragon cell, approached the dragon, offering transformation into dracolich and a new lair. (Unknown to Dretch, it was Larkonlan who had sent the Merry Marauders.) So in the Year of the Dragon, 1352 DR, Dretchroyaster shifted his lair to Monarch's Fall Glade, the remains of an elven spelljammer discovered by some adventurers hired by the Cult. Dretch was amazed by his new lair and invested much time in modifying the surrounding terrain and studying the spelljammer. Finally, in the Year of the Sword, 1365 DR, Dretch accepted transformation into a dracolich and adopted the sobriquet "The Monarch Reborn".[1]
In the late 15th century DR, the Turmish wizard Imani hired adventurers to infiltrate Dretchroyaster's lair and recover the Diamond Staff of Chomylla.[8]
Rumors & Legends[]
Rumors circulated that the Sembian cell of the Cult of the Dragon attempted to accelerate Dretchroyaster's aging even in undeath by using daggers of life stealing to somehow inject him with the stolen lives of their victims.[9]
Appendix[]
Notes[]
- ↑ In Cult of the Dragon (p. 47), Dretchroyaster is described as a venerable (ancient) dragon, putting him between 801 and 1,000 years of age (Monstrous Manual, p. 64). Dragons of Faerûn (p. 148) lists him as a wyrm, i.e. between the ages of 1,001 and 1,200. Finally, the more recent adventure Vault of the Dracolich describes him as a venerable dragon once more. Going back to Cult of the Dragon (p. 34), it is mentioned that Dretchroyaster might be the subject of experiments to accelerate his age category (and thus, his relative power). It's possible his greater age category in Dragons of Faerûn is intended to reflect this. However, since no further explanation is given, this article assumes Dragons of Faerûn is in error.
Appearances[]
- Organized Play & Licensed Adventures
- Vault of the Dracolich
- Referenced only
- Search for the Diamond Staff
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 Dale Donovan (January 1998). Cult of the Dragon. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 47. ISBN 0-7869-0709-6.
- ↑ Eric L. Boyd, Eytan Bernstein (August 2006). Dragons of Faerûn. Edited by Beth Griese, Cindi Rice, Kim Mohan. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 48. ISBN 0-7869-3923-0.
- ↑ Eric L. Boyd, Eytan Bernstein (August 2006). Dragons of Faerûn. Edited by Beth Griese, Cindi Rice, Kim Mohan. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 148. ISBN 0-7869-3923-0.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Dale Donovan (January 1998). Cult of the Dragon. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 49. ISBN 0-7869-0709-6.
- ↑ Eric L. Boyd, Eytan Bernstein (August 2006). Dragons of Faerûn. Edited by Beth Griese, Cindi Rice, Kim Mohan. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 124. ISBN 0-7869-3923-0.
- ↑ Dale Donovan (January 1998). Cult of the Dragon. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 48. ISBN 0-7869-0709-6.
- ↑ Dale Donovan (January 1998). Cult of the Dragon. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 51. ISBN 0-7869-0709-6.
- ↑ Michael E. Shea, et al. (June 2013). Vault of the Dracolich. Edited by Scott Fitzgerald Gray. (Wizards of the Coast), p. ?.
- ↑ Dale Donovan (January 1998). Cult of the Dragon. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 34. ISBN 0-7869-0709-6.