Hoondarrh, known as the Red Rage of Mintarn, was one of the most famous red dragons of the Realms.[2][1]
Personality[]
Hoondarrh was a cruel and efficient dragon. During his life on the Sword Coast, he came to understand that his greatest foes were humans, not other dragons, as only humans could prevail over dragons thanks to their continuous attempts, so he kept a close watch over human activities. In truth, Hoondarrh was really fascinated with humanity, their plots, counterplots, dealings, and love affairs. Draconic life was not as intriguing.[1]
Activities[]
Hoondarrh's favorite prey were creatures who tried to cheat or outwit him. He spent much of his time scrying on life in human cities from his lair on Skadaurak Island. He carried on a project to recruit a wizard who could create rejuvenation spells, via attractive illusions of humans.[1]
In his free time, he made use of a magic sleep using Saldrinur's Slow Gem. Sometimes he employed humans and others whose jests, pranks, treacheries and intrigues amused him but would hunt to the end of the world anyone that tried to steal from his hoard.[1]
History[]
Hoondarrh hatched in the eastern Sword Coast in the late summer of the Year of Scorching Suns, 460 DR. His parents argued often, and one slew the other, surviving with severe wounds. From hatching, Hoondarrh was always large, vigorous, and aggressive and easily killed and ate his siblings. Emboldened, he decided to confront his parents but from that battle Hoondarrh barely escaped with his life.[1]
He escaped to the northernmost reaches of the Sword Coast and there he grew in size, cunning, and strength, destroying many creatures. But his life changed in the Year of Fire and Frost, 600 DR, when he ambushed a human expedition near the Spine of the World. On the corpse of the wizard of the expedition, Tharilim of Calimport, he found the Ongild, a Halruaan artifact which held the power of regeneration.[1]
Thanks to the power of this artifact, Hoondarrh managed to defeat his remaining parent and kill another dragon as a test. Very soon, however, an orc horde boiled down out of the North and to protect his new lair Hoondarrh destroyed the orcs. However, all the fighting attracted the notice of the white dragon Naroun, the Great White Ghost, but after a two-day-battle in the sky, the red prevailed over Naroun.[1]
Injured, Hoondarrh searched for a secure place to heal and, with great luck, found the lair of the great white wyrm Angkarasce the Lost, dead from his own spells, and thereby gained the great hoard of the legendary dragon. He began to search for a better lair to store his new treasures. For a time he wandered the Sword Coast, preying on many locations including Waterdeep, the Moonshae Isles, and even the Nelanther Isles.[1]
In the Year of the Singing Arrows, 884 DR, while Hoondarrh still searched for a lair, the great red wyrm Skadaurak, the Red Terror of Mintarn, awoke from his 1000-year-long-stasis, thanks to a Halruaan artifact called Saldrinur's Slow Gem, on a isle north of Mintarn. The wyrm soon found another red flying over his domain and challenged Hoondarrh. However, the younger dragon triumphed and so claimed the island lair of the defeated Skadaurak as his own.[1]
Hoondarrh incinerates a ship.
Upon inspecting his new holdings, he decided that the lair needed renovation and Hoondarrh hired many artisans and wizards to create a complex system of hidden entrances and false lairs that proved effective against human and draconic predators. He killed all his former employees but didn't remember that humans could write things down for later generations. In the Year of the Empty Hand, 896 DR, Hoondarrh offered his protection to the inhabitants of Mintarn isle in exchange for an annual tribute and they, naturally, agreed.[1]
Soon, tales started being told among adventurers about the fabled treasure of Hoondarrh and many attempted to claim it. He amused himself watching as the adventurers tried and failed against his defenses.[1]
By the mid–14th century DR, he was searching for a magical path to immortality and looking for a mate. He initiated a plan to recruit a talented wizard from Waterdeep or Tethyr to develop spells to keep a dragon young and vigorous for extra years. Starting from 1332 DR, using illusions of attractive humans, he approached many wizards in the two countries but most declined his offer. Only Elquaern Hunabar of Waterdeep accepted the deal but Hoondarrh discovered that the wizard attempted to play him false, so disguising himself as the green dragon Galarrdratha, he invited Elquaern to a meeting but in the subsequent magic battle, the wizard disappeared.[1]
During the Dracorage of the Year of Rogue Dragons, 1373 DR, Hoondarrh attacked Callidyrr on the Moonshae Isle of Alaron, levelling residential neighborhoods and setting Caer Callidyrr on fire. He was only driven away by a powerful circle of druids, and the damage he wrought took years to repair.[3]
Hoondarrh topples the towers of Mintarn Castle.
During one of his long sleeps in the mid-to-late 15th century DR, Mintarn prospered greatly after Dagult Neverember hired on the islands soldiers and former pirates as mercenaries to advance his agendas in Waterdeep and Neverwinter. When something awoke Hoondarrh early in the 1480s DR, he flew to Mintarn, toppled the towers of Castle Mintarn, and demanded greater tribute now that the island was flush with gold. Unfortunately, Dagult Neverember had less and less need of Mintarn's mercenaries, and by the Year of the Warrior Princess, 1489 DR, the people of Mintarn began to fear that they soon would be unable to afford the dragon's tribute. Some even proposed hiring adventurers to slay him.[4]
Before that could happen, the spirit of Skadaurak was returned to Toril by Asmodeus, possessing the body of a dragonborn pirate named Rayonde.[5][6] He travelled back to Skadaurak Island and forced Rayonde's old companions to kill the dragonborn to prevent him from conquering the Moonshae Isles, which then allowed Skadaurak's spirit to possesses Hoondarrh.[7]
Appendix[]
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Appearances[]
- Comics
- A Darkened Wish
External links[]
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 Ed Greenwood (November 1997). “Wyrms of the North: Hoondarrh”. In Dave Gross ed. Dragon #241 (TSR, Inc.), pp. 70–74.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Eric L. Boyd, Eytan Bernstein (August 2006). Dragons of Faerûn. Edited by Beth Griese, Cindi Rice, Kim Mohan. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 147. 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. 43. ISBN 0-7869-3923-0.
- ↑ Steve Kenson, et al. (November 2015). Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. Edited by Kim Mohan. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 66. ISBN 978-0-7869-6580-9.
- ↑ B. Dave Walters (October 2019). “A Darkened Wish 3”. A Darkened Wish #3 (IDW Publishing) (3)., pp. 13–20.
- ↑ B. Dave Walters (January 2020). “A Darkened Wish 4”. A Darkened Wish #4 (IDW Publishing) (4)., p. 8.
- ↑ B. Dave Walters (February 2020). “A Darkened Wish 5”. A Darkened Wish #5 (IDW Publishing) (5)., pp. 10–14.