Gorion's Company stood in the middle of the long, colonnaded hallway leading to the dragon's lair. They said little, waiting in the darkness to make their first move.
Before this, Aerie and Mazzy had ventured out together to the temple's main entrance one last time. They reported that all had been eerily quiet, with no signs of shadows anywhere. Then, with a spell, the golden medallion had floated back into place. The curling smoke, the connection this place had to the Plane of Shadow, was now shut behind a physical and magical barrier, and there Mazzy had left her remnant of Merella's robe. With any luck, the Shade Lord would be forced to remain in that spot until they were ready to confront him — or until his altar was broken.
Lidia wondered whether sealing the portal would have the effect they were hoping for; the temple still seemed as dark and dismal as ever.
Yoshimo's condition hadn't improved, either. After some debate, they had decided that the only thing they could do was take him along, find a spot in this hallway to make him as comfortable as possible, and hope that their luck would hold. They felt that it was the best out of an array of bad options, and if they all made it through this, they might be able to find help for him back in Imnesvale.
With one hand, Lidia leaned against one of the pillars for support, facing the massive, still-ajar double doors. The ray-shaped etchings and the grey stone colonnade were bathed in the dim blue light radiating from Azuredge. The void within the doors seemed to stare back.
For her, the group's few hours of rest hadn't been nearly as restful as they should have been. She was still battling the fog in her brain that had settled in when the dragon's breath overtook her, and she wondered if the others knew it.
Lidia had always dealt with difficulties by hurling herself into the next thing to do or obstacle to overcome. But now, though the divine shield around her mind prevented her from losing her nerve completely, her heart was pounding hard, trying to rouse her tired muscles to life.
There was little more else to do. The group had gone over their plan several times already, readied every healing tincture they'd carried. Lidia had prayed to Ilmater and every god that might bend their ear: Torm, Helm, Tymora, and Tyr, among others. All that was left was to venture forth.
It had been her idea to face this dragon, linger in these woods, and try to save Imnesvale if they could. But now that these actions could plausibly result in all of their deaths, she remembered Ajantis's end, of how one miscalculation had cost a friend everything.
And if she didn't survive this battle, what would become of Imoen?
She forced herself not to think about it. What would her friend say if she were here?
Lidia recalled a time last year when she'd felt this exhausted, facing a battle that she wasn't sure she could win. In her memory, she could clearly hear Imoen's voice: "There's always one more fight left in you somewhere, Bird. Find it."
The others were watching for her signal. She turned to them, squaring her shoulders.
She surveyed their faces. If they felt the same fear she did, they didn't show it. She said quietly, "Today, the sun will rise again. Let's go."
She raised her hand and cast a ward against fear. As the spell welled up from her, bouncing to each group member, her mind calmed.
Minsc roared and rushed past her just as she'd expected, barging forward through the door, waving his sword high, and plunging into the dark, smoky air lying in the dragon's lair.
The blade caught the dim light, reflecting a faint blue sheen on its edge. A thin, reedy voice issued from the weapon: "Come and get it, kids! Beefy and I are serving up paincakes with suffering syrup!"
The shadow dragon sprang to its feet at once and spun in place, opening its mouth. Thick, oily black smoke poured from between its obsidian teeth, rushing over and around Minsc. It had no more effect on him than a spring breeze did. He swung Larry, but the dragon sidestepped him with the agility of a cat.
Lidia ran forward, and the others followed, slipping through the gap in the door.
With a running start, Lidia hurled Azuredge towards the shadow dragon. The axe twirled across the hazy gap, passed against the dragon's skin in a wide arc, then returned to her hand.
"He's got some protection in place," Lidia called. "Aerie!"
"I've got it." And in fact, Aerie had a scroll ready. She held it up, then let go, and the parchment floated in front of her as it unrolled.
She made a striking motion with her hands, and the letters on the scroll began to glow. "Manus, potentis, paro!"
The scroll dissolved into white motes, then transformed into a beam, radiating into the thick black cloud surrounding the dragon, dashing itself against the shadowy, translucent scales. The light spread and shimmered upon the dragon's body like a splash of water. Within a moment, the thick darkness around the shadow dragon had been dispelled.
They could see the dragon's lair more clearly now. This room was tall, vaulted stone, round and clean, with few signs of carrion or refuse anywhere and hardly any hoard to speak of. The only gold that the beast protected lay at the head of the altar, where the tall, stern figure of Amaunator, crowned in sunrays, held a pair of scales and seemed to await judgment.
Lidia tried another shot at the shadow dragon, hurling Azuredge towards the beast's wing joints. The blade sunk into the dragon's tough, leathery skin for a moment, then returned to her hand. It barely seemed to leave a mark.
"I…I think it worked!" Aerie said. "I think it worked!"
"All right, keep casting." Lidia turned inside to the dark well within her, and she turned the drawn power towards her muscles and bones, willing them to strive beyond their normal limits.
Mazzy waited for the dragon to turn again and Minsc to leave her line of fire, then raised her bow, nocking an arrow to the string. "Valygar, aim for its eye."
Meanwhile, Anomen had finished casting several spells, ending with a wash of light over his armor. He shouted "For the Order!" and rushed forward.
Lidia wasn't far behind, closing the distance over the flagstones and making her way to the center of the sunburst in the room, where Minsc was effortlessly dodging the dragon's swipes.
From Aerie's direction, three small red lights leaped from her hands, sped towards the dragon like the stones from a sling, and crashed into the dragon's side, discoloring the smoky gray scales into an iridescent sheen.
The dragon reared on its legs and gave an angry roar.
Minsc ran forward, driving Larry towards the beast's stomach. But, even though the scales were thinner and smaller here, the sword couldn't pierce them, glancing off the dragon's armored hide.
The beast leaned onto all four on its legs and leaped forward, pouncing towards Minsc, who managed to dodge the creature again. Then, as Anomen drove his mace against the dragon's throat, Lidia leaped onto its back.
The dragon's scales were so tightly bound and covered with a thin coat of oil that she nearly fell off at once, but she managed to hang onto where its massive leathery wing, twice again the length of its long, thin body, connected to its shoulder.
She found the first mark Azuredge had made and landed another solid blow to the muscle, but it wasn't enough.
Beneath the dragon's slick shoulders, its massive muscles heaved forth and back. It unfolded its massive wings, spreading them half their span, and waved them, pumping the lair's dense air towards the ground and the Company. The winds from its wings buffeted Minsc and Anomen, hurling them against the side of the room.
And then, in the blink of an eye, the dragon disappeared, then lurched again under Lidia's hands.
Without any sense of what she was hanging on to, she lost her grip, falling off the dragon's back and landing on the floor. Her right ankle connected to the ground with a crunch.
She rolled onto her back, pulling herself up with one hand, hardly feeling the pain in her foot. Not a moment after, some sense other than sight detected an unseen danger, and she flattened herself against the floor again.
An invisible mouth snapped shut only inches away; she could feel the clack of the dragon's teeth and the air from its jaw's motions. As the dragon withdrew his unseen head, thin traces of black smoke appeared in the air.
Lidia held out Azuredge in front of her. The axe blazed with its own brilliant white light. The shadow of a dragon upon the wall reared back and roared again towards the vaulted ceiling and the empty sky.
"There!" Mazzy called. She raised her bow and fired at the space.
The shadow roared again, then turned towards where Mazzy and Valygar prepared their next shot.
Lidia mentally pushed past the pain, focusing for a moment on her ankle. It mended with a thought and a few moments, and she rushed back onto her feet.
Meanwhile, Minsc and Anomen had pulled themselves from the edge of the floor and closed the distance between them and where they thought the dragon was. They tried dealing blows to it as they had before but more often than not were swinging at empty air.
The shadow raised one of its front limbs, baring its massive claws.
Valygar's voice rang out: "Manus, potentis, paro!"
The dragon suddenly popped into view. It snapped its teeth again towards the other group members, baring one side of its neck towards where Lidia was approaching it. Azuredge lent the scales a moon-like glow. But in one place near its throat, the light broke and scattered.
Lidia aimed and hurled the axe towards the spot. It connected, then released itself from the dragon's neck, letting forth a spurt of dark ichor.
The dragon bellowed. Anomen's mace delivered another blow to its knee, and it staggered to the ground.
Minsc cried with rage and struck at the open spot on the dragon's neck. Three more red lights crashed against the dragon's side, followed by two arrows towards where mangled scales exposed its flesh.
Finally, the dragon gasped with a burbling, strangled rattle, lying prostrate on the floor. It spoke, with great effort: "Worthless insect. It promised…it promised…"
Minsc buried his blade deep into the dragon's neck again. With one more choked breath, the beast fell silent.
For a moment, the Company held still, wondering if it was some trick and if the dragon would rise again. But there was not so much as a twitch from the beast's corpse, just a steady stream of black blood pouring from between the smoky grey scales on its neck. The massive corpse had shrunk to half its size within a few minutes, with black smoke rising and gathering in the dome above them.
"I killed a dragon. I killed a dragon! I'm the happiest sword in the world!" Larry exclaimed. He let out a guttural laugh, a disconcerting sound as he had no throat.
"Let it never be said we don't take you anywhere fun," Lidia said, leaning forward to catch her breath. The added power had left her limbs, leaving her more tired than before.
Minsc paced back and forth in front of the dragon's massive corpse. Now and again, he gave the dead creature a fierce shout. When he got like this, his barbaric rage persisted for a time after the fight was over, and he had trouble distinguishing between friend and foe.
Aerie nervously approached him. "Minsc, the fight's over. You're…you're ready to calm down, right?"
The hamster squeaked. In a moment, Minsc became the amiable ranger again, leaning back against the dragon's massive flank and patting it with a pleased look on his face.
"Yes, Minsc is calm, and so is Boo," he said. He took out an old rag and cleaned the black dragon blood from Larry. "Fear not, little Aerie, for our battle fury is strictly reserved for evil!"
Lidia surveyed the group. This had been far from how she had envisioned her first fight with a dragon would go, trapped in unceasing darkness and armed with only some padded armor and a short throwing axe. She wrinkled her nose. The old stories of dragon-slaying had also never mentioned the incredibly smelly aftermath, even for the remains of a creature that seemed to be half shadow-stuff.
She gave something of a rueful laugh, mostly out of relief. Valygar was probably right to question her sanity. But the group had pulled it off and miraculously, had come out the other side more or less in one piece. Before long, she hoped, they could cleanse the altar, and all would soon be well.
She left the dragon's lair, drawing a somewhat fresh breath. She checked on Yoshimo, who had been bundled up near the doors.
His face was nearly as pale as death, and his heartbeat had slowed to a crawl. She laid her hands on him, though she knew that small amount of power was likely futile; she wondered if he was already too far gone to be saved.
Suddenly, in the distance, horns resounded. The notes began loud and pure, then slid into a hair-raising dissonance that squealed and echoed down the hall. And then followed the sound of many small claps of thunder, like stones in an avalanche.
She placed Yoshimo's arm across her shoulder, lifting him with some effort; Yoshimo was already wakening and mumbling something incoherent, making feeble efforts to move back down the hallway towards whatever was approaching them. She pulled him through the door, trying not to slip in the black blood trailing at her feet.
She called to the others: "We're not done yet. Get ready."