We'd heard tales of dragons attacking other lands, however those stories were lost in the times. And few documents remained on how the ancients killed those beasts.
Thankfully, we were left with some information that could help us.
Dragon scales had always been known as being hard as stone. Thus, it was understandable when we found out that there seemed to have been a rigorous trial and error process until someone managed to cut off a limb of a dragon. It was small, perhaps a finger, though it was enough. Before the fight, the army had coated their weapons and armour in a strange liquid. The armour coating has been lost, but parts of what they used to coat the weapons remained.
What we were left with was a recipe containing "blood, infected from wounds of dragon's claws," and "smoke, risen from flames of dragon's breath." Even with this information, we were unsure what to do next, since smoke and blood do not react with each other in any way. It was safe to say that there was something more, something more obscure, that we needed.
And then we heard news of dragons rising again.
We were almost certain that they would not come anywhere near us, however the need for this "Dragon Potion" was greater than ever. Nobody knew where the dragons came from, however they were terrorising many cities across many lands. Wizards were sent to gather any information regarding the beasts, but the results were devastating. Many went missing, many more were reported dead by the scribes who came back alone. Most reports were of overzealous Wizards attempting to take "samples" from sleeping dragons and whelps, not accounting for their incredible sensitivity to motions in the ground. An unknown trait which the dragons seem to have evolved after their first war with humans.
That isn't to say we didn't gain valuable information. Reports from Wizards who returned noted a flower growing out of the carcass of dead whelps. The offspring who were abandoned, unable to hunt, and starved to death. This vine-like flower twisted through skulls, and intertwined with ribs. These flowers, identified as Tucker Flowers, were thought to be extinct after the first draconic war. We hoped we were onto something. Brewmasters and Wizards attempted many ways of recreating the original potion, and nothing seemed to have any effect on the flower other than the smoke. A paste of Tucker Flower petals was smoked, causing the paste to turn a light brown. Excited with this discovery, we mixed the paste with infected blood of one of the farm animals attacked in Mennelsif, a small farming town which was attacked by swarms of whelps, hungry for meat. This, however, caused the paste to evaporate. Which meant there was more to the potion, as every other possibility had been starved.
And then it clicked.
The towns attacked by dragons. All major mining cities. Agreate, a silver mine. Pluumbnar, a lead mine. Wolphrus, a tungsten mine. All mines. The dragons were after metals.
Which left Aurdinas. The city of gold. The next victim. We sent messengers to warn them, and to tell them that we were close with a way to kill dragons.
This left the final component, metal. Any metal suits, and through testing, we determined that no specific metal made the concoction any more or any less volatile. And due to the sheer accessibility of iron, and by extension steel, it was determined to be the most appropriate to use. The result was a watery red potion. Thinner than blood, though when mixed with a liquid adhesive, this problem was solved, allowing for practical use.
Aptly named "Dragon's Demise," the potion was mass produced and shipped to Aurdinas, where we were certain that this alone would be the key to winning this war. But we were wrong. Oh so wrong.
All weapons were coated with the Demise. And that was the problem. The effect of Demise was not to kill the dragons, but to weaken them; rendering their scaled armour useless, and allowing for them to be attacked and killed by other weapons. Demise prevented weapons from penetrating and cutting through the dragon. This knowledge was gained too late, and Aurdinas was destroyed.
Many Wizards went into hiding after this incident, ashamed of what they caused. I would have done the same if I hadn't heard that the king was requesting Wizards to kill the dragon of Aurdinas.
I am on this adventure to rid myself of the guilt, not for the spoils that accompany it.
