The Giamarga wrote:The only other mention of a dragon in RL that i know of is from the
TSR trading card for Hoelgar Arnuttson. Hoelgar got canonized in Gaz 2 (though with a typo: he became a Brd instead of a Brb), so the Golden Eyed Youth is at least semi-canon.
Here's a thought: what if the error was in the original? I might like him better as a bard....
This dragon is a very young golden dragon who entered Ravenloft on the heels of Hoelgar after the killing of his entire brood by Hoelgar and his men. I daresay he travelled in human form and lost his memories when he entered Darkon and has forgotten that he is a dragon at all.
Here's an alternative: dragon's taken full advantage of the water breathing and is in the Sea of Sorrows, gobbling up fish. He's gotta be about the size of a heavy warhorse by now--my math puts him at Young, not Very Young--and all those HD are gonna need feeding beyond what goes into a human's mouth. Hence Hoelgar is in a harbor town, but that's where the trail ended when he lost his memory.
In one of TSR 1993 trading cards, they introduce Hoelgar Arnutsson, a (2E) Berserk fighter, who is later mentioned as Watchmaster of Martira Bay in the Bleak House Boxed Set. On the card it says that he slew an entire brood of gold dragons with his men. But one of the young dragons could flee. When the last adult dragon - it's mother i believe - died it cursed Hoelgar to die "when the golden-eyed youth wields the silver blade". Hoelgar followed the fleeing young dragon when the Mists took them both.
Okay, so this was 15 years ago IRL, if we use 1-to-1 ratio that's a 15 year old dragon, BUT the card lists this as history, so I feel justified adding another 5 years or so to the dragon's age.
Apparently he then traveled the breadth of Ravenloft for 20 years until he settled in Martira Bay and probably forgot who he was following and why due to Darkon's special power.
...okay, so we agree on the math. Why do you have the dragon as Very Young after 20 years? VY ends at 15 years.
He also apparently got level drained severely as he had 10 levels on the trading card and has only 8 levels in the latest 3E mention in Gazetteer2 (which also falsely lists him as Brd8, which was probably meant to be Brb8. I'd make him a middle aged Brb4/Ftr4 or Brb2/Ftr4/Frenzied Berserker2)
And here's where I have my own idea: IMC Hoelgar was always a bard, and he was controlled by his intelligent uber-sword. The berserker persona was the sword's. For that matter, the gold dragon's curse was on the sword, not the wielder, but Hoelgar still thinks it was meant for him.
So assuming that the Youth was only a wyrmling when entering Ravenloft there's now a young gold dragon with a mission loose in semi-canon Ravenloft. (I'd make him a young gold dragon Avenger1) As gold dragons can shapechange into humans (and animals) the young dragon probably spent most of his time in human shape. Now when he enters Darkon in pursuit of Hoelgar, Darkon's memory modification power will set in. Would he then perhaps forget that he is a dragon ?
And here I'm gonna veer again: the dragon was in Darkon for a while, but his memories returned during a swim (who can tell where a domain border is in the water?!) and he's avoided the place ever since. He's taken discretionary voyages onto various lands in polymorphed form, but for the most part has remained isolated. This isolation ended about ten years ago when a group of fisherman had caught enough sight of him to start leaving offerings, which has led to regular contact, which has led to actual worship. He's got his own cult following; not sure what domain I'll put him in.
Did I mention that Hoelgar has a (Gold) Dragon Slayer greatsword on the '93 card. This is far more powerful than a simple 3E dragon bane weapon, doing (in 2E) double damage to dragons (which would translate to the 3E bane property), but triple damage to gold dragons. Hoelgar would of course have forgotten even that. Bleak House mentions that he has an extensive weapon collection but doesn't mention the sword specifically, which fits with that. Perhaps his collecting comes from a subconcious wish to regain his lost sword, or mayhap he's searching for the Silver Blade...
IMC it'll be the former, but Hoelgar is actually searching for the lost sword to destroy it, as an act of redemption.
Now if one or both of these weapons were intelligent, that would add a whole new dimension to the story. This could also explain how a mere 10th level Berserk with his gang can kill a whole brood of gold dragons. This leads to an interesting question: Do intelligent weapons fall under Darkon's curse too?
What if they were the same weapon? The curse will be lifted when the gold-eyed youth takes up the dragonslaying sword.
I also imagine he had a rather large band of compatriots. But what would drive such people even attempt to kill a whole brood of dragons?
The crushing ego of an intelligent sword 10 levels too early for them. Problem solved![/quote]
