A few minutes later, they had nice chat about the weather, the priest returned and whisperd in the ear of Tiberius. He just nodded and then glazed over at him, as if seeing him for the first time.
"You speak the truth." Argentarius waited for more, yet the man just sipped his tea and watched him. He coughed and broke the silence. "Head priest." "Call me Tiberius. Argentarius, we are all servants of our god, are we not?" He sank a bit further back into the soft pillow. That guy must be an archwizard right? And with all these monks and clerics running around, I would be real lucky to escape even as a dragon. He swiped the sweat on his brow. "Well, Tiberius, you see we kind of got into an accident while travelling between planes." The man just nodded and continued to listen. "I was once a Master Transmuter, the best in my world." Argentarius ignored the fact, he had been the only one. "Yet now, I posses a strange ability to cast spells, unlike anything I ever read about but I have unfortunately lost my spellbook and forgotten most other spells I knew." At that Tiberius flinched and spoke again. "I understand your pain. Most would rather lose their firstborn child." Arthur shuffled uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "I want to propose a deal." The head priest crossed his arms and leaned back, a glint in his eyes while looking at his golems. "Give me access to your library and I will let you study my children. Of course there is to be done no harm to them, they are permitted to defend themselves and are impervious to any mind control." He could hear the disappointed grumble from some of the assembled wizards already eyeing his golems.
"Fine, but you will be limited to books concerning low level magic, for now."
"That should be fine by me, I want to brush up on the basics anyway." Argentarius let out his breath. He stood up and offered his hand to Tiberius.
He took it. "Well, wandering Wizard I believe we can build a good relationship and Profit from each other." The man had an amicable expression on his face that could have fooled anyone else, well anyone who could not read surface thoughts. Argentarius thanked him, said his children goodbye and moved towards the library. The room was built so extravagant and pompous that it was almost useless. He had to ask a nearby monk to fetch him books, as they were located high up and labeling was optional. Lucky for him, the monks seemed to know most sections by hearth and took great joy in displaying their immense agility, he suspected they were bored if nobody asked for books.
A few days later, Argentarius had managed to learn a few basic Cantrips, a loud bell could be heard inside the temple. All present got grave faces and rushed to get their weapons. He followed them outside onto the central square. They lined up in neat rows, their eyes looking into the distant horizon and waiting for something. "Are we under attack?" He asked the nearby cleric. "The gray riders, they come again." The man was shaking. Argentarius had a bad feeling and waited for the head priest to show up. Tiberius halted his question and looked at everyone. "My brothers! We have received early warning from the border, the gray riders are coming." Many started murmuring. He raised a hand and it became quiet again. "There are a few hundred coming, but our army is on the way. It will be like last time, we hold them back with our superior magic and stall them until the entire might of Halruaa breaks their neck!." Some careful cheers could be heard. "Can I ask something?" Argentarius raised his hand. Tiberius nodded, relived by the change in conversation. "How are they?" "Fair question for stranger to these lands. Well they are the gray riders, part of the army the neighboring kingdom ruled by drow, half drow and the like. The Riders are mostly half drow and fearsome combatants, born on a horse. Their greatest evil one can do it steal a horse!" "Are there no border troops?" "There are, but they fled or died, like always. The entrance to the Nath is a flat highland, no Border regiment can stop a few hundreds of riders. It will be our duty to stop them, lest they plunder our temples."
"Then let me help." Argentarius was met by stares of disbelief and even laughs. "What?” His dragon came out for a bit and spoke a bit to forceful. All present flinched and shuffled back. Tiberius coughed. "My friend you see, normally wizards from the capital and merchants runs away at the first sign of danger. Can't research the arcane if your dead right?" But He did not let Argentarius take back his statement and continued: "But we appreciate your willingness for sacrifice, I will accompany you in battle, onwards we go!"
They flew with magical artifacts and ships towards the highlands, where the two mountain ranges created an enclosed pass. The cloud of dust rising on the horizon could already been seen. Argentarius thought about his strategy, safest would be to hurl spells at them from afar, yet he was strongest in close quarters. If started to tear the enemy to shreds like, well a mad dragon, they might get suspicious of him. So choose to play it safe and just do some creative magic and experiment with his new spells.
He dove into a nearby lake and prepared his ambush, as soon as the riders had come near the body of water, a few dozen were hit by a giant wave and dragged into the lake. Argentarius used his Control Water, a Level 4 spell he just got as a Dragon. The feeling was different then casting it as a wizard, it was more like hitting something with his fist then producing magic. It felt as if his mind just willed the water to move according to what the spell would be capable off. The other riders avoided his death trap, so he had to come out. A battle of epic scale was raging, monks pummeled the horses and riders with throwing weapons, clerics called upon their gods to obliterate enemies or support allies. Above all were the wizards flying in the back and hurling fire, acid, water, lighting and boulders at the enemy. It was magnificent
A group of riders spotted him emerging from the lake and headed towards him, now was the time to try his best new toy. Argentarius positioned himself, so that his enemies were in a nice 90 foot cone in front of him and pretend to cast a dunamancy spell. Then he just vomited, or better said, used his dragon breath. A black ball of gravitational force formed in his mouth and projected immense pressure outwards. Most were instantly crushed to the ground and turned to mincemeat. Some riders survived but could not move, still held down by the force.
