Ashen Dragon

Praise the Blue Dragons Master, the Weaver of the Thunderstorm at the Summit! Tiamat—your cobalt-blue dragon head soars high above the stormy summit of the Nine Prisons, about to descend upon the world!"

His voice grew increasingly resonant, as dense black clouds gathered in the sky, flashing with lightning and rolling thunder, while fierce sandstorms arose all around, and countless Evil Dragon Descendants crawled out of the earth, raising their heads and howling.

The Evil Dragon Sacrifice pointed his scepter towards the northeast and roared: "The enemy is there; they seek to hinder the Mother Goddess's arrival. Tiamat's offspring, go destroy their city and tear apart their armies—"

Before he finished speaking, the eyes of the Blue Dragon Descendants burned with fervor, roaring in anger, as they either ran or flew, racing northward in succession, stirring up a terrifying thunderstorm sandstorm that sent chills down the spine.

And behind the dunes several kilometers away, four players were using Advanced Invisibility to conceal themselves, cautiously observing the situation around the temple.

Mantou whispered, "So many Blue Dragon Descendants, just around here there must be over a thousand. If they find us, we'll probably not even have our bones left."

Natural War Maniac chuckled, "I recently unlocked the Deep Prison Demon Refiner's self-destruct ability, so if we do get discovered, we can take them down with us, wouldn't be such a loss."

He seemed to look quite eager about it.

Meanwhile, Singo was carefully observing the magic map in his hand and said softly: "Hmm, by observing the flow of these Evil Dragon Descendants, we can deduce the location of their lair."

He pointed towards the distant temple ruins and said, "It should be underground in that area, about over fifty meters below the surface. We'll enter the lair directly through the tunnels dug out by the Blue Dragon Descendants."

"Alright."

They advanced cautiously, just in time to encounter several Blue Dragon Descendants crawling out of the ground.

These monsters were four to five meters long, with heads and armaments very similar to Blue Dragons—a pair of strong large claws. These creatures could dig through sand with their claws and move through it as if they were swimming in water.

The spikes at the end of their tails resembled massive Wolf Fang Clubs, with a distinct surge of electric current running along the entire tail.

—These are Blue Dragon Descendant Diggers, often used by the Blue Dragons of Talilo to excavate defenses or expand their lairs.

The Blue Dragon Descendant Diggers charged forth without seeming to notice the players, merely following orders to run north instinctively.

The four players held their breath, standing in the gaps between the monsters, nearly brushing against them as they slipped past.

"Lucky for us, there's already a path open. We'll just slip right in. War Maniac Bro, you take the lead, and if we can't avoid any monsters, just chop them down."

"Of course."

Natural War Maniac rubbed his smooth, shiny head with a simple smile, then directly dove into the tunnel, followed closely by Mantou, Summer Night Autumn Rain, while Singo observed the situation from the rear.

As the top-notch engineers in the desert, the tunnels excavated by the Blue Dragon Descendant Diggers were interconnected and quite spacious, allowing the players to traverse them smoothly.

But soon, a Blue Dragon Descendant Ambusher raced through the tunnel, completely oblivious to the invisible players, heading straight for a collision.

Without hesitation, Natural War Maniac struck fiercely, cleaving the monster's head in half with an axe, splattering blood and brain matter all over himself.

Singo grimly said, "These Evil Dragon Descendants have highly sensitive noses. They're coming after us by scent. We mustn't linger here. Let's speed up!"

The Dragons of Ascension are generally coolly indifferent, considering the journey toward divine ascension as a competition and choosing not to share this path with others in the same process. However, they often have followers and allies who support their exploration, cooperating more freely with lesser dragons and non-dragons than with other dragons.

Life Dice: d12.

Requirements

To qualify as a Dragon of Ascension, a dragon must meet all the following conditions.

Race: Any True Dragon.

Basic Attack Bonus: +30.

Specialty: Dragon Knowledge, Quick Healing, Strengthening, Increased Speed, Steel Will, Quick Reflex.

Special: Devour the Hoard: To begin the process of divine ascension, the potential Dragon of Ascension must consume its hoard. Its hoard must be valued at no less than 100,000 Gold Coins, but the dragon cannot opt to consume exactly 100,000 Gold Coins and leave the rest—it must consume the entire hoard. (This occupation is also the most heart-wrenching for the dragons.)

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The Dragon of Ascension gains no proficiency with any weapons, armor, or shields.

Awesome Aura (Special): The Dragon of Ascension loses its innate fierce presence, replaced by a special aura of fear. This aura extends in any radius chosen by the dragon, up to its total fierce presence range (30 feet × dragon's age category), and is always active unless the dragon chooses to suppress it. The dragon may choose to exclude its allies from the effects of its aura. Creatures within the aura must make a Will save (DC equal to the dragon's fierce presence DC plus 1/2 its Dragon of Ascension level). Those that fail the save are shaken, while those that succeed are immune to the dragon's aura effect for 24 hours. If the dragon attacks or charges, creatures that are shaken must attempt a second Will save (same DC), or become frightened.

When the Dragon of Ascension reaches Level 5, it can choose to alter its aura to inspire its allies and instill fear in its enemies. All of the dragon's allies within the radius of its aura gain a +4 morale bonus on attack rolls, saves, and checks. The dragon's enemies must succeed on a Will save or take a -4 penalty on attack rolls, saves, and checks.

When the Dragon of Ascension reaches Level 10, it gains a third aura option. Simply gawking at the dragon in awe can cause affected creatures to be dazed if they fail their Will save. As with the fear aspect of the aura, the dragon can choose to exclude its allies from the effect.

All uses of the dragon's awe aura are mind-affecting effects.

HP Increase (Special): At Level 2, and every two levels thereafter, the Dragon of Ascension gains 1 HP per Life Dice it possesses, including all its Dragon Life Dice and those acquired from occupational levels. This effect can never cause the dragon's HP to exceed the maximum determined by its Life Dice and constitution modifier.

At Level 12, the HP of the Dragon of Ascension equals the maximum determined by its Life Dice and constitution modifier.

Transmutation Immunity (Special): At Level 3, the Dragon of Ascension gains immunity to transmutation, petrification, and any other attacks that would alter its form. Any transformation powers or spells the dragon possesses still affect it normally.

Enhanced Damage Reduction (Supernatural): At Level 4, the Dragon of Ascension's damage reduction can only be bypassed by Legendary Weapons. At Level 8, the amount of its damage reduction (the number before the slash) increases by 5. For example, an Ancient Black Dragon/8th-level Dragon of Ascension has 20/Legendary damage reduction.

Lifewarding (Special): At Level 6, the Dragon of Ascension is no longer affected by attacks that cause energy drain, attribute drain, or attribute damage.

Oblique Bonus (Supernatural): At Level 7, the Dragon of Ascension's defense rating gains an oblique bonus equal to its charisma modifier, if any.

Iron Ambition (Special): At Level 9, the Dragon of Ascension becomes immune to mind-affecting effects (charms, coercion, phantasms, compulsions, and morale effects).

Resistance to Fire (Special): At Level 11, the Dragon of Ascension gains fire resistance 20.

Magic Resistance: At Level 11, the Dragon of Ascension gains magic resistance 33.

Immortality (Special): At Level 17, the Dragon of Ascension is no longer subject to attacks that cause energy drain, attribute drain, or attribute damage. However, it can still be slain by overwhelming damage.