Agtakkeri

The Flayed Banner. The Skinning Wind. Agtakkeri has many names among Gorathi sailors, none spoken willingly.

A dark green dragon of immense age and patient cruelty, Agtakkeri lairs on Shinori Island in the archipelago north of Tamadrez. For over two centuries, the dragon has made the northern approaches to Pesalolo a death sentence for Gorathi vessels. Any ship flying imperial colors—or carrying slaves—draws Agtakkeri's attention. The dragon has an uncanny ability to identify slave vessels even when disguised, though whether this is magic, informants, or simply the smell of suffering, no one knows.

The waters between Shinori, Pukot Island, and the Tamadrezan coast are called the Skinning Grounds. Gorathi naval maps mark them with a simple skull. Veterans of the Tamadrez run drink to forget what they've heard from survivors.

The Grudge

Agtakkeri's hatred of Gorath is petty, personal, and very, very old. None of it is righteous.

When Gorathi explorers first charted the northern islands six centuries ago, they encountered Agtakkeri's territory. The dragon demanded tribute, the traditional arrangement between dragons and the foolish mortals who sailed near their lairs. The expedition's commander, a man named Veryx, refused. Worse, when Agtakkeri's priest-envoy arrived to negotiate, Veryx had him killed and his body displayed on the ship's prow.

This insult began the grudge. The wound deepened two centuries later when another Veryx, a descendant of the original who had made his name as a dragonslayer, tracked Agtakkeri to Shinori and scarred the dragon's left eye in single combat. The dragonslayer escaped. His descendants hold minor noble titles in Azantir to this day. Agtakkeri knows their names.

What started as a territorial dispute and metastasized through personal injury has become something like a religion for Agtakkeri. The dragon keeps a mental ledger of every Gorathi ship sunk, currently somewhere in the hundreds. It is keeping score, not protecting anyone.

The Method

Agtakkeri strikes at dawn, when visibility is poor and crews are tired from night watch. The dragon rises from the waves without warning, capsizes smaller vessels with its bulk, and breathes poison gas across the decks of larger ships. Those who jump overboard and swim are ignored. They are not Gorathi, not anymore, just bodies in the water.

Those who remain are taken.

What Agtakkeri does to captured Gorathi sailors is infamous. The dragon keeps them alive for days on Shinori's rocky shores. Fishermen from Pukot Island have heard the screaming carry across the water. The dragon asks them questions—names, ranks, ship origins, family connections. It wants to know if any are related to the Veryx bloodline. It wants to update its ledger.

Occasionally a flayed skin appears nailed to driftwood, pushed by currents toward Azantir. These are Agtakkeri's messages. The dragon has never sent words. It has never needed to.

The Accidental Protector

Agtakkeri does not free slaves. It kills everyone on Gorathi ships—crew, captain, and cargo alike. The dragon makes no distinction between slaver and enslaved. Hundreds of Drasnian dwarves have drowned in ships Agtakkeri sank "on their behalf."

The survivors are those who jump before the attack and swim for the islands. Agtakkeri ignores swimmers. It wants the ships.

And yet.

Because of Agtakkeri, the northern approaches to Tamadrez are impassable for Gorathi vessels. Small boats fleeing the Slave Coast can slip through waters no imperial captain will enter. The dragon has saved more escaped slaves than any underground railroad. It cares nothing for them; it cares about hurting Gorath.

This creates an impossible moral situation. Agtakkeri is a monster. It tortures people to death. It drowns innocents along with slavers. But it is also the single greatest check on Gorathi naval power in the region. Kill the dragon, and Gorath's ships can finally seal the northern escape routes. Leave it alive, and the screaming continues.

The Bounty

Emperor Veramus has made Agtakkeri's death a priority. The current bounty, accumulated over decades of increases, would purchase a county. Gorathi noble families have sent private expeditions. The Imperial Navy has attempted coordinated strikes. Adventurers from across Alaria have tried their luck.

No one has collected.

Agtakkeri is ancient, cunning, and fights in an environment it knows perfectly. The dragon uses the island chains for cover, attacks from underwater, and retreats into cave systems that flood at high tide. It has killed three dragonslayers, sixteen naval captains, and an uncounted number of would-be heroes.

More frustrating for Gorath: Agtakkeri is patient. It doesn't attack every ship, just enough to make the northern route unusable. Captains never know if this voyage will be the one. The psychological toll breaks crews faster than direct attacks ever could.

Shinori Island

Agtakkeri's lair occupies the eastern face of Shinori Island, a network of sea caves accessible only at low tide or by swimming through flooded tunnels. The island itself is uninhabited—even the desperate avoid it. Pukot Island to the north and the Liki Forest island to the south give Shinori wide berth.

The shores are scattered with wreckage: rotting ship timbers, corroded metal fittings, and bones. Many bones. Some are arranged deliberately, a dragon's idea of decoration or warning.

Occasionally, escaped slaves wash up on Shinori after surviving an attack. They must survive on the island until they can build a raft to Pukot. Agtakkeri ignores them entirely. They are not Gorathi. They are not interesting.

Appearance

Agtakkeri's scales are the dark green of jungle canopy at twilight—almost black in shadow, revealing their true color only in direct light. The dragon is large even by ancient standards, its wingspan sufficient to shadow a merchant vessel. The left eye is a ruin, scarred white from the Veryx dragonslayer's blade two centuries ago.

The dragon moves through water as easily as air, capable of holding its breath for hours and striking from beneath the waves. Salt crusts the scales permanently; Agtakkeri smells of brine and something else, something chemical and choking, the residue of its poison breath.

Hooks

• The Bounty Hunt: Gorath offers enough gold to change a party's life forever. The moral weight might change them too.

• Protect the Monster: Tamadrezan resistance asks the party to stop a major Gorathi dragonslaying expedition. Success means keeping a torturer alive. Failure means sealing the escape routes.

• The Survivor's Revenge: A Drasnian dwarf who watched fellow slaves drown in an Agtakkeri attack wants the dragon dead, for the innocents it murdered rather than for Gorath. They don't care about the political consequences.

• What the Dragon Knows: Agtakkeri has observed Gorathi naval operations for two centuries. It knows shipping schedules, patrol routes, and the locations of hidden supply caches. This information could be invaluable to the right buyer, but the dragon only negotiates with those who bring it a Gorathi captain, alive.

• The Veryx Heir: One of the dragonslayer's descendants has had enough of looking over their shoulder. They want to finish what their ancestor started, or broker a peace, if such a thing is possible with a dragon keeping a six-century grudge.