However...I'm happy to write anything without ninja babies in it at this point, so I'm going with it.
The "Real life" story behind the story is that I finally took Onyxia down solo this weekend on my Paladin, and this is a celebration of that feat, of sorts. Since Blizzard is re-releasing Onyxia as a new 10/25 man raid instance in the next patch, this is very likely the last time I will be able to pull it off solo like that, so I'm actually quite proud I was able to get it done.
The young Paladin wiped the blood of the dragonkin he had just slain off his sword and walked around the corner of the cave. He was deep below the surface now. He could feel the heat of Azeroth's core surrounding him. The stench of sulfur assaulted his nostrils. As he walked down the small cave he saw it open up ahead into a gigantic cavern. And in the center of that cavern was Onyxia herself. He had found her at last. She hasn't noticed his presence yet. Good.
Gaston eyed the dragon critically. For a time, she had infiltrated the highest courts in Stormwind. In her human guise as the Lady Prestor, she had gained the confidence of the young Anduin Wrynn, erstwhile King of Stormwind. Her "advice" had nearly brought down a kingdom. At last the Paladin would test his strength against Onyxia the treacherous, daughter of the cursed Deathwing, sister of Nefarian, broodmother of the Black Dragonflight.
Gaston smiled wryly. Aiding the great Marshall Windsor, they had uncovered her masquerade and driven her from Stormwind Keep forever. After the events of that day, he had but one quest...kill the Dragon. It had taken him years to track her down this far and find her lair, deep beneath the swamps of Duskwallow Marsh. Now it was up to him to deal the justice of the Light to this conniving dragon at last, and avenge the death of Windsor.
Quickly and quietly, he checked over his gear. The plate he wore still shone brightly from the polish he had given it at the camp this morning, with the exception of the blotchy stains of dragon blood drained from the watchers Onyxia had left to guard the mouth of her cave. Dragon blood is a stain that would not polish out easily. Gaston grimaced at the thought. All his armor would be colored red by this night's end. The only question was would it be his blood or the dragon's? Time to find out.
He checked the sharpness of his sword and the strength of his shield. He prayed they would hold through the battle. "Nothing more to do but kill the bitch" he muttered under his breath. There was no shadow in the cave, nor cover to be had, so it was only a matter of time before she noticed the Paladin. There would be no surprise or easy stealth kill here.
So be it. Gaston raised his sword and charged.
He was halfway to her when the dragon lifted her head slowly and saw him coming. Angrily she arose to face the challenge. When he reached her, she struck out with her giant claw, but Gaston blocked it easily with his shield and cut at the skin on her forearm with his sword. His sword found her skin, but it didn't cut the flesh...her hide was just too thick. Ducking under another blow from her, he cut down her belly, but he still was unable to pierce the the skin. Behind her now, he tried cutting her hind leg, but the hide held together there as well.
Gaston swore. She had to have a weakness.
Suddenly felt a mighty gust of wind as her tail swung at him. Gaston tried to dodge, but it just came in too fast. He barely got his shield up in time, but the impact knocked him back against the far wall. Onyxia turned and charged after him, but Gaston quickly rose to his feet and stood his ground. He blocked several blows from her claws, and attacked her face, looking for a weakness. Any weakness.
Furiously, the dragon attacked him, but Gaston was able to block, dodge or otherwise avoid every blow. Roaring in frustration, she breathed fire at him, but Gaston shrugged off the assault and blocked the fire with his shield. Putting all the power of the light behind every blow, he attacked furiously to a single point above her left nostril. Perhaps if he focused on a single point, it would wear her down and the skin would eventually succumb to his assault and break.
For what seemed like hours, but could just as easily been minutes, Gaston hacked and slashed at the single spot on her head, trying to make the brood mother bleed at last. Suddenly, when he was about to give up on it and try another tactic, his sword broke through the skin, and he could tell he hurt her.
Roaring in pain, the dragon flapped her wings violently and took to the sky. Flying around the enormous cavern, she looked to rain fire down on Gaston and stay out of the reach of his sword. For any other mere warrior, it would have worked too.
Fortunately, Gaston was a Paladin of the Hand of Vargus and had other tools at his disposal. He focused the light of judgment on the spot he had weakened earlier with his sword and let loose with all the power of the Light at his command. Her screams echoed throughout the cavern and he knew he had hurt her again.
Unbeknownst to the Paladin, the screams had served another purpose though and had awakened a small army of dragon whelps and they came streaming out of the hatching caves on both sides of the cavern.
Just in time, Gaston saw them coming, and had to take his focus off of Onyxia to consecrate the ground beneath him, hoping it would keep the whelplings at bay. Apparently the brood mother's hold on her whelps was fierce, since they ignored the pain caused by the Holy ground beneath them and attacked with suicidal abandon.
Gaston blocked and slashed for all he was worth and was able to defeat the whelps, but almost too late he noticed the giant dragon had taken in a deep breath and breathed down fire at him so intense that if he had not surrounded himself with a shield of Light at the last second, it would have burned him to a crisp.
Angry now, Gaston refocused his efforts with the Light and attacked the dragon with renewed force to the weak spot on her face. In frustration, Onyxia abandoned her flying attacks and dropped back down from the sky to attack him with her claws faster than Gaston would have thought possible for such a giant creature. Blocking and parrying her attacks, her blows still struck with such force that he had to continually back up until he was once again with his back to the rear wall of the cavern.
Strangely, the more powerfully the dragon attacked, the more strength the Light gave to him. Gaston could feel the Light flow through his veins like never before and it gave him a surge of strength and speed that he would have thought impossible just a day before.
Instead of weakening, with every blow the dragon struck, Gaston grew even more powerful. Finally his sword was moving so fast and with such force, that it slashed through the thick hide of the dragon's face cleanly. Roaring with pain, the dragon reared up and Gaston saw his opening. Without thinking, he leapt up in the air, slicing his sword across her neck. As he dropped back to his feet he could hear the dragon collapse behind him with two thuds. A big thud for her body that made the earth shake and a smaller one for the head that rolled away from it's former owner.
He grabbed the head of Onyxia, throwing it over his Shoulder and turned to exit the cave. It would make a fine gift for a King.
Shouldn't this be on your other blog...?