Ink and watercolour plate of a wyvern-like dragon hovering on spread leathery wings, its dark scaled chest glowing with fire, hind claws and a long tail hanging below.

Creature

Asper

The dragon bound by spell to the other Aurelius, which guarded the floating ruins of Shrike's Lookout.

  • The Goblin Invasion

Description

Asper is a dragon held to its master by a binding spell, so tightly that defeating the beast weakens the sorcerer who controls it. Its hide is too thick for fireballs, and it fights with fire: great gouts of flame, a rain of fire from above and sudden charges.

Historical context

The other Aurelius summoned Asper at Shrike's Lookout to frighten the stranger off, fled on its back when that failed, and finally called it down to fight in the ring above the floating ruins, boasting that he had raised it himself. The stranger turned its own blaze back upon it with the shield until it fell, and its master fell with it. Aurelius, who had taken the dragon seen over Pinewood for a harmless passer-by, had to revise his opinion.

"Asper! Show yourself!" — the other Aurelius