Comic Book / In the Shadow of Dragons

There's no sound more beautiful, majestic and terrifying than the wingbeat of a Dragon...

In the Shadow of Dragons is a comic book based on Dungeons & Dragons and published by Kenzer & Company.

The story starts when a trio of mighty blue dragons, led by the allmighty Blackwing, arrives into the peaceful city of Rel Astra, looking for the "Last of his Father", a powerful artifact that is apparently located in the town.

The various attempts to fight the monsters fail, so the shady ruler of the city, lord Thrax, decides to send the young wizard apprentice Gifre to find the legendary mage Ealadach, who apparently knows a way to harm even dragons. With him ride Evina, Thrax's bodyguard, Lucien Cathal, a paladin and the renegade rogue Kiernan Ornarus, son of one of Rel Astra nobles and accused of murdering his mother and sister. Along the way, they're joined by Roarn, a dwarven warrior, Verena Mornbringer, an elvish Ranger and Sissel, a blind druid.

Together, they cross the wild lands to find a way to stop Blackwing and his siblings before he destroys Rel Astra for good.

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This Comic Book contains examples of:

• Action Girl: Evina and Verena. Sissel not so much, being a druid and a healer.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: After showing incredible conceit and confidence, Gifre begs for help as Blackwing carries him away.
• Always a Bigger Fish: While in the swamps, Gifre is ambushed by a Green Hag, who's attacked and ripped apart by some Chuul. Then, the last Chuul gets killed and beheaded by a Tojanida.
• Amplifier Artifact: The Magical Iris inside Gifre's armlet let cast more powerful spells.
• An Arm and a Leg: Cornered by Kiernan, Gifre tries one last spell... before Roarn's thrown axe doesn't chop his arm, separating him from the Iris.
• Art Shift: Every "part" is drawn by a different artist, resulting in this.
• Animorphism: Being a Druid, Sissel can turn herself into a wolf, and later into a hawk as well.
• Badass Boast: Blackwing gets his share.
• Bait the Dog: At one point Lord Thrax reassures the population and promises to give them the food from one of his own granaries... the one with the half-rotten food reserves.
• Beard of Evil: Thrax is a vicious, ruthless and dispotic lord and has a noticeable pitch-black full beard.
• Big Bad: Blackwing with Thrax as a minor antagonist. Later, Gifre dethrones Blackwing.
• Big Damn Heroes: Verena comes back just in time to save everyone from Blackwing by piercing his eyes and mouth with fiery arrows.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Roarn, fitting for his character type and class.
• Buried Alive: Gifre use his powers to make Lucien sink in dirt. When Sissels dives to help him, he return the ground to normal. Luckily, they're saved by Blackwing.
• Cool Sword: Lucien's black sword, which turns silver when pointed against an innocent.
• Convection, Schmonvection: Averted, Gifre's fireball does melt Lucien's Tower Shield.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Blackwing and his siblings Azzre and Eclipse against pretty much everyone who dares to stand against them. Our heroes inflict one on a pack of Bugbears later in the story. Despite the heroes' best efforts, Blackwing has the fight against them well in hand and only a sneak attack from Verena and the use of a powerful spell by Gifre leaves him open to being grabbed by the Dragonhold, losing all his ferocity.
• Deadpan Snarker: Kiernan and Roarn, usually at Lucien.
• Defiant to the End: Gifre tries to cast a spell on Kiernan even when cornered. He stops when his right arm (with the Iris on it) is chopped off by Roarn.
• Decoy Protagonist: We spend most of the comic book with apparently Gifre as the main character and focus. He's actually the villain, with the transition to Kiernan as the protagonist.
• Devious Daggers: Kiernan's other weapon is a curved dagger called "Fyre".
• Diabolus ex Nihilo: Most of the creatures encountered during the journey. Just like the random encounter creatures. The most notable one is the Umber Hulk in the caves, who literally comes out of a nearby wall.
• Dual Wielding: Evina does this with Royal Rapier.
• Enemy Mine: First, Azzre offers her help to the heroes to kill her brother Eclipse. Later Blackwing teams up with them against Gifre.
• Epic Flail: Kiernan's weapon is the infamous Dire Flail.
• Evil All Along: Gifre, the little bastard. The same goes for his master, who's revealed to be a Big Bad Wannabe.
• Evil Costume Switch: Gifre discarding his mantle and robe in exchange for a red tunic for the very final battle.
• Eye Scream: Verena makes her triumphant return by shooting several fiery arrows in Blackwing's eye. Unfortunately, it doesn't blind him, it just angers him even more.
• Faking the Dead: Verena, in order to spy Gifre from far away.
• Fantastic Racism: Kiernan states to hate dwarves.
• Fate Worse than Death: What Blackwing has in plan to do with Gifre in the ends.
• Fireball Eyeballs: Blackwing occasionally gets lightning eyeballs when he's threathening or enraged. The same happens to his brothers.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Eventually, Kiernan and Roarn.Best seen during the Bugbear battle, where they spend the entire fighting throwing insults to one another... only to finally admit they weren't that bad.
• Foreshadowing: At the beginning, after finding the smoking, burnt corpse of his master, Gifre swears on Vecna, god of Secrets to avenge him. This should give a clue to people familiar with the game about Gifre's true alignment.
• From Bad to Worse: Halfway through the group is ambushed by an hungry Umber Hulk in some dark tunnels, one member of the group is seriously injured and they need to get s healing herb, splitting the party in half. Then, not only the first group is attacked by the hungry Umber Hulk, but the secondary group is ambushed by a large pack of Gnolls.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: The heroes are all around level 5-7. It makes sense that the battle against Blackwing, a huge and powerful Blue Dragon, goes pear-shaped for the party. Blackwing totally owns the heroes before he's distracted by Verena, entangled by Gifre and tamed with the Dragonhold.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Among various things, a party of six adventurers whose levels range from 5 to 7 having trouble against a single Umber Hulk (Challenge rate 7) and Gifre's spell affecting Blackwing who, judging on the size and power, should have a Spell Resistance high enough to counter most magical attacks.
• Hidden Buxom: Sissel, as seen during the final battle. She also wears a black corset to boot.
• Kick the Dog: Between Blackwing's horrorific attacks on the people and Lord Thrax no-less endearing reactions to the threat, the two get plenty of these moments.
• Killed Off for Real: Evina dies and uses her final breath to release Ealadach.
• Karma Houdini: Azzre gets what she wants and flees from Blackwing's wrath, Lord Thrax escapes before the final battle and is never seen again, though one could think the heroes and the citizens wouldn't let him get away.
• Karmic Death: Kiernan's father tried to arrange things so that Lucien would dispose of him. After learning the truth, Lucien brings Kiernan to his father's office, uncuffs the former and leaves father and son alone with Kiernan's weapons on the table between them. After trying to make excuses and kill his son, Kiernan's father is killed first.
• Lack of Empathy: Blackwing, shown when Thrax tries to negotiate with him and talk about the innocent, suffering civilians.
  Blackwing:" There are nothing but ants under my claws, Lord Thrax..."
• Lawful Stupid: Lucien the Paladin is one at first, though eventually he grows over that, expecially when he sees the truth about Kiernan's father murdering his wife and daughter and then framing his son Kiernan for it.
• Lizard Folk: In the swamps, they ambush the heroes and provide a minor challenge. This is also when Verena's introduced.
• The Load: Gifre, Before learning powerful spells under Ealadach's tutelage. Or revealing himself as the Sixth Ranger Traitor.
• MacGuffin: The "Last of My Father" for Blackwing, the Dragonhold for our heroes. The former proves to be the more important.
• Make Me Wanna Shout: During the battle against the Bugbears, Gifre is seen using the Shout spell.
• Mind Rape: The trial to get the Dragonhold results in this one if you fail. Lucien fails the test, while Kiernana manages to overcome his demons.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Ealadach, after realizing that he just taught all he knew to Gifre, an ambitious power-hungry Smug Snake.
• My Greatest Failure: For Lucien, failing to save his wife and son from a fire.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: Evina is unmistakenly good and virtuous, yet she serves Lord Thrax, who's far from being an exemplary monarch.
• Mystical White Hair: Sissel is a mysterious blind Druidess and has long white hair to enhance her mysterious and arcane looks.
• Noble Demon: Blackwing, fitting the Lawful Evil nature of Blue Dragons. Even if the heroes have slain his brother and broke his immortality enchantment, he's ready to help them against Gifre even if they were fighting just a moment before. He even rescues Lucien and Sissel from the soil as soon as he's released.
• Oh, Crap!: Gifre, faced with an incredibly pissed off Blackwing who wants the Iris back.
• People Puppets: Gifre use a manipulating spell on Verena, who's about to shoot him, to make her kill Evina.
• Playing with Fire: Verena's bow is made from the bones of a red dragon, and can set arrows ablaze.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: Downplayed, but Ealadach is a powerful and wise wizard who helds warriors (even Paladin) in great contempt. Knowing this, the one who sealed him in a bottle made it so that only the breath of a dying warrior would release him.
• Poisoned Weapons: Kiernan's Fyre is an enchanted curved dagger seemingly imbued with a powerful venom: the Umber Hulk stabbed by it started roaring in pain and clawing at its own chest before retreating into the dephts of the caverns, victim of an excruciating pain.
• Properly Paranoid: Verena knew that Gifre was an evil prick all along. She faked her death to keep a better eye on him.
• Red Herring: The Dragonhold in the end.
• Red Right Hand: Blackwing's wings, horns and underbelly are black, rather then yellow. When Eclipse is murdered and the spell broken, they return back to yellow.
• Redemption Rejection: A fred Ealadach tries to talk Gifre out of his evil plans. Gifre listens him to the end, but ultimately rejects his pleas and tries to murder him with a spell.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: A minor but powerful one to Lord Thrax, after he threw Evina to Blackwing for "failing" him. Roarn calls him insane and shoves him out of his way with no fanfare, while Lucien coldly tells him to just be quiet and, like he did before their quest to save the city, stay there and watch.
• The Reveal: In a nutshell, Kiernan is innocent, his dad did it instead and Gifre is actually an evil mage planning to use the Iris to take over Rel Astra.
• Royal Rapier: To underline Evina's refined fighting style and noble rank as a servant of Lord Thrax, her weapons are a set of magical rapiers.
• Scary Stinging Swarm: Sissel summons a large swarm of bees against Blackwing. It goes as well as you can possibly imagine, though it briefly bothers the dragon.
• Scream Discretion Shot: When Kiernan avenge his sister and mother and kills his father.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Lucien's real purpose in the group was keeping an eye on Kiernan and eventually execute him before returning to town. After learning about what really happened, he escorts Kiernan to his father... then free him, leave his weapons on the table and exit the room.
• Sealed Good in a Can: Ealadach was turned into green mist and sealed in a bottle. Only the breath of a dying warrior can release him. Evina eventually does.
• Self-Made Orphan: Kiernan is accused of killing his mother. Later he kills his own father, the real culprit.
• Smug Snake: Gifre's true colors.
• Shock and Awe: Blackwing. His eyes also sparks lightings when he's enraged.
• Single-Stroke Battle: Unfortunately, works against the heroes: when a gang of Bugbears try to have their champion challenging Roarn for fun, Kiernan tells the dwarf to keep fighting for a while to give the others time to surround the goblinoids and attack them. Roarn, insulted by his opponent, proceeds to one-shot the Bugbear, enraging the whole group before the heroes can manoeuver.
• Soul Jar: Eclipse and Azzre to Blackwing. As long as they're alive, Blackwing has the strength and power of three dragons in one.
• Suicidal Overconfidence: The paladin from the beginning tries to stand up to Blackwing, confident in his victory. The dragon gives him an amused grin before electrocuting him to death.
• Summon Magic: Used by Gifre to call forth some Earth Elementals near the end.
• The Starscream: Azzre to Blackwing. Later is revealed that Gifre's master was one to Lord Thrax.
• Talking the Monster to Death: Ealadach tries to reason with Gifre near the end. He doesn't listen.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Kiernan and Lucien. Later Kiernan and Roarn, though the two eventually come to respect each other.
• Throwing Your Axe Always Works: Roarn's specialty. It fails against the Earth Elementals.
  Roarn:"Uh? This never happened to me before..."
• Token Evil Teammate: Kiernan. Actually Gifre.
• Too Dumb to Live: The paladin in the beginning, who gets fried by Blackwing.
• Unstoppable Rage: Blackwing, when he finds out that Eclipse has been killed.
• Villainous Breakdown: Lord Thrax. By the end, he's a furious, screaming madman, insulting the heroes when he sees what they've obtained in their quest and that they have killed Eclipse. That being said, he does have a point. Invoked by Roarn when a panicked Thrax tries to order the party to protect him, only for the Dwarf to bodily shove him out of his way while claiming that he's lost his mind.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Lucien is often subjected to these. Lord Thrax chews the heroes for bringing to him the apparently useless Dragonhold and killing Eclipse without warning him.
• Whip of Dominance: The Dragonhold, a whip with a claw-like device on the top, which can make dragons passive and docile if wrapped around their necks.
• You Have Failed Me: Thinking he has been played for a fool, Lord Thrax angrily threws Evina and the Dragonhold out of his keep to face Blackwing alone and tries to force the other party members to help him. After being ditched by the heroes, he murders his own canchellor before escaping.
• Zerg Rush: The Gnolls against Verena.