“The one you know as Duke Merak had been an adventurer and a dragonslayer, once.  Long ago. It was how he'd won the Duchy- Rescuing princess Catrina from the dragon of Mt Rivias. It had not been a terribly brutal battle, but it was notable for being one of the few times in his career he had fought a metallic dragon; they were almost invariably usually benevolent or at least benign forces. The violent and cruel chromatics were the ones who most frequently ravaged countrysides, or otherwise made a nuisance of themselves.

	The metallic, a young copper, had kidnapped Princess Catrina for, according to his own claim, 'the pleasure of her company'. Though dragons in general, and particularly chromatics, have been known to behave  unchivalrously in manner on occasion, the copper seemed to have retained its decency and had attempted to seduce the princess, rather than take her by force. (Admittedly, while also issuing a demand for ransom.) It was, then, due to this level of decorum the dragon had maintained that Sir Merak issued a challenge to it rather than simply attacking and slaying the beast. Aware of Sir Merak's reputation, the creature attempted to dissuade Sir Merak by trickery, persuasion, and bluster- All to no avail. Sir Merak did not waver on his demands, namely, that the dragon release the princess, cede its hoard and lair to him, and depart the kingdom. The dragon refused to accept so tall an order, and so they fought.

	The fought briefly. Sir Merak, being an experienced dragonslayer, summarily defeated the dragon, though he allowed it to flee with its life- For any dragon, being defeated at the hands of a humanoid or party of humanoids was humiliating, but proud and greedy though they are, dragons still exhibit self-preservation. The copper fought as best he could, but yielded and fled when it became clear he had no chance. The princess was rescued, the hoard claimed, and the land around Mt. Rivias secured- The wealthy borderland that Catrina's father would grant to Sir Merak, landing him as a vassal and relative of the King. Sir, now Duke Merak, retired from adventuring, and became a landed noble.

	His retirement did not treat him well, however. Among other things, he had no luck in siring sons, ending up with six daughters of duchess Catrina, and another five acknowledged as legitimate, but widely believed to be from a number of mistresses. Worse still, he was crippled in 782, when he heroically foiled an assassination attempt on the king- Which secured his good graces with his father-in-law, but meant that later that year, when a dragon kidnapped two of his daughters from his very castle, he was unable to pursue himself. (Though it should be noted that he made every effort to do so, until direct command from his liege lord re-grounded him in reality.) All he could do was offer the traditional reward for their rescue, namely, half his duchy and marriage to whichever of the rescued daughters the rescuer preferred.

	The years of 783-790 proved similarly unfortunate for the good Duke. His other nine daughters were similarly kidnapped by a menagerie of dragon-kind, and, in one case, a wizard. Some of the more suspicious sorts viewed this as karma for letting the kidnapper of Lady Catrina go, or perhaps an organized retaliation for someone who had made a name for themselves off of the murder of dragonkind. Indeed, some wondered whether the Duke should have expected something of the sort.

	Whatever the source, this added to the difficulty of his situation- He could hardly offer half a kingdom for the rescue of each daughter, and the offer of an eleventh of the duchy was not the kind of thing that engendered anything but the most desperate of adventurers to risk their lives, and that was disregarding the fact that so dividing his holdings among theoretical dragonslayers would not have left him capable of fulfilling his ducal obligations to his liege lord. It was somewhere in this time that the good Duke Merak developed his most extraordinary drinking habit.

	It was on one of his remarkable drinking excursions, where he choose a tavern in his duchy, drink it dry, accuse all adventurers in earshot of being cowards, and, in most cases, throw the resulting dissenters through walls- crippled as an adventurer he might have been, but to give him his due credit, even in infirmity and old age, Merak was a capable man- that he encountered a man named Ibn del Shuffien, a merchant from the far east. Though a mere coin-counter, not an adventurer, del Shuffien was a well-traveled and most eloquent individual. Upon hearing the Duke explain his problems over a tankard, he offered the king what he saw as an obvious solution- change the reward for the rescue of the Duke's daughters to allow polygamy. That's marriage between more than two people- As Shuffien saw it, it was entirely unremarkable, and could be seen as a reward of sufficient value to tempt a capable hero. The daughters of princess Catrina were, if anything, even more beautiful than their mother, and the ability to collect the rewards for the rescue of more than a single princess would add up to something worthwhile- Rescuing three would grant three wives, and thrice the reward in land for the rescue of one. Hardly 'her hand and half the kingdom', but certainly enough for an intrepid hero to land himself as a baron or small-time viscount.

	Naturally, the king discarded such ideas out of hand. Strange foreigners and their stranger ways, which he would not saddle his daughters with, be they legitimate or not. Or at least, so he claimed in his usual, drink-addled state. The usual fight he sought broke out, and though Ibn del Shuffien proved himself remarkably more capable than the Duke expected, it wasn't sufficient to stop the Duke from wrecking the common room of the tavern in his usual brawl, nor enough to prevent Shuffien from being ejected from the tavern in the way that objects of Duke Merak's ire frequently were. Despite his initial stance on the matter, however, the idea must have stuck in Duke Merak's head, for he shortly brought the issue up with his wife and her holiness dame Kallah, Cleric of Pelor and companion of Duke Merak from the days of Sir Merak. Slightly better versed than Duke Merak in the ways of her religion, and the tenets of Pelor, Kallah informed the Duke that such practices did, in fact, exist, and were sanctioned by the church, when both parties consented.

	This, and the desperation of his wife, were enough to persuade the Duke- He received permission from his lord, and issued his edict altering the wording of the standing reward. Considered bizarre, decadent, exotic, and erotic, the change instigated a veritable swarm of adventurers to seek the promised reward.  What the duke was hoping might happen was that someone might come through here or there, and successfully rescue a few of his daughters. Ideally, only one each, but he was willing to grant grudging sanction to what he still termed- and does to this day- 'those barbaric foreign practices', if they would get him some of his children back. In practice, what occurred was a sudden surge in the amount of fortune-hunters and novice-adventurers attempting to make a name for himself, most of whom met gruesome ends at the hands of more mundane monsters, or, in the case of the rest, at the hands of the dragons from whom they wished to rescue the princesses. Incidentally, the Duke did attempt to apologize to Shuffien, but by that time, the merchant had vanished, presumably, to somewhere where he was less likely to get assaulted by wandering nobility.

	At this point, someone re-enters our story- The young Copper dragon, from whom Sir Merak had rescued princess Catrina. A bold young dragon, so he thought himself. Hyvalliaxibrandt, as he was called, had been the first to kidnap the poor Duke's eldest two daughters- For while the Duke was human and grew more feeble with age, even aside from the injuries he suffered foiling the assassination, as a dragon, Hyvalliaxibrandt grew only stronger with age. A mere few decades were not enough to truly empower him, but he was, admittedly, not above a bit of petty vengeance- and the abduction of the Duke's daughters had seen that, as well as providing him with the status that a dragon with kidnapped royalty attained among his peers. But beyond merely having servants, something to fluff the ego of any dragon, he had found, over the years, that he was quite fond of the good Duke's daughters- Civilized, educated, most beautiful, dignified- They weren't dragons, of course, but they were remarkably pleasant.

	And when the good Hyvalliaxibrandt herd tell from a rather pitiful adventurer about what had instigated the latest wave of brigands and peasants to assault him in his lair, he knew what he could do. The two daughters in his care, having lived with each other and with him for so long, and long-since seduced by Hyvall, were more than willing to offer their assent to marry him if he 'rescued' them. So assured, he began looking into their siblings, and the various dragons that held them hostage.

	The first, another of their sisters, he paid the ransom for and bought off of the Red that held her hostage- Not nearly so simply as that, of course, but with much haggling and threats back and forth. Red dragons are frequently difficult, and greedy beyond even the admitted usual measure of dragons. Luckily for Hyvall, he was somewhat older than the Red, and able to intimidate it to some degree. Her freedom was by no means cheap, however, and the copper was most relieved when she, too, agreed to his plan.

	The second, he managed to plea off of the silver that had taken her. In truth, the silver had taken her because he had a daughter himself- A halfbreed who had become, in my opinion, quite maladjusted, growing up with only her father at the top of a mountain. Realizing that his daughter needed someone to interact with, Argelius- his name in short- had attempted to secure the best of companions for his daughter. Hyvalliaxibrandt did not consider the silver very bright, but being nearly a century the younger, he was forced to bow and scrape, and submit to the Silver's demands. It was, then, quite galling when the maiden he rescued- Anya, daughter of Merak- held utter contempt for all dragonkind, and refused any of his advances. To be refused by a mere humanoid is roughly akin to being beaten by one... but at least he had secured her freedom. Her willing hand or not, the rest of the reward was still within his grasp. Disappointed, but undaunted, he continued.

	The third, and youngest daughter of them all, he was forced to rescue- She had been abducted by a vile black. Say whatever you will of the various chromatics, but none are worse than those. Reds might be greedy and vengeful, whites might be little more than animals, but blacks are simply cruel for the sake of being cruel. So it was that when Hyvalliaxibrandt stole into the foul black's lair and stole away his prisoner, he found a hideous, mistreated victim, tortured, starved, and mutilated on the black's evil whims. And Leanna was not the black's only prisoner...

	Even Hyvalliaxibrandt, with relatively loose morals for a metallic, was driven to action but such cruelty. Though he initially intended to steal in and out in stealth, liberating just who he was after, Hyvall attacked the black in his lair, and in hard fought battle, managed to slay the creature. Though he claimed the beast's hoard, and liberated the other sorry prisoners, Hyvall was grievously injured in such a battle, and was forced back to his lair to recuperate. It was not completely wasted time, though, as the time allowed him to help Leanna's recovery, assisting her in closing some of the mental and physical scars her time as the black's prisoner had left her with. He didn't ask her until he was fully recovered himself, but when he did, she assented.

	The next two he acquired were two of the illegitimate daughters, twins who had been taken by a blue. Haughty, arrogant, imperious, vain... all of those described this blue, but she still was one of the ones Hyvalliaxibrandt found the most pleasant to deal with. Most pleasant indeed... Through much flattery, and catering to her... vanity, Hyvalliaxibrandt managed to acquire her two 'handmaidens', as she termed them. Though they were ordered to go along with Hyvall's designs, he liked to imagine that he won them on his own merits eventually.

	Of the last four, another two declined to assist Hyvalliaxibrandt's goals, despite the fact that he rescued them from their respective keepers. Two did, though, and of those, the one you'd be interested was Lady Valerie, whom Hyvalliaxibrandt fought the green dragon known as Rynskald for. Not his preferred activity, and he was unable to kill the green, but in the end he drove it to flight long enough to seize the good lady-”

	“Mother?” the girl interrupted, speaking up for the first time in the rather long story. Her storyteller arched his neck and pulled his head back slightly.

	“But of course. Who else?” Hyvalliaxibrandt purred, smiling benevolently. He waited a moment as the girl before him seemed to think.

	“Why half the kingdom?” was the result of her pause. “Why half the kingdom and the princess's hand in marriage?” she demanded, staring skeptically up at the dragon next to her.

	“Because dragons are dangerous, of course. Think, Kalyvia. Dragons have claws-” Hyvalliaxibrandt said reasonably, reaching out to gingerly grab the halfbreed girls' taloned hands, “armored scales, wings-” the words were punctuated with a gentle grip on the halfdragon's scaled wrist, and slight rustle of Hyvall's large wings, “and, of course, they breathe fire-” The final word Hyvall interrupted to blow a small fireball over his daughter's face. She frowned, and shook her head as it passed over her to no effect. “-or other, more unpleasant things. Wealth, land, and the status of marrying a princess are generally what is necessary to get adventurers to risk life, limb, and immolation for the sake of someone else's family.”

	“Am I a princess?” Kalyvia asked, eyes narrowing dangerously as she stared up at her father.

	“To me, certainly. You'll never hear me say otherwise.” Hyvalliaxibrandt answered smoothly, earning a regal nod of approval from his daughter. She gave a similarly dignified gesture with her hand, indicating him to continue.

	“After that, there is less to tell. Within a year, I had managed to collect all of your mother's siblings, and we went to visit the good Duke. He was, needless to say, unamused. I had comitted no crime- Well, except for seizing two of his daughters in the first place, but they claimed I had not held them against there will, and refused to let him charge me. And there I was with every one of his missing daughters- delivering them back into his hands for the fair reward. It would be fair to say he was in a frothing rage when I first pointed out quite what position I'd left him in. Nor would it be lying to say he attempted to kill me anyway. But...” Hyvalliaxibrandt gave a smug smile. “That was not unexpected. In my foresight, I'd researched a few... precedents, from nobility's own records. Likewise, I made sure the King himself heard of what was going on. His response was fast and predictable- The idea of a dragon as his sworn vassal appealed immensely to him, both for the prestige it would be, and the... pragmatic value of having a dragon on his side. It wasn't phrased as such, of course, but his order to Duke Merak to honor his word and grant me the reward I had earned was a tacit order to accede to my demands and secure me as an ally. Which... was what I wanted, after all.”

	“Tacit?”

	“Silent. He didn't say it, it was unspoken...”

	“But it was known anyway.” Kalyvia finished, looking for confirmation.

	“Correct. Of course... When it came down to it, a few of Merak's daughters didn't really like the arrangement. Two of them went back on their word to me, and one... actually changed her mind and begged me to accept her. I am a benevolent suitor, of course, and allowed them each their will. I did achieve my goal, after all.”

	“More petty vengeance, to be named heir to the Duke's lands, legal holding of your old lair, and seven of his daughters.” Kalyvia interjected smartly. Hyvalliaxibrandt frowned.

	“Merak has told you all about it, has he? I'd deny the first-”

	“He said you'd do that.” Kalyvia said absently, glancing around. She paused to grab her father's tail and pulling it around her. Hyvalliaxibrandt absently assisted her as he glared down at her. “He said...” Kalyvia paused, screwing up her face as she tried to remember, “ 'The worst thing about that bastard, the thing I hate most, bar none, was the look on that bastard's face when he saw seven of my daughters walking up the aisle at the wedding.'” She paused, nodding solemnly when she decided she'd gotten it right. “'Nothing in all the planes should ever look that damn smug.'”, she added.

	Though Hyvalliaxibrandt tried to keep his glare, he found it difficult to do so. With a half grin on his face, he couldn't resist asking, “Was there anything else your grandfather said about me?” Kalyvia made him wait a moment, then apparently decided she was content with how much of her father's tail was wrapped around her and nodded.

	“Yes. 'That bastard... 'son-in-law'. He's a tricky, scummy, bastardly enough bastard that he could have been an adventurer.', he said.” Kalyvia relayed, “And then he called for more wine and told me not to mention you again. He asked after mother and Anya..”

	Hyvalliaxibrandt laughed as she finished. “That's high praise, coming from him. Perhaps he's going soft in his old age!” When he was finished chuckling, Hyvalliaxibrandt shook his daughter gently with his tail and said, “Anyway, that's probably why he doesn't like me too much, if I had to guess. Though apparently, you know nearly as much as me...” Kalyvia nodded in victorious agreement. “Well. I that case, I think it's about time that you went and turned in with your sisters.”. Kalyvia's expression immediately darkened from the smugness of a moment ago to a kind of wary, put-upon exasperation. With exaggerated sighing, she reached up to kiss her father on the scales of his shoulder, and paused to allow him to snake his head down to kiss her on her forehead, before disentangling herself form his tail, and making for the door. Halfway to it, she paused and turned back.

	“Who was Ibn... Ibn del...?” she asked, having trouble with the unfamiliar name. “Was that you?”

	“My, we are a clever girl, aren't we?” Hyvalliaxibrandt said with pleasure, “That was my brother. He found my plan amusing enough that he was willing to give me a hand with it.”

	“Thought so.” Kalyvia said with satisfaction. Vindicated, she turned and continued out.

	It was with a  contented smile that he Hyvalliaxibrandt watched her go.