"D-Dendar, the Nightmare Serpent?!!!"
Gazing up at the terrifying serpent that blotted out the sky, Eilistraee, the Dark Maiden, let out an almost piercing scream.
It hardly suited the grace, beauty, and wildness she had always embodied.
But her reaction was understandable.
Among the many Elder Evils and Primal Gods, few could threaten an entire plane, let alone a Crystal Sphere, with destruction.
Dendar, the Nightmare Serpent, was one of them.
Even gods could fall prey to her power to create and devour nightmares.
Her black scales, formed from countless nightmares made real, could easily withstand most Artifacts. Only weapons with an enchantment bonus above +5 met the bare minimum needed to pierce them.
But thinking that was enough to kill Dendar was pure fantasy.
According to legend, only one weapon in history had ever truly wounded her: the famed Titan Slayer, the Legendary Blade Orben Onari.
And "wounded" was as far as it went.
When Gwydion supposedly defeated Dendar, all he had really done was break free of the nightmare she had inflicted on him. He had not dealt her any lasting harm.
Whether it was a rule Dendar had set for herself or a constraint imposed at her birth, anyone who overcame a nightmare could claim to have defeated the Nightmare Serpent, and she would acknowledge it.
Even Cyric, the Prince of Lies, at the height of his power and in possession of all the Dead Three's Divine Portfolios and Divine Power, could not escape the terrifying nightmares Dendar unleashed.
No person or god had ever posed a truly mortal threat to the Nightmare Serpent.
Even when Cyric had gone so mad that he disregarded Ao the Overgod, he still feared Dendar deep down. He chose to ally with her and fed her the souls of great numbers