Aeshma

“I was in my shop working on a new chair for the widow down the way. It had been raining hard since before dawn and into the afternoon. You know that kinda rain that is so loud you can’t hear nothing inside? That. All morning and into the afternoon.

“You start to work to the pattern of it, you know?”

“Any road, I think that is why I noticed it got silent. That pattern gone and my rhythm with the lathe got all funny. That is when I heard a thum! thum! thum! noise then a roar like, well like nothing I have ever heard before. Deep and low ending high and sharp.”

“Shook my bones.”

“Then suddenly something slammed against the back of my shop. There was this noise kinda like a huffing hog, but louder and meaner, and the wall felt like it was going to bow in. The ground shook by whatever was slamming against the building.”

“I panicked. I ain’t afraid to admit it. I wanted to get away from whatever that was out there. Whatever that was trying to get in. So I hid in the washroom. Tried to make myself small and grabbed hold of the toilet, which I think is why I am here talking to you today.”

“See, whatever that was, it burst into the shop and began tearing apart the place. I could see the walls peeling up from the ground around me with an insane force. Everything was shaking. Debris was thrown into the air all around me. The roof was gone, and I caught a glimpse of something towering above the walls.”

“I’m not saying it was a dragon, but if that was a dragon, I now know what they look like. If it wasn’t, I don’t want to meet one.”

~ From Taubha’s Lesser Book of Names

Aeshma has been described by scholars as a force of nature since the marking of time. It appears that nearly every culture has some primordial story with a lizard or dragon like monstrosity of immense size laying waste to whole towns and armies. It is unclear what they were prior to the Madness, but they seem to bare acknowledge that they are now a part of the House of Heiegh.

In game play they clearly are the classic monster terrorizing the countryside. However, despite their seeming disinterest in mortal machinations, they do relish the fear they cause and are not stupid. It can be a fun, frustrating at times, ride to try and chase down a massive lizard-thing that destroys building. Aeshma can be a particularly fun opponent to face using the war rules in the Torchbearer RPG.