Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-3471274-20130606153913/@comment-16047389-20140106205117

Vulthuryol isn't stupid, he's unfortunate. In order to escape the wrath of the Blades in conclusion of the Dragon War, he hid underground. The Dwemer, who at the time were researching ways to achieve immortality, were quite content with allowing his presence in Blackreach. They would keep him fed and protected, and he would share with them ancient secrets and history long since forgotten. The Dwemer even set up a large gong over their city, which they would ring each time they would bring him his food (almost like a giant dinner bell), upon which he would fly down from the caverns above to feed and converse. For a time, the arrangement suited his purposes and he had even grown fond of the Dwemer.

But it wouldn't be long before the Battle of Red Mountain, and the disappearance of the Dwemer. Without their caretakers, the Dwemer cities soon fell under the control of the Falmer. The Falmer saw Vulthuryol, like all non-Falmer, as a threat to be enslaved or killed. Vulthuryol was strong, but the Falmer were numerous and far more adapted to the dark small caverns of by which the Dwemer cities were connected. Vulthuryol had to survive by feeding on the only thing numerous enough: the Falmer. But the taint afflicted upon them by the Dwemer still coursed through their veins, and it wouldn't be long before Vulthuryol found himself going blind. With his eyesight gone, he had only his hearing and smell to go on. As the centuries dragged on, Vulthuryol grew weaker and weaker from his battles with the Falmer, and feeding on their tainted bodies only worsened it. Soon it became difficult to even fly.

Then, the impossible happened. He heard the gong for the first time in ages. Clinging to the hope that his old caretakers had returned, he used the last of the strength in his wings to fly down to Blackreach. What he would find would not be a welcoming feast prepared by the Dwemer, but the cold steel of the Dragonborn. The his hopes dashed, and the last strength in his wings gone, Vulthuryol accepted his fate, wanting only the pain to end at last. But he was still a proud dragon, and would not go down without a fight. Though he could not see his opponents, he could smell and hear them, and was able to muster his Thu'um in the general direction. But it would not be enough. As breathed his last breaths, he felt only relief know that at long last he could rest.