7th Place in Derby #300: What makes me different, with 225 votes!

Aldus the doughty entered the moist chamber, his splint-mail echoing noisily. He didn't care if the dragon heard him coming: Stealth was not his enterprise. He walked steadfastly to the foot of the giant, slithering beast. The two faced off, silently, as initiative was decided. Aldus won! He swung his broadsword at the dragon's flank, but it caromed uselessly off her thick hide. 

After waiting patiently to be attacked by the paladin, the Dragon Frostclaim reared on her hind legs, and spewed a blue-hot jet of flame. As the smoke cleared, she saw that, somehow, the human remained completely uninjured. 

Aldus again took up his sword and swung it at the giant, now-motionless reptile. Although the sword had proven useless during the previous attempt, some indefinable stroke of luck (a one-in-twenty chance) saw the blade slip beneath the overlaid scales and sink deep into Frostclaim's haunches. 

The paladin couldn't be sure, but determined that if he managed to land sixteen more blows of similar force, the dragon would be slain. 

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