Zar’Malek, called the Smoldering Wake, is an ancient red dragon whose lair lies within the volcanic fortress Khaz’Vel’Tor in the Ashfire Cradle. By the time of the Drakefire Phalanx’s expedition, a large kobold society occupied the fortress and treated Zar’Malek as the center of its religious and political order.
The dragon’s hoard contained the Eye of Visthuun, which had entered his possession at an unknown point in the past. The Memosphere preserved an image of a red dragon carrying the Eye away from the destruction of the civilization that once worshipped Visthuun, strongly suggesting that Zar’Malek had possessed the artifact for a very long time.
The Phalanx entered Khaz’Vel’Tor intending to steal the Eye rather than confront Zar’Malek directly. Dizra, Quill, and Kada infiltrated the hoard and escaped with the artifact while the dragon slept. Zar’Malek detected the theft soon afterward and began tearing through the fortress in search of the intruders.
Dizra later severed a psychic connection between Zar’Malek and the Eye, preventing the dragon from using that bond to locate the artifact. At nearly the same time, the Cinderclaw Cindercate launched its rebellion and collapsed part of the fortress around Zar’Malek. The Phalanx escaped by airship, but nothing they witnessed established that the dragon had been killed. His present condition and his response to the theft remain unknown.