You know, I think this idea about "killing" dragons is all wrong. I mean you gather up forces, send them out, and regardless they do 1 hit for soldier and 5 for spec. That doesn't seem logical.
I mean who is to say that every single idiot you send to the great dragon is going to do anything but die of fear? I mean, you can send one at a time and that all powerful dragon will continually lose a single point of health. What? A peasant with a pitchfork is going to land a blow against so fierce a creature as a dragon? Why surely there must be SOME superiority here.
Which comes to my suggestion. Instead of killing the dragon, it should be reworked as FEEDING the dragon. Then it all makes sense, why those big, meaty... juciey spec's make that dragon feel good, and why thus puny, wimpy, drooping peasant are hardly worth the taking. Why the dragon demands a sacrifice based on net worth. Obviously it reads the wall street journal to decide the exact number of people to eat.
I mean, it explains EVERYTHING, especially why no one ever returns. Fighting a dragon may be suicidal, but people don't get in single file lines and just attack once, die, and cue next idiot. And if they charged in, some would likely escape.
No, it the dragon dies of anything, it's from food poisoning, from an improperly cooked meal