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| Dragons of Despair by Clyde Caldwell |
The year was 351 AC when I began this journal. After the cataclysm it was thought the Gods
had left Krynn. I knew little of the
events surrounding their departure and often wondered whether they ever even
existed. Regardless, my friends and I
have spent the past five years searching for a true cleric. Sure, there are many who claim to be a
cleric. However, they are men with no
true powers of healing, worshiping false gods.
351-9-16
As our band of adventurers began the last leg of our journey
back to Solace we were attacked by 10 hobgoblins. My dog, Scar, who had been on many a hunting
trip and adventure, was killed when one of the hobgoblins tried to brain me
from behind. He took the blow and
sounded the alarm that may have saved our lives, or at least mine. The leader of the hobgoblins had demanded we
turn over a crystal blue staff. We had
no idea what he referred to, but nonetheless, were given no time to dispute his
claim as his minions attacked. Observation:
the hobgoblins wore black armor with a bat wing emblem across the chest. They aren't known to be seen so close to
civilized areas. We shall have to report
our findings to the Theocracy of Seekers.
At the entrance to Solace we came upon a beautiful young
woman with light blue eyes and bright white hair. She was singing and playing a lyre as her
companion played the lute. They were
both tribesmen, Que-Shu. Her song is
lovely, but sad. She sings of forbidden
love and the coming fall. As we approach,
a staff falls from her robe and rolls towards us. Those of us, including myself, who were
injured during the ambush were healed of our wounds. This was both a relief and a curiosity. None of us have ever seen such a staff, nor
heard of powers of this nature coming from any objects in recent times. The woman, Goldmoon is her name, tells us of
her escape from their tribe to elope with her lover and protector,
Riverwind. She speaks of horrible dreams
plaguing her.
We decide to gather at the Inn of the Last Home to dine,
drink, and unwind from the journey we've been on. As we settle at an empty table a familiar
face greets us. My heart is filled with
warmth as I recognize her. It is
Tika. She has grown so much since we
left on our journey. I remember seeing
her in my younger years and being captivated, yet at a loss of words in her
presence. Even now as I sit it's as if
every kind word escapes me and I sit in silence watching her serve the guests.
As we dine we hear tales coming from a fellow patron. He speaks of a staff being sought by the Holy
Guard. He said anyone with knowledge of
the staff should report to the Prelate of the Temple in Haven. A storyteller nearby appproaches our table
and speaks to Goldmoon about the blue staff and how it needs to be returned to
Xak Tsaroth. He then leaves the
inn.
After finishing with our dinner and drink we part ways to
visit with family and rest.
351-9-17
We say our goodbyes and collect our gear for the journey to
Xak Tsaroth.
Along the road we encounter several farmhouses to the north
that have been abandoned. As we continue
north we discover the land has been charred.
We find curious, three toed footprints in the soil. From the size of them, the creatures must
have been about the height of a man. I
do not recognize these prints from the time I've spent hunting animals in the
surrounding lands.
351-9-18
Upon waking, I take note of the red wizard being in a foul
mood. I had heard about the effects of
the moons on the wizards and apparently he does not favor the current lunar
alignments. As we continue on our
journey I notice the grass here is turning brown. Fall is coming, and winter shall follow. I hope we do not have to spend another winter
on the road. The cool breezes sweeping
the plain are welcome though.
351-9-19
Three days have passed with no events on our journey so
far. Praise the Gods! I am still curious as to what kind of
creature left the prints we found north of Solace. My mind begins to wander as I recall Tika's
smile, and I wonder how long it will be before we return to our home. Maybe that time...maybe
I'll be able to approach her and...
The wizards are all in foul moods this day. Although we have only been out for three
days, it already seems like ages since we've seen home. My feet are sore again. I should be used to this by now. My heart still aches at the passing of Scar. The memory of the hobgoblins returns. How many more of these creatures shall we
meet along the way? What other monsters
await us in our travels?
351-9-20
Smoke ahead of us this morning as we continue our journey to
Xak Tsaroth. There are armies of
hobgoblins camping around the area.
Zirgnoz unleashes his bird to scout the area. He tells us the positions of the hobgoblins
so that we may circumvent their camps and avoid detection. We finally reach the eastern mountains and
pass into the swamps on the other side with ease.
Zirgnoz' bird is set loose again to scout the area. An interesting report comes to us. There is a dragon, and draconians in the
area! No one at home will believe
us. There hasn't been a dragon seen in
over 1,000 years. Those tales may be
just that, tales. Apparently, they do
exist.
A brief encounter occurs when Ralstron attempts to cross a
rope bridge. He fell into the water and
damn near got himself eaten by what appears to be a black-skinned juvenile
dragon! We continue towards the ruins of
Xak Tsaroth and soon discover how nasty the draconians are in person. The spell casters are heavily armored and not
easily taken out. In a rather difficult
manner, we also find they explode upon death!
As we journey closer to Xak Tsaroth we come across what
appears to be hatched dragon eggs. I
have the terrible sense that we may encounter the adult version of these
dragons soon. I find later that my
senses are correct.
We approached one of the few intact structures in the area
and decide to explore. Before we could
enter we are attacked by a huge, black dragon!
As Torgen and I launch volley after volley of arrows at it, our
companion, Nodd, became delirious with fear and dove off into the well from
whence the dragon came in an attempt to escape certain death. We had little time to stop him as the dragon
continued to assault us. Eventually, we
inflict enough damage to drive it off, but not before it drenched Sir Conlin in
acid, nearly killing him. The dragon
flew back into the well before we could finish it off.
Upon entering the first chamber we find a statue of the
Goddess Mishakal. As Goldmoon enters,
the statue comes to life and speaks to her about the return of the Gods and
mentions we are to locate 3 platinum disks within the lair of the dragon in
order to call upon the powers of Mishakal.
It also recharges the staff in Goldmoon's possetion, once placed in the
statue's arms, and warns us to use its powers of healing sparingly. The statue also informs us that even upon
retrieving the platinum disks our journey will be difficult as we search for a
true leader of the people.
We decide to rest for the evening before delving into the
ruins of Xak Tsaroth. Before we could
settle, Sir Conlin stumbles upon more dragon kin. Fortunately, these were lightly armored and
only turned to stone upon death. We also
found a captive, no doubt being held as a future meal for the dragon kin. He is a roguish character by the name of
Gavin Armos. As we prepare to rest for
the evening he tells us about his journeys as a collector of antiquities. Why he came to this place alone is a mystery,
but fortunately we found him before the dragon kin could finish him off.
The rest of our evening passes without event.
351-9-21
We found some gully dwarves searching the ruins at the order
of their boss. In an effort to keep our
presence concealed, I offer them rations from my pack. The stinky bastards hugged my legs in thanks,
covering my clothing in filth! After a
few quick kicks in their direction they scatter off into the darkness.
As we continue deeper into the ruins we encounter more
dragon kin and come across a lift descending into the lower levels. Upon reaching the bottom of the shaft, a
rather long trip down, we are attacked by more dragon kin, but dispatch them
with ease. As our kender friend explores
the area, he attracts the attention of more dragon kin, but we kill them
easily. We found another kender who had
been captured and bound in one of the rooms within the lower levels. His name is Hugon Barker.
Fortunately, the curiosity of our kender friend has paid
off. He found a cache of weapons. I have laid claim to one of the longswords
due to the ineffectiveness of my axe against the armor of the dragon kin we've
encountered. The sword is finely
crafted, lightweight, and well balanced.
I soon get the opportunity to test the effectiveness of my new weapon as
we come across even more of the wretched reptilians infesting the depths of the
ruins. Thankfully, Gavin trades the
elven bow he acquired with some of my arrows, and provides a share of the elven
arrows accompanying the bow as well.
These prove invaluable in the coming battles. Like the sword, the bow is well crafted,
lightweight, and well balanced. The draw
is not too difficult, yet sends arrows off just as well as any bow, propelling
arrows swiftly into the armor of our draconian enemies.
On the next encounter, we kill all but three of the dragon
kin. Sir Conlin offers them a chance to
surrender, but they choose to flee the area instead. One of the remaining dragon kin was like the
heavily armored ones we fought in the swamps.
This one, however, had wings folded across its back.
We continue on into a cavernous area where we find more
draconians and gully dwarves being given instruction by the black dragon we
fought earlier. They were searching the
area for a female captive who had escaped.
As the minions of the dragon left in separate directions, the dragon
skulked back into it's lair.
We continue exploring the cavernous area, where waterfalls
converge to form a stream down the center of the walkway. We encounter a macabre scene. The body of our fallen comrade, Nodd, is
found floating in the water. We salvage
what gear we could and hide his body nearby.
We shall retrieve it later and bring it back to Solace for a proper
burial. After a moment of silence we
decide to find a secluded area for resting.
Our wizards are weary and need sleep to regain their spent powers.
It seemed as if I had only been asleep for mere minutes when
I was awakened, along with the others, by Galvin. He had started a conversation with nearby
gully dwarves and convinced them to take us to their boss. I was not keen on the idea of being near
these grotesque creatures. They smelled
and were generally annoying to be around.
Along the way, we find the escaped prisoner the dragon kin had been
seeking. Her name is Sunstar, and she is
one of the Que-Shu. She tells us of how
their tribe had been destroyed recently by the advancing armies of dragon kin
across the central plains.
The boss, a shriveled old gully dwarf, was adorned with the
old clothing of a human king. It was an
interesting looking fellow, as everything it wore was well larger than what
would be standard trappings for a gully dwarf, including the crown sitting on
it's head at an angle so it could stay in place atop its head. After conversing with the gully dwarves we
are allowed to continue our rest. We
learn of a secret entrance to the dragon's lair, which we shall exploit in the
morning. The gully dwarves seemed all
too happy to help us with anything we needed after learning of our quest to
destroy the dragon and its underlings.
As we searched the surrounding areas for rooms to rest in we
hear a commotion. Entering the room, we
find more gully dwarves preparing a putrid substance loosely referred by them
as “food.” They were arguing about
something and tossing the nasty stew about the room. Some of it flew in our direction and I almost
lost my stomach at the smell. It was as
if they had taken the rotting corpses of animals from the depths of the ruins
and placed them all in one stinking vat!
For now, we rest.
351-9-22
We start the next day looking for the entrance to the
dragon's lair. It didn't take long
before we found a tunnel system allowing us to sneak directly into its
lair. Not long after we entered the
lair, the creature noticed our presence and combat ensued. Galvin and I stayed at a distance, launching
arrows at the beast while our melee counterparts closed for battle. Goldmoon had charged the dragon and struck it
with the blue staff. A blinding white
light filled the room and upon fading we noticed the dragon had disappeared
along with Goldmoon!
Not soon afterward the entire area began to collapse around
us. We swiftly ran back through the
ruins dodging falling rocks and columns.
We ascended into the upper levels and found that we were one member
short. The kender we had rescued earlier
did not make it back up with us.
We have found Goldmoon and the staff! She was somehow transported to the statue of
Mishakal by the light.
We depart the ruins with haste. We must get back to Solace and warn of the
coming army. After several hours of
walking to the west we stop to rest for a moment. Back to the east, I notice a storm on the
horizon. To the west, I notice smoke
arising into the area where Solace is located.
Panic fills me as I speculate we may be too late to warn the people of
Solace. I am afraid for my family, and
for the woman I am captivated by.
