Dragonlance--
Jesse had car trouble (he lost his car keys and was stuck at home, and there wasn't enough time to arrange for transpo for him) so he was joining us on speakerphone for the session.
In the aftermath of dealing with Cyan Bloodbane, we had to work out our next course of action. King Lorac had asked us to find his daughter, but all we knew was she had left to "find help," and could be literally anywhere. Given that forging new dragonlances would take months of work and we didn't yet have the appropriate wizard and cleric to bless/empower them, much less dragons to ride to wield them properly, we decided our next step should be liberating the Metallic Dragon eggs from the Abasinian Empire, as dangerous as that might be.
As we rode into the region of Estwild, however, my character Gavin recognized the mountain pass we were traveling through and noted that-- while it might be called Estwild now-- this was the road into his homeland, Erol. The same region that had produced the historical legends of Huma Dragonbane and Magius. Gavin had been childhood friends with both. He had some melancholy as he looked over his once-homeland, now pretty unrecognizable after 1200+ years and a cataclysm. Especially when they found a few remnants of the village of Erol in a forest.
Then they came along where the village and castle of Baxtry should have been, but where the castle once stood was this beautifully-built chateau, with a sign out front reading "Baxtry Arms - The Last Homely House in Estwild." It turned out this was a traveler's inn, and had been built by a master mason (former head of the mason's guild, no less) from Palanthas. The mason explained he'd had a vision in a dream of "a star the size of a mountain" falling to earth, and was told to "raise a home where the star fell." He came out here and built the chateau, but there isn't a huge amount of travelers.
But, while we were enjoying some sherry (out of game, too; DM Bob brought some very sweet sherry for us all to try), Angus MacKenzie showed up-- the avatar of the god of crafting, Reorx. Angus contrived to have the innkeeper leave to prepare dinner, and then spoke with us all alone, but specifically to Runa the Barbarian, able to tell that something was amiss with her. We explained she'd been experiencing recurring nightmares, and that they were connected to the dragon teeth that had been put into her scimitars' hilts. Angus did some sort of ritual over them, and then basically spoke with the ancient red wyrm dragon Emberekanashli.
What followed was some lore-dumping, after a heated exchange between god and ancient dragon, as Angus first purged the taint from Runa's swords, before explaining that long, long ago, when the world was first created, the gods learned the stars in the firmament were actually souls, and the first five that were drawn to the world of Krynn were the First Dragons, who became beloved of the gods. But Takhisis (the goddess of evil) corrupted them and the First Dragons turned away from the gods, who mournfully tried to fill the void from their absence by shepherding the mortal races that followed. (Elves, gnomes, humans.) In the First Dragon War, the First Dragons were sealed away in the Dragon Orbs, but now they've been freed-- something that would have taken some manner of divine intervention. Ember and Cyan Bloodbane were two of these First Dragons, explaining why they were so powerful.
Angus, hearing that we were intending to go into the imperial capital of Neraka, advised us to visit the Monks of the Rose, whose monastery was in the mountains nearby. They might know ways into the city that would reduce our chances of a deadly fight.
Before retiring for the night, the innkeeper did warn the party that some guests had reported strange happenings in the night, things being moved, etc. So we weren't too surprised when a ghost manifested during the night. And once again, Gavin came in useful here, as he recognized the ghost as Lord Oswal Baxtry, the last lord of the former castle, who had died during Gavin's time, poisoned by a traitor. Oswal was surprised to see Gavin alive, but after speaking with him, we learned that Oswal's unfinished business was simply that he wanted to be remembered; he had died with no heirs or family, no legacy to be carried on. He was gratified to hear that the chateau had been named for him (Baxtry Arms) and then we summoned and spoke with the innkeeper, who was frightened of the ghost, but Gavin again explained the situation. The innkeeper saw the potential for historical significance to putting Lord Oswal's tale to paper, and arranged for paper and pen to be provided to the ghost. The innkeeper would likely use the tale for marketing purposes, and we also saw a possible way for Justinius the Wizard to get his "in" to the Library of Palanthas, if he could be the one to deliver the finished book to the library.
Mind you, DM Bob has semi-jokingly told the rest of the table (Jesse is only half-aware this is not a joke) that Justinius will basically never get to return to Palanthas, and he'll contrive to have him get plane-shifted when/if the party ever makes it back.
Jesse had car trouble (he lost his car keys and was stuck at home, and there wasn't enough time to arrange for transpo for him) so he was joining us on speakerphone for the session.
In the aftermath of dealing with Cyan Bloodbane, we had to work out our next course of action. King Lorac had asked us to find his daughter, but all we knew was she had left to "find help," and could be literally anywhere. Given that forging new dragonlances would take months of work and we didn't yet have the appropriate wizard and cleric to bless/empower them, much less dragons to ride to wield them properly, we decided our next step should be liberating the Metallic Dragon eggs from the Abasinian Empire, as dangerous as that might be.
As we rode into the region of Estwild, however, my character Gavin recognized the mountain pass we were traveling through and noted that-- while it might be called Estwild now-- this was the road into his homeland, Erol. The same region that had produced the historical legends of Huma Dragonbane and Magius. Gavin had been childhood friends with both. He had some melancholy as he looked over his once-homeland, now pretty unrecognizable after 1200+ years and a cataclysm. Especially when they found a few remnants of the village of Erol in a forest.
Then they came along where the village and castle of Baxtry should have been, but where the castle once stood was this beautifully-built chateau, with a sign out front reading "Baxtry Arms - The Last Homely House in Estwild." It turned out this was a traveler's inn, and had been built by a master mason (former head of the mason's guild, no less) from Palanthas. The mason explained he'd had a vision in a dream of "a star the size of a mountain" falling to earth, and was told to "raise a home where the star fell." He came out here and built the chateau, but there isn't a huge amount of travelers.
But, while we were enjoying some sherry (out of game, too; DM Bob brought some very sweet sherry for us all to try), Angus MacKenzie showed up-- the avatar of the god of crafting, Reorx. Angus contrived to have the innkeeper leave to prepare dinner, and then spoke with us all alone, but specifically to Runa the Barbarian, able to tell that something was amiss with her. We explained she'd been experiencing recurring nightmares, and that they were connected to the dragon teeth that had been put into her scimitars' hilts. Angus did some sort of ritual over them, and then basically spoke with the ancient red wyrm dragon Emberekanashli.
What followed was some lore-dumping, after a heated exchange between god and ancient dragon, as Angus first purged the taint from Runa's swords, before explaining that long, long ago, when the world was first created, the gods learned the stars in the firmament were actually souls, and the first five that were drawn to the world of Krynn were the First Dragons, who became beloved of the gods. But Takhisis (the goddess of evil) corrupted them and the First Dragons turned away from the gods, who mournfully tried to fill the void from their absence by shepherding the mortal races that followed. (Elves, gnomes, humans.) In the First Dragon War, the First Dragons were sealed away in the Dragon Orbs, but now they've been freed-- something that would have taken some manner of divine intervention. Ember and Cyan Bloodbane were two of these First Dragons, explaining why they were so powerful.
Angus, hearing that we were intending to go into the imperial capital of Neraka, advised us to visit the Monks of the Rose, whose monastery was in the mountains nearby. They might know ways into the city that would reduce our chances of a deadly fight.
Before retiring for the night, the innkeeper did warn the party that some guests had reported strange happenings in the night, things being moved, etc. So we weren't too surprised when a ghost manifested during the night. And once again, Gavin came in useful here, as he recognized the ghost as Lord Oswal Baxtry, the last lord of the former castle, who had died during Gavin's time, poisoned by a traitor. Oswal was surprised to see Gavin alive, but after speaking with him, we learned that Oswal's unfinished business was simply that he wanted to be remembered; he had died with no heirs or family, no legacy to be carried on. He was gratified to hear that the chateau had been named for him (Baxtry Arms) and then we summoned and spoke with the innkeeper, who was frightened of the ghost, but Gavin again explained the situation. The innkeeper saw the potential for historical significance to putting Lord Oswal's tale to paper, and arranged for paper and pen to be provided to the ghost. The innkeeper would likely use the tale for marketing purposes, and we also saw a possible way for Justinius the Wizard to get his "in" to the Library of Palanthas, if he could be the one to deliver the finished book to the library.
Mind you, DM Bob has semi-jokingly told the rest of the table (Jesse is only half-aware this is not a joke) that Justinius will basically never get to return to Palanthas, and he'll contrive to have him get plane-shifted when/if the party ever makes it back.
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