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Epilogue
The Lonely Refuge is an enchanted locale created by Majere, a god of Neutrality. In the past, it served as a place of pilgrimage and meditation. Now, Palin Majere makes it his base for spying on Skie's activities. Palin has yet to discover anything beyond the strange local disappearances. Goldmoon alerted him to the heroes' quest, however, so he uses divination magic to watch for them. He will cast a quick summoning spell to whisk them to the Refuge once they start heading for it - or when they seem in dire need of rescuing. Overview The Lonely Refuge lies within a secluded canyon in the wastelands northeast of Palanthas. The map from Goldmoon shows some three hundred fifty miles of desert between it and Palanthas. It could take months to find it, even with the map. Palin's well-timed summons causes a vision of the Refuge's entrance to appear before them. When the heroes step through it, they walk right into the Refuge and meet Palin and a couple other characters. They learn a puzzling bit of information about the dragonspawn and have an opportunity to make their report to Goldmoon or leave the Refuge with Palin. Getting Started Palin Majere's and Goldmoon's character cards from the FIFTH AGE boxed set will aid in this scene. In addition. Narrators can refer to the "Dragons" section in Chapter Six of the Book of the Fifth Age and Dhamon's description in the Prologue. First Impressions Once the heroes resolve to head for the Lonely Refuge - or when they get into serious trouble - the Narrator can read players the following text: A ghoslty image appears before you like a mirage - perhaps it is a mirage. As the image becomes more solid, you see a wall of red rock sculpted by desert winds. Other carvers have been at work, too: Someone has inscribed a gigantic figure of praying mantis in low relief. Directly under the mantis's elongated claws stands a man-sized doorway. A brilliant light shines from beyond the portal, throwing long shadows behind you. Heroes who ignore the vision of the mantis (a symbol of the god Majere) see it fade after five minutes, only to return again after an hour. If the party ignores it a second time, it fades and returns again immediately. During this third appearance, a vision of Goldmoon walks out of the portal and beckons to the heroes. If the party continues to ignore the image, it does not return for a full day; however, it reappears once each day thereafter until someone enters the portal. The Story Continues Walking through the doorway of the vision brings heroes into a brightly lit chamber with rock the same color as the canyon wall. Palin and Ashe - the copper dragon keeper of the Refuge in human form - wait to greet them. While the master sorcerer eagerly questions the group about what they have seen and done, Ashe heals the injured. The news of the spawn intrigues Palin. If the heroes have captured one of the creatures, the two characters examine it carefully. Palin can tell the spawn is some kind of magical creation with both human and dragon features, but he can't determine its exact origin. Regardless of whether the heroes brought a spawn to the Refuge, Palin asks his last question about their encounter with the creatures, then leads the party to a chamber that contains a statue of a blindfolded woman holding a basin. Here the heroes meet a third character, whom Palin introduces as the Master, a tall man in a dark robe. While the heroes look on, Palin fills the basin with water, and the Master casts a spell of divination to see where the spawn came from. Heroes who watch the water's surface see a fleeting image of a young man, then that of a great blue dragon appear on the surface of the water. The beast seems to fly right at the group, and its image looms larger and larger, until all the heroes can see is one of its baleful eyes staring out of the font. As the eye glowers, the water in basin boils away. Certain heroes may feel that the wyrm was staring directly at him. The results of the spellcasting puzzle Palin. He's learned all he can about the spawn for now and cannot fathom what the images in the water might mean, though he recognized the image of Skie. In any event, the sorcerer offers to use his magic to let them speak with Goldmoon (see "Outcome"). During this discussion, the Master disappears. Palin explains to anyone who asks that he has gone back to the Tower of High Sorcery at Wayreth, but he answers no other questions about him. Throughout this scene, the Master does not interact with the heroes except to cast the divination spell described above. He pays no attention to any hero who speaks to him. Anyone who touches him feels only a cold void - then the Master disappears, traveling magically to the Tower. When the heroes show Palin the pennant they received from Goldmoon, he smiles and produces another section of the mighty artifact - the lance's haft. The remaining piece, the blade, awaits them in Palanthas, he says, and invites the heroes to accompany him there. For now, he declines to tell them the blade's location. A Captive Spawn If the group has captured a spawn, Palin would like to study it further, with the party's permission, pf course. Should the heroes decline to leave the prisoner with Palin, he offers to lead them to the lance blade in Palanthas. He seems convinced that the spawn represents the forces of Evil about in the land and that they will need the complete lance to combat it. If the heroes do not turn the spawn over to Palin, they're in grave danger: Because the Blue Dragon created it, Khellendros becomes aware of everything the spawn experiences and can use the creature to track down the heroes. When they reach a recognizable locale, such as Palanthas or another major city, Khellendros deduces their location and dispatches Gale, a blue dragon, to deal with them. Even if the heroes keep the spawn confined or blindfolded, Skie eventually can surmise where they are. Narrators should read the following once the heroes, in the company of their captured spawn, have arrived at a locale Skie could recognize:
A feeling of dread washes over you.
Unhidden, your eyes swivel upward to
see the most terrible sight oil Krynn - a
dragon diving to the attack!
The air seems charged with electricity
and heavy with the scent of fear and
sweat -- both your own. Your heart leaps
into tour throat as the titanic blue monster
descends upon you like a summer storm. The dragon wants to release or slay the captive spawn, to protect Skie's secret and keep the heroes from showing it to anyone else. He won't bother chasing the group, but he will kill anyone who stands against him. If Dhamon is with the group, however, Gale breaks off the attack after his dive. The dragon, the rogue knight's former mount, tries to convince Dhamon to join him, flying off if he refuses. As a last resort, Palin evades Gale's counterattacks and firmly orders the heroes to link hands. He then casts a spell that whisks the party to the safety. Deducing Gale's intent, he leaves the spawn behind. Atmosphere Because this scene literally picks up the heroes from wherever they might be, the Narrator can take advantage of it to help them out of a bind. However, he should use such an overt technique only as a final attempt to keep the game moving. If, for example, the heroes got captured in the previous scene, they should make at least one escape attempt before going to this scene. Once the heroes get to the Refuge, the scene should move along quickly through Palin's barrage of questions to the climactic vision of the Great Blue. The heroes' information produces a great deal of excitement in Palin. He and his two companions speak rapidly about various arcane points the heroes don't understand - and no one seems inclined to let them in on the discussion, either. The Master and Ashe act very secretive. In fact, the heroes should leave the Refuge without knowing who they really are. After the group speaks to Goldmoon (in "Outcome"), Narrators should give players a sense of triumph. Her praise would make any hero want to burst with pride. If the blue dragon Gale attacks, the heroes face disaster. The Narrator should describe the dragon's scimitarlike claws, lashing tail, and gleaming teeth. Then, he can casually mention that this dragon probably is not half the size of the one the heroes saw in the font at the Lonely Refuge... Actions When the dragon's eye appears in the font, every hero present must make an average Perception action. Those who fail believe the eye is staring right at them and them alone. Should the party fall under dragon attack. Gale appears at artillery range and begins his dive. Assuming the heroes survive this initial assault, they can try to open range normally and escape. Characters No character details are needed for the Master. As for Ashe, the copper dragon assumes human form during this scene and functions as any other character. Asperitius (Ashe): An adult male copper dragon. Co 10, Ph 51, In 12 (144), Es 12 (144), Dmg +18, Def -14, also dragon breath, swallow whole, dragonawe, dive attack, mysticism (alteration, sensitivity, healing), sorcery (geomancy). Gale: An old male blue dragon. Co 11, Ph 57, In 14 (196), Es 14 (196), Dmg +25, Def -18, also dragon breath, swallow whole, dragonawe, dive attack, sorcery (electromancy, spectramancy, transmutation), mysticism (channeling). Outcome Once the heroes have spoken to Palin, Ashe, and the Master, their quest has neared its end. The group has given them a much clearer idea of what Khellendros is up to, even if they don't yet understand the dragon's motives and goals. At this time, the Narrator can read the text below to players: Well, you ye bandied words with Dark Knights, battled brutes, and discovered a new type of draconic creature - it's been quite a quest! And it's certain that this dragonspawn lies near the heart of the Evil afoot in the realm of Khellendros, the Storm over Krynn. If the Blue Dragon is not slopped, humans all across Ansalon could become a hunted race, to satisfy the Great Dragons' greed for these horrid, reptilian-human offspring. Heroes may want to communicate with Goldmoon to report what they have learned - Palin can summon her image to appear in the font. The First Master of Mysticism congratulates the heroes on rescuing the captives and assures them that they have uncovered an important revelation. Unfortunately, solving the mystery of the spawn is a job for scholars. One thing is certain, however: Humans living in dragon-occupied lands are in more danger than ever before. If Khellendros is herding folk like cattle into spawning camps, the other dragon overlords are sure to follow suit. Looking into a way of stopping the abductions would be worthy of another quest for heroes...
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