The Legend of the Dragons' Lair

Greetings, reader. Join me, as I recount the tale of the Legend of the Dragons' Lair, and the events which took place after dragons took over Ferran Mountain from the Ferrani Dwarves. Heavily influenced by Dungeons and Dragons, this series is a fantasy trip into the unknown. Venture if you dare! 

A long time ago, the Ferrani Dwarves were a mighty race, living in the mines beneath Ferran Mountain, in the North of the Solum realm. Nowadays, it is very rare for one of these skilled miners and blacksmiths; or any of the Ferrani warriors. Legend has it, these dwarves had dark grey skin, a trait they earned from living in an underground mine and forge for centuries. However, this was never proven as the only contact they had with outsiders was done wearing their traditional armour, which covered them from head to toe; only their dark eyes were slightly visible from beneath their helmets.

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It is said that this once mighty race was eliminated by dragons who sought to make Ferran Mountain their home. Seeing dragons enter their kingdom drove the dwarves to protect their homeland at all costs. Dragons were slain, for the Ferrani warriors were a real force to reckon with, but the number of casualties they suffered were too great. The survivors fled through the back of the mountain, leaving their homeland to be dominated by dragons, later to become known as the Dragons' Lair.

Or so goes the legend.

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However, no one has seen dragons flying around the area for ages. No villages have been burnt down since the time of the Ferrani Dwarves. However, new rumours have been spreading around the new generations. They say Necromancers have taken over the Dragons' Lair. They say that anyone who ventures close enough to their hideout is slain and turned into one of their undead soldiers. Rumour has it the Necromancers aim to send out an entire army of skeletons and ghouls to dominate the realm.

If this rumour is true, then Solum is in great peril. An entire army of undead Ferrani warriors with nothing to lose would be the greatest threat the realm has ever faced.

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The Saarii Strike - Chapter III

Having packed their belongings, the group started moving again, deeper in the woods in Joki's direction, following Amal Cal as he was the most knowledgeable of the area. After a few hours of travelling, they arrived at a huge clearing, several uprooted trees laying around and tree stubs which seemed like they were mowed down by something much larger than any of them.

At the edges of the clearing, they could see carcasses of creatures they could not immediately identify due to their bodies being mutilated beyond recognition. Duryraen, however, did recognise the thin legs as those of spiders, and these particular spiders being as large as they were, he immediately knew where they were from. Suppressing a tear, he urges his team mates to keep moving. As they were moving Eastwards towards the edge of the clearing, heavy footsteps started pushing through from the North, trees being pushed away and uprooted as something sped towards them.

Most of the group started to move faster, getting away from danger being their priority. Duryraen, however, was rooted on the spot, facing the moving trees, daggers out and eyes glaring, determined to get back at what killed the spiders who raised him. As the last trees were uprooted, an enormous arm emerged first from the dark, followed by a cave troll of immense dimensions; horns covering its entire body except the face and chest. A belt made of bones and skulls was tied around the beast's waist, grass used to cover up its lower body; blades hanging at the end of this cover-up. In its right hand was a huge wooden club with what seemed like swords and pieces of armour stuck to it, trophies of its enemies it dealt with in the past.

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Duryraen instantly started running towards the troll, screaming at the top of his lungs. Seeing their friend in this state, understanding that something in his past was connected to this situation, the rest dropped everything and joined in the fight. Glad that it did not have to chase its meal, the troll was prepared to take them on. Being much faster and smaller than the troll, Duryraen and Dan found it easy to start striking it with their weapons and Dean shooting arrows at it from afar, but no strike seemed to draw blood. The frost coming from Uuragan's hands did seem to irritate the beast, Amal noticed this and shouted "Freeze his feet!"

Taking the hint, the guys at the front provided some space and Uuragan focused all his energy to try and freeze the feet of their colossal enemy. Although at first it did not seem to be working much, it did slow down the troll. Screaming in rage, the troll hit his own foot to break off the ice, breaking off a part of the foot in the process. The subsequent scream was blood curdling to say the least, but seeing the frozen meat on the ground, the fighters at the foot of the monster started striking the areas which Uuragan froze. In its rage, the troll started swinging its club around savagely, managing to hit Dan in the process, sending him flying through the air and smashing against a tree. Seeing this, Amal ran towards him and focused all his power onto his downed friend, healing his injuries as fast as he could.

In the meantime, Uuragan had managed to freeze both the troll's legs, and after a lot of hard work and strikes of daggers and swords, one of legs broke off. The troll's screams could surely be heard from Joki, if not further. Falling over, the troll dropped his weapon, quite defenceless as it was still in agonising pain from the lost leg. Uuragan quickly ran up to the fallen beast, aiming his ice at the troll's neck, Duryraen hacking away at it and Dean joining in with Dan's sword, finding it much easier than expected, as its skin seemed to be much thinner on the neck. After what seemed like hours, the dead was done, head rolling, the guys dropped to the floor, panting, Uuragan's hands feeling colder than they ever were before. As the group were trying to recover their energy, horses could be heard galloping twards them from the West.

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The Saarii Strike - Chapter II

Having left Kalastaja in a hurry, the group had no resources; no weapons, no food and no drink. They started walking out of the village, towards the military base in Joki, Amal Cal, the priest who recovered them from the raging villagers was leading in front. Not much did he say at first, the rest were still discussing what had happened earlier. When the group arrived at the first fork in the path, Amal headed to the right, but Dean was not going to follow a stranger blindly. Having finally been asked where he was headed, Amal just said "we need supplies, do we not?" At a point, he walked into the shrubs at the side of the path. Hesitant, the group were still concerned about the direction this stranger was leading them in. Dan, feeling like the priest had helped him most, followed him, the rest following the dwarf as they all wanted to stay together as a group. Arriving at small clearing, they now found an ox and cart, Amal's travelling method.

"I cannot offer you much, as I only packed food for one," Amal said before anyone asked, "but I do have some weapons I am to take to Joki, you can borrow them until we arrive there." A shortsword each is what they acquired, much better than fighting with their bare hands if need be. Amal climbed onto the cart, and on they walked, back on the pathway, the four warriors tagging along. Unfortunate as they were, more trouble was to be found soon. A pack of wolves sprang out of the bushes onto the pathway, blocking their progress, fangs bared, Dan and Dean and Duryraen obliged by unsheathing their swords, Uuragan prepared himself to cast some spells, while Amal stayed behind them, ready to help them if any of them got hurt. The three warriors wielding swords, this not being the first time they dealt with danger face to face, charged forward and started killing, while Uuragan did not hesitate to start shooting icicles at the wolves. Amal was slightly surprised at the strength the men had, even after the ordeal of the storm at sea and the trouble in Kalastaja, maybe it was these events that fuelled their attacks. Only needing to heal a couple of scratches at the end of the fight, Amal did so and continued leading the group towards a forest, where they could take a schortcut towards Joki.

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Meeting a second pack of wolves deeper in the forest, the group fought again, defeating the animals and taking some time to catch their breath. This however, was not the last fight they had to go through that day, for heard, not too far off, the growl of a greater beast; Dean instantly recognising it as that of a bear. Amal healed again the few scratches and bruises that the team endured and they got ready to face the new beast, which emerged from the trees to the North. They fought the beast for what felt like hours, but fell it they did. Amal healed all their injuries once again, and knowing that bears like to stash away the carcasses of whatever they kill, the group decided to look for its cave and see what they find. Using his tracking skills, Dean lead the group to a small cave to the North of where they fought off the beast, finding multiple dead bodies inside, both animal and human. However, they found more than this, for there were the remains of a bonfire, a small weapon rack and a chest. It seemed like it was a camp site for travellers or bandits before the bear's hostile takeover. Dean was extremely happy, as he found a bow and some arrows, much better than the sword as he was more experienced as an archer. Duryraen was also pleased with a couple of fine daggers that are harder to find within a military institution. Checking out the chest, they found some gold and jewellery, Amal and Uuragan both noticing that some of them had magical properties. Having done this sort of work before, Amal scrutinised the rings and pendants found in the chest, finding two rings that fortified one's magical stamina, not a bad find for the two mages. Returning back at the area where the group left the ox and cart, they stashed away their unused loot and the swords that have been replaced by the new weapons found in the bear's cave. They now decided that it was time for some rest, Dan and Uuragan started gathering some fire wood while Dean and Duryraen started tearing meat off the dead animals for them to cook and leather to be sold once they reach Enligt. Amal went around the camp, consecrating the area to repel any unwanted visitors while they rest. After a good meal and a good night's rest, the team gathered all their belongings and prepared to continue their journey to Joki.

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The Saarii Strike - Chapter I

Refer to the previous two posts for background about the main characters of this tale, starting here.

Having conquered the entire region, Lord Runo of Enligt set his eyes across the sea, towards the island of Saarii; the last piece to the puzzle. Sending scouting parties simply did not work, the ships never returned. Deciding it was time to take the island by force without trying to find out what form of defenses he might find waiting, he ordered a fleet of ten longships, twenty-five men each, two hundred and fifty men of different disciplines; "surely, enough to invade a small island", he thought.

Half way through the voyage, however, a huge storm wrecked the entire fleet, leaving only a few survivors who managed to salvage enough materials to create a small raft, rowing back to the main land of Midgard. Landing at the small fishermen's village called Kalastaja, the survivors knew that they had to travel to Enligt to inform the Lord about what happened.

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Uuragan Oakwale, Dean Dalgaard, Dan Scott and Duryraen dar'Vuzmur; four members of the Army of Joki, four people who could not have been more different. A human, two dark elves and a dwarf, these are the only survivors of the storm which wrecked five longships and destroyed an entire army.

Upon landing in Kalastaja, the odd group, with tattered clothes and no real boat, drew quite some attention, it was not everyday that an unknown person landed at Kalastaja, let alone five on a raft that could barely fit two. Drenched and exhausted, this kind of attention was not what they needed, they needed food and help, not suspicious looks. One woman did approach them and offered them food and a free night at her inn, the Sleeping Dragon, greatly appreciated by the survivors. Rudely awoken early in the morning, the four were dragged out of bed and out onto the gravel, vaguely realising that they were being accused of something they did not yet understand. Dan Scott felt extremely uneasy as most of the people in the open space in front of the inn were looking directly at him, anger in their eyes, if not hate. Amid the angered shouts were the screams of a woman, crying that "the dwarf, he's the assailant"; breaking down to sobs, her voice dissappearing in the fresh roars of anger from the rest of the villagers. The situation still not clear to the group in the middle, the poor dwarf feeling useless without his usual warhammer in hand, looked to his fellow warriors for support; none coming as they were just as confused. "Let them leave," a voice reached from the back of the crowd, "let them leave and never come back." A middle-aged man came forward, looking at the powerless group as if he knew exactly what had happened during the night. Draped in a fine robe, lined with gold, and a staff in hand; clearly not a warrior in the eyes of the accused. The crowd did not calm down, however, they ordered the the cleric to leave along with the scum that landed the previous day. Amal Cal was the one man who tried to help, the one who joined the team on their journey to Enligt.

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Fighters of Midgard - Part 1

These are characters my friends created for a session I Mastered. After the session, I took it upon myself to give them a bit of context and bring them to life through a bit of history. Their background is useful to understand the following post - The Strike of Saarii. 
This post is continued in the next post, which can be accessed here.

Dan Scott, son of Dun, from the dwarven family Scott. Dun was one of the famed Fighters of the North, from a dwarf from Joki. From a young age, Dan learned what he could on the art of war, hunting for orcs who dare camp close enough to the military base with his father's guild. Learning how to ride a horse without falling off, he joined the Joki Cavalry when he was 68 years old, he joined in the hunt for frost trolls closer to the mountain range North of Joki. At the age of 76, he was cut off from the rest of the fighters on a hunt when his horse died, facing then a group of five trolls, each about twice as tall as he was, each of them ended up beneath his feet after a massive strike of his trusty two handed war hammer. At the age of 130, he joined the Army of Joki, being enlisted to any war Lord Runo declares and to protect the lands of Midgard from invaders.

The dark elf, Duryraen dar'Vuzmur, son of Filaren and Ahlysaaria, should have been dead a long time ago, which was the plan of the bandits who attacked his family when they were travelling from Portti to Enligt when he was still very young. Unreal as he thought it was, a group of large spiders emerged from the woods , killing most of the bandits and scaring off the rest, saving the young dark elf. Unfortunately, he was the only survivor of the the family, The spiders took Duryraen and raised him as best they could, but he left them at the age of 19 for civilisation. Capable to defend himself, he continued the journey towards Enligt, the journey that led to the death of his parents and little sister. Having nobody to help him on his arrival, he turned to the Thieves Guild of Enligt for help; he helped them acquire whatever they wanted, giving him a cut of the profits, which was more than enough for Duryraen. Although it was not what he intended to turn to, at times, he did resort to killing people who stood in his way, driving his daggers into a man's chest or slitting his throat if it was necessary. Learning of the prize set by the Lord of Enligt to every able bodied man or woman to join the army for an attack off the shores of the mainland, Duryraen quickly left the Thieves Guild and joined the army, where he could make a fortune while earning a living as one of the noble warriors of Enligt instead of being the face on a wanted poster.

Of human descent, Amal Cal grew up with the priests of Eir, the Goddess of healers, in one of the temples in Enligt. Many warriors came back from battles with grievous wounds and hunters with bites and scratches were healed at the temple, impressing the young Amal, he started learning alchemy to help them in making revitising potions and other cures to help the recovering patients. However, when he was of age, it was revealed to him that he possessed magical power, and given aid by the priests, Amal gained the much revered skill of healing magic. Never knowing who his parents were, he never had any ambition to find them, the priests of Eir were his family and he became a healer just like the men who raised him, using the spells he learned to cure illnesses and wounds alike. At the age of 48, he joined a group of soldiers from the Army of Enligt who landed in Kalastaja to help get back to Enligt to report back to Lord Runo.

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Drolme, Limb Cleaver and Skull Splitter

Born and raised in the city of Neuval, the City of Stone, home to the Dwarven kingdom, Drolme don of Tolgan, grew up to follow the same profession as that of his father and their ancestors. His father, a proud mason who maintained the city walls, was famed to be one of the best there was in the city. Building houses and barracks, Drolme gained the skills he needed to earn the respect of other masons and be considered as one of them. He then started working on sculptures, ending up working on a pair of 40 foot statues of Dwarven warriors guarding the city gate, along with a team of highly experienced sculptors. 

However, he always dreamed of being one of the famed warriors in fine armour and striking down their enemies with their axes, dripping with their enemies' blood. He eventually started to venture out as a guard with trade route caravans, being paid much more than he would as a mason or sculptor; carrying shield and axe and some basic armour for protection. Bandits were a common problem, thus the high wage of a trade route guard, but they fell down, often cleaved in two, to Drolme's axe, earning him the title of Limb Cleaver. After each journey, he would always go back to Neuval to continue his work, but the thrill of battle always pulled him back out on the road. He never joined the army or left for the mainland for he was the one to take care of his father in his old age, but it was always a dream to visit the capital of Vallingard. 

When Drolme was about 90 years old, his father died in his sleep, leaving him with no real ties to Neuval except for his profession; but a mason could find employment wherever he went. But Drolme wanted something more, something that could get his blood pumping; he dreamed of joining a mercenary group or even the army of Vallingard. At the age of 102, he boarded a trade ship to the mainland, landing at the capital of Vallingard, a city of men, his first challenge being that of finding a mercenary that would accept a Dwarf. Days passed, and finally such a group was found, venturing out to hunt for bandits and claiming bounties became Drolme's profession. Money was never a problem, as bandits were even more common this side of the canal. Some years later, he even joined the army of Vallingard in its continuous war against the dark elves in the North, earning the title of Skull Splitter, although such titles were pointless in Drolme's opinion, he did like the fact that he felled hundreds of enemies and never was he injured enough to be taken out of battle. At the age of 185, he left the army, retiring to his home in Vallingard, to a peaceful life as a revered veteran. 

However, he was again drawn to a new expedition; a small group composed of men, elves and even a halfling were looking for a warrior for added protection, Drolme was the man for the job.

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