Into the Icy Darkness: The Great Demon War

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

Ah, but there's more to this session. And once this session is actually over, then that will be the last, because everyone else graduated after this session.

And EV, I completely loved Tess becoming the founder of a Harper-like organization, that totally ruled!

 

[Emperor Valerian]

I could completely see Tess doing something like that... first as a way to prove to herself that she isn't as bad a person as she thought (possibly egged on by Pell), and then later on for the sake of good throughout their world. My only qualm was the name... I think the one I picked is kinda corny, but I'm at a loss to come up with anything. If you can think of some better ones, lemme know

=============================================

The Brilliant Light in the Depths of a Cave

“Ok, honey, say that again, slooowly,” Tess coaxed the now crying Eleyanaun. The bard hugged the little girl... even as her own heart was shuddering at what her child had sputtered between tears.

Shaun and Elenya leaned in close as well, trying to piece together what their erstwhile niece sputtered, crying.

“T...There w...was a b..big r...roaring! A...and... a bright...” the little girl sputtered until her crying kept her from speaking, and her tiny arms shook as they spread out. Her arms them wrapped themselves around her tiny frame far faster, as she kept shuddering.

“Oh honey, it’ll be okay!” Tess cradled her daughter in her arms, tears of worry falling down her own cheeks.

“She said there was a flash when I asked her on the way back,” Pell clarified, “a loud roaring and a flash. She said they were exploring a cave at Valaron’s insistence...”

A sharp hiss from the direction of Siabrey interrupted his talk. The Empress had already called for armor, any armor, and was busy donning it. Luke, for his part, was holding his head, leaning over the table.

“When we free them,” Siabrey growled, “I don’t know whether I’ll... I’ll hug that boy or kill him! I TOLD him to be... AUGH!” she started hurriedly strapping Kelir to her side. “Pell, did she say anything more about what attacked them?!” Valaron is smart... so are Vintressa, Rose, Raven and Shawn... they would have found a way to scramble off... surely they would have... her mind fretted.

“Other than it was big, there was a flash, and a roar, no,” the angel looked down at his daughter worriedly, his own hand flexing on the hilt of his massive solar’s greatsword. “I suggest we mount up as soon as we can,” he said. It took all of his angelic patience to not immediately dash out of the manor.

“Honey,” Tess pulled back from the little girl enough that she could look into her eyes. Lovingly, she wiped away a few of the tears, before speaking, her own voice shaky, “Honey? Can you do mommy a favor? Can you show mommy and your aunts and uncles where this happened? We’ll go and make the bad thing...” Tess stopped, and cleared her throat. “We’ll go and make the bad thing go away honey?”

Elayanaun continued to cry, and Tess’ face, so strongly controlled, began to break slowly. She had to grit her teeth to not let herself break down.

“Honey,” Tess said, slightly more desperately, “Please show mommy where it happened, so we can fix things! Please!”

“I...” Elayanaun sniffled, “I go s...show! But mommy!” the little girl mewed, “Please come with me! I’m scared mommy!”

Tess forced herself to give the little girl a smile, despite her own terror. For a two year old, even a half-celestial, very mature for her age two year old, Elayanaun was incredibly brave. She closed her eyes, trying to keep herself from gripping Fa’rallan by her side.

“I’ll go with you honey! And so will daddy, Uncle Shaun, Uncle Luke, Aunt Elenya and Aunt Siabrey!” Tess grabbed her little girl and held her close.

“And so will Uncle Grumki and Aunt Karjana,” the half orc rumbled gently, his large hand softly rubbing the little girl’s head. The gentle rubbing was broken by Siabrey’s sharp voice calling out, filled with a frightening roar.

“FETCH OUR HORSES!”



The unusual and hurried calvacade that thundered out of the manor house sped towards the west. In the far lead was Pellaron, flying a few feet behind his still frightened youngest child. A few hundred feet behind, on the ground, rode Siabrey, clad in her old breastplate, gleaming in the lowering sun. Beside her rode her husband, who hadn’t taken the time to don armor at all, his own sword clattering against his hip.

Beside them rode a wizard, and a businessman now clad in leather armor, rapier clattering at his side. A worriedly looking half-elf and dwarf rode alongside, but fidgeting, prepared to change into far more fearsome forms if needed. A bard with a worried look on her face galloped beside them, harp clutched in her hand, and finally in the rear were two massive clydesdales, with two large half-orcs on their backs. They had long since outdistanced the soldiers following behind, perhaps fifty men at arms...

As the celestial and his child flashed through the sky, the others dashed along the ground, following. Eleyanaun led them quickly first to the north, and then to the west, until a once distant line of sandstone cliffs grew larger and larger. As the time reached five o’clock, the low sun’s light illuminated the cliffs in a fiery orange glow.

Carefully everyone picked up a low rise in the rocky base, following the flying of Eleyanaun and Pell. As they moved along, they all could see a great many tracks from horses, all fresh, leading up towards one of the larger caves.

“They’re in there!” Siabrey shouted, jumping off of her horse. Kelir was already out, flames licking along its length. Several shings cut through the air as other blades found themselves exposed to the air. A look of anger and determination painted each face.

“Alisandra,” Tess said quietly, “could you please stay behind, and watch our horses and Eleyanaun. If anything comes out to threaten, please... go back to the manor and urge the guards to hurry up.”

The dwarven dragon looked rather downcast at this duty, but agreed. “I’ll watch the horses and the little one. Kord’s Strength go with all of you!”

“Do not worry, Alisandra,” Grumki growled in a low voice, his own warhammer swinging through the air lazily as he tested his arms, “The Chief Chainbreaker at Iskeldrun would not accept my challenge for a reason. Whoever, or whatever has taken our children, shall feel my fingers crushing its neck!”

Siabrey, Shaun and Luke had already leapt up the cliff-face as fast as possible, and were already dashing into the cave itself. The trail of horses hooves ended just outside the cave, before disappearing down another path, their tracks widely spaced.

“They ran off... that way. Something frightened them,” Shaun said absently. Siabrey responded by drawing her washazaki as well, planning to use Kelir’s light to see through the cave.

As soon as everyone had moved into the cave itself, their eyes began to adjust to the darkness... and it was then that they noticed light dimly reflecting off of the walls of the cave ahead, as if the cave turned to the right, and something, like a small torch, was in the next corridor. Save that the light along the wall was not just orange, but yellow, red, blue, green, and purple. A shifting, changing set of colors.

“Quiet... something is up ahead!” Siabrey hissed. Her own eyes were slits as she crept forward, alternating between deadly fury and motherly concern. No noises had yet been picked up by their ears when Siabrey flashed around the corner, her swords in a defensive stance.

A stance she held for a few seconds in confusion before lowering her blades.

“Nothing here... except that,” she gestured as the others came around the corner.

‘That’ was a mound of something, about waist high. It was the thing giving off the shifting, changing colors. It glowed rather brightly in parts, and dully in others, as if there were embers of some kind burning within it. It gave off no smell, and made no sound.

Gingerly the party came close to it, and it was Luke who threw a rock at it. The rock it the mound with a ‘plopping’ noise, but nothing happened.

“Whatever it is, I think it’s inert,” the Emperor pronounced. “Let’s push on.”

At that moment, from somewhere deep in the bowels of the cave, a loud, piercing shriek echoed up to the party’s ears. It was high pitched, perhaps a squeal, the kind a child gave when either playing or fleeing. And none in the party had any doubt which one it was.

“VALARON! VINTRESSA!” Siabrey bellowed, as the others all called their children as well. The shrieking suddenly stopped, and a few seconds later another noise echoed about the walls of the cave. This one was deep, resonating, and loud. It started as a grating, grumbling growl, and roar into a primal roar that shook them to their very souls.

“ROSE! RAVEN! SHAWN!” Shaun called, as everyone, not caring about quiet, sneaking, or tactics, dashed further into the cave, leaping over rocks and sliding down slopes.

“I’M COMING, MY BABIES! HOLD ON! MOMMY’S ON THE WAY!” Siabrey called panickedly, careening around yet another corner in the room, screeching past a rock outcropping, narrowly missing hitting her head. The others followed, but it was consistently Siabrey, Tess, Shaun and Grumki that took the lead.

Finally, after the party guessed they had gone what easily could have been several hundred yards into the cave, and water now began to drip from the ceiling, telling them that they had gone down as well. The further they progressed, the louder and more thunderous the roaring became.

Finally, they reached a point where the cave turned to the right. They could not see what lay beyond the corner, yet they heard the roaring echoing around, as if in an enormous room. Bright, shining light reflected along the walls of the cave, coming from the room ahead, its light many brilliant colors.

“It’s in there,” Shaun hissed quietly, his pink rapier out, his hands grasping and relaxing over the hilt of the blade in worry. Twin beads of sweat formed on his head, and ran down his face, as he breathed hard. The image of his children danced in his head.

“Mommy?” a little girl’s voice echoed out of the room, and as any mother, Tess immediately recognized the voice of Amarine.

“Amarine’s in there!” the bard said worriedly, her face looking close to collapse. The bard’s harpbow was already drawn, and she was already humming a few notes... notes that the party knew would soon turn into a vicious, shrieking assault.

“On the count of three, we come in there, weapons drawn. Let’s see if we can’t get our kids out without much of a fight. I’m afraid if a battle develops they might be hurt in the crossfire,” Siabrey whispered to the others. Her own face was determined, and they all saw the same shine in her eyes as when she’d taken on Shivalas. The same look she’d had fighting the demons during the battle with Luke’s mother. The look that death incarnate had arrived for her enemies.

“One...”

“Mommy!” the same voice called again.

“I’M HERE BABY! MOMMY’S HERE!” Tess called back.

“Two...”

The noise of rapid movement, like a scuffle of some kind, echoed from around the corner. At that moment, all planning went out the window, as Tess, Siabrey and Shaun dashed around the corner, blades drawn.

The room that faced them was illuminated, rising to a height that was easily over one hundred feet. Their children were in one corner, Valaron, Shawn and Tark standing in the front, the others sitting behind. Strangely, none looked frightened or afraid... merely confused. Most of their eyes flashed from their parents towards the other creature in the room, and grinned. Vintressa even laughed.

The other creature was hard to look at, the array of colors coming from it almost blinding. But as it moved closer, its breath loud and husky, the party could clearly see what it was.

From its fierce head to the tip of its tail ran a ground of spines, some three to four feet tall, blazing purples, reds, yellows, and blues blasting from it. Its wings, easily 40 feet wide or more from tip to tip, spread open, blazing forth more color from their bat-like shapes. Its well muscled, lizardly yet feline legs and powerful body, the size of a large cottage, blazed forth color as well.

The creature leapt into the air, and landed between the party and the children, crouching low as a growl thundered from its lips. Its eyes, as large Luke’s steel shield, blinked, brilliant lavender streaming from them. Above them its array of horns flashed purplish-red, and its draconic mouth flashed open, baring numerous long, fanged teeth as if gave a rumbling growl.

“Bahamut in Heaven,” Xanadu’s half-elven voice said faintly, “its a prismatic dragon!”

 

[Emperor Valerian]

A Fierce Monster

The party was transfixed... the beast was snarling at them, while their children sudden got looks of horror on their small faces. Siabracius started crying when the beast let out a thundering roar... and yet the party could not move. The terrifying sight, and their helpless children, held them in place...

It was Valaron, in the end, that dashed out. As Siabrey screamed for him to stay put, the ten year old impetuously ducked underneath the dragon’s body, and ran right into its path, hands upraised.

Oh god Val! Siabrey’s mind screamed, her body tensing, her legs finally starting to move. She started to run towards her son, intent with one hand to shove him out of the way, the other with Kelir to block the beast’s progress as best she could. To her surprise, Valaron stopped, directly in front of the beast, and its horrible gaze bore down on the small boy.

“No!” Val screamed at the monster, “its our mom! She’s ok! Don’t frighten her!” the boy snapped.

At almost the same time, Raven, Vintressa and Shawn started darting underneath the beast’s legs as well, shouting at their parents. “NO! Mom, you’re scaring him! Stop it!”

The beast stared a Val momentarily, as everyone froze. Shaun looked on in shock as Raven, and now Rose, both started rubbing the dragon’s front legs, whispering to it. The beast gave them a cursory glance, and then its head lowered, the deep rumbling growls of fury changing to something... more confused.

“It’s ok,” Vintressa was now to Siabrey’s front, pushing down her mother’s blades. “He’s only a baby...”

”You are their mummies and daddies?” a voice, young and bubbly almost, rumbled into the heads of everyone. The beast was now staring at the party, its tail wrapped almost protectively in front of most of the children. ”You scared me. I wanted to protect my friends. I’m sorry if I scared you.”

“Y...yes...” Tess stammered, “we are their parents.” What is going on? the bard’s mind still questioned, her harp still in her hands, Fa’rallan still dangerously out in the open.

”They are lucky. They have a mummy. Maybe you are my mummy?” the beast’s voice sounded in Elenya, Tess, and Siabrey’s heads. The creature then lumbered over to Siabrey, and the fighter could feel massive wafts of cool breath on her. The beast’s head was massive, larger than the fighter herself, and now loomed barely a foot from her.

“Um... no, we aren’t your mother,” Siabrey said guardedly. She slowly put away her washazaki, but kept Kelir out, confusion clearly in her eyes.

“Pet him, mom!” Vintressa said, grabbing Siabrey’s hand and putting it on the beast’s nose. The fighter tried to resist at first, but when she touched its head, the beast gave a rumbling, draconic purr.

”Vintressa, your mummy is nice when she’s not scary,” the beast rumbled in Vintressa’s and Siabrey’s heads. ”I wish she was my mummy!”

“Guys?” Shaun finally spoke. “Um... over there?” he pointed.

As everyone’s gaze followed his direction, a distant shape on the far end of the massive chamber made itself out. From this distance even, the gigantic purplish gold speckled egg looked massive, and by Siabrey’s estimate, it had to much larger than a good sized house.

Xanadu looked from the egg, to the beast, and then sputtered in shock, “It’s... it’s merely a wyrmling?!” he said, his voice implying fear and confusion. “A wyrmling that large?!” For the first time, he noticed the eyes were far larger in proportion to its head than a dragon’s should be, and that its scales, while hard, were still pliable... not rock solid like even a juvenile’s scales. Gently, he touched a scale, and gave a slight gasp of shock. “He’s only a few weeks old at most!”

“You mean this thing just hatched!?” Tess said in shock, as the beast moved its attentions to Elenya, who was also nervously rubbing its brow. How huge does this damn thing get when its full grown?

“The legends... they’re true...” Xanadu said in shock.

“Change! Change back! Show them your other shape!” Amarine called from behind the dragon, which turned and bared its teeth... in what looked to be a draconic version of a grin. There was a bright, brilliant surge of light from within its being, forcing everyone to close their eyes. When they reopened, a small boy, perhaps ten by his looks, stood before the party... his skin a brilliant lavendar, eyes bright yellow. Streams of tiny, flashing glints of light seemed to fall from his body, at all times. He turned back to the party, and gave a brilliant smile.

“Are you sure none of you want to be my mummy!” the boy grinned, before dashing over and giving Vintressa and Raven big hugs. Valaron soon found himself with a hug as well.

“Do you... have a name?” Shaun asked the boy, surprised no one had broached the subject before. The boy looked at him, confused.

“Name? No. I don’t have a name. Do you?”

“My name,” Siabrey said, kneeling so her face was at the boy’s level, “is Siabrey. Would... you like a name?” she asked gently. The few minutes had given her brain time to recover, and now she saw what Xanadu had said was indeed true. He is merely a babe... he is curious. And how horrible to have been left behind... alone like this!

“Yes, I would! If you can find my mommy, I’m sure she’d give me one! She has to be as nice as you!” the boy said cheerfully. The boy ran over and grabbed Siabrey’s leg in a hard, deep hug, filled with warmth.

“Have any of you seen his mother?” Tess asked quietly. The subject of the massive beast’s mother had made her face darken with worry. She knew how she and the others had reacted when they thought their own children were in danger... and she dreaded to think of what the prismatic’s mother could do. The children shook their heads, and every one of them said he was alone. Tess then turned to Xanadu, and asked him... causing the silver to take a deep breath to calm himself.

“A full adult prismatic... if the legends are true, and I see no reason not, considering the prismatic dragon was supposed to be a legend,” he added, “a full adult would be larger than... um... Stalatan,” Xanadu said quietly, trying to find a comparison the party would understand. “If she were as old as me, she could easily be far larger... thrice my size!”

“Sweet Tarantor in heaven!” Elenya gasped at the dragon’s statement, a sentiment Tess fully echoed in her own look of shock.

“How... big... do prismatic dragons grow?” Shaun asked slowly, his own eyes wide.

“A... well... I’ve heard well over a thousand feet,” Xanadu said softly.

“Frickin’ Hieroneous’ Piss Pot!” Shaun swore, loud enough that some of the children started giggling. A thousand foot, angry dragon thundering down on us! Sweet Pelor! his mind was filled with truly frightening images... a beast so massive that it could raise its head up to attack upper floors of the Imperial palace while resting on the ground, casting a massive shadow over the ground...

Siabrey heard the conversation to her left, and was rather thankful that it looked like the little boy to her front was too busy showering her with love to have heard also. Hoping to keep him happy and distracted, Siabrey gently touched him, causing him to look up at her again.

“Well... I can’t go around calling you ‘dragon’ or ‘playmate,’” she rubbed the little boy’s shoulder. “You need a temporary name, till we find your mother and your real name. Um... snagglefoot?!” she offered jokingly, and the little boy giggled.

“No! No Snagglefoot!”

“How about... Ari, then?” she asked, full motherly warmth going, despite the fearful logic going on in the back of her head. We need to get him back to his mother! If she lost him, and she is as large as they say, she could destroy half the Empire looking for him... and I’d hate to see such a beast in a rage...

“Ari sounds good!” the boy laughed. A low grumble came from his little stomach, and he looked up at Siabrey, his eyes sad. “I’m sorry. I’m hungry.”

Oh no! Siabrey panicked. If he’s too hungry, as much as he likes us, he could EAT us! Quick! What do dragon’s eat!? What?! C’mon! Think! “Xanadu! What do prismatic dragons eat?” the Empress asked hurriedly.

“I don’t know!” the silver dragon said, also confused. “Gemstones, gold, people, boars?” the silver shrugged. Desperately, Siabrey looked back at Ari. The little boy’s head was inclined to the side in question. Siabrey patted his head.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get you to some food and a nice place to sleep,” she smiled to the dragon, even now trying to figure out in her mind if the manor held enough food to keep such a beast sated. It was the only place, she reasoned, that she could. Seeing that this was satisfactorily taken care of in her mind, Siabrey then turned her mind to other affairs that needed to be settled.

“Children!” she looked towards Val and Vintressa, and motioned for them to come over. The two started to skip over to their mother, till they saw the cold steel in her eyes. Familiar with the look, they stopped, and started walking slowly, even as Luke began talking with and distracting Ari. Siabrey grabbed both of them by their shirtcollars.

“You two are in big trouble!” Siabrey hissed, leaning down so her angry eyes were level with them. “Valaron, especially you! You were the leader of this group, and you knew the little ones needed to be back! Then you took them to meet a beast!”

“But Ari isn’t dangerous! He’s little! He wants to merely play!” Val protested.

“When you first saw him, you couldn’t have known that! And poor Eleyanaun was so scared! You... I...” Siabrey’s voice hissed until no words could come to her mouth. You didn’t know he was safe when you first saw him, yet you stayed! Reckless! You stayed out late despite knowing the little ones needed to come back! I don’t know what to do with you, Valaron! She ended the sentence unceremoniously with a growl, “We’ll discuss your punishment after this mess is finished!”

“Yes mother,” Valaron said quietly, hanging his head.

As the group made their way out of the chamber, Tess also hugged her two children, before giving them a quiet lecture on responsibility. Shaun’s lecture to his children wasn’t as quiet... it was rather sharp, nearly as much as Siabrey’s.

“Where are we going?” Ari asked loudly, causing Siabrey to turn, and take his hand. It was Luke’s turn to talk to Val and Vin, and the two children’s heads hung even lower as their father approached.

“We’re taking you to my home,” Siabrey said with the cheerful, talking-to-a-young-child-to-keep-them-distracted-voice. “There you’ll have food, and a place to stay while we look for you mommy.”

“Yay!” Ari jumped up in the air, before dashing around Siabrey, hyperactively. “Will I be able to play with the others? Huh? Huh? Huh?”

“Yes,” Siabrey said with a smile. Her eyes were looking straight at Vin and Val, and spoke directly to them a warning. Don’t think these means you won’t be punished! You’ve gotten a stay of penalty, not a reprieve! the little boy dashed ‘round and ‘round Siabrey and Luke again, joyously laughing, leaving trails of purple, blue, red and gold flecks behind him as he ran, as if he was shedding sparkles.

“So... we’ve got a baby prismatic dragon,” Tess said worriedly, looking at the gleeful creature, “and there might be, somewhere, and big mother that’s probably angrily looking for it. And we need to find her... who would know that kind of information?”

“Court mages are know it alls,” Shaun muttered, “try asking them? According to Xanadu, I’m guessing these things were sort of draconic lore... Xanny, you know any more?”

“Well,” the half-elf began, as the party drew closer to the cave entrance, “according to our religion, Bahamut... he is the... um... well... Draconic version of Pelor?” Xanny said, trying to find a metaphor the party would understand. “Well, he sends to each world a prismatic dragon, to watch over all of the good dragons... be an advisor, guide, and the like.” He then stopped, his mind, still in shock, trying to find the right words. “I have only heard of it being spoken of as legend... no one knows of any such beast on our world...”

“So this guy is the first?” Shaun said quietly, “maybe that’s why he has no mother?”

“He’s not a messianic figure,” Tess said, “he seems like a normal creature... which means he has a mother of some kind,” the bard said matter of factly, before turning to Xanadu with a look of confusion, “He is a normal creature, isn’t he?”

“I have no idea how prismatic dragons live, no knowledge of their mating habits, and no clue as to how one eats or... anything else about them! They’re supposed to be legendary!” Xanadu hissed. “Normal? I don’t know!”

“Great,” Tess said quietly.

 

[Emperor Valerian]

Return to Sigil... Ten Years Later

“Okay, Ari, we’re here!” Siabrey announced. As the little boy streaked ahead and into the manor, streamers of color flowing behind him, she glanced at her children.

How could THEY even keep up with him?

The baby dragon was even more energetic than after they had first left the cave. Grumki, using his powers as one of the Chief Chainbreakers in the Church of Kord, was able to pray for some food to help the “little boy with his strength.” A full banquet had been called, and at first the half-orc had said that a great amount of food would go to waste... until Ari had, in the space of 15 minutes, managed to gobble up half of it. The little boy still dashed around, as if there weren’t several hundred pounds of food in his body... and with his speed, Siabrey was sure he’d be hungry again soon. Quickly she asked Luke who the chief servant was, and dragged the man out of the kitchen.

“Majesty?” the man bowed, curious. “Was there something wrong with the roasted food? The pastries?”

“No! No, it was excellent!” Siabrey hurriedly corrected. “I just need you to cook more.”

“Ah,” the chef smiled, “Then I know it was truly good if Your Majesties desire more!” he called his hands in delight.

“Um... yes!” Siabrey seized the excuse offered to her. “We loved it so much... we need... um... fifteen more courses!” she said decisively. The poor chef stumbled backwards slightly, in shock.

“Um...Majesty, it might take some time...”

“Work as fast as you can,” Siabrey urged, looking over her shoulder uneasily at Ari. “Um... the children are hungry,” she gave a polite smile to excuse her request. She could tell that while the chef maintained proper decorum in bowing to her request, his eyes belied the confusion in his mind.



“Well,” Luke said quietly as Siabrey was talking to the cooks, “I set a messenger to Iskeldrun by the small teleportation chamber here... the Chief Court Mage should arrive shortly.”

“Luke... why was there that little twist in your voice? You don’t like the man?” Tess raised an eyebrow, reading Luke’s mannerisms like a book. “Is he capable? Someone we know?”

“All too well,” Luke sighed. “Newest Chief Court Mage... by seniority this time. And you all know him as Aeron...”

“What?!” Tess gasped slightly.

“Great,” Shaun rolled his eyes, “We have to deal with an angry mother dragon and Mr. Know-it-all in the flesh.”

“Siabrey gave him the appointment,” Luke grumbled slightly. “I was busy trying to keep the Dukes of Chalcedon and Northmark from throttling each other-“

“I remember that! Hey Tess, didn’t your organization have to-“ Shaun interrupted excitedly.

“Yes,” Tess said, nodding back towards Luke. Once her point of ‘be quiet’ got through to the rogue, Luke continued.

“-anyways, she took care of that mess... and appointed him.”

“Well, he did act more civil towards her after she point a sword to his throat,” Tess mused.

“I would act more civil towards her if she put her sword to my throat too!” Shaun rejoined, only to hear Siabrey clearing her throat behind him... yet again. “I spoke at the wrong time, didn’t I?” Shaun winced.

Siabrey merely gave him a growl of disapproval, before looking towards Luke. “Aeron’s on his way?”

“Yes... should be here any moment.” Luke’s eyes drifted towards the young dragon now literally running circles in the manor foyer, squealing. Tark was playfully chasing him, and Eleyanaun and Siabracius had both jumped in the fun. Amarine, Valaron, Vintressa, and the three Dice children were old enough to figure out that the storm clouds of punishment hadn’t cleared yet... they laughed, but only nervously.



“A what?” Chief Court Mage, Arbiter of the Arcane, etc. etc. etc. Aeron said in surprise.

“A baby prismatic dragon,” Siabrey repeated. “Our children found him, and evidently he was left or abandoned by his mother. We need to find his mother,” the Empress gave a slight gulp, “before she finds us, and gets into a very bad mood.”

“Hmm... I should like to see this little dragon,” Aeron announced, rubbing his chin, “No such dragon has ever before been observed by our mages or masters of the arcane. It could prove invaluable!”

“Well, he’s right there,” Siabrey pointed towards Ari, who was now clinging on Tark’s back, the half-orc giving the polymorphed dragon a piggyback ride.

“The... child? You mean he can polymorph at only a few weeks old?” Aeron said, eyes wide in wonder. When the party nodded yes, he took another step back. “My knowledge on this creature is proving even more sparse than I feared. I can recite the legends of them to you, if you wish... but no concrete facts.”

“Legends then?” Tess said, “A legend, like a good song, and a good lie, always has some truth wrapped deep within its folds.”

“True,” the wizard gave her a slight deferential nod. Tess was surprised at how civil he seemed, as the wizard continued

“According to legend, there is one prismatic dragon per world... a sort of ‘dragon overlord’ of some sort... we’ve never been able to piece it together fully. How the prismatic arrives if it is the only one is beyond all of us, and how it ‘lords’ is beyond us as well...”

“Well, to put it bluntly,” Luke’s governing mind chimed in, “does it, according to legend, marshal armies, and overthrow existing powers? Or does it ‘lord’ passively, or in some other manner?” Siabrey could tell in her husband’s mind he didn’t think the little Ari would be a threat, but the important question needed to be raised.

“Not that I know of,” Aeron said, looking at the now screaming little boy, playing hide and seek with Amarine, “they lord over other dragons... settle disputes among the metallics, and try to keep the chromatics in line... that sort of thing.”

“Well, thats all nice and pretty,” Shaun folded his arms, “but that doesn’t tell us anything about his mother, where she is, or even why she’d leave him behind.”

“Maybe he’s sick, and she left him for dead?” Luke asked thoughtfully. “I know some animals do that.”

“Dragons are not mere animals, Majesty,” Xanadu interrupted coldly. When he saw Luke recoil slightly at the sudden iciness of his statement, Xanadu gave a sigh of apology. “Those questions posed by Shaun bother me too. You travel off-plane frequently, Tess and Aeron. While I know you both do far different business off-plane, is there any way for either of you to dredge up anything on prismatics from worlds that have them already?”

“Well, I could spread the word through some... friends,” Tess stopped herself before she mentioned the organization... Aeron was not in the clear to know about it, “but that could take weeks.”

“Weeks his mother might use to find us and decide our story is not worth listening to,” Shaun added.

“Well, I know of one man who might. He’s a half-elf, actually,” Aeron corrected. By the wizard’s face, it was clear there was something unpleasant about this, ‘man.’ “His name is Gunter Melachis... he resides in Sigil.”

“What’s the bad news?” Siabrey crossed her arms. “I’ve seen that face on mages before. It means, ‘there is something bad I don’t know whether I should tell the Empress.’”

“Nothing is wrong with him... he, like many people in Sigil, is merely... odd,” Aeron said rather too quickly. By the way his eyes rapidly flipped between Siabrey and Xanadu, the Empress could tell it was likely something that shouldn’t be said in front of the dragon.

“You’re pretty odd yourself. I would count most mages as odd,” Shaun chimed in, before catching a withering gaze from his wife. “What?”

Thankful for the rogue’s interruption of the uncomfortable silence that threatened, Siabrey cleared her throat. “Well, friend Aeron, I think we should go see this Gunter.”

“I’m going this time!” Luke announced suddenly. “I’ve never seen Sigil! I want to see the city that all of you talk about visiting so long ago!”

“Fine... another blade. That means Xanny, Alisandra, you should probably stay,” Tess reasoned. “If Ari’s mother shows up, you would have a better chance of explaining to her what’s going on... as it sounds like to me that the prismatics at least listen to metallics like yourselves.”

“And you can watch our miscreant children,” Siabrey added, causing the dragon to roll his eyes. “If Val or Vin misbehave... inform them that they will be cut off from chocolates for the next week for each time they irritate you.”

“Siabrey! That’s cold!” Luke said, impressed.

“I’ll come with... to show you all where Gunter lives,” Aeron said matter of factly. “I had a tripped planned to Sigil to gather some information on chaotic rocs, and how to artificially grow their feathers. Our friend Asuri claims he’s developed a way using some conjuration magic,” the wizard blubbered, going faster and faster in excitement till he saw everyone else present. Siabrey waved her hand over her head, showing where Aeron’s words had flown.

“Sorry... I got a little excited,” he uneasily scratched his head.



“Now, Valaron, Vintressa!” Siabrey knelt in front of her two children, a stern hand on each of their shoulders. “Me and Dad are leaving for a bit. We’ll be back soon. In the meantime,” she added, “you two are going to be the highest ranked people at this manor. I want you to be good hosts,” she looked directly at Vintressa, “and good stewards,” she looked at Valaron. “I lost much trust in you after what happened earlier today, and tonight you have a chance to rebuild that trust. Understand?”

The two nodded.

“Good. Now, I want you to make sure our guest, Ari, is well fed, and happy. Vin, you’ll sleep in Val’s bed tonight if Ari has to stay overnight, okay?”

“But mom!” Vin started to complain, before a sharp look from her mother’s eyes told her to cease.

“He is an honored guest! It is rare to have a dragon of his kind here! And you all want your playmate to feel at home, do you not?”

“Yes mother,” the twins lowered their heads and nodded.

“And I also want you to listen to Uncle Xanadu and Aunt Alisandra. Do whatever they tell you. You are to respect them as much as me or your father.”

“Yes mother.”

“And if you do good in this,” Siabrey smiled, preparing to offer her carrot, “I might reconsider some of the potential punishments for your mistakes earlier today. Ok?” The children’s eyes lit up, and they jumped slightly, smiles on their faces.

“Yes mother!”


“Everyone here?” Siabrey asked a few minutes later as the party walked into the teleportation chamber.

“Yup, check,” Luke nodded after he’d done a quick head count, coming up with the requisite number.

“Supplies?”

“Check.”

“Ok... have the kids been lectured?” Tess asked as the party stepped into .

“Check,” Shaun said quietly, running a hand over his fine outer coat to push down its wrinkles. If I’m going to Sigil, merchant’s heaven, I need to look GOOD. Who knows what kind of deals can be made in the meantime?

“Alright, I guess we’re ready then!”

The swirls and mists of teleportation grew up around the party, presently numbering Siabrey, Luke, Tess, Shaun, Elenya, Pell and Aeron. Unlike their last collective trip to Sigil, no one lost their dinner... all were by now used to the raucous nature of teleportation travel.

As the air around them cleared to reveal a small, cracked teleportation chamber, two large mercanes dominated its entrance, the party calmly gave their names, ranks, and weapons to be catalogued and registered. Quickly, they found themselves on the streets of Sigil... into which Luke gawked.

“The buildings! They’re all massive? How can they build such massive structures out of... wood and stucco?” he marveled at one of the lower structures that towered a good eighty feet overhead.

“Luke, pick your jaw up off the ground. You’re an Emperor,” Siabrey replied conversationally. Architecture had grown into a hobby of Luke’s; Siabrey found it bordering dangerously on dull.

“This place looks a little different than the sections we went through last time,” Shaun mumbled. “A lot more...”

“Run down?” Aeron asked, briskly leading the rest through a sea of people in the narrow streets. Dirty water splashed at their feet, a puddle that Shaun deftly avoided to keep his clothes clean. “It is run down. Gunter has his place of business slightly out of the way for legitimate work.”

“What? You associate with smugglers?” Tess said, semi-shocked that the normally proper and disdainfully courtly Aeron would stoop to something like that.

“Yes... when one needs Tarrasque hide, it is far easier to get it from the black market up here, as opposed to hunting one down,” the wizard commented dryly.

“What’s a tarrasque?” Shaun inquired.

“You don’t want to know!” Tess and Aeron rejoined quickly, both of their eyes wide.



It took a few more minutes before Aeron turned left, and then right, through several even more narrow alleyways. Finally, the wizard led them to a door that looked old, and party rotted. Above it hung a sign merely stating “Malachis Rare Items,” in what the party recognized as Common, Elven, and (Siabrey, having spent long periods with her father at the palace learning his tongue, could read it) Sylvan. Aeron delivered a rather strange set of knocks, causing the door to open rather quickly. On its own.

Aeron motioned for them to head inside, and as the party’s eyes adjusted to the darker interior lit only by candles, their eyes found themselves met with the sight of books... thousands of books. They were piled, stacked, and arranged haphazardly about a small, even tiny room.

More alarming were what they were stacked on, or surmounted by. Siabrey and Shaun had both seen dragonscale furniture before... indeed, they owned a set of tables, chairs, and dinnerware made from the scales of a felled great red wyrm. What troubled the party was the color of these pieces of ware...

A large table was made from massive, shiny golden scales and white teeth, while on the wall hung the massive gleaming spine of the back ridge of a large silver dragon. The floor itself seemed parqued from a mixture of bronze, brass and copper scales, and the head of a small bronze dragon graced the far wall, its wyrmling eyes peeking just over one of the intervening bookshelves.

“Alkor?” a quiet voice asked, as scraping noises came from back, “Is that you? Did you bring me that golden wyrm eye like I asked?”

 

[Emperor Valerian]

An ‘Expert’ on Dragons

“Holy mother of Pelor,” Shaun whispered softly, “Xanadu would have leveled this place if he had come.” The same thoughts ran through all of their heads, and Siabrey fully realized why Aeron didn’t want to speak of this in front of the silver dragon.

“Um... its not Alkor!” Aeron called over the books, “It is Aeron, the minor mage!” The latter title might have caused the party to laugh, if the situation hadn’t been so tense.

“Ah? Aeron!” a spectacled face rose just barely above the masses of books, “It has been quite a while since I’ve seen you! You have need of more roc feathers, or tarrasque hide?” The man was now fully visible... his elderly, wrinkled face filled with the large smile of someone looking for gold coin.

“Aeron... what the hell does this Gunter do?” Siabrey hissed. “Kill good dragons!?”

“Gunter collects exotic spell components,” Aeron whispered back, “they tend to come from major beasts...”

“I only see good dragon parts laying around!” Tess complained, slightly too loud.

“Who is with you, Aeron?” the old man’s voice comes again.

“A few patrons of mine,” Aeron called back, before turning back to the party, and hissing, “I know it looks bad! It is! But like him or not, he’s the only available source for rare spell items! Unfortunately he specializes in supplying the parts of good dragons!”

“Patrons!” the party heard scuttling from behind the bookshelves, and the small, bent old man puttered out. He was dressed in black pantaloons, a red tunic and black coat. Several arcane runes seemed to be tattooed to his forehead, their lines and forms blazing with color. “Excellent! Gunter Melachis!” he extended a hand, before motioning them to follow him back.

The man led them behind the bookshelves that had blocked their view, and the party members, save Aeron, immediately felt like retching. Stretched out on a mahogany desk, with papers, notes, tomes and gems laid out alongside, was the laid out form of a wyrmling copper dragon, its innards splayed open, and a few instruments sticking out of the hole.

“So? How may I help you today? I have some excellent claws from a young golden dragon! They’re fresh from Mytrazil!” the old man sat behind the desk, and started probing inside the draconic corpse. He gave a grunt, as he found something inside that was to his interest. He started tugging, and fussed quietly to himself about hearts behind difficult to remove. Shaun started coughing desperately, to keep himself from throwing up.

“Gunter is an extremely powerful mage... please... I know it looks bad” Aeron whispered again, “just ask him your questions...”

“We found a beast that is most unusual... a prismatic dragon,” Tess began slowly, forcing back her vomit as the old man continued to probe the little dragon. As soon as she said the word prismatic, his fingers gave a sudden jerk, and he looked up at the party eagerly.

“Prismatic, you say?” he asked. When the party nodded their heads, he gave a slight cackle. “I’d be willing to offer a great deal for such a rare creature! How does... twenty thousand platinum sound, along with in-kind goods?”

“We aren’t here to sell it!” Siabrey snarled, before a firm grip on her shoulder from Luke made her calm just slightly. “We have questions about it, however.”

“Shoot,” the old man crossed his arms.

“It appears that its mother abandoned it or got lost, and we are trying to find her,” Tess started, “before she comes back angry, and seeking some vengeance.”

“Hmmm,” the old man pursed his lips, “you could go to Celestia... Bahamut’s Palace might know where the great mother’s are, though something tells me if this little one was left behind, it was left for a reason,” Gunter said in thought. “However,” his eyes lit up frighteningly, “if you tell me where this little bugger is, I could have the whole problem handled for you.”

“No!” Siabrey snapped.

“Okay! Okay!” the old man raised his arms in acquiescence, “No need to get touchy! Its just a dragon we’re talking about!”

“Celestia?” Tess cut him and Siabrey off before the Empress’ rage could explode out. Tess could tell by her friends eyes that she was ready to begin knocking over bookshelves and clocking the old man on the head. “Where on Celestia? And ‘great mother’s?’ What are those?”

“Oh, well I used the phrase ‘great mothers’ euphemistically. Great mother as in ‘older dragon – female,’” Gunter smiled. “At the very least, they’d know where said mother is... considering how rare prismatics are. Like I said,” his eyes slipping back into their glinting, gold coined look, “hand the little boy over to me and I can take the issue off of your hands.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Tess jumped in quickly, as Siabrey’s mouth worked open and close, her rage so great that no sound could come out. “We have another problem... what do young prismatic dragon’s eat? And their social life?”

“Well,” Gunter sat down slightly dejectedly, “considering its been five centuries since I’ve seen a prismatic dragon, let alone a baby one, my knowledge might be rusty.” He reached towards his instruments, and began probing the baby copper body again. “They are not very social, from what I understand... little or no family structure. Some legends say there is only one for each world... and that a mother lays the egg and leaves it behind to colonize other worlds. I think that is rubbish,” he waved his hand dismissively, the thongs in his grasp waving a piece of dragon gore through the air.

“It goes against the social nature of the metallics... though technically, prismatic dragons are neither metallic nor chromatic. Nonetheless, because of their close relationship with Bahamut, Io and other deities... have I confused you?”

“Yes,” Tess admitted. She’d heard Xanadu mention Bahamut occasionally, and he’d said something about an ‘Io’ when he was in the midst of cursing one time several years prior.

“Dragons, just like people, have gods... deities. Bahamut is one such deity... the... um...Hieroneous of Draconic deities,” the party noticed Gunter did not say Hieroneous, rather spat out the word. “Prismatics, according to legend, are eyes and ears of Bahamut. It is my personal opinion that this is rubbish made up by prismatics to make themselves seem special. They are very clever... took me nearly two years of stalking to hunt down the only one I’ve killed... and that was a millennia ago...”

Tess heard a deep intake of air behind her, and she could tell Siabrey was tensing, and the bard guessed it was only a minute or two before the fighter started to draw her katana. Realizing that she needed to act quickly, Tess quickly moved to excuse the party.

“Thank you for you words of wisdom, Gunter,” she said quickly, “however, I am afraid we need to be taking our leave at this time.”

“Hmm... no problem. Always a delight to help the patrons of customers,” the old man said rather sullenly, as it became apparent his source of prismatic dragon parts had suddenly dried up.



“AERON!” Siabrey snapped once they were out in the street, “By Imperial Decree, you SHALL NOT EVER purchase supplies or sell supplies to this man again!”

“But Majesty-“ the wizard started to protest, before Siabrey’s snarling voice cut him off.

“No ‘buts!’ There are undoubtedly other suppliers of said items in Sigil! I don’t care if they’re more expensive! You shall not assist that... man... anymore!” Her already copper skin was a deep red, flushed with fury. “I fully intend on letting Xanadu know all about this man, and his... ‘occupation!’”

“Majesty, the other supplies charge nearly double what Gunter-“

“No! Don’t give a damn!” she growled as the party strode up the streets of Sigil. “If I had my way, his place would be leveled. NO ONE has the right to assault good dragons like that! And NO ONE has the right to talk about grabbing and killing wyrmlings of good dragons like that!” Aeron looked around the party for support, and to his chagrin, found everyone’s eyes looking at him with disgust.

“So... we go to Bahamut, on Celestia?” Shaun asked quietly. “Tess, you’ve been to Celestia right?”

“Parts of Celestia,” the bard corrected, as she glanced uneasily towards the furious gaze Siabrey was still raining down on Aeron. The wizard had shrunk back, fear in his eyes. “The lower areas... fortunately, that’s where Bahamut’s Palace is.”

“Really?” Lucius asked, hoping to draw his wife into the conversation and away from plotting the punishment for the Chief Court Mage, “What is it like is Celestia?”

Tess gave a distant smile. She’d delivered Amarine on Celestia... Pell had asked a few archons, and won permission for that. Since the formation of her little organization, she’d visited Celestia several more times... most of them to talk directly to archons of Pelor, Hieroneous, and once, to an obscure deity named St. Cuthbert. She knew the areas bordering the Celestial Ocean fairly well... though inland she didn’t know well at all.

“Celestia is glorious,” Tess smiled, her mind tasting in memory the sweet smelling air, and the cool breezes over the sea. “The whole world is bathed in radiant light from the home of the gods on Mount Celestia, archons, angels, and good beasts abound... you don’t need to set watch, unless you’re a demon or devil,” she grinned. “Along the coast is a massive city of white marble and silver... Bahamut’s home.”

“Have you ever been inside of it?” Siabrey, now caught in her fantastic description, asked.

“No,” Tess gave a sigh, “I’ve never had reason to be there. Most of the times I’ve been on Celestia it’s been on business... its not a resort or summer home. I think in the nine times I’ve been there, I had only fifteen minutes with myself... or should I say, with Pell,” she smiled at her husband. Pell had changed to a small monkey, and was sitting cutely on her shoulder, and his small hands gave her head a scratch of thanks.

“So... how do we get there? And what is the proper protocol to use in Bahamut’s palace?” Shaun asked. “I mean, the last thing I want to do is to insult the Hieroneous of Dragons.”

“Great, great respect,” Tess answered. “Use your common sense. Imagine if you were trying to talk to a very very important client, and you wanted to treat them as respectfully as possible. Multiply that by ten times.”

“So,” Shaun grinned, “I should try to teach Bahamut street slang?”

“No!” Tess and Siabrey shouted at the same time. Luke caught the joke, and chuckled.

“Don’t worry, he is only tripping,” Luke laughed, causing Siabrey and Shaun to groan for far different reasons.

“Augh...” Tess added her own groan to the others, “we get there as we would any other world. Teleportation, you remember? Celestia, like all other worlds, is connected to Sigil.”

“Can’t Pell just flash there himself?” Shaun asked, hoping to keep Tess’ new course of conversation going so Luke could not abuse the lower dialects of Common anymore.

“Yes, I can,” the angelic monkey on Tess’ shoulder replied. “And Tess can as well... special gift from the archangel Redavner for a...” his furry head flashed to Tess’ face, and when the bard shook her head ‘no,’ he stuttered. “...um... past favors.”

“Ah... mission you can’t talk about?” Shaun nodded quietly, “I understand.”

“So?” Tess said suddenly, shifting the conversation again as fast as she could, “let’s get going to Celestia, and try and head off this mother dragon! Pell.. get back into solar form... I might need you to talk to some people..."

 

[Emperor Valerian]

Celestia on High... and the End of a Quest

“Um... are you sure its okay for mortals like us,” Shaun glanced around the party nervously as they took position inside a teleportation chamber, “to set foot in Celestia?” I’ve never been pious... will that come back to hurt me? I mean, when I was young, I did some stuff that could be counted as... bad...

“On the lower levels, yes, its perfectly fine,” Tess smiled. “As long as you have me or Pell along with to explain away your presence.”

“Um... explain away my presence?” Shaun gulped. “You make it sound like there are archons up there hidden in bushes that shoot you with death arrows if they can sense you’ve done one bad thing!” The image of Anias, some ten years before, telling at a glance a soldier in Luke’s camp was evil and viciously ‘offing’ him only a few seconds later hung in Shaun’s mind.

“No!” Pell scoffed, now in full solar glory. “Unlike those from the darker side, we don’t go around assassinating people for setting foot in our plane. If they didn’t like your presence, they would merely... teleport you out.”

“Pell, your face is twisted funny. Whole truth,” Elenya’s brow furrowed. Her hand snaked around into the clasp of Shaun’s, and held his tightly. She knew of his thieving past, and didn’t want things he did over 10 years ago to come back and hurt him. Not now, not when we have to stop something so destructive...

“Well, they may banish you to a demi-plane, and not let you out until they were convinced you’d done proper repentance. But,” Pell added quickly, “that is only for major offenders! Say, if a lich went up to Celestia!”

“A lich is Celestia is about as likely as Siabrey turning down a chance to spar,” Luke commented dryly.

“In all seriousness,” Tess repeated, “there is nothing to worry about! Just let me and Pell do the talking!”

“Alright,” Shaun growled, his face still looking worried, the swirls of the mists of teleportation blowing about him now. In the flashing mists and gloom, he instinctively grabbed hold of Elenya’s hand tighter.



The swirling mists of the teleport suddenly lit up, shining bright as a sun burning through a morning fog. As their swirling slowed, and finally stopped, the light continued to burn and blaze brighter. When the mists flowed away, the party found themselves in a place of utter, complete beauty.

The sky overhead was a brilliant, powerful blue, and to their left, a deep, royal blue ocean, its waves perfectly aligned, lapped gently against an elegant white beach. To the party’s right, a large forest of exquisite trees ran upwards towards a distant mountain, whose top was crowned with a snowcap worthy of a painting, a brilliant, blinding light thundering down from its summit.

The very air seemed crisp, clean, and sweetly scented. As the party looked at themselves, their very beings seemed to glow slightly in the cool, pleasant breeze coming from the sea. Around the party there were many unusual creatures... shimmering balls of light that floated in the air. Men with the heads of hounds... that seemed strangely unearthly splendid. Creatures winged, soaring in the air above.

And all staring at the party.

Within seconds a small flash eminated from in front of the party, and from its depths came a great creature, fully as tall as Pellaron. Its own greenish-jade skin rippled with holy fire, its eyes blazed white. As its massive feathery wings settled it upon the ground, in its right hand materialized a massive greatsword, a line of great rubies running down the length of the blade.

“Ease, Alphinor,” Pellaron’s own voice ran out. “It is Pellaron. I have merely brought allies of our cause here, on an urgent mission to protect innocents.”

The creature paused momentarily, then blinked. A smile suddenly spread across its face, brilliant and blinding.

“Pellaron!” it’s voice, a deep resonating bass rumbled. “I am sorry, I was too focused on the interlopers to recognize you!” The blade shifted from its upraised position to pointing towards the ground. “What brings you here so soon... and who are... these?” the creature’s free hand gestured to everyone else. “I am Alphinor, a colleague of our friend Pellaron,” the solar gracefully bowed.

Tess introduced everyone, with a deep bow, before explaining to the archon solar their quest.

“We are looking for a mother prismatic dragon, who left her baby alone on our world. We wish to return the wyrmling to her, before she gets worried.”

“Ah... a prismatic dragon on your world?” the solar cocked a golden eyebrow. “Hmm... I know the dragon Karinina was upon your world no more than a few weeks ago... by your time,” Alphinor smiled. Time in Celestia, compared to the other planes, seemed to hold still.

“You...you know of her?” Siabrey stuttered slightly.

“Not well... it is hard to miss the form of a great thousand foot dragon flying out over the ocean, however... especially one that emits a radiance that to us nearby, is of brilliance that rivals the heights of the Celestial Mountain,” the solar smiled again. “She leaves regularly. Should you wish to find her, Bahamut’s palace would be where she would be.”

“Where is that?” Tess asked slowly.

“I thought you said you knew Celestia!” Shaun rejoined.

“I’ve never been on this beach before!” the bard replied.

“Well, if you are truly in a hurry,” the solar smiled, extending his hands and closing his eyes.



And suddenly, the party found themselves only yards from a massive structure, seeming to stretch high into the heavens, its walls seemingly made of ivory and silver, its tops crowned with gold and platinum. In front of them was a massive archway, easily two or three hundred feet tall... tall enough that an immense dragon would not have to duck when entering the palace.

Siabrey let out a slight gulp. “So... Bahamut’s palace?” she said uneasily. “Gigantic place.”

“I bet you could fit two or three Iskeldruns in here,” Lucius said quietly.

“Utmost respect,” Tess reminded them, her own voice soft in awe. She’d only seen Bahamut’s palace from a distance, never up close like this. “Utmost...”

“Who are you, striding into the house of the great platinum dragon!” a thunderous rumble exploded into the minds of everyone in the party. To their front, an immense gold dragon, easily larger than Xanadu, leapt into their path, letting loose with an ear-splitting roar.

“Oh great dragons!” Shaun sputtered, immediately on his hands and knees, “We come in search of the dragon known as Karinina! We have found her child! We wish to return it to her!” He then added softly, with a whimper, “Please don’t hurt us?”

“We come, knowing of the great wisdom of Bahamut and his draconic servants, to seek out Karinina. Where she may be found, so that mother and child can be reunited,” Tess said expertly and diplomatically, despite her own knees quaking.

The great beast before them gave a snarling growl, and advanced slowly. Finally, it hung only a few feet from the party, its breath surrounding them with the powerful smells of saffron and incense. They would feel a wave of magic wash over them, a feeling of warmth spreading from their faces, around their heads, to the base of their skulls.

“You... tell the truth,” the beast rumbled, his voice far different. “And I see that you have, in the past, fought to preserve dragonkind on your own world. A noble cause,” the great wyrm bowed ever so slightly. “Stay here,” the beast rumbled, “I shall find Karinina for you.”

As the great dragon moved away from them, the ground seeming to shudder under his gait, the party finally started breathing again.

“I... um...” Siabrey stuttered again. She was still at a loss for words. She merely looked at Tess, eyes wide. The bard’s eyes, also wide, stared back.

As the party looked about, the air to their front seemed to shimmer. But not just the air to their immediate front, but to their sides, and what seemed an immense distance upward, high enough that they could not crane their necks to see that far up. A light seemed to grow from the depths of the disturbed air, brighter and brighter, till the party was forced to shut its eyes from its brilliance. Even with their eyes closed, the light burned through their eyelids, forcing them all to turn away.

“Who is this, that disturbs me?” a great voice, much louder than even the gold dragon’s, thundered forth. As the party turned around, they found their sight once again assaulted by light... not as blinding, but even more brilliant.

A beast that could only form in the nightmares of many stood before them. Her head was down by their level, and was immense... larger than many keeps at nearly one hundred feet in length. Her eye directly to the party’s front was taller than Pellaron. From her skin and frills came a brilliant array of purples, yellows and blues, all the colors of the rainbow, flashing before their eyes.

“Great Karinina,” Siabrey bowed, putting her forehead on the marbled floor of the palace entrance, “we come to you with news of your child, and intend to return to you the baby you left on our world, Auzerin.” The Empress trembled, as the breath of the massive beast, cool yet smelling of fireflowers, washed over everyone.

”Why do you do this? I have finished my part,” the beast intoned... by the her voice confused. ”I have left your world its gift. I cannot return.”

“What?” Tess, raised her own head from its prostrate position. “You... don’t want your baby back?”

”I am a Great Mother. I do not care for the children I leave.”

“You... don’t care for your children? How?” Siabrey asked, confused now as well.

”I leave them to watch the other dragons. I do not have time to care for them all. They are on their own.” the great dragon said matter of factly, raising her head up from its place close to the party. ”I have other work I must accomplish than be a mere nanny.”

“A...mere...nanny?” every motherly sense in Siabrey began to stir, roiling and boiling against her veneer of respect and calm. Being a mother is more than being a mere ‘nanny!’

”I must leave children on other worlds... not just yours.” the great prismatic wyrm said rather coldly. ”It takes much time to find the proper site to leave them, and then to lay the egg itself. There are too many worlds, and there is not enough time to raise each baby. It is as simple as that.”

“But... Ari was just a few weeks old! We couldn’t fend for himself! If a red dragon would have arrived, he likely would not have known the danger he was in!” Siabrey snapped, her motherly outrage breaking through. “He had no food, no water, no one to care for him! He needs someone to look after him! He needs his mother!”

“So you merely... lay the babies on a world, and then leave them? Who takes care of them?” Shaun asked, confused now as well. “Surely someone needs to take care of them!”

”Fate takes care of them,” she coldly intones, ”Not us.” The great dragon’s head suddenly shot back down to party level, and they watched as the massive pupils in her great eyes narrowed into mere vertical slits. ”If you care for him so much, raise him until he can fulfill his duties of watching the other dragons!”

“Us? Raise a dragon? How... we are not dragons! We do not understand what he eats, when he sleeps?” Siabrey complained again.

”Learn then,” Karinina rose to her full height, and the great beast began to turn. ”You obviously care for him... you will learn in time. And by the time you all die, he shall be grown enough that he’ll be able to take care of himself!”

“We CAN’T take care of a dragon!” Siabrey called back angrily. I have no clue what he naturally eats.... or what actually makes him full! How can I teach a dragon!? Even after ten years of watching and learning from my father, I can barely hover with my own wings! How do I teach him how to fly!?

”You doubt yourself,” Karinina’s voice rumbled, as the air around her massive form seemed to shimmer and shift. A strong breeze suddenly came from the ocean, rushing towards her as she disappeared into a small pinprick of light, that winked away as she teleported away.



“Good gods,” Siabrey snarled, even though it was two hours later and the party stood in her summer home’s private teleporting chamber, “I can’t believe a mother could be so callous, so cold!”

“I find it hard to believe too,” Tess sighed. “Though I think Ari might be excited to find out that we’re his parents now... evidently.”

“We have to raise a frickin’ dragon?! How the hell do we do that?” Shaun complained.

“Talk to Xanadu,” Tess sighed. “Maybe he and Alisandra can help... I mean, by the time we grow old and die in 40 or 50 years... Ari will still be a child in draconic years!”

Tess saw Siabrey’s face sour at the comment, and thought it best not to pursue that thought further. Alone among the party (save Pellaron, of course), Siabrey would live past this... her half fey blood guaranteeing her another 200 years or more in the world of the living... at least. Even if Luke lived till age 100, when he died, she would be just entering middle age... and facing well over a century without her love. The thought terrified the Empress, and any mention of lifespan caused her to jump back to it.

“I’ll... I’ll be able to watch him for longer than that,” Siabrey said quietly, “though yes... Xanadu and Alisandra are our best bet.” She gave a sigh, “though I think, if possible, we should split up time with him... he spends some time with Tess and Pell, some with us at the palace, some with Xanadu and Alisandra, and some with Shaun and Elenya.”

“Yeah... after all, if he’s supposed to watch this world, he should be raised in various places so when he has to watch things, he’ll know them well,” Shaun said, before wincing at his poor wording. “Did I make sense?”

“Yes,” Elenya rubbed her husband’s head. “Plenty of sense.”

“Well... who gets the job of telling Ari we are all his parents now?” Lucius asked. “I say Siabrey... considering he likes you the best.”



When the party arrived in the foyer, they found Amarine and Eleyanaun gone, a dwarven form Alisandra playing with Ari, Shawn, Rose, Raven, Val and Vintressa. The dragon glanced up at the tired party, and answered what she assumed their question was going to be.

“Nope, no dragon’s showed up here. Amarine and Eleyanaun are upstairs, Xanny is putting them to bed.” She gave a big smile, “Your children have been good as gold.”

“Alisandra? Can you come here for a second?” Tess said nervously as Siabrey moved to replace her in playing with the children. When the dragon drew near, Tess told her quietly of what happened, and gave her the party’s quiet request for aid.

“Of course!” Alisandra gave another smile, “we can help you!”

“Will Xanny be fine with that?” Elenya asked nervously.

“He will be if I say so,” Alisandra smiled sweetly, a bit of iron in her voice.

At the dragon’s assurances, Tess nodded to Siabrey, who was at the time carrying Ari and Rose on her back. The fighter gently set the two down, and turned to face Ari.

“Ari, hon? I have something to tell you,” Siabrey said quietly, running a hand along the little boy’s head.

“Did you find my mommy?” he asked excitedly, nearly jumping up and down.

“I get to be your mommy, Ari,” Siabrey smiled sweetly. “So do all of these other people... they get to be your mommies and daddies!” she hugged him close. I can’t tell you your mother abandoned you... not yet!

To her happiness, the little boy yelped for joy and have her a massive hug. Almost as one, the remaining children gave a shout for joy. For the moment, thoughts of how they were going to raise him fell away. Concerns about how to teach him vanished, as Siabrey and the others basked in the warmth of pure joy and unadulterated love that radiated from this little boy... pink, red, and green speckles of color falling from his hair.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

That was the end of the last session of the last campaign... a session that other than knowing the party was going to find the baby prismatic dragon, I improvised on the spot.

Sadly, this is probably the last extended campaign from this large group, as one week after this session, we all graduated from college. There might be occasional one shots that will involve these players together (reunion maybe?) however.

However, the adventures in this world will continue this fall. Siabrey’s player is going to the same graduate school as me, and thus we shall jump into this same world, some twenty years later. (Location, parties involved to be determined... save I know for sure that Siabrey’s player and the guy that played Anias for one session will be playing)

Additionally, I will be visited Siabrey’s player this summer, and running a short one shot for her and some of her hometown friends. That too will get posted when its finished. Perhaps other short adventures from this world will occur this summer as well (depends on if I can get my friend here in town to play... and if me and my good friend from high school can hook up for a game).

In the meantime, I have a lot of free time this summer, and I’m working on at least one short story based on this campaign world, which will also find its way posted when its completed.

I hope the people reading this had as much reading it as I did running this campaign and posting its results. If you have any ideas, or questions about how things ran, my homebrew world, or advice (this was only my first campaign... I still have a great deal to learn!), please feel free to post them!

Thank you, and have a great day!

 

[Mahtave]

I must comment on this SH

I am a longtime lurker, firstime caller, so to speak.... But I must commend you Emperor V. on a excellent SH! I felt a sad pang that the story was over, I only just found this thread a few weeks ago and I tore through it like a good novel. You brought this campaign to life for me, even towards the end I could not tell the PCs from the NPCs (more to point I didn't care - I was fully immersed into the story being conveyed - brilliant!)

I will patiently wait for more SHs from you, hopefully another glimpse into this world twenty years down the road.....

 

[Emperor Valerian]

Ah! Another reader emerges from the woodwork!

Well, glad you enjoyed it, and just to let everyone know, I've started posting the short story I'm writing, based in this world (Its a long summer, and I'm very bored). The link to the new thread is here.

 

[Dakkareth]

A wonderful conclusion to a wonderful story hour

 

[Emperor Valerian]

A wonderful conclusion to a wonderful story hour

Thanks. It took quite a bit of time and work, but now its done. I had fun with this group... basically the same group that got me interested in gaming again. Couldn't have done it without the players!