MORGRYM
“Och. Yet one more impossible task,” Morgrym grunted. “Find a mythical forge tae destroy a mythical artifact, with th’aid o’ some mythical descendent, none o’ which might actually exist. All we know tha’ exists is this dagger. Sounds like a bluidy fairy tale. Whole lot o’ guid tha’ information does us f’r ‘andin’ over the dagger. An’ jus’ ‘ow are we s’posed t’ find all this?”
Dram smiles an odd, sincere and sower smile.
"Fairy tale... You haven't had the start of it." - he shakes his head, as if leaving a memory aside, and continues.
"Either way, there are a few solutions to our momentary problem, I think. The most obvious one lies at the heart of the continent, between the Pillars of Creation. The gnomes have access to a library that supposedly contains all worldly knowledge contained in its pages. There, I believe, we could find leads to where the forge is, as well as the location of the members of such bloodlines. But we must find access to the library first, either by convincing the gnomes to grant it or by forcing our entry."
"The other solution lies with the Blood Witches of northern Gaelia. From what I know, they served under the very last dragons of Gaelia. If anyone kept record of such legacy, it's them."
MARIUS
"Very well, master Dram. Let's hear what you know and we'll tell you what we know. We can compare the notes and agree on the next steps."
He listens with patience and respect for the monk's interjection. After a long, heavy breath, he begins to describe his discoveries.
"As far as I understand, the dagger and the Tideruler are opposite devices, even though they complement themselves in a strange way. The oldest remarks about the Enslaver were handed down to us by small remnants of the Willing and their past civilization. It seems they were the first to bring the thing into this plane of existence - even though they might have believed they created it at first. It's hard for me to determine how they got involved precisely, since most of their accomplishments were destroyed by the Holy Storm of Fire, perpetrated by the dragons."
"After that, the dragons themselves became dominant over the continent, according to the story. They had power over the Enslaver, but refused to use it, for the most part. Apparently, though, some of them managed to get their hands on it, as you yourselves just reported" - he alludes to the wyvern, not fully knowledgeable of the circumstances of its demise. "They gave rise to many nations, mostly conceived at their image and semblance. Their history is hard to uncover as well. What little I could gather came from yuan-ti sages of Ashir and the southern islands, and as you can imagine is not very reliable. But if there's truth to the records, the older races were betrayed by the fearful dragons, and war broke loose around Gaelia. To unify the continent and pacify the lands, four of the ancestral beasts created the Tideruler, dominion of the Living Seas, and linked the artifact to a few select bloodlines that would rule over Gaelia in alternating cycles." - he pauses, emptying the goblet once more and refilling it automatically.
"The peace didn't last. For reasons unknown - at least to me, two of the chosen rulers decided to fight for the Tideruler, bringing their protector dragons into the fight. I believe your order depicts the event as the cause for its foundation" - he points at Marius - "although that is debatable. The stories I heard are very similar, but they don't confirm each other completely. From a knight of your order I heard the tale that depicts a dark dragon defeated by a golden beast and a knight... Is that correct? I heard from an old Yuan-ti scholar a similar tale, even though it spoke of the golden beast as a greedy creature that banned the black dragon to a plane beyond anyone's reach, where he died. A lamia matron - one of the few I could locate - once told me a similar story, but she mentioned that the black dragon could not be killed, not even beyond this realm. None of them spoke of the scaleless - as they are used to allude to men."
He drinks avidly, excited to be speaking of such discoveries.
"And now comes the part that interests us. The Enslaver was, at some point, locked away by the dragons, placed under careful balance. All parts involved decided to leave it be. As for the Tideruler, it never saw use. The conflict broke, ended and the dragons hid it away, in a place that only the dagger could reveal. As for the dagger, it became protected by a peculiar contraption: an enchantment would eat away the will of those that wanted the blade, making them cease their attempts to reach it. The surviving factions abandoned the struggle, agreeing to make peace for as long as the dagger stayed untouched. And it did remain - until Grontar found a way to retrieve the cursed thing."
"I believe that his actions brought about every faction interest either in the blade or the Tideruler. And more will come, no doubt. But at every turn I see misdirection eluded us, and I'm beginning to understand that Grontar might have used us - or perhaps he has been used all this time, without knowledge. I can't be sure of many things, not until I verify many of them, but that will have to wait. I can try a wild guess, though: what that city in the desert brought back might have something to do with your black dragon" - he motions with the goblet towards Marius, right before gulping it vigorously - "...and what's stirring in your mountains is certain to be involved as well" - he points towards Morgrym, serving himself another round.
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Shayuri
