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Message: <blockquote data-quote="shilsen" data-source="post: 4123215" data-attributes="member: 198">Luna says, “Well, we are working on keeping the daelkyr and other aberrations from Xoriat from coming through into our world since it is no longer severed from our plane of existance.  Unfortunately, the knowledge of how to seal the portals has been lost and so we were hoping someone here might remember and be able to teach us so we could deal with this issue. We know how you’ll hate to be bothered with this kind of stuff, so rather than get directly involved we thought it might want to instruct us so we can handle it. After all, no one wants to deal with ‘The Xoriat Problem,’ but if we were better equipped to do so, perhaps you would be spared the inconvenience of having to administer direct disciplinary action. So that’s why we’re here. Can someone help us out?”Bruntutalephion listens silently to Luna, eyes roving over the group to see their responses as she speaks. When she stops, he remains silent for a few seconds, and then says, “You presume much. How do you ‘know’ what we will hate to be bothered with? And why should we help you? When the hordes of Xoriat came to your land before, Argonnessen was untouched by them. Why should it be different now? Two of you,” the large orbs flicker over Nameless and Gareth, “Are touched by the Prophecy. Perhaps it is through Xoriat that the Prophecy shall now mark your world. Why should the dragons not watch, as we have done for the ages before your kind arose, and as we shall do when you are dust on the wind?”Luna says, “Well, it seems as if you hate to be bothered as you make it very hard to get in touch with you and if you liked it, it seems like you would do it more often. So we put two and two together and concluded you prefer it that way. But I certainly could be wrong. Wouldn’t be the first time. We don’t mean any disrespect, but we are kinda in need of help that only you can provide. Perhaps the Xoriat thing won’t bother you or anything, and probably initially you won’t be the first on their list to attack – until they grow strong and establish a good foothold. Unlike you, we can’t opt out of this nightmare. If you don’t wish to help us by providing us with the information we need, well, certainly no one can make you. But we are here to put it before you. We do deem it important enough that we felt we needed to ask.”She pauses and then continues, “By the way, what’s the prophecy? Am I in it?”Gareth stares at Luna, his jaw almost dropping to the ground. Wow! She is making sense! Is the world coming to an end or does she have potential?Waiting for her to finish speaking, he then says, “Bruntutalephion, we are greatly honored that you would even allow us this chance to speak. We know and understand that the dragons of Argonesson require their privacy and prefer neighbors that will not bother them. The neighbors you have now, for the most part, do not dare bother your realm, but it will be only a matter of time before the horrors of Xoriat destroy the nations Khorvaire.  So the question is – do you think that Xoriat will decide to stop after they destroy the other nations or will they build up their forces and come to attack your realm when they believe they can win? If they are foolish, you will most assuredly win, but win or lose, your realm will suffer losses. Unfortunately for all of us, I do not think the forces of Xoriat are foolish.” He pauses, and when the dragon does not yet reply, continues, “We would like to destroy the forces of Xoriat before they unleash their power upon Khorvaire and for that we need your help. We have met another of your kind before, and because of our dealings with him I believe you and your kind are willing to help, but you are worried that if you help us now we will come to you at each and every peril, no matter how inconsequential, and disrupt your privacy. I can assure you we would not be here if this was not the most dire of circumstances. It is quite literally the coming of the end of the world.”When Gareth stops, the dragon simply looks at the others to see if they have anything to add. Taking the cue, Six asks, “Well, are you bothered? The last time the incursion happened, it was stopped. If the daelkyr lords succeeded, they would have incorporated the power of the rest of Eberron, and the assault on Argonessen would have come. After all, the daelkyr lords consider themselves artist of the biological and your august selves would be magnificent canvasses. Also, about the prophecies, some rakshasas in league with a rajah were able to alter prophetic vision with regard to us. Since such creatures have powers that rival your own, are you sure what you are perceiving is untampered with? I was also curious about the council – or whatever it’s called – I mean the group of dragons out in the world. What do they think about the invasion?”Nameless says, “As you have observed, two of us are directly marked by your Prophecy. I'm quite certain we all figure into it somehow.” He adds wryly, “We seem to show up in everyone else’s.”Korm chooses not to add anything and Gareth says nothing more, watching the dragon and trying to gauge its general attitude, but he might as well be staring at a rock. The giant reptilian countenance is unchanging, and the giant green orbs are expressionless. The gigantic dragon silently listens, gaze shifting unblinkingly from speaker to speaker, sometimes extending a large claw to indicate that someone should continue speaking. Finally, Bruntutalephion clears his throat with a sound like a small roll of thunder, perhaps because of the small flashes of lightning that are momentarily visible in his mouth. Then he says, “I see you have some education and knowledge for those outside Argonnessen, but not much. The Prophecy, for one.” His tone shifts slightly, to what probably counts as reverent for a dragon. “The draconic Prophecy runs through the world and all life on it and the sky above. Some will tell you of various reasons for its source, but there is no denying its power. The Progenitor wyrms, Siberys and Eberron and Khyber, created the world, and the Prophecy is the manifestation of their will and their plan. Eventually it will run its course and then … well, until then, the dragon shall watch and record and ensure that it runs its course. The Prophecy is a living thing, growing and flowering as the world turns, and we are those who see it.” Bruntutalephion’s gaze shifts to Luna, flickers to Gareth and Nameless and back to her, and his mouth twists in what is presumably a smile. “You ask if you are in it. All things are in the Prophecy, though how much you matter and whether the parts that speak of you are known by any is another matter. Think not that because some of you bear the marks of the Prophecy that it makes you more important than any other. The rocks and the trees and the clouds bear the Prophecy too for eyes that can see. But does that make the rock itself more important than any other rock? No! Some in Argonnessen would see each and every one of your kind eradicated for bearing those marks. I would not. But do not presume.”“Nor should you.” The gaze shifts to Six and the smile disappears, and there is an edge to the voice, “You mistake yourself. If some rakshasa,” and now there’s no mistake about the scorn in the tone, “Fooled you and your kind, that means little to me. The Prophecy cannot be truly marred, only used as a weapon by the vile and used to befuddle those who are not skilled enough. The Lords of Dust wish to wield it, and the Chamber wishes to seize and use it against them. Both are fools, and no, I have heard nothing from the Chamber and I do not care to. They are children playing with what they should not.”Bruntutalephion is almost growling his words by this point, and he evidently realizes it, since he raises his head and takes another deep breath. After a couple of seconds, he looks down, this time to Gareth. “You too are mistaken. It matters little whether the forces of Xoriat are foolish or not. If Argonnessen wished, we would wipe them from the world. You say you have met another of my kind before. Look at me!” He spreads his wings to their fullest, spanning a full eighty feet from tip to tip, and stretches his neck, so that his head towers a full thirty feet above the Angels, even though he is currently sitting. “And think now what an army of dragons is. Pray now and forever that you never see the Light of Siberys in its full glory. Argonnessen broke the titans of Xen’drik, whose power far surpassed that of your people, and cast them into a ruin they will never rise from. All realms in this world survive only under our sufferance, because we will not stretch forth our claws to claim again what we once ruled. Think you that Xoriat is the first planar realm to invade Eberron? I could show you Fang Crater, where the hordes of Fernia* invaded Argonnessen, and where the Light of Siberys – with me among them – threw them back in ruin. Know you how the life-blood of a balor tastes? I do. Xoriat is not the coming of the end of the world. Perhaps that is your misfortune. Not mine.”The dragon looks around and this time there is no mistaking its slow smile. “But you are not as unfortunate as you could be. In fact, you are so lucky that I am curious how the Prophecy works through you. You do not know where in Argonnessen you stand, do you? This is Dja’Valarach**. This is the proving ground of Argonnessen, where the young adults of the Thousand – the heart of our homeland – must choose to come, if they prefer not to take service in the Light of Siberys. Here they must survive for fifty years before they can return to claim a home within their flight. Life here is a deadly game, where a dragon can claim only what he can hold, and any other dragon can try to take it from him. This is the crucible where our might is forged. Those among us who are the strongest and hold significant territory are known as the dominion lords. And I am the only dominion lord, the only one of perhaps four thousand dragons in the Vast, who has his own flight of many colors, and one of the few who would not instantly treat you as sport. If you flew a hundred miles to east or west, you would find yourselves in places where fang and claw would be turned against you instantly. And not only dragons. For millennia, we have transported creatures from around the world – yes, from Khorvaire too – here to populate the Vast. The rare, the dangerous, the deadly – that is what you will find here. You will find many of your races,” he considers Six, “though perhaps not yours, here too, but I doubt they would or could aid you. If you had not entered my dominion, I think you would be dead now.”“And so, you and your presence here intrigue and amuse me. Perhaps I shall aid you after all, though I care nothing about Xoriat, or at least give you choices which may help you. Or which may slay you. That will depend on you,” he smiles again, “And what the Prophecy has in store for you. But before I do, tell me,” he looks at Gareth, “Of the dragon you said you met before.” He lowers his neck so that the stone supports it, and waits.Honestly awestruck at the words and the great dragon’s mighty presence, Gareth bows and says, “Your power is immense, and I believe you when you say you can wipe out any Xoriat invasion force. But is this something you want to have to do?  Xoriat will want to conquer all. And while you can destroy them, it will surely come at a cost.”“We encountered one of your kind when we went to an island off Xen’drik.  This island possessed a dragonshard key that would allow a daelkyr to enter our realm.  The only thing that prevented this portal from opening was one of your kind. We encountered him and his body was deformed and diseased, and this was made much worse because his mind was deformed and diseased too. He was possessed and driven mad. He would have brief moments of lucidity and in those moment he gave us information and a last request.” Gareth pauses for a moment to look at his allies, tensing for a potentially rash and hostile action from them in case the dragon is displeased at what is to follow. “It was to free him of this curse before he would lose all sense of reality – causing him to release the portal and be used as a slave to the daelkyr. He asked us to slay him, and then to offer us protection against the daelkyr to drink of his blood. This is what happened. As a Paladin of the Silver Flame, I swear to you, that is not something that we wished to do – but something we had to do.”Bruntutalephion stares at Gareth for a moment as he completes his narration and then throws back his head and emits a burst of laughter. “You slew a dragon and drank his blood? Hah! That is one of the funniest stories I have heard in a long time! Clearly not a very powerful or intelligent dragon, but amusing nevertheless!”Gareth looks his surprise as the dragon laughs, but realizes this dragon has probably killed many other in defense of its position and probably to gain it. Pleased at the response, Six nods approvingly at Gareth and says, “He tells the truth. I have a question about another matter. We saw a giant sign in the sky a few days ago, which was visible across our land. Was it visible from here? And does it have any significance? If you did not see it, this is what it looked like.” He unrolls a parchment on which he has painted a facsimile of the sign. Then he adds, “And, if you don’t mind, since your kind did not make mine, do you know who made my type?”At Six’s questions, the dragon pauses in his laughter and frowns. “Sign in the sky? No, I saw nothing here. But that is a prophecy mark. Each line has meaning to those trained to study them. That is not my area of expertise, but I can see a few words – ‘keys of flesh … freedom … return.’ That is all I can tell you. A true prophet and student of the Prophecy could tell you more. A prophecy mark has no meaning on its own. Only one trained to see the patterns can see it and link it to other marks they know of. They show you the possible paths that the Prophecy might take. As for who created you, I do not know. But you are a construct and not one we made, so the earliest of your type were likely made by the quori. They made many while battling the titans of Xen’drik.”Huh? The others glance at Six, assuming that he is perturbed and a bit worried at this unexpected answer. The warforged does not respond in any way or even notice the looks thrown his way, already thinking, So the quori were instrumental in making the warforged? Why? How? Speculation – maybe the quori gave the giants the warforged so the quori could use the warforged against the giants. I need to find out what happened back then. Meanwhile the dragon, seemingly losing interest in the subject, looks back to Gareth. “Tell me more of this dragon and the daelkyr. Tell me all that you can remember. All of you.” Bruntutalephion settles down to listen, asking a few questions here and there, and when the story is over, he says, “Good. That was a fine tale. And I know it is the truth, or at least you believe it to be.” He smiles at Gareth, showing giant fangs. “I would know if you lied, paladin or no. I have heard of this Silver Flame of yours. And I know of paladins. My grandfather was one. But that is not important. What matters is that you have proved amusing, so I will help you like I said. I care not for your quandary, but I can tell you of places where you might obtain aid. That is all I shall do. What you do with the information is your choice.” For a moment, Gareth forgets the mission in his curiosity about this new information. “Your grandfather was a paladin? Would you be willing to tell me the name of which my people would have known him by? I am most intrigued about this – I did not know a dragon had borne the blessing of paladinhood.”Bruntutalephion frowns down at him. “You people are a strange combination of education and a lack of knowledge. A dragon and the blessing of paladinhood? Fool! Who do you think was the first paladin? Dragon paladins rode the skies and smote the rajahs thousands of millennia before your kind grasped at the concept. My grandfather never stepped on your shores! He lived and died on Argonnessen, holding back terrors that would swallow your world whole.”Um – okay! Gareth replies quickly and apologetically, “We do not know of this, but the information makes sense. And it is amazing to know that there is a common connection.  Are there still dragon paladins left?”“Yes, of course there are dragon paladins. And no, there is no common connection.” It’s fairly clear that Bruntutalephion considers the possibility mildly insulting. Evidently wanting to change the subject, he glances at Luna first and then at the group as a whole. “You say that you wish to learn how to seal the portals Xoriat’s hordes are coming through. Is that all you wish here in Argonnessen? Or is there anything else? Do you wish to gain allies, especially dragons, who will fight with you in battle? Do you want to learn more of the Chamber and their activities in your world? Do you want to learn the magic of the dragons, or gain other magic? Do you seek powerful weapons? Are you looking for wealth and treasure? Do you want to learn your position in the Prophecy? Do you wish to use the Prophecy? Tell me what is it that you truly want. And remember that I will know if you lie.”  * Fernia, the Sea of Fire, is the closest thing the Eberron cosmology has to the elemental plane of fire.** That’s the draconic term. In common, it roughly translates to “The Vast,” interpreted as a great void or open space.</blockquote>

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