D&D Dragonlance Campaign.

So my former boss, Paul is running us through the Dragonlance campaign for 5e. There was a moment where my character (I play Talis Silverrose, the Human Wizard!) had a cool moment. Tonight, while one of my dogs (Penny Lane) was hiding from the sounds of neighbors firing off fireworks (hey, thanks for that…) – I was hit by inspiration to write. And expanded on what my character witnessed and heard. Below is that story…

• Allen Silver – Half Elf – Bard
• Ambrosius – Minotaur – Fighter
• Kamb Font – “gnome” (actually a Changeling, but the party doesn’t know that) – Rogue
• Leil’thienne – Drow – Artificer (Alchemist)
• Talis Silverrose – Human – Wizard
• Aelamin Willowspirit – Half-Elf – Paladin (Knight of Solamnia)

The journey had already been long and perilous – and Talis could barely comprehend the events that were happening around him. He’d left home, scorned by his father, due to his desire to study the ways of Magic, rather than be a Knight of Solamnia, like himself, or his brother, or generations of others.

“We need a fire to keep warm tonight,” the voice had belonged to a half-elf by the name of Allen Silver.

On the road, Talis had met the studious half-elf. Talis wondered if it was fates that their roads would come together, as they both shared the surname that had ‘Silver’ in it. Allen was very well versed in history – and in the small towns they stopped at, if he sang, the Elven side of him came forth as his voice sounded smooth and soft, like wine.

As the fates would have it, both Allen and Talis had received a summons from Becklin Uth Viharin. They were both to go to Vogler – it would seem, a mutual friend to them all, Ispin Greenshield, had passed away.

Talis stood and whispered, “Creare ignem!” A small fire suddenly came alive in the center of camp. Talis stared at the bonfire he’d created, then sat on a rock and gazed into the fire. As the flames danced, ashes and embers broke away, and continued to sway and move, floating ever upward, until taken away by the gentle breeze that slipped through the canyons like a snake shedding its skin.

Orange light illuminated Talis’ other companions. There’d been the towering – and quite intimidating minotaur who called himself Ambrosius. He was, from what Talis had learned, the son of a famous female minotaur pirate who sailed the seas of Kyrnn. There were few who could sail a ship better than any minotaur. He was older, his fur marked with grey, his breastplate marked with dents and scratches that showed the towering figure had seen many years of battle.

The flames danced, and orange light burst around the campfire, illuminating the face of their gnome companion, who’d been going through his pouches as if he’d suspected a Kender had lightened his load. While Talis had not been around many Gnomes – the few that came through Solamnia with their latest creations to “help the Knights of Solamnia regain their honor.” On his travels with Allen – and even when the others joined – they’d met several gnomes – something about this gnome who called himself Kamb Font – seemed distinctly different. He was not like any gnome Talis had seen. Even his accent when he spoke was one that Talis could not place, but he never pushed the matter. Whoever or whatever Kamb held as a secret, he kept it locked away, gone in the shadows of his soul, just as he’d done when he himself seemed to disappear in darkness from time to time.

As the flames continued to flicker and sputter, Talis’ eyes moved to the next companion who’d been with them since all of this started – the ‘Dark’ elf who was named Leil’thienne. She too seemed unlike any elf Talis had seen and while Talis had met many people with darker complexions – Leil’thienne’s seemed to be composed of the very shadows of night itself. Her aversion to daylight only seemed to add to the darkened mystery that surrounded her. Rather than use magic, she was an expert alchemist – most of her potions mimicking that of spells. Talis believed that perhaps, she’d learned these tricks from the charlatans that sprung up after the Cataclysm and the ‘departure of the gods.’

Speaking of the gods, Talis’ eyes drifted to the last among them – a Half-Elf, who strangely enough, also wore the armor of the Knights of Solamnia. This half-elf was named Aelamin Willowspirit, and he and the shadow elf, Leil’thienne, had met on the road – also heading for Volger – and had heard some kind of summoning – where they witnessed several statues – most of them in ruin – but represented the gods – and the one for Paladine himself seemed to spark something.

The gods… they had abandoned the world of Krynn.

Had they come back to save it now?

Three hundred years ago, the Cataclysm brought ruin to the world of Krynn. In a single day, an age of wonders came to an end. Countless innocents died, the face of the world was reshaped, and the gods themselves faded into legend. Through ages of struggle, the peoples of Krynn survived, but the world isn’t what it was. Those nations that remain linger in the shadows of their ancestors’ wonders. Only slowly have they begun to push back centuries of darkness and rediscover how the world has changed.

Then came the Dragon Armies; legions of soldiers devoted to the wicked god Takhisis the Dragon Queen, and the world faces ruin once more.

Since they’d all come together – they’d witnessed horrifying creatures – beings that resembled Dragons and Man combined called ‘Draconians’ – and their deaths have varying effects.
They’d fought the Draconians several times now; as well in engaged in battles as well as liberated bases, such as Wheelwatch Outpost from the Dragon Armies of Takhisis.

And earlier today, they’d met Sea Elves and entered a chamber dedicated to Habbakuk. Talis felt the blessing of Habbakuk upon him after the ceremony.

Talis peered to the heavens and admired the constellations – he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small trinket. In the night sky he could clearly see Solinari, the White Moon, as well as Lunitari, the Red Moon, but Nuitari was invisible except to those that followed the dark god of magic. Talis held the small trinket to his eye – and there, hiding in the shadows of the night, Nuitari watched gazing back at him.

As the fires crackled, causing a hypnotic sound, Talis thought about the events that had led him here – he’d taken a small test – and was deemed to be worthy of the White Robes. However, after the disaster at Volger, he’d met Master Whyan, a black robed Mage of High Sorcery. While she’d been short with Talis and the others, she’d also been helpful. Then he’d met Dalamar, a ‘Dark’ Elf, shunned by his people for pursuing his magic.

Talis thought about himself.

How he’d been shunned by his father. His brother. His family.

Even the Knights of Solamnia were untrusting of magic in general.

He too had been shunned.

The ashes of the fire crackled and descended, covering Talis’ white robes in black ash. He gazed down – and could see himself – in this moment – out of his own body – gazing upward at Nuitari – and he was wearing black robes!

Talis fell off the rock and quickly put the trinket away, staring at his robes, which were still white.

“A dream, caused by dozing off,” Talis told himself.

However, at that moment a voice called out, “Talis…”

Talis leapt to his feet and looked around. His companions were settling around the fire. None of them seemed to have heard. The call came again – however, this time – it did not call his name. It was more of a feeling – the sensation of magic. But not quite – it was like pulling on a thread of a cloth. He was at the end of the thread.

Talis began following this ‘thread’ wandering away from the campfire. Leil’thienne’s voice was suddenly next to Talis. “Where are you going?”

“Do you hear it?” Talis asked. “The voice… or magic… more of a feeling?”

She shook her head. “It’s somewhere out there. It’s a thread of magic.”

“Let me come with you,” Leil’thienne said. “I can see in the dark where your human eyes may fail you.”

Kamb’s voice was next. “If you’re going into the dark, I can also scout for you.”

“Just gather the others,” Talis whispered. “There’s something out there.”

Talis followed the invisible ‘arcane thread’ that seemed to whisper to him. Much to their surprise – they stumbled upon a shattered archway, whose arcane runes were shattered and lying about. The once glorious archway, now sideways – perhaps shifted by the canyons or the rippling effect that Cataclysm.

“Is this what you dragged us to?” Allen asked. “A broken archway?”

The ground rumbled.

Talis felt the magic go wild all around him as stone and clay merged into a towering elemental. Talis looked at the others. “I can fix this.”

“Fix it, human,” the minotaur growled and pulled out his polearm, charging the elemental. Kamb, Allen, Aelamin and Leil’thienne all proceeded to attack the elemental. Talis focused on the portal. He studied the runes – and though it was written in a language he was not entirely familiar with – the runes seemed to glow and indicate their desire to be repaired. Talis’ arms thrust forward – almost as if he were a puppet on a string – his mind twisting words he wasn’t familiar with – his hands pulling, turning, and spinning the runes so that they fit like an ancient puzzle. Rubble from the ground from the long shattered portal began to rise from the ground, defying gravity, and moved to fit themselves – connecting rune after rune. Just as the portal came alive, the elemental had been defeated.

“You did it,” Leil’thienne admired.

He had. But how? He looked to the heavens again to see if Solinari had guided his hand – but what he saw instead was Nuitari. Talis reached in his pocket and felt his trinket and looked back up just in time to send Nuitari seemingly bend the darkness and disappear behind it, as if the sky itself were a tarp made of shadows.

Talis stared at the portal as it shimmered.

• Allen Silver – Half Elf – Bard
• Ambrosius – Minotaur – Fighter
• Kamb Font – “gnome” – Rogue
• Leil’thienne – Drow – Artificer (Alchemist)
• Talis Silverrose – Human – Wizard
• Aelamin Willowspirit – Half-Elf – Paladin (Knight of Solamnia)