More from the Dragonlance campaign! 5e Spoilers.

Check out the previous segment here.

• 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)
• Cole – Human Cleric

Talis sat up – screaming.

Sweat poured down his face, his robes were soaked. His mind frantically raced to comprehend where he was – and after a moment, his heart slowed as he realized he was in Heart’s Hollow.

Just a few days ago, Talis witnessed something his mind could not conceive. They’d been at Camp Carrionclay liberating Dargonesti prisoners as well a kender prisoner who’d been captured by the evil army that they’d been opposing.

Then came the shadow in the skies – and the roar.

Black wings of doom and destruction descended from the heavens like an angel of death. Ebony scales glistened as the beast’s muscles rippled like the waves of a beach under the duress of a furious storm sending pounding waves crashing to the shoreline.

The beast roared – a sound that stopped all that heard as it positioned itself on a tower that crumbled beneath its weight.

It was a dragon… a black dragon.

The creatures of myth and legend – one was now there, on the tower – furious.

Talis heard it speak something – but his mind was reeling, his heart pounding with endless fear – then he heard Leil’thienne and Allen scream – they’d been standing next to him. Talis turned and saw that the black dragon had spewed acid from its mouth and struck them both.

As Talis looked at the bard he’d spent his early days traveling with, now burned by the acid – though both he and Leil’thienne had survived the attack – their skin had been burned by the attack. Talis turned to face the dragon – to face the very fabric of his nightmares – his eyes focused on the black dragon and his pupils disappeared, reflecting the color of the dragon’s scales, his pupils vanishing and becoming black circles that looked like Nuitari.

Though the dragon had been searching for something in the camp – Talis could not remember anything that happened between when he looked back at the black dragon until Aelamin Willowspirit struck a critical blow against the black dragon, bringing it crashing down; the Paladin’s white light had been like a beacon drawing Talis out of the darkness he’d been swallowed by.

Talis as he came to could barely make sense of what he was hearing; Kamb had mentioned they found a Dragon Egg. Kamb had placed it in his bag of holding and everyone was heading for the magical ship to escape the wretched Camp Carrionclay.

The journey back to Heart’s Hollow had been a blur to Talis. He thoughts were swimming in questions; the Black Dragon had seen Talis – a wizard of White Robes – and had not struck him down, instead it spewed its acid upon Leil’thienne and Allen who had been standing no more than five feet away from him. Why had the Black Dragon struck him down? Talis had been depleted of his most powerful spells having already exhausted them; he was powerless to save or defend Leil’thienne and Allen because he was out of anything that might have been useful.

He needed more power. He needed to find a way to draw more magical energy into himself.

Though Leil’thienne and Allen had survived the attack, Talis could not let himself feel that helpless again. Despite the news of having found a Dragon Egg in the Camp Carrionclay base, Talis was numb to it; all he could think of was the black dragon, being powerless, and witnessing Leil’thienne and Allen being bathed in acid.

He hated feeling helpless. Hated it.

Even as they spoke to Ness, who had pulled them into a room – and thanked them for the bringing the Brass Dragon egg to her – then revealing that she herself was a Brass Dragon, Talis walked as though he were in a daze.

His mind returned time and time again – seeing the black dragon breathing its vile acid towards his companions. As they spoke to Grandit at End’s Odds, it was will the dwarf had mentioned making legendary things out of the star-steel that Kamb had placed on the table, that Talis’ mind which had been focused on the black dragon, blurted out, “We could make a dragonlance.” He suddenly reached into his pouch, his mind racing with the stories his father had told him and his brother about Huma Dragonbane – and he had an old book he’d found about Huma and put it in front of the dwarf.

The sense of hopelessness washed over him again during dinner that night as his gaze fell on Leil’thienne and Allen. He’d felt so powerless in front of the black dragon.

That night, his dreams crumbled beneath the tides of velvet black as his mind retraced the events of the black dragon’s attack. This time as it landed on the tower, Talis heard the dragon speak – he heard its words – and it was a woman’s voice. A woman’s voice he recognized. It’d been Wyhan’s voice again.

“I was wrong about you, Talis,” the voice boomed. It’d been her voice but it spoke with the thundering intensity of the black dragon. “I am so very rarely wrong – and I despise admitting when I am. But you… son of a Knight… I see it now… I see past the shield you held before me… hiding what truly lies in that soul of yours… the shield hid your true self… You are both a son of a Knight… but also the son of Night… darkness and shadow swim within you… the thirst for more… the thirst for magic… the thirst for power… you crave more than you possess and you know the way to do just that… to embrace the shadow… embrace the ash…”

Wyhan as the black dragon lunged forward, maw open wide as if she would swallow Talis whole; Talis held up his arms defensively, though he knew it would do him no good. After a moment, he lowered his arms and Wyhan as the black dragon was gone; but he quickly noticed his robes were black, decorated in black dragon scales.

“It looks good on you,” Wyhan’s voice said from the shadows. Talis looked around, the color of his eyes had vanished and were now circular pits of darkness – and there in the sky, he could see the black moon, Nuitari, Wyhan’s face. “I have a gift for you, Talis Silverrose. “You felt powerless and weak in the face of death – gaze upon me and see my gift to you.”

Talis stared – and saw his reflection in the moon – adorned in black robes.

“My gift is death,” Wyhan whispered.

The reflection of Talis in the moon suddenly rushed forward; colliding into Talis, feeling as if it ripped his soul from his body.

Talis sat up – screaming.

Sweat poured down his face, his robes were soaked. His mind frantically raced to comprehend where he was – and after a moment, his heart slowed as he realized he was in Heart’s Hollow.

Talis learns Spirit of Death at Level 7.