Well, hello, Everyone!
It’s been a while, eh? I said I was going to draw illustrations but life didn’t agree with that. So, you’re likely to see a few episodes here and there with my usual placeholder picture. Hope you’re not disappointed!
Anyway, here's everything that happened in Arc 5, up until The Eye of the Storm - Part 6.
After our heroes--Aurum, Bruno and Mary--ended their time in Ekoba and picked up a new member of the party (the tabaxi Agatha), they headed straight to Pamagos to see what they can do about the newly-reheated political situation on the continent.
A quick sidebar about politics:
You see, 48 years ago the Emperor of Eastern Erathos (Ignas II) died in mysterious circumstances. His son inherited the position but didn’t do well and died a few decades later without accomplishing much. His son (Edmund Bright, Ignas’ grandson) took refuge in Zerakas tol under the protection of one Francesca Findabair (a powerful Mage who is said to have been a friend to the first Emperor, hundreds! of years ago). The boy is currently too young to govern, and in the meanwhile the continent has been in unrest.
The elves, who weren’t very keen on Edmund ascending the throne (because his grandma, Ignas’ wife, is still alive and is a half-elf, so they think she should be the one to rule). They split from the Empire, and so did Ekoba (for their own reasons). Pamagos and Zerakas tol openly supported Edmund, and Belfast and Frinkeltong remained neutral.
About 30 years after Ignas’s death, an important Agreement was made in Pamagos. It stated that, if at any point armed forces were to cross Pamagos' borders (which were cleverly drawn to separate the disagreeing fractions one from another), all other countries, regardless of their position in the ‘Who’s-Going-to-Be-Emperor’ conflict, MUST rise and protect it.
Why is that important to our story?
Well, you see, just as our heroes were preparing to leave Ekoba, one of the Elven Elders was killed. The elves were convinced that the assassination was Zerakas tol’s doing and marched towards the wizard city, stopping at Pamagos' border near Frinkeltong. Mary’s hometown.
So, our friends went to Pamagos and intended to go straight to Dynatos Perres (its ruler) but decided to be Good Samaritans on the way, and in the process thwarted an old enemy – the Black dragon Nurvureem. They stole her pray and left her furious.
Finally in Mr. Perres’ office, our heroes found out that, on top of the elven army preparing to break the Pamagos Agreement, there were multiple dragons threatening the continent: their pal Nurvureem settling in the city, the Green dragon Morgax invading from the South, the potential threat of the White Queen from the North… and, finally, an unknown dragon from the East.
It was our friend Tesaya who told them about that last one. She appeared in the middle of the conversation, badly injured, and told the gang that Tiriel Elaire, the second Elven Elder, intended to release an Ancient dragon from its prison and use it to fight on her side.
Our heroes rushed to prevent that, had many adventures on the way, and, when they finally got to the prison, got a pretty nasty surprise – the whole time, Tesaya had been working for the dragon (a Blue one named Trax-rion)! She released him and they both flew towards Myth Adofhaer to take their revenge on the elves who were responsible for the dragons’ initial imprisonment.
Our heroes were left in the--now destroyed--dragon prison, with a job offer from Trax’rion – to stop the White Queen from leaving her North and taking interest in the continent.
That’s where we’ll find them next time!
Until then – you’d better refresh your memory and check out our Glossary, with the newly added characters and creatures from the latest half-an-Arc. I know remembering all those names can be hard sometimes, so I made sure to keep everything neat and well-organised.
Hope you find it useful!
Take care and be well!
(Also, here's a link to the Chapter Guide, the Glossaries (Part 1 and Part 2) and the Map for the series. You're welcome!)
An important disclaimer: Mary Windfiddle's story is my notes from a D&D game turned into a narrative. All the worldbuilding and NPC encounters belong to our DM, and all the actions of the other main characters (Aurum, Bruno and Agatha) belong to my co-players. My contribution to the story is only everything Mary-related (actions, reactions, inner thoughts), as well as the writing itself.