Twas The Year of the Dragons of Doom (BMY 263), a year well deserving of its fear-inspired name. A year when the dragons of the Maegenthryth Mountains ran rampant through the demesne of man, sowing death and terror in their wake. It was a time that saw thousands of frightened men, women and children flock to the safety of Blue Mountain, or sought shelter among the stout defenses of the dwarven stronghold at Dormun Deep.
It began when the small community of Riverroads Meet was found completely demolished by a caravan on its way from Herigund to Blue Mountain. No building was left unmarked. The wooden buildings had been incinerated, together with their inhabitants. Even the only stone building in town was nothing more than a pile of bricks and mortar. The only survivor of the holocaust, a young girl, told of nine huge dragons suddenly appearing in the sky over the village. There followed a rain of destruction by dragon fire that left the village decimated. Why she was spared she did not know.
By the end of that first ten-day, three other villages along the northern trade route were similarly attacked. Each time there was but one survivor to tell of the terror and fear of those final moments before the village was no more. Those villages that had not been attacked were empty within days as the frightened inhabitants sought shelter behind the impenetrable walls of Blue Mountain and Dormun Deep. Never did these villagers return to their homelands for even the vacant towns were razed to the ground.
For several days nothing was heard of the evil dragons. Then, for two horror-filled minutes, the dragons of doom appeared in the skies over Golotha and cut a swath of destruction through the city. Long before the city's priest-watch could summon any type of magical resistance, the dragons were gone and hundreds lay dead and wounded on the walkways and canals of the city. Within days, many of the inhabitants of Golotha and Carse had left their homes to take refuge in the hills. Many even made the long trek to Blue Mountain for the safety that its walls offered for it was the only sure haven, other than Dormun Deep, from which protection from the dragons was assured.
Ten days later, that myth was shattered.
The Emerald Sea had been transformed into a raging sea of fire. The population of Blue Mountain heard with dread that their farmlands were no more. The food coffers of the city would last but 30 days before they were depleted. But, even as the King's herald was announcing this news to the frightened inhabitants of the city, two elder dragons appeared suddenly within the sacred walls of the city. Within seconds, raging fires were spreading through the closely erected buildings of the city. Destructive bolts of dragon fire left those few buildings of stone nothing more than dusty mounds on the stony ground. Terror-stricken citizens panicked and, like a herd of stampeding beasts, charged through the streets of the city preventing those with cooler heads from organizing any type of resistance. Forty five seconds after their arrival, the dragons of doom disappeared as mysteriously as they had come.
Panic and fear, like none ever felt before, gripped the citizens of the city. A rumour started that the dragons had promised to cease their reign of terror and destruction if the cities of Blue Mountain, Golotha and Carse would surrender and acknowledge the dragons of doom as their lawful masters. Rioting mobs attacked the castle in Blue Mountain demanding that the king capitulate for there was no way of stopping the dreadful dragons.
From the back of the crowd a man arose. He spoke in a booming voice from the top of a nearby building, demanding to be heard. Such was the quality and persistence of the man that silence soon fell over the crowd. He announced that dragons were neither omnipotent nor invincible. Nor were they omniscient. He followed with a speech that reached to the very hearts and souls of the men gathered around. "Never! NEVER!" he cried, "would man bow down and call a beast his master." He called for followers who would travel with him to the very heart of the Maegenthryth Mountains to slay these evil messengers of doom. He announced that he, Aradomas of the Shadowed Plain, would be leaving on the morrow to seek battle with the malevolent beomuths of the mountains.
The courageous band that left on the following morning consisted of a company of eleven which included two dwarves, an elf and two women, all renowned for their prowess with blade and magic. Twas the middle of the month of Highsun (Flamerule) when the historic quest began.
The fate of the company and the story of their quest was never learned for none but one woman returned from the mountains of terror. She was Ailya-Maya and never did she speak of the adventures or horrors which befell the company. All that is known is that the Dragons of Doom ended their rampage when 18 days had passed since the company departed Blue Mountain. Ailya-Maya departed Blue Mountain soon thereafter and was never seen again.
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