His tone is more sober, quiet this time as he queries.
"What is this Turning of the Great Cycle?"
Moderator: NWN2 - 10 DM
"What is this Turning of the Great Cycle?"
*As he finishes reciting, your vision returns to normal. You become aware of your surroundings once more. The room re-illuminates and his voice sounds once more as it did before the declaration. He rises from his chair and seems as if about to ask your party to take their leave.*Velsaert wrote:Ah, the Great Cycle. There is nothing more central to the fate of Dragons among the Planes, than this. To what shall I compare it? Consider this doom:
Seasons, in a circle intertwined,
Fueled by forces divine.
Birthed in rains of Spring,
Ripened in a Summering.
Finely aged, at Autumn's fall,
Seeming dead at Winter's call.
With Spring, life again renews,
Not truly lost as Summer proves.
*****
A furious wind, mortality driven,
Splits dragon kin, their kind riven.
Though curs't by creator's hand,
Perfect in scale, wing, and mind.
Doomed in eternal strife to compete,
Amongst ancient divides of family.
One side replete with prismatic exterior,
The other, as delved from deep splendors.
*****
Immortal Gods, commanding armies,
Proxy wars, death, from draconic in-fighting.
A tale of woe, cosmic conflict to best all,
The Blight, the War, the Dragonfall.
A threefold millennia's reprieve,
Salvation from the elven Weave.
Now, as before, to repeat,
The mythal lost, the elves retreat.
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Machinations of blood, scale, and wing,
Portents of death, and change, and suff'ring.
All dragonkind regains freedom,
Re-establishment of lost kingdoms.
Their rightful dominance reassert,
Other kinds, they now subvert.
Though still divided,
Upon an axis, the crisis.
*****
Divine agents roam the land,
Their deity's will commands.
One ushered in, as a great North wind,
The other, five-fold, queen of Avarice.
Lightnings, storms, seed the earth,
A great upheaval, draco-births.
Heed ye mortals, the impending storm,
As the powers of olde are now reborn.
Velsaert wrote:I believe this is enough for a first meeting. If you have a final question, ask it now, for I wish to return to my writings.
Velsaert wrote:My involvement in this War is entirely academic, I assure you. I do not venerate either side of the conflict, and thus am removed from it directly. I have set myself to be an impartial observer, and recorder, of the Dragonfall War. It seems as if, I am destined to record it, and it is my honor.
"Dragondraughts... Knights Draconis...?" He looks to Bozwell wonderingly, then murmurs half to himself.
"Elves Retreat... mythal lost... cosmic war... powers of old now reborn... I can only guess at what these things mean, but for some reason my heart is filled with dread and wonder both."
I will answer your questions first before I make my own requests.
The Knights Draconis eh? When our first leader choose the name he did so because he thought It made us sound respectable and mighty. Fate would decide its true meaning it would seem. Of the original 7 members I am the only one left, perhaps the druid still lives but I've not seen him for years. I'll not bore you with all our exploits; it’s the part about dragons that would be of interest here.
After hearing about the great cycle I now believe me and my fellow Knights were pawns in one of the opening conflicts of this war. We fought for a bronze against a black that had raised an army of kobalds. Many of these kobalds had been...changed, larger, stronger. Strong enough that two took down an ogre and had enough fight in them to almost lay us out as well. After many battles we finally lay siege to the blacks layer. Guided by our patron, and the lovely Layla, *grins at Layla* we came to its den. There we would witness the two dragons go at each other. In the end the black fled with Filgolis giving chase.
It was in the depths of that beasts domain that we found the many colored elixirs. After studying these potions all that was left was to test one. I would not ask any of my Knights to do anything I wasn't willing to do myself and I’d not test them on some stranger. In the end I drank of the gold potion. And it almost killed me. If not for the quick thinking of Rhone, a cleric of the Blood Maiden and fellow Knight, I would be with my god now.
*As he talks he removes one of his gloves and pushes his sleeve up*
It is now clear that the elixirs had the effect of bringing forth the draconic blood of the kobalds. The effect it had on me is what you see now. *holding his arm in the light small golden scales cover the back of his hand and continue to run up his arm* I do not know if it awakened something in my bloodline long dormant or if has reworked what I am. I do know it cannot be removed or reversed.
This change is why I Ieft the marches. I had exhausted the Vault of Sages and the Ladys College library of any mention of dragons. I travel now studying them and their kin. Nowhere is it said that becoming a half-dragon, or dragon disciple as they are sometimes called, is possible from the anything but blood. But who knows what is possible in this age.
*He pushes his sleeve back down and puts his glove back on*
It is obvious you are interested in the elixirs Sage. It is fortunate for us that I still have them. I would let you take a sample of one for names and locations of any good dragons you know of on the coast. I would be willing to go further and give you the entire elixir, in the color of your choosing, if you would not only give us the information but could also arrange an introduction. I think we should meet with them and let the dragons decide if they are interested in this war or not.
*He finishes examining the golden scales upon Bozwell's arms and then produces a very tiny glass vial and takes a drop from one of Bozwell's potions. Putting it away in a cabinet, he walks to the exit of his room and says his farewells. Indicating only that Aliyah should remain behind.*Velsaert wrote:A curious condition, most curious indeed. I accept your terms and will make contact with some of my sources, whom happen to be dragons themselves. In the meantime, I will take a small sample, as you have offered. If I can arrange it, I shall choose a potion at an appointed time. Seek me out in a month's time, and I should have received at least one reply by then good dwarf.