Disclaimer: The setting of this story, as well as the title, are not my own, but belong to Wizards of the Coast. All characters and most of the plot are my own. : )-
Prologue
Stirrings
Winter 1452-1453
Tributaries in the Rathgaunt Hills join, each contributing its minor flow to the stream. The stream becomes a river, the mighty Talar, leaping down from the peaks to the plains below. Travelers' tales of the Shaar, for that is the plain's name, tell of little civilized life off of the beaten trail. This is untrue, for many nomad tribes dwell in the expanses, and occasionally one will settle, the hearty folk setting up a small village in a prosperous area.
Adrui's Bend was one such town. When gold was discovered in the mountains, many people flocked to the area, and set up a large community. For several years, Adrui's Bend was populous, thriving off of the mines, and then the gold supply diminished, and the mines emptied. Many left the town, but a few stayed, mostly farmers who had set up plots. Adrui's Bend shrunk to a third of its size in under a month. The people who would not leave found a new source of income. Adrui's Bend was set on the River Talar as it enters the east half of the Channathwood, about thirty miles north of the path and right on the edge of the Rauthgaunt foothills, before the mountains. They key to the towns more recent success had been in the forest, for an abundance of hardwood was to be found.
Adrui's Bend thrived off of the lumber industry, never quite regaining its former size, but increasing to the size of commissioning a wall, on the grounds of the ever present threat of hobgoblins. The wall was completed, and the citizens of Adrui's Bend grew comfortable.
Then rumors started. Traders brought tales of massing hobgoblins in the mountains, and some of the rugged mountain men descended from their huts, many bearing recent wounds. A large dragon was seen one day, than never again. Scouts were sent out, some returned, bringing with them tales of recently cleared forest and new hobgoblin fortresses.
The Baron doubled the guard on the walls, and sent emissaries to Rethmar and Channathgate, the two nearest cities, requesting aid. Rethmar, after a week, was able to send a platoon of fifty archers, nearly one hundred foot soldiers, and more valuble, a wizard, one who focused on evocations, such as fireballs and lightning bolts. Channathgate was unable to lend support, for the city had recently suffered trouble with a large fire, and needed all of its population for rebuilding.
The first snows of winter fell with the Rethmar soldiers' arrival, and Adrui's Bend settled in to wait out the winter.
When the snows melted and the path reopened to the town, travelers found it gone, much of the community burned to the ground. Few survivors remained, and they told tales of great monsters, draconic demons who spat fire and death, of endless ranks of hobgoblins, many operating monolithic siege engines, trebuchets that hurled house sized boulders, ballistae that fired gargantuan spears.
The first blows of a war had been struck, a war that would cover Faerûn in darkness.
The Dragonfall War, staged by the evil spawn of the evil deity Tiamat, had started.
The fall of dragonkind had dawned.