Intro
Torrid dreams ravage the man as he lays thrashing in his bed. A mammoth Red Dragon soars across ansolan, and on top of him rides the strangest looking Kender he has ever seen. A Kender? On a Dragon? With his topknot cut and his hair dark green, the kender held a sword in one hand, and looked as if he knew how to use it! Suddenly the dream shifted to icewall castle, or at least the man thought that is what it was, since he had never journeyed there. But if Icewall would be anything this image would be it. Cold and barren with a sleek, menacing castle jutting out of a mountain made of pure ice! A swarm of White Dragons circled the magnificent castle and a red robed mage hovered in the middle of them with what looked like two ancient elves floating on their backs on either side of him. Then fire! Thousands upon thousands of knights lay on the field of battle, dead or dying. Flames burnt down their keeps and castles as Red Dragons swarmed and picked through the remains from above as draconians, orcs and goblins stormed the ground, grabbing whatever their grubby hands could get before another despised creature could get it. Another change in the dream as a huge pit filled to the brim with kender of all kind burst into flames as the Kender with green hair stood above them laughing maniacally into the night.
The man awoke, his body bathed in sweat. The moonlight danced upon his ceiling as he, now fully awake, stared at the moving lights. In all his years he had never had a dream like this. Never. He slowly moved to his feet and looked off into the distant horizon, sunrise was hours away still, yet a faint glowing light seemed to be burning in the distance. The man shook it all off and returned to his slumber, not disturbed by what his dreams foretold. And they foretold a lot. More than anyone on Krynn would ever know. That same night, not more than three hundred people had the same dream. All in different cities, towns or villages, all thinking nothing of the impending doom that they meant. And then Krynn as they knew it slept its last sleep. The Age that was would be no more and what would come to pass would be known by all to be the Age of Sorrows. A new chapter in Krynn is written. A new wave of horrors and heroes will emerge. Who will stand atop victorious in the end is unknown but be sure of this, the past is not easily forgotten and the future is never for certain!
Chapter One: Kendermore No More
Kendermore. Home to the one race on Krynn that is more feared than even Draconians. The Kender our a race of travelers and good natured people who live life at its fullest or at least at other people's expense. In the War of the Lance they found that they could make a difference if they just banned together to protect what is theirs. But to kender, what is theirs is anything that happens to tumble into a pouch. Kendermore itself is nothing more than a retirement home for old kender and home to the youth of the race. Most Kenders, when they reach a certain age, get what is called wanderlust. They leave home to seek adventure and fortunes and only return when they have seen everything they think is of interest to them. They then settle down and raise a family. A family heirloom is something that remains in the house for more than three weeks before some kender walks in and accidentally acquires it. To some Kender are a nuisance at best and a disease at worst. But to one individual, kender are nothing more than a mistake made by the gods. A joke if you will played on every other race on Krynn. To this person, the mistake made long ago is long overdue for correction.
Vallyn Burrfoot stared at his home village in disgust atop a hill crest not one hundred paces from the village itself. Vallyn had left home years before because of, what he considered a desire to improve himself. His journeys were long and dangerous. Most of them he had blocked from his mind. He only knew that he had watched as his people had scoured the earth like a plague for years, filling ansolon's prisons and dungeons as well as filling their purses with ansolon's possessions. Vallyn despised them for the way they made the world shut them out, the way they ruined any chance at a normal life in any town. Vallyn hated kenders more than any other race, even the elves, with their holier than thou attitude towards others. Long ago he swore to change things. The time was now.
Vallyn spit on the ground and cursed under his breathe as he stormed to his mount. A massive Red Dragon by the name Synderius, Synder for short. He climbed onto the massive beast and uttered a few words before the dragon burst into the air and headed for Kendermore. Followed, on foot, by a horde of draconians and orcs. Kendermore put up little resistance. Some hoopak's saw action but with the overwhelming numbers and the advantage of surprise, Kendermore fell without much of an effort. The kender were chased down and slaughtered by the draconians, their young butchered by the orcs. The ones who fled were dealt with by Synder with ease. After the massacre, Vallyn's forces moved on leaving him atop Synder. With one deep exhale of fire the village caught aflame and quickly burnt to the ground. The ashes floated on the winds and Vallyn laughed deeply with an insane smile on his face.
With that the huge dragon soared off onto their next destination. The draconian and orc army followed on foot leaving their surroundings raped of life and foliage.
**************************
Astinus's pen stopped in its tracks, as its master re-read what he had written as if to make sure he had not been mistaken in his writings. An Aesthetic peeked in through his door.
"Master? Is anything amiss? Your writings have stopped, the others are worried." The Aesthetics' were used to Astinus's scribbling and knew that any pause in his writings meant nothing good.
"Nothing is wrong Matteus. Everything is fine. However, we may be forced to relocate soon. Pick a suitable destination and prepare the others for evacuation at any moment. Palanthas may no longer be safe enough to call home for anyone, much less men of peace."
The Aesthetic paled immensely and nodded, "Y Y Yeess, sir. Preparations will be made, pray tell, are we to be leaving in the near future?"
"Sooner than you may think Matteus, sooner than you may think."
With that Matteus left as he had come and Astinus returned to his writings. He once again stopped suddenly and looked down at the parchment. A spot of liquid had dripped onto it. Astinus glanced at the ceiling to see if he had forgotten to patch the roof this season then noticed a moisture on his cheek. He gently touched his cheek and moved away his fingers to reveal a wetness. Astinus wiped his hand on his robes and continued writing the history of Krynn and hoped that the world was strong enough for the age to come.
Torrid dreams ravage the man as he lays thrashing in his bed. A mammoth Red Dragon soars across ansolan, and on top of him rides the strangest looking Kender he has ever seen. A Kender? On a Dragon? With his topknot cut and his hair dark green, the kender held a sword in one hand, and looked as if he knew how to use it! Suddenly the dream shifted to icewall castle, or at least the man thought that is what it was, since he had never journeyed there. But if Icewall would be anything this image would be it. Cold and barren with a sleek, menacing castle jutting out of a mountain made of pure ice! A swarm of White Dragons circled the magnificent castle and a red robed mage hovered in the middle of them with what looked like two ancient elves floating on their backs on either side of him. Then fire! Thousands upon thousands of knights lay on the field of battle, dead or dying. Flames burnt down their keeps and castles as Red Dragons swarmed and picked through the remains from above as draconians, orcs and goblins stormed the ground, grabbing whatever their grubby hands could get before another despised creature could get it. Another change in the dream as a huge pit filled to the brim with kender of all kind burst into flames as the Kender with green hair stood above them laughing maniacally into the night.
The man awoke, his body bathed in sweat. The moonlight danced upon his ceiling as he, now fully awake, stared at the moving lights. In all his years he had never had a dream like this. Never. He slowly moved to his feet and looked off into the distant horizon, sunrise was hours away still, yet a faint glowing light seemed to be burning in the distance. The man shook it all off and returned to his slumber, not disturbed by what his dreams foretold. And they foretold a lot. More than anyone on Krynn would ever know. That same night, not more than three hundred people had the same dream. All in different cities, towns or villages, all thinking nothing of the impending doom that they meant. And then Krynn as they knew it slept its last sleep. The Age that was would be no more and what would come to pass would be known by all to be the Age of Sorrows. A new chapter in Krynn is written. A new wave of horrors and heroes will emerge. Who will stand atop victorious in the end is unknown but be sure of this, the past is not easily forgotten and the future is never for certain!
Chapter One: Kendermore No More
Kendermore. Home to the one race on Krynn that is more feared than even Draconians. The Kender our a race of travelers and good natured people who live life at its fullest or at least at other people's expense. In the War of the Lance they found that they could make a difference if they just banned together to protect what is theirs. But to kender, what is theirs is anything that happens to tumble into a pouch. Kendermore itself is nothing more than a retirement home for old kender and home to the youth of the race. Most Kenders, when they reach a certain age, get what is called wanderlust. They leave home to seek adventure and fortunes and only return when they have seen everything they think is of interest to them. They then settle down and raise a family. A family heirloom is something that remains in the house for more than three weeks before some kender walks in and accidentally acquires it. To some Kender are a nuisance at best and a disease at worst. But to one individual, kender are nothing more than a mistake made by the gods. A joke if you will played on every other race on Krynn. To this person, the mistake made long ago is long overdue for correction.
Vallyn Burrfoot stared at his home village in disgust atop a hill crest not one hundred paces from the village itself. Vallyn had left home years before because of, what he considered a desire to improve himself. His journeys were long and dangerous. Most of them he had blocked from his mind. He only knew that he had watched as his people had scoured the earth like a plague for years, filling ansolon's prisons and dungeons as well as filling their purses with ansolon's possessions. Vallyn despised them for the way they made the world shut them out, the way they ruined any chance at a normal life in any town. Vallyn hated kenders more than any other race, even the elves, with their holier than thou attitude towards others. Long ago he swore to change things. The time was now.
Vallyn spit on the ground and cursed under his breathe as he stormed to his mount. A massive Red Dragon by the name Synderius, Synder for short. He climbed onto the massive beast and uttered a few words before the dragon burst into the air and headed for Kendermore. Followed, on foot, by a horde of draconians and orcs. Kendermore put up little resistance. Some hoopak's saw action but with the overwhelming numbers and the advantage of surprise, Kendermore fell without much of an effort. The kender were chased down and slaughtered by the draconians, their young butchered by the orcs. The ones who fled were dealt with by Synder with ease. After the massacre, Vallyn's forces moved on leaving him atop Synder. With one deep exhale of fire the village caught aflame and quickly burnt to the ground. The ashes floated on the winds and Vallyn laughed deeply with an insane smile on his face.
With that the huge dragon soared off onto their next destination. The draconian and orc army followed on foot leaving their surroundings raped of life and foliage.
**************************
Astinus's pen stopped in its tracks, as its master re-read what he had written as if to make sure he had not been mistaken in his writings. An Aesthetic peeked in through his door.
"Master? Is anything amiss? Your writings have stopped, the others are worried." The Aesthetics' were used to Astinus's scribbling and knew that any pause in his writings meant nothing good.
"Nothing is wrong Matteus. Everything is fine. However, we may be forced to relocate soon. Pick a suitable destination and prepare the others for evacuation at any moment. Palanthas may no longer be safe enough to call home for anyone, much less men of peace."
The Aesthetic paled immensely and nodded, "Y Y Yeess, sir. Preparations will be made, pray tell, are we to be leaving in the near future?"
"Sooner than you may think Matteus, sooner than you may think."
With that Matteus left as he had come and Astinus returned to his writings. He once again stopped suddenly and looked down at the parchment. A spot of liquid had dripped onto it. Astinus glanced at the ceiling to see if he had forgotten to patch the roof this season then noticed a moisture on his cheek. He gently touched his cheek and moved away his fingers to reveal a wetness. Astinus wiped his hand on his robes and continued writing the history of Krynn and hoped that the world was strong enough for the age to come.