An Outsider Tale

Long ago flagons were raised in memory of three ancient wyrms, one born of fire, one of ice and lastly one of shadow. Less than myth now, and consigned to oblivion, but in times past the blue was their domain and this now damned kingdom was their dominion...

It was a small coastal city, backed by mountains to the north, south and west. To the east lay the bay of the crossing dead, named after the armies that arrived there so long ago... However, our story begins to the west, in the highlands where the shadow of Watchmount loomed and beckoned, with Rustcairn the city of Smoldermoat located due east at the base of the shadowy mountain.

A young boy, with his shepherd were fishing next to a stream, using a makeshift rod and reel, the boy used bugs as bait and was tying one to a string.

It was an early spring morning, the sun had not yet risen over Rustcairn in the distance, and nobody else was in sight.

Suddenly, a crash erupted somewhere up the mountain, the dog bolted and surged up Watchmount barking... hesitantly, for the boy knew the tales told about the area, he followed and called out to the dog. There was nothing but silence, but the boy caught a glimpse of something so he kept climbing, until finally he spotted his dog.

The dog had clambered half way up the mountain, and was now sitting next to a statue while wagging his tail. The boy knew of this place from tales told by the locals but he had never ventured this way before.

The statue was unremarkable, half eroded and covered in moss, but what it denoted was another matter. Whisper Pass it was called long ago, it lead to a valley further down the mountain where a bubbling moat circled the ruins of a long forgotten fortress in the center of the vale.

The boy walked past the statue and looked towards the pass, with cliffs to either side the way through appeared misty and uninviting.

Abruptly a wind whistled through the canyon and the dog barked, tucked tail and scampered back down the mountain trail. As he approached the entrance, between the bluffs the sun rose, warming the boys back as he tried to build the courage to set forth down the ominous path...

One step at a time the boy thought, and so he began to inch forward, and after a time he finally he made it through. A valley stretched before him as far as the eye could see, the boy let out a hoot then bounded down into the vale.

Kicking at stones while exploring, he looked about and realized this section of the valley was desolate. He noticed tendrils of smoke rising just over a hill from something unseen, this must be the bubbling moat he thought, so he raced up and over the hill...

The moat was there, it was dried up in spots while other sections were smoldering with smoke slowly drifting upwards to be taken by the wind.

Something else caught his attention, past the molten moat was a massive crater, he could hear a soft humming sound that became more prominent with each step closer to the edge of the bowl-shaped cavity. Searching, the boy found where the sound was coming from, at the craters midpoint sat a large monolithic stone. The stone was pulsating red and blue, but it was not emanating any heat, or cold. Reaching out to it, the boy laid a hand upon the stone... after a faint magical noise, the stone opened to reveal a pitch black entry... peering into the opening, the boy saw what looked to be the twinkling of stars in a night sky... then out of no where there was a growl, and a sharp bark, then the boys dog leaped at the stone entrance...

and... a bolt of lightning struck the stone, with a force great enough to shake the earth beneath his feet... the last thing he saw before losing consciousness was dark clouds overhead and the silhouette of his shepherd as it flew towards the entrance... the stone gate, now with glowing ruin words carved into the sides slowly closed, then a crow landed to perch on top, cawing as rain began to drop.

Just like that the dog vanished in a flash of red, and blue... but the stone gate remained, pulsating as if alive, and waiting for someone new...

***

A young man lays face down on a bed, he is dreaming... in the dream the sounds of war drums beat endlessly, concurrent with the drumming something within the dream calls to the man and a fiery chill runs down his spine.

"All who enter these lands must fight, or die. The time is upon you Avelot, nay the time is upon us all to stand and fight. Now rise scholar of the deep west, wake now and ascend Watchmount."

"Ah, there we go. Rise and shine... You have been sleeping for a while now. What is your name?"

Blinking away the haze from his eyes the young man looks about for something, but he is not sure what he is searching for... then he remembers, he reaches for his glasses and puts them on. Looking around the room, he spots an old tome, and a reddish brown staff propped against the wall. It was difficult to tell in the candlelight but the girl who woke him seemed to be a bit pudgy, short, and slightly smelled of hay and manure with pants and a shirt of plain light blue and green. She smiled with a friendly face.

"I'm... ahh... my name is Avelot... I think I must have hit my head... I can't remember exactly who I am, or how I came to be here... I might be some type of scholar, in what or which disciplines I do not know... can you help me up, I am sore all over."

"A scholar you say? You are too young to be such a thing... Are you certain? I've never known any scholarly types, but from what I've heard they're all old and crusty, with glasses, limps and balding, with noses too big for their heads... You have glasses I see, but no I don't believe you to be a scholar."

With the girls help, the young man sits up.

“Let me ask you a question. Do you know of a place called Watchmount? I uh... I feel I must go there at once.”

The girls eyes widen for a moment.

“Yes, everyone in these parts knows of Watchmount.”

Hastily a young boy bursts into the room while gasping for breath... “Fona!!! Sister! Copper went missing! I know you always say never to fish close to Watchmount but the best fishing spots are all there, and and...”

Straining to reach his tome and staff, the young man lifts himself off the cot, and places the dusty tome in a wide pocket, then picks up the staff and bangs it against the door. The door slams with a loud crack and the young man sits back down on the bed...

“Calm yourself boy... tell us what happened, from the beginning now, don't leave anything out, and please keep your voice low...”

“Interesting, the stone activated... I mean it opened when you touched it? Hmm very interesting indeed. What became of your dog, and where were you when you woke?”

“Like I said mister, when I woke I was back at the statue, right back at the start of Whisper Pass, like I never moved an inch from that very spot, but now Copper is missing, and it's all my fault!”

With clenched fists the boy storms out of the room, Avelot and Fona follow and find the boy outside gazing into the night sky.

“He is pretty upset, besides me that dog is the only family he has...” She said softly. “What do you plan to do, sir? If Watchmount is your destination, you will need a guide, I know someone that might be of service to you.”

The young man props his staff against the cottage door, with a hand on the tome he then leans on the side of the farmhouse and briefly shuts his eyes... after what feels like an eternity the vision subsides. A moments thought later he nods to the girl.

“Okay, where might I find this person?”

“Well... ahem. That is a question for Gan. He knows where to find the old hermit. Well little brother, do you know where the hermit spends his days lately?”

“Yeah I know where he usually is, I will lead the way...”

After a glance from the boys sister, the young man interrupts the boy mid sentence.

“You have had a rough day, to say the least. Can you draw me a map that leads to this Whisper Pass, and point me in the direction of your hermit friend?”

“Yup! I'm good at drawin maps!!! I drew a map once for the captain of the guard last summer when he was passing through lookin for his lost hunting dog. He found his prized dog and gave me three silver coins for my trouble... and the captain said I'd make a great cartographer or somethin if I practice! Remember that sis?”

Fona sighs.

“Yes I remember, you bring it up almost daily. Now please go inside and make that map for our friend, try to be quick. With any luck we'll find Copper safe and sound with the help of your map, just like the captain found his dog.”

The boy rushed back into the cottage, and after a short time reemerged with a sheaf of papers.

“I have the maps! One leads to the stream where I always fish, another leads to where you'll find the crazed hermit, and the last one will lead you to Whisper Pass. My memory is a bit fuzzy, but I think I drew out the Whisper Pass map correctly.”

Gan excitedly hands over the maps to the young man and gives a big toothy grin.

“Thank you Gan, map making is a very good skill to have. It is a unique mixture of science, art and technology. Judging by the maps you've given me, with enough time and practice you will become a very good cartographer.”

Folding the maps, the young stranger places them in his pocket with the tome, then heads back into the cottage with the two siblings.

“I could really use more sleep before I set out in the morning, there is close to five hours before day break. Fona, thank you for the hospitality, and Gan thanks for the excellent maps.”

Yawning deeply the young man heads toward the bed in the back room, but stops before closing the door...

“I've been meaning to ask, where did you find me Fona?”

The girl gives a confused look for a moment.

“You really don't remember a thing do you?” With a distraught look the farm girl continues... “It was very odd, I was rounding up hay stacks in the field when I heard a loud booming crash somewhere toward Watchmount, I turned to look at the mountain, and when I turned back around, there you were, laying face down in the mud and muck, with your hands around your head, groaning and gasping for air. Now if you think that is strange, what happened next is stranger... beside you was your tome, it suddenly opened and the pages began to quickly turn, then a picture in the air was projected from the book...”

The scholar blinked, then placed a hand in the pocket that held his tome, making sure it was still there. “Do you remember what the picture showed?”

“Yes, there were dragons in the sky above a mountain, battling. I could not make out much more than that... clouds descended on Watchmount, and rain began to fall so I rushed over to you. I shut the book and helped you get your footing, then we walked to the farmhouse where you collapsed again.”

The young scholar now looked likewise distraught, he nodded to Fona and said good night... It was a restless night, in and out of consciousness, the young man dreamed... it was the same vision over and over, the same one he had while leaning against the cottage... it was a dream of despair and desolation... in the dream three wyrms of great strength battled in the clouds above a mountain, sitting atop the mountain was a stronghold of some kind. He could not make out many details but coming from the fortress were sounds of screaming, yelling, and wailing. At the end of the vision the three dragons fell from the sky, then suddenly the sky, the clouds and everything in the vision was an inferno of red, and blue flames, and as suddenly as the flames started they stopped, the fortress was gone, and a thick fog descended upon the mountain...

next morning...

What a miserable night, thought the strange scholar as he made his way from the farmhouse. Yawning, and finding a dry spot and shelter from the rain under a massive tree, the young man reached into his pocket and unfolded the first map. Well *glances upwards and spots a tree fort* looks like I found the first landmark, the old oak. The largest tree for miles and the playground for every able bodied young adventurer this side of Rustcairn, as noted on the small map. Giving a light kick to a swing dangling from a branch the scholar chuckled to himself and journeyed on. Two hundred paces later the young man found the stream, Gan's map was basic but quite good none the less. Now, time to find this hermit...