I slept that night in a deep sleep, plagued with dreams. I found my thoughts drifting back to family and the life I left behind. Until, in a moment of clarity, the confusion of the dreamworld lay behind me and before me stood the proud and graceful form of my mother.
She held me once more as she had when I was a child. She said that she would always be with me, whilst holding the pendant that Versi gave me that once belonged to her, etched with a branch and a lightning bolt. She reminded me that great power was in my heritage and that I have a destiny to raise the standards of the Dragonlords once more, but that power came with great danger and that my father presented a great threat to me if we didn’t avoid his attention.
The mists swirled once more and she was gone.
As exhausted as we all were, we took the better road to Estoria, stopping to rest on the way through a small gnomish village. Despite being well within the boundaries of the Oldwoods, it seemed an idyllic place. The villagers had formed some bonds with the local fey and this seemed to afford them some protection.
For curiosities sake, Theo and Helikaon met with some of the river sprites and found that the area had recently had some problems with bandits, who were raiding merchant caravans and hacking down trees in the forest.
The foolishness baffles me. Even the younger races know that the Oldwoods are a place of powerful magic and to disturb the balance here invites ruin. The fey are a capricious and powerful neighbour. These outsiders could bring ruin on these peaceful folk.
And so, we searched the nearby area, guided by directions of the river sprites, until we almost stumbled straight into their guard.
The muscled, gigantic form of a cyclops towered over us. We each reached for our weapons, until it did something incredibly unexpected.
He waved.
Huh.
Some quiet conversation with the one-eyed giant, who called himself Stellios, told us his new ‘friends’ had left him on guard duty and that they had told him to attack any that dared intrude. This made him sad as he didn’t want to hurt anybody. His muscular form gave lie to his gentle spirit and with some gentle conversation and music, Calliope led him away.
Without their gigantic bodyguard, the nerve of the remaining bandits didn’t last. They fled to leave for easier pickings and Stellios journeyed with us back to the gnomish village. A conversation with the mayor left him bemused, but ready to accept our gentle friend as their new ally and protector.
And so we set off once more, ready to catch up to the youths we had saved heading to the city.
It was then the sky darkened and we saw a silver dragon spiral down from the skies. Gaius, commander of Sydon’s forces rode atop it’s back and threatened us once more with his master's power. As he departed, the noise of the storm was replaced with the thunderous roll of hoofbeats. Bearing down on us was a warband of my people, huge centaurs already readying to fight.
It seems we’re not out of the woods yet.