How to get the baddest bad-guy back in your campaign
Mika gently tapped the wall with the tip of her calhulak. The tell-tale deep thump the wall made told the young elven woman she had found precisely what she was looking for: a hidden chamber. She had been searching for something like this, something where treasure might lay, ever since she arrived at the ruins that morning. With his dying breath, Mika’s half-elven half-brother (who fought in Rikus’s army against the Urikites years earlier) had bequeathed her the information that the ruins, the Citadel of Ebe it was called, had lost its guardians (a group of wraiths), and would be
“ripe for the picking”
. He planned to loot it long ago, but a stubborn leg injury that never healed prevented him from making the trek.
Unfortunately for her, it seemed to Mika that she’d been too late. The first thing she saw when she entered the foul, musty-smelling citadel was a slew of broken statues. Raiders never did have a keen sense for art. But whether it had been raided or not, Mika thought, no one had found the secret chamber that lied behind the wall she stood in front of.
Taking a breath of foul air, Mika began hammering through the wall. Mika clubbed her way through a thin layer of plaster, and then a thick layer of tough granite before she could see inside the next room. It appeared to be a relatively small chamber, spherical in shape. Intricate carvings marked the walls, showing scenes of a lone man slaughtering countless dwarves. The sight sent shivers down her spine. A faint, orange glow caught Mika’s eye, and she then recognized what she saw: a huge gem worth hundreds of silver to the right buyer.
Mika frantically battered her way through the wall until she was standing in the chamber. The room was filled with stone coffins, beautifully carved with pictures of who lied inside. Only one held a gem, and Mika ran over to it instantly. Hands shaking, she began prying out the huge rock from its holding place. Suddenly, a chill shot through her body, and she realized for one horrible instant that her mind was being wiped, and then nothingness.
“It’s good to be back,”
said Borys as he stretched his new body and walked away.
When I was reading the second Prism Pentad book, I had already learned that Borys (aka, the Dragon of Tyr) had been killed in the last book. And this little chunk of information popped out to the fore-front of my mind as I read a certain section of the
The Crimson Legion
.
Chapter nine (page 193)
tells how when Borys dies, his soul will return to a gem placed in his sarcophagus. It’s really easy to miss, so read carefully.
This can work in any number of ways to hook characters into a campaign. Bringing back the Dragon would be big trouble for the Tablelands, as he’d probably be a little cranky after being killed, and would have fewer enemies than ever now that many sorcerer kings have been destroyed. On the other hand, maybe Borys’s years of experience and great knowledge could turn him into an unlikely ally when the characters are trying to repel Dregoth. Does Borys know something about the undead dragon-king no one else does?
Any number of people can bring about the recovery, whether it be a cult who craves the return of the Dragon, or a hapless elven woman who gets unlucky. Maybe a high level clerical spell (tenth level maybe) could change Borys’s soul back into his corporeal dragon form. Maybe someone thinks that they can resurrect the Dragon and control it. The possiblities are endless!