Dragon Plague: the Heart of the DragonPlane
The letter no one sent
The Hero asks whether reaching the Heart of the DragonPlane could cleanse all the dragons at once. Drakor confirms the possibility, but struggles to accept that Desoloth has survived. The Hero corrects the name to Desolich. Warlic says their evidence points to the dragon in lich form, and reminds the others that none of them saw his body disappear.
Warlic produces a letter delivered by someone he understood to be Drakor's messenger while the Hero was in the Infirmary. Drakor denies receiving such a letter himself. Its advice points to the relationship between an army and its commander, then to elements, undead, dragonkin and the ruler who has bound them together. The clues fit the sequence they now recognize: the plague kills dragons, and Desolich raises them through undeath into elemental dracoliches.
A useful distraction for Drakath
Elsewhere, Drakath makes clear that the timely letter was part of his own interference. He knows Desolich created the abominations while believing his master distracted. Drakath expects the Hero to destroy them and spend time clearing up the disaster. Desolich has gained an army, some of which Drakath expects to survive regardless of what the Hero does.
Drakath regards Desolich's elemental power as a magnificent tool. Yet he also warns that created life—or unlife—takes on a nature that cannot always be controlled. Desolich privately turns that warning back upon him. More than the dracoliches can escape predictable control, he thinks; his pointed address to his master carries a threat of something still to come.
Containing a corrupted realm
Drakor describes the DragonPlane as the nexus where the Physical, Magical and Elemental planes meet the Void, the birthplace of the great dragons. Corrupting it reaches far beyond one city. Warlic believes Desolich has gained control of the realm itself, and Drakor warns that the dragons will remain subject to him unless the Hero severs his connection to its Heart.
The Hero enters the DragonPlane and begins with containment. Warlic's wards are placed through the four elemental areas and the center of the realm, isolating the infected spaces. Drakor hopes this will hold the spread long enough for cleansing to begin.
Saving those who can still be saved
Some infected dragons may still recover. The Hero knocks them unconscious so they can be treated and hopefully protected, rather than killing them. Drakor promises to see them returned to Dragonhame.
The taint also covers the realm's ground and columns. Cleansing the columns makes a beginning, while zombie dragons must be subdued so the Hero can work safely. Drakor mourns what they have endured and hopes they can be restored. The campaign still distinguishes between containing suffering creatures and destroying the links that sustain Desolich's control.
Water cleanses Fire
The Water Realm's connection to Desolich is broken by slaying its elemental dracoliches and removing the corruption. Once the water is pure, the Hero gathers some of it for the next stage. The restored element becomes the means to cleanse Fire.
Fire's elemental dracoliches are slain in turn, severing that realm's link and leaving its flames pure. The Hero then gathers purified fire for the Earth Realm, carrying the means for its cleansing onward.
Earth cleanses Air
The Hero breaks Desolich's hold over the Earth Realm by slaying its elemental dracoliches. Purified stones gathered there supply what is needed for Air. Restoring one region has made the next part of the campaign possible.
Air's elemental dracoliches are the next targets, and its corruption is cleared. Cleansing the four realms has removed these elemental links, but the Heart itself is not yet free. Other connections still let Desolich affect dragonkin through it.
The Heart's remaining connections
Deluge, Tempest, Inferno and Granite are the next dracoliches the Hero must slay. Warlic has explained that such creatures connect Desolich to the DragonPlane: while they survive, he can draw on its Heart and affect dragonkin. Their fall begins to sever that deeper connection. Drakor feels corruption leaving and believes the dragons can still be saved, but one final link remains.
Drakath watches the destruction with amusement. Desolich's creations were powerful, like his own, but the Hero's actions have proved difficult to predict or control. He implies that this will change in time. For now, the chaos brought about by Hero and dragon is exactly what he wants, and he sends Desolich to watch the fate of his avatar.
The final Avatar
Drakor identifies the remaining enemy as a proud Fire Dragon who was slain and raised as Desolich's avatar. He calls the dragon Lavastorm; the final quest and the battle's narration call him Lavablast the Final. Drakor believes Desolich cannot leave the Chaos Realm while bound to Drakath. A bond between their spirits lets the avatar act for him inside the DragonPlane.
The Hero defeats the avatar and shatters Desolich's last connection to the Heart. The energy that had made him alive again is gone. As he dies again, Drakath pulls him back into the Chaos Portal to watch and wait.
Victory within the enemy's plans
Drakath congratulates the Hero and says the rage they have inspired will serve him when they meet again. The Hero strikes back at the watching portal, which disappears. The DragonPlane has been cleansed, but Drakath still regards the conflict and its aftermath as useful to his own plans.
Drakor salutes the Hero as Dragon's Champion and promises a home among the dragonkin. He also offers optional research work: severing Desolich's connection has stopped the creation of new elemental dracoliches, while those remaining can supply reagents for Warlic. Yet his warning remains. Desolich is not gone or destroyed; Drakor expects the Hero may face him again as Chaos rises.
A second chance at a first flight
Six weeks later, the infected dragonkin in Dragonhame have recovered. Those who died are mourned; survival has not made the loss disappear. An'Desi is ready to try again. He runs, takes to the air, then spins and falls as an anxious crowd watches.
This time, he swoops upward instead of continuing to fall. He joyfully announces that he is flying again. The city that gathered for a first flight interrupted by plague can now see him reclaim it. Not every child returns to a waiting mother, but An'Desi has a second chance.