Etherstorm Wastes: the Fire Realm
A summons from the burning land
A letter from S’kis, acolyte to the High Priest of Fire, calls the Hero to Etherstorm Wastes. Desoloth is turning the land’s own elements against it, and the writer fears that the inhabitants will be consumed along with their home. The opening images place Desoloth’s winged form above a turreted castle, bringing the menace beyond the DragonPlane. Once Etherstorm falls, the Hero’s world will be next. S’kis describes a master shaken by Zellare’s death but still determined to call for help and reach a new Prime Fire Dragon. The plea ends with the hope that courage can burn as brightly as the fires now threatening the land.
The summons brings the Hero to Hs’Sakar, High Priest of the Prime Fire Dragon. His welcome assumes that the world has sent him the help he needs. The Hero’s reply about Desoloth recognizes two possible histories. After the DragonPlane journey, the Hero remembers being deceived by X’dir and vows that neither servant nor master will escape again. Without that earlier encounter, the reply instead draws on accounts of Desoloth’s destruction heard during the journey. The new crisis can therefore confront either the Hero who freed him or a newcomer to his threat.
The priest and the empty prison
Hs’Sakar calls Desoloth’s power incalculable, but takes comfort in the dragon’s lack of the Primes’ wisdom. He repeatedly interrupts the Hero, setting his centuries against what he guesses to be a mere twenty or thirty human years. The Hero answers with exaggerated deference, then insists that better information will make better help possible. Hs’Sakar has had his First Acolyte prepare a scroll explaining the crisis. His task is to guide; the Hero’s is to act. Neither, he says, has the luxury of refusing.
The Fire Prime’s place is vacant. Desoloth sends his power ahead, mixing the elements into fiery tornadoes, burning lava-water and even burning stone; the once-dormant volcano has erupted. Four new Prime Dragons must be found and raised before the disorder spreads throughout Lore. Hs’Sakar says he has seen the DragonPlane only in visions through flame, where he now sees an empty prison. He mourns the four former Primes as dead and places ultimate blame on Desoloth, who uses humans and misguided Dravix to accomplish his purposes. His immediate priority is securing Fire so the other priestly orders can gather safely.
A living suit of flame
Hs’Sakar’s protection of dragons sets the terms of the rescue. He fears another War of Blood and Flame and insists that dragons must not make war on dragons. Dravix may neither harm dragonkin directly nor authorize their slaughter without being cast out of their society. The Hero must subdue the frenzied dragons without killing them. First, human flesh needs protection from the volcano. Sulfur Imps supply eight Sulfur Cores and an Enchanted Lava Bucket; nine Flame Essences from Living Fires will help make a suit that must itself be alive to keep its wearer alive.
The volcano’s heart, Hs’Sakar warns, could look into a priest’s soul even when dormant. Now awakened, it is no place for an unprotected human. The essences are unsuitable for the suit’s final coat, so the Hero fills the enchanted bucket with lava from outside the volcano. Hs’Sakar constructs the Flame Suit, a work he says has not been needed for centuries. Its protection has limits: it can prevent heat and burned flesh, but cannot protect against foolishness. Wearing it, the Hero approaches the altar alone and in peace; Hs’Sakar accepts the arrival as proof that the volcano has accepted its visitor.
The dragons who must survive
The Hero gathers Sacred Flame Seeds in case the struggle requires allies beyond the two helpers Hs’Sakar has already called. He proposes planting their power in those companions’ hearts to kindle battlefire. More urgent work follows when the frenzied dragons turn against their own young. The Hero brings ten young dragons to safety, handling them gently under the priest’s stern warning. Hs’Sakar plans to sedate them until the realm is secure. The intervention then turns to Ssikari, a brave and gifted dragon especially vulnerable to Desoloth’s influence: the Hero must defeat him inside the volcano while keeping him alive.
After Ssikari is subdued, Hs’Sakar shelters him in a sealed magma chamber near the altar and promises to see him recover. He urges the Hero to rest and renew their strength before assisting As’iiur, High Priest of the Prime Air Dragon. A separate repeatable errand offers a more ordinary service to Fire’s inhabitants: reducing the sulfur stench by killing fifteen Sulfur Imps. That task shares the realm’s unpleasant atmosphere, but is distinct from protecting the young dragons and saving Ssikari. The priest’s welcome still carries a lasting wish: whatever enters these DragonLands, dragons should always remain here.
A dragonslayer among the priests
Warlic and Galanoth arrive as the council gathers. Hs’Sakar welcomes the ArchMage and the DragonSlayer on the condition that they keep the peace. Galanoth’s account of his invitation is less ceremonial: Warlic appeared at his camp, seized his arm and indicated that he should come along. Galanoth was fortunate enough to grab his blade. The smell of rabid dragons convinces him they will need it. When the Hero begins asking why Hs’Sakar called these particular allies, the priest interrupts again: too much is at stake for him to withhold any help he can obtain.
The other priests introduce themselves with blessings tied to their elements: Dr’ader of Earth, As’iiur of Air and Ll’rillor of Water. An ominous fog has already unsettled the Hero. Hs’Sakar offers what protection he can to buy time for discussion, then divides the council: the Hero will speak with Warlic and Galanoth while the priests confer at the altar. The gathering brings together people whose duties do not naturally agree. A dragonslayer is being asked to help save dragons, while their servants must resist a dragon without violating the obligations that bind them.
The hunger behind the frenzy
Galanoth detects something the Hero cannot smell: dragon blood beginning to turn rancid and curdle. The dragons’ bonds to their elements and Primes are driving them mad, threatening a dragon war across the world. Warlic describes the same disaster through its elemental workings. The elements are combining, fighting and tearing the land’s heart apart. Restoring the four Primes is necessary to stop the chaos spreading, and delay will make the danger grow worse: Desoloth feeds on the friction of their frenzy. The destruction is also nourishment for the creature causing it.
The priests gather around a white flame at the altar. Hs’Sakar announces that the new Primes’ identities are appearing. Ll’rillor looks ahead to saving and training them, but Hs’Sakar reminds the others that they cannot harm Desoloth. Dr’ader proposes another answer: with the new Primes’ aid and the Hero’s, they can seal him away eternally. As’iiur begins a qualification and is interrupted. X’dir has returned. He asks after their long-time friend, announces that his master has returned as well, and tells the council to heed him. His final words single out As’iiur, asking whether the Air Priest knows what Desoloth can do. The council’s plan meets a threat before it can become an agreement.