“Introducing species into an ecosystem to control pests has long been understood to be a very bad idea. Like all bad ideas, it is one that is frequently repeated with little learning following each failure.
Demons are always conniving. They are seldom smart. And, so, they introduced a new species to deal with statement in the war with the Celestials: Dragons.
Specifically, the demons opened portals to the planes where the Chromatic Dragons originate. They intended to tip the balance of the war toward the Infernal-Abyssal Axis. More particularly, they intended to tip the balance toward the Abyssal side of that axis.
Dragons, as it turns out, are both conniving and smart. The Dragons tipped the balance in favor of the Dragons.
Introduced to The Material, Chromatic Dragons took to materialism with avaricious gusto. They began to accumulate material wealth and pile that wealth up in hoards. Currency is only utile when exchanged, and the Chromatic Dragons neither wanted nor needed to purchase anything. When they wanted a lair, they took it. When they wanted a meal, they ate it. When they required services, they terrorized others into obedience. The value of coin to a dragon is to have it, and more importantly, to deny you from having it.
And so it is the same arts, finely crafted goods, and arcane artifacts: useless to dragons outside of the pleasure they derive from knowing that they have it and you don’t.
And, so, the dragons reigned for millennia, never quite ruling the humanoids as much as terrorizing them continuously and slaughtering them savagely. Resistance was continuous. The dwarves refused to give up all of their wealth to the Dragon hoards without a fight — or many, many fights over a long period of time, which saw hoards transferring from dwarf to dragon and then from dragon to dwarf again. The Halflings simply gave up on material wealth, leaving the dragons with nothing to crave. The gnomes mostly went underground, to places where the dragons had to work too hard to root out. The humans fought the dragons furiously and with abandon, mostly because they weren’t going to be denied anything, if if what they Dragons hoarded was something they didn’t really want or need.
Despite the resistance, the Chromatic Dragons had the upper hand. The Celestial humanoid creations were dropping like autumn leaves.
The Celestials responded as Celestials do with their one unique tool in the enteral war: creation. Drawing from the materials of the Material, there came to be the Metallic Dragons. It was their job to unseat the Chromatic Dragons once and for all.
Indeed, the Metallic Dragons stopped the proliferation of the Chromatic Dragons.
The Celestial humanoids began to recover, and the Infernal-Abyssal humanoids began to diminish.
Eventually, it started to balance out in a ruthless and bloody equilibrium of cruel slaughter to reproduction rates.
Stalemate again.
The Metallic Dragons did not do all of this in service to the Celestials, instead doing in an effort to assert the sage and noble rule of the Metallic Dragons over the lesser beings of Ur — who in their opinion were in desperate need of benevolent tyranny. Worse still for the Celestials, they had erred in the creation of the Metallic Dragons, creating a dragon deity to control them, Bahamut. Only, Bahamut was an annoyingly impossible to manipulate and control as the Metallic Dragons who worshipped him.
And, so, the Celestials embarked on repeating the mistake, again, creating a specific humanoid of Celestial origin: the Assimar. The Assimar would finally be soldiers in the war with Infernal-Abyssal alliance to “BLOODY WELL DO WHAT THEY WERE BLOODY WELL TOLD!”
Of course, the Infernal responded with the Teiflings.
The Fey responded with the Elves.
The Dragons responded with the Dragon Born.
For their part, the Abyssal responded by raising as many of the slain of all the others as Undead.
Stalemate, again.
The mistake, repeated, however, produced dragons without any fealty, obedience, or particular regard for the Celestials. Worse, to create the Metallic Dragons, the Celestials first created a god of the dragons, Bahamut. Loyalty to Bahamut in particular is not the same as loyalty to Celestials in general, as the Celestials game to learn. Metallic Dragons could not be ordered about, and as smart as they were, the annoying creatures were bloody hard to reason with — and by that, of course, we mean “fool.”
Stalemate, again.
Theologically speaking, the Abyssals, the Infernals, and the Celestials had made a cosmic pig’s ear out of the whole thing.
And, it was this way, until the Humans began to innovate with the arcane, until they were capable to tapping into meta-magic: raw ‘patalogical energy. The Dragons had magic, but the humans had sorcery.
With sorcery, the stalemate shifted.
The balance tipped away from the Celestials, Abyssals, Infernals, and Dragons toward the Sorcerers.
And this is how we come to live in the great age of Sorcery, the eternal victory of the Material over the forces that created it and would have it ruled. Long may we reign supreme.
This history, and all the follows is what we know of the introduction, reign, and fall of the Chromatic and Dragons on Ur.”
Celaena continues to read in the Baron’s Library as Bruhilda watches over doorway.
****
Thin tendrils of smoke rose from the fireplace in the Library, where Celaena watched the letter burn.
But, we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
We should start at the beginning, which is really in the middle.
Rushing from the Gallery, the party shut the doors and removed the Portable Hole from its place over the lock and latch. Brunhilde asked aloud, “I wonder if those things can open a door.” She was answered by the doors starting to open.
Quickly, the party prepared for a fight. They took up their positions in the hall, Maeglin fading back to a shadowy doorway and Brunhilde stomping up to the front. Brielle Blessed Maeglin, Brun, and Dani. Caleana positioned herself to the end of the hall near the stairs and cast Mage Armor. And, then…
ROLL INITIATIVE!
The doors opened with two animated suits of armor lurching forward, long swords in hand. A hollow voice rang from inside the helms repeating, “You touched the book.” Behind the armor, a sword floated from the wall, crooning “‘Cause it’s witchcraft, wicked witchcraft, and although, I know, it’s strictly TABOO…”
Blows were exchanged, and improbably, Muffins actually did some real damage — his luck would soon return. Bruhilde and Maeglin, in particular, did serious damage to the armor with arrows and a beer stein.
The big surprise to all in the part was the sudden appearance of Dire Wolf filling the hallway. It leaped over the party and past the armor. It savaged the enchanted objects from a flanking position.
The party tore the armor to pieces, separating the arcane enchantments from the physical components of the spell.
But, then they turned their attention to the dancing sword, which was now singing, “… a guardian angel on high, with nothing to do but give to you…”
The struck it with a beer stein, they prodded it with a rapier, but it seemed to take no damage. To Maeglin’s surprise, he was unable to evade the sword without drawing an attack of opportunity (weird!). Seemingly imperious and unsure how to damage it, Brunhilde shouted, “is there any way to trap it!?” Dani, realizing she had the Portable Hole, stubbled forward and (not very gracefully) lunged at the sword. The sword, still focused on Maeglin, was completely unaware of the threat. The party trapped it in the Portable Hole.
Focused on the room, the party failed to notice the two additional suits of armor clamoring up the stairs from the first floor. Celaena retreated to Arthur’s room and slammed the door shut. Brialle and her dog retreated to the attic that Maeglin hid within when the fight started. Cessair, Brunhilde, Dani, Muffins, and Maeglin savagely dispatched the other two armor.
Battered and exhausted, the party locked themselves into the gallery for a long rest.
When they awoke, several of the party found themselves somehow afflicted. Maeglin was suffering ticks and twitches, Muffins could not remember anything other than who he was, and Celaena could not speak. In time each of these afflictions passed, but not not before causing a great deal of concern and complication.
The party re-examined the Gallery and the paintings.
Cessair used “Detect Magic” to discover the paintings were faintly magic, the book was very magic, and there were other magics in the house that seems to be brimming with magics.
With a javelin embedded in the painting of the man in green, they discovered that while the frames were affixed to the wall, the canvasses could be removed. Before cutting them out, they carefully examined the paining that was all black, discovering the brush strokes suggested a sixth man. Beyond that, it was had to distinguish much about the nature or posture of this man. They carefully placed the paintings in the center of the room…
… Where Brialle set them alight with a spell.
Several things happened as a result:
First, Dani shrieked, as important ‘patalogical artifacts were destroyed before they could be examined by the proper authorities;
Second, Celaena *did not* shriek, as she was still struck mute, but wanted to because the book which she had been studying was now just a set of blank pages;
Third, Brialle thought it a job well done and merrily proceeded to ask if the big doggie was going to come back any time soon.
The party discussed what to do next, deciding to finish their mission(s) at the Baron’s Estate. They consulted the Plumbing Imp one last time to find out where the Baron was, but the Imp answered truthfully that he didn’t know. Suspecting there was information behind the door at the top of the stairs, they attempted entry. They were frustrated in their attempts to find someway to open the door… or make their own door from the attic room. Some conversation was focused on climbing out the window to see if there was a way to climb in to the windows of tower from the outside. Finally, they decided to explore the attic rooms for clues.
Maeglin successfully — against all probability — disarmed the mechanical traps and locks, although there were some close calls. He discovered… well, he discovered some stuff, which some in the party might know about and others might not.
Meanwhile, in the Library, Calaena read a book on the History of Dragons on Ur and examined the letter that she was given by Grimble.
Almost forgotten, Celeana was to present this letter from Grimble to Baron Saturday on her arrival to the Estate. (Brunhilde: “WTF is a Grimble?”). There was a seal on the letter bearing a sigil, and Calaena believed it to be protection from what she was actually able to do: read the letter.
Celaena and Brunhilde returned to the third floor to report to the other on what the letter said: “These ones are dangerous. Imprison them. More later.”
Maeglin, reminded he also had a letter, opened it and read out the contents — “Kill this one, while you can. Grimble. PS Our differences aside.”
A sense of foreboding overcame the party.
They discussed leaving. Brunhilde reminded the party that she needed payment and a signature, or there would be trouble. Dani reminded the party the house itself was practically a ‘patalogical super-fund site, and further work needed to discover its secrets and dangers.
And, so, they decided to investigate the last of the attic rooms.
Here, they disarmed a magical trap (poison gas) with Mage Hand. They discovered the statue was a sarcophagus. Inside, they found the well-preserved remains of Blank, the Day Butler.
Summoning Blank, Maeglin reached out and put his arm right through Blank, who was not there. Brunhilde asked Blank if he was dead, and Blank said that he was not dead, nor was he living. He had been changed: “the smallest possible change that makes the greatest possible difference.” Blank described the Baron as a good man, who had saved him. He went on to say that he had similarly saved the towns people of Sea Side. Asked where they were, Blank said they were nearby — as near as they were allowed or able to be.