Dragonlance Comics (Issue 32) - Sword of the Kinslayer (Part 3)

-
This story begins a few moments after the last issue. Lord Silvercrown has just claimed the Sword of the Kinslayer for his own, as the evil force from within the cave emerges, and is revealed to be a white dragon.

As the dragon lays waste to Lord Silvercrown's men, the dragon is also silently communicating with Lord Silvercrown, instructing him to kill his son, Maric. Riva struggles with her father as Maric makes his escape. The dragon then instructs Lord Silvercrown to slay his daughter.

Riva runs away, her father close on her heals. While on the run, she falls down a snow covered shaft and finds herself in one of the mountains caves. Here she stumbles across Theolin who reveals a terrible find, deep in the cave are dozens of dragon eggs.

Theolin reveals a magical device, a Horn of Blasting, that he will use to bring the mountain down upon all the hatchlings.

At first Riva dismisses the idea, claiming that creatures aren't born evil, and that it could be a glorious site to see the Knights of Solamnia riding these dragons in the service of good. As Riva coddles one of the hatchlings, it bites her and then flees from the cave. Theolin instructs Riva that she chase down the dragon and slay it.

Outside the cave she wonders why she must kill the infant dragon, and if she could kill her own father that seems determined to see her and her brother dead. Just then she encounters the remains of her father's forces. They pledge to follow Riva's command. As she leads the men through the snow she begins to see herself grown up. She also sees her father, fully possessed by the Kinslayer blade. Vowing to destroy him, Riva charges at her father only to hear a voice whispering inside her head to kill her father, and take his sword. As Riva dispels the voice, she also see her followers disappear, mere illusions that were never really there.

Her father, on the other hand, is real, and ready to kill his daughter as a way to seal his pact with the dark mistress that gave him the blade and access to it's power.

Just then one of the white dragon hatchlings gets in the way and Lord Silvercrown first tries to dispatch the beast. For a moment, Riva sees her father, not as the blood thirsty killer before her, but the kind and protective man that chased away the mother goose all those years ago (as seen in issue 31). After being struck by Lord Silvercrown, the hatchling flies away with the blade impaled in its body.

Lord Silvercrown is distraught, but just then Riva hears the sound of a horn and realizes that Theolin is going through with his plan to destroy all the other dragon eggs before any more monsters are unleashed on the world.

In the cave, Riva is able to pull Theolin free, but not before she is confronted by the adult white dragon. Riva battles long enough to give Theolin time to sound his horn. She is unintentionally knocked free of the cave by the dragon as the walls and roof collapse all around.

Outside, Riva is greeted by her brother who tells her that Lord Silvercrown still appears to be possessed. Just then, the white wyrm bursts from the mountain, wounded and bleeding, but determined to avenge the deaths of all her dragon eggs.

Riva, armed only with the polearm bearing the family standard confronts the dragon. The dragon reveals that oracles claim Riva is destined to be the destroyer of dragonkind at it lunges at the young girl. Riva plunges the polearm into the dragon's neck, killing the beast.

In the aftermath of the battle, Riva's father has returned to his senses and warmly embraces his daughter. He admits that maybe he was wrong to oppose her entrance into the knighthood as his men around him cheer "Hail Riva!".

Riva, happy to have her father back says that knighthood can wait, and that she would prefer to enjoy her childhood a little while longer.

Commentary

I really enjoyed the ending of this arc. Overall, I might put this as the second best story line of the series (after the original four issues). Once again, the art and story were leaps and bounds above what the previous issues and arcs have contained.

Sadly, the writer on this arc only wrote these three issues of the comic, and this would be the last art from Ron Randall for the remainder of the book, which is such a shame because this duo really crafted a fun story and I would like to have seen more output from them.

First, I liked story in this last issue, even if there were a few weak spots. I thought having Riva chased AGAIN through the snow was a bit redundant. On the other hand, the way parts of this story tie in to the overall story of Riva (the claim that she will be the destroyer of dragons is a reference to some of the previous arcs) and the first issue (Riva's father fighting the white dragon wyrmling recalls Lord Silvercrown defending Riva from the mother goose).

Lastly, the ending was in great Dragonlance tradition with father regaining his senses and reconciling with his daughter, even if it is a bit contradictory with the first arc.

With the art, Ron Randal leaves the books with some of his strongest work. The detail in the caves, and the dynamic energy of the fight scenes are things I've been looking forward to all along.

Next time, we'll look at what will be the beginning of last arc of the DC/TSR Dragonlance series.

Popular posts from this blog

Character Sheet for New Players / Kid Players

-
Image
This sheet is great for a simple game where you've already decided to drop skills and feats out of the game (certainly doable in 5e). There is a small corner with a few helpful hints, but the white text on light purple background might be hard to read when printed. I was recently asked by a friend if I knew of any versions of the Character Sheet for D&D 5e geared toward kids. Seems he's teaching his children the game, and I applaud him for creating the next generation of D&D gamers. I've also been thinking of starting to teach my son, and maybe a few other kids the game, so I began looking around for alternate versions of the classic 5e Character Sheet that could be used with new players or kid players. I found a few that all seem to have some merit, so let me present my findings and you can decide for yourself. Some small, simplified sheets (not just for kids): The first is this nice simple sheet . The sheet has some color coding. It's a great she
Read more

A Different Keep on the Borderlands - Part 3

-
Image
After defeating the hobgoblins and draconian and securing their location (see part 2 for more details), the party took time to rest and heal from their wounds. With guards stationed on the roof, the night passed without incident. The early morning, however, was not as quiet. From the roof, the lookout could see several hobgoblins coming over to their tower, while a few others left the keep by way of the breach in the back wall. With the hobgoblins making their way over, inside the party made their preparations: * Hunter (the half-elven ranger) and Arterion (the elven mage) took secure positions on the roof with bow and arrow. * Meanwhile, Theodonis (the kender), Greybear (the druid), and Bergin (the minotaur cleric) took positions on the first floor, ready to strike should the tower door fall. From the roof, Hunter was able to kill one of the hobgoblins before they entered the tower. Once inside Theo, Bergin, and Greybear engaged the hobgoblins in melee combat. After a few minutes of
Read more

DM Tools: Graph Paper (The Right Tool for the Right Job)

-
Image
No other component of rpgs, from the earliest versions of Dungeons and Dragons to the latest Pathfinder or 13th Age releases, is more iconic or necessary to the game than The Map. The Map helps new and experienced DMs quickly describe a dungeon, lay out a town, or, in some cases, set up a temporal flowchart of actions and events. And the chief tool for setting any of these up is graph paper. Now graph paper is readily available in office supply stores and most retail stores. At 4 squares per inch, a single 8.5" x 11" sheet of typical graph paper yields 34 x 44 squares, which at 5ft per square (the de facto scale of modern maps) ends up being over 37,000 square feet of area to map. For most maps, this should be more than enough area, but what if you need something else? Maybe you want more area for a larger map, or to detail a major city, or what if you're like me, and you want extra area around the map to add all sorts of notes and legends? Then you might want to ch
Read more