Dragonlance D&D Game Blog

The Test This issue starts off with Myrella wandering around the ruins of Neraka, specifically the Temple of Takhisis. She's not sure how she got there, but she soon hears the cry of someone trapped under some rubble. Poking around she uncovers the dark elf Kalthanan. As Myrella questions Kal, they are suddenly attacked by a pair of magic wielding draconians and then confronted by another draconian who reveals himself to be the red mage Az-araz-ar. Az then attacks Myrella and Kal destroys the red robe mage. Meanwhile in another dimension, Par-Salian and Ladonna discusses with Riverwind and Goldmoon what's going on. It's revealed that they were searching for "the lost tower of high sorcery" to retrieve it's ancient magics for all wizards. In finding the tower, they also found that the spirit of the renegade black robe wizard named Spyranus was within the tower. Also, it's revealed that they have unwittingly shown Spyranus the way back to Krynn. It's als...

Through the Eyes of Time This issue starts off with Myrella, Riverwind and Goldmoon on horseback discussing Raistlin. While Myrella sees the archmage as the personification of evil, while Goldmoon attempts to show the tragic side of Raistlin. Through her recounting of Raistlin's life, Goldmoon even draws parallels between the black robe mage and Myrella. Meanwhile, on some other plane of existence, Par-Salian is in restraints while being confronted by the spirit of a dead mage, bound to a lost tower of high sorcery. Back on Krynn, the three continue their discussion until they hear what seems to be the sound of a person crying out for help. Myrella recklessly rushes toward the sound only to be attacked by a pack of keches, which are handily defeat by the three travelers. Afterward, Goldmoon chides Myrella for her recklessness and warns that magic abilities only amplify flaws if the mage doesn't confront them. Once again, she compares Myrella to Raistlin, and they own quests for...

Blood Brothers This issue starts off with Tanis and Bas-Ohn Horak getting ready to fight Maquesta and Bas-Ohn Koraf in the arena. As we know from issue 11 , Maquesta and Koraf are the current champions of the games, and the medallions they wear are actually ancient magic items that the cleric Loralon is seeking. During the fight, Tanis and Maquesta face off, while the two minotaur brothers fight each other, while the sea turtles watch the games from a glass dome and the ghosts of the citizens of ancient Istar watch from the stands they filled centuries ago. Elsewhere, Loralon and the sea elf begin working on their part of the plan, by opening a crack in the wall that starts to floor the city. During the fight we learn that Maquesta blames Tanis for her ending up in Istar, and doesn't offer any mercy to her former friend. As the battle continues, Tanis disables and kills her. Meanwhile, the two minotaurs fight with Horak choking Koraf with the chain from the champion medallion he we...

Cataclysm! Once again, we pick up right after the end of the last issue. We see Tanis roughing up Loralon and trying to learn the elven cleric's plan. It seems Loralon was in Istar at the time of the Cataclysm (a fact that surprises Tanis) and is now trying to retrieve powerful artifacts lost during that fateful time. Tanis, who's always been skeptical of the gods, sees little value in Loralon's quest. To help convince Tanis, Loralon takes the ranger into his memories to see what actually happenend all those years ago... Elsewhere, we see Maquesta and Bas-ohn Koraf practicing and the minotaur proclaiming that nothing, including his brother, would stand in his way of winning their freedom. Meanwhile, Tanis and the "elf-of-cataclysm-past" continue there look back at the events leading up the the destruction of Istar, including the hubris of the kingpriest. Back in the present, a female sea elf (with an outfit straight out of a Fredrick's of Hollywood catalog) is...

Arena At the end of the last issue , the boat Tanis, and party were on was caught the the maelstrom known as The Blood Sea of Istar . This issue starts with Loralon saving Tanis and Bas-ohn Horak (head of the minotaur delegation) from drowning with the aid of a magical air bubble. The three are under attack from a large sea creature just outside the ruins of Istar. As the air bubble pops, Tanis and the minotaur find themselves inside ancient building; Loralon, nowhere to be found. The two are attacked and captured by the people still alive in the underwater city. Meanwhile Kitiara and Lord Soth look out at the ocean and wonder if the half-elf is still alive. They also discuss their plans for attack should the minotaurs form an alliance with the Solomnic knights. Back underground, Bas-ohn and Tanis escape from their cell and encounter a pair of giant fire beetles before being recaptured. They are give armor and weapons and forced to fight in a gladiatorial arena for the amusement of dra...

Blood Tide This issue starts sometime after the end of the War of the Lance (as seen in issue 8 ). Riva Silvercrown (last seen in issue 4 ), now a knight of Solomnia, is riding a dragon and almost gets into an airborne fight with a dragonarmy officer. Both are quickly stopped when Highlord Kitiara arrives on the scene. It turns out Riva and Kit are part of separate delegations, each seeking to form an alliance with the minotaur nation. Later, minotaur delegates are talking with Tanis, Riva, and a mysterious black-robed person. Kit interrupts and begins to present reasons to ally with her dragonarmy. The war-minded minotaurs seem to agree more with her reasoning than that of Tanis. In an effort to turn the delegates toward their thinking, the robed figures, revealed to be an elven cleric of Paladine, offers the head minotaur a special offer; the chance to journey to the location where his brother died to pay a proper last respect. Since this is a big deal in minotaur society, the delega...

City of Death This last issue of the Raistlin's Pawn arc picks up a moment after the end of the last issue . Kalathan is lying on the ground in pain and while Myrella and Gnatch are trying to help him, Raistlin is walking away unconcerned for the dark elf. Kalathan recovers and explains the dark mage's actions of hiding his thoughts of betraying the goddess Takhisis for a time within Kalathan, and compelling the elf to be in Neraka in time for Raistlin to "remember" and enact his plan. Elsewhere, Raistlin, Caramon, and Berem are in a chamber under the temple. Raistlin keeps his brother at bay while Berem, in an attempt to free his imprisoned sister, impales himself on the foundation stone--the gateway Takhisis uses to enter the world. Berem's actions cause the temple structure to weaken and begin to collapse. Everyone makes it out of the temple safely. Once outside, Kalathan confronts Raistlin and learns a dark secret. The dark mage reveals that Kalathan is actual...

City of Death This issue opens with a beautiful splash page of Takhisis talking with Raistlin. She mentions that she would know at once if he was plotting to betray her. As he reaffirms his loyality to the goddess, we see Kalathan in the middle of another one of his "posessions" and fighting with the gnome and Myrella until he regains his senses. The three are just outside of Neraka and can see the twisted temple and two flying citadels in the center of town. As they make their way closer, the run across and fight a patrol of baaz draconians. Myrella realizes that Kalathan is being drawn to this city and uses a detect magic spell to reveal that the dark elf is under some enchantment. Using a tunnel to sneak into the city, the party fights a purple worm before exiting just outside the temple. As they sneak inside, they come to the main audience chamber and see Raistlin. In the center of the huge room, a half-elf and another warrior fighting over a crown. Just then, the trumpe...

Wayfarers This issue opens with Gnatch and Kalathan journeying on foot (having given up the horse they were riding in the previous issue )to the city of Kalaman when they come across the dead bodies, scattered weapons and other tell-tale signs of battle. While looking over the scene, they are confronted and fight the river pirates responsible of the carnage. The elf puts up a good fight, but is overwhelmed in the end. Before he is killed, a wave of arrows wash over the area, killing the pirates, but not Gnatch and Kalathan. The soldiers responsible for the rescue (and those the river pirates previously killed) turn out to be part of the Dragonarmy. The dark elf joins their group and "kills" Gnatch by throwing him in the nearby river as a test of his ruthlessness. As they leave, Gnatch comes out with the help of a female river pirate who survived the arrow assault. Together the woman and the gnome head to Kalaman. Meanwhile, in the city of Kalaman, Raistlin prepares to leave a...

Night Flight The story starts off with a Qualinesti elf trying to tame a griffon. Afterward he follows a group of silver dragons heading for the city of Palathas. Before making it to the city, the elf is magically grabbed off the griffon and brought down in the forrest outside the city. There he encounters a mysterious gold skinned black robed mage who seems to know a lot about Kalthanan. In addition to his name, the mage also knows that the elf is an outcast, or dark elf, from Qualanesti society. The mage also uses magic to hide his "own dark thoughts" within the anger that Kalathan feels toward the elven society that exiled him. Afterward, the mage has no memory of what happened and warns the elf to never "cross the path of Raislin Majere again". As the mage walks away, Kalthan lies in pain as he hears a voice in his head saying, "follow him". Sometime later (probably the next day), Gnatch, a gnome, is unvieling a device for Lord Amothus (the ruler of Pa...

My Honor Is My Life The story picks up shortly after the events of issue 3 . Kitiara, top her dragon Skie, is leading her army, along with an unmounted red dragon, toward Castle Silvercrown. Inside, Riva and Vandar are talking with Fizban, without getting much information out of the old wizard. Riva leaves, with the dragonlance that was recovered from the monestary of Majere in issue 1 , to join up with the castle knights. She tries to bolster their spirits before the attack, but is quickly dismissed since she's a woman. Meanwhile as Vandar and Fizban talk, the young boy, Tip, appears, happy the old wizard is still alive. As Vandar leaves to meditate on his own, Fizban questions weither or not Angriff really died the way Vandar remembered it (as seen in issue 3). Outside, as the battle rages, Riva single-handedly kills the red dragon. This event turns the tied of the battle and instills the knights with renewed vigor. Just then, Kit arrives and launchs her attack on Riva. Back insi...

Continuing my review of DC's Dragonlance comics series. Nightwatch The issue starts at night in Riva's bedroom at Castle Silvercrown. As Riva and Vandar kiss, Vandar is revealed to be a draconian. Riva quickly kills the creature before setting off to find the real Vandar in the castle. She encounters her father and brother (who was revealed last issue to have been killed several months earlier by a Sivak draconian) tethered to strings like puppets trying to stop her. After Riva cuts the strings that control them, the two crumple to the floor. Elsewhere in the castle, she finds Vandar chained and tortured by a hobgoblin. She quickly kills the creature and frees the monk. As they talk, it appears Vandar is trapped in the same dream as Riva. While taking a break to rest, Riva hears Vandar talking, but then sees that he's talking to his brother Angriff (Sturm's father). As the scene plays out, Riva sees the two argue about how to deal with the angry mob outside the castl...

Continuing my review of DC's Dragonlance comics series. Rites of Passage The issue starts with Riva and Vandar looking at the dragonlance they recovered in the first issue . Riva claims Vandar should carry it, or at least one of the other weapons they have, but Vandar's pacifist beliefs don't allow it. That night he notices that the constellations of the Queen of Darkness (Takhisis) and the Valiant Warrior (Paladine) do not appear in the sky. He believes that the two gods are on Krynn and no one will survive their battle. As Riva tries to comfort him, we see her attraction to Vandar while he seems to brood on a past betrayal. Note: The sight of the missing constellations ties in to a similar scene in Dragons of Autumn Twilight. In the middle of the night, Riva is alone in a dense, thorny forest, where she confronts Lord Soth. As she tries to use her dragonlance against him, he easily disarms her with magic. Just then, Riva wakes up from her dream to find herself being atta...

After my recent post about the history of Dragonlance comics , I've been itching to go back an re-read those issues. So here is the a synopsis and review of the first issue. Issue#1: Fire & Ice On his way to Solace, Sturm Brightblade comes across a female warrior in need of help fighting off a band of hobgoblins. Sturm comes to her aid and then carries her to a nearby monastery. At the door steps of the monastery (of Majere), Sturm passes out. When he awakens, Sturm prepares to leave and resume his journey to Solace, first getting his sword that a monk stored in a nearby shed (their order does not allow weapons on their living premises). After Sturm leaves, Riva finds out that the monk who had been attending them is Vandar Brightblade, Sturm's uncle who was once a knight, but abandoned the knighthood for the monastery. The action then cuts to Lord Soth, who is obviously in Dargaard Keep with a dragon highlord, revealed to be Kitiara. The two are in the middle of some plan ...