View source for Book 1: On the Making of Heroes and Villains

[[The Story]]<br>

'''Prologue''':  ...Thank you, thank you, lads and ladies, you are too kind.  this magnificent hall has acoustics like the music houses of Csara, and I am honored to be permitted to play my humble harp here.  But I digress...you have made merry all the night long, have laughed and cried at my verse, you have done all the things that befit such a grand festival.  I, however!  I have been remiss!  For on this day, the festival of Camina, it is my solemn duty to sing not only to entertain and to move, but to enlighten, to remember.  Now, at this late hour, I beg of you: stay but a while longer.  You are well kept with food and wine; you are friends now, one and all; you have warmed to the sounds of my simple harp and song; could there be a better state in which to receive the Epic Saga of Daenerys?  Utter but a word, and I will stay my hand, for such great tales deserve better playing than ever I could muster.  No?  You wish me to continue?  Then, for honor of this day, fall silent, gentles, and follow my song back to the last days of the first age, when Amora was young and fresh, full of wonder and free of war; follow it back to that famed island, Caminus; follow it back to Daenerys, then but a girl, a girl at the center of the turning of the ages...

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'''Chapter 1: Death of a Priestess''':
It is the first year of the 99th generation, seen as highly auspicious because the number nine is seen as particularly lucky.  Yet the year has gotten off to a bad start: it is only spring, and one of the priestesses (NOT the high priestess, Daenerys, but one of the six "lower" priestesses) of the forge has fallen ill with the Crimson Fever, an aggressive illness that is highly contagious, and died.  As such, the high attendant, chief of the charcoal-burners, has decreed the temple closed and isolated, lest the illness spread to the populace.  No one goes in, and no one comes out, until the danger has passed.  As yet, no other cases have been found on the island.

Oh, how my fingers tremble, like leaves in a storm, to tell of the sad fate of Daenerys.  You have all heard of the heat of that famed forge:  hotter than molten stone, than dwarven forges, it could melt all but the most powerful magic armor into slag.  In fact, only one thing was ever rumored to breed a hotter flame:  Oryxys, Father Flame, the great red dragon, who in those days feasted on Orcs and Blood Elves all across Amora to his heart's content. <br>
But again, my tale wanders.  Can you not but be moved by the strength of the auspice bond, which pulled such varied companions into that legendary fellowship?  Nor by the magnitude of their challenge?  Even today, who in this room can name from memory the cures for Anaxa's Ichor, the bloodstone poison?  I might, but it is a short list, and all nearly impossible in their acquisition.  And in those days, it was only legend, hearsay, and rumor that described them.  Listen, now, and hear how that brave fellowship, with cunning and wisdom, followed their path to Daenerys' rescue...

'''Chapter 2:  When Knots meet Swords'''
The priestess lies on death's door, enveloped by the legendary Eternal Flame of Caminus.  A villainous poisoner is on the loose, with no evidence to a motive.  Bloodstone poison, says the mysterious jaguar-assassin...but what is the cure?

'''Chapter 3:  Of Rocks and Hard Places, Fires and Frying Pans, and Scylla, and Charybdis. '''

What cost, to sacrifice Dionysius' magnificent, magical bridge, to learn the old crone's secrets!  What horror, to learn that that most holy officer, the High Attendant, was involved with the attempt upon the priestess!  What treachery, that the law might be turned against her only true champions!  And what daring, the night escape of the noble companions, into the untrustworthy hold of the pirate ship, onto the dark, fathomless bossom of the ocean.  <br>
But all these labors were as nothing as they stared into the sky and saw the terrifying descent of Grandfather Flame, a dragon among dragons, engulfed in flame.  For all their courage, their determination, and their love of Daenerys, what could save them from this great calamity?  Listen close, friends, and hear the tale...

'''Chapter 4:  The Lonely Isle '''