A lone hawk. Installment II

[Danthalas]

Greetings friends! It has been some time since I have been among you. I will be catching up some in the next couple of days as well as reading the newest submissions in this forum. I haven't had much time to keep up or write lately but did manage to finish this short installment as a sequel to my original story. BTW thanks for the comments Tcubed and Cram. ;) I will be adding more at a later date but am currently unsure as to how my character will get himself out of his current predicament. Perhaps some suggestions would be helpful. Nothing magical or with weapons. Bear in mind, my character currently possesses no weapons and not being from this world has no knowledge of its magic. Enjoy!


Towering pines swayed gently in the early afternoon breeze as dark storm clouds appeared on the horizon. A great stag raised his head sharply when a tremendous shadow fell across the ground in front of it. Two glistening yellow eyes scanned the woods far below as a colossal dragon glided silently over the vast forest. The dragon’s eyes passed over the stag with disinterest as it fled in instinctive horror. Though Amethyst did feel a slight rumbling of hunger in her great belly, she had more important matters to attend to at this particular moment.
Slumbering peacefully upon her shimmering bed of collected treasures far below the surface in her self made caverns, she had been rudely awakened by a great magical disturbance. This unexpected event puzzled the great dragon for there were few events that occurred in the lands she ruled that she was not completely aware of. Shifting her massive bulk and walking to the surface, Amethyst spread her impressive wingspan and vaulted into the sky to investigate this strange occurrence.
A look of intense irritation was evident on the dragons face as she flew over an open field where one of her mana fountains stood. A strange scent floated in the air here. A scent that she could not quite place but was decidedly the smell of a human-like creature though somehow unlike any she had before encountered. Her sharp eyes scanned the empty field and the treeline beyond, as her annoyance grew at an alarming rate.

Danthalas had been walking for what seemed like weeks having no idea where he was going or where he should be going. The vast sea of trees seemed endless and though he had traveled a great distance, the half-elf still felt no signs of weariness. He had, however, determined that he was, indeed, not dead as a large tree branch was blown from atop a tall oak striking him squarely on the top of the head. The pain was quite real and seemed rather unlikely for a person who was no longer among the living. With that, he also determined that he would soon be in need of food, water, and from the looks of the ever-darkening clouds in the sky, some shelter.
Reaching the base of a large hill, Danthalas said a quick prayer to whatever gods might be interested and began climbing with the hope that upon reaching the top, some sign of civilization would become apparent. Half way to the peak he began feeling the first signs of fatigue he had experienced since he had awoken back at the mysterious fountain. Dropping to one knee he regained his breath as the first drops of rain began falling. Cursing his luck, Danthalas longed for a cloak with a hood to shield him from the rain. After all, he had just recently began to dry out from his last shower from the fountain and getting re-drenched now would only make climbing this damned hill that much more difficult and tiring. As if to darken the mood of the situation, a quiet rumbling of thunder quaked in the distance.
Even as he regained his breath, Danthalas wondered that his heart seemed to be beating in his head even harder. Louder and louder the sound came until he eerily realized that it was not his heart that was incessantly beating with increasing volume. Lightning flashed brilliantly as he scrutinized the woods behind and below him and then a thunderous boom crashed, shaking the ground fiercely. Seeing nothing, Danthalas regained his feet and turned to resume his course up the hill but stopped dead in his tracks. All color drained from his face as he looked ahead and realized that it was not the crashing of thunder that had so violently shaken the ground. The reality was far worse. A massive bluish red hued dragon had descended with the fulmination of thunder shaking the ground with its arrival. Its piercing yellow eyes fixated on the trivial half-elf…

[IronMonk]

*applauds* your story is great, i have a question, are you evil in nature, or you just dark alignment, becaseu if your dark neutral then it may be possible to tie you into my story, as a secondayr charactor. like RaFF i am hopeing to insert many people from the forums into the story. i would like ot know what you think of the offer.

[Danthalas]

My thanks Iron. To answer your question, my character would probably be more inherently good than evil. However, since Danthalas is not from the DnL world he will not have a predetermined alignment. He is more of a lost soul at this time. I apologize if this will not tie well with your own story. I am flattered by the offer and very intrigued with the idea of intertwining many of the stories found in this forum. If you cannot use my character, then perhaps I can cameo you and some of the others in my story. With permission, of course. ;) At any rate I appreciate the compliment.

[Edited on 19/3/2003 by Danthalas]

[Danthalas]

This will be the third installment. I am trying to place them in small increments to make it more easily digested by the reader. I am hoping to get a bit more feedback from these posts to guage its appeal to this audience. Please feel free to critique these posts. I do not want to continue posting if there is no demand for the story. Enjoy!

A paralyzing fear gripped the halfling rendering him unable to make even the slightest of moves. Danthalas had fought both against and along side of many dragons but had never before seen one quite like this. Easily the size of several large houses it could easily have swallowed the half-elf whole without bothering to chew. It was an almost purple color and its scales gave off a sort of iridescence that was amplified when the lightning lit the sky. Huge yellow talons tore at the ground beneath the leviathan as it calmly took measure of the insignificant man-elf.
“ I do not know how you came to enter my realm without my knowledge, puny wretch, but you are mistaken in thinking that I will allow you to steal mana from my fountain and escape with your life! “ The dragon spoke in a raspy but powerful voice that boomed louder than the thunder of the mightiest of storms. “ You must be a powerful wizard indeed to have accomplished such a task, but rest assured that your talents could never aspire to defeat one such as I. “ “ I would think that with your abilities you might wish to summon a more elegant wardrobe before meeting your demise, foolish halfling. “
Danthalas realized he must look more foolish than the most ridiculous court jester in his tattered shirt and leggings. Summoning all the courage he could muster he managed to mutter only a few simple words that he was certain would be his last. “ You are mistaken, your highness. I am no mage. “
Curiosity obliged the dragon to humor the pathetic creature for a few moments more if only to justify leaving her peaceful slumber and flying all this way to find him. “ Then it would be wise to reveal to me how you came to be in my province and your interest in my fountain, toad. “
Recovering slightly from the dragon fear Danthalas again found his tongue. “ I fear that I cannot give you the answers you seek, great one. “ He swallowed hard. “ I can tell you only that I do not know where “ here “ is, and that it is by virtue of a miscast spell by another that I am alive at all. As to your fountain, I have little knowledge of it and even less interest. As I said, I am no wizard. “ Danthalas drew a deep breath shakily released it.
The dragon pondered these words for a moment, considering the possibility that upon last nights convergence of the two moons, when magic was at a heightened state of existence, that perhaps a miscast spell could have resulted in just such a manner. Not that it mattered really. This was just an unfortunate being that was about to become even more unfortunate. Amethyst would not remotely entertain the notion of releasing this puny halfling. She could not have him running back to wherever he was from boasting that he traversed her lands freely. She envisioned no end to the visitors she would have if she allowed such a travesty. No, indeed she would smite this worthless vagabond. Perhaps crush him beneath her taloned feet or magically dismember him. She could, of course, devour him but the thought was quickly dismissed. She had no taste for elven blood even if it was watered down. “ Then you are useless in more ways than one. Prepare yourself for death, worm! “
Danthalas had not been entirely honest with the dragon. He was no wizard, indeed, but he was not exactly a stranger to the ways of magic either. Having a mother who was considered quite powerful in her day could not help but rub off to some degree. As the dragon fear ebbed, Danthalas quickly called to mind the words of a spell. Not that it would do much good against such an opponent but he could not be expected to just roll over and die without so much as, at the very least, a hearty curse.
The dragon charged down the hill towards the half-elf shaking the very foundations of the earth intending to quickly dispatch this contemptible slug and return to her warm lair to resume her slumber. She had decided that a spell would be a pointless waste of precious mana and instead chose to crush the life from him and be done with it. She almost burst into a melee of laughter as the pitiful halfling held forth his hands and began chanting in a foreign language.
Danthalas recalled the words to a simple spell that required no components only articulate motions with fingers and wrists. The most he could hope for was to buy time but even as he spoke the words he braced himself for a horrific death.

[IronMonk]

I am very exited that you are predominatly good, you wil fit the role of the charactor in mind perfectly! as to your story i am now quite worried that mine own isnt good enough. you are quite talented, once again though you could describe things about the dragon a little better as in

the dragon swished her tail with impatiance as the foolish little halfman tried to bargen for his life,

somethign like tht could be inserted between dialogs, but that is found only if you are looking to find somehting to improve. i can already see that our stories will both end up beign very good. i assure you the contest is starting to look like it will be very very good indeed.

[Danthalas]

I greatly appreciate the input, IM. After careful reinspection of one particular paragraph, I can see exactly what you are referring to. I think your own story is plenty good enough. I'm enjoying it as it moves along. The whole " from the moon " thing is an awesome twist. I'm kinda curious as to the back story on that issue. Maybe when you have time for a spin off you can address that. I hadn't actually thought much about entering the contest but perhaps I will. Oh yes, I wanted to address " the dark " portion of my characters name. It is meant mainly as a personality description and will depict more how people of the DnL world see him than how he actually is. And, if you will recall, he now has darkened skin around his eyes in the shape of a mask as a result of the miscast spell and the convergence of the two moons. I should have made mention of it I suppose in his most recent encounter. I hope this helped to clarify. Anyway, since you seem to be my only audience, here is my fourth short installment. Enjoy! hehe ;)

As he finished the words of the spell, Danthalas realized that something was horribly wrong. There was no fevered rush of magic in his blood that always accompanied the casting of a spell. He could not feel the magic around him or the fiery tingle in his veins. Opening his eyes he watched helplessly as the dragon raised its magnificent claw preparing to skewer him on one of her razor sharp talons.
It was then that a dazzling flash of light blinded Danthalas as three bolts of lightning struck him from directly overhead. Or perhaps it should be said that they should have struck him. Instead they formed a sort of pink tinged, semi-transparent bubble around him for a moment only as the bolts were collected before releasing one massive shard of energy directly at the dragon’s head.
Amethyst howled in immense pain as the shard of brilliant light found its mark striking her directly in, and forever blinding, one of her yellow eyes. Danthalas stood dumbfounded momentarily staring at the shrieking dragon and at his own hands. He had attempted to recite the words to a simple vanishing spell, hoping to give the appearance that he had teleported away. A spell that would not last very long but was intended to give him at least an opportunity to escape the charge and hide.
Not realizing the severity of the situation, Danthalas remained in front of the dragon slowly backpedaling still enthralled by the unbelievable impact of his magic. As the dragon writhed in agony, Danthalas came to his senses only when from somewhere above him he heard a desperate voice shout. “ RUN YOU FOOL!!! “
Shaken from his daze, Danthalas ran in a mad dash abreast the hillside as the still blinded dragon arched her neck and opening her great jaws released a bolt of what appeared to be pure energy. It struck the ground a good ways behind the half-elf but then spiderwebbed out arcing up and back down as it danced along the surface. Trees caught in the blast area instantly burst into flames.
Danthalas hurled himself over an embankment just as the spell reached where he was standing. Landing hard, his arm struck a jagged rock cutting him deeply as he continued to roll to the bottom of a small ravine. Biting back the pain in his arm and now throughout his body, he quickly regained his feet and began following the ravine up the hill to the top and fell breathless at the summit as the purple monsters tirade of rage continued below him. Finding a small outcropping of rock, Danthalas crawled into a small alcove underneath as far as he could go and huddled himself into a ball. The rain came down in sheets as lightning flashed and thunder resounded heavily in the air seemingly reflecting the dragon’s blind fury. He hoped above all hope that the storm would sufficiently conceal him from the dragon as he tore a strip from his shirt to wrap the gaping wound of his left arm. “ Praise be to Paladine!” he muttered as he lay wondering at the might of the spell he didn’t know he knew and the mysterious voice that roused him from his dazed disbelief…



[Edited on 19/3/2003 by Danthalas]

[Danthalas]

This will be my 5th and final installment until more is learned about the history of the DnL world itself. A map would help tremendously. ;) I hope to be able to intertwine many of the other stories in this forum in some way but it will have to come a bit later when I can insert a more accurate answer to the question at the end of this installment. Enjoy!


A low rumbling roused Danthalas from his slumber. A sleep filled with nightmarish visions of a giant mauve dragon breathing shards of pure energy and horrible shrieks of infuriated agony. The storm had, it seemed, effectively masked his escape. The dragon had in her fierce anger, decimated a large portion of the forest in the valley below but could no longer see or smell the half-elf due to the storm. Eventually, Amethyst had convinced herself that she had wasted enough of her mana and, most likely, had reduced the wretched halfling to cinders in her barrage. Cursing the tormenting pain in her head, she had returned to her cavernous dwelling to tend to her wounds and recharge her mana.
Wiping the sleep from his eyes, Danthalas stiffly climbed from his hiding place beneath the small outcrop of rock. He had assumed the rumbling sound he heard was that of his own stomach signaling a growing need for nourishment. Again, in his drowsy state, he had been mistaken about the sounds of his own body. As he reached the opening of the small alcove he, once again, found himself staring into fierce yellow eyes. However, this time, the eyes did not belong to a massive dragon but, instead, to a large, intimidating wolf.
Quietly growling at him, the wolf did not attack but stood defiantly staring at the dazed half-elf. “ He doesn’t seem to like you. “ came a voice so suddenly and unexpectedly that Danthalas, frozen until that moment, jerked violently upwards, striking his head sharply on the rock overhead.
“ Damn!” he cursed grabbing his head as he looked up to see a gray robed man clutching a twisted wooden staff standing a few feet behind the formidable wolf. He appeared to be human of considerable years judging by the weathered face and long flowing beard. His robes were simple and undecorated save for a thin rope belt from which hung several pouches. His hood was drawn up shadowing his features but these shadows only seemed to accentuate the piercing blue eyes that fixated on Danthalas with light-hearted amusement.
“ Fear not, my ragged friend. Cobalt will not harm you. I assure you that he is well fed and even better behaved in my presence. “ He gestured for Danthalas to come out of his hole. “ You had quite the adventure last evening, yes? “ The robed man chuckled slightly. “ We wondered if you ever planned on coming out of that hole. “
“ Forgive me, good sir. I am at a loss. “ Danthalas started. “ I assume you refer to my unfortunate meeting with that rather large dragon? “ He dusted himself off as he spoke but tried to maintain an air of politeness.
“ There is nothing to forgive, young man, and I do, indeed, refer to that particular occurrence. However, I think the misfortune of that meeting belonged to Amethyst. That is her name, you know. “ The gray robe handed Danthalas a bulging water skin which he graciously accepted with a nod of appreciation and drank deeply from it.
Wiping his mouth with a tattered sleeve Danthalas spoke in a matter of fact tone. “ I actually, did not know that. Even more unknown to me is how I managed to cast that magnificent spell and escape with my life. “
The man laughed raucously throwing his head back and holding his waist. Danthalas stared questioningly at him until his mirth had calmed enough so that he could, once again, speak. “ Now you must forgive me, half-elf. I do not mean to mock you. “ Wiping a tear from his eye and returning his water skin to his shoulder he explained. “ It was I that cast the spell that liberated you from certain death my good man. “
Danthalas felt his face flush with realized embarrasement. “ Then it was your voice that I heard? “
“ Indeed! “ The man exclaimed.
Straightening himself and attempting to have some semblance of dignity, Danthalas spoke in the most serious tone he could muster. “ Then I am in your debt, master wizard. You have my most sincere thanks. “
The man waved the words off. “ Bah! You owe me nothing! I am only too pleased to thwart the plans and actions of that great bitch. “ Then raising his eyebrows, he continued, “ Master wizard, eh? I hardly think that appropriate but I will surely entertain the notion. “ The mage cleared his throat. “ Now then! Shall we continue calling each other ‘master wizard’ and ‘ half-elf’ or do you have a name that would be more to your liking? “
“ I am Danthalas. “ He bowed slightly.
The mage returned the gesture. “ And I am Voltavius Spellbinder. “ he motioned to the wolf now sitting at his side. “ And this magnificent creature is Cobalt. “ The wolf made no movement but eyed the half-elf with an unreadable stare. “ Don’t worry. He’ll come around in an hour or two, heh heh. “ Voltavius stroked Cobalt’s head reassuringly. “ Now then, I suppose it is quite obvious that you are no mage, “ he grinned widely. “ And I would assume by the strange tattoo you favor around your eyes that your were a mariner. They seem to delight in painting their bodies in such a manner. But, if that were the case, you are far from your chosen profession here. Perhaps you could enlighten me a bit more as to what you are and why you are here? “
Taking a seat on a large stone, Voltavius awaited the answer with an expectant look. “ Well, to be perfectly honest, I cannot answer why I am here.” Danthalas began. “ As I told the dragon, it was, at best guess, a miscast transport spell that placed me at the base of her fountain. I am, by trade, a soldier for the Solamnic knights. “
“ Ahhhh, so you are a knight then? “ Voltavius nodded.
“ Not exactly. “ Danthalas replied. “ I could not be inducted into the ranks of knighthood due to my mixed heritage. In addition, I do not believe as the Solamnics do in all aspects. I am an honorary knight mainly because my father was one. “ Danthalas sat down on a fallen tree opposite the wizard. “ As to my new facial decoration, your guess is as good as mine. It was simply there when I awoke by the fountain. “
Voltavius sat in quiet thought for a few moments his brow furrowed in a worried look. Then dismissing his thoughts he returned to reality. “ Solamnic knights you say? Hmmmm, never heard of them. “ I should think that… “
Volatavius was interrupted by a flurry of commotion as a large flock of birds suddenly sprung from the forest below. “ I think it would be best if we took our leave and headed for safer grounds. Word travels quickly by way of the creatures of the forest. Amethyst is most likely returning to see that you did not escape her wrath. I fear I may have done you more harm than good, my friend. To be an enemy of Amethyst is not promising and I would surmise that you attained that status for life. “
The two quickly rose from there seats. Danthalas shuddered as he looked back down the hill where the dragon’s magic had been unleashed and followed the wizard down the opposite side of the mountain.
As Danthalas walked, he was surprised to see the old mage keep an unusually rapid pace. The wolf had disappeared into the rocks and scraggly brush ahead, undoubtedly scouting ahead for his master.
Danthalas stopped suddenly as a long overdue question sprung to mind. “ Master wizard? “ Voltavius acknowledged loudly but did not falter in his stride. “ Yes, my boy! “ Danthalas, falling behind, resumed his course. “ Where, exactly, am I??? “

[IronMonk]

that is some very beautifull work. hopefully throughout this game we will have many chances to compare our stories whithin contests. i have a question though, why is it that you are called danthalas the dark, are you good but of the dark alignment? i think it would be really cool if we could have the chance to wright portions of the dnl storyline i think that it would be a major help because the current mythology is rather lacking.

[IronMonk]

ok

[~Ice~]

nice story

[Catz]

Ello Danthalas could u plz send ur story to my email, then I will put it up when I launch the 3rd version of my site :) that I am in the process of making ty :)