An Aesthetic shows you to a small reading room.

Stories of Ansalon from the view of Dartain.

A little gully dwarf runs by and says 'Wordwrap Off 65 80.'
The gully continues 'Eyes hurt? Turn Color OFF!! (regular story dates)

Astinus says 'Enter the main library here to view only the author list.'
Astinus gently places a bluish black leather-bound book on the table in front of you.
You note the spine bears the word 'Dartain' scribed in earth-colored orange ink.

Author:  Dartain
Date    Mon Dec 17 15:01:42 2001


Subject  Looking to tomorrow for vindication



The 2 moons Dartain could see were high in the sky casting bright white light
with tinges of red onto the ground.

The fire was burning low in the height of evening. Lord Dartain Fireblade
sat in front of it with a whetstone  sharpening his blades keenly. His eyes
smoldered it seemed brighter than the burning coals in front of him.

 It was apparent that but one thought was on the High Justice's mind. One
single burning thought that was so prominent

in his mind that it gave his normally good natured seeming face into a
fearsome scowl. He had been in a terrible  mood for a long time now. Ever
since he had heard the terrible news that sent him into mourning as well as
given  him a thirst for blood. Galen Pathwarden was dead. A knight of great
authority and loyalty throughout his career in the knighthood. Dartain had
joined the knighthood at nearly the same time as Galen, they sparred and
trained  together for many years. They were knights alongside one another,
battles and entire wars were fought back to back  on many occasions. They
had both become High Knights and sat on the council together. And now he had
died to the hands of demonic forces used by the Knights Of Takhisis?
Dartain's face had become entirely red and his  sword was now sharp as a
razor and just as keen. They would not get away with killing his nearly
life-long freind.

 There must be Justice for the death of this great knight, and Dartain
would have it. Thoughts of blood flying in an arc from his blade spun round
his head. He has sworn to reclaim the body of Galen Pathwarden to be entombed
 in the High Clerist Tower, and he would have his revenge on those who had
brought him to his demise. They would  be flayed by his blade and die in a
pool of red at his feet. He will not rest untill he has done this. All the
while Dartain thinks about it, he prays to paladine to give him the
strength to seek the justice for his freinds death, and the opportunity.

 Lord Dartain sheaths his blades and stands up, finished with his thoughts
he banishes them by speaking  for the first time in 3 hours saying "Those
bastards are just one sword stroke away from the most painful moment of their
lives."

This having been said he walks back into his tent drawing out his war maps
and planning out his attack, and his vengeance.



Author:  Dartain
Date    Tue Dec 18 21:19:45 2001


Subject  ooc



(That story was meant to be in the mind of dartain, in his own words. The word
revenge in his mind is not in it's conventional meaning, it is in the form of
justice. The exaction of revenge, being the punishment of a wrong doer(s) in a
poetically just manner.

not just running out and kiling someone for hurting you, it is the just due of
a great knight and freind to be avenged in the old ways of honor. It is to be
a fiar thing, not something just relentlessly murerous, dartain is honorbound
to the life of his freind, and will seek his unholy destroyers and exact
mortal justice upon them, so they may be sent to paladine with their souls to
receive divine trial and justice. Just to get help people understand the
stories real meaning as it was done in odd words and manner)



Author:  Dartain
Date    Mon Dec 24 17:27:12 2001


Subject  Justice



With all the changes in the knighthood and the fall of his freind Galen
Pathwarden Dartain Fireblade knows only 2 things. Est Solarus Oth Mithas, and
justice. Revenge meted out with honor and mercy.

The justice of a knight of solamnia. Justice sought ought against not only a
single foe, but an army. This will take far more patience and wisdom than if
it were a single man. A cohesive fighting unit must be made of these militia,
many battles must be carefully planned and won, and along the way Dartain must
be ever watchful that his honor not slip and his justice does not become
simple slaughter. It is now that Dartain addresses his men.

"Loyal men and Knights of solamnia, I thank you for your presence! We are in
our darkest hour and only paladine knows what the legions of takhisis are up
to right now. We must fight not only with our blades, but with faith, courage,
and most of all honor. We, as good and noble men know that it is not the
action nor the victories that make a warrior great, but the manner in wich
these battles are won! We must take our family names and leave them unto our
children with their honor unsullied, and their world protected from evil."
Dartain pauses a moment for cheers from the knights and for the militia to
take in what he is saying. "Many many great men have died already! Died with
honor! We must not let their sacrifices be in vain, we must fight with every
ounce of faith we possess to oust this evil from our lands! My own freind of
decades has fallen, for him and for all of our lost comrades I seek justice! I
shall honor my country by defending it, and I shall honor my fallen comrades
by destroying the evil that took them from us!" Dartains fist slams into a
nearby table hard enough to splinter and crack the wood  "If we are not
victorius then our sons and daughters will be FORCED to worship takhisis! Do
not fool yourselves into thinking that just because these so called knights of
takhisis claim to have honor that they will not execute those who openly
worship the gods of rightousness!" With this many of the men growl deep in
their chests like animals set to protect their young. " We will fight with our
lives, and untill our last breath is gone from our bodies, our blades must
still be swinging! Take them with you! Try to take TWO with your dying
breath!" The men jump to their feet, looking fierce, even the militia looking
as if they have killed 100 knights of takhisis and had grown fond of the
flavor of their blood. "We will -not- lose! Have faith! Paladine shall guide
our swords into the hearts of our enemies, even those that have already died
once! Perhaps if our faith is strong enough, he will bless us with the spirits
of the knighthoods honored dead to cast down the undead our enemy doubtless is
raising." The men look slightly troubled at the mention of undead, but their
blood has been boiled so that it strikes no fear into their hearts. The
reaction Dartain was after. "To those of you who are militia, I offer small
plots of land and even small titles wich will allow you to petition for
knighthood yourselves so that you may then pass the honor you shall prove in
the days ahead, onto your children!" With this a very large portion of the
crowd begins to hoop and hollar.

"I offer this to ANY man who is willing to DIE for this land! Any man that
fights with honor and dignity befitting a knight shall have the opportunity to
BECOME one! I shall soon make signs to be posted everywhere, stating this!"

Dartain pauses a moment and then adds "And remember, to defend this land is
not enough if they all starve due to this war destroying or stealing their
food. So we will give the hungry of the land nourishment as well, I have
provisioned for this and soon I will need you all to help me in executing
this. We shall have our cake and eat it too, so to speak.

And we ourselves will dine upon JUSTICE!



Author:  Dartain
Date    Tue Jul 23 10:01:58 2002


Subject  a cloaked figure in the dark




Deep night falls in the city and a large bodied figure roams the streets,
blending in with the many others lurking the shadows here. If one were to pay
attention to this person in particular they would notice him stopping at every
building, studying everything he sees. They would notice him when he entered
the sewers and began mapping them out. The figure bends down and places
something within the sewers that the citys guards will soon wish they had
seen. Of course the guards could not have done so, this person was calculated
and careful, the shifts and routes of every guard in the city memorized
already. Emerging from the sewers the cloaked man makes his final stop of the
evening at a tall, foreboding temple where items are placed and concealed all
around it's base. His job finished the cloaked man exits the city and walks
deep into the mountains to a massive warhorse. "It is time to go now
buliwyyd." At this the horse ceases to be a horse and becomes a gigantic
silver dragon. "It's about damn time Dartain, what took you so long? You reek
of goblinshit." Lord Dartain only laughs at this, mounts the dragon and flies
for home as quickly as he can, before flights of blues and reds catch their
scent.



Author:  Dartain
Date    Sat Jun 11 17:38:40 2005
Stamp   1118529520
Subject  Noble Families Return pt.2


"How far behind us are the rest of the fleet, Gerard? It's been 2 days since
we docked and they should only have been a day behind us."

Gerard looks up to respond to Dartain with a bit of worry on his face "They
should have already been here sir, and the you know who say they smell
something...."

With a grumble Dartain responds to the haggard seadog of a man named Gerard
"This isn't good, something must have happened.. have the men unload the rest
of the ships holds... except for 2 dragon darts per ballistae, 3 cannonballs
per canon, 2 barrels of greek fire and 2 barrels of gunpowder. Have four of
our friends check north, east, wes,t and south, to see if they can find out
more.. or find more of thier friends."

Gerard nods grimly, and sets about his task.

Dartain turns to another man, a somewhat young man in solamnic armor "Sir
Feltain, go ask about the cities militia.. they may be needed soon, and make
sure the cities ballistae are in working order... Gerard is having dragon
darts unloaded from the ships and our friends sense of smell says we may need
them."

At this point Dartain pulls out a map of the area and begins to study it "I
hope this is nothing, but i'll take no chance... father and grandfather
wouldn't have..."

Meanwhile the rest of the ships...

A haggard sea captain stands at the navigation wheel headed towards kalaman
when a deckhand runs up with bulging eyes "Captain! We have spotted many ships
bearing symbols of Takhisis ahead! And they have Dragons circling above them!
Should we wake the silvers and golds?"

The captain grunts out a response "You fool, that fleet outnumbers us to
badly... we'll have to sit back out of sight so that we don't engage them
untill they are closer to Kalaman where Dartain is in command of the rest of
us... then we might have a fighting chance. I only wish we could get word to
him..."



Author:  Dartain
Date    Sat Jun 11 17:54:42 2005
Stamp   1118530482
Subject  Noble Families Return pt.3


Sir Feltain returns to Dartains side out of breath "The militia isn't
numerous, but they have been training quite a bit it seems, perhaps out of
boredom or because of past attacks.. they seem dubious but are mobilizing at
our request.. and the ballistae are in great condition. Gerard brought up
dragon darts for all of them."

Dartain gives a slight smile before saying "Excellent, make sure the militia
know how to load and fire the dragon darts" Sir Feltain nods before exiting
the room, passing Gerard on the way out. "Gerard, what do you have to report?"

Gerard seemed to be speaking before Dartain even finished "All of the gear but
what you made exceptions is offloaded, and our friends have confirmed it...
they smell chromatics, lots of them. However, it seems paladine shines upon us
as the ones we sent out in cardinal directions came back with wings each."
Dartain nods, seeming to smile and frown at the same time.. an expression
inherited from his grandfather.

"Thank you Gerard, I have been studying the maps and if the kot intend to get
a foothold in Solamnia at kalaman they will likely try to sneak men to shore
well to the sides of the city so that the heavy merchant traffic doesnt spot
them.. an invasion size force would be quite hard to miss. Take the extra
barrels of gunpowder, stuff them with bits of scrap metal.. broken arrowheads
and such and set them along the roads around the city, camoflauge them and
connect them with oil covered rope. "

Gerard nods again, waiting for Dartain to finish "Tell Sir Feltain to send
riders to neighboring lands to gather more militia.. and inform them to
prepare to evacuate the women and children.  I also need you to pick up some
more platinum for the dragon darts, and to paint several riders lances to look
like Dragonlances.... so the enemy won't know the differance. We must be
subtle in all of this, so that the enemy does not know we are aware... keep
our friends where they cannot be smelled."
 
 
At sea
"Captain! We are only a few hours away from Kalaman port!"

The captain turns and says "Of course, have the men prepare.. this won't be
easy. We'll be running skeleton crews on all but the two ships who have gone
ahead and carried men to shore with the extra supplies... they should have
made it there in time to reach kalaman before this goes down... thankfully the
old saying is true, an army moves on its belly."

The deckhand nods, looking a bit pale. "Yes Captain, and when should we soak
the decks?" The captain laughs heartily.. obviously trying to make both the
deckhand and himself feel better. " We will soak the decks and set the
gunpowder soon as both the enemy and kalaman are in sight. Just remember when
I give the word to hit the water swimming back towards the rowboats we'll be
dropping here in a few moments" The deckhand nods, looking as if he might get
sick.



Author:  Dartain
Date    Sat Jun 11 18:07:22 2005
Stamp   1118531242
Subject  Noble Families Return pt.3


Dartain sits staring at a beautiful Vallenwood carved case in front of him. He
reaches down and opens the case with reverance to look at his most prized
posession, a gift of his father as well as Paladine.. a Dragonlance. One of
precious few belonging to this fleet... but this one his HIS... his
grandfather used it and his father used it... and now he will use it one the
back of the very same Dragon the great gold wyrm Buliwyyd.

Sir Feltain enters the room and waits for Dartain to turn around before
speaking "Dartain, the militia is formed into ranks and the surrounding cities
have sent many men, apparently they don't want a repeat of past times here."
Dartain nods with a smile, closing the vallenwood box before him. At this
point, Gerard bursts into the door "Dartain! Our men have arrived, from land!
They say that a massive kot fleet will be here within a few hours!"

Dartain nods, as if he already knew this. "Did they bring the essentials from
thier ships?"

Gerard nods affirmatively, "Yes, and they say that all but the two ships they
used to become landbound are sailing just out of the fleets sight behind them!
They also say that they saw many more rowboats hitting shore from a distance.
They dont believe they were seen by these other people.. they might be kot.."
Dartain nods again and stands "Mobilize the men, load the ballistae... and
saddle the dragons, and make preperations to block the gates closed if we
cannot hold the city. Have the non-militia citizens been prepared for
evacuation with supplies?"

Sir Feltain nods affirmative to this. "Then prepare yourselves men, today we
will do battle with overwhelming odds.. again."



Author:  Dartain
Date    Sat Jun 11 18:19:11 2005
Stamp   1118531951
Subject  Noble Families Return pt.4


Sir Feltain walks into the command room "Dartain, I have spoken with a
dwarf... apparently he knew about the incoming enemy fleet... and has been
digging a path for the citizens to evacuate through quickly."

Dartain gets a look of genuine surprise on his face "That is wonderful, have
them begin evacuating now... with the cities treasury and all the food stores
they can carry... this city may fall but there will be no resources left in it
to plunder."

Sir Feltain nods at this "All is in readiness sir, and our dragons say they
cannot smell the chromatics where they are... which suggests that the clerics
have succeeded in keeping the chromatics from smelling them as well."

Dartain seems pleased as he rises and walks to where Buliwyyd awaits him,
holding the carved vallenwood box.

"We may likely lose this city today, but the kot will pay for it.. we will
blunt thier edge."



Author:  Dartain
Thu Sep 22 01:26:44 2005
Subject  The Hunters



Before me stood many gathered people, we had been training in secret for
months.  Such a varied assortment of people here.  Virtually every race was
represented.  Many different proffesions as well,
warriors-scouts-mages-priests.  Our organization hunts evil in all of it's
forms, mainly the militant knights of takhisis simply because they are the
most proliferant and the currently most active.  However, research has been
done in the library of palanthas..  By searching out the survivors of
supernatural beast attacks and myths to find the weaknesses of evil
creatures as well as the way to track them.  As I sought out information on
supernatural evil I found many of the surviving slayers and in some cases
their children joined me in my mission.  I am quite amazed as to the true
extent of races present.  There were even some GNOMES here!  They had
produced many valuable accoutrements to the cause, of course they were
generally meant for a differant purpose but once use is found use is made. 
We train vigorously and keep our identities as secret as possible.  Many
precautions are taken, a measure of armor covers nearly all of our bodies.. 
Especially considering the amount of encountered undead.  Likely only
exceeded in numbers by the knights of takhisis, undead are a main target of
The Hunters and many of them have attacks which require only the
breaking of flesh.  Our numbers are now in the low thousands, not an
extensive number when compared to militant organizations like the solamnic
knighthood or the knights of takhisis, but we are well trained and potent. 
Skills from all walks of life are observed, enchanted items of mages, prayer
beads from clerics, the combat skills of warriors, stealth from scouts
rangers and thieves, hand to hand skills of monks.  Each have their
specialty yet all learn as much as possible from others.  We cannot afford
to ignore any form of talent, as we know that evil takes many many forms and
has it's own talents.  One of our most succesful tactics so far was taking
heed of the age old adage "Evil turns upon itself" We have discovered most
types of evil have natural enemies who are also evil, most suspicious of
whatever evil is currently the strongest such as the knights of takhisis. 
We know the kind of things each form of evil leaves behind and after
surgical strikes upon one form we leave the trappings of it's counterpart
and thus evil turns upon itself and does much of our work for us.  Yes, I am
proud of those who have gathered around me...  We might do MUCH, far more
aggressive and accepting than the solamnic knighthood we fill a neccesary
void.  I remain loyal to my Solamnic brethren and shall never betray them or
my families honor..  Though only those Solamnics who are of The Hunters
know that I have joined them.  Knowledge and secrecy are our weapons, and we
shall bring the age of despair out of darkness!

The Storytellers of Ansalon, The DragonLance MUD

Astinus points to the massive wall of books behind him and bids you to make a selection.

Authors: All|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M|N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z
Astinus sighs as he recants 'We saved 868 books from Ansalon from before the great Cataclysm through today.'