An Aesthetic shows you to a small reading room.

Stories of Ansalon from the view of Doraz.

A little gully dwarf runs by and says 'Wordwrap Off 65 80.'
The gully continues 'Want color back? Turn Color Back ON!!

Astinus says 'Enter the main library here to view only the author list.'
Astinus gently places a journal on the table in front of you.
You note the spine bears the word 'Doraz' scribed in rich green ink.

Author:    Doraz          
Date:      Mon Sep 25 05:04:52 2017
Subject     Chained Beast

I woke in chains. The room was dark and small. I could make out three
others besides myself. As the room came into focus and I shooke off the haze
comes with waking I could see that they were not alive.

I grunted and strained against the chains to no avail. I heard voices
outside the door. The voices mocked us (me and three corpses). I heard
smatters of the conversation, "great seafarers", "honorable", and "quite the
warriors". The words were spat with disdain.

They were right about one thing, even if they meant it as an insult. The
Mithan navy didn't knwo it's equal on Krynn. We were excellent seafarers.
There's no squall or rough water that would force us to crash. Something
else must have happened.

While the waters were rough, we navigated well. My mind was a blank. I had
no idea what happened. Looking around the room I realized it didn't much
matter. The door opened and voics I had heard outside continued their
jeering.This time it was just a little closer and a little more persomal.

"The smell of dead cow. I'll never get usde to it." The one guard laughed as
he said this and the other feigned vomitting. "Ah. But it looks like we've
got a live one. He must be the best sailor of all." Again, the guard laughed
with disdain. I was poked hard with the butt of a spear. "Well, at least
we'll have one to sell. It's better than nothing."

The second man grabbed me by the chin and pulled my head up to meet his
gaze. I leaned forward but could not reach him. He started hard at me. "Well
at least you're a big one. That's for sure." The world went black as his
club came down on my head.

*** I came to still in chains, but now I was moving. I was in some sort of
wheeled cage. There was another in the cage with me. This time it was a
human.

"You're awake. Marvellous." His voice grated on me and my head pounded.
"They were cautious with you. I think they may have even drugged you after
they knocked you out. I can see why. You're quite large." He continued,
"But, what happened there?" He reached out to grab my horn. My head came
forwad instinctively to headbutt him and he backed away.

He wasn't even chained. He had a pained look on his face as though he knew
he had insulted me. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it. It's just that
your horn..." I stared daggers back at him. I would not be able to contain
my fury. "It looks recent. It wasn't always that way. Was it?"

(To be continued...) 

Author:    Doraz          
Date:      Mon Sep 25 07:37:09 2017
Subject     Chained Beast (Pt. 2)

The human looked terrified. Rightfully so. If my hands weren't chained I
have dashed him against the side of the cage until his own mother couldn't
recognize him. As it stood, I could do nothing. The rage vanished and was
replaced by a feeling that's hard to describe. It was a realization of who I
now was - without my comrade's, dishonored by these humans, and now they had
taken a piece of myself that should never be allowed.

The man saw my furt abate and when he spoke next there was true concern in
his voice. "It's not right what they do. I'm a thief. I steal and deceive.
Not like them. Not like her." I looked up to see that he had moved closer
again but this time with his hands up in a placating gesture. "I'm going to
unlock those chains. When they stop this cage and let us out...they've going
to pay for this".

I nodded my assent and he unchained me. He kept up a soft chatter and we
continued to roll along, but his voice got lower as we continued as though
he was talking to himself. He could see the pain I was in. He didn't expect
me to talk. Twenty or thirty minutes went buy and finally I did speak. "I
apologize for how I reacted." He stopped speaking and another few minutes
went by. 

"I need to know as much as I can about our situation." I told my story,
explained how we had crashed could think of no reason why this would be
possible and saw recognition in his eyes. He let me finish the story as I
explained how I came to in the room surrounded by my dead comrades and the
conversation I'd had with the guards. I finished my story and he let a few
silent moments pass.

"Unfortunately your story is fairly common around here. I won't bore you
with mine but I will tell you what happened." He explained that the reason
we crashed wasn't a natural one. There was a sorceress who using her powers
was able to produce illusions that caused ships like ours to crash.
Additionally, she was able to control the weather and her powerful magic
caused any who came within a fairly large span of the coastline to fall into
the same traps.

Her power was bolstered by a small standing army (who I'd apparently met two
of). Any survivors were captured. Their goods were taken and eventually they
were sold into slavery. My new companion and I were rolling along in that
direction. 

Since he'd been awake during the start of our transport he knew that there
were three guards with us. As far as he could tell there was no one else
anywhere near the wagon. It was a clear night and the two moons showed us
that the road we were on was empty. He'd been watching and had seen no
travellers. Our plan was simple - it was just a matter of getting the guards
to stop. If we reached our destination there would certainly be more bodies
to deal with.

He began shouting at the top of his lungs "Hey! Hey! Pull over! Pull the
hell over!" There was no response from up front. "Seriously, you guys need
to pull over. This - thing - woke up and it needs to relieve itself." Again,
no response from the front. "Guys, he's gonna shite all over the back of
your cart - do you want to clean this thing out. PULLOVER!" There was the
man I had met just an hour or so ago.

That was the man that got the guards to pull. That was the man that would
free. That was the first human who I would ever call friend. 

(To be continued...)

Author:    Doraz          
Date:      Mon Sep 25 08:35:35 2017
Subject     Chained Beast

The cart pulled to a short stop and they could hear one of them claming
down and stomping around to the back of the cage. Doraz looked sullen.
"Thank the gods you stopped. I couldn't image what this - thing would make."
The guard looked annoyed but nodded. He opened the lock at the back of the
cage and moved to step in. Doraz's captive mate made the first moved. He was
fast.

He moved forward and yanked the guard into the cart. Doraz brought both
fists down onto his head and he was out. The man yanked the sword of the
guard's belt. Let's get to the other two quickly. They were out the back of
the cage and around the cart before the other guards knew what was going on.
Doraz took cart of the driver, he reached up and grabbed the man around the
neck and squeezed until he heard vertebrae pop.

The other guard had his throat cut. In less then 2 minutes the escape was
complete and their lot had been cast. Doraz nodded at the man. "Lyrac." The
man said this and extended his hand. Doraz's encompassed it as he shook the
man's hand.

"Doraz es-Garo."

While their escape had been quick their journey back would not be. With the
dishonor he had suffered Doraz would not be returning to Mithas. Lyrac had
other plans. 

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.'