An Aesthetic shows you to a small reading room.

Stories of Ansalon from the view of Shronius.

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 small leaflet on the table in front of you.
You note the spine bears the word 'Shronius' scribed in rich purple ink.

Author:    Shronius       
Date:      Sat Dec  4 03:35:27 2010
Subject     Time and Revenge

Had I thought about it, it may have seemed quite odd that a stranger
would have the audacity to stop me mid battle to talk. The stranger was
dressed in some outlandish colorful silk most likely imported from
Silvanost. He leaned towards me from his steed addressing me at last,
"Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon?" 

"But of course," I responded while simutaneously reaching into my cloak and
handing him a spare jar I carried.

Seconds or minutes later I found myself blinking off the final effects of
sleep. The clouds covered the sky and the moons had long sank from view. My
previous dreams did not even cross my mind, but I did not pay any mind to it
as they never seemed to any more. Stretching and yawning, I finally stood up
from my bed in the grass. I paced back and forth for a few minutes deciding
what needed to be done first, then realizing I was thirsty proceeded to a
nearby stream to have a drink. 

The stream moved at a very slow speed making the water seem almost still.
The water was cold and sweet. The water was always wonderful here, but there
were no fish in the water I remembered. My eyes slowly drifted over to my
reflection as I pondered unimportant early morning things. It had been quite
a while since I had even looked at my reflection or honestly cared about my
appearance anyways. Despite my general apathy, I found myself shocked at the
strange man I saw that seemed to have no connection with myself. 'How long
has it really been?' I muttered to myself. My once beautiful ebony hair now
reflected back at me with large tangled masses of grey and a dull lifeless
black. My eyes once bright and scary in their cursed red state now seemed
much less intimidating and quite dull. A long beard hung from my once clean
shaven face also streaked with grey. Even my body seemed less toned than
before, but only slightly as I was constantly engaged in activity on my
own.

I looked into my herb bag and found enough for one final bowl pack. After
smoking on my pipe, I found myself sitting and thinking. I had never really
realized quite how long I had been gone, but reflecting back I could
remember at least 10 winters passing possibly 20. 

'Whatever happened to everyone?' I wondered. My friends, enemies, and clan
had all vanished from my life many years ago. Even the gods seemed to have
vanished. I had no clue why I was being subjected to the loneliness of this
existence. 

Having not eaten yet today, I located some mushrooms and berries I found the
previous day. My stomach lurched after eating them still not used to the
food in my current lifestyle. I laid back down in the grass ashamed of
myself for getting beaten by a stomach ache. 'I used to be one of the most
famous warriors in the world, and now I'm lying here like a little kid
worrying about a stomach ache. ' 

"Shronius..." the trees whispered. My body felt warm hearing my old name
called once again. I blinked, and realized I was not in the same place. I
blinked a couple of times then scanned around. I was in fact exactly where I
had been, but some thing was different. The wind blew carrying an enhanced
melody that entered my ears and followed my spine. The sky was glowing a
frightening color due to the appearance of the two moons hovering in the sky
with the sun. Squinting, I thought I could even see Nuitari shining, but
perhaps my eyes were just playing a trick on me. 

The color of the moons and sun swirled through the sky and seemed to sink
into everything and encompass reality. The ground was non existant under me.
In fact, I seemed to be floating amidst nothingness, but yet I felt
everything at the same time . The contents of my mind seemed to be reflected
in front of me. I saw myself in my youth battling my enemies amidst a
mixture of former battlefields and the odd universe of colors I seemed to be
trapped in. Continued...

Author:    Shronius       
Date:      Sat Dec  4 03:39:06 2010
Subject     Time and Revenge continued

The images of battle soon shifted to other people and events. I saw Brim,
Miranda, Fuzzfoot and a few other kender whose names I couldn't place, but
were distinctive parts of my younger days. The kender morphed into a
minotaur mage. He taunted me thinking he was truely my better as he used to.
The minotaur quickly became a young solamnic knight. The knight was then
joined by many other knights of his order eyeing me with a look of
determination and hate, but at the same time fear and respect. Once again
the images morphed, but this time becoming the band of mercenaries I had
long fought alongside and at one point lead. Many more past memories
confronted me, but slowly they began to recede and the swirl of colors that
I seemed to be trapped in and blinking I was caught offguard to my
reflection in the stream once again. 

"These people....they never left me....I left them." I said in realization
to my reflection. "All of these years I have sat here wondering what would
become of me and unaware that I was forcing this lifestyle on myself.." 'I
have been holding myself back and imprisoning myself all of these years' I
finally realized. "I let myself age and become seperated from this world."
How had I let myself become so entangled in my own mind and so infatuated
with the drugs and alcohol of this land? 

I had years to think. I knew it was time for action not thinking. I
unsheathed a knife and cut my beard as close to the skin as I could.
Following suit I trimmed a large portion of my hair off so it would not get
in my way in battle. "I held myself back for so long, but not anymore." My
eyes seemed much brighter and full of life than they had earlier. 'I've
wasted a lot of time, but I shall make up for my own actions.' I thought. My
brothers in the mercenary clans would surely want news and enjoy my sword
alongside theirs again. After reuniting with my friends and finishing my
business, the world would be ready to pay. I had never fully accepted it and
it would not accept me, thus I would destroy everything in my way. "I am a
god. nothing can stop me, not even myself." 

Author:    Shronius       
Date:      Tue Sep 22 17:01:59 2015
Subject     Teague's Torture

Shronius sat comfortably on a fine elven made couch amongst the halls of
the Elite Mercenary division. Unraveling a string around the bag, Shronius
proceeded to flip the bag and it's contents onto the elogant mahogany table
in front of him. Shronius' face remained completly expresionless as he
silently counted the diamonds the sorceror had given him. After a few
seconds, Shronius with no change of expression shoves the diamonds back into
the bag and inserts the bag into the top of his boot. Shronius takes a long
swig from a bottle of Dwarvish Spirits and proceeds to stand and walk down
the halls of the Elite Mercenary division. Withdrawing a key on a small
golden chain around his neck from underneath his chain mail, Shronius
unlocks one of the many Mercenary vaults and tosses the sack of diamonds
inside and promptly closes and locks it. A smile almost draws on Shronius'
normally cold face as he remembers the days of his youth when metals and
gemstones once meant something to him and he had aspirations of wealth. 

Shronius returns to the mahogany table and produces an iron key from the
drawer and walks to a nearby hatch in the floor. Bending down with an
unexpected ease for a man of Shronius' stature or age, he quickly unlocks
the door and opens the hatch flooding light into the room below. The room is
barren, the walls reinforced with steel on the innerside and enchanted with
magical protections from the most skilled magicians and clerics amongst the
Mercenary Elite ranks. In fact, the only thing inside the room is the
prisoner he had previously abducted, Teague, laying bound and gagged in only
undergarments on a pile of straw. 

"I trust you find our quarters accomadating young warrior. However, I have a
real treat for you to enjoy today." Shronius spoke to Teague in Common in a
tone slightly higher than a whisper and smirked. Shronius withdrew a dagger
sheathed along his calf and gently pressed the cold steel into the man's
cheek no more than a hair width's deep and began to slowly slice downwards
towards the man's throat. A very light trickle of blood quickly dripped from
the small incision on Teague's face. "It seems you really pissed someone
off. They want me to bang you up real nice." Shronius spoke again in the
tone only slightly louder than a whisper. Shronius thought briefly about the
sorceror's request to simply break Teague's fingers. 

Teague began to writhe in response to the pain as Shronius proceeded to draw
his dagger across the man's face drawing a matching line on the other side
of the dragon lord's face. "Don't think of passing out or dying on me. I
want you to feel the pain, and I have a real special treat for you. Real
special. We'll call it an added bonus for using my time. It is not often
that I get to come into contact with people of such high rank after all..."
Shronius trailed off then began to grin an evil grin and the strange red
eyes in his pupils seemed to glow brighter than normal. 

Shronius used the dagger to cut the bond around the dragon lord's hands and
slammed one hand onto the ground with amazing dexterity and brought the
pommel down onto Teague's fingers individually. After working over the man's
right hand he proceeded to smash the bones inside of the man's left hand as
well. 

Teague had to be in immense pain, but the discipline of the dragonarmies did
not let him cry out in his pain. Shronius stood silently and closed his eyes
leaving Teague's body bleeding on the floor. He whispered a prayer to his
diety and smiled. "Now for the fun part.." Shronius whispered and his eyes
seemed to widen. Shronius draws a line across his palm with the tip of the
dagger and blood begins to trickle out. Stooping back down, Shronius brings
his hand down onto Teague's face and pressed the cut against the cut on the
right side of Teague's face. "It is always an honor to meet with people of
such high rank...dragon lord..."Shronius whispered... 

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.'