The Mark of Nerath: A Dungeons & Dragons Novel Read online

  The dragon shot out of the trees like a massive green arrow, scattering the adventurers like leaves in a hurricane wind. Jarren caught a claw swipe on his shield, but the force of the blow sent him sailing backward. Uldane managed to step to the side as the dragon flew past, but at the last moment its tail snaked out to deliver a glancing blow to the halfling even as the tail’s rounded, scale-covered tip slammed into Shara’s chest and knocked her off her feet.

  Jarren rolled with the blow that had hit his shield and jumped to his feet just as Borojon began rapidly firing arrows at the swooping dragon. Most bounced off the green scales, but a couple pierced the creature’s tough hide.

  Vestapalk soared in a great, wide arc, landing beyond the clearing at the river’s edge. Jarren couldn’t see the rushing water. The bank must have been higher than the level of the river at this point. He looked around wildly for his companions, but only Borojon remained on his feet, firing arrow after arrow as he moved toward the dragon.

  Borojon fired another pair of arrows, and then he tossed his bow aside and drew two blades from their sheaths. “You’ll kill no more farmers, monster!” Borojon shouted. “We shall destroy you for the harm and damage you have caused in the Nentir Vale.”

  “Is that what you call this insignificant depression in the earth, human?” the green dragon asked in a rasping, alien voice. It spoke the Common tongue, which sounded strange emerging from the green dragon’s deadly maw. “This one calls it Vestapalk’s hunting ground. This one shall take what Vestapalk wants and kill what Vestapalk pleases. This one shall start with you and yours, human. Is that your spawn this one smells lying in the grass behind you? Will her blood taste like yours, this one wonders? Will her guts show this one the sign he seeks?”

  THE ABYSSAL PLAGUE

  From the darkness of a ruined universe comes the source of a new evil …

  Follow the story from its very beginning with The Gates of Madness, a five-part prelude novella by James Wyatt

  Part one is included in FORGOTTEN REALMS® The Ghost King R.A. Salvatore.

  Part three is included in DARK SUN® City Under the Sand Jeff Mariotte October 2010

  Part two is included in DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® The Mark of Nerath Bill Slavicsek

  Part four is included in FORGOTTEN REALMS Whisper of Venom Richard Lee Beyers November 2010

  Part five is included in EBERRON® Lady Ruin Tim Waggoner December 2010

  Bear witness to the worlds-spanning

  DUNGEONS & DRAGONS event beginning in March 2011 with

  DUNGEONS & DRAGONS

  The Temple of Yellow Skulls

  Don Bassingthwaite

  Dungeons & Dragons

  The Mark of Nerath

  ©2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC

  All characters in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of Wizards of the Coast LLC.

  Published by Wizards of the Coast LLC

  DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, FORGOTTEN REALMS, EBERRON, DARK SUN, WIZARDS OF THE COAST, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries.

  Cover art by Wayne Reynolds

  Map by Rob Lazzaretti

  First Printing: August 2010

  eISBN: 978-0-7869-5762-0

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  ASIA, PACIFIC, & LATIN AMERICA Hasbro UK Ltd

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  Visit our web site at www.wizards.com

  v3.1

  For my sister, who encouraged my imagination.

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Map

  Prologue: The Cairngorm Peaks, Midday

  Part One Chapter 1 - Darani, In the Shadowfell, Twilight

  Chapter 2 - Nenlast, Falon’s Home, Day

  Chapter 3 - Winterhaven, Graveyard, Twilight

  Chapter 4 - Fallcrest, Moorin’s Tower, Night

  Chapter 5 - Nenlast, the Drunken Goblin Tavern, Night

  Chapter 6 - Nenlast, the Shrine of Erathis, Night

  Chapter 7 - Winterhaven, Wrafton’s Inn, Night

  Chapter 8 - Fallcrest, In the Shadow of Moorin’s Tower, Night

  Chapter 9 - Fallcrest, The Knight’s Gate, Night

  Chapter 10 - Fallcrest, Moorin’s Tower, Night

  Chapter 11 - Fallcrest, The Blue Moon Alehouse, Night

  Chapter 12 - Fallcrest, Moorin’s Tower, Night

  Chapter 13 - Fallcrest, Moorin’s Tower, Night

  Chapter 14 - Fallcrest, Moorin’s Tower, Night

  Chapter 15 - Winterhaven, The King’s Road, Day

  Chapter 16 - Winterhaven, The King’s Road, Day

  Chapter 17 - Winterhaven, The King’s Road, Day

  Chapter 18 - Nenlast, Falon’s Home, Day

  Chapter 19 - The Moon Hills, Day

  Chapter 20 - Kalton Manor, On the Edge of the Witchlight Fens, Day

  Chapter 21 - The Moon Hills, Twilight

  Chapter 22 - The Imperial Palace, In the Ruined City of Nera, Night

  Chapter 23 - Gardbury Downs, Near the Village of Winterhaven, Night

  Chapter 24 - Nenlast, The Dock on Lake Nen, Night

  Chapter 25 - The Imperial Palace, In the Ruined City of Nera, Night

  Chapter 26 - Kalton Manor, Night

  Chapter 27 - Lake Nen, Night

  Chapter 28 - The Witchlight Fens, Night

  Chapter 29 - Kalton Manor, Night

  Chapter 30 - Lake Nen, Night

  Chapter 31 - The King’s Road, Day

  Chapter 32 - The Witchlight Fens, Day

  Chapter 33 - The Cairngorm Mountains, Day

  Chapter 34 - The Witchlight Fens, Day

  Chapter 35 - Fallcrest, The Nentir Inn, Night

  Chapter 36 - Away

  Part Two Chapter 37 - The Witchlight Fens, Night

  Chapter 38 - Fallcrest, Day

  Chapter 39 - Fallcrest, The Nentir Inn, Day

  Chapter 40 - Fallcrest, The Glowing Tower, Day

  Chapter 41 - The Seven-Pillared Hall, Day

  Chapter 42 - The Gray Downs, Day

  Chapter 43 - Fallcrest, The Nentir Inn, Day

  Chapter 44 - The Trade Road, Day

  Chapter 45 - Fallcrest, The Nentir Inn, Day

  Chapter 46 - The Seven-Pillared Hall, Day

  Chapter 47 - The Trade Road, Day

  Chapter 48 - The Trade Road, Day

  Chapter 49 - The Tower of Saruun, Day

  Chapter 50 - The Labyrinth, Time Unknown

  Chapter 51 - The Shining Road, Day

  Chapter 52 - The Minotaur Gate, Twilight

  Chapter 53 - The Seven-Pillared Hall, Twilight

  Chapter 54 - The Seven-Pillared Hall, Night

  Chapter 55 - The Avenue of Glory, Night

  Chapter 56 - The Seven-Pillared Hall, Night

  Chapter 57 - The Shining Road, Night

  Chapter 58 - The Shining Road, Night

  Chapter 59 - The Avenue of Glory, Night

  Chapter 60 - The Shining Road, Night

  Chapter 61 - The Shining Road, Night

  Chapter 62 - The Avenue of Glory, Night

  Chapter 63 - The Old Hills, Night

 
Chapter 64 - The Avenue of Glory, Night

  Chapter 65 - The Avenue of Glory, Night

  Chapter 66 - The Avenue of Glory, Night

  Chapter 67 - The Avenue of Glory, Night

  Chapter 68 - The Old Hills, Night

  Chapter 69 - The Avenue of Glory, Night

  Chapter 70 - The Old Hills, Night

  Chapter 71 - The Necropolis of Andok Sur, The Dark Before the Dawn

  Chapter 72 - The Old Hills, Dawn

  Chapter 73 - The Old Hills, Day

  Chapter 74 - Andok Sur, Day

  Chapter 75 - Andok Sur, Day

  Chapter 76 - Andok Sur, Day

  Chapter 77 - Andok Sur, Day

  Chapter 78 - Andok Sur, Day

  Chapter 79 - The Old Hills, Day

  Chapter 80 - Andok Sur, Day

  Chapter 81 - Andok Sur, Day

  Chapter 82 - Andok Sur, Day

  Chapter 83 - Andok Sur, Day

  Chapter 84 - In Shadow, Where Time is Meaningless

  Chapter 85 - Andok Sur, Day

  Chapter 86 - Andok Sur, Day

  Chapter 87 - The Old Hills, Day

  Chapter 88 - The Old Hills, Late Afternoon

  Chapter 89 - Andok Sur, Night

  Chapter 90 - The Labyrinth, Time Unknown

  Epilogue: In Shadow, Time Unknown

  About the Author

  Except to The Gates of Madness

  An ancient time, an ancient place … when magic fills the world and terrible monsters roam the wilderness … it is a time of heroes, of legends, of dungeons and dragons …

  PROLOGUE

  THE CAIRNGORM PEAKS, MIDDAY

  Jarren followed Borojon through the thick-packed trees, watching for any signs of their quarry. The dwarf paladin Cliffside, strong and confident, strode a few paces back, an axe in his strong right hand.

  “Any sign of that thrice-cursed dragon?” Cliffside called as he pushed through a thorn-covered bush, his shield in front of him to part the branches.

  Jarren would have smiled if the situation didn’t have him sweating beneath his scale armor. They had been following the green dragon for five days, tracking its course from the farms around Winterhaven and into the mountains beyond. Five days of travel, and they hadn’t seen the beast in more than two days. They saw signs of its passing, though. Lots of signs.

  “Care to shout a little louder, dwarf?” Borojon whispered loud enough for all of them to hear. “I don’t think the orcs on the other side of the mountain heard you when you bellowed.”

  “I never bellow,” Cliffside said, sounding hurt. “I just have a bit of gruffness to my voice.”

  “Never mind that,” Borojon said, “I’d really like us to try to be stealthy right about now, if you please.”

  Jarren paused and stepped to the side of the path, letting the dwarf paladin pass by so that he could confer with Borojon. He waited, leaning against a tree, as the final members of their adventuring party appeared out of the forest.

  The rogue Uldane slinked into sight, looking as though he was having the time of his life. Uldane was a halfling, one of the small folk. He stood about four feet tall, with a lean, athletic build and brown hair that hung loose and a little wild. Jarren liked the halfling. He couldn’t help it. Uldane’s curiosity and fun-loving nature were contagious. Uldane walked over to Jarren, smiled, winked, and held out a large platinum coin that Jarren recognized all too well.

  Now a smile did cross the fighter’s face. “Did I drop that again, Uldane?” Jarren asked. The platinum coin was Jarren’s lucky charm, he supposed. It was an ancient Nerathi Imperial Crown, a coin of the old realm that Jarren’s father had given to him when he left home to fight in the border wars five years ago. Lucky or not, the coin had remained with him through two years of battles with gnolls and hobgoblins and bandit gangs, one year of aimless travel, and for the two years that he had been part of Borojon’s band. Except, that was, when Uldane practiced his sleight of hand by deftly slipping the coin into and out of Jarren’s pocket.

  “Must have slipped right out,” Uldane laughed. “Lucky for you I spotted it on the path back there. I do have excellent perception, you know.”

  “So you keep telling me,” Jarren said, gently closing the halfling’s fingers around the coin. “Since I seem to keep losing that, why don’t you hold on to it for me? You can return it after we’ve put an end to this dragon.”

  “Dragon? Is that what we’re hunting this time?” said the tall woman with the long red hair. It was the same shade of red as Borojon’s, except without the added gray that was rapidly filling the older man’s hair and beard. She smirked boldly at Jarren, hands on her hips, her greatsword slung across her back.

  “Must you take this threat so lightly, Shara?” Jarren asked, returning the female warrior’s look with equal boldness.

  “If I didn’t take it so lightly, dear Jarren, I would probably run screaming back to the Vale and then you’d never see me again.”

  “Lightly. She learned that from me,” Uldane proclaimed proudly.

  “Well, that would be a terrible event, indeed,” Jarren said in mock seriousness. “If I wasn’t able to see you, to gaze into your intense blue eyes, to look upon your supple.…”

  “Careful now,” she warned, her red lips full of mirth.

  “Anyway, you must stay close or I would be lost, dear Shara, so continue to mock our foe as much as you care to.”

  Uldane’s expression turned serious, as though an important thought had just occurred to him. “This dragon is pretty smart, though. And mean. Did you see the way it played with that family of farmers before it slaughtered them?” Uldane shivered. Then the sensation seemed to pass as quickly as it had come, and he beamed happily. “Do you think it will breathe fire at us when we catch it?” he asked excitedly.

  “Poison gas, Uldane,” Borojon corrected as he appeared at the head of the path. “It’s a green dragon, and they breathe poison gas. Not fire.”

  “Oh,” the halfling said, a little disappointed. “Gross.”

  “Yes, well if you youngsters are done with your nap time, can we get back to the business at hand?”

  “Of course, Borojon,” Jarren said. “We’re ready to take on three green dragons.”

  “One is more than enough for me,” Shara declared. “Besides, this one insulted us, and for that it must pay.”

  “It killed twelve farmers and seven head of cattle and gods know what else,” Borojon said. “That’s why we’re here. Don’t forget that, girl.”

  “Never, Old Man.”

  That was the only term of endearment Jarren ever heard Shara use when she spoke to her father. But for all their bluster, he knew that they loved each other.

  “Then let’s get this over with,” Borojon said, and he turned and led the group deeper into the forest.

  Jarren and the others had walked for almost another hour when Borojon, in the lead, stopped. He studied the area for signs of the creature’s passage, any telltale hint that would confirm that they were still on the dragon’s trail. Borojon was a big man, robust despite his age. He wore two blades at his belt and a bow and quiver of arrows across his back. Borojon had been the leader of their band since before Jarren had joined them. He had trained them all in teamwork and hunting, and his daughter, Shara, had inherited all of the older man’s skill and determination.

  “Smart,” Borojon murmured, “this beast’s damn smart.”

  Cliffside moved closer. “I’ve been thinking about what we found at the first two farms,” the paladin said, “before the dragon realized that we were following it.”

  “Spit it out, Cliffside,” Borojon said as his eyes roamed across the path ahead, seeing everything but finding nothing. Jarren knew that the older man sensed something, however, and Jarren had grown to trust Borojon’s instincts in their time together.

  Shara moved up, giving Jarren’s arm a gentle squeeze as she came to stand beside her father and the dwarf.

  “The way the farmer and his family
had been torn apart,” the paladin explained, “gutted and their insides pulled out for all the world to see. The dragon was looking for something.”

  “Like that shaman we met a few months back? The one that read the future in a rabbit’s intestines?” asked Uldane, his eyes bright with excitement.

  “That’s what it reminded me of,” Cliffside agreed.

  Jarren and Shara both noticed Borojon cock his head to the side, suddenly listening intently.

  “What is it, Old Man?” Shara asked, her hand reaching for the pommel of her greatsword.

  Borojon shook his head. “Just a feeling,” he said. “The same feeling I had when we entered the Connal farmstead and found the bodies … a feeling that something terrible was nearby. Something that savors the fear in its victims.”