Join DLSaga with the fourth actual play session of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dragonlance Official Game Adventure DL1 Dragons of Despair by Tracy Hickman. This is the first adventure set in Dragonlance, and the first of four adventures that makes up the first Dragonlance Chronicles novel Dragons of Autumn Twilight. You can buy DL1 Dragons of Despair here: https://www.dmsguild.com/en/product/16880/dl1-dragons-of-despair-1e?affiliate_id=50797
Cast of Characters
- Tanis | 5th Level Half-Elf Fighter | Sam
- Tasslehoff Burrfoot | 4th Level Kender Thief | Robert
- Caramon | 6th Level Human Fighter | Tim
- Raistlin | 3rd Level Human Magic-User | Howard
- Goldmoon | 5th Level Human Cleric | David
- Riverwind | 5th Level Human Ranger | Jon
- Sturm Brightblade | 6th Level Human Fighter | Kim
- Flint Fireforge | 4th Level Dwarf Fighter | Mark
Game Setup
Last time on Dragons of Despair: The heroes have Tas sneak through the bamboo bars of their cage which Caramon inadvertently breaks. They sneak out to kill their one dozing dragonman guard and he wakes alerting the others. As Flint investigates the large dragon on the other side of the bonfire, the heroes go about killing the other dragonmen, waking from their slumber. Tas finds the gear in the leader’s tent and Raistlin casts sleep on some. Flint discovers the dragon is a sort of puppet and bellows out of the mouth while pulling levers and ropes. This throws the dragon into action appearing as it is alive and it terrifies and confuses the dragonmen, who go running for their lives, many through the bonfire itself. The heroes gear up and move through the night coming across a broken obelisk spanning two pieces of land, and a vine bridge. They investigate the obelisk and see many dragonmen on the other side. They take the vine bridge and flint and Raistlin fall off, waking wraiths who are lurking in the swamps depths. They rise to attack, and seriously wound caramon and sturm before Raistlin holds them at bay with light from his staff. They continue north with Riverwind scouting ahead, but when he enters another patch of swamp, he discovers a clutch of black dragon hatchlings that attack him out of curiosity. These are frightful and dangerous, even as hatchlings, nearly killing riverwind so the heroes flee. The newly hatched dragons do not pursue and the heroes find dry land covered in ruins. Could this finally be Xak Tsaroth? What other horrors await them in this deadly swamp? And will they ever find rest to heal up their wounds?
About DL1 Dragons of Despair
You stand on the road east of Solace, tired from five years of adventuring, from a fruitless search for lost clerical magic. You know the old proverb that claims “You must return to find what you left to seek,” but the saying never really made sense. Soon, however, it will.
For the world of Krynn is not the same: refugees stream out of the northernmost human lands, telling horrible tales. An invading army has burned their villages and put their families and friends to the sword. Among these stories you hear even darker rumors-that older evils, the dragons themselves, have returned to the world, for new and more terrible purposes.
“Dragon of Despair” is the first in TSR’s series of Dragonlance adventures for use with the AD&D game system. Your players will adventure in the world of Krynn, visit strange places such as Haven or ruined Xak Tsaroth, and encounter the bizarre draconians and spectral minions. They can play the modules as a set of separate adventures or as a great quest that spans the entire Dragonlance story.
An adventure for characters Level 4-6.
Written by Tracy Hickman.
