Join DLSaga with their third actual play session of the Dungeons & Dragons 5.5 Edition, 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
- Lyrael, 5th Level Qualinesti Bard – Kim
- Aelar, 5th Level Qualinesti Warlock – Lance
- Ben, 5th Level Nerakan Barbarian – David
- Keljack, 5th Level Solamnian Fighter – James
- Roland, 5th Level Solamnian Wizard – Corey
- Jasper, 5th Level Neidar Cleric – Joe
- Kaelen, 5th Level Qualinesti Ranger- Gregory
Game Setup
Last time on Dragons of Despair: The heroes stay the night in the common room of the Inn of the Last Home and head out early before the sun is out to find the White Stag. They travel off the main road, north around Crystalmire Lake and see workers in the Nearfields. They approach them and can see that the farmers are clearly distrustful of outsiders and try their best to avoid conversation with them. They make mention of demons taking away families and people disappearing, so the heroes leave them to their work. They travel west around the lake and south towards Prayers Eye Peak and see a group of pilgrims leading a cart with a body in it down the Twin Flat. The pilgrims approach them with strange accents and fully clothed in robes, masks and gloves. They ask about a Forge Hammer which was taken from Xak Tsaroth and if the companions had it so they could heal their wounded friend. The heroes deny any knowledge of it and the pilgrims go on their way. But then the heroes notice a white stag in the mountains. They follow it over Prayers Eye Peak into Darken Wood and are surrounded by Centaurs. They lead them to the Unicorn Grove where the Forestmaster relays a message from a ‘glorious being’. You must fly straight away across the Eastwall Mountains and be in Xak Tsaroth in two days. Pegasus arrives and takes the heroes to the sky. They all fall asleep and wake with fading memories about Darken Wood. They investigate the burned plains all the way into the Que-Shu village only to find it empty and ransacked. They find a message from a Verminaard telling someone not to take prisoners. THey continue on through Sageway east to see a mass of footprints of unknown beasts and humanoids. Not sure what they will find, and being exhausted from their journey, they make camp, preparing for the day to come where they will attempt to reach Xak Tsaroth.
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.
