Dragons of Autumn Twilight
By: Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Chronicles Trilogy Volume One
Everyone should start reading Dragonlance with the Chronicles; the tales of the War of the Lance and the heroes who manage to ceaselessly save the world over and over. This is really where it all started. The forth Chronicle, about the Chaos War, details the gods leaving Krynn. It’s strange how gods can never manage to stay in one place! These books are the foundation to all, and they’re full of awesome quotes, which I’ll have to re-read them to find.
Chronicles is in the mythological structure called “heroes’ journey”. This form always has somebody old, in the form of a mentor or prophet who begins the story. In Chronicles it’s Paladine, who we see in the prologue, and who returns again throughout the three books to help instruct our heroes.
Inns are an AD&D cliché place to start games (well that’s what The Annotated Chronicles says, which is where I’m getting a lot of the info for this; I’ve never begun a game in an inn :} -but then I only played one game…)
Synopsis: This book begins by setting the stage: the “Canticle of the Dragon” is a song with the history of the world up until the War of the Lance. It’s easily looked over by a first time reader, but its intention is to tell you a bit of background- things were down and then up and now they’re back down again. Hmm… What might be next on the agenda? Another way that this book sets up the setting for the reader is the intro scene at the Inn of the Last Home. An old man appears out of nowhere and starts rearranging the furniture just after Tika and Otik have been interrupted during their talk of war. Just as the characters prepare the room, the authors are getting things ready for us.
Tanis, Flint, Tas, Caramon, Raistlin, and Sturm meet up at the Inn of the Last Home. Kitiara, however does not join them. Their reunion is interrupted when the staff carried by Goldmoon, a barbarian chieftain’s daughter, escorted by Riverwind is used to heal
The stag leads the companions over Prayer’s Eye Peak and into Darken Wood, where they meet up with spectral minions, centaurs, and the Forestmaster, who informs them that they need to go to Xak Tsaroth, and lends them pegasai to take them there. They are not brought all the way there, but left on the plains, by Goldmoon’s destroyed village. Everyone is dead, and the stone has been melted, so there is nothing for the companions to do but continue onwards.
Before they quite reach Xak Tsaroth, the companions are captured by draconians. It is only with a clever plan by Tasslehoff, who uses a whicker dragon to free them and turn on the draconians, that the companions escape. When they reach Xak Tsaroth, they discover something even more frightening than draconians: the black dragon, Khisanth. She nearly kills Riverwind, but Goldmoon, who has been given knowledge about the true Gods from the Goddess Mishakal, heals him with the Blue Crystal Staff.
Mishakal tells Goldmoon that they need to retrieve the Disks of Mishakal from within the city. The companions venture down into the city and discover gully dwarf slaves. Raistlin puts a spell of friendship on a group of about fifteen gully dwarves, and they follow the companions and endeavor to help them. One of them, Bupu, is a bit of a leader among them. She leads the companions to their leader, the Highbulp, Phudge I. He is not particularly useful in leading them to the Khisanth’s lair, but Bupu tells them how to get there. Highbulp Phudge I betrays them, believing that they are heroes who might destroy their menace. Raistlin is caught and the companions can seemingly do nothing. Goldmoon is asked to bring the Blue Crystal Staff to the dragon’s hoard, but instead she plunges it into Khisanth, killing the dragon, and disappearing herself in blue flames. Sturm grabs the Discs of Mishakal, and everyone heads out. Riverwind wants to die, thinking that Goldmoon is dead, but everyone finds her alive in the temple when they escape. Bupu bids Raistlin farewell, and gives him a spellbook of Fistandantilus.
The companions travel back to the Inn of the Last Home where they discover Solace has been largely burned down and is completely overridden by the dark armies. It isn’t long before the companions, Tika, and Gilthanis end up in a fight and get carried of as prisoners to the slave mines. Gilthanis reveals that Theros Ironfeld has been helping the elves, and then Theros appears- with his arm cut off. Goldmoon heals him, and then the slave caravan leaves. While in the caravan, they pick up the old, cooky wizard, Fizban.
When passing Qualinesti, the companions are freed by elves, with the help of Sestun, a gully dwarf. The companions are invited to Qualinost, where they meet the Speaker of the Suns and his daughter, Laurana– Tanis’ childhood sweetheart. The Qualinesti elves are abandoning their land because the dark armies are about to invade. The companions agree to go with Gilthanis on a special task: freeing the slaves at Pax Tharkas so that Lord Verminaard will have to attend to that rather than attack.
On the way, they meet up with Eben, a human, who accuses Gilthanis of being a traitor, and everyone becomes divided. The companions then enter the fortress through a secret entrance: the Sla-Mori. They end up in Kith-Kannon’s tomb, and Tanis is given the king’s enchanted sword, Wyrmslayer as he battles a giant slug. Everyone retreats and is forced to take a different tunnel to get away from the slug. The other tunnel leads them to a chamber with an evil spirit elf that can kill by voice alone, and in the rush to get away, Tasslehoff and Fizban become separated from the rest of the group. Everyone else tells the slaves their escape plan, while Tas finds out about good dragons from a tapestry (but is made to forget by Fizban) and frees Sestun (the gully dwarf who helped free them from the slave caravan before).
While talking to the prisoners, Goldmoon heals Elistan, who she realizes is meant to be the one who will take the Disks of Mishakal. Eben, meanwhile, has betrayed everyone, and told Ember what they’re planning. The companions know that someone has betrayed them (suspects are Gilthanis, Eben, and Raistlin– because everyone’s always suspicious of him), but they continue with their plan anyway. When they rescue the children, they wake Flamestrike, who is very old and out of it and thinks that the children are her children. Lord Verminaard and Ember plan to blast all the refugees with flames, but first they tell everyone they’re going to do so. Flamestrike hears this, thinks her children are going to be killed, and has a massive battle with Ember, killing both. The refugees escape, as the fort is held from the army by gully dwarves. In the end, Goldmoon and Riverwind finally get married.
Quotes: Dragons of Autumn Twilight Quotes
Events:The War of the Lance
Time story takes place: This takes place towards the end of the forth age, during the beginning of the War of the Lance.
Important Characters:
The Companions (in alphabetical order):
Caramon, Flint, Goldmoon, Laurana, Raistlin, Riverwind, Sturm, Tanis, Tas, and Tika
Non-companion good guys:
The Forestmaster, Bupu, Fizban, Mishakal, Theros Ironfeld, Gilthanis, Elistan
Villains: Takhisis,
Dragon highlord Verminaard, Fewmaster Toede, Hederick the Solace Theocrat, Khisanth, Ember
Other:
Highbulp Phudge I
The Green Gemstone Man
Important Places:
Inn of the Last Home
Solace
Crystalmir Lake
Prayer’s Eye Peak
Darken Wood
The Plains
Xak Tsaroth
Qualinost
Pax Tharkas
Important Items:
Hoopak
Blue Crystal Staff
Staff of Magius
Disks of Mishakal
Songs from the book:
Canticle of the Dragon
Goldmoon’s Song
Tas’s Kender Trail Song
The Solamnic Death Chant
The song the Qualinesti sing leaving Qualinost
The Song of Huma
This book covers almost all main races.
Vocabulary:
Cataclysm
Companions, The
Knights of Solamnia