Dwarven Spring

The War of the Lance ended more than 20 years ago when a coalition of metallic dragons, humans, dwarves, elves, and minotaurs steamrolled Takhisis's dragonarmies and stuffed the Queen of the Abyss back in her box. The gods of law and neutrality, and many of the gods of chaos, declared the postwar era the "Age of Mortals" and retreated to their lairs behind the stars. Humankind is ascendant, snatching up every scrap of land on Ansalon they can and spreading like a plague. The elves—those who survived the destruction of Silvanost and the savage campaigns against the dragonarmies—disappeared into the deep forests of Qualinost years ago without so much as a goodbye. The dragons seem to have disappeared as well—only a handful have been sighted in the past two decades. The minotaurs sailed back to Taladas to do whatever it is that minotaurs do, and the less said about gnomes and kender the better. We, however, are not withdrawing.   The Age of Despair was the darkest time for the people of Kal-Thax since Thorbardin's struggles during the Kinslayer Wars. The Cataclysm rendered Ansalon nearly unrecognizeable, and afterward came centuries of plague, famine, riots, and internecine warfare in Thorbardin's streets. Then there was godsdamned Fistandantilus and the Dwarfgate Wars, perhaps our peoples' greatest shame. Sadly, it took the threat of Takhisis rising from the Abyss and obliterating/enslaving all life on Krynn to get dwarves to stop killing one another and unite in common purpose. We did, though, and even though it was like pulling teeth and our feckless, cowardly old leaders hemmed and hawed until the bitter end, armies of dwarves marched out of Thorbardin for the first time in 300 years to take the fight to a common enemy.   Now, two decades later, we seem to have found our purpose again. After Takhisis was defeated, Thorbardin's armies swept Kal-Thax clean of non-dwarven invaders and secured our borders, once again declaring that Kal-Thax is for dwarves and dwarves only. The ancient, deep, festering wounds of the Dwarfgate Wars were finally confronted and reconciliation between Holgar and Neider began. Thorbardin's thanes—Hylar, Daewar, Theiwar, Klar, and to a lesser extent Aghar and Daergar—put aside their differences, new leaders were appointed or elected, the Council of Thanes was reconstituted, and once again industry and commerce rang through Thorbardin's streets. Pax Tharkas was reopened, and our best delvers, engineers, and architects work day and night returning that great fortress to its former glory.   There's still a massive amount of work to do, however, and that's where you come in. Each of you has been hand-picked to join a reclamation team. Your mission as a Reclaimer is to travel across Ansalon in search of lost dwarven holdings. You need to find and reclaim these ancient mines, fortresses, and cities before humans find them. There's more to it, of course, but that's all you need to know for now. You'll be called soon to Hybardin where you'll be given a full briefing on your mission and your reclamation team assignment.   With hard work, Reorx's blessing, and a little luck, we will be ascendant once again. If not, well, we won't fade from this land without a fight.   Maneus Thrax - Chief Scribe, Council of Thanes