Forgotten Realms: Issue 8 – The Dragon Reach Saga (Part 4 of 4)

The comic opens up with Priam Agrivar and Murilantilathenes coming upon site of battle between the flight of dragons and the Tarrasque.  From the look of things, the battle did not go well for the dragons.

When investigating the scene, the rest of the Realms’ Master crew is found to be alive and well, if buried under debris.  None of them look too happy to see Agrivar, who in all fairness did leave them to die in battle by themselves.

Ishi quickly recaps how the dragon’s battle against the Tarrasque went (poorly), and how the Realms’ Master crew managed to survive (dumb luck).  At this point Vartan goes off on Agrivar, questioning both his honor and his courage.  Agrivar responds with a left hook and a speech recapping what happen to him last issue.

Ishi is quick-witted enough to figure out that Murilantilathenes had engineered the wolf-cougar-deer dilemma to bring Agrivar to enlightenment.  Murilantilathenes is touched that that Ishi understands his role in bringing back the wayward paladin.

Meanwhile, back at Elminster’s tower, Shaerl is in labor.  Unfortunately, Lhaeo reports that Hoareb the Healer is occupied delivering triplets across town.  He also tells Elminster that he should check his scrying pool.  Elminster leaves, but not without being threatened by Shaerl if he fails to return quickly.

In the scrying room, Lhaeo shows Elminster and Captain Omen the horrifying sight of a Tarrasque rampaging through the countryside. The two wizards prepare to rush into battle when Shaerl grabs Elminster by the beard.  It seems she is not so keen about going through a pregnancy without either a midwife or a 27th level-wizard to assist.

Reluctantly, Elminster lets Captain Omen go to do battle with the Tarrasque.  He is obviously not confident of Omen’s ability to take down the beast, but has little choice.  At this point, Foxilion reveals his experience with birthing children, to mostly incredulous looks.

Meanwhile, Captain Omen chooses to Magic Missile the Tarrasque, which backfires horribly.

This failure brings him to the attention of the Outcast though, and the two engage in battle atop the head of the foul beast.  At this point, Murilantilathenes and the Realms’ Master crew arrive on the scene loaded to bear.  The outcast attempts to use his beheading staff on Murilantilathenes, but Vartan uses Dispel Magic to stop the vile magic cold.

Agrivar jumps from the dragon to join Captain Omen in battle against the Outcast.  However, he is stymied by a hastily conjured Wall of Force.  Captain Omen chooses to switch tactics, telling Minder to dive towards the Tarrasque.  Captain Omen then dispels his Polymorph Any Object spell, transforming Minder into the equivalent of a medieval  cruise missile.

This is enough to stagger the beast.  More importantly, it disrupts the concentration of the Outcast, allowing Agrivar to strike a blow.  The Outcast pulls an Obi-Wan Kenobi and disappears leaving only his robe behind.  Luckily for the everyone, the Tarrasque disappears when he does.

Agrivar tells Murilantilathenes to tell his fellow dragons that the dragon-killer has been dealt with.  He flies off without ponying up any of the treasure he offered in the first issue of the storyline.

When the crew arrives back at Elminster’s tower, they find Foxilion smoking a pipe outside.  The delivery of Lord Mourngrym and Shaerl’s son went without a hitch. 

Eliminster offers his gratitude to Captain Omen and his crew for dealing with the Tarrasque and lets them know if there is ever anything he can do for them, he will.  Captain Omen uses this offer to get a list of various artifacts and their locations from Elminster.

Notes

1. Opening up with the aftermath of the battle between the dragons and the Tarrasque was a strong way to kick of the issue.
2. Using Shaeral’s labor as a way to keep Elminster from simply taking care of the situation himself was about as good an excuse as they could have come up with.
3. I like that Foxilion took care of the birthing.
4. I enjoyed seeing Vartan using Dispel Magic to protect Murilantilathenes from the contrived beheading staff.
5. Is it just me, or did the Tarrasque go out like a chump?
6. I was not a fan of the Outcast mysteriously disappearing as soon as Agrivar cut him down.  He is really more of a MacGuffin than a character in this story.  He comes out of nowhere, we never learn anything about him, and he returns to nowhere.  If this was setup for a later issue I would be fine with it.  Unfortunately, this is his only appearance.
7. Once again this issue goes out of its way to set up the premise of the series with Elminster himself providing the location of various artifacts in the Forgotten Realms.  However, this premise is quickly derailed by the upcoming tie-in to the Time of Troubles.