The Tale of Dalgin B'Dynn

1001 Tales of Maj'Dul - by Odyllus, the Oracle of Lifire. The pages look blank. There is a line with an 'x' beside it.

Once upon a time there was a trotter named Lumena the great. The trotter came across a book, a mysterious book empty of tales, but filled with potential wonders. There was no title to the book, but it pleaded for one. Now the book was not good, not good at all. The dark black flesh bound cover reeked of this. The book also reeked of magic, a magic waiting for a title... waiting... waiting...

Curiosity plagued the mind of this trotter. "Could I name the tale to be told" the trotter wondered. "Would the tale be a foreboding one regardless of good intentions?" pondered the trotter. They say "curiosity killed the kerran" and this was a fact well known. But "those who risk reap the rewards" as well can be heard. Slowly, ever so slowly, Lumena took the pen from the quill and began to scribe the title of the tale...

There once was a man named Dalgin B'Dynn. He was a very evil man. He would steal from the rich and take from the poor, but do so ever so slyly. None in the land of sun were quite as sly as he, none but one, his uncle and mentor. It was this uncle that kept the sly from meeting the dead, for even the sly on occasion meet justice. But justice was never served thanks to his powerful uncle.

But the sly one was not the wise one and soon this would come to light. Dalgin was most unwise and took from the hand that fed him. The younger of B'Dynn had slipped in the lair of the old. With great skill and little thought he lightened the load of the older's secret vaults.

The older was no fool and soon he discovered just who dared to creep into his vaults. For an instant he was saddened to find one as he had dared, but blood or not to dare was to die. The older acted oblivious to the answers and spoke to Dalgin, sending him on a mission, a mission with no end.

Off to the world of sand went young Dalgin B'Dynn. He was to be honored by his uncle sent to visit the sages of sand. Each would offer him a blessing from dark powers and upon the final blessing he would be slyer than any god, sly like the older of B'Dynn.

Dalgin set off to see the Sage of Sea Winds. He traveled long and traveled far. He swam to Coiled Rock. Along the ledge over roaring waves the Sage of Sea Winds bestowed his arcane arts. Dalgin B'Dynn felt swifter than ever. He was filled with great power.

Dalgin B'Dynn then set off to parts across the waves, into caves and damp dark. Here in the tunnels of scaled maws Dalgin crept with newfound silence, the silence of windswept feet newly bestowed. In the dark Dalgin came upon a grave, a pirate long gone. Here is where he was touched by the Sage of Shadows. He was filled with great power.

The third trek led him to rising waves of sand and to ruins of old. Near the ruins of the Aqueduct of Ahket Aken he was met by a flurry. The next sage was upon him with blinding speed. In this maelstrom of gestures the power was given, granted by the Sage of Sandstorms. He was filled with great power.

His final journey would be to the Tower of the Dead. Creeping with the silence and speed of newfound skills he slipped past the swirling haunts overhead. Here under the gaze of the tower he found the Sage of Whispering Death. The sage raised his bony arms and with an evil laugh bestowed upon him a final power, a final curse.

This final power was the gift of silence of the dead. This gift would have made Dalgin unstoppable... unfortunately this power did not mix well with the powers of the other sages. Dalgin began to dance and spin a violent death throe. Muscles began to dry up and constrict. His brain began to shrivel and his life slipped away.

Dalgin was recovered by a satisfied uncle. Satisfied for no one shall cross the older B'Dynn. He had defied the greatest evils and mastered the rarest of skills. He would not be fooled or show compassion to any swindler... not even his ilk.

Dalgin's body was taken and dragged to the shores beyond the crocs, where waves crash upon walls of rock. His unconscious body was locked within a cage and dropped beneath the waves. But Dalgin was not done. Dalgin would rise in a new life, a life of undeath. His bones lumbered across the sand seeking vengeance to the sages.

One by one the sages would fall. They would encounter a creature undead. Dalgin could not be beaten by their magic in his new unlife. Fall the sages did, fell where they first met. With vengeance performed Dalgin's bones fell asleep in the sand, waiting for someone to find him and searching for the truth of the older's ways.

The story of Dalgin B'Dynn is not over. Thanks to the powers of the abyss he will never forever die. He rises and wanders the land and drifts between nothing and undeath. Dalgin B'Dynn's curse will never end. - The End.


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Source: Ingame book