History of Lodoss
Release of the Fire Demon
Two years after the deaths of King Fahn and Emperor Beld, and the end of the War of Heroes, a sudden attack fell upon the city of Haven, in Flaim. It was an act of war by the tribe of Flame, led by Nardia, upon the Wind tribe. These two clans had been at odds since the time of Kastuul, separated by covenants with the king spirits of Air and Fire; Djinn and Efreet, respectively. Several years earlier, a mercenary with the Wind Tribe, Kashue Arnegue III, freed Djinn from a sacred urn that had contained him for centuries. This secured the Wind tribe as the dominant power in the region, but now with Efreet, the Flame tribe challenged this. Thus, civil war erupted.
The power of Efreet threatened to destroy all of Flaim, and Parn and Deedlit came to aid King Kashue. They learned the truth of the conflict between the two tribes, which was instigated by the Kastuulians. Fearful of losing their power to the two great spirits of Air and Fire, the sorcerers created a rift between the two tribes—which were once the same people. Djinn and Efreet had been sealed away, and for the next five hundred years, the two tribes battled each other endlessly.
After many bloody and fiery battles, Deedlit reached Djinn and forged a new covenant with the air king. Djinn convinced Efreet to break his own covenant with the Flame tribe, and both peoples learned the truth of their conflict. As the king spirits departed, Nardia threw herself into the disappearing embers of Efreet and was reborn as the queen of fire, the spirit Phoenix. After this, Flaim finally found peace within itself.
Search for the Scepter of Domination
With Beld dead, Lord Ashram had become commander of the armies of Marmo with the sword Soul Crusher in hand. He knew that to rule all of Lodoss he would require one great artifact—the Scepter of Domination. It was known that one of the Ancient Dragons guarded the scepter, but he did not know which one. And so, Ashram and his party set out to find the artifact, and would let nothing stand in their way. Having slain the hibernating ice dragon Bramd, and not finding the Scepter in his cave, Ashram continues to the lairs of Abram and Shooting Star in the hopes of finding the Scepter of Domination in their vast treasures.
Meanwhile, Parn and Deedlit are reunited with Slayn and Leylia, and meet up with the mercenaries Orson and Shiris. Slayn informs them of Ashram's ambitions, and the party sets off for Flaim to join forces with King Kashue. Kashue has a reason to destroy Shooting Star. The evil dragon controls a vast, fertile region west of Flaim, which the people of Flaim need badly for farming. Shooting Star had destroyed a new village recently built there. It was decided to split their forces into two parties—one to eliminate Shooting Star and the other to go after Abram on Blue Dragon Island. If Ashram showed up at either place looking for the Scepter, at least one party would be there to stop him.
But on Marmo there were others with more sinister ambitions than even Ashram. Wagnard, the dark sorcerer, had placed spies in Ashram's party to retrieve another part of the Governor's Treasure. The Soul Crystal Ball, which had the power to bring back the dead was a key to Kardis' resurrection. Ashram, knowing of this treachery, watched his back at every move.
Orson with his party head off to the Free City of Raiden to acquire a ship which might take them to Blue Dragon Island, in the hopes of arriving before Ashram. But piracy is afoot in the waters off the coast of Raiden, and few captains are willing to risk taking Orson and his friends to the island. Orson and Shiris decide that it would be best to eliminate the pirates themselves, and take the pirates' ships as their vessel for the journey to Blue Dragon Island. But the ship is no pirate ship at all, but a Marmo warship under Ashram's control. Orson, Shiris, the sorcerer Cecil and a grassrunner bard Maar were taken captive and thrown in the ship's brig. With the prisoners still aboard, Ashram heads off to Blue Dragon Island to do battle with the sea dragon Abram.
Meanwhile, in the lands west of Flaim, Parn, Kashue and their army do battle with Shooting Star. But they are no match for the mightiest of dragons. They manage to inflict wounds upon the beast, but the dragon swears to "kill one hundred humans for each scale scratched" and flies off to reek his revenge.
Back on Blue Dragon Island, Ashram and his party manage to kill Abram after a fierce battle. But Abram did not have the Scepter. Groder, a mage serving Wagnard, is pleased to find the Soul Crystal Ball in Abram's lair. With the Crystal Ball, Ashram's party departs from Blue Dragon Island and return to Raiden. However, to Groder's dismay, one of their prisoners (Maar) escapes and steals the Soul Crystal Ball before jumping ship.
Having failed to destroy Shooting Star, Parn, Kashue and Deedlit go to Raiden in the hopes of assisting Orson. There, they learn from Slayn that Ashram has taken Orson and the others prisoner. They find Maar, and he leads them to the place where the Marmo warship is anchored. After a brief battle, they defeat the crew, only to find that Ashram and his party had already departed. They free Orson and the others and head after Ashram, who is on his way to Fire Dragon Mountain.
Fire Dragon Mountain stands unguarded, for Shooting Star is away raining his vengeance upon the city of Raiden. As much as Parn and Kashue would like to help defend Raiden from Shooting Star, they know they must also stop Ashram from getting the Scepter. And so, they have no choice but to follow after him while the city burns.
When Parn, Kashue and their party arrive at Fire Dragon Mountain, Ashram and his people are already there. The two forces clash in heroic battle, sword to sword, magic to magic, as warriors match their mettle, and the magicians test their wills. But all the while, Ashram has made his way deeper into the volcanic mountain, in the hopes of reaching the Scepter first while Shooting Star is away.
In the course of climatic battle, Orson unleashes the rage of his Hyuri spirit and becomes a berserker to save Shiris. Unable to control his fighting rage, he charges blindly against the sinister skeleton armies and Ashram's powerful warriors. He was fatally wounded, but fights on, killing every enemy that stands in his way. His life was over, but he died saving the one he truly loved. When the battle was over, Ashram's fighters had been defeated, but the heroes were not without their losses.
As Shiris mourns the loss of Orson, Parn, Kashue, Deedlit and the others venture into Fire Dragon Mountain after Ashram. Shooting Star returns, having sensed the intrusion. Kashue convinces Ashram that can only hope to survive if they join forces and kill Shooting Star together. Once the dragon is dead, they can settle their differences in a dual to the death. Reluctantly, Ashram agrees. Throwing everything they have, the group of heroes attack the ancient dragon Shooting Star. Summoning great spells of magic, powerful elementals and the blessings of the Gods, they are finally able to defeat the terrific foe. Deedlit's earth summon blasted the floor out from under Shooting Star and the dragon plummets into the boiling lava and dies.
But all is not over. Ashram and Kashue turn and engage each other in singular combat for the possession of the Scepter of Domination. In the battle, both heroes are wounded, though Ashram more seriously than Kashue. Nevertheless, Ashram struggles his way to the Scepter and breaks it loose from the crystal it was trapped within. Parn, seeing this, attacks Ashram and knocks the Scepter from his hands. To everyone's horror, the Scepter spins through the air and falls into the lava, lost forever.
Mortified by his failure and loss of dreams of conquest, Ashram makes his way to the edge of the volcanic rift. There, he takes the final step and falls into the depths of the volcanic chasm, down to the hellish lava below. But unknown to all, the wizard Groder had been watching from the shadows. The sorcerer teleported Ashram from his doom just moments before he would have fallen into the lava.
Ashram and his followers had been defeated. Shooting Star and Abram had been slain. The Scepter of Domination had been destroyed and the Soul Crystal Ball was in the hands of the heroes. Both Ashram and Wagnard's ambitions had been spoiled, if only for the moment. All of Lodoss had again been saved.
The Kanon Free Army
In the occupied land of Kanon, rebellion was building. Parn and Deedlit had discovered the lost prince of Kanon, Reona. When he returned to claim his throne, the surviving Kanonites rallied behind their prince. With the help of Parn and Deedlit, the Kanon Free Army was formed and began a guerrilla war against the Marmo to liberate their homeland.
