The Rage

The Rage is the first book in The Year of Rogue Dragons by Richard Lee Byers.

"Renegade dragon hunter Dorn hates dragons with a passion few can believe, let alone match. He has devoted his entire life—a life spent in the twisted body of a half-golem—to killing every dragon he can find.

You might feel the same way if one of them had killed your entire family in front of your eyes, bitten you in half, and left you for dead.

Killing one dragon at a time is hard enough but when the irresistible impulse to slip into feral madness begins to overcome not one, but every dragon all across Faerûn, civilization's only hope may lie in the last alliance Dorn and his fellow dragon hunters would ever accept.

No matter what happens, the next year is going to be a difficult one for Dorn, and for Faerûn itself.

The Year of Rogue Dragons has come."

Summary
The story of this first book is that all dragons of the world, good and evil, are succumbing to the Rage, a curse put on all the dragons that makes them insane and bloodthirsty every century. The main character, Dorn Graybrook, is a red dragon survivor, with half his body having been replaced by metal. He becomes a half-golem and a gladiator.

By 1373, Dorn Graybrook has slain his master and become a dragon hunter, partnering up with Raryn Snowstealer, Will Turnstone, and Pavel Shemov. Together, while in Ylraphon, they rescue Kara from wererats. They initially rebuff Kara's request to accompany her to Lyrabar, but while hunting an ooze drake in the Flooded Forest, they discover that a Rage of Dragons is afoot. The town is attacked by black dragons and a swamp landwyrm; Kara aids the adventurers in slaying the dragons and stalling for the evacuation. They reluctantly agree to accompany her to Lyrabar. Along the way, they are attacked by the Talons of Justice, and realize that Kara is actually a song dragon named Karasendrieth, who is acting on portents that this year's rage will be unending. She relates that the year before, she had drawn the ire of Lareth, the king of all gold dragons, for attempting to meddle with his plan to ensure all metallic dragons sleep through the dracorage. She explains an informant contacted her, a mysterious figure named Brimstone, asking to meet her in Lyrabar.

In the same year, maestro Taegan Nightwind, an avariel bladesinger of Lyrabar, is approached by one of his fencing students. Gorstag Helder makes a dying request, while attacked by cultists, undead, and a wyvern called by the Cult of the Dragon. He needs a group of notes belonging to Sammaster to reach the Harpers. Thus, Taegan becomes involved in a great intrigue, soon being beset by wizards, summoned abishai, and culminating with these cultists setting fire to his school and home. He is aided by Pavel Shemov and Dorn Graybrook, and decides to assist them in their quest. They meet Kara's informant, who turns out to be Brimstone, a vampiric dragon form of a smoke drake sorcerer and former associate of Sammaster's. He proves unable to decipher the notes; acting on his advice, they flush out a cell of the Cult of the Dragon, and learn that Sammaster is indeed planning an endless dracorage to entice chromatic dragons into accepting the transformation to dracoliches. They also learn that he knows a spell that causes the dracorage to abate, as well as one to aggravate it.

The group splits up. Taegan petitions the aid of Queen Sambryl against a cell of the cult in the Gray Forest, discovered by interrogating Cylla Morieth of the cult. Rangrim and Quelsandas are sent alongside five bronze dragons and a small force of the army of Impiltur; Taegan is authorized by the Queen to tag along. Quelsandas turns out to be a traitor, casting the aggravate dracorage spell just before the cult's forces clash with them. The spell forces him too into a berserk state, and he is slain by both Taegan and his rider, right before he eliminates the latter. The forces are unfortunately routed, and Taegan is only saved by the intervention of a faerie dragon, Jivex. The latter leads him to an ancient grove where he finds aid in healing his wounds, regrouping, and awakens a guardian dragon, an ancient undead bronze called Vorasaegha, who lends him aid in the final battle against the Cult's outpost. While the guardian dragon Vorasaegha is slain by a dracolich, Taegan ekes out a narrow victory.

Meanwhile, Dorn, Karasendrieth, and company make a quick stop at Thentia, and then liberate Elmwood while in their quest to retrace Sammaster's steps: the town has been captured by opportunistic forces from Zhentil Keep using the Rage as an excuse for expansion. Soon after they are joined by Chatulio, a copper dragon and co-conspirator of Karasendrieth. Together, they seek the underwater ruins of Northkeep, where they fight skeletal dragons, a Styx dragon, and are then nearly routed by ghosts. Dorn begs the ghosts for aid, and the latter acquiesce, allowing the company to search through the city. They recover several marble slabs which show that the Rage of Dragons is an act of elven high magic.

Index

 * Characters
 * Creatures
 * Locations
 * Magic
 * Items
 * Spells
 * Organizations
 * Religions
 * Languages
 * (referenced only)
 * Musical Instruments
 * Clothing
 * Ethnicities
 * Food and Drinks
 * Gemstones
 * Events
 * Items
 * Vehicles
 * • •  (warship)
 * Currency
 * Materials and Substances
 * Plants
 * Weapons
 * Miscelaneous
 * Languages
 * (referenced only)
 * Musical Instruments
 * Clothing
 * Ethnicities
 * Food and Drinks
 * Gemstones
 * Events
 * Items
 * Vehicles
 * • •  (warship)
 * Currency
 * Materials and Substances
 * Plants
 * Weapons
 * Miscelaneous
 * Items
 * Vehicles
 * • •  (warship)
 * Currency
 * Materials and Substances
 * Plants
 * Weapons
 * Miscelaneous
 * Plants
 * Weapons
 * Miscelaneous
 * Miscelaneous
 * Miscelaneous