"First Flight" is a short story by Edward Bolme included in the 2004 anthology Realms of the Dragons.
Summary[]
Serreg, an archwizard under Lady Polaris in Delia, studies a blight which seems to hit all the land the floating city passes above. After deducting that the blight is a magical spell coming from under the earth, Serreg goes to investigate, but is no match for the phaerimm he finds there. While fleeing for his life, his prayers are heard by Targus, who grants him a dagger of polymorphing, with which he slays the phaerimm, polymorphing randomly several times in the process. Finally, he is polymorphed into a dragon, and with his superior intellect understands that each time he used the dagger it polymorphs him into something random. As a dragon, he is now unconcerned with mortal matters such as the plague, so he tears the dagger (which was morphed into a claw) from his body and claims it as the start of his treasure hoard.
ERRATA: While the title page notes that the story takes place in -461 DR, at one point Serreg sends a letter intended to be read by Lady Delia's archmages Candlemas and Sysquemalyn, both of whom have already died more than 200 years prior in -698 or -697 DR, as depicted in the Netheril Trilogy.
Appendix[]
References[]
- ↑ Edward Bolme (October 2004). “First Flight”. In Philip Athans ed. Realms of the Dragons (Wizards of the Coast), p. 25. ISBN 978-0-7869-3394-5.