An Esrian Tale III: Dragon's Legacy

***An Esrian Tale III: Dragon's Legacy*** was the fourth game in the Heartstone Saga, and the first to depict events subsequent to those of the Heartstone Crisis. Although not directly related to the original evil of Netheriel himself, the game foretold much of what was to come in the future.

It told a story of five unique individuals and how they made their way in a new age where adventurers were once again called upon to combat a newly magical world. All the while, an unknown enemy plotted to strike from a forgotten land.

## Plot

### Prologue

In the year 1400 of the Blessed Era, the world was one that had settled into a relative state of peace almost two decades after the Long Night and the end of the Heartstone Crisis as a result. All knew of the three nameless heroes who had stood alongside a messenger of the Heavens as mortal champions, and many more had heard the rumours and myths telling tales of three more that had rose to the challenge in the western archipelago of Arcadia. Magic had returned to the world after a period of absence, and was finally beginning to blossom again, although many souls that had been affected and damaged by rituals during the Long Night began to wither away.

As the years advanced, the newly liberated magical energies radiating from the mortal realm began to mature and manifest all across Esria. New kinds of magic began to emerge, long since forgotten about, and magical beasts of all shapes and sizes surged forth from deep forests, caverns and even wholly new origins. It soon became evident that the Blessed Era would be a time of heroes with the profession of adventurer once again returning to prominence. Those with a bold enough spirit and the skills to tackle any challenge made a living serving towns, villages, cities and often even kings.

Nowhere was the resurgence of magic more significant than in the Empire of Asevia, where fragments of the ancient awakening magic of Elyn Vyr were rediscovered. Although this was the magic that had led to the burning of the entire land and the near collapse of Asevian civilisation, upon its return it would offer the potential means to liberate the Empire from the clutches of tyrannical, rampaging dragons. This was an offer which Emperor Veryon Artaryan of Asevia could not refuse, as he was a man who had grown obsessive over the prospect of glimpsing the future, and he soon found himself utilising the magic to create a seer out of his own son, Sardan. Sardan's visions would eventually lead to the capture of the argent dragon Aelynvir, who had been working on an artefact of her own. She was subsequently deceived and persuaded into helping the Emperor's own plans.

Aelynvir's work entailed the creation of an immensely powerful orb, refined and sculpted over a period of over three hundred years by the dragon's formidable knowledge and control of magic. Although nameless at this time, it would come to be known as the Dragon's Legacy, or the Ancestral Orb. Able to glimpse the future, gaze into the past and even transport its user across time physically, it was intended as a tool for peace. As Aelynvir would later describe to Veryon, her work would ensure that calamities such as those that had taken millions of lives during the Heartstone Crisis would never again take Esria by surprise.

Her naivety would prove to be her most grave mistake. Emperor Veryon was slain at the turn of the century by the hand of his own daughter, Escha Artaryan, newly returned from bowing the head of Asevia's most fearsome dragon, the Mountain Tyrant. Unknown to all, she had failed in her original quest. Despite wielding the legendary ancient spear Luin, she had received fatal wounds and had only barely managed to defeat the Mountain Tyrant at the cost at her own life. It was the Angel Epheriel who had intervened at this moment, restoring her life and binding her newly freed soul to that of the dying dragon. This was no act of mercy, however, as Epheriel knew all too well that the young girl would be forever changed by the immensely powerful and twisted soul of the great red dragon. She revealed herself to Escha at the moment of her resurrection, promising her that her destiny was to topple Esria's kings and conquer the world that her people deserved.

Escha was forever changed by these events, and by the time that she had ascended to the throne of Asevia to become the Empress, she no longer resembled who she had been before. She burned her father's palace to the ground, and sought to find Aelynvir in a fit of rage. The argent dragon knew all too well of her fate, and knew that her work would never be able to see its true purpose if the Empress was to acquire it. Desperately, in the moments before her death at the Empress' hands, she sent the Ancestral Orb away through time, ordering it to escape into the future and find a place where it would be safe...

## Characters

### The Party

* Lucièn Lafayette
* Gabrielle Moreau
* Ishka Vural Yasar
* Tark Zelhardt
* Theobold Cagus

### Allies and Acquaintances

* Seirya Erys
* Zarak Al-Ahmad
* Sebastian de la Costa Dorada
* Jaeryn of Ivryl
* Cuthwin Tiller