The Shard's Secret

Campaign: The Journey Begins

Chapter 1 / 3-2

The Shard's Secret

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A True Pact

Summary

The Shards are fragments that Alberius the Founder placed across the kingdom to ward off fiends. They are said to come from an Ilian relic–a mighty armament that Alberius shattered into pieces.

Dialogue

The dragon's den is just ahead. So tell me somethin' here...

Just what exactly is the Shard? I mean, I know what it IS, roughly, but...

You want to know how it works.

Well, each of the Sacred Shards has the power to prevent fiends from crossing over into our world. They were placed at various locations across the kingdom as a means of defense.

Wait, they keep fiends at bay? That's fantastic!

So I can strap one on and march right through a pack of the dirty dastards? I'll take it! Hell, I'll take three!

Uh...no. That's not how it works.

Only someone who is pactbound with a dragon can transport the Shards.

What? Why? Because the Shards shouldn't be moved.

They're situated in the kingdom's most defiled regions. In order to make sure they aren't moved, the man who gave the world the Shards placed the pact requirement on them.

And just who was this fellow? Alberius the Founder. Our initial king, the royal family's ancestor, and the first of his line to forge a dragonpact. Alberius the Founder?!

Thought he was some faerie-tale hero. So that whole saga is true?

Every word. To fix the broken world around him, Alberius shattered a possession of the Ilian Church and created the Shards.

He then placed them across the land and made it so only those capable of forming dragonpacts–his descendants–could move them.

Sounds like one gutsy king.

But I got one last question. You said the Shards are pieces of one'a the Church's possessions, yeah? What possession was that? A crystal? Some kinda bottle?

They say it was an ancient relic passed down through the Church, but that's all I know.

Do you know, Zethia?

I am told the Shards came from a divine armament that has ties to the goddess Ilia herself.

Whoever wielded this armament held the power to conquer the entire continent in the blink of an eye.

Huh? So why didn't Alberius just use it himself if it was so damn powerful?

He coulda swung that sucker around and wiped out every last fiend!

If he had all the time in the world, he might have done just that.

But no one lives forever.

I getcha. He knew the fiends would just come back once he was in the dirt. Yes. He was thinking of Alberia's future.

Shattering the armament and binding it to the land was his people's best hope. His choices protect us to this very day.