Dragon in the Dungeon 11 Summary pt.1
This is not meant as a replacement for reading DitD 11 and is only meant to be used as a quick way to get caught up on the main story beats.
Only read this if you've experienced DitD 11 beforehand and need to be freshened up.
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- The story begins with a glimpse into Fifth General Corvin Vren's life in what appears to be a stronghold or his own personal hideaway. He opens up a recently acquired copy of The Uncaring Sky and finds a note within. This note states "The Fleet Dove Hews Closer, The Razor's Edge." Shortly after him and his men are attacked by who we find out to be Kylyra, Valyrym's daughter, as well as Sylva, a high ranking member of Death in the Night, Kylaryn's group of rebel's bound to defeat the empire which captured and tortured Valyrym once upon a time. Sylva and General Corvin eventually engage in a duel which Sylva wins by a margin. During this process we learn the message Corvin received was code for something, although he refuses to tell Sylva for what exactly. With his dying breath, he tells her that her and Death in the Night have already lost, as well as stating "It's too late."
-Kylyra, Sylva and her anthropomorphic wolf lover Gothaal return to the City of Stairs, her own home and the central base of Death in the Night. There, Sylva is debriefed by Kylaryn. Sylva expresses concern in the solders switching from coating their arrows in Bluecap posion to Bishop's Bile, as Kylyra was hit by several of them during their raid on Corvin's location. However, Kylaryn doesn't seem too perturbed since her daughter had built up a strong tolerance to most poisons that were common in warfare. After, Ky breaks the news to her daughter that her biological father Valyrym had escaped prison after 140 years. The two get into an argument over Val's honor and Kylyra's poor treatment of Val, and Ky strikes her daughter in the face when she makes especially cold remarks about him. Ky takes this time to remind her daughter that without Valyrym, Death in the Night wouldn't exist and that in her mind, the actions which led to his imprisonment and fracturing of his family were understandable, but not necessarily justified. Upon being asked, Ky also expresses great fear in the idea of harming Val or Krek, as Krek betrayed Ky once he learned of her plot to kill the queen. She reminds her daughter that inspite of how things may be, they are still family and it would tear her heart assunder to harm any of them.
-Next, we're back at Wing's Rest and looking from Val's point of view. As you would expect, Val is lying in the grass being lazy, enjoying the simple pleasures of life which he had been denied for such an incredible amount of time. The distance between Val and Valar has not closed quite yet, somewhat literally as Valar is sitting a distance away from Val. Inspite of that, Val takes great pleasure and an equal amount of pride simply looking over his son, noting how strong and beautiful he had become, both inside and out. This section ends rather quickly, and we're transported to Valar's point of view. He has come to realize that even though he wanted to scream at Val, lash him and "tear his soul apart until he understood my pain.", there was absolutely no point. As soon as Valar gazed upon his father, he knew that life had beaten Val down in a way that Valar could not possibly hope to add onto. He notes that his father had simply become old, "an old husk of himself", and truly beaten down from the circumstances which plagued his life. What really broke Valar, though, was looking into his father's eyes. In that moment, all his anger faded away and forgiveness took it's place. During this time, Alia introduces herself to Valar and they engage in a conversation where she reminds him that inspite of his own pain, Val had endured things he couldn't imagine, and despite all the years which would've seemed barren of hope, it was the simple thought of Valar which kept Val going through all those lonely years down in the dungeon. Shortly after, Valar and Val speak properly for what we can assume is the first time, and they make amends. Valar states that inspite of all the pain, anger and loneliness his father had put him through, he can forgive him, and proceeds to do just that. The two share a hug, and cry together.
-The following section takes place several months before the prior one, and consists of several conversations between Krek and Valar. They speak about Valar possibly not coming to see Val, The Queen's plans and where she's going to be throughout her journey, as well as Krek's own father, who at this point had been a mystery figure essentially. Krek explains that his mother fell deeply in love with his war hero father, even though he'd frequently abandon her for extended periods of time. Krek expresses similar feelings to Valar in regards to his own father. Krek grew up to hate his father, and wanted nothing more to surpass him just so he could use his achievements as a tool to make his father lower. Eventually, Krek leaves the nest where he was living with his mother simply because he couldn't stand seeing his father. Along with this, he had hoped that when his father did eventually come back, it'd be better for his mother since all of his time could be devoted to her instead of split between the two of them. We come to find out that when Krek's father would "abandon" him and his mom, what he was really doing was visiting one of his other mates and children, trying his best to cycle between all of them. As Krek got older and was shaped into being a better person by Valar, he came to realize that he wished to forgive him. However, when he attempted to track down his father, he learned he had passed away only months prior, peacefully and with one of his other mates. Krek insists that Valar should go and visit his father while he still has the chance. While Val still lives.
-The next section is dedicated to Price Elvir. Not a whole lot happens in this section compared to the rest. Elvir and Enric haven't received any sightings of Armadine or Traval, but they assume he had been smuggled out of the city by a band of Gryphon mercenaries. They assume this because they received intel that a band of Gryphons had rented an entire inn for an amount of time, and a couple humans were spotted among them. With Armadine and Traval's vast resources and network of lackeys, it's not too much of a stretch to assume they'd hire a whole group of Gryphons to protect them on their journey to Armadine's family estate. Elvir suggests they speed up their plans to hamper Death in the Night's plans. It can be assumed this is essentially matching Death in the Night's own actions, since they had sped up their own plans after Val's escape from prison. The entry ends rather ominously, with Elvir entrusting Enric with beginning to enact another emergency decree named "Sky Piercer"
-The next entry follows Alia's point of view. She gazes happily into the sky, watching Val and Valar fly together before engaging in small talk with Jirr, Krek's companion. They discuss the shared trauma of Valar and Val, as well as the nature of Valar's relationship with Krek. Jirr seems to enjoy heckling Alia about her interspecies relationship with Val, but who could expect anything different from a Gryphon...? Alia then proceeds to return to the inn and check in on Vatch. Soon enough they begin spelunking after searching for alcohol, and find a long dormant trapdoor with a hidden passage beneath. At the end of it, they stumble across a door with Death in the Night's symbol carved into it. Almost immediately after, Jirr comes across them and closes the trapdoor on them, yelling "all you had to do was stay out of the basement" and "Now I can't let you leave!". However, this was only a joke performed with questionable taste, and Jirr lets them out. After we learn that she doesn't know what's inside the room since gryphon's can't physically fit down the hallway leading to it. She warns Alia as well, telling her that "whatever was left there probably isn't very pleasant", inviting her to enter the room if she can get passed the lock. Here, we also learn an important piece of character development. Jirr used to work for Death in the Night, and she hints towards Krek doing the same thing. However, she makes it clear that she is a mercenary after all, and mercenaries work for the highest bidder, generally regardless of moral upstanding.
-For the final section, we return to Val's point of view. The entry starts with them discussing what happened between Armadine and Val down in his prison. Krek states "The Dread Sky had been asleep for along time. But Armadine woke him". Val goes on to explain that once the switch is flipped in his mind and he turns into The Dread Sky, he feels like nothing can stop him. He felt this way back before his imprisonment, as well as during the fight with Armadine. However, unlike in his youth, once the switch was flipped back, The cold truth hit him. Val was slowly reminded of his various newly received wounds, but more importantly, of his age. Val expresses reservations about all the lives he has claimed, however, Krek counters this by reminding him that back in his early days, he was in a war, and that's what needed to be done. Krek claims they'll finish Armadine later, and given the flame which had entered his emerald eyes, it's easy to believe him. Later on all of them are goofing off, and Valar accidentally mentions Val's daughter, who was previously unknown to him. They go outside and engage in a conversation where Valar explains he had got Ky pregnant during their last mating, directly before he had flown off and attacked the queen and prince, cementing his fate. Valar proceeds to explain that Kyly hates Val, not seeing him as her "real" father, and is like her mother "in all the worst ways". After a bit more exposition, Valar explains the fight him, Krek and all his siblings got into the last time they encountered eachother. The young dragon expresses fear, saying "that was the first real fight we had" and showing trepidation towards the idea of it happening again, finding it a likely prospect, however. The two dragons return to the inn, and after some heartfelt PG-13 banter, return to the meat and potatoes of their expedition. They all discuss the Queen's route through her kingdom as well as where Ky may be most likely to attack. The latter is left up to Val, as Krek says "you know her better than anyone". Val deduces that Ky will strike and attempt to kill the queen when she's paying respects to the prince Val killed so long ago, the location where it happened having been turned into a monument. Later on in this section, after more wholesome PG-13 banter, the gang returns to discussing Ky's attack on the Queen. Krek brings up how Val is the wound in her heart which can't close, and seems to be digging for something else that could have the same effect. Something which could be used to sway Ky should Val prove to not be enough. Val goes on to explain how when him and Ky were together, she'd occasionally fly off and search for her baby brother. She assumed he had been murdered during a human raid on her clan, but never found any direct evidence of it. Upon further questioning from Krek, Val goes along with Ky's line of thinking, explaining to Krek that Ky never found any evidence of her brother's existence because the people who raided her home probably killed, skinned and discarded her brother's corpse in a nearby river. Regardless, Krek continues on with this line of questioning. Eventually, Krek reveals something, a true bombshell. He believes Ky's brother is still alive, as well as knowing where he might be located. The entry ends, in true Wilds fashion, with us on the edge of our seats.
Ky's trauma and the life she lived after Val's imprisonment is a whetstone paired to the blade which is her soul. However, like any edge which is honed too keenly, it becomes brittle. Weak. Easily chipped, fractured or possibly broken beyond repair.
What will happen to that blade when it's met with its hardest strike yet? How will she cope with seeing her lost love in person after so many years? Can she cope to begin with?
All will be revealed, in time.