RSNA Wy Richard Pett and Greg A. Vaughan - illustrated by Peter Bergting DMR) aa eva a ogee RU gee na Da —From Maglag’s The Chronicl RO RCM oR EL | etl The Ecology of te iS Ree ‘when spectral winds carry strange sounds ffom the dark- ness? That time when dread clutches the stomach and fear tingles along the spine of even the most stout-hearted; Ve does not fear the great unknown that is the night, where every mundane shadow becomes a sinister, alien visi- tor. Night terrors ave haunted the living since time bepan, and with good reason, for many imagined fears are all too real, None, though, commands the dark of midnight skies and abyssal caverns with the horror and the authority of the immortal night dragon—the dracolich. The most powerful creatures of nature and magic transformed into ever-living, undead monstrosities they are threats to all who fall under their sway and few can flee beyond their skeletal claws, GRAGOA S45 Jaw 208 HISWOAY OF HE DRACOLG Many sages and magical practitioners—‘experts” in the realm of dragons—claim that Falazure the Night Dragon created the first dracoliches. There might be some truth to this, considering that “night dragon” is a commonly accepted term when referring to a dracolich. As wholly unnatural, created beings, however, a common heritage is hard to trace. The origins of dracoliches are as varied as the locales in which they appear, whether they come about through the machinations of madmen and demented cults or by dragons instigating the unnatural process through their own arrogance and naked ambition,