A solitary figure stands at the end of the bar.

Even under the thick hood and woollen robe, her scales are obvious. You've seen dragonborn once or twice before. They seem a decent sort, though they're often misjudged. Sure enough, the rest of the customers hold back. Though the bar is crammed to the rafters, she clears a space without even trying.

"Monks," the barman grumbles. "Damn lizard hasn't had a drop of ale since she got here. Still, I'm not about to cross her. She's tougher than she looks."

 The monk doesn't look so tough to you. The barman smirks.

He sees the question on your face before you even have to voice it.

1000 years ago, Tiamat the Terrible devastated his fellow dragonborn.

Ruthless, powerful, and entirely without pity, Tiamat was determined to purify his race. Billions of lives were stamped out before he was stopped. Tiamat, though was destined to be reborn, and plunge the world into a new, final dark age.

Korinna, like all the Blackscale monks, was laid and hatched in the monastery. None ever set foot outside the grounds. Their sole purpose was to keep the egg from which Tiamat was destined to be reborn. To destroy it would be to release Tiamat's essence to find another shell, so the monks kept it guarded for a millennium. They used magic to hold it in stasis, to prevent it from ever hatching.

Korinna's upbringing was as traditional as could be. She began her apprenticeship at one year old, and was accepted as a fully fledged monk after twenty years. After twenty more years she would be permitted to take on an apprentice, a hand picked youngster to succeed her. Korinna excelled at her duties. She guarded the egg, all the while training in traditional, unarmed martial arts and magic. Her true passion, though, lay in teaching. Korinna assisted in the lessons for the initiates as much as she could. She couldn't wait to take on a student of her own.

On the day of selection, Korinna was walking in the monastery grounds. She witnessed a young dragonborn, a vagabond of about one year, steal over the wall and into the courtyard. Korinna was impressed. Few adults could scale the monastery's high walls. This malnourished child had done it with ease. She approached the boy, and learned that he was an orphan. Her chest swelled with pity.

Korinna had found her apprentice. 

The other monks were not so sure about the child, Baal. 

He had spent a year outside of the monastery. Who knew what ideas he could have gotten from the outside world? Their respect for Korinna, though, outweighed their doubts. They reluctantly agreed to admit him as an apprentice. Baal began his training immediately.

Korinna grew to love Baal like a son. She was quickly taken back with Baal's skill, too. He was a lightning fast learner, strong and quick, and as curious as anybody she had ever met. They seemed like kindred spirits. 

There was something else, though. 

The boy's interest in Tiamat's egg made her nervous. He revered it, just like everybody else, but he didn't fear it. Worse, he began to speculate openly about what would happen if the egg were to hatch. Surely, he argued, Tiamat could be raised as one of them. He would be a hatchling, his mind a blank slate. His evil could surely be turned to good. 

In his final year of training, Baal drummed up the courage to speak with the elders, though Korinna forbade him from doing so. Unsurprisingly, the monks refused. They threatened to expel him and his teacher for their blasphemy. 

Baal was furious. Korinna was hurt that he had gone behind her back. They quarrelled like they never had before. It quickly escalated beyond control. Baal attacked. Korinna fought back, but she had trained her apprentice too well. Younger and fitter than his ageing mistress, Baal quickly overpowered her. Korinna awoke hours later to find the monastery burning. All of her fellows were dead. The egg was gone. 

Korinna was heartbroken. Fighting against her wounds, she dragged herself up. As she stepped outside the monastery for the first time in her life, Korinna hesitated only for a moment. She had never seen the outside world, nor any person but her fellow monks. She was ageing, and injured. Korinna wasn't certain she could do this.

 She knew, though, that there was no other choice.

She must atone for her mistake.

She must recover the egg, even if it kills her. The world depends on it.