ORIGIN QUEST GROUP ARTICLE #2
Friday, February 21st, 2025
Fantasy stories drew me in as a child. A protagonist against an evil antagonist, fighting against impossible odds to win the day, secure the kingdom and the safety of its people. Who doesn't like an underdog story? "Le Morte d'Arthur" and "The Hobbit" set my feet on a path seeking adventure in far off lands. I always wanted more. More stories, more adventures, more worlds to explore. Movies like "Hawk the Slayer" and "Conan the Barbarian" responated with me. I was seeking something, but at the time I did not know what.
Enter "The Pillars of Pentegarn" by Rose Estes, the third book in the Endless Quest series. It was my first introduction to the art of Larry Elmore. When I saw it at the mall bookstore, that iconic cover art with it's Dracolich drew me immediately to it. This would also be my first steps into the wider world of Dungeons & Dragons and love or Rose Estes writing.
"You are Jamie! A young villager with a love for the enchanted forest everyone else fears." Those words from the back of the book hooked me. A boy, an outsider, off an adventure! I asked my mom to purchase the book for me and I was reading it on the way home. I had never read an endless quest adventure. It was a new concept to my young mind, but one that greatly appealed to me. Pick your own path. Presented with a choice, a conflict, you had to choose your next steps. It made me feel part of the story, like I was Jamie. A talking owl and fox companions? For a kid that loved animals it was almost as if this book had been written for me! Off to aid the exiled Wizard-King Pentegarn, exploring his ruined castle with your companions Baltek and Lydia, fighting goblins and skeletons. It set my mind racing down all sorts of roads, paths to faraway places, to undiscovered adventures and to mysteries waiting to be solved and
villans that needed vanquishing.
There was a bit of Jamie in me, and a bit of me in the character Jamie written by Rose Estes. The art of Larry Elmore drew me to the book, but Rose's words hooked me. These two wonderful people inspired and influenced me, leading me to the wide, wonderful world of Dungeons & Dragons for which I am eternally grateful beyond words.
