Holly Ryan, Columbia University. 1986.

I debated for some time where to include this journal entry, before settling on including it as the first entry in this volume. While this entry takes place several months before the rest of this story, I do believe that it is the most relevant here, as I believe will become evident through later entries in this volume.
This journal entry describes McDonnagh’s personal account of an event that occurred around a small English landmark known as The Dragon-Mother’s Maw, a deep and sudden cave that, according to the local legend, stretched down for untold miles, and was where dragons clawed their way to the surface thousands of years ago.
Certainly, the skirmish McDonnagh describes here is backed up by multiple accounts, including a report written by Bertram Nesbitt, a renowned Arcanic researcher and heavily featured character in this entry. Bertram and McDonnagh had previously worked together on several occasions. Though any professional relationship between the two fell apart after a failed expedition to the Church Town of Gammelstad in Sweden, which Bertram had publicly blamed on McDonnagh.
It is worth noting that McDonnagh’s account of this event is the only one to mention the presence of a dragon.
The following is an entry from the journals of Connor McDonnagh, dated to eighteen-ninety-four and presented here without edit.

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