Friends in a Foreign Land

Over the next three days, Dakota labored to butcher the worm. The pile of items, metals, and trash growing far faster than the amount of usable meat. Dakota’s skills in skinning and butchering and mage hand spell grew even faster. Eventually, he finished and lied down to rest on the side of the room away from the trash pile. When he awoke, Dakota found a woman sitting nearby, watching him. She looked human but, somehow, more than that.

“You slept the sleep of one who knew he had earned his rest. That is good.” Standing and walking toward the pile of items pulled from the worm, she continued, “I am Sei’s friend. You may call me Kwil. I sense a lot of magic around this area. But I was told you were a hunter, not a mage.”

“Pleasure to meet you Kwil; I am Dakota. I am not a mage, but I did learn a handful of spells to help me with various tasks. They came in quite handy while butchering the largest worm I’d ever seen. I have been training to be a hunter, but this worm was the first thing I encountered, and I became the prey. I think it's safe to say I could use more training.”

Kwil smiled as she nodded her head. She waved her hands about and items started to rise from the pile she was standing next to and would hover in front of her, glow for a moment, and then lower back to the ground. As she did this, Kwil continued to speak, “I’ve been asked by a god to do something that, to my knowledge, has never been done. But I’ve put myself into a situation where this is one of the few options available to me. Put this on.”

The last sentence threw Dakota for a moment until he looked and saw that a ring was floating toward him from the pile. He accepted the ring and tried to sense what enchantment it may have had but was unable to. After a moment, he did as he was told and put the ring on. Immediately a box popped into his vision:

[Awareness + 3]

“That will help you notice when someone is approaching you in your sleep,” Kwil added with a smile. “Before we continue, there are things I need to teach you about this world and dragons. These are things that are not widely known, and we dragons would like to keep it so. Many living things on Traum are sentient. They avoid pain; they seek out pleasure. Some appear quite smart, able to work as a team, strategize, set traps, and so forth. But only couple dozen species have that spark that makes them truly sapient.

“Once the ALMS system was revealed, theories were proposed by people of every race trying to quantify sapience. We learned that an intelligence of 4 is required to even start to communicate beyond base instincts. Many theorized that an intelligence of 7 was needed to become sapient.” Kwil waved a hand and a necklace floated over to Dakota, “Here, this will raise your willpower which, among other things, will make it easier for you to resist attempts to mess with your mind. As I was saying, we thought intelligence was the key to sapience. But recently we've seen evidence that intelligence by itself isn’t enough. For one, we’ve met sapient people who had less than 7 points in intelligence. Others have passed word that they’ve found creatures with more than 7 points that still lack the spark. Now we’re thinking that to gain sapience requires some sort of mental effort. Simply raising the intelligence stat may allow a creature to learn languages, but it appears that there's some unquantifiable factor related to the creature's own efforts to improve themselves that is required. Dragons are born with the spark. We birth true just like elves, dwarves, and humans and others.

“However, it’s not uncommon for dragons to be born deformed in some way. Usually one egg in five clutches or thereabouts. This is where drakes, wyvern, and similar come from. And those unfortunates are not born with the spark. As a result these children are only given the briefest amount of time to grow before they are turned out on their own to survive or die. They are seen as an embarrassment by many dragons.

“Because they are still dragons at heart, these children usually survive, for dragons are always apex predators. But they rarely become sapient.”

Dakota, confused by the lesson but trying to take it all in nonetheless, raises his hand, “I thought dragons always left their children to raise themselves?”

“We do not spend decades raising our young as many of the lesser races do, but we typically spend around five years teaching them. But in the case of these handicapped hatchlings… well they’re often abandoned around the time they’re six months old.”

“Excuse me,” Dakota said even more confused, “you've said, ‘we’ a couple of times when referring to the dragons. You don’t look like a dragon.”

“Most dragons can shapeshift to some degree. Some, like myself, can polymorph into completely different races. I figured presenting myself as a human would be best as most races are most comfortable around their own kind.”

“Oh. Thank you for considering my feelings, then. And thank you for teaching me about dragon culture. But what problem do you have that I could possibly be the one who can help?”

Kwil looked at Dakota with a stern, almost angry, expression. “I sought help from the gods because one of my children was born a drake and I did not want to abandon her to her fate. I want to do everything in my power to ensure she becomes sapient and doesn’t stay a simple beast forever. As I said before, we now believe that simply raising intelligence is not enough. That true sapience comes from within. However, it is my theory that the key may be curiosity. And if my daughter could be exposed to a wide range of things while gaining intelligence and leveling up, perhaps that will nurture her spark.

“The gods have suggested a course of action that is anathema to all of dragonkind. They tell me to allow her to become a companion animal. Her companion would be able to assign any stat points she receives as she levels rather than leaving them to chance. And traveling with one of another race would expose her to the vastness of the world and, hopefully, ignite her curiosity.

“So, my best hope for my youngest child to become a true dragon is for her to do something no dragon has ever done. Put her fate in the hands of a mortal. Become equal to a mortal. I know the gods promised you a companion. And my daughter’s best chance to become a true dragon is to first become that companion.”

Dakota just sat there in shock. On one hand a drake would be an amazing and powerful companion. On the other hand, he would be helping raise a dragon. He had failed his own children more than once and Kwil was asking him to raise hers?

“I can see this is a lot to process. While you do so, let me introduce you to my daughter.”

Kwil walked out into a clear area of the room and shimmered, nearly instantly changing from human to dragon form. Just the sight of her derailed Dakota’s thoughts. Kwil was a beautiful forest green color and had to be at least fifty feet long, not counting her tail. Her horns appeared to float above her head rather than be attached to it.

The dragon threw back her head and roared. Dakota understood that she was calling her daughter. He remembered Tisodi giving him the ability to speak draconic when he first came to Traum and couldn't help but wonder how long the gods had been planning this. While his mind was wandering, something ran into the room from Sai's home. Dakota assumed it was the drake he had been told about. She was a light green, and her scales had a slight shimmer to them. She ran up to her mother and laid her head on one of Kwil's paws.

Dakota walked over toward Kwil and her daughter. When he got within thirty feet of them he stopped and said, "Hello" in draconic.

The drake had watched the gray dwarf approach but didn’t move. Kwil nudged her daughter forward. The drake cautiously approached him, sniffing the air. As she got near, Dakota realized that this drake was nearly five feet tall on all four legs and at least a dozen feet long from nose to the tip of her tail. For a brief moment fear rose up in his heart, but he was able to quickly get it under control and held his hand up to her, as he would a dog, waiting for her to sniff. The drake leaned down and sniffed his hand and then his head. Dakota tentatively stroked some of her scales. When she didn’t attack, he stroked her a bit harder, and she leaned into his hand, apparently enjoying the sensation.

“My name is Dakota; what’s your name?” Dakota asked in a tone typically reserved for babies and small animals.

“I’ve not named her. It is tradition for dragons to not name a child until they have spoken their first words. If she is to be a companion she will require a name. You will be allowed to choose what to call her.”

"No ma’am,” Dakota blurted out. Regaining his composure, he added, “If that is what you wish, but I worry it's a bit too important for the likes of me to be picking out."

Kwil nodded her giant head. "If you agree to bond to my daughter, then the system will ask you to choose her name. It will only be her name until she gains sapience and chooses her own dragon name. If you agree to do this, I will need to teach you a ritual that will allow you to bond her as a companion. But, it's important that you spend some time with her first. I believe you have some meat from the worm you butchered?"

"I think that's a good idea, ma'am."

"Good. Over the next few days, we will alternate between going over the ritual that you will need to perform and spending time with my daughter."

Dakota looked up and met Kwil’s eyes, “With all due respect, I haven’t agreed to this, yet.”

Kwil chuckled, “No, but you’d be a fool not to accept. To be the only ranger to ever have a drake as a companion, protecting you and yours. The possibility to eventually have two dragons in your debt. You would be a fool of incomprehensible proportions to refuse and if that were the case, I doubt the gods would have sent me to you.”

Nodding, Dakota replied, “Those are good points. But what will my standing be with you should I fail? Will I be applauded for trying or become supper?”

“I don’t know why humans always assume dragons will eat them. Do you realize how little meat is on your bones? I promise that should I decide to kill you it won’t be by eating you. Better?”

Dakota noticed how she didn’t promise not to kill him for failure. But he felt it was probably the best answer he was going to get. And it was probably a good idea to go along with what the gods had planned. He was nervous and excited and couldn't help but be amazed at what his life had become. Looking at the drake and back to Kwil he simply nodded, “Let do this then.”

⚴

"It's my understanding that you all heard from your patron deity last night?" Gito asked at the breakfast table the next day.

The party all nodded with Liam speaking up, "Yeah. Evidently it's time for us to leave the nest and go save the world."

"Perhaps not so grand of a task right out of the gate, though," Gito laughed. "I know you've heard of the war to the north. Well, it's time to do your part. There are a series of fortifications running across this entire mountain range, east to west. It’s called the Shieldbelt. Every single pass big enough to move troops through, and some that aren’t, is walled up and fortified.

“All the lands to the north have been unified under a single war mongering ruler who claims to be a god king and he wants the whole continent. Your next task is to travel with a resupply convoy to some of our outposts on the Shieldbelt. You wanna remind the world that the gods care about them? Start with the soldiers fighting against that damn god king that keeps trying to invade."

"What about Dakota and Wendell? What if they come back here after we leave?" Celeste asked.

"If that happens, then we'll send them in your direction. But I'm sure the gods can point them in the right direction no matter where you are." Gito responded in a comforting tone.

"I'd like to finish a wagon I've been working on, before we leave," Miguel added.

"When have you had time to work on a wagon?" Liam asked

"While working with Davruck," Miguel replied. "He's been teaching me how to brew ale. But, since I knew we'd be leaving eventually, I've built everything on a wagon that I could take with me when we leave. But it's not quite ready for travel, yet."

"So you're going to have a wagon that can make ale as you travel?" Gito asked in surprise.

"That's the plan."

"Maybe ye will save the world after all," the old dwarf said with a laugh.