Tribulations of a Dragon

It doesn’t take long after leaving the trio behind before I remember the axe still lodged in my shoulder. Pulling it out gives me a moment to think and I’m reminded that I need to keep my wits about me as I search the town for any scent of Lauren. These people were proof that there are still adventurers around, so it’s important that I don’t get careless.

It’s an obvious problem that I’m so large in a town like this. The buildings may be on fire, but there’s still room for people to hide in them and launch attacks from the windows.

One thing of note is that I’m not finding any townsfolk. Spying through a few windows makes it clear that the people who were here have left. As far as I can tell, the town has essentially been abandoned. A curious thing that I might have to look into.

Focusing on Lauren again, another scream of pain hits me. I need to find her.

Keeping my nose out for any changes in the scents around me, I make sure to stay aware of the situation in case any adventurers try to sneak up on me.

“Lauren, if you can tell where I am, send your thoughts faster as I get closer.”

She’s definitely somewhere in this town, and the pain I’m getting from her makes it clear that someone is hurting her.

Instead of standing around here not doing anything, I start moving, searching the streets for any trace of her. I know her scent well, so if she’s around, I don’t doubt I’ll find her. Though, I would really appreciate Shadow Man giving me directions right about now…

Maybe there’s help to get from someone else… Lying down, I clasp my hands as best I can, mimicking what Lauren does when she prays. Closing my eyes, I focus on thinking of the weird woman, hoping my message reaches her.

Dear Merfercitrus, I need help finding Lauren. Please don’t be cryptic about it. Thanks.

Opening my eyes again, I don’t see anything different. Everything is still on fire and burning to the ground. As far as I can tell, there aren’t even any adventurers. If they’ve all left without telling me, I’m going to be very annoyed.

Lauren’s god doesn’t seem to be much help, so I’ll just have to continue my search on my own. Or maybe not… Feeling fairly indifferent about property damage at this point, I bust through a building to make room to turn around as I start making my way back to the trio’s square. I’m curious to find out if they’re up for a quick session of Pictionary.

“Faro nuia! Jebaves essomn jebui seke. Jeb usai wirlaw pi dubarin yla un yung, odei nuia hensora ti tunur curai yerun un yung! [Fuck that! We’ve done our part. We were supposed to hold off a fledgling, but that beast is far more than a fledgling!]”

Well, from that poor attempt at being quiet, I’m confident they’re still around. They spot me as soon as I turn a corner, and it looks like they managed to get Tower Shield up. Good for him.

Looking at them, they look pretty bad, and Maul is using her maul as a crutch. Tower Shield is clearly very exhausted, and the Healer is running on fumes at best. With their attention focused on me, the Healer and Tower Shield get ready for another round, but Maul seems to have different plans. Instead of readying her weapon, she throws herself to the ground, adopting a submissive position as she prostrates before me, which tickles my dragon aspect.

“Ave sire, er dornos! E sade er, udu ulunawin hensaryt lern E buzarin enui fegyv! [Get down, you idiots! I told you, it changed attitude when I threw my weapon!”

“Udu kaonin erei beon! [It ate your leg!]“

“Nuiati sarnaw yerun kaonei omni yia nui, tona er rinu?! [That’s better than eating all of me, don’t you think?!]”

Watching them bicker is confusing. For whatever reason, Maul seems quite upset with the other two for wanting to stand their ground, but I can relate to wanting to make a last stand.

Giving them a moment to settle on a plan might not be the smart thing to do, but it feels like the right thing to do. Taking a seat, I watch the ground as they continue bickering back and forth. If body language is anything to go by, Tower Shield still wants to fight, but the Healer wants to run away. Both of those are bad choices. Fighting means death, and running away means… well, also death. Chasing prey is fun.

Looking up from her prostrated position, Maul sees me just sitting around and she gets a weird expression on her face. She gets up and grabs hold of her weapon, using it as a crutch again, she apparently has the idea to approach me with a very aggressive frown on her face. Tower Shield and the Healer seem entirely focused on each other as neither of them has noticed the clanking of Maul’s maul hitting the cobbled streets.

She manages to walk right up to me, maintaining eye contact with that glare of hers, and as soon as I’m within reach, the maul flies for my head as she puts her all into the final attack, swinging with all her might as she releases a mighty bellow. It would have been quite the heroic action if she hadn’t missed and fallen over, but I’m impressed with her determination regardless of the less-than-graceful result.

Pinning her to the ground with my claw, her two friends finally take notice and stare at the scene.

“Qorum, er dornos! Udu warac buzirn er ufuri dubarinei nui! [Run, you idiots! It can’t chase you while holding me!]”

For some reason, Maul puts her arms around my hand and squeezes, which strikes me as very odd. At least we agree that she isn’t going anywhere. I’m curious to find out what Tower Shield and the Healer intend to do now. Their teammate has essentially just given herself to me, and they were too busy bickering to notice.

Tower Shield steps in front of the Healer and blocks my view, making me a little antsy. I’m not familiar enough with their tactics and abilities to know whether they’ve got some weird ace up their sleeve.

“E sadei qorum! [I said run!]”

I am on a bit of a schedule here, so I ignore their antics for now and dig my free claw into the cobblestone, ripping up the street to reveal the dirt underneath. Patting the dirt down to create a smooth surface, I draw a quick map of the local area, making sure to mark out Tuiran, Oakhold, and Plainshold.

Maul’s attention appears to be focused on my amazing artistry as I draw a beautiful depiction of Lauren. I make sure to get all her features covered as I create the most amazing stick figure ever. Pointing to my art, I say her name again, causing Maul to look quite confused. Pointing at the Healer and back at my drawing, I repeat my friend’s name once more.

“Jonjon! Dunira toin beris du trodig? [Jonjon, where did they take the cleric?]”

“Cora du faro tose nuia masin?! [What the fuck does that matter?!]”

“Nura sae nui, elr vison du faroei Themar! [Just tell me, or show the fucking Dragon!]”

I’m getting a little tired of all this shouting back and forth, and I’m becoming increasingly inclined to just squish Maul and go search on my own again. With my weight shifting slightly, Maul groans and speaks up as her eyes fixate on me instead of her friends.

“Lauren! Lauren!”

That’s one way for Maul to get my attention. Releasing the pressure on her, she spends a moment coughing and gasping, indicating that I may have been a bit rougher than intended. As I get up again, I make sure to remove my claw from her so I don’t end up turning her into paste. There have been a few signs that I’m a bit on the heavy side, so I do need to be careful.

She takes it as an invitation to get up as she reaches for her hammer, but for obvious reasons, I don’t trust her with a weapon. Grabbing it myself, I bring the head of the weapon to my mouth and bite it off, leaving the wooden shaft with a splintered end. Handing her the remains, she takes it as I swallow the hammerhead. I’m pretty sure it’s valuable metal as it is quite delicious.

Shaft settles in with her new crutch, shooting me quite the fierce look. It seems unfair to give me any grief about not trusting her with a weapon like that, she did just try to smack me in the face with one.

She returns to her two friends, striking Tower Shield as she seems to command him to do something. More bickering ensues until they finally start moving, and Shaft motions for me to follow. For some reason, Shaft smells only partially human, and Tower Shield is definitely not human. He just looks like a big muscly human, but I don’t know what’s going on there.

The oddest thing is definitely the healer. I can’t place it at all. For something that pissed itself, it smells wrong in a different way, and I’m not sure what to make of it. I’ll deal with that later, though, I have a job to do.

In fact, I haven’t felt anything from Lauren in a while, not even those spikes of pain. It’s making me antsy, and I really need to find her. Giving the trio a growl to speed them up, Tower Shield picks up Shaft, and they finally quicken their pace.

We’re moving through streets littered with burning debris as the buildings have begun collapsing. For a moment, I worry that Lauren might have been caught in the destruction, but as I think about it, I become confident that someone who would kidnap her would also bring her somewhere not easily attacked.

If some cleric comes to talk about an imminent dragon attack and tries to save everyone, they would think she’s nuts. She is a little nuts, but it’s unrelated to my attack.

They’re being quite obedient as we reach the wreckage of a fancy house, and as they move to go inside, I let out a growl to indicate that I want to know what’s going on.

Shaft is quick to start signing and as far as I can tell, she’s saying there’s a basement here and a bunch of other stuff I can’t understand. But I know basements! Digging in my claws, I begin my tunnel to the underground lair of bad guys and Lauren-nappers.

As I dig, Tower Shield puts down Shaft, and she enters the building, sifting through the burnt remains of the building and whatever is inside. Tower Shield seems to have become fascinated by my digging, but I ignore him, focusing instead on the new material I’ve just hit.

It’s some sort of very strong rock, and it feels odd. It also smells far worse than anything I’ve ever had assault my nose. Every time I touch it, a little of my magic is drained away, and I don’t know what to do about it. Attempting to force my way through doesn’t give any results, as the rocky construction appears to be quite unyielding.

“Maya, cora du faro is heni bakal toei unari? [Maya, what the fuck is vile steel doing here?]”

As I experiment with trying to break through this odd, rocky material, Shaft falls into my tunnel, lodging herself behind my horn with a groan. Backing up slowly, I let her down, and she pats me a few times before realizing what she’s doing.

With the help of Tower Shield, she enters the tunnel, and the two start inspecting the rocks, tapping them with gentle strikes.

I’ll leave them to that and dig somewhere else. Maybe I can find an opening somewhere.

Turning a corner, I leave the trio unattended as I start digging. I’m sure they’ll be fine. Once again I hit the weird rock, draining some of my magic every time I touch it, but this time it isn’t airtight. I can smell Lauren! She’s in there somewhere!

Pushing more magic into my claws, I try to rip the rocks apart where they look weak, but it just doesn't work. Somehow, the dang material is too tough! I wish I had someone who could explain to me what this stuff is and how I can overcome it… It's not airtight here! I can tell she's somewhere inside here!

“Lauren, are you in there? I can smell you!”

There’s no change in scent, and I don’t get any mental acknowledgments. I’m not sure what that means, but I don’t smell any rot, so I’ll count that as a win.

Trying to melt it comes to mind, but if I end up heating up the room, I might kill Lauren, and that would not be great. In an ideal world, I would have time to figure out how to deal with this material without shouts in the background distracting me.

“Er henwasin bercan! [You killed him!]”

Leaving my hole to investigate Shaft's shouting and the general ruckus, the scent of fresh blood wafting my way, tempting my more draconic urges. At the entrance to the first hole, I see the Healer standing over the fallen body of Tower Shield, wielding a long, thin blade coated in blood. Shaft is waving around her stick, trying to hit the Healer, but with her missing leg, the Healer is evading her with ease.

I’m pretty sure I made it clear that I wouldn’t allow any weapons around here. It’s possible I should have done more to make sure they followed the rules.

The Healer is backing up toward me as Shaft continues trying to hit the thing. Using all of my great sneaking abilities, I approach the Healer from behind as Shaft looks up at me, a wicked smile dancing on her lips. With my mouth open, I bring my jaws down around the Healer, snapping them shut. It tastes a little funny, but still delicious. Biting down hard, the thing’s arms and legs fall away, not having made it into my mouth, and with a swallow, one of Shaft’s worries disappears.

I’m not one to waste food, so I make sure to eat the legs and arms too. It’s the responsible thing to do.

It occurs to me that I should probably have found out why it didn’t smell right, but now the best I can do is hope I don’t get a tummy ache. Looking at the body of Tower Shield, I bring my head down and take a bi- Ouch! What the hell! Shaft just whacked me over the nose with the shaft! That’s so rude…

Looking at her, she’s struggling to balance on one leg as she holds out the handle of her maul like a sword, getting ready to whack me again.

“Bercati enoblet. [He’s mine.]”

I don’t need a translator to understand that. It’s clear that she’s laying claim to this guy. Oh well, that doesn’t matter anyway, I need to focus on getting into this rock box. Given that I’m not having any luck digging, I think it’s about time I check out the interior of the building.

Leaving Shaft by the hole, I begin my expert inspection of the remaining exterior, some minor demolition is necessary for me to fit the doorway. With an appropriate amount of force, I break down the facade of the first floor of the building and head inside. By my estimates, there should be an entrance to the basement somewhere in this building. Or in one of the nearby buildings.

Worst-case scenario, I’ll just dig out the entire thing and see what I find. I’m great at digging, no matter what anyone says.

The first thing I note inside this building is that they really need to do some dusting. The place is filthy. Most of the walls are gone, but the wooden beams making up most of the structure seem to be holding on well.

Traversing the interior proves more annoying than anything else. The floorboards snap whenever I step on them, and it feels like they were built to body-shame me, but joke’s on you, floorboards, I like my body!

Reeling in my distracted thoughts, I manage to focus on finding this entrance to the underground long enough to search some more debris located near what was a wall. Ripping it away, the debris reveals the secrets hidden underneath: more floorboards…

This is getting annoying… Lauren is so close, and I can’t reach her. I just want to take her home and leave this stupid town behind…

Coughing behind me reminds me that I’m not alone and I may have forgotten about them. For some reason, Shaft hasn’t left yet; instead, she’s leaning against a support beam, making clawing motions with her free hand. I was getting to that, geez! Don’t rush me, woman!

Ignoring her, I do something entirely different than she suggested. With gentle claws, I dismantle the floor to reveal the dirt underneath, proceeding to dig away at that as well, pushing the dirt behind me. More of the strange rock is being unearthed as I work, but I'm not finding any entrance to the place at all. I need help here… Looking back at Shaft, she’s on the ground covered in dirt for some reason. I’m sure I didn’t have anything to do with that.

Curling one of my talons inward, I brush away layers of dirt from Shaft with the smooth curve of the top of my talon, making sure I don’t hurt her. After helping her up, she looks around in a daze and rubs the bump on her head.

As soon as she’s steady again, she apparently decides it’s okay to lean on me, as she points toward the wide hole I’ve dug. I’m not sure what her plan is here, but if I stand on that, it’ll just suck away my magic, which is not something I want.

With me not moving, she lets out a sigh and gets down to crawl toward the hole. It takes her some effort, but as soon as she’s there, she taps the rock a few times and gestures for me to join her.

“E aves pi ulau Wreyn ilan ragiet nuio… [I have to let Wreyn know about this…]

With her saying something interesting, I repeat Wreyn’s name, getting her attention. She points to the rock as she repeats Wreyn’s name and growls. I mimic her actions and point north toward Oakhold, which doesn’t seem to go over too well.

“FARO!”

I’ve heard Lauren say that enough to know what it means. I’m not sure why, but it seems pointing toward Oakhold soured her mood quite a bit. I’m not gonna bother with that, though, I want to get into this rock box and save Lauren. Giving the situation a think, I go over things I can’t do. I can’t burn it, because I might cook Lauren, and that’s bad. I can’t touch it, because it sucks, and that’s bad. And that’s pretty much the options I have available…

Of course, I have more options available. Geez, think, Kira. An obvious option comes to mind: when in doubt, artillery.

Those wooden beams look like they’d pack quite a punch if dropped from on high. Leaving the building, I spot Shaft’s shaft and throw it to her. She’ll be better off with a crutch, so she can avoid getting all that dirt in her wounds. Though after yelling fuck, she’s just lying there, not doing much of anything.

Heading back toward the square we fought in, I keep my nose ready to notice when the subtle stench of rock box disappears. Now that I know what it smells like, I can pick up hints of it along the street, and the dang thing is massive. The dirt does a good job of hiding it, but not good enough.

Wasting no time, I go into a run and as soon as I reach the square, my wings take me into the sky. Turning as tightly as I can, I head back toward the remains of the fancy building. Looking around, most of the fire in this area has died down, but it has spread further into town and the horizon is completely obscured by smoke.

I’m not sure what they use for walls, but they’ve chosen an excellent material for the supports in their buildings. Almost all the wooden frames are still standing, a spooky landscape of building skeletons.

Now that I’m at the fancy building, I just need a beam to drop. Looking around, I spot one that looks blackened, but otherwise untouched at the top of a nearby building. Hovering over my target, I grip it with all four limbs and beat my wings hard. The dang thing is stuck! How dare joinery be this powerful?!

Feeling for my magic, it becomes clear that I’ll need a rest later as I’m down to what I think is like a quarter of what I can have in reserve. I have been burning a lot of stuff today, so that makes sense, I guess. But I can deal with that later, for now, I need a large wooden beam to drop on a large rocky box.

It has to work, because paper is made of wood, so it’s the rules. Pushing magic into my wings, I manage to rock the beam up and down until it pops out of the joint, the sudden weight pulling me to the ground. With quite some effort, I manage to stabilize and fly higher with my new ammunition.

Flying higher, I point the tip of the joinery part down, hoping to make the whole thing into a giant stake. With a sufficient height, I let go and wait. Seconds later, I hear the loud crash of my stake impacting groaning metal. Time to inspect my handiwork.

Reaching the ground again, I look at the impact site and it worked! My stake has managed to punch through the stupid metal rock thing! Two obvious obstacles need to be dealt with now, though. I still don’t fit down there, even with the widened hole. The stake is blocking the hole, making it even more snug, and even if I did fit, I’d be touching the nasty bits of that place. That’s three things, which is much worse than just two things.

Gripping the part sticking out of the floor, I pull and push on it, making the hole bigger. It’s slow work, but it’s working and the hole is widening. As I’m working away, a thought occurs to me: could I have dug underneath the box, or do they have the entire thing enclosed?

Considering my sensibilities, it seems overkill to have the place entirely enclosed, but I don’t know what sort of subterranean threats they have going on in this world. I might have to explore that.

“Corati sire doba? [What’s down there?]“

Geez, that startled me… Don’t be so sneaky and forgettable, Shaft! Though she does have convenient timing, she does fit into the hole. Pitching the support beam to the side, it becomes somewhat lodged, allowing Shaft to slide down it and enter the underground structure. If she can find Lauren and bring her back, I may just consider rewarding her.

Pointing at the hole, I say Lauren’s name, and with Shaft looking at me, she repeats the name as well. Just because it feels foolish to not try, I grab the sides of the metallic structure with my hands and pull back, but it doesn’t budge. It does cut my hands a bit, but I know that was a risk. I have no idea what sort of logic this nonsensical material works on, because this feels entirely unfair to me.

Drawing my attention, Shaft points to herself and then counts on her fingers before pointing to the hole. I don’t know how many people are down there, but I do know where Axe’s axe is. Leaving the building behind once more, I sprint away to go find it. In moments, I reach it exactly where I left it and return to Shaft, handing it off to her.

With cautious hands, she takes hold of it with a solemn expression. Looking up at me, I see a fire in her eyes. For a moment, I think she might take a swing, but with a shake of her head, she turns to the hole again.

Going to the beam, she throws the shaft of her hammer into the darkness below. With some effort, she manages to shimmy down into the pit and the search begins.

That leaves me without much to do as I wait for Shaft to return.

Instead of standing around not doing anything, I’m gonna go find out how deep this rocky box goes! Leaving the building, I head to the first hole I dug and find Tower Shield lying there. I expected that part, but somehow, he’s still alive. He got stabbed in the neck, gushing blood all over the place, and somehow he lives.

So now I can leave him here to fend for himself, kill him because he is an enemy, or try to help him somehow. Not killing him would be a pretty good reward for Shaft when she brings Lauren to me. That leaves whether I should help him or not. I don’t really feel like helping him, so thinking about my friends and what they would do, I try to come up with a solution.

I’m pretty sure Raya would stab him and yell at someone else. Joras would put some sort of curse on him. Jeannie would hide, but eventually help. Lauren would yell and shout. Cranky would tie him up. For some reason, I suspect Lily would do dark and unspeakable things. I’m not getting any closer to a solution here…

Screw it, I’ll dig out a small pit for him to sleep it off in, and then Lauren can heal him when she gets back. It barely takes any effort before I have a small indent dug out and patted down, and with a few gentle tugs, I place the large guy into it. He groans a bit, but I’m sure it’s better to be a bit out of the way so I don’t accidentally step on him.

With that out of the way, I can return to the task of finding out how deep this box goes. Entering the hole again, my eyes water and I’m overcome with a hacking cough. Shit, I need to get out of here! My freakin’ nose is on fire! Reaching the surface again, the effects lessen, but my coughing has turned bloody and I feel horrible all of a sudden… Geez… I need a moment…

Whatever that material is, I don’t want anything to do with it… This is horrible in so many ways… I’m having to fight to stay conscious, but it’s a losing battle… This isn’t a place I want to fall asleep in.

————————

“Silly beast, why are you sleeping here?”

Forcing my eyes open, I realize I must have lost my battle with sleep, but I recognize that voice.

“Morning Lauren.”

“Well, you’re right this time, but why are you just sleeping here? Anyone could come by and attack you.”

It’s true and it’s something I worried about, but I didn’t have much of a choice. Giving her a look, the first thing I see is that she looks bad. I don’t recognize the clothes she’s wearing, and they look torn and bloody. Someone deserves all the pain for doing this to her.

“I’m glad Shaft found you, Lauren.”

For some reason, that makes Lauren burst into laughter as she turns around, facing a tied-up woman on the ground.

“She calls you Shaft, Maya.”

Now I’m getting glared at for no reason… Why is she tied up anyway? She was pretty helpful in finding Lauren, as Lauren's presence testifies.

With Lauren back, I tell her about how I tried praying to Merfercitrus, but she didn't respond, I do get a hit from Lauren, though, right in the nose.

"Her name is Merciferus. Mer-Ci-Fer-Rus. Get it right, and stop blaspheming, beast. She does need to know about this, though. Vile Steel is not something you can just make, it takes a decade to grow enough for simple warding. This much must have taken centuries of combined effort to make..."

"Why does it make me sick, though? I feel terrible..."

"I would imagine you do. It binds to and consumes magic, so it is anathema to what you are. Leaving it exposed infects the very air with its taint. Breathing it in as a magical beast is unwise."

Now she tells me... The look on Shaft's face suggests that she's having some very obvious thoughts right now, with such an easy way to defeat me. Lauren turns and follows my gaze, looking at the struggling woman.

"Maya, if you choose to wield vile steel as a weapon, know that it will consume your soul, pulling everything you are out of the cycle and leaving you a husk of what you once were. The Gods themselves will punish you for such a transgression, and they will show no consideration for your good intentions."

Geez, I'm feeling a little intimidated by Lauren all of a sudden.

"Look at me, Maya. I can heal Jonjon, but in return, the two of you must leave this place and never try to hunt Kira. A simple trade, don't you agree?"

It's clear that Shaft has mixed feelings about it, anger is evident on her face, but where did she think this would go? I made it clear that I was here for Lauren, but they didn't want to give her to me, so I took action on my own.

With a nod from Shaft, Lauren walks over to the large man and kneels down beside him, clasping her hands in prayer. Moments later, a light envelops her and she touches Tower Shield, healing his wounds and he's quick to recover.

With most work taken care of, we just need to return to Tuiran and sleep it off. Returning to me, Lauren flops down on my muzzle, hugging me tightly as tears well up in her eyes. She has been putting on a good act, but the stench of her fear has been overpowering everything else.

"Thank you for coming for me, you kind beast..."