Golden Treasure: Be The Dragon Quest

I am the Listener. In the darkness Below I listen for direction, in the light of the Sun I listen to the Music of the world.

You are a Listener? It is good for you that I like to talk, then!

Your visitor (you choose the short name Oak to refer to him by) squirms around on his back in the sand of the beach for a bit, making your crest rise up in confusion and alarm, before he finally un-lounges, properly standing on all fours again.

You should try that some time. Sand in your feathers feels nice. Are you the boring kind of listener who never does anything with all the glittering unique and original thoughts that enter their Mind, or the interesting and tricky kind who does fun things with what they've seen? Tell me of the things you have done, little one.

You flick your tail in mild irritation. I thought my insights and my life were boring to you. Was I wrong?

This is your chance to impress the Mighty Oak! My expectations are exceedingly low because you are really quite new, but it is amusing to see what silly things hatchlings consider to be great achievements sometimes.

You tilt your head from side to side while you think about this.

...Promise that you do not intend to harm me, and that you will answer a question if I do, and I will. I shall sing of my life since it apparently interests and amuses you, and you shall sing of something I ask in return. Does that not seem fair, Mighty Oak?

He points his head to the sky and makes a particularly high pitched growl, almost a purr like you've heard the Slideclaws make - a vocal show of amusement. You are surprisingly shrewd. I'm not going to kill you or drive you out of this place. You are a hatchling. That would simply be rude.

I sing this for my own amusement - If you burned all the acorns you came across you would soon be without a forest to hunt in. If a sapling takes root near a larger, mature tree it is doomed. Chance and fate determine whether each seed is silenced, or whether its song slowly grows to a mighty thrumming beat. The same is true of trees and of Draak. Little hatchlings are good seeds, even if they are not my creations. Many hatchlings existing means there are more chances for a Great Draak-Kin to arise, one who will keep the balance of Sun and Earth as our privilege and duty from those great spirits commands, one who may teach me something eventually, or even many years in the future come together with me to create more Draak-Kin... Many, many years in the future... To be crushed and choked by a force outside one's comprehension is a cruel fate, but it does not serve my interests to be that unavoidable doom. I would gain little and lose unknowable opportunities.

Interesting. Not compassion... But a sort of self-interest, twisted around into mercy. Or at least inaction. You get the feeling that he might well still try to kill you if you managed to badly offend or inconvenience him. But a Draak-Kin is a reasoning being, whose Mind is deep and patient.

+1 Lesson in Earth

This Oak has sensible reasons for doing things. It's a massive relief. Maybe all the stupid ones die off and only sensible Draak reach adulthood. That would be a relief. Stupid Rockhead! You're not really sad he is dead.

Oak continues, ...And I would not want to see you waste your question on something silly, so instead I shall tell you a story that I judge worthy exchange for your own. I swear by the Onesong to make this determination sincerely. Is this acceptable?

You're hardly in any position to argue, so you accede.

You sing of your first few days above ground, exploring the land around you and being astonished by all the life you met. Oak quickly seems bored, but he did ask so you continue your recitation. He perks up a bit when you talk about the buried claw-thing you found on the advice of a bird, but dismisses it as luck. He laughs again when you talk about meeting the water-spirit, seems a little interested in the Shining Spheres (you omit the part where you still remember the location of some underground crystal veins), then gets bored again as you talk about all the other things you did in your first few months as a hatchling.

But when you start describing your trek into the Great Below, he grows serious and genuinely interested. Matters of Tailless aren't something Oak has had any experience with, it seems. He seems extremely confused when you attempt to articulate the sense of sympathy, empathy, compassion you had for that lonely Digger, so you stop trying to explain it. You pause after the part where the freed Volt seared knowledge into you and thrashed the equipment that had been imprisoning it, to see if he has anything to comment on.

...The Onesong must like you or something. You're rather lucky running into so many interesting things in just your first year. I have not had much experience with the Tailless myself. I prefer to avoid them as they are smelly and weird. Sing further of the Tailless, and in return I shall sing of the Woodstrider clan and the Cycle of Fire. It is a lesson any Kin who wishes to keep a thriving territory should learn, whether or not you take my story to heart.

There is a great spirit of fire slumbering in all forests. This spirit is the purest essence of Fire, which is life and joy - but also pain and destruction. Fire consumes. If allowed to, it will grow without bound, and consume everything. All of the Green, all bounty of prey that would sustain a Draak, and even the body of the most blessed children of Sun and Earth will become ruined ash. Unless...

Noble Woodstrider is a fine Goodbeast, one of the most delicious and most noble in the land. Standing taller than stout Tusksnort and moving with more grace than the greater clans of Slideclaw cats, they are Lord-Herbivore over much of the world. Greater beasts yet exist, with unique attributes and great size, but many Draak say that none match the Woodstrider's grace and nobility. Or their deliciousness. The Givers of that clan bear sharp crowns of bone, but all members of that clan bear a crown of spirit. The Woodstriders know of the Spirit of Wildfire and understand their place in the balance. Thus they do not resent the Lumberers, Great Slideclaws, and Draak-Kin that hunt them, if the balance is kept.

To overhunt the prey-nobility of the land is a grave mistake, the destruction of the balance the Draak are meant to maintain. The Woodstriders and other prey eat those plants which feed Wildfire's explosive growth. The fire cannot be entirely stopped, but when the forest is thinner, it spreads like a ponderously wandering Lumberer rather than a swift and deadly Skyclaw. It does not burn the whole land, but only a part before it is drowned or starved. The forest blooms again in the wake of these fires - Destruction begets creation! There are plants and beasts whose Way is entirely dependent on land consumed by fire! In this, the Great Green reflects a central truth of the world. There must be Creation and Destruction both.

It is a cycle as old as the Green itself. Such cycles are everywhere on this Earth, great and small. The Draak-Kin who understands the rhythms and cycles of their territory is wise and will prosper...

There is a lot of wisdom in that tale. You feel it settle into you like a bone-deep Truth, a sense of wonder building at the understanding you might some day achieve. You will remember this and think about it often, always trying to see the branching causes of life as it is now, and effects on the life that will be in the future. Everything is always changing, and yet always in balance...

+2 Lessons in Air, +1 Lesson in Water

You're silent for a while, thoughtful.

Thank you for that lesson, Mighty Oak. I hear the truth in it... If you would kindly permit another moment of my curiosity... What is flying like?

His tail flicks and he lets out a little chirp of annoyance. I normally want payment to answer questions, but you are polite and this one is so fundamental it would be a shame to any Kin not to know! It's a great joy indeed. Embracing the wind and soaring through the sky is a pure expression of mastery and power like few others a Draak can experience. Look forward to it! While keeping the balance is important, indeed the greatest responsibility of any Kin, that is not to say that we cannot enjoy ourselves. A life dedicated solely to duty would be dreadfully boring. And that is why I wanted to trade with your mother. She always has the most impressive gemstones, sucked out of Earth's marrow! It is well worth the trade of my artifacts.

...You have a small box of cut gemstones in your Hoard. After a moment of hesitation, you Sing this fact into the telepathic conversation - not in words but in images and impressions, including the details of the box and the sheen of the light playing through the faceted stones.

He laughs again. Delightful! You really are an amusing one, surpassing my admittedly low expectations twice. I want those. I might challenge you for them, betting one of my own things, if you weren't a hatchling. Instead we shall simply have to trade. I have two things that may interest you, kept in my gullet-pouch. I have mastered the art of pouring energy into stones so that they become useful Treasures instead of merely common rocks. Of course, I pick only the most beautiful stones to do this to. The effects are quite wondrous.

The first, I call a Sun-Stone. Swallowing it into your stomach as opposed to your gullet-pouch will fill you with vigor and energy and speed, the very essence of Air and Fire, for a single day. Then, it will dissolve into nothingness, expended. The Energy Stones will sustain a very young Draak-Kin for many days, perhaps as much as a moon each, though the energy that was invested in their creation was much greater and it would be unhealthy over the course of years to consume only on Energy Stones and never hunt.

He shows you the two stones, and you marvel. There is definitely powerful energy swirling around in these unassuming, if pretty, rocks. The Sun Stone's polished tan surface is suffused with a patient warmth, a gentler one than the painful flame you glimpsed before... While you're a little wary of anything to do with the Sun, it feels like it would not harm you and would fulfill its promise of strength and speed. The Energy Stones are small spheres of white rock, almost chalk-like, but they smell almost absurdly delicious and filling even from here.



Artifacts.

• There is no doubt that these items are powerful Music, created by a Draak much older and more experienced than you. The BOX OF GEMSTONES he wants in return is quite attractive and shiny. You judge it worth perhaps 30 or 40 Shiny Things. But these magical stones could be worth more to you than any non-magical stone, no matter how pretty.
• The SUN STONE will massively buff your Air and Fire for one day, filling you with Oak's conception of the Sun's immense might concentrated into physical form, and then it will be gone. Such power-! Effectively a consumable buff that will grant +4 levels in Air and Fire for one day. The effect may become lesser once you grow larger.
• The ENERGY STONES will restore you from the weakness of starvation and fill you with such energy as if you had just eaten a mighty feast! These are effectively storeable and consumable rations, one month of food each, though again the effect will be lesser once you grow larger.
• You can keep these in your gullet pouch whenever you go somewhere that you might need them, though they're a little bit uncomfortably heavy.

Trade [Box of Gemstones] for [Sun Stone] or [2 Energy Stones]?
[] No deal.
[] Get the sun stone.
[] Get the energy stones.



Autumn is in full swing. What will you do after Oak leaves?
[] Seek a Herald from among the Bluewings, to announce to challengers that this territory is claimed and you will return soon, whenever you leave it.
[] Venture South and try to find and meet the other hatchlings that are supposed to be there. You won't necessarily challenge them, you just want to meet them.
[] Try to find a path to the wise Draak called Leafback, whose territory is North and West across a band of steep mountains and rough terrain, and ask them to teach you.
[] Learn the Way of a tribe of beasts. You have spent time watching animals and plants, but your understanding of particular kinds can deepen and bring you insights.
[] Try to craft something useful or unique with the various electrical supplies you have in your Hoard. Maybe you can think of something useful. Maybe it would just be a neat Treasure.
[] As a Draak, you must become fierce and mighty. Hone your skills with tooth and claw by hunting something a bit more dangerous than common Treetail, Longears, Stripetail, or Darksweet.