Your Village, Your Hoard (Roguelite Dragon Civ Quest)

Twisting into the air, you quickly circle the putrid beast. Letting loose a weak jet of water, all it manages to do is wash away some of the surface grime from the creature, splashing the area with tainted water. Growling, you slink back from the undead ogre's strikes. You were faster, your sinuous and long body made it possible to pull off impossible dodges, but you knew you couldn't win a fight by just dodging. So, you committed.

Lifting up further into the air, you circle the creature again. You release basic firebolts, scorching the ogre's hide. Growling, the ogre attempts a swing at you, but you twist your body around the strike just in time, the ogre receiving a powerful, wet slap from your tail for its trouble. Chuckling, it isn't until you're dodging another wild swing that you notice the burning sensation in your lower body. You retreated, feeling the rot more than seeing it, as several scales flaking off from the end of your tail.

Worrying. Turning back to the ogre, you see it abandoning its chase and instead continuing its advance on the village. The mortals were running around like headless chickens, screaming and pleading for you to save them. Flicking your tail, several more scales flaking off to show graying flesh, you huff. The ogre had largely ignored your tail slap, though it left a large furrow in its side. You could see its insides dripping with plague and pestilence, the very idea of further melee combat already making your eyes water.

But no matter. You were an eastern dragon. Cunning and sorcery flowed through your veins as surely as blood.

Casting a purifying spell on yourself, the rot on your tail burnt off with a flare of light. Roaring a challenge as you charged back in, the ogre roared back in turn. Flailing its arms, it was back to its old routine. You dodged past the strikes, your Photophore Fin proving crucial as it continually flashbanged the ogre, allowing you to prepare spells and a breath attack for a finishing blow. Cantrips and low levels were soon flying across the battlefield, anchoring to the ground or the ogre's legs directly and activating as the ogre bulldozed through them, tearing its own legs apart. It only cared for killing the biggest enemy in front of it. The empty skull where its eyes should have been tracked your movements, its face twisted into a rictus of death and frustration as its body failed to keep up.

As the creature slowed, its right leg dragging behind it, a small stream of water left your snout as you grinned. A final fireball severed the leg at its knee, the creature stumbling to the ground. It let out a confused growl, its neck cracking as the ogre turned its neck far beyond its limits to look for the missing appendage. With the monster finally crippled, it was easier to fight. It still took half an hour, most of your mana, and all of your breath attacks before the plague ogre finally stopped moving. Whatever animated it to this degree finally gave up the ghost, and the cloying corpse stilled.

You approached cautiously, a shield spell hovering at the tip of your tongue. You could hardly believe a mortal creature, even enhanced as an undead, could stand up to so much punishment from any dragon. The body rapidly decayed, perhaps whatever magic animating it finally consumed its body, and you eyed it dispassionately. The skull had turned up to stare at you, eyes as empty as before, the flesh sloughing off in wet clumps. Huffing, you turned away from the corpse. Starting to leisurely float back to the village, you felt your entire body shake for a moment. There was the unmistakable presence of pure, unadulterated malice - directed at you. The moment passed, and you twisted in on yourself to survey the area.

There was nothing around for miles, not even an active spell signature.

Nothing, but the skull atop a moldering pile of flesh and its grinning face.

Unfortunately you quickly realize that that same pile of flesh was a problem. It stank of rot and already trickles of pus were oozing into the surrounding fields. You could stand being near it, but your mortals lacked your draconic constitution. It would bring disease and ruin to them and the entire village if you allowed it to remain.

You need to come up with a solution
[ ] Purify it with holy light
You think you remember a spell to summon radiant fire. It will purify and burn the corrupted flesh away, and your villagers will be able to deal with what's left. It will however take all of your remaining mana.

[ ] Get the villagers to move it
You are low on mana and tired after the fight. You've already done your part by defeating it in the first place. Now let your mortals clean up the mess. You can cast a few shield spells so they don't get too badly injured.

[ ] Move the village
You're tired. Your villagers are fragile. And frankly this location has already proven susceptible to undead attack. You will scout around for a new spot and just have all your mortals move. Simple.

---

Even after dealing with the plague ogre's corpse you still need to consider how to deal with the undead and your village's defenses. You don't want to be stuck in the village all the time guarding it. You came to this continent for the treasure after all. But as it stands the mortals lack the ability to withstand even a small horde of zombies.

You can think of several possible avenues that you can take to prepare your mortals more fully. And likely you will pursue them all in time. However for now you need to pick what you want to prioritize.

The Undead Response
[ ] Get the mortals to build a palisade.
There's plenty of trees around and the mortals are already used to lumberjacking. Just have them cut down a few more and build a simple wooden palisade around the village. It should be more than enough for zombies and skeletons. And anything like the plague ogre you'll have to deal with yourself anyway.

[ ] Instruct the mortals to form a militia
You brought a few trunks of leather armor and spears with you from Mizuchi. You didn't really expect to need them, but they were cheap. Now is the time to use them. You didn't specifically hire any guards, but you know a few of your followers are ex soldiers. You'll have them train the others as a small militia.

[ ] Scour the surrounding woods for undead
You can deal with the undead yourself fairly easily. It's a bit of a stop gap but you can fly around the surrounding area and destroy any undead you find. That will keep the town safe for now and give you more time to prepare.

[ ] Explore the surroundings
Rather than stay on the defensive you can be proactive and try to figure out where the undead are coming from in the first place. If you can find and cut off the source, then you can resolve the whole problem quickly and with minimal resource expenditure. It is a little risky if other undead attack while you're away, but hopefully the mortals will be able to handle at least a few zombies without you.

---

The undead are an obstacle, but you can't forget why you came here in the first place, treasure! Before all this happened you had flown up and down the coast for a bit and found several likely looking areas that could contain useful loot for you to add to your hoard.

Specifically you spotted what looked like the ruins of a large port city to the north. You had considered actually founding your village there, but the mortals seemed averse to living in the ruins for some reason.

It doesn't bother you however and you can nearly smell the gold and gems that are still hidden around the city. Searching the city will be a long term endeavor. But you'll be able to visit now and then when you're sure your mortals are handling things properly on their own.

Where do you want to start?
[ ] The Harbor Area
Harbors mean merchants and merchants mean gold. You can dig through the warehouses looking for safes and vaults containing the wealth of once prosperous companies.
[ ] The Lord's Castle
There is an old castle on a hill in the center of the city. You know for a fact that mortal lords always have treasure chambers. It might be a bit awkward to squeeze through looking for said chamber, but you're sure to find something good.

[ ] The Magical College
At least you think it was a college. It's a complex of buildings a bit too spread out to be the tower of a singular wizard. You can sense powerful magic coming from them. The remains of ancient wards and spells. You'll have to disarm the wards and avoid decaying spells, but you are quite good at magic if you say so yourself. And there will likely be all sorts of magical artifacts hidden behind those wards.

---

"An eyeless gaze fills with eager wrath as a tongue darts out from mismatched teeth. Time to hunt."