You are Adelhard III, third of your name. You've been laying on this pile of silver for over five years. You're pretty sure it has left imprints on your belly scales. That doesn't seem healthy. A young dragon like you should probably get out more.
You know its a family heirloom. A treasure that was split between your siblings when your mother was slain, but dang did she have a small hoard. All that's really valuable is this spiffy crown you found. It feels very magical.
You are Adelhard III, third of your name. You've been laying on this pile of silver for over five years. You're pretty sure it has left imprints on your belly scales. That doesn't seem healthy. A young dragon like you should probably get out more.
You know its a family heirloom. A treasure that was split between your siblings when your mother was slain, but dang did she have a small hoard. All that's really valuable is this spiffy crown you found. It feels very magical.
[Item Get! Spiffy Crown: ???]
Now what?... That rabbit is looking at you strangely.
A/N: I foresee that this quest will be rather shortlived.
"You... Rabbit! Come here." You beckon to the rabbit, and to your surprise, it complies. The rabbit comes closer to you without any sign of fear. It sits by your side in your meager burrow. It shows no fear to your nature.
You cock your head at the random rabbit. It was a curious rabbit. "So, why were you looking at me so strangely?" You ask. The rabbit stiffens at your question, as if deeply contemplating its answer. It wiggles its mouth before sneezing. You got an answer, but you're not sure what that meant.
"Now, let's be friends." You smile, but the rabbit does not flinch.
You put a claw to your chin. "You need a name. How about, Hophard the Rogueish."
[Befriend: Success!]
[Friend get! Hophard the Rogueish Rabbit]
You look at your rather pathetic hoard. You grimace at the 17 gold bullions, 23 electrum bullions, 67 bronze bullions, and 1 red-glass wand. It is unbecoming for a dragon, especially for a growing such as you. Your hoard should grow with you.
You turn to your new friend, Hophard, and humored yourself. "Loyal Hophard, I command thee to bring me treasure!"
Hophard stiffens at your command...
[Command creature: Success!]
... before swiftly hopping out of your lair. That was a little odd. You guess you scared the little guy. You let out a big yawn and decided to take a nap.
[Hophard! Find treasure: (77) Success!]
You were nudged awake hours later by a familiar rabbit. Hophard has returned, and it seems to have brought some sort of root crop. Its a yellow carrot. You're not very knowledgeable about vegetables. It smells mildly magical, but what sort of living thing isn't?
[Item get! Yellow Carrot.]
"Oh... I don't think this fits well with my hoard."
A/N: My laptop seems to be having trouble. Might come back later with an art.
You are a generous dragon, and you decide to share the gift with your loyal friend. You split the yellow carrot perfectly in half and give one half to Hophard.
"A gift, loyal Hophard," you say. Hophard lunges at its share and begins nibbling it away. Cute. Hophard is very cute.
[Item lost! 1/2 Yellow Carrot.]
It is... very hard to not love Hophard. You wish that you could keep it safe and be with you for as long as it lives. However, rabbits are like dragons. They don't have hard scales that protect them from weapons, tough flesh that makes them unpalatable, or sharp claws to rend their enemies. They are just helpless herbivores. Could there possibly be a thing you do to keep it safe from all harm?
Hmm... You have an idea.
You open your maw and beckon the small creature into your gullet. "Loyal Hophard, the world is much too dangerous for creatures such as you. Enter me and be concealed from harm by my flesh," you say.
[Command creature: Success!]
Without question, Hophard hops into your yawning maw. It travels down your esophagus and settle somewhere within you. Somewhere safe and warm.
[Ability get! Storage Sac: Store items safely somewhere in your body.]
There. Hophard will be safe, even if you're not looking. You are a little hungry. You might want to go out hunting.
But first, you must have a nap.
...
[Event: (32)]
You wake up. You smell blood. You hear quiet whimpering. You look up and you see a wolf with an arrow sticking out its flank laying in one corner of your lair. How do these woodland creatures find your lair?
Murmuring. You hear the sounds of human hunters talking outside. Dear All-Dragon, how?!
Aww. Food just walked wandered freely into your lair. How adorable. The wolf shrank further and whimpered harder as you approach it. You were about to open your mouth and eat the guy, but then you heard the sound of weeds being crushed under boots.
"I think it went down in this hole," you hear one of the humans outside say.
Dang it. They got too close. You don't want to deal with humans. You've heard of them before, and the lesson you took away from the story is that they're fussy, petty, and way more trouble than it is worth messing with them.
Hmm. The wolf is quite cute and fluffy. You are overcome by a desire to hug, pet, and squeeze the wolf, and you do so. So fluffy and good! The wolf screams, but you ignore it. You gently caress the panicked wolf, whispering comforting tunes to its ears.
"You need a name too. Wolfhard? No, shouldn't call it by its common name. Bitehard? Ah! George. You name shall be George."
You pull out the arrow stabbed into the wolf's flank, and blood flows out of the wound. The wolf is more panicked now. You need to do something about this. You hold out your hands to the bleeding wound and call out your dragon magic...
[Dragon healing: Success]
... and the magic answers. Dragon flame envelopes the bleeding wound, and the torn flesh begins to knit together. The wound closes by some mysterious force, compelled to heal by the power of dragon magic. When the dragon flame fades, the wound disappeared, covered by fresh healthy flesh and shiny fur.
The wolf looks at you in awe. It does not seem to understand what you just did, and to be honest, neither do you. You've never been adept at any forms of magic. The fact that your first attempt at healing magic came to a perfect result is nothing short of a miracle.
You hear four more feet crunch vegetation under their weight just outside your lair. You scowl. You forgot about the humans, dear All-Dragon. You need to do something about this.
"Come, George! It seems that humans have come for our hides," you turn to George of the Bitehard Clan. "We must attack!"
[Command creature: Success]
Ha! You have successfully roused the spirit of the wolf to your cause. It stood at your command and now looks upon the pair of feet just outside the burrow's exit.
"At my command, we will strike," you say, and the both of you ready to pounce. "Now!"
[Adelhard! Attack: Success]
[George! Attack: (93) Great Success]
The both of you jump, baring your toothy maws at the supple flesh of the humans. Teeth sink into the waist of the human. The human screams in pain, and blood spills into your maw. It tastes warm and salty, as the blood of a living creature should be. The both of you bite hard into the human, tearing flesh and crushing bone.
[You dealt 3 damage to human hunter.]
[George dealt 8 damage to human hunter.]
[Human hunter perishes.]
The top half of the human flops to the ground, torn free from the bottom half. You hear the still living half hastily breathe, stricken by panic and pain, before going fully still.
You turn to the other four hunters. They are rooted in place fear. You see their limbs shudder in fear, and the spears and bows in their hands shaking with trepidation.
George licks its bloody lips as it approaches the fear-stricken human, but you stop it before it could pounce. "Hold, George." A great idea just struck. You see an opportunity to grow you hoard. You smile. Your toothy smile simply unnerves the hunters.
You step forward a couple steps. "Humans, I demand that you bring me food and treasure, and should you not do so, I will make you share your fate your friend right here. Bring me food and treasure, or I will kill you and destroy your home."
[Intimidation: Success]
The hunters simply nod at your demands.
"Now scram!" The hunters scatter, rushing back to their village to get what you demand of them. It would take a while for them to return.
You sigh. After this stunt, you're sure that you're going to need to move. It's going to attract the wrong kind of attention.
Now. You wait.
[Villagers! Search for Treasure: (18) Failure]
The hunters return with a couple people more. They bring with them sacks of gifts to add to your hoard. You lick your lips in anticipation, but when they poured the contents of their sacks, you were only met with disappointment.
What the feth is this?! These are worthless. Wooden coins, pewter kitchenware, iron nails, carrots, cabbages, and peanuts. You've seen more bling in a magpie's nest than in this miserable pile. You scowl and growl at their meager offerings.
The hunters fall to their knees. "Spare us, gracious dragon. These are the most precious we could scrounge. We are poor!" They beg. Their fellows would nervously imitate them. They seem skeptical of your wrath.
You growl at the humans. This is unacceptable! These pieces of so-called treasure are unfit to become part of your hoard... at least as far as you can tell, but bah! You want to make them kill each other for this... but you have other ideas.
"This is unacceptable," you say. "I want gold and silver bullions. I command you to get gold and silver and pay me one for every five you earn at a later date."
[Command creature: Success.]
The humans stiffen. "Gracious dragon, we thank you. We will not disappoint you."
As the humans stood to return to their village, one of the newcomers speaks, "Does this mean you'll give back the stuff we gave you?"
Hmm. Interesting thought. "You may take the wooden coins, but I'm keeping the metal. Now scram, and give me gold and silver."
The humans run. They don't look back. They will return, perhaps with more people. Darn. That's going to be a problem. Should you nip that in the bud? You doubt a measly human village could provide a substantial amount of treasure, but hey, a dragon can dream.
[Friends get! 6 human servants.]
[Items get! 22 iron nails, 10 pewter spoons, 10 pewter forks, 16 pewter plates, 1 sack of carrots, 1 sack of cabbages, and 1 sack of peanuts.]
[Ongoing quest! Gold and Silver for the Dragon: Event rolls will be done everyday to determine how much villagers earn.]
It's getting dark. George sits by your side, staring straight into your eyes. It seems to be curious as to what is going on in your head. Hophard would be happy with these vegetables, you think.
You have some things in mind.
> Go to sleep.
> Burn the village anyway.
> Move your lair. It's not safe here anymore.
> Other.
You should probably follow them. You pop a carrot into your mouth for Hophard, before leaping into the air and leaving George in your dust. The land surrounding your meager lair is rather forested, but despite the cover of vegetation, the fleeing humans does not escape your sight.
Eventually, you spy in the distance a rather shabby village. Thatch-roofed huts stand in a clearing surrounded by fields. Thin humans mill about in the village's unpaved roads, and a number work and tend for the carrots growing in the fields. You reckon the population here is less than 100.
You spot the humans you've suborned, and they rush to a largeish hut in the middle of the village. There they approach some elders. You descend down to the village below and perch upon the thatched roof. You make good care in your flight and landing, so that you make no sound and attract none of their attention.
[Stealth: Success.]
They are none the wiser. You begin to eavesdrop.
[Scared hunters! Persuasion: (71-10) Success.]
"Elders, the dragon did not like our offerings! It demands silver and gold. We need to give it silver and gold or else it'll burn the village down."
"Hanson? Miller? They're charmed too?"
"Did the dragon give any terms on how much gold and silver it wants?"
"It wants one bullion for every five gold and silver pieces we earn."
"Did it speak of a deadline, a time when we should pay?"
"No, elder."
"I see."
"Gold and silver is too much. That's almost a year's earning. Can't we trick it with brass bullions? They're easier to get than silver and gold."
"I don't want to gamble the village, Rhodin. I know nothing about dragons, and it be able to smell the difference between metals for all we know. We don't want to earn its ire."
"Being honest is a must. The dragon has been rather gracious."
"Is paying one silver every five years a feasible thing."
"Maybe, but the dragon might get impatient. It might get angry in a year."
"I don't know what to do. Do you want us to go into banditry to earn silver and gold?"
"Hmm."
"Mercy. Don't consider that. It was a joke."
"Maybe we could distract it from asking for the money we owe with copious meat?"
You have heard enough. Juicy juicy stuff. Now what should you do?
You have heard enough. You jump down from the eave from which you were perching. Your gracefully land on all four of your feet and turn your gaze to the bewildered humans. You smirk. It's not just they're dumb, they're also blind. An opportunity smiles down upon you, and you intend on taking it.
"Gracious dragon," one of them stammers.
"At peace, human," you speak. "I have heard your plight and swooped down to bring an alternative. Considering your finances, I have decided that offerings of food shall be good enough, provided that you point me to a direction of people who actually have gold and silver to give me."
[Persuasion: Success.]
The humans look among themselves, fear coursing through their thoughts. Your teeth are bared for them to see. They whisper among themselves, trying to come to decision. You can hear the words they throw about in whisper, but you pretend that you couldn't hear them well. They are seriously considering your gracious offer, which brings you nothing but great joy.
After a second or two of whispered arguments, the humans turn back to you. The elders looked at you with apprehension, but the humans that have gone to bring your (albeit shoddy) treasure supplicate before your majesty. The humans point northeast towards a place beyond the hills. "Miles that way, gracious dragon, is the town of Kettleshtick. It is built by the banks of the river Gimels-Thewns. Merchants come there, gracious dragon, and that is where we sell our produce. If it is gold and silver you're looking for, Kettleshtick surely has a few."
"You have informed me well of this place. I expect offerings of food to me, the next time I return," you say.
You look up to the sky, and see that it has begun to darken. Innumerable points of light begin shining in the sky as the glorious sun sink below the horizon. You're a bit excited to see a bag of bullions from Kettleshtick to add to your hoard, but you think it might be rather unwise of you to be flying in the dark. You are a dragon, but even dragons have something to fear in the darkness, such as other bigger dragons.
Now, what is on your agenda?
> Fly now, darkness be damned.
> Assert dominance over the residents of the village.
> Return home and rest. Wait until sunrise.
> Hunt prey.
> Search for treasure.
> Other
