# Anarenn: Rise of the ancient blood



## Nightbreeze (Jan 11, 2008)

In the end, he managed to get power. Now we see if he chokes on it. The man who is merrily speaking is a young human with dark, unruly hair and penetrating blue eyes. He wears a simple brown robe, and walks slowly under the thick cover of the trees. Amusing, huh? He would not be the first, you know. There are so many pigheaded idiots who go on chasing secular power as soon as they are sure than no is watching over them, after they get the title of "wizard". -he stops and admires silently a beautiful, blooming tree. The woman walking beside him, a beautiful young lady with blond hair and stern green eyes, watches him impatiently, and seems on the verge of speaking, when he resumes his monologue: You know this tree? It's called akaia. Usually it is ugly. It only blooms for two days at the beginning of the spring and then it returns at being a twisted, small and dark tree.

I am not here to listen your idiotic monologues, which last for hours and mean nothing, damn you  Cordel!!!. The young woman apparently has lost her patience. Her face is blushing with anger and her eyes are shining as she continues her tirade - Cut it and tell my why I am following you in the midst of all this mud! Why should I wake up each morning for an unwanted walk with you?

Ah, well, I suppose that's because I am a wizard, while you are nothing...on the hierarchy ladder, I mean -Cordel grins
I am a senior apprentice, for the Father's sake!
Exactly my though. And you need the approval of master Tygreb, which means that until he has the time to speak with you, you are under the supervision of his right hand...where is he now....ah, but it is me. Me, me, me. How silly, I couldn't spot my self. I am indeed getting old, yer Senior-Apprenticeship Erenia Silverthorn. The grin on the face of Cordel widens again and again as his young companion loses her patience more and more.
You are just two years older than me - mutters she as if she was speaking about a great injustice.





It is a wonderful spring morning, and the warm breeze is melting what remains of the heavy winter snows. Nature is stirring itself, and the animals celebrate the return of the warmer -and oh soo good- seasons. The sky is clear and all in all, it seems to be a wonderful day to play a little bit in the forest just under your cave. Of course, the presence of three humans somehow spoils your plans. There are these two unarmed fellows, and a silent figure 15 yards behind them, with a light but well-made armor and some quite menacing weapons. He seems to be a bodyguard, and a very skilled one, too. 

You are sitting on one of the highest branches of an oak, and currently trying to decide what to do. Eavesdropping is fun, but playing with the warm spring breeze is quite fun too. And it doesn't involve the stupidity of the brutish beings called "humans".


----------



## Ambrus (Jan 11, 2008)

Since the surrounding trees have yet to sprout their springtime greenery, the diminutive dragon's scales have adopted the drab grayish-brown hues of the oak branch upon which it lies coiled. Even a sharp-eyed raptor would have difficulty picking out the camouflaged reptile from its surroundings.

The dragon tracks the pair of humans with its predatory gaze as they slowly pick their way over the massive oak's roots far below. The woman's brocaded dress was delightfully colored, but quite impractical for a springtime stroll through the melting snow and mud of the forest. Already, the hem of her dress is caked with mud. Even with the distance between them, the diminutive dragon's ear-frills can easily catch and amplify the pair's confusing conversation. Snaking out its tongue, the camouflaged reptile tastes the breeze. A delicate floral scent, quite out of place this early in the year, drifts up from the female.

A more peculiar and eccentric pair of human the diminutive dragon has never seen. Unlike these two, most humans who entered the forest moved with purpose. Swineherds drove their herds and beat on trees with staves to loosen acorns to feed them. Trappers either set or checked their lines. Children collected wild seeds, mushrooms or berries. These humans did nothing but walk slowly, talk and argue with each other.

The diminutive dragon might have ignored the odd couple altogether, but one word spoken by the male had piqued its curiosity: wizard. The forest dwelling reptile had heard little about wizards, but had come to understood that they were strange practitioners of a mysterious eldritch art of some sort. The dragon is excited by the prospect of directly observing a pair of wizards and hopefully learn something of their wizardry.

Moving through the forest's canopy, the camouflaged reptile attempts to follow and spy on the pair and their armed chaperon as they continue their meandering stroll (Hide +25, Move Silently +6, Listen +7, taking 10 if possible).


----------



## Nightbreeze (Jan 11, 2008)

The discussion between the strange pair goes on. Indeed the man, apparently called Cordel, is the most strange human you have ever seen. He seems to really like the sound of his voice, and he goes on and on speaking. His random banter touches a myriad of subjects: horse breeding, trees, flowers, masonry, the quality of life in a farm, the best color for sheep's wool, the endurance of a someone coming from the south in this northern climate. 

The girl listens to him, apparently stunned by the sheer amount of useless information coming out from his mouth, and slowly builds up her anger. She seems to be the hot-headed kind, and every now you can almost spot the steam coming out from her ears. However, every once in a while, he throws a idle comment on someone, and that gets her attention and slows her. The problem is that nothing meaningful follows it, and soon she is exhausted by the constant shifts between anger and attention.

They walk for a while, but after at least 2 hours, they start heading in the direction of the village. After a brief (and rare) moment of silence, Cordel softly speaks: Your father isn't going to let you wander off anywhere after your graduation, you know. Don't associate the wizard title with freedom, girl.
-What? The girl's face turns white and she stares at him in disbelief. She opens her mouth to make some -actually some hundred- question, but he just offers her a sad smile and adds: You are destroying that nice dress, lady Silverthorn. 

Than the wizard makes a sharp sign to the bodyguard and strides out of the forest, trailed by the girl, who almost trips on her dress in the hurry. Her shouted questions -What do you mean? What do you know? Answer me, damn you!- meet no answer, as he completely ignores her.

During the conversation, you felt something odd. As she said, he seems to be of the same age, and aside from a difference in rank, there was another factor that made him different: his self-confidence and his vast knowledge. He seemed to imply that he know far more than she did, and regarded her as almost a child. Unusual, for someone only 2 years older.

By now, the sun is high in the sky, and you feel the first grips of hunger.


----------



## Ambrus (Jan 12, 2008)

Puzzled by the odd trio, the diminutive dragon perches for a time at the edge of the forest to watch the three humans winding their way through the fallow fields towards the nearby cluster of human dwellings. It wonders if and when they might return.

Relieved of the distraction, the dragon turns its attention to the matter of survival. With the melting snows comes the return of migratory birds and the end of the small mammals' hibernation period. Like the dragon itself, many of them were out and about in the forest and hungry for fresh nourishment. The wily hunter pulled the corners of its mouth back into a crocodile's smile. Patience, skill and speed should net it a quick meal on a fine day like this.

Tasting the breeze with a flick of its tongue, the dragon detects the enticing aroma of rodent musk. Stretching its wings wide, the wily hunter turns and feels the wind pressing delightfully against its thin alar membranes. With a swift downbeat, the hungry dragon takes flight in search of prey (Survival +5, taking 10).


----------



## Nightbreeze (Jan 12, 2008)

The spring is beautiful. You hatched 11 months ago, so you know how it feels. But it is especially sweet now, after you knew for the first time the cold and silent days of the winter, where nothing seems to move, and when you hardly managed to get out of the cave at all.

The breeze carries you around the forest, and while you are hunting for your pray, you delight yourself with some aerial acrobatics. After a while, you decide to stop playing and fix your stare upon a small rodent, who carefully picks his food. You swiftly dive upon him, and when he hears the sound of the breeze stroking your winds, it's already too late.

Much later, when you hunger has been satisfied and you are idly contemplating the sun at it's highest point in the sky, you hear a distant sound krrm, krrm, krrm. With a smile on your lips, you recognize it as the heavy steps of a living tree: either Oak or Tall. At the same time, however, the loud laughs of two children come by from the opposite direction. The steps of the treant stop. You know what he is doing: he probably will be sitting silent and disguised as a normal tree until the humans are safely far from him.


----------



## Ambrus (Jan 13, 2008)

The echoing sound of a lumbering treant moving through the forest tugs at the corners of the newly satiated dragon's maw; pulling them back into a wide reptilian grin. Apparently the warm weather was causing the ents' sap to quicken as well. The soaring wyrm is about to adjust its wing phalanges to carry it into a turn when the sound of laughing human children reverberates along its ear-frills. Laying its neck frills flat the the dragon carefully snakes its head around as it tries to judge the distance, direction and declination to the juvenile pair of humans. A few seconds of subtle shifting and concentration allows the diminutive predator's senses to home in on these latest human visitants to the forest.

The diminutive dragon suspect that these humans are none other than the adolescent Shiri and her infant sister Danee. They lived with their parents in a small hovel within the bounds of the ancient forest, and so were the humans with which the dragon was most intimately familiar. It hadn't seen much of them throughout the cold winter months however. The fact that they might have survived to see the spring warmed the small reptile's heart. Even though they were many years older than its own paltry 11 lunar cycles, the dragon nonetheless felt strangely protective of them; especially of Danee. She was the smallest human the dragon had ever seen, being not much bigger than itself, and so it felt an odd kinship with her.

Twisting its tail frills to catch the air like a rudder, the gliding reptile begins a wide languid turn towards the distant humans. Catching a headwind, the dragon beats the air with its nimble wings to make forward progress. Getting closer to the pair, the creature looses speed as it begins to glide once more. Catching sight of movement from beneath the forest canopy, the dragon warps its wing phalanges and rolls over and silently begins to slide sideways down through the highest branches. The nimble flyer weaves through the tangle of branches throughout its rapid descent before rolling level once more. Rearing back, the dragon's wings slam against the air and quickly arrests it's forward momentum. Reaching out with its small but sharp talons, the reptile quickly snatches at a low hanging branch and comes to a sudden rest on the tree limb. Once more, the dragon's mottled grey-brown hide effectively camouflages its position as it begins to spy on these newest visitors to its demesne.


----------



## Nightbreeze (Jan 13, 2008)

Disguised as only a dragon like you can manage (ok, Oak and Tree are not bad too. But they are too big for move and hide), you spy on the humans under you.

Both sisters have a long dark hair. In this moment Shiri is carefully placing a crown of flowers on the head of her beloved sister. The crown is rather beautiful (somehow crude, however), and evidently too big for the little head of Danee. A loud explosion of laugh echoes in the forest when the crown goes down and becomes a flower necklace. 
-I told you. You know that you shouldn't pass to me every single gift that you get by the boys- Danee says, smiling. Shiri smiles too, and nods, replying with a serious voice -I know, Danee, I know. But you know, I can't give Edunter the satisfaction of wearing each of his gifts. He may become overly confident if I did.
-How so?
-He may start to think that I've already made my mind. He is more or less mine now, and I can't let him think about me as given. It required me almost 3 years to get him, and I have to especially careful now.

The little girl listens attentively and at the end frowns for a moment, as if thinking.
-Ok, I dicided-says she at the end, with a grave voice.
-What? - Shiri appears to be startled by the sudden change of mood of her sister.
-I've got to choose my husband next time I go at the village. This way I can start chasing him and training him as soon as possible.
Shiri stares at Danee in disbelief, then she laughs until the point she has no breath left, while she embraces the little child.


They speak and play for a while in the glade, and you gather a great deal of interesting rumors: it seems that Shiri went in town this morning, and she is now informing Danee on everything that happened. Most of the informations come down on what a particular boy, girl or grown man did during the winter. She informs her that some rich merchants with their servants arrived, Danee is all excited by the description of the wonderful dress worn by one of the merchants. At some point during that description, your mind suddenly clicks, and you realize that she is speaking about the red-haired girl you saw this morning. After an hour, they seem be ready to go home.


----------



## Ambrus (Jan 13, 2008)

As it listens to the girls, the dragon languidly curls up on its branch and allows the emanations of their sincere pleasures to drift across its consciousness. It isn't familiar with all the names they mention in their conversation; only being able to associate some names and stories with certain villagers it itself had observed the previous year. Unfortunately, for the curious wyrm, the girls don't discuss those humans it would most like to hear news of; their parents Etheryl and Shereena or their brother Ibranden. The eavesdropping dragon wasn't surprised by the omission; why should the girls be expected to discuss a topic they both already knew? The creature resolves to visit their family's hovel sometime later to observe their parents directly. Perhaps it might even venture into the village to visit the smithy with the hope of catching sight of their brother.

For the moment however, the camouflaged wyrmling simply sits still and watches as the two human siblings rise and begin their homeward trek. Once they're well on their way, the diminutive dragon unfurls its wings and, catching the wind, drops down from its branch and begins winding its way beneath the forest canopy to the treant in knows to be sitting still nearby.


----------



## Nightbreeze (Jan 15, 2008)

As you approach the area from where the sounds of the treant were coming, you sharpen your eyes and start looking for him. The fact that he doesn't reveal himself means that either he is still suspecting that humans are nearby....or it is Oak. That green giant always enjoys staying in the middle of other trees, and it is always very difficult to say where he is....he is just too similar to a normal tree. It seems that he finds this game very funny....treantish humor.

After a quick search in the area, you fail to notice him, and start hopping from tree to tree, examining them. After a couple of minutes you have to admit defeat. As if sensing your anger, an oak nearby opens his eyes Arghmffffff....are the little humans gone far enough?. Oak doesn't speak about his little victory, but you can almost see a smug on his eyes.


----------



## Ambrus (Jan 15, 2008)

The wyrmling regards the self-revealing treant with an appraising eye; trying to memorize his particular configuration of branches, bark pattern and general shape for future reference. The diminutive dragon hadn't seen Oak since the previous fall and hadn't recognized him without his distinctive crown of golden foliage. As a fellow creature dependent on camouflage, the dragon understood the pride that comes with outwitting a pursuer and so felt no ill will towards the treant. But as a prideful hunter, the wymling also resolved to not fail in any future attempts to find its hiding friend.

A quick crouch, leap and two downbeats carry the nimble dragon onto one of Oak's outstretched limb. Reaching out with its thoughts, the wyrmling lightly brushes against the treant's conscious mind. _((Yes. They're homeward bound and roughly a half-mile away by now. It's nice to see you again Oak. It's been a long cold winter, but the warm air and longer days have returned once more, as you told me they would. Was it a normal winter in your experience?))_


----------



## Nightbreeze (Jan 15, 2008)

ARghrmm.... the treant slowly grumbles and prepares to speak. No winter is always the same, young one. The feeling, the temperature, the spirit of the winter has always slight changes. At the same time, winter is always the same. However, I believe that this winter could be defined as a "normal" one. To sleep, perchance to dream, is what many living ones have to do during this season.

The great forest spirit slowly starts to walk west. His branches seem to avoid contact with other tree, while words in sylvan language come out in a deep, rumbling voice. However, there was one thing different....and as always it involved humans. I believe that there was one of those hunters who accidentaly got lost during an snowstorm...he probably didn't expect it. He found refuge in the stone ruins, 10 miles from here, and after some time he got away. And now there are other humans coming in the forest, searching for something.


----------



## Ambrus (Jan 15, 2008)

The diminutive gray-brown dragon settles on Oak's branch, digging its tiny but sharp claws into the treant's bark for additional purchase as he begins to walk. The wymling wasn't concerned about hurting his arboreal companion; it doubted the towering treant could even feel the tiny pinpricks through its tough wooden hide. Once more, the tiny passenger gently pushes a telepathic response into its friend's mind. _((I didn't care for the winter. It was dark and cold. It made me sleepy. This season is much better so far, though I'm anxious for all the snow to melt away. What did you call it again?))_

The curious dragon cocks its saurian head inquisitively at the mention of strangers in the forest and of mysterious stone ruins nearby. Its mottled hides flushes to a warm golden brown in response to the wyrmling's unconscious mood change. _((I watched a pair of human wizards and a heavily armed hunter stumbling through here this morning and was wondering from where they'd come; they speak differently than the villagers. The children spoke of a group of rich merchants and servants having arrived in the area earlier. I haven't seen the ruins yet. Are they human built? How old are they and what did they used to be?))_


----------



## Nightbreeze (Jan 15, 2008)

Very old, young one. Since I awakened, just a tiny plant, many solstices have passed in the sky. However, those ruins were here before me, and they were here before the treants that guarded the forest before me. 

There could be a connection between the stangers you know, and the strangers I know. That, I fear, may mean that very soon this forest could see a lot of strangers, and that is not good. Not good at all. Too many strangers unbalance the balance, and it may well be that the spirits of nature grow restless. They better try to respect the forest, because the forest is a sacred to many.

You realize that it is indeed difficult to get an exact count of years from Oak. Both he and Tall have a strange concept of time: for them it can be "a lot" or not. You have never heard an exact count of hours, days, weeks or years from him. 

He is heading towards to mountains, and indeed it seems that he doesn't care at all about your claws...if he even feels them.


----------



## Ambrus (Jan 15, 2008)

The concept of time remains a somewhat elusive matter for the diminutive dragon itself. Having not lived through an entire year yet, the wyrmling had little conception of the extent of time since its arboreal companion may first have budded. It likewise remained rather naive as to the size and age of the world (which it imagined comprised little beyond this corner of the forest and the nearby village). The dragon imagined that there was likely more to discover, but had no true understanding of how much it hadn't yet seen or learned.

Olive green stripes begin to form and slowly shift across the pensive reptile's scales as it silently turns these weighty matters over in its mind. Finally settling into a mottled rust hue, the diminutive dragon offers Oak its thoughts. _((Perhaps I should go to the village and warn the humans of the Spirits' growing disquiet. They may not know that their incursions risk raising our ire...

What is there at the ruins that may be attracting them, do you think?))_


----------



## Nightbreeze (Jan 16, 2008)

They may be and they may not be. Human life is short, so they may have forgotten the times where there was an ancient father in theese lands. I myself wasn't awake when those time were, but I know those times anyway. Humans don't seem to possess memory, and they don't usually listen to a reason. I'll leave it you to gudge if it is the case to warn them, but keep in mind that your safety is most important than theirs...they mate pretty fast, after all.

As for the ruins, who knows? Ruins are ruins. Past is past, and we see no reason to disturb the past. But humans are full of strange paradoxes: they don't have memory, but then they want memory. Mu guess would be that they are just searching for something of value in those ruins, or maybe they are just curious. However, curiosity killed the squirrel, as Tall uses to say. I think that comes from a personal experience.

It seems that Oak isn't very interested in what humans do and what humans don't.


----------



## Ambrus (Jan 16, 2008)

The young dragons listens to its arboreal friend, itself unaware that it would only live a fraction of a human's lifespan. Oblivious to its fate, the wyrmling directs a reassuring thought towards Oak's mind. _((I'll be careful with the humans. I'd be curious to see the ruins; whereabouts would I find them? And if you don't mind my asking, where are you off to on this fine day?))_


----------



## Nightbreeze (Jan 16, 2008)

The treant quckly explains where to find the ruins that interest you. It seems that they are west from here, deep into the forest that grows on the high hills, in a hidden valley. As points of "navigation" he uses elements of nature: particular trees, a little lake, a particular hill or rock formation. His indication are quite generic, but you get the idea of how to get there, but it seems that several hours will be required, at least for your first travel there.

as for what he is going to do...Well, I'll do what has to be done
He always replies like that. The first time you asked it for several days and got always the same answer, than you had to follow him to understand what he really does: most of all he travel along the forest, ensuring that everything is going fine. He seems to know every single tree, from the great giants to the little tiny plants. He ensures that no animal suffers, rescuing trapped ones. However he doesn't interfere in the hunting of predators: that is all part of the natural circle of life, after all.


OOC: sorry for the eventual typos, I'm in a hurry.


----------



## Ambrus (Jan 17, 2008)

The diminutive dragon lightens to a speckled greenish-bronze and bobs its saurian head in an approximation of a nod; a gesture it had witnessed humans perform many times to signal understanding or acknowledgment. _((Then I'll leave you to it and go do what needs to be done elsewhere.))_ Spreading its wings wide, the small wyrmling offers the wise old treant a sweeping bow of respect. _((Enjoy the springtime Oak.))_

A few nimble leaps down the length of the treant's limb precedes a powerful downstroke of the diminutive dragon's wings. The wyrmling executes a quick series of wing-beats while arcing its long sinuous body to carry it through three quick horizontal circles around Oak's trunk before leveling out. Beating the thick air, the dragon corkscrews its way up through the overhanging tangle of branches towards the open sky above. Breaking through the leafless springtime canopy, the dragon reorients itself and begins making its way towards the forest's edge and the village of Eruin beyond.

The soaring dragon rides the winds to the forest's edge and then dives swiftly towards the ground. Leveling out just above the surface of the ground, the tiny wyrmling glides swiftly above the barren fields as long as it dares. When it approaches within a stone's throw of the  community's outermost buildings, the dragon breaks its forward momentum by spreading its wings wide and stalling. Landing in a tuft of wild grass, the wily dragon's hide shifts to a striped straw and grass colored pattern for added protection.

From its hiding spot, the curious wyrmling raises its tiny head above the grasses like a periscope to scan the surrounding area for signs that its approach was spotted (Listen & Spot +7, taking 20).

OOC: Assuming it is unobserved, the wyrmling intends to scrabble stealthily around the periphery of the community while it tries to catch sight of the wizards, their servants and the location they're inhabiting while in the village. (Hide +23 (+25 in forests or overgrown areas), Move Silently +6, taking 10 on both if possible)


----------



## Nightbreeze (Jan 18, 2008)

You get very close to the village, and then hide in the grass. Thanks to your exceptional skill in hiding and camouflage, you are absolutely sure that if no one spotted you coming, no one will be able to find you here...besides, humans are not very observant creatures. You have noticed that those living in the village never look around, like any animal does. You used to find it strange, but then it occurred to you that maybe it is due to the fact that there are no wild animals preying on village-dwellers. 

The village in noisy and dirty, as always. The odours coming from it offend your senses: it is a mixed scent of filth and faeces, probably emanated by their animals....they keep them in their houses. There is faint nice scent, mixed here and there: you recognize it as the scent of fresh bread. Shiri's mother makes it everyday, so it is familiar to you. There are other scents carried by the spring breeze: the scent of many horses, mixed with the harsh scent of sweat, iron and leather....probably the soldiers are in the village right now. There are also some flowers, somewhere in the village.

The villagers scurry around, each of them busy in his own labours: there are people coming and going from the fields, many children playng around, and some artisans working in the open. Every adult seems to be busy, and no one is wandering around.

You hear many of them speaking about mostly irrelevant topics (although interesting), for example the coming weather, their hopes about the harvesting, or about the wondrous biscuits made by aunt Theira. 

You listen to them for a while, then you get restless and start making wide circles around the village, hidden in the grass. With a little bit of patience, you manage to estabilish a safe route, and you can concentrate on the observation of the village. Sadly, it is built according to an erratic plan, and there is no way to get a closer look on it's inner side, without rising in the air. 

Fortunately enough, however, after an hour mayb, you notice a dozen of armed men riding out of the village, and going east. The heavy scent of sweat and iron emanates from them like a cloud, and you understand that they are soldiers coming from the nearest city. At the same time, however, another movements catch your attention: there are three people coming out of the village: the young wizard you saw this morning, his armored bodyguard, and another one: a woman with short brown hair, a hard expression, wearing unexpensive and comfortable clothing. She is armed with a single knive on her belt, and follows the wizard in the same position held by her male and armored counterpart.

The wizard, named Cordel, as you recall, walks out of the village, followed by the extremely curious eyes of the paesants. He ignores them, concentration on something else: his eyes wander around in an absend-minded manner, and he seems to be expecting something, or thinking about a very important matter. He heads for the forest, but you don't think that he is actually going somewhere: he is just walking, and thinking around. 

You see no sign of the nice woman who was with him this morning.


----------



## Ambrus (Jan 18, 2008)

When it first sees the wizard and his companions heading out of the village, the hidden wyrm in the grass begins to quickly scrabble away. The dragon seeks to quickly reach a safe distance from the settlement so that it may take to the air once more, unseen. Once it has reached such a spot, the hidden wyrmling, leaps up and quickly beats the air to stay aloft. Streaking above the surface of the fallow fields, the dragon seeks to reach the forest's edge ahead of the three humans; all while keeping a safe distance from the trio.

Reaching the cover provided by the woodland's outermost arboreal sentinels, the wyrmling turns and begins weaving its way around the trunks of the trees as it follows a perpendicular course back towards the approaching group of humans. Through the trees it attempts to study their progress to determine whereabouts the humans intend to breach the forest's edge. Alighting in the bows of a tall oak, the wily dragon's hide shifts to its earlier gray-brown mottled texture as it weaves its serpentine body stealthily into the tree's thick bark (Hide +25, taking 10) as it lies in wait.

As the trio of humans nears the forest's edge, the camouflaged dragon tries to recall the deep languid tones of Oak's voice as well as his eloquent though verbose patterns of speech. As soon as the wizard draws near enough, the wily wyrmling reaches out with its mind and begins offering him wordless thoughts; attempting to convey a subtle feeling of presence upon the man's consciousness. When the trio has reached the forest's edge, the dragon offers the wizard a mental greeting in Sylvan: _((For the second time today have you sought entrance into our Woodland Realm. But you have not yet beseeched the Spirits for their blessing nor do you offer tribute for the privilege. Know that this is a sacred place held in demesne and that its Spirits grow restless from your casual incursions. Tell us wizard, who are you and what do you seek within our domain?))_

OOC: If Cordel doesn't seem to understand Sylvan, the dragon will repeat its missive in Hethon. It's fun to play an NPC; they have more fun!


----------



## Nightbreeze (Jan 19, 2008)

[sblock]







			
				Ambrus said:
			
		

> OOC: If Cordel doesn't seem to understand Sylvan, the dragon will repeat its missive in Hethon. It's fun to play an NPC; they have more fun!




Ah, but you found a tough nut there [/sblock]

The wizards stops in his track and a faint smile linger on his lips. You can't read his face, but after a moment of thought looks up...and you suppress a sigh of relief, because for a moment you feared that he was looking at you. Cordel replies, speaking in sylvan. His accent is not very good, and his pronunciation is a little bit clumsy: it is obvious that he isn't really fluent in this language. First of all, I'd like to offer my excuses, because if I had known that there were spirits protecting this place, I would have certains sought them to offer my regards. I can't help but wonder, however, if this place is sacred and everyone gets warned after a second incursion, how is it that no one speaks about it? Besides, there are families living in this forests, and other people who often walk by here. They certainly are either forgiven for their signs, or warned...but as the second option is out of question...word would have reached Reolth by now...I think it's the first one.

The humans starts pacing around, and speaking to the air. His two bodyguards regard him with a little bit of curiosity, but they don't seem to be really surprised by the fact that he is speaking with no one.

So, I am that important and molest? Well, the second description is given to me by many people, certainly. He frowns, and goes on. So. Let's be honest with it. I don't think that you rappresent the entirety of spirits that inhabit this forest. However, I respect your will to defend it...but I'm not your enemy. I'm neither carrying an axe, and I'm not interested in hunting.


----------



## Ambrus (Jan 19, 2008)

[sblock=OOC]







			
				Nightbreeze said:
			
		

> Ah, but you found a tough nut there



I'm not certain if you understood my intent. I meant that, in this case, Cordel is the PC (a human wizard on a quest to find ruins) and my dragon is the mysterious NPC spouting boxed-text at him.  [/sblock]The camouflaged dragon tries to piece together the wizard's somewhat disjointed and convoluted response before offering him its thoughts. _((The humans who forage and hunt within our domain are native born. Their grandfathers made peace with the Elder Spirits of these woods long ago. They may forage and hunt with our blessings as long as they keep the balance and show respect in their toil.

But you wizard are not of these people or this place, nor were your grandfathers. You carry neither axe nor bow, yet your hands are not empty for you wield wizardry as both tool and weapon. If you would claim both remorse for your trespasses and amity with the Spirits, then we would ask of you again; who are you and what do you seek within our domain?))_


----------



## Nightbreeze (Jan 19, 2008)

[sblock]







			
				Ambrus said:
			
		

> [sblock=OOC]I'm not certain if you understood my intent. I meant that, in this case, Cordel is the PC (a human wizard on a quest to find ruins) and my dragon is the mysterious NPC spouting boxed-text at him.  [/sblock]
> Ah, culpa mea, I though you were saying how fun is it to make fun of NPCs



[/sblock]

The wizard smiles in reply to the tiny predator's question, and speaks again.
Of course, silly me. I am Corder Sheltefrond, a wizard from the tower of Odaskar. The reason for my presence in the forest, as for now, is quite simple: I am just taking a walk. As for why I am in town, and why I could enter the forest again, that is another, and longer story. Besides, if you questioned the others, you may already know their intent, and thus you can deduce mine. As for you, spirit, how should I adress you?


----------



## Ambrus (Jan 19, 2008)

This was the dragon's first direct conversation with a human, and so far couldn't claim to be relishing the experience. The wyrmling was developing a growing dislike for the smug and evasive wizard. _((We give voice to the concerns of the Forest's Spirits and have no other name to offer for we have never had need of one. We are aware of other recent interlopers and grow perturbed by your increasing numbers. So we ask you a third and final time Corder Sheltefrond, wizard of the tower of Odaskar; what do you seek within our domain?))_


----------



## Nightbreeze (Jan 19, 2008)

As the you convey your message, the wizard's eyes harden and you can see an unusual, steely resolve in them. It is the first time that he abbandons his constantly amused behaviour. He also for the first time replies via thoughts ((Those who are intruding in this forest are loyal to a men who in turn works for someone who shall not succeed in his goals. They shall not find the ruins of Arket'sa, or if they find them, they shall find them empty and void of anything that may bring knowledge and power to their master. This is why I am here, spirit rappresenting the nature. And you shall choose wisely the amount of your enemies, because they are already many, but you risk rising their numbers. Intimidation and menace often provoke negative effects)).. You notice a subtle twitch of his fingers, and the face of his female bodyguard tenses. After a moment, however, she relaxes, while her companion continues in staring indifferently into the void.


----------



## Ambrus (Jan 19, 2008)

The diminutive dragon regards the wizard's unusually passive companions with curiosity before offering the threatening wizard its thoughts. _((You would do well to heed your own thoughts Corder Sheltefrond, wizard of the tower of Odaskar. The Elder Spirits have held these woodlands in demesne for far longer than your tower or civilization have stood and so are not easily cowed by mortal beings.

You seek to seize ancient knowledge and power for yourself and to deny the same to your enemies; that is the way of your kind. Your wizardly rivalries are of no concern to us. Take heed that you do not carry your conflict with you as you enter our domain. Any who disregard our sovereignty or who despoil our realm risk provoking the ire of the Elder Spirits.))_


----------



## Nightbreeze (Jan 20, 2008)

The wizard easily puts on his indifferent and a little bit irritating smug face, and sends again his thoughts ((The forest may be yours, but Arket'sa was built by humans, and humans shall reclaim it's legacy. If our rivalries are no concern to you, then you should be interested in them only if they damage the woods. Just keep in mind who are the responsables, and don't extend your retaliation to anyone.))


----------



## Ambrus (Jan 20, 2008)

Having said it's peace, the hidden dragon does not deign to respond to the wizards final words. The wyrmling simply remains intertwined with the oak branch upon which it is perched and waits to see what the three humans will do next.

OOC: The dragon will trail the trio from a safe distance if they enter the forest, but remain behind if they instead choose to return to the village.


----------



## Nightbreeze (Jan 20, 2008)

The wizard waits a couple of minutes for a response, but when no though flies to his mind, he raises an eyebrow 
Was that all? Ok then, see you soon, spirit of the forest. He heads for the village, and you suddenly get the uneasy feeling that he was expecting a contact with someone and came here this afternoon for that specific reason. 
His bodyguard have a final look around and then follow their master.


----------



## Ambrus (Jan 20, 2008)

The diminutive dragon watches in silence as the three humans head back together across the fallow fields towards the village. Uncoiling itself sinuously, the wyrmling ponders what it should do next. It is tempted to continue spying on the wizards just as it is anxious to explore the ruins, but the wyrmling has already spent many hours hunting for food, eavesdropping on humans and skulking around the nearby village. The mottled dragon is not yet fully recovered from its winter lethargy and so is already quite weary. Undertaking a long flight in search of distant ruins this late in the day seems an untenable prospect.

Dropping from its perch, the diminutive dragon catches the wind in its outstretched wings and falls into a dive to quickly attain flight speed. A few strong downbeats break its fall just above the forest floor. The newly sprouting ferns stir at the wyrmling's swift passage above. Stopping periodically to drink melt-water from shallow pools, the small mottled dragon slowly makes its way back towards the outcrop of rock housing its hidden lair. Climbing up from the forest floor with a series of powerful down-strokes, the wyrmling alights softly on the stone lip of the cave mouth. Unconsciously, its scales loose their greenish saturation until they are a drab gray. Opening its extra set of transparent eyelids, the diminutive dragon adjusts its sight to the dark interior before preceeding inside.


----------



## Nightbreeze (Jan 22, 2008)

[sblock=ooc]Sorry for the delay, real life hit me like train[/sblock]

As the dragon adjust his sight to the dark cavern, he things that a little bit of light (and a little bit of spring cleaning) wouldn't hurt. There was a bigg supply of candles, but during the seemingly endless winter almost all of them were consumed.

You enter the cave, follow it for 30 feet and then enter one of the narrow tunnels at it's end. After another 30 feet of twisted crawling (sometimes you wonder how could the creature living in the rooms before you enter and exit them...it was certainly too big to crawl in this rat tunnel) you get in the first room. There is almost nothing here, except for tons of dust and an old, almost falling in pieces, wooden box (empty). There's a door between this room and the second one, the only one in the entire complex. It opens to the outside, and it's condition is rapidly deteriorating, too, due to the humid air. You crawl in a hole of it and go down, ignoring the ladder. Thus, you came to the second room, where whoever lived here used to eat and cook: there's a table and some boxes around, and a lot of spoons, knives and plates. 

Another ladder leading down, and you are in the third room, the library and the sleeping room: there are two bookstores, a table and a bed. One of the bookstores contains a great number of books of no value: a collection of stories, fairy tales, popular legends and low-quality poems, written in hethon. On the second bookstore instead there's a dozend expensive and precious looking books, and a dozend of old and seemingly useless books. The former are treaties on some aspects of the nature, magic and other powers, like dragons and elementals: no one of them is organized, and they are mostly a collection of quotes from another texts, thus making their study extremely difficult. That's more a collection of notes, rather than organic knowledge.

The other books instead are what baffles you: they are obviously written in a language strongly tied to your race, because they seem strangely familiar, and the alphabet is the same of the phrases written on the small altar of the 4th room.....

And speaking of the forth room, it is the most strange of all. It seems that it once was a laboratory, because there are some tables and shelves full of flasks and alchemical devices (most of them cracked and thus useless, but some of them is fine). There's also a little collection of scales, talons and other parts of strange animals. And there's a little altar made by a strange rock (you have never found a similar rock in the vicinity, and Oak doesn't recognize it by your description...but then, rocks are not his speciality). On the top of it, there's a circle of copper with inscribed draconic runes and there was yor egg, when you hatched. Of course, nothing is left of it, because driven by an innate compulsion, you devoured it in the first moments of your existance, gaining the necessary power to go out and start hunting on your own.

You also have a small treasure of shining rocks and shards: you can decide where you put that, and also where do you use to sleep, as well as any modification of the layout of the cave.


----------



## Ambrus (Jan 24, 2008)

Once through the labyrinth of tunnels outside the foyer, the diminutive dragon squeezes through the closed portal and glides down through the den and into the library bellow; all in complete darkness. Alighting atop the reading table the wymling tastes the air for a particular tome of poetry it'd been reading the previous week. Seeing as how it had made good use of the vocabulary it'd learned by studying the text in speaking with the wizard earlier, the scholarly reptile thought it a good idea to continue with its academic pursuits. Finding the book amidst a pile, the diminutive wymling uses its long sinewy tail to wrest free the tome and pull open its covers. The creature had discovered over the winter that its delicate but lethal stinger was an ideal tool for hooking and flipping pages. Finding what it was looking for, the studious dragon curls up and snakes its long sinuous neck out above the page to read.

Later, as it finds its multiple eyelids closing from weariness, the small dragon stands and, with a few powerful downbeats, returns to its nest in the room above. Settling in amidst the pillows, blankets and glittering crystals it'd arranged on the bed, the exhausted wymling curls up to sleep and dream.


----------



## Ambrus (Jan 28, 2008)

Nightbreeze said:
			
		

> _You used to dream, almost always uninteresting things. However, this morning you awaken with a sudden clarity. There was something clicking in your mind last evening, but you couldn't get hold on it. And with the morning, a clear thought comes to you: there was a word that the wizard said...Arket'sa...that is familiar. You are pretty sure that you heard it somewhere, and most of the strange words and names that you know....come from the books._



Waking up amid its treasures, the diminutive dragon indulges in early-morning reverie as it tries to recall the cryptic thoughts of the wizard it'd encountered the day before. _But Arket'sa was built by humans, and humans shall reclaim it's legacy._ Arket'sa was likely the name of the ruins the human was hoping to find, but the name was also strangely familiar... 

Shrouded in the perpetual darkness of its lair, the wyrmling slowly uncurls its serpentine body and pads softly to the edge of the bed. A nimble leap carries the lithe dragon through a high arc across the room to the vertical shaft in the floor. Gravity swiftly pulls the wyrmling down the narrow shaft into the library below. Unfurling its wings with an audible snap, the dragon instantly halts its decent and deftly banks into a tight turn over to its reading table. Alighting, the wyrmling snakes its sinuous neck over to scan the nearby bookshelves.

Even in complete darkness, the diminutive predator's eyes have no difficulty in discerning the books' titles embossed along their spines. In which tome might it have read that odd name? The scholarly dragon dismisses its poetry collection with nary a glance; nothing rhymes with "Arket'sa". The most likely possibilities seemed to be the dragon's folklore collection or perhaps one of its treatises on magic...

The wyrmling decides on a handful of tomes which seem like good candidates and goes about the arduous task of prying them off their shelves and transporting the cumbersome volume over to the reading table for careful perusal. Flipping open the first tome's cover with its long flexible tail, the scholarly dragon begins its research.


----------



## Nightbreeze (Jan 28, 2008)

You spend best of the morning searching for that reference and you start to realize that it is a daunting task. The tomes are big, and mostly disorganized. You start sifting through them, and you realize that although you remember most of the stories and the general meaning of most chapters, you can't afford to not read them carefully: there are too many words popping in and out as generic references, not explained in the tome, and it is impossible to remember them all.

As the days go on you can feel your frustration and you hunger growing. Judging by your stomach, at least 5 hours have passed since you awoke. As shift uncomfortably on the reading table, you realize that you are _really _hungry...and as you set to go out of your lair, searching for food, your eyes linger on the collection of poetry.

[sblock=ooc]There's no need to roll for seaching for food, by taking 10 you'd have no problems to do that. I'd also like to advise you that reading carefully all of your books (poetry included), would require you several days, maybe more than a week.[/sblock]


----------



## Ambrus (Jan 28, 2008)

[sblock=OOC]I take it you're suggesting that my dragon would have more luck in studying his poetry books. Keep in mind that I'd spent several hours the previous night reading some of them, for whatever that's worth.

Also, I hadn't intended to spend the entire day reading; maybe two to three hours in the early morning at most. The dragon intends to reach the ruins today so it wants to get a fairly early start with the trip. I'll assume it's only mid-morning when it heads outside.[/sblock]Hooking the cover with it's barbed stinger, the weary dragon closes the book that it had been studying without much success for the last little while. Springing upwards, the wyrmling beats the air furiously while wiping its tail back and forth to balance while hovering. With steady effort, the dragon rises back up the shaft and, after arcing across its living area, continues up the next shaft to the closed door. Snaking its way beneath the portal's bottom edge, the wyrmling emerges into the antechamber. The hungry dragon cautiously tastes the air with its forked tongue before heading into the labyrinth of corridors towards the outside.

Emerging on the rock cleft high above the forest floor, the diminutive dragon carefully gages the morning's wind speed and temperature by stretching its wings wide. Satisfied with its analysis, the hungry predator takes to the air with a powerful leap.

OOC: The dragon's intention is to survey the surrounding area while it hunts for prey. After its hunt, it'll make a high-altitude pass over the nearby village in hopes of spotting the wizards or their servants. If it doesn't find anything noteworthy in either the forest or the village, it'll then turn around and head for the ruins while following Oak's directions.


----------



## Nightbreeze (Jan 28, 2008)

[sblock=OOC]In the next days, I'll be rolling a dice for each two hours that you spend reading. (yeah, rolled them for the last night too).[/sblock]

The hunt is fast and easy. You have other matters in your head, and no time to linger in that particular pleasure. The problem is, you are also extremely hungry because of the spring...so you set yourself on a bigger pray: a wild, small rabbit. A hit with your tail is enough to bring him down.

After eating as much as you can, you soar high in the skies and soon you are sure that no one could distinguish you from a bird, if you take care to hide your tail. However, flying without the use of the tail is very clumsy and difficult effort, so you decide to go even higher, to the point that even you find it hard to distinguish very well what is happening on ground level.

The spring winds carry you with ease, and the surround lands reveal themselves under your sight: it is truly a marvelous experience. The plains under you transform into gentle, rolling hills on the east, and to sharp, high and forested hill to the west. There's a line of plains dividing them, and it goes from the south to the north, at the edge of the forest, ranging from 100m to a kilometer.

You can see the city from here (at least, its smoke, as it's hidden because of the hills), but right now you are interested in the village right here. It seems small, and dirty as always, and seen from the air, it is not very different from what it was before. People are going on with their work, and from experience you can tell that after an hour they will head back to eat.

You scry for the wizard and his bodyguards, but you can't seem to spot them anywhere. Nothing suggests that there are foreigners here. However you spot something else: on an outcrop of rock, approximately 600m from your lair in the forest, there's a single person sitting around. You can't distinguish much from this distance, but judging from the clothes you deduce that it's probably the girl, the one who was with Cordel yesterday.

At the same time, you notice another unusual thing: the mounted soldiers are coming on the road, two dozens of the. You don't know many about their duty, but it seems strange to you that there are so many of them coming here.


----------



## Ambrus (Jan 28, 2008)

The soaring dragon glides effortlessly through the springtime sky, seeking out warm thermals to gain altitude when necessary to remain aloft. It's predator's keen senses remain trained on the landscape below. Being keenly able to spot a lone mouse moving through the underbrush from above the forest's canopy, the diminutive hunter has little difficulty keeping track of the humans on the plain below.

Although anxious to get a closer look at the female wizard so near the Drachenfell, the dragon nonetheless remains above the village for awhile longer to observe the arrival of the two dozen soldiers. Taking advantage of the commotion caused by their arrival, the wily wyrmling circles and then banks over to begin a sideways slide into a steep dive. Using its increased speed for a swift approach, the descending dragon is counting on the unexpected distraction to land in the village unobserved.

The dragon's wing and frill membranes nearly hum in response to being buffeted by the thicker air near the ground's quickly approaching surface. In the blink of a human's eye, the wyrmling pulls out of its dive on the opposite side of the village and swiftly arcs up to land atop the highest roof-peak. Setting down, the small reptile's scaled hide quickly shifts to a dull yellow-brown to match the roof's thatch as it scurries into the shadow of a nearby chimney. The curious dragon had spent many hours in this concealed spot the previous year while it observed the daily lives of the villagers. Carefully, the wyrmling snakes its head towards the edge of the roof to discern whether its been spotted while it waits for the arrival of the soldiers.


----------



## Nightbreeze (Jan 29, 2008)

Greetings, Vitorg...what are you doing here in such numbers? -The puzzled chief of the local militia, the village's blacksmith, a tall and strong - looking man with messy red beard and short red hair asks to the leading horseman. The chief of the soldiers dismounts and begins to walk toward the villager. He bears the sign of some noble house on his armor and a painted golden circlet on his left arm. 
I have to speak with you, Rertorn, and it is about some serious matters...come with me. Then he leads him to the local tavern, followed by three soldiers.

You suppress your delusion about the fact that they are not intending to speak in public, and you have few chances to follow them into the tavern unseen. The peasants are hesitantly asking the soldiers that they know about what is happening, and one of them grudgingly explains that there is no danger for the village, just some organizational matters...high places stuff and such.


----------



## Ambrus (Jan 30, 2008)

The eavesdropping dragon feels a familiar sense of frustration. It had spent hour upon hour in this and a few other key hiding spots around the village throughout the previous summer and fall seasons. For all its efforts however, the curious dragon knew all to well the futility of trying to follow every aspect of the villagers' lives. It only ever witnessed incidental glimpses of moments in their daily activities, only during those times when it happened to be in the village and only when the humans happened to be openly discussing a topic of interest to the intelligent reptile.

All too often the villagers wandered into earshot in mid-conversation or often left its vicinity before completing their discussions. Any questions the puzzled wyrmling might have about the what they were discussing went unanswered. It was a time-consuming way to learn about its neighbors, but the dragon had consequently learnt patience early on to help deal with the oftentimes frustrating method. Today however, the dragon was pressed for time and couldn't afford to wait for the blacksmith and soldier to emerge once more as it normally might. One or more wizards with uncertain motives at large in its forest gave the dragon an unusual sense of urgency.

Snaking its head around, the dragon begins to track the movements and attention of the nearby villagers, waiting for an opportune moment to leave its hiding spot. When it feels confident that no one is nearby or looking in its direction the camouflaged wyrmling leaps from the roof and glides down to a tuft of grass lining an herb garden. Shifting its coloration to a striated green-yellow pattern, the dragon begins slinking away from the village. Once it's put enough distance between itself and the village's outermost buildings, the wyrmling coils its tail and springs into the air with a powerful downbeat of its wings.

Soon the dragon is winding its way through the forest towards the hill where it had spotted the lone wizardess.

OOC: The dragon intends to get close enough to see and hear the wizardess without risking being spotted.


----------



## Nightbreeze (Jan 30, 2008)

As you are closing near the hill, you see the young woman still sitting on it. You begin to approach her from behind, and soon you understand that it will be an extremely easy task: she is just staring west and doesn't seem interested in what's going around her.

You find a nice spot, on a treetop on her left side. From here you can finally get a closer look on her, without fear of getting spotted.

She wears a dress, very similar in shape to her outfit yesterday, green with some very nice red decorations around her arms. You think that she would probably be considered a great beauty by the male humans, and her expensive and nice dresses certainly help.

Right now, her impatience and anger from yesterday seems to be gone: she sits, embracing herself with her arms, and staring on the horizon. The wind blows her hair into a mess, and you notice that her cheeks are reddish, and her green eyes misty. She has probably cried, not too long ago, and she seems really sad.


----------



## Ambrus (Jan 30, 2008)

Coiled upon a branch, the stealthy wyrmling shifts in hue to a drab gray-brown for added camouflage as it peers around the area and tastes the air curiously. This is the first time that one of the wizards has entered the forest, seemingly alone. Settling in, the dragon observes the melancholy woman for awhile before reaching out with its mind to brush her consciousness lightly; curious to feel her sadness directly. Eventually the dragon grows bold enough to offer the lone woman it's thoughts in Sylvan ((Twice now have you entered into our Woodland Realm. Know that this is a sacred place held in demesne by its Elder Spirits. Your tribute of tears has seeped into our soil and so will bring new life to the woodlands. Pray tell us wizardess who you are and what has brought you to us.))


----------



## Nightbreeze (Jan 30, 2008)

The startled woman straightens her back and looks around frightened. Then she quickly wipes the tears out of her face and tries to grow a neutral expression, but you can see that she is quite bothered by the fact that someone has been observing her. With a tinge of panic and anger in her voice, she replies Who is there? Who are you? Are you spying on me? Let me see you!


----------



## Ambrus (Jan 30, 2008)

The hidden dragon offers the startled woman its thoughts calmly in Sylvan. _((We give voice to the concerns of the Forest's Spirits and have no other name to offer for we have never had need of one. You have been in our company and gazing out upon our expanse for some time now. We have tasted your tears and in turn have watched over you while you were lost in reverie.))_


----------



## Nightbreeze (Jan 30, 2008)

Her eyes throw angry flashes and the startled look is substituted by a little bit dangerous one. Oh, I sure feel at ease now that you say you have been spying me for some time. How educated.  Her fist is shacking and she looks ready to attack verbally. Now, you have very little time to convince me that I should speak with you any further. and the young woman starts gathering her things. 

You feel that she is an emotional type of woman, quite the opposite of her companion and senior. She is probably telling the truth: she is really upset and is not tolerating your tone.


----------



## Ambrus (Jan 30, 2008)

The diminutive dragon is puzzled by the woman's reaction; it is nearly convinced that wizards' are absurd examples of humankind. _((We are spirits of the forest. We have gazed upon you just as you have gazed upon us since you entered into our woodland expanse. Neither requires absolution for both are inevitable.))_


----------



## Nightbreeze (Jan 30, 2008)

The frustrated woman switches to Hethon, and lowers her voice into an angry hiss "Only problem is, I didn't hide myself, and I don't conceal my presence when I am speaking with you. And now manifest yourself, or just stop bothering me. You invaded my personal feelings, and you'd better behave yourself far better from now on if you want any constructive communication"


----------



## Ambrus (Jan 31, 2008)

The continues to respond in Sylvan. _((We are not concealed; we are the forest itself.))_


----------



## Nightbreeze (Feb 1, 2008)

The wizardess stares silently for some seconds, than slowly nods and with a plain voice says:I don't think so. I don't feel your presence and power through the telepathic link. You are just a single person or being, and you are lying to me. I won't tolerate it anymore. She calmly starts collecting her things and heading down from the hill.

You think that she felt outraged for the intrusion in her private thoughts, and now she is even more angered by the lie (you don't really know how she detected it, but it is true that you are not expert liar). However, she would be maybe willing to still listen to you.


----------



## Ambrus (Feb 2, 2008)

The concealed dragon is at a loss to understand how the female wizard had seen through its deception so easily. Did she have prior experience in speaking with forest spirits against which to compare this experience. It chooses to ignore her accusations for the time being to carry out its self-appointed task. _((Regardless of what you believe, we have not interrupted your reverie without cause. We speak to you to convey the knowledge that this forest's Elder Spirit grow restless from the casual incursions of wizards.

We know you seek to seize ancient knowledge and power for yourself and to deny the same to your enemies; that is the way of your kind. Your wizardly rivalries are of no concern to us. Take heed that you do not carry your conflict with you as you enter our domain. Any who disregard our sovereignty or who despoil our realm risk provoking the ire of the Elder Spirits.))_


----------



## Nightbreeze (Feb 2, 2008)

The wizards heads down, towards the city, and coldly replies: That is no concern to me. I have no interest in the forests, whoever you are. And for all I know, you are one of those "thieving wizards", based in Esthrar. You have been pretty excited by the arrival of Corel here, because you have heard rumors about him.. Well, dear idiot, do what you want. But I pity you: seems that you are too scared by a wizard graduated 2 years ago, and you are trying to hit him on a weak spot. Well, you got everything wrong: I am just a senior apprentice, and by no mean his ally. Now, get away, and hope that I don't tell him about you...who knows, he may even underestand who you are by your way of speech...nothing is impossible, when he is involved.

You seem to remember that Esthrar is another village five miles from here on the north. She actually seems uninterested in your warnings, and you think that it is sincere when she says that she is out of this affair. There is a tone of bitterness in her voice when she speaks about Cordel, and you can almost hear a little bit of envy.


----------



## Ambrus (Feb 3, 2008)

Its warning having been delivered (and pointedly ignored) the concealed dragon doesn't make any efforts to prolong the tedious conversation or to follow the female as she departs the forest. The small mottled grey-brown wyrmling slowly uncoils itself from the tree bough upon which it had taken cover and watches the human pick her way down the hill through the underbrush on her way back to the nearby human village.

It had only ever tried to communicate directly with two humans thus far, and both attempts had proven to be less than successful. Apparently its observation of humans and its study of their literature had ill equipped the diminutive creature for the endeavor. Though the problem might in part be its choice of wizardly speaking companions, further reflection on the matter was clearly called for.

Mentally shrugging off the conversation, the diminutive dragon's hide lightens to a neutral ash-gray as it tastes the air with its tongue. Unfurling its wings, the wyrmling springs from its branch and beats the air mightily to quickly gain altitude. Breaking through the forest's canopy, the flapping dragon soars high into the air as it begins its long trek in search of the ruins described to it by its arboreal friend Oak.

OOC: Sorry for my slow posting rate of late, but recent events have left me a little disinterested in forum reading. I'm feeling better now however, and foresee resuming my regular posting rate. Incidentally, is there any chance of seeing that map of the area you'd been working on? I'm having trouble keeping track of orientations.


----------



## Nightbreeze (Feb 4, 2008)

You start heading east, flying like an arrow at low height above the forest: you can't go any higher because you need to keep an eye open for the signs that Oak listed. A burned tree here, a low valley there...you keep going west, but you get the feeling that after a while you will be heading south.

This is the first time you get so far in the direction of the mountains, and you notice that the landscape is broken by multiple valleys, sharp hill, crest and ridges, forested cliffs and rivers. This could be a real nightmare for an explorer...an explorer without the ability to fly, of course.

However, it is not easy for you too: there are many signs that can't be seen from great height, others can only seen by a particular position on the ground an so on. You have to proceed carefully, and multiple times you have to scurry an area for a dozen of minutes before finding the right way.

When you have covered half of the distance (according to your indications), you suddenly notice some people low on the ground. It's a group of three people, each of them seemingly a hunter, or explorer. they seem to hail from the local villages, and there's nothing special about them (except for the fact that they are here, 7 miles from the nearest forest edge). 

The sun is beginning to head down for the western horizon and you understand that you have to make hast, in order to arrive to the ruins and possibly explore them before darkness comes. You won't be able to come back at Drachenfell before night, anyway. You may have some minutes to spy on these other people, but you are taking a certain risk (well, not that darkness bothers you that much, anyway).


----------



## Ambrus (Feb 5, 2008)

The curious dragon banks and dips down into the forest canopy to get a closer look at the trio of hunters. Being used to spying on those who enters its forest, the wyrmling is curious to see whether it recognizes these particular men (Knowledge, local +4). Having spied the men, their hunting weapons and any game they've succeeded in catching (Spot +7), the hurried dragon takes to the air once more as it continues its westward journey.


----------



## Nightbreeze (Feb 8, 2008)

As you descend down, and settle on the green-covered crown of a tree, you spy the humans. You don't recognize any of them on sight, however you see that on of them is quite tall, but a scar under his left cheek, while the other has some inches less, but more muscles, and one of his eyes is a milky white, indicating blindness. Judging from that and their outfit, out decide that those are the Yorm brothers, know trouble-makers in Esthrar. You have never seen them, but sometimes you heard pieces of news about them and now everything connects in recognizing them. The third human instead is an average human, with blond and short hair (the Yorms are black-haired). He has better equipments and from the way he regards them it seems that he feels in charge.

It seems that so far they have gathered no game...but the mystery explains itself pretty quickly once you realize that they are not here for hunting. It seems that they just reunited, after splitting some time ago. The Yorm brothers report no success in finding whatsoever, and the blond man grows in frustration. He mutters something among the line that if someone else succeeds first, he will gain all of the praise and reward from their masters. The Yorms retort that it was his will to get separated from the other and search this far south: if they had stayed with them, they would find it together. Anyway, they don't seem to believe really in what they say, and you soon discover why: they are searching not only for whatever they are searching for, whatever it is, but also for other explorers, and they have reason to believe that they could find them here around, because they should be coming from the village south of Esthrar.

Do you want to go on listening, or you prefer to move?


----------



## Ambrus (Feb 8, 2008)

OOC: The dragon will continue to listen in on the trio until they seem to have finished their conversation and have resumed traveling; at which point it will continue on its own quest. What kind of equipment are the three carrying?


----------



## Nightbreeze (Feb 13, 2008)

The Yorm brothers have hunting gear, with a club, and strangely, a mace. As for the foreigner, he has a similar equipment, with some sort of horizontal bow...that would be the famous crossbow, you guess, and a short sword. Overall, it seems that he is more prepared for a fight, rather then a hunt.

Right now, the Yorm brothers are showing their typical lack of patience:
Hia, man, why the damn shou'l we find for tha friggin' stone ruins here around? Those are wizards, aa'nt they? Can't they just wriggle their hands and find them? I hate roaming around in tha stupid forests like an idiot, getting paid a misery - exclaims Yorshu, the younger one with disgust

The foreigner raises his eyes to the sky and replies with patience, mixed with some degree of anger: Well, if they could or wanted to find the ruins with their spells, they would do it. Then you wouldn't get paid anything at all. Remember, bull-headed idiot? The only reason that the guards didn't get you in prison for what you did back there in the tavern is the fact that one of them decided to employ you. So just shut your stinking mouth and look for the ruins. I will come back tomorrow morning to check on you, at the same place

Man, this sucks - mutters Grershu, the older brother, watching the foreigner walk away. Friggin Erothoir and his friggin masters


----------



## Ambrus (Feb 13, 2008)

The eavesdropping dragon briefly considers offering these humans the same warning it had issued to the two wizards earlier, but decides against that course of action. So far, communicating with humans has proven rather disappointing and the wyrmling sees nothing to gain from another attempt.

The diminutive reptile watches the disgruntled group part ways and then stealthily takes to the skies once more. Beating the air, the soaring dragon endeavors to make up for lost time in its own search for the ruins.

OOC: Which direction are the two brothers and the lone foreigner heading when they part ways?


----------



## Nightbreeze (Feb 16, 2008)

As the strange foreigner goes north, the tiny predator notices that the Yorm brothers are going west. They don't seem to make haste.

You soar high in the sky to regard the landscape and find again your signs. When your eyes find again a rock formation shaped in a particular, twisted way, you fly in that direction. The wind carries you with great speed and soon you think that you are approaching your destination. 

You realize that you are entering the Berlenda mountains. The transition is not gradual: from a crested forest suddenly high and broken ridges form and devastate the landscape. High rock formations, hills, deep valleys cover the land. All of them are covered by thick forest, thus making the scouting really difficult.

You have a really hard time to find out the stone ruins that were described, and infact you realize that they are probably not visible from the air. So you have to fly at almost ground level, following the directions of Oak. You realize that it would be difficult for a human to reach the ruins, unless he knows that they are almost certainly here around, and spens a few days searching for them. Luckily enough, the humans are searching in a completely wrong area.

Finally, you are here: you settle on the top of a tall tree, and under the cover of the thick foliage, you observe the little and hidden vally. It is no more than 70m wide. On one side of the mountain, hidden by the rock from someone not standing in the valley, there are two stone towers, each of them once 15m tall. both of them however have crumbled. One is just a mass of stones covering the earth, while the ground floor of the another is still standing, forming what may be seen as a small house. There seem to be no signs of intelligent creatures nearby.


----------



## Ambrus (Feb 17, 2008)

The diminutive dragon consciously shifts its scaled hide from the light gray it has assumed while flying to a mottled forest green to better blend in with the valley's bountiful foliage. The curious wyrmling tastes the air with its forked tongue while scanning the immediate area (Listen & Spot +7, taking 20).

Once satisfied that it's truly alone, the dragon unfurls its wings and glides down to the jumbled remains of the first tower. Scurrying over the mound, the diminutive wyrmling carefully investigates its nooks and crevices for anything of possible interest (Search +8, taking 20).

Assuming it doesn't find anything, the cautious dragon will slowly makes its way through the overgrown field grass towards the second tower. Moving stealthily (Hide +25, Move Silently +3, taking 10), it'll circle the structure while looking for a point of entrance through which to spy the interior.


----------



## Nightbreeze (Feb 17, 2008)

You wait in there for some minutes, waiting and listening. At the end, you are quite sure that there is no one around in the valley. You start investigating the remians of the first tower, and after few minutes you arrive to the conclusion that whatever clue there could be about whoever lived in and whatever he did, it is either buried under the rocks, or it has been destroyed by rust, wind, rain or taken away by wild animals a lot of time ago.

As for the second tower, you approach the natural shelter that its first floor. As you take a look from the outside, you notice several signs of former human presence: there are some blackened stones in a circle in the middle of the room, and the remains of some broken bones. The rest of the floor is covered by rubble. While carefully investigating it, you find several things of notice: first of all, hidden nearby the circle of stones there is a fist sized and heavy stone of strange appearance. It is somewhat similar to quarz, and you suppose that it could be of some value. (although it is not a precious and shining gem like the others in your possession).

Another important fact is that under a huge amount of dust and light rubble you find an iron trapdoor. It is quite heavy and even without trying you know that you could hardly open it. 

Lastly, you find some footsteps in the dust: they are 4-5 inches large, appear to belong to some reptilian creature, smaller than a human. They were hard to find and you think that they were intentionally hidden.


----------



## Ambrus (Feb 17, 2008)

The curious dragon cautiously skulks into the interior of the tower to get a closer look at the trapdoor and odd crystal. Having spotted the footprints, the canny wyrmling is concerned that the crystal might have been positioned as a lure for some type of trap. It seems odd that such an unusual stone would have been left behind in plain sight. The dragon snakes its saurian head around the interior, cautiously searching for anything concealed as it tastes the air with its tongue (Search +8, taking 20).

OOC: If it finds nothing hidden in the interior, including signs of a concealed trap, then the dragon will give its best effort at opening the trapdoor (Strength 7). Failing that, it'll try to find some other means of reaching the subterranean chamber below.


----------



## Nightbreeze (Feb 18, 2008)

ooc: the crystal was hidden, not in plain sight

Alarmed by his discoveries, you search again the entire room. After half an hour, you feel certain that there is nothing important that you missed. 

While looking at the trapdoor, you realize that once it could be easily open by a human with normal strenght. However, the passage of time has eroded the wooden handle and not the only hold on the trapdoor are two small iron pieces that once held the handle. Even for a strong human, it would be difficult to hold them well and exercize the appropriate strenght.

You loor around for some sort of a secred lever, but find nothing like that. The fact that even here there is no sign of the previous inhabitants of the towers: no cloth or chair, either means that someone carried them away, or that a very long time has passed since they abandoned this place.

Angered by the seemingly barred way, you head out of the tower, hoping to find some secret tunnel nearby. However, you don't spot anything, and besides, it would be difficult to search properly the entire area. There's a small river, no more than 2 feet wide, going out of the mountain side nearby, and a little lake. You notice a brown bear that has probably just came out of its long winter slumber. It is drinking fresh water now, and then it will go hunting, probably.


----------



## Ambrus (Feb 18, 2008)

The diminutive dragon rises to perch atop the tower's ruins with a few quick wing-beats; simply to get out of the meandering bear's reach. Watching the large mammal drink at the pool, the curious wyrmling cocks its head to the side and wonders from where the beast had come. The dragon hadn't spotted the bear in the area when it had first arrived. It seemed likely that it had just emerged from a sheltered den.

The patient wyrmling waits for the bear to wander away in its search of sustenance before gliding over to a tree next to the pond. Tasting the air with its forked tongue, the dragon snakes its long sinuous neck around as it searches the ground for signs of the bear's trail.

OOC: The dragon would like to backtrack along the bear's trail to locate its den in hopes that it might prove to be an access point into the subterranean realm below.


----------



## Nightbreeze (Feb 18, 2008)

Backtracking the bear's trail is easy enough. It's lair is not really close to the ruins: it seems that the bear got nearby in the 20-30 minutes you needed to search properly the ruins. However, it is easy enough to follow the trail that the animal left in the soft soil. You follow them west, near the northern edge of the valley, and after 500mt they go up. Before climbing the entire ridge, however, you stop and identifly the home of the massive animal: it is a dark cavern with small entrance, barely enought to let the massive creature to get in and out.

As you approach it, the stench assaoults you: bears have a particular and nasty smell. You begin to question the wisdom of entering the cavern of such a nasty and easily angered creature. However, after hiding for 10 minutes you think that either the cave is empty, or the other bear/s are sleeping. Still, you think that it could easily identify you with its nose, once you enter in its domain.


----------



## Ambrus (Feb 18, 2008)

The diminutive dragon's scaled hide slowly darkens to black as it begins skulking towards the cave entrance. Making use of its superior predator's senses, the wyrmling opens its eyes wide so as to pierce the cavern's dark interior before approaching.

OOC: The dragon will head inside the cave to explore if it sees no other creatures through the entrance with its darkvision.


----------



## Nightbreeze (Feb 19, 2008)

You slowly head into the cavern and after a minute you realize that there is no danger here: there are no other bears, and even if the lonely giant that you saw returned, you would have no problem in escaping.

You start looking around in the smelly cave, and soon find out that it is bigger than you thought: it goes deep into the mountainside for a lot of feets, and then it breaks into mutiple descending passages. Although you are pretty far from the tower, you suspect that if this was a tale like one of those in your books, you will most certainly find a secret passage that leads you into the tower interior (of course, it would have been easier if you had some human friend to lift tat trapdoor, by anyway). 

However, it seems that all of the passages are dead ends, even if one of them leads for at least 120mt in a twisted, descending spiral. You being to fear getting lost, but you quickly adapt yourself and roam around freely thanks to your senses. 

As you are starting to feel defeat, you stop on your tracks, when a strange new odour comes to your nose...you don't recognize it, but it certainly feels different from those you were used to feel here. It comes from a hole in the cavern floor, a hole you previously thought was a dead end. This time, you fly down, and realize that after 14mt it steers right and becomes a twisted little horizontal passage. A human would have to crawl here.

You follow it for quite some time, and you realize that you have completely lost track of space and time since you entered the bear lair. At the end of the passage, it becomes even tighter...and abruptly stops. The end however is not filled with rock...it seems to be some sort of sack or rought cloth blocking the small passage. A smell of rotten mean comes from the other side. Touching it, you feel that is indeed a sack, filled with something.


----------



## Ambrus (Feb 19, 2008)

OOC: The dragon will try to find a gap around the edge of the sack through which it can snake it's head and neck to peer around on the other side. Failing that, it'll try to push the sack out of the tunnel. Failing that, it'll use it's teeth and claws to tear through the sack and its contents to reach the other side.


----------



## Nightbreeze (Feb 19, 2008)

However you try it, there is no way to find a gap or push the sack: it is just too heavy. At the end, resigned, you start clawing an chewing through. The sack breaks easily, and you find out that it is filled with a rotten mass of wheat or something like that. You start clawing your way through the sacks, but come to a nasty surprise: apparently, it is not just one sack: there are many of them in a pile. You can feel their weight. With great patience, you start clawing a tunnel, putting the rotten material in the tunnel behind you. But after an hour, you realize that you are probably at the bottom of a huge amount of sacks. You will have to scratch your way up, but that would require many hours, judging by the weight. And you are not certain if that means three hours of twelve hours.


----------



## Ambrus (Feb 19, 2008)

With little choice but to continue its labor or abandon its quest, the diminutive dragon continues its industrious efforts to clear a path through the pile of old grain sacks.

OOC: The dragon will aim to dig upwards rather than through the sacks so that it doesn't risk getting crushed by their weight. It'll simply dig up, tear a small hole through the next sack up and then scurry back to allow its contents to sift down into the cavern slowly while it shifts the grain piles back along the tunnel and out of the way. Repeat till done. If it gets too tired after a while the wyrmling will simply backtrack a ways, find a small secure crevice or nook to hole up in, and sleep.


----------



## Nightbreeze (Feb 22, 2008)

After a quick escape to the open ground, in order to hunt for some food, you return to the underground cave and get some sleep, in a crevice near your discovery. The next day, you stir up and resume your work. After long hours of frustrating and irritating work, and at least 7-8 mt in vertical ascension, you suddenly pop up into an open chamber....face to face with a little and weak-looking bipedal reptilian creature, the size of a human child that looks at you with utter fear. After a low squirm, it reaches for you, trying to catch you.

ooc: had my final exam of this session yesterday.


----------



## Ambrus (Feb 22, 2008)

OOC: Glad to have you back. Just so you know however, my dragon had no need to hunt before nightfall since it had just eaten before flying out to the ruins. Might I also ask that you make more frequent mention of the passage of time? As is I keep getting caught off guard by how quickly time seems to pass. By my reckoning, my dragon started digging through the sacks of grain only in the mid to late afternoon.

Before the reptilian creature can get too close, the dragon snakes its barbed tail high into the air, flushes its scales to a menacing red, opens its fanged maw to hiss threateningly. The posturing wyrm offers the creature a mental warning in common: _((Stay back! I have a poisonous sting! What are you?))_


----------



## Nightbreeze (Feb 22, 2008)

ooc: yeah, I sometimes advance time too quickly, a fault of mine. btw, a thought occurred in me: iirc, a creature with telepathy can speak with creatures that don't share any language...so telepathy doesn't use language, wasn't that true?

The reptilian creature stands in awe when it hears your mental warning and his brownish eyes reveal utter terror. Then it crumbles in a trembling bow and replies: "Please don't hurt Misskri, master! Please don't tell other masters where Misskri hides! Misskri won't steal food anymore! Please please please!"


----------



## Ambrus (Feb 22, 2008)

OOC: Some telepathic creatures can communicate with anyone regardless of language, but the pseudodragon's entry in the MM specifically states that it can only do so in Common or Sylvan. I think everyone would agree however, that that should be extended to include any languages the pseudodragon knows; not just Common and Sylvan.

The small hissing dragon calms somewhat once the creature begins groveling shamelessly. ((Very well Misskri. I won't tell the other Masters about your thefts, but you have to help me in exchange. Do you agree?))


----------



## Nightbreeze (Feb 22, 2008)

well, I'll ask the others and see if they would really agree...yeah, they agree that it should be extended  Aah...time for the shameless bluff, I see.

Misskri, trembling, replies: Misskri will try to do his best, master. Please don't punish Misskri if Misskri fails.


----------



## Ambrus (Feb 22, 2008)

OOC: Others? Who are the others? And who's bluffing?

The dragon slowly lowers its barbed tail as it slowly peers around the chamber. ((Very well Misskri. I'm not familiar with this area. Tell me; where are we and with is near to this place?))


----------



## Nightbreeze (Feb 25, 2008)

The common that Misskri uses is flawed and quite difficult to understand, as if he has never spoken it it, only heard others speak in it.

This is the old area where the stone-spawners stashed their food-makings, master. It hasn't been used since the other masters, the karin-kushol and we chased them away. The tunnel leading here collapsed, but Misskri can still pass. No one has found Misskri here, since Misskri had to run away, but Misskri hungry, master!!! Misskri has to go and take food form the karin-kushol and he risk being found. But Misskri only takes thrown away food, master, please don't punish Misskri for stealing from servant of the masters, please!!!


----------



## Ambrus (Feb 25, 2008)

The small dragon tries to puzzle through what Misskri has told it as well as what the odd reptilian humanoid has left unstated. The wyrmling hardly has need of its telepathic abilities to feel the creature's sincerity and genuine fear. There were so many questions it wanted answered, but the curious dragon knew it had to be patient with the simple creature. [/I]((I haven't punished you yet Misskri. Your answers please me so far. Tell me more about the stone-spawners, the karin kushol and your own people Misskri. When were the others chased away?))[/I]

OOC: Can you please describe the chamber? I have no clue what it looks like in this place. Also, does my dragon know anything about Kobolds? Can it identify Misskri as one?


----------



## Nightbreeze (Feb 27, 2008)

The chamber is quite small, actually: it seems that you came up from the deposit of sacks. It was clearly built by intelligent creatures, as it is almost perfectly cubical (15ft x 15ft x 10ft). However, there is nothing else in this dark chamber, aside of you, Misskri, a bunch of dirty blankets on the floor and some small bones, no doubt rests of whatever food he stealed.

Misskri replies with a trembling voice: "The stone spawners were he master, when we arrived. The karin kushor drove them away, because we were many and they are few. All of them fled down deep, down deep, where we don't want to go. However the karin kushol said that we will go there, down deep, down deep. The karin kushol are big and strong, and their urgrins speak with masters and use powers. Masters make urgrins power grow and they are able to help their warriors. We have to go out, take food and make sure that no one comes nearby. However days ago, days ago, days ago some human came, and one of them managed to escape. The karin kushol very angry, but we said that the human certainly died in the cold. But then Grriskim saw several humans near, and so the human must have lived. Grriskim was stupid and told that to the karin kushol, and they got angry with Misskri and the others, and they killed severl. Misskri escaped and has been hiding since then. But Misskri will get back and serve faithfully, if Master allows it. Please, Master, please, when you speak with the other masters say that Misskri is good and useful, please!"

ooc: nope, sorry. you don't know what kobolds. Misskri is one of the sub-species of kobolds that exist on Anarenn, but I have significally changed them, both in characteristics and in background (the changes in dragons provoke a chain of changes that sweeps on almost any manual)


----------



## Ambrus (Feb 29, 2008)

OOC: So the "room" is a vertical shaft nearly 30-ft high, but with the lower 20-ft filled with sacks of grain. Is that right? And the floor we're standing on is actually the top of the pile of sacks? Is there's some kind of door or passage leading out of this room?

The diminutive dragon listens intently while trying to make sense of what Misskri is trying to explain, but with little luck so far. _((You *are* good and useful Misskri. Now tell me; what do the stone spawners, the karin kushor and the masters look like? How big are they and how many of them are there?))_


----------



## Nightbreeze (Feb 29, 2008)

ooc: yep, you got that right. there's an opening, not on the walls however: on the ceiling. It leads out, and you suppose that Misskri has to clomb it in order to get out of here.

The trembling poor creature replies to your questions, and after a while you manage to get a coherent description: The stone spawners are humanoid-looking creature with grey skin and a lot of hair-facial and not. They don't have eyes, but they can see, and they can travel trough stone. They are dangerous, but they are few and the karin kushol defeated them. the karin kushol are similar in aspect to misskri, but they are much bigger and stronger than him. Also, some of them are ugrins, and they have magical power

You don't manage to get anything coherent about the so-called masters. They seem to give orders to the ugrins, and therefore to both the karin-kushol and the creatures like Misskri. Misskri is afraid of speaking with them. You think that they resemble you in some way, if he mistook you for one of them, and it seems that sometimes a new master appears, and this is why he was not absolutely surprised by you appearing in this room. Otherwise, the master never let the inferior creatures see them.


----------



## Ambrus (Mar 1, 2008)

The diminutive dragon slowly begins to gain a clearer image of those beings now living in the ruins and its recent history. The fact that Misskri also seems to be somewhat familiar with dragonkind does not escape the wyrmling. The curious creature delves deeper into the topic, projecting more questions into the larger reptilian's mind. _((So Misskri, what do you call your own kind; those who are smaller than the karin kushol? How many are there of your kind and of the karin kushol here? And how is it that you recognized me as a master? How could you tell what I was?))_


----------



## Nightbreeze (Mar 1, 2008)

We are the kurin kobel, master. We live to serve and we are useful even if we are small. There are a lot of fives of us here and there are several fives of karin kushor. And I recognized you because you because you look like the other masters. But I didn't disobey the orders, master, I haven't spied at the other masters, others told me what they looked like! I will guide you to the other masters, and you will tell them that Misskri is useful and they don't need to have me killed, yes, Master, please?


----------



## Ambrus (Mar 3, 2008)

The diminutive dragon snakes its long sinuous tail languidly through the air as it considers the kurin kobel's description of the ruin's current inhabitants. After a few pensive moments, the wyrmling offers Misskri its thoughts: _((You have been very helpful to me, and if there is something I can do to help you then I will. But you know you aren't supposed to spy on the masters Misskri; but you've seen me and that's unfortunate. Now I won't tell any of the kurin kobel, or the karin kushor or the other masters about you having seen me if you promise to do the same. I also can't have you guide me in case someone were to see us together. So tell me where I can find the other masters and I'll go ahead on my own; and if I find some way to help you then I will do it, as I promised.))_


----------



## Nightbreeze (Mar 6, 2008)

The trembling little wretch explains you the way for the nearest karin kushol camp. It seems that you are on a deeper level, as those closest to the surface are usually used by his comrades.

Following his instructions, you fly several minutes and at the end you come near the camp. There is no light, and there are several brutish and huge creature lying around, most of them sleeping. There are crude weapons, clubs and primitive spears lying around. You don't dare approach, as there is a single sentry, and you don't know how keen are the senses of these creatures.


----------



## Nightbreeze (Mar 6, 2008)

The trembling little wretch explains you the way for the nearest karin kushol camp. It seems that you are on a deeper level, as those closest to the surface are usually used by his comrades.

Following his instructions, you fly several minutes and at the end you come near the camp. There is no light, and there are several brutish and huge creature lying around, most of them sleeping. There are crude weapons, clubs and primitive spears lying around. You don't dare approach, as there is a single sentry, and you don't know how keen are the senses of these creatures.


----------



## Nightbreeze (Mar 9, 2008)

You start moving with great care, analyzing the position of the karin kushols and where could be the entrance for the cave of the masters. The problem is, you soon realize that the sentry looks startled. He must have heard something, and he is not entirely sure if it was something normal or something else. However, he is now actively looking the entire room, searching for any sign of intruders. 

As you hide and stop moving around, you suddenly realize that he is sitting on some sort of wooden table, or trapdoor...could it be that that is the entrance?


----------



## Ambrus (Mar 11, 2008)

The small black dragon remains still as it watches the hulking karin kushol rise to begin searching the cavern. Tasting the air nervously with its forked tongue, the wyrmling waits for a moment when the brute's attention turns away to carefully move towards the trapdoor for a closer look. Hiding amidst a pile of karin kushol gear, the dragon studies the portal to determine whether it might be able to breach it on its own or not [Search +8].

OOC: My dragon will likely try to snag the door with its tail, raise it enough to fit and then scurry through the gap if it believes it can do so safely before the karin kushol returns.


----------



## Nightbreeze (Mar 12, 2008)

Looking at the portal, it seems to you that it is too heavy, like the trapdoor at the tower's base. However, after twenty minutes of careful examination, you realize that there seems to that it doesn't cover perfectly the hole...actually there seems to be an opening. Gathering your resolve, you make a run for it, and manage to enter it, while the sentry is examining a distant part of the cavern.

Once you enter it, however, you see a diagonal tunnel that is heading down. The point is, you feel uneasy at this place, as if there was a slight aura of menace coming from below.


----------



## Ambrus (Mar 12, 2008)

The diminutive dragon gathers its courage and scrabbles nimbly down along the tunnel; doing its best to remain vigilant while ignoring the feeling of dread issuing from below. The suggestion that other draconic masters were lairing nearby was too enticing to ignore; the wyrmling had never set eyes upon another of its kind.


----------



## Nightbreeze (Mar 12, 2008)

As you approach the end of the short tunnel, you hear distant voices, united in a guttural chant. You arrive to a corner, and spying over it, you realize that you have just arrived to a constructed cavern: the tunnel becomes rectangular and there are torches that give a little bit of illumination. Their light is very dim, but at the same time they don't create much smoke. Peering over the corner, you see a long room, more akin to a tunnel, with 4 doors at its and, two at the left side and two on the right side. Right in front of you, instead, at the end of the room, 60ft away, there is a double door, opened, and revealing an ever bigger room. 

It is filled with strange colored smoke, and reddish lights. Multiple creatures are moving in there,  although you see them as shadows because of the smoke. They seem to dance and sing at the some time. Given their height, they are probably kurin kushols, or more probably urgrins.


----------



## Ambrus (Mar 13, 2008)

The tiny black-scaled dragon stealthily skulks down the hallway while snaking its long sinuous neck around to carefully study its surroundings. Arriving closer to the double doors, the wyrmling hides in the shadow of the door frame to study the mysterious urgrins' ritual.

OOC: So do the kurin kushol simply look like medium-sized kobolds or perhaps lizardmen?


----------



## Nightbreeze (Mar 13, 2008)

ooc: well, a medium sized kobold with bulging muscles is quite similar to a lizardman, no crests, however.

As you get a better view into the room, you realize that the colored smoke is coming up from several braziers, where different materials are burning. As a thick veil it obscures most of chamber, but you can at times see a window in the mist and get a glimpse on the center of the room. There is a huge, brown colored altar, covered with red veins of ... something. Furthermore, on the top of it there is a karin kushol, who lies on his back, and seems dazed. On the edges of the altar, there are the five masters.

Seeing them, you heart pounds, but you instantly realize that they are not your kin. They have a similar body, however they have very small scales, almost molded into a skin. Their tails are much shorter, with a nasty looking end, and their wings are absolute black with red veins. The most repellent feature is their heads...they have flat, brutish and cruel faces (almost gargoyle-like, ooc note) and malevolent red eyes.

They are hissing in unison and it seems that they are somehow participating in the ritual, even they don't seem to do anything at all. You suddenly realize that they, or the altar, are the source of you unease, because as soon as you saw them, you got a jolt of panic and even now the sigh of the center of the room is nauseating, at best.


----------



## Ambrus (Mar 15, 2008)

The pensive dragon considers its feelings on the matter for a few moments; disappointment, frustration, unease, curiosity. Finally its curiosity wins out and the concealed wyrmling begins to look around to see where else it might explore while on this level. Snaking its head around it studies the interior of the chamber for other passageways or doors. It then turns its attention towards the four large doors to either side of its current position to see whether it might be able to breach them.


----------



## Nightbreeze (Mar 15, 2008)

All of the large doors are slightly open, even if you can see almost nothing of what's inside. You are sure that you could just push them, although if they are old they could screech.


----------



## Ambrus (Mar 16, 2008)

OOC: Being tiny, thin and serpentine, might my dragon be able to squeeze through if the doors are all "slighty open"? If so it'll try that; starting with just its head so it can peer inside before going in.


----------



## Nightbreeze (Mar 16, 2008)

ooc: I chose a random room for you, since you have no element to chose (and to speed up things)

You manage to sneak your head and peek into the room. It is well furnished, probably as good as any paesant hut (something quite unexpected in such an environment). There is a table, with a lot of meat ready to be eaten on it. Several hides on the stone pavement, where the urgrins probably sleep, furs, heavy metallic weapons (the karin kushols had wooden clubs), and several other things that you can't see quite well, because they are hidden by other objects.


----------



## Ambrus (Mar 17, 2008)

OOC: The dragon will peek into the other three rooms quickly and, if they're all appointed similarly, it'll choose one to enter and search more thoroughly.


----------



## Nightbreeze (Mar 19, 2008)

You peek in the second room at your left (previously you peeked in the first room on the right), and as soon as your head is in you spot the flying silhouette of a master. He, unfortunately, was just looking at your direction and spots you as soon as you seen him.

There's a blinking moment of surprise, and you are the first one to react.

ooc: I rolled initiative to see who was the first one to act, but this is not necessarily a combat sequence.


----------



## Ambrus (Mar 19, 2008)

OOC: Sorry, I'm having trouble following along here. Are "urgrins" the same thing as "masters"? I thought urgrins were simply karin kushol spellcasters who served the unseen masters. So the karin kushor are essentially kobolds, the karin kushol are medium-sized kobolds and the urgrin are masters of the other two species, who look like medium-sized gargoyles?


----------



## Nightbreeze (Mar 19, 2008)

ooc: You probably got confesed by the fact that I called urgrins and karin kushols separately even when you werent speaking with misskri. There is a difference for him, but yes, there are the kobolds, the middle sized kobolds (karin kushols) , the middle sized kobold shamans (urgrins), and the imp-like creatures called masters.
Maybe I even tyoped somewhere?


----------



## Ambrus (Mar 21, 2008)

OOC: I think I understand now. So how large are the masters? Are they in fact tiny-sized like imps?

Having been spotted by the vile "master", the diminutive dragon quickly jerks its saurian head out of the door and bolts down the length of the hallway towards the tunnel through which it entered. Trying its best to remain stealthy and silent as it moves, the lithe wyrmling scrambles along the narrow tunnel up towards the trap door above.


----------



## Nightbreeze (Mar 24, 2008)

You quickly dart towards the trapdoor, followed by a malicious hiss behind you. Hastening, you scramble up and fly through the hole, and greeted by a bewildered grunt by the nearest karin kushol, flee through the tunnel. After a minute or so, you are fairly certain that you left any eventual pursuer behind.


----------



## Ambrus (Mar 31, 2008)

Slowing to a stop and pausing in its flight from the vile master; the small black-scaled dragon snakes its saurian head around to listen for sounds of pursuit. Turning around, the wyrmling tentatively tastes the air with its forked tongue. Cautiously, the tiny reptile begins crawling back the way its come while endeavoring to remain out of sight. The dragon attempts to approach close enough to spy the Karin Kushol cavern to see how the local inhabitants respond to the discovery of an intruder in their territory.


----------



## Nightbreeze (Mar 31, 2008)

You hear no signs of pursuit. Slowly, you head back to that central cave, and start spying. As expected, there is a huge commotion, but of a different kind: instead of explorer searching for you all over the cavern system, all of the Karin Kushols are arrayed in defensive position, as if expecting attack. You manage to hide in a nice position, but if someone of them comes nearby, he would probably spot you. Still, it is the only way to spy on them.


----------



## Ambrus (Mar 31, 2008)

Seemingly safe for the time being, the curious wyrmling remains in its concealed position to watch what the Karin Kushol do next. From its position, the small reptile also keeps a watch over the passageway leading away to the grain silo in case the need to flee arises.

OOC: Now that the Kurin Kushol are all up, is it possible to tell how many of them there are?


----------



## Nightbreeze (Apr 2, 2008)

There are three dozens of them, all warriors as long as you can see. They stand in defensive formation, exchanging words, or grunts...you can't really distinguish. After some minutes, some of them seem to grow weary, or nervous, of waiting, and first one of them, then most of them, start bickering about something. After another ten minutes of discussion, one of them raises the trapdoor and looks down nervously. He grunts something in loud voice, but no responce comes from below.

After at least twenty minutes, finally one of them heads down through the trapdoor. He comes up a minute after that, and explains to their comrades. They settle down, finally, and a hundred of heartbeats later one of the urgrins comes up, looking weary and weak. He growls agressively and menacingly at his troops, probably promising terrible retribution.

After the tirade, he goes down, and the karin kushols get working. Several of them go up in some other tunnel, probably leading directly to the upper levels. Another groups comes toward you tunnel, forcing you to abandon your position and flee before they spot you.


ooc: I am now at the airport, heading home. So there should be fewer interpputions these days. So, are you going to attack the tribe?


----------



## Ambrus (Apr 9, 2008)

The diminutive dragon turns and scurries hurriedly away from the approaching group of karin kushol. Taking refuge in a narrow crevice some distance away, the wyrmling trusts to its small size and camouflaging ability to avoid detection. Waiting for the group to pass, the dragon cautiously snakes its tiny saurian head out of the crevice to peer through the darkness and taste the air with its tongue before emerging.

OOC: My dragon intends to try exploring the various tunnels of the cave complex; especially those that lead to the upper levels. It'll choose areas that appear deserted first, and spy on those that are occupied before skirting around them all while Hiding and Moving Silently. Sorry for not responding sooner; I fell ill with a fever this past weekend and felt no motivation to come online.


----------



## Nightbreeze (Apr 10, 2008)

You explore cautiously the tunnels that you think may lead to the surface. You realize that the complex is less mazed as you go up, and in fact at least half a dozen of the tunnels turn into a dead end. Finally, the last of them leads you up, and breaks on a huge cavern occupied by five dozens of creatures that look like Misskri: the lesser cousins of the Karin Kushol. They seem to be alerted, so you deem wise to avoid getting too close. However, there is one narrow, seemingly constructed tunnel, and tightly guarded, leading up.


----------

