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Thorns of Redemption [@FrostCestrell!]

Started by wandering_giraffe, October 02, 2023, 08:21:09 AM

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wandering_giraffe

The town of Havenreach was the last village to encounter before the vast, foreboding mountains, making the Stonepeak tavern an enclave and rather the busy spot of the town.
Stonepeak Tavern was extremely busy, the sounds of a piano filtering over sounds of laughter and the clinking of mugs filled with ale.
The door slammed open, and a stranger stumbled in, out of breath and looking like she had just seen a ghost. The music stopped, and most of the patrons looked curiously her way, before deciding she wasn't a threat and resuming their revelry. Her hood was up, her unruly black hair peeking out from under her hood, her green eyes shining in the light of the tavern. She was bent over, hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath.
"There was a dragon...and my friend...he got captured..." she paused, taking a breath.
"The dragon almost killed me too...and I barely escaped. His den is up in the mountains." The bartender laughed.
"Why don't you come get a drink before you keep spinning that tale of yours." The patrons laughed at that, and the haggard stranger looked rather annoyed, but took the bartender's advice and got a glass of rum.
"My name is Kaela, former dragon poacher and treasure hunter. Me and my friend were trying to get across the mountain range when we stumbled across the lair of Rhyzathor," she took a drink of the rum, the rum refreshing her. The bartender, despite his teasing, was rather invested in the story.
"Rhyzathor captured my friend and attacked a village," she finished the glass and looked over to the bartender.
"Another glass, friend?"

FROSTCestrell

Ever since Akira had ascended to actual godhod, it had came weird to her how the tatoo's on her arms were dragon-shaped. She certainly had been called a dragon of sorts before, always had been adept in the art of fire magic and on top of that had kept her vow, something that multiple people considered to be paladin-like or maybe even equal to a dragons nature, however, this hardly qualified as her actually being connected to dragons.

And despite her having an idea as to why she looked the way she looked today, that being that in her village gods always had been associated with dragons, there only was one certain way to find out. Now, while Akira was knowledgeable, she had a flaw which came to sight in form of her knowing little about actual, real dragons. She certainly knew that the dragons that inhibitet this world could be titanic, almost gargantuan beings with powers which often made them local deities or the likes, however her godly intuition told her that it didnt even come close to the things that actual gods could do. She also had heard that the moods of dragons could be rather excentric, depending on the color their scales had, however, neither the townspeople, nor the scholars she had had the pleasure to converse with had been able to give her more information about this matter and as such, she had only been left with a single possible choice, that being to venture out and find them on her own.

As time preogressed, her travels brought her to the city of Stonepeak, a town which was famous for being the last civilised place before the mountainous terrain and the dangers the lurked beyond proved any effort to colonise the place futile. As such, the town itself was built like a fortress of sorts, both with vast supplies for travelers, adventurers or anyone else that had enough coins to spare, as well as with defenses which were sure to defend its inhabitants from the dangers around.

Once inside the city, her appearence had drawn in the attention of its inhabitants. After all, not everyday one could be seen with bright clowing eyes and having walked the road that lead to the town, both unarmed and unscaped. Luckily, the attention she had gained had inspired quite a number of the town inhabitants to invite her into the tavern, where Akira would share stories from her time, in exchange for information about her targets. Eventually, she regularely attracted enough customers that she was offered a simple room and meals, depending on the mood of the establishments owner. Accepting them graciously and with humility, Akira conitnued her investigation until someday a woman entered the tavern, making quite the scene for herself, clearly in some sort of distress.

Akira, agitiated by such a display of emotions stood up, ready to help a stranger in need, until it became appearent, that the situation wasnt as dire as it seemed initially. Excusing herself from the people she had sat with so far, giving them a sign of respect along the way, Akira approached the stranger that had sat herself at the bar from behind and was already able to hear a part of what had moved her here to this place. Finally, as she stood next to the stranger, Akira brought her fist and palm together, adressing them: "Greetings stranger. My name is lady Akira, god of thunder and fire, and i have heard of the troubles that guided you here. If you will, i would be eager to listen in to your story."

wandering_giraffe

Upon hearing Akira's introduction that she was a god, Karl quickly bowed in respect.
Seeing that someone was at least willing to listen to her plight helped Kaela calm down some.
Kaela removed her hood and began to explain herself.
About a week ago, me and my friend began a 2 day hike up into the mountain range to try to find this lost artifact. My friend is a treasure hunter, and I agreed to help him find it," she ran a hand through her hair, taking a shaky breath, her eyes tearing up.
"We didn't make it. This beast of a dragon, the biggest one I've ever seen, just swooped in and took him. I honestly don't even know if my friend is alive. But I've done some terrible things in my past, and I want to redeem myself."

FROSTCestrell

Sitting down next to the distressed woman, Akira mustered her as she began to tell her tale, as to why she was in the mountains, and even more importantly, how her friend had been taken away from her. Leaning back and and watching her with a thoughtful expression for a few moments, Akira finally stated: "It seems like you had quite the journey. It is good to see that you remained unscathed from this encounter, as your actions might be able to save your friend.", before chaning her tone to a more questioning one: "As far as i have been told, dragons are rather elusive, rarely stepping in front of mortals at all, even less so leaving behind survivors. As such, the question we might need to ask is, was there any reason for the dragon to be there and make an appearance? Beyond that: Why did the dragon take your friend away, instead of killing him? There must be some deeper plot to uncover, in this regard."

wandering_giraffe

Kaela shook her head.
"I honestly don't know if he did anything, it all happened so fast. Maybe because we were near or in his territory?", she paused, thinking.
I've killed several dragons in the past. Perhaps this dragon knew one of the ones I killed. But that's impossible. Are not dragons solitary creatures?" She went to take another drink of her ale, but her glass was empty. She sighed, idly hitting it against the bar counter.
"The only thing I can think of is my friend was picking up these strange looking rocks and throwing them down at the ground. The ground like vibrated so he did it again. And then the dragon came."

FROSTCestrell

"I see. A peciluar situation.", Akira answered, thinking about what had been told and what was to expect, before asking: "In a way it seems as if you and your friend have disturbed the balance. Whether this is in the greater sense, or a more local one, remains to be seen, but it is unwise to interfere with beings which are beyond ones understanding."

While what Akira said sounded harsh, it included herself as well. She knew fairly little about dragons in particular and about this part of the world as well. THe only thing that she knew for sure was, that propper dragons were quite rare and held power, which meant that in some way they were included in the balance of all things, either on the side of forces which were considered good or bad.

"However, the way the dragon appeared exactly does not seem like anything that i know of. As such, personal investigation may be the only thing we can do about this."

wandering_giraffe

Kaela nodded as Akira was answering. She was right. They had probably disturbed the dragon, but she was worried about her friend.
"My friend may be dead, what use would the dragon have to keep him alive?" She asked, worry showing in her eyes.
"I can show you the place where we encountered the dragon, but it is a two days hike from here."

FROSTCestrell

Nodding as the woman seemed to see some mistake in herself, Akira eventualy agreed on the proposition which was made. Indeed she would have to see for herself.

"Indeed. In order to have certainty, you will have to investigate. I will aid you temporarily in your endeavour. Preapre yourself and take what you need. We will depart, once you are ready."