A-Dragon Hunting We Go! [Open!]

[Aëtherian]

Dirt crunched under Xytharis' boots as the Drygan busied herself setting up camp. A rather humble camp it was, but it was all she had. She mentally cursed herself for not bringing more money along on the trip. Well, it couldn't be helped now.

Blowing gently on a carefully arranged pile of wood, she watched as a small flame sprang to life. Elemental magic could sure come in handy. But it ad very few uses if you were as inexperienced a Mage as she. In fact, that was why she was here. To further her abilities. She'd had quite a stroke of luck recently, actually, having met a vampire willing to trade her two powerful scrolls in exchange for a favour. The favour, however, was not a simple one.

A dragon hatchling. She needed to bring him a drago hatchling. Xytharis frowned. She'd felt so confident as she left that tower, but now... Well, what was done was done. She'd made a deal, and she had to follow through. But how in the world was she going to manage it?

[Brisinger987]

Loreiaka had been wandering the woods looking for a decent shelter all day. She was exhausted and ill equipped for human travel. She had wandered for literally hours before she found where she wanted to be. Or the only place she could be.

"Umm, hello? Anyone here?" She stepped cautiously, trying to avoid attention, although Loreiaka doubted it would happen.

Then a sudden, random thought crossed her mind. What if she met the man of her dreams?

Bugger that, I'm cold.

[Aëtherian]

Xytharis started, her grip tightening about her staff. Berating herself for letting herself get so lost in thought, she glanced around with narrowed eyes. "Only if you come peacefully," she called back, the fee flickering to the tempo of her heart. Taking a few deep, calming breaths, her heart rate went back to normal, and the fire looked as any non-magical one would.

[Brisinger987]

"Um, I know it's something unusual, but I need shelter, you don't have somewhere I can stay do you? I would find a cave, but there's a distinct lack for some reason..." Loreiaka's footsteps were quiet and cautious. She was a dragon, but in human form, she was a mouse. Quiet, quick and pitiful. But she could turn into a dragon when she wanted.

[Aëtherian]

Xytharis shrugged. "You can have the tent if you'd like. I doubt I'll be getting any sleep tonight. I've got a lot of thinking and planning to do." She frowned again, glancing into the flames as I'd she thought she might be able to find a solution to her predicament there. "I'm Xytharis, by the way. May I ask your name?"

[Brisinger987]

Loreiaka was relieved that she could have the tent. People were always so generous to her.

"Thank you. I really do appreciate it." She set her bag down and sat on the floor near the fire.

"My name's Loreiaka."

[Aëtherian]

"So what brings you here, Loreika?" Xytharis queried, coming to the conclusion that it would probably be better for her to get to know the new arrival, rather than to dwell on her problems all night. "It's rather far away from civilization." She glanced back in the direction of the vampire's home. "Well, most civilization anyway."

[Brisinger987]

"I'm, uh, travelling. I am looking for somewhere that I feel a calling. Somewhere to live and do something I enjoy." Loreiaka was technically doing that. But the draconic equivalent. She was looking for a colony in which she would be able to make herself useful. But she wouldn't divulge her dragon nature yet.

"What about you?"

[Aëtherian]

"Ah. Well, that's a bit of a story. But... I suppose we've got time." Xytharis ran a hand through her mostly black hair, save for the two white locks that framed her face. "Where to start?" She wound one of the pale strands about her index finger as she often did when se was thinking. "Perhaps with my childhood. I grew up in a soldier's house. His wife raised me, kept me fed, but neither of them were very... How to put it... loving parents. But I always admired my father for what he did, so after their deaths I joined the army. I never really felt that a sword suited me though, so I decided to train as a Mageknight instead. The training didn't really meet my expectations though. Too much talking, not enough doing. So I've decided to get my education elsewhere, by seeking out magical artifacts, scrolls, tomes, amulets, and other such things to strengthen my abilities. Anyhow, I finally met someone who may be able to trade me a couple of extremely powerful scrolls in return for a... Favour, I guess you could call it. Quite risky though. Impossible, some say." Here, she grinned, a rather wild glint in her eyes accentuated by the flickering firelight. "But I'm not one to be deterred by danger and doubt."

[Brisinger987]

"What sort of impossible task?" Loreiaka wondered what sort of task that would genuinely describe. Stealing an egg from a dragon fitted the description of impossible, along with suicidal.

[Aëtherian]

Xytharis rested her elbows on her knees and her chin on her hands. "I must retrieve for him a dragon hatchling, as well as a couple of other creatures which I won't go into detail about at the current juncture. My mind is stretched to the limit trying to figure out how to capture the hatchling, let alone the... Anyway, is rather forget about the second part of my task for the time being, and focus on the first."

[Brisinger987]

Loreiaka felt herself explode into a cloud of smoke and instantly she was in dragon form.

"You'll die first, bitch!" Loreiaka swiped a paw at her, angry over why anyone would want a dragon hatchling from someone doing bounty jobs. It suggested malicious intent to her. And no way would she let a hatchling suffer this fate.

When she finished the swing, Loreiaka swung her paw at the fire, sending hot ashes onto the tent.

((OOC: By the way, hit or miss, Loreiaka's paw will carry on moving so you choose if it hit, just in case it looked like powerplaying))

[Aëtherian]

Xytharis leaped out of the way, cussing loudly, knowing that she had know spells that she could defend herself with. "I offer you a warm fire and place to sleep, and this is how you repay me?" She yelled, glancing about frantically for a means of escape. "It's not like your kind has never stolen or killed my people!" The Drygan snatched a sharp, burnt stick from the ground and held it out in front of herself. A weak weapon, probably useless, but if the dragon attacked and she managed to take out an eye... She might have an opening. For the time being, however, she just held it like some crude sword, trying in vain to stop trembling.

[Brisinger987]

"Hatchlings are not something I will let you steal! I don't care if I have to eat that tooth pick you hold, I will not let you hurt innocents! Go and find some moody teenage dragon to kill and take back. Not an innocent little hatchling..." Loreiaka's final word degraded into a low, vicious growl, and she opened her wings to full extent to show off her massive size and build.

[Aëtherian]

"I gave my word to him," Xytharis said, 'him' being the one who sent her on this quest. "I'm not going back on it! How could I? My word is my word. I'm sorry, but it's a done deal!" Maybe this was her opportunity. She had one more ace up her sleeve, something that the dragon would not expect. Dropping her stick, palms to the ground, she called forth a surge of elemental power, a gust of wing launching her into the air and  several yards away.

[Brisinger987]

Loreiaka followed her with speed that contradicted her size.

"I won't let you hurt or take any hatchlings or eggs. You would not agree with me taking young babies that still need their mother's milk!" Loreiaka spouted a huge flame at Xytharis, the fire white and crimson, from the specialised crystals that grew in her nostrils.