LongestRoad Run4
13 Horse Moon, 1372
Everyone needs to know this: Dragon eggs are cute. Like, really cute. Shiny and cuddly and just cute! They're just the right size to hold in your arms and feel like there's nothing else in the world that matters ... I guess that'd be my maternal instinct waking up. Freaky. Dad never mentioned how cute I was as an egg. I guess I had to stay in the fire, being all fire based and stuff, so he didn't get to cuddle me until I hatched, but still! I expect that when I have kids, I won't have eggs. Damn. Eggs don't scream and cry and eat and poop. I think humanoids get screwed in this regard.
Anyway, away from what was once the green dragon's clutch (those eggs were not nearly so cute or shiny) and on to a trading post. Merchants everywhere! But no shopping just yet. We had a couple of immediate concerns: little Silvery's parents. I know we should find them--they're probably worried sick about this little one--but I also want to hold on to her (I think it's a her, but maybe I'm just projecting) for a little bit longer. So, to the inn! Seriously, most of the fun of coming back to civilization is right in front of a nice bar. Again with the bonus points for having eggs! No mixing of the circulatory system. I'm not sure I can picture how much I'll have to cut back on drinking if I ever decide to have a little one. Bah.
So Ezel went to hide with his books, Quirky took root in the courtyard, Jir tucked himself into a corner (duh) and Oraine drank with me. Also, Mikey and Ell went out to hit the town, hopefully not literally. Much drinking ensued, as is our wont. I kept the little one with me. Eventually the two pretty boys came back with a bunch of singing goat-taurs who were happy to join us in our attempt to run the bar dry. It was awesome. I told them some great story about single-handedly defeating a set of five chromatic dragons and rescuing a whole slew of gold and silver eggs. They set it to song. I wish I'd taken the time to write it down. Huh. Maybe Ezel did.
Also, Evath knows Draconic drinking songs and taught me some. He rules.
14 Horse Moon, 1372
The next day, I tucked little Silvery into bed with a big pile of gold coins to keep her company and we all went off to try to barter some new stuff and information. Apparently we have some big sword that's awesome but no one wants to use. Meh. But fear not--I kept careful track of how much is in our party treasure pot and who gets what share. It's good.
Saula, the tall merchant guy, spoke Celestial and Draconic but not Common, so Jir was moody ... but then again. Yeah. Anyway, he had so many awesome shiny things! Damn I want to spend my share of the pot... maybe on the way back. Oh, so shiny. Ezel and Quirky got some scrolls, and then the concept of "protection from evil" came up. You know, 'cause we're going to the Infernal Plane (woooOOOoooo.) Yeah. What a thing. But really, I got a sweet prot-from-evil ring. Saula was pushing the dragon stuff at me, but damn can I not resist anything shiny with a dragon theme. It's sad.
So we start putting all this stuff together and he pulls out this deck of cards with a "wanna play? 100 gold a pull." I drink--I don't gamble. I know what a deck of many things is, and I'm not taking the risk. Mikey and most of the others were similarly not tempted. Jir pulled a card--whoops. Maybe we should've told him what was going on, but he moves fast too. It didn't really seem to hurt him, though. He still looked grumpy, but handed over 100 gold when it was done, no argument. I guess that was kinda weird.
And then, Oraine. Oh, that fool. She pulled a card, and POOF! No more magic stuff. Wow, that sucked. I smacked her one for that. There went her share of the treasure, re-equipping her. I swear, sometimes... at least she looks guilty, knowing she's costing so much cash.
We sold one of the Githyanki swords in the back room in trade for a bunch of stuff--Saula was impressed with it. Didn't tell him there were two more--no ones business but ours, right?--and he sent us off to his cousin to get weapons and armor. Wait, first we asked him about silver dragons that might be missing eggs. He took a small down-payment and said he'd find me the information. I took that out of my share of the treasure. Silvery is my responsibility for now.
More shopping. I like shopping, even if it is for stuff I'll never use. The big awesome sword of awesome got traded in for a few holy weapons and new armor for Oraine. We saw the goat-taurs again. They're heading out for some grand adventure, slaying evil, something like that. They said they wouldn't be able to party too much that night, and I was a bit let down, until they affirmed that it would be just like the night before. Good enough for me! With luck I'll be meeting silvery's (real) parents tomorrow so I might want to be mostly sober. So, back to the inn for a nap on my treasure and then more drinking that evening. I like those guys.
15 Horse Moon, 1372
Saula came through the next day. He gave us directions to a pair of silver dragons that had lost an egg and were close by. We traveled most of the morning and got there with almost no interruptions. There was one little air elemental, but Mikey gave it some feathers and it went away. Mikey's really liking this plane of air thing. He zips around like a hummingbird. It's kind of cute, actually. Quirky is not liking it so much, but then again, she's a tree. I can't really blame her on this one.
The silver dragons live in this big castle. One quick flash of the egg to the front guards and they came bounding up, loudly. It was their egg. They're young adults and she's their first (they think it's a girl too, though they'd be just as happy with a boy) so they were weeping with joy when we gave her back. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Then they fed us. Oh, dragon feast. Meat, booze, more meat, more booze... it was good. Very good. So we got to talking about our quest...
Turns out that the orb we're after is not the only one missing. There are 10 of them--one for each chromatic and metallic dragon kind--and they're all missing. Yipes. We're after the gold one (thanks, mom) but you can use that to find the other one. Mirenuth and Seth (Mommy and Daddy Silver Dragon, respectively) mentioned something about an expansive library and Ezel was so gone. I didn't realize that undead mages could move so fast. One would think the combination of being both a skeleton and a wussy little mage would equal "slow" but apparently not when there are musty books involved. Reminded me of Zahn for a minute.
Back on track, though. Apparently, Mom was the one guarding the gold orb about 200 years ago. I'm guessing that the big war that landed her on dad's doorstep was what lost it. Each orb can be used to control dragons of the corresponding type, and the holders of the orbs can communicate with each other. We're not sure yet what it'll do to half-dragons or other dragon relations, but I'm pretty sure we're going to find out.
We had a mildly amusing discussion about what would happen if I were being controlled by some fiend through the orb and turned on the party. I suppose it would be more amusing if it were purely hypothetical. This is probably why Mom sent me instead of going on her own--she knows that she can be controlled by it, but doesn't know if I will. I really hope not. With the weapons she gave me, there's a decent chance I could chop someone's head off, and then I'd feel horrible. Well, except for Ezel. He could just put it back.
Actually, he's undead. I'd just smash him into fine dust with my fists. Eeesh...
I really need to get these disturbing thoughts under control. Maybe more meditation ... on top of the big pile of treasure! Mir and Seth gave it to us as a reward for bringing little Silvery back to them. I wouldn't have asked for it, but it would be rude to turn it down. I really hope that we come back this way when we're coming home and that she's hatched by then. I want to see what she looks like.
