Tribulations of a Dragon

Having focused so much on my flight speed, I find myself closing in on Tuiran faster than I expected! I can see it, and I can’t wait. The place appears unchanged, but the knowledge that it has changed weighs on me.

I'm aware my guardianship was something rushed and more to keep me from hurting the people of Tuiran than actually giving me a job to do, but I want to do it now, and I want to do it properly. This feels like my town, my home. And these adventurers violated it for the sake of money…

It is so tempting to have the healer, who might be Lauren, tell me where I can find the jerk who ordered the attack and retaliate, but having seen Cranky’s power, I find myself a little afraid of what I might end up facing if I go alone. It would be so useless to rush off and die.

Cranky is scary when he fights, and his magic seems to be focused on defense; what sort of damage could someone with that kind of power do if they were focused on offense?...

My contemplation of the differences in power soon comes to a halt as panic sets in. Tuiran is approaching much faster than it should, and as soon as I try to slow down, it becomes clear that I should have practiced.

In my fervor to return home, I've managed to fly faster than I've ever flown before; unfortunately, my braking skills are not up to par.

The obvious thing to do is stop the flow of magic into my wings, but as it turns out, the obvious thing was a mistake and I've lost control...

As I hurtle towards the treeline like some sort of giant cannonball, I find myself overcome by a sense of nostalgia. I’m headed straight for a tree... At least this draconic projectile is flying over Tuiran, so that's something.

I'm trying my hardest to think of ways to regain control, and the first thing I try is pushing magic back into my wings. It doesn't seem to do anything, and I’m not gaining any traction. I don’t even know if it’s called traction, but I’m not gaining it!

Yeah, I screwed up here... I don't have time to try anything else, so I pivot into damage control. Instead of focusing on my wings, I push my magic into my scales to harden them. The idea is that they can absorb some of the pain I'm about to experience.

Curling into a ball, I prepare myself for the incoming pain as I hit the first tree, and it freakin’ HURTS!

Unfortunately for me, while the first tree couldn’t stop me, the second makes a valiant effort to do just that. All it manages to do is cause more pain.

At least I didn’t break the second tree, which suggests to me that I am slowing down. Or it was thicker than the first tree.

As I hit the third tree, I come to a stop and I am not comfortable... I might have to ask for some healing when I get back...

I need to assess just how hurt I am, so I turn my senses inward, and it becomes clear that I am not in great condition. I swear I do more damage to myself than any enemy ever has… so far…

Going over my injuries, it appears I’ve managed to break a few ribs, I think I've sprained my elbow, and a few of my spines have snapped. That's definitely not great.

Giving my wings a few soft flaps, I'm struck by a sharp pain that alerts me to the tear in my right wing membrane. Great, no flying for a while…

On a more important note, I’m gonna have to do something about the internal bleeding.

Feeling the wounds inside me with my mind’s eye, I force some magic into the injuries, focusing on taking the most severe injuries back down to a comfortable quite severe, but non-lethal level. This healing process is still very painful, though…

It’s clear that I won’t have enough magic to heal all of this on my own. It feels like I’m wasting resources by getting injuries like these when people in Tuiran probably still need healing. Can't deal with that now, this was a mistake, and mistakes happen.

Before crawling my way back to Tuiran, I give the trees a quick inspection to see what kind of damage I’ve done to them, and the third tree has deep gashes in it but appears otherwise intact.

Moving to the second tree, it’s clear that it isn’t doing as well. For a moment, I wonder whether this mistake could become an attack, but then if I screw it up, I'd be too invested in terms of energy and if I can't stop myself, I'd just get hurt unnecessarily again. It is destructive though.

I'm fortunate to not have hit any thicker trees, especially the oak trees, since they're much thicker than the firs I did hit. I'm not sure I could break my way through them.

As I arrive at the first tree I hit, I notice the very visible cuts, but it's clear that blunt force was the primary source of damage. The cuts from my spines weakened the trunk so it had an easier time snapping.

It's a surprise to me just how little damage I've taken, all things considered. I mean, I'm very hurt, but this could definitely have gone much worse, and I need to be mindful of that in the future.

Looking back at my idea of using this as an attack, I find myself becoming sure that this is not something I plan to do again. I'd get myself killed.

Now that I've used the tree inspection as an excuse to rest for a bit, it's time to head for Tuiran, on foot this time. It’s fortunate that I won’t have to walk back alone, though; a few folks have come looking for me.

At a glance, I don’t recognize these goblins, but it’s nice that they’re here. Trudging toward Tuiran with the group, one of the goblins catches my attention as he offers me a healing potion. All of a sudden, I like this little guy a lot more, not that I disliked any of them, but he seems very nice.

As soon as I drink the potion, I feel whatever magic makes it work and I've gotta say, these potions are weak. They’ll heal just enough to probably keep you alive, but not much beyond that.

Admittedly, that’s still really good, and it doesn’t hurt as much as my own healing, but it still leaves much to be desired.

Strolling to the gate, I smell a familiar scent and I don’t like it... There’s blood on the ground here and Melty’s scent is still here, but it’s faint. I'm not going to think about that for now.

What I will think about for a moment is how I can hurt this jerk who sent adventurers into my home. Maybe I’ll kidnap him and give him to Frosty’s friends, but keep reheating him as they freeze him.

I’ve got time to workshop it. For now, I should move to the square and make sure folks are doing okay. I hope the healer has done a decent job of taking care of the wounded.

For a moment, I find myself relieved that Cranky stopped me from killing her, and the weird sensation in the back of my mind agrees. It would have been a dumb move to just kill her like that.

The streets are quite empty for the afternoon, but I guess that’s to be expected after a tragedy... As we near the town square, I hear Raya shouting, and then I see her appear from behind a corner.

She’s rushing with surprising speed toward me, and that seems dangerous. If she trips, she could get quite hurt. A concept with which I’ve become intimately familiar…

With me walking toward her and her sprinting toward me, we meet up quite fast, and as soon as I’m in range, she jumps. Her accuracy is impressive, and she lands on my lowered head. Then she falls to the ground.

“Ugh, dumb Kira’s face… I forgot how hard your head is…” She’s struggling to breathe a bit as she writhes on the ground, but she seems fine.

As she picks herself up again, she's quick to bring her attention to me for some reason.

“How are you feeling, Kira? You okay?” Myeah… I’ll be fine... I wanna know how many died and how many were saved by the remaining adventurers though, so I nudge her for directions to the infirmary.

"Most people have already left, but we can get there through the square."

Sounds like a plan, and as we approach the square, I look around and if I didn't know any better, I'd say the place looks like it always has.

There’s barely any evidence of how many people were here yesterday, fighting for their lives. The lingering scent of blood remains, but I’m not seeing any significant stains.

Raya continues to lead the way, but she keeps stealing glances at my face. It seems strange, but I'm not sure why she might be so preoccupied with my face. Well, I'm unsure until I realize that I haven't washed my face since the assault, so I must be quite dirty.

I'll have to take a bath later. For now, I want to join up with the rest of my friends and make sure they’re safe.

It feels a little selfish to focus so much on my friends specifically, but I’m gonna be selfish right now. My thoughts stay on what I could have lost during this assault when Ray decides to bring up a different topic.

“Where were you last night? Captain Neithro said something about vengeance, but I told him you wouldn’t do that, it’d be too risky.”

That's true, it would be too risky, and Neithro is the reason why I realize that.... But all things considered, I didn’t do much last night.

Raya's expression seems to change as I tell her about how I got caught in some bad weather after flying off, how I wanted to find Wreyn and ask what I could do since I didn’t feel good about not helping.

“Sometimes you’re the dumbest person I know, Kira…” Okay, rude…

“Do you know what their mission was? It was to kill half of us! HALF! They barely got eighty, and thirty-three of those survived. Jeannie survived. You stopped them. If you hadn’t come and brought Neithro, so many of us would be dead. How is that not helping, you dumb overgrown lizard?!”

I can’t think of anything to say to that… I need to stop thinking about what I couldn’t do and instead focus on what I did do…

“Don’t ever say you’re not helping us… Dumb lizard…” I’m not a lizard…

I hear her point loud and clear, though, so I apologize for being stupid. I feel like I should say something else, but I can’t think of anything. Instead of saying anything to make this worse, I decide to leave the subject at that.

One thing I do know is appropriate for this situation is a nudge, and she responds positively with a hug to my face. She gets it.

Letting go of me, Raya continues down the street and I follow behind, which is difficult because she walks so slowly.

It doesn't take long before I become very aware of our proximity to the infirmary. The smell of blood, waste, and herbs permeates the air as we close in on a large building.

Right now, I wouldn’t mind a much worse sense of smell...

The front of the building has a large sign with a carved symbol on it. The symbol is similar to a pointed B with a line coming out of the back of it. I have no idea what that means, but I know someone who does.

“It’s one of the past life words for healing. Long ago, someone brought it here from a different part of the cycle of life, and now we use it for signs because no one speaks the language anymore, but we all know that this one means healing and new life.”

I feel like she just said some important stuff, I’m gonna need her to elaborate on that. Unfortunately, though, she doesn’t seem to have more to add on the subject.

Turns out she was curious about the symbol as a kid, and that’s all the people here know about its history.

Instead of pestering her about knowledge she doesn’t have, we approach the building’s large doors when they swing open and Big Guy stomps out. His scrunched-up stomping looks kinda funny.

“Hello! You home safe!” His eyes dart across my body as he raises an eyebrow. “Most safe.”

I have no idea what to make of this guy. He seems so nice and welcoming, but he was here to kill people. I also don't know the motivation for his party's surrender.

I'm not sure whether he'd tell me or not, but I feel like knowing that is going to be important to understand how likely it is that they’ll turn around and attack again.

Humans are too unpredictable. Dwarves and scalefolk seem to be predictable enough, at least the ones I met were easy to read.

Not sure where elves end up on that scale. Lily seems sensible, but Joras is clearly nuts. Raya is a little green weirdo, but she’s the best.

“She good?”

“Yeah, she just gets like that sometimes, you get used to it. Do you know where Lauren and Joras are?”

“Hmm… Joras shop?”

Sounds like I started paying attention at the right time, we now have a location to head towards! I’m not sure how I feel about having four of these adventuring types in the town, but this guy seems content to just hang out. I wonder if his teammates are the same.

“Kira, are you okay?” I’m fine, just thinking about what has happened to all the folks who got killed. If Raya’s right that almost eighty got hurt, then that leaves like forty-five dead… And goblins don’t really seem to have any funeral rites.

I hope they aren't planning to just leave the bodies in the forest like Turo said they did. Wanting to find out, I ask Raya what's going to happen to those who fell.

“Oh, a few of the families asked for their kindred to be kept safe until you returned. They’re going to ask you to send the dead into the next life with your flames, so they can get a blessed start in life there.”

Geez, what sort of tradition did we start… It’s doable, though. But it sounds like I’ll have a busy and exhausting day.

The streets are practically empty, and everything reeks of fear, and it’s making me want to hunt something... That’s definitely an impulse I’ll need to control, especially right now.

I haven’t been paying attention to the streets, but I can tell that we’re close to Joras and Lauren because despair has a distinct smell, and I only know one source of it in town.

Before I see her, I greet her, which triggers a wave of abject fear. Part of me feels sorry for her because she really did help, but another part finds it intoxicating to get such a glorious response from an enemy.

Turning the corner, she’s standing there alongside Joras, I like that he’s keeping an eye on her, but where are the other people from Big Guy’s group…

As I ask, Big Guy shows me his arm and there’s a mark carved into it. A seven-pointed star with a circle intersecting the tips. I don’t know what that means… As Big Guy is about to tell me what it is, Joras decides to interject.

“It’s a blood magic spell. The symbol represents Mairleark, and it’s infused with my blood to maintain the spell. With it, I can ignore their natural protections against magic and attack them as I please, as long as they’re within range of my magic.”

Well, that doesn’t sound nuts at all, but that just sounds like everyone is at risk of blood mages throwing around blood…

“Well, that is partially the case, but blood mages can still die from blood loss. If I didn’t use a symbol of power and a spell to maintain it, my blood would simply be destroyed in their bodies. And this spell requires consent; otherwise, the symbol will be broken down. So the blood powers the symbol, and the symbol protects the blood.”

Huh, well, if they agreed to be on Joras' executioner’s block, I guess I can trust them a little. Weird that I couldn’t smell Joras when Big Guy is carrying around his blood, though. That isn’t important now.

Instead of having an impromptu magic lesson, we should focus on what to do now. I bring up how I want to make sure this doesn’t happen again, and I want to end the guy who sent the killers here. Oddly enough, Big Guy chips in first.

“I join. Bad guy, bad job.” Well, I sorta understood that, but I’ll just go ahead and have Joras cast his little speaky spell on us. For some reason, that gets a smile from the elf… Hey, I’m great at talking, you shut up, Joras!

As soon as the cheeky elf does his job, I’m hit by what feels like a mental attack with the accompanying headache. Geez, what the hell, Joras?!

“Ah, I should have warned you, Kira. Comprehension spells with quiet people can be overwhelming. The quiet ones tend to be unable to convey what they mean, rather than being unable to think of it. And the spell helps bridge that divide.”

Geez… That shows me to judge a book by its cover… Big Guy seems fine and asks Joras how it works, which Joras is quick to explain in that human language. I feel like this part is about to suck and I’m gonna hear more than he actually says.

“What I meant to say was that the Lord of Plainshold sent us here to deal with a threat, but rather than meeting a threat, we met a peaceful people merely trying to get by. Allow me to begin from the start. In choosing the mission, we were tempted by the significant reward, as no doubt many others were. At a glance, the mission presented itself as remarkably easy, hinting at some lord desiring to complete the job with haste."

My freakin’ head… How the hell does a speaky spell work to make so few words mean that much?! Wait, could this guy kill people with those mind potions?!

“And given those considerations, we chose to accept the mission. Additional information could be acquired later, while leaving us plenty of time to reconsider our acceptance. Since we were already in Plainshold, we were quick to gather gossip and hearsay from the locals, hinting at hidden dangers and unwritten threats. Though even with knowledge of the mission's condition expanding, it still appeared quite reasonable, although it was rapidly closing into non-acceptance territory. Once we met with the lord, it became clear that this mission would not be as it presented; it sounded too good and, as they say, such things are often the yarns spun by bards.”

Joras! Joras! I’m sorry for telling you to shut up, stop the spell… My poor head hurts…

“Once the meeting with the lord of Plainshold concluded, Lauren provided further information by sharing with us her relationship with Merciferus and how the Goddess had told her to stay away. With this final piece, we held a vote within the group to determine where to go from there. Deciding we couldn't let another group take our place, our group settled on joining the mission, with the stipulation that we do not attack unless attacked. And to our surprise, no one we met attacked until we met you. The guard goblins followed us, I assume, to keep an eye on us and step in should we attack. The lord mentioned part of the reason for the mission being to keep you from feasting on the tribe and growing, but that appears to be profoundly incorrect information.”

Stop snickering, you jerk! I’m gonna do so many evil things to you, Joras! I’m gonna reposition your furniture a bit so you stub your toe! I’m gonna hide the tools you only use sometimes so you can’t find them when you need them! I’m gonna knock on your door without being gentle! And worst of all, I’m gonna tell on you to Lily!

With a threat of that magnitude, the pressure of the magic fades as Joras stops the spell. Oh, sweet relief. What an awful and cruel spell that is… Big Guy seems to wonder what’s going on, but just shrugs and continues for a bit.

“Urel erilan, urel lebendi. [Stay smart, stay alive.]” I’m sure he said something useful, but I couldn’t pay attention to any of it with Joras launching a mental attack like that…

To my surprise, the headache disappears completely and I’m fine. That is a clear lesson in the dangers of utility spells, if I’ve ever seen one. Another reminder of how unprepared I am…

“Don’t worry, Kira. The spell itself can’t cause any harm, it just hurts. It can be used as a weapon, but you risk the wrath of the Gods if you intentionally use utility spells as weapons.”

They should’ve interfered on my behalf to stop Joras… And why didn’t Raya help me? She has attacked Joras on my behalf before.

“I knew that it wasn’t dangerous.” Oh, did you now? You know what else isn’t dangerous, Raya? LICKS!

“Gross! Why am I the only one being punished?!”

“Fun good. Make sad not so sad.”

He spoke his wise words with a smile, but his face now carries a solemn expression. I wonder what he’s thinking… And it just occurred to me that I am curious about what Lauren is thinking too. She’s been so quiet that I forgot about her.

She’s just looking at the ground as she stands at Joras’ side. I have never seen anyone look as defeated as her, geez…

Giving Joras a nudge, I ask what he thinks of her situation and what we should do. I still don’t know what the smart thing to do is. I may be a bit biased on account of how we met…

He goes on a rant about how helpful and kind she’s been, helping everyone she can get near while working herself ragged.

And it turns out she’s an extraordinary healer, capable of healing old injuries so many of the people here have had permanent injuries undone. Geez, that seems incredible…

I wonder if she can heal my wing, so I try unfolding it. As soon as she notices my wounded wing, she rushes to it and starts healing. I think I might have scared her a bit too much…

“In conclusion, I think we should help her reach a safe town once she’s ready to leave, but for now, she needs support. Much like Tuiran, she has lost a lot and needs time to grieve.”

A warmth fills me as I settle on taking 'death' out of the options for what to do with her. I’m gonna have to explore these weird sensations at some point, but not now. As it turns out, Joras has more to say.

“Kira, how are you feeling? Are you experiencing any new emotions?” No, why does everyone keep asking me how I’m feeling?! I’m fine!

Enough about how I'm feeling, it's time for a subject that isn’t me. Tell me about how much damage these jerks did to the town.

“The adventurers didn’t really do any damage to the buildings, but there’s significant damage to some buildings in the northwestern districts and a lot of damaged roads.”

… Moving on… I just noticed that Lauren has moved back to Joras’ side and she’s sort of hiding from my sight.

I don’t blame her, I may have gone a bit too far with that fighter friend of hers. Instead, I fold and unfold my wing a few times, and it feels great. She really is a good healer.

Now I’m curious why such a good healer isn’t just living a life of leisure in some big city, healing nobles and kings. That seems like a much safer life than this adventuring business. Or maybe it isn’t… Geez, that’s a scary thought.

Thinking about scary thoughts, I wonder where Cranky is… Raya is looking mighty red as I ask about Cranky, and now I wanna know more.

“Neithro left. Raya offered Neithro a bed at her place-”

“Don’t tell her! It’s embarrassing!”

“but he had to crawl to get into her home-”

“Shhhh! Shut up, Joras!”

“And then she had the brilliant idea to hit him over the head with a broom and shout ‘Kneel before me, human!' I don’t think I’ve seen anyone storm off in such a huff before.”

“Stop laughing, Kira! It’s not funny!”

Geez, my stomach hurts, but I can’t stop laughing. To think Lord of the Titles got bonked by Raya! He has got to be so cranky after that.

My goodness, I wish I had seen that… That has to qualify as using his speaky spell as a weapon.

We might have to keep Raya away from guests, otherwise she might start an international incident.

Since we can't make fun of Raya all day, I pull myself together and bring up the subject of funerals. A quick question later and Joras informs me that they're being held outside the northern gate. Apparently, they're intending to do something similar to what we did for Charo.

Raya is the first to move and soon all of us head there. I wonder if Lauren is okay to join us, I could imagine it being overwhelming for her to not only see the impact of what her friends did, but also the reason they’re dead.

Maybe she needs some good news. Nudging Joras for a speaky spell, he gets ready for it, but I wanna make sure she’s up for it, so I have him ask her. A very soft nod later and Joras casts his spell.

She doesn’t say anything, so I just tell her that Kaldren says hello and he’s happy to hear she’s alive. For a moment, that seems to bring some color to her cheeks, but then she frowns again.

“Did you kill him? Is that why you’re telling me?”

Geez… No! He didn’t do anything, and I don’t just kill everyone I meet! What the hell, lady… I told you so you would know you’re not alone… Being lonely is awful… And being lonely and scared is worse.

“What does it matter… It’s clear that I won’t survive this…”

“Du themar ti urok nuia henari. [The dragon is not that evil.]”

“You didn’t see what I saw… These burns on my skin are because of that thing’s cruelty! And what it did to Kello, that was amusement to that fucking thing!”

That is a fair point, and I did do that to hurt her. I’m not gonna apologize for it, but I can promise her protection in Tuiran if she continues to not give me reason to go back on my word.

“As if that means anything…” Well, this feels pointless. All of a sudden, I’m reminded of how I treated Joras when we met, and it doesn’t feel great to be in his shoes.

Well, we’ll see how it goes. At least she has something to think about. I'm not gonna push the subject, and most of the trip to the northern gate is spent in silence. I don’t really mind.

As soon as we pass through the gates, I see rows of funeral pyres, eight pyres in all. They’re quite large, but not numerous enough to hold all the dead. I guess they have to share, but I get the impression that the families are fine with that.

The whole thing is really quite beautiful, and if I had to guess, I’d say all of Tuiran is here to help out, setting up tables with food and altars for those lost.

The pyres seem to be raised platforms with firewood stacked underneath. Each of them has its own unique decorations. People are lining up to add their own touches to the pyres. Looking at the closest pyre, it's decorated with flowers, woven cloth, and there are even some wooden toys.

I find myself wondering how many of them I knew personally, and it becomes very clear that the answer is ‘at least one.' My earlier suspicions are confirmed when an older lady comes up to me and presents a familiar helmet.

“He was so proud to have fought and made friends with you, so please accept his helmet to remember him by.”