Tribulations of a Dragon

I don’t actually have anywhere to store a helmet like that, but I do want to accept it. Reliable as always, Raya steps up and accepts it on my behalf and I nudge the old lady. I don’t even know Melty’s real name.

I point that out and she chuckles. “His name was Miraen, but after he heard you call him Melty, he made that his name. He never missed a chance to tell everyone how the Guardian Dragon had given him a new name. So Melty became his real name.”

I didn’t realize how much it meant to him… We barely met more than a few times.

It’s becoming clear to me that I’ve been too flippant about this whole situation and I need to do more. Tuiran and its people are mine.

I need to figure out how to become more trouble than I’m worth to these adventurers. I can’t risk a repeat of what happened here.

I can’t put these things off any longer, I need to go to the mountain and recover what wealth I have there, and then I’ll move in here properly.

First though, I’ll need to sort out my injuries, I’d rather not fight one of those bearstards while injured. To begin with, I’ll need to find out how much magic I have and whether I can heal myself or not.

I’m thoroughly surprised when the rain is back and it’s a downpour. What the hell is going on with that… Regardless of what that nonsense is, I can feel the power radiating from my source of magic.

It’s clear to me that I will have enough magic to heal myself soon, but not just yet. If I force Lauren to heal me some more, it could be enough to recover completely… Having a healer bound to the town would be incredibly useful.

And they did come here on their own, so what harm is done by throwing a little cruelty their way. If anything, it will only help make things right.

That line of thought is abruptly interrupted by a strike to my face.

“Dragon. You not bad.” What the hell! Why did Big Guy hit me?! If he’s gonna volunteer to feed me, then maybe I’ll take him up on his offer.

“Kira, please calm down.” I am calm, Raya! I haven’t done anything to suggest I’m not!

“Look down, Kira. Tell me that what you’re doing is being calm.”

I do as she says and find the healer pinned to the ground under my claws. When did that happen… Lifting my hand, she scurries away from me. Big Guy is quick to help her up as I take a step back.

I may have some pent-up feelings I need to deal with... though I don’t think I can be blamed for being upset with her after this whole situation.

And screw her for being upset with me, they weren’t invited here, and who would even invite someone to murder a bunch of people?!

“Kira…” I know, Raya! I know… It’s just hard not to react when it’s so plain to see that they wouldn’t have stopped…

I’ll focus on this funeral business for now. That ought to keep my mind off… There’s no way that’ll keep my mind off the adventurers…

Well, if I have to deal with this, then so do the guilty. All of the adventurers will have to attend this funeral to see what they’ve done.

The sounds of shuffling feet bring my attention back to the crowds. The people of Tuiran have started gathering around the pyres, and I hear fragments of conversation, laughter, and crying. Seems they’re sharing stories about their loved ones.

This isn’t helping me keep my emotions under control... The bits and pieces I hear make it clear just how much was taken and how much could have been lost.

Hearing about their lives, their experiences, and how their friends and families will miss them hurts. For a moment, I feel like a hypocrite for wanting to end any possibility of this event repeating itself, but I don't know how to deal with adventurers other than by force.

I will need to consult Neithro and Wreyn to figure out how to handle this. Maybe ask them if I can become stronger because they seem to have that figured out.

My train of thought is suddenly derailed as someone I haven’t seen in quite some time appears. Turo is approaching with a confident but cautious gait.

“Lady Kira, Guardian Dragon, the first pyre is ready for you. I ask that you, should you deem our people worthy, send them to the next life with your warmth and your blessing.”

It's clear that he's afraid of me, but I give him a nod, and he leads the way. As I approach the pyre, the people gathered around it turn and approach me. Feeling a hand on me, a small surge of magic flows into me, and the old lady who touched me faints.

“Mirasi has given her magic to the Guardian Dragon, so it may be given to her son! His life was cut short in our world, but his soul will travel beyond our world into the next, and he will live a long and blessed life!"

That procedure repeats itself several more times, and I’m starting to wonder what kind of ritual I started... I don’t have time to consider the ramifications of that, though, because Turo has just finished his little speech for the fifth person.

“Should they be worthy, Guardian Dragon, let them feel your warm embrace!” I genuinely have no idea what metric is used to gauge whether someone is worthy, so I’ll make up my own. They are worthy because I say so.

Unleashing my flames, the crowd cheers, shouting wishes of fortune to the spirits of the departed as my fire consumes the dead. The sight of the dancing yellow flames is quite beautiful.

Turo and I move from pyre to pyre, repeating the process. The reactions are always the same: cheers and shouts. Well, if those gods won’t bless them, then I will. They’re the worthiest people I’ve ever met.

It’s well into the night by the time Turo and I finish up the ritual, and those who gave their magic are resting on makeshift beds by the palisades. Everyone else seems content to just watch the flames and talk among themselves.

Having done my part, I’m once again unsure of what to do with myself, but at least I know I’ve brought some comfort to my people.

Nighttime is quick to arrive as the crowd thins. And soon enough, there are barely a hundred people gathered around the pyres, partaking in the remaining food available and just sharing stories.

Realizing I’ve forgotten someone, I glance over at Lauren and find her shedding a few tears. Joras is leaning down, and it looks like he’s whispering to her.

At least that suggests she isn’t completely heartless toward non-humans.

Big Guy is standing next to her like a stoic rock. He’s probably got some deep thoughts going on in that crowded head of his. I still haven’t seen his friends around…

I think I’ll go ask him what they’re up to, since it seems odd to not have seen them at all.

“Rest. Almost dead, drink now.” Yeah, that makes sense, I’d probably want a drink too if I saw my buddy tail-swiped through the air and the mighty dragon who did it setting her sights on them.

Glancing at Lauren, I find myself curious how she’s holding up. Giving Joras a nudge, I give him a questioning look.

“You have to remember, Kira, she didn’t want to come here. It’s easy to think of her as a cruel attacker, but she did try to stop her friends. And seeing a funeral held for others, but not for her people is going to hurt.”

I think the archer’s body can still be found, so maybe we can let her bury him, but the fighter is… unrecoverable…

I suggest they find him and do their own little thing, but as Joras tells her, she glares at me with venomous eyes. Well, she’s free to leave whenever she wants to, my people have already been healed, and that was the extent of my caring about her.

I tell Joras that I’m fine with her leaving, and they can just decide what to do with her on their own. Instead of dwelling on that, I’m gonna make a dwelling.

Since my wing is healed and ready to go, I can just fly back to the square! Getting there will take no time at all.

Landing a little harder than intended, the stones of the street unsettle, and I start digging. As it turns out, the ground is no match for my mighty claws. The soil sticks to my claws, though, so I’m having to clean them fairly often.

This is a pretty good time for some healing. Pushing magic into my wounds, the pain is quick to hit, but I can manage. Since I’m just digging here, I don’t have to heal quickly. Digging deeper, I give the walls a few puffs of flame to create a hardened layer, it’s pretty clear that this is almost all clay.

As soon as I hit a comfortable depth, I turn slightly upward. I should be able to prevent flooding by having a small pit for water to gather, but I think the clay may work against me on that.

I’m gonna try anyway. The whole process is a lot of back and forth, as I have to bring the clay I dig out up to the surface.

The sun is appearing as my tunnel is complete, but I still need to dig out a main room for my hoard. The whole process is time-consuming, but as soon as daytime arrives, I start finding goblins in my den.

As I’m wondering what they’re doing, I realize they’re carrying clay up to the surface. Helpful little bunch.

With them carrying at a reasonable pace, I can focus on digging and heating. And soon I’ll have a really nice room.

“Maybe I should have you dig a home for me.” Joras is here! And he's able to stand upright with room to spare… How big did I make this place?

Now that I get a good look at him, he does seem smaller, but I’m pretty sure elves don’t shrink, which means… Dang it! I’ve grown. I didn’t want to get bigger…

Giving him a-

“No, you’re covered in dirt, Kira. My clothes are clean and I’d like them to stay that way.”

Okay, posing a direct question, I inquire about the growth damage done, and he gives me a smile in return.

“I’d say about half a murak taller at your shoulder, you also seem longer, but I’m not sure by how much.” Geez, half a meter (1.6 ft), that’s a lot of growth… Maybe it means more strength, though. I’ll have to find out.

Maybe Neithro is willing to test me, I’d like to have some idea of how powerful I am and how afraid of the people in this world I should be.

I need to make time for a visit and bring Raya along, she needs to apologize for being a meanie to him.

Inspecting my new den, it’s coming along well, and it looks good. Some of the goblins are bringing down wood and building scaffolding, I’m pretty sure I didn’t ask for that. They’re even setting up some mushroom lanterns.

I feel like my little project here has been taken over, but if I get to slack, maybe it’s for the best. Joras might know if they’ve got everything covered because I have other things to do today.

“They should, goblins are native to the underground, so they’re likely naturally skilled when it comes to burrowing.”

Huh, I didn’t know that, but that seems very useful. Are dragons native underground? Because I feel like I did very well when I started digging.

“No, you just have large claws, which happen to work well for digging.”

Well, that’s good enough. At least I’m comfortable down here, so it’ll make for a very nice home.

Climbing back out, the first thing I see is a very large pile of clay. I hope some pottery person can make use of it instead of us having to move all of that out of town.

That’s an issue for later, for now, I need to… Dang it! I should’ve left my money down there before going back up.

Heading back down, it’s clear that I hit a very comfortable slope angle on the entry, and I’m just gonna pat myself on the back for that. Entering the chamber, there’s less space than I expected. I’d wager it’s because of all that scaffolding.

These guys are really quick to put that up and now they’re smoothing out the walls. Don’t get distracted, Kira, you’re here to drop off your money and head out to be responsible.

To begin my new hoard, I carve out a small indent in the center of the floor and regurgitate my money into it. I’m surprisingly confident that no one here will run off with any.

It’s not much, but it’s mine. And now I need to get the rest of mine. Exiting my den again, I take off, it’s mountain time. In a perfect world, I don’t encounter any frostclaws, but I’ll just stay alert and not get caught off guard again.

With my newfound speedy flight abilities, I cautiously speed up as I fly up toward the top of the mountain. I’m reasonably confident I can find my old cave again.

During my flight, it becomes clear that the snow cover hangs lower on the mountain than I’ve ever seen before, and now I suspect winter is on its way. That could be bad with how much firewood Tuiran spent yesterday…

The cold winds feel like they’re biting at me as I ascend. I was confident my natural resistance to cold would keep up, but it seems like this is too much. Instead of being a knucklehead, I choose to slow down a bit, and the wind resistance eases up.

That’s much better. Seems like another good thing to learn, I’m not immune to cold. Which seems obvious now that I think about it, Frosty used his cold attack on me… Way to go, Kira, you solved another mystery... Shush, me.

With the snow reaching further down, does the wildlife move with it? I’m gonna find out! Changing course and flying around the mountain, I reach the flat area in not much time. To my surprise, the wildlife is more spread out.

Well, that seems interesting. It would probably be even more interesting if I had something to compare it to, but I don’t really know anything about the migration habits of goats and deer and what have you. I do wonder how far down the mountain they go.

Tempted as I am to grab one, I’m gonna leave them alone. I’ve got stuff to do and that stuff is getting my money back! Flying up once more, I go for faster travel. Turning my head, I take a peek over my shoulder and the view is something else.

Oakhold and Tuiran are plain to see, and following the roads south and east, I think I spot the grove I camped out in. A good lesson is to focus on flight instead of pesky thoughts and overwhelming feelings.

On the topic of paying attention, I’m gonna do just that, instead of ending up crashing into the mountain. I’ve done enough crashing for one lifetime. This whole mountaintop area is just my cave, some flat, snow-covered area, and a steep cliff. Plenty of space to move around, so it really is a nice place.

Closing in on where I think my old cave is, a rancid stench hits me right in the nose, making me flinch. Geez, that’s vile! I guess that settles it, rot does happen in this cold environment.

Well, that adds another reason why I should move to Tuiran. I don’t want to share a dwelling with a rotting bear carcass. At least I know I’m in the right area.

Following the intensifying stench, I find the opening to the cave, and this time, I’m gonna be smart about it! I’m not gonna just head inside and get trapped, I’m gonna scout the area first and then head inside slowly.

There aren’t any animals in this area at all. No tracks or anything, and it’s kinda weird. I’m quite sure Frostclaws leave tracks, but as far as I can see, no new bears have moved in. That’s good.

As I land outside the cave, it becomes extremely clear that the corpse of Frosty is still in there. I’ll just leave it alone and abscond with my loot.

Peeking my head into the cave opening, I see Frosty’s corpse and… it moves… well, that’s not right. Dead and headless bears moving is not right!

Watching it move certainly startled me, but luckily, I’m brought out of my startled state as the damn thing starts charging at me. What the hell! How can it even see me?!

Rushing away from the cave, the bear corpse keeps chasing me, but this time, I’m faster! Hah! I’ve grown, you bastard!

And I can fly, so aerial assaults are just what the dragon ordered! Swooping around, the lumbering oaf swipes at me, but I’m not even close to it. I have no idea what’s going on that hea- Right… No head…

Focusing on the fight, I go in for another swoop and unleash my flames. From the looks of it, it seems to be working! The bear has caught fire and… it doesn’t seem to care. Good job, Kira, you’ve successfully added another element to its arsenal! Well done!

Okay, that was admittedly a bit unexpected. I had hoped that I could just burn it and kill it, but now I’ve just made a fiery frostclaw corpse.

Do I wait it out and hope it keeps burning away, or do I go for direct combat to rip it apart… I’m gonna go for another swoop and fan the flames. Well, blow another plume of flame at it is more accurate.

Continuing my assault with billows of flame, the bear barely slows down. How is it so indifferent to my mighty dragonflames?! That’s so rude!

The more I try to burn it away, the more it looks like I’ll need to get up close and personal… But that’s where this thing has its advantage…

Okay, option one: I go in and try to rip it apart before it rips me apart. Doesn’t sound fun, but I think I can do it.

Option two: I keep trying to burn it, not knowing how long that’ll take, if it even works.

Or… There’s also option three. We are on a mountain, and I doubt this thing will perform as well as I would if we were to go vertical.

Decisions, decisions. If I do try to throw it off the mountain, I’ll need to retrieve my money quickly and follow it. If it manages to survive, I’d have to go with option two to prevent it from rampaging through the countryside.

I wouldn’t feel great if this thing ended up killing a bunch of people.

With a final flaming swoop, I land a safe distance away from the bear, between it and the cave, watching as it starts really going for me. Now that I’m on the ground, it seems very interested in me compared to when I flew.

Seeing it begin its charge, I begin running away from it. We’re getting closer and closer to the edge of the mountain, and I can hear ice crack under my feet. I’m gonna have to be careful now, a tumble down the cliffside can still very much hurt me.

As we progress along the edge, the bear is doing a remarkably good job of keeping a safe distance. How is this thing thinking about that? It has no head! Can I just tail-swipe it off the mountain?

I might be able to, but if it grabs my tail when it falls, I’m screwed… So my flames aren’t working, I can’t tail swipe, and it’s not interested in falling… Dang it. As things look, I might have to actually fight this dang thing.

I don’t want to get closer to it, it’s gross! Just to make sure, I swing my tail towards it a few times, but every time, it fixates on my tail. It would definitely grab hold and pull me down…

Okay, time to make up my mind about this. I need to take it out so it doesn’t hurt anyone else. This thing was my mistake, so I need to be responsible for cleaning it up.

The most dangerous things about the bear are those giant paws, so disabling them would go a long way toward my not dying. I think I’ve got a plan.

Taking flight again, I create some distance between the two of us and turn around. I’m gonna fly fast and hard and use my bladed tail to chop off one of the bear’s arms. Now that I’m not so focused on falling, I don’t feel like I have to worry so much about it grabbing me.

In a direct fight, I have enough flexibility to attack it anywhere, but it’s quick to sidestep and dodge, it isn’t great at chasing, though.

To my surprise, I’m already feeling a thrill at my decision to fight this thing head-on. In preparation for this fight, I empower my scales, teeth, and claws. I need to make sure I’m ready for this thing.

Diving towards the beast, I perform my handstand-into-tail-swipe and this thing is fast! I execute my move almost perfectly, the only flaw is that the dang bear dodged my tail! Annoying clever bear…

I’m not done, though! Following up on my first attack, I use the momentum of my landing to continue swirling around, striking at the bear with my head. Managing to bite down on the bear's left arm, I clamp my jaws shut, latching onto it.

As soon as I do, the right arm moves to swipe at me, and I bite down harder. My teeth dig deep into the rotting flesh. I’m very surprised to find that the bear is very tasty. How is it this delicious?! It looks so bad and unhealthy.

I don’t have time for contemplating the juicy nature of a dead bear, I need to deal with the swipe coming my way. Whether I dodge or block, I’ll need to act. Keeping my grip on the bear’s arm, I push my body forward to block the swipe.

That doesn’t quite work out, the swipe gets blocked as planned, but it appears this corpse is very keen on odd tricks. Instead of just swiping, it also pushes its entire body forward. The freakin’ thing is using its ribs as a weapon! Using a gaping hole in your chest as a weapon is both unfair and frighteningly clever…

I can’t take my time with this thing, I need to get away. Forcing myself away from the ribs, I feel a slash in my side. The damn thing followed up with another swipe, and it can penetrate my empowered scales!

I can’t afford the magic to heal my wound entirely, so I just stop the bleeding. Unfortunately, that reveals something far worse. This isn’t just a frostclaw anymore, it has something else going on. There’s something in my wound, and it feels very wrong. Like it doesn’t belong in this world.

Whatever it is, it resists my magic and one thing I’m sure of is that I absolutely cannot let that build up. Great, another limitation for me in this stupid fight… Now I wanna kill it for being so difficult.

Keeping my mouth clamped on the bear’s arm, I rip myself away from it, I need some distance to prevent it from hitting me with more of that weird stuff. In a stroke of luck, I manage to tear away most of the muscles from the bear’s arm, but that doesn’t seem to slow it down much…

Having distanced myself from the corpse bear a bit, I rush to get flying. I need to be safe for a bit to give me some time to think…

Okay… So summary of the fight so far, I can’t burn it, I can’t tail swipe it, and if I get close, I might get impaled by ribs or poisoned or whatever is going on with this buildup… That’s so freakin’ unfair! The only way I see forward is landing on its back and ripping it to shreds.

Flying around the thing, it tracks me with remarkable accuracy and I have no idea how it’s doing it, it doesn’t have any eyes!

Time to think. Fire, claws, tail, flight, and my teeth. These are my weapons, how can I use them… Fire’s options are obvious, but this thing is resistant somehow. Then we have my claws, but getting close is troublesome.

It somehow dodged my tail, but I should add that to the list of options, trying just once is giving up too soon. And flight keeps me safe, but also works to make other things stronger. And finally teeth, well, they’re like claws, but better at clamping and chomping.

Keeping an eye on the bear as I think about what to do, I notice a limp. That’s what you get, bear. Fear my teeth of ripping!

Unless it isn’t just my teeth… Ooh… This requires testing! This could be the best thing ever! If I manage to pull this off, I’m gonna tell Joras to stop his campaign to make me stop licking folks!

Working up some saliva, I prepare to swoop down for a bite. Not sure how I’m gonna pull it off, but I will need to focus on using my superior reach. And I’ll try another tail swipe as well, it could work.

Geez, this is getting my heart pounding. I feel like a very bad match against this opponent. Okay, time to focus, Kira. First, I’ll fly further away to get some good speed for my swipe.

Even as I fly away, the dang thing tries to follow, but it refuses to just walk off the edge. Not much I can do about that. It’s time for my attack. Launching myself into a dive, I aim for the ground in front of the bear and prepare.

I’m a little cautious in terms of speed, crashing will do that to you, but I’m still well within power swipe territory. With remarkable precision, I pull off my power tail swipe again, and this time!… It dodges again. HOW?!

Biting it is. My mouth is full of saliva, and my momentum forces me to face the beast. Opening my mouth to bite, I accidentally spray it as well. Not what I planned, but it works. I bite down on its right arm and rip. I hope this works because that would be awesome.

Tearing away some flesh, I disengage from the bear again, rushing to a safe distance and watch. It looks like my saliva is working to slow it down, but only where I bit. From the looks of it, my accidental spray didn’t do anything.

Well, that’s still very useful information. And now both of its arms are weakened. Point for Kira! With the arms being less grabby, that gives me more options.

Oh! Great idea that I totally thought of myself and isn’t the same strategy used by those annoying wolves! If I attack its ankles, I can immobilize it. I bet Raya would be proud.

Moving closer, I maintain a safe distance and prepare to bite at the ankles of its hind legs, and it does not want to cooperate. It just keeps focusing on my head, so I’ll need a distraction, which my tail will do wonders for. Time to choose, bear! Get hit or get bit!

Turns out it chooses ‘get hit’ a lot, which is kinda inconvenient. I really wanted to immobilize it with my awesome venom, but it just keeps facing my head, refusing to allow me the satisfaction of ankle chomping.

I’m tired of all this thinking. This corpse keeps coming up with nonsense to counter my clever ideas, and I don’t like it. I’m just gonna keep it simple and tear the flesh from its arms by striking and thrashing. It might be a slow approach, but I can strike quickly, and since I’ve slowed it down some, it should be safe.

It seems to be working, and as I strike, I also lash out with my tail, aiming my bladed tip at the bear’s hind legs. The cuts are amassing, and there isn’t much flesh left on its arms. So how can it keep moving its arms…

Oh… Well, great! Just great! I’m creating a skeleton bear. That’s just terrific because venom and poison work so well on skeletons. I already know I’d struggle to crush those bones, so I need something else to damage them.

Back to square two, I guess… Throwing this thing off the mountain. If my tumble into the trees has taught me anything, it’s that sufficient blunt force really hurts and breaks bones.

I’ve managed to make some headway with my tail, and the bear is slowing down significantly, so now I just need to get it flying. I feel like I’ve danced around it enough for it to not be able to react to me as quickly, but I’ll need to find out. Taking flight again, I soar around, and it does indeed appear slower.

Going in for a swoop, it rears up and swipes, but I knew that was coming, so dodging is easy. Following the swipe, it loses balance and has to readjust, which is just the opportunity I need. Aiming for its back, I dig my claws in and take off… I dig my claws in and geez, this thing is heavy.

Pushing more magic into my wings, I try taking off again, but it does not want to be lifted. This bear just keeps being so frustrating, why won’t it just let me kill it?! For now, I let go of the bear and fly away from it again.

Giving it a quick study, it becomes clear why it's so heavy... The freakin’ thing froze itself to the ground. Grr! Screw you, bear! No more clever ideas and plans, it’s time to just be a blunt instrument. Focusing magic into my wings, I pick up speed as I soar in a large circle around this bearstard.

I’m keeping a much slower speed than when I approached Tuiran, but I need to be faster than it reacts. Setting my sights on the bear, I dive towards it, going for a shallow but speedy soar. The bear prepares as it seems to know what I’m doing.

Reaching the bear, I perform my power swipe again, but I dig my claws in late and my tail won’t hit the bear. On purpose, you bearstard! Haha! Prepare to face my butt!

I’m a dragon of considerable weight, and if you add in my speed, my butt quickly turns into a deadly weapon. Just ask the bear I just knocked off the mountain. I did it! I actually did it! And it really hurt!

Now I just need to recover my tiny hoard and then return home to heal up, because I feel beaten up. Using my magic, I feel for my wounds and my hip isn’t doing great, neither is my thigh or my whatever rib muscles are called.

I’m gonna give myself a pat on the back, making sure to stop my bleeding whenever I took a hit was smart. I still need to do something about that bear poison though. I’m gonna count on Joras helping me with that.

The damage I’ve sustained is apparent, and now I’m the one limping. I won, though, so it was worth it. Looking around, it's clear that I've spent too long on this mountain and it’s getting late, so I really need to get this done and return home.

Finding the cave again proves surprisingly easy, the bear left a trail of nastiness leading out of it, so just follow the smell. As I enter the cave, it all just looks the same: stalactites, stalagmites, and rock. My tiny pile of coins is still there, fortunately.

Picking the coins up, I swallow them and head out. No detours today, just straight home to my Tuiran cave.