NIGHT

“it’s that and power,” night found herself saying. she pulled up her inventory, and dropped a couple of leather sacks on the ground. “is this enough for what you’re bargaining for?” groviat hummed as he leaned in close. night unlaced the item sacks, revealing a multitude of marbles, gold coins and gemstones — all crafted items. “barely,” he decided. “will equipment do, then?” there were a number of items she’d started to discard as well — old tracksuits and trinkets long unused. “do i really look like a junk sale agent?” he mused, but tilted his head upon noticing the jacke

“a part of yours,” she muttered, audible enough for the dragonling to register. “maybe. or a part of your fathers, or giovanna’s. but i don’t remember agreeing to any of this — just to the way you split your treasure if groviat ever goes down.” “when he goes down,” giovanna pushed, “which was what you were supposed to be helping us with!” “aww.” groviat laughed. “your aides appear to be so greatly in need of your power. and you can have that, and more, with my help. so why don’t we cut ourselves a deal, night?” night shared a look with day, the latter stunned, a distance behind

“all of your treasure,” giovanna declared, “and the lands you’ve claimed back from us!” “nothing you can offer will quench your ruthlessness,” idianth barked back. “if it were merely possessions we’d wanted, you’d find some way to retrieve it from us once again. so only in death shall your debt be repaid in full!” groviat snarled, and extended his wings, beating them lightly to quieten the two. “i don’t think either of you should be speaking for her,” he said, turning to night. he eyed the oath in her hands. “for someone to be wielding such a tool of might, there are more worthwhile

another strike — this time directly underneath groviat’s chin, upwards — and her blade sung again with cardinal’s favor. two attacks, and groviat’s health was already past a half-way threshold. he’d lashed out with a roar, before his head hung low. groviat chuckled, just as everyone else scrambled to their feet. day had only just entered the room. “smarts, that hurts…” the great dragon growled and shook his head, attempting to waive off the blows he’d suffered. “hold your blades,” he decreed, and for some reason, the party had obeyed. night was still at the ready — groviat looke

giovanna rushed in. idianth followed suit. night was in there last — she’d been stunned at the mouth of the cave, surprised to see the stark contrast of wealth untold and unimaginable against the tranquility of the outdoors. where he slept had likely been on a large mass of gold coins, spread across the floor at the center of the room, towards the back wall… because that was where groviat stood, appearing cornered, lunging out only to bite at the bandit human and his nephew’s relentless clawing. “night! what are you waiting for?!” she’d shook her head. if something else gave her paus

night was looking over her interface. day didn’t seem too interested to investigate, not as much as she used to. a glance here, and a tilt there, but night managed to swing her notes around ever so slightly that she wouldn’t notice them. “night, what are you trying to hide?” day asked, leaning onto her owner’s shoulder once the message was waved away. “i’m not trying to hide anything,” night lied. “and idianth wasn’t trying to talk about his mother, either,” day refuted. “but he did, anyway, for giovanna. for trust.” at the entrance of groviat’s lair, it was apparent t

giovanna shrugged. “if my men can be kept wealthy and fed, i see no reason to go on raids any more. they could stop risking their lives to challenge adventurers like you — ” she gestured to night, “ — and then promptly losing them afterwards.” night simply turned to face day instead. “what?” she shook her head and addressed giovanna. “those conditions are fine by me. so do you happen to know where groviat is?” the bandit chief chuckled. “know it? if our home base wasn’t once so near where he was about to conquer, we would’ve remained neighbours with his cave. come.” she us

night hummed. listening to acanthus, a part of her wished she could see the world through her eyes instead, if only out of curiosity. the tidbit about the familiars was something she could understand, upon her companion's consideration. "i suppose you're right," she decided, looking back out at the world outside. there was a pause between her next question, and acanthus' reply. “I haven’t thought beyond finding some quests to do. Leveling up is my biggest priority right now, and I have a lot of ground to cover if I want to catch up.” "catch up," night repeated, in comfortable, idle t

"what was the size of the dragon you were imagining...?" the shadow matriarch was no larger than any of the dragons she'd seen before. this might as well have been part of the dragon hunter's anthology quest line after all. with three stacks of shatter, and an envy for the dots she hadn't thought to carry along, there was little reason for her to try and hold back her oath. so she rushed in, as the dragon staggered, head lowered as it started to skid to a half across the top of their tower. night had hesitated, trying to figure the best distance to be away from the dragon to prevent

to: @Pinball black mamba. | [#214533] | TIERLESS TRINKET | SNEAKY III [desc.]: a thin, minimalistic black ring of a snake. it is featureless, smooth and shiny.

r10 artisan | x14 daily crafting attempts | cd tool black mamba. | [#214533] | TIERLESS TRINKET | SNEAKY III [desc.]: a thin, minimalistic black ring of a snake. it is featureless, smooth and shiny.

Skill(s) Being Dropped: Howl Mod(s)/Addon(s)/Shift(s) Being Dropped: Focused Howl SP Incurred Towards Limit: 10 SP Refunded: 15 Cost: 10,000col

"why not extend that to the possibility of using every other tool on hand to bypass mitigation?" night perked up, elbow against the top of her seat. she'd found the information just as unintuitive to work with, even after taking down notes on her interface, and was starting to scribble -- or doodle -- images unrelated to them, but pertaining to their scenery instead. she tapped at the screen with an impatient tempo. "and not to mention hearing of odd voices being a factor to become aware of... unless it's something most of you have somehow become accustomed to, in which you might have so

“before we start, however…” she took a few steps forward, and offered a hand when she got close enough. “i’m giovanna.” the dragon took it. “idianth. and that over there is night.” night simply bowed, but was offered a handshake too, and she couldn’t find it in herself to refuse it. “so here’s the terms of our pact,” giovanna declared. “when groviat goes down, what remains of his hoard will be distributed between all three of us.” night put her hands up, her head bowed. “uh, no, no thanks — i’m not really in it for the treasure.” “okay then,” giovanna replied, qu

“there used to be a third dragon between them — my mother. uncle liked her very much. father regrets even now that she’s gone. but uncle’s seen it as a reason to advance his position: take more land, claim further rule, and eventually bring the fight to his family.” idianth placed a paw upon his chest. “that includes me. is that good enough a reason for you yet?” “what is this,” day echoed in the back, just as the bandits started to discuss in hushed whispers, “family feud?” the player snorted. “next, you’re going to tell me that’s the whole reason i’m progressing through this quest

“his reign of terror?” idianth had the head of the axe pointed towards him. he nodded. “and what do you suppose you know of how he ‘rules’?” “well, father has had to narrow down his hoard ever since the territories were split, because uncle kept stealing from him,” the dragon began. “i’ve seen his home a few times. beyond father, surely there must have been other places that treasure must have been coming from. am i right?” the chieftain lowered her weapon. “go on.” “and, say…” idianth closed his eyes and remained silent for an extended period of time, as things began to se

idianth landed on the ground, as stern as stoic as ever. “what’s the meaning of this?!” the chieftain yelled, turning around to face the party. “who are you, and what are you doing following a red dragon?” “i’m here to complete a quest—?” instantly, night’s words were decimated by an elbow jabbed in her side. she sputtered and groaned, before righting herself. “i’m here to escort him. we’re looking for a much larger, much older red dragon that almost resembles him. i think his name is groviat? do you know where he is?” the closest bandits started to talk amongst themselves.

the player moved quickly with a sidestep to her right, against the swing of the hand-axe. then she curled into a low tumble, as the woman followed through on tracking night’s movements. one angled and well-timed jump allowed night to pull her blade out and strike where the bandit was most vulnerable — where her shield wasn’t facing, and the impact of her oath caused it to ring. doubtless, if the fight hadn’t meant to be stopped the moment night had weakened her foe enough, it would’ve by sheer knockback, that slash of cardinal’s orders for both of them to distance themselves. the woman ro

bandits — more of them, which explained better why they might’ve gotten ambushed or attacked earlier. with the duo participating in the fight, it seemed quick that the tides of battle had shifted. so it was to their surprise when someone who looked different than the rabble rushed out from the heart of the camp to follow through on the skirmish. “hai!” “a woman?” day queried, if only to catch night’s attention. the latter dove in, cutting off the new entrant with an overhead swing after she’d disengaged a bandit, finding that her strike was halted by the raise of her shield. it

“oh, hardly,” day returned. they followed after idianth. up the mountain, right at a crossing plateau ahead, there seemed to be a campsite. the duo had hid behind an outcrop to study it better; after the fights from earlier, it didn’t seem too sound to explore the area without exercising a hint of caution. the camp was surrounded by makeshift fences as blockades, and was manned by two guards at the entrance they were approaching from. to night, it felt like a rather odd fixture: given its location, out in the open, it was a rather indefensible position… which made her question why

they simply didn’t have time to stand around all day and talk about the past. idianth seemed ready to get a move on, the way he started on the path forward after night had asked her question. she gingerly followed behind him, eyes upon his back as he sailed through the air, steering his maneuvers to be one of ambiguity, even though she knew he would not stray from the road ahead. “wow,” day said, “you’re really good at getting under everyone’s nerves, huh?” night groaned, a thumb and index upon her temples, hand stretched across her forehead. “it was an innocent question,” she tried.

“he likely means his territory,” night offered. idianth simply hummed, claw to his chin, before nodding. “i suppose… you must be right.” “why’s everyone so bad at reading riddles…?” day suddenly commented. she was slouching. “father has been king for so long, it’s of little wonder why uncle wants to try his hand at rulership as well. there are boons,” idianth considered, “like free reign of the animals that roam among the grass.” “surely,” night thought, “there must be adequate resources for groviat to live by just as well, right?” idianth nodded again. “indeed. but f

night and day exchanged looks. “you say that,” night began, with the raise of her palm. “but surely kevranth is in a state of capability that he could so easily take down groviat himself, if your strength resembles anything like his own capacity for combat. why not take the fight to him directly, between the two of you? isn’t it a little strange to be sending you out with a stranger he’d only just met?” idianth thought about it for a moment. “it is true,” idianth said, “that father is of equal strength to uncle himself. it was a question i’d posed to him once, but he issued a ri

in the air, idianth himself was an asset, a proper distraction against their enemies with his size and combat supremacy, airborne. attacks couldn’t reach him proper as he danced away from the strikes incoming, leaving night and day to clean up the distracted rabble, given their stolen attention on the dragon. going for their legs first was easy, if not chaotic — after the bandits had fallen, they were hardy enough to need a second strike to put them down. night hesitated after the first, and the second there after, until she focused on pushing the humans to the floor instead. day, ever the min

so therein laid the effectiveness of his dragon scales. only a small amount of health had been lost, even if the fact that he wasn’t indestructible had already placed night and day both on a razor’s edge. “sorry, we made it in late…” “it is not of great concern,” idianth replied. his wings took him to the skies. “my father is right in allowing me to prove myself. scars like these,” and the dragon gestured to where he got hurt, although it was spotless of hatched lines and bright lights, “are but proof of my experience and strength.” he dove towards the next batch. the pair followed s