The Dragon's Champion

[Maxymiuk]

It is an early autumn morning -- which, in Telezia, means that the sun is yet to rise high enough to grace the valley floor and the city of Verga with its rays -- but that it already casts them across the fortress carved into the mountain above, threatening to blind anyone who looks up while their eyes are still adjusted to the shadows below.

You've been told that, before the dragon arrived in the valley, Akath Deler's walls were as drab and dull as the mountain it's carved into. But Megerix spent considerable funds to have the ancient marble restored to its former glory and now the material's crystalline structure scintillates in the sunlight -- a bright mark of the dragon's power and glory, visible for miles around.

You're at your house -- or, more appropriately, your residence in Verga, where you've now spent close to a month. Things have been quiet in the valley lately. Bandits, mountain monster tribes, and other troublemakers have finally learned to keep away from the dragon's domain. The greatest challenge you've faced lately has been a glut of social functions -- with harvest and tax season over and winter on the horizon, social season is coming into full swing and many of the city's affluent and rich consider it the highlight of their event to have the Dragon's Champion attend.

You're in the middle of your morning routine when the summons come. A tapping on the window draws your attention. It's a dull green pseudodragon, wearing the trademark harness of Megerix's messengers, with scroll tubes attached under each wing. It departs immediately after handing you the message -- the scroll is sealed with the dragon's mark.


Honorable Champion,

Your attendance is requested by Our Lord Sovereign, the Great Dragon Megerix, at his convenience.

The Lord Sovereign's Chamberlain
Peregin Suule

PS: Formal wear.


You've been in the dragon's service long enough to decipher the meaning behind the words Peregin used. "At the dragon's convenience" always means "right away." "Formal wear" means this will be a proper audience -- likely with third parties involved. As such, you are required to look your best. How his subordinates carry themselves does reflect on your sovereign, after all.

And, of course, you then face the prospect of taking your well-dressed self on the two-hour climb up to the fortress, sharing the narrow road with various petitioners, supply carts, and others who have business there. You know that Magnus Anstrom offered multiple times to replace the inconvenient and lengthy path with a series of lifts carved into the mountain, powered by the waterfall that otherwise "uselessly" drops the mile and a half from the channel under the fortress into Verga's lake below. And you also know why Megerix refused: "I already face an army of supplicants and solicitors every day," the dragon would rumble discontentedly every time the idea was brought up. "Why make it easy for them? If they have to climb a mountain to see me, there's a chance, at least, that they have something important to say."

You could, of course, use your magical talents to simply teleport yourself up the path. That would, of course, require you to spend some of your power -- power you may actually need, as who knows what the dragon may require of you.

[meemaas]

Tenzeru

Tenzeru rolled up the summons and slipped it into his collection box, next to all the other summons and letters he has received in his time answering to the Dragon. He looks around his fairly simple home, and calls for his housekeeper quietly. When she arrives he asks to her collect his formal wear while he prepares himself mentally. Lighting a small flame on his finger, he begins to draw sigils into his wrists, inscribing his protective magicks upon himself before he gets ready.

The housekeeper returns with his finest outfit, bowing before him. Tenzeru quietly waves her away and begins to dress, a pair of fine silk pants, along with a red robe that possesses the Dragons royal symbol upon its back. He wraps his wrists with matching wristwraps that also possess the same symbol on each, and ties his belt up, holstering his weapon and hooking up his ammunition pack.

As he heads towards the door, he calls out calmly. "I'm heading out. Keep the house in order until I return." He steps outside, looking at his house for just a moment before looking at his trek. Pulling his gun out once more, he jumps up into the air and channels his power into it, launching himself upwards towards the mountain at high speeds propelled solely by the fire launched out, every bit of it dissipating as soon as its propulsion done its job. Many onlookers know that this is the sign of the Champion's travels, but all still watch it as it happens, as it attracts as much attention as the Dragon himself in his movements.

Spoiler

Show

The beginning part was effectively just handling my buff ritual. Because all of Tenzeru's magic requires a visible sign, the signs for his protection sphere talents are flaming sigils drawn into his skin.

[Maxymiuk]

Spoiler: Small request

Show

Given that you have a list of powers and abilities a nautical mile long, could you make a small OOC note when using one of them, explicitly naming what it is? Took me a few minutes of studying your sheet before I figured out that you're using greater flame jet.

Basically, it will take me a bit to learn and remember everything that your character can do.

Your chosen method of travel does indeed draw many eyes. Even if Verga's citizens have had you for a neighbor for a few years now, there's just something about the sight of a man riding a jet of flame up the mountain that never gets old. Some cheer, others wave, most simply watch -- very few are able to outright ignore the spectacle. This becomes especially evident as you reach the mountainside and begin to rise along the road leading up to the fortress. The crowd that already struggles up the serpentine path even at this early hour cannot help but stop to behold your passage. To you, it's particularly easy to pick out foreigners and visitors to the dragon's domain -- they're the ones who gape the hardest, jaws slack and eyes bulging open.

All in all, barely a quarter hour passes between the moment when you depart your home and when your feet touch your usual landing zone -- one of the fortress's few remaining balconies -- the others have either been walled off or destroyed after the third time one was used by a would-be assassin with a flight potion. The guard posted here thumps his fist against his breastplate and bows slightly. You step inside -- and are immediately accosted by a small, fussy man wearing a high-ranked servant's finery.

"You're late," chamberlain Peregin Suule complains, but you know he would have found cause complain if you somehow turned up the second after he handed the summons off to the courier. "And must you tote that infernal device around?" he indicates your revolver. Despite having it explained to him numerous times, Suule is either incapable of -- or refusing to understand the item's nature as your magical focus. "You are among civilized people, not lawless bandits in some forsaken wilderness!"

[meemaas]

Tenzeru smiled a little as the Chamberlain greets him. "Fashionably late, if you will. As for this..." He indicates his revolver, "I can never be sure what I have been summoned for, so it is always better to be prepared." With that, he holsters his weapon and scoots around Peregin, heading for the chamber in which he usually meets with the dragon, wondering to himself just what he could do about the Chamberlain to stop his challenging Tenzeru's actions.

Spoiler

Show

I will be sure to name my abilities from now on. Wasn't thinking when I didn't in the first place.

[Maxymiuk]

"No, no, no, no!" Suule overtakes you before you can get away far. "Not this way! The Lord Sovereign wishes for you to enter through the supplicant chamber."

Huffing slightly, the chamberlain leads you away from the usual path, which would have you arrive into the dragon's throne room through a side entrance. Instead, you are guided to the part of the castle you rarely have cause to visit -- the main courtyard and concourse, through which all seeking the dragon's audience must pass.

The guards here are present in much greater numbers -- mainly to make sure that no one "gets lots" going where they shouldn't. Otherwise, the passages are crowded with supplicants and petitioners: Merchants, officials, foreign dignitaries, mages, scholars, priests but also commoners -- most often victims of bureaucracy, seeking to have their perceived wrongs addressed by the highest authority.

"Make way in the name of the Lord Sovereign!" the chamberlain calls out repeatedly while leading you through the crowds. "Make way for the Dragon's Champion!"

[Knowledge: Nobility]
It's clear to you what this is about. You can read it in the envious and angry glances cast your way. In teeth grit to bite back complaints. The dragon is using you to remind the gathered supplicants of their place. "Your access to me is a privilege and not a right," this little scene is supposed to tell them. "There are other -- more important -- matters than what you want. You will wait patiently until they're resolved."

However, for someone, that patience reaches its end. As you reach the door leading into the audience chamber, a portly man with a thin moustache and dressed in offensively yellow silks steps out of the petitioner line to block your way.

"This is an outrage!" he proclaims, his double chins quivering with every word. "Already, I've spent a week climbing this blasted mountain every day just to get to the front of the line. And now he" he jabs a ringed finger at your chest, "gets to go in first? Enough! Do you have any idea who I am?!"

[Knowledge: Geography and Nobility]
His clothes mark him as a resident of one of the distant southern satrapies -- though a minor one, as the details of his garb do not immediately bring its name to mind. The rings on his fingers and the heavy golden chain around his neck tell you that he is a nobleman of some sort.

[meemaas]

Tenzeru smiles as the man approaches him in anger. "No, quite frankly, I don't know who you are, and I don't particularly care either. The question is, do you know who I am? Because unlike you, I'm not a maggot who comes asking for help." He chuckles a little, taking a short spin just to ensure that the nobleman can see the Dragon's symbol upon the back of his robe before he continues. "And if I were you, I'd be careful when you get angry at the Dragon's Champion. Because there will come a time where my work sends me to do something involved with your area, and you better hope that I don't turn a blind eye to your safety while I'm there." Finishing his threat, Tenzeru pushes the portly man out of his way and continues towards the Dragon's Chamber, hiding his irritation at the delay.

[Maxymiuk]

The man's eyes bulge in shock and his mouth falls agape at the insolence in your tone -- but his expression turns to one of horror the moment he realizes just who he dared to accost.

"M-my apologies, Honored One," he bumbles out, a plaintive whine entering his voice. "I didn't realize... I... forgive me..."

Whatever apologies he can muster are lost to your ears as you sweep past him. At the end of the petitioner-filled corridor is a large door decorated with mother of pearl, golden leaf, and red marble -- the overall effect is somewhat gaudy, but that is the way your sovereign likes things -- and who is going to tell him no?

Seeing you approach, the guards posted by the door bow and grab the handles. The wings open before you and you step inside the dragon's throne room.

----------

To the best of your knowledge, the throne room did not need to be widened any to accommodate its latest owner -- the ancient dwarves who built this fortress had a weakness for grandiose halls and tall, vaulted ceilings supported by tower-sized pillars. As far as you know, all the dragon did was to decorate the austere granite walls with panels of marble, enormous tapestries, and intricate mosaics.

The room is large enough that it takes you a couple of minutes to cross its length -- but even at a distance, you can see clearly see your sovereign, his massive, claret-red form towering above a couple humanoid figures, his neck craning down toward them to hear what they have to say.

[Knowledge: Nobility, Sense Motive]
As you draw closer, you recognize one of the men in audience with your sovereign. Even from behind, the bald head and broad shoulders of Ambassador Thraniir of the Valtic League are unmistakable with anyone else. It is from the aggressive set of those shoulders and from the way that his fingers twitch slightly, as if trying to ball up into fists, that you surmise that the ambassador is irritated -- perhaps even angry about something.

"All I can do, Lord Sovereign, is pass on the information I was given," the ambassador's voice is calm and polite, not betraying a single ounce of the tension you can see in his body. "Given that the reports bear the personal seals of the Committee members, I have to act as if they were accurate."

Diplomatic speak for "you just called me a liar and I have no choice but to ignore that."

Megerix inclines his head and, for the briefest of moments, his golden, reptilian eyes flit toward your approaching form.

"And those seals are the only reason we're still speaking, Ambassador," your sovereign's voice is akin to the rumble of distant thunder. "Tenzeru," he acknowledges your presence causing the ambassador and his entourage to turn around and bow their heads in silent greeting. "Explain to the Ambassador why the idea of one of our northern tribes attacking one of the League's caravans in my territory -- on my highway -- is absurd."

[Sense Motive]
As you've been taught during your service to the dragon, most diplomatic interactions aren't concerned with truth or objective facts -- they're concerned solely with reputation, composure, and power -- with keeping face, in other words. So while you may know nothing about the situation you're being asked to comment on -- and your sovereign is well aware of that fact -- you're still expected to make him look good here. Or, at least, to avoid making him look bad.

[meemaas]

Tenzeru

"The sheer thought of it is indeed absurd. Everyone within miles of your territory knows of your fearsome power. Nobody would risk drawing your ire. The consequences of drawing myself, or worse yet, you yourself, My Lord, are such that only those who place no value within their own existence would dare to draw them." With a smile, Tenzeru kneels before his Lord, reciting his words as though he had practiced them, despite this being the first time he had said them.

[Maxymiuk]

"And that is the plain truth of it, Ambassador," Megerix nods at you approvingly before turning his attention to Thraniir. "Anyone daring to commit banditry in my domain signs his own death warrant."

"And yet-" the ambassador objects, but is immediately cut off by the dragon.

"Irrevocably and inevitably dead," your sovereign's voice gains a dangerous edge. "And while he may still move about and even speak -- be assured, Ambassador, that you are looking at someone who is already dead. Do we have an understanding on this?"

[Sense Motive]
"I will not acknowledge your claims, but I will investigate them," the dragon is saying. To which the League's ambassador can only respond by agreeing that Megerix must be correct in his assessment -- and that the League's leaders will remain confident in his words -- "until another caravan is attacked" is the part left unsaid.

The audience ends soon afterward.

----------

The only ones left in the throne room are you, Megerix, and Yandra Enuen, the dragon's spymaster.

"Who failed?" the calm way in which your sovereign asks this question is belied by the forceful way his claw taps against the floor, leaving an ever-widening crack in the flagstone.

The problem -- as hastily described to you by the elven woman after the ambassador's departure, while Megerix waited patiently -- has no right to exist.

A caravan of the Valtic League was attacked while crossing Telezian territory. Allegedly, the raid was carried out by hillfolk riders, who fell upon the merchants and their guards, slaughtering them indiscriminately. Yet, there were survivors, who managed to flee across the pass, back into League territory. News of this reached the Trader Committee, which reacted by lodging a formal complaint.

Said complaint -- delivered by Ambassador Thraniir -- was the first that Megerix heard of the entire affair.

Which made for a grand total of two impossibilities. First, that a hillfolk clan would decide to go rogue -- knowing full well that they courted obliteration by dragonfire. Second, that Kresh of the Hundred Spears -- the closest thing that hillfolk have to a leader -- would court his own doom by deciding to conceal the affair from Megerix.

"Kresh isn't an idiot," Yandra says, evidently rejecting the second possibility. "He either didn't know..."

"So he's deaf and blind and an idiot," Megerix growls. "And that means he's of no more use to me. Not if he can't keep the rest of those horse-diddlers in line.

"...or he hoped this was something he could resolve himself," the elven woman continues unfazed, "and simply inform you once the guilty were found and -- and delivered to you for their punishment, my sovereign."

"Ha. No doubt hoping that I'd satisfy myself with incinerating them and then decide I'm too busy to start making examples of clanholds," Megerix smiles humorlessly. "Still an idiot. Because now I may end up making an example of him."

"The clans would react badly..."

"To the Abyss with the clans!" the dragon's roar seems to shake the whole room. "They dare to break my laws. To attack caravans in my valley. On my highway! Oh no, Yandra. They will burn for this."

[Sense Motive]
With how possessive Megerix sounds, one would think someone just stole something from his personal hoard. Of course, if some of the theories you've heard are correct, he does consider the whole valley to be his hoard. Which would explain why he's sounding so... irrational. Why he positively seethes with rage that he no longer bothers to suppress. Flames begin shooting forward with every exhale and his claws dig deep grooves into the stone as he reflexively clenches and unclenches his fists.

You catch the glance that Yandra shoots you -- in it, you read a silent plea for help. A hope that you can say something to stop the dragon from going out and setting half the valley ablaze

[meemaas]

Tenzeru steps forward, past the Spymaster as he addresses the Dragon. "My Lord, please allow me to investigate this matter for you. I will speak with Kresh and find out the truth for you. And if he was in fact, stupid enough to allow this farce, I can make an example to bring him in line. The last thing we need is to destroy part of what is effectively our territory. While it would make a strong example for our enemies, it would also draw the ire of our allies. Will you allow me to handle this manner for you, my Lord?" he speaks calmly, hoping that the Dragon will allow him this chance, knowing what he is capable of.

[Maxymiuk]

"Of course you're going to handle this matter for me!" the dragon explodes at you. "Why do you think I summoned you?! To watch me throw a tantrum? Oh, don't even start, Yandra," Megerix grimaces when his spymaster begins to open her mouth. "Do you honestly think I was about to head out and destroy the valley over Kresh's idiocy? Did you really?

"My Lord Sovereign, I simply-" Yandra begins, before being cut off.

"Just because I'm angry, it doesn't mean I've taken leave of my senses," the dragon snorts. "But I am angry -- and I am not going to bother hiding it. Not when I already have to grit teeth and make polite expressions every day in front of a string of idiots who feel entitled to waste my time. Diplomacy, trade agreements, taxes, paperwork," an expression of disgust crosses Megerix's face, to be replaced with one of wistfulness. "There are days when I envy those of my kind who feel content with their pile of gold in a drafty cave, with bullying kobolds, terrorizing the countryside, and setting fire to any would-be hero who enters their domain."

Megerix sighs.

"But yes, we are going to do it the 'civilized' way. You will go and talk with Kresh. You will find out what's going on," your sovereign's lip curls up into a vicious snarl. "And you will mete out my justice to the guilty."

"And if Kresh really is involved..." the elf spymaster hesitates, "...or responsible...?"

"If so, I want him here and alive for his execution," the dragon's tone leaves no doubt that it will be long. And messy. "However, no matter the truth, it is clear to me that he has been... neglectful in his duties. So, Tenzeru?" Megerix's eyes bore into yours. "When you go knocking on his door -- knock loud and knock hard. Make sure he learns the depths of my displeasure."

It's Yandra's complete lack of reaction that tells you she does not approve -- but she does not question her sovereign's will.

"Now go," Megerix dismisses you with a wave of his hand. "Come back once the matter is resolved."

----------

Leaving the audience room through one of the side doors has the benefit of letting you avoid the crowd of petitioners waiting in the corridor. Yet, it also carries the drawback of having Yandra follow you and step in front of you. With arms placed firmly on her hips and eyes hard as agates, she cuts an intimidating figure -- even if the effect is somewhat ruined by the fact that she's a full foot shorter than you.

"What are you going to do to Kresh?" she practically demands.

[meemaas]

Tenzeru smiles as he walks around her, talking calmly as he did. "Nothing Permanent. I will get answers to his questions, and I may have to use force to scare him into line. But other than that, I won't do anything that would cause him permanent bodily harm."