The Sword of Roses (IC)

[DigoDragon]

Chaarix crashes down into the tree line and catches a fox unawares! A swift bolt of lightning makes cooked work of it.

As Chaarix gets ready to eat, a crow lands on a nearby branch and caws. The bird then goes silent. It look around with glazed stares before focusing on Chaarix.

"Ah, am I interrupting breakfast?"

[Miltonian]

Chaarix is taken aback by the bird and eyes it for a moment. However, its presence does not seem much like a reason to delay her meal, so she bends down and grabs her kill. It is small, but she takes a few moments to savor it before swallowing and lets out a sigh of contentment. "Not anymore," she tells the bird.

[DigoDragon]

The bird makes an ugly cawing sound as if it was trying to chuckle.

"You and your sister. Call you two anything, but late for a meal."

[Miltonian]

Chaarix's brows furrow into a frown. "I," she says, a little frosty, "Have no idea what you are talking about, mysterious talking bird." She glowers at it. "But you're next on the list if you don't start explaining yourself."

[DigoDragon]

The crow cackles again. "You never cease to amuse. This is your brother, Morlun, speaking through magic. I wanted to check on you to make sure you were not having difficulties like your sister has."

"Spiriah seems to have tracked down the cloak to a human city by the ocean, but it seems she has lost her ability to sense the cloak since hiding among humans. I do not know what she is doing to accomplish that."

[Miltonian]

Oh. It's just Morlun. Chaarix sniffs and looks up at the sky. "Well," she says, "I succeeded easily enough. The elf is dead, the crown is in my possession, and I am on my way to return it to father."

She looks sidelong at him. "Now...you wouldn't be planning anything sneaky, right? Like ambushing me so you can return both your and my items to father, would you?"

[DigoDragon]

The crow cackles in an unearthly way. "You trust me so little, dear sister? Well, I suppose it is warranted. But fear not--I have no desire to steal your victory. I have already acquired one of the two items I was tasked with. This is merely a social call to let you know your sister is having some difficulties with her own quest. Do give father my regards when you see him."

[Miltonian]

"I'll pass them along," Chaarix says. She spreads her wings. "Well, best of luck hunting the second. I had best be getting on with it right now."

And maybe, if she can find where her sister went, she can help her. Of course, doing so would get her some of the glory for finding another of the items. Hmm, yes. She did like the sound of that.

[DigoDragon]

"Farewell."

The crow shudders and appears much less aware of itself. it caws once and flies away.

Chaarix is alone with her thoughts and what may remain of her breakfast.

[Miltonian]

Chaarix lets out a small breath, satisfied with this outcome. Well, she did eat the fox already. This portion of her meal is already taken care of. She eyes the bird for a moment, tempted to devour it out of spite, but feathers were too tickling for her taste. They got caught in the throat and then you coughed for a good ten minutes trying to dislodge the darn things. The bird gets to live.

She spreads her wings and takes the sky, content to hunt along the way back to her father's lair, assuming nothing disturbs her.

[DigoDragon]

Nothing disturbs Chaarix on her flight back. She does catch a few more meals along the way and arrives at her father's lair without incident.

[Miltonian]

She lands at the entrance and takes a moment to compose herself. A nervousness she didn't expect fills her. Will her father be pleased? Did she work fast enough? Should she have come straight home? Doubts spring up, one after the other. Yet, she forces them aside. No, she is strong, confident, capable. She squares her jaw and her shoulders and walks inside.

[DigoDragon]

The usual servants stand about, awaiting orders from their master and ready to combat intruders. The winding tunnels lead to the main chamber where her father, Chenizir, pours over a large basin filled with water. He glances up and sees Chaarix, but goes back to viewing his object.

"Were you followed?" he asked.

[Miltonian]

Chaarix inclines her head towards her father in respect. The servants and everything else she'd encountered on the way in were of no concern. She had seen them many times. Hardly worth noticing, really. "Not to my knowledge," she said, "I did take a meandering route. Anyone that happened to be watching would have seen a dragon hunting and nothing more. Besides..." She grins. "The wizard is dead. Any magic he would have used to evade my careful watch died with him."

[DigoDragon]

"Dead? Hmm, very good, my child," Chenizir says. "Unfortunately I cannot say as much for your sister. I fear that both humans fled east with the cloak and were expecting to be followed. She was ambushed, and now something prevents me from scrying her location. She was in the human city by the ocean."

Chenizir sighed heavily. "Morlun informed me he recovered one item, but has not found the dwarf. I am still researching his griffon marking. He may be an agent of someone more powerful."

[Miltonian]

"Well then," Chaarix says lightly, "I suppose I have seen the most success so far. I shall return this crown to you now and...see if I can sort out whatever trouble my dear sister has gotten entangled in."

[DigoDragon]

"Be cautious. That city is full of the worst of humankind," Chenizir warns. He motions to a servant.

The servant walks up to Chaarix and holds out its hands for the artifact.

[Miltonian]

"I will," she promises. And, if she can, she will turn over the crown.

[DigoDragon]

The crown is turned in without any problem. The servant brings it over to Chenizir , but he lets it stand there for a bit.

"And be aware to locate the cloak quickly. If humans sail off with it, it'll be much more difficult to chase over the ocean."

[Miltonian]

Aurelia nods slowly. "As you wish." She thinks about it for a moment, but has trouble visualizing exactly what that would mean. "Just how big is the ocean anyway?" she asks, "And I could just burn any ships leaving port. That would get the message across pretty quickly."

[DigoDragon]

Aurelia nods slowly.

?

"As you wish." She thinks about it for a moment, but has trouble visualizing exactly what that would mean. "Just how big is the ocean anyway?" she asks, "And I could just burn any ships leaving port. That would get the message across pretty quickly."

"The ocean is far more vast than your imagination could comprehend. You could not fly across it. Not without magic or a ship of your own," Chenizir explains. "If burning a ship is required to procure the cloak, then so be it. You are clever, and I have no doubt you will succeed. Your sister's uncanny knowledge of humans will be of use to you. May the winds guide you."

Chenizir finally plucks the crown and inspects it. He seems... pleased.

[Miltonian]

Spoiler

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Whoops! Mixed up the name with another OC...

"I will rescue her with all haste, then," Chaarix says. Internally, she adds, 'And if she has taken a human as her lover, so help me I will...'

She raises herself out of her own thoughts and smiles. "And perhaps," she says, "When I return, you will think better of me."

But for now, she has her mission. With a self-satisfied saunter in her step, she moves towards the exit.

[DigoDragon]

Chaarix's father seems to wince at the idea of human lovers. He'd probably have the human cooked.

Nothing stops Chaarix from leaving. She is free to head out where she pleases. She remembers East is toward the human city and the sea.

[Miltonian]

As she leaves her father's presence, she will request the servants bring her a full meal and as many provisions as she can fit in her sack. After all, the less time she spends hunting, the more she spends searching.

After that, she will leave, headed for the East and the sea...

[DigoDragon]

The servants do as told, bringing varies meats and sweet fruits to Chaarix.


The day's weather is warm and good. A few clouds hang lazily in the sky as she flies east. The forests pass by below and give way to cleared areas of farmland, and then the coast comes into view. The ocean stretches on forever to the horizon. Nested at the shore is a huge human city made of stone and wood. Large towering buildings stand tall in the sunlight, waving blue banners with the symbol of a fist holding what looks like a goat's horn.

Large wooden ships sail in and out of the the port, some tied to long wooden roads built on the water. And there are hundreds of humans out and about. Far more humans than Chaarix might have seen before? Finding her sister could take a while. And how will she be able to search without causing chaos with her presence? There are a number of humans wearing armors and carrying pointy sticks and long pointy sticks on poles.

[Miltonian]

The first thing Chaarix does is land in the forest. That was a heck of a lot of humans! More than she could fight all at once, especially once they started using magic. She already was growing to hate people who used magic.

Alright, she told herself, get a grip. Humans were plentiful, but still small, weak, and very stupid compared to her. She could outsmart them all, yes. But first, she needed information. How did the humans get into the city?

[DigoDragon]

How did the humans get into the city?

A good question! Chaarix could see that the city has large walls to protect itself from non-flying invaders (haha, walls. How quaint). This has the additional effect of forcing humans to enter and exit the city through specific gates. Humans with large wagons full of things (some of it looking similar to the kind of general stuff her sister Spiriah collects) line up, waiting their turn to reach the gate, pay the guards a few coins, and then enter with their wares. What things do they have? Well, some carry food. Others carry cows and goats. Occassionally there one carrying humans, orcs, and what appear to be kobolds in chains. Prisoners? Slaves? Well, some humans might not see a difference.

Some humans come without wagons, but carry their goods on horses; carpets o lots of. Few other yet, show up with only a small bag and a few weapons on them. Adventurers perhaps? They are likely the least intimidated by danger.

The humans coming and going is quite a number. Some of those covered wagons miiight be big enough for Chaarix to curl up and hide inside. Trouble is, how would she get the wagon owners to agree to smuggling a large dragon into the city?

[Miltonian]

Hmm. Gates. Giant wagons. And kobolds? Chaarix thinks about it. How to approach this?

Well, last time, she got some information from one of the local humans. Perhaps this time she can find one not so inclined to soil himself in her presence. Still, that was preferable to trying to stick her with sharp objects. She disliked that immensely.

The kobolds catch her attention. The fact that they are in cages seems odd, though she supposed that humans would see their usefulness as servants. Perhaps...hmm.

She looks around to see if there is anyone leaving the city with caged kobolds, orcs, or humans on a wagon.

[DigoDragon]

She looks around to see if there is anyone leaving the city with caged kobolds, orcs, or humans on a wagon.

A few minutes waiting and her patients pays off. There is a wagon leaving the gates. A single horse-drawn wagon with a human driver and two chained kobolds in the wagon itself. They are traveling on a smaller road heading for one of the nearby farms.

[Miltonian]

Excellent. Chaarix's gaze follows the man across the landscape. She intends to follow him, out of sight if possible, and wait to spring out upon him once he reaches some isolated stretch of road. If no likely opportunity appears, she will wait until he reaches his farm before swooping down and landing in front of his wagon.