The escaped creatures vanish beyond the lava river, their tracks fading into ash-dark reeds. The red-and-blue dragon withdraws toward its distant volcano, leaving the basin quiet.
Huantah crosses the cooled basalt alone. Beyond it, a sheltered basin cradles broad slabs of warm stone beneath an open, generous sun.
He settles there for several quiet hours. Heat seeps into his heavy frame, and the trembling in his scorched forward claws gradually eases.
Late light lengthens across the basin when armored figures appear along the upper rim, carrying spears, bows, and hooked dragon-marked shields.
the dragon hunters
There. The lingering arcane trace is strongest here. Is that the red dragon’s accomplice, or its wounded quarry?
The hunters descend cautiously, keeping their weapons lowered but ready. Their leader studies Huantah’s striped hide, then the faint violet residue clinging to the air.
the dragon hunters
Great horned one, we seek the dragon that attacked the riverlands. Tell us whether it passed this way, and we will not disturb your rest.
✓ Quest Accepted
Escape the dragon hunters
“If you seek the red and blue dragon it rest at the top of the valcano and is not a normal foe to mess with”
FAILURE (Great Willpower, rolled -2)
Huantah
If you seek the red-and-blue dragon, it rests atop the volcano. It is no ordinary foe to challenge.
The warning carries across the basin, but the hunters hear chiefly certainty that Huantah knows the dragon’s refuge. Spears rise, and hooked shields lock over their chests.
the dragon hunters
You speak as its ally, then. Dangerous or not, the summit is where our oath leads us.
Their leader studies Huantah’s scorched claws and the violet residue around his horns. Suspicion hardens, yet the hunters do not loose their arrows.
the dragon hunters
Still, you have faced it and lived. The western trail reaches the summit without crossing the dragon’s nesting ravines.
the dragon hunters
Tell us one useful thing: does it guard the crater rim, or the path beneath it?
The warning has failed to turn them back, but the leader’s question opens a choice. The hunters now possess a safer route, and Huantah can shape what they understand before they climb.
“It claims all of this region, most where the lava flows out of its lair”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled -1)
Huantah
It claims all this region, especially the land around the lava flows issuing from its lair.
The warning settles over the basin. For a moment, only the hiss of distant lava and the scrape of spearpoints against stone answer him.
the dragon hunters
Then the riverlands are not its only domain. Every outflow may conceal a hunting ground, a sentry, or a road to the lair.
The leader lowers the hooked shield a fraction, but two hunters tighten their grips. Huantah’s certainty has mapped danger for them, while deepening their suspicion of his knowledge.
the dragon hunters
You know its reach precisely. That makes your warning valuable, great one, and your connection to the beast harder to dismiss.
the dragon hunters
We will use the western trail, avoid every lava outflow, and watch the crater rim. If you speak true, our oath now has a safer path.