The green shard draws Blezzy away from the older entrance and up a narrow slope. Wind has carved the summit into a bare stone platform overlooking the slums.
The gaunt laborer and broad laborer remain below beside the rubble, preparing to clear the old ventilation cut. Blezzy continues alone as the shard’s light points toward the summit.
A smaller projected form of the intelligent dragon waits beside a locked iron coffer. Several empty weighing scales stand in the wind, their brass pans trembling softly.
The Intelligent Dragon
You have arrived with the routes intact. Place any rare ore you still possess upon the scales, and I will pay immediately according to its worth.
Green light spills from the shard across the scales, then reaches beyond them toward the distant slums. The intelligent dragon’s projection turns, its gaze following the unseen trail.
The Intelligent Dragon
My ritual requires one final vein. The green-shrouded lantern has identified its presence, but not its exact entrance. It lies somewhere beneath those roofs.
The Intelligent Dragon
Bring me ore from that vein, and the coffer will hold your payment. The watcher will guide you, but the first choice of path must be yours.
✓ Quest Accepted
Locate the entrance to the final vein
“I look at the dragon. "You're a really pretty creature. Were you only humanoid, I suspect I would have to parlay with Lyra for a polygamous relationship." I begin, letting slip a flirtatious compliment without even thinking. "Unfortunately, as I told the laborer, I sold my ores yesterday and don't have anything today. I will report back here as soon as I've been to the mines." I give a seductive curtsey to the dragon - seductive, by human standards, since my clothing scraps are so few, but a dragon probably isn't impressed. After the curtsey, I turn and head back down toward the town. All my gear is still in Lyra's room, so I couldn't mine anything without going there first even if I'd wanted to.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -2)
Blezzy
You're a really pretty creature. Were you only humanoid, I suspect I would have to parlay with Lyra for a polygamous relationship. Unfortunately, I sold my ores yesterday and have nothing today. I will report back after visiting the mines.
Blezzy gives the projected dragon a seductive curtsey, her sparse clothing and confident gesture stirring the summit wind. The intelligent dragon’s scaled visage remains utterly untroubled.
The Intelligent Dragon
Your honesty is useful, and your compliment is unexpectedly charming. Return with ore, miner, and the coffer will answer your labor with payment.
The green shard flares as Blezzy turns away, scorching a coin-sized mark across her palm before settling beneath her clothing again. The contract accepts her promise, but records her departure.
The Intelligent Dragon
The path remains open to you. Do not mistake my patience for forgetfulness, and do not bring me common stone when the final vein is at stake.
Blezzy descends the narrow slope toward the slums. Below, the gaunt and broad laborers continue clearing the ventilation cut, barely glancing up as she passes above them.
The town grows nearer, and Lyra’s tavern waits with Blezzy’s pack, pickaxe, bottle, and remaining coin still upstairs. Without them, the promised mining trip cannot begin.
“As I enter Lyra's room, I place the green crystal inside my backpack. I leave my belongings upstairs in her room and head down to the bar to relax for a spell before heading out to do some mining. I may be kind of an idiot, but I'm aware that the green crystal is magical, thus, leaving it behind reduces the chance that the dragon can eavesdrop on me as I talk with Lyra. I pull my coins from my backpack and sit at the very center of the bar where Lyra is as close to me as possible no matter which side she needs to be on. "Gimmy a huge glass of whiskey, please, beautiful perfect Lyra, darling." I request seductively. As she places the largest size glass in front of me, I lay out all the events that have transpired since the morning when I told her to leave and let me handle people at the door. "That's how it is. If you happen to have any information on this 'rare crystal' that the dragon speaks of, it would speed the process up a lot for me." I say, passing a few more coins over to Lyra.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Mercantile, rolled +1)
Blezzy enters Lyra’s room, places the green crystal inside her repaired backpack, and leaves the pack, pickaxe, bottle, and coins upstairs. She descends alone to the bar.
She takes the center seat, keeping Lyra close on either side, and draws several coins from the pack before settling her elbows on the worn counter.
Blezzy
Give me a huge glass of whiskey, please, beautiful perfect Lyra, darling.
Lyra
A huge glass for you, darling. Sit comfortably, and tell me what trouble followed you down from the summit.
Lyra sets down the tavern’s largest glass and listens while Blezzy recounts the intelligent dragon’s bargain, the magical mark, the green shard, and the routes shown to the laborers.
Blezzy
That’s how it is. If you know anything about this rare crystal the dragon mentioned, it would speed things up. Here are more coins.
Lyra
I know this much: it is not ordinary ore. Green-lit shards are watcher-stones, tied to the dragon’s boundaries and hidden veins. Keep yours concealed, and search where green light touches old stone. The dragon’s final vein is likely marked, not exposed.
“My expression becomes sheepish as I recall the event at the summit where I called the dragon pretty. My mind begins to wander and I quietly blurt out a question that was forming in the back of my mind without thinking. "Lyra, if there were a magic in this world to turn a dragon into a humanoid creature, would you be open to a polygamous relationship with it and me?" I blush, but continue. "I...kind of called the dragon pretty when I was up there without thinking, and I wanted you to know because I don't want you to be upset with me if such a magic does exist and she were to come a-looking for me down the road." As I ask this question, I write down a single message on a napkin at the bar, which states to Lyra to keep the single piece of adamantite I gave her a secret from everyone and to keep it hidden until the dragon leaves, since I had omitted that single piece when I admitted to "stealing" the dragon's ores. The written message is to prevent eavesdropping on vocal words.”
FAILURE (Legendary Willpower, rolled -4)
Blezzy’s expression turns sheepish as the summit memory returns. She lowers her eyes to the whiskey, then quietly writes a second message on a napkin beneath the counter’s shadow.
Blezzy
Lyra, if magic could turn a dragon humanoid, would you accept a polygamous relationship with it and me? I called the dragon pretty without thinking, and she might seek me out.
Blezzy
I do not want you upset if that magic exists. Also, keep the adamantite I gave you secret from everyone, and hide it until the dragon leaves.
Lyra reads the napkin without moving her lips. Her fingers close over it, but her guarded look shows that the warning has unsettled her more than the question.
Lyra
Darling, I will not share a bed or a life with a dragon simply because she becomes humanoid. That is not a bargain I am willing to make.
Lyra
And I will hide the ore, but not pretend this is harmless. You have given the dragon a reason to find you, then offered her another reason to want you.
She folds the napkin into her bodice and takes Blezzy’s hand away from the counter, ending the whispered negotiation. The secret ore remains hidden, but Lyra’s boundary is firm.
“My expression becomes sheepish as I recall the event at the summit where I called the dragon pretty. My mind begins to wander and I quietly blurt out a question that was forming in the back of my mind without thinking. "Lyra, if there were a magic in this world to turn a dragon into a humanoid creature, would you be open to a polygamous relationship with it and me?" I blush, but continue. "I...kind of called the dragon pretty when I was up there without thinking, and I wanted you to know because I don't want you to be upset with me if such a magic does exist and she were to come a-looking for me down the road." As I ask this question, I write down a single message on a napkin at the bar, which states to Lyra to keep the single piece of adamantite I gave her a secret from everyone and to keep it hidden until the dragon leaves, since I had omitted that single piece when I admitted to "stealing" the dragon's ores. The written message is to prevent eavesdropping on vocal words.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -1)
Lyra keeps Blezzy’s hand clasped beneath the counter, her thumb pressing once against the faint contract-mark scar on Blezzy’s palm.
Lyra
I believe you, darling. That is why this frightens me. A dragon seeking transformation is not a tavern flirtation, and neither is hidden adamantite.
She rises, carries the napkin and her empty glass into the kitchen, then returns with the message folded inside a flour sack. The secret is concealed, but her whiskey stock loses one costly bottle when she pays a trusted cellar boy, a slight adolescent boy with freckled cheeks, tousled brown hair, and a rumpled tan shirt beneath a dark vest, to move it unseen.
Lyra
The ore will stay hidden until the dragon leaves, as you asked. But the cost is real: I must spend coin, trust, and a favor to keep it away from curious hands.
Lyra
She wants me to share her with a dragon, yet still trusts me to guard treasure that could summon one.
Lyra returns behind the bar and refills Blezzy’s huge glass, though she measures the whiskey more carefully this time. Her boundary remains firm, while her protection is quietly granted.
Lyra
Drink, miner. Then tell me what the dragon’s watcher-stone showed you. If we are hiding treasure, I need to know what danger may come looking.
✓ Quest Accepted
Protect the hidden adamantite
“I down the glass in one gulp, then push the glass toward Lyra in obvious indication that I am done drinking....for now. "There wasn't much for me to see. All I know is that the mountain where I usually mine is partly under the dragon's control now and somewhere within the dragon's boundaries of that mountain is the final ore it is looking for. I don't even know what kind of ore it is looking for. It has adamantite and orichalcum. The only thing I can think of would be 'Hihiirokane,' but I'm not even sure if that stuff exists!"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +2)
Blezzy downs the enormous glass in one gulp, then pushes it across the counter toward Lyra, clearly finished drinking for now.
Blezzy
There was not much for me to see. The mountain where I usually mine is partly under the dragon’s control now, and somewhere within those boundaries is the final ore it seeks.
Blezzy
I do not know what kind of ore it is looking for. It already has adamantite and orichalcum. The only thing I can think of is Hihiirokane, though I am not even sure that stuff exists.
Lyra catches the empty glass before it tips, then studies Blezzy over its rim. Her careful measure of whiskey remains untouched in the bottle.
Lyra
Hihiirokane is a name I have heard in old miners’ tales, darling. They call it a metal of living fire, rarer than adamantite and valuable enough to tempt a dragon.
Lyra
I cannot tell you whether it truly exists. But if the dragon already has the other ores, your guess may be worth following. Ask the stone where green light meets the mountain’s oldest workings.
Lyra
She has finished the glass, at least. Perhaps caution can still reach her before the mountain does.