the   thorn produces delicate roses
sharp

Home sweet Monoceros. It'd been a while since she came here. Well, probably not more than a day, but given what she was supposed to do, it was long. A dry wind buffeted Sharp's face as she painstakingly dragged a rickety bone "cart" behind her. Little flakes of dried mud peeled off her scales and flitted away in the growing breeze. The cavelights were getting dim-- weren't they bright when she last came? Gosh, Dread must be waiting for her! Well, good thing his hoard was just outside the entrance!

Sharp steered her carriage slowly, towards the ever looming pile of gold and... other things. Honestly, she wasn't even sure what half of that stuff was. Oh well. The lizard spat her steering bar onto the floor and started waddling over. Was the dragon-friend here? She couldn't exactly tell from her low angle. She mentally went over her notes. Tell him it's from Aure, don't talk about collecty-friend or anything. She still didn't know who this "Aure" dude was, but she wasn't going to break a promise.

Here she goes. "HI! Scary-friend-with-wings!" Sharp screeched as loud as she could. "I got gold! Gold! And... not gold!" the strange band Collecty-friend gave her was way too large to carry up, so she hoped he could get it himself. "It's REALLY super big! Really cool!" her voice was hoarse from the shouting, so she just leaned on a nearby rock and waited for the dragon's response.

♠ ♥ ♣ ♦

@Dread

The dragon was not, in fact, at his hoard. At least, not at first; but Sharp's tiny cries carried admirably.

Within moments, the heavy thump of wingbeats approached, and then Dread swung into sight, banking, his tail and lower torso sweeping forward as he slowed. He lowered himself down with two great, surprisingly delicate motions of his arm--as if he were gripping air in winged hands--and then thumped down, rocking forward, those same wings shifting to take his weight.

When he waddled swiftly to his hoard, it was with somewhat less grace than he'd shown in the sky.

Ember eyes picked out, and settled on, the gold band at once; and he hissed a little, a sound of greed and desire. He nearly took it right then, but instead he remembered the rules: trading, not a gift. Sharp had gone to get things to trade with, not to simply give him.

"GOOD. I LIKE IT. I WANT IT," he amended, the implication being perhaps that if it wasn't traded for he might just take it anyway. He paused, and exhaled a thoughtful puff of hot air, then shook himself with a clatter of spines. "What do YOU want?!" he demanded--because that's how trading went.

@Sharp

the   thorn produces delicate roses
sharp

The faint flapping of wings came closer and closer. Sharp had to practically brace herself against the rocks as the dragon came closer. He waddled over, investigating the band, and she held her breath in anticipation...

Scary friend liked it! Scary friend liked her gift! So the Collector was helpful! Sharp puffed out her chest proudly as the wyvern expressed approval. "It's from Aure! Aure-gift!" she added excitedly, and cringed slightly. That was a lie, but the Collector told her to say it. She paused. "Oh, and I got a little gold too, not a lot... but Aure-gift!" She scuttered under the shadow of the kaiju to pick up her gold nuggets in her mouth, dropping them on the dirt.

What she wanted? Sharp almost completely forgot about that! Her crystal tail tapped against the floor thoughtfully. "Pretty gems! Pretty, pretty shinies! How many can I get for this?" she asked excitedly.

Hopefully a lot, of course but as long as scary-friend was impressed, she'd be content with any amount.

♠ ♥ ♣ ♦

@Dread

Without a word, Dread turned, and began to use snout and wing-claws to scatter out all of the gemstones he could find. He didn't bother looking back to Sharp, for now, just tumbling them all across the rock where Sharp could reach them. When at length he'd gotten all he could find (which wasn't saying it was all of them, given the chaotic jumble of his hoard) he shuffled back to face her, hovering hungrily over the gold collar and nuggets.

"Take all you want from that. Is this fair?" he asked, and he shifted in place, as if itching to get the gold into his possession.

@Sharp

the   thorn produces delicate roses
sharp

The dragon was impressed. The whole hassle with her cart had been worth it! Sharp greedily scampered forward as the kaiju spilled out a massive hoard of gemstones. 'So... so... many!' shiny ones! Dull ones! Ones that had funny shapes! The mud-soaked sungazer waddled forward and greedily started nosing through the pile. She picked out a pretty green one, and a purple one, and a pointy yellow one, and... well, lost track. They all looked so good!

Sharp turned around as Dread spoke, giving her permission to choose what she wanted. "Yay! 's fair, very fair!" she continued searching, too enchanted to see if he'd taken the artifact yet. A particularly shiny quartz stood out to her, so she rolled it away with her front paws and deposited it in her cart. The lizard did this another nine times, until the entire cart was filled with miscellaneous gemstones. Ten whole shinies! Today was certainly a good day.

Well, her business was done here. She had so many shinies! Waddling back to the front of the chariot, Sharp began dragging her trade behind her back towards her den. "Thanksie scary-friend! Good trade! Bye-bye!" Without another moment to waste, the little merchant left him behind, the rickety rattling of bones fading from the adit.

♠ ♥ ♣ ♦

Exit Sharp unless stopped.
@Dread

Dread paid little attention to Sharp.

No; his eyes were on his new piece: the thick, golden collar. It was scratched, battered, but to him it gleamed like the truest treasure; it was the largest piece of solid gold the dragon had ever seen.

He lifted it. Turned it in his foot-claws. Marvelled at it. And, after a moment, decided to try and slip it on. But where? It was too large for his feet, his head-...

Ahh, his tail!

He turned--but no, the blade of his tail was far too large. Whatever the Collector had planned, he'd drastically underestimated Dread's size. Dread was disappointed--but only a little; he took the collar, and then the nuggets; and then he took wing, heavy wingbeat thumps carrying back off toward his sky-ward den, forgetting the little lizard behind him.

exit Dread, too!

Received Item!

Dread has received an identified item from Sharp!

1★ Collar of Impending Victory A battered but still-gleaming collar of wide, thick gold. Seemingly unremoveable. Intensifies the results of defensive actions. Cursed. art credit: bg texture by Parée on Flickr

☆★★★ ★ ★ COLLAR OF IMPENDING VICTORY A thick golden collar closed around the owner's neck, not removeable by normal means. Its width protects against some physical attack, and it is enchanted so that any defensive action with a roll of 15 or higher may be considered to have the effects of a Critical Success. "I never said whose victory..." ELEMENT: MAGIC LEVEL: 90 DURABILITY: 200 SPECIAL: (CURSED): All Failed rolls for defense-oriented actions must be considered Critical Fails. MATERIAL: Gold (Enchanted) ATTACK: N/A ADDED: N/A DEFENSE: 5 WEIGHT: 3 EQUIP: Collar (not removeable) Currently owned by: Dread art credit: bg texture by Parée on Flickr