Set two weeks after the Trial of Hydra - Reclamation.
When Fleas awoke from her chrysalis, it would not be to the usual heat and light of the tunnel leading into Hydra.
No; instead, a shadow had been cast over her rest. A shadow that had arrived a day or two before her awakening... and just... sort of stood there until at last, her gemstone cracked. The moment she emerged--whether she was ready for it or not--the Masked Merchant would be leaning down, claws upturning and unfurling to reveal a chunk of purple Creedite in his grasp.
Offering it.
"Your... reward," he rasped.
"A Champion... of Hydra. Thelmar... the Magnificent." Masked face turned to gaze upon the trophies clinging to the Canis door.
"Celebrated... in life. Perished... far from here." And that was all; a gemstone given out, the Merchant turning to trudge off into the blinding light of Hydra.
Fleas' reward, along with her free Mutation Slot, is a
Give Life and this Guaranteed-Revive Creedite gemstone.
This Creedite belonged to Champion Thelmar (the Magnificent), a twenty-two-foot-long serpentine creature. Colored as the desert, he appeared almost as burnished brass or gold: shimmering, each scale capable of rotating outward to form a mirror-like flash of light to blind opponents or reflect light or heat away from the body, or even form crude camouflage. He bore a head at each end of his body (and often argued with himself), and a small pair of limbs near each end, allowing him to scurry in any direction. Bright purple eyes matched the heat pits along his face, capable of sensing body heat from quite some distance; tusks protruded upward past these, hinting at a surprisingly strong and crushing bite. The body was immensely muscular, capable of constriction or contortion, even forming shapes for fun; waste was excreted through expanding pores near the lower center of the body. Thelmar was noted for having extreme resilience to heat and the ability to retain water with extreme efficiency, as well as being able to sense vibration through the ground.
Should Fleas ask around among those who might know, Thelmar's reputation was that of a hero: a multi-time Champion of Hydra, himself gaining second place twice in his lifetime before 'retirement' to a better job. He died in a freak rock fall (or possibly jealous murder) some years later.
Thelmar was just a little narcissistic, but surprisingly adorable.
