I was actually somewhat disturbed by the apparent enthusiasm of everyone as they started to rip apart the wolf, as if he was someone they all hated. I couldn't complain though, since we were nearly killed by those buggers. I waited for my knife to reappear in my palm, slipping the rest back into my pocket while rubbing my forehead. I felt almost sick from my transformation, dazed even after the fight. It was nice to see the wolves no longer writhing, but I ended up feeling like I had just downed a whole bottle of wine or something. There was definitely a smell of blood in the air, almost a mist in this partially lit cave. Backstabs was alive but basically smeared with that stuff, and I hate to imagine the sort of infection she may get from those rabid wolves. "Well then... for all those unaware, it's me, Miles. I believe we have a ninja to catch, the next time we meet with him anyway." I said with a bit of annoyance. I shifted rather uncomfortably as I felt as if everyone was still treating me suspiciously, which was probably the case given Robert's position. "I don't believe we're gonna get much loot from those things, and we'd probably need to head back to camp given our thief's condition."

Trey seemed to be running out of magic, and Dorisma seemed to be taunting the thing, but, more importantly, Deravan found a way to finally end the thing's life with just one decisive stab right to the thing's heart... he then instantly got to work trying to skin the thing, but he only really managed to get his dagger stuck in its thick fur. The drake then tried to explain that he was Miles, as in, Miles wasn't eaten, but somehow changed into a drake, instead. Normally, I wouldn't believe him, as drakes don't typically get along too well with kobolds, however, the fact that he didn't try to kill me while I was weak, or even try to finish off Backstabs was enough proof that this drake, Miles or no, was at least somewhat trustworthy. He also seemed to be annoyed about the ninja, which implies that it was some sort of transformation potion mishap that had Miles change shape, and considering just how stable the 'random' variety of them were... well... yeah... I believed him on that. Heck, I heard a rumor that one goblin got changed into a bug for a while, and when he finally returned to normal... he still had an exoskeleton. He didn't live for too long after that, apparently there wasn't enough air, or whatever for him to breathe properly as some sort of weird bug-goblin hybrid, or maybe his lungs just didn't work when he changed back, which, again, goes back to just how unstable those things are. Honestly, only the worst of the worst kobold alchemists make those potions, and they even usually sell them on the street as if they were black market goods.

My train of thought was cut off by the mayor noticing our condition and saying "You heroes look a little ragged. We can set up camp here, if you'd like... I'm sure now that our villagers are sober, they can actually be talked into helping for once..." he then started giving orders, and various monsters started putting up tents in the big room where the treasure used to be... I made my way over there, and, thankfully an ogre picked up Backstabs, sparing me the trouble of doing so when I was as exhausted as I was right now. They set up a bunch of guards once everyone was in, and thankfully, there wasn't too much noise or even booze this time, and, while everyone suggested that I take a longer rest, that they had Backstabs' condition under control, I rested just long enough to replenish just enough magical energy to cast a healing spell. I then tried to sneak my way over to the tent with a 'HOSPITAL' sign over it, managing to not get caught by any guards, and, once I was inside, I used a healing spell on her, which seemed quite effective, even if I didn't actually cast a particularly good one... I then headed back to my tent to continue my rest, as if nothing ever happened... of course, I still kind of felt horrible from the fight, but, I could already tell that I was beginning to recover. Oddly, I could hear some of the villagers telling some sort of sad tale about how his family was torn apart, and how he was the last of his kind or something... of course, that story only managed to get a few of them laughing, and one other participant to point out that there was another 'brown goblin' in this exact group, not even five feet away from the story teller.

Deravan stayed near the wolves for a bit, actually wanting to gather the skin out of them more then anything. He started to sharpen his dagger more, getting it really sharp so that he would have a easier time to skin the wolf better. After that, he then started to skin the wolf, having a surprising easier time now to go and skin the thing up. Cut after cut, he skinned the wolf down, getting the whole wolf pelt easier then anything. He then went and attempted to remove the fangs of the wolf, only to be able to get one of the fang intact. Well it was better one fang then nothing. He looked at the villagers.

"Well, I am not sure how good wolf meet would be here. If you guys want to use it... Although might be best to cook it really well." he then said, before getting up and heading to a tent, needing to rest and think after all this. He hoped Backstab was alright. After all this though, it made him think a lot. How he acted there, how he was powerless to actually defend Backstab when she got hit. All this time he swore revenge over humans, using the shadows to try and take them down... but looking at all this, he was starting to have second thoughts... thoughts about his life choice, how he went and used the shadows, thinking only about killing humans before, stalking them. Then, there was that ninja, who could have killed them all, but instead knocked them down.

He sighed and then took out the old sword he used before. The thing was old and rusty, but it was one of the first weapons he used. It also made him thought about his life choice, about the path he decided to take. He could have gone and faced head on the humans, taking a more forwards path... take a path similar to Dorisma. But he didn't. He could have also tried to take the path of magic instead, even if it was rare for a troll to be a mage, but he didn't neither. Instead, he took a path that a lot of people would frown about, using the shadows to strike. Sure, today it had been useful for them, but Backstab still got bit and almost died on the battlefield. Where his dexterity with his hands failed, his intelligence saved him.

He just sat in the tent, unsure anymore as some villagers were walking around. What was he going to do. He was not sure anymore

I shuddered at the thought of returning. I know there were some Kobold who didn't exactly... tolerate Drakes; returning would probably end with me at the end of a noose. It was either condemning myself to exile or risk being killed.

Eh. I'll take my chances. I watched as the mayor stepped into the cave with two of his guards flanking him. He had apparently just arrived and was willing to move the village down in this cave, as well offering medical support for the wounded in our party. He looked around to inspect the aftermath of the battle before walking back to where he came from, orders echoing around the cave as it went from a dark void to a bustling camp. I did feel as if I was being eyed by several Kobold all around the camp, wondering why an old enemy was in their marked territory - at the very least they'd think of me as an devious banker, based on my clothes. Wooden carts and the sounds of fires roared in the cave, having nowhere to go. Meat on spits were common while a few caught birds were also cooked, as if this village was starting to run out of supplies already. Shadows congregated on the walls and provided stark contrast to the lights of our camp. And I still didn't give a damn about all of that, still seeking to make some sort of profit.

Now probably wouldn't be a good time though. Everyone was busy thinking about their next step, where they'd go. Maybe a rogue dragon would stomp on them, or an army of humans would ambush them. Even mere bandits threatened the safety of everyone around here. I just sighed and decided to take a seat on a large rounded boulder, propping my chin up with my arm. It was a pretty tough day, and was already starting to get to evening by the looks of the orange lights of the entrance. I looked from left to right at the camp, noting how the noises of laughter and drinking was beginning to die down, but mainly to look for anyone that was going to shank me or something. You never know, after all.

Deravan was able to finish off the wolf, putting an end to the fight. Now that things had settled down a little, the villagers had started to set up camp. There were several guards patrolling, and for once, the villagers seemed to be sober. This made it a little easier to respond to a potential attack, which was pretty likely, considering how much enemies they've fought in the cave so far.

Trey thought a little bit about the fact that he hadn't been able to land even one hit today. He really needed to work on his accuracy, otherwise he would be completely useless in a fight. There wasn't anything he could do about it at the moment, though. Sleep deprivation certainly wouldn't help him. He went into one of the tents to get some rest, hoping that whatever danger lurked in this cave wouldn't attack them until morning.

Dorisma sighed, well she'd hardly gotten a chance to hit anything at all. Those wolves were to fast and seemed to be able to dodge all her attacks easily. She found a convenient rock to sit on and viewed the campsite, this time it seemed she wouldn't have to do all the work. She waited, staring into the darkness of the cave, watching to see if anything else was stupid enough to attack them. Tomorrow they should reach the sanctuary or whatever they were looking for. Perhaps without any incident, though with their luck there would be at least one roadblock on the way. She looked forward to it.

The next morning came, but, I wouldn't have known that if a guard didn't decide to wake me up, shouting "Hey, hero! We need you to escort us! UP AND AT 'EM! STOP LAZING AROUND, AND GET UP!" That last part was practically a roar, and was more than enough to wake me up from my sleep. I then exited my tent, and groaned, not really starting off too well thanks to how I was woken up. Backstabs, on the other hand, seemed to be doing very well, and somehow seems to have made a full recovery, well, okay I kinda knew why, but I didn't expect a full recovery that fast, even with my help. I went back in my tent for a bit just to make sure I put on my armor, and just to make sure that I had my bag of holding... given its contents, I was almost certain that it would come in handy, if not immediately, then somewhere down the line, for sure. Oddly enough, the rest of the cave was quiet, as if someone or something defeated everything else that would get in our way for some reason.

Well, either that, or since the defeat of those wolves, things just knew to stay away from us. Sure, there were bats, but there weren't any giant bats that could actually pose any sort of threat to our group... even if more than a few cowards in said group decided to scream and run away at the sight of the flying mammals, which only caused more of them to wake up and start flying around... it was a vicious cycle, the more they screamed, the more bats they woke up, and the more bats they woke up, the more they screamed unfortunately. The princess finally said something about this with "SHUT UP, you cowards! They're HARMLESS, they eat bugs for crying out loud! Do any of you REALLY think you're f***ing BUGS!? Ugh, and you wonder why people call you stupid..." of course, she put that in just about the rudest way possible, but, after another wave of bats from the princess' own screaming, everyone finally shut up.

There it was... the light at the end of the tunnel... and once we made it out, the stronghold was already visible, with several dragons flying to and from it. It seemed to be an old human building, and, a human would probably label it as 'ruins', with what looked to them to be crumbling walls were really just dragons making the hallways and doors large enough for them to actually use them... of course, the dragons built over several parts of it, and given the difference in used materials (the humans used a somewhat rare, white stone while the dragons used the more common grey kind which could be found all around this place.), it was easy to tell which parts were built by which species. I approached the building, leading the rest of my group, and only grew more nervous as I approached it... the dragons SUPPOSEDLY get along with us kobolds, and especially drakes, but... they historically have disapproved of kobolds actually living with them, no matter what context for that living arrangement was, and they have yet to provide any sort of sanctuary to kobolds, even after hearing about a possible extinction of our species due to the humans.

That was just the kobolds. From what I've heard, dragons don't get along too well with goblins or trolls, and have often eaten members of those species as snacks, and here I was leading multiple goblins and trolls two of each of whom were actual teammates right into their jaws. Maybe... just maybe I'll be able to convince them to let us stay here, and MAYBE I could get them to not eat any goblins who might need to stay there, not to mention trolls. I finally get to the giant, obviously-dragon-built door, and shout "We, the Kobolds of the forest of Yole would like to request sanctuary in this dragon stronghold!" apparently at least one of the dragons heard me, as the giant thing landed off to my left, and said in its typical growly voice "You require sanctuary? Hmph... you 'kobolds' are supposed to be dragons, why can't you fend for yourselves?" I then answered "The humans... they're stronger than us, but, not me, for I have killed at least one of them," the dragon then roared, and said "Prove yourself in battle, and perhaps we could arrange something... you need only to defeat one of US in combat, but not here. We have a place for that," the dragon then flew off, and somehow, the door opened in front of me... the dragon on the other side of the door gestured for me to follow him, and so I did, eventually coming across what appeared to be some sort of gladiatorial arena... of course, I was on the bottom part of it, where the fighters were generally gathered.

Dorisma silently watched as the general populace ran around like headless chickens from fear of the bats. Silly things really, bats were about as dangerous as rabbits, and they were both good for eating. She idly snatched one of the air and broke its neck, then decided to have a morning snack. After everything finally calmed they made their way out of the cave and found the dragon sanctuary they were looking for. Robert lead the group in what seemed to be an attempt at negotiation. The dragon was scornful of their request but would acknowledge them if they could beat one of their kind. That seemed a little ridiculous, obviously they wouldn't be seeking protection if they were strong enough to not need it. Never the less Dorisma followed the dragon to an arena place. Dorisma waited in the fighter area impatiently for the fight to start, she'd always wondered how strong a dragon was. Guess she would get a chance to find out.

Deravan woke up slowly the next day, only to see that Backstab was back on her feet and better now. Thank god. If she would have died during the night for whatever reason, he would have probably hated himself for all this for not being able to do more. Then the group started to move forwards, towards the fort with dragon's flying around. He frowned a bit. Dragon's... great grandfather was killed by one. This made Deravan have a bad impression about all this. As the group continued to move, he stayed silent, his dagger's close to his hands. Just when the dragon said something about not wanting the kobolds in his village cause of how they were supposed to be dragon's, Deravan shook his head, before hearing what Robert said, and then staring at him. Him against a dragon by himself? Was he crazy? He hoped that he would not end up being dragon food after all this. He walked near Robert, seeing some dragon's eying him.
"Good luck... I hope you know what you are doing." he then says before moving backwards, staying in the shadows to go and look at the fight.

Shortly after everyone had woken up and began moving again, they came to the end of the tunnel. The dragon stronghold was now in sight. If they were lucky, the civilians would be able to stay here while the rest of them tried to solve the corruption problem. This wasn't very likely, though, since dragons tended to not get along with goblins or trolls. If the dragons did end up letting them in, there would probably be some sort of catch.

After some negotiating was done by Robert, the dragon agreed to let them in, if Robert could defeat one of them in combat. It was implied that he would be fighting alone, so once they got to the arena, Trey flew up and perched in a spot where he'd be able to see the fight clearly. If he were to lose, then they would have to find another place for the civilians, which would leave them much less protected.

Today, I woke up with a bit of a cloudy head. I still wasn't used to having the body of a drake, which were infamously weak and feeble. It didn't help that the rock-hard floor was separated by a single bed-sheet, leaving my back aching and my neck arched for a brief minute. I took a deep breath before gathering my belongings, my small infinity bag hanging off my coat and my knives still in my pocket. That's right, I slept in my clothes; this whole cave system was cold and damp, something we evidently forgot about during our fight. I rose off my 'bed' as if I had just lied down, slipping my head through the canvas of my olive tent and looking left to right. It seemed as if I was an early bird as barely anyone was wide awake, leaving a constant dripping of water from darkened sections of the cave. The sun still hadn't rose, but there was definitely a lighter shade of night for the time being.

We'll dismiss that though. Within minutes, everyone seemed to have gotten up at the peak of dawn, the sun edging its way into the cave and awakening anyone's tent it shone. I grumbled somewhat at the sudden drinking and banter being exchanged from opposite sides of the camp, as if this place wasn't already full of drinkers and cowards. Considering the current attitude of everyone around here, I knocked down my tent by (with lots of effort) kicking a pin from a pole, too tired to bother when everyone else was only willing to leave when a certain cart passed a threshold point. I began to work my way through the camp to my team-mates, noting their tents were empty or gone - they already seemed to be guarding a cart that was almost passing that point, leaving everyone else scrambling to their feet as I chuckled somewhat.

It was only about 10 minutes until we ran into our first threat. I must emphasise how everyone's a coward around here, too afraid to be swatting away bats for crying out loud. "Bugger off, damn it!" Some twat decided yelling out the name of his deity was a good idea in the abyss of the cave, leaving us with more trouble and a chain-reaction that only seemed to quill when the human spoke. She had a fair point when it came to those damn things, noting how everyone was really a coward at that point, waving their arms in the air and treating it like humans weren't the worst thing to befall us. I swatted away a few bats away there and here, leaving a few to twirl in the air and claw the walls while I began jogging and catching up to the others.

And here we were. Before us stood old marble structures that supposedly ancient humans built. Well, I'd like to imagine dragons built those before the ancient humans chased them out. Most of them looked like someone tried to prop up large pillars of rock and stuck a roof on top, not bothering with walls until they got inside the perimeters of the pillars. That's not mentioning how most of them seemed to be dangerously close to collapsing or having large sections overgrown and dug out. We seemed to be in a valley, a dark one at that. Despite the sun being higher than it was an hour ago, there was... the edges and cliff faces seemed to be charred or melted, possibly to reduce the chances of landslides. Everything didn't seem to shine and reflect light properly, possibly attributed to dragons being so mysterious. Either way, we didn't come here to describe the setting, did we? Anyway, there was quite a bit of dragon roaring and a constant presence of flapping noises, some quite fast-paced and others that could not possibly be attributed to the dragons due to the sheer pitch and volume.

Eventually, after snaking around boulders and remains of human civilisation, we came across a giant iron gate. How the dragons managed to forge this even with the help of other species was unknown, considering the sheer size and flawlessness of it. The gate seemed to be rusting and a bit dull, but that's just how iron is when exposed to the open. The atmosphere could be described as tense, with large dragons who probably never even seen the outside world engaging in staring contests against slurring drunkards. I just brushed passed an orc and made my way up front, mingling with the crowd and not with my party in fear of being spotted by... everyone. Let's just say a bunch of nationalists and a drake do not mix well. I had to hide my face under my coat for goodness sake. However, I had to ultimately break that disguise and move on forwards, realising Robert was being a jackass and risking his life for the sake of everyone around here. Just how the hell would he be able to beat a damned dragon? I ended up standing by our resident ninja and thief, almost making a joke about how similar our roles were but deciding to stifle myself. Things were quite serious here.

I take a few steps into the arena, though, some other dragon actually physically moved Dorisma out of said arena, saying "Have you no honor!? This is supposed to be a one-on-one fight! The fancy-looking kobold has already entered the arena, HE will be the one to fight!" once that scene was over, a somewhat large, red dragon flew into the arena to the opposite side, and the gates on either side closed, leaving me with the dragon... of course, there was still the audience, which included most of the villagers, several dragons, and probably my teammates. "I'm supposed to fight a weak, pathetic kobold? Hmph, well, this will be quick!" The dragon then tried to eat or bite me, with him flying right towards me. I, however, managed to dodge with a blackflip onto the dragon's back. Somehow, while I was regaining balance, I stuck my rapier somewhere in the thing's back. It wasn't anywhere particularly vulnerable, but, I did somehow manage to actually damage the thing. I pull my rapier back out of its back, and tried another attack, well, I would have if the thing didn't find me already. The dragon tried to breathe fire, but ended up just producing smoke which it promptly choked on. I tried to take advantage of this by trying to attack his eyes, but he quickly moved his head out of the way. The dragon then tried to throw me off of his back, but I held on using my rapier. "Grr... fight me like a dragon, you filthy lizard!" The dragon shouted at me, to which I responded with a quick stab from my rapier to his upper jaw. The dragon let out a roar of pain as I took out my rapier, and tried to breathe fire on me... which I evaded without much of an issue.

I then tried to stab at the dragon's wings, but unfortunately, I lost my balance, which also caused me to fall off of the dragon, though, thankfully, not only was he only a few feet in the air, but I also landed on my feet, so the fall didn't really hurt. The dragon flew at me again, and breathed fire on me. He then landed a few feet away, and started to gloat "Just like I said, quick, wasn't it?" apparently, he thought that I was dead from that fire, that his fire was strong enough to kill me with just one blast of it... well, while that would normally be true, kobolds are somewhat resistant to that stuff. I let him laugh, and gloat for a while before shooting a lightning bolt at his back, obviously surprising him, and, he seemed to take quite a bit of damage from it, as well, or, at least he seemed to take more damage from that than he did from my various rapier pokes. The dragon flew at me in a rage, and slashed me across the chest. I was almost done for, right then and there, I knew another attack would kill me, and the dragon seemed to know, as well. "See? You're WEAK, PATHETIC! This is why kobold will NEVER be true dragons!" the dragon shouted at me. I dug around in my bag as he continued taunting me, and, I pulled it out... the dragonform potion that the knight was going to deliver to some king... sure, I could have healed, but, I figured I'd still be able to do that as a dragon. I then responded to one of the dragon's taunts with "You know... I hear they make a remedy for that little problem," I then drink the potion, and instantly started to feel its effects. Thankfully, my armor, like most armor was enchanted in such a way that it won't get in my way as I change.

The transformation was fairly painful at first, but that pain faded pretty quickly, though, what didn't fade or go away was the fact that I had to move around on all fours, and had to drop my rapier and bag of holding. It was worth it, however, just to see the look on the other dragon's face when he saw the kobold he was fighting suddenly turn into another dragon. I felt stronger, faster, smarter... but, given my size, I wouldn't be avoiding any attacks like this. I used his surprise to my advantage, and healed myself, and thankfully, my magic wasn't blocked in this form. I let out a roar, and asked "So, what's this about me NOT being a dragon?" in an effort to make him think I could do this even without the potion... he didn't seem to buy it, and he flew right at me, claws at the ready, and while I tried to dodge, that didn't work, however... his claws just bounced off of my newly-toughened scales, and that gave me a chance to attack back, with a bite right to his neck... it didn't kill him, but it got pretty dang close. He was on the ropes now, HE was just about to die. He looked around for some other opportunity, for someone to help him, somehow. He tried a desperate attack involving every possible thing he could do, but I managed to actually fly out of the way of that attack. I then got an idea... I'll finish him off the same way he thought he finished me off. Flying above him, I breathed fire all over the other dragon, and watched as he burned... I started to change back after that, and thankfully, I had enough time to land. "You wanted a dragon, and I guess you got one," I said just before the dragon loses consciousness. Every dragon watching seemed surprised at this turn of events, at how I changed into a dragon, and then proceeded to defeat a real dragon... I simply walked out of the arena, making sure to grab my weapon and bag, and make my way over to where my teammates were. "See? I knew what I was doing the entire time... I wasn't about to lose this, you know," I say to, well, whomever might be in the audience, most likely Deravan and or Miles.

Initially, I thought Robert was a stubborn fool. I looked around to see whether or not he had 'an ace up his sleeve' as I'd put it, but it seemed as if he was relying on sheer luck and dodging ability. While that worked well for our last battle, it was unlikely it would actually dent the dragon's thick scales, let alone defeat him. I was certainly quivering somewhat, something I hadn't experienced a long time in my line of work. "So... is he really gonna prove himself? Like this?" I said, with increasing doubt as all I could do was watch and mutter under my breath. I wasn't really concerned, just more... disappointed. This wouldn't be fun to watch, anyway.

Within seconds of the gates cracking open and the battle starting, I could hear chanting and roars from both sides. Some were slurs, others were cheering. Whilst you couldn't tell by listening, you could make out an occasional face that was curious as to how a Kobold would die. I rubbed my cheeks while anticipating the battle with my party members, feeling the need to talk but instead focusing on Robert. He did really look as if he was sane enough to fight this thing.

And so, the battle began... well, it was heated. There was lots of cheering and booing (mostly booing because dragons have loud voices), while Robert managed to basically dance his way out of the dragon's attacks and stab him left and right. Problem was, he'd have to do that for a LONG time, and without getting burnt to a crisp. Speaking of which, some lad was handing out hot crisps as if he'd just made them - this place had already became a dedicated arena, much to my annoyance.

Before long, this duel got really personal. Robert couldn't keep his hands on the dragon long enough and ended up falling on his feet. Then, the dragon proclaimed victory, breathing a hot gust of fire that scorched a few hairs off the spectators. "You damn twat!" I yelled out, only heard by the people next to me since the crowd changed roles in terms of booing and cheering. I wasn't sure whether or not I was criticising the dragon or Robert, but in the end everyone began to leave and exchange a few notes of cash. Strange for me not to bet on this battle, since I knew Robert probably would've lost. In fact, very few people made bets on Robert, expectantly losing their cash and chuckling it off. I just sighed and looked at my party members, annoyed and preparing to leave myself. "Well, it was a good run, lads." I said, clearing my throat from my earlier insult.

By the time I turned my back, I could feel a large woosh of air that nearly caused my ears to pop. That meant something BIG had just arrived (and it doesn't take a genius to figure that out). "What's this now?!", "Woah!", "Who tainted my beer?!" was suddenly a common occurrence, and with that money was suddenly returned back to the gamblers. Some of them had to do so forcefully though, people too drunk to notice they'd even made bets. I had realised that there was now another dragon in the arena. "Wait, what's going on?" I asked, considering the possibilities of having another dragon on the field... did that transformation bomb have even worse/better side effects? It seemed as if the arena was still continuing without Robert being seen, so it was assumed that Robert had somehow reorganised himself to be a friggin' dragon. "I... well, this is interesting to watch now!" I suddenly smiled as I let out a hearty tone, not cheering but observing instead. Seemed to me that there was some power dynamic, a shift of cheers and boos from one side to the other.

It didn't turn scrappy but it was certainly interesting to watch two giant dragons biting and clawing at each other. Eventually, the fight ended with a single neck being pierced. "Ooooh, that's gotta hurt." I recoiled, maintaining normal posture afterwards and watching the fight end victoriously, a degree of irony as the the dragon was burnt by the flames. "Well... Scheiße." I recalled a certain remark from a while back, one of my first clients who happened to be amazed how he lost all his life savings within one day. Sure enough, there was lots of shouting and fights with the gamblers and their clients, a few people suddenly becoming the richest people around in the village. I was both glad and disappointed I didn't make any bets - even if I did win, the ensuing battle would probably get me lynched for being a 'greedy drake.' Robert tried to communicate with us, but I certainly couldn't make out his voice from the resounding cheers of everyone around. I simply did a two-finger salute and smiled at Robert for what he had just done.

Deravan looked at the fight for all this time, looking at Robert move quickly, dodging lots of the dragon's attack. Well, he was really doing well surprisingly, before that dragon then started to breath fire onto him. Deravan shivered at that, feeling lucky he was not the one that was down there at the moment. If he were, then he probably would have went and ran at the dragon screaming while his fur would be on fire... again.... Seriously, his fur did help him in cold weathers, but when fire came in.... it was really a curse. He sighed looking at the fight as the dragon then went and taunted Robert, about not being a dragon and such. Dragons... feeling like they are high and mighty. SUre they are bigger, but that did not mean they were stronger then the other races. What they have in size, they lack in speed slightly.

Just then though, Robert then went and did something that made all the people in the arena surprised. He transformed litteraly into a dragon himself! Talk about a turn of events there. Deravan looked at this with wide eyes.
"Well I'll be...that was his plan all along." he says, chuckling a bit as he then went to sit down again, looking at the fight. Soon the fight was over, and Robert ended up the victor in all this. He then got up when Robert walked to where they were.
"Good job Robert, although next time, maybe tell us your plan before doing sometihng like that. We though you were going crazy and stupid there. Going against a dragon all by yourself? You are lucky to still be alive!" he then says.

Trey was perched high above the rest of the crowd, which consisted mostly of civilians. All of the shouting and cheering from all of the the drunk townsfolk wasn't as loud from up there. If he were to sit in the stands with them, he wouldn't even be able to hear himself think, let alone concentrate on the fight.

He watched as Robert entered from one side of the arena, and a dragon flew in, landing on the other side. This dragon was several times larger than Robert, and could probably kill him with a single attack. He jumped on the dragon's back and began stabbing him with his rapier, which, unsurprisingly, didn't end up working. Robert got a few hits in, but he was soon thrown back on the ground. He took a hit from the dragon's fire breath, followed by a hit from his claws, which left him almost dead.

Trey thought the battle was over at that point, but he was wrong. While the dragon was taunting him, Robert drank a potion that transformed him into a dragon, much to the surprise of his opponent. After a healing spell, they were both on equal footing. It only took a few more attacks for Robert to defeat the dragon at that point. With the dragon defeated, they now had a safe place for the civilians to stay.

Trey flew down to Robert after he left the arena.
"I must say, that was some quick thinking with that potion." He said. "There aren't that many people that have faced a dragon one-on-one and lived to tell the tale."

Dorisma viewed the fight with neutrally, reserving any opinions on the victor. The fight seemed to go Robert's way from the beginning. The dragon barely managed to land two solid blows on Robert the whole time. For the most part the attacks were easily dodged and Robert whittled away at the beast until it actually hit him with something other than a weak flame breath. Then Robert pulled out his trump card and proceeded to easily obtain victory. Dorisma snorted, she could've won, and without some potion to boot. Still, he had won and that was all that really mattered. "Place to stay for town. What now?" Dorisma asked Robert or anyone else who felt like speaking up. They had accomplished their goal, given the town people a safe place. Now they would have to figure something else out, perhaps deal with the princess finally? Maybe one of the dragons knew how to get past the pesky enchantment.

"Oh, come on... if I told you guys about my plan, it wouldn't be a surprise, would it?" I respond to Deravan's remark about me telling him more of my plans. I then turn to face Trey, who was perched nearby, and add "Yeah, but those who have lived to tell the tale usually had an ace up their sleeve just like me," Miles just gave me some sort of salute, and Dorisma basically asked what we should do next, and I was about to answer her with 'let's get rid of the princess', but, a dragon landing near us cut me off. "YOU THERE! Adventurers! You have to help me!" I start to ask what his issue was, and instantly notice the weird, grey dust falling off of him... said dust seems to have taken some scales with it as it fell... and worse, it left behind zombie-like grey skin where the scales were removed. "I was attacking a human knight, and he led me into that horrible patch of grey... I eventually had to land to rest my wings, and, well... THIS happened!" I then finally get a word in by asking "So... what do you expect us to do?" He then instantly responded with "GO BACK THERE, FIND A CURE!" I... wasn't sure there would be a cure, and if so, chances are that R'lyeh was the only one who knew about it. "Uh... I'm not sure we'll be able to-" the dragon cut me off again with "Then bring back a sample! We'll do the rest here!" he was very loud, though, that could just be because the arena finally emptied and he never adjusted the volume of his voice. "I'll see what I can do..." I was somewhat reluctant to help the dragon, after all, he could collect his own samples couldn't he? Of course, it gave us a reason to leave, that is, after we get some dragon-forged weapons and armor.

Deravan was wondering what the heck was going on with that dragon. He seemed to have been affected by some kind of grey dust... which seemed awfully similar to what they had found in the cave before. He had a bad feeling about this. He moved close to Robert.
"It seems it is not only from that cave that we have that problem, but other places also. Are humans really doing this... or is it something else completely? I think something else is going on here." I say, frowning as I look at the dragon. I then breath deeply.
"We might need to go and get some weapons and armor before we even head out. Last thing we need is to get caught ill prepared." he says. Maybe he could get a new dagger in the shop... or.... He looked down a bit. Maybe a sword could be good to practice with. Probably not though with his experience with small weapons. It might be best he continue to use daggers, but deep down, he really felt... strange. He shook it off. He already had trouble last night with those thoughts, it was no use to continue with them.

A dragon flew in, and landed next to him. He seemed to have been infected by the grey dust, which meant that they would have to deal with an angry reanimated dragon corpse if they didn't do something about it soon.
"We'll do what we can." Trey said. "How far is it, by the way? If it's close, it might be spreading faster than we thought."

The dragons would probably be giving them some better weapons or armour. The dust had probably claimed even more victims since the last time they'd gone in there. There would probably be even more zombies wandering around, so they'd need to be prepared if they were to go back out there.

After walking through a surprised yet slow crowd, I was able to get across to Robert and everyone else. They were presumably planning to congratulate him for finding a home for everyone, but that quickly stifled. First off, there was a ridiculous shriek from a... human. The princess probably got afraid of a bug or drunkard or something, but when I turned to her to tell her to shut up, a giant shadow had enveloped everyone around here.

What appeared to be the most sick dragon in all of Trevary had swooped down from the skies, landing without grace and more like a corpse. Despite being covered in grey dust from head to talons, he didn't bother attacking us and instead requested assistance (though you could tell he was pretty aggressive). He smelled like death and had a few coughs before he spoke, reminding us how we still had some curse overrunning the lands. Apparently he assumed we were suddenly fetchers for others though, preferring to think there was possibly some way to reverse his condition without accounting for the fact we weren't doctors, nor well-prepared adventurers. Regardless, there was a giant zombie dragon that seemed to be getting more erratic by the minute, so we kinda had no choice in the say.

"Well of course it'll be spreading faster than we thought. The thing's probably spreading at a geometric rate, considering it spreads to the next adjacent piece of land or something." In all honesty, I had no idea what I was talking about. At least before I became a Drake; I think it's got to do with the way Drake brains are wired, considering how smart yet feeble their race is. "Right, we'll go get some equipment around here. Don't expect the best though, these things were made with huge claws."