The dragon had been turned to stone in order to preserve him until a cure was found. Trey was impressed, to say the least. Stone is a very advanced spell, and until now he didn't think it had any use outside of combat.
"That's an interesting way to use that spell." Trey said. "I don't think I've ever seen it used outside of combat before now."

They could now focus on their other task without worrying about the dragon reanimating. There were two places that the egg could possibly be, so in order to find it as quickly as possible, it was best to split up.
"We should split up into two groups." Trey said. "Three of us go to the bar, and the other three go to the villagers. It'll get the job done faster."

It seemed like the consensus was that we'd have to split up to find the egg, and with technology and magic where they were at the moment, we might have trouble actually communicating with one another... unless... "Splitting up sounds like a good idea, but... we're going to split into two groups, one of three and of two, and Trey, I almost hate to ask, but, could you be our line between the two groups? I've heard that humans used unintelligent birds to carry messages to each other, and, because you're actually smart, we won't even have to write a letter. Sure, it won't be instant, but it would be a lot better than anyone else doing this... especially me," I then think about who should go where, and figured that with my directional skills, it might be best if I'm NOT the one who's wandering around town, as I'd likely end up somewhere back in Birchvale, somehow. Of course, this also meant that I'd be following someone instead of leading them, and, honestly, I have no idea why my teammates think I can lead them anywhere. "I... guess we'll split up like this: Deravan, Backstabs and I will head to the bar while Miles and Dorisma will wander around town. Obviously, Trey will be the messenger. If you want to signal Trey, Miles, you'll have to throw one of your daggers upwards, where he can see it... he'll start off following us into the bar, so he knows where it is, and where Deravan and I will be. Once we find anything, we'll regroup here, in the arena. Sound good?" I then waited for what everyone's reaction would be to my plan, though, it seems like this plan bored the dragon who changed his friend into a statue, as he seems to have wandered off during my explanation.

So, it was agreed that we'd go look for the egg now, while the dragon magician ponders on about what to do next. Actually, I still had no idea on what the egg was about. Though, after picking from scraps of conversations between everyone, I managed to piece together an idea of our current quest, which was to find a lady's egg. Alright then. That should be... trivial. Robert and our mage were busy discussing ways to approach the situation, but I was more concerned of whether we'd find the egg in the first place. This was a dragon stronghold, and for all we knew a dragon could've snatched it back to its cave.

"Lads, can I just point out that we're looking for a needle in a haystack?" I spoke out, unoptimistic about our chances. We would be... well, the egg could be anywhere, if not broken. Maybe it's just under a tree, maybe it's all the way at the edge of the stronghold. I saw this as a waste of time, but also a bit of opportunity to prove ourselves. (As in, we don't just slay things. This IS a roleplay world, right?) I shuffled somewhat uncomfortably at having to look for a lady's prized possession, but I immediately paid attention to Robert when he told me about trying to signal our bird, apparently named Trey. "Yeah, we got it. Where do we start around town, though?" I asked, looking at the petrified dragon and back at Robert. Seemed as if Dorisma (the ogre Rober gestured at) had an idea of where to go though, as usual. She was pretty direct and quite intimidating for a slightly shrunk Drake like me.

Robert suggested that himself, Deravan, and Backstabs would be searching the bar, while Miles and Dorisma searched the rest of the town. Trey would act as a messenger, allowing the two groups to communicate. This seemed like a decent plan, but if the egg happened to not be at the bar or with the villagers, it would be extremely hard to find.
"I have no problem with being a messenger." Trey said. "Having the ability to fly makes that job a lot easier for me than it would be for any of you."

Dorisma nodded, "Ok." and began walking towards the outskirts of the city with the plan to circle the perimeters. If the egg had been stolen then a thief would likely hang out at the edge of the city not the center. Of course that deduction could be entirely wrong and they end up wandering around pointlessly but the little drake didn't seem to have a better idea. Nothing lost nothing gained, she thought to herself idly as she began searching for a likely hiding spot for an egg.

Deravan listened to the plan that Robert had, and then nods, thinking.
"Good idea. I hope we find it at the bar, or at least get some clues. If some kobold did end up taking the egg... they will be turned to justice." he says, before getting ready to go and move out, wanting to head to the bar as soon as they could. And if a fight were to occur... Well, Deravan knew he could manage on his own a bit in battle, and Robert did have quite some spells he could use. Both of them together could do quite some damage, and with Backstab with them. He then though about something.
"Hey Backstab, knowing your abilities with your hands and eyes, you might be able to spot that dragon egg quicker then us in the bar. So I sudgest you keep a eye open for it ok?" he then say to her calmly.

I start following Deravan all the way to some bar, where monsters of basically every type were gathering around the tables, and getting drunk off of dragon-brewed alcohol. The place smelled horrible, and the all-marble structure meant that this was originally built by humans, and made into a bar by dragons. The wooden tables had several burn marks in them, and a few had pieces missing, as well, but the counter was both made of grey stone, and burn-free. Backstabs, who had earlier agreed to keep an eye open, almost seemed to disappear into the crowd, and, looking around, I couldn't find Deravan, either. I just walk through the crowd to get to the counter, where a green-scaled dragon shows up to serve me something. "What'll ya have, lizard?" ignoring his comment, I decide to ask "So... have you seen anyone leave their egg behind? It was during my match against that red dragon, got any info?" the dragon chuckled, and said "Boy, I get a lotta eggs that airheads leave behind for one reason or another, you gotta be more specific," I then respond with "A white dragon, worrywart, soon-to-be mother... probably has some sort of light-based breath..." the dragon looked around the place, as if to make sure someone wasn't watching, and whispers "Yeah, I saw her egg... someone left with it a while ago... couldn't tell who they were, but, I do know this, there are a lot of dragons that want her and her child dead... some sort of... let's call it 'political debate', yeah... that works... just be careful sticking your nose where it doesn't belong, do you hear me?" I nod, and look for my teammates so I could tell them what I just heard, and have Trey repeat that to the others.

We didn't have time to start planning. Dorisma left almost immediately (as usual), walking out of the arena with the others before parting ways. I followed so that I wouldn't be seen as a useless idiot, walking not side-by-side but behind her since she seemingly knew where to go. That and she was ploughing through the mixed crowd of townsfolk and dragons, so I figured not to block her. There was some interesting sights while we were walking, but it seemed as if we were going to exit the stronghold... hopefully she didn't think the mission was THAT important.

"So... you got any history or anything like that you're willing to share?" I asked as she stomped, wondering what was making her tick. We had some interesting sights but you could definitely tell things were getting boring; walking to an unknown destination, looking for a minuscule item that could easily be someone else's, having no clues what to actually look for... "What does the egg even look like?" I asked somewhat disparagingly, gaining the attention of a few draconian eyes and quickly moving forwards. Seems as if they had an established culture when it came to family values.

Trey followed Robert, Deravan, and Backstabs. Just from a short glance through the window, he could tell that that place was crowded. It seemed like most of the drunks from the village had come here after the fight.
"I'll keep an eye out for Miles' signal." he said. "I'm right outside if you need me for anything."
He flew up onto the roof, and started watching for the signal. Hopefully one of the groups would find the egg, or at least find something that leads them to it.

Deravan listened to what the people in the bar were saying, staying a bit hidden, not wanting to really talk to anyone right now. As he listens, he hears the conversation that Robert and the dragon had. He stayed quiet, waiting. As Robert was finish, he moved forwards, walking near him.
"They think of themselves all high and mighty with no problems, but they would kill a new born just cause of 'politics'. They are no better then humans if you ask me." he says in a really low tone right now. He just didn't trust those dragon's really, probably cause of how one of them could try and eat him just cause he was there and that the dragon would be hungry. Well... they would get a blade right in the face if they try that. He then look at the exit.
"So I sudgest if we want to find the egg to search the families that would have a grudge or something towards that female dragon." he then says.

Dorisma thought about the little drake's question for a moment. History hm? Well she doubted he cared much about her childhood woes, perhaps he meant something about this place instead? "History just sad. Not talk about. Know egg when we see it." she said in her spartan like tone of talking. It made her sound crude but if others thought that of her so be it. As for the egg, since there hadn't been a description she doubted they had one. The whole search was relying on luck as it was so it wouldn't be that much of a stretch to simply hope if they saw an egg that seemed right it was. Though perhaps it wouldn't be amiss to ask someone for help. They could do that after making a sweep or two. In the meantime she would search for anything suspicious or just eggs and egg shaped hiding places is general, maybe should would get lucky.

I finally make it back to Trey, who was outside of the building, itself, and before I could say anything, Backstabs appears behind me and adds "The black smoke dragons," I turn around, and ask "Huh? What are you talking about?" Backstabs then elaborates "The ones who would steal that pearl dragon's egg... the black smoke dragons. Most of them don't get involved in what these dragons think are politics, but the ones that do hate the 'pearl' dragons, which could just be any dragon that looks almost silvery white, with either an off-white, cream, or light grey underbelly. Oh, and, one way to tell dragon eggs apart from any other egg is the fact that they come in colors depending on what kind of dragon will hatch from it," I give her a confused look, and ask her "How... did you figure all of this out?" She responded simply with "I asked a few questions, and once they kicked me out, I listened in on their conversations, anyways," I simply turned back to face Trey, and said "Alright... would you mind telling the others about all of this? You know... there are dragons called the 'black smoke dragons' that might have the egg... the egg should be a silver or white color... and that there might be a little more to this than we think," I then headed back into the bar, just because I knew I wouldn't get lost this way, and repeated everything Backstabs told me to Deravan just so we'd all be on the same page, at least, we will be after Trey delivers his information to the rest of them. Even if kobolds were recently allowed to live here, I couldn't help but feel like I wasn't welcome here at this bar... I could only imagine how much worse Deravan feels about this place, given that trolls are considered snacks for dragons, or, at least, they used to be.

I assumed she was talking about herself as the crowd gradually thinned out, and the marble buildings became more akin to shacks and crumbled ruins. "Well, that's something we have in common I guess." I said, pretending it was normal to have a questionable past. I knew how hopeless this search was, but in the end at least we had some sense of duty. I mean, I felt pretty lost trying to survive off rigged bets and running from the law. Now, I'm still on the run from the law, I haven't done any sort of gambling since leaving the camp, but at least we get to beat up monsters and rescue princesse- never-mind that. Really.

"So... we've been walking for a while now." Okay. Notably, I was more tired than usual. That's just typical Drake anatomy being quite weak in terms of endurance (how I know all this is something you don't want to know). "We really ought to start asking around for lost eggs. I mean, what's the worst that could happen?" I asked, slowing down and wiping my forehead. It was pretty hot what with the sun high up in the sky. Hard to believe it was noon already.

Deravan listened to everything that was said, and nodded, thinking.
"So black smoke dragons eh... Seem the black and white-ish dragons don't like each other much... figures." he says shaking his head. Seriously, politics and hatred.
"I hope the others have better luck. We might need to go and observe around, try to find that egg by asking any white-ish dragons maybe, or other dragon's. I am just unsure about this. I do hope we find that egg and that it isn't crushed." he says, looking away a bit. If they wanted to find the egg, they would need to be careful, cause some dragon's might attack them for asking questions like these. But one thing is that the dragon's would have a bad time, with how the group was not normal monsters... We actually knew how to fight compare to lots of monsters. Well, time will tell what will happen.

The others had found some information that might lead them to the egg. Apparently it was in the possession of the black smoke dragons, who had a grudge against the pearl dragons. It would also most likely be silver or white in colour.
"Got it. I'll go tell the others." Trey said. He took off, and tried to locate Miles and Dorisma.

It didn't take too long to find them near the outskirts. It didn't seem like they were having much luck finding the egg, which wasn't surprising, since they didn't have much information about the situation.
Trey swooped down and landed next to them. "We've managed to gather some information." He said. "First, the colour of a dragon egg matches the colour of the dragon that'll hatch from it. In this case, silver or white."

"There's one other thing. We have an idea of who might have stolen the egg. The black smoke dragons have some kind of grudge against the pearl dragons, apparently to the point that they're willing to kidnap their eggs. So, if you see a black-scaled dragon carrying a white egg, then that's most likely our culprit. It might be difficult to get it back, though. Let me think for a second."

The dragon that stole the egg most likely wouldn't give it up without a fight. Miles and Dorisma wouldn't stand a chance if they were alone. They'd most likely need the entire group.
"Alright, I've got an idea. A fight's almost unavoidable if we want to get the egg, and we have no chance of defeating him unless the entire group's there." He said. "I'm going to change our plan a little. If you only need me, throw one knife into the air. If you need the entire group, throw two. That way, if things get violent, we'll be prepared."

Dorisma sighed, well they'd gotten nowhere so far so it seemed asking around was unavoidable at this time. She'd been about to look for a target to ask when Trey showed and imparted to them some valuable information. Personally Dorisma thought that she could take a dragon by herself and with Miles it would be easy, but better safe than sorry. "Good plan, will do." She said as way of response and re-evaluated who to ask. Perhaps a black dragon, however if they stuck to the good old honor amongst thieves doing so would be pointless.

She might ask a white dragon as they were more likely to notice a white egg, but by that logic any thieving blacks would most likely avoid whites. Then it seemed best to ask any of the other spectrum of dragons idling around. Finally given her shaky use of common, it would likely be best if Miles talked instead of her. Besides they would probably like it better if a drake asked questions than an ogre. "Time to ask, not black or white dragon." Dorisma said to Miles as she crossed her arms and waited, hopefully making her intent clear. He seemed smart, he would figure out a good way to go about it.

I had a feeling that this place won't really provide any more clues, let alone have the egg, however, if we were going to move, I figured that at least Trey should know where we are, so, I had to wait here for him to return. Backstabs was busy threatening the dragon on the other side of the counter with her dagger for a drink, as, apparently, she ran out of money back at the forge, and Deravan was... somewhere, doing something that I can't see right now due to his ability to just... disappear, sometimes. I walked up to Backstabs and tried to convince her with "Backstabs... he's a dragon. He's not going to get you a drink for free just because you have a dagger pointed at his neck," she didn't seem to believe me and continued to threaten the dragon who, as expected, just laughed at her obviously failed attempt to intimidate him. I then sat down and looked into my money bag... unfortunately revealing that it was just as empty as Backstabs' was at this point. Not even a single bronze was left after my purchase at the forge, a purchase which I won't actually see until tomorrow. I looked at the menu, and noticed just how expensive everything was. They didn't have a single drink priced under a silver, and some of their meals cost upwards of ten gold coins. The overall look of the place really didn't match those prices, but, I guess this dragon was just sort of greedy. Interestingly, the menu that was displayed over the dragon's head also had a line that read 'We do not accept bronze coins at this restaurant.' which seemed weird for a bar, and not even a decent-looking one... you'd think that they'd at least accept ten bronze as a silver like most places would, but they don't, apparently.

Tired and somewhat parched, I took a seat on an overgrown pile of rubble. I'd imagine it was a shame seeing all these buildings crumble for the humans, yet also joy for the dragons that drove out the ancient humans. Now wasn't the time for that though, because not only did we have a quest to find an egg but also fight off (somehow) some creeping evil that was expanding at a geometric rate. (How I knew that I didn't know.) Dorisma towered over many Kobold and other species that were around, at least the few visitors that would get curious and begin exploring the more empty areas. There were signs of life around, but it was like walking into a village that had just immigrated elsewhere. A few clouds of smoke rose from makeshift kitchens while strums of folk instruments flowed through the air. Sure enough, Trey had managed to locate us somewhere on the outskirts of the stronghold, passing by its massive walls and dropping down to pass us some useful information.

After some listening, I finally decided to speak up, raising my head. "Pardon? There's a tense atmosphere between two groups? That's not overdone." I let out some sarcasm, annoyed with the chances of finding a black dragon with a white egg being quite low. Who's to say he hasn't destroyed it already? Why didn't we leave this issue with the police/constabulary around here? "Alright." I said, contrasting myself against the backdrop of azure sky. Seemed to me that the valley was beginning to flatten around here. "Hopefully your eyes are sharp enough to catch two knives in the sky from all the way back." I hopped off the rubble and started to look for any further clues, sighting a few dragons wandering around but no white or black. "Those dragons might hang out in the stronghold more than out here." Again, I was peeved. But, there was always the chance that Dorisma was correct about a kidnapper being on the outskirts of the stronghold.

Deravan listened to what was being said, and then was going to go outside. He then heard Backstab and her threats to a dragon. He shook his head, moving to her.
"Bad idea Backstab to do that... leave it be ok?" he then says to her, before going and heading outside the building, waiting on Robert and the others. He kept a eye out for anything suspicious at the moment, thinking a bit also. Where the heck would that egg even be anyway. Sure, it looked like a needle in a haystack, but the problem here was more like no one would give them proper information except for relations. It was like no one saw the thief of the egg. He looked worried a bit as he looked around, wondering where the heck those dragon's would have brought the egg. In a time of crisis like this... It was just wrong to abuse of people's fear and weakness like this.

"As long as you throw them one at a time, I'll be able to see it." Trey said. "I'm going back to the other group. Go with Dorisma's plan for now, and give me a signal if you find anything."
He then took off, and headed back toward the bar. The chances that they would've found anything new in this short amount of time were slim, but the rest of the group needed to know about the little change that Trey made to their plan.

He landed near the entrance, and walked inside. He approached Robert, who was seated nearby.
"I had to change our plan a little. I hope everyone's alright with that." Trey said. "The dragon that stole the egg will probably put up a fight over it. Unless you've got another one of those potions, we'll need everyone in the group to be there. Miles will give me a different signal if that ends up happening."