@King Cosmos@deadpixel101@DracoLunaris

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"Nothing much, in fact, I'll come with you while you were busy building the tent, don't want the female dragon to be suddenly spooked when a small convoy arrives." She nodded at Sumiye's response, before quickly motioning both Zoe and Sumiye to go towards the hangar and prepare the tent making whatevers.

The hangar itself was busy with activity, the EVA crew rapidly being assembled for the mission as the team prepares various vehicles for deployment. Fortunately the rovers are lightly damaged, so that's some good news. Almira was busy inspecting the hangar bay when she suddenly smiled, she was looking at her tablet. Her fingers tapping a bunch of stuff into the screen, which then resulted in a crane lowering a vehicle, a vehicle that suddenly floated in front of her.

"Hello gorgeous." She greeted her Jetbike, boarding it and then touched her left ear, activating her comms device. "Alright, construction teams ready? Good. We should arrive in the site, build the tent, and then commence negotiations."

The group then promptly moved. Sumiye being tagged along with Zoe, and the EVA team bringing their own heavy set of rovers and other moving equipment. The small convoy then quickly arrived at the place where Galmira and Q-T was present, and quickly assembled a tent. "Forgive me for such a sudden arrival Galmira." Almira responded, jumping out off of her hoverbike. "But would you kindly talk with us inside this tent? It's getting dark and I would rather talk with someone in comfort and warmth than outside within the elements."

Galmira only nodded. Initially a bit shocked by the sudden arrival of the vehicles, she tried composing herself and responded curtly to the Captain's question. "I was wondering what those vehicles were, are they similar to carts perhaps?"

"You can say that." Almira responded, seeing the tent being quickly set up before walking towards the tent herself, Galmira in tow. "Sumiye..." She motioned the Engineer, thinking a little bit before nodding. "Perhaps you have question or two to the kind Dragon Lady inside the tent? Come in come in. Don't worry, she's friendly so far, no reason why she wouldn't be friendly, unless if you provoke her I guess..."

"Yes, miss Sumiye. I am not a brute." Galmira's head suddenly sticks out of the tent. "And please, come inside, it's a bit too cold for a human woman such as yourself no? Besides, I found the taste of human flesh to be disgusting."

Almira cringed at that last statement. How did she... nevermind, the negotiations must go on. Let's hope she doesn't eat her and the crew...

---

The tent was a significantly more ramshackle arrangement than initially thought. Prepared in haste and with whatever materials the EVA crew could gather, six plastic chairs, a foldable table, a bunch of battery operated heaters, and 4 canvas walls surrounding the Dragon, and the 3 humans on the other side.

The silence was also equally deafening, with both sides not really sure how to respond. Almira tried initiating the conversation, but her fear of potentially angering a Dragon overcame her and she just continued drinking water. Galmira was equally silent, not really sure just how powerful the might these humans wield. She just saw a bunch of vehicles, not powered by anything other than themselves, casually arrive and just as quickly left, beating even cheetahs and lions in terms of their sheer speed. Just what kinds of beings are they? And how in the world did they manage to get such advanced technology?

In the end, Almira's professionalism and the necessity to initiate some kind of conversation went through, and she tapped the shoulder of Zoe. "Yo Zoe." She talked in English, "Talk to her about the plantlife thingy girl. It's just like what we agreed on right? C'mon, I don't wanna anger the Dragon right now okay?"

@Kumbaris @King Cosmos

---

Continuing her excellent tree impression, Zoe stood stock still as the events unfolded around her. Watching the fantastical creature transform, speak an earth dialect and act almost alarmingly hospitable with their presencse. As all this was happening, Zoe could only wonder, as a scientist, as an explorer, as a person....

Where did all of it's mass go?

She'd already pondered about it's diet and internal structure to support such a massive organic being, especially one that could fly. (Wings AND four other limbs? What a sturdy bones and bizarre muscle structure they must have) but then to take that all and...

"As for you Zoe. Can you come with me to the site as well? I think you can ask about the local flora in this region to the Dragon. As good as an icebreaker as we can get talking to this dragon, right?"

Zoe's eyes looked massive behind her glasses. She blinked once and looked to her sides without moving her head.

"Uh. Yeah."

And with that she was once again being toted around, onwards into a situation she was quite sure she wasn't qualified for. From replanting Blue Regalia's and Chestnut trees to being an ambassador between her species and magical fucking dragons. Of course she was mostly there to stall and make "small" talk, but it still felt like quite a "big" deal.

She took the time she could to get back to her room and quickly freshen up. Barely making it in time as the EVA crew was ready and shipping out to set up the meeting point.

As things were set up, Zoe felt rather vulnerable; most of the EVA team retreating once the tent was all set. Leaving for all intents and purposes, the captain, Sumiye, Zoe herself and a dragon.

They sat around a fold out table, on plastic chairs. The heat of the tent and coolness of their water making Zoe keenly aware of how the condensation made the receptacle slip in her hand. Something about it all seemed ridiculous. Shouldn't the first fomal-ish talks of this kind be held in some grand palace, upon silk cushions and a throne? This felt like they were a distant family on a last ditch bonding effort camping trip.

She tried to keep her expression calm and pleasant through the whole thing, though her brows shot up when the dragon referenced not liking the taste of humans.

Perhaps that should have concerned Zoe, but the first place it took her train of thought was "There are humans here. That's excellent news! If we were ever concerned about sustaining ourselves, we don't have to be. Are they as prominent as humans on earth became? What are their technology levels? Is Galmira a rare case in not eating them? Or is their existence fraught?"

A tap on her shoulder threatened to launch the cup to the floor, as she turned to hear her captain whisper in her ear. An event that would make spiders crawl up Zoe's spine itself in another context.

"Talk to her about the plantlife thingy girl. It's just like what we agreed on right? C'mon, I don't wanna anger the Dragon right now okay?"

Again Zoe did a double take with her eyes, but held firm. Just a small nod in response. The words "anger the dragon" echoing in her head. She turned in a measured way to the mystical blond woman sitting across the table. Everything in her body language read confidence, or at least gave off some sort of pressure. Zoe couldn't fathom that they were just as well trying to maintain the situation.

With an inhale, she began.

"Hello..."

Miss? Madam? Lady? which was most appropriate? Would she embarrass them by trying to kiss her ass or would she get them killed if she didn't? The dragon referred to Sumiye by miss through translation. That felt like a safe bet.

"Miss Galmira" She continued in measured lengths, allowing a comfortable space between her next words and the translator interpreting her last.

"I'm sure everyone here has many questions for the other side. I hope you wouldn't mind if I could start? I'm no great leader or master of technology like my cohorts. But I am a biologists. A botanist to be precise, but it is my job regardless to try and learn about different kinds of life. Is there any chance I could ask you some questions about your kind and any others of this world?"

The more she spoke, her curiosity edging her on, she began to kick into work mode. And the nerves were shrugged off with it.

Q-T did her deputy and held the tablet out for the dragon to communicate with her captain, looking only a little agog that the captain didn't even need the translation software apparently, which added ‘secret conspiracy’ onto the list of possible reasons things were so messed up. Or it was just a coincidence that she spoke… Q-T managed to stop herself from spiraling any further by checking the captain’s history and realizing that her speaking Indonesian was accounted for in her background, and this was probably a coincidence. Probably. Probably…

Also as someone with a (newly downloaded) third form of understanding of the language, she could tell that the pair’s versions were fairly heavily mismatched, which pushed things further into the weird coincidence territory, though she wasn't ruling out anything. Anyway, while the bot was busy acting as a tablet nightstand and hypothesizing to herself, the captain and the dragon talked a fair bit and effectively bumps things up the dragon’s chain of command as well, resulting in the other two dragons leaving while Galmira stayed behind.

Then the Captain’s line dropped quite suddenly.

”um…” Q-T said as both of them became a touch confused as to what had happened. ”Let me just” Q-T said before pinging the com’s officer with questions again and being caught up to speed with the plan.

”oh, ok so we’re going to set up a meeting place for you” she informed the dragon, before glancing back and seeing some of the EVA crew hesitantly poking their heads out of an airlock to see if the dragon was gone, and then gesturing to each other while they decided where to set up the requested tent.

”So, ah, let's start heading over? I can ask them to bring you something to eat and/or drink if you want?” she asked, which got them into a very light conversation about their culture’s/world's various kinds of food and drink, one made a touch awkward by Q-T not being able to offer anything other than an academic understanding of such things when it came to anything other than Ai-lcohol, which carried them till they parted ways and the dragon stepped away to meet the captain in person.

---

A few minutes later they’d set up the outdoor meeting spot. As setting up reception areas for diplomatic events was not something they had proper equipment for, said meeting spot ended up being an rapid assembly emergency shelter gussied up with various furnishings salvaged from whatever they had on hand. So basically from the closest available beak room. Long story short, while the tent would probably keep them alive and warm even if the planet's atmosphere suddenly fell off, it wasn't exactly the most auspicious of locals for humanity's first interaction with the representatives of an alien society.

Q-T thought Ai kind’s first contact had had a much more fitting local frankly, and so she had that to be proud of and show off, something she got to do while the department heads had their slightly awkward meeting inside the tent.

Having done their job setting up the meeting spot a fair number of astronauts found themselves mostly left to their own devices for the first time since the crash. This spot of unscheduled downtime resulted in the various half suited crew-mates gathering together on top of one of the large rovers (while keeping a few tablets monitoring the various deployed equipment on hand just in case they needed to react to an emergency) where they could do some dragon watching. That involved both keeping an eye out for the return of the ones sent away as messengers, and also watching a replay of Q-T’s own meeting with Galmira, which got the undivided attention of each and every one of them.

Well all except Neilsy who kept taking envious glances at the captain’s jetbike, which was currently hovering next to her own bike. Or rather looming over it thanks to Almira’s heavily armed steed being two too three times the size of the Astronaut's own ride.

The fight against the Kobolds had ensued as well as it should be. With Anki, Fei and eventually Srikandi joining the fight. The Ksatria Naga unsheathing her sword, smiling for a little bit at the sight of the Kobolds fighting her party, before joining the fight herself. "Take this!!" She screamed, catching a Kobold by surprise and then beheading him right off the bat. "YOU!" She pointed her sword at the Red Scaled Kobold, the largest of the pack and the one organizing the group's resistance against Srikandi's party. "I challenge you to a duel!"

The Kobold leader, clearly frightened by the combat abilities shown, is now visibly ordering the rest of the pack to charge at the group. With Srikandi herself replying in gripping her shield and proceeded to parry and counter the various strikes, stabs, and feints. The adventurer herself learned about a technique when she was in Himetsu, about the power of just reacting, the ability to use your senses to the fullest and countering your enemy's strike right then and there, and she used that particular technique to great effect against a great many Kobolds. A supposed stab on Srikandi's stomach was countered with her just simply moving aside, and using that momentum to swing her sword and slash the Kobolds backside, a stab on her back right after was countered with Srikandi turning once again, but this time clockwise, and using her body's momentum to slash a Kobold's head right clean off.

"I say again. I challenge you to a duel!!" Srikandi asked once more. To the tune of some very frightened Kobolds, her movesets, combined with Fei's martial arts and Anki's spells quickly dispatching whatever Kobolds there are, quickly signaled the Kobold leader that this adventurer's party is nothing to mess with. The Kobold quickly signaled a retreat, in it's own language, a series of barks and growls, and then the remaining Kobolds quickly retreated, disappearing out of sight as Srikandi's party rapidly tried dispatching the rest, abandoning the chase before quickly regrouping. "Is everyone alright?" Srikandi asked, her voice exuding authority appropriate from such a veteran adventurer. "I don't want anyone to get hurt right now, if anyone's hurt, then we must shelter for the night immediately. I don't want anyone limping around in this incredibly dangerous terrain now."

Just off of anyone's eye though, far across the mountains, a sight of what appeared to be a Younger Dragon is seen flying straight towards the party. Whatever it's intentions remains to be seen.

---

@deadpixel101@King Cosmos@DracoLunaris

---

The Captain began noticing Galmira's fascination. The Dragoness seemingly amazed at the arrival of the Convoy, the quick assembly of the tent, and now noticing the materials of the tent and looking occasionally at the heater. By the looks of it, she was perplexed at how something that doesn't make fires can still function as a heating device at all. "I have no idea how this device works, but it does intrigue me how an innocent looking box such as that can heat up a large tent like this." Galmira observed. Still staring at the heater.

The Captain kept her silence as Galmira then made another remark. "I am also intrigued at how those 'carts' of yours could even move without horses, or any beast of burden for that matter. Is it powered by magic perhaps? I still could not understand how something that imposing and huge could move at all. Do tell me human, how did you make that cart move by itself? That... 'rover' of yours right?"

The Captain still maintained her silence, still contemplating on the remarks Galmira made during the initial conversation. For someone that has encountered an interstellar civilization, probably not even thinking that such a concept is even feasible in the first place, the Dragoness is handling all of this really well. Just as the silence was about to deafening however. Zoe rapidly asked the question Almira's been hoping for. There ya go girl Almira silently complimented her, Break out of your shell! Or... whatever, just distract her from what I should be saying. I'm still trying to comprehend this entire situation. God, probably need to bring in my knowledge from my politician days after so many centuries.

"Yes my child, you may. We dragons are centuries, even millennia old. And we have met with a variety of disparate creatures, both thinking and unthinking, throughout our lifetimes. But perhaps, I need to ask you a question first Miss... Zoe? Am I right?"

"What is that thing between your eyes that you are wearing? I have noticed people using some form of lens for one that is nearsighted, but I have never seen such a variation of the lens like the one you are wearing. And secondly, 'biologist?' What is that? I may be aware of the term Botanist, but a Biologist? I have never heard any wise/ studied person use the term 'biologist' in my very, very long life. Could you elaborate what the term means?

"Oh, and also. Galmira quickly turned towards Sumiye. "Are you perhaps an inventor? Forgive me for my rudeness, but I have seen many an individual with dried dark liquid all over their faces and appendages, usually busy tinkering around with machinery and showing their fancy new inventions to the wider world. Are you perhaps someone similar to that?

Galmira's curiosity now burns inside of her. She has to figure out just who these humans are, her glowy and enlarged eyes showing off as she asked the Commonwealth party question after question.

There wasn’t much reason for Sumiye to be here, truth be told; setting up a tent like this didn’t need the Chief Engineer to oversee it, acting or otherwise, or even a regular engineer. That was why she’d passed the request along to the EVA teams, yet she’d ended up coming along anyway. Her presence hadn’t been explicitly requested by the captain either, since diplomacy wasn’t exactly her forte. But since the captain was the one who dragged her out here, she wasn’t not requested to be here either.

As acting-Chief she probably should have been back at the ship monitoring and organising repairs, but there wasn’t much reason for her to be there either; her unexpected promotion meant she was spending more of her time rounding people up and reading reports than getting her hands dirty now. Farris had taken over her duties in the engine section and was doing a good job of it so far, the rest of the teams knew what they were doing without her looking over their shoulders, so unless she wanted to grab and wrench and chip in she had little to do right now.

Little to do but watch the captain and the botanist nervously converse with a creature that casually broke the laws of physics and offhandedly confessed to knowing that people meat tasted like. Sumiye should probably be a little flustered by those things as well, but this was still feeling a little too surreal right nor for the panic to have really set in yet. She just stood by, watching as Zoe fielded questions with the giant lizard in human form.

Then it was her turn and the dragon turned to face her. Sumiye stuffed her hands into her pockets at the mentioned of the discolouration on her fingertips; oil and grease tended to linger no matter what kind of soap she used and getting the stains out of her plastic hand was probably impossible. She long gotten past the point of being self-conscious of it, but having it so bluntly pointed out still felt a little uncomfortable. “I’m an engineer. That means I try and keep all these fancy things from breaking and fix them when that’s not possible.”

Now that Galmira had addressed her directly, Sumiye felt it was safe to ask a few questions of her own. She wanted to ask about the kind of technologies this world had to offer; not just out of curiosity of course, her main priority was getting the Thucydides working again and knowing what resources were available would help with that. Even if take-off was impossible, radioing for help wasn’t. It was probably too much to ask that they would know how to fix an FTL drive or have a means of long-range communication they could borrow, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t help in other ways.

Galmira had mentioned horse-drawn carts however, so she wasn’t getting her hopes up.

“The rover is powered by electricity. We use a chemical reaction to produce energy, then use that energy to drive mechanisms that make the wheels turn. That’s the simple answer at least; I could go into a lot more detail, but that’s the basic principle. As for that thing…” Removing her prosthetic hand from her pocket Sumiye indicated the heater in the corner of the tent. “Also electricity, except we’re converting that electricity into heat energy. Most devices produce heat as a waste product anyway, so it’s not that hard to make heat the main purpose.”

Was that answer enough? It felt a little basic, but given the dragons apparent lack of knowledge of these things basic was probably better than nothing. “I take it you don’t have anything like this on your world?”

@Kumbaris

---

The battle had proceeded rapidly and ended quickly enough. As Anki had expected, the Kobolds were barely any trouble at all for the group of highly capable adventurers. Her own geomancy combined with Fei's martial arts and Srikandi's expert sword fighting skills made it very clear to the Kobolds just how utterly outmatched they were despite their superior numbers. It was hardly surprising. After all, one hundred ants are still just easily killed ants in the end, and in essence this one-sided "battle" (if it can even be called that considering it was closer to a massacre) wasn't very different from that. The Kobold leader were evidently at least smart enough to realize the hopeless situation that he and his brethren had gotten themselves in, as it soon signaled a frantic retreat to avoid an imminent total wipeout.

"Mmm." Anki mumbled softly as she watched the Kobolds running with their tails between their legs, some literally so in their panicked attempt to protect their dear life. She then relaxed her posture, letting her scepter rest slanted against her left shoulder. Since they've completely abandoned the notion of fighting and was now running away, Anki saw little reason to continue attacking them. "I suppose that is that then..." She looked around briefly, finding that the other adventurers with her were all pretty much fine as expected. On the other hand, Kobold corpses littered the area, soon to be consumed by nature to fulfill the circle of life as it should be. Satisfied with her brief observation, she turned to Srikandi as the party leader asked if anyone was hurt during the fighting.

Anki walked over closer to Srikandi, slowly shaking her head briefly before answering. "I am fine and unharmed, Ms. Srikandi... It should be no trouble for me if we are to continue our travel."

Of course, just like the others Anki have yet to realize the young dragon flying towards them, far away across the mountains as it was...

---

As the group began fighting, it became clear to Catherine that even if the Kobolds swarmed at them, bringing a group even bigger in size, they wouldn't stand much of a chance. After Fei's kick, Anki was quick to act, immediately impaling three kobolds with earth magic.

"Oberian efficiency... It never fails to amaze me!" Catherine said with a chuckle as she watched the three kobolds that Anki had impaled tremble for a brief moment before stopping all movements.

Unfortunately, for Catherine, the Kobolds did seem to be smarter than what Catherine initially thought. As Srikandi unsheathed her blade, challenging the leader once again, he immediately became aware of how hopelessly outmatched the rag-tag bunch of kobolds were against the adventurer's group, immediately ordering a hastily retreat.

Catherine, who had just dashed towards a group of Kobolds, was currently holding a Kobold in the air, firmly grasping it's neck with one of her hands as the poor creature, who had let go of it's weapons due to the sudden, violent impact, not even being able to react due to Catherine's speed as she grabbed it, continued to struggle hopelessly on her hands she watched the rest of the kobolds to run.

"What?! We were just starting! Well... This was disappointing..." Catherine said, sighing as she suddenly tightened her grip on the kobold she was holding, crushing his throat with a sickly crunching noise before letting go of the kobold's now limp, dead corpse.

"Talk about an anticlimactic ending... Yeah, I'm fine. A bit annoyed, but fine." Catherine said as she took off her gloves and stored them again inside her overcoat.

"I do have a few things with me that can help with healing if anyone gets hurt though." she said as she looked to the rest of the group.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After Fei's initial attack on the red kobold, he realized that he was still extremely fatigued from swimming all the way here. He has been in the worst situations and at least he wasn't alone this time around so he wouldn't have to worry about an enemy coming up from behind. When Fei is in a fight he never backs down no matter the conditions, but he would prefer to fight on a full stomach. During the fight with the kobolds, a woman throws him a bottle that was supposed to help with his fatigue, but he had never seen anything like this before.

Upon opening it, Fei would notice that along with the strange, bitter scent that was hard to properly identify, there were subtle notes of herbs and spices. The scent alone entered his nose with a burning sensation, almost as if forcing his mind to think clearer. Whatever that was, it was several times stronger than even the strongest 'tonic' that was usually sold by apothecaries. While it would definitely wake him up, he could feel only by smelling it that it would definitely have quite a punch to it. It would be smart to be careful when consuming it... but he didn't have the time to drink it slowly plus it smells nice he thought.

Once Fei had drunk the whole bottle intrepidly, he felt energy coursing through the blood in his veins as the liquid worked its magic in his body. The taste was very strong and bitter which caused him to gag, but he quickly composed himself since he was in the middle of a fight. He should have definitely followed the woman's advice because he has never felt energy like this before; it was making him really hyper as his body began to shake. He decided to try and expel as much of this energy as he could by using various techniques on the kobolds who ran to protect their leader. Everybody else was doing exceptionally well with their share of enemies making the red kobold very nervous. The red kobold ordered a retreat out of fear and whatever kobold that was left had soon disappeared with their leader. Fei relaxed a bit but was still shaking visibly from the substance he had consumed during the fight with the kobolds.

Fei turned to the group and said, "Well I'm not hurt but it was great fighting with you guys. It might be a good idea to camp since it'll be dark soon. I also seem to be shaky from whatever I just drank."

Fei put a hand on his head and said abashedly, "To tell y'all the truth I'm actually kind of lost and you guys look like good company so I hope you don't mind if I traveled with y'all for a bit."

His stomach growled again reminding him that he still needs food for all the energy he has spent that day and the martial dao requires a lot of energy to practice. He eats five times of a normal human being just because of the energy his body requires to keep up with his training.

"I'm also still famished so I hope you guys got food you don't mind sharing," he says with a beaming smile.

@13org@Shirly Swad@Medili

Srkandi felt it. A sudden rush of wind, the feeling of dread rising within her. She is not intimately familiar with this feeling, but her brain is already scrambling to figure out potential solutions. This is incredibly bad, she knows that an imminent danger towards herself and her party is coming. She has read many a tome inside her family mansion's library, stories describing a dragon's arrival, and the might the dragon wields when humans are obstructing an objective the creature has to go through, whole villages torn apart. Cities burnt to ashes, and only a combination of magecraft, martial ability, and a little bit of luck is enough to kill the rampaging dragon.

This group only has 2 mages, an alchemist, and 2 warriors. This is not a combination that she feels any confidence on facing a dragon. Even a younger dragon would be a mess to deal with. If it is an elder dragon...

"EVERYONE!!" She turned towards the party. "We must get out of here, does anyone know a place where we can hide? I know when we're in danger and my senses are telling me that a dragon's quickly arriving. We must find a cave of we're-"

A sudden, massive roar cuts Srikandi off, as a massive snowstorm suddenly blew snow all over the party. Blinding everyone for a second, before Srikandi felt her stomach drop seeing the creature that made that little snowstorm...

A dragon, yellow in color. Standing many feet tall above everyone, surveying the damage brought forth by their little skirmish a while ago. It looks like a Younger dragon, so Srikandi felt some comfort in that fact, but should he (is it a he?) opens his mouth and blasts everyone with an electric current. There is very little she can do to protect them. And Srikandi has no interest in dying right now, she has family, she has friends, and she has this party of hers that she needs to protect. All of them (except that half orc) are good people, and the adventurer quickly put her mind to work, trying to devise a plan that can get them out of this mess ASAP.

"Anki... Anki" Srikandi whispered towards the automaton as the dragon slowly combed through the dead kobold. "Can you silently prepare a ward spell? Like a magical shield that can protect us? Please make it as discreet as possible. I don't want to tip the dragon on what we're preparing.

"You know that this is no use, right?" The dragon suddenly turned towards them. "Do what you want, mortals. But those kobolds are the trip-wire for anyone daring to enter these mountains. I am pretty sure, that that little meteor that hit our great table is the cause for your party's presence, and honestly? If you just paid the Kobolds the toll, none of what I'm about to do to you now would've happened."

Everyone felt a sudden ping of dread inside themselves. "But, I am a merciful one, despite you killing my minions. I highly respect an adventurer's party that can show strength like that. So, let me repeat what the Kobolds might say when you entered this particular valley then. Pay the toll, and I will let you go."

---

@deadpixel101@King Cosmos@DracoLunaris

---

"Did you hear that?"

The roar was felt even as far as the Great Table itself. With everyone suddenly turning their heads towards the sudden rumbling and roar that even shook the plastic table. Everyone, with the exception of Galmira herself, was now much more tense than usual. "Uhhh, Galmira. Is that one of yours too?" The Captain asked. "Most likely." She replied. "A younger dragon by the sound of it, much, much younger than me. Only a few centuries old, probably out there charging tolls to adventurers entering the Dragonspine."

"Wait, adventurers? There are adventurers in this world?" Almira asked again. "This is really a fantasy world isn't it? We just crashed into a fantasy world of swords and magic and dragons...

"I may not be familiar with what you refer to as 'fantasy' Almira, but yes, we do have swords, magic and dragons. Why do you ask?"

"I... nevermind that, since you mention the taste of humans. I take it that this adventurer's party probably consists of humans as well, right?"

"Most likely, yes."

"Then I need to prepare a small expedition. You can't seriously expect me to just sit by and watch a group of humans getting mauled by a dragon right?

Galmira then went silent for a while, a silence that seriously did nothing to make Almira anymore comfortable. Just as Almira was about to turn to Q-T and tell her to prepare the rovers for a combat expedition, the female dragoness turned her head once more, her eyes locking into Almira. "You know, perhaps I can be of help. I am well aware that my silence may be uncomfortable to you, but dragon to dragon fights are generally verboten among us. Even with that, I can still take you there. It will certainly be much faster than riding your... self driving carts around in this terrain."

That last sentence stunned Almira. Is... is she really going to do the trope now? "Wait, you aid that I can ride with you? Like? On your back ride with you?"

"Exactly. It will be much faster, and if that brat takes a shot at me. Then the rules will be broken and I can assist you in the fighting."

Almira knew this is a bad idea, riding a dragon on her back in this snowstorm is a surefire way to kill yourself, the workplace safety department will have a fit should they hear what Almira is gonna do here, and she has to set a good example for the crew as well. She is playing fast and loose, and the reactions of the crew will be all over the place should she take up Galmira on her offer...

"Alright, so, anyone else wanna ride on the dragon's back?" She asked everyone present. Galmira not bothering to interject. "I'm going to bring my assault rifle and some combat gear, Q-T, inform the security team to set up an expeditionary force, and then tell me whether you want to ride the dragon on her back or not. Okay?"

”The heck was that?” Q-T asked as she stood up to try and look in the direction of the roar, only to be blocked out by the taller humans doing the same. She sighed, and then digitally pinged a seismic monitor attached to the rover, which gave her a fairly good read on the source of the disturbance, though not really anything about what it was about.

Either way, it pushed the lax attitude of the crews outside the tent back to work or at least alertness. The roar had made the recording of the dragons they had been watching far more real, and no-one wanted to be caught flat footed if one was on its way with the anger of that roar in its heart.

Conveniently this meant they also weren't caught flat footed when the captain exited and started giving orders. About forming an expedition to rescue a human adventuring party of all things. Oh, and also they were going to be riding to their rescue on dragon back, in order to save the native humans from another dragon.

”Ride the dragon… oh right the dropships are borked and we don't have much else goes fast except for” she rationalised as she glanced towards the jet bikes, and noted that the one she’d used to initially meet the dragons wasn’t sitting there anymore, and instead had its owner mounted in its saddle and raring to go.

“I’ll give you an escort, yeah?” Neilsy said, her eyes glittering at the prospect of racing the dragon.

“An escort needs to be able to actually provide support now, rather than be a liability like you and that sport bike’ll be,” Came the southern drawled words of the ranking security officer in the impromptu camp. Her name was Bonnie and she’d already been on her way before Q-T pinged her, because they only let people with their finger on the pulse of things onto the security team.

“Nah, see that’s where you’re wrong” Neilsy retorted, fiddling around and then pulling out an equally sporty looking rail-rifle from a specialised compartment on the bike and hoisting it one handedly thanks to her suit “I’m fully qualified to use this, aaaand I’m one of the top 100 Bikathlon racers in the galaxy, thank you very much.”

”You might need something bigger than that for this,” Q-T pointed out, not in the mind to trust that small arms were going to cut it vs a dragon if it came down to that.

”Speaking of gear, if we are riding the dr- if we are getting transported by Miss Galmira, then I insist everyone wears a grav-drop harness. We’ve got a few, should keep us on her back and they’ll also make sure if anyone falls, they'll have a soft descent.” Q-T insisted, slipping into an ‘Astronaut babysitting specialists with no space legs’ routine to handle the absurdity of the situation, before popping into one of the larger rovers and retrieving said gear.

She came out hauling two megafauna pacification devices, which looked like what you’d get if a missile launcher and a harpoon gun had a baby. She had one held each of her upper sets of arms, leaving the bottom pair free for reloading using ammo which was magnetically attached to her body’s backpack like power supply or, in this moment, holding a bunch of harnesses covered in antigrav modules.

Highly adjustable, the harnesses easily fit over the armor of the small crew of security personnel Bonnie had assembled for captain escort duty, who had self christened themselves ‘dragon-rider squad’, and it just as easily fit onto Q-T herself as well, despite her inhuman frame.

That left the last person left to get one who probably should not be coming but, well, orders where orders ”So… this is the point that some is supposed to insist you don't go because you're too valuable to risk, right?” Q-T felt she had to say to the captain as she offered her one of the harnesses, which got a chuckle from Bonnie and her team. The captain clearly had something of a reputation, at least among the security teams, for maybe not being the most personal-safety conscious person onboard the ship.

As they did the other half of the rescue team/escort arrived, which was a small pack of jetbikes, lead by Riley, that fit somewhere between Nielsy’s bike and the captain’s bikes in terms of size and function, but these were all a lot more rugged, practical and standardized in appearance and make up when compared to those two machines.

---

"Well... I should probably have mentioned you to be careful with it. It's the same formula I use when I'm too busy with my research to bother with sleeping... for a few days..." Catherine said, laughing as Fei Bai Ho mentioned that he seemed to be a bit 'shaky' from the potion she gave him.

"Besides, it's very difficult to find a formula strong enough to have any effect on me." she said with a smirk and a shrug.

Before the group could even discuss what they would do next though, a sudden, strong gust of wind and a strange feeling of dread in the air immediately told Catherine that there was something wrong... Mere moments after that, Srikandi shouted, calling the group's attention and saying they needed to run and hide now, confirming Catherine's suspicons that something bad was about to happen...

Unfortunately, the sudden roar that cut Srikandi off and the snowstorm that quickly followed it made it clear that that there was no time for them to hide anymore. As the dragon started to talk, fully displaying it's arrogance, Catherine couldn't help but roll her eyes, annoyed as she sighed. Such arrogance was exactly like the one used by many nobles and kings, something which always annoyed her to no end. Fortunately, in most cases, those arrogant types, be them humans or not, were often so self centered that it was rather easy to fool and manipulate them if you acted in the way they expected you to act and said the correct words.

"I don't know if anything we might have brought for our expedition will be of any interest to you... I mean... Other than my potions, I don't usually carry valuables around. See?" she said, looking to the rest of the group with a discreet smirk before giving a step forward, shrugging as she took one of the potions from her coat showing it to the dragon. What neither the dragon, nor the rest of the party knew though, was that the potion Catherine got was in fact, a very potent sleeping compound, that would immediately start turning into gas upon contact with the air.

"I do have some potions to serve as payment for your 'toll' maybe? Some energetic tonics, there are even a few hallucinogens that a few nobles like to use recreationally. Or maybe, you might be interested in this one? It was a request made by the royalty. Took quite a while and some rather expensive ingredients to make this perfume." Catherine said, as she and dangled the potion between her fingers before she 'accidentally' let the potion slip from her hand and fall to the ground.

As the vial broke on the ground, just a few meters away from the dragon, it's liquid started turning into gas the very moment it came in contact with the air. Thanks to the wind and the way Catherine positioned herself when she went forward to speak with the dragon, most of the gas went towards the dragon instead of the group. Despite that, they could still smell the rather sweet scent that the gas had.

"Dammit! This one took quite a while to make... Oh well, pay no mind to the gas. It's probably just going to make you smell good for a few hours or so." she said to the dragon, tapping her nose before she turned to the group, doing the exact same gesture, but with a slightly more serious expression, before she turned to the dragon again, feigning an apologetic expression. Now she just had to wait until the potion made effect. While it shouldn't take too long, considering how strong it was, she wasn't sure if it would be enough to make the dragon fall asleep. In the worst case, it would at least cloud his judgement, making him slower and more lethargic.

---

"I believe it will be a good idea indeed for you to come with us, Mr. Fei." Anki nodded as she responded to Fei's hope that he will be allowed to travel with the group. "As for food... Alas, I had unfortunately brought none with me. I have no need for sustenance, and I failed to anticipate the... Hmm?" She paused, feeling the rush of wind that somehow felt unnatural. It didn't at all felt like the usual strong gust of wind that can happen while one were traveling through the mountains; this one felt like someone or something had caused it. Most peculiar. She thought in her mind. It felt like that time the Lord of Zephyr demonstrated her wind magic... And if that was any indication, then that most likely means...

It was then that Srikandi suddenly shouted, mentioning the need for the party to move away from where they were as she had sensed danger that was likely due to a dragon heading to where they were. Srikandi's own words would then be interrupted when her sense proved right indeed, a young yellow dragon had descended from the sky, roaring and causing a brief storm of snow to be thrown around in its wake. The creature was young and small for a dragon, yet it was still a dragon nonetheless. Anki stared at the creature while brushing off some of the snow that had been thrown towards her, analyzing the creature curiously. It was technically not the first time that she had seen such a creature, as the four Lords of Elemental were all capable of conjuring mighty creatures shaped after these beings. Her instructor, the Lord of Gaea, once constructed a massive gigantic dragon made out of stones and earth; a feat that Anki hoped to be able to perform herself one day. Regardless, the creature facing the party had intrigued her. A dragon, alive and breathing, looking just like the description Anki had heard and read about many times before.

Anki remained calm, her posture relaxed with her scepter remaining at rest on her left shoulder. She had also heard and read that dragons, while often aloof and arrogant, are typically far from barbarians. And more than anything, they were people just like humans and the other races. Thus in Anki's mind, there were logically not a reason yet to believe that this young one would suddenly attack her and her companions. Her continued observation of the creature were then paused as Srikandi whispered to her. "Anki... Anki. Can you silently prepare a ward spell? Like a magical shield that can protect us? Please make it as discreet as possible. I don't want to tip the dragon on what we're preparing.

Anki caught on to the need for discretion, and thus simply responded back to Srikandi with a light nod. She took her scepter, holding it vertically in her right hand with the bottom of the scepter touching the ground. Preparing a spell silently was easy enough, and defensive measures were her specialty as the Scion of Gaea. The element of earth boasted some of the most powerful defensive magic, after all. Even as the dragon combed through the dead Kobolds, Anki gathered mana into Ur Terra. When the dragon then turned its attention towards the party at last, Anki simply continued what she was doing. Even as it yapped and proved the stereotype of dragons being arrogant, Anki merely stared at it calmly. She felt no dread even facing such a powerful being that had stated itself as potentially hostile to the party. This lack of fear were not born out of overconfidence or arrogance of her own; it was simply because Anki had never faced great danger before and her lack of experience meant that she didn't possess any instincts warning her of the danger. Most of the time this would be disadvantageous, but for this encounter her lack of fear proved beneficial as it allowed her to continue constructing and preparing her spells unhindered by worry and fear.

Still, she needed more time. The dragon had stopped talking now after stating its ultimatum. In that span of time, Anki had finished preparing two layers of magical defenses. The first was a spell called the Ward of Yggdrasil, which when triggered will create a green-hued near transparent magical barrier around the party; exactly the kind of ward Srikandi had suggested for her to create. The second was a spell called the Walls of Jörð, which when triggered will conjure thick and tall walls of stones to emerge from the ground that will protect the party in case the Ward of Yggdrasil was not sufficient. The third measure, she's still in the process creating.

Fortunately, Catherine then took the initiative to act. The truth was that the alchemist's discreet smirk flew right over Anki's head as the former then took a step forward and started offering her potion to the dragon. Regardless, it brought Anki the time she needed. As Catherine cunningly laid down her own scheme against the dragon, Anki finished her preparations of the third spell, the Thorns of Aranyani. This one, when triggered, will cause numerous thorny tendrils to explode out of the ground under the dragon, clutching at it and entangling it in a sea of thorns and vines. It likely won't cause any serious damage to the dragon, but that was not the purpose of the spell. Instead, Anki's intention with the spell was to hinder the dragon's movements and actions, thus allowing her allies to make use of the opportunity.

Perfect. All prepared without error. How interesting that what the books mentioned about dragons and their penchant for dramatic speeches are true after all... Thus Anki finished all her preparations. The three spells were ready to be cast and all she needed will be to unleash it. It took her a great amount of focus to basically reserve three spells like this, and thus she missed Catherine's nose tapping gesture as the alchemist finished her own trap. Fortunately, the potion wouldn't have affected a living construct like Anki anyway.

Anki's attention was now fully on the dragon, watching its every move. The moment it reacted with aggression, Anki will immediately trigger her spells. To silently signal to Srikandi that her spells were ready, she casually reached out with her left hand, tapping Srikandi's upper back lightly twice with her index finger.

@Kumbaris @13org @Shirly Swad

---

"So thats her? The dragon?" Shirley nervously asked.

"Yup."

"The dragon we're going to be riding on?"

"Yup," Thorin said again.

"Wasn't her name Galmira?" queried Meisha.

"Yup"

"To save a bunch of people from another dragon. Great," Tess grumbled.

"Sounds like fun," commented a grinning Garret.

The moment fell to awkward silence, prompting Garret to turn toward his squad, just to find several concerned faces staring daggers at him, "What? It's a genuinely new experience and we'll be helping others in the process."

Tess narrowed her eyes toward her squad lead, showing no effort to hide the contempt painted on her face, "I don't recall signing up to fight dragons or saving any nobodies getting into trouble."

"But you did though," Shirly quickly spoke up, "saving people is kind of our job."

"Yeah, but-"

"Not fighting dragons," said Thorin.

"-thanks Thorin. What he said."

"Yup."

"But Tessie!" Meisha interjected, "Think of those innocent people down there, having to face such a dangerous fiend by themselves."

"Ugh, I know!" Tess groaned, evidently being unable to argue with her sister.

"We're saving them then. Now shake a leg, will ya?"

It would be obvious by now that Squad Five was on edge for sure. Having crashed landed after a dubious incident with the Thucydides' FTL drive, marooned in an unideal and dangerous environment, meeting up with sapient-minded dragons that could shapeshift into human forms straight out from a fairy tale, and now tasked with taking on an actual dragon. Garret himself, even with his optimistic attitude, found the entire situation surreal and practically unbelievable were the living facts not presented before him. And there were humans here too? The prospect of that fact continued to drive the ridiculousness of their circumstances even further. Still, he shared the sentiment of Captain Budiman in that they had to help those adventures in need, and having experience with escorting research teams through dangerous areas on other worlds and responding to distress calls in the worst of environments and conditions, it was unsurprising that he and his trained squad was brought in by Bonnie to tag along with the Captain in this undeniably stupid and crazy endeavor.

When they arrived along with Bonnie, the squad had been greeted by Q-T, who had been handing out grav-drop harnesses. At least preparing for the stupid thing they were about to commit to was certainly better than going in unprepared, such as riding a dragon of all things.

"Thanks, Q-T!" Meisha happily exclaimed as she accepted her harness. Just as she nearly managed the harness around her armored suit, her head quickly shot up, "Oh hey, guys! When need to call ourselves something!"

Shirly looked over with a raised eyebrow, "Squad Five...?"

"No!" cried Meisha, "I mean, maybe? B-but we're riding on Galmira's back while she's flying and we would be swooping down to save those adventures! We have to have a heroic-sounding name!"

With a groan, Shirly lowered her head into her palms in disbelief, "How did Bonnie ever let you into our department?"

"She has a mean wrist lock," advised Thorin

Garret, suddenly feeling the need to comfort his right hand after recalling a certain training incident, peered over with a tense glare, "Don't remind me."

"Oh, I got one! 'The Wyrmslayers'!" Tess suddenly and unexpectedly chimed in.

"Our orders aren't to kill any Dragons, Tess."

Encouraged by her older sister's participation, Meisha jumped in as well, "What about, 'The Gallant Valkyries'!"

"Aren't Valkyries all women though?" asked Shirly, "Thorin and Garret are men."

"W-well, what about..."

"'Dragon-Rider Squad'", came Thorin's typical booming voice.

Everyone then fell silent, as if contemplating Thorin's suggestion. Tess and Meisha nodded their heads side to side, their chins resting on the webspace of their supporting palms. Shirly innocently looked up as if staying neutral, yet she too pondered on the statement. Garret on the other hand blinked and then smiled, "I like it", he said.

"Yeah! It suits us!" replied a jovial Meisha, along with Tess who nodded in agreement.

"Yup," acknowledged Thorin.

"Then its settled."

After another minute, Garret and his team, having equipped their harnessed and checked their personal gear, formed up and stood at attention in the face of their Captain. Garret took a step forward, and with a salute, he exclaimed, "Ma'am Squa-" Garret quickly stopped himself and re-oriented his words, "Dragon-Rider Squad reporting and ready to fly!"

The white-haired Pixie had left his home of the Deep Woods several days ago, given the task of investigating the massive meteor that fell to the south. Most Pixies were conservatives, wishing to keep the status quo, and this falling fireball was bound to bring change. Those more magically attuned among the Pixies sensed the coming meteor before it could be seen in the sky. All of their magical senses told them that this meteor would bring great change.

Personally, Dumas liked change, it made life interesting. So that’s why the meteor so fascinating to him. So he quickly packed light, with a cloak, bag of goods, and his trusty sword. He had told the elders that he would be traveling south, to take a boat to Pataliputra. But in truth he had a quicker route, as he knew where a few portal doors were. Dumas had hidden the existence of these ancient magical sites from his fellow Pixies, feeling empowered in the fact that only he knew about them.

So instead Dumas left the Deep Woods through the northern path. After a day’s flight, Dumas reached the foothills of the Great Northern Range. The air was crisp and full of snowflakes as Dumas looked for a specific cave. It had been a few years since he had been this way and frankly most of the caves looked the same. But after a few hours of searching, Dumas did detect powerful magic. He tracked this magic to a small cave a little bit off the path. To most people it would appear empty, but Dumas could see the glowing golden door that shimmered within.

Without hesitation, Dumas walked through the portal. After a dizzying sensation of being pulled out of reality and then placed back into it, Dumas stepped out of another portal door. He was now in a slightly larger cave, but still one that was cold. As Dumas left the cave he looked up to confirm that he indeed had traveled all the way to the side of the Dragonspine Mountains.

As he Dumas breathed in the cold air he saw that he was still a good deal from the top of the mountain where the meteor had crashed. The small Pixie was glad that he had brought a warm cloak with him as his wings helped him to lift up into the chilled air as he ascended the mountain.

Dumas found it harder to fly than he expected as his small, one foot tall body was jostled around by the fast winds. After quite a bit of this abuse, Dumas decided that he needed to take a rest. So he found a small rocky outcrop, one just the right size to shield his body from the winds.

Dumas spent a few minutes hidden behind cover, slowly trying to warm up, and eating a few rations. But once he was done eating, Dumas looked back to the mountain side where he spotted two groups approaching each other. As one group passed under where Dumas was perched, he could now see that they were Kobolds, nasty little creatures. Dumas was immediately concerned for the other group as he knew how deadly a Kobold ambush could be.

Deciding to warn the others, Dumas lifted off back into the air, only to be immediately pummeled backward by a wicked wind. By the time he recovered and caught up to the two groups, he found the Kobolds retreating, several of their number laying dead in the snow. Dumas decided to study the group who had dealt with Kobolds so easily. They all appeared Human, perhaps adventurers like himself.

But the he recognized one in their number as a Princess of Oberia, the nation Dumas called home. The Pixie then began to wonder what a royal was doing trekking through these mountains. Surely she wouldn’t of been sent to investigate the meteor herself? Didn’t Oberia have knights or mages they could have sent?

But the puzzled Dumas was pushed away by another strong gust of wind. The Pixie was immediately alarmed as he saw what produced the blast of air: a young yellow dragon. While Dumas liked to say that he never ran from a fight, a dragon was on a whole different level. Luckily for Dumas, as the dragon landed it didn’t seem to notice the foot tall Pixie.

Dumas hovered just high enough to remain in ear shot without being seen by the dragon. The young drake then said he’d let them go if they paid a toll. While this was technically extortion, it was more acceptable to Dumas then fighting the mighty lizard. One of the other Humans seemed to agree, offering some potions and tinctures. But Dumas didn’t believe they would of interest to a dragon.

Deciding to get himself involved, Dumas descended to the ground, landing next to Princess Khaltesh Anki. He then transformed into his human sized form, hoping that he wasn’t disturbing anyone, especially in this tense situation.

“Great dragon, I will pay the fee if possible,” Dumas stated, pulling out a coin purse, “I have some gold pieces. Dragons hoard gold right?”

Dumas always had quite a few coins on him at all, mostly in case of potential hedonistic pursuits. But something about this assortment of adventurers, and her royal Princess, made Dumas want to help them. Plus if he survived he could say he stared down a dragon.

@Kumbaris @13org @Shirly Swad @Medili

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As Fei was talking to the group of adventurers, Fei finally felt the presence of something he has never felt before. The woman who seems to be the leader, had just warned them of the impending danger of a dragon rushing over to them. But, there was no time to react as the dragon gave them no time to do anything, even Fei was surprised at how fast this beast was. He has never seen a dragon but has heard of their kind being ferocious, prideful, and arrogant. The roar of the beast brought goose bumps up Fei’s arms as he carefully examined it for any openings. It has become a habit of his to always search for openings no matter the situation or opponent. Even with the appearance of the dragon, Fei did not fret nor was he nervous or scared, he was excited that a new challenger had appeared before him. The dragon had also brought a snowstorm with it as it fell on everyone, annoying the martial artist who was in the middle of a conversation.

The dragon had said something to them but Fei doesn't really care at this point so he ignores it and starts thinking about how he'll fight this thing. It stands not that far away beaming the small party with its big eyes. His plan was to charge the dragon and hit it with everything he’s got left as he still had energy flowing through him. It was looking like he might actually pass out soon from exhaustion but now was not the time for that.

Fei looked at the dragon more seriously than he did the kobolds earlier and said aloud, “First it was kobolds and now it’s a dragon, must be my lucky day.”

Fei assumes his Suju fighting stance and continues to say aloud, “Sorry everyone, but everything in me is telling me to kick this beast right in the face.”

Then a woman stepped closer to the dragon as she accidentally drops a potion near it and suddenly turns to the group tapping her nose. Fei didn’t know what was going on, but he did smell the aroma that the liquid was giving off. Still, Fei was getting ready to attack the dragon so maybe the mysterious gas will distract it a bit from Fei’s charge.

Fei then begins to tap into his inner power, that usually remains hidden inside himself, as flames spread all throughout his body as well as a black silhouette begins to envelope his body. His eyes begin to glow red as Fei struggles to control the new form he has little experience using. He doesn’t like to use this form simply because it can only be used once before he collapses from using an overwhelming amount of power. It’s taxing on the body and Fei tends to use it only when absolutely necessary since he wants to master this form one day.

Fei then turned his head so he could talk to the party and said, “Alright, I’ve never fought a dragon before but it should definitely be fun, I'm gonna lay him out on the ground, you guys do whatever you want.”

Fei then recklessly charges forward with tremendous speed and kicks the ground, launching himself above the dragon. He then begins to spin in a wheel as he generates speed, falling towards the dragon in hopes to smash him into the ground. Fei doesn’t know if this attack will hurt the beast but it’ll keep it from flying off so that it wouldn't have an advantage. Fei aims for the head, hoping that the momentum from falling and spinning will be enough force to incapacitate it for a bit. The kick then lands on top of the dragon’s head with a loud TWACK, smashing it against the ground causing the ground underneath to crack from the force of the kick.

Fei then quickly jumps off and lands not too far away as he struggles to maintain his balance, falling to one knee. He watches the dragon to see what it will do next.

@13org@Shirly Swad@Medili@Martian

The Dragon seemed to scoff when the woman suddenly dropped the very obvious poison, and the Golem seemingly quietly casting out a bunch of spells. He wasn't so sure what those spells are, but it seems that these spells might hinder his movement for a bit. His pride would be his undoing however, as he slowly sniffed out the poison. Confident of his body's ability to take it, but then suddenly, as if from nowhere, he started feeling a bit woozy.

Is the poison powerful enough to make him woozy? Impossible! No sane human would be able to bring such a concentrated dose! Even still, the dragon's movement started becoming erratic. And then the sudden attack from Fei. Which knocked him down, face planting his face towards the Snow covered ground, alright, it looks like it's enough playtime for now.

Going back up with a sudden roar. He swipes his tail, easily knocking Fei's legs off balance before the tail swings again, firmly planting him into the side of the mountain pass. The mountainous rocky walls forming the shape of a human as Fei's impact left a significant dent. And then he proceeded to power up his breath, a powerful concoction of mana and electricity, while also swinging his two forward talons towards the adventurer group.

The fairy didn't even bother him, and his offers for payment was swiftly ignored by the dragon. Which unleashed a powerful breath of mana and electricity towards the group.

Which was quickly met by an invisible wall. A wall Anki quickly activated once she knew of the Dragon's intent.

"A wall of Yggdrasil, smart. But I've seen mages cast similar spells, it won't block me." He commented, before quickly bearing his full weight into the wall, significantly straining it, and it would've broken, had the Dragon barely noticed a certain Dark skinned woman exiting from it's walls. Barely out of the Dragon's peripheral vision.

A certain Ksatria Naga is barreling towards him, and vanished just as quickly as she appeared on his vision.

---

Srikandi had told Anki to activate the spell, an order Anki quickly obliged, and using her strong form. She ran straight towards the dragon as the thorns suddenly restricted the movement of the dragon.

It worked, worked way better than Srikandi had hoped. And she uses her experience to swiftly enter the Dragon's underside, before tearing apart the dragon's exposed underbelly. Taring doing good work as gashes were opened up all across the belly of the dragon. Srikandi would've killed the dragon outright if it wasn't for a talon that she didn't notice suddenly impacting her stomach. Strong enough to make her lose air (as well as cough blood), the talon quickly slammed towards Srikandi, throwing her away back towards the group. The dark skinned knight is okay, but she felt that something inside of her was broken, and not fixable in any practical amount of time.

But the damage was done. The Dragon was hurt, and was visibly bleeding, the sword-smiths that made Taring would've been proud of it's toughness, but Srikandi doesn't have time to ruminate on that, as the wounded dragon is quickly becoming even angrier at the group. Screaming in pain, before unleashing yet another wave of strikes hitting the magical shield the Scion of Gaea have set up. Not enough to break it, but more than enough for Srikandi to get nervous. Even a young dragon can nearly overwhelm such a powerful spellcaster. And so she has to think fast.

Thank goodness the potion from Catherine seemed to work wonders though, as his lethargy was quickly showing, the strikes of the Yellow Dragon, while powerful, is pretty erratic and not as impactful as it should be. The group would've been domed up in a rock wall if it weren't for Catherine's immediate actions when the dragon arrived.

Nonetheless, this is a situation that warrants alarm.

"Anyone here got any ideas on how to kill him?" Srikandi asked. Before coughing up yet even more blood. "I'm... not available to act at the moment, but the dragon is probably at his weakest right now. I... need some ideas." She stared at Catherine, Anki, and the new arrival that is Dumas. Fei's probably doing some martial arts strikes towards the Dragon right now, but in all honesty. She's confident that he won't land the killing blow.

So who will?

---

The fight had seemingly gone the adventurers' way, with the arrogant young dragon reeling from the combined might of the veteran adventurer, the alchemist, the martial artist, and the geomancer. The creature, raging as it was, had now reached its limit. Soon, with a final push from its adversaries, it will likely fall. One can wonder, had it came to regret its decision? Perhaps its very youth, for a dragon, had indeed been the source of its folly and forthcoming doom. Still, it was not yet dead, and was still capable of great damage if the party of adventurers doesn't finish it quickly.

Outwardly, Anki stood as solidly as she had before casting all her spells to support her party members. Petite yet unmoving, an automaton weighting a hundred kilogram, holding her trusty magic scepter. In reality, however, the process of preparing, reserving, and then unleashing three spells in quick succession had seriously strained Anki's ability to process the mana she absorbed from the environment in addition to exhausting the immediately available mana supply itself. In short, she wouldn't be able to cast any more spells aside from perhaps very basic low level ones for a while and she knew beforehand that this will happen. At the same time, the defenses she put up to protect herself and the party had nearly fully collapsed now. Yet it didn't bother or worry her how vulnerable she had let herself became; after all, she knew her role within this party. She believed the others will be more than capable to take to the offensive and take down the dragon once and for all.

"Alas, I will not be able to cast any meaningful spells myself for a while, Ms. Srikandi... But I am still able to provide aid." Anki picked up a sizable rock from the ground, grasping it in her left hand. She then turned her gaze towards Catherine, Fei, and Dumas. "Aside from my magic, I still possessed a rather significant amount of strength to do a certain thing... I will provide a distraction. May it help grant the rest of you an easier chance to land your attacks." Her left arm then rotated to the back in a doll-like manner. She suddenly briefly stopped however, as if she remembered something that needed addressing. Her head rotated sharply, her eyes looking specifically at Dumas. "Please forgive the current lack of introductions, good stranger. Rest assured, it shall be forthcoming as soon as the current matter had been settled." And with that, she turned her gaze back to the dragon while simultaneously rotating her left arm forward. The skull-sized rock flew through the air at high speed, propelled by the great mechanical strength used to throw it, heading straight for the dragon's left eye.

The Coup de Grâce, then, was in the hands of the alchemist, the martial artist, and the fey newcomer to deliver.

@Kumbaris @13org @Shirly Swad @Martian

---

Catherine let out a smirk as she noticed the dragon's surprised reaction as it breathed the gas. Truly, dragons were very similar to some nobles. So arrogant and proud that they thought of themselves as gods... Which only made it easier to strike them down. Surprisingly enough though, even though it was clear that the poison was working, it only made the dragon woozy, despite how concentrated it was, something which did made even Catherine a bit surprised.

"Hm... I may have underestimated a dragon's physiology... Interesting..." she said to herself, looking to the surprised dragon almost as if she was watching a test subject.

"Producing a more concentrated mixture, without making it lethal will take some rather difficult to find materials... Although, if everything goes right, resources won't be a problem after this mission and I'll have enough funds to make some very interesting toys..." she said with a chuckle.

Still curiously studying the dragon's reaction, it was only after he spoke that Catherine noticed the newcomer. The strange adventurer seemed to have appeared out of thin air and offered to be the one to pay the 'toll' in place of the group. Although it seemed to be already too late. Not only because the dragon would certainly be offended by Catherine's sleeping gas, but because of what Fei was about to do.

"If I were you, I would wait for the sleeping gas to..." Catherine began to say, trying to warn Fei about the gas, before he could rush towards the dragon. Unfortunately, she was already too late, as when she began saying that, Fei had already started rushing towards the dragon, jumping over it and smashing it to the ground with a mighty attack, having enough force to crack the ground underneath the dragon.

"Dissipate before going in..." Catherine finished her sentence only after Fei completed his attack, sighing.

"I mean, at least this will serve as an experiment. It's the first time someone who drank an concentrated energy tonic gets exposed to a very concentrated sleeping gas. It's a lot of stress to someone's body. After all, both mixtures were extremely concentrated... Since he's a martial artist, I doubt anything bad will happen, but I wonder for how long the tonic will keep him awake..." Catherine said, shrugging before she turned her attention to her newest 'test subject'.

"Fine... I wont just keep watching... If he falls unconscious before the dragon is dealt with I'll go get him..." Catherine said, already foreseeing the protests that would come from the rest of the party should she only keep watching.

"If you guys want to avoid an impromptu slumber party, I would avoid inhaling the gas. Unlike Fei who drank the tonic, you guys will definitely fall unconscious within seconds of being exposed to it." she warned the rest of the party, before she grabbed one more vial and threw towards the dragon, who was still a bit stunned thanks to Fei's attack.

The moment the vial shattered on top of the dragon, the unstable mixture inside it heated up and exploded with enough force to send a shockwave to even Anki and Srikandi, who weren't as close from the dragon as Fei and Catherine were.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After the kick Fei had just delivered to the dragon, it didn’t take long for the dragon to recuperate as he began his attack on Fei. Fei had barely been watching the dragon as it swiped at him quickly, he couldn’t even react fast enough to doge it. It had swiped his legs away causing him to lose his balance completely while Fei watched helplessly. He didn’t even touch the ground before the dragon swung its tail once again, hitting him directly in the chest. The impact caused him to fly into the mountain pass causing a human shaped crater as he crashed the rocky surface. He laid there as rocks nearby fell on ontop of him, thinking that he has never been pushed into such a situation like this before.

His recklessness and stubbornness has yet again put him in a situation that could lead to his demise. He still had energy coursing through his body from the tonic he drank and the gas thrown earlier was finally starting to take some effect as he struggles to keep his eyes open. Despite all events, he still smiled as he tried to catch his breath thinking that things could not just end like this. All he could do for the moment was watch as the dragon completely ignored him to fight the rest of the party of adventures.

The dragon had shot a huge beam of lightning at the party but it was for nothing as it was blocked by a ward. It seemed to anger the dragon as it tried to break their protection only to get cut up by the leader of the party with her shiny sword. Fei had never seen a blade like that before, especially where he’s from because there are many good sword smiths in his country. Then the woman who gave him the energy tonic throws yet another bottle of strange liquid as it explodes on the dragon’s face.

Seeing this party fight for their lives against the dragon had inspired him and he could help but feel like he was missing out on the fun. He slowly began to prompt himself out of his carter as he slowly got into his Suju fighting stance. The pain was drowning him as he moved by the inch but Fei ignored it as his excitement began to overflow. He couldn’t let everybody else have all the fun to themselves, he had to do something to end the fight now. He also couldn’t help but be a little annoyed that the dragon thought that a simple tail attack could keep him down. The flames within him began to burst out again as Fei forced it to come back. The black silhouette slowly covers him as he prepares one final attack on the dragon who has been stunned by the explosion. There was no better time than now since it won't take long before the dragon begins his onslaught again.

“I never really used this form more than once but now is not the time to hesitate…” Fei said to himself. He planned to use everything else he had left in him with a flashy move. Fei then screamed as he jumped through the air towards the dragon with his feet kicking in a wheel motion. The dragon couldn’t help but turn towards Fei as it had heard him screaming while trying to recuperate from the explosion to its head. Fei’ kicks began to connect as kicks got delivered to the dragon’s chest, pushing it back as each kick landed. His kicks began to push the dragon backwards as Fei was trying to push it far enough so the injury it received from the sword would present itself to Fei. The dragon struggled to keep itself from being pushed backwards but the force was just enough to keep it from getting control again. The dragon was then finally kicked into the side of a mountain just like it had sent fei flying into one. It laid against the mountain as Fei jumped back to get more momentum for his final finishing move. The injury was in clear view and Fei shot towards it with his fist bursting with flames almost resembling a dragon. He screamed, “DRAGON FIST,” as his fist connected with the injury, causing it to enter the dragon and finally doing some damage against the dragon. All that could be seen was a huge flash of heat as the dragon roared in immense pain.

Fei jumps away from the dragon and simply raises his arms in triumph and screams at the top of his lungs. He had finally fought a dragon and couldn’t help but feel relieved as the fight was now over. He stood there and slowly closed his eyes in exhaustion and yet his body did not fall so as to respect his opponent in battle. Silently bowing towards the defeated dragon, Fei whispered his respects and finally fell over to take a well deserved nap.

@13org@Shirly Swad@Medili@Martian

The sudden explosion and the punch from Fei is apparently sufficient to knock the dragon out. The creature staggered for a bit, still intent on devouring the adventurers who had crossed him. His injuries from the Sword Slash, the explosion, and the sudden punch showing in all the right parts. But then his movements became slower, and slower, and slower. Before the Dragon then crashed into the snow covered ground, breathing raggedly despite his prone position, and then breathed his last. Srikandi slowly went forwards, checking the status of the dragon, and the moment she saw the dead eyes staring at her. The Ksatria knew what had been done.

The Dragon's dead, the group has slayed a Dragon. And Srikandi gave the thumbs up to the rest of the group. "I have no idea how you'd managed to do it, but it seems that a Dragon has been slain by our hands. While in any other occasion I would celebrate, I suggest that we cover his corpse with snow and then try to move as fast as we can to the Table. It is best that we reach our destination before more Dragons arrive and probably see the fruits of our labour."

Srikandi then grunted in pain, the pain she felt on her stomach not subsiding at the very least. "I... I can perhaps set up camp here? Don't worry, this won't be the first time I have been camping myself. I do not want to slow you down at all. Just make sure to pick me up once you've seen what's in the great table."

As much as she wanted to see the sights of the Great Table herself, she knew that slowing down the team right here and now would be tantamount to collective suicide.

Oh, and before she forgot.

"You, fairie." She called Dumas. "I was wondering where the other adventurers are, but I did not expect that a fairie would be among the many adventurers seeking what has crashed to the table. What is your name, and what abilities you might possess? My name is Srikandi Nagasari, the Ksatria Naga of Pataliputra. I hope that you would join forces with us in our quest to the table."

The inclusion of the Fairie was honestly quite unexpected, and a bit surprising, while she is in no way familiar with fairies, Srikandi do know one thing about them.

That they are small.

And with that knowledge in hand, the Knight is not sure how to proceed with her next potential inquiry, perhaps when the group comes back Srikandi can ask that question. But right now, an introduction from the Fairie and a showcase of his abilities should be enough to make her satisfied about his joining of the party.

Not that she would exile the fairie should he showed himself to be an incompetent. They're not exactly in a position to choose the best adventurers right now, beggars can't be choosers.

---

@deadpixel101@King Cosmos@DracoLunaris@ShiningSector

---

The Rovers are prepped, the crew pretty much ready, Bonnie had been given the Green Light, and Q-T is all set and go for the entire op. Thank goodness the Gravity Harnesses are also brought by her, she has been Almira's lifesaver more than once during her pretty long career in the Navy. And now, with the Dragon Rider Squad also showing up, it seems that everything is all set and go.

Well, with the potential exception of Galmira's consent to bring about more people on her back.

"Hey, Galmira. Are you okay if I bring in more people in with me? It's one thing for me and Q-T to ride on your back, but what about an entire squad? I'll be honest, they kinda came here out of nowhere and started giving the name Dragon-Rider Squad. I think I need to have a chat with Bonnie about the importance of communications or something..."

She'll be honest, she was quite surprised when Garrett and his squad suddenly showed up, Drago-Rider Squad and all, and started asking for orders. she felt like the entire group just suddenly barged in, assuming that she wanted his squad to be present and escort her in the first place. It's a bit weird to be honest.

"Hmm. Well, we'll see. Take the Dragon-Rider squad into my back, with your 'Gravity Harnesses' and all, and we'll see if I can still fly." The Dragoness responded, suddenly transforming back into her bigger form and lying down. "Walk into my wings and then to my back everyone. And we can perhaps rescue this squad before it's too late."

Almira, shocked at the sight of her transformation, was weirdly enough the first person to walk towards the creature, Gravity Harnesses and Megafuna Pacification devices on her thighs and back respectively, before settling on a place near Galmira's neck. Comfortable, the 300 year old woman began issuing orders yet again. "Alright, Q-T, do you wanna come too? If she can lift both of us then Garrett's Squad can come."

She then touched her ear, a communications network was already set up in the minutes leading up to this moment. "Hey, Sumiye. Are you riding in one of those rovers or something? I think you might be interested in the terrain data collected form the Rover's sensors and all, should be useful in calibrating our vehicle's suspension for the terrain ahead. Oh, and Zoe?" She then looked at the crashed ship. "Can you perhaps prepare a small welcoming party for our adventurers? Like set up a room and make it homely and such? I assume that you've cleaned yourself up and set the botanical gardens mostly right by now."

The final moments before an op like this is executed has always been intense, the sheer amount of energy that is about to be spilled is nothing short of atomic. A wellspring of manpower, energy, weapons, and will is about to be unleashed into the direction where Almira wills it, and once everything is ready, she will not hesitate to order the commencement of the op.

Just a few loose ties to be tied up, and everything's set.