Realms of the Dragonsroad (PM me if one wishes to join)

On this day, a fleet of goblin pirates attacked a fleet of kobold ships transporting hopeful to-be adventurers to Dragsonroad.

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En route between the Floating City and Port Syndal

Welcome to what is definitely the worst day of your life so far.

The way things are going, it looks to be the worst day of your life period.

The boat that you are in was sinking, for one. A goblin was this close to slicing your face open with a scimitar, for another, before you both fell when the planks underneath your feet gave way. You fell into the water. It got crushed between a hull and a hard place. Your face had barely enough time to register being splattered with goblin blood before all light and sound was cut off due to the fact you were under water.

You screamed for breath when you resurfaced, scrambling, scrambling for something, anything to hold onto. Above you, a battle rages. History will record it as an eventual Kobold victory, despite being taken by surprise, but history will forget the blood, the splinters, the screaming, the screaming...

A fellow adventurer falls in front of you, struggling to remove her armour. She won't make it, you can tell as she disappears under the debris. Why did she choose to go on this doomed voyage? No one will ever know.

Why did you choose to go on this voyage?

As well as pieces of ships and pieces of people, various bits of cargo have also started falling into the water. For instance, that cage with a fairy dragon inside. Initially lucky enough to be on a floating piece of wood, said piece of wood was now tilting, tilting, and...

The cage, with its inhabitant, falls into the water.

The duergar simply sputtered and coughed as he was drenched in the water, Both a goblin and another adventurer being sent to their untimely fates before him. Had he been anyone else, he might have tried to save the adventurer and shown compassion, but Duergar were not taught care and compassion. Only revenge. However, unfortunately for Vankuhm, Swimming was not something they taught, either.

Vankuhm sputtered and flailed his limbs in an attempt to stay afloat, eventually noticing the cage. He knew the kobolds cared for their money, and he liked every leverage over the insufferable cheats he could get. He tried swimming a bit, quickly grasping it thanks to his much lighter clothing than the other unfortunate adventurer. He slowly flailed and sputtered his way to this ccage with the valuable beast inside, and tried to hold the thing above water, his dwarf-esque legs rapidly flailing about, hoping the kobolds would quickly have their victory and pull up the duergar and their loot back on board.

The events took place almost faster than the young butterfly winged, tiny dragon could handle! No tricks and illusions out of here anytime soon! Time to see what this change was and how it was made, she examining every inch upon the plank as it quickly began to churn with the water. "Whoa, WHOA!!" She rapidly darted from one side to the other trying to keep balance up until *SPLASH!* Both the cage and the dragon began quickly sinking towards the bottom as if it were being pulled by a metal unbreakable chain! She let out a tiny startled squeak thinking this would be her end only to be roughly yanked from her watery demise by a duergar. Upon reaching breathable air, she gasped and wheezed quickly taking this time to figure out how this cage was constructed and attempting to unlock it.

She figured thanking the small stocky human-esque figure would have to happen later but at least she could give him one less thing to hold onto. In her eyes, possibly alone, this war was pointless, just something else for them to whine about. (If she is able to figure out the mechanics of the cage, the following will happen: "Free! Free! Freee!!!" She shouted into the air letting loose a child-like giggle leaving the duergar to his doom but then quickly turn back having had some time to think that debt was due and attempt to help him as much as she could. If she could not, then she would remain in the cage spending her energy still figuring out how to unlock it.)

Uh.

It appears that kobold cage engineering is pretty sophisticated and devastatingly effective, resisting the fairy dragon's attempts to bust it open. In fact, the violent treatment the cage had received caused it to jam shut, making opening it normally a truly difficult task.

"Oi! Whitebeard!"

Fortunately, help was at hand, in the form of another adventurer, human, throwing a rope out at you.

Do you know this human? If so, how? Why would he risk trying to save you?

The 'whitebeard', as the other adventurer so elegantly called Vankuhm, generally avoided allegiances. But it wasn't unusual for him to be treated with respect due to his dwarven nature, and his armor and cowl hiding most of his skin colour. All kinds of random adventurers, usually hearty or foolish types that offered their aid in trade for 'putting in a good word for them amongst the empire'. An agreement that Vankuhm accepted, even though he had no standing or noteworthy presence with any other dwarves. if anything, it was astonishing that he didn't maul them at sight.

He grabbed the rope and did his best to lift himself up with the human's aid. However, he did not leave the fairy dragon behind. May he be damned if he wasn't going to give himself some leverage against the kobolds. Knowing those types, they'd likely ask for extra money for 'valiantly protecting the adventurers from the goblin attack'.

If Vankuhm couldn't drag himself up by the rope with one hand, he'd take a second to clasp a belt around one of the cage's iron bars, so he could hold it with two hands.

'Oh great...' She thought having made the situation worse. 'Ugh! I knew I should have studied those mechanics more!' She collapsed upon the floor despite the harsh lashing of the water being tossed by the Dwarf's uneasy movements due to holding the cage. She stared up at the roof of the tiny cage still curious as to why what she did didn't work. Poking her head out of the cage just slightly, she noticed someone toss the dwarf a rope and nearly sighed in relief! They'd be saved at last... but to what avail? She'd just be sold just as soon as they reached the land. Money was most important to this race, was it not? She raised her right claw and scratched her chin slightly letting the tiny spark of an idea ignite into a huge flame.

The tiny butterfly winged dragon's plan began to slowly unfold as she peeled the flesh away from her teeth in a sort of wicked grin.
((Sorry for the short post >.<))

"There we go," the adventurer said as he pulled Vankuhm out of the water, "Now let's teach these gobbos a les-" His eyes widened. "Get down!"

A hail of arrows struck the deck as the adventurer pulled the grey dwarf down out of the way. Both Vankuhm and the caged dragon were fortunate enough not to be struck. The adventurer was not so lucky.

Th smaller goblin vessel slammed alongside its larger kobold counterpart, causing both ship to rock and shake. Goblins started boarding the kobold craft, either swinging on ropes, or jumping directly from deck to deck. The fighting was inelegant and desperate as both sides used whatever they could get their hands on.

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Lore:

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Grab a weapon! Any weapon! Fight! Or not, it's up to you.

The (now dead) adventurer that saved you had a...

Oh. Oh. My.

Turns out the adventurer that saved you had a wand.



What kind of wand it is, though, you're not exactly sure...

With a dead adventurer body, Vankuhm decided there was not much point in being sophisticated in battle. Battle was a life or death matter, and there was no such thing as disrespect as far as he was concerned. Using the dead adventurer's body as a meatshield, he slowly moved his way to safe cover within the ship, preferrably not in the form of holes but in the form of some kind of cabin. Would any goblins assault him in his attempt, he would whisper his prayers to lady fortune and wave the wand towards them, attempting to use it.

Regardless if he was attacked underway or not, once inside a cabin, he would attempt to put the cage somewhere safe first. Sure, the kobolds might not appreciate him because they'd be too dumb to know he was the one who rescued the... thing... inside. But at the very least it'd be alive and valuable and he could go outside with his meatshield protecting his vitals, not worrying about a stray arrow hitting the cage and it's contents.

((I apologize for the wait.))

The fairy dragon sat against the back bars with arms crossed giving Vankuhm an awkward stare as he jostled her cage from time to time with his movements often sending her crashing to the other side knocking her head through the bars. She rubbed her head pulling it back through the bars with a fierce hissing "WATCH IT OR I'LL LET MY MUCH LARGER COUSINS EAT YOU WHEN YOU CROSSED THEIR LANDS EVEN WITH PAY!! Somehow..." She clenched her teeth through the last part glaring angrily not even knowing if this one understood one of the three languages she spoke. She quickly shrunk back to her side letting small amounts of the Euphoria gas leak from her small, tightly clenched dagger-like teeth.

She lowered her head holding herself to the cage with her tail and one of her front claws hiding her bluff as she knew her much larger counterparts would easily eat her without question if she went on their lands... When the cage was safely upon the shelf or wherever he decided to put it. Perhaps she could put her deal into motion and strike some sort of bargain with this one lest he be stupid enough to refuse... "Hey Beardy!" She shouted yet again letting the familiar yet devious smile stretch it's way across her face. "I'm a powerful fairy dragon trapped within this cage, let me out and I could be of use to you! I do owe you anyways for the er... 'rescue'. It isn't easy to fight a character when your mind is somewhere else if you know what I mean!"

She then pointed to the thin trails of Euphoria gas constantly leaking from her teeth. The gas then quickly faded into nothingness as the breath stopped. "You could easily escape! Selling me would be such a waste to you as of now, nobody out there would think twice without chopping your head off mistaking you for some sort of enemy! Money would only get you so far where I could get you to places you wouldn't have even imagine existed! Do we have a deal, White-beard? I could also help you on your journey or whatever it is you wanted!"

As Vankhum tried to back into a cabin or something like it, he bumped into a goblin. As the green skinned pirate was about to stab the dwarf, a blue bolt of arcane force erupted from the wand, sending him flying over board. Apart from that brief altercation, Vankhum and the fairy dragon managed to get below deck where there was naught but cargo.

Vankuhm simply gave the faerie dragon a sharp expression as she tried to convince him to free her. He wasn't too smart, but he was still sort of suspicious. He wasn't a trusting fellow, part of what came of being raised evil. "And how do ye know what i want? What do i care fer some random places i've never visited? I'm trying to make research happen, not some kinda willy-nilly journey" He spat with a hint of disgust. He looked around to see if it was safe and took a moment to inspect the wand and look carefully at it, feeling over it... he wanted to know more about it, it's spell, and was curious to know if he could ever make a weapon which used arcane force like it. He held it up high, his cowl falling down, revealing his strange dark-grey skin. He was definitely no normal dwarf, that was for sure.

The small delicate winged dragon clicked her tongue in annoyance, 'This tactic clearly isn't working, time to try the alternate route.' A small somewhat hellish smile curled upon her lips yet again as she quietly dove into the possibly unheard part of her plan. "What about the Goblins? You surely can't pass this opportunity to be safe up, can you?" She let out a small mental groan as she gave the stony skinned dwarf her best puppy dog eye expression hoping this would be enough to convince him.

"I get it, you care about you and no one else right? Well, there won't be anyone to care about when you're dead, now will there? That little stick you found won't do much good on it's own, no, you can't shoot what you can't see, if you get where I'm going with this. If they were to ambush you, you'd be a goner in no time! Please consider this." She smiled in a sort of sickeningly sweet way hoping some of what she said got through to him.

"Why trust a man with a rope when you've got a small insignificantly wealthy package trapped within her metal prison? But like I said, what is money when you have your life on the line? I owe you as much for the rescue, don't I?"

(Nothing to add to the conversation, so here's a piece of lore instead.)

Port Syndal and Adventurer's Guilds

Once a small fishing village, Port Syndal technically was outside the borders of Dorven influence. When the adventurers came though, it was one of the first towns to become what is now known as a 'Adventurer State', a region run by and for adventurers. Like all adventurer states, it is run by an Adventurer's Guild, which provides equipment and buys relics to pass onto the Dorven Empire. Due to being outside Dorven Territory, Kobolds are allowed to land there without interference, making Port Syndal a must stopping point for those who wish to go to the Dragonsroad without setting foot in the Dorven Empire.

Dorven and Duergar

When Empress Thostotaine moved the capital of the Dorven Empire to what was to become Eldor, she denounced all Duergar as heresy by imperial decree. Before then, Duergar lived on the northern fringes of the empire, and was too minor to cause much trouble. When Thostotaine died, the rift between east and west occurred, and the Empire was racked by a series of civil wars. Duergar has still considered abominations by the Empire, and are barred from setting foot in their territory. The New Dorven Republic is by contrast much more open, though Duergar are still very much a minority. A NDR prince may be a Duergar sympathiser, but will never be a Duergar him/herself.

(Remember, if there's any questions you wish to ask about the setting, do so.)

"Ye talk a lot. Too much. An it don't make a lick of sense te me." The duergar simply told the faerie dragon with an unkind stare. "You talk about people ambushing me, me not being able to see them? What in the devils name are you on about? There ain't nobody who's going to stab me on first sight, unless they see me skin." Vankuhm said, his cowl once more lowered over his head, the shadows hiding most of his skin and making the dark gray seem like a natural occurrence of the lighting.

"I hardly believe ye have much safety to offer me. What do you even do? Claw some folks eyes off? You nothing more than a flying cat?" He asked the dragon in rather rude tone, hunching down a small ways away from the cage, completely unaware of the many magical illusions that a faerie dragon could cast. If anything, an older faerie dragon could easily hide Vankuhm's skin colour with the illusions they could cast so often and so easily, ifnot make their companions completely unnoticeable with their little spells.

The dragon sunk to the bottom of the cage rubbing her nose with one talon in frustration but then perked back up hoping she'd come up with another, more simple explanation that wouldn't cause this idiot to revolt into a rampage. She took a deep breath fluttering her wings a bit due to being in the prolonged folded state causing them to cramp a bit. "Okay, how about I show you what I can do?" She then took a deep breath and let out a tiny puff of Euphoria gas hopefully waft towards the dwarf hoping a visual explanation would be better than the average overly wordy explanation.

((Sorry for the shortness of the post))

The screaming and fighting had finally trickled down to groans and the occasional stabbing. The Kobold Treasure Fleet, while shaken, was still mostly whole, and had acquired a new smattering of former goblin ships and present goblin prisoner/slaves. It was now time for them to salvage any cargo and record all the damages...

Vankuhm grunted. "Fine. Y'show me what yer capable of by not rattin' me out. If them 'bolds figure out i was the one that let you out, i'll kill ye." The dark skinned dwarf simply said. He went over to the mechanism and looked at it carefully. he has made quite a few mechanisms back in his time, so he trusted he'd be able to find a weak-point or a simplicity in this mechanism which would let him break it, Regardless or not if he could find it, he would attempt to break the lock mechanism. He Might try to force it with the wand, if complications or time restrictions deemed that necessary.

The tiny cat sized, butterfly winged dragon zipped from the cage as soon as it had opened noting the noise level had gone down from outside. "Freeeee!! Ahahahaha!! Thanks for everything! Be seeing ya!" Chuckling mischievously, she was almost to the door only to halt mid-run stumbling forward and hitting her face squarely on the floor. "Oh oww!" She growled rubbing her nose then giving the tiny voice in her head a sharp hiss hoping it would quiet down about her being true to her word. 'Well, he did save me... perhaps I do owe him more than a hasty goodbye...' Groaning softly, she picked herself up and turned towards the dwarf with an irritated look plastered upon her face.

"Well, let's go? The sooner we get out of here, the better!" She said pointing towards the door.

As soon as the fae dragon exclaimed that sentence, the door opened to reveal a kobold. There was an awkward pause, before the kobold closed the door. A minute later, the Kobold returned with another, more grizzled one, though its colour seemed to suggest it was female. She was heavily scarred, however, and had an eyepatch.

"Vankuhm, yes? The Blueskin that was on the Keepsake?" she growled, "On passage to Port Syndal?"

She turned to her assistant. "Check if the other cargo is present and accounted for."

As he did so, the grizzled Kobold appraised Vankuhm and the fae dragon. To the latter, she growled, "If you try any, and I say any funny stuff, I will not hesitate to kill you and have you for dinner." Her one good eye winked at Vankuhm. "Apparently, they're delicious when fresh. Buggers to capture live, though."

She laughed and shook her head. "And we'll have you at Port Syndal soon enough. We won't even chain you to the oars! No, we have filthy pirates for that now. Fucking greenskins."

"I wouldn't mind the good food." Vankuhm said, not really holding much value to the life of the fairy dragon, especially when she was going to show such risky and idiotic behaviour. If the situation goes downhill at any time, he'd try to convince the kobold that the fairy dragon might have tricked him. "It's good ye can all fight those Greenskin bastards with such zeal. Gets them off our back quickly. I'll return to someplace less bothersome than the cargo hold, if ye don't mind." he said in his most respectful tone.

In truth, he didn't know respect, only intellectual compliance. It was far wiser to simply listen to the kobolds right now, especially since they were likely irritated with the greenskins having popped up and giving them trouble. And they were leading this ship, so despite Vankuhm being somewhat physically stronger than most kobolds, it would take them little effort to push him off the ship. "Thank ye for the passage." he simply said, and made his way outside of the cargo hold, if he wouldn't not be interrupted.

A tiny sweat drop trickled down the small cat sized dragon's neck as she pretended not to pay attention to the dwarf woman. Smiling in a way that wouldn't look devious in any way, allowing the message to be acknowledged. She followed Vankuhm quietly, her eyes darting for a possible escape knowing the danger she was currently under. Upon finding none and having literally no reason to be lunch, she politely bowed her head.

((I'm sorry this post is so late...))

The grizzled kobold let the strange pair pass without much trouble letting them onto the deck, where the kobolds were involved in repair, salvage, and chaining their new prisoners to the oars. Mainly, they paid no attention to the pair as they went about their business.

(Timeskip to Port Syndal?)

((sounds good to me. one final round on the ship before the timeskip i suppose))

Vankuhm observed as the Fairy Dragon followed him to the deck, where the kobolds were hard at work. He made himself as unnoticeable as possible and idled around in some shadows, his dark clothing and short stature doing well to hide him a little extra. "Ye haven't proven me much yet." He said, reminding the fairy dragon of her lack of wondrous acts thusfar, although he wasn't looking for much conversation, so even if she said something in return, he continued himself, interrupting her if need be. "Well yer not my responsibility. It's up to yerself to not be sold. If ye manage, i suppose ye could follow me around and do yer thing." He said.

It was clear trust and companionship were not a common occurence to this strangely dark-skinned dwarf. He instantly took his potential companion for a burden instead of a boon, after all.

She looked up at the Kabold continuing to follow him and spoke in a silky smooth, yet dipped in venom voice that would make anyone sick to their stomachs. "Nothing has threatened the master as of yet! Just watch, I'll make an easy escape if he wishes? I am still indebted to this promise and I intend to fill it. I could throw this entire ship out of this world and the people in it out of their minds if I-." She was suddenly cut off by the stocky old dwarf and rolled her eyes. 'Just you wait, beardy, I'll make sure to fill the promise and more if I please... Let's hope I don't find a cousin's home and lead him 'accidentally' astray. Oh ho-ho, that would b terrible!' she smiled wickedly at the thought but kept herself very aware of what was going on around her in case she were attacked, with hr breath spray at the ready she could possibly find some sort of venomous basilisk monster and have this whole crew demolished without her feeling any shame whatsoever.