Open Azreth the Gift Giver

[Shadow]

Spring 65th 125

Whispers were starting to circulate in the markets and forests, from mouth to hungry ear like some valuable contraband. A dragon had arrived from the other end of the world and he carried with him a hoard of exotic presents. Not gold, not gemstones, though he had those as well, of course~ but weirder booty. Silken cloaks made with threads of starlight, bottles of liquid flame, a feather that could give its owner the ability to fly for one heartbeat. Things most normal people would die for. Others still got nothing tangible but could find that they were enlightened by conversing with him. He had a wealth of knowledge about most every topic imaginable.

But the most odd thing of all was not the collection of the dragon, nor even the gifts themselves, but the vanity of the creature. He named himself Azreth the Magnificent, though the ones who managed to catch his glimpse had difficulty in suppressing laughter at the name. Not at all like the sleek, terrible monsters of legend, Azreth looked more like a huge, misshapen porcupine. Complete with patchy scales, crooked spines, and a lumpy snout.

Azreth had settled on an ancient tree stump around which he laid out his treasure around him. It was rumored that Azreth would give away one of his gifts to the ones who could impress him. Not in riches, he said that he had already all the riches of the world, but in performance or flattery or something he might not already have.

He was old with a natural age that was close to an elder dragon. He usually came by every century or so. For humans, he was just a legend. Many of them lined up to spend some time with him but most of them were turned away with nothing to show for it. Some, however, did end up with something shiny. Aelves were much more successful in getting something out of him because they had all the time in the world to prepare for his arrival.

~~~

Welcome! Players should post arriving to see the dragon and joining the queue.

 

[Velho]

༺༉❁ Spring 65 year 125 of the third age ❁༉༻

<notes>

Unless the matter were particularly pressing or evocative of Velho’s personal interest, he rarely ever left the cold bog of Hespæria, and such a trend was not bucked today. Rather, Lucia had traveled from Thokkmyrr to Rømskog via the portals that connected each city’s respective Ældríisal to both run a few errands and because she simply enjoyed traversing all ‘round the wilds of Ælheim. It was when she had been passing through the markets that she’d overheard rumors concerning the recent presence of a strange dragon who’d taken to calling himself Azreth the Magnificent. Curiosity piqued, she stood by and listened ‘til she got a good enough idea of where to find the dragon.

With her Grovebane nestled into the shadow she cast, the Animist wasn’t all too worried about wandering into the woods otherwise unaccompanied. Granted, she wasn’t alone for long; apparently, many had heard the rumors of the enigmatic dragon and wandered out to meet him just as she had. For now, she stood within the dragon’s line of sight but on the edges thereof and did not directly interact– she wanted to observe how he interacted with the others before she did anything.

To all those who set eyes upon her, she’d appear as a creature of otherworldly beauty1​, pale as a ghost and dressed in a silvery, silk chiton fastened over one shoulder with an ætumemtal fibulae and adorned with other jewelry on both the limbs and neck of the same make. She wore no shoes in a traditional sense, though her feet were adorned with layered leaves and the red tendrils of spider lilies to protect them from the ground below. Against the dark foliage, she stood out starkly.

: Spell Reserves

Lucia
1​Idolatry / Apprentice

Spell Reserves: 1.66
↳Highest Spell Tier: Expert
-0.33
Remaining: 1.33

 

[Fenrir]

────── Kage Fadir ──────

​

---

Spring 65th, 125

The treetops rustled overhead followed by the sound of branches cracking. Moments later, a large spiney back quadruped thudded onto the ground. The creature looked wholly unsuited for flying, but the magic of grist enabled just about anything to move through the air, however inefficient. It was an Elysian treant, about fifteen feet tall that housed the murderer Mordva.

Kage hopped off from where he’d been sitting on its back. He was dressed in vines, leaves and cherry blossoms. Such an outfit was somewhat abnormal for him. He held a large gun at his side so naturally that he had forgotten that he’d even been carrying it until he made it to the line.

He recognized few of the people here. There were so many faelnir, so that was a given. There were plenty of AElves too, and of course at the start of the line there was a large porcupine looking dragon surrounded by a ton of treasure. For the faelnir this was a once in a lifetime occurance, but for Kage this was just one of any number of events that happened ‘once in a while.’ He wouldn’t have even come, except he’d missed the last several due to his prolonged mission abroad.

The old aelf walked beside the line, arriving around the same time that Lucia did. He felt his eyes drawn to her exceptional beauty. He normally wouldn’t feel so… inadequate regardless of what he wore, but he certainly felt that way in her presence. He examined her under the lens of mysticism and saw aeris… did that mean she was crested?

Kage slowly, tiredly got into line behind her. His many ambitions had drained him physically and mentally as of late.

“You’re very pretty,” he said with a yawn. He wasn’t hitting on her, merely stating an observation that he felt needed to be said. If he had made himself look that good he would want compliments too, after all. “Is this your first time meeting this dragon? It’s been quite a while since I’ve last joined this queue.”

 

[Shadow]

Ever since he arrived, the old clearing had filled. He found the spectacle of the gathering delightful as he always did no matter where he went. The line progressed quickly because there were so many uninteresting humans. Sometimes the dragon could tell at a glance that he ought not to waste his time.

Towards the front of the line was a young woman, looking hopeful and holding a piece of paper tightly. She walked forward till she could speak. She gave a cough and started to read a poem about the moon and a river. It was admirable that the young and the naive held their dreams so sincerely. But the words themselves? Dreary, predictable, uninspired.

“Child, the moon has been written about a million times over. So unoriginal~ you may take a trinket.” He nodded his head to a pile of things and the child grabbed something shiny but ultimately worthless. It was a trophy nonetheless which brought a smile to the child’s face.

The next one in line was a man who accidentally insulted the giant porcupine. Azreth was not a violent dragon, thankfully, but he wasn’t above using Aqua to toss the man out of sight. His temper was soothed by the elf that stepped up. The elf sang a beautiful song about how porcupines were the best animal~ he walked away with a glowing sword that looked like it was worth a fortune.

The line would continue predictably. Azreth did not seem to be very tough to please. He seemed to want to give out gifts. Some elves didn’t even want anything in return, instead giving gifts as a donation to his treasure pile. Being insular, it was abnormal normal for the elves to give out powerful gifts and weapons because those could end up in the hands of a foreigner. Instead they gave things such as artwork and clothing.

If Lucia was in line it would eventually be her turn next. The dragon would let his gaze linger on her for longer than normal. Elves were beautiful but this one had something to her that he rarely saw.

“What have you for me?”

 

[Velho]

<notes>

Lucia was no stranger to other Æld'Norai approaching her; their culture was naturally open and social between one another, where mingling with those that caught one's interest was encouraged. Of course, there were plenty who preferred their solitude, but some degree of socializing was expected when out and about. And with the sway of her Rusalka, she was a magnet for such attentions more often than not.

“Thank you,” she'd reply to Kage with a small smile and a nod. “...but no, I've never met this particular dragon before. How often does he come ‘round?”

Nor had she met Kage, though at this point, she mostly socialized with those native to or prone to spending a lot of time in Hespæria. Nevertheless, she was content to wait alongside him while she observed the line. After a few people had their turns, though, she'd caught on enough to join the tail of it, gesturing for Kage to follow should he so wish to. Unfortunately, she hadn’t come very prepared, as she really hadn’t known what to expect—the dragon, at least, did not appear difficult to please.

On the way here, the Animist had found a rather unique-looking stone that she’d wanted to bring back to Velho, as he was more fluent in the Glyphics of Ensorcelling than her, and she’d wanted to have it fashioned into an Exaltation of a sort. It was flat but smooth with beautiful, opalescent marbling. When she presented it to the prickly dragon, she’d smile something sweet and say: “touch it—the stone brings joy.”

Should he reach out to the stone, she’d time the cast of a spell2​ to radiate outward onto him as soon as he were to make contact. Controlling the radius of Emanate, she ensured that only the dragon himself would be affected by it (that is, unless there were others within equal distance from Lucia). The potency of the spell meant that he’d feel a euphoric sense of joy wash over him like a wave, waxing any other positive emotion he felt and smoothing over his woes. Her goal was to create a placebo—whilst the source of the spell was the sorceress herself, the dragon might come to associate so strong a feeling with the stone and thus evoke remnants of such emotions each time he were to think about it.

: Spell Reserves

Lucia
1​Idolatry / Apprentice
2​Emanate / Expert

Spell Reserves: 1.66
↳Highest Spell Tier: Expert
-0.33
-1.00
Remaining: 0.33

 

[Shadow]

Azreth’s expression looked like a smile as the large porcupine shuffled closer. His attention fell on the simple stone she was holding and though it was surrounded by his endless treasures, he knew that if an elf was giving it to him then there must be something about it worth his attention.

“Alright, let us find out what is special about your stone.”

His talon which had been worn and stained over many years, touched the surface of the stone.

He felt the effect of a pleasant warmth appeared underneath his scales and a sudden happiness spread through his old bones.

His eyes blinked and his eyes became as wide and bright. The clearing brightened and the treetops above looked even greener, while the scattered treasures around him looked especially brilliant. The pain in his joints grew less noticeable. The bitter taste of recollections faded for a little while, like the stone was telling him it didn’t matter at that moment.

A real and deep laugh came from him. He praised Lucia, saying, “you really are quite clever,” and then looked at her. He couldn’t tell if this was a stone ensorcelled to make him happy or if it were a new rock with latent magic in it or something else.

“You have pleased me,” Azreth said.

He pointed with one talon to the assortment of unusual things beside him. “Please add it to the pile. Would you like to take something in return? A piece of treasure, or some advice for one of your hobbies or crafts?”

 

[Fenrir]

​

“He seems to come around every hundred years or so. I try to make it when I can. I hold an interest in foreign cultures and often this is a convenient way of seeing what people abroad are making without needing to travel there myself.”

He hadn’t even given a moment to think about what he was going to give the dragon. It seemed, in his opinion, that Lucia hadn’t either. Not that it was unusual, something as simple as a poem was plenty so Kage didn’t comment on her apparent lack of a gift. As he followed her and waited in line, he thought about what he might want to contribute.

Kage chuckled when Lucia handed the porcupine dragon a stone. It looked entirely ordinary under the lens of mysticism but there was something that happened when the dragon touched it. Kage felt nothing, but the dragon looked happy. Now the old aelf felt foolish for not bringing anything, and so he started thinking very hard about what to do.

With a mental command he had his elysian treant come walking over. It sort of looked like a porcupine, with its spikey back… perhaps he could pass it off as a sculpture of sorts? Yes, that’s what he was going to do.

For now though, he’d wait until it was his turn.

 

[Velho]

<notes>

As the other Ælf explained his experience with the strange dragon, Lucia nodded. “I see…I guess I’ve spent too much time isolated to Hespæria; I miss much of what goes on in the greater forests of Ælheim,” she’d comment somewhat wistfully. Though she loved her home, her innate curiosity had her mind wandering now.

Lucia felt a palpable sense of relief when she realized the Azreth had accepted her 'gift.' Still, the spiny old dragon was so well-meaning in his endeavors, she felt a small pang of guilt in having tricked him. When directed to add her stone to the pile, she’d turn to walk over and do just that, though she found herself fascinated with the myriad of oddities he’d managed to collect over the years of doing this.

Turning her head to the dragon, “...mind if I stabilize the enchantment? I’m only a novice Ensorceller…I want to make sure it sticks and don’t think I used enough Alkahest.”

Unless he declined, she’d pull from her bag a sharpened pen-like tool and quickly carved one of the few Glyphics she actually knew– those corresponding to Rusalka and its spells. Velho had endeavored to at least teach her those such that if she were to ever see them, she'd recognize them at bare minimum. She wrote enough to indicate Emanate tuned to Joy and touch activation before pulling out a vial of Alkahest dust to pour over the stone, thereby making it an Exaltation. Being only a beginner, she didn’t dare risk making anything more potent than novice, which at least only required ten grams of dust. The Alkahest used was Absentite, but to any not graced with knowledge of the Night Father, it would appear as Aetherite before absorbing into the stone. Though a novice cast of Emanate was much weaker than what she’d used, it was more than nothing and ought to be more than enough to jog the dragon’s memory to at least give something of a placebo effect on top of it.

After placing it down amongst his treasure trove, she’d turn back to face the spiny dragon. “I seek knowledge over things, though I must admit your collection is marvelous.

While the Theorem of Animism came easy to me, I struggle with channeling my Metaphor, so my spells tend to be much weaker than I feel they ought to be. Though we likely wield different Arcana, have you any advice on casting?”

advice
General advice by a dragon of Azreth’s age when it comes to casting should be able to help Lucia push her Draoidh skills up a bit, though beyond Expert would probably be a reach without a mentor of the correct Arcana.

Beyond that, ‘casting advice’ could also be construed to mean Meditation and to a certain extent Resistance, as the latter two are skills that can be cultivated as one learns their spellwork.

Which of these skills you choose for Azreth to give advice on I leave up to you.

Once the advice was given, she’d step back for Kage to take his turn. She eyed the creature with admiration, recognizing it as likely the creation of a Vitæ—a highly respected and rare Arcana. Or, at least, that’s what she hoped it was. It would’ve been perfectly possible to puppet a statue with Draoidh, but this one moved so naturally she doubted that was the case.

: Spell Reserves

Lucia
1​Idolatry / Apprentice
2​Emanate / Expert

Spell Reserves: 1.66
↳Highest Spell Tier: Expert
-0.33
-1.00
Remaining: 0.33