Errands and Meetings

[Derin Edala]

Derin... Rosemary, your name is Rosemary... Rosemary wiped an old rag across the table and frowned. The whole place was falling apart, rotting under years of damp and neglect. But she could fix that.

She shot a glance at the door to her father's room, barely hanging on the hinges. This must have been a nice house, once. But that useless lump would need to go. He was a complication. They'd need to find somewhere for Kori, too -- she was getting annoyed and, she admitted to herself, slightly nervous over his presence. It felt like he was trying to make a claim on her territory. Well, it was hers, her first, and nobody else was getting it. Even if it did need improving. Besides, the neighbours were talking. Their sidelong glances and whispers about the large stranger who they seemed to think she'd taken a shine to were dangerous. He was a wanted man.

Rosemary had not had any experience in carpentry, but she was determined to repair the house herself. It was her territory. If she failed, she would try again. She'd visited the town library, not entirely sure that she was allowed in, but nobody had given her a second glance. Craftsmen didn't seem to write many books, but she had found "The Art of Carpentry", and spent a few hours reading it cover to cover. The important parts were safely tucked away in her memory and she felt that she could replicate the trade, with practice, at least enough to replace rotting floorboards and rickety tables.

But first she needed wood. She tossed the rag onto the bench and went looking for Kori.

[KoriStronghammer]

Whooosh.... Whoosoosh The sound the bellows made as it pumped air into the forge was very comforting to Kori. Banging his hammer, smoothing out the edges of the plow blade was also comforting. The fire was at the perfect dark red coloring, the best flame for finishing his work. He had been asked to do this by a farmer whose plow blade was so broken that it would not plow anymore, and was to far gone for Kori to sharpen. Lifting the blade with the tongs, He dipped it in the water trough, listening to the metal spirits cry as they touched the water spirits.

"Another Job well done..." He murmured. The farmer would be by to pick it up tomorrow, and while he waited, Kori could either sharpen some knives a farm wife had needed him to make, or go cut wood. His forge was running low on it, it seemed a good smith was in more need than he had hoped. Grabbing his axe, Kori tamped the fire and walked out the forge. Spotting Rosemary, he waved.

"Hail Rosemary. What are you up to today?"

[Dragon]

Mmm. Chicken marrow.
'Twas a treat the dragon had become rather accustomed to within the past few months of lonely wandering, a taste that he had always had deeply lodged within his tiny little brain. It was his instinct to go after easy prey, his instinct to be near humans, and also his lack of basic intelligence that caused him to steal those little birds that so easily succumbed to his bites. They were remarkably fun to chase; that was an added bonus. They were risky, but he didn't fully understand that little tidbit. Actually he didn't understand it at all. What the dragon knew was that the clucky things were delicious, and also happened to be one of the only things he could catch.

He'd become known as a Devil, a Demon, a Curse of the Changers. Maybe it had something to do with his red coloring. Maybe it had something to do with that terrible smell he tended to leave behind whenever anybody sent the barky things after him. That was a good defense mechanism. Or maybe it was just bad gas from eating too much poultry. Anyway, the dragon had easily decided that he did not like the barky things and didn't really want to deal with them if he didn't have to. He'd learned, for the most part, (because he actually had it in him to learn) which humans had barky things and which ones did not. He had also learned that baahers shouldn't be messed with (unless they were mini-baahers, in which case it was okay at night), and that most things twice as tall as him had stomping abilities.

Stomping things were definitely his least favorite.

The dragon picked at his front toes absently, clearing them of dirt before he waddled off into the woods, abandoning a pile of feathers and carrying a seemingly value-less chicken bone in his mouth. Soon he had found it; a spot secluded in the forest and shaded by a large broad-leaved elm tree. He set the bone down and began to dig (thus re-caking his toes in dirt) until he had unveiled his terrible secret: a grand pile of assorted bones, mostly from chickens but also from a couple cats, an unfortunate puppy, a few deer carcasses, and a fish. There were others from unidentifiable sources (perhaps better left unidentified). Here the dragon deposited his clucky prize before promptly covering it again.

He stretched, like a dog, yawning wide and revealing all of individual reptilian teeth, and fell over onto his side with a thud. As if hit by a tranquilizer, the dragon snored, chirping in his mindless dreams while he busily digested his recent victim.

[Derin Edala]

Rosemary twitched the axe on her shoulder for emphasis. "Woodcutting. Need furniture." She frowned to herself. There had been all sorts of things in her book about what qualities the wood needed to have, and she hoped that she could find the right kind. But it was just scavenging, right? Scavenging stuff inside trees. She'd been a scavenger before. "Want to go together? Safety in numbers and all that." Not that anything with half a brain would try to attack Kori even on his own -- he reminded her of illustrations she'd seen of bears. But they might attack her, and that would be inconvenient. "I might have a job for you as well, in the future. Can you work silver?"

[KoriStronghammer]

Turning and pointing the the silver working area, he shrugged. "Whatever you need, if the silver is supplied. I am not rich enough to have my own."

Reaching in the door, he grabbed his own wood axe. "I'll come with you, I was thinking of grabbing my own wood."

Closing down the forge, he strode to where she stood in the road. Nodding, he began his walk towards the woods, calling over his shoulder to her.

"What kind of wood are you needing, and what silver work?"

[Dragon]

Yosef Livercut was not a particularly bright individual. But then, it required very little mental power to be able to raise chickens in Shim, and so Yosef had gotten by on his own just fine even after all of his sons had left. His wife had yelled at him that morning, screaming and crying in a fit of frustration that one of the chickens had again gone missing, and three more had been killed. The coop was a mess of blood, feathers, and a horrible gas when he had checked it. He only had time to see the slithery red tail of the Demon that haunted Shim and leap back in fear.

He was on a mission, carrying a heavy crossbow, a neglected instrument that had gathered a sad amount of dust from misuse over the years. He had tied his dark, rugged hair back and was on the move, tracking the Demon by using his nonexistent tracking skills.

The red Demon had made it easy by leaving a trail of easy-to-follow footprints in the mud, which lead all the way to the edge of the forest, along with bits of feathers and what looked like a chicken head but was so chewed that it was beyond recognition.

Yosef held his crossbow tight to him nervously, shifting as he stood there, cursing the Demon and cursing his wife for making him go all the way out here to find a creature that could easily slaughter him.

A sound from a nearby bush made him jump two feet in the air and he immediately activated his weapon, shooting five high-velocity arrows into the shrub until he heard a squeal of death. He was shaking terribly when he lifted a branch of the little plant, and sighed unevenly when he found a decapitated squirrel instead of the Demon waiting for him.
"Feck."

[Derin Edala]

"I need something with a long, straight grain, like... that." Rosemary stopped to inspect the long planks of wood stacked against the house on the edge of the woods. Just getting her hands on those would save a lot of time. A man strode into the yard from the forest, looking agitated.

"Sir!" Rosemary called. "Sir? Would you be willing to sell some of that wood?"

He jumped at the sound of her voice, looked her up and down and nooded. "Yeah. Yeah, you cen take as much wood as you like if you cen kill the red demon for me."

Rosemary frowned. She knew better than to get excited -- humans called a lot of things 'demons'. Just because they called her people the same thing didn't mean that every mention of a demon was word of a potential ally. "Tell me," she said carefully, "about this red demon."

The description was hysterical and quite obviously exaggerated. Since she was sure she would have heard of a five feet tall firebreathing monstrosity with poison claws, all she was able to get was that it was red, and ate chickens. It was unlikely that anything too large or threatening would eat chickens unless it was smart enough to keep a low profile, meaning the 'demon' was either not much of a threat or could be reasoned with. "Alright, sir. I'll get rid of this demon for you and come back for my wood." She looked at Kori. There was still the slight chance she'd need muscle or combat experience, and he had a lot more of both than she did. "You interested in slaying a demon with me?"

[KoriStronghammer]

Kori looked at the wood. It was of a better quality than he expected, and ignoring the complaints of the man, he turned and checked every piece that sat there, making sure it was not rotted or unfinished. It wouldn't do to go demon slaying and then find out the wood was rotted or unusable. Running over the mans description of this 'demon' in his mind, Kori scratched his chin. He'd never heard of anything like it. Red Demons that breathed fire and had poisonous claws.

Shrugging, he looked at Rosemary. Looking at the man, he spoke.

"I'll help her. The deal is struck. As much wood as Rosemary wants for stopping the Red Demon."

The man nodded, and gave them directions to where he had followed the demon last. Kori looked at the ground, noticing the feathers, chicken blood, and scraps of what looked like bone and hastily chewed gobbets of chicken flesh. Situating his daggers in case he needed them, Kori motioned for Rosemary to follow him. They would have to keep quiet, they were tracking something that, until further notice, had supernatural hearing and sight.

Following the tracks to the point where the man had killed a poor squirrel, then left it, which was a bigger crime to Kori than killing the squirrel. Kori knelt, checking for tracks, a smell, blood, anything to point his direction. Finding what he was looking for, mainly some blood speckled chicken feathers leading off into a direction, Walking through the woods, the big man looked more like a ghost than someone his size. When the chicken feathers ran out, he saw the foot prints. Motioning Rosemary to lean down, he whispered.

"Judging by the size, I'd say this thing is actually quite small. Or it has really tiny feet. It looks like the trail ends over there. But if it's killing as much as that man lead us to believe, we may be in trouble. Here." Pulling the Wolftalon dagger out, he handed to her. "Carry this. If it looks bigger than it's paws are leading me to believe, use your wood ax. Smooth, flowing, strokes with the ax. Over extend yourself and you can be killed. Be careful."

Leading again, Kori drew his other dagger, ready. Counting to three mentally, he burst threw the bushes surrounding an elm tree, sure the demon was on the other side.

[Dragon]

Yosef was quite lucky that two wood-wanting, willing people with far better physical skill than he possessed came along. They were going to bring the head of the terrible fire-breathing beast to him. The Demon would be killed, his chickens would be safe, and he could always get more wood when he needed it. That, and his wife would hopefully be happy with him. It was a win-win for everyone; he only hoped that his two helpers were up for a challenge. The monster was terrifying and terrible, and they would more than likely end up dead.

If they did, the farmer didn't know what he was going to do. But no matter. He would deal with that when it became an issue.

"Be sure to get its head!! And watch the tail; I have seen many a man impaled by it," he called after them, and then resumed in tending to the chicken coop.

---

The dragon kicked in his sleep, his individual toes twitching and his lips lifting along with the little purrs and subtle growls he released. He moved around a lot in his sleep, occasionally stretching his back on the ground and raking his claws against the tree behind him by accident. However, that all ended the moment a huge, terrifying monster burst out of the brush surrounding him and his instinct immediately sent him to his feet.

The abrupt change in position from curled and resting to alert, alive, and upright caused the dragon to stumble. He roared angrily, his reptilian monster sound far bigger than he was. He adopted an aggressive posture, letting his feet stay apart and his comparably bulky legs become stiffened. He lowered his head and showed his teeth, and all of it happened in a time span of less than three seconds since the Giant's arrival.

Also he was terrified.
He didn't know what an axe was, but he wasn't so stupid that he didn't recognize it was terrible and sharp and hurtful.

The dragon backed up against the elm tree and immediately felt cornered. He could not outrun these people and they lacked any smell of fear in their sweat. He chirped once, abandoning his aggressive show and instead opened his mouth and released a horrid smoke.

The gas was quick-spreading and smelled something like a hundred dead things, topped with fish, glazed with troll excrement, and misted with a very old chamber pot. His tail waved aggressively and he showed off the spade at its tip, trying to look threatening despite his frying nerves.

Please don't eat me please don't eat me please don't eat me.

[Derin Edala]

Rosemary blinked at the little thing that behaved like a child. Not a human child, obviously; a real child. The aggressive act was painfully transparent and apparently it knew that, too, because it abandoned the show to create some sort of smelly mist. She'd killed children before, but in this instance, it seemed terribly wasteful.

Ignoring the smell and not caring if it was poisonous, Rosemary leaned closer. She knew how to ally with one of her own kind in this situation... what would be the local equivalent?

After a moment's thought, she reached into a small pouch in her belt and pulled out some of the dried meat she'd packed for lunch. Dangling it from her fingertips in an effort to avoid having her hand bitten off, she held it out towards the beast.

"You know," she remarked, "I think that woodcutter may have exaggerated a little."

[KoriStronghammer]

Kori waved a hand in front of his face as the smell hit his nose. "Ye Gods! That smells horrible!"

And it did too. The demon sat under a tree, and had unleashed a foul smelling gas from what Kori was fervently hoping was it's mouth. The little thing waved it's spade like tail, looking like he was trying to show off how dangerous it was. It looked like it wasn't dangerous at all though, mostly defeating the demons point.

Kori couldn't help but laugh at Rosemary's statement. "Aye. Just a small tiny bit. Really I think he just exaggerated on the color, everything else seems true to his words." Kori grinned, a merry twinkle in his eyes. All the thing could be was poisonous. And the gas hadn't dropped him or Rosemary yet, so he was highly doubting that as well. As the creature looked at Rosemary's meat she held out, Kori looked it over. The tail, the wings, the noise.... He knew what it was. Placing his ax out of sight, he knelt down, slightly behind Rosemary.

"We can't kill this thing. I do not care what is said. I'll make the wood for you if you need it that badly. It's a dragon. It's smaller than any I've ever seen or heard of, but it's still a Dragon. I can't kill one or allow one to be killed."

Kori watched the creature in fascination. All his life he had wanted to see a real live dragon. This one appeared retarded in some way, and breathed stink gas instead of fire, but it was a dragon by the Gods! They couldn't kill one of the Great Ones. Even one such as this.

[Dragon]

The dragon continued to wave his tail and growl in what he felt was a ferocious manner, backing against the elm tree and turning so that they could see his side better. He had risen up slightly on his toes so that he appeared larger, and was now putting on a display by pointing his nose closer to the ground and waving his head sideways to and fro to suggest that his horns were dangerous. The man, large and terrifying with strange hair and a low voice, appeared the most threatening to the dragon. He gurgled and growled and spit in a desperate attempt to ward off his supposed attackers.

The dragon stretched out his tiny, stunted wings and flickered them to produce a sound that resembled the shiver of a rattlesnake's tail, but not as loud or intense. This was the only thing these wings were good for, and it didn't appear to be working on the long-haired woman or the ax-wielding man. Still, the big weapon went away and the man lowered himself with the woman.

The dragon made a small squealing noise, snorting aggressively to try to send them away. His terribly large eyes reflected fear and confusion, his pupils dilated and posture stiffened.

Then the smell.

Oh, my.. the smell..

The animal blinked, stopping the flutter of his wings and his waving and showing off. His head rose on his short neck out of sheer curiosity like a meerkat peeking from its burrow. The female was offering food. Or was she luring? The dragon had been lured into traps before by food. He didn't like them. He also had difficulty resisting such traps. Despite having just eaten, his pointed tongue snaked out of his mouth hungrily.

With his show all but completely abandoned, the dragon waddled slowly closer to the female and giant, keeping his gaze locked primarily on the deliciousness dangling in front of him, but slowed by the threat and uncertainty. As he moved he made short grunting noises of conflict and frustration, but at last stole the meat from the female's comparably delicate fingers. He hopped backwards a few steps, quite ungracefully, fell on his bum by doing so, and quickly raised his head and let the morsel slide down his throat, making quite unattractive sounds while doing this.

He had already forgotten why he was so scared and looked back at the female expectantly.

[Derin Edala]

"The deal was to stop the Red Demon. We are not required to kill it." Slowly and carefully, she reached toward the creature to touch its horns. Rosemary had read about dragons, but the stories seemed to exaggerate as much as the man. Some sort of magical ability, perhaps? "I'm not sure what we're supposed to do with it now, but I'm sure a result will present itself. Let's get back, we can go halves in the wood."

She didn't want to kill it, either, for some reason. Maybe it did have some sort of magical, mind-altering effect? It had to. There was no other reason to refrain from killing something so helpless.

Except it would be a waste of something that could be useful. That was it. That was why she agreed so readily to refrain from hurting it even though she had no alternative. There was no need to yet; she could always kill it later. Killing it without need would be a waste.

That had to be the reason.

[KoriStronghammer]

Kori smiled. "Well, good then. But, the wood owner wanted the head and told us to watch for the tail remember?"

Ponderously scratching his chin and tugging his braid as he was wont to do while thinking, Kori snapped his fingers.

"Mist. The creature turned to mist the moment it was slain, a red mist that flew into the sky to whatever hell the demon called home. It is simple, demonic sounding, and the farmer should believe it." Struck by even more of this inspiration that hit him, He turned around, grabbing some loose dirt and his water skin. Making himself appear muddy, scruffy, and like he had rolled around on the ground, Kori grabbed his knife and cut the end of his finger, squeezing out a medium amount of blood for such a cut, and rubbing it on his face in spots, and on spots of his chain-mail as well. Pulling a white roll of linen out, he made a makeshift bandage around his leg.

"There. Now I look like I fought a demon, or at least got my ass kicked by one. I believe this deception will work, and we can get the wood for slaying the Red Demonic, Terrorizer of Shim. I can even think of convincing reasons so you don't have to get dirty and ruin your clothing Miss Rosemary. We'll have to hide him somehow, or at least get him away from that smelly mans chickens."

[Dragon]

The dragon was nervous around them, and when the female reached out to him to touch him, he shied away at first. He made a grunting sound and shook his body like a dog shaking its wet coat. He eyed her curiously and then moved forward again so that the tips of her fingers connected with the top of his head and his very short horns. He chirped.

When the large male started to move around crazily, slathering himself with dirt and even going so far to cut himself, the dragon made a few very alarming sounds that resembled a large, squawking bird. These were, in essence, alarm noises that were supposed to warn the female that the male could be attacking them. He shook his horns at the man, which didn't seem to have any effect, and then waddled up toward the ax-wielder and snapped at him threateningly. Food had given him a new boldness.

Who were these people and what did they want? If they were going to eat him, surely they would have done that by now. The girl smelled interesting. And female. He liked that.