"LEAVE!" the wyrmling roared again, but with much more desperation now. Her eyes flitted to and fro, trying to keep track of the strange bipeds as they encircled her. The tingling in her scales was so strange, but she could do nothing to shake it.

Slowly, she backed up, a piece of her newly-broken eggshell crunching under one hindlimb. Vydi hissed, trying to breathe flame again, but expelled nothing but spittle and anger into the air.

All she could think to do now was make herself appear bigger, lowering her head and making the most of her serpentine neck, as well as spreading out her undeveloped wings overhead.

The baby dragon's heart was like thunder in the small ear holes below her horn crest, full of anger and fear.

The young priest finished her prayers and then pointed to the ceiling, conjuring forth a sphere of light that basked the entire cavern it its glow.  A massive amount of wealth was now on display.  Not only were there mounds of gold, but fiery opals and rubies shimmered in the light.  Artefacts and statues lay strewn about, including a beautifully polished sphere of rainbow obsidian, set on a wrought-gold stand.

The sight caused the the intruders to pause once more. But after having verified that the cavern was empty of any other threat, they moved with increased vigor towards the young wyrmling.

The tingle of magic that Vydirexi felt towards the young priest was now gone.  However, she now felt something different in it's place.  This something was much warmer.  Much more familiar. Her mother had built up her hoard over centuries, and had formed a powerful bond with it.  Vydirexi could sense the layers of magic that had been painstakingly pored over each and every coin in the cavern.  And although it was faint, she too had a bond with the hoard. She may just be able to use that connection to get her out of this situation.

Vydirexi bristled, still slowly retreating. The feeling of strength and heat in her belly was strange, but it was intoxicating and yet it was also... It was an emotion she hadn't a full understanding of yet. To feel so good, and yet so tainted by sorrow.

"Why won't you leave?!" the little dragon snarled pathetically. "And where... Where is..."

She was so confused. All she wanted was to run and to find her mother. Everything would be better then. Everything. If only she could get away...

Vydi looked up at the great mound of treasure where her mother must have rested, and the statues and artifacts scattered about.

In her rising panic, Vydi made the best choice she could think of: She willed the great piles to slough towards the enemies, making perilous rockslides of gold and gems that would surely knock over statues and perhaps the rainbow sphere, and then she tried to run for the cavern mouth.

Like a wave, the mound of treasure rolled down towards the startled invaders.  They tried to quickly retreat, but the shifting coins beneath their feet made the attempt fruitless.  Swiftly the mound engulfed the four, before coming to a stop.  While not causing any great harm, they were definitely immobilized for the time being.  The cursing of the dwarf echoed loudest in the cave.

After the tide had come to a rest, Vydirexi felt a wave of lethargy come over her, and the magic of the hoard seemed to fade.  Still, she powered on and made her way towards the exit.  Her untested wings, granted her just enough lift to jump and glide over the difficult terrain.

Reaching the exit, she found herself in a large hall of ancient worked stone, where a row of crumbling pillars supported the ceiling.  The comfortable warmth she felt in the previous room increased, as the temperature rose notably. Two additional exits lead off from this hall.  A northwestern tunnel glows a welcoming vermillion, and feels as the source of the heat.  The southern tunnel seems darker, but a faint wind can be felt blowing towards that direction.



Vydirexi suffers 1 level of Exhaustion

The panicking wyrmling wanted nothing more than to create space between herself and the danger, but the warmth filled her with a bit of comfort. She was so tired, already. Newly born, she should not have had to deal with this much in her first moments!

Faced with the choice, Vydi was briefly paralyzed. On the one hand, instinct told her that the flow of air led to freedom. But the heat and the red glow...

But if it was her mother, why hadn't she heard? Why hadn't she come? The possibilities swirled in her expanding mind, and Vydi's tail quivered with the implications. If she went there, she might find her mother. But... She may not like what that means. And she could box herself in.

But Vydirexi was brave. She had to know.

Running as fast as her exhausted little legs could carry her, Vydi headed for the northwest tunnel.

Turning the corner, Vydirexi can see into the next chamber.  The worked stone falls away, and a large pool of lava greets her with even more intense heat.  There are thin cracks in the ceiling above where vapors are escaping, but no sign of any other exit.

A strange hum and flicker of light caused Vydirexi to glance behind her.  There, in the previous room, a shimmering line formed into the outline of a large rectangle. Immediately after it's completion, there was a cacophony of noise as a pile of gold and the body of the tiefling spilled out onto the floor.

He looked much worse for wear, with his brilliant robe now ripped and wrinkled.  His eyes darted around until he spotted the young red.  Seething with anger he began casting another incantation while still prone on the floor.

The wyrmling looked back at the tiefling, his horns and red robes subtly confusing her senses. Surely she should associate these with good things, but he wasn't making that possible.

So Vydi hissed, spread her wings, and leapt forward. She hoped she might catch an updraft and glide it to the vent above, but her inexperience with flying was rapidly becoming obvious...

I rolled a 1.

The swift currents of the wind caught Vydirexi unprepared, battering her to and fro.  She over shot her initial target, landing on the ceiling slightly beyond the open vent.

Taking this opportunity, the tiefling finished his fiendish chanting, unleashing his power towards the young wyrmling. A wave of emotional energy envelopes Vydirexi, as she begins to hear a friendly, but indiscernible voice in the back of her mind.



Vydirexi needs to make a DC 15 Wisdom save with Advantage.

Vydi hit the cavern roof like a red rock,  clonking her hard little head. Fortunately, hard was the operative descriptor, and Vydi quickly shook off the disorientation. She kept her wings out and began trying to creep forwards, to the vent.

The strange voice in the back of her head tickled. It was a surreal feeling. But she did not trust it. Could not trust it. No, she needed to refuse the voice, whatever its intentions and desires!

Got a 31 on 2d20 because I'm dumb, as described in the OOC thread. Still, means that I got a 16 minimum on one of the dice!

Vydirexi will was strong enough to overcome the temptation of the voice, promptly breaking the magical connection, and silencing it.

Free from the befuddlement, the hatchling was able to scamper behind cover, and escape into the small crevasse.  Squeezing and pushing through the jagged rocks, she finally breached the surface.  A vast open sky and the radiant sun greeted the little wyrmling for the very first time.  The crack she had escaped from appeared to be just a small part on the side of massive mountain that was a semi-active volcano.

The wyrmling looked back and up at the colossal mountain, absorbing in the moment how truly great and powerful her mother must be. Or, more likely by the moment, must have been...

But ahead of her stretched blue skies, unknown lands, and the hope of survival. She could not stay here, not with the adventurers. If her mother returned, as Vydi hoped she still might,  the wyrmling was confident she would know from many leagues away. The anger of a red dragon, after all, was not known for being subtle.

But for now, distance. Distance and safety. There was not even time enough to appreciate the warmth of the sun and the sheer grandeur of the open sky, much as her little heart wished to stand in awe of both.

Vydirexi spread out her gliding wings, and began to coast and scarper down the volcano towards the wilderness, knowing only that danger was behind her, and the road lay out ahead.

The land immediately surrounding the lonely volcano is a barren wasteland- a direct result of Vydirexi's mother's dominion.  Her mere presence made the temperature rise drastically, causing the nearby vegetation to wither and die.  A simple glimpse of her shadow was enough to frighten all beasts, causing them to flee from her domain.

A semblance of normalcy only begins to return about a mile out from the mountain.  There, a sparse amount of flora slowly grows more dense until it eventually builds up into a massive forest.

Vydirexi hastily made her way through the wasteland, trying to put distance between herself and the four dangerous adventurers.  Luckily it seemed like her tricks and narrow escape were enough to throw them off her tracks- at least for now.  She reached the forest edge with little trouble, granting her some modicum safety.

However, as her adrenalin finally began to wear off, her body began to scream its needs to her.  First, she was exhausted.  Hatchlings, even dragon hatchlings, weren't supposed to be moving around so desperately right after being born.  That's not even mentioning the backlash she received from channeling her mother's magic.

Secondly, she was starving.  Usually the first thing a wyrmling does after it hatches is eat.  And usually that meal is provided by the parent.  In Vydirexi's case, she used up an exorbitant amount of energy and has to rely on her self to hunt.

Now she desperately needs to solve these two problems.

Vydi's stomach was growling so hard it was almost drowning out the rest of the world. If she didn't know it was coming from inside of her, she might have thought another dragon was prowling nearby - mixed bag as that would be.

Her muscles were leaden, her heart was heavy, and her belly was empty. It had been a really awful hatching day, Vydirexi decided, knowing full-well that she had no context for that. She was utterly confident that it was true, all the same.

All the hatchling could try to do was continue into the forest, slowed by her exhaustion. As it turned out, a baby dragon crashing through underbrush and stepping on every crunchy leaf in the forest wasn't conducive to finding food...

I got a 2.

Vydirexi's noisy hunt for food faired quite poorly.  In her weakened and inexperienced state, she was unable to find anything worth eating for most of the afternoon.  Just as the sun was beginning to set, she spotted a lone almiraj nibbling on some berries in a clearing.  With a jolt of youthful exuberance, she charged recklessly at the prey with no strategy whatsoever.

The hare-like creature flicked its long ears in agitation as it immediately noticed the dangerous predator, and quickly leapt away.  It's zig-zagging pattern left the fledgling dragon floundering behind, and soon vanished out of sight.

That left Vydirexi alone in a clearing with a few bushels containing some bright orange berries.  They didn't appear to be particularly appetizing to the young wyrmling, but the almiraj was eating them.  And there were a decent number of them.

Vydi snuggled grumpily after the strange little creature expertly evaded her. Yes, the almiraj had been brilliant, that was surely it. A paragon of its kind, taking advantage of her weariness. It definitely wasn't that Vydirexi had messed up.

Meat, particularly fire-roasted meat, had sounded more alluring than anything. It still flooded her mouth with saliva at the mere thought, but... Food was good. And she was a dragon, after all! What couldn't she eat, in a pinch?

Vydi moved to the abandoned berry bush and ate a mouthful of the berries. It would take a great deal of restraint, but the hatchling decided to wait a short while to see if the mouthful made her stomach turn.

Chomping down on the berries led to an eruption of bitterness in Vydirexi's mouth.  The plump fruits were full of juice that squirted out, stinging the sides of her mouth.   Luckily, the onslaught on her taste buds did not last all that long, with the initial sharp burst fading into blandness.

After waiting a while, her stomache gave no sign of discomfort, except for those hunger pains she had already been experiencing.  The paltry mouthful of berries had barely provided any satiety to the wrymling.  So while they were by no means pleasant, they didn't appear to be harmful.

Vydi didn't know what food tasted like. She'd never had any meat, or vegetables, or fruits, or mushrooms, or even water. All she had ever tasted was the fluid in her egg and her own mouth. But this? This, she decided, is not what food should taste like.

In spite of that, it was what she had.

Vydi began to clean the bush of berries, chomping through the branches and swallowing the leaves and wood when she had to if it meant more berries in her hungry, desperate little mouth.

And with every bite, she pretended she was chomping something off that tiefling. That added a visceral pleasure, and getting something resembling sustenance in her tummy became so much easier with vengeance involved.

The meal, while unsatisfying in taste, was at least enough to stave off Vydirexi's hunger.  However, the day's struggles finally caught up with her- she desperately required sleep.  Earlier in the day, she had spotted a fallen ancient oak, resting against a boulder like a giant lean-to. Like a zombie she meandered her way back through the forest, barely keeping here draconic eye lids open.

Upon reaching the decaying tree, she snuggled up into the nook provided, wrapped her tail around her body, and immediately went to sleep.  Fretful dreams, and out of a comfortable layer, meant that her rest was less than ideal.  However, her body was exhausted enough that she still slept for a day and a half.

Finally, Vydirexi began to stir on the new day.  She stretched out, and found herself in a much better condition. She had some soreness from the uncomfortable sleep, and she was still a bit hungry, but her body wasn't screaming at her like it was previously.

A whole new world awaits this fledgling dragon.  So what is she to do?

You are no longer exhausted.

Vydi's fitful, heavy sleep was welcome, in its way. But she still felt so cold, out there in the unknown, far from the molten creche where she had first gained awareness inside of her egg. Her dreams lacked shape, more the emotions of her first day in the world replaying over and over and over...

But she woke up, and she was alive. Hungry again, but quite alive. And... Quite alone.

I miss you, shell, she decided, and her whiplike tail drooped in response. Then the fire in her belly smoldered hotter, and a new sense of determination filled the wyrmling. But I will defeat this day.

Vydi looked for a good tall tree, and climbed to the top of it with her hardening claws to take a proper survey of the world she had awoken to. Special attention, of course, towards the volcano lair - in the dim hope that her mother now prowled the skies.

Vydirexi had no trouble ascending to the top of the tree.  An instinctual feeling of satisfaction bubbled up inside her as looked out across the sea of trees.  High up in the sky, with the wind blowing gently across her scales as she looked down on the world, was wear a dragon naturally belonged to be.

From her vantage she was able to get a good read on the nearby area.  To the west was the lonely volcano.  Towering high into the sky, it was by far the most prominent feature in the region- a fitting throne for an ancient red dragon.

To the south and east, the forest seems to continue on to the edge of the horizon.  At the very limit of her vision to the south, she can just about make out a what appears to be a massive tree sticking out amongst the surrounding woodland.

To the north the trees go for a little ways before abruptly cutting off.  Beyond the tree line, a large body of water stretches are far as her eyes can see.

Surprisingly, while high up in the tree, Vydirexi was unable to see any signs of life in her immediate vicinity.  On the forest floor, she saw a variety of insects and the tracks of small creatures.  However, not a single bird or monster seems to be present above the trees.

It was a heady feeling, surveying a domain. It wasn't her domain, but near enough for the feeling of elation. It was just... There was the feeling again. The tainted joy. It reminded her of the berries. Vydi's tail wrapped unconsciously around the trunk as she peered about, as she might have wrapped it around one of her mother's gargantuan forelimbs. The baby dragon was having a very hard time making peace with the idea that, perhaps, her mother was already long gone. Either geographically, or... Something a great deal more permanent.

It's so cold out here, she thought, recalling the intense and welcoming heat of the lava vent, and of the hoard. I wish I could go home...

But that wasn't wise. With no sign of her mother, the strangers were undoubtedly taking their time gathering all of the great treasures Vydi's mother had gathered. And although on a fundamental, instinctual level she knew that it was likely not her mother's only hoard, thus not her only lair. Vydirexi suspected, however, that if her egg had been there, it must have been one of the most important.

The great water interested her. She was thirsty, and she suspected prey would be thirsty too. Perhaps that meant meat. And at least, compared to the other two landmarks she could presently see, it was the least threatening. Not that she knew what sea monsters were, of course. Or the sea, for that matter.

Vydirexi spread her little wings out, their span roughly eight feet from tip to tip, and leapt forward from the treetop. With a manic flurry of flapping, she took to the air. Now that was a pure feeling: Command of the sky, a dragon's natural place in the order of the world, going where she pleased. With a bit less sorrow hiding beneath her iron scales, the wyrmling swooped and dove over the forest and headed for the great water to the north.

Vydirexi's journey to the coast was rather uneventful.  The calm winds and lack of distractions, however, did give her plenty of time to stretch her wings and practice her maneuverability.  After a few short rests, and half a day's time her destination finally came into sight.

The trees give way to a rocky cliff face that drops 50 feet down to the sea below.  Six foot high waves crash ceaselessly against the rock wall. The smell of saltwater is thick in the air.  Looking to the left and right, the coast curves northward, enveloping the sea, giving the idea that this must be a massive bay on the ocean. At the far eastern point of the cape, a collection of structures are barely visible sitting on the coastline.


As far as wildlife goes, a few snails can be seen hanging on the cliff at water level, and a few schools of tiny fish are swimming further our in the sea.

Vydi really hadn't expected that salty smell. It was pleasant, in its way, but the chill of ocean spray made her a bit uncomfortable. The whole world really needed to warm up - or she needed to learn to make bigger fires.

Hello, tiny shells, the wyrmling thought, looking at the snails slowly oobling their way around. The dragon's mouth opened to reveal her powerful crushing jaws, and a salivating tongue.

CRUNCH

Goodbye, tiny shells.

With that modest aperitif in her tum-tum, the wyrmling took to the skies again, sticking to the shoreline so she could land and rest when she needed to. The sea was impressive, but she didn't like the thought of trying to make the whole flight over it.

Off she flew towards the faintly-visible structures at the cape's edge, curious what or who she might find.

After the quick snack, Vydirexi took flight once more, following the coastline towards the distant structures.  During the journey, she was able to pick off a few more defenseless, delicious, delicacies.  The steep cliff gradually evened out until the waves were just gently rolling over a flat rocky beachhead.

An hour into her flight, she could finally get a good grasp of what the structures were- the ruins of a small village.  It appears that most of the two dozen or so wooden structures fell to a great fire years ago.  Even the few building still left standing had blown out roofs and collapsed walls. A half submerged pier stretched out into the sea where two sunken galleys remained moored to it.  Only their broken masts and raised forecastles remained visible above the waterline.

But the biggest sign of destruction was found in the center of the village, where it looks like the largest structure had been burnt down to ashes.  Even the limestone rocks that served as it's foundation had been melted to glass.

There were no points for guessing what had happened there, but it made Vydi bare her teeth happily. The man-sized wyrmling sniffed the air as she glided nearer and nearer to the village, wondering about what might still be there, if anything.

The hatchling had a simple plan:

1. Find a vantage near the village, maybe a tree, to survey it safely.

2. Provided nothing obviously threatening presented itself, head down and make a quick circuit of the periphery.

3. Search the ruins for a place to sleep, a bite to eat, and fresh water. The salty stuff smelled too funny, she didn't want to even try it. And, of course, if the search procured some shiny things...

Focus, Vydirexi! She commanded herself.Water first, shiny second.

The wyrmling took one last rest before taking off again to begin Operation: Shiny Things and Other Stuff.