Post by Delashano on Apr 25, 2014 18:42:55 GMT -5
A few minutes of walking through what appeared to be little more than an albeit large but still rather roughly made tunnel that seemed utterly unfitting for what she had expected of the dragon finally began to melt away into something FAR more grand as clawed stone and melted sand gave way to marble the rough appearance of the tunnel that had lead here died VERY quickly as suddenly Jenn found herself in a hall that was far more befitting of some sort of grand palace. Carved into the walls were depictions of events throughout history, some she recognized, some she did not but all were done with an amazing amount of detail and the carvings lined the entire hall, some appeared to be linked to the ones preceding them while others appeared to jump either ahead of back many years. As Jenn slowly walked through the hall taking in the carvings she realized that it was likely the dragon himself who had done these, they all had for the most part the same art style but depicted events so far apart and with such accuracy that the artist could only be someone who had lived to see each of them come and go, a few more halls and rather suddenly the carvings became far less defined and one appeared to have a massive claw mark through it, Jenn became curious of these especially but as she took a step forward to get a better look she felt her foot hit a section of the floor that was pushed down by the weight put on it and she groaned in frustration.
A trap… She’d gotten so enraptured by the carvings that she had forgotten to take any precaution as she moved throughout the halls, a small section of the ceiling split open and through it slipped a massive swinging blade, normally Jenn wouldn’t have given a second though to such a trap she was far beyond the strength of normal weapons such as this even if they were as expertly made as this one appeared to be but her sense caught something a small spark of energy radiating from the blade, Jenn pushed with her energy lifting off the ground and shooting backward fast enough to avoid the blade with a brief surge of energy Jenn sent out a blast that cut through the mechanism holding the blade the blade tumbling into the air for a few brief moments before striking the ground a good third of the blade inking through the floor with ease. Taking a few cautious steps forward Jenn inspected the blade as the energy on it began to fade, somehow the blade had been enhanced with energy and from the looks of it the edge of the blade itself was also soaked in something, whatever it was was certainly NOT something that was healthy to have in the body. She cringed slightly as she pulled away from the trap ‘wonderful now I have to take extra precaution if these traps can actually hurt me...’ Jenn thought to herself with a frustrated sigh as she stepped away from the blade and took to the air, with any luck the dragons traps would primarily rely on the intruder actually making contact with the floor or walls, she knew that of course she would never be quite so lucky but of course there was a chance that what with all she had done already, taking out the Wyvern and setting off a trap the dragon was already aware of her presence.
If he WAS aware then with any luck he would be making his way toward her then again traps and guards pretty much indicated that he didn’t care much for dealing with intruders himself so perhaps she’d simply have to press as far into the lair as possible until she finally DID get his attention or found him, she wasn’t entirely sure which option actually seemed worse, perhaps surprising him with her sudden appearance in whatever part of the lair that he was in would be the worse if he was the sort to lash out at unexpected visitors. Jenn ran a hand through her hair in frustration as she began to realize just how suicidal this whole venture was. ‘and all to help out someone who’s probably just as likely to kill me for trespassing just as he would those who were here to actually steal from him.’ She thought with a sigh as she proceeded down another hall slipping her map out from where she had stored it inside her bandages. ‘Alright so I’ve managed to avoid a decent amount of the traps and im coming up on an actual room, no information on what should be there though…’ Jenn thought as she looked up from the map to find just as it indicated the end of the hall and the entrance to a room no door just a large archway she could see inside that the room appeared to house a large number of paintings. ‘Wonderful, its apart of his horde…’ Jenn thought with a groan as she entered the room.
She’d managed to get far enough through the lair by means of flight that she had evidently gotten far enough to reach a part of the dragons horde, which meant she would likely need to be VERY careful now traps here would be especially deadly. Taking a look around jenn had to take a moment to marvel at the art on display paintings done all throughout time were on display here and it brought a smile to her face she loved painting and getting to see such masterpieces all at once was quite the experience. Even though she knew it to be a bad idea Jenn decided to linger for a bit to get a better look, no need to touch anything she didn’t need to touch to appreciate the art on display she just needed a few moments to look and enjoy. It was odd to think that the Dragon didn’t necessarily take these because of their beauty, from what she understood the primary reason a dragon added something to its horde was because of its value of course when it came to art generally that also brought with it a significant level of artistic skill. Jenn lingered for a moment on a massive mural, the mural was painted upon a wall and evidently when Abednego had decided he wanted it he had simply uprooted the entire wall and taken it with him a thought equal parts amusing and terrifying. As she took in the mural Jenn’s sense alerted her to another presence in the room, the signature flared up for just a few seconds likely as whatever it belonged to moved but just as quickly as it appeared it sunk back below her ability to detect, she kept herself calm making no noticeable signs of being aware of the other beings presence, creatures that could hide themselves were tough to fight if they had the advantage and this one likely knew the layout of the lair very well, she needed to draw it somewhere that it couldent hide as easily and more importantly to her away from the art, not only would it be an absolute travesty for a battle to destroy any of the pieces she had seen but playing a part in the destruction of a section Abednego’s horde was very likely to be a quick way to guarantee her demise and so with that in mind Jenn began making her way toward the exit as she moved she felt another energy surge from the other being as it drew nearer and once again another now even closer as she floated out of the horde-room, she moved casually as she had before making a show of keeping an eye out for traps while in reality waiting for the other being to make its move.
She felt another surge, this one much stronger than before as the creature made its way to the exit’s archway, this time the surge didn’t suddenly fall as it had before, it was making its move, with that in mind Jenn twisted in the air catching a glimpse of her attacker. Another Wyvern though this one was much more slender and in its eyes jenn could see a much greater level of intelligence, it was taking in everything it saw and preparing to strike, it’s eyes widened as she caught it’s gaze it was caught in what appeared to be the midway point between its preparation to attack as it’s body was tense and half ready to spring into action. It let out a low growling hiss before launching into action, where it appeared to lack the muscle that the other Wyvern had this one however appeared to be less inhibited by it’s weight clearing the distance between the archway and Jenn in a few seconds giving Jenn barely enough time to defend herself as powerful arms swatted at her attempting to drag her to the ground. What Jenn found however was while this wyvern was much faster it’s blows lacked the same impact as the other wyvern, a smirk formed on her lips as she lashed out slamming the wyvern in the chest with a kick, more a test to anything and the results were exactly as she had hoped, the creature recoiled in pain stumbling far more than the other hand, where the other could take a few its before being sent packing this one was much less durable… which raised a question on where it’s strengths lay, speed was clear, and the ability to hide itself was another though as the sense was not exceptionally common and it still displayed power while moving that was likely not one of its greater benefits… and then the creature showed exactly where it’s strength lay as its maw opened and before Jenn could properly react a bolt of lightning cleared the distance between them and nailed her dead in the chest sending her flying and knocking the wind out of her as she slammed into a far wall.
Jenn returned to consciousness a few moments alter as the wyvern was stalking closer, her vision cleared just enough for her to see what she assumed to be a look of amazement on the face of the creature likely not having expected to do as much as it had with its attack, with a groan Jenn pulled herself to her feet startling the wyvern causing it to take a step backward and let out a vicious screech as it attempted to puff itself up to look more intimidating, as he wits slowly returned to her Jenn could feel the creatures was MUCH weaker now, that single attack had likely been built up since the moment it realized she had been in the room, more than enough time to turn a weak attack into a devastating one, but even still it hadn’t been enough to take her down, a small grin spread across her face as she cracked her neck and launched forward slamming fist and knee into the creature far faster than it could keep up with, the creature let out screeches of pain as it swatted back at her landing a few solid blows and drawing blood as it’s claws raked across her arm. Deciding it best to end this before the creature managed to win a battle of attrition Jenn pulled back her arm and aimed punch directly in the creatures chest putting everything she had into the strike, she could HEAR the creatures breath leave it as it stumbled back gasping and coughing stumbling over itself trying to keep its balance until finally it collapsed, for good measure Jenn dashed across the hall and nailed the wyvern in the head with a kick, the blow delivered more than enough impact to knock the beast out even if the punch hadn’t done so already. Tired from the brief fight Jenn manifested some tools to clean and dress her wounds. With a heavy sigh Jenn picked herself up and pulled out her map again, looking it over she found something quite interesting.
The map indicated that she was in a hall that didn’t exist, on the map there were two exits from the room she had been in, the first being the hall she had entered from and the second another hall that was almost directly across from the first, she had even seen that one when she had entered the room, this hall fell near to the mural and evidently had been added after this maps creation ‘wonderful, going in completely blind..’ Jenn thought to herself with a sigh before storing away her map again, as much as it seemed a potentially BAD idea she felt driven to proceed down this hall, in reality it was no big a danger than any of the other halls unless it was suddenly filled with traps that would affect her in flight but of course that was just a big a risk in the other halls if an entire HALL was missing from her map. And so with that in mind Jenn proceeded down the hall unlike the other halls this one had no carvings on its walls, not even the hint of the beginning of work as she had seen before, it made the room feel all the more eerie as she floated quickening her pace as a chill ran down her spine.
Eventually the hall opened into another room much like the last, at first as she swooped into the room Jenn could not quite see what the room contained, the other had been very well lit to start with torches and glow stones had lined the walls allowing all the art to be seen even from afar.. it had taken Jenn moving quite a bit into the room and taking a bit to adjust to the low light to realize what this room contained…. Gold, bronze, silver, all manner of precious metals and gems littered the floors and Jenn felt her heart stop for a moment as she took in the sight, part because she had never seen so much in one place at one time… but more so because it meant she had stumbled upon perhaps the worst possible room in the entire lair, the main horde. Jenn felt her breathing quicken as torches and glow stones began to ignite upon her arrival, she could see now that while the room DID have a very much incalculable amount of precious metals and jewels that they did not coat the floor as she had read they would, rather they were meticulously separated and even to an extent ‘penned in’ to prevent piles from flowing into one another giving ample space between the piles for walking, as Jenn marveled at the scale of the room now that she could really take it in she heard a deep growl that radiated throughout the room, shaking the treasures but not quite enough to cause the piles to fall.
“Well… well… well... another little mouse finds itself before a tiger.” A booming voice rattled off the walls echoing in such a manner that it made discerning where it had begun from nearly impossible. “But perhaps this one is a bit more than just a mouse; we can feel its presence, usually the mice are too far below our notice.” the room shook as the sound of great footfalls echoed throughout heralding the arrival of the one the voice belonged to “So we ask the mouse, what has brings you before us, what drives the poor foolish mouse to throw it’s life away so readily.” Through the massive archway a massive reptilian behemoth strode into the room with far more grace than one might imagine from a creature so massive blue scales glinted like sapphires in the torchlight as the behemoth craned its neck down bringing it’s maw to rest on the floor before her angled just a bit to the side to allow its massive eye to stare at her, she could hear a dull rumble coming off the beast like the sound of an approaching storm as it took her in examining her briefly.
“You would think the great Abednego would be more welcoming to a guest.” She said squaring her shoulder slightly as she let out a calming breath, despite why she was here it was extremely nerve wracking to be so near to him, it was clear the dragon was not one to receive guests, his lair was well hidden for great reason but she needed to show that she would not accept being treated like this, while it was clear the ‘Sapphire Storm’ held a significant power advantage over her they were in a sense rather similar to one another and she was of course not here to take from him as many sought to do, she was here to HELP. “So the little mouse of mist knows our name, quite fascinating little mouse as for our chosen means of receiving the mouse as guest. You are no guest, you are an intruder upon my land the only reason we have not ended your meager existence is because you have made it this far into out lair, a curious thing to be so capable. Not since Olibu the Great dared enter has someone reached as far. Of course if you know the tale, Olibu the Great never made it back out.” Abednego’s lips curled into a cruel grin as he took a moment to reminisce over the battle his last confrontation before the mice descended back to mediocrity.
She steeled herself as she looked Abednego right in his massive eye, showing any amount of fear would be a bad move the dragon would notrespect the words of someone cowering before him. “I am not like the others who have ventured into you’re lair Abednego, I don’t want you’re riches or to free your princesses, to steal away whatever magical trinkets or lost artifacts you’ve obtained, I don’t even want to fight you I know as I am now I would stand little chance against you’re power.” She said taking a long moment to gauge the reaction. The great eye of Abednego narrowed slightly in what she hoped was interest as he appeared not to be preparing to attack. “No Abednego, I am here to help you."
"And what help exactly could you offer us little mouse? You have earned a few moments more of life, it is rare that mice truly manage to say something that surprises is" Abednego said the surprise he mentioned quite evident in how his eye had widened at Jenn's response, Jenn hadn't missed out on the fact that he had said she had earned a few more moments of life, she needed to be smart about how she explained the situation to the dragon but also keep herself prepared for the potential that the beast would simply grow bored and decide it was a better use of his time to destroy her. "What help I have to offer is a warning, not of a threat posed by myself mind you. There is a group of humans that live above, not far from your lair, they posses a map of you're lair an abliet outdated map but still enough that it got me this far when I made a copy for myself." Jenn said pausing momentarily to take in the dragons reaction, Abdenego betrayed nothing however remaining stoic as a statue. "These humans have spent a long time imprisoning creatures of magical heritage, anything they can get there hands on is caged and put on display for the people of the city, and they plan to sneak into you're lair... and steal you're children." Jenn said and with that Abednego let out a deep growl and his eyes narrowed dangerously on her "You might not think it a real threat, they are only human and they don't pose much of a threat to you, but they have a well designed plan to execute there theft." Jenn said letting out a breath of relief as the ferocity in Abednego's eye appeared to become else focused upon her as she spoke.
"You are a strangely foolish little mouse to put yourself at such risk to protect what is mind. I can smell that you speak the truth that these mortals truly do posses some grand plan that you do believe can breach our infinite security, but what I want to know little genie what do you gain from aiding us? Do you do this for some sort of perceived reward?" Abednego questioned lifting his head up and staring down at Jenn now giving her full view of his immensity once again. "No, I'm not doing this for a reward, you know what I am and can likely guess that I have no need for anything you posses, I do this because I know the man who leads this expedition, the man was once a summoner of mine. He owns the 'zoo' that imprisons the mystical creatures he's captured and I would never wish to see something as powerful as a Dragon at his command, for him to gain possession of dragon eggs would be a disaster, he could raise them to obey him and through that gain even more power. " Jenn explained, remaining calm despite ehr surprise over Abednego identifying her as a genie, it was surprising to say the least but then again was it truly THAT surprising? The dragon likely knew of all manner of mystical creatures, and she was one that likely fell into his interests, a mystical creature tied to a mystical object. "Quite interesting little genie, your words are truthful once again, so adorably selfless of you. You do know even still that this does not guarantee our allowing you to sfely leave my home? You are a genie clearly capable of taking leave of you're summoners. Would it not be in out best interests to end you now, to prevent you from returning one day when you DO want something of ours?" Abednego questioned again not bothering now to speak on the threat to his home and eggs.
"Maybe it would be, I cant quite say whether I'll always be disinterested in what you have." Jenn began deciding not to even bother holding anything back at this point "But there are of course a few reasons not to, im strong not enough to kill you but enough to pose a threat to you a very BIG threat if you also consider the fact that I'm fast and will flee if necessary, i imagine you have a means of changing your size or the size of the lair to allow you free movement through it but even still out battle WILL put your horde at risk, I'll hhold nothing back and probably even explicily target it if you end up looking to be the sort to put yourself at risk to protect your treasure. On top of that I don't know how strong there forces are, likely they wouldn't normally pose a threat to you but who knows how tha will change after a fight between us, they are set to arrive TOMORROW and the plan indicates that it will end the same day it begins." Jenn explained feeling a bit emboldened the more she spoke, and much to her surprise the dragon actually SMILED "I like you little genie, you have a dragons fire in your heart. Many come in here brimming with the flames of valor, eager to test there mettle against my might, few can keep that fire when they realize how utterly outmatched they are, and yet you have come to me KNOWING you face death, and yet when I threaten you the flame only burns brighter. Explain to me their plans, they have already failed in there intended conquest but still pose a threat to my home, my children are already hatchlings but they may yet still attempt their foolish theft. Do this and I will let you go in peace, I swear this on my horde and my life." Abednego said raising a massive clawed hand and running a single claw across the are of his chest where Jenn presumed his heart to be located. She felt immense relief and proceeded to explain the plan in it's entireity to Abednego the Sapphire Storm was even willing to admit surprise in how well made the plans were as he lead Jenn to the lairs exit taking on a strange half dragon half humanoid form as they did so, he laughing as he looked upon the fallen forms of his wyverns.
"You have done us a great service Mahajenn, leave now and let you're flame never die." Abednego said as they reached the exit placing a single clawed hand on Jenns shoulder a sudden warmth spreading throughout her body and a few moments later Jenn found herself outside the lairs entrance somewhere far enough that she could not even see it any longer, it was only then that she realized how odd some of Abednego's statements had been the references to fire were not common for dragons such as he, usually a blue made reference to 'storms' and 'thunder' in reference to creatures they saw value in as those were things as they saw themselves as the storms themselves, Red dragons were the ones that favored fire. Why would Abednego speak of her like a creature of flame?
A trap… She’d gotten so enraptured by the carvings that she had forgotten to take any precaution as she moved throughout the halls, a small section of the ceiling split open and through it slipped a massive swinging blade, normally Jenn wouldn’t have given a second though to such a trap she was far beyond the strength of normal weapons such as this even if they were as expertly made as this one appeared to be but her sense caught something a small spark of energy radiating from the blade, Jenn pushed with her energy lifting off the ground and shooting backward fast enough to avoid the blade with a brief surge of energy Jenn sent out a blast that cut through the mechanism holding the blade the blade tumbling into the air for a few brief moments before striking the ground a good third of the blade inking through the floor with ease. Taking a few cautious steps forward Jenn inspected the blade as the energy on it began to fade, somehow the blade had been enhanced with energy and from the looks of it the edge of the blade itself was also soaked in something, whatever it was was certainly NOT something that was healthy to have in the body. She cringed slightly as she pulled away from the trap ‘wonderful now I have to take extra precaution if these traps can actually hurt me...’ Jenn thought to herself with a frustrated sigh as she stepped away from the blade and took to the air, with any luck the dragons traps would primarily rely on the intruder actually making contact with the floor or walls, she knew that of course she would never be quite so lucky but of course there was a chance that what with all she had done already, taking out the Wyvern and setting off a trap the dragon was already aware of her presence.
If he WAS aware then with any luck he would be making his way toward her then again traps and guards pretty much indicated that he didn’t care much for dealing with intruders himself so perhaps she’d simply have to press as far into the lair as possible until she finally DID get his attention or found him, she wasn’t entirely sure which option actually seemed worse, perhaps surprising him with her sudden appearance in whatever part of the lair that he was in would be the worse if he was the sort to lash out at unexpected visitors. Jenn ran a hand through her hair in frustration as she began to realize just how suicidal this whole venture was. ‘and all to help out someone who’s probably just as likely to kill me for trespassing just as he would those who were here to actually steal from him.’ She thought with a sigh as she proceeded down another hall slipping her map out from where she had stored it inside her bandages. ‘Alright so I’ve managed to avoid a decent amount of the traps and im coming up on an actual room, no information on what should be there though…’ Jenn thought as she looked up from the map to find just as it indicated the end of the hall and the entrance to a room no door just a large archway she could see inside that the room appeared to house a large number of paintings. ‘Wonderful, its apart of his horde…’ Jenn thought with a groan as she entered the room.
She’d managed to get far enough through the lair by means of flight that she had evidently gotten far enough to reach a part of the dragons horde, which meant she would likely need to be VERY careful now traps here would be especially deadly. Taking a look around jenn had to take a moment to marvel at the art on display paintings done all throughout time were on display here and it brought a smile to her face she loved painting and getting to see such masterpieces all at once was quite the experience. Even though she knew it to be a bad idea Jenn decided to linger for a bit to get a better look, no need to touch anything she didn’t need to touch to appreciate the art on display she just needed a few moments to look and enjoy. It was odd to think that the Dragon didn’t necessarily take these because of their beauty, from what she understood the primary reason a dragon added something to its horde was because of its value of course when it came to art generally that also brought with it a significant level of artistic skill. Jenn lingered for a moment on a massive mural, the mural was painted upon a wall and evidently when Abednego had decided he wanted it he had simply uprooted the entire wall and taken it with him a thought equal parts amusing and terrifying. As she took in the mural Jenn’s sense alerted her to another presence in the room, the signature flared up for just a few seconds likely as whatever it belonged to moved but just as quickly as it appeared it sunk back below her ability to detect, she kept herself calm making no noticeable signs of being aware of the other beings presence, creatures that could hide themselves were tough to fight if they had the advantage and this one likely knew the layout of the lair very well, she needed to draw it somewhere that it couldent hide as easily and more importantly to her away from the art, not only would it be an absolute travesty for a battle to destroy any of the pieces she had seen but playing a part in the destruction of a section Abednego’s horde was very likely to be a quick way to guarantee her demise and so with that in mind Jenn began making her way toward the exit as she moved she felt another energy surge from the other being as it drew nearer and once again another now even closer as she floated out of the horde-room, she moved casually as she had before making a show of keeping an eye out for traps while in reality waiting for the other being to make its move.
She felt another surge, this one much stronger than before as the creature made its way to the exit’s archway, this time the surge didn’t suddenly fall as it had before, it was making its move, with that in mind Jenn twisted in the air catching a glimpse of her attacker. Another Wyvern though this one was much more slender and in its eyes jenn could see a much greater level of intelligence, it was taking in everything it saw and preparing to strike, it’s eyes widened as she caught it’s gaze it was caught in what appeared to be the midway point between its preparation to attack as it’s body was tense and half ready to spring into action. It let out a low growling hiss before launching into action, where it appeared to lack the muscle that the other Wyvern had this one however appeared to be less inhibited by it’s weight clearing the distance between the archway and Jenn in a few seconds giving Jenn barely enough time to defend herself as powerful arms swatted at her attempting to drag her to the ground. What Jenn found however was while this wyvern was much faster it’s blows lacked the same impact as the other wyvern, a smirk formed on her lips as she lashed out slamming the wyvern in the chest with a kick, more a test to anything and the results were exactly as she had hoped, the creature recoiled in pain stumbling far more than the other hand, where the other could take a few its before being sent packing this one was much less durable… which raised a question on where it’s strengths lay, speed was clear, and the ability to hide itself was another though as the sense was not exceptionally common and it still displayed power while moving that was likely not one of its greater benefits… and then the creature showed exactly where it’s strength lay as its maw opened and before Jenn could properly react a bolt of lightning cleared the distance between them and nailed her dead in the chest sending her flying and knocking the wind out of her as she slammed into a far wall.
Jenn returned to consciousness a few moments alter as the wyvern was stalking closer, her vision cleared just enough for her to see what she assumed to be a look of amazement on the face of the creature likely not having expected to do as much as it had with its attack, with a groan Jenn pulled herself to her feet startling the wyvern causing it to take a step backward and let out a vicious screech as it attempted to puff itself up to look more intimidating, as he wits slowly returned to her Jenn could feel the creatures was MUCH weaker now, that single attack had likely been built up since the moment it realized she had been in the room, more than enough time to turn a weak attack into a devastating one, but even still it hadn’t been enough to take her down, a small grin spread across her face as she cracked her neck and launched forward slamming fist and knee into the creature far faster than it could keep up with, the creature let out screeches of pain as it swatted back at her landing a few solid blows and drawing blood as it’s claws raked across her arm. Deciding it best to end this before the creature managed to win a battle of attrition Jenn pulled back her arm and aimed punch directly in the creatures chest putting everything she had into the strike, she could HEAR the creatures breath leave it as it stumbled back gasping and coughing stumbling over itself trying to keep its balance until finally it collapsed, for good measure Jenn dashed across the hall and nailed the wyvern in the head with a kick, the blow delivered more than enough impact to knock the beast out even if the punch hadn’t done so already. Tired from the brief fight Jenn manifested some tools to clean and dress her wounds. With a heavy sigh Jenn picked herself up and pulled out her map again, looking it over she found something quite interesting.
The map indicated that she was in a hall that didn’t exist, on the map there were two exits from the room she had been in, the first being the hall she had entered from and the second another hall that was almost directly across from the first, she had even seen that one when she had entered the room, this hall fell near to the mural and evidently had been added after this maps creation ‘wonderful, going in completely blind..’ Jenn thought to herself with a sigh before storing away her map again, as much as it seemed a potentially BAD idea she felt driven to proceed down this hall, in reality it was no big a danger than any of the other halls unless it was suddenly filled with traps that would affect her in flight but of course that was just a big a risk in the other halls if an entire HALL was missing from her map. And so with that in mind Jenn proceeded down the hall unlike the other halls this one had no carvings on its walls, not even the hint of the beginning of work as she had seen before, it made the room feel all the more eerie as she floated quickening her pace as a chill ran down her spine.
Eventually the hall opened into another room much like the last, at first as she swooped into the room Jenn could not quite see what the room contained, the other had been very well lit to start with torches and glow stones had lined the walls allowing all the art to be seen even from afar.. it had taken Jenn moving quite a bit into the room and taking a bit to adjust to the low light to realize what this room contained…. Gold, bronze, silver, all manner of precious metals and gems littered the floors and Jenn felt her heart stop for a moment as she took in the sight, part because she had never seen so much in one place at one time… but more so because it meant she had stumbled upon perhaps the worst possible room in the entire lair, the main horde. Jenn felt her breathing quicken as torches and glow stones began to ignite upon her arrival, she could see now that while the room DID have a very much incalculable amount of precious metals and jewels that they did not coat the floor as she had read they would, rather they were meticulously separated and even to an extent ‘penned in’ to prevent piles from flowing into one another giving ample space between the piles for walking, as Jenn marveled at the scale of the room now that she could really take it in she heard a deep growl that radiated throughout the room, shaking the treasures but not quite enough to cause the piles to fall.
“Well… well… well... another little mouse finds itself before a tiger.” A booming voice rattled off the walls echoing in such a manner that it made discerning where it had begun from nearly impossible. “But perhaps this one is a bit more than just a mouse; we can feel its presence, usually the mice are too far below our notice.” the room shook as the sound of great footfalls echoed throughout heralding the arrival of the one the voice belonged to “So we ask the mouse, what has brings you before us, what drives the poor foolish mouse to throw it’s life away so readily.” Through the massive archway a massive reptilian behemoth strode into the room with far more grace than one might imagine from a creature so massive blue scales glinted like sapphires in the torchlight as the behemoth craned its neck down bringing it’s maw to rest on the floor before her angled just a bit to the side to allow its massive eye to stare at her, she could hear a dull rumble coming off the beast like the sound of an approaching storm as it took her in examining her briefly.
“You would think the great Abednego would be more welcoming to a guest.” She said squaring her shoulder slightly as she let out a calming breath, despite why she was here it was extremely nerve wracking to be so near to him, it was clear the dragon was not one to receive guests, his lair was well hidden for great reason but she needed to show that she would not accept being treated like this, while it was clear the ‘Sapphire Storm’ held a significant power advantage over her they were in a sense rather similar to one another and she was of course not here to take from him as many sought to do, she was here to HELP. “So the little mouse of mist knows our name, quite fascinating little mouse as for our chosen means of receiving the mouse as guest. You are no guest, you are an intruder upon my land the only reason we have not ended your meager existence is because you have made it this far into out lair, a curious thing to be so capable. Not since Olibu the Great dared enter has someone reached as far. Of course if you know the tale, Olibu the Great never made it back out.” Abednego’s lips curled into a cruel grin as he took a moment to reminisce over the battle his last confrontation before the mice descended back to mediocrity.
She steeled herself as she looked Abednego right in his massive eye, showing any amount of fear would be a bad move the dragon would notrespect the words of someone cowering before him. “I am not like the others who have ventured into you’re lair Abednego, I don’t want you’re riches or to free your princesses, to steal away whatever magical trinkets or lost artifacts you’ve obtained, I don’t even want to fight you I know as I am now I would stand little chance against you’re power.” She said taking a long moment to gauge the reaction. The great eye of Abednego narrowed slightly in what she hoped was interest as he appeared not to be preparing to attack. “No Abednego, I am here to help you."
"And what help exactly could you offer us little mouse? You have earned a few moments more of life, it is rare that mice truly manage to say something that surprises is" Abednego said the surprise he mentioned quite evident in how his eye had widened at Jenn's response, Jenn hadn't missed out on the fact that he had said she had earned a few more moments of life, she needed to be smart about how she explained the situation to the dragon but also keep herself prepared for the potential that the beast would simply grow bored and decide it was a better use of his time to destroy her. "What help I have to offer is a warning, not of a threat posed by myself mind you. There is a group of humans that live above, not far from your lair, they posses a map of you're lair an abliet outdated map but still enough that it got me this far when I made a copy for myself." Jenn said pausing momentarily to take in the dragons reaction, Abdenego betrayed nothing however remaining stoic as a statue. "These humans have spent a long time imprisoning creatures of magical heritage, anything they can get there hands on is caged and put on display for the people of the city, and they plan to sneak into you're lair... and steal you're children." Jenn said and with that Abednego let out a deep growl and his eyes narrowed dangerously on her "You might not think it a real threat, they are only human and they don't pose much of a threat to you, but they have a well designed plan to execute there theft." Jenn said letting out a breath of relief as the ferocity in Abednego's eye appeared to become else focused upon her as she spoke.
"You are a strangely foolish little mouse to put yourself at such risk to protect what is mind. I can smell that you speak the truth that these mortals truly do posses some grand plan that you do believe can breach our infinite security, but what I want to know little genie what do you gain from aiding us? Do you do this for some sort of perceived reward?" Abednego questioned lifting his head up and staring down at Jenn now giving her full view of his immensity once again. "No, I'm not doing this for a reward, you know what I am and can likely guess that I have no need for anything you posses, I do this because I know the man who leads this expedition, the man was once a summoner of mine. He owns the 'zoo' that imprisons the mystical creatures he's captured and I would never wish to see something as powerful as a Dragon at his command, for him to gain possession of dragon eggs would be a disaster, he could raise them to obey him and through that gain even more power. " Jenn explained, remaining calm despite ehr surprise over Abednego identifying her as a genie, it was surprising to say the least but then again was it truly THAT surprising? The dragon likely knew of all manner of mystical creatures, and she was one that likely fell into his interests, a mystical creature tied to a mystical object. "Quite interesting little genie, your words are truthful once again, so adorably selfless of you. You do know even still that this does not guarantee our allowing you to sfely leave my home? You are a genie clearly capable of taking leave of you're summoners. Would it not be in out best interests to end you now, to prevent you from returning one day when you DO want something of ours?" Abednego questioned again not bothering now to speak on the threat to his home and eggs.
"Maybe it would be, I cant quite say whether I'll always be disinterested in what you have." Jenn began deciding not to even bother holding anything back at this point "But there are of course a few reasons not to, im strong not enough to kill you but enough to pose a threat to you a very BIG threat if you also consider the fact that I'm fast and will flee if necessary, i imagine you have a means of changing your size or the size of the lair to allow you free movement through it but even still out battle WILL put your horde at risk, I'll hhold nothing back and probably even explicily target it if you end up looking to be the sort to put yourself at risk to protect your treasure. On top of that I don't know how strong there forces are, likely they wouldn't normally pose a threat to you but who knows how tha will change after a fight between us, they are set to arrive TOMORROW and the plan indicates that it will end the same day it begins." Jenn explained feeling a bit emboldened the more she spoke, and much to her surprise the dragon actually SMILED "I like you little genie, you have a dragons fire in your heart. Many come in here brimming with the flames of valor, eager to test there mettle against my might, few can keep that fire when they realize how utterly outmatched they are, and yet you have come to me KNOWING you face death, and yet when I threaten you the flame only burns brighter. Explain to me their plans, they have already failed in there intended conquest but still pose a threat to my home, my children are already hatchlings but they may yet still attempt their foolish theft. Do this and I will let you go in peace, I swear this on my horde and my life." Abednego said raising a massive clawed hand and running a single claw across the are of his chest where Jenn presumed his heart to be located. She felt immense relief and proceeded to explain the plan in it's entireity to Abednego the Sapphire Storm was even willing to admit surprise in how well made the plans were as he lead Jenn to the lairs exit taking on a strange half dragon half humanoid form as they did so, he laughing as he looked upon the fallen forms of his wyverns.
"You have done us a great service Mahajenn, leave now and let you're flame never die." Abednego said as they reached the exit placing a single clawed hand on Jenns shoulder a sudden warmth spreading throughout her body and a few moments later Jenn found herself outside the lairs entrance somewhere far enough that she could not even see it any longer, it was only then that she realized how odd some of Abednego's statements had been the references to fire were not common for dragons such as he, usually a blue made reference to 'storms' and 'thunder' in reference to creatures they saw value in as those were things as they saw themselves as the storms themselves, Red dragons were the ones that favored fire. Why would Abednego speak of her like a creature of flame?
