Cat With a Raygun

As the days got closer to Kerras's birthday Joe put himself into his regular tasks to be sure nothing got left out in the excitement of Kerras's big day. His Animal Status spell finally got up to level 5.

Creature Status (Level 5). See the health, age, and well-being of an animal or non-hostile monster, or just the health of a hostile monster.

Mana cost: 5 mana per casting

Joe decided to use it on the frost dragon egg when icing it down that evening.

Evolved Frost Dragon. Health: Normal. Age: -2 days. Sex: Male. Disposition: N/A.

Joe checked with Tess, but neither the Evolved part of its race nor the countdown to when it will hatch were present when she last checked it, but she saw them now same as Joe did. The new frost dragon will be hatching days before Kerras's birthday, but who knows what the evolution did for it. Tess and Joe figured it was due to the intense manachlorian levels put off by the mana diamond.

- - - - -

Joe didn't know how to raise a dragon hatchling nor did any books he could find in the Trenos libraries about dragons have any information about it. No one ever expected people to slay dragons and obtain dragon eggs. They figured they wouldn't go wrong with finely chopped meat, both raw and cooked, as well as stew, and a bucket of ice water. As the timer got closer to its hatching, the whole town wanted to be present for it. This would be a once-in-a-lifetime event.

Joe would be the one closest to the egg when it hatched, if dragons imprinted, he wanted it to imprint on him, and no one argued with that. He was, after all, the only one who had any experience fighting dragons in case it got out of hand.

Joe kept track of the timer and it was still counting down at the same pace. When it got down to five minutes ice started forming over the egg shell. They weren't sure if it would have its frost power this young, but it appears it had some, at least. As a precaution Joe put up a Deflection Field over the spectators.

The icy coating on the egg began to thin as it got closer to hatching. It looked like it was making the egg shell itself brittle as cracks started forming on the shell that lined up with cracks forming in the ice. Finally the cracks burst open as the shell and ice broke away revealing a white and blue dragon the size of a golden retriever.

While the dragon was shakily getting to its feet and taking in the surroundings, Joe used Inspect on it. He didn't get any results. Nervous at the implications he quickly spoke out for the others to hear about it.

“Guys, not to worry you, but I can't use Inspect on this guy.”

“Maybe dragons are immune to Inspect normally?” Ferric theorized.

“No, I used it on his mother just fine. If I'm not mistaken the only reason Inspect wouldn't work is because he's capable of using the CGS, which his mother clearly could not.”

Joe kept his tone calm and level as the dragon finally saw him and cautiously moved close, smelling the food available. The dragon went right for the raw meat and started happily chowing down. Joe inched closer to it and whispered calming words of comfort as he put his hand on its back. The dragon was warm to the touch, while Joe had expected him to be cool. The dragon mostly ignored Joe, continuing to eat his meal of raw deer meat.

“Wow, you must be really hungry,” Joe remarked.

“Yes,” the dragon replied between mouthfuls of meat.

Tess and Ferric both gasped. They were closer than the rest of the townspeople, the only ones besides Joe not in the Deflection Field.

“Joe, the dragon spoke. He speaks Trade and he's only just hatched,” Tess said in awe.

The dragon finished with the raw meat and moved on to the cooked meat. After the first half of this bowl of food was gone it went to the bucket of ice water and chugged down most of it.

The dragon turned to Joe on his way back to the bowl of cooked meat. “This isn't enough. I'll need more. Please.” The final word was tinged with desperation. The fact that he was asking to be provided food and didn't decide to try to attack and eat them was a good sign. Joe looked to Tess and Ferric who both nodded in agreement.

Joe used Backtrack to get to one of the food cabinets in The Rusty Cup. He grabbed most of the packages of meat from inside and closed it back up. Joe had only been gone a minute, but the young dragon was already finished with the cooked meat and moved on to the stew. Joe passed off some of the packages to Tess and Ferric and all three started unwrapping the bundles of meat.

“Will this be enough? Also, do you need us to cut them into smaller pieces?” Ferric asked the dragon.

The dragon looked at the supply of meat provided and cocked his head to the side thinking for a moment. “I think it will be enough. And, no, my teeth will do just fine.”

The rest of the townspeople had left the Deflection Field and all gathered around to see the newest resident of the town. They all sat down, hoping their presence wouldn't scare the young thing. Finally after 30 minutes he had eaten all the food provided and slowed down.

“Thank you. I grew different than my kind and I needed all of this food to stabilize the transformation.” The dragon looked at the crowd of more than a dozen people gathered to see him. “I'll need to sleep soon, but I think you want to ask me some questions first.”

“Yes, thank you. My name is Joe. Do you have a name?”

The dragon thought for a moment, “Yes, my name is Belstak.”

“Belstak, how do you know so much, how can you speak when you're just hatched? The infants of our races do not have that kind of knowledge from birth, it has to be learned over time.”

“Dragons are born with the memories and experiences of their bloodline. I can speak your language because dragons used to be far more intelligent and civilized than they are now. We never had this CWEST Guidance Service, though. That's new to me, although I recall your races speaking of it in the old memories.”

Joe looked very concerned when Belstak mentioned having his ancestors' memories. “Uh, so does that mean you remember what happened to your mother?”

Belstack looked at Joe quizzically then opened his mouth wide and started to laugh, “Don't worry, Joe. I bear no ill-will for what happened. Because these ancestral memories are part of us we're built to separate out our own memories from the memories of those who came before. Not only that, but the current generation of dragons live as predators. Falling to a stronger foe is an honor.”

Joe looked rather relieved at Belstak's view about his mother.

“Besides,” Belstak continued. “If you hadn't done what you did, I wouldn't have incubated in this cavern with all this manachlorian energy empowering me to a level even greater than my ancestors had been.”

Ferric then stepped forward to speak, “Belstak, my name is Ferric Rustkeeper, I'm the mayor of the town of Rust's Edge above us. I'd like to formally extend an invitation to reside in our town for as long as you see fit.”

Belstak nodded, “Thank you, Mayor Rustkeeper. I appreciate it. I'll be here for a while until I figure out my place in the current world. But now, unless there's anything that can't wait, I'd really like to get to sleep and digest this massive meal I had to eat.”

Everyone stood up and promised they'd introduce themselves after he felt stronger. Joe made a structure of ice shaped like a large doghouse.

“Is it offensive if I assume you'd like to sleep in something made of ice?”

“Offensive? It's perfect. Thank you, Joe.”

- - - - -

Joe had ferried everyone back out to the town itself. Most people were in The Rusty Cup eating together, thinking about their weird situation.

“Hey, Joe. When I become a Mage you think I'll get a cool talking dragon, too?” asked Kerras.

Joe just laughed at the question. “I have no idea. I'm hoping you'll be your own Mage rather than just copy me, though.”

Ferric sat down at the table where Joe was sitting, “I can't believe how much you've changed our town. Not even a year has passed since you first arrived, and we have new buildings, new skilled workers, and a very, very profitable income source when we're ready.”

“Speaking of that, Ferric. I think we should start training people's combat classes. I'm only a level 10 Mage, not even halfway to my first advancement, and I'm the highest level in town.”

Ferric took a drink from his mug and sighed, “I fear you're right. If we're going to reveal what we have to the rest of the world we need to be ready to hold onto it. How do you suggest we go about it?”

“Well, I can go around and scout out for more monster habitats, then teleport small groups in to fight them for the Combat experience.”

Ferric nodded at that suggestion. “That sounds like it could work. Before you go traveling to look for monsters, though, do you think you can work out some arcane device for us to communicate in case someone does come looking for trouble while you're not here?”

“I can probably work up something with the manachlorian patterns I know, yeah.”

“Excellent!” Ferric grinned as the plan was set.

The rest of the evening went much like usual, but with more celebration.

The next morning Joe was woken up before dawn by his CGS.

Party request invitation sent by Belstak. Do you accept?