Tiny Dragon Hero!

Obviously, thought Lord Fred, the ones who would most about faerie dragons are other faerie dragons. Thoughts akin to this one occupied him as he left the Southern Caves. He flew effortlessly through the caves, agile and buoyed by fae magics, and soon he was outside. The light shone through the forest cover and fell warmly on him... Mmm, warmth... The little dragon spread its wings and glided, drifting out into a clearing where the light shone more strongly.

Then Fred shook his head; he'd briefly gotten distracted. He was starting to think too much like the magic lizard he now looked like. With a wrench he brought his thoughts back to the matter of finding other faerie dragons. Only, he realized, he had no clue where one finds faerie dragons. Or much else. The only information he had was about some strange, rather arbitrary Levelling system, as well as his own new instincts.

It was with a gradually growing disheartenment that Fred flew through the forests. The strain of flight wore on him over the hours, and his wingbeats grew harder as his magic ebbed from tiredness. Soon evening had come and the fight against his instincts was being lost. Fred was no longer nearly as concerned with finding others of his kind as he was with finding a safe place to spend the night and some food. Fruit of some sort would be great. Especially pie. Mmmmm, pie.

Fred found himself drooling at the thought of pie. He gave himself a shake to dispel the thought, then alighted on a branch that hung over a narrow road through the forest and wiped his muzzle clean with a paw. That done he looked at the path beneath him curiously. It was made of packed dirt and stone. Though not big enough to drive a carriage over, it looked tended.

Rather a curious thing to see illuminated by the evening light in the forests... Perking a fluff-tipped ear, Fred thought he heard a distant sound, like someone approaching. He settled in to watch and wait, curious, not to mention tired.

Only a few minutes passed before a merchant walked along the path. He was a strong looking man and was drawing behind him a large handcart loaded with jugs, which were strapped down securely to prevent being jostled. Abruptly, two men dressed for forest camoflage arose from the base of the very tree Fred was sitting in! Fred startled, but avoided making any noise that might draw attention to him, at least for the moment. This event was certainly banishing thoughts of sleep from his mind.

"Hand over the cart, merch," snarled the first. The second drew a twisted yet gleaming dagger from under his clothes and menaced the merchant with it. "What th-you idiots!" roared the merchant, "This is my!". The bandits looked unimpressed, and the first one interrupted the words of the merchant by saying, "Your what? This is OUR path now. Very nice it is, too." The merchant blustered uselessly for a moment, then sighed and started to let the handcart down. "If you'd take medicine from the village, fine," he grumbled, seeming resigned to cooperating.

This gave Fred another shock. Medicine! So that's what the jugs were - here he'd been expecting wine or something. But medicine he couldn't sit and allow to be stolen. "Fiends!" he squeaked in his most menacing tone, rearing up on the branch and flapping his wings. Little glimmers of dust fell from his wings, catching the light. "Pick on someone your own size!"

All three in the group below did a double-take, then the first bandit, clearly the more garrulous of the two, burst out laughing. "We are!" he choked out. Then the merchant slugged him. Hard. He staggered back. With a roar, the second bandit leaped at the merchant with his dagger. Acting quickly, Fred did the only thing that a King's Knight could, he dove at the second bandit.

Then he did something that a King's Knight wouldn't normally be expected to do. He exhaled a gust of faerie dust in the face of the bandit, who immediately started coughing and blinking, dropping the dagger as he tried to wipe it out of his eyes.

Blinding! I can blind them! thought Fred triumphantly as he winged over to repeat the trick on the first bandit. But before he got there-

1. two faerie dragons swooped out of the forest to attack Fred!
2. two faerie dragons swooped out of the forest to attack the bandits!
3. the first bandit threw a smoke bomb and ran!
4. the second bandit recovered and threw a net over Fred!
5. the second bandit tackled the merchant blindly, who crashed into Fred!

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