As much as Perrath prefers worth that involves justified violence, he knows that it’s a good idea to at least do some of the less attractive things like disgusting manual labor. Besides, this new village in Dragon’s Cradle is doing good for the few people in the world he is meant to protect, so the least he can do is show up for appearances and make himself look good by hauling a few logs. It isn’t like he possesses much more skill for building than any other warrior, but if he one day wishes to reside over a region, then he best at least learn what the construction looks like.

So, here he is, looking around the new construction, completely out of place in his armor, and trying to decide where to begin. Besides, he needs to get the lay of the land of his neighbors in the event that their regions are ever at war. Things can’t always be rainbows and butterflies, especially not with the world in its current state.

Adjusting his bag slung across his shoulder, Perrath finds the foreman in an effort to find the best person to speak with but also find what work will be easy for someone as glorious as himself.

---

Quest Details:

SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: Hearth and Home
Participants: Two or more
Location: Dragon's Cradle, (Hearthside Village)
Post Requirements: 4 post per person, 200 words per post
Reward: +1 Renown
Description: A new village is being constructed on the border between Dragon's Cradle and Zeinav and the region is in need of helping hands. Due to the increased flow of people fleeing the Ash Lands, Dragon's Cradle has become a hub for refugees and has decided to put their resources to good use, building a new village to further increase the region's economy and social standing with their neighbors to the south. An open call has been issued to anyone who would like to help out. Things like constructing buildings, stables or fences, the digging of trenches or wells and collecting supplies like lumber or food are all task that are in need of assistance. Whatever you have to offer, Hearthside Village will accept!

Raoul was no stranger to hard work, having served as an apprentice pirate during his younger years. Helping out maintaining the ship doing chores doing whatever the crew told him to. He however thought his days of doing hard manual labor were over though he was now a traveling detective who instead of working his body and muscles worked out the most important thing, his brain. However, he still found himself standing before the site of a new village’s construction ready to offer his strength.



For as much as the dhampir loved justice and helping people out, he equally loved earning solars just as much. He just couldn’t refuse a job no matter how small or how tiring. Just part of him whispered about how good it would be to have more solars.He stood by holding his coat in his hands looking to speak to the foreman to see what he could help with. He wasn’t as strong as his muscle-headed adopted brothers but he considered himself toned enough and strong enough to do his job.



He walked over to the foreman who appeared to be a halfling woman who was already speaking to a familiar figure, Perrath.



“Hey there”, the man said as he jogged over to the two, “Name’s Raoul how can I help you guys?”.

While getting basic instruction from the halfling woman that stands only a third of Perrath’s height, the dragon hears a familiar voice and looks over to see that it indeed belongs to a familiar face. “Ah, Raoul,” he says in a friendly enough tone. The two of them managed to survive a deadly circus not long ago, so seeing him is not an unwelcome surprise all things considered. “Good to see you have not thrown yourself into any more overcomplicated and dangerous situations. I was just receiving confirmation from Miss Tess here that some lumber needs delivery from up the mountain. Some creatures have been disturbed by the logging operations, so able bodied warriors are necessary.”

The halfling, presumably Miss Tess, nods as if to confirm. “Yes, and if you’ll drop ‘em off over there, that’ll be where our next project starts.”

“Very well, Miss Tess, I will ensure that delivery is made expeditiously,” Perrath declares proudly. At least some use for his skills will be made here. The dragon couldn’t build a fence if he wanted to. “If this is of interest to you, then come along, Raoul.” Assuming that he does, Perrath starts off along the trail cut along the hillside towards the thinning forest not far away. “How is society treating you since our last encounter?”

The dhampir man gives Perrath a friendly smile and waves before speaking up, “How’s it going Perrath hope you’ve been well my fellow miniature survivor. Ah, Lumber needs some help getting delivered. I can't say I’m the strongest fellow around but I’m eager to help out as much as I can. After all what type of fellow would I be if I just stood around and did nothing, a real slacker I tell you”.



He then quiets down as he listens to Miss Tess give the two pretty simple orders and gives her a thumbs up before saying, “Alright Miss I’ll make sure that that we finish everything fast and safely”, before walking behind Perrath the other man seemed to know what he was doing so who was Raoul to lead the way.

He places his hands behind his head as he answers the dragon’s question, “Society’s been treating me alright, get the occasional bump in the road like almost getting killed by this serial killer who used poisons or dealing with an old lady who threw garlic at me but besides that, I’ve been pretty good. Cases have been relatively easy, nothing too dangerous so on the front everything’s fine. How about you friend, what've you been up to? Not getting shrunken again I hope”, he chuckles.

With their instructions given, Perrath makes his way along a rocky mountain path alongside Raoul, occasionally glancing back at the village to get a better look at its progress overall. The people of Dragon’s Cradle work quickly when they have the right leadership. No wonder this is well known as the most secure region on the continent.

“I am well enough,” he says to continue their small talk. “I can say my travels sound smoother than your own. I have found new colleagues to help me on my journey, and I hope the same goes for you.” His anger over the situation of being shrunken long since simmered, the dragon manages a chuckle. “No, I can’t say I’ve been shrunken again. I’d sooner be dead than live through that embarrassing experience again. Now, your mention of garlic, are you allergic?” There is genuine curiosity in his voice, as Perrath is not well-acquainted with those of vampiric nature.

When they reach the logging area, they find a group of men who have already loaded things up and are ready to transport it down a mountain. They’re happy to see a couple of adventurers since they’ve seen owlbears recently and appreciate the escort. There’s no expectation of needing to fight one, necessarily, but the muscle is good to scare them off if one shows up.

Raoul’s eyes glance around the rocky mountain path as they walk noticing the little things about the area. The government had chosen a fine spot; the local fauna seemed well enough, the mountain path not too treacherous. All and all it was a pretty fine place to build a new community. Dragon's Cradle’s higher-ups seemed competent enough. The dhampir had also fallen victim to his own mind’s odd habits; he couldn't help himself but take in every detail wherever he went. His focus then returned to his and Perrath’s attempt at small talk as he continued listening to the other man.



“Well enough is good to hear it's better than bad at least'', he said with a smile, “Good to hear that you are making friends during your travels, as for me it's about the same. I’ve met my fair share of strange folk from not one but two extremely curious draconynhs who sought to ask me a million questions, a charming witch, a thief, and even a doctor with metal hands. By all interesting manner of people, it truly is one of the best parts about adventuring, isn’t it?".

He then manages to let out a chuckle once more as the mean recounts the memory of their shrinking adventure and questions him on garlic, “Well yes I am allergic but it won’t kill me no matter how many a dumb criminal tries it. It’s more of a slight annoyance to deal with than actually painful but what’re you supposed to do we’re born how we are and just live to deal with it. Being a vampire has its advantages and disadvantages although I can’t compare it to another existence seeing as I was born the son of a vampire and just kind of inherited it I suppose”, he points at his sunhat he carries the thing almost everywhere. At this point, he was practically a member of his detective agency considering how useful it was.



He then takes a look around as they arrive towards the logging area looking for the pile of lumber they were sent to get spotting it quickly before pointing it out to Perrath and walking towards it.

As they approach the wagon of lumber surrounded by loggers, Perrath chuckles, the sound rumbling deep in his throat. “It’s no secret that adventuring is one of the greatest ways to make new friends and allies,” the dragon says as if he is actually good at doing either of those things. Still, he’s managed to fool enough people into thinking that he is a good person, honorable as he pretends to be or thinks himself.

“I suppose I’m glad to say that I can say that thus far I don’t have any allergies,” he says. That would be a weakness. “I wondered about your hat. The shape suits you, gives you a defined silhouette, and your shadow is exactly what people should be able to identify you by. You want your enemies to know who you are at a glance!”

He hails the lumberjacks and gets direction that they need some assistance with the last few logs, so he makes his way over and hefts up two logs, one on each shoulder, and loads them into the cart, repeating the process until the cart is full. The loggers thank him for the effort, all clearly tired from the day, and the cart heads down the mountain back to town. Perrath walks behind to keep an eye out for danger. Luckily, things seem quiet.

---

Bull’s Strength

Raoul lets out a small smirk as Perrath mentions making friends and allies, the dragon fellow reminds him of a certain sylvan elf he was very familiar with.



He then responds, “Yeah that’s true I mean you sure do tend to bond with people that are usually in the same unfortunate job you’re in. I mean you tend to be buddies with the person you got shrunk with, hell most of the acquaintances I have now are from surviving some crazy adventuring requests”.



He raises an eyebrow at the other man as he speaks about allergies, “Dragons don’t get allergies? Also another question I’ve got rattling in my brain, no offense feel free not to answer but what exactly are you a dragonkin? A dracoling? Draconynh? Half-Dragon?”.



The dhampir then walks alongside Perrath grabs a couple of logs and takes out his whip and cracking to make it enlengthen. He then wraps the vine whip around the logs tying them tightly. He then grabs the hilt of his wand and starts pulling the pile of logs behind him, he wasn’t particularly strong but just wanted to be the most efficient so this was the only idea he could come up with to match Perrath’s strength.

---

Whip Wand

Perrath lets out a chuckle at that. “Yes, one of the greatest warriors I ever bore witness to was an orcish woman who burst out of the forest unannounced and began pummeling Displacer Beasts alongside me,” he says, deciding to regale Raoul with the story of the warrior woman Ak’ka. “She was a fearsome fighter, and plenty capable. I estimate she could have defeated them on her own, but the battle was glorious nonetheless!” There are few adventurers that Perrath would like to run into again, but he considers that Ak’ka would be one of them.

Raoul has been interesting to encounter again, and it helps immensely that Perrath is in a much better mood and has a better opinion of the man since the two of them worked hard together to survive their shrunken encounter.

“No, I can’t say that I know of a dragon with allergies,” he says, pondering the thought. Well, it is false pondering, really. Of course, dragons don’t get allergies. They’re a superior species! He looks to Raoul when the man questions his origins. “I am a true dragon,” Perrath says with exactly the air of superiority he thinks he should have. “I am often confused with other dragonkin, but no, I am as dragon as a dragon can be. Some dragons with the ability to take a humanoid form often choose something that helps them blend into society, but I choose my humanoid form to still be a dragon. We dragons are mighty creatures and should feel no fear or need to hide from human society.”

---

Ak'ka the Bonegrinder

Raoul couldn’t help but let out a surprised smirk as he heard about this Ak’ka figure, a great warrior orc woman who was capable of destroying Displacer beasts like that. Now that was a friend worth making, wherever they were he hoped that they would run paths. He kept that and put it at the back of his mind for later and focused on the conversation at hand, “Well she sounds lovely, a powerful warrior who can hold herself in battle even talking down monsters? She sounds great. I hope to meet her someday if an adventure with her is as crazy as you say”.



The dhampir then tries to think of any adventuring pal he’d met that matched up the only one that came to mind was Lachesis Calyptra, “I once met this charming almost luminescent beautiful woman whom I partnered up with to help this poor painter fellow who got trapped inside his strange magical ink made painting. It was a pretty wild ride escaping from that hellish painting but it was worth it for the solars we got paid in”.



Raoul’s eyes widened as he heard the other man tell him what he was, “A true dragon you say? I’ve never met a true dragon in my life. Sorry for my misconceptions but I’ve never seen a dragon humanoid form. What’s it like? Can you enlarge back to your previous state? How old are you?”, he couldn’t help himself but fire off questions. After all the man was a greedy fellow always wanting to fill his brain with as much knowledge as he could.

“I hope you get the honor of meeting her as well,” Perrath says proudly. “Though be sure you are not on the wrong side of her fists. She is powerful enough to wield a tree as a weapon!”

“Trapped inside of a magical painting, you say?” he inquires. That sounds similar to a situation he found himself in with the young dark elf Ulmiyda Flameborne. Their own escape was nothing to scoff at as they found themselves in a false Frost Gale that they both suffered through escaping. “Seems that isn’t an uncommon situation. I wonder if we met the same painter…? Stupid man, really.” He shakes his head in annoyance. To be fair to the painter, Perrath finds most people insufferable.

“I’m not surprised that you haven’t,” Perrath says nonchalantly. “Dragons are not common, and most prefer not to be found out and interact with humanoid society unbothered. I am no such dragon.” His tongue clicks against his teeth while he considers how to explain that taking his full dragon form is…challenging. “Taking my full form requires much energy that I find better spent elsewhere. Part of my adventuring is to grow my strength and find glory without relying on simply being larger. As far as my age, I am over a millenia old.”

Raoul was starting to get tired as he continued to pull the pile of would behind him towards the construction site. He wipes some sweat off his brow as he takes a breath to recover his energy as he continues to listen to Perrath. He was enjoying the dragon’s company and found him to be a pretty cool swell guy. It was important for him to make connections that would come in handy during cases he couldn’t handle by himself. That and making genuine bonds with other people wasn’t too bad as well. Every person he’d met so far was so nice and interesting the man couldn’t help but look forward to every adventure.



He then speaks up once the other man is finished talking, “I hope so too friend if she’s as strong as you stated and I’ll be sure to try to stay on her good side for I don’t think I could honestly take a single punch from her. It’s important to make allies, not foes after all a handshake is better than a dagger to the head”.



He then turned his head in shock as the other man revealed that it had not just been a really weird isolated incident but this was a fairly common phenomenon.



“Well that is certainly concerning if it’s a repeating thing, that fellow was arrogant and a jerk so honestly I wouldn’t be too surprised if as soon as me and Lachesis left that he tried it again damned bastard”.



His eyes glimmer with curiosity and excitement as he thinks about Perrath’s answers to his barrage of questions, “That makes a lot of sense now that I think about it, I don’t think I’ve seen a dragon before so apologies if I seem too eager I just get curious is all. So if you wanted to you could transform into your regular form however due to your journey to become stronger and more glorious you instead choose a form more fitted for adventure. YOU’RE A MILLENNIA OLD???”, he exclaims before calming down, “That makes sense, interesting how did you change shape? Is it an innate dragon thing or do you need something for it? How is the change from dragon to humanoid? What’s the best part about being a dragon you miss? What’s the worst?”.

While Perrath agrees that allies are usually better to have, there are several people he can think that he would prefer to stick a dagger through than shake their hand. A particularly annoying elf and insufferable lizardfolk come to mind.

“In my case, this painter was trapped after angering a client, as far as I could tell. She trapped myself and a friend inside the painting as well. We made great efforts to put an end to her for what she did to us.” He does not expand on what that is exactly, but the implications could be assumed that she did not survive the encounter as Perrath is not a particularly merciful dragon.

He can’t help letting out a hearty laugh at Raoul’s surprise at his age. “Dragons live a long time, friend. At least the ones who do not get themselves killed by plucky adventurers hoping for the glory of defeating my kin. I say any dragon who dies to an adventurer was not fit for this world.” Perrath takes a moment to consider what he wants to reveal to Raoul, but decides he’d better not tell too much. “I respect your curiosity, but I will refrain from sharing that information. Just know that dragons host a variety of powers. For some, it is as natural as going to sleep. For others, they may never muster the ability. As far as what I miss?”

There is a long pause and silence. Perrath has taken on a more humanoid form for so long simply out of convenience. The world is designed for the smaller folk nowadays. Much has changed in his lifetime including plenty of things he may not have known in his younger years. But he does remember one thing very clearly.

“Flight. I can fly now, for I have wings, but I am not nearly as capable of flying great distances or speeds as I am in my full form. To sail through the clouds without anything to challenge you? To inspire fear in others by simply flying overhead? I miss this. The awe that the people of Darkveil must have felt upon being graced with a great dragon like Vulcadreaus’ presence? I crave that.”

Raoul nods as he listens to the other man recount his encounter with what seems to be a regular occurrence. This was beginning to be a little suspicious; it seemed that they had a serial magic paint ring on their hands. He’d have to look into it and make sure this collapsed before anything big happened. Hell, he’d hate to have to deal with an army or art gallery filled with these quirky painters and their sick enchanted art.



He then lets out a small bow a little embarrassed at his excited barrage of question, “Sorry for overstepping Perrath, although that’s interesting it’s a little weird to think I’m walking alongside such an ancient and wise being I’m sure you’ve seen thousand of lifetimes seen so much that this world has to offer. Part of me is a little jealous to be honest so many questions of mine could be answered if maybe I was alive a little earlier”.



He then thinks about Perrath’s answer to his question, “Flight, huh? Your reasoning is sound. I wish I could fly sometimes too. The ability to just be free from any weight or stress is a pretty amazing thing. What do you like the most about walking among the mortal people of Charon?”.

Perrath chuckles. He can’t fault Raoul for the charming curiosity the man possesses. “Raoul, I will give you a piece of advice: do not wish for the life or experiences of another. By doing this, you might fail to see the history being made around you every day. Or better yet, you might not make history yourself.” There’s a small smile, something genuine, on Perrath’s face when he repeats the advice given to him by a mentor. It helped him focus on moving forward when he made mistakes during his training.

Though Raoul’s next question makes him truly ponder. What does he like about walking amongst mortals? Perrath spends so much time thinking about how to conquer them, but why conquer a short lived race? Does he respect something about them, he wonders? Actually, he does. “Most mortals do everything they can to make the most of their short lives. They seek glory, they create beautiful works of art, and they are persistent like roaches. I respect this about them, and it’s likely why I do not prefer elves. They spend much of their time wasting about because they always seem to have time. Short lived peoples keep busy. You hear plenty of stories about adventurers of old who accomplished much in a short time.”

Why does he feel the need to give Raoul a thoughtful answer? He decides it’s because no one has posed the question to him, and he feels satisfaction in quelling the man’s curiosity.

They finally make it back to the village with the stock of materials, and the lumberjacks thank them both for the assistance and ensuring a safe journey. He turns to Raoul and presses his fist to his chest in a sign of respect. “It was good to catch up with you, curious mind,” he says. “I have one last errand to run before I leave this place, but this conversation has been a nice change of pace. Thank you for an engaging conversation. I hope our paths cross again.”

Once their goodbyes are said, Perrath turns and makes his way deeper into the village, fishing out a small bottle of liquid which he is to deliver to a resident. Checking his information, he finds the correct house and looks around before placing the glass in an inconspicuous place near the porch to avoid ne'er do wells picking up something that does not belong to them. Once he delivers the package, he heads out of town, wondering when he’ll next run into the detective again.