Researching Dragons II: Tales

[Faith Augustin]

11th Vhalar, 720
following: this

The information which had followed on from Padraig's research was only one of four aspects Faith wanted to explore. She considered them akin to the four legs of a table - the fact that Padraig had seen dragons in each of his visits to the barriers made Faith consider that the barriers and dragons might - somehow - be linked. Therefore, she had decided that the second of the four legs was dragons. If the spin-off research from Padraig's was something which might lead her to other myths, legends, theories or information of any kind about the barriers - she want to also approach it from the point of view of dragons.

So, she went there next. She knew all about Jacadon, and she'd been on an expedition during the War of Death and Souls to stop a dragon from dropping a mountain on Rharne. But Faith got the feeling that they were - at best - pseudo dragons. Small in comparison, in strength and awe-inspiring power, if not in size. Although, there was the legend she knew that there was a Jacadon which somehow was Rynmere. And there was the whole floating island thing, too.

Maybe, that being the case, Faith thought, that was a place to start. Dragons and islands. Islands... she went first to check on the legends in Rynmere. Sunset Isle, she remembered it was called that, but she needed to research it further. Knowing what she was looking for - and being who she was - Faith quickly found the information. It was in a book on the legends of Rynmere, and she read it avidly. Yes. A Jacadon was said to be the "Guts of Rynmere", and the caves beneath Nora's rest were believe to have been built by a group of mortals - a race no longer known. Others believe the caves there to be the belly of the Jacadon Rynmere - which was the name of the Jacadon killed by the First Shields, and on whose body Rynmere is built.

The sunset Isle, though - that was above ground and then some. Impossible - or near-impossible to climb cliffs and the only known breeding site for Jacadons. The first Jacadon crashed into the sea, apparently, and was so large it became the Burning Mountains.

Faith started there - not because she believed that there was something specific, but because it gave her things to look for. In the library indexing, there were "see also" references - the sections each thing was referenced under and - of course - it gave her some ideas of things associated with dragons. Eggs. Mountains. Caves. Islands. Turning to stone - she wondered about that.

"What stone?" Faith wondered. Stone was much more of nature - although Moseke, of course, was the Immortal of it. But again, it made sense. It made sense that it was more linked with spirits than with anything divine.

And so, she researched.

[Faith Augustin]

11th Vhalar, 720
following: this

It was a little frustrating to Faith that there seemed to be a concerted effort to tease her. Dragons were linked with stone, or at least Jacadons were. Getting to the Sunset Isle now would be impossible, but there were tales of a labyrinth beneath Rynmere, also. Would that be somewhere she could get to, she wondered, and then she dismissed the idea. The Jacadons were not dragons, and so it wouldn't be worth the time. Still, she collected all the legends regarding them together. Then, there was Abanaxus. They had discovered that Ellasin had planned to release him and he was a very dragon-like thing. They'd been able to seal him back up, though, and that had also involved rocks. She smiled as she recalled the look on Varlum's face as Padraig had licked the rock.

And that set off a train of thought which cascaded. Faith had a perfect memory, of course, but that didn't mean that she necessarily automatically put together the aspects of her memory. Now, as she recalled their time closing up Ati'el's fracture, Faith stood up and pressed her hands together, hard. "Oh, Faith, you fool. You damn fool," she muttered to herself. The stone which they had found on that expedition, it had been a very specific kind of stone which in fact held at bay energies which would allow Abanaxus to escape. It had a mixture of copper and salt in it, and Padraig had seen strands of energy running through it. But, more than that, what it had done was it had held in Abanaxus. Like a barrier.

Like the barriers she was researching. Was this the stone that Jacadons turned into, Faith wondered.

This stone, Padraig had told her, was specific in what it did and of course it was best amplified in water. Water like the oceans around the barriers. There were no barriers, as far as Faith knew, on any large stretch of land and she couldn't help but wonder if the strangeness which was in the oceans as one approached the barriers was because of that conductive property. Abandoning the books on dragons for a while, Faith moved out into the science section. She wanted to find out just how strong a current of energy would have to be to impact that much distance. While water was a good conductor, it still would fizzle out eventually. Essentially, the sheer volume of the water would more or less dilute the effect when it got spread out enough.

There was a lot of variables, though, that Faith simply didn't know. However, one thing that she came to quickly enough as she looked at the books and wished Padraig was here because he understood this stuff so much better than her. But, there was a basic and irrefutable conclusion to Faith and that was, simply, that whatever caused that effect ~ if it was a charge which was travelling through the water ~ was powerful. The abruptness of it troubled her slightly, though - it was a sudden transition and that seemed unlikely.

She made a note to ask Padraig, and got back to it.

[Faith Augustin]

11th Vhalar, 720
following: this

Legends of dragons were not difficult to come by. Stories and tales had been told for a good long time, but that was also part of the problem. There were so many legends and stories that it was impossible to tell the good from the bad. There were snippets hidden away, like tiny pieces of gold in a sieve full of dirt.

As yet, she had not discovered that nugget here. There were many legends, many tales. Most of them started and ended and went no where, but Faith was constant and meticulous here, as in all things. She put sightings and stories on the map which she had put on the wall - and that gave her some "hotspots", for places. That was good, but it was all far too vague for Faith's liking. However, vague was all she was getting. Still, Faith knew from her study of epidemiology and the maps which she had slowly built up there that this was likely to be a long and rather slow process. So, she did not mind it but considered it a start, rather than a completed task.

There were things, of course, which were the same. Dragons were big, they were winged. It seemed like there was variety in colour but there were very few stories where people spoke to them. Thanks to their visit to beyond the barriers, Faith knew for a fact that dragons were sentient and there were almost no examples of that. Those stories which did tell of dragons who spoke were more fantastical and tended to be morality tales, the kind of which you told children to stop them stealing or hiding or running away.

Every legend, every mention, she rated as 'weak', 'neutral', or 'strong' and she put it on the map. There was a place, somewhere in the Hotlands though it wasn't entirely clear where it was. There was an ancient tale about a great battle and the illustration of it seemed to be humans or humanoids fighting a dragon. Why would they be fighting such a creature, though, Faith wondered. It might be that it was not an actual dragon but a dragonling, like Padraig's companion. That would make sense, certainly. She considered it for a moment and then made a note. If she could find dragon bones, then that might be particularly helpful. She went to the geography section and got a more detailed map of the Hotlands, then continued looking at the local legends. Eventually, by noting rough mentions of vague landmarks, she had a sort of an idea of where in the hotlands it might have been. She'd need to go to another library, closer or with more information, in order to know for sure. Honestly, she wasn't entirely sure that it was worth it.

But no information was worthless, and so she followed it all until she had as complete a picture - and as annotated a map - as she could.

[Pig Boy]

Player Name:Faith Augustin, Tale-Chaser

Points awarded: 10
Magic xp: none

Knowledge:

Research: x 3
Science: x 3

Renown: 0
Loot: Data and Lore and Fables.
Injuries/Overstepping: none
Wealth Points: n/a

Skill Review: All Skills used appropriately to PC's level

Notes: Hmm, now we're getting to very interesting topics that I can sorta understand. Whereas the research methods Faith was using to begin to know where to look in the prior thread, this one has stuff I can easily grasp, such as rocks, and water.

But that silly comment aside, it seems to bear fruit as Faith makes connections that I can sorta understand. It seems like her research of specific tales of dragon-like beings like Jacadons and Abanaxus are giving her real clues as to the nature of the barriers, and what they might be able to do.

It's a very convenient thing, Yvithia's library, that Faith doesn't need to go to specific places like the edges of the earth or the Hotlands, but can benefit from the knowledge/wisdom of those who have been there. But this is why research is such a great skill as compared to investigation.

All in all fascinating read. Well done and enjoy the progress


If you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding this review, feel free to PM. Enjoy your rewards!