We’re not sure how we’ll know when we find Niahla’Sen’s father, or how we’d identify his remains if we found those, but we did find the remains of an old camp. The frightening part was we found the camp by accident---walking right into it unawares of its existence---and it happened to be the resting place of the great predator we’ve known was living in the region. Walking around a large rocky outcrop to be face to face with the toothy grin of the monstrous beast will probably haunt my dreams for years to come.
There isn’t a person alive who hasn’t heard tales of dragons, the great flying beasts that live in the most remote places in the world. Their scaly hide is thick as armor and black as night, and they’re known to do the bidding of the Dark Lunari and Dark Wizards throughout history. They will eat a person alive or burn them to a crisp with the fire from their mouths. They are fearless and invincible, capable of destroying entire armies. If a beast could be evil, dragons would meet the criteria, at least if the tales we’ve heard are to be believed.
This dragon, however, changed our perspective of the great beasts. It was just as surprised to see us as we were to see it, and recoiled and stepped back when we chanced upon it. Rather than attack, it merely roared and sent a harmless warning flame toward us. We slowly retreated to a safe distance. Several minutes later, the dragon spread its wings, and leapt into the sky. I was curious why the dragon didn’t attack. Tora’Sor explained that dragons aren’t as invincible as the tales claim, and are easily killed by a skilled warrior. The strong thrust of a spear or a well-aimed arrow can bring down the mightiest dragon. It’s very possible the dragon didn’t know what kind of threat we posed, so it wanted to keep its distance. I wonder if other dragons might be living in the area.
With the dragon gone, it was safe for us to enter the abandoned campsite. We didn’t actually find anything significant, and wouldn’t have realized it was a camp if we didn’t notice the ring of stones around a pile of ashes. Niahla’Sen quickly decided the camp was far too recent to be her father’s camp.