As it turns out, mountaineering isn't all that hard when two of your three team members can fly. They had acquired all of their supplies for a relatively paltry some given their proximity to the mountains and the surplus of cold weather gear.

Roden had opted for a coat lined with the wool of a local yak-like creature called a Yurak. The big furry beasts ranged the high plateaus around Rock's Edge when the city was founded and were quickly brought to heel by those first generation settlers.

Roden was primarily concerned with range of motion and the lighter coat was only slightly more impeding than his typical gear. With his Grove Armor over top to keep out the wind, Roden was confident he wouldn't be too cold.

Riakon had chosen to go for something even lighter and instead chose something primarily to cut the wind. The winter leather he settled on was light grey in color, but looked more like fall wear than mountaineering equipment. If it wasn't for Riakon's gift of resistance to extreme cold Roden might have been worried.

Errrkkkk was a similar case, having changed his amulet's resistance to cold back when Roden had returned to Pa'teem's to recover his earring turned finger worn ring. He settled for a thick robe he could easily cast off in the event of a fight.

With heavy packs they hopped up the side of the mountain. Riakon was easily belayed up the side of the mountain in fifty to one hundred foot increments with occasional periods of hiking to the next obvious hopping point.

The winds made flying a difficult process even for Errrkkkk, who often seemed more at home in the sky than on the ground. The winds were one of the many reasons they had elected to ascend the mountain rather than attempt to secure Riakon a means of flight so they could fly straight to the summit.

After a few hours of travel they were already running out of daylight, the men not having accounted for the higher latitude. With his companions' nonexistent ability to see in the dark they set to make camp as soon as they found a ledge they felt large and sturdy enough to hold Roden's treehouse.

Given their current environment Roden chose a different aesthetic for his mountain treehouse. Roden had put a lot of thought into just exactly what he would do when they finally made the journey to the icy dragon's peak. He hadn't fully decided his plan when Yan sent them on their way, but a little improvisation was always a part of the plan anyway.

Casting the treehouse had been one of Roden's favorite spells since his arrival on Mir. It was one of the few spells he felt he was actually doing magic. His other spells just sort of happened. They manifested at a word, gesture, and thought, beyond those components he had little to do with the casting. His treehouse required him to build the structure by projecting his imagination and setting the magic in place.

He wasn't entirely sure why he was doing the things he was doing, but it felt right and the spell reacted the way he intended it to as he made his choices. For this treehouse he went with a large evergreen tree for the primary structure.

The bottom floor served as his room with the floor above his acting as their communal sitting room. Riakon's room was just above that with Errrkkkk's specially crafted nest on the roof of that room.

Errrkkkk's nests were always the most time consuming part of his work, but also the most rewarding. For this treehouseRoden had chosen to enclose the entire nest in glass or whatever the hell the spell decided was the appropriate material for what Roden directed it to do.

The result was a cozy circular room that gave a nearly three hundred and sixty degree view of the night sky. Roden had forgone a fireplace to keep the room unlit instead he had contrived ventilation from the other three fires to warm the room which he discovered had worked perfectly when all three men retired to the nest room for what had become their tradition of star gazing while out on adventure.

It wasn't unusual for the men to remain mostly silent during their tradition, but that night Riakon had something he needed to get off his chest.

"Hey guys?"

Both men grunted in response urging him to continue.

"I wanted to thank you guys for doing this for me. I know I really fucked up back in Pescatin and I should've been more careful. If it wasn't for you guys I would be stuck as an Oathbreaker."

"Don't mention it, cacaw." Errrkkkk said nonplussed

Roden raised an eyebrow at the Birdfolk before responding to Riakon, "it's all good man. Shit happens especially when fucking around with magic."

"Thanks guys, I'll try my best to make you both proud. I swear it."

Roden smirked, "do or do not, there is no try." he intoned knowingly.

"Right! Yes, I really need to remember those Proverbs."

Roden was taken aback "Proverbs?"

"Yeah you know the Scrolls of Proverbs I'm pretty sure I remember hearing that one from the readings of the proverbs at the monastery."

"What other Proverbs do yall remember?"

Riakon smirked and glanced over at Errrkkkk, "birds of a feather flock together."

Errrkkkk glared at him, "fools rush in, cacaw."

"Don't put all your eggs in one basket."

"Ignorance is bliss, cacaw."

"Okay okay I get it. I'm shocked yall know so many."

They both looked at him, "which ones do you know, cacaw?"

"Oh ummm…" He paused while trying to drum up any proverbial phrases that weren't too Earth specific. It wouldn't do to mention anything he couldn't reasonably explain away. He dredged his mind for anything and all he could think of were crappy idioms and literary quotes. He went with the latter.

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"It is a wise man's duty to save himself for tomorrow and not risk everything on one day."

Riakon nodded, "ooo that is a good one. Do another."

Roden had a thought bubble up to the surface of his mind. It was a memory of his mother while practicing his music. A proverb from Roden's actual memory found its way into the forefront of his thoughts.

"Life without music would be a mistake."

Roden was pretty sure that was Nietzsche, but wasn't positive if it was actually correct. Nietzsche always talked in overly complicated ways and that proverb seemed a little too straight forward.

"Of course, the musician would say that, cacaw."

"Yeah, do a better one."

"Fine, fine, let me think…To be or not to be, that is the question?"

"Boooo, these are terrible."

"Geez tough crowd, how about fortune favors the bold."

"That's better!"

"We should probably end there. I don't think he has any better one, cacaw."

Roden thought long and hard. The silence hung in the air for just long enough that to arouse suspicion he might not have another proverb to offer, when one of his all time favorite quotes came to mind. It was an obscure one and Roden assumed it probably wasn't in their Scrolls of Proverbs, but it was one close to his heart so he spoke it aloud without preamble."

"Deserve victory."

Each man absorbed his words and in the following silence allowed the meaning to sink in. It was a phrase that needed no explanation for men who were about to face such a monumental task as slaying a dragon. Among the three there was some doubt whether they had done enough preparation to deserve victory in the upcoming fight, but they had little choice in the matter. Riakon needed his powers back in order to help take on the gremlins and their dark machinations.

The men rose early the next morning intent on continuing their figurative climb up the mountain. The map given to them by the High Priest of Erjorn identified the tallest peak of the Violet Mountains as the home of their first dragon lieutenant.

Roden had always found Dragons to be an endlessly fascinating bunch of creatures. He had written them as having developed out of the conscious imaginations of the people of Mir. Which unlike other beasts and horrors that stalk the lands of Mir that had evolved and adapted to the magic permeating their environment. Dragons were born of magic in a similar manner as the gods.

The first dragon was Tiamat who herself was a primal magical apparition. That much was common knowledge to any resident of Mir. From her was born all of dragonkind. Historical texts mention the ancient times when Tiamat was the primary deity of the people. It was during those times the Dragonkin race was said to have been born.

The major dragons of the variety reminiscent of fantasy came after Tiamat's defeat by the gods of Mir. However, the major dragons were capable of sustaining themselves without the worship of the people. As such most dragons sought refuge away from people preferring anonymity as their primary defense against adventuers trying to be a dragon slayer.

As mortal creatures derived from the magic of the magisphere they had an innate connection to their environment. Some dragons took to the sea and became more serpent or fish-like. Others went into the deepest parts of forests and deserts.

Their current target was a dragon who chose to make their lair in the frigid mountain peaks. During their weeks of preparation for both this fight and regaining their strength the men had scoured the Port Sept Library for information on cold adapted dragons.

Eye witness accounts of dragons were few and far between. Accounts of someone slaying a dragon was typically cause for an epic poem or at the very least a great celebration. Some credit King Roderick the First's defeat of the Lich's Dark Dragon as the primary reason he was chosen to be king after the fall of Orvell the Archlich.

The little information they could gather was mostly things they had already anticipated. All dragon's were known to breathe out some form of elemental magic. In this case it was no doubt going to be some version of intense cold or frozen projectile.

Despite being a rare trait the men were prepared for the dragon to be able to camouflage itself to its environment especially considering they were hunting it in its home. The idea of a dragon's lair was common, but the reports were inconclusive. Some suggested over time dragons created a domain so closely attuned to their presence they could manipulate the area to their benefit.

The only report they found on this was from an account of a forest dragon who had cultivated a particularly dense grove of tall greens they could bend and move seemingly at will. The one consensus on the topic was that regardless of their environment dragons were always the apex predator.

One thing Roden found fascinating was the disparity between Dragons and Dragonkin in terms of color. Dragonkin like Riakon were typically identified by the color of their scales, which usually correlated to the elemental breath they could use. That was not the case with major dragons. They were dependent entirely on their environment. The longer a dragon spent in a single area the more adapted they became.

One truly intriguing account Riakon had found detailed the observations of a man who had followed and studied a dragon from the cold mountain peaks down into the desert. The elf observed the dragon for a number of years and documented the changes he observed.

Over time the dragon had lost its whitish blue coloration and adopted a more yellowish tan color. It became more of an ambush hunter, choosing to hide in the sands to avoid detection before swallowing its prey. Unfortunately, that was the last useful observation from that journal as its founder mentioned discovering the tome half buried in the ever shifting desert sands with no sign of its elven author.

Out of all their research on the subject of dragons the most startling gap of knowledge was their intelligence. Some reports claimed dragons were vicious apex predators that would sooner eat a person than hold a conversation. Then there were the much older accounts that made dragons out to be creatures of great cunning and scheming.

Unfortunately, the issue with all accounts was the sheer scarcity of dragons with the last sighting being the Lich's Dark Dragon and that was nearly a hundred years prior to their dragon slaying adventure.

Roden wasn't looking forward to this little adventure. He had known Riakon's holy mission was going to involve slaying dragons and in his mind he had made peace with that fact while sitting in the comfort of the villa sitting room. However, now that he was struggling to breath the thin air among the tallest peaks of the beautiful Violet Mountains he was having second thoughts.

He had no thoughts of abandoning his friends, but to say he wished they were somewhere else would be an understatement. Miriana had made it mostly clear that despite his knowing how things should go, there was no guarantee anything would happen in the way he anticipated based on his prior knowledge. That had all been a game and this was all very real and this reality had no obligation to match up to his prophetic game.

By midday the men had started their search of the tallest spires of the Violet Mountains. Their idea was to hopefully find some evidence of the dragon first and then either set up an ambush or track it to its lair.

To their mutual surprise, the dragon's lair was not hard to find. It stuck out thanks to the massive haphazard array of frozen pillars, spikes, and walls of solid ice. At first sight, Roden knew the lair belonged to either the dragon or Elsa had made her way to Mir and had really let her ice palace go.

Errrkkkk and Roden pulled Riakon up to a jutted of rock that allowed the men to group up in the shadow of the frozen lair. Just before them was the mouth to what amounted to an elaborate cave made of ice. That dashed their hope Errrkkkk would be able to hit the creature with a super charged Soul Sphere. They stood before the entrance to the cave and steeled themselves for the fight to come

"Man, I was really hoping our fight would be in the sunlight." Roden said with as much playfulness he could muster in the face of the task before them.

Riakon nodded, "yeah well I guess we shall fight in the shade."

Errrkkkk looked at Riakon sourly, "who wants to fight in the shade, cacaw?"

Roden held up a finger to try and broach the subject of Riakon's near perfect quote of "300", but banished the thought so he could focus on what was to come.

"Any last minute thoughts guys?"

Riakon fastened his shield on his left arm and gripped his hammer firmly in his right hand.

"Hit hard and hit fast boys."

Errrkkkk clucked, "don't worry guys. You've got me, cacaw."

Roden nodded, "just so you guys know. There aren't any other people on all of Mir I'd rather fight alongside me."

Both men smirked in agreement, before all three took their first steps toward the dragon's lair.

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