>>5327759>>5327705>>5327658>>5327641>>5327637>>5327629You deem the Junior Novice too dangerous to leave behind, supervised only by the nonmagical Bastard and a gaggle of kobolds. Of course, bringing him with you raises questions all their own.
“What is that?!”
“S-sacrilege…”
“Is that what the Novice Fleshweaver has been doing in that cave all this time?”
“But… Why?”
The Junior Novice jerks at the end of his chain, chattering agitatedly. You can’t tell whether he is making to flee or to fight, but you can allow neither. You clear your throat and project your Presence to stifle both the chained creature’s escape attempt AND the banter. Your pet-project crawls back a step and stares at you in fearful obedience. Your retinue responds… Not dissimilarly.
The intelligentsia of your group have the biggest problem with what the Novice has wrought, under your instruction. Well they might, you suppose. None of any intelligence can fail to draw the obvious conclusions between the dragon eggs and mammal-like not-kobold entering the cave and this… Degenerate hybrid dragon-thing emerging, baring hallmarks of both.
“It was a necessary test, to advance the Dragonborn Project,” you say.
There is no need to specify that it is an unauthorized one as well. The half-truth seems to put your fellow Reptilians at ease, or close enough… But it makes for a grim preview of what reaction awaits you back home, at the northernmost forward base. Regardless, there’s little time to dwell upon so distant a dilemma when you have much more pressing concerns in your IMMEDIATE future, such as your tripartite alliance. The sooner you’re done here, the sooner Glowie will be able to lay and hatch your brood, the sooner you can clear up any potential problems with the Serpent Priesthood, and the sooner you will be able to hunt down the human scum who slew your mother and bears upon his brow the secret of your brother’s salvation!
(Okay, so maybe it IS quite a lot to dwell on.)
