>>5271915>>5271926>>5271934>>5271944>>5271995>>5271998>>5272026>>5272060>>5272166Your brother’s… Difficulties. Surely some of them stem not from his origins, but from the conditions in which he lived? And now, well… The quality of his cage has improved, but a gilded cage is still suited for a drake at best, and never for a dragon.
You rumbles uncertainly, but you reassure him, saying: “Fear not, Elder Brother. I have a solution to the problem of the Chaplain’s permissions.”
That solution is, of course, the Novice. After all, she already owes you a favour.
“Do I now, So-Called Dragonborn?” she asks rhetorically. You get the feeling that she, at least, feels that she does not.
“You do,” you assert. “If it were not for me, you would not be on the mission, you may recall.”
The Novice once more wears her own scales, and cloth atop it, and yet you find yourself struggling to look directly at her without distraction. The vision lingers in your mind, of her face n the throes of ecstasy and her body—WAS it her body? Her face, even?—beneath you. Her cloaca…
The Novice waves a hand before your face, snapping you out of your reverie.
“Is your oh-so-HUMAN mind misfiring, Degenerateborn? Did you not hear what I just said?”
You shake off the strange and confusing imagery you saw, and listen more carefully as the Novice explains her rationale:
“I am keeping your secret,” she says, with obvious annoyance at repeating herself but VERY obvious delight at the power she now wields over you, at least in her mind. “You have no retinue yet, no victory, no glory… Only the reputation of your ALLEGED draconic bloodline to command respect and grant status more than that of a Degenrate.”
“The Serpent Priests—” you begin to protest.
“They have given you command,” she acknowledges, “but do you REALLY want the complications which come with the truth being revealed before the expedition, or during it? The disrespect, second-guessing, jockeying for leadership…”
“You do not know that this is what will happen,” you say calmly.
“I do,” she asserts, and with a knowing look in her eye.
You stall for time to think, asking sardonically: “And I suppose that, if keeping my secret is a favour performed, then to earn your cooperation in hiding mine and my… And the Great One’s… Brief visit to the ruined and abandoned places will incur another?”
The Novice simply smiles in confirmation, tail swishing back and forth and her whole body fidgeting with sadistic glee.
“What sort of favour?” you demand.
Her smile only grows, dark eyes shining with sinister mirth.
You sigh.
Do you accept the bargain?
>Yes—you will owe the Novice a favour>No—you will NOT be indebted to this precocious female, and will instead take your chances>No—and you will attempt to bargain with her to accept another deal [specify your proposal]>Write-in 