Quoted By:
It's tense for about a minute as you each try to search for what Val saw, sweat dripping down your forehead and muscles tensed as you become increasingly uncertain if what he spotted was benign or a threat. You start to wonder if Val was mistaken at all when you finally see a reflection on the ice, slowly drifting forward and blending into it quite well.
You make out a long serpentine figure with uncountable scales, something you'd mistake for a gargantuan snake if not for the fact that a pair of clawed hind legs came into view. Then, through the ice itself, the creature emerges with naught more than a ripple from the otherwise solid surface - it was no reflection, but an image of what was within. A head protrudes forward, covered in thick horns and bearing a mane of gold. Just the head alone is the size of your ship, and an eye bigger than your whole body regards you lazily for a moment before it decides that you are not the prey it seeks; the creature's body begins to shift back towards the ice.
"A true dragon..." Val mutters, while Gigas seems wholly speechless.
"That...that must be why we haven't come across any monsters in here." You stare out at the creature. A thought then crosses your mind, of how valuable such a beast is. Dragonscales are some of the most sought-after materials for armor, let alone a horn or tooth from the beast, and supposedly they make for potent components in alchemy and enchantment both. The greed in you swells, a hungry desire for what a slain dragon can offer you, but that very same avarice quarrels with the idea that the dragon is ultimately a boon for the area thanks to its monster-hunting tendencies.
>Give the order, hunt the dragon. Claim the riches its body holds!
>Let the dragon pass by without interference, let a good omen stay good.
>Attempt to entice the dragon closer. Maybe you can get a part from it without a fight.
>Something else?
