Alexandria remained quiet during Arianna’s warning. Arianna was correct in stating that should the situation be a true ancient dragon and not something else then they would have quite the situation on hand, and fleeing from the situation was indeed the best option. There was no honor in sacrificing yourself upon the altar of vain glory. Alexandria gave a nod to Arianna and spoke with a sudden air of duty to her voice. “Guildmistress, I assure you that I will do everything in my power ensure that everyone returns alive from this mission.” With her promise delivered, Alexandria turned to the rest of her group, including Kage, and spoke again. “I am going to leave the festivities for now and return to the guild hall to maintain my equipment and research what I can about dragons. I will hopefully see you all this evening or as you decide to return to the guild hall.”

Giving a bow, Alexandria turned and began to walk back towards the guild hall. There were several minutes where she could easily be caught up to or shouted at if her attention was needed. If nothing happened to stop her progress towards the guild she would rapidly increase her walking pace once she was out of the primary hub of festivities. It didn’t take Alexandria much time to reach the guild, but her walk there was far from peaceful.

Dangerous thoughts of what might be lurking for them on this mission were quite prevalent in her mind. Fighting dragons was a tricky business. Not only were their scales tougher than even the hardiest of armor, their talons could rend and tear anything built by man with ease. This wasn’t even considering their traditionally present fire breath. That alone would be an entirely different headache. Armor and weapon alone would not win them a battle with even a young dragon. Research would need to be done. Lots of it.

Reaching the guild, Alexandria allowed herself in. It was quite sparse of people, as most of them were out and about at the festivities. Alexandria nodded a greeting to the people that were present before she continued on into her room. The guild hall was so silent that the metallic heels that Alexandria wore audibly clicked against the floor for the first time in ages.

Producing a key, Alexandria unlocked the thick wooden door and pulled it open with a firm tug. Within was a long room. A very long room. Too long, really, but Alexandria did need the space. The room was fairly spartan in detail. Minimal wallpaper, wooden floors, a plain bed. The only luxury was a vanity for tending to her appearance, and even it had little in the way of excess. Alexandria brought her magic to the front of her mind, focusing on one of her many standard outfits. Soon, white light washed over her and she stood wearing a pair of generic brown boots, plain blue pants, and a plain grey shirt. Her standard armor appeared on one of the many stands that lined one wall of the room. It was on the first, with several other stands holding her other sets of armor. There were several empty stands packed into a corner, should Alexandria ever find some new armor to wear.

Alexandria didn’t hesitate with getting to work. Each and every set of armor was checked over thoroughly. No detail was left unaddressed. Her weapons were checked too. After a decent amount of time had passed, Alexandria finally gave a sigh of satisfaction. Nothing major was found, and everything appeared to be in the best shape it was going to be without total reforging. Her weapons were also in good condition. Diligence paid off in keeping them in good shape. Alexandria switched back to her standard armor, with her lightly worn outfit being deposited into her dresser once again. It was still perfectly clean, so there was no need to have it washed just yet. Alexandria hadn’t even broken a minor sweat.

With everything back in place Alexandria left her room and, after locking it behind her, went to the guild library. She nodded towards the guild librarian and requested a set of gale reading glasses. The librarian produced a thick tome which they opened to a partially filled page. Taking a pen from a holder nearby, Alexandria wrote her name down and the present time, along with the number sixteen into the field denoting the type of glasses that she was taking. With that done, the librarian closed the hefty tome and handed Alexandria the pair of glasses. They were rather plain with black frames and a small sixteen etched into the side of the temples. Alexandria nodded in thanks before she turned to the bookshelves. Tucking the glasses into a pocket Alexandria began to collect a hefty number of books and set them onto a table.

The first books that Alexandria picked out were fantasy tales of various heroes slaying dragons. Not quite realistic enough to be a study guide, but Alexandria was hunting to see if there were any common themes shared in the slaying of dragons, which in these fantasy novels was quite often much more successful. The next books that Alexandria added to her pile were books about actual dragon hunters and how they managed to carry out their work. Finally, Alexandria picked out several books on well known and highly successful dragon hunters. It was quite a pile to read, but thankfully the Gale Reading Glasses that she had requested would shorten the time dramatically.

Taking a deep breath, Alexandria unfolded the glasses and placed them gently upon her face. Sitting down and picking up the first book, Alexandria began to read. The sun inched across the sky as Alexandria read through book after book on the subject of dragon hunting. It was exhausting to read so much, but Alexandria knew that she needed to be well educated on the subject should they encounter an actual dragon. After quite a deal of time Alexandria was on the last book in the set that she had picked out. It was a tale of a blacksmith turned dragon hunter that had managed to build a device to trap a dragon. After catching a dragon, he tricked it into breathing fire several times and forged a mighty set of armor and weapons from the flame. Each time he wore the armor and stood before the dragon he found that the flames barely heated the armor, and that even after a long day of tricking the dragon into breathing fire the armor was no warmer than a rock upon the ground, and the shield was even capable of absorbing some of the dragonfire to reflect the might of it back at the dragon. The hammer that had been forged was also said to be capable of shattering the dragon’s scales with tremendous ease.

That armor, dubbed ‘firedrake’ by its creator was donated to the town of Luna Crescente upon the death of the original creator to be safekept by…

Alexandria snapped the book shut with her eyes wide. Alexandria set it aside and returned the rest of the books to the shelves. However, the final book took to the front desk and, while returning the gale reading glasses, asked to borrow it. With a nod from the librarian, Alexandria thanked them and walked briskly to the main hub of the guild. Making her way towards Guildmistress Arianna’s room, Alexandria clutched the book close and knocked sharply on Arianna’s door several times.

There was something she needed to know.

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[@Rune_Alchemist][@Lord Sawsaw2][@Crimson Raven][@Lmpkio]