Settionne spoke to the group as he moved over lace and buckle. The gist of it was that he believed that while the dragon was important, the groups current quest seemed puissant enough. She ran thumb in frustration more than thought over the back of her hands where she kept them clasped otherwise idle at her waistline. Everyone was refusing to consider the idea these events might be linked, and that if they are ambushed by the dragon as oppose to the other way around it would be a massacre! Trying to stop this dragon before it became a threat, or at least realising the true extent of it's threat could be integral to their original mission
She turned back to Urasen for his confirmation.
"Don't look at me like that Alice, I'm not a druid. I'm a wizbear- I mean a wizard." What? Her fidgeting became still again as confusion and surprise shot through her mind. The man made a child-like spluttering sound in gesture that it was a slip of the tongue, but what could he have slipped onto? Her shock probably worked for the benefit of everyone else as she didn't have a moment to butt in, so he proceeded.
"Now, although I may not be a druid, I do know a slight bit about the rituals associated with nature and dragons and what-not. I can't honestly speak on the behalf of them though as I'm still very ignorant of the rituals, but the existence of druids within this forest is highly plausible. In any case we have to follow the advice my old grandpop gave me... 'Ursaren my boy, remember that an assumption is an assumption unless investigated', and as such we need to search this forest in order to properly find these druids that exist or don't exist and we have to obtain their help with this dragon. For those that oppose the idea of handling these dragons, we need to remember that if we don't handle this problem, there will be more monsters in this area that will hamper our progress before we can even accomplish this goal, and we have the problem of that same dragon attacking while we try and proceed, leading us to truly just be done there. I say we confront this dragon before continuing. Anyone else with me?"Oh thank the gods she wasn't alone in her line of thinking. She nodded in agreement with Urasen's statement that an assumption remains an assumption unless proved otherwise or something.
"I agree, my plan is a bit flimsy should we not find any druids or a Heart Oak. Argon, how well do you know the forest? Well enough to recognise signs of druids, or their territory for your people to avoid?"Her line of inquisition was interrupted by their very loud companion, An-Hasst.
"Alright. I suggest we speed this up a bit: I want everyone who -- by the power of all of his knowledge, experience and will -- wants to search for this dragon and either fight or try to communicate with it to raise his hand, please!" she waited to see how others would vote, more out of instinct than anything else. Anyone of class knew that opinions were like currency, and if spent on a failed cause it's value decreases and may even make the group cast her out. She worked her thumb across the back of her hand again.
He also turned towards the Elfen commander, requesting horses. She added her own argument to help him,
"We're out of the swamps for the most part now, we'll take the woods slow enough and gain a lot of time on the plains." She hadn't been in the saddle for a while, but that sort of generalist knowledge was hardly that of an expert.
"Besides, if we happen to get ambushed by that dragon some horses may be our only chance of escape." Vrettonnian cavalry tactics actually went into detail about how to counter a dragon attack, which is needless to say a similar way as to react to magic. Scatter as a group, and run for cover. That way any sort of fire breath and like will be far less effective. A secondary and all the more ghastly prospect might have also occurred to the commander as it did to Alice, which was the old saying "One does not need to run faster than the lion, one need only run faster than their friend." which seemed very relevant since a horse would be far more appetising to a dragon than some adventurers, no matter how muscled some of them are. The second plan might be a little too pragmatic for some, but Alice didn't make an addendum to what she said, leaving the idea hanging in the air
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