Forums » General Roleplay » Trick or Treat: Dragon's Lair

The egg-twins watched Shandar as he vanished to go find the bags. They sat politely, eyes and pupils wide and round, incredibly still save for the tense anticipation of fins raised and trembling, and their tails involuntarily lashing back and forth in the dirt.

They hadn't meant to be impolite when they'd snatched their bags too-quickly with gleeful little squeals once the large dragon reappeared! But they soon made up for it after scooping their respective hauls into their proper bags - remembering their manners, they both whipped around and touched their snouts to the ground.

"This was good, good idea! Thank you very much, ahhhhh. Sir!"
"They'll all find a good home with us, you bet!"
"Yeah! In our stomachs n' stuff!."
"...well, I mean. That's what I meant."

And rising with chipper little salutes, Akka and Raali bounded off with their new treasures - on to the next ever-generous donor!

Shandar dipped his head, amused by the antics of the other two dragons and what seemed to be an intense love for candies. Most of the others weren't taking candies so frantically...he wondered if he would need a "take one" (or maybe "take 5") rule after all, but he needed some more people to come over before he made that choice. Besides, there was a lot more where this came from.

Darby lands just outside the opening to the dragon's lair. He can't quite remember who informed him about this place, but no matter! He strides up confidently (perhaps a little more so than he would have had the others not been there) and calls out his silly version of the usual greeting, "Tricks for treats!" It's not until just after the words are out of his mouth that he wonders whether playing tricks on dragons might be a decision sorely lacking in wisdom. Oh well. He simply doffs his hat and grins when the host takes notice of him.

Nightfrost landed nearby outside the cave, walking in silently and she had a small leather pouch in her mouth and a curious and excited look in her eyes. The young dragon looked up at the others and smiled as she put the bag in between her claws and spoke in a curious manner. "Trick or treat!" She smiled

As two more creatures walked up the path to his lair, Shandar set up a "take 5" sign in front of the treat pile, trying to look as threatening as possible so nobody took extra. When people came up, however, he was friendly- as long as they didn't try getting around this new rule, he was fine. "Two more. Well, the pile's right there, take whatever you would like from it- but only five." He was more than a little curious about all the dragons coming up to him- why were they all coming here? Did they know this was a dragon's lair or something?

Nightfrost looked up at Shandar and smiled happily. “Thank you sir!” She picked out five candies just as she was told to and dropped them into her bag. “You’re one of the only dragons in the area doing trick or treating tonight. The humans were terrified of me.” She chuckled softly, then joked. “Maybe it’s the leather pouch.”

The host dragon’s kind offer to retrieve a bag only brought a smile to Zenola’s face for she knew that despite her pouch’s appearance it could hold more things than any mundane bag ever could. She’d even managed to get a dozen loaves of bread shoved into it at the last village. “Thank you, kind sir, but I think I’ll be alright.”



Not wishing to be greedy, Zenola chose only a single piece of candy from the pile of unclaimed goods and dropped it into her bag. She peered inside just to be certain and nodded happily at the empty space inside. The candy had disappeared, exactly as it should!

Minding her manners, she dropped a rather short curtsey for Shandar and thanked him formally. Such movements were not designed to be done in full armour, but she managed it with the sort of ease that might make one think she’d done it a hundred times or more. “Many thanks to you, sir dragon. I wish you a very pleasant evening and hope you make many a friend!”

As she stepped back again, she stopped at Kralkatorrik’s side. “You smithed such a thing yourself?! Onatar must have graced you with his holy light all through such an endeavour! I’ve never seen its like anywhere across the realm…” Her voice trailed off as she belatedly realized that she was speaking to yet another dragon, this one bipedal and clearly full of unknown magics. He had managed to doff his helm without even touching it! As a devout follower of the god Onatar whose domain covered blacksmiths, artisans and forge-fire, it would have been hard for her to miss the craftsmanship involved even if it DID look entirely foreign and slightly magical.

“I don’t suppose I could commission one from you?” The query came in a small voice, hesitant, as if she was fairly certain it was likely to be declined. “At which forge and in which town? I would gladly travel across any continent for that opportunity! I’m sure I could find something in my collection to trade or barter for your skills and if not, then you have only to name what payment pleases you and I shall acquire it!” Zenola was well known as a finder of things and had spent many years already delving into caverns, ruins and even other planes of existence in search of lost things—treasures, weapons, tomes and sometimes even people!

"One of the only dragons, huh?" Shandar said to the woman with the leather pouch with a smile. "I've seen a whole lot of dragons around here, maybe some of them should set up some treating stations too." Checking the pile to see how many more candies were left in there, he pushed them back into a pile and thought about putting the 'take 5' sign on top. As the other person thanked him, he put up a claw in a wave. "Thank you, and good evening." he said, putting his claw back down and folding it around the others.

Darby's eyes almost pop out of his head when he sees the enormous pile of candy. "Oh, boy, this is gonna be a good night!"

He can hardly resist the urge to dive in headfirst, but the fact that the dragon is sitting right next to the hoard gives him just enough self-control to refrain. He puffs out his little chest and holds the lapels of his jacket as he approaches the dragon. His saucer eyes hardly move off of the mound of treats, however.

"Thank you, good Sir. What a nice bunch of treats - and a whole five?! for everyone!" He stands agape for several seconds before slamming his mouth shut and turning to stiffly bow to the host. Then he tears off toward the pile of treats with a loud cheer and digs in to find his favorites.

Nightfrost nodded, “Yeah, I hope they do! I’ve heard the Phoenixes and Selkies have a lot of people doing trick or treating though.” She smiled, “Thank you sir, happy Halloween!” She had looked at the time, she was supposed to meet with her brothers in 5 minutes. She spread her wings and flew off with the leather pouch in her claws

"Yes, a whole five." Shandar said, thinking about how this person would definitely be the kind to take more than five. Turning towards the other person there, he answered: "If you see any dragons setting up treats, give me a call. I would love to go take some of their treats for the horde." Waving goodbye to her as she flew away, he changed his position and waited for some more treaters.

Darby leaves a bit of a mess in his wake as he sifts through the pile with as much grace as a buffalo. Some treats end up flying from his hands as he searches for his favorites. Then, occasionally there's a lull while he contemplates between two or three. After several minutes, he nods in satisfaction at his choices.

He turns excitedly back to the host to offer his thanks, and in gesturing toward the "pile" happens to notice the mess he's made. He sheepishly tucks his head and shuffles back toward it, hoping he hasn't angered the dragon. "Oh, uh, sorry, Mister. Didn't mean to leave no mess. I'll just go fix it now. And, and I didn't intend to interrupt just earlier - only got excited, Mister Dragon, sir." He tosses the stray treats back towards the rest and manages to make the area slightly neater. Meanwhile, he tries to keep the dragon appeased with many repeats of "Thank you, sir. Much obliged, sir."

Shandar sighed once he was faced with this wonderful pile of mess, but he was kind of amused when they tried to fix it up, apologizing as they went. He wordlessly coiled his tail around the pile, pushing all the stray candies back in where they should be. "There you go." he said, fixing the sign up on top so it wasn't laying on the floor. "You do have your five though, yes?" he asked, thinking about how he would have to fix the pile again if they somehow weren't done.

"Oh, thank you, I mean, sorry. Handy thing that," Darby points to the dragon's tail. "Yes, yes, I've got my five. And all the best ones too! Nice stash you've put together here. Say, for all the trouble and since you don't get to go collecting any treats, would you like one? I've got a few - just pick a number from one to ten. Oh!" he leans in closer to whisper, "but don't let anyone else know. I wouldn't want to make a bunch of dragons jealous, ya know."

Shandar smiled at him, unable to resist it. He had never met someone like this before, and was quite enjoying his company, although he was pretty good at messing up the candy pile. "No need, I have all these and more in the back." he said, pointing in the direction of the lair. "I should have a good supply left over once this ends."

Diran was used to slaying dragons, not accepting candy from them, but he had no choice. Sember was so scared of Halloween, and was so simple minded, she was scared of anything spooky that looked her way, so he had to get candy for her.

Coming to the dragon's lair, seeing all the decorations, he raised an eyebrow, wondering if this was a real dragon, or somebody just pretending to be one. Not that he hasn't seen that before. But that thought was cut off short when he saw the dragon guarding over the candy. This was strange, but really, he was used to strange.

He looked at the pail that Sember made by hand, which was an actual small pumpkin that was carved open and had the handle. He then looked up at the dragon, and raised it up. "Trick or... treat."

Shandar stared into the newcomer, feeling weird about him but not about to refuse him treats. He fixed the pile up one last time with his tail, making sure the sign was clear and nicely placed on top. "Hello." he said, holding up a claw in greeting. "Take five from the pile, whichever five you like." Looking over the newcomer, he added: "Nice treat basket you have there." He had never seen someone use an actual pumpkin before.

Diran looked at where the candies were, seeing the colours and amount there was. Diran tired to think on which Sember would like, but she was a curious girl. He knew she would want anything, to try new things.

He took five as told to, seeing one chocolate ball wrapped in a eyeball wrapper, a cherry lollipop, another chocolate that was said to be filled with caramel, a mint, and a piece that was known as 'Dragon's flame.' He guessed it was a sour candy of sorts.

He heard the Dragon's comment, or compliment, on the basket, and he looked at it. "It's not mine. My friend made me go around getting treats because she's so scared of Halloween." Diran explained.

Shandar watched him closely to make sure he was taking only the five, but this person seemed like the kind to follow the rules. "A friend, huh?" he said. "She has a point to not go out tonight. I'm a dragon, and some things on this night make even me uncomfortable." It was true- sometimes creatures showed up that he could barely understand, monsters from other dimensions and straight from the pages of myth that came up looking for treats. It was a little unnerving for anyone.

"I would call her a scaredy cat, but then again, she hasn't seen much of this world." Diran said, explaining a bit about her.