Flight of the Dragons One of the ascendant Dragon Ships the comprise the Armada of the Dragon King has been found and released from the bindings that held it. The release of one has weakened the bonds of the others, making them more likely to appear. The bindings will weaken further with every ship that is claimed. The ships are capable of sensing the other ships in the Armada at any distance. Find and master the other four ships of the Armada of the Dragon King before they are found and brought to bear against you. Be warned; when two dragon ships come within range of each other, they may not be separated by less than Ascendant-level magics.

Rewards: The Mantle of the Dragon King, +5 AURA

The Roar of the Dragon The cannons of the Wing of the Dragon lie under the sea, stored in the vault of a cult to the foulest of undersea demons, Dagon. Enter the temple, fight through the dark magics of the Cult of Dagon, and reclaim the cannons. The Wing of the Dragon knows the way; the Quest will begin when the Questant wills it while aboard the Wing of the Dragon. Rewards: +1 AURA, +1 LOOKS, 4/20 of the Teeth of the Dragon King

Robin frowned. The quest did not have that great of rewards, but he supposed that the cannons were their own reward. The bonuses to his stats were always welcome, though, even if it was one he did not understand and one he thought was relatively ...useless. The Mantle of the Dragon King sounded like it would be worth pursuing, though, even if the other rewards were lackluster.

It was kind of neat that the ship would take him there, but it did not say anything about whether or not May would be able to join him in the dungeon. He definitely did not want to take on cultists alone; who knows what kind of weird magics or abilities they might have. He was pretty sure that mind control was a fairly common cultist tactic, and that was a death sentence if you succumbed to it alone.

He read the quests out loud to May, who had immediately begun preparing herself for combat at his admittedly rather alarming words. She glared at him as she resheathed her sword, the blade far too long for a normal human of her frame.

Rubbing the spot where she had punched him for the false alarm, Robin turned to give May a serious look.

“The ship is fast. Did you notice that it seemed to go from a virtual standstill to full speed? It seemed like it ignored the water resistance entirely, or just brute-forced past it.”

May nodded, still looking annoyed. “Yeah, it shot forward with absolutely no warning.”

Robin ignored the pointed tone; his arm had already paid the price for his dramatic phrasing.

“It did that without a crew or even the sails being down. I wonder if having an actual crew could increase the speed at all, or...”

Robin paused as he had a thought.

“I wonder if I can use Identify on it again?”

May waved a hand vaguely towards the deck, taking a small step backwards that was more symbolic than helpful. Robin placed his hand on the railing and used Identify on the dragon ship.

Teng, the Wing of the Dragon (Un A) Along with its twin,Teng, the Wing of the Dragon is the fastest ship in the Armada of the Dragon King. Known for lightning-fast attacks over enemy fleets, Teng is a harrier ship unparalleled, capable of breathing a warm mist that causes wood and fibrous textiles to rot as it moves by too quickly for enemy weapons to bring their guns to bear upon. The Wing of the Dragon, as is the rest of the Armada of the Dragon King, was fashioned from deathblow to still-living dragon at the border of the material and spiritual worlds. With nowhere to flee, the spirit of the dragon was formed into the guiding soul of the vessel, but it still retains some of the draconic spark that it once contained. The draconic spark will ignite further based on proximity to and number of other ships from the Armada of the Dragon King in the area. When joined by one other ship, the Wing of the Dragon gains access to the breath weapon of the ship, the Environmental Bubble ability, and limited flight (no greater than twenty seconds in duration). When joined by two other ships, the Wing of the Dragon gains access to the Aura of Draconic Might and the Dragonscale abilities, as well as access to longer flight. (no greater than sixty seconds in duration). When joined by three other ships, the Wing of the Dragon gains access to the Shape Element (wood) ability, and may fly for a duration no greater than one hundred and twenty (120) seconds. When joined by the other four ships, the Wing of the Dragon is capable of flight at three hundred and fifty meters per second when over water, the powered flight ceases immediately over land, but no momentum is lost. The flight is unlimited in duration.

Robin read them out loud after giving them a quick scan privately.

May nodded along, whistling as he read “unlimited in duration.”

“Wow. I see how that could be amazing, especially for medieval warfare. But… Is it really going to mean much against attack helicopters and jets? I mean, hopefully that won’t happen, but… Just curious how it would stand up.”

Robin nodded back at her. “Valid points. Hopefully it will not come to that. That does raise the question, though… the other ships. What do we intend to do about that? If they can find us, then they most likely will. Even if it might need some updating, it is still an Ascendant-level item-”, he paused, seeing the confusion on May’s face, “-the rarest type of item in the System.”

“Ah. Okay, then… so we might need to do that sooner, rather than later. It seems like the ship might be faster if we were to get more, anyway…” She trailed off, staring at the remnants of the small fire.

“I do think that we should probably go and get the cannons, the ‘Teeth of the Dragon King’, as it seems like it might be the kind of quest that any ship-holder could pursue, and… it might give some kind of Armada-related bonus, additional quests, or clues about the locations of other ships, the ones that have not yet been found.”

He hesitated.

“But… what do you want to do, May? You agreed to help my brother, but… Where is that you want to go?”

She started, looking up from the fire at him, her eyes wide.

Robin backed up a step, holding up his hands, already starting to apologize for prying, when suddenly May snapped one of her tiny hands to his wrist and pulled him down to a crouch.

“Did you hear that?”

Robin held his breath unconsciously, listening for anything unusual. He glanced upwards; Opal was still hanging on the side of the flagpole. Strangely, she did not appear to have been bothered by the sudden burst of speed whatsoever. He was pretty sure that she had not even woken up.

I wish I could be as comfortable sleeping in a bed as you are sleeping on a flagpole, Opal.

He shook his head. “I cannot hear anything.”

May stared downwards, an intense focus having sprung over her, and she slowly stood, shaking her head. “No, I definitely heard something. I’m not sure if it was below deck, or on the side of the ship maybe, but…”

“I will go check out the underside of the ship, if you think that is a good idea.”

May shook her head. “No, we should both stay up here for now. I doubt something would be able to pierce through the hull of the ship without making a much louder noise than that. I think it’s a lot more likely something snuck on board.”

Robin willed the Aspect of the Dragonfly to activate, taking in the extra information. It still made him feel like his vision suddenly switched to wide-screen, but he had grown far more adapted to dealing with what could, at times, be a dramatic overload of information. He looked slowly around the deck, noting every detail, every position that would serve as a good spring-board, every piece of cover, scarce as it was.

“Hey, May,” he said in a conversational tone, “There is something on the railing behind you, six forty-five.”

May immediately snapped around and pointed at the area Robin had mentioned. A boom lanced out from her hand, and a ball of metal the size of a grapefruit shot out of the tiny pistol she had been concealing. It shot forward towards the rail, and as it reached the border, a blossom of red erupted, staining a humanoid form that was now, apparently, missing most of an arm.

“Fuck! We’re made!”

The form fell backwards over the railing into the water, landing with a splash.

Robin was already leaping backwards, expecting an attack, and he was not disappointed. A human form flickered into sight, a dagger scraping against the side of Robin’s chitinous armor. The attack threw his jump off balance, forcing him to roll slightly as he landed.

He hit the ground hard, already moving into his roll, but before he could take to his feet entirely, a lightning bolt struck the deck in front of him, detonating in a mind-crushing flare of blue and white. Dazed, he stumbled backwards, looking upwards as a sudden burst of light caught his attention.

A man was standing on the top railing of the main deck, smiling down at the chaotic scene in front of him. He was wearing a blue robe with dark blue spirals woven into it over a stained white muscle-shirt, along with a pair of ragged blue denim jeans held on by an old black leather belt. His head was cast into shadows by the classic, brown, floppy wizard’s hat squatting on his head.

None of these seemed relevant at the moment, though, compared to the four spinning fireballs dancing over his hand. He pointed down, and the fireballs flew towards Robin, one following in a torrent of tiny orange spheres.

They impacted the deck around him, and Robin’s world exploded into fire.