After staring at each other for a few moments, Bill hops off of Ted’s head and begins to waddle over to the small dragon. Seeing as the duck is moving on his own without input from others, Madilyn and Sidney become visibly curious.

As he gets close, Ted comments, “I think ‘Bill may know that dragon.”

Quickly becoming the center of attention, the ‘Pixie Dragon’ sits up and begins to preen itself as Bill approaches. A few quacks are heard from a distance before a nearly imperceptible shimmer encloses the two creatures. While the group can still see them, silence is what they are greeted with.

“Was that you or the dragon?” Madilyn asks.

“Neither,” replies Ted. “That was Thunderhammer Bladebill.”

“The duck knows magic? And how would he know a Pixie Dragon?” Sidney says, baffled by the concept. Madilyn appears to be in agreement with this sentiment.

Sia, far enough removed from their peripheral vision, stifles her giggling as she sees Ted flash a smile.

“There are many things~ that you do not know about Thunderhammer Blade~bill.”

“So what about the Pixie Dragon?” Madilyn presses.

“Well,” Ted begins before seeing both Bill and the dragon staring at him. “I’ll be right back, stay here.”

“Wait, what!” exclaims Sidney in disbelief as Ted walks off towards the two creatures.

- - - - - - - - - -

“It is good to see you, you old monster,” the dragon says to Ted upon his arrival through the sound barrier. “I knew it was only a matter of time before you would come back into the world, though it seems like most have forgotten what you look like.”

“Luck, I must say I was surprised to see you myself,” he replies. “And how have you been, what brought you back to Meggido?”

After a brief pause, Luck turns to look at the duck and says, “Thunderhammer, you were right, it was subtle but there has been a bit of a change, though I am bringing up memories from centuries ago.”

Turning back to Ted, she continues, “I can’t say I’ve ever heard you ask that kind of question to anyone, mostly business and ignoring the mental battles people may face.”

“Many things have happened in these few years. How long have you been here?”

“About a century or so,” she says. “I was feeling nostalgic, and due to certain perks, I was able to successfully enter ‘The Great Dungeon’ and made my way to the bottom. And you have no idea how many people have tried to capture and tame me when I look like this, it’s great! Less people running in fear, more people forgetting their belongings as they attempt to capture a rare Pixie, and even more rare one that has managed to learn to talk none-the-less~!”

“Ah, you have already answered and solved one of my dilemmas then. The next big questions involve whether or not you want to travel out of here and back into the world for a while.”

“After I knew you and Thunderhammer were here, I must say I was curious as to your, group, as it were. All three feel strange, and two of their souls smell different for some reason.”

“Sia, the homunculus on the left, Madilyn, the Village Girl in the center, and Sidney, the off-world reincarnator. One of my current yet former minions, a potential minion, and the man-boy hero, off on an adventure. Do you know of the place the sentients call ‘The Village?’ That is where we have been for roughly two decades.”

“Ah, that mythical Village? I’ve pieced a few things together in the last 200 years from what adventurers have said here and there, and I have to say a number of things don’t add up about it, or more specifically where it’s located. I’ve run into a number of people who have left this village while here in the last 100 years. I know how to get there, but where is there exactly?”

“I’ll never tell!” Ted laughs, somewhat comedically. “Now, to the important part of this discussion, do you want to keep doing whatever you are here or do you want to join us on our adventure? You came back to Meggido, and while they didn’t notice what kind of existence you are, I do have a passing familiarity with that jewel you’ve integrated into your form now.”

“You know, it took much longer than expected but I did have to spend a decade a few centuries ago to clean that out you know. You never did tell me how much room was in it.”

“Ah,” Ted says with his eyes glazed over before replying. “If you’re here, you’ve seen the tree above yes? Halfway to the major branches, then make a cube out of it. Roughly. Now, since you’re being non-committal, do you just want to join us for desserts? The normal girl is the daughter of the village baker.”

“Really?” Luck says, sitting up on her haunches a bit straighter. “I suppose I could spare the time for at least that. Thunderhammer here told me that they call you Ted these days.”

“Yes,” Ted says, with a smirk and his hands clasped behind his back.

“Though it is an acronym to avoid certain unpleasantries that would crop up with a real name. And before you ask, it stands for ‘The E-‘“ is all he can get out before his head snaps forward.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Oh, there’s the signal, Sia thinks to herself. Picking up a small pebble, she hurls it at Ted’s head. It connects with a conjured shield as his head snaps forward as if absorbing the momentum.

“What did you do that for?!” Madilyn asks with a stage whisper.

“He was taking forever, and it looks like that dragon can talk, and he’s ignoring me. Us. He’s ignoring us. See, now he’s looking over here, and walking this direction. And the dragon is following!”

“Everyone, this is Luck the Magic Dragon. She apparently has a thing for sweets and I told her that you were the Baker’s Daughter.”

Hello there! Luck says, to the surprise of all but Sia. It’s so nice to not get involved with fights all the time and be able to have something sweet to eat instead.

“Ooooo, you’re so pretty up close!” Sia exclaims, squirming while looking at the flying, or floating, dragon. “Really really pretty! Super beautiful!”

You are a curious child, aren’t you, Luck says, narrowing her reptilian eyes ever so slightly. How long have you known… Ted?

“Hmmm,” Sia begins, finger to lips, as Madilyn and Sidney are expecting a discrete, numeric, answer. “How about since before The Caldera erupted?”

A fair length of time indeed and despite how you speak, very much no longer a child, Luck says after a pause, while Madilyn turns scarlet at this statement and misunderstanding. Sidney sits in blissful ignorance all around, just thinking that Sia is being strange again.

In the short time surrounding the introductions, Ted retrieves a flat slate tray that he has placed several small desserts on. Fully landing, onto Sia’s lap, Luck floats two of the six desserts towards her and declares the second is so that her comfy seat doesn’t move while they enjoy the novel experience of talking with a dragon about nothing in particular.

A frankly unsurprising development as the quintet had spent the last nearly two decades with stories of heroes and dragons, and that the small dragon in front of them, while small, was still a dragon. “Never underestimate a dragon, even if it is a Pixie Dragon” was a commonly heard while Sidney was running the gauntlets put together by the old men. It should be noted however that there was a significant sampling bias in the village they came from, and the rate of encountering dragons for most individuals in the world at this time is once every century or so, and usually only if you save enough money to travel.

Having found out quite a bit more about adventurers in general in the Great Dungeon, Sidney asks Luck a similar question as Ted had at the beginning.

“So what do you want to do next? We’re going to make it to the top of here, and we apparently already have a magic duck which I didn’t know about until half an hour ago,” he says, still bitter that he didn’t know.

The latter statement throws Luck into a fit of laughter as she had already found out Sidney’s earliest memories included Thunderhammer Bladebill.

You, she says, choking back dragon tears, you didn’t know, that ‘Bill’ was a magic duck?

Sidney furrows his eyebrows slightly further as Ted interrupts.

“This is why I let myself be persuaded into joining this ragtag band of hooligans.”

Grinning at the true meaning behind Ted’s words, not those of perceived concern for one’s safety, Luck settles down enough to smile and finally give her response.

Sweets and flame, if you can give me these things I will gladly join you for a while. My hoard is quite large as it is, but perhaps we can find something to add to the collection, she says, playing up the greedy dragon persona.

“You actually have a hoard?” Madilyn asks, genuinely curious.

Of course! Luck says, puffing up her chest. Behold, as the last rays of sunlight display the greatest of my treasures!

A flash emanates from the ruby red spot in the center of Luck’s chest. As Madilyn and Sidney are sitting across a small circle from her, the do not immediately notice the large printed cloth suspended behind them.

“That was truly shiny and magnificent Lady Luck,” Sidney says with as straight as a face as he can manage.

You have not half of the true magnificence! Turn around and behold the gift given to me by one far more powerful than me!

Turning around, and gaining yet another misunderstanding and concern for the world at large, Sidney and Madilyn see a mountain range filled with lava and ash, printed on a Satansheep cloth.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Of Cloth, Silk, and Wool, a Guide for Gab by Esq. Sil Nasaran

My fellow Clothiers! Should you be so fortunate to work with the rich and famous seeking the (in)famous Satansheep cloak or tunic, I hope you find my words enriching.

First, they are an odd evolution of our fluffy friends. The vast majority are found on the slopes of active volcanoes, they graze on the shrubbery but gain most of their sustenance from filtering miasma that naturally gathers around volcanoes. Wandering young flocks can be found in miasma dense areas, natural or otherwise. They end up purifying miasma, and the ‘evil’ is trapped in their wool, resulting in the initial misunderstanding and subsequent rhyme, “Baa Baa Black sheep, have you any soul?” Newborn Satansheep are covered in pure white to very light grey wool.

Their wool, once purified, is an excellent insulator and has a natural heat regulation so that the sheep (or adventurer), experiences temperatures between 20-25ºC. However, if the wool is not purified, it acts as a curse if worn. While this can be used to make cursed charms and items, the Satansheep have evolved to combat this effect, and between their natural resistance to curses and improved combat abilities, they have been known to survive for decades.

Natural flocks typically have 10-20 sheep at any given time, but this can balloon to upwards of 100 in areas of war and extensive black magic use. It has only been within the last 200 years that the purifying effects of the satansheep have been widely publicized by kingdoms and locations are encouraged to be reported, though for protection or profit depends on who you speak to.

That said, while they appear cuddly from a distance, they stand 2 meters tall at the shoulder, and, if you manage to shear one you will see it is absolutely jacked, with sharp horns, as if they were all in a bodybuilder competition. They are known to chew on volcanic rock for fun when staring down their enemies, and have personal preferences on which rocks they like.

And finally, for you to whisper in hushed tones with nervous glances over your shoulder, a little known fact but easily verifiable if you travel extraordinarily far south, there was once a battle between a satansheep flock (numbering about 200) tended by that man and an elder dragon over rights to a particular volcano. He happened to be there with an oversized, golden shepherd’s hook. Fire, smoke, and sound could be seen from nearly 100 km away due to the sheer volume of magic cast by these 200 sheep. The dragon eventually conceded after several days of combat as He kept healing all parties, and the sheep weren’t having any of it. The dragon was shown a larger, unoccupied volcano by Him as compensation. There is a mural in the capital city of that particular kingdom depicting this.