The fall of a deity

The quest

"That's it?" Ajax snorted. "A casual stroll through a cave barely a few miles from here doesn't seem worth that much. What's the catch?" Leukos shrugged, looking back up. 

"It just says to go through the cave system and talk to the villagers on the other side. I suppose we'll find out why I had to drag a great ugly lizard along with me from them." Ajax barely acknowledged the insult.

"Yea. Doesn't seem worth the two of us, but it's too late. You invited me along. Yer stuck with me now. I'm not so stupid to pass up that much gold for a simple walk through a cave." Leukos said half a word, about to disagree, but seemed to change his mind.

"Alright. Well, what can you do? I don't want to take you along only to find that all you can do is barely drag your tail." He said instead, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the table. A glimmer of interest came from behind his mask, watching closely. Without responding, Ajax flicked his tail. It moved surprisingly quickly, coming down like a club against the chair for the table behind him. The sudden crack of wood splintering attracted the attention of the Dwarven bartender, who quickly left the bar and dashed over with a shout to inspect what was once his chair, now no more than a pile of shattered splinters. He rounded on Ajax, practically frothing at the mouth, and violently demanded he pay for the chair- Or else. Ajax gave a strange, sudden hissing noise, as if there was a rattlesnake in his throat. The bartender stopped and took a step back, a look of uncertainty on his face, as if not sure what to expect. Dragonbornes weren't common around that area, so he had probably rarely interacted with any, let alone faced one. He flinched as Ajax opened his jaws, probably expecting him to bite, but he didn't. Instead, an acrid, dull green liquid sprayed from the back of his throat. The dwarf's eyes grew wide in shock and horror as the rank substance splattered onto his long, overgrown, matted beard, singeing it from hanging at his knees to barely a pencil's length. 

For a moment, the dwarf stared down at the wiry mess of hair that had been burned off and was now lying in a pathetic little pile on the ground. There was a look of sorrow in his eyes. He stayed for a good few minutes, rigid with disbelief, before simply turning to walk stiffly back to the bar. Leukos stared at Ajax. The acid seemed to spray from some sort of gland on the inside of his bottom jaw. What had assaulted the bartender had been hardly a few tablespoons, but Leukos had no doubts in his mind that the grumpy old dragon could produce more if needed. Perhaps he wasn't as useless as Leukos had thought. Ajax turned back to him, a reptilian grin spreading across his face. 

"Tails aren't just for dragging, y'know, kid. I might not be all that stealthy, but sheer brute strength ain't bad, either." Leukos simply nodded, intrigued now as to what else he had to offer. The battle-scarred beast was clearly a formidable fighter, even if he did seem like a pain to put up with. Ajax shifted to the side, making room to bring up his WarHammer from it's place beside him. He pounded it against the table, leaving a sizeable crack in the dark oak wood. The bartender looked up again from the flagon he was robotically refilling with a flash of anger, but it dissipated again when he saw who was making the noise. The hammer's head looked to be forged of a dark metal, likely iron, with lighter points coming off the ends in gleaming sharp pyramids of death. It looked positively evil. Leukos knew such a weapon could pierce even the skull of an orc, with enough force in the swing. 

Ajax pulled the beige satchel that hung at his side onto the table, pulling it open and rummaging through it, bringing a few different useful items out to display.

"Water flask... My whip, don' use that often... My torch, and a flask o' alcohol to help light it, among other things, hehe... Some bandages, mainly fo' the torch... Got a spear attached to the back here, not very long but I can throws it... Drawstring purse, ID card, few old bits of paper, and some dust. Oh, I should also probably mention, my scales substitute armor just fine. Hard as rocks, they are." He slung the bag back down against his waist, shrugging the strap up securely on his shoulder . He rested his head on one huge talon, leaning forwards again in his chair and looking expectantly at Leukos with his blazing amber eyes. Waiting for him to demonstrate his skills too, Leukos realized. He picked up a bow and quiver full of arrows from where he had dropped them beside him, and notched an arrow into the bow. He took aim at a young elven busboy with a tray carrying three fancy, thin glasses, and loosed the arrow. It shot through the middle glass, shattering it and continuing it's momentum to lodge itself in the wooden wall. The poor busboy flinched so violently they dropped the rest of the glasses. Ajax whistled loudly over the sound of glass breaking against wood, and the busboy's anxious cries. Leukos smiled beneath his mask.

"And, I'm good with tracking and stealth. Not that it'll be much help with you crashing about like a herd of drakons... But, I can get us food and find our way, build camps and fires easily, and tell if we're being stalked." Ajax gave another serpentine grin.

Together, strengths combined and weaknesses made up for, their quest would surely be a breeze.