Fireball

Underwater Exploring

The dragons enjoyed their underwater adventures, spurring them to explore a new cavern weekly. Many caverns were filled with remnants of decrepit, old furniture that wafted musty aromas throughout the air. It reminded Fireball of abandoned castles he had flown through back in Khalinor. The decades of neglect were evident, with most of the pieces broken, rotting and decaying. Some of the rooms contained clay dishes that were mostly intact, along with metal eating utensils and tools. Every room offered new treasures for the dragons to discover.

The dragons frequently found a room filled with predominantly steel and precious metal objects, like swords, shields, spears and other weapons. Many of the swords and shields had family crests and mottos of high born wizarding families etched into the metal.

Every time Fireball entered a room with weapons, he had mixed feelings. They were both beautiful and sinister all at once. He was impressed with the intricacy of the design of each piece. Fireball also did not understand why the metal didn't shine like metal objects back in Khalinor. Elyse explained that decades of neglect left the metal dull and tarnished. She rubbed the blade of a sword to show Fireball and the others the shiny metal hidden beneath the surface.

The largest cavern was the one they frequented the most, because it still boasted many rooms that they had not yet explored.

One afternoon, as the dragons wandered through the largest underwater cavern, Fireball discovered a new room that he had never noticed on earlier visits. Assuming he had just missed the room, he was excited to go in and explore. The room was filled with iron, steel, silver and gold objects. There were gold chalices, large silver bowls, gold coins, steel swords, metal shields and other assorted items. But the room somehow felt different from the others. He looked around at all the shiny bowls, goblets and weapons and then it occurred to him. Everything shone. Nothing in this room was dull and tarnished. Fireball was puzzled.

As Fireball looked past all the shiny objects, and concentrated his eyes to the back left of the room, he saw several old chests. They appeared to be built of cedar, with shiny metal hinges and clasps. Then he saw a much smaller chest. It looked different from the others. As he walked closer to the box, he realized it was made all of metal and it did not have fancy hinges and clasps like the other trunks. Its hinges were very plain, yet he was curious about it. He tried hard to open it, but it was locked up tight. He used his flame to torch the box, but nothing happened. The very curious dragon then picked up the box to examine it further. It had tarnished gold hinges, but no clasp or handle on the front, and it would not open.

As he blasted another flame at the box, Dronin, one of the sea dragons, came into the room. He was very excited by all the sparkle in the room, but he was focussed on what Fireball was doing. Dronin offered to help Fireball open the trunk.