the lightning

In The company of...

In the mountainous regions of the great continent of Valdor lies the five dragon nations, the nations of fire, lightning, earth, wind and shadow. In these nations reside an extraordinary race of warriors, the draconians, descendandts of true dragons, now thought to be long forgotten. Four of the nations all circle around the fifth and largest nation, the land of lightning and all five draconian kings attempt to keep the peace.

This story, however, begins off the edge of the mountainous regions, on a side path in the valleys, where a tavern that offers an inn sits at the side of the road to provide food and shelter to any weary traveller, for the right price of course. The tavern, a two story, brick built brown painted building by the name of "Phoenix Tail", is a place where all sorts of individuals gather around to rest, to talk, to mingle or to seek a task for a days pay to get them another night stay at the inn. Normally the Bar is populated with men, elves, dwarves, mages, the occasional goblin or orc and a few figures whom have never quite been identified as anything other than "that fellow over there". One thing that can be said for sure is that it had been many seasons since anyone had seen a Draconian set foot in that tavern, many imagined it was due to the very nature of the dragon race to seclude themselves in their nations and only interact among themselves, it would be quite a surprise if one happened to stroll in.

One day, on a high noon, when the bar and kitchen was at its busiest and the booths were taken and all sorts of noice was leaking out of the tavern and into the road two tall figures approached the place at a slow pace. In the middle of the rush of beings and food and drinks, the wooden doors swung open abruptly and a large shadow loomed over them as it blocked the sunlight into the bar. A rare but justified moment of silence struck into the establishment. Many eyes trailed the shadow up to the caster of it and they came to find that what so proudly blocked the entrance and the sun light was a Draconian. The anthropomorphic dragon like creature had a orange red complexion to him, his silver armor covered his chest and exposed his large arms. He was quite large himself, taller than the average man by possibly another foot and half and he was wide, as wide as the average door entrance. The leather skirt had metal attachments and seemed to clink as the Dragonborn creature stepped into the tavern. He had a serious expression and quite menacing, especially with having one eye closed with a large scar vertically crossing it. The other eye, a bright emerald that did not scan the place, it simply looked forward at the bulletin board at the end of the room and he walked straight towards it. Behind him was another Draconian, this one however had skin that was more orange/yellow. Wearing a similar attire to the first dragon he stepped in, his wings folded in as if not wanting to knock anything down. This Draconian was equally as tall as the first but slightly thinner and he did have both eyes open. As they both walked in the old wooden floor boards creaked as their weight shifted them up and down with every step. The one eyed Draconian continued until he was at the billboard and reached in his faded green travel bag, he pulled out a rolled up paper and a dagger. He unrolled the paper and placed it up against the board and stabbed the dagger on it so it would stay, meanwhile, the other draconian went to the bar and saw there were no empty seats, he looked over at a stool that was empty but had a dwarf and elf close to it and they argued.

"Ya stinkin elf! I bet ya I can outdrink ya any day!" Said the dwarf, pointing its round stubby finger at the elf.

"I don't want to embarrass you here, how about you just agree you can't." Said the elf in a soft voice. The elf appeared to be male and carried a bow with a quiver on his back.

The Draconian approached both of them and gave a low growl followed by a huff.

"Excuse me." Said the dragon, his voice was deep and it almost seemed as if he growled with every word he spoke.

The elf and the dwarf looked up at the Draconian, looked at themselves and then stood up and vacated the seats.

"Give me two pints of the darkest ale you have." The Draconian tapped his closed fists on the bar and the bartender, a man, looked over at him and nodded.