Trouble with a Tribe, Pt V [Job/Solo]

Job Name: Trouble on the Plains, Pt V
Job Rank: B
Job Location: The Plains
Job Rewards: 200 XP/15,000 Huang
Job Prerequisites: Pt IV
Chain Bonus: 100 XP/7,000 Huang
Job Overview: After defeating the Guardian, you hear a roar that echoes through the dense, dark forest. As you hear the roar and the crashing of trees, you go to investigate only to find the source of the problem. Defeat the Earth Dragon and take its head back to the Elder to claim your reward for making the forest safe once more.

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Lexi truly hated the idea of hurting the creatures of the forest, it never sat well with her. Normally, she hunted to eat and occasionally to protect. But the forest was only trying to defend itself, who was she to step in and interrupt that? Humans were a disease to nature, she had seen it numerous times. They went to an area, stripped it of its resources and then moved on. While the people of the Plains were usually better about it than some areas, even they traveled regularly to chase down what nature had to offer. Perhaps the creatures of the forest were simply done being used as a commodity. This had been their home first, after all. She probably would have let herself become lost in this line of thought if not for everything around her shaking with the force of the roar that echoed through the forest. She was immediately on guard, tensing her muscles as her eyes darted around, searching for the danger.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity but was a few mere moments, her opponent showed itself. Crashing through the trees came a massive figure at least five meters long, green scales shimmering in weak light of the forest. It was not until it reached the clearing that she could clearly see what she was up against and Lexi’s breath caught in her throat. All of her life, she had heard ancient tales of a race that had come before humans, creatures of high intelligence and the ability to wield magic. She had always assumed them to be just stories and exaggerations of odd looking creatures but there was no doubt in her mind that what stood before her was a dragon.

The majestic creature spread its wings and gave another terrifying, guttural roar that made Lexi’s very bones shake from the force of it and she found herself frozen for a moment as she gazed upon what most people thought of as mere legend. There were spines coming from the dragon’s neck and back, protecting the dragon from biting teeth. The scales across its chest shone a lighter shade of green than the rest of its body and appeared almost like armor for the legendary beast. Its leathery wings stretched out to a frightening length and were tipped with claws, similar to how a bat’s wings looked, but green. The beast and Lexi stared at each other, eyes locked together before suddenly the forest was filled with a warm voice Lexi was not expecting from such a massive, frightening creature. The lulling voice spoke of safety and protection, even as the angry words said otherwise.

“You dare enter this realm, my realm and destroy my creatures?”

Lexi’s tongue was frozen in her mouth as the dragon approached, its face mere inches from hers. It was close enough that each inhale and exhale moved the hair on her head.

“You… you are human, yet you sport the features of an animal. What type of two-leg be you?”

“I… I am human. Are you… are you a dragon?”

The dragon gave a growl, snapping its teeth inches from her face.

“I am. Leave this forest. You two-legs have done too much to this world already. We will solve that. Leave and tell the other two-legs to leave as well.”

Lexi’s heart sank. Her prediction about the forest being angry at being invaded had been true, in a fashion. But she knew that what the dragon asked was not possible, not really. Humans were destructive, but they were also possessive and were not likely to abandon what they saw as their own. She sighed and slumped, shaking her head.

“I cannot do that. I am sorry. The tribes rely on this forest to live and thrive. They will not leave so easily.”

“Then you and they shall die.”

The dragon gave no other warning as it spread its wings and took to the air, exhaling and releasing Spore Breath. Lexi saw the plume of breath headed in her direction and thought quickly, unleashing Boom to meet the cloud in midair, the explosion eating through the spores as Lexi flipped backward to put some space between herself and the legendary creature. She did not wish to fight the beast, but it seemed she had little choice. The only thing this creature wanted was her death at this point and she would not let herself fall so easily. She quickly grabbed at the throwing daggers attached to her thigh, throwing three daggers at the dragon. The creature hardened its scales, its Green Defense causing two of the daggers to bounce harmlessly off of the scales, though the third seemed to strike, sticking between two of the scales and making the creature dribble a bit of blood. Lexi knew that time was of the essence, the more time she gave the dragon to think, the less of a chance she had to leave this forest alive.

Lexi’s fingers were quick to locate her specialty arrows, scraping them to ignite them as she shot Rapid Flames towards the dragon. Her brow arched as the two arrows struck the dragon and burned away at the scales, the flames seeming to burn brighter than she expected. The dragon roared in pain and Lexi knew she had found a weakness. She had never expected fire to be something that would hurt the dragon, but it was, after all, surrounded by wood and nature. Fire was something that could wreck excessive amounts of damage in such a setting. She could see the dragon flying up more, hoping her arrows would not reach it through the branches of the tree, but the forest was also preventing it from flying too far away, the canopy shielding it from escaping unless it increased its efforts quite a bit. It was what allowed so many things to live in peace here, away from the elements. The dragon used Sharp Spines to shoot at everything around it, leaves and branches falling as more spines headed for Lexi. She was prepared, launching Quad Boom in a tight area in front of her. It helped to burn up many of the spines, but a few still managed to strike her, making her bleed from several places, the spines sticking out of her side and leg.

Lexi growled in discomfort, losing patience with this back and forth and she pulled back the string to launch a Death Shot at the dragon, the arrow ignoring the falling leaves and branches to strike the dragon just under one of its wings, one of the few soft spots the dragon had. The bellowing roar that echoed let Lexi know she had dealt a great blow to the dragon, one of its wings laboring under the effort to keep beating with the pain. Lexi quickly strung up another arrow, shooting at the dragon as it slowly lowered from its height. The dragon was having none of it and batted the arrow away with a swipe from its claw as it settled on the ground. It lumbered forward, a noticeable limp showing on the side she had shot it in and Lexi knew if she were to have a hope, she would need to take the beautiful creature down in her next few attempted attacks. She shot another arrow, expecting it to be swatted away again, which it was. But the movement of the dragon to swat it down offered her the moment she needed to pull more throwing daggers free and as soon as the dragon’s arm lowered, two more daggers flew forward, aimed for the dragon’s eyes. Lexi could almost see the frustration of defeat glowing in the dragon’s orbs just before the daggers buried deeply in the least protected areas of the beast from legends. A rattling death cry echoed from the dragon as it fell to the ground and Lexi could feel it in her very core.

Tears streamed from her eyes as she moved forward, hating herself for destroying such a beautiful beast. This was something that had been unchanged by humans, something trying to protect the nature that humans destroyed and she had taken it down. As she knelt beside the dragon’s head, she saw the signs of age that all creatures eventually began to show, the drooping of the skin around the eyes and the paler pigmentation of the scale across its head. The lack of sightings any time in recent history told her that the dragon had either been hiding or sleeping this entire time and her heart ached to know that even she was a plague on the most natural of things. Humans did naught but destroy and infect, herself included. Slowly, around her, she could hear the forest seeming to come back to life, birds chirping and paws scampering and she frowned.

She had noticed the unnatural silence of the forest before, but if the dragon were truly here to do nothing but protect the forest, signs of life here would not have stopped. Most animals knew how to live in symbiosis with the others in the area, knowing what to avoid and what to assist. If the dragon had been here to protect, the birds and rabbits and deer would not have hidden their presence. Perhaps the dragon was not as benevolent as it had seemed. Yet another reason Fate bewildered, confused, and infuriated her. Why could things not be simpler? Was it Fate that had drawn the dragon out or had it been something else? Why would Fate choose now to take its toll on humanity? She forced the questions from her mind, knowing it would only anger her further and she was already plenty angry at herself.

She knew the villagers would not return to the forest unless she provided proof that the danger was gone and so, with a heavy heart and a shaking hand, Lexi pulled Onyxia free and began the process of removing the dragon’s head, wincing every time one of her movements made the spines dig deeper into her flesh. She did not want to remove them until a healer was nearby, unsure of how deep they went and if they might be coated with poison. Finally, after an arduous hour of careful cutting, the head came free and Lexi wrapped it in a portion of her skirt to drag it back to the tribe Elder.

She was greeted with awe and reverence as she entered the village but she ignored it, still hating herself for taking down something so beautiful and natural. When the Elder saw what had been terrorizing the forest and then saw her face, his expression softened and he thanked her. Lexi brushed off the thanks, shaking her head.

“I have done this world a disservice, destroying this creature. But your forest is safe once more. The rest of the dragon remains in the forest; you should use as much of its body as you can. There is no reason to waste the skin and meat, now that it is dead.  I would like to visit your healer. Once I am patched up, I will be leaving. I appreciate your hospitality, but I must be moving on.”

[Ammo: 18/20 arrows, 9/15 daggers]
[Stamina: 170/300]
[1500+/1500]

Items and Abilities Used: