As the information gets relayed, Skyscale seems to somewhat understand what is being suggested; blue-white sparks dance along his teeth, before he sends out an enormous cone of forking lightning that dances amongst the maggots, leaving them charred husks and ashes. The tree bark explodes in places, and the undegrowth smokes and sizzles as it resists catching fire, but everything in the cone darkens from the burst.
"See? Good for locals." Hecate said cheerfully. Also, she only had a basic pistol, not a flamethrower or other kind of spread weapon - and she didn't want to deal with the hassle of shooting little maggot things all on their own. "How many more of these creatures do you think we're looking at?"
Scath scratches at his ear, which looks harder to do in his armor than it normally does.
"How I know how many, not how big corpse was, must be many many if some left behind on ground and on trail. Also depend on how long undead be here. Trail smell old, but could be here longer."
Scath suddenly goes bone still.
"Silly dragon at least have lightning breath. Blues have lightning, but blues usually evil. Guess this one never learn evil. But just have thought, Silly dragon say recently have 'scale blight' and 'mange' or something like that epidemic. Wonder if maybe undead effects on dragons be scale blight and mange... Be strange if new undead and new disease be here same same time and not same source.."
"Scath say trail about a day old. Want know if diseases are new or old. Might come with bad people and undead." Hope spins out.
Once the questions reach the dragon, he shakes his head. "Disease is not new. Though I have heard of many more cases of Fuzz Fungus and Scale Blight during the last few sweeps. Many are found homeless with Fuzz Fungus or Scale Blight each day. You are my first find. Most of you cannot talk, either, so clearly the disease is advancing!" he explains, as he shakes his body as if trying to get water off.
Roy follows along as they track whatever it is.
"If we're already this close to the other place, we might as well go there."
When it starts to get darker, Roy bops a light spell on his hat.
"Ask him if the ones they've found recently ever attack them. Doesn't sound like they can tell the difference between the people and the zombies n such."
"I dunno, dragons sound like they could keep a few small zombies under control..." Hecate mused as she checked her weapon again to be sure it was ready for use at a moment's notice.
"I don't know what a Zombie is." Skyscale replied. "I haven't heard of any attacks. But we are on a small island, far from the cities of my people." he responded in a grumbly voice. "The only dragons that fight anything around here are usually grumpy. Most of us are more civilized than fighting."
He waited for a moment, as Hecate was translated. "Of course dragons could keep zombies under control. Dragons can handle anything!"
"But if we tell them to kill the zombies, and they can't tell the difference, they might hurt regular people that fall through like us..."
Roy says this, not intending for it to be translated.
He holds his arms together as if he had gotten cold at the thought of their error in translation ending in the death of a lot of people in their same situation. Actually being cold is unlikely, as he currently straddles a walking furnace with paws.
Scath snorts, and hits Roy in the ankle idly in annoyance.
Stupid two legs, give cats bad name. Zombies no talk. Some undead talk, but zombies no talk. And all dead hurt by healing magic.
"Undead hurt by healing magic. Zombies not talk. Simple." Hope responded.
"Ow."
Roy pulls his leg up as Bear turns around and growls at Scath in a way reminiscent of "don't touch my family."
"/I/ know that, but I don't think /they/ do. Everything to them either has or doesn't have scales. If they think we're just sick, they won't be able to tell the difference between a zombie and a person."
Scath walks to a tree, and drives his head against the trunk in frustration.
"Tell stupid two leg cat not tell me that, tell Dragon that."
"Dragons need to know how. Doesn't matter if we know how, two-leg." came the response from Hope. "Need let all dragons know. Not just Sky-Dragon."
"I /know/. That's what I'm trying to say. But how can we explain it to him if he doesn't know the difference between us and diseased lizards? I'm not the one that can talk to them anyways."
Roy takes out his bronze and wooden multi-tool thing and starts fiddling with it, not making it into anything in particular. Roy seems to need to always be doing something with his hands, whether it's just holding something, playing with the tool, carving something, or putting small braids in Bear's shaggy fur.
Scath tears a strip out of the tree.
"See, two leg be stupid. Use small words. Tell them exactly this. Stupid, tell dragon that if not sure if dead or not dead, try heal, if dead, heal hurt, if not dead, heal help or not hurt. Easy easy way tell difference."
"Tell dragon if not sure if dead or not dead, try heal. If dead, heal hurt. If not dead, heal help or not hurt. Easy easy way tell difference."
The dragon paused for a moment, before responding. "Hm... So we need lizardfolk or much older dragons to know if there's even anything wrong." Skyscale whined. "I know a few younger healing dragons, but it's not really common. It... makes you less dragon."
"And that's what I was afraid of..."
Roy says, not looking up from his tool. He's stuck having somewhat mixed feelings. It was nice being right over the condescending cat, but being right also meant they were in the less favorable circumstances.
Hecate glanced up at the big beastie. "Talent in healing does not make you any less worthy." she said firmly. "First of all, for the survival of the species, it's good to have enough healing to deal with the pains of children. Second of all, widespread availability of medicine makes it much easier to deal with outbreaks of disease. Refusing medical treatment out of pride means innocent people suffer when they don't have to." And she had... views... on civilians getting hurt because of other people's pride.
"No. It makes you less dragon." he states again, standing his ground rather firmly. "Some dragons choose to be less dragon in order to help others. It is not about pride." he shakes his entire body.
pierce holds his hand up to Hecate and does not yet translate her last statements (though he has been translating the rest. "could you explain what you mean by "less dragon""
"I don't think we quite understand what what he means by it. I don't think he means that it's about being their version of manly."
"A dragon grows on its own. As it gets bigger, it becomes more of the dragon that it is meant to be. Some dragons choose to become other things instead, and they don't grow as a dragon does, but instead grow as... well, as a healer does. It is not an ignoble path. It is just... not the path a dragon would travel down. It is the path a healer would take." he does his best to explain.
Pierce nods understanding well enough to tell the others what he's talking about. He then asks the dragon Vis naan do dovah wahl vuuk tol preform lu fah hi? Waan nust vis hi vust distribute daar vuuk wah dovah wo vankar prudaav lu. [/b]
"I... yes?" he responds. "Probably, I think. I have never seen a dragon make a tool. I do not go to the city. The lizardfolk make many tools, but we mighty dragons have no need of tools."
With a quick glance, you can see that his 'hands' aren't really built for holding tools, and his body isn't really built for moving while he's on two legs. While he's able to grip things with an opposable thumb, the entire process would be bound to be awkward. Likewise, you've noticed that his entire body moves sinuously, and it's pretty apparent that even armor would hamper his movement significantly unless made outstandingly well.
"Necessity." Hecate said. "Anyway, let's get to that town, shall we? I don't think there's too much else we can do here."
"Yes. I'd like a place ta sleep fer the night. If there's things wanderin' around, I'd prefer not to get caught off guard by em."
Whether Scath continues to follow his trail or not, the dragon begins to move once the others suggest they'd like to get to town. He self-assuredly moves through the forest in a direction roughly equivalent to the trail that the group was following, which reconfirms that alive, or dead, the creature has gone in this direction.
Skipping rest, the group will press onwards to the Marble Cave
The mountain steadily grows before you until you begin to rise along with it, tree and rocky outcropping beginning to steadily form more and more... unerringly the dragon serves as your guide, moving as if he has traveled this way many, many times. He hums some sort of tune that isn't really recognizable as you go, and rarely talks unless spoken to. He seems to be used to traveling alone.
When you arrive, you arrive at a cavern opening that has clearly been dug out by powerful, very large claws. All along the walls are streaks of white and black, roiling around with one another, that create striking patterns. The cavern itself is relatively well lit by lanterns with floating orbs of various colors that dangle from the ceilings, turning the mineral-laden stone different colors and in some cases even leaving it glowing. The travel deeper is a somewhat surreal experience. You pass dozens of dragons as you move, varying from the size of a cat to the size of a horse; Sky is one of the larger. Most don't pay you any attention.
Lizardfolk, of varying colors, do tend to pay attention to the group, however. They carry clothing and crude-looking weapons, along with several containers, pouches and the like. They stand straighter than the typical lizardfolk and have shining scales, chromatic and metallic, and a few shades in between.
As the group travels, more and more small rooms, carved by the same massive claws, dot the sides of the tunnel, which Skyscale ignores. Occasionally a person will enter or exit one of these chambers, but moreover they're ignored as well.
Eventually you reach a gargantuan room filled with people roaming about, with all manner of ledges, crevasses and gaps, rises and falls, entrances and exits. The place is barely controlled chaos as dragon, lizardfolk, kobolds, elementals, and rarely, fey, travel through. The trail becomes significantly harder to follow once you reach this point.
However, the view is beautiful, just as the rest of the world has been. The small lights that had lined the path for them dangling from the ceiling are gathered into huge clusters above, cascading the world in various colored lights, which reflect and refract from quartz embedded and growing from a great many surfaces.
Scath growls as everyone leaves off on the undead trail, but he sighs and follows them.
Stupid two legs, leave danger to grow..
Hecate kept one hand by her waist as they moved, ready to draw out her weapon at the first sign of trouble - though she was rather interested in the overall design of this place. At the moment, though... "Find anything?" she asked, looking down at Scath.
Roy is taking pictures with their phone of all of the colorful things. He makes sure the flash is off, so as not to disgruntle the denizens.
"Wish my place looked this nice. All I got is trees and grey rocks..."
Skyscraper watches as Roy waves his magical eye device around, mouth slightly agape. If Roy looks his way, his jaw will snap shut. After a brief moment either way, "What powerful magic, that you can freeze light itself in time, keeping a moment forever. The lizardfolk do this, but it takes days and weeks and many years of training and preparation. Even still, a moment is lost forever, only those things which last can be captured."
"It's called a camera phone, it can hold a lot of those "moments", where I am from even children have access to such"
There was another brief snickering sound from Hecate's direction as Pierce explained the device. That... seemed like it was just part of her personality, actually. Her own society was rather more advanced, but it was fun watching the 'magic box' be explained to a native.
"That... is amazing." Skyscale acknowledged. "It must be truly a wondrous place when you have all your greatest memories at your fingertips. Surely you could get a very good price on this at the bazaar." he explained, even as Scath was snuffling around.
The trail seemed to be long gone for a time, but then he finally caught wind of it.
The pattern was hard to follow, given the sheer number of scents involved, but Scath can find it by leapfrogging from point to point where the creature stopped. It seemed to be stopping at stalls of all places. Stalls with various objects and herbs and magical components. There didn't seem to be any permanent stores in this area, but several dragons and lizardfolk had carts, wagons, or what looked like saddles covered in bags strewn out on the floor where they sold things.
By now, it had also become obvious to Scath (who was moving about in the crowds) that people seemed to be giving him a wide berth (Not unlike what would be expected of a drunken vagrant on a major city street). Likewise, the group seemed to have a larger amount of personal space than they had any right to.
Scath ignores the dragons and lizardfolk, unless one gets in his way. Otherwise, he keeps following the trail as best he can.
While the others are discussing the nuances of portable memories and their values, Scath is swimming through a sea of lizards, following a rather spotty trail as it moves amidst the giant cavern. Areas mostly smell of the same creatures and objects, which seems rather odd; the salesmen must be creatures of habit. But it also lets Scath know that the undead seemed to be most interested in preserved plant matter. Or at least probably did.
"I don't know how it works, but I like it. I have a thing that lets me do drawings without paper and ink and stuff."
Roy pans down with the phone and Scath enters the shot.
He puts the phone down.
"What's Little-Bit doin'?"
"Following the trail, apparently." With that utterly unhelpful bit of advice, Hecate followed the cat, carefully watching the area to keep an eye out for trouble. She didn't know this place, and you honestly couldn't be too careful...
"Undead wanted preserved plants. Dried, pickled, strange.. maybe alchemy?"
'Maybe magic. Plant my world not have magic. Like... plant broken. Break people with magic. Maybe not all plants not-magic. Like different metal, different finish, different magic.' Hope responded as she rode along.[/i]
Scath continues to move from trail-to-trail for lack of a better term, following the scent of the dearly departed. Hecate begins to follow after, and like Scath, dragons aside from Skyscale don't seem to approach them at all, leaving space for them to move, unmolested.
Scath steadily snuffles his way through the Bazaar and into one of the rearmost tunnels, guided by the distant twinkling lights almost as much as the scent at times; whenever he starts to lose the trail, he can simply move around to check stalls to pick up the trail once more.
"Maybe... Tell two-legs getting closer... and undead bought stuff, must be local or pass for local... and must be able talk..."
Each Walky Talky chirps and then delivers a message from Hope.
"Getting close. Undead buying things. So must look like local and must can talk."
"It makes music, too!?" Skyscale asks, incredulous.
Hecate frowned. They were... intelligent enough to blend into a crowd? Her finger twitched slightly, but she was starting to get flashbacks of the some of the old war chronicles... this had just gotten much more complicated.
"It can indeed, neither of these is it's primary function, is to communicate long distances" he then nods to hope's translation from cat, seemingly unsurprised by the undead' display of competence and thanks the small robot for it's information and asks it to keep them appraised of the situation as new events unfold
As the group explains the nuances of the cell phone to Skyscale, Scath coninues to sniffle through the huge, open bazaar. While the people give him deference, creating a gap for him to travel through (no one gets too close, willingly), the gap quickly disappears due to the dim lighting conditions; beautiful as it may be, the entire cavern is lit by distant lights that cascade down by reflection, leaving everything shaded in a strange color, and making it difficult to see exceptionally far.
Scath begins to move further and further from where he parted with the group, moving from stall to stall, sniffling around (he's gotten the idea that the stall areas are the places that the creature lingered.)
He follows from stall to stall, moving from herbs to politics, to animal parts, to animal leanings... Scath realizes at this point that he seems too be gathering spell components... then onwards to precious stones, magic sticks, and then into a side-cavern, this time following a trail; this area seems to see little use.
Inside of this particular area are all manner of armor, bipedal and quadruped, plus rings designed to fit over claws and tails made from all manner of metal. Most of them seem to have blades or the like tied in, the ones for tails being braced. The front section seems to simply be iron and steel, but the rear section holds all manner of materials, some of the rings even appearing tunic, carved with meticulous precision.
From the moment he walks into the room he feels as though he is being watched, even though the only other person in the shop seems to be a lizardfolk with his back turned to Scath, examining something that Sac h can't see past the counter. His scales and hide are a gold color in most places, fading into a strange blue-green at his extremities. He has a pair of horns, and a single gold frill that runs from the top of his head presumably to the tip of his tail.
Aside from the counter itself, the shop seems to be made for all shapes and sizes (or at least most of them). Tiny-sized armors hang near the bottom of displays, scaling up to armor that would fit an elephant near the top, the aisles are wide, the ceiling tall, and all of the hanging rocks have been blunted. The counter itself even has a ramp to allow creatures to see over it.
Roy puts the phone away, now being too dark to get good pictures.
"Where'd he go? Can't see anything in here..."
Roy closes his eyes and tries to sniff out the direction Scath went with his own Scent.
Perception
Tell stupid 2-legs where we went, why they no follow, dumb nose blind morons... Give directions... Tell something weird here... like someone watch me... but no see or smell... No speak out loud...
Scath sniffs the ground carefully, and watches the corners of the room, the armors, and the ceiling, looking for something watching him.