Field notes : Fourth Age, Year 368, Spring Full Moon
Today, we finally made some incredible progress. The days of tracking and searching for this creature finally paid off. I was skeptical, at first, of following the river--I was sure it had been an aerial beast. But, looks like the river was the right choice after all. I had no expectations of seeing the creature itself, after all, actual sightings are quite rare. I would have been satisfied with simply finding its cave. In fact, I found the cave quite fascinating. It was simple, but told us a lot about the creature. First of all, that it likely isn't migratory. From the behavior we observed, I conclude that it must use its wailing call to attract prey. It does sound quite a bit like a creature in distress. Other animals are likely to investigate. With the use of its ability to hinder eyesight, it must make short work of any animal that comes near its home.
The creature itself though--what a sight! Even though I could only observe it for a few moments, it was an incredible experience. From the glance I got at it, what struck me most was its large fins. It was quite beautiful, in a terrifyingly dangerous way. I've added some sketches of it to this entry, based on what other dragons in our party managed to see of it. I would have liked to discuss with the other Biologists where they think it might have come from and why, and more interestingly, its abilities. Unfortunately, fate had different plans.
After a long day, we headed back to camp--or what remained of it. We returned to find that someone, or something, had completely trashed. Our supplies and other belongings were strewn everywhere, some even broken, and possibly some are missing (we'll see if that's the case once we finish taking inventory of everything). It's been a long day.
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When Veria picked up her breakfast at dawn the dragon serving her asked her for a favor. "Gokuson came by before these were ready, could you take it to him for me, please?" Veria looked at the bowl and saw it was filled with crunchy looking spiders and ants. She looked around and found the bright yellow skydancer working with his coatl friend to pack their camping gear. "I brought your breakfast Gokuson."
At dawn Cineraro made a run to scavenge for firewood and anything else useful he could find. While gathering some logs he noticed a stand of lovely orange and yellow tulips that reminded him of Kolya, the pretty wildclaw from the Moonshadow clan. He plucked a few of the prettiest ones and tucked them in his pouch.
