Sapros

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this world recycles all that ends
and all that begins
and death is only another form of life
nothing lasts forever
nothing is ever lost

Is this a dragon, or some strange spirit drawn by Saerilin's research? He comes and goes without explanation or warning, leaving the cloying scent of greenery and rot in his wake.

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Sapros facts:

• Has never spoken, and doesn't have much body language to read so no one really knows what's going on with them
• True name and gender unknown, Hydrargyros started calling them Sapros and it just kind of stuck
• Everyone was terrified of them when they first showed up, but they haven't actually done anything bad so everyone just got used to them. Sometimes the hatchlings climb on them, which terrifies Bierah and Carcin but Sapros has never hurt them.
• Has a strong smell of decay. Sometimes Maglove hangs air fresheners on their antlers (it doesn't help)
• Their presence sometimes makes mushrooms grow and food rot, but also makes soil extremely fertile.
• By all rights they should be utterly terrifying, but they haven't actually done anything bad so everyone just accepts them as a weird fact of life.

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The dragon - if the strange, verdant and rotting creature indeed was a dragon - slipped silently through the tunnels beneath Raven's Roost. Few saw them. Fewer still dared approach.

But Henare had never admitted to fearing anything in her life, and she wasn't about to start now. She planted herself firmly in front of the dragon, flaring her wings and crests, ignoring the overpowering stench of rot that swept over her. The massive dragon towered over her, but as far as she was concerned that just made their throat and other vital areas an easier target.

"If you want to skulk around at all hours of the night, that's fine. But if you're a part of my clan, you'd better start pulling your weight." The dragon watched her silently. She couldn't tell if the strange shape of their head was some kind of mask, or simply their face. "Don't think we haven't noticed you sneaking into the food stores. I don't care if you're eating it or you just like to watch it rot, if you're taking from our stores you can start contributing to them."

The dragon tipped their head to the side curiously, and Henare took that as a cue to continue. "I don't know if you're a living dragon or a restless spirit or something else altogether, as long as you're a part of my clan I expect you to act like it. We can always use more hunters, and I believe Rhynia has been complaining about a lack of fertilizer for her garden."

The moment stretched as the two stared each other down, until finally the strange head dipped slowly in what might have been a nod, and the dragon turned and slunk away, leaving traces of rich black soil and clusters of pale mushrooms in its wake.

The next morning, Carcin found a deer laid on his doorstep, a cluster of mushrooms sprouting from one eye socket. Once Lephyntylth and Haelan had both confirmed the meat as safe, it - and the others like it which appeared each morning - were added to the stores.