Truffle

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As you wander about the lair, you come across a strange scent that makes you pause in your stride. It’s not an unpleasant scent-- in fact, it’s quite nice. It burns your nostrils a bit, though. And after a few seconds, it… tickles. You scrunch your face up uncomfortably as the sensation overtakes you, but you have to… you have to… ah… ah… AH-CHOO!

“AHH!” A voice shouts, startling you just as much as you startled them. There’s a quick flurry of bright wings and mottled scales as what you thought was a simple brown-and-white pelt comes to life. Huge, beady yellow eyes can be seen through the skull of a bird, shimmering teal wings flaring suddenly in an attempt to intimidate, a shrill voice starting a nearly incoherent stream of energetic babbles.

“Who goes there? Who are you? You scared the LIFE out of me, don’t you know better than to sneak up on a lady? Why, I ought to tell Sin about you! Or better yet, I’ll tell Xayron! You know who that is? The hunk of steel that could turn you into a nice piece of well-done dragon steak with a single huff and puff! I was in the middle of a nap, a harmless little nod-off while I was waiting for my brew to finish up. And just what were you up to, huh? No good, I’ll bet, not with a snout like THAT and wings like THOSE, deities no! What’s up with you anyways? You’re not from around here, are you? Ashfall Waste, Shifting Expanse, Tangled Woods? No? Yes? Speak UP, muffle-mouth, I’m a busy noodle with plenty to doodle! I mean, do, yes, plenty to do. I’ve got things to brew, things to do, dragons to see, and warts to remedy! SPEAKING OF-!”

Despite not having time to speak a single word, you feel breathless as the Spiral makes a mad dash into a makeshift tent, the entrance to which she’d been draped over during her nap. A variety of sing-song trills come from the tent along with wet plops and various pops as containers are opened, closed, emptied, and shattered. Seeing as you hadn’t gotten the information you’d been hoping for, you decide to stick around… but it’s not long before the singing cuts off and you’ve got a sharp, pointy birdskull beak threatening to stab you in the eye.

In a much more normal tone, the drakka clicks her teeth at you. “What’re you still doin’ around here, huh?” Like a bird, she suddenly cocks her head in the opposite direction, staring you down through the other eye socket-- through the lens of some goggles, too-- and aims for your other pupil. “You want somethin’ from ol’ troublesome Truffle? Well, I hope you know that my help won’t come cheap.” She says smugly, crossing her front arms as she wraps her lower half around the branch that made the center support for her tent. “Sure, I’ve got potions and ointments and dogweed that’ll make you see double but you’re not one of us, y’see.”

She pauses for effect, then continues.

“Now imagine. Lil’ lonely Truffle, unnamed, unloved, unraised by dragons with only some chickens to call family. They treated me real well, don’t you worry ‘bout that. But I learned my lesson ‘bout givin’ an’ takin’ a long time ago, an’ everything has a price. So whaddya want?” She asks again, quirking her maw impatiently before she posts something you’d been holding in your claws. Suddenly, her entire demeanor changes.

“...well, now! You’ve had a truffle for Truffle all this time? You should’ve said something, friendo!” She says, whipping herself off the support beam to latch onto your arm instead, beady eyes keenly focused on the prize. “Mm, yes yes, this is a nice truffle, very yummy, smells good. It’s for me, isn’t it? I can eat it, can’t I?” She asks you with a greedy grin, hungrily licking her teeth before opening wide. You stop her just in time to save your claws from being coated in slobber and spare yourself from listening to her rant in vain. Truffle lets out a long-suffering whine in protest, sliding off you to curl around what looks like a sack doll of Sin that had been sitting on a makeshift pile of furs.

“So cruel,” she sniffles, coiling around her dollie tight. “So mean, so horrible! Truffle just wants the truffle, her precious…” She eyes the mushroom once more, salivating unintentionally. “She’ll- I’ll- give you anything. A cure for dragonpox? Do you have Hedgehog spines stuck in your throat? I can make your tongue turn green and your mane grow more fur- I- I’ll do anything! One thing for one truffle, yes?” she nods eagerly, pleadingly.

You hesitate ‘for effect’, mostly to torture her for torturing you early. But eventually, you agree, completing your errand of discovering Truffle’s tent and meeting the eccentric drakka. You had planned on asking how she became a part of Sin’s clan, but given that you sort of understand her off-kilter personality and the way she’ll grovel for a fungus, you can sympathize with Vyrsil and his well-protected store of the delicacies.

If you ask, Sin will confirm that Truffle was an unexpected addition to the clan, but a nonetheless useful one.

“She’s saved us from the plague boils a number of times, the Ridgeback will say, bowing her head for those that passed. “From baldscales and sickness, from diseases that would’ve done us in. I’ve lost track of how many times she’s cured a hatchling of a stomach bug. And though she might be difficult to understand. Truffle is a good dragon. She’ll always have a home here with us.”

And as far as the Alliance of Misplaced Winds is concerned, Sin’s approval is as good as family.