Spines

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Spines, Tribe General

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Spine rose from her egg, born with the energies of the forest and the glades. She used her energy not to raise flora from the earth, as most would, but to proove her dedication to the Gladekeeper. She traveled to the roots of The Behemoth, and though her feet grew tired again and again, she pressed on. Spines recieved a mission from The Gladekeeper upon prooving her worth as a loyal nature dragon.

With great gratitude, she accepted the quest. This adventure led her to the edges of the lush and overgrown ground; the dirt she stood on was sparsely populated with tufts of dying grass, now. A viscous, foul-smelling pus laid in clumps, the ground around it a meaty red filled with boils and blisters. The soil itself seemed diseased and pained. So, for every plague pocket she encountered, she planted a blessed flower and slashed open the sickening boil with her talons. The ground around it healed, clumps of ferns and beautiful flowers bursting forth! However, as she wandered deeper into the plague territory, she came across abandoned camps- piles of bones and dens made from the meaty strings the ground was coated with. The flowers could not heal such pained areas. In these camps, she fought monsters far corrupted beyond what natural forms they may have once had. She swiftly slashed them down in coliseums constructed from diseased blisters and rotting wood. Though, she did so with great regret, wishing she could've simply cleansed them of whatever plague had claimed their body in the first place.

Eventually, in her battles, she came across a creature she could recognize- a deer, not so far from its original form. Though hatred burned in its eyes, Spines was able to simply knock it down and at least bring it to a neutral state with her cleansing flowers. Though it had grown many pairs of ears, fins, gills, and a corrupted pelt and pair of eyes, it was still partially a deer.
Upon further inspection, Spines realized the power of this creature. It was the base of a deer- nature. It posessed fins and gills- water. It had teal eyes and the temper of a brewing storm- lightning. It was tainted by the energies of plague- well, plague, of course! Not only that, but it packed much more of a punch than any other shambling mound of boils and strings she had encountered! They fought together, and in time, Spines viewed it as a creature of war, claiming it as her patron 'demigod.'

The only thing on the creature's mind seemed to be war; it always stood at the ready and charged headfirst into any fight it detected. It stood proud and tall over every plagued mound it defeated, and it led Spines to many victories in the name of The Gladekeeper.

When Spines and her patron returned to The Gladekeeper, the forest around them seemed to grow lusher with glee. Though The Gladekeeper was mildly disgusted at such a 'changed' creature re-entering her domain, she still followed through with her promise and gifted Spines with her gear. On top of the bone crown she had already constructed in the diseased land, she was gifted iron armor and a primal banner for showing her bravery. The Gladekeeper's final gift was a Helmet of Battle; a lightly armored headset resembling the head of a beast. When paired with her crown and banner, it gifted her with the best aspects of many dragons. The armored plating gave her the resilience of snappers. The bones gave her the raw damage output of the mirrors. The tuft of tundra fur attached gave her the steadfast qualities of a tundra. The mask that faintly resembled the face of an imperial gave her the strength needed to push through. Finally, the banner gave her the fury of all the beasts that held their own land against their foes.

Spines returned home an adult, decorated and experienced in battle. She has promised to only exit hibernation with her plague-tainted patron to defend or care for young in an effort to prevent her patron from wilting the nearby plants. The pair currently rest beneath the roots of a lichen-coated tree, the creature buzzing in its sleep as it waits for battle, and Spines drifting in and out of half-sleep.