Cephal

One day, a small, meek pearlcatcher called Alphi lost his way during a foraging trip. He wandered for three days before recovering his trail. When he found his way back to his clan he found the lair abandoned. From what little information he gathered they seemed to have suddenly left and vanished into the mountains.

Alphi followed their tracks until snowfall covered them up. Not knowing what to do and afraid he'd been abandoned for being too weak by his clan, the young dragon set out to look for other dragons. He needed food and shelter but had nothing to offer, and so was rejected by the first clan he encountered. Alphi had to resort to stealing from these dragons to survive. He discovered that his unassuming appearance helped him in this regard, and was able to live off of the clan's foodstores for a few days. Eventually the other dragons caught on and chased Alphi off, but he decided he would repeat this method at a different settlement.
The next clan didn't put up with him, however, and punted him straight towards the Dripwood Dregs where he was thrown in an icy cell. Alphi spent a good while here, thinking about everything that happened an what he could do to get out of this situation. Months went by before an opportunity presented itself: he discovered where the guards kept all the confiscated items. Figuring he could get his hands on a weapon and make a break for it, Alphi managed to sneak off from the central hall and find the storage room. To his dismay the bulk of the items were clothes and accessories, nothing of use, but he did find some jewelry there. Unable to fight his way out, Alphi would just have to rely on his stealth and luck to get away. Under the cover of night he managed to escape the storage room and make it all the way to the Dripwood Dregs' entrance before he was spotted. A wild chase followed, but outside of the compound lay various den-sites where a small pearlcatcher could hide away.

Still wanted by the guards, Alphi managed to make his way towards a market, where he hoped to exchange his loot for items of use. There he encountered a trader from the mainland who'd come to the Icefield in search of relics and who was in possession of various magical oddities. When he spied these wares a brilliant plan formed in Alphi's mind, as the merchant owned a scroll that would transform the user into a type of dragon the pearlcatcher had never seen before. He didn't have nearly enough jewels to trade for it, as this was high level magic, but that was no problem for a nimble-fingered thief. By the time the merchant discovered the disappearance of the scroll, Alphi was long gone.

The little pearlcatcher was never to be seen or heard from again. However, strange tracks were discovered in the snow surrounding the Dregs that day. The tracks soon vanished due to the wind and precipitation and were forgotten by those who'd seen them.