During a routine scavenging trip to restock his cooking stores, Ephen encounters what at first seems to be an entirely unremarkable, unknown Aether dragon, quietly standing alone. Upon Ephen's curious approach, the Aether's head turns with jerking movements and a gentle ratcheting sound. The automaton cocks its head inquisitively upward, the ambient glow of the much larger Ridgeback's familiar glinting off button eyes and a metal plate bracketed to the broadest part of its left horn. Etched into the plate is the following:





A fabric tag has been stitched into a seam near the base of the Aether's tail. Runes written in a spidery pink script shimmer and warp when focused upon, swimming together to form a rhyme – something one might find in a hatchling’s picturebook, but undeniably menacing when attached to a bright-pink, half-ton automaton.







A single sheet of paper lies on the ground nearby.