dragon slings ore in catan.



"portland's overrated," declared dragon decidedly, "but i'd still spend summers there once in awhile."
"maybe someday we'll return," said his traveling companion with a wistful sigh. like the furry beast at her side, she too wished they could stop wandering for awhile. it wasn't in the cards at the moment, though, and they pressed on, ever losing themselves in time while they searched for a reason to stop. they hadn't found one yet.

"you have sheep?"

presently they came upon an expanse of interlocked hexagonal patches of  land, and from afar, this land appeared to be agricultural. in fact, to the lady (who had spent her developmental years farming alfalfa and bottle-feeding lambs) the earth seemed to be covered by flocks of sheep, fields of wheat, ore mines, and sites of industrial brick manufacturing. here and there were small settlements, roads, and cities, though save the lady, not another human lingered about.

"with all these deserted, yet well-constructed buildings, this place is creepier than those bustling roads in portland," dragon observed as he pawed at a tiny piece of grayish ore supplanted beside a small stream.

"well, we're here for a reason. we might as well check it out."
the lady forged ahead into the quiet realm while the dragon followed, shooting stealthful looks over his shoulder every few paces.

gnomes (the friendly kind).

up ahead, the dragon heard a stirring in the brush, and he motioned the lady to get behind him. although he had seen the lady's ferocity in action many times, he knew his claws and fangs could outmatch her skillful maneuvers in bodily damage to enemies.

at first, all they could see was a flaxen beard, and while the beard appeared pleasant, the warriors stood their ground. a middle-parted spasm of gnarly raven hair became visible, but still, the dragon stayed rigid and ready for combat. finally from betwixt a tangle of greenery transcended a pair of gnomes, familiar but difficult to fully deduce as all gnomes look basically alike.

"lady!" the darker, apparently female gnome gasped, and stepped forward with a toothy smile. "you've been dead for so long that i thought you were really dead this time."

in an amusing moment of clarity, the lady realized she knew this fae-descended dyad. and also that she was in fact deceased, and from the looks of her friend's age lines, had been for nearly a century.
"remarkably cold aqueous mammal!" she cried, using an ostentatious though accurate nickname and darting forward to greet her long-time friend. to the dragon she begged, "retract your claws. these folk are friends. and if they're here, that means the fates have flung us into catan."

to be continued...