Gameplay - The Dragon Who Asked Too Much

Mavis listens intently to the arguments on both sides. As a dwarf she believes any argument involving stones carries weight - you don’t get much more weight than stones - except gold. But it seems that gold is on Hehsh and Ruby’s side too. Gold and stones - a strong argument.
But Garth’s insight into the will of gods cannot be ignored either.

Mavis silently looks up into Hasan’s face, awaiting his wise judgement.

I have no problem listening to the jester's story, but an army could be marching on our land. We have been picked by a dragon to free her mate and bolster our defences... plus, riches.

As you make your way to the market square, which you would have seen from the air and isn't far, you see people emerging from their homes. Choking cries for the missing ring, but as more and more people come out, you begin to hear the sounds of industrious repairs, and the sweep of reed-brush brooms on the streets clearing away the huge amount of sand that was left by the storm.

At the market, he stalks are open, but a few makeshift tables are being laid out, and barkers with baskets of fruit and vegetables have begun ceiling out their wares. In the center, a singing juggler is telling a rowdy epic, dressed in bright colors bisected by black geometric designs and with four red balls spinning above get, but few have gathered around her yet. She is backed against a dry fountain that a few men are trying to clear of wet sand.

"OOoo, that must be her! Remember to tip everyone." Ruby says excitedly, very much wanting to hear a fascinating tale or two no matter how tall it may seem. She approaches her, intent on hearing the rest of this story before inquiring about their own inquiries.

"A story is good to hear. I agree. Perhaps if its something we could do we should accomplish the freeing of our ally before freeing a town of its bi annual attacks. But I would like to think of this as something we need to accomplish after our main objective."
Hasan says accompanying the group.

He nods at Rubys comment of tipping.

Mavis hears Hasan’s plan and agrees, but is too impressed with Ruby’s ruthlessness to show her agreement to Hasan.

Aye lass, if tha tips em, ah’ll fillet em. Ah’m allus at ‘vantage with owt prone.
She spins her dagger on the heel of her hand to emphasise the point - and with Mavis’s new dagger it was a very pointy point.

But Mavis hopes that before she and Ruby do murder their enemies, they might have time to take in the show. Mavis might even give the performers some money in gratitude.

The jongleur, as she seems to be called, sees Ruby lead the others, and turns her attention to you. The balls she juggles keep a rhythm, higher for longer bears, shorter for quicker seconds.

She seems to be singing a funny story about an unlikely boy who survives death only to be a woeful disappointment to a cult that worships his miracle.

She wraps up the song and welcomes you. "Welcome visitors, you came on our worst day, the City of Great Delta rarely gets rain, but our precipitation is verily a pain."

Hehsh groans at the pun. He gets a bad feeling about this.

Ruby snickers, internally saving the pun for later use. She's so clever!

"If you have any requests, I've been known to play on behest, as coin will buy you my best zest." She mockingly bows and skins, catching her balls as they come down.

A gold coin you'll be countin'
If you tell us of Devil's Mountain

"Ooo," she says, pursing her mouth, eyes going wide. She bonds a free times and her fey start tapping, and as ball goes up as she begins humming, then three more.

" Come listen, my pretties, to my tale of woe
It all started such a very long time ago
When Helmand the Steadfast sat on the opal throne
The Great Delta prospered and the rivers shone like gold.

The storm clouds gathered, dust was in the air
Everyone took shelter, and though such storms were rare
Great Delta knew how, to keep their loved ones safe
Through the ravages of wind and the scouring strife.

Sandstone home, Great Delta, build your walls so high
That even the mighty dragons dare not cross the sky

The dustwall crossed the desert, then the marsh on riverside
It slammed apart the village, and smote those outside
Their screams were swallowed by the wailing of the storm
Voices lost forever, their songs heard nevermore.

The dust storm toppled huts, and Great Delta shuddered anon
Wooden buildings flattened, and crushed under blowing sand
The terror of that storm, was not the end of most,
But the tearing claws of the Devils fed on the surviving host.

Sandstone home, Great Delta, build your walls so high
That even the mighty dragons dare not cross the sky

That night shook Great Delta, its effects worse and wore
Hundreds dead from the worst storm that e’er come before
Hundreds more stolen by the Devils that rode sirocco
But the worst to happen, was the river ceased to flow.

The trickling silence crushed us, how could we go forward
‘No time to mourn our dead’, Helmand the Steadfast roared
He gathered the smiths and diggers to tunneled down below
And built the great fountain, Great Delta’s lifeblood soul.

Sandstone home, Great Delta, build your walls so high
That even the mighty dragons dare not cross the sky

Helmand the Steadfast is long dead these days
And Devils riding duststorms still raze us I’m sad to say
While people e’er after have quested to quell the ail
None return from Devil’s Mountain the source of claw and gale.

Sandstone home, Great Delta, build your walls so high
That even the mighty dragons dare not cross the sky."

She taps her feet a few more times counting down as the balls return to her belt pouch.

She curtseies.

Garth bows in return and then tosses her a gold coin.

A fair price for such an entertaining performance.

In spite of his new found greed, Hehsh cannot help himself. He tosses the woman a few gold

Ruby lets loose her applause. "Fantastic!" She tosses 3 gold to the storyteller.

Gold! They paid for songs in gold!
Mavis's head moved from staring at the gold, to the adventurers, and back to the gold again, and back to the party. Her head a metronome of disbelief.

Tentatively, Mavis offers a gold piece to the jongleur, shaking her head in disbelief at her own actions.
A piece of gold is a few days wages for most miners. This chap gets several for a rhyme!
Her dwarven instincts cried out that gold was for hoarding, yet.... these skylanders did have a more colourful society because their gold flowed.
The performer would no doubt spend the gold on other skylander frivolities, and those who received it would...

What was that about a mountain?

It was a shame that Mavis didn’t follow the seam of her thought. It would be millennia before the Johannes Keynehammer would write "The Fiscal Sagas" and introduce the idea of "demand side economancy" to the dwarven kingdoms.
Although, if Mavis had continued her ponderings and written them down, then the world would have lost Keynehammer’s pithy "The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent." and be left deciphering "Folk ‘as more daft, than tha’ ‘as brass".

The jongleur thanks each of you for your tip. She says, "You must be mighty warriors indeed, if you think to bring Devils Mountain to its knees, where the blood of legendary heroes did freeze."

She spins a ball on a finger, then says, "Look, this is no ordinary matter. There are scores of devils in every attack, and our scholars believe that they are paying tribute to something darker, more foul. Powerful magic cloaks the mountain from divination. We've sent our best heroes, our best mind you, ones who could singlehandedly go toe to toe with dust devil's and emerge unscathed, and they have not returned."

Thank you for the honest advice. Your story fires up the blood, as it should, but a bracing dose of reality is just as important.

Garth takes Hehsh aside and speaks to him privately.

Your zeal to protect the people of this city speaks well of you. It shows bravery and compassion.

Garth pauses before continuing.

However, there are a lot of people depending on us to finish our quest. On a personal note for you...it is a dragon we are trying to rescue, and one who may have information on your father.

I think that maybe we should finish our mission and then at a later date, when we have grown more powerful, we can come back and root out those devils.