It has been some time since Ive played the role of the prophet. With
strength of will, both mine and my wife's, Ive been able to stay the jagged
embrace of The Sight. But my efforts grew lax as I ingested the poison
drink that is the staple of The Gathering. And from behind the drunken haze
of that mysterious land of fey, The Sight renewed her assault, gripped my
mind in her talons and delivered unto me this message:

Two figures stand in a darkened room, one weathered by the advancement of
extreem age and one that is but a child. The old man takes the child in his
arms and sits in a nearby rocking chair. He then produces a leather bound
book and opens it. The pages are dry and fragile, crisp, much like the skin
on the narrow fingers that turn those pages. Words are written in a spidery
hand on each and every one, though through the fog of dream I am unable to
decifer them. Instead, the surprisingly melodic voice of the old man begins
to speak, his delicate finger following the lines of text, and unfurls the
story held within and as with all classic faery tails begins with:

Once upon a time, there was a grand kingdom, many thousands of leagues from
here, that had contracted a terrible curse. A dragon had been seen in the
lands and indeed it was carrying away the livestock and burning down the
fields to a point where the kingdom was relying on the imports from its
neighboring allies. But soon, even those carvans came under the eye of the
dragon and recieved its destructive attention.

Seeing that the kingdom was in peril and in chaos, the dragon found that it
was at last ripe for his true plan. You see, dragons have a unsatiable
appatite for virgins. They have a particular flavour that dragons just
adore. And so the dragon descended from the sky, blasted a neat little hole
in the roof of the palace and landed at the foot of the throne.
In a deep booming dramatic voice that the dragon saved for exactly these
occasions, he said, "It seems your in a bit of a bind, honoured monarch."

To which the king, stricken with fear, replied, throwing himself to his
knees, "Oh, please, great dragon, spare me and my people, Ill give you
whatever you want!"

"Indeed, Lord King." the dragon said, "That is the exact reason that I am
hear to speak to you."

Again with fear, the king: "Name your price, anything!"
"There is a small cave, just north of this palace, where I plan to retire
until the end of my days," explained the dragon, "and I will require certain
nurishment. I will stop plaguing this providence if you deliver unto me a
virgin each day until my death, tied to a wooden spire atop the mouth of my
cave. Otherwise I will be forced to render this kingdom a blackened cinder,
virgins and kings, alike."
Well, the king was obviously taken aback, but he had heard stories along
this line before, he just never imagined that they would happen to him in
his kingdom. In those stories, the kings always agreed to the dragon's
terms for there was little chance in overcoming a dragon, no matter the size
of your army. And so, reluctantly, the king agreed and the dragon flew off
to his new home, eager to recieve his daily shipments. The kingdom lived in
relative peace over the next few months, though disheartened in losing their
beautiful youth to the maw of the terrible dragon. But months turned into a
year and it became painfully obvious that they were running out of virgins.
Indeed, the kings own daughter, the flower of the providence, she who has
had countless legends attributed to her beauty and grace (that is another
story), was in danger of becoming the dragons next meal. Desperate, the
king called for his bravest and most noble knight, who was the queen's own
champion.

And thus spoke the king, "Most true and noble knight, I charge you with this
task, seek out the dragon to the north and by any means necessary, slay him
and rid this kingdom of its curse."

The knight bowed and turned and left the hall and descended into the depths
of the knightly stronghold. There, he called for his squire, who arrived
bearing the knight's legendary blade, a blade that had tasted the blood of
Tribolfo the Damned One and Gickanna, Creature from the Deep. Now mounted
with blade and squire and steed, he set out for the dragon's cave.

"Dragon, I defy you!" challenged the knight, "Come face your demise with
honour and I shall be merciful."

In response was silence followed by a low rumbling as a columb of fire
erupted from the mouth of the cave consuming knight and squire and steed.
Word soon reached the king at his throne and he was distressed. Perhaps
magick would serve where steel had failed, and with that thought the king
summoned his enchanter, his most learned advisor and royal physician.

And thus spoke the king, "Most wise and learned enchanter, I charge you with
this task, seek out the dragon to the north and by any means necessary, slay
him and rid this kingdom of its curse."
The enchanter bowed and turned and left the hall and ascended into the
heights of his lofty tower. There he called for his apprentice, who arrived
bearing the enchanter's legendary tome, a tome that held the bonds of
Baffigi, Daemon Spawn, and the Demigod Avatar Shaal. Now mounted with tome
and apprentice and steed, he set out for the dragon's cave.

"Dragon, I defy you!" challenged the enchanter, "Come face your demise with
honour and I shall be merciful."

In response was silence followed by a low rumbling as a columb of fire
erupted from the mouth of the cave consuming enchanter and apprentice and
steed. Word soon reached the king at his throne and he was distressed. The
queen, sensing his mood for their beautiful daughter was to be next at the
spire, called for the royal bard and jester to come and lighten the mood.
The gleeman danced and sang and strummed his lute but the king's mood showed
no signs of lifting.
A maddened look on his face, the king threw up his arms to heaven and
demanded, "Whom shall I send to challenge the dragon? For if my daughter
perishes, mine own end shall be short in coming."

"Only a fool would challenge the dragon after...," the bard began to say but
slapped his hand over his mouth, realizing the danger of his words.

The king turned his maddened gaze from heaven and onto the fool, the
desperation and hopelessness in his eyes now being drowned out by pure and
overpowering insanity.

And thus spoke the king, "Most clever and lighthearted fool, I charge you
with this task, seek out the dragon to the north and by any means necessary,
slay him and rid this kingdom of its curse."

The fool bowed and turned and left the hall and dragged his knuckles cursing
all the way to his shack on the outskirts of town. There he called for his
wife, but found a Dear John Letter, so he fetched his length of rope
himself, that length of rope he used to lead Chalko, his mule and Burdra,
his dairy-cow. Now mounted with rope, letter, and mule, he set out for the
dragon's cave.

He saw the pile of ash where the knight had stood and decided not to stand
there. He saw the pile of ash where the enchanter had stood and decided not
to stand there. He saw the spire where the king's daughter had been tied
and decided that wasn't a good place either. Instead he quietly went to
work, tieing knots in his rope here and looping it over that rock there and
sat to wait for the dragon to claim his lunch. In time the lithe form of
the scaley serpent emerged from the mouth of the cave and looked up and over
and saw the beautiful maiden tied helplessly to the spire there. The dragon
moved closer and inhaled to take in her sweet scent and then opened his maw
to claim his meal. The maiden closed her eyes and began to wail as she felt
the breath of the monster poor over her and heard the twang as of many
cellos being struck at once. She opened her eyes and saw the lizard bound
and helpless before her with the body of the fool standing over it, quite
proud of his trap.

The fool released the maiden who instantly leaped into his arms and kissed
him that most legendary of kisses founded in the city of Frenchland. The
fool and the maiden mounted their captive beast and marched it triumphantly
through the gates of the city. They were married, of course, and from that
day forth, the banner of their city depicted a maiden in white, a fool in
blue and a dragon in green over a field of gold.

And with that read, the old man closed his book. With the clap that that
action made the vision was torn away from me and I found myself again in
Sapience. I have no idea what this story has to do with anything, only that
The Sight wished you all to hear it and to know it, and so I have written it
here.

Your Augur Fetzer

Penned by my hand on the 18th of Scarlatan, in the year 254 AF.