Dreams Into Journey

"Yes I have." Lia confirms as she recalls many stories about the creature.  She relates several of them to the group.  "How does this relate to the library though, they are just stories for children, aren't they?"

Oswin chuckles to himself, "I would have dismissed walking in a dream world as a tale for children as well, but where were we last week? I'm willing to accept there may be some truth behind the tales."

"While there many other legends of flying creatures, most of them tell of a sort of ultimate fate to them: such as being slain, becoming part of some local landscape, or even ascending into some higher form. But, this one has no such ending, instead it was said to have opened a hole in a large, lonely stone, and entered a deep slumber within it. With such an unorthodox denouement to its tales, my curiosity was piqued, so I search for where many of this creature's tales come from." Nessarian speaks as the group disembarks on the carpet again.

"Some of them come from just on the east side of the mountains, some tribes living around the eastern Therris Badlands have also seen such a creature. A number of tales come from the nomads of the Nulgrin Desert, also to the east. Even some of the fishing villages on the Fristan Coast have heard of it. Even the elves of Dretyan Forest to the northeast have myths of a similar creature." The carpet stops at a platform and he leads them to a room with notes scattered around.

"None of these areas have such a stone in their environs. Then it struck me, instead of looking for where the stories in the east come from, maybe look for where they hadn't come from. Only one area in the east fulfills this requirement, the Shestari Salt Flats, the driest part of the Nulgrin Desert.The nomads tend to avoid the area due to a complete lack of oases. But more importantly, there is only one structure in that entire area, a large, lonely butte."

Oswin nods, “Sounds like a place to start. But what do we do when we get there?“

"And what is the purpose of finding this creature?"  Lia asks with a frown.

Nodding at Lia, Jororic says, "Tha's wha' I be wonderin'. If'n dis beast do 'xist, an if'n we be wakin' it, tha' would be a 'orrible t'ing fer us!"

Nessarian answers the questions in turn.

@Oswin: "Once we get there, we need to get inside the butte. I have a solution for that particular issue."

@Lia: "The Steelscream Hawk is the only one that has the claim to reach extreme heights, as testified with one of the legends you mentioned. That, combined with its purported speed, and that lodestone the Overseer of Nightmares gave you. We should be able to find the library with its help."

@Jororic: "Very true. A creature with such abilities and feats, and living in such an inhospitable location does sound like a terrifying creature. But, let's return to the subject of its slumber. These stories are around six-to-seven hundred years removed from our time. That is a long time, even the other great birds would be considerably weakened for a time. With such an extended hibernation, I doubt it would be overly difficult to overpower it."

"Very well, how do we get from here to there?" Lia asks with a nod of acceptance.

Jororic shrugs with the new information, not sure how to believe anything since he had traveled through the realm of dreams. Are all fanciful imaginations real in some respect? Well, this is his lot right now, committed to following through with what he had begun. He waits patiently for the next step.

 "A good question! It is in a very hostile environment. Even with ample time to prepare for such a journey, it would still be exceedingly difficult. Especially with people who have not experienced the hellish heat extant in the salt flats."

"Now, that not so say it would be impossible to get you to the butte. In fact, there are quite a few ways to do so: there are caravans that regularly make the trip across the desert that skirt the outskirts of the salt flats, a tribe of nomads could help guide you partway toward the butte. If memory serves, there are some stables where one can rent riding drakes that can move to any location at great speed."

Oswin looks skeptical as he responds, "Are you planning on coming along to guide us and pay for transport? Because I doubt I have coin enough to rent a drake, even if I could ride one, and my SD certainly can't. And finding these nomads to help us seems unlikely, at best, much less getting them to help us. And the caravans sound like they don't really get close enough to help. And all of this to search out a mythic creature that may allow us to fly up to a library we don't know the location of? Why are we trying to go there anyway?"

"Of course. I am curious to see if my supposition is correct wit my own eyes, I can certainly pay for any of the methods I listed."

"Recall what the Overseer had said what the Archive contains. She said it has some secrets of the Wyrdrealm, some of which may be needed in the near future. This tells me that whatever those secrets may be, is dangerous information for her kind. If she thinks such lengths could be necessary, it could mean that this Scerfozar had enveloped itself in the power of the Wyrdrealm prior to its death and dividing its soul. A terrifying concept, a dragon with the power of dreams."

"Could it be by doing so, it unknowingly opened itself up to some weakness we don't know about yet? What could literally kill a dream?"

"Wakin' up, seems ta me."

"Well I think we have to assume the libarary is the only place this information can be found, so our first step to get there seems to be this mythic creature." She sighs.  "Best get ready for a trip I'd say..."

Oswin sighs with resignation, "Alright, let's get going, which way?"

"I can teleport us to just on the northeastern edge to the Kharkan range, to about a mile from the desert. There will be a small town near there called Razzel's Edge. It is a major hub for desert travelers. There is guaranteed to be someone there who knows the desert better than I do."

"Works for me."  Lia agrees with that plan.

"Very well! If you are set to go, we can depart for Razzel's Edge posthaste. I can cover expenses such as food, lodging and transport during our expedition."

"Considering the kind of environment we will be in, we will also need a way to protect ourselves from the intense amount of sunlight inherent in deserts. I suspect even a simple blanket could do that job, I can get those as well."

Valentia breaks her silence up until this point, by following up after a nod. "Everything up to this point sounds agreeable. I'm already very much ready to depart."

"Not sure the shop here will have clothing and such for desert travel."  Lia says, considering her own clothing.  She is wearing clothing more suitable for the region they are currently in.  "Maybe we can stop at a shop closer to the desert to get supplies more likely to be available there than here."