A village is evacuating en masse. Even the local dragons, normally holding such villages in disdain, are now grabbing as many people as they can safely carry in their paws, allowing humans to strap carry-baskets to their backs, and runners are warning away all travelers. The local mountain is emitting smoke, the rumble and scents mean only one thing, and though a very stubborn few refuse to leave, often to the tears of family members who are begging them to also evacuate, the village is doomed. -- Anon Guest
Arablem was going to die. The mountain that had given the village such fertile fields had been rumbling for decades, but now it was smoking and changing shape. Every seer worth two coppers was predicting that the mountain would "make deadly clouds" any day now.
The local Dwarves, who were a little more intimate with geology than they should have been, had left the area. They took everything with them, only leaving behind predictions of molten rock raining from the sky in their wake.
It was the Dragons that did it for most of Arablem's residents. They landed in the fields, in the town square, anywhere there was space; and offered to fly anyone out of the danger zone. They'd suffer to be laden with anything at all they wanted to take. Nevertheless, there were stalwarts who refused to budge.
Chief among them was the Cleric Kaileo. He had faith in the Lava God all his life and refused to move now that Thrundaan was showing off. "If need comes," said Kaileo, "Thrundaan will save me."
Cleric Kaileo set up fortified stone walls so that any lava would bypass the church, because he wasn't a fool, and put a hammock up in the spire. There, he kept some supplies and the holy tome. All the important things.
A family with all their belongings on the farm's ox stopped by, and offered him a ride out to the safety of the next valley.
"I am not afraid," said Kaileo. "If need comes, Thrundaan will save me."
The next day, the mountain threw up a mushroom cloud of ash and lightning. Small stones rattled down like hail. A caravan of evacuees stopped and invited Kaileo to join the throng.
"I am not afraid," Kaileo smiled as the rocks bounced off his shield. "If need comes, Thrundaan will save me."
The lava came next, and a red dragon with empty panniers risked it all to visit Kaileo in his spire. "The death gas is filling the valley. It's nearly here. Jump into my basket, you holy fool, I'll get you out of here."
"I fear nothing," said Kaileo, as the invisible, deadly air started to choke him. "Thrundaan will... save me..."
The dragon fled, and so too did Kaileo's spirit from his body.
Therefore, when he met his god, he was understandably upset. So was Thrundaan.
"The hell are you doing here?" the Volcano God demanded. "I sent you an ox, a wagon train, and a freaking Dragon to get you out of danger."
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / Catmando]
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