~Part 2: Frozen Steel and Dragonfire~
[Movies 2~4]
Narena Ceretheatera, Nisa's childhood friend, had moved north from their home town several years ago. Journeys between towns are always filled with peril, so their contact was snuffed out. A few weeks after Nisa began her journey, a traveler staying at the local tavern mentioned a floeko leaving the city in pursuit of fame and glory. Though uncertain, Narena had a suspicion that it was her friend he was speaking of. Though always reminded of the dangers that lurked in the tundra and loomed down upon them from the mountains, Nisa nevertheless had dreamed of being an adventurer. Although she is filled with stress, Narena decides to wait, and hopefully journey to their home town with traders or other travelers.
A couple of weeks pass and still no one tries to journey south. The wolves have been particularly ravenous and the weather especially cold, even for summer. Unable to wait any longer, Narena collects a few items from her friends and relatives; an ice wand, a special floekish chain-robe and some extra clothing. She leaves early morning the next day. Her journey is immediately interupted by a pack of seven wolves. Demonstrating determination and skill, she dispatches all of them with minor injuries. Her next obstacle came in the night; a sasquatch. Throwing down her wand, she focuses her third eye on the beast, robbing it of any warmth it had and freezing its bones, then dispatching it with her weapon.
Finding Nisa missing from her home, Narena follows clues the travelers and residents offer her and heads south, following her path to Splashbears. She hears that a floeko was given a task of killing Zuril, and finds that it was her old friend. Having not returned after weeks, she has been presumed dead and that her task ended in failure. Fighting back tears, Narena heads south, burning anger coursing through her veins. Though always the more thoughtful and careful of the two, she has given into rage, leaving Splashbears without even announcing her attempt to slay the dragon. Unlike Nisa, Narena's goal is not fame and glory.
Narena arrives at The Random Shaft, consumed with utter despair at the sight of burned ground and ashes, fallen trees and blood. She passes the rotten corpse of a young kobold, limbs liberally strewn about. Coming across a wand and a shield, there is no doubt in her mind that Nisa has been killed. Tears flow freely at the sight of a dismembered, rotten hand of a floeko. Nothing will stop her from putting out this dragon's life, not the eternal cold nor dragonflame. She charges recklessly into the cave, screaming out the dragon's name, tears still falling from her eyes and onto the cold stone. Rage turns to fear and she lets out a startled yell as the cave lights up and a torrent of fire comes flowing through the tunnel. Narena isn't as fast as her friend and only just barely runs back and turns the corner as the cavern walls burn behind her. She carefully glances down the passage and sees only smoke. Picking up a large (by floeko standards) stone and tossing it into the passage, she hears the distinctive response of a thud and a roar. She wastes no time in fleeing the cave, knowing she cannot possibly face the thing in such confined quarters.
Zuril storms out of the cave and up the hill after Narena, and is met by another flying stone. She lets out a blast of dragonfire, which incinerates the stone and chases the floeko across the snow. Narena carefully dodges several more blasts and lures the dragon north, where she spots Nisa's burned and crushed corpse partially buried in ash and snow. All fears dispelled at the sight of her fallen friend, she calls out to the dragon and takes cover down a slope, watching more fire fly overhead. While running away from the dragon she grabs a stone and throws it as hard as she possibly can at Zuril's head, scoring a perfect hit that blackens both of its eyes. Blood coursing from its face, Zuril flees to the south, confused, angry, and unable to see. Narena slips into the shadows as Zuril tries to regain her senses. With speed unmatched by any other sentient race, Narena charges up from behind Zuril and begins smashing her, jumping and turning to try to hit any spot that might be weaker than the others. Despite her flurry of blows only two hits seem to cause the dragon any pain, both to the lower body that fill her body with frost.
The dragon is still disoriented and the cold winds and snow buffet its massive body. With a graceful leap, Narena sails all the way to its face and slams it in the left eye with her wand, freezing it solid. Extraordinarily tired, she retreats behind a tree to rest. The dragon roars in anguish, swaying from side to side, trying to compose herself and fight off her diminutive attacker. Our heroine, blessed once again with confidence and energy, charges out from behind the tree at Zuril, jumps, and swings her wand into the dragon's throat, freezing it solid and shattering it open. Silently, the dragon's head reaches up as she falls over into the snow. Narena continues her assault on the ailing beast as it rises back up onto its feet, blood pouring out of its neck. She continues her assault on the dragon, but her fury weakens as Zuril looks one last time at Narena, tries to roar defiantly as best she can, and falls down dead into the snow.
Narena, aching from her fight, very slowly drags Zuril's massive corpse over to her friend's body, raises her weapon to the sky and screams out to the heavens. Nisa has been avenged, her killer has been slain, but Narena is still filled with sadness. Despite her overwhelming triumph against all odds, she realizes she has just killed a very ancient creature of which there may be no more of in the entire world. She has snuffed out the last candle burning in the snow, and darkness settles upon the world as frozen stars creep back into the sky.
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The videos are uploaded here:
http://www.2shared.com/file/3616097/9bf49e21/a_candle_in_the_show.html -- Four parts in one zip file.
Edit: Oh yeah. Should anyone want the custom race for some reason, I'd happily upload it. The only reason I haven't put it in the modding forum is that it still needs some balancing and polish. The fact that a Size 3 killed a dragon might be an indication of that.