Kahli stood before the glistening iris of the water dragon G'athoong with more than a little bit of apprehension and shock at hearing it mind speak to her with a shockingly cheerful voice. She'd expected something old, maybe a little angry, deep and dark... Instead, what she got sounded like a cheerful, feminine sprite of a voice that could have easily have come from a chipmunk or a groundhog as it had from the enormous water dragon she was presently riding atop.

Everything alright there, friend? thought spoke the dragon with good cheer in her mind-voice.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine, G'athoong," replied Kahli. Suddenly, she felt quite rude. "Um, G'athoong, it's nice to meet you, I'm Kahli, and this little creature in my handbag is named Froufrou."

Oh I've heard all about you and Froufrou, miss. Harbinger of Doom, you say? Sounds pretty messy. Are you trying to reform her or something? You don't really strike me as the world ending type, sleeping beauty - hell, if anything, you seem to me like you might just be more of a world saving type or something. Just, you know, throwing that out there for ya.

"Um, thanks, but yes, she is the Harbinger of Doom and Froufrou will definitely, eventually, end the world. Just something to be aware of, and to look out for. But that's no big deal, really, right now she's quite harmless, and you might pass on before she even gets to the point where she feels like murdering everyone in cold blood," said Kahli with confidence - although she noted with frustration that her voice was shaking before the dragon's enormous eyeball.

Okay, okay, golly gee! Well, regardless, I don't know how long you and your little critter are gonna be living for, but us Water Dragons live for centuries! I, myself, have been asleep for about five centuries myself, and let me tell you that was a great bit of shut eye, it was! That being said, now that I'm up, well, I am up to snuff, as they say! So, with that, uh, well, I've got a bit of a request of you and your buddies. Now it's no big deal, really it's not a big deal at all and honestly if you say no, then I understand. Really, I do. But it would be mighty fine of you to at least consider it.

"Okay," said Kahli. "I mean, that's really why I came up here. I talked to Sahdi and she said that you had some sort of a task or something for us, but she seemed really sheepish about it. It seems like she thinks I won't like the idea of whatever it is you want us to do for you."

The dragon's eye moved, looking glum and downtrodden, and the tone of her voic echoed that to a degree while still maintaining its generally upbeat characteristics. Aw geez... Well, regardless, I really do hope you'll consider helping me out. Look, if we're being honest here, I was gonna fly on back to Clathalia anyways once I woke back up, so really it's no scales off my back to take y'all with me. That being said, if you do help me... Well, let's just say between you and me and your incomprehensible horror there in your purse that I will more than make it worth your effort. I'm talking cold, hard cash, Kahli. I'm talking mucho dinero, I'm talking fat stacks. I'm a dragon, and yea, I might be a water dragon, but I'm still a dragon. And you ought to know, just like everybody does, that dragons can hoard up money like nobody's business. Now, us water dragons are funny. A lot of folks don't know this about us and think we're the cheap or the poor dragons, and hell, maybe that is the case - but we more than make up for that in gumption. Well, gumption, a good attitude, and of course a large network of tunnels and trenches underwater that are our territory alone! What might be in there, you ask? I'll tell ya what's in there, Kahli, I will - more pearls and jewels and gemstones and chests full of treasure then your little tauman mind can even imagine! And I will give a great heaping sum to you, your friends, and hell, I'll even give your little doomsday beast a gift of its own if you do this one itty bitty thing for me. Now, how's that sound?

Kahli, of course, knew that the water dragon knew how it sounded. It sounded great! But it also sounded like there were some strings attached, and like those strings were related to what exactly she'd have to do in order to get the water dragon's reward. Kahli told G'athoong as much, and of course the dragon was happy to explain to her further what exactly it wanted.

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Well, alright, you're not totally wrong. I'll try and make this short. See, I happen to have been in love with a beautiful dragon princess by the name of B'raahsiet.

Kahli made a mental note that this dragon was, apparently, a lesbian as G'athoong continued mind speaking with her.

However, long, long ago, and by long ago I mean about five centuries ago, there was a tauman knight known as Basstardio. Basstardio was known as a rebel knight, a knight who served no kingdom other than his own, because he was in fact a king himself. King Basstardio loved to dress up in a full suit of armor and ride around on fonyback calling himself 'Sir Basstardio' instead of 'Your Royal Highness Basstardio, King of Basstardia' because it allowed him to forget his kingly duties, including his many starving subjects and his wife, who often laid alone in her bed, crying herself to sleep - for Basstardio had once slit her true lover's throat in order to steal her for himself like the wretched thief that he was. Regardless, Basstardio was, in spite of himself, not attracted to tauman women, and never once consummated their marriage - much to her relief, although eventually his wife indeed grew even more resentful and hateful towards him over the fact that he seemed to show no attraction to a tauman that was, by all accounts, one of the most beautiful in all Basstardia.

Kahli was, if she was to be honest with herself, somewhat struggling to pay attention. She absolutely detested history lessons such as this, and yet, G'athoong seemed indeed so passionate about telling this tale that it seemed to Kahli like the only option was to do her best to either feign interest or force interest until the water dragon completed spinning her yarn.

Here's where this all ties into me, and B'raahsiet. See, B'raahsiet was by all accounts and not just my own, a thrillingly beautiful dragon. She was the bees knees, that's for sure. Beautiful inside and out, is what I always thought said... But I'm losing focus. See, the thing of it is, and was, that Basstardio, in one of his crazy trips galavanting around, caught sight of B'raahsiet while harassing some tauman sex workers at a local tavern. And oh, did he fall for her - who wouldn't? He fell for her at first sight, though of course to her he was but a puny tauman. Normally, had Basstardio been a normal tauman being, his infatuation wouldn't have gone anywhere and it would've eventually dwindled. However, he was more than that in his own eyes - he was a king, the King of Basstardia, and he was only pretending to me a mere knight in order to get a feel for the common folk, as he put it himself, the bastard. So Basstardio immediately arranged a large battalion of troops to fashion for himself a large net made out of the finest woven obsidian, and he cast it over B'raahsiet and took her from me like a thief in the night. And with that, I never saw her again, I only heard tell of him and his joys at capturing a dragon for himself.

Kahli hadn't picked up all of the story, but she was getting the picture so far that Basstardio was, by all accounts, a bit of a bastard.

Now, from what else I heard from the ravens - ravens and dragons talk often, you see - B'raahsiet wouldn't let Basstardio near her. She hated and detested him at every turn. Things were, for a spell, looking like B'raahsiet might have soon been released when the Curr outbreak of five centuries prior to today reared its ugly head and infected his left foot. However, this hope of mine was soon dashed when Basstardio lopped his foot off and subsequently had himself turned into a undead skeleton in order to prevent further Curr infection.

Kahli was finally starting to see where this was going, and she didn't like it.

With that, of course, Basstardio accepted the risk of ire that came with being an undead skeleton. That is to say, he knew he could never walk among the living, at least not for a long time. It was thought at that time that in the future, stigma against undead skeletons would ease up and they would be able to one day walk amongst those still alive without issue. Basstardio immediately decided that he would seal himself in an enormous crypt filled with all the finest instruments of debauchery until such time as his subjects' descendants would release him. At this same time, he forced B'raahsiet into a semi-eternal slumber by pricking her claw on an [enchanted] spindle and locked her in the basement of the tower in a deep pool of the foulest slime that would barely pass for what I would consider water, if the ravens are to be believed - and believe me, the ravens are indeed to be believed.

Kahli felt sick to her stomach.

So, as you might have gathered, the land of Basstardia does not exist as it did back then. However, much of its territories, including the ruins of the crypt wherein Basstardio himself lies, are included in the present day territories of Clathalia. With that, my question to you and your friends is thus: Will you help me rescue my beloved B'raahsiet?

Kahli stared at the enormous, reptilian eye, unsure of how to respond.