InterCons Temporary Task Force on Dragon Research report:
In the afternoon of day 162 after arrival, Expeditionary Team Foxtrot encountered a new dragon subject approximately 18 miles eastward along the coast from the mouth of the Winding Tail River. The events described here were recorded on video. This report uses terms suggested by the this task force and the Office of the President and CEO.
The subject, a SandWing, was observed landing approximately one thousand feet from the team. The team and their vehicles at this time were concealed within a wooded area. The subject did not appear aware of the team's presence at this time. The team deemed the situation to be an opportunity for simple communication, given that the subject was alone and therefore would pose less of a risk to the personnel. As directed in these situations, with armed personnel present and ready, the designated individuals approached the subject with the appropriate pre-made written translation cards.
Because this report will be shared outside of this task force, additional context will be added here. This task force deemed written translation cards to be the most practical means of simple communication. These "cards" are simple laminated pieces of printer paper with a word, phrase, or short sentence printed in English on one side, and the "draconic" translation printed on the other side. The decision to use these translation cards was made for the following reasons:
1. Humans would likely experience difficulty pronouncing draconic. Speaking draconic, from what our observations of and interactions with dragon subjects 1-7 suggest, requires the creation of sounds that are near impossible for humans to reproduce, at least at the volumes likely required for our purposes.
2. Memorizing a new language in the short timespan available to us, especially one as vastly different from Earth's languages as draconic is, would be excessively difficult for most personnel. This task force thus decided that for its own purposes, the learning of draconic by its personnel is not necessary at the moment. Individuals are still allowed and even encouraged to learn to speak draconic if they choose to do so.
3. These cards are easy to use for anyone with minimal or even no training. This leaves more time and resources available for other training related to the objectives of this task force, and enables non-task force personnel to also communicate using the cards if needed.
Expeditionary Team Foxtrot's personnel, upon gaining the attention of the subject, continued their approach when the subject displayed no visible hostility. The subject did, however, keep its eyes on the team while they approached, even beginning to look nervous. Throughout the duration of the encounter, armed intervention remained on standby in close proximity as required by the policy of this task force. Several translation cards were placed on the ground a moderate distance away from the subject before the Foxtrot personnel stepped back a moderate distance from the cards as well.
Upon seeing this, the subject continued looking back and forth between the cards and the personnel for several seconds, evidently confused. Eventually the subject approached the cards and appeared to read them. The text on the cards presented conveyed the standard "we are intelligent," "don't attack us," and "we won't attack you." The subject demonstrated what are assumed to be first surprised and then skeptical reactions.
Probably because the subject observed personnel looking at the backs of the cards while selecting them, the subject turned one of the cards over to its English side. The subject proceeded to stare at the English side of the card for a prolonged period with what is assumed to be a surprise, possibly in thought.
After this prolonged period, the subject had a sudden change of attitude, which alarmed the Foxtrot personnel. To put it lightly, the subject demonstrated an adverse reaction.
Luckily for the subject, it chose to back away from the team, as if it were trying to find a place to hide itself. The subject appeared to have become panicked or at least upset in some way. It seemed to be struggling to remain standing. Eventually, after about a minute and a half, the subject even vomited in a bush before passing out.
The team then approached the subject and confirmed it was indeed still alive. Given this opportunity, Foxtrot personnel radioed back to headquarters and requested additional vehicles capable of transporting the dragon, if available. This dragon subject appears to be relatively small, possibly a young adult at the oldest if our understanding of dragon sizes is correct. The subject was successfully transported back to the headquarters and has yet to regain consciousness.
This new subject, given that it will be in our custody for a prolonged period, will be designated as dragon subject 8. This is the first SandWing we have had in our custody. Research of SandWing venom is now possible.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
=== Gecko the SandWing ===
Alright, where the hell is this place? She should have listened more carefully to the directions she was given.
Gecko's mother had "suggested" she visit her younger cousin at Jade Mountain Academy. She had told her how to get there from her home town of Possibility, but she didn't put much effort into memorizing that information, instead forgetting most of it by the time she had finished getting breakfast. How hard could it be to spot that giant mountain?
Apparently she managed not to. She had, however, noticed a river below her. What was that, the Winding Tail River? Was Jade Mountain to the east or west of that? That didn't seem relevant since this part of the river seemed to run east to west. She decided to keep flying until she found the coast, then go west if she didn't find the mountain. She was definitely lost.
Her mother was probably right that she should leave Possibility more often. Gecko was eight years old at this point but had only left the town a few times in her life. This, however, was the first time she had left the town by herself.
She finally saw the ocean shore and landed not too far away from a patch of forest. She decided to rest her wings for a moment before she would head westward, hopefully in the general direction of Jade Mountain.
That was when she heard something moving towards her.
Scavengers. There was a group of scavengers walking towards her. This was the first time she'd ever even seen scavengers alive, except for a few times in cages at the market. These scavengers were wearing coverings that were far different from what those were wearing, though, if she remembered correctly.
What should she do? She tried to remember what she had read about them. It annoyed her that she had spent some treasure buying breakfast earlier. Although that was cooked and prepared nicely, and she was far from a skilled huntress herself. Either way, she wasn't hungry now. It wouldn't be too hard to catch one of these scavengers if she wanted to, given that they were actually walking towards her.
Or would it be? She alarmingly remembered reading that scavengers could be more dangerous than typical prey if they had those "claw" things they used as weapons. She didn't even know what that was supposed to mean, but it didn't look like these scavengers had anything dangerous, and they were still too far from her to do anything. That relieved her a bit.
A couple of them did have what looked like small pieces of paper but... shiny? What was that? It looked like something was drawn on the papers. Actually, it looked vaguely like draconic, which was odd. Perhaps they had seen something written somewhere and copied it, or maybe they just stole someone's business cards or something.
She still couldn't make out what they said from here. The scavengers were also looking at the sides she couldn't see, so maybe there was something drawn on both sides of the papers. The scavengers eventually placed some of the papers on the ground, and one gestured at them as if it were expecting her to do something. Scavengers are weird; she can confirm that the scrolls were right about that. They are cute, though, in her opinion. The scavengers then walked away from her and the papers they had set on the ground.
Now Gecko was really confused. Did they want her to look at these papers? She had never read about this sort of behavior in any scroll before, but now she was curious. She walked over to the papers and saw that there was in fact draconic written on them. Strangely, the letters somehow looked like they were drawn exactly the same each time they were used. Perhaps they were made with stamps.
What was more strange was what was written on the papers. They couldn't have been copied or stolen. These sound like something the scavengers themselves would want to say.
"Don't attack us."
Okay, that's understandable.
"We won't attack you."
Could you even if you wanted to?
"We are intelligent."
Wait, no you're not.
Gecko was highly skeptical of that. She had neither read nor heard anywhere that scavengers were intelligent. Well, there were a few conspiracy theorists who did, but they were always ignored. The experts who deal with scavengers for a living surely know better than those dragons. If scavengers were intelligent, we surely would have found out after 5000 years.
Perhaps some crazy scavenger dragon had given these scavengers these papers to stop anyone from killing them. She decided to turn one of the papers over to see what the scavengers were looking at on that side. The paper didn't feel like pa-
What?
What is this?
There was what appeared to be an entirely different writing system on the back of the paper. What? She had never heard of dragons anywhere using anything other than the one writing system. They all used it. This wasn't draconic.
The doubts finally collapsed in her mind. This writing wasn't draconic. The scavengers wanted her to look at it. The draconic on the other side made sense for scavengers to say. Scavengers are intelligent like dragons.
How could they have never known? How could all the scrolls have been wrong? How could the dragons who see scavengers every day be wrong? What do scavenger dens look like? Are they actually abandoned dragon structures or just bundles of sticks? Probably not! It's been 5000 years! They've been suffering for 5000 years! How many terrible things have been done to them?
The stuff we do to them...
Oh no.
Gecko began to feel sick. She didn't notice it, but she started shakily walking backwards.
Please.
She had wanted a quick breakfast before her flight.
No.
Her favorite restaurant in Possibility had a special that day.
No.
She had never tried it before.
NO.
She normally couldn't get it, so why shouldn't she try it now?
WHY TODAY?
The grilled scavenger leg smelled great.
NO!
SHE DIDN'T KNOW!
She was horrified. She was hyperventilating. She wanted to hide. She was holding back tears. She felt even more sick. She was on the verge of vomiting.
She felt herself back into something and startled herself and whipped around to see that it was just a bush. That was when she finally vomited.
This was too much for her to handle. Gecko passed out.