The dragon landed heavily in a rattle of scattering stones, its head held low to protect its neck and its wings held in close to protect the fragile membranes as it glared about in all directions looking for the rest of the heroes that had come to slay it.

After hissing in frustration it finally peered down the path at what seemed to be the lone human come to confront him in his new lair.

The human who was dressed all in red smiled up at the furious beast crouched before him and gave a cheery wave of his hand, "Hello. Lovely day we're having."

The dragon blinked.

“My name is Waylon and I was hoping we could talk.”

The dragon looked around again before glaring down at the man before him happily smiling and nodding.

“It would help if I knew your name as well.”

“Salarisax I am called by men, why have you come before me?”

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The human pursed his lips and raised his index fingers to press up against his lips. “Well it’s like this Sal-”

Waylon looked up and was startled at the gust of hot air blowing into his face to see the dragon's bared teeth mere inches away from his face. "Sal-Lar-Ri-Sax…"

"Right, my mistake great one, but as I was saying…" The dragon withdrew its maw as it reclined back on the stony path, its eyes occasionally darting to the sides, still fully expecting some sort of attack.

“You’ve seen the village down below.” The dragon nodded. “A few years ago they were being raided by a nasty little band of goblins, up until a group of rag tag adventurers showed up and killed off the whole bunch, you know the drill.”

The dragon grunted in agreement.

“Not two months later a group of bandits led by a renegade knight show up demanding taxes for protection, and the villagers send for the adventures, who of course showed up and take care of things.”

The dragon began to glare again.

Waylon waved his hands. "Wait, wait, I'm getting there. Now another few months and they get a troll beneath their bridge, Heroes come in, hack, slash, and burn, troll gone. Not a week later and they get ghouls digging their way out of forgotten tome. Then a two headed giant shows up, followed next by a dark sorceress and her fire breathing goat."

The human began to pace, “Every time the same adventurers show up and take care of the problem, kill off whoever or whatever is causing a ruckus and every time something worse shows up, until finally...”

Waylon stopped and looked up at the dragon, "An elder dragon shows up."

Salarisax narrowed his eyes. “Your point human.”

“What the heck is gonna show up if the good guys defeat you?”

The human and dragon looked thoughtfully at each other.

The dragon cleared its throat. "It would hardly be my problem at that point."

Waylon smiled “Ah, but how can we keep it from ever being a problem?”

The dragon bared his teeth and dug his claws into the loose stones. “Take a seat human.”

“Let’s make a deal.”