MSNPC [datafrag] the Dread - Desire for Death and Fire

[+ Saveron]

(( Land of Malex, [datafrag] the Dread’s Mountain ))

Processor: Initializing Turing 547, “The Red Dragon’s Hoard,” program index Summersend Fairgrounds, program paused. Data integration failure. Runtime error: data corruption, files 55.57894, 55.57897, 55.57899, 55.57901, [DATA FRAGMENTATION], 55.57907, 55.57911. Initiating default protocols: military training unit. Exit protocols: off. Initializing Turing 547, “The Red Dragon’s Hoard,” program index Summersend Fairgrounds, program paused. Program initializing. Initialization success.

::Smoke billowed out of the dragon’s nostrils. She had slumbered for so long, luxuriating in the comfort of her mountain of gold gathered in the great halls of the dragon’s mountain. Now she was awake again after a bracing, regenerative rest. The gold gleamed bright as she ran a claw sensuously through it, knocking huge piles of coins over, tinkling a thousand beautiful songs across the treasure hoard.::

[datafrag]: Ah, so long it’s been since a mortal has
Approached. My mountain of gold is modest, and yet
Methinks its time to add more jewels, topaz,
Emerald, ruby, and, yes, more gold. Let
Me take to the summit and see what those
Little fools are preparing for [datafrag] the dread.

Processor: Data integration failure. Runtime error: data corruption, files 78.75562, 78.75563, 78.75565, 78.75575, [FILE MISSING], [FILE MISSING], [FILE CORRUPT]. Recontextualizing: utilizing present information. Recompiling program parameters. Solution match. Reinitializing.

::As she prepared to climb up through the caverns to the summit, she realized something was very, very wrong.::

::A pedestal with her most treasured possession sat empty at the end of her hall, a small beam of light shining through the dragon’s cavern showing the absence of what had once sat proudly in a place of covetousness.::

[datafrag]: ::smoke puffing furiously:: What’s this?! The Tiara of Wisdom?! GONE?!
A THIEF! A thief has snuck into the hall
Of terrible [datafrag] the Dread! Dawn
Has now come for mankind’s doom if so small
A race can steal from a red dragon with
Impunity! Who?! Who has stolen from
The great, terrible [datafrag] of myth?!
No offering hence from the human scum
Can slate my desire for death and fire!

::As she spoke the great, terrible red dragon crawled through the ancient tunnels beneath the mountain, remembered from the last time she’d awoken. She had grown to a gargantuan size in that time, and her scrambling crawl upwards, wings tucked against her scaly, ruby back, simply cleaved new depth to the tunnels.::

::The dragon blinked in the sunlight atop the mountain of [datafrag] the Dread. The sky seemed bluer than she remembered, the grass greener, even the stone of the mountainside more vibrant. A dragon’s eyes are keener than any animal of the world, and she turned her gaze over the realm of humans before her. Villages had sprung up below the mountains, farms and mills. They had forgotten her as she’d slumbered, but now they would remember.::

::Through it all, she could see something stranger yet. The very sinews of the world, a binary of the absence of power and pure, unadulterated, worldly essence, as if the very fabric of the universe was arrayed before her in ones and naughts. She found this strange new understanding of the world exhilarating, as if she could barely peer into an entirely new realm of stars and darkness. She felt a power over it.::

::Then her attention was drawn out of the stars she could see beyond. In the distance she saw a golden gleam, familiar, tantalizing, infuriating. Just outside of the human city, in a teeming, disgusting display of human insolence, the tiara of wisdom sat upon the head of the Queen, the most beautiful woman in all the land. [datafrag] the Dread would collect her prize, but with interest. She would not be satisfied in merely reclaiming her tiara. She would own the beloved queen, and if any challenged her she would embroil the land in fire and death.::

[datafrag]: I WILL HAVE MY PRIZE!

Processor: Default program status: active. Users: recognized. Program designation: live fire military training. Safety protocols: off.

END

*****

MSNPC [datafrag] the Dread

As simmed by:

Lieutenant (JG) Choi Ji-hu
Engineering Officer
USS Constitution-B
C239402CJ0