A cheeky Sprite and a warhound

The next part of our journey led us to the town of Maya, situated in the territory of Nariel. Being from clan Nariel our green elf companions Osgar, Ailill and who i thought was named Osgrim, but is actually called Lonan, had invited us to come join them on their clans yearly hunt. Walking through the streets of Maya i could sense the town was a place of peace and could see it was thriving despite its seclusion. A breathtaking monument of the clan's ancestor Eoin was built into the mountain and it was as if you could feel the presence of Eoin in the town and the surrounding mountains. I was amazed by the sheer size of the monument as we made our way towards the buildings surrounding this breathtaking structure.
 
We were welcomed by Osgar's father, Chief Bran Nariel who ran the Nariel clan and its territory including the town of Maya. Chief Bran then arranged a grand feast full of plentiful game and mead. As we were filling our bellies with the delicious food we conversed amongst ourselves and members of the Nariel clan. At one point Gurvel asked me over along with some of the others and offered to share his keg of milk with us.
 
After some time we spoke with Chief Bran regarding the situation with the torn Leylines. Chief Bran explained he, along with his clan members, had been investigating the torn Leylines phenomenon. Ailill then revealed to us he was a dreamwalker and that prior to coming to Zyniii he had been working with the druids at the Emerald Heart druids grove in Tal'ahm. Whilst he was there he had vanquished a dragon that had been fueled by nightmares. He then went on to talk about how some of the druids there were experiencing constant nightmares and some were caught in a deep slumber from which they could not wake. He believed the dragon he vanquished was linked to this problem and that the dragons of old were returning. Arthom also disclosed to us that his friend was one of the druids that had not woken from their deep sleep and said that even though Ailill had defeated the dragon in the Emerald Grove the problem was not resolved.
 
Ailill then requested if Chief Bran could arrange to send a party to the Emerald Heart to see if the situation had improved. Myself and the rest of my companions agreed to join this party back to the Grove. The Chief said he would be happy to send the party but wanted us to assist him with a matter first. He advised that he had received reports of dragon sightings in the local woods of Nariel and wished for our team to investigate this further. Myself and my companions agreed to help with this thinking maybe it could be linked to the Mayhos Leylines issue. The next morning myselff, Osgar, Aillil Arthom, Lucidius, Gurvel, Mura and Syrus ventured to the nearby woodlands of clan Nariel to see what we could discover abort these reported dragon sightings. We ended up splitting into two groups for the trek with myself, Arthom and Lucidius being led by Osgar whilst Mura, Gurvel and Syrus would explore a different section of the woods with Ailill. Arthom also summoned a bird which he could communicate with to accompany Ailill's group in case either group needed to reach each other.
 
Osgar, Arthom, Lucid and myself then began our trek through the deeper part of the forest, the overhanging canopy of the forest seemed to shut out a lot of the light. As we ventured deeper the fauna around us seemed to be glowing and there seemed to be a change in the air which made me feel uneasy and slightly cold. Suddenly we heard a flapping of wings in the distance, thinking it could be the dragon we proceeded in that direction. Never seeing a dragon before i was excited to see what it would be like but at the same time was nervous of the harm it could do to us. As we were walking we then spotted a glimmer in the nearby bushes, upon further inspection we discovered it was a bag of gold. Focused on the task at hand Arthom told us to ignore the gold for now and to continue looking for the dragon. We agreed with Arthom and continued to look for the dragon, although i could have sworn Lucidius looked back at the gold with a slight longing.
 
I then happened to hear a rustling up ahead and saw in the distance what looked to be a male Lupo with yellow fur. I called out to him using a Lupo greeting but he appeared to not hear me and continued on his way focused on whatever it was he appeared to be hunting. I decided to follow the Lupo thinking he might know something about the reported sightings of the dragons in the woods. After some time the Lupo stopped in front of a cave, i approached the Lupo attempting to make conversation when it suddenly turned into a yellow coloured Sprite. Giggling mischievously at me it then flew off before I had a chance to question it. Cursing myself for falling under the whim of a Sprite i then realised i was separated from my group and had no idea where they could be in these deep woods. As i stood there contemplating my next move i heard a howl coming from inside the cave. I decided to venture into the cave to investigate further and discovered a large Warhound with bright yellow, almost golden hair. It stood in a defensive stance growling softly at me. I slowly approached the warhound with my arms held upright saying in soft soothing tones that i meant it no harm, occasionally stopping in my tracks when it would emit a low growl. Eventually the warhound let me approach it and I was able to stroke its head. Its eyes seemed to shine a bright blue for a second and then i felt a connection with the warhound. My thoughts strayed to Arthom and Lucidius wondering if i would ever find them in these woods. The warhound seeming to hear my thoughts then sniffed the air and ran off . I ran after it making sure to keep up.
 
After running through what seemed like endless forest the warhound and myself stumbled into what looked to be a Sprite grove, only to find my companions and to my surprise Ko Rava and Zyanya there. They were accompanied by a creature that looked excatly like one of the creatures that had stepped out of the portal back at the Crystalline Fortress. I asked Ko Rava where her and Zyanya had been this whole time to which she replied they had been travelling through foreign woods for what seemed like weeks and then a portal had opened up into this grove. It was then that I noticed a portal in the grove and in front of the portal was a large dragon. I looked at the creature in awe, its large wings looking similar to that of a dragonfly. Fur covered parts of its body and it had green scales. Standing in front of the dragon with their weapons raised were what looked like humanoid versions of the warhound sitting near me, it seemed they were guarding the dragon from the rest of us.
 
Ailill and Arthom then questioned the dragon asking if it knew anything about the torn Leylines or the nighmares the druids we're encountering in the Emerald Grove. I was surprised when the dragon seemed to understand what they were saying and that i could understand it's response. The dragon, who I had found out later was called Leamhan, said it had nothing to do with with the torn Leylines or the nightmares the druids were experiencing. It also said that more of his kind were returning to the world and that we would have to learn to live with the dragons again or be destroyed. It went on to say that it had created the humanoid warhounds and would continue to create more of these creatures that it considered its children.
 
After this revelation the dragon then flew away leaving his so called children. Thinking they might go through the portal Nakah suddenly appeared out of nowhere and closed the portal, leaving this new race of warriors in the woods. After a brief glimpse our way this new group walked off into woods, i wondered if we would ever see them again. The creature that had accompanied Ko Rava and Zyanya stayed with our party, guess we would have to figure out how to get it back to where it came from. As we began to make preparations to return to Maya to report to Chief Bran what we had seen, i noticed the golden haired warhound had not left my side. It appears i have made a new friend and am looking forward to forming a close bond with this new companion. Now I just need to figure out what to name it.