The group moved indoors to continue their conversation, it was lunchtime anyway so they took the chance to eat while they discussed the important topic.
"Rawr! Scary Dragon!"
Rynn was seated at a makeshift highchair, a small wooden carving of a dragon held up high between her dainty fingers. She flew the dragon around over her plate with one hand as she nibbled on vegetables with the other.
A tender smile spread across Drelk's shriveled lips as he reached over to wipe a napkin across the child's face. He then turned his attention back to Leor and Alina, gently shaking his head as he began speaking with a sigh.
"Since you won't be talked out of your foolhardy plan, I can do nothing but assist you to the best of my ability." Drelk folded one thin leg over the other as he made himself comfortable, a ponderous expression filling his features. "You won't find any dragon blood here. Viridrak may have trusted me enough to allow me to tend to his gardens, and keep watch over the collection of books that couldn't fit in the tower of Draemyr, but he did not trust me enough to leave something as precious as his own blood in my possession."
Leor clicked his tongue in disappointment as he listened to the old elf's answer, but Alina wouldn't give up so easily. She sat forward in her seat, her bright yellow eyes locked onto the old elf as she spoke.
"Viridrak lived in this realm for so long, he must have left something that we can use. Think hard Drelk. It doesn't have to be as obvious as a vial of the dragon lord's blood. Was he ever seriously injured? Did he ever utilize the services of a healer? Perhaps there would be something left behind from such an event that we could use."
Drelk considered her question for a moment before shaking his head with an almost disdainful look, "Injured? The dragon lord? This is wishful thinking beyond all reason. No. You will not find a bloodied bandage of Viridrak's anywhere in the realm. There is no piece of flesh, no bloody scale, nothing. You might as well give u—" Before he could finish speaking the words his wrinkled eyelids shot open wide, his lips halting mid-word as if he had come to a sudden realization.
It would be obvious to anyone that Drelk had remembered something. Leor was on the edge of his seat, waiting in anxious silence for the elder to continue. One second passed after another, Drelk began to rub his own chin as he pressed his lips together tightly, considering the matter deeply before speaking.
"Come now, Drelk! Don't leave us guessing, spit it out!" Leor finally prodded.
Drelk held his shriveled hands up in surrender as he nodded his head, taking a deep breath as he finally continued, "There is… Something." Drelk pressed his hands together, tightly wringing them as he stared off into the distance, his eyes seemed to be gazing towards some palace far above their current position. "How much do you know about the mating customs of dragons?" Drelk questioned the two. When he saw that neither of them had any knowledge of such things, he nodded his head and continued. "As I expected. Such things are not commonly discussed. All you need to know is that dragons have a difficult time reproducing. It's not entirely understood why, but for a dragon as old as Viridrak, they might create one viable egg every five hundred years. Because of that extremely low viability of dragon eggs, with hardly one in ten thousand managing to hatch into an infant dragon, most dragons don't treat them with the care and attention you would give to a potential offspring. Many times, eggs are kept as something like trophies of conquest, or even simply destroyed once it's clear that they will never hatch."
Leor and Alina glanced at each other, neither of them was quite sure why Drelk was explaining all this, but they remained quiet as the elf continued to speak.
"Once every few decades, Viridrak would invite a… Partner. To join him for some "companionship". Most of the time such a thing would take place in the tower of Draemyr, but once in a while, Viridrak and his guest would spend their time together at the top of the mountain. I'm not sure why exactly, it might have something to do with the heavy spiritual essence from all the herbs grown around the mountain. Or maybe Viridrak just wanted to show off his garden. Either way, somewhere at the top of this mountain is a dragon roost. There is a very small chance that you could find an abandoned egg in such a place. If you did find such a thing, it would provide the perfect blood essence for your world tree potion."
Leor couldn't keep the grin from spreading across his lips, his fingers clenching into a fist on the table as a silent cheer went off inside his mind. Glancing at Alina, he saw the same celebratory expression on her face as well.
Drelk let out an audible huff as he observed the two humans' reactions, shaking his head as he frowned, "I wouldn't celebrate so soon, young ones. There is only a small chance that such an egg even exists. Also, to climb to the top of this great mountain is not a simple task, it's at least seven days travel to reach the peak, and that is if you don't run into trouble. The higher you move up the slope, the more dangerous it becomes. There exist Twisted tier defiled creatures, and even a few surviving Highblood Beasts atop this mountain. Don't be fooled by the relative safety around the fortress. That safety is due to two factors. The Beast's who live in this fortress constantly hunting the defiled monsters that stray too close during the day, and the mutated defiled that stalk these plains at night. Once you travel a few days' distance up the slope, that safety will quickly disappear."
Leor's fingers clenched even tighter as he listened to Drelk's explanation, glancing over at Alina with a look of hesitation on his face. But she was still staring at Drelk, clear determination on her face.
"We'll do it. We will travel to the peak and collect a dragon's egg." Alina turned to look Leor in the eye after she spoke, smiling as she saw his startled expression. "Won't we, Leor? You're not going to make me go alone, right?" She teased.
Leor quickly hardened his resolve as he saw Alina's infectious determination, nodding his head firmly. "Yes. We will indeed. However…", Leor turned his attention back toward Drelk, "If it's as dangerous as you say, we will need to be well prepared for such a trip. I think it's time for you to show us what sort of useful adventurer's items have been kept inside this mountain fortress."
Drelk let out a tired breath as he nodded his head. "Very well. If you insist on rushing toward your deaths, I cannot stop you. Let Rynn finish her meal, and I will bring you to the armory myself."
An hour later, Alina and Leor followed Drelk as he shuffled across the hard cobblestone streets of the mountain fortress. They moved toward the far corner of the large hollow cave that made up the fortress interior. As they neared a building that looked quite similar to the supply building where Alina and Leor slept, Drelk began to speak.
"Don't get your hopes up too much. This fortress was indeed a treasure trove, but of the natural kind, namely rare high grade spiritual herbs. Viridrak kept all his most valuable belongings in the great tower of Draemyr, where they still remain today. This mountain fortress was more like a grain silo, created as a place to store the precious spiritual herbs that grew in Viridrak's garden. Don't be confused, those few fields of low quality herbs outside are merely a pitiful shadow of the sprawling herb garden that once existed here. This place was once so thick with spiritual power that it was hard to breathe. Then the high quality herbs began to become sick with defilement, and the defiled Beasts began to ravenously consume anything they could find." Drelk explained.
The trio reached the building, and Drelk quickly opened the locking mechanism on the front door. Stepping inside through a cloud of dust, the old elf waved his thin arms through the air and coughed.
"Ehem, you'll have to excuse my poor housekeeping. This fortress is far to large for me to keep up with the cleaning, and Beasts are not know for their cleanliness either.", he continued to speak while leading them into the dusty interior, "Come and take a look for yourselves. What little I do have in this place was looted from the bodies of defiled dark elves who wandered into these plains, or scavenged from the outskirts of the city of Draemyr. However, it's been many years since I dared to make a trip to that cursed place, so everything here is thick with dust."
Alina and Leor followed the old elf into the building, the air was stale but not much worse than the old store house where they slept. The building was one large room with a high ceiling. Around the interior wall of this makeshift armory of Drelk's was one set after another of dark elf style armor. There were multiple sets of each variety of leather armor, all stacked in order along the walls.
Closest to Leor was a row of light armor. The leather was dyed dark blue, embroidered with the symbols of Draemyr. A crescent moon surrounded by thorny branches could be seen at the center of each chest piece. After that was a row of heavy leather armor, these heavy sets included bracers, leggings, and even helmets. They gave much more protection than the lighter ones, though they matched the lighter sets with their dark blue color and the Draemyr crest. Finally, there was a single piece of solid plate armor, just a lonely chest piece, with none of the other pieces here to accompany it. The metal of the chest piece was a menacing dark red, and the careful attention that was put into crafting it made its quality obvious at a glance.
The metal armor was the type that slipped over the head, resting on the shoulders, with holes for your arms to stick out from. Two gorgeously crafted triangular pads spread out from the top of the armor, covering the arm holes and resting on the wearers shoulders. Rather than the crest of Draemyr, this armor bore no crest at all. Instead it had simple flourishes of engraved metal, consisting of flowing patterns that ran up and down its sides, and wrapped around the neck and arms. It appeared quite valuable even at first glance.
"These are all standard issue armors from the city patrol of Draemyr. All except the plate armor, I'm not sure of its origin. All I can tell you is that it was worn by a rather terrifying Twisted dark elf." Drelk explained with a shudder as he seemed to recall the monster this armor once belonged to.
As the old elf was talking, Leor let his eyes wander over the rest of the items in the room. Other than the armors around the interior walls, there were two racks of weapons sitting at the room's center. Spears, crossbows, slender dark elf style rapiers, and even a nasty looking mace.
Leor could tell with one look that these were high quality weapons, meant to be wielded by at least Adept tier Willpower users. Any one of them would be a huge improvement over his simple initiates sword. The same could be said for the armors. He would need to carefully check, but if he could find a set that fit, he would not hesitate to swap out his rundown old leather chest piece.