The Adventures of Xena Dragon

‘twould be a day as none before. Xena knew that the moment she awoke. The past few weeks she had worked very hard to put together a complete set of leather armour. Taking orders from travelers in need of clothes or leather armour, sowing until her fingers bled or dyeing robes for those who feel the need to dress like their fellow guild members. She practically lived in the tailor shop. Whenever she could she asked travelers for the hides of deer or goats. Some travelers felt compassionate and gave her 1 or 2 hides, others dared to ask 10 gold pieces per hide. 10 gold pieces, she would have to work for more than an hour to earn that amount of money.

Finally she managed to raise a small fortune, she had more than 300 gold pieces in the bank. As usual she started the day at the tanner. Hoping he would have 1 or 2 hides for sale. ‘Hail shopkeeper, hast thou some hides I can buy’ she asked. To her surprise he had 91 hides in stock. Quickly she rushed to the bank to make a withdrawal. Running back to the tanner her thoughts were with the leather armour that was so close now. Luckily the tanner still possessed the hides. She bought them all. She tried to walk away, but the load of the hides was far too heavy for her to carry. She must have weighed over 1000 stones. So she sat down on the floor, took out her tailor kit and started sowing.

Hours later she put away the needle and thread and she looked at the armour she created. Different female armors, gloves, gorgets, arm pieces, leg pieces and of course the thigh highs she loved to wear. All the tailoring she had done before using cloth made her very dexterous, she was able to use almost every single hide. Only a few were lost in the process. She put on a full set of leather armour and proceeded back to the bank to store all the armour she could not wear. She donned her sword and a shield and off she went, into the wilderness.

The hours of training at the dummies seemed to pay off. Wild cats and dogs were no match for her, even pigs and boars soon went to the ghostly world. Finally she noticed the tracks of a deer. She followed the tracks and soon found the animal. What a beauty. She hesitated a moment, uncertain of her strength, but decided to try to slay the beast. ’twas a long battle, but at the end it was Xena who was still standing. She knew her future was safe. Now that she was able to kill deer herself she could finally start making some real money.

She traveled onward, heading north. She passed Minoc and soon found herself on a big grassy plain. Further north she passed a big mountain. On the other side there was a small area with some grass and bits of forest. Some adventurers were battling with bears, wolves and cougars. She did not hesitate a moment and asked if anyone needed help. She was invited to join the fight. What a glorious moment, to be engaged in battle with other warriors, killing wild animals. With every blow of her sword she could feel her skill in yielding a sword improving. Many beasts were slain that day. When she killed an evil snake and rat she felt a bit noble. That feeling got stronger when she and her new made friends managed to kill a giant spider and a giant scorpion. This was how she wanted her life to be. After a few hours she felt the need to rest a bit so she bade her friends farewell, took as many hides as she could carry and went back to Vesper.

She hoped the next day could be as glorious as the one before. She got out of bed, put on her leather again and headed north again. Soon she arrived at the spot beyond the mountains. What was that ? A body of an adventurer lying on the floor. She quickly examined the remains and saw all his belongings being still there. That was odd. If he would have been killed by villains certainly they would have looted his body. Suddenly she saw what misfortune had lead to this adventurers death. A foul orc came walking toward her. She felt strong (and dexterous enough for a quick retreat) and attacked the orc. Bang! Lightning struck her. This was no normal orc, he knew the arcane art of magic. She started running away. Oh no! A ball of fire was following her. She turned the corner of a small house, and another. Somehow she could feel she was able to resist the magic of the fireball. But then the orc hurled another one in her direction. This time she was not fast enough and the world went black. As she floated above her own body she could see the orc rummaging through her remains and taking her precious leather armour. With her head bowed down a little she headed back to town, hoping a healer could bring back her spirit to life.

She quickly went to the bank and took out her spare equipment. She ran back to the spot she had been slain, hoping she could retrieve some of her possessions. After a long run through forests and plains she arrived there. More bodies were lying on the floor. ‘The orc mage must still be around’ she thought. She saw a group of 4 adventurers and quickly she walked toward them and asked if they needed any help. She was about to tell what had happened to her when suddenly one of the adventurers slashed her with his sword. What was happening ? Oh no! Murderers! She ran away, but the other adventurers were in her way. She tried to run the other way but found herself trapped in a dead-end street. Soon the villains caught her and without speaking a word she was killed for the second time that day. Her ghost was able to see who these 4 adventurers were. They all appeared to be Dread Lords. She had been warned so many times by adventurers who barely managed to flee back into town that Dread Lords are extremely dangerous. Xena lost her life to the fact that she did not check who she was talking to. If she had only seen sooner that these 4 were foul villains. She certainly learned her lesson that day.

After rejoining with her body once again she made another withdrawal and went to the mages shop to purchase a spell book, some scrolls and some reagents. She would start to learn magic hoping she would be able to get revenge one day. She knew she would have to train hard and practice a lot, but that it would be worth the effort. Those Dread Lords had not seen the last of Xena.