appears to mean them no harm).

Furthermore, many of the children way into taking over the town of River Side. When she found out
start to cry and do not want to leave the dragon’s side. They shout the town had a secret dragon defender, Lady Cleo decided to elimi-
to stop attacking, and plead for them not to hurt their friend. nate the competition in a very clever and sinister manner.
Though Fire Fly fights, he does not take deadly action and it In her own dragon form, she approached the town as if threat-
should become clear, quickly, that he does not want to hurt anyone. ening to attack it. Fire Fly was quick to respond and leapt into the
Instead, the dragon puts on a show of force and does his best to air in his dragon form. Lady Cleo feigned defeat and fled, but now
scare away intruders. This means he breathes fire – not directly at she knew what Fire Fly looked like. With that information in mind,
the characters, but over their heads, or in front of them, just enough she lured Fire Fly away and returned to the town disguised as him,
so they can feel the heat, and yells threats such as, “Leave here demanding tribute in the form of gold, weapons and any valuables.
now before I destroy you all!” Or, “I just ate the last group of ad- Even with his good intentions of defending the town, he is only
venturers that came through here, you don’t want to be next!” The four years old and he does not know how to chase the imposter
Game Master may wish to have the players roll Horror Factor for away. He would fight her, but he knows she is much more experi-
their characters as Fire Fly can appear quite ferocious and menac- enced, powerful and dangerous. Furthermore, Fire Fly knows the
ing, although the children do not seem frightened at all. Since the people now fear him, thanks to the imposter, and doesn’t know
dragon bursts into flames, the Horror Factor is 14. Anyone who how to explain what is going on. Meanwhile, Lady Cleo has in-
fails the save loses initiative (the last one to attack) and loses one gratiated herself as the town’s advisor, claiming she should be able
melee attack for the first combat round, but here is the catch: Fire to negotiate with the evil dragon and make him go away. Nobody
Fly does not attack first, but breathes fire and threatens the char- realizes Lady Cleo and the evil dragon are one in the same. Only
acters without hurting anyone. He only gets physical when he is Fire Fly and some of the children under his care know the truth. So
attacked directly or one of the children is threatened. The player he mostly stays away trying to watch over the town from a distance
characters only see the dragon’s true fury when someone hurts one and caring for the children he freed from the Slavers. He dares not
of the children. let them go back home, because Lady Cleo is likely to sell them
Parlay: Fire Fly is surprised at being tracked down, and may back into slavery ... or worse.
initially activate his flaming aura to scare the intruders. However, Back at town, disguised as a human Mystic, Lady Cleo has laid
so long as they do not attack him or the children, the dragon is will- down a foundation of lies and fear about how the “evil dragon”
ing to talk. He scoots any nearby children away to a safe distance was there to eat their children and destroy the town. But not to be
even though they do not want to leave his side, and asks them to afraid, she would protect them. Provided they made her the leader
go into their tents and be good. Fire Fly is prepared to hear what of the town and showed her the trust she had earned. With her
the player characters have to say. While he may be a little naive, powers of persuasion and charm, she has gotten the townspeople
he does know right from wrong, and that Cyber-Knights, and those to agree, and now she’s in charge. Of course, she blames the dis-
who travel with them, generally do good deeds and tend to work appearance of children and anyone who goes missing on the “evil
for the greater good. dragon,” even though she is the one who has been snatching chil-
Naturally, Sir Cross will guide the characters into talking with dren and selling them to slavers.
Fire Fly and trying to resolve the situation without violence. The truth is, it has been Fire Fly rescuing the children from a
See The Scoop, below, for more information on what has been terrible fate, sometimes sneaking into the slavers’ camp to whisk
going on. the children to safety without a fight, other times fighting and slay-
ing the slavers, before being able to free all of their captives. Be-
The Scoop fore Lady Cleo could do any more harm, Fire Fly started taking
Ok, this is for the Game Master’s eyes only to read. If you children from the outskirts of town to keep them safe. This only
are one of the players, knowing this can spoil the adventure for caused the townspeople to panic all the more, and Lady Cleo has
you. So read at your own risk! used that fear to keep them under her thumb.
Fire Fly is the dragon responsible for kidnapping the children She had planned to bring in her mercenary force to capture them
and taking the food stores. He had been living in the town’s or- all, loot their homes, and sell the townspeople to slavers. Then, she
phanage for months, disguised as one of the children. He is just a discovered silver! The precious metal is nearly as valuable as gold
Dragon Hatchling who, for the first couple years of his life, lived in North America due to the war against the vampires in the south
among a group of peaceful, loving and kind humans who named and the fact that many demons are vulnerable to the metal. As a
him and helped to raise him with good morals. His adopted human result, Lady Cleo plans to have her mercs force the townspeople to
family was killed when a disease ravaged their village. Missing do the mining, as her slaves.
contact with people, Fire Fly found the town of River Side and The discovery of silver and Cleo’s sinister plans are all a well-
decided to spend some time there. He pretended to be one of the kept secret, and Fire Fly knows nothing of them. In the meantime,
orphans in town, while he fancied himself as the town’s secret and Fire Fly continues to rescue children and orphans (the other kids
unofficial protector. Whenever he saw a threat, he tried to deal saved from the slavers) and protect the town from a distance as
with it himself. Being a dragon, there is not much that scares him, best as he can.
but he is still a hatchling and some things are just beyond what he At first, Fire Fly was a nuisance, but now he is becoming a
can cope with. serious problem. He has eluded her merc assassins, and regularly
Things went wrong when he discovered that Lady Cleo was a raids and destroys her hired mercenary company’s vehicles, gear
more experienced dragon with some powerful cohorts. From what and supplies. Things have gotten to the point where he has scared
he could tell, they are slavers who take innocent people prisoner off half of the mercs and is a constant pain in her side. Now, one
and sell them to the monstrous Splugorth in Atlantis. This time, of the townspeople has gone off and brought a Cyber-Knight and
however, disguised as a human, Lady Cleo is trying to worm her his friends to investigate. Cunning in the extreme, Cleo hopes to