Encounter at McBeth
The dragon didn't really know what he was getting into, but the thought of something valuable in this old place had him braving the abandoned McBeth manor.
Kyle was a young male dragon, and had a pretty average life, however, the crimson dragon wanted some adventure, something different from the farm life he had grown up in; unlike most stories, there were no real monsters and no real 'adventures' around his home. He was really in search of any sort of adventure and then, he thought he found it. He heard a rumor of something valuable in the old McBeth manor not far from the town, and that thought had gotten him excited.
Like any foolish young male in search of adventure, he left his home in the night to find this treasure, regardless if it had any truth behind it or not.
The old manor of McBeth sat some distance from the town, built centuries before, the old manor had been abandoned for as long as Kyle knew. The place was mostly safe to explore, as many people went there to gather the old stone for reuse, and he had been there on occasion himself, but he never actually went inside. Everyone thought it too dangerous to go inside in fear of the structure collapsing. However, Kyle now had found his way to a lower part of the manor, traveling down into the lower most chambers, traveling down a lone, long hallway. After what felt like forever, found a door. The room was dark, but Kyle knew that it was big; he walked inside and began to light the torches that were still clinging to the walls, filling the large empty room with light. Looking around the now lighted space, he realized that it wasn't as empty as he thought.
The room itself was large, about the size of the barn back home, and had little furnishings, the bulk of which were old tables of varying sizes, but he soon saw a strange looking chair at the other end of the room, sitting next to what appeared to be shelves. The dragon stopped to examine it, but his attention went to what was sitting on the shelves.
Sitting the shelves were a pair of bracers, made of hard leather with a padded interior, two metal bands circled the bracer that served as the claps that held the bracers on. Next to the bracers were a pair of sandals, also made of leather, the ankle and foot cuffs were larger than he usually saw on most open-toed footwear, and they too had a soft padded interior. Normally, he might have passed over these as nothing more than clothing, but when he looked at them longer, he saw that these looked like they were in excellent condition, brand new even, not showing any signs of age. Kyle was nervous at first, thinking that maybe these were planted by someone (or something) to throw his search off track or maybe they were a trap, cursed or something. However, he ruled that option out, thinking that he was most likely the first living being to be in this room for many years, and the thought of finding something in this creepy place made him excited, perhaps these were the "treasure" the rumor spoke of. And, well, he also wouldn't mind actually having some footwear, as he spent most of his time walking around bare-paw.
With his mind set, Kyle picked up the bracers and put them on around his wrists, snapping the clasps closed; they fit on him snuggly. Then, almost anxiously, he picked the sandals up and slipped them over his feet, pulling the straps over and buckling them on tightly and snug. He stood up and tried to wiggle his toes, the interior was surprisingly soft and it tickled his feet slightly.
In fact, the interior felt very ticklish, so ticklish that walking a few steps, he stumbled, the tickling sensation making his legs wobble. He tried to catch himself before falling onto the ground and managed to land right in the chair; expecting a cloud of dust to appear, he closed his eyes and held his breath. After a few minutes, he opened his eyes slowly and was surprised to see that he wasn't covered in a cloud of dust. He breathed out a sigh of relief and tried to stand, but received another surprise when he couldn't budge his arms. He looked down and was even more surprised to find that while his eyes were closed, something attached themselves to the bracers and now two new metal bands were over his bracer-clasped wrists, locking them to the arms of the seat. Kyle was scared, but even more so when he felt his feet and legs rising. He looked down in time to see a set of metal clamps appear and closing over the ankle and foot cuffs on his sandals, now locking his legs to the chair.
Kyle started to panic, pulling at the restraints that held him fast, thoughts were racing through his head, about these strange articles and the thinking he had fallen into a trap, and the different thoughts of what could happen to him; what would happen to him?
He answered his own question when he suddenly let out a loud yelp in laughter. Something had tickled his foot, but nothing and no one around in the room, he knew that, but what could it have been? He felt the tickling sensation return, this time for much longer, causing him to giggle louder and pull at the restraints. It didn't take him long to realize that the tickling sensation came from the very sandals he now wore.
The tickling at first was light, the feelings were moving slowly and lightly across his feet, causing him to squirm around, giggling widely, soon though, the tickling's intensity increased, and soon it felt like a soft brush was being brushed against his feet, Kyle wiggled about, pulling harder at his legs and arms, his loud laughter now echoed throughout the room.
The tickling sensation subsided for a bit, causing Kyle to wiggle his toes as he tried to catch his breath, he opened his eyes slowly, but stared wide-eyed as something appeared in front of him, causing him to gasp in shock in-between his gasps for air. They appeared to be purple, feathery ribbons, and it was the feathery part that scared Kyle as he struggled again. However, as he pulled against his restraints, the tickling returned, increasing its intensity again, Kyle yelped in laughter and wiggled about. The two ribbons floated over and wrapped themselves around the dragon's arms and slowly stroked up and down his sides, Kyle wiggled and struggled harder, roaring out in laughs, tears forming in his eyes as he continued to pull, more out of reflex now to his ticklish torment.
The tickling sensation at Kyle's feet soon changed yet again, now going after parts of his feet, the brush feeling continued to go after his soles and heel while the intensity changed around the balls of his feet and toes, causing the dragon to yelp and howl with laughter, the feathery ribbons deciding to go in under his shirt to continue to tickle his sides and wiggle up to his underarms, Kyle could only wiggle and struggle as he laughed and howled, tears streaming down his face.
Time was indifferent now, and Kyle wasn't able to take much more of this ticklish torture; his throat hurt, his feet and sides tingled from the constant contacts; a minute longer and the poor dragon finally passed out.
The room was quiet; except for the dragon's heaving. From the shadows of the room, a form came in through the wall and over to the unconscious dragon. The feminine apparition smirked, 'You have found a most...unique treasure, explorer," it said as it looked the explorer over, 'and you may now have found yourself in a very interesting quest. What will you do?'
A cool breeze blew, bringing the unconscious Kyle slowly; he opened his eyes and found himself outside, not far from the manor alone. For a moment he forgot what had happened, but his sore throat reminded him of his encounter. He examined himself and saw that he still wore the articles he found. In a rush, he tested to make sure he could remove them, sighing in relief as he pulled one bracer off.
As he was about to remove the remaining items, he stopped suddenly, and he looked at the bracer, then to the sandals on his feet. His first thought was to forget this whole encounter and leave them, but then a new thought came; someone or something made these for some reason, and they were left here in the old manor for someone to find...but why?
He smiled a bit as he realized he had found himself in an interesting situation, and inside, he felt that this could lead into an interesting quest.
If not, he found a new way to pass the time.