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Mission 001: The Dragon's Gift Shop

SHIFT Mission Briefing

We've received reports of a dragon sighting to the north of the village of Windhaven. Since the first sighting there have been numerous reports of villagers disappearing. The village itself is practically a ghost town. The dragon is likely responsible for the disappearances. Find the dragon's lair and infiltrate it. Find what information you can... And if the villagers are there do everything in your power to free them.

Shift Heroes Deployed On This Mission Kickaha

Tex

Finkel Erakir

The four heroes stood on the outskirts of the town. A large mountain stood before then.

"So that's where we're going?" Frinkel asked. The raccoon leaned nervously on his staff as he sized up his compatriots.

"That's what the old guy said back in town." Erakir shrugged. The bunny drew the hood of her robe up over her ears while she looked around.

"Supposedly all the villagers who went missing did so when they were near the base of that mountain." Tex nodded. The squirrel-fox adjusted his goggles as he peered at the mountain in the distance. "Though I do question why they would continue to visit the mountain if they knew people were disappearing there."

"Well only one way to find out!" Kickaha smiled. The fox-yote threw his cape over his shoulder. "Come on let's get going! There's no point in dragon our feet!"

"Uggggh," Erakir put a paw to her face. "It is too early in the morning for puns."

"I thought it was kind of funny." Frinkel smiled.

"Of course you did." Erakir rolled her eyes.

"Perhaps we should get focused on the task at hand?" Tex suggested. "No doubt the villagers need our help if they're currently being held captive by that dragon."

"Right right!" Kickaha's smile widened. "Right! We best rescue them before they wind up in the belly of the beast!"

"UGGGGGGGGGGGGH!" Erakir grunted as the four moved on from the village towards the mountain.

When they arrived at the base of the mountain they found a large cave near the bottom of it. There was a large wooden sign in front of it marking it as 'The Lair of the Terrifying Dragon.'

"Well... That was easy..." Frinkel approached the cave. "Sure was nice of the dragon to let us know we found the right place."

"Quite..." Tex seemed more hesitant than the others. "You ever get the feeling we're walking into a trap?"

"HI THERE!"

"BWAAAH!?" Frinkel and Kickaha let out a scream while Erakir snickered.

"How can I help you today?" A small blue kobold stood near the cave entrance. He wore an apron over his scales and flashed the heroes a big smile.

"Um... Hi?" Tex tried.

"Yes hello!" The kobold replied. "Welcome to the Dragon's Lair. Are you here to take the tour?" At this question everyone paused as they processed what they had heard.

"Yes." Frinkel stated flatly.

"No wait!" Tex shot a paw over Frinkel's mouth.

"It seems like a pretty basic way to get inside..." Erakir stated. 'Why not?"

"If it's a trap this is literally us walking right into it," Tex explained.

"But what better way to test for a trap than spring it?" Kickaha smiled and wagged his tail.

"Oh I get it!" Frinkel brightened up. "You think we should sneak in so they don't know we're there."

"Exactly." Tex nodded.

"No possible way that could backfire," Erakir rolled her eyes.

"You... You guys are aware I'm standing right here? Right?" The kobold asked. "I can literally hear everything you're saying."

"You didn't hear anything," Kickaha replied as he waved his paws in front of the kobold.

"But... You were all talking... Right here..." The kobold explained.

"You heard nothing at all!" Kickaha continue to wave his paws in the kobold's face.

"But... But there's really no need for any of this..." The kobold pleaded. "The tour is free of charge... Please, you're more than welcome to come in!"

"Look..." Tex gave the rest of the party a matter-of-fact stare. "We go to the place the villagers are disappearing and there just happens to be a free tour. This is obviously a trap. There's no possible way that we'll-"

"We'll take the tour!" Erakir shouted with a smile.

"WHAT!?" Tex was taken aback

"Oh yes! It might be a trap! But it sounds quite fun!" Frinnkel responded.

"I personally can't wait to see how the dragon has decorated their lair!" Kickaha spoke with a smile. "You always get such interesting designs in these things!"

"But.... But..." Tex tried to protest. It was no use. He along with the other three heroes found himself being ushered into the cave entrance.

"Come in come in come in!" The kobold brought everyone inside as he put a top hat onto his head. "And welcome to the Lair of Richard!" The kobold pulled a lever as lights came on inside the cave. The name 'Richard' was written along the walls of the cave in bright blinking neon light. Next to the name a long stream of white lights ran across the ceiling leading further into the tunnel.

"The dragon's name is Richard? Really?" Erakir sighed as her ears drooped.

"We call him Rich for short," the kobold responded.

"Of course you do," Erakir didn't even attempt to hide her disappointment.

"Now then... If everyone looks above you! You'll see the white lights running along the ceilings! Those are our Official Tour Fun Time Lights! They lead us all the way through the tour! It's very important that we follow the Official Tour Fun Time Lights! They'll help guide you and keep you from getting lost in the tunnels. Now everyone! Follow me and we'll learn all about the rich history of Rich!"

"Pssst." Tex tried to get the attention of his compatriots while the kobold began to lead the way through the tunnels. The kobold was too distracted to hear as he went on about dragon ancestry and inheritance laws. "While he's distracted we should try to sneak off from the tour and check the other tunnels for the villagers."

"But the tour has just started!" Frinkel objected. "We haven't even gotten to see where the dragon keeps his treasure yet!"

"We're here to save the villagers not the treasure!" Tex hissed.

"No reason we can't do both," Erakir responded. "Besides... Going through the entire tour will give us an idea of this place's layout."

"Fine." Tex was clearly irritated with the direction the party was taking.

"Now I'm sure you'll all like to see the dragon's treasure hoard!" The kobold shouted loudly. "But sadly... We can't right now. It's closed to the public due to renovating." The kobold paused and pointed to a tunnel. There was a large gate at the end of it with a large wooden sign that read 'Kobolds Only.' Two kobolds stood guard in front of the door each armed with a spear. "But don't worry! Even though the hoard itself is off limit there will be plenty of replica gemstones in the gift shop!"

"Okay... That's got to be where the villagers are being held," Tex whispered. "We should find a way to break in there."

"But the gift shoooooop!" Frinkel whined.

"We are not here for the gift shop!" Tex shouted.

"Well of course no one came just for the gift shop..." The kobold giving the tour seemed hurt. "But it's really quite nice... We put a lot of effort into it."

"Wow... Way to go Tex. You hurt his feelings." Erakir looked at the squirrel-fox accusingly.

"You think you know someone!" Kickaha was all too ready to join in on teasing Tex. "I do say... I for one am astounded that lack of tourist etiquette some of our companions have. I for one acknowledge no trip is complete without a stop in the gift shop!"

"But... But we're not tourists!" Tex tried to plead.

"But the gift shop seems really fun!" Frinkel piped in. "And the kobold seemed quite proud of it!"

"But... uggh... Fine!" Tex crossed his arms and thrashed his tail. "We can finish the tour."

"Wonderful!" The kobold smiled. "And the next part of our tour features the unabridged history of tunnel digging! This is a very important part of our history! You see back in the really old days kobolds had to dig tunnels for their dragon overlords with their bare claws! And of course before we got fancy metal tools first we had to use stone tools! Funny how they first got used in tunnel construction! You see it's a riveting story about rocks. Well... Before we had a proper stone tool we would occasionally throw rocks at exceptionally hard dirt and rock walls... And let me tell you that's a history all to itself! There were over two thousand varieties of throwing rocks... And we're going to touch on all of them!" The kobold started to drone on.

"Uggggggh," Kickaha's ears flattened listening to the monotonous presentation. "This is... Really boring. What do you say we take a sneak peak in that forbidden tunnel then catch up with the tour later?"

"Sounds like a plan." Erakir nodded. "Anything to get away from this tour right now."

"Plus I'm dying to see what's behind that door!" Frinkel smiled and wagged his tail.

"But! I wanted! And then you said!" Tex threw his arms in the direction the tunnel and then at the kobold.

"Yeesh Tex if you really want to listen in about the history of tunnels we can stay on the tour."

"AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!" Tex's ears flattened as he nearly let out a scream. "You know what. I don't care. Fine. Let's go see what's down the tunnel."

"Then it's unanimous!" Frinkel bounced excitedly as the four broke away from following the kobold. They doubled back to the side tunnel they saw earlier and glanced down it. The two kobolds were still standing guard with their spears.

"Any ideas?" Frinkel asked.

"We'll need to be careful about this..." Tex spoke as he looked at the two kobolds. "We could easily overpower the two... But we want to make sure we don't let them raise any form of alarm. We'll need to find a way to do this quietly so we don't attract undue attention. Now... I should have the items in my pact needed to create a sleeping bomb... Can one of you act as scout-"

"Good afternoon gents!" Kickaha had already walked around the corner and was waving the two guards down.

"Gosh... DARN IT!"

"Huh who are you?" One of the guards pointed their spear at Kickaha.

"Oh my! Is this part of the tour?" Kickaha asked. "I seem to have gotten lost from the rest of the group. I don't suppose you two fine gentleman could perhaps show me the way to the treasure hoard part of the tour?"

"Treasure hoard is off limits," one of the kobolds pointed his spear at the sign. "Can't you read?"

"Well! I assumed that was different for the tour of course!" Kickaha smiled wide. "But... I swear in the advertising pamphlets the treasure hoard was the main attraction!" Kickaha responded.

"Look I don't care..." The kobold started then paused. "Wait what pamphlets?"

"Why the ones they were giving out right outside this tunnel! Yes... There was a rabbit and a raccoon giving them out! They were quite insistent they would be seeing the treasure today!"

"That sounds pretty..." One guard started to accuse Kickaha of lying. Then he paused as he looked down the tunnel. He could clearly see Frinkel's tail sticking out. "Hey wait one moment!" The guard started down the hall. As it did Kickaha generated lightning in his paws and quickly blasted the guard in the back knocking him unconscious.

"What do you think you're doing!?" The other guard asked.

"Oh that wasn't me!" Kickaha objected. "That was the bunny."

"Why you no good," the guard pointed his spear at the fox-yote... Then suddenly began to rock in place on his feet before slumping over asleep.

"I tried to warn you." Kickaha shrugged.

"Why did you drag me into this?" Erakir asked as she rounded the corner. The bunny had her staff drawn which she had used to cast the sleeping spell.

"Ugggh," Tex who had been watching this entire scenario in horror rubbed his paws against his face. "You know what... It's fine, it's fine. It worked. Now we just have to find a way to discreetly open the gate."

"On it!" Frinkel shouted. He held his paws above his hands as vines erupted out of the ground. The vines gripped the gate, ripped it off its hinges and threw it to the side.

"Discreetly." Tex slapped himself. "Let's just move on." The four adventurers moved through the now open gate. They didn't get very far before a change started to overtake them. Erakir caught onto what was happening first and quickly held her staff up as a barrier of light briefly appeared around her. Everyone else on the other hand...

Frinkel suddenly found himself a full foot taller while Kickaha and Tex remained the same height. All three of them had their fur melt away replaced by scales. Frinkel's were blue... Kickaha's red... And Tex's a rusty brown. Each of them had longer snouts and long sturdy tails. They had all transformed into kobolds.

"HA!" Erakir pointed at the transformed companions. "That's one of the oldest tricks in the book! Really, should have seen that coming after reading the sign! I can't believe you guys managed to fall for a trap as lame as that!" She began to giggle.

"Why am I so tall!?" Frinkel looked down at himself. Being over three feet tall was weird! The staff that was perfectly sized for a walking stick was now too short for him.

"Well..." Kickaha held up a hand examining the claws on it. "This is a thing now."

"This..." Tex adjusted his goggles and his pack. His body being mostly the same size they still fit but needed some minor modification. "This could actually be a boon for us. Looking like this no one will be able to tell we don't belong here. This might make it easier to look around without raising suspicion."

"Maybe for you three," Erakir crossed her arms. "But in case you forgot one of us is actually smart enough to avoid obvious traps like that."

"Aheh heh..." Tex who was at his wit's end trying to keep these three focused on the mission suddenly had an evil glint in his eye. "I think I may have a solution."

Five minutes later... Erakir was tied up with rope. Her hands were bound while Tex was carrying a length of rope attached to them.

"I still don't see how this is helping!" Erakir complained.

"It's simple!" Tex explained. "You're an intruder... And we're the three kobolds who caught you! This way no one will wonder why we have a bunny along with us."

"Well I mean they're going to wonder why you're parading me around the treasure hoard instead of taking me to the dungeon."

"We'll figure out how to explain that later!" Tex hissed.

"I'm sure I can come up with something just implausible enough to be unquestionable!" Kickaha winked.

"Fantastic." Tex replied without actually meaning it.

"And if that doesn't work I can always hit them on the head with my staff!" Frinkel tried.

"Always so good to be working with professionals." Tex rolled his eyes.

"Hey this was your plan." Erakir stuck her tongue out.

"Silence prisoner!" Tex retorted getting into character. "Let's move!"

With that the three 'kobolds' escorted their 'prisoner' through the tunnel. Eventually the cave widened into a large cavern filled with light. It took a few moments for their eyes to adjust... The cavern was lit up with only a few torches... But there was a massive pile of gemstones and gold coins filling the center of the cavern. Light reflected off of these gems and coins lighting up the entire place.

"Guess we found the treasure..." Tex muttered. "But where are the villagers?"

"Look at all this stuff!" Frinkel shouted excitedly as he saw the treasure. The blue kobold ran over to the treasure hoard and tried to grab a few gems out of it. As he did though he found they were all stuck in place... And the texture was weird. "Hey... What's up? It's like these are all glued together!"

Tex narrowed his eyes and approached the treasure. He slid his backpack off of his shoulders and began to search through it. He pulled out a few instruments including a magnifying class and began to study the treasure. Everyone let him work before he finally spoke.

"It's fake." Tex said flatly. "In fact..." He knocked on the side of the treasure with his fist. It rang with a hollow sound. "This is just a hollow metal statue! It's been painted to look gold and shiny!"

"If it's hollow maybe the treasure is inside of it?" Frinkel suggested.

"Why would someone hide their real treasure inside fake treasure?" Erakir asked.

"They wouldn't..." Tex spoke. "That wouldn't make any sense..."

"Found a panel!" Kickaha shouted. He slide aside a panel in the statue revealing what was inside of it. The entire statue was stuffed with paper. There were several sheets of paper all bundled into balls just sitting inside of it.

"This... This doesn't make any sense..." Tex took one of the balls of paper and unraveled it. It looked like a hand written receipt. "I... I don't understand. Why is this off limits? Why the fake treasure? Why... Why any of this?" He held up the receipt.

"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAWWWWWR!"

"I don't know..." Erakir muttered... "But something tells me someone isn't happy we found it."

The ground shook as a massive red dragon launched itself into the room from the opposite side of the treasure hoard. Its massive claws gripped the top of the fake treasure pile while it stared down at the intruders. The dragon glared at them while smoke came out of its mouth.

"Well... You must be Rich." Kickaha smiled. "Nice to meet you!"

"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAWR!"

"Looks like we're fighting! Everyone draw your weapons!" Tex shouted as he dug several bottles out of his bag.

"I'm ready for this!" Frinkel swung his staff around in the air as vines grew from the ground beneath him.

"Guess there's no other way..." Kickaha wasn't eager to fight a dragon... But nonetheless he began to generate electricity in his paws as he prepared a spell.

"Um guys..." Erakir interrupted. "My hands are still tied. I can't heal you with my hands tied!"

The battle started! Tex threw the potion bottles he had at the dragon's talons. The bottles exploded on contact as the dragon let out a roar of fury. Kickaha meanwhile fired his lightning spell as the dragon's chest while Frinkel directed his roots to wrap around dragon's legs and tail.

"ROOOOAWR!" The dragon weathered the attacks and tore free of the roots that gripped it. It lifted its claws up and then pointed them at the party. Instead of swiping at them it instead launched a bean of blue energy from its claw tips.

"Heads up!" Tex shouted as him, Kickaha and Frinkel dived out of the way. Erakir however was not so lucky. The bunny was still tied up and struck by the ray of light! She suddenly shrunk into her robes and vanished. A few moments later a normal bunny with blue tipped ears hopped out of the robes.

Erakir

Status: Feralyzed

"Chirrrr!" Erakir protested but couldn't be understood.

"Feralysis magic huh?" Kickaha responded. "Well two can play that game!" He pointed his own paw at the dragon and fired his own beam of blue energy. It did nothing. "Oh right... Dragon is already kind of like that."

"CHIRR!" Erakir sounded her objection. She hopped over to her staff and tried to handle it with her forepaws.

"ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWR!" The dragon gave another roar. This time it exhaled a cone of green flames.

"Chirrrr!" Erakir muttered as he gripped her staff with his forepaws. A dome of light formed over her shielding him from the fires. This left the other three to fend for themselves. Frinkel quickly summoned a mass of thick plants to hide behind. Tex dove into the hollow treasure to hide among the receipts. Kickaha was not so lucky. He tried to get out of the way but let out a yelp as the flames engulfed him.

Instead of being burnt to a crisp his body began to change as it reacted to the flames. It began to get even smaller as wings grew from his back. His claws became more defined and his scales became thicker. He fell onto all fours... Though as he did found he could balance himself on two legs as needed. He had become a dragon! But not only that... His age had been cut down to a fourth of what it was leaving him only eleven!

"Okay... That wasn't what I was expecting..." Kickaha spoke as he looked over his new body. "I thought the dragon was hatching some other scheme! Get it... Hatching and I'm a young dragon."

"NOT THE TIME KICKAHA!" Tex shouted from inside the receipts. He began to dig threw his bag again looking for something more explosive that could actually slow down the dragon. He wasn't finding anything useful though. The problem with explosions is they weren't the most effective against enemies that literally breathed fire! He could probably mix up something that could do the trick... But he needed time!

"Okay my turn!" Frinkel shouted as he came out from behind his now dragon shaped plants. "Dragons may be big but even those are still subject to the forces of nature! I call upon the sky and the sea! Brew up a storm and let lighting strike thee!" There was a loud clap of thunder... As if a bolt of lightning had just struck the mountain they were all currently under. "Oh right... That spell works better when we're outdoors."

The dragon responded by flicking Frinkel with its claws. As Frinkel was hit he felt a jolt of electricity go through his body as he flew backwards across the room. As he landed his body began to grow fuzzy and shrink again. This time he went well down past the size of a raccoon and shrank even smaller. While fur covered most of his body his tail was completely naked of fur. He was soon only a few inches tall too as he had turned into a mouse!

"Squeak!" Frinkel shouted. "I mean... Someone do something!"

"I'm working on it!" Tex shouted as he continued to mix ingredients while hiding. He had assembled an ice bomb he thought might hurt the dragon. He supposed it was time to find out. He climbed out of the fake treasure to face the dragon and held the bomb in his hands. He was only going to get one shot. He prepared to throw it.

"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAWRRRRRRR!" The dragon roared... And then began to cough. "Oh... Finally! Finally!" The dragon began to speak in a squeaky voice. "I've finally managed to clear my throat! I can finally talk! Now! Now dare you people try to steal my tax documents!"

"I... It..." Tex lowered his ice bomb. "What?"

"Chirrrr?" Erakir hopped over to Tex and looked up at the dragon.

"I have half a mind to toast you all right now!" The dragon replied in that same squeaking voice. "And teach you to properly fear... Richard! THE TERRIFYING DRAGON KING OF TAX EXEMPTIONS!"

"What?" Tex had no idea how to respond to this. "I have... Just... What?"

"Oh don't act like you don't know what you're doing." The dragon squeaked. "You should count yourselves lucky I'm a pacifist so only used non-lethal magic to thwart you!"

"Okay guys?" Kickaha tested his wings and flew down to where the party was. "Even I'm lost right now." He took a brief moment to stare at Frinkel as if considering something before shaking his head and turning his attention back to the dragon.

"Didn't you kidnap the villagers?" Tex said.

"What?" The dragon looked genuinely taken aback. "Nooooooo! I hired them! I've been doing weekly recruiting events and more and more people are showing up each time!"

"Then where are the villagers?" Frinkel asked.

"Why... They're all around! They're the kobolds that have been running around keeping everything running!" Richard squeaked.

"But the villagers were humans!" Tex protested. "Do you seriously expect us to believe that they're now all..." He paused as he looked down at his own kobold body. "Oh gosh darn it."

"A lot of them were reluctant to sign on at first..." Richard explained. "But then I taught them how they could claim a species change as a tax deduction and well... Everyone was signing up at that point! Now I have a mountain full of kobolds making money and saving on their taxes!"

"So... So this was all pointless?" Tex asked.

"Is that what you were here about? I thought you were here to steal my treasure!"

"But your treasure is fake..." Kickaha replied sadly.

"No it's not!" Rich protested. "I'll have you know I have the receipt for every purchase I've made in the last ten years in here! The ability to itemize them all for my deductions is the greatest treasure of all!"

"Then... Then what's with the fake coins?" Frinkel asked.

"Oh that's just the bank I keep them in..." Richard looked sheepish. "I know it's tacky but I like it!" He then looked down at the adventurers. "So you're really not here for my treasure?"

"We were looking for the missing villagers," Frinkel explained. "Only it turns out they're not missing at all!

"So... Really this was a waste of time..." Tex rubbed his face. "Hey... These spells you put on us? Can you at least reverse them?"

"CHIRR!" Erakir contributed that she would like the ability to speak again.

"Oh I can't do that!" Richard explained. "But they all wear off naturally after one dragon lunar cycle."

"And how long is that?" Tex asked.

"Oh I'm not great with dates..." Richard sighed. "But... I'm pretty sure it's only like... thirty of your decades. Give or take a few."

"Fan-freaking-tastic." Tex muttered. "Now what?"

"Can... Can we still do the gift shop?" Frinkel asked hopefully.

"Oh I second that!" Kickaha wagged his long dragon tail. "I want to see if I can find a plushie in the shape of myself!"

"CHIRRR!" Erakir echoed that she also wanted to go to the gift shop.

"Fine..." Tex sunk into himself completely defeated. "It's not as if we have anything else to do now... Maybe we can catch the end of the tour and it'll actually be interesting."

"Ah so you're leaving now? Well then... See you later! Have fun! And on your way out consider donating a gold coin or two if you can spare! We can only afford to keep these lair tours running thanks to the tax deductible donations of kind visitors like yourself!"

With the location of the villagers discovered the adventures had completed objective. With nothing left to do... They killed the rest of their day finishing the tour and visiting the gift shop. Since the villagers were in no actual danger... No payment could be provided by SHIFT to the adventurers. However... They were each able to get a nifty item from the gift shop.

Kickaha was able to find a plushie that resembled himself!

Frinkel got a dragon scale hamster ball! So that he could roll around in it and be unstoppable.

Erakir got a lovely bow with pictures of cartoon kobolds to wear.

And Tex got a mix of dragon's teeth and scales to use in future potions.

SHIFT

Mission 001: The Dragon's Gift Shop

Mission Complete