A/N: And here's the next chapter! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Dungeons and Dragons. I only own my original ideas

Chapter 65: Reporting Back

We returned the way we'd come, heading down the mountains then back through the foothills back to town over a period of a few days. We managed to avoid any further conflict that could threaten Quil. From the town, we continued south to reach the academy. The Greenhall Academy was decently sized, the campus spread across several buildings with a central common area. I saw many of the students who were out and about tense at my approach, and soon a group of older humanoids approached, clearly the faculty.

"What is your business with us?" asked an elf, addressing me in particular.

"My companions and I were tasked with finding your missing scholar, Quil," I said, "We've brought him back".

A Pseudodragon hopped off the shoulder of one of the professors, and flew closer. Then the surprise came: it spoke!

"Ah, so you have," said the Pseudodragon, "where did you find him?"

"High in the Greypeak Mountains," I said, "there was an abandoned outpost, as well as a pair of Void Dragons trying to open some sort of rift".

"Void Dragons… a rift?" said the Pseudodragon, "intriguing. Ah, apologies, I've yet to introduce myself. I am Verrax, professor of the Art of Divination".

"How unusual," I said, "I am Valignatirisk. I must ask, I've never heard of a Pseudodragon capable of speech. How did this come about?"

"It's a long story, but suffice it to say I hatched this way," said Verrax, "from what I understand, a minor god of Knowledge saw my kind, and blessed some of us with increased intellect. I decided to use this to pursue arcane training, and now after many trials and tribulations, I'm here".

While we were talking, some of the other professors moved Quil off to assure he was in good health after his ordeal, and my companions headed off to discuss thing with the staff. Meanwhile, one of the students approached cautiously. Something about him seemed odd to me. He had golden blonde hair and a strange scent hanging about him. After a moment of thought, I recalled what is was: saffron, this mage smelled of saffron.

"Can I ask you some questions?" asked the student.

"I suppose you can," I said.

"Well, I'm researching about various types of dragons," said the student, "some are more difficult to gain information about. What's it like, being a red dragon?"

"In truth, I'm probably not the best example for your studies," I said, "I'm not exactly… typical for my kind".

"Well, from what I understand," said the student, "Red Dragons aren't known to be very caring for their young, only caning about strength".

"That sounds familiar," I said, "I hatched as the runt of the clutch, and as such my father put me down at every opportunity, and encouraged my clutchmates to do the same. My mother was less harsh in this manner, though that was likely a case of her feeling ownership over me. She didn't put me down like my father did, but she also treated my sibling and I the same. I fled for my life after my siblings teamed up to try and kill me. I was only a year old at the time".

"I've heard of brutal Red Dragons can be, but hearing it firsthand is something else," said Verrax, "but you clearly escaped".

"I did, but not without scars," I said, "one of them clawed me right across the snout, and I'm lucky I still have both eyes. Another of them broke my leg. I escaped, but nearly god sold to some mad mage's managerie".

"You wouldn't be referring to Jukeo Caim, would you?" asked Verrax, "terrible see someone misusing their intellect like that".

"That would be the one," I said, "Luckily a kindly Gnome named Quoros rescued me. My leg was healed by a Lizardfolk who went by Baeshra".

"I know both those names," said Verrax, "Quoros is an Illusionist of significant skill… now I understand the 'specal student' he mentioned in his letters. As for Baeshra, He's a powerful Druid, especially with what he did during the last rise of the Cult of the Dragon".

"What's you opinion on other dragons?" asked the student.

"So far the few I've met have mostly been positive encounters," I said, "there was that wyrmling white dragon that a clan of Kobolds were working together to care for. They said they wished for it to become their leader what it grew old enough. The second one was significantly pleasant, a black dragon calling herself Nightscale who attacked us on sight. The third was another black dragon, older than me. He had been cursed and was turning into a draco-ooze. We helped cure him, because a black dragon its own right mind is better than a servant of a demon lord. He had some interesting things to say after we helped cure him".

"What did he tell you?" asked the student.

"He revealed that he had no specific interest in serving anyone, be it Tiamat, a demon lord, or anything else," I said, "He said he owed them no particular loyalty, and simply wished to live his life undisturbed".

"Have you run into any others?" asked the student.

"Well, I encountered a Forest Drake a couple times," I said, "never got his name, but I'm pretty sure he lost his family in a freak accident involving a forgotten artifact with opened a portal to the Shadowfell".

"What sort of accident was that?" asked Verrax.

"From what I worked out, it looks like the root of a tree growing atop of some ancient ruins disturbed the artifact," I said, "Most recently while on the task to find Quil I passed through the domain of a copper dragon, and then had a face to face encounter with a Silver Dragon lairing in the mountains".

"You ran into a Metallic, and you're still alive!?" asked Verrax.

"Is… that particularly strange?" I asked, "I know that Cromatics and Metallics don't get along, but I took no hostile actions, and he let me pass, albeit cautiously".

"I suppose you never got the chance to learn this, and it's a miracle you've gotten this far, but it goes beyond simple combat against each other when confict occurs. Mettalics have told me what whenever they encounter a Chromatic, they fly into a savage rage, brutally killing the Chromatic, and then returning to their normal behavior afterwards. Perhaps there's something about you that holds them back?"

"Honestly if there is I'm glad for it," I said, "It would be good to know that every single metallic with won't immediately decided to kill me on sight just just for being born with the wrong color of scales. Maybe its due to be rejecting a path of cruelty like most of my kind?"

"A workable theory," said Verrax, "and its good to have a greater dragon show up her that isn't trying to wreak havoc at the academy".

"Does it happen a lot?" I asked.

"It depends," said Verrax, "and some are easier to dissuade. Some are dragons who had a dalliance with a humanoid, spawned a sorcereous bloodline, and don't want them out there in the world, either because they're embarrassed and angry at what they'd done, or think the sorcerer with besmirch their name. Some dragons are easier to deal with than others… Bronzes can be the worst, always trying to impose their will on eneryone else. When they show up I have to remind them that by coming onto the academy's grounds, they have entered my territory, and they have no right to dictate what we do here".

We talked into the afternoon, having quite the rousing discussion.

A/N: And there we go! Verrax is a more recent character of mine, and he's been really fun to play so far.

The detail about Metallics attacking any Chromatic they see in a blind rage is actually official lore, but for the purposes of this story, I've decided to largely ignore that concept. partially because I didn't know it when I began this story, and partially because I think the dragons are intelligent enough to behave like rational beings when not already enraged my something.