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Kitoith led Spike up the stone stair ramp in the entrance hall, and into a series of upward-leading cavernous staircases. "I know you probably have much to ask about dragons, especially magic dragons, but as I said before, perhaps there is a way that you could help me out," Kitoith said to Spike.

"Uh, sure," Spike hesitantly replied, "I suppose I could do that, especially in exchange for your hospitality."

"Well, arent you the polite dragon," Kitoith chuckled, "I certainly believe that you were raised in pony society. You see, its about Barius, hes a shut-in and I worry about him. You seem like the perfect dragon to get him to warm up to the idea of making friends.

"What makes you say that?" Spike asked.

"Call it a hunch," Kitoith explained, "The way you were leading your group, how you seemed to take charge. I take it youre the reason that the group has stuck together, hasnt it?

"Well, Im not so sure about how well itll stick together," Spike said worriedly, "I think most of the guys are just gonna take off, and head back to their own groups as soon as this is over."

"That may be so," Kitoith said, "but maybe not, that shouldnt stop you from continuing to make friends though, right?"

"Thats true!" Spike said happily.

"So, Im asking you to show that kind of attitude to Barius," Kitoith asked, "He doesnt share a lot of what hes thinking with me or the others, but maybe you can relate to him better."

"Okay" Spike began, "But what should I talk to him about?"
Kitoith thought for a bit, before coming up with an idea, Just tell him I sent you to him to ask him about dragon stuff. Hes lived here most of his life, so he should know enough to answer most of your questions anyway. Say that I was too busy with council business to help you and sent you to talk to him.

"Well okay then," Spike agreed with unsurety, "Ill try my best."

"All right," Kitoith stopped at the top of the staircase cave and pointed to a wooden door at the end of the hall, "that leads to Barius cave. I hope it goes well.

Spike nodded and walked over to the wooden door and pushed it open slowly.

Spike peered into the room Kitoith pointed out. He wasnt making his presence known, but not really trying to sneak up on the guy either. He looked around at the cave Barius had been keeping himself holed up in. It was large enough to hold a few adult sized dragons comfortably, so for a dragon of Barius size, it must have been rather spacious. Along the right wall was a chest, supposedly for his horde, whatever he collected. At the end of the cave was a gaping exit leading to a balcony or landing pad, exposing the evening sky. On the left side of the room, Spike noticed it was much more cluttered, with several shelves carved rather sloppily into the wall, housing tattered books and rolled up parchments and scrolls. Below was a rather crudely made table, but was stable, a bunch of tools lying on top of it, with some ore, gems, ink and quill and an open parchment splayed open.

Further down the right wall, he saw Barius on what he assumed to be an elevated slab of rock. They probably hadnt heard of mattresses this far down south, but there were some tattered blankets which were better than nothing. Of course, this far south never got cold, so it was probably unnecessary. Barius was sitting with his back to the door, and was seemingly pre-occupied with reading a book while finishing up his slice of pie hed nabbed back down in the dining hall.


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"Hey there! Is that book any good? Spike asked after walking into Barius cave.

"Eh?!" Barius jumped in surprise, knocking the book out of his lap, as he turned to see the dragon whod snuck up on him, "Wha- Huh, How did you get in here?"

"Heh, sorry about that dude, didnt mean to scare you like that," Spike apologetically scratched the back of his head, "Your door was open, so I didnt bother knocking."

"Ooooookay," Barius replied hesitantly, "Let me rephrase, why are you in my room?"

"Oh!" Spike remembering why he came in, "I wanted to know more about dragons and magic dragons you know since apparently I am one — and your mom said to ask you about it since she had to go do something important."

Barius scoffed, Pfft, she put you up to this didnt she? Try and make friends with me?

Spike was taken aback slightly, was it that obvious? Or had she done this before? He looked around trying to come up with a decent cover up. "I dont know what youre talking about," Spike fibbed, "She just said that you were really knowledgeable and probably knew more about dragons than even she does." It was a gamble to assume something like that, but judging by his book collection, maybe an assumption like that wasnt too off the mark.

"Did she really say that?" Barius looked skeptical. "She was never all that interested in the stuff Ive been studying," he muttered under his breath, "then again, I probably am the most knowledgeable in the mountain" Barius refocused his attention on Spike, Alright thendont think I caught your name.

"Spike!" he grinned, "but what were you reading there? I didnt know dragons wrote books."

"They dont," Barius said, picking up the book, "A lot of dragons dont particularly care enough to write books, I found these in an abandoned wagon one day."

"Really? Whatre they about? Exciting mysteries, sappy romance novels, fun adventure stories, ya know the whole reason I set out on this journey was because I read a good adventure book and I really wanted to do it for real, so I

"Theyre magic manuals," Barius cut Spike off, "They talk about magical theory, enchantments, and all sorts of stuff that most dragons dont really care about."

"Whoa, that sounds really cool!"

"Really?"

Spike nodded.

Barius attitude seemed to brighten, So uh, wanna see the stuff Ive been working on then?

"What kind of stuff?"

Barius led Spike over to his table covered with assorted tools, gems, ores, and what looked to be jewelery, if a bit crudely made. On the corner was an open scroll with an intricate design and several notes scribbled across it.

"See, ever since I came across that wagon filled with these magic tomes and manuals, Ive been super interested in enchanted items and artifacts." Barius seemed to be really interested in showing off his knowledge and began to lecture, Like you have normal items, and you can imbue them with a magical property, and the item is altered to have that magical property. Kinda like tempering steel, but with magic. So like this ring I made, I wanted to see if there was a way to imbue it with some kind of magic. Here, feel it.

Barius showed the rather crude ring carved ring to Spike, and set it in Spikes hand. "Whoa, its hot." Spike noticed.

"Yep, it was my first attempt at an enchantment," Barius explained, I just imbued some basic fire magic into this ring, so now its been hot like this since then. Kind of useless on its own, but its a great learning tool to figuring out how this stuff works.

Spike was impressed, Howd you do that?

"It took a while to figure out, but it turned out that what was needed was a rune, or what this drawing right here is." Barius pointed to the scroll with the intricate design, You put the item you want enchanted on it, then use a dragon breath spell to imbue it with an enchantment. It takes a lot of magic to even enchant something as small as this ring. Not to mention the trial and error it comes to figuring out which runes work, and which work the most effectively. Barius rambled on, and turned to Spike who seemed to be in a bit of a stupor. "Uh, whoops, I think I rambled on a bit there," Barius sheepishly apologized.
Spike shook himself out of his stupor, Uh, thats super cool and all, but what did you mean by dragon breath spell?

"Oh thats right, you wanted to learn more about magic dragons," Barius facepalmed, "let me explain it from the beginning," Barius went back and sat on the bedrock with Spike opting to sit on the floor.


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Posted previously at: 2014-02-16T06:41:15 | Posted previously by: CEO_Gladstone