The Treasury

You walk into a large cave, were you find a young women, about 19 or so, picking up the various treasures strewn about. She seems indifferent to the fact that she is surrounded by a fortunes worth of metal and gems. Near her a white dragon with a yellow gem hung around its neck watches her, perfectly content to just sit and stare. As you get closer you hear her talking to the dragon.

"Look Miko, I found a copy of Through the Looking Glass, by L. Carrol. Listen to this poem, it's my favorite:

The sun was shinning on the sea,
shinning with all his might,
he did he very best to make
the billows smooth and bright
and this was odd because
it was the middle of the night..."

She would have gone on, but just then she turns around and notices you.

"Hello, I'm sorry, have you been here long? I'm"Hello, I'm sorry, have you been here long? I'm Aica, the closest thing the Haven has for a banker. And this is Miko, my Gemmite. How did I get him? Whenever someone finds any sort of treasure, they bring it here. Someone found a dragon egg and brought it to me. Using a spell I found in one of the many books we have, I was able to discover that it is a Gemmite egg, and that it will hatch soon. We have decided, since I have the most free time and space, I would be the one to take care of him when he hatched. Not that I mind, it's great to have someone to talk to. Recently his gem fell off, and we learned that he is a yellow Gemmite, with the talent of projection of unconditional love."

"Hold on, what are Gemmites?" you ask, confused.

"Gemmites, they're a type of dragon of course! Haven't you heard of them? No? Hold on..."

She starts sifting through the many piles of junk, until she finds what she is looking for. She stands up and shows you an old, leather-bound book with gold letting proclaimed The Encyclopedia about Anything and Everything: Volume 8969. She opens the book, flips through it and hands it to you open, pointing to an entry that reads:

"Gemmites: Gemmites are another species of extremely intelligent and magical talented dragons that populate the cliffs of MoonStone and Mythical Beasties.These white dragons are quite unique in the fact that hatchling are born with black gem nodules embedded on their foreheads. Although eating mostly meat for their meals, they also enjoy sweets like fruits and berries.

Egg "clusters" average anywhere from 15 - 30 eggs, it really depends on the parents, general health and environment.  Certain mutations in gem colors will occur, and those seem to be more frequent in the larger clusters.  Breeding is limited to within MoonStone Weyr.  Once hatched, the Gemmite is very ravenous and somewhat grumpy.  They tend to stay that way for about a week before starting to take interest in their surroundings and developing their personalities. At birth, you will notice that even though their bodies are white, there is a black gem like nodule located mid forehead, right between their eyes. These gems usually lighten up to another color and sloth off with their baby scales as they approach adulthood.  As soon as the gem is loose enough to fall off, Gemmites will come into their magical abilities. The color of the gem gives only a hint of their personalities as each dragon is an individual, but certain color groups are have common "powers". Once bonded with a complimentary partner, these powers will strengthen and become stronger than those who are unbounded.  Their talents also correspond with those of the parent.  Only those of mutations of mixed gem colors can have "new" talents.  They come in three stages: egg, hatchling and adult. See also: Moonstone Weyr"

Aica then takes back the book and continues talking, "As I was saying, I've spent a lot of time reading, and thinking up riddles, or trying to solve them. Would you like to hear one?"

"Yea? Ok, How about this one:

I push my car to a hotel, yet my car is not broken.
I pay a $500 rate yet I do not stay at the hotel.
Where am I?"

Aica smiles as you try to figure it out an then tells you "If you can't get it, place your mouse on top of the riddle," she then stops and looks confused, "Why did I say that? Why would you put a mouse on the riddle, and how could you, since the riddle is just words, not something substantial. Sorry, sometimes I say things that even I don't understand. Well, here are some more riddles, if you'd like to try some."

More Riddles

What is greater than God, more evil than the devil, The poor have it, the rich need it, and if you eat it, you'll die?

(Know any more? Email me!)

Here's Miko's egg

And here he is as a hatchling.

All the great treasure on this page came from Strange Metaphors.