This story begins like all good stories. In a dark cave filled with danger. I, the wise Seroa was teaching Leopold, the less wise, some of the finer points on taming dragons. The rune was marked, instructions to stay back were given, the trap was set. All that was need was a victim. I darted off to find a suitable beast, and returned shortly with the first that I had encountered. Needless to say, the beast was stunned. Whip-crack went his whoopy tail, and the beast was done. Leopold asked me "Isn't that cheating?", to which I said "Nay. We are but tamers." Even at this point, it was clear that this wasn't a normal dragon, it had barely resisted the taming efforts. Luck was clearly on my side so I inspected him back in town to see how fine a specimen he was. That is when I found out that this was a terrible, terrible dragon. I thought about taking him back to the cave, releasing or killing him off on another of his brethren. The gate to the stable had already cost 2 or 3 fizzles and he had refused the order to follow first time. It wasn't worth the effort to head back. Off to market for you! What came next wasn't surprising, one person's junk is another person's treasure, and BadYin (it seemed like a good name of Scottish origin) was probably sitting on a small pile of gold and items. Besides, there are other uses for dragons. The #BadYinsLifeMatters movement was disturbing. As a grandmaster tamer I had learnt over more animal lives than I can remember that you should of course say anything and everything you can to convince a creature to join you. To follow you. To kill for you. To die for you. There was clearly a decision being made here, and BadYin was but a passenger. I told BadYin about the support for #BadYinsLifeMatters, and could see that it gave him hope. I was fine with that, he would fetch a better price if he went willingly. Giving BadYin hope was a mistake, his sale had attracted interest from not just BadYin fanatics, budding chefs but also from collectors of rare and valuable goods. A warning for you now reader, for this tale takes a dark turn now. I had made a mistake. I had taken a beast from it's habitat, taming it and putting it into the stable. I had no intention of using him to fight with, he was weak. I didn't know how to cook, so wouldn't be eating him. I wasn't going to release him back to the cave, I had re-marked the rune. There was only one thing that I knew to do. The afternoon I took BadYin for a walk in Trinsic, I had brought with me enough cloth to wrap around him. Please understand that I drew no pleasure from that moment, I had planned to wrap the dragon tightly in a large cloth sack stitched from the pieces and to throw him from that bridge. I'd have done it too, if I was a tailor. As I started to wrap the cloth around his face, his eyes caught mine and I knew the moment was lost. What was I thinking, about to throw this guy away like a Jehlom Bull called "a"? Maybe #BYLM after all. I dropped the cloth and didn't even stop him as he ate it. Over the coming days I pledged I would support BadYin's future. I would train him to be a better dragon for his new owner. I grabbed my lute and played my best montage music. I took him around town to teach him all the skills he would need with whichever owner won him. I would teach him how to fight, how to butcher himself and how to cook himself, for that was what was needed. Admittedly, he resisted every effort, and even landed me in trouble at the local stable, for some unknown reason. As the auction for BadYin continued, a novice tamer called @Fefa stated their intent: The bids rose higher still, settling at an unheard of (and unauthorized hehe) 401k gold. The BadYin movement supported this bid, and there was even a failed attempt to outbid this amount, where the unfortunately use of a "?" threw doubt on the bid. Days had past since the bridge incident, and I heard noises from the room I had left BadYin in, as though he was regurgitating something. I went up to check he was okay. I found out that he definitely was not "okay". Enough shenanigans! A deal was to be made! I took BadYin with me to meet his new owner. I felt bad about how I had treated him and wished him well in his new life, however short it would probably be. ------------ Thanks for reading, if you made it this far! You can read the thread that inspired this re-told story, as it happened (and what's happened since), here: http://uorforum.com/threads/badyin-a-terrible-dragon-for-sale.27548 Also you can see BadYin's entry to the Halloween contest: http://uorforum.com/threads/2017-halloween-costume-contest.26776/page-2#post-270741 And finally you can support my selfish abuse of the BadYin brand to try and win the top-shots for this month: http://uorforum.com/threads/top-shots-october-2017.27401/#post-270463 No dragons were harmed in the making of this story, however four sheep were literally torn limb from limb.
Thank you for your wise teachings, Seroa. My stables are now full of BadYin's brothers and sisters, though none are his equal.
