Made a friend

Once the Bandits left and the Soothsayers were left to watch over my Wagon and goats the Gentlemen and I made off towards town to eavesdrop on the dragon's conversation.
Most of the citizens had already left the town and local burglars and opportunists took the chance to go on a robbery spree. Usually, I would take some time to interrupt such an event. But with this happening everywhere in town and the dragon issue seeming to be time-sensitive I feared that doing so would take up to much time.
 
During our trek through the city towards the orb, we passed two fascinating groups, both of which we sneaked past out of worry we would be dragged into their nonsense and be delayed.
The first group seemed to be a hunters guild, led by an elf, endeavouring to slay the dragon in the name of honour and glory.
The second was an assembly led by a dwarf who had quickly fashioned themselves a priestly attire out of tablecloth and curtains. They proposed that the best way forward was just to go ahead and accept the dragon as their new ruler.
 
Once at the tower with the orb we weren't sure how to get inside so instead Mr Gimdalf used his owl familiar to fly up and eavesdrop. The dragon noticed the intrusion rather quickly but seemed to have no intention of stopping it. At this moment the presumed conversation consisted mostly of a heated... 'debate' between the wizards inside. Some wanted to make a deal with the dragon for the orb in exchange for its service during the war as we had feared. The other party, luckily, was outraged at the dragon's request concerning the orb, whatever that request was, and vigorously and loudly declared the dragon should be answered with a folly of spells.
It wasn't too long before the dragon grew tired of this 'debate' and instead chose to turn its attention towards finding our group and talking with us instead. I must admit that in the moment of hearing Mr Gimdalf relaying that sentiment to us I was struck by the sudden worry of not being able to provide such a large being with a fulfilling meal. Thank the heaven's the dragon, who introduced themselves as Akta, hadn't the mind for food.
Going by its words it had been asleep for a long time since humanoïds were still using sharpened rocks and sticks to fight each other. She assured us that although she occasionally likes to watch wars from a distance they quickly lose interest and are even less motivated to participate.
They were kind enough to give us some information on the specific dragon species or dragon baby Tinmin hails from. Answering some questions about its diet which I appreciate. Other than that they had some suspicions about the magic being on the fritz and an old temple Mr Gimdalf is searching for based on some accounts from their elders. With this information and the assurance Akta wouldn't do the Opal Empire's bidding we said our goodbyes. We thought we wouldn't see each other for a long time if ever again at all. We were wrong.
 
As soon as we returned to my wagon we had a quick lunch with the fortune-tellers and then went on our way. Our travel companies seemed very interested in our meeting with the dragon and requested our permission to use it as a story during their travels. We agreed on the condition it could not be traced back to us. Nothing is as tiring as fame.
While travelling we quickly left the bulk of refugees behind us who set up camp far earlier as most weren't used to travelling. We stopped on the way to have some excellent burgers with fresh bread. I bought five extra loaves for making toast, meatballs and other things requiring bread for the coming days.
Eventually we set up camp far ahead of the rest by nightfall however the darkness of night didn't come. Instead, we were met with a dazzling aurora painting and lighting up the sky. We suspected that this was something concerning the magics instability as well as we were far too close to the Mediterranean for it to occur naturally.
 
Not even an hour later we heard the sound of panicking people coming toward us from the direction of Saltdale and saw Akta's silhouette against the sky. At first, I presumed the wizards had chosen to attack them and they simply took the opportunity to throw their war preparations into chaos as we had requested. But this was quickly diverted as they seemed to come towards us. We saw them land a few times near the fleeing mass and even fly past us before doubling back.
Akta informed us that the aurora was indeed a sign of magic going crazy and more so of impending disaster. They had attempted to recruit the wizards and other promising-looking people for help but were met with either willful ignorance of the problem or screams of terror.
I'm always willing to go on an interesting adventure and I moreover won't reject a chance to leave this empire as quickly as possible. the two Gentlemen seemed to be of the same mind.
We did, however, still have a delivery to make to the Free cities which wouldn't be on our flying route. Therefore we passed this task to the fortune-tellers who were hiding from the dragon behind their wagon. The gentlemen gave them one of the storage crystals which contained the documents to be delivered. This was also in order to make contact after it had been done.
I properly stored away my things in the wagon and allowed Dar and Din to stay inside it for safe travel while the dragon gave us a lift to this old temple.
 

Conversation points Akta:
 
-Tinmin can eat whatever and its species is native to 'the plane of the gods' ability to travel from plane to plane. haven't been on this plane in a long time.
 
-Weird magic occurrences are indeed a sign of the weave being messed with. Possibly a sign of someone trying to ascend to godhood.
 
-The event between the ancients and the demons occurred due to the ancients attempting to ascent