A New Lair at the Deep (Cobalt is in)

Post by **SoulBalancer** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 3:53 am

Cobalt's wings thrust down, over and over, as he hovered roughly over the large deep pool called Rivers Deep. In his claws he held a massive boulder, which he dropped into the water at one side of the Deep, in a shallower part. 
 
He watched it's signature as it fell down through the water and landed on the bottom. Good, right where he wanted it. 
 
The Cobalt dragon made a sweeping turn in the sky and went back toward the mountains, to pick up another boulder, roughly the same size as the first, the largest boulders he could carry and still fly (in other words, very very big rocks). 
 
He returned to the same place, seeing the signature of his first rock, and readjusting his position in the sky, to drop the second rock beside it. And the process repeated itself. 
 
The idea was that the rocks would stack up and press down on each other, forcing the bottom rocks to sink deeper into the river mud, until they could go any further, thus forming a solid foundation for his lair, which he always preffered to be on the water. 
 
All day he worked like this, dropping the biggest boulders he could carry into the water, in a circular pattern, until a kind of peninsula had been created, still under the waters surface, but the foundation anyway. 
 
Cobalt considered deep in his mind, hefting a boulder around in his claws, feeling for the right distribution of weight. Then he dropped it. 
 
It fell, it hit the water with a huge splash, sending ripples out over the Deep, splashing water over the shores...and watching satisfied, as it landed neatly on the top of another boulder, teetered, and fell down into the gap created by the curving tops of the boulders, a proper stack. 
 
Good. He did this many more times with more boulders, flying further to find the ones of the same size as the others. The marks of his claws in the mountainsides could be seen where he had gouged out the stone. 
 
He worked like a beaver, watching and working, as the boulders made waves, rock pressed into the mud at the bottom, and the foundation of his new lair grew, and the water level of the Deep grew higher, bit by bit. 
 
Cobalt stopped only to hunt and get a drink, as his eyes didn't need light to work. He packed stone well into the night, finally settling down at the edge of the river and catching some sleep.

Post by **SoulBalancer** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 7:13 am

Cobalt was up with the sun and gouging rock from the mountainside before the birds were singing. Again he returned to working on his lair. 
 
Mid-day found him hovering over the Deep again. The top rocks could just be seen under the surface of the rippling water. He dropped several more boulders, until a small island was formed, about five or six feet above the water. Then he lowered his altitude until he was sitting upon the rocks. 
 
He lowered himself belly down, wings outspread, as the mud at the bottom of the Deep squished and bubbled frantically, sending mud up into the water. The rocks ground together with a grating noise, and sank...slowly... 
 
...slowly... until the boulders were just a foot above the surface, and the water was beginning to lap around his belly scales. Cobalt took flight again, and began his trips to the mountain for more stone. 
 
By lying on the boulders like that, he ensured that his great weight crushed them down further and further, making a solid base. He used this tactic four more times, until the stones refused to budge even under his great mass. 
 
Now came the fun part. Stones of all sizes were dumped into the water beside the base foundation, bouulders of any size he deemed worthy to handle, and then the big old dragon went for a swim. 
 
His huge lungs inflated fully, and Jaggertail simply walked, slowly, from the edge of the bank into the water. His eyes adjusted to an underwater atmosphere, and darting flashes of heat scattered and fled as he moved to the bottom of the deep. 
 
The resistance of the water posed no problem for him. In fact, he was very comfortable under the surface, and he used the smaller rocks to fill in the gaps in the larger boulders, cramming them tight. 
 
Now for the sealing. 
 
Some believe that fire is defeated by water. Cobalt believed fire and water could work together. The cobalt dragon 'fired up' his fire gut, sloshing around a nasty mix of flammable gases and other volatile materials, before he opened his jagged toothed mouth and loosed a gout of blue gold flame. 
 
The water around his head instantly boiled, and became steam, in a reaction so fast that a melting hot blast of air hit the stones and turned their surfaces to smooth glass, which Cobalt pressed on with his fore feet, still breathing the blue gold flames, as he pressed the 'cement' further into the cracks. 
 
Eventually he would come up for air, but the rest of his day would be occupied with 'cementing' the foundation of his lair, underneath the water.

Post by **SoulBalancer** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 4:21 pm

At last, the foundation of the lair was complete. Cobalt came up for air, climbing from the Deep with water sluicing off his massive frame, his scales raised and releasing the contained body heat that he had held un under water for insultation. Steam blew off him like a cloud of fog. The massive dragon shook and stretched, and sat back finally to observe and examine his surroundings, in relation to the foundation. 
 
Black eyes narrowed in concentration, and he made the conclusion that the above water entrance would be located in the base of an upthrust rock bank nearby. The underwater exit would of course be underwater. Cobalt always left himself with other options. 
 
He lumbered purposefully to the outcrop, and started to dig. His massive claws gouged the earth and dug out massive gouts of rock and soil and humus. He expanded the opening until it was wide enough for him to walk inside and turn around, large enough for a dragon over two hundred feet long and massing the same as two fully mature blue whales. He rumbled, giving it a shock test... it held. 
 
Satisfied with the result, Cobalt again brought forth his fire tool, and melted the entire inside of the cave, all but the floor, until everything was as hard and shiny as glass, molten stone forming great drips on the walls, slow dollops of darkening red. 
 
As soon as the furnace cooled, Cobalt began digging out the floor, throwing the debris outside in huge sporadic bursts. Soon he was two lengths down into the earth, in a steep slant, in a tunnel wide enough to allow turning around. This too, was cleaning out and then subjected to the dragons flames.

Post by **SoulBalancer** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 7:07 am

Cobalt, once he was satisfied with his entrance tunnel, immediately began digging out a huge cavern. This was harder work, for the debris needed to be taken out of the cave, and the only way he could do this was to push the piles in front of him up the steep slope. 
 
Consider it done. Cobalt worked from dawn till dusk, piling the dirt and stone next to the rock foundation. It would worked, sifted, and then put into building underwater entrances and exits, and a large perching platform for the old dragon, so that it could sit over the water. 
 
Soon the cavern was ready, and Cobalt was satisfied with the structure, and finally began the construction of a tunnel network.

A New Lair at the Deep (Cobalt is in)

A New Lair at the Deep (Cobalt is in)

Re: A New Lair at the Deep (Cobalt is in)

Re: A New Lair at the Deep (Cobalt is in)

Re: A New Lair at the Deep (Cobalt is in)