They did not set off first thing in the morning. Serali had, after all, kept the ale flowing all night, and most of them didn't turn up at the inn until well after noon. Donovan hadn't been up much before that himself, having staggered out of his room only half an hour before the sun reached it's zenith.

Serali wasn't particularly sympathetic towards the little group of aching heads, some of whom ordered a round to try and cure the problem with the thing that had caused it. Even if they hadn't been would-be dragon slayers, she'd never had much patience with drunks, and she'd seen an awful lot of them. She'd been helping to serve tables since she was ten. Two years was enough time to be quite certain that drunkenness was something she never wanted to experience. She'd tasted ale, once, and hadn't liked it, and seeing what it did to the men who drank it put her off the stuff entirely. It was disgusting.

But eventually aching heads were soothed enough, and energy enough was found for the little group to set off. There was no one but Donovan staying at the inn, and this early there weren't any other customers now that the hunters had left, so Serali was able to get the rest of the afternoon free once they'd left. She grinned wickedly as she trotted through the fields south of town. This was going to be fun!

She reached a grove of scrub oak that stood just past the fields and, judging that to be cover enough, she shifted into her dragon form. From there she took to the sky, and spent the next half hour circling around, well within sight of the town, though she never passed over it. She knew at least four people down there were decent shots with a longbow, and she wasn't going to risk that! But she made sure that everybody in town saw her, before soaring off to the west. When she'd gotten well and truly out of sight she turned south again and flew over the edge of the Great Escarpment. She circled around until she wasn't far from her starting spot, flying the last little bit quite low, to be sure she wasn't seen. Then she landed and changed back.

She was back at the inn when the dusty dragon-hunters trooped in. They took their usual table, and Serali listened, having to work hard to keep a broad grin off her face. They had obviously already heard the news that the dragon had been sighted practically on top of the town, to the south, while they'd been searching the bluffs to the north.

"Well, better luck tomorrow," said Donovan. "There's no sign of a lair where we looked, but they said it flew off to the west, so I think tomorrow we should go in that direction, see what lies there and if there's any sign of a lair."