Seven Deadly Dragons: Sloth
Seven Deadly Dragons: Sloth - The quarantine
The Hero arrives at a quarantined village and wonders whether the dragon hunt has brought them to the wrong place. A figure in a hazmat suit startles them, then reveals himself as Lim. The dragon is indeed here: Phlegnn has been soaking in a hot spring that supplies the village's drinking water. Lim believes the dragon has a highly contagious illness. Everyone has been drinking the contaminated water, and the resulting outbreak has forced a quarantine.
The Hero is delighted by the prospect of fighting both zombies and a dragon. Lim is less impressed by Phlegnn's energy than his lethality: the creature has harmed people without making much effort at all. Galanoth admits that he had hoped for a greater challenge, but promises to help. Before the Hero enters, Protective Gear Required calls for one Hazmat Suit and one Hazmat Helmet. Lim opens the gate and insists on wearing the protection. His suspicion that the contagion might also be airborne makes that precaution especially urgent.
Seven Deadly Dragons: Sloth - The living villagers
Lim sends the Hero through the infected village to look for survivors. He considers a rescue followed by burning the place down if necessary, but that is a possible last resort, not what happens. Are There Any Survivors? requires ten Plague Zombie Defeated and one Survivor Found. The person the Hero discovers explains why the apparent zombies should not be mistaken for walking corpses: the villagers are alive, suffering from a severe case of dragon plague.
Their green appearance, mucus, and extreme lethargy have made the illness look like undeath. The Hero privately expresses relief at not having actually killed them. Asked whether a cure exists, the Hero says not yet, but reassures the villager that Lim is already working on it. The discovery changes the purpose of fighting through the town. The people being encountered are patients to save, not an undead population to destroy.
Seven Deadly Dragons: Sloth - Samples and a first attempt
Lim needs samples before he can develop a treatment. Gathering Samples asks for six Snot Samples from Snotgoblins and six Plague Samples from Wandering Plague. Find a 'Volunteer' then calls for one Captured Test Subject. His instructions are to wear down a Plague Zombie until it can be tied up; the title's joke does not make this a willing volunteer. Lim wants to test a formula before producing enough for the village.
For Cure the Volunteer, Lim has altered the gathered material so that he expects it to neutralize the virus. He instructs the Hero to mix a glob of snot with three drops of altered plague, then administer the mixture to the subject. The single Cure Mixed and Administered objective records that attempt. It does not produce the hoped-for cure. Lim concludes that expecting such a simple formula to work was too optimistic.
Seven Deadly Dragons: Sloth - Herbs and mushrooms
The next version adds restorative plants. Herbal Help requires one Marsh Kelp, taken from the Marsh Thing outside town. Re-heal adds a search for eight Re-Shrooms, which Lim describes as light green mushrooms with large white spots and restorative properties. Collecting ingredients becomes the Hero's part in Lim's effort to repair the first formula.
Let's Try That Again returns to the captured subject. The instructions retain the glob of snot and three drops of plague, then add a handful of kelp and exactly two mushrooms. The eight mushrooms collected and the two used in this recipe serve different purposes in the account. Administering the new mixture still leaves Lim dissatisfied. He believes they are approaching a solution, but the extra herbs have not yet supplied it.
Seven Deadly Dragons: Sloth - Science needs alchemy
Lim decides to support his science with alchemy. One More Time asks for a Health Potion from Reens in Arcangrove and an Airther Vitae from Phelan in Dragonhame, one of each. Who's Up for Round 3 keeps the previous formula and adds a dose of healing potion and a dash of Airther Vitae. These additions lead to another Cure Mixed and Administered, now with a successful result.
A restored villager announces that the cure has worked and thanks the Hero for saving them. The Hero's relief quickly becomes a practical problem: Lim will have to make much more of the treatment. The recovery proves precarious: Phlegnn sneezes, and the same villager soon shows signs of the plague again. A working treatment cannot protect people while their surroundings remain contaminated. The breakthrough gives the pair a way to begin helping everyone else, but they will need enough for the whole town.
Seven Deadly Dragons: Sloth - People, streets, and water
Cure the Villagers requires ten Zombies Disinfected. Lim tells the Hero to spray the afflicted people and send them outside to him so that they will not be infected again while the source remains. Gotta Clean Up then turns to the surroundings, requiring ten Town Disinfected from the globs Phlegnn has left around the village. Saving the inhabitants requires treating both their illness and the places that continue to expose them to it.
The last public cleanup reaches the castellum, the large central pool that supplies the town's water. Clear the Castellum calls for one Castellum Disinfected and one Snotgoblin Prime Defeated, with all the slime removed. Lim and Galanoth can finally describe the people, buildings, and water as disinfected. Phlegnn still occupies the hot spring, however. Lim leaves that remaining problem to the Dragonslayer.
Seven Deadly Dragons: Sloth - The dragon who refuses
Galanoth confronts Phlegnn and declares the village under his protection. He accuses the dragon of deliberately making its people too sick to resist, interpreting the outbreak as a way to take the town. Phlegnn's response is simply to refuse a fight and ask to be left alone. Galanoth cannot reconcile that refusal with the confrontation he expected. Though he could hurt the dragon where it lies, he says attacking someone who will not fight back would dishonor him, even when that someone is a dragon.
The Hero tries another approach: Phlegnn need not fight if he will leave the hot spring. The dragon says he is sick and needs its steam. Told that he is contaminating the water and making the entire village ill, he dismisses that as the villagers' problem and refuses to move. The Hero therefore proposes using Lim's antibiotic spray on him. What began as an expected hunt has become an argument over whether the dragon will stop endangering people without a fight.
Seven Deadly Dragons: Sloth - An unwilling patient
Phlegnn cries out that the spray stings. The Hero is hurt during the encounter, then tries to apply the treatment again. Galanoth takes the dragon's attack on his companion as the reason he can now join the fight. His earlier refusal to attack an unresisting opponent gives way to defending a friend. He urges the Hero on, expecting Phlegnn's lethargy to make it difficult for the dragon to resist them both.
Get rid of Phlegnn makes the immediate aim explicit: wear the dragon out, then spray him with Lim's cure. Its objective is one Phlegnn Defeated. This first victory is an opportunity to administer the treatment, rather than the end of the dragon's story. The effort to remove the source of the town's plague is about to reveal a problem with treating Phlegnn as an ordinary sick creature.
Seven Deadly Dragons: Sloth - Cured is not good
The Hero celebrates getting the spray onto Phlegnn. The dragon sputters, and the Hero announces that the plague has gone. His sickly green appearance has given way to a golden form, but relief lasts only until he becomes active and angry. The Hero had not expected him to get up and move with such energy. Galanoth treats the change as a reminder of his belief that every dragon is dangerous, then promises that this one will not threaten them for long.
Cured is NOT GOOD now requires one Cured Phlegnn Slain. Galanoth says that curing the plague has left them with a much more serious fight and asks the Hero to help protect the village. Lim likewise observes that the treatment has given the dragon the energy to resist. Success against the infection has made the direct confrontation harder.
Seven Deadly Dragons: Sloth - His natural state
As Phlegnn changes again, the Hero wonders whether he has fallen ill once more. Galanoth supplies a different explanation: he is reverting to his natural state. He is a plague dragon, not simply a dragon that caught an illness. The cure hurt him while making him stronger. Galanoth sees two forms of the same danger, one capable of killing through direct violence and the other through disease.
The Hero wonders whether continued spraying would make Phlegnn unstable and develops a plan. Galanoth is told to wait for the Hero's signal to attack. The cure that had seemed to make the problem worse becomes part of a coordinated attempt to finish it. The Hero keeps applying it until the moment arrives, then calls for Galanoth's strike.
Seven Deadly Dragons: Sloth - A very messy victory
Phlegnn explodes. Lim is delighted by the result and the data it gives him, while the Hero reacts with disgust and hopes there will be no more dragons quite like this one. The contrast has followed the investigation throughout: Lim sees an exciting scientific opportunity in the same material that the Hero finds repulsive. The town's survival has depended on working through it anyway.
The Hero leaves Lim to his records and asks for a hot bath and a nap. Galanoth encourages resting, but his warning is ominous: from what he has heard, the worst is still ahead. Lim's final conversation celebrates clear water and villagers restored to their old selves. The local crisis is resolved without making the remaining dragon hunt seem any easier.
Seven Deadly Dragons: Sloth - Two more problems
Lim's work creates a separate problem after Phlegnn's death. He stays to experiment on the plague samples, mutates the material, and loses it. Mutated Plague asks for one Mutated Plague Slain. Lim insists that the Hero actually destroy the escaped threat before reporting success; his completion response is relieved that he has not brought disaster on the world. This follow-up comes from his later research, rather than explaining the original outbreak.
Galanoth's other follow-up gives sloth a more literal meaning. Phlegnn embodied the vice through his lethargy, but the villagers have reported a dragon that is also a sloth. Actual Sloth Dragon requires one Actual Sloth Dragon Slain, and its completion leaves Galanoth bemused by the world's silliness. Both errands follow the defeat of Cured Phlegnn. They are separate codas to the village's rescue, not additional steps needed to defeat the plague dragon.