The Dragon's Hoard

a story about a dragon with a very specific treasure horde

You heard the dragon keeps her cave stocked with treasure boxes. anyone clever enough to defeat her can claim her hoard. When you burst in, you expect to find the monstrous menace atop a mountain of glittering chests. Instead, you find an excitable wyrm surrounded by shelves of plain boxes.

“Oh!” the dragon says with gleeful surprise. “Welcome to my hoard! What shall we play? Invaders of Kattan? Monarchopoly? Caverns & Chimeras?”

“There’s no gold?” you ask, confused.

“Not in Invaders of Kattan,” she explains, slithering giddily up to a box. “But it’s a resource in Monarchopoly. Fancy a game? You can keep it if you win.”

You nod in befuddled assent, slowly realizing these boxes hold no treasure. You lose the first game, but the dragon offers a rematch and shares some pointers. You try again. By the third game, you’re rather enjoying yourself. You finally win the fifth.

“Great move!” the dragon exclaims. “Fair’s fair, you can take your gold.”

As you load your rucksack for the trek home, you realize this is the most fun you’ve had in ages. Perhaps these boxes do hold a kind of treasure. you set your bag down. “How long does it take to play Caverns & Chimeras?”

The dragon’s face splits with a toothy grin. “How much time do you have?”

This story was inspired by a conversation with The Velvet Duke, whose voice you may recognize from some of my videos!

Short story written by Peter Chiykowski

Story prompt taken from a photo by David Clode