Dragon Hunters

The Zimbrenelle dwarves have run out of food. All their reserves have been stolen by a vicious dragon that only comes out at night. They launch a bottle into space containing a distress message. The bottle drops into the tavern garden and our heroes get on the case immediately. The dragon, however, proves to be a trickier customer than first expected and our heroes have problems overcoming it. The dwarves don't appreciate our buddies' delay; their hunger grows and they decide to turn our heroes into lunch. The Hector is captured and Gwizdo and Lian Chu are faced with only one solution to save their little dragon -- kill the big bad dragon.

Hector hears a howl for help reverberating through the skies. Our heroes are needed in Amazoomia, a land run by women who are frightened of nothing -- except dragons. They are being terrorised by a monstrous beast that is stealing their children. Gwizdo, Lian Chu, and Hector are joined on the hunt by the gigantic Victoria, a champion pig thrower. The dragon turns out to be a monster -- a Frankenstein's monster -- a mechanical contraption, cobbled together from bits of several dead dragons. It was constructed by rebels who want a society where women and men are equal. The children are all safe. Not surprisingly, the dragon hunters fail to convince anyone that they have killed a dragon and are chased from Amazoomia with pigs being hurled at them.

Jeanneline throws Gwizdo out of the tavern and tells him he can only return when he has earned enough to settle his tab which is longer than a very long thing. Gwizdo takes umbrage. His is annoyed at the lack of respect shown for a heroic hunter of his caliber. He promises that he will indeed return, his arms laden with gold. Lian Chu, Gwizdo, and Hector leave the tavern on board the Saint-George to look for clients. They are soon caught in a snowstorm and crash into a deserted, icy mountainside. The hunters are helped by the Snowlanders, rough-mannered, impoverished mountain folk. They have to fight a snow salamander, a dragon that is making the local's life hell. Gwizdo has problems adapting to the extreme Snowland conditions. But there is a pleasant surprise waiting round the corner as a reward.

A new client turns up at the tavern and Gwizdo and Lian Chu are surprised to see that it's Billy Toughnut, an old buddy from the orphanage. He hires our friends to defend his adopted village, where his fiancé, the beautiful Gwendoline, lives. Problems start in earnest when our heroes find out that the dragon attacking the village by night is in fact, by day, the beautiful Gwendoline herself.

A noble lord hires Jeanneline to prepare the feast at his daughter's wedding. The only problem is she has to provide the dragon herself, one that can only be cooked immediately after being captured. Jeanneline will have to experience the thrills and spills of dragon hunting with Gwizdo and Lian Chu. To say that Gwizdo is over the moon is an overstatement, and Jeanneline herself is not happy about leaving the tavern. The adventure teaches her that she is not cut out for a life of adventure, or for being pursued by electrically charged dragons across fields at break-neck speeds.

Being trapped on an island at the mercy of a chameleon dragon that blends perfectly with the vegetation is never great fun, especially when it coincides with a sudden attack of the blues. And while Gwizdo is asking himself deep, searching questions about his future, Lian Chu and Hector have to take care of everything, not just the hunt (they're used to that) but also contract negotiation (and that's another kettle of fish).

Lian Chu disappears one morning, without so much as a word (not suprising, seeing that he can't actually write). Panic breaks out at the tavern and things aren't helped when a rich client arrives with a once-in-a-lifetime contract to offer our hunters. In a flash of inspiration, Gwizdo understands what has happened to Lian Chu. It is nearly the anniversary of the disappearance of the village where Lian Chu and his family lived; the giant must have returned to the scene of the carnage. Lian Chu arrives to find that another village has sprung up on the ruins of his own and is once more threatened by a dragon. Lian Chu is going to have to relive the drama of his childhood but this time he is resolved to defeat the monster.

The Dragon hunters return from a successful hunt to find everyone at the inn in a kind of suspended animation, like statues. What can have caused this strange malady? They seek the advice of Kao, the short-sighted medecine man, who tells them it must be the work of a Petrovile, a dragon that can somehow turn its victims to stone. Kao knows where it lives and the three of them track the creature down. When Kao becomes its next victim, Lian Chu understands the Petrovile's power - it can turn you to stone with one glance. Blindfolded, he braves the creature in his gleaming, polished breastplate. Its stare is reflected back upon itself and the beast itself turns to stone. Everyone comes back to life, but as no one knows what has been going on, no one is grateful. So there's no chance of a reward.

Wealthy merchant Otis Criblecrocker is staying at the inn and Jeanneline has taken quite a liking to him. It looks like Otis might be moving in and taking over, which would mean Gwizdo, Lian Chu, and Hector would be out, looking for new lodgings. Desparate times call for desparate measures, so Gwizdo brings in some Smacklings, vicious rat-like dragons that rapidly infest the inn. Hector is scared of these creatures because he knows something about them that no one else does: Smacklings can change into other forms of dragon. But they do the job: Terrified, Otis takes off in the middle of the night -- taking Jeanneline's money with him. Turns out he was just a con-man after all. Lian-Chu gets rid of the Smacklings but unfortunately, one is left behind. It transforms into a giant Borkback. And it's one heck of a battle to get rid of that.

For weeks, a mysterious rival has been stealing contracts from under our heroes' noses, pipping them to the post at the scene of the hunt. Gwizdo is furious and is determined to get his hands on the mystery mustachioed colossus who is making their lives miserable Their surprise couldn't be greater when they discover that the stranger is none other than Zoria, Jeanneline's eldest dragon-hunter daughter, who has disguised herself to get by in the big mean world.