"Even if we assume all that means is 'large, possibly firebreathing, flying reptile' I am... not sure I'd like to try it."

"Not without knowing more," agrees Cypress.

"... Can't we assassinate him with magic or something?"

"I mean, I can do a death spell? But I don't know if it'd work on a dragon. I suppose I could ask Mrs. Adams to hang out in Chamomile and ask the alethiometer if it would work on her, but I'm not sure how consistent the effects would be between critter types, and the death spell could easily have different effects depending on whether the target has a daemon or not, which I can't check by alethiometer at all."

"My brand of magical assassination also has flaws. For example, I can't do it from the safety and comfort of your apartment, it's - near impossible to make a shield that far away and get the aim correct. As in, I doubt even Prime could manage it."

"So - I'll try a death spell if you want me to, but I can't guarantee it, and it also would mean that you wouldn't know why he's after you."

"Sphinxes and dragons had a huge war a long time ago, but I was so totally not involved, on account of not having been born..."

"... Ugh. That's an idiotic reason for - all of this."

"Yup. Kind of terrible."

"Savannah, can you stop being that guy now?"

"Thanks."

"Anytime. And now I never have to be that guy again, yay."

"The adorable little bugbear worked fine, and there is no valid magical reason for it to vary between kinds of critters or depend on whether you have medallions or not," says Ice. "So - hold off on the death spell unless he tries to kill you again?"

"Yeah. And I want my mom back, but - there's nowhere to put her right now even if we weren't suffering from a case of racist dragons." She sighs. "Cypress, can you get me the dragon's - address? Phone number? In case I have a fit of optimism and decide to try diplomacy."

"Let me try and figure out how to aim it at an address..." murmurs Cypress, and he gets the far off look in his eyes again.

"Your magic really isn't showy," declares Savannah.

"It can be," says Cypress absently. "I am just not a typically showy person."

Ice pets him.

Cypress smiles a bit. "Got an address, I have no idea how to manage a phone number, sorry." He then rattles off the address.

Phix writes it down. "If I knew more about what dragons can do I'd be more encouraging of taking risks with approaching him and trying to get a surrender or capture, but - I have no idea," she sighs. "So - I don't know. I'll talk to Darren."

"I mean, if it attacks you we can probably figure out a way to collectively defend you."

"Yeah, if another rescue mission is called for I'll definitely have Darren call in the cavalry, but - I mean, last time Savannah and Darren took out a bunch of his hirelings and we torched his warehouse and I got away and he didn't find any other sphinxes. Maybe he has given up."

"... In my experience, idiotic people that are after someone for stupid reasons don't give up very easily," sighs Cypress. "But perhaps you'll be luckier than I."