How to keep a dragon

The egg

• Hatches about four days after it is laid.
• Likes six turns in that time. Tap the nest to turn it. Turns shape its personality; it hatches on time either way.
• Stoke the fire when the room cools. Candle the egg once a day for a hint.
• Miss a turn and it hatches a little late, never not at all.
• Other Dragon Keepers can warm your egg. Who visited shapes its temperament.
• When it is ready, the nest says so. You name what hatches.

Care and bond

• Four needs: hunger, spirit, preening and warmth.
• Three acts: feed, play, preen. Tap your dragon in the room.
• Each act earns a little silver and bond. Needs fall over hours, not minutes.
• A dragon left alone gets hungry and sulky, never hurt.
• Once a day it wants one thing. Meeting it earns double bond.
• Bond climbs through five bands, from wary to inseparable, and never falls.

Life stages

• Egg, hatchling, drake, dragon, elder.
• Hatchling to drake: seven days. Drake to dragon: three weeks. Real days, no shortcuts.
• Elder is your choice, after seventy days as a dragon. Elders give advice to visitors.
• Each stage has its own body and its own level cap in the ring.
• Clothes are cut to size. Outgrown pieces stay in your storage.

Your lair, coin and the shop

• Tap a tile to walk there. Your dragon follows.
• The workshop under the room holds your purse, storage and today's shop.
• The shop has six pieces a day. New stock at your midnight.
• Buy a piece and it goes to storage. Place it, turn it or put it away in the room.
• Nothing you buy is ever lost. The shop buys most things back at half price.
• Silver comes from care, errands, work, expeditions and fights. It buys the everyday shop.
• Gold comes from the story, bosses, the Lists, every fifth level, or the Treasury. It buys the finest tier.
• With enough silver and Building skill you can dig more rooms.

The World

A map of places to walk into with your dragon. Chat with whoever is there. The places:

• The Hollow — A fire that is nobody's. Tap a tile to walk, and whoever else is here will see you do it.
• The Warm Springs — Water warmed by the rock it rises through. Slip in; whoever else is soaking will see you arrive.
• The Overlook — The world from above it. The wind does most of the talking, and the fire disagrees.
• The Shore — Where the wood runs out of land. Cold water, a warm fire, and driftwood that remembers being taller.
• The Sky Lift — A timber lift at the foot of a great mast. Step into the cage and ride the open sky.
• The Terrarium — A garden under one great glass. The weather never gets in, and whoever else is walking the green will see you arrive.
• The Great Forest of Mercer — An old forest and a fire that was never lit. Tap a tile to walk, and whoever else is here will see you arrive.
• The Arena — A sanded ring. Your dragon fights; you call the moves. Spar with whoever is here, or climb the ladder.
• The Sunken Warren — Cold caves under the ridge. Walk up to a wild dragon to fight it. Beat them all and the boss rises.
• Thornback Ridge — Wind and scrub. Wild dragons stand about the ridge; Bramblejaw holds the crest.
• Ashfall Gullies — Hot ground and old kilns. Kilnmother waits at the far end for anyone who clears the way.
• The Frostmoor — Snow country past the Wolfhold. Wild dragons stand about the moor; Old Winter lies under the cairn.
• The Elder Stand — The oldest trees in Mercer's wood, and what was under them before the fire. The Eldest waits at the heart.
• The Highwall — A red fortress city on the headland. Three wards climb to a keep that has never been taken.
• The Wolfhold — A grey castle in the snow. A great yard, a godswood with a hot pool, and a Great Hall. The snow does not stop.
• Lairhalla — The capital, where every road ends. Twenty wards inside one wall: the Great Market, a fairground, the Old Town, a cathedral and the Citadel.
• The Library — The colleges' reading room. Tap a shelf and the books come down.
• The Cathedral of the First Flame — The nave behind the great door: two rows of piers, pews, and the First Flame burning at the far end. Light a candle, read the Founder's stone, listen at the crypt stair.
• The Thieves' Guild — The Thieves' Guild, called the Lamplighters by day. Nan Quickset runs it. Join to learn to find things, go unnoticed, and work in the dark.
• The Wardens' Hatchery — The dragons' guild. Aud Ferrow runs it and judges your dragon, not you. Join to be ranked on how well you raise it.
• The Wayfarers' Map Room — The travellers' guild. Sable Marrow runs it. Join to be sent to every fire and down every road, and ranked for coming back.
• The Masons' Lodge — The builders' guild. Hob Greaves runs it. Join to be ranked on your lair: what you place, what you dig, how you build.
• The Warriors' Sword Hall — The fighters' guild. Brand Halloran runs it. Join to be ranked on fights won, ladder rungs beaten and hunting grounds cleared.
• The Assassins' Quiet Room — The guild of the night. Vesper Kell runs it. Join to fight after dark, sit at the night fires, and earn the rank nobody hears coming.

• Each place drops something once a day for whoever walks over it.
• Expeditions send your grown dragon away for hours. It comes back with silver or a trinket.

Neighbours, friends and trades

• The neighbours page lists every lair. Visit one to leave warmth, sign the guestbook or warm the egg.
• Ask anyone to be friends at a lair door or any fire.
• Friends can send parcels from the post, up to five a day.
• Trade pieces and silver at the Trading Post. Both sides are held until both agree.
• Two friends' grown dragons can be paired. An egg follows for each house.
• Every dragon has a public page and a family tree.

Fights and levels

• Your dragon fights; you call the moves. Pick up to four in the training panel.
• The Arena: a ladder of eight Dragon Keepers, one rung at a time.
• Five hunts, opening in order: the Sunken Warren, Thornback Ridge, Ashfall Gullies, the Frostmoor, and the Elder Stand. Beat the wild dragons to reach the boss. Resets daily.
• Spar with a friend in the ring. Both dragons learn; no coin moves.
• Level comes from fights only. Caps: hatchling 12, drake 25, dragon 40, elder 50.
• Fights cost vigour. It comes back with rest: about an hour for a hatchling, two for a drake, three for a grown dragon. Care brings it back faster. A healing potion brings it back at once; fights drop them now and then, and nobody sells them.
• Losing never leaves the dragon flat: a lost bout is a few minutes' breather, then back in.
• Under a third vigour the dragon is winded and the ring refuses it. Losing costs nothing else.

The story and quests

• The quest log sits under your lair and on the Quests page.
• The Unlit Fire is the main story, told in chapters by people in the world.
• Chapters come in order. Steps complete on their own as you do them.
• Wagers are side quests, in any order.
• Every step links to the place it means.

Each day

• Three errands on the World map each morning, paid in silver.
• A fresh shop counter.
• Tend the hearthfire and it grows a little. Miss a day and it shrinks a little. No streaks.
• Everything resets at your midnight. Change your time zone on the account page.

Your account

• Your account page: password, email, time zone, sign out.
• Turn off email news there too. Password resets always come.
• Your look, and your dragon's, is in the wardrobe.
• Something broken or someone unkind? Write to contact@lairlings.com.
• The Terms of Use and Privacy Policy say what we keep and promise.