Quests & Challenges

I'm finally done! It's Baines and Capricious as Marc Antony and that tiny kitten[url=http://66.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7isvwx4k51qm6sfao1_500.gif](here)[/url]. It's the first thing that came to me when I saw your edit. [img]https://66.media.tumblr.com/87bde78f4382484370cd4d30ea75ab90/tumblr_poorssAHN31y87bhmo1_1280.png[/img]

@Weredogalism I'm not sure what I was expecting, [i]but I love it.[/i] This is perfect, thank you~ [emoji=ridgeback laughing] EDIT: I'm totally putting this in their bios, by the way. Hope that's ok xD;.

[b][i]Day 17.2[/i][/b] A twig crumbled under Baines’s claw. The three of them had been travelling for a few days now, maintaining some semblance of routine. They woke at the break of dawn, ate, and broke down their camp. They would travel until approximately midday where they would stop for lunch, then continue on until dusk. Their signal to find a resting place was more or less when the sun came low enough to be seen under the near constant cover of clouds, indicating the few minutes they had until dark to set up camp again. Capricious was ever eager to learn and thus was excited to be taught how to build a fire pit and raise their temporary shelters for the night. Blithe was a little less enthused by the work, but he didn’t complain much, even if he did ask a lot of “why” questions. By the end of the first week, however, even Capricious seemed much less enchanted by the whole process. The journey itself was also wearisome; Blithe rode the air currents himself much of the time, though he tended to slide along on the ground when he got tired. Capricious would join him in the air for as long as she could manage, but she often had to rest on Baines’s back. Baines himself preferred to walk; Mirrors weren’t really built for long flight, after all. He preferred the feel of the dirt under his claws and the steady motion of putting one foot in front of the other. The quality of the earth had changed, however. Instead of the packed soil or the scrubby grasses of the savannah, he was now walking on something much softer. Ash. Capricious let out a cough from his shoulder, waking up from where she had been dozing. Blithe had also come back down closer to the ground, staring out at the blackened plain before them. “… This looks… grim,” he muttered aloud. A squeak from Baines’s shoulder told him she had become aware. “What… happened?” she asked quietly, looking at the destruction around them. There was a rumble of thunder in the distance and she winced, her fins flattening towards her neck. “Wildfire. I hear it happens often in this region. If it doesn’t rain for long enough while the storms continue to rage, a bolt of lightning strikes a dead tree or a dry patch of grass, and the fire spreads rapidly wherever the winds carry it,” Baines explained. “You don’t think we’ll get caught in a wildfire, do you?” Capricious inquired anxiously. Baines raised his head, closing his primary eyes to reach out with his heat vision. Besides the odd dying ember, the air was relatively cool, and he shook his head. “No. This fire faded out a while ago. There’s not enough left to be a danger to us.” He could feel her wings brush against his back as she relaxed. “If anything, Shadow magic is strong against fire,” Blithe put in, grinning at Capricious. “I can snuff out any flames if they get too close.” “Oh, that’s good,” she breathed in relief. Even so, the atmosphere of the scorched land weighed heavily on them, and they continued in silence. Occasionally Blithe would attempt some witty banter, but the conversation was too often interrupted by bouts of coughing to really keep it flowing. Suddenly Blithe twisting around, his large purple eyes scanning the landscape to their left. “What was that?” he asked, unable to keep his startlement out of his voice. “What?” Capricious echoed, sitting up and craning to follow his line of sight. “I don’t see anything…” Baines stopped, narrowing his eyes. His heat vision was picking up some small, subdued signatures, but nothing large enough to be a danger. “Come on,” he encouraged the others, deciding not to trust it all the same. “I don’t know about either of you, but I’ll sleep better tonight without ash in my mouth.” His companions agreed, but now there was a tension in the air that left them all on edge. Subconsciously they quickened their pace. As they moved along, Baines eventually became aware of the sound of footfalls behind them. Something was following them. A feral snarl punctured the silence, followed by a yelp from Blithe who twisted out of the way of a pair of large, reaching claws. A pair of green eyes now glared at them from the ashes, followed by a second and a third. [i]Golems[/i], Baines thought. Moss and other debris had been burned off in the fire, blackening the mixture of stone and ceramic that had created them, but he could still recognize what they were. He had only ever seen dormant ones before, but these had been awakened, perhaps by the fire, perhaps by some previous, unfortunate inhabitants of the condemned land around them. Either way, he hadn’t seen the danger for what it was because the only heat they gave off was what Baines assumed to be their power source, deep in their chest. The Mirror took a strong stance in front of them, tensing his muscles in anticipation of an attack. “Go,” he growled at Blithe and Capricious. The Spiral stared at him, bewildered, and he heard the Fae’s fins flutter. “What?” she said hoarsely. “We can’t just leave-!” “I’ll be right behind you,” he reassured her as the golems continued to advance. “Just [i]go![/i]” He shook her off and she squawked in surprise. A golem lunged at her but she was saved by Blithe who snatched her up in his claws and sped into the air. He hesitated, obviously torn on whether or not to help or obey. Baines was already preoccupied with two of the constructs, fending them off with claws and occasional bursts of light. Blithe let go of Capricious and dived down ignoring her protests, but almost got himself caught in the claws of the third golem. “Leave!” Baines bellowed, rolling with a golem that lunged at him and throwing it off with its own momentum. “This is your chance to escape!” “But-“ Blithe began, barely staying out of reach of the other golem’s leaps. “[i]Go[/i]!” Baines threw a bright bolt at the Spiral himself, forcing him to flee. Now that their other prey was beyond reach, the golems rounded on Baines. He feinted an attack and they locked onto his movements, allowing him to sidestep so they collided into one another. He turned to launch into the air, but one of the golems recovered faster than anticipated. Its weight on his back sent him sprawling back to the ground, its claws digging into his shoulder. He brought up his wing to smack it in the jaw and its teeth closed on the joint, which though painful, it was better than his neck. But now he had to dislodge the golem on his back while fighting off two others who were doing their best to pin him down so they could finish him off. He clenched his teeth as one latched onto his tail and another onto his wrist. The one on his back had let go of his wing knuckles and he could guess it was going for his neck again. He quickly shut his eyes and focused all of his light magic into his last free palm. He only had one shot at this. ----- [item=Berserker] I have amended the rules so that a false Death Streak (tails) means I have to increase three random dragon's levels by 1. Mostly because I'm tired of not having coli time. And... well. The denizens of the Scorched Forest really, [i]really[/i] hate Baines. Also, I'm so sorry to give you that adorable comic and then hit you with [i]this[/i]. I just... yeah. I got inspired, and the Scorched Forest is really rough. [size=2]Please don't hurt me, I also want this story to be exciting.[/size] ----- @Weredogalism @Riff

I would be honored by my art being in their bios.
Sounds like a good rule change. tbh I'm kinda thinking of doing the something similar.

Oh no Baines <:C

[b][i]Day Eighteen:[/i][/b] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/BDjljJT.png[/img][/center] Capricious finally managed to pull on Blithe’s tail hard enough to force him to stop. Her fins were folded halfway down and quivering, tears pooling out of her large pink eyes. “[i]We have to go back[/i],” she insisted again, choking on her words. “[i]We can’t leave him, we can’t-[/i]“ Blithe had resisted up until that point, forcing Capricious to move on. Now he stopped, faltering. What was he doing? He twisted in place, conflicted. “He told us to go,” he said, but the words sounded hollow. Felt hollow. True, Baines had told them to fly away. He’d even thrown a bolt at Blithe to make him leave. But that last image he had of the Mirror being surrounded by those golems was haunting him. “Blithe?” Capricious’s voice broke him out of his thoughts and he looked at her. She was staring at him intently, her fins still drooping and shaking. He took a breath, finding his resolve and holding onto it. “Come on,” he said, bolting back the direction they had come. He could hear Capricious’s quick wing flaps behind him, desperately trying to keep up with him. He didn’t let that sound fade, not wanting to be separated from her as well. His eyes he kept trained on the ground and the sky ahead of them, looking for anything remotely mint colored. Regretfully, he didn’t know how far they had travelled already. He just hoped not too far. Several minutes passed and he began to lose hope, doubt eating away at him. Were they still going the right direction? Had they really flown that far? Even if they found Baines, would it be too late? A gasp from Capricious surprised him and he spun to see what was wrong. She had broken away, flying toward a figure flying haphazardly some distance away in the general direction they had been headed. He recognized the brown wings and the mint scales immediately. He beat toward Baines and Capricious as fast as he could manage, reaching them both at the same time. “Baines!” he called, hovering just out of the Mirror’s wingspan. There were crimson streaks sliding down his sides and he was panting heavily. His left wing was the cause of his erratic flight, the wing knuckles bloodied and Baines seemed to have difficulty holding it open to glide. “We should land,” Capricious fretted, having also seen the injuries. “I can heal this, but you can’t be flying-“ “Not yet,” Baines managed to rasp, his face contorting as he flapped his wings once to keep himself aloft. “But you could injure yourself more-“ Capricious began. “[i]Not yet[/i],” he emphasized, coughing at the effort. He glanced at Blithe and added, “They gone?” It took a moment for the Spiral to register who he meant and he looked back. He scanned the ground thoroughly, but he couldn’t see anything moving. No glowing green eyes, no off-color forms. “… I don’t see them,” he said. Baines gave a quick nod. “A little longer.” They continued flying until Capricious was too upset to continue, insisting that they all land so she could treat Baines’s injuries. The Mirror kept up his strength to glide down to earth with at least some grace, but the moment his claws scraped the earth, he collapsed, letting out a sigh. Capricious’s eyes and claws were already glowing with magic and she went immediately to Baines’s side to administer aid. Blithe coiled himself on the ground, watching for a moment as she poured her healing magic into Baines's wounds. He couldn’t help but feel helpless, and guilty. They should never have left. [i]You can’t think about that right now[/i], he told himself, giving a shake of his head. He wasn’t completely helpless. There was something he could do. He busied himself constructing their camp, quietly involving himself in the work. Even though he wasn’t watching, he still winced any time Baines coughed or gasped in pain. Instead of building three separate shelters, he put together their materials to build one large one over and around Capricious and Baines. There was the distant sound of thunder, and the clouds thickened overhead, darkening the sky before the sun had even set. There would be no fire tonight. Capricious finished her work shortly after the rain really started falling. Baines had fallen asleep, his breathing a little ragged, but steady. She nestled down right next to the Mirror, exhausted from the exertion. She said nothing as Blithe coiled close by, only managing to exchange a glance with him. They now understood what their quest entailed. Mistakes such as the ones that had been made that day could not happen again. If they were going to do this, they had to be in it together. And stick together. They were a team. And they had to act like it. For all their sakes. ----- [item=parched clay jar] I almost lost him. I really did. These stupid moss-covered golems got two crits off on Baines in a row and they almost got him. He pulled through though, but just barely. [i]Really[/i] didn't want to lose him :(. Today was an art day, but I didn't want to continue leaving you guys hanging, so art and writing in one! Also not terribly inspired to draw anything, so I decided to do some basic landscape practice. Yay clouds! ----- @Weredogalism @Riff

I'm so happy he's alive!
The art's lovely and so is the writing.

Scorched is rough.

[i][b]Day Nineteen:[/b][/i] Baines insisted that they continue moving almost the moment he had woken up with the sun. Capricious attempted to protest, but he started taking down the camp by himself, forcing the others to help lest he strain himself. The Fae didn’t ride on his back like she normally would have, instead hovering about him as if she was afraid the Mirror would collapse again at any moment. To be fair, Blithe half expected the same. Baines was still in bad shape despite Capricious’s healing, causing him to limp visibly as they moved along. Restless from anxiety, Blithe continuously flew higher up, scouting around for any movement around them before coming back down to attempt conversation with his friends. Blithe and Capricious at least convinced Baines to stop reasonably often for rest breaks. The Mirror couldn’t really argue, most of his energy being drained from the travel. Being the largest of the group, his companions couldn’t exactly carry him. Capricious also was tiring quickly, having been used to riding on Baines’s back which for now was not an option. It was during one of these breaks that they had an odd encounter. Blithe was attempting to lighten the mood with a bit of banter while Capricious tended to Baines’s wounds when they were distracted by a sound from nearby. Everyone was immediately alert; they didn’t want a repeat of what happened with the golems. They didn’t see anything at first, so Blithe got up from where he had been coiled on the ground. “I’ll take a look from above,” he said, spiraling up into the sky. Capricious watched him climb into the air while Baines continued to scan the ground. Blithe stopped to hover once satisfied he was high enough and looked around. Most of his view was still blocked by the large rocks they had set the camp up against, and the other side was just barren ground. He frowned, doing another sweep with his eyes when he saw it. “[i]Look out[/i]!” he called, diving toward the creature creeping out of a hidden crevice in the rocks. It had a hold of one of their packs, but looked up at Blithe in alarm when he came barreling down on top of it. The creature let out a hoarse cry, half stumbling, half falling away. Blithe leapt off to plant himself between the beast and his companions, tensed for a fight- and then he stopped. The animal was a zeeba, its wooly coat singed and blackened. It scrambled back to its feet, obviously trying to get away, but it was weak. On closer inspection, it was clearly starved. Blithe glanced toward the pack it had tried to take. It was Capricious’s medicine pack which he knew was filled with potions and herbs. “Wait!” the Fae interrupted his thoughts, flitting over. “Don’t hurt it! I think it’s just scared…” “And hungry,” Baines put in, coming to the same conclusion as Blithe. “Must be another victim of that fire.” “Poor thing…” Capricious murmured, landing on the ground. The zeeba tried to call out, but its throat seemed too damaged to get any real sound out. The Fae began to slowly approach it, causing it to cringe away from her. “Easy, it’s alright,” she said as soothingly as she could manage, putting her fins down and folding her wings so she would look smaller. “I’m not going to hurt you…” “Let it go,” Baines said, settling back down again with a sigh. “There’s nothing we can do for it.” “It just wants some food-“ “It’s a herbivore; we don’t have any for it.” Capricious began to droop again, so Blithe piped up. “I can find some grasses for it,” he said, causing the Fae’s fins to lift. “We’re not too far from some grassland; I can be there and back in a jiffy!” “Even if we feed it now, it’ll just starve later,” Baines interjected. “Then we’ll take it with us,” Blithe shrugged. The Mirror lifted his head again and scowled at him. “No. It’s too weak, it’ll just slow us down.” “You’re not exactly sprinting yourself right now, buddy,” the Spiral pointed out. It was a bit of a low blow, but the way that Baines’s crests smoothed toward his neck said that the Mirror knew he couldn’t argue. Blithe turned back to Capricious who was watching them with fins flared in hope. “Try to keep that thing from running off and I’ll be back with some grasses and maybe some leaves for it.” “Ok,” she answered, nodding with more enthusiasm than she had shown in a few days. “Be safe!” Blithe hurried off, making for the scrubland he had seen earlier from his vantagepoint in the sky. It was a bit farther away than he had envisioned, and there wasn’t as much full brush as he had hoped. Most of the grass looked dry and wilted, and the trees were sparse. The sun had started to dip toward the horizon by the time he had gathered what he hoped was enough and flew back to his companions. Capricious had managed to convince the zeeba to settle at the edge of camp where it watched the dragons warily, its ears and tail twitching occasionally in anxiety. The Fae welcomed the Spiral back when he landed and dumped his haul onto the ground as close as he could get to the zeeba without alarming it. The zeeba was intrigued by the gift, even if it did not seem to believe it was for it. After a moment, Capricious moved forward to scoop up a large handful of leaves and held it out to the zeeba, approaching it slowly. “Here you are,” she murmured. “These are for you.” It stared at her, chancing glances at the leaves. Eventually it reached forward with its nose, half rising as it recognized the smell of food. Finally it gave in and went up to munch the leaves straight out of Capricious’s claws. Blithe had backed off to coil next to Baines, who was watching the scene with a vague interest. As the zeeba dove into the pile of other grasses and leaves still on the ground, the Spiral nudged his Mirror companion. “See? It’s getting stronger already. We might even be able to put it to use.” Baines gave him a sidelong look. “There’s no point in my trying to argue that we not keep it, is there?” “Nope,” Blithe replied. Baines let out a suffering sigh, looking back at Capricious and the zeeba, who certainly already look rather comfortable around the Fae. “Fine. We keep it,” he muttered, making Blithe grin in amusement. ----- [item=pillbug] Coli Drops: [item=zeeba] ! Hey, guess who got a familiar! Rolled to see if they would keep it and got a 4, so yes! (I accidentally rolled a d10 instead of a d4 (don't ask) and still got a 4, so it was just meant to be.) I'm happy, I like Zeebas~. Also I think we needed something more heartwarming after what just happened with Baines. I hope this accomplishes that, heh. Scorched Forest is no joke, seriously. I about had a heart attack every time a crit landed. It's only day 19 and I'm already scarred, ugh. Baines and Capricious are level 9, Baines is level 8. ----- @Riff @Weredogalism Thanks for the kind words ;w;. It means a lot~.

@Sabariel
I’m love love loving the story and characters so far! Could I be added to the pinglist?

@nearsightedcat Done! Welcome aboard! I'm glad you're enjoying it so far~!

[b][i]Day Twenty:[/i][/b] [center][item=scholar] [i]Pinkertoooooon![/i] [b]Coin Flip: Tails[/b] [i]-sigh of relief-[/i][/center] Ok. So, back into the coli we go. Baines is level 9. Blithe and Capricious are level 10 [i]hype![/i] [i]Guess who's ready for some primary genessssss~.[/i] My lack of sleep has caught up with me, so no writing today... just too exhausted orz. Hopefully I'll have something for you guys tomorrow. ----- @Weredogalism @Riff @nearsightedcat