Stonecoil

Bold, courageous, and somewhat abrasive, Stonecoil has devoted her life to the study of monsters. She was just old enough to venture into the wilds for her first Night of the Nocturne and ended up bringing back... Quite the assortment of strange creatures. The clan may not have been too keen on welcoming her rather hostile menagerie(and with good reason), but have allowed her to continue her research into their life and habits.

She's always looking for new places to go and new sights to see, often tagging along in the coliseum despite her own lack of experience in the matter. "Married to her work" isn't too much of an understatement. There's no real precedent for her settling down or(deities forbid) raising a family, though she treats her loyal tick-tock like a child. All the better, then, since it reminds her to eat.

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. This dragon embarked on a trip across Sorneith during Brightshine Jubilee 2020 from June 21 to June 27. She is one of many who are traveling to various lairs and clans in the hopes of spreading love and joy to those they encounter. When it's over, they'll be able to look back at the adventures they had and dragons they met and remember the journey they went on. ____________________________________________ coding // graphics

A monstrologist by trade and by passion, Stonecoil is, to be perfectly honest, less interested in distributing sunflowers than trying to investigate everything remotely familiar-like she sees. Good luck trying to get her to participate in the festivities when she's(not very discreetly) pspsps-ing at your runescar lynx.

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"Welcome, Stonecoil!"

The Ridgeback nearly dropped her burden of sunflowers as she found herself approached by three grinning Mirrors and a powerful Guardian. "Hi." Not knowing what else to do, she offered a flower to each one. A clacking noise behind one of the Mirrors startled her, and she looked up to see..."Is--is that...?"

The red and white Mirror scowled and flung her wings out between the Ridgeback's inquisitive claws and her prized Frost Delver. "No touchy," she said.

"But..."

"Come on," the Guardian said jovially. "We've got an expedition planned for you. Deep into the heart of..."

"Golem territory?" Stonecoil asked, with a covetous glance at the massive machine.

"Not today," the Mirror sighed. "But there'll be plenty of opportunities to make some new friends."

The other two Mirrors introduced themselves as Bricka and Aquilo. "We're heading into the crystalline territory, in search of Immaculate Tablets," Aquilos said. "Come along."

Stonecoil gazed with longing, but the Mirror gave her such a glare that she figured she'd have to wait until later to try to "borrow" the golem. She followed the other two Mirrors into the fray, where she proceeded to faint immediately and otherwise get in the way.

"Oooh, a Maren!" "He doesn't want to say 'hi', he's launching a Plague bolt! Duck!"

"Oooh, crabs!" "They aren't crabs, they're lobsters, and they'll knock you over if you don't..." "Oh look, there she goes again."

"Oooh, a Harpy!" "WILL YOU GET BACK FROM THOSE CLAWS?!"

"Fishies!" "Look out!" " ...oh, I guess that one is friendly?"

"A GIANT TURTLE!" "BY THE ELEVEN, GET BACK HERE BEFORE IT..." "TOO LATE!!"

Two rather frustrated Mirrors led a bruised but beaming Ridgeback home, carrying two wounded Amber Gulpers and a furious Crystalplate Stinger. They did not even have the remaining tact to bid her goodbye, but dumped their spoils at the feet of the Guardian and left for a wash.

Melete grinned. "Did you have a nice time? Good! We'll take care of getting those new pets...or whatever you call them, back to your lair. They'll be safe and sound, waiting for you when you get home!"

Tidewrath counted her scars, and whistled. "You lasted longer in their than my recruits usually do! If you're ever interested in training for the Tidelord...or for any other reason," she amended hastily.

"We'll be happy to have you visit again!"

Stonecoil smiled. "Thanks," she said. She gathered her bundle of sunflowers, and as she did, something dropped to the ground. She swept it up hastily and waved goodbye, hurrying off.
A metallic roar echoed in a cave below, and a moment later Tidewrath's Frost Delver appeared, waving a detached limb aloft with its other. It clanked after the Ridgeback with monstrous strides.

"Sparky! What happened..." Tidewrath's eyes blazed as the image of what the Ridgeback had dropped flashed before her eyes. "Why you little..."

Melete sighed as the Golem and Mirror dashed off in hot pursuit of the fleeing fugitive. "I hope they aren't too rough on her..." she muttered.


The marketplace was filled with bustling dragons as they scrambled from stand to stand, grabbing at anything remotely festival-like they could find. Stonecoil had no interest in these baubles; she was more inclined to visit a small stand a few yards away where a Fae was trying to place a fighting familiar back into its pen.

Hopping from foot to foot, the ridgeback approached the stand, noting the sign that read: "Celandine's Elite Familiars." The female fae, currently in the process of wrangling up a Kamaitachi, gave Stonecoil a quick sentence to chew on: "Just a minu- urgh - minute!"

Within about a minute, the Fae was able to slowly but surely bring the Kamaitachi inside a pen containing a few other familiars. Looking around, Stonecoil could also see more of these pens, each with other types of familiars (some more cat-like, some more reptile-like, etc). A few crates were also lined out, most with individual, more dangerous-looking beasts. The ones with wings were kept in a more glorified bird cage, big enough to hold at least fifty doves.

Quickly, the female shut the pen door, leaving a snarling Kamaitachi to try and scratch its way out of the reinforced pen.

"That's a beautiful familiar you got there. A Salve by the looks of it, " Stonecoil commented.

Her eyes brightened. "Oh, you know of them? I was able to trade for this one a while back... now I know why they wanted to get rid of it."

Stonecoil grinned. "Yeah, you've got to make sure to feed that species a little more than their brethren; they can get completely cranky if not."

"Well, I'll be sure to remember that. You looking to buy anything from here?"

The Ridgeback hesitated, glancing at the familiars on display, some were passive, others completely aggressive, and most of them she had the huge urge to start documenting. The bright golden pelt of a Brilliant Psywrum reminded Stonecoil just exactly what she was doing here.

"Actually, I have some sunflowers to deliver to you!" The monstrologer reached into her bag, pulling out a bundle of the flowers. "They're for the Brightshine Jubilee."

"Oh thank you!" Celandine grabbed the batches of sunflowers from the Ridgeback, sliding over a gold piece as a reward. Before the Ridgeback could say anything, the Fae had turned around, busying herself with putting away the flowers.

Out of sheer lack of self-control, Stonecoil's head turned to the pen. Instead of leaving for the next Clan like a normal delivery dragon, Stonecoil snuck over to the pen, peering over the fencing to look at the familiars. Prowling in the cage were a few Lynx's, other breeds of Kamaitachi, and something she hadn't seen before...

The creature was fearsome looking, with sharp teeth and ebony ram horns. It was black, gray, and white, and the only bright thing about it was its saturated aqua eyes. The stripes on its back seemed to move as it prowled back and forth, looking for a way out.

Stonecoli pulled out her journal, one that she kept with her when marking down different animals, and began flipping through it. Nothing she had discovered yet! Excited, the ridgeback moved her hand for a writing utensil, but as she was doing so, her wing brushed against the pen door.

Either by mistake or fate, the door was slightly creaked open and the beasts, with hunger on their minds, rammed themselves, trying to force their way to freedom. She had just enough time to yell "Celandine!" before a stampede of animals crashed open and sprinted down the marketplace, making a break for the town.

Celandine turned her head over in the ridgeback's direction. If this had been a less dire circumstance, perhaps she would've responded. Instead, upon seeing the disaster unfold, her fern colored eyes widened and she took off, flapping her little wings as fast as they could go.

"Come on! We have to get them back!"

Either out of guilt, or out of curiosity to how these beasts reacted, Stonecoil ran after her. The pair zoomed past the market stands, focused only on catching the run-away animals. Sometimes, they were extremely close to grabbing one before it slipped out of their grasp. Other times, they were able to lock the animal up somewhere (the jewelry store owner would claim to be a victim of this crime; Stonecoli would just respond "shouldn't have set up shop there.")

More often than not, Celandine broke into fits of laughter at the ridiculousness of it all. The two viewed this less of a chase and more of an adventure around the town. What better way to experience the city full on than during a familiar chase?

Along the way, they passed the town guard (they were too shocked and surprised to catch up), a Coatl who looked like he needed to get out more, and a few pretentious looking ladies which Stonecoil had the pleasure of kicking mud into their faces (hey, a Ridgeback's gotta have a little fun once in a while!)

It took most of the afternoon to corral up all of the familiars back into their respective pens. When the job was finally over, instead of yelling and becoming furious, Celandine handed off a few of the familiars and extended an invitation back to her new-found friend, should she ever need a new town to live in.


After that familiar chase, Stonecoil was more than ready to go familiar hunting deliver some more sunflowers. She was supposed to deliver these to a little village on one of the icy shores of the Southern Icefield, but as she walked the forest, she couldn't help but feel as though she were being watched. her suspicions were confirmed when a voice called out to the Ridgeback.

"Hey, you! Dragon touched by the Shade! What business do you have here?"

A monochrome Gaoler with streaks of gray and a sharp black strip of spines and scales running down her back stepped into the light, the only color being her golden gaze as it traced Stonecoil. The Ridgeback explained that she had sunflowers to deliver, showing her bundles to the powerful ancient dragon. She didn't seem too impressed. "You mean to tell me that you, a Shade-infected dragon, are simply travelling to a small town far from your home to deliver flowers? I would know. I hatched in the same lands as you, Ridgeback." Stonecoil corrected the Gaoler, noting that her name was in fact Stonecoil, not Ridgeback or Dragon touched by the Shade. Another voice scoffed from the shadow of a tree, stepping out to reveal a pale purple mane and bright green eyes.

"We have a job to do, don't we Gerda? Contain the Shade so it doesn't do any more damage than what it's already done. It's what I swore to do when I became a Gaoler and took my name as Asuya." As the two Gaolers debated this, Stonecoil had an idea. If these ancient dragons contained anything shade-touched in the slightest... surely they had some fantastic beasts to pen down in her records! To say the two were surprised by her eagerness to follow them to their encampment was an understatement, to say the least.

Upon arrival, more Gaolers began to try and find a place to contain Stonecoil. However, they quickly discovered what kind of liability she was when she spotted one frozen familiar: a Hydra. She'd managed to free a few others with her swishing tail along the way, but the Hydra was what caused the Gaolers to regret taking her to their fortress. It was utter chaos. She raced about, writing about new creatures and scooping a few up here and there whenever she realized she didn't have them. Gaolers barked orders to their brethren as they tried to contain the furious Hydra once more. After securing the familiars she hadn't recognized in quite a few bundles to bring with her, she gave them her two gems on calming the beast.

"Have none of you ever tried giving it a few thick crystal pools to burrow into?" With a mighty roar, a wine-colored Gaoler with spikes along his coat to match the horns of the Hydra used his Archaic roots to turn the ground around the Hydra to crystal. To their surprise, the Hydra happily burrowed into the crystal formation. With more fine-tuned work, the Gaoler, apparently called Xevras, managed to contain it in a thick block of crystal. Gerda looked at the damage caused by the rampaging beast before letting her gaze rest on Stonecoil. She seemed to be calculating something for a moment, then finally spoke.

"If we promise to deliver your flowers to this little town of Wanderers on the coast and let you keep those creatures you broke free, will you leave us in peace?" Stonecoil was more than happy to oblige! That was one less delivery, and many new friends to bring along with her! She shook Gerda's paw, left the sunflowers beside a rather sunny looking Gaoler named Cadria, then winged away to her next destination, with a multitude of new friends in tow. She'd have to stop by the Crossroads to send them back home, keep them safe and all, but surely she'd find more friends along the way!

She didn't know just how relieved the Gaolers were that she'd actually left so easily. They swore never to let another familiar-loving Ridgeback wander their halls again, for their own sakes.



After the mischievous adventures of previous days, Stonecoil was behaving suprisingly well in the next clan she visited. She delivered the flowers, which were accepted with a gratitude and quickly added to the clan's stockpile of edible plants. She peeked into the burrow, the clan's main lair, compliemented it and then stayed mostly quiet for the rest of her day.

The clan tried it's best to get her interested in something and failed miserably, feeling quite bad about it afterwards. A special group of dragons had been sent to entertain her -- the most joyful, sociable, talkative dragons of the Ykwi'maw. Even they couldn't capture her attention. In the clan's eyes Stonecoil appeared as a quiet and shy one and they decided to let her be. How could they be more wrong?

Little it was known that she, in fact, continued to scheme. How to get to the clan's most interesting beasts? She was too big to enter the burrow so she couldn't steal -- or, as she prefered, "borrow them in the name of science". Simply asking for some seemed pretty dull. But then she found about this dragon who went by the name of Sakiewka. He was a local merchant -- pretty interesting. And he loved a good laugh -- very, very interesting. She got as close to him as it was possible during the time she had here.

And then she told him about this little joke of her. And then she had to promise to send him some luxury trade goods after she returned home (a promise she might, or might not, keep). And -- what's the most important -- he agreed to help!

Stonecoil disappeared in the middle of the night. With her, a bunch of the clan's familiars.

A shocking discovery was made in the following morning. The clan concluded a hefty investigation. Searching parties were dispatched -- but not a single beast had been found.

Sakiewka was suspiciously jolly the whole day, often bursting into uncontrolable laughter as the clan's matriarch was dissapointed with her freshly-escaped familiar, a scholar from the Beastclans. "I thought we were on good terms", she cried. "We'll get you a new one", promised the clan, but it wasn't enough to brighten her mood.

Lessons have been learned and since the clan didn't have one, a beastkeeper was appointed.


After her last run in with Gaolers she would have to be extra careful not to run into the Gaols of these parts. Walking past the large sign that read "Icefall Preservatory" had reminded her of the stories they used to tell to scare hatchlings. That the prisons of Ice release their monsters on dragons that get too close to the sea. It was all fairytales of course, but the fear felt real now that you could view the looming structure in the distance shrouded by fog. Its ice spires stuck up like frosty claws ready to grab anyone who dared to fly over head. Using the building as a guide, she felt no need to look at the second sign and flew forward. She surprisingly got it right, the fog had cleared whilst she was flying and she could spot a small town full of lights. A yellow skydancer was walking outside and he stretched his wings then noticed her and waved her in, but behind the dragon was a runescar lynx. As Stonecoil swooped down lower he began to introduce himself, "Greetings Traveler my name is Awe-". She had flown directly past him and landed near the runescar lynx, but not too close. "Excuse me I-"

"pspspspspspspspsps pspsps"

The skydancer stood there absolutely confused as she held out a hand while making some sort of odd broken hissing. The lynx cautiously approached her sniffing her paw, then pressed its head into her talons and moved its body along her claws. It then heard something perking up its head, and dashed off. Stonecoil got up ready to follow.

"What about the..."

Awe-, as she came to know him got slapped in the face with the sunflowers and once he peeled them off he spotted her dashing away to follow the runescar lynx. The rest of the day was filled with playing with your new friend. As you realized you had to go, you scooped up the lynx and headed to the inn. A white bogsneak was tapping her claws at the desk staring out at the early morning snow.

"Here ship this back to my old clan."

She tapped a spot on the map, and before the Bogsneak could say anything she found a runescar lynx in her talons and the ridgeback leaving out the door.

Runescar Lynx

Familiar

At home in the blistering heat of the Ashfall Waste, these hot-footed felines commonly have the hunting grounds to themselves, until challenged by daring dragon clans.

250

Sour Strawberry Plant You probably should have waited a few more days before harvesting this. 70 8

Travelled to the Alstroemeria Clan Your dragon appeared during their sunflower delivery route, through the brambles and blacksand beaches, to end up with the Alstroemeria clan for a time~ With a renewed sense of whimsy and a few weird trinkets, they head off to their next destination! Achieved: BSJ 2020

Her stay in Florum Familia ended up with Stonecoil helping the resident bestiary bond with all their familiars. The joy she felt could hardly be held in, although she did her best not to look as eager as she felt. Azure , the beast keeper, led her around and taught her about each creature and captive the clan had, how to handle them, and even how to snare and snag wildlife in order to tame them as familiars for the rest of her clan.

In the end of the day, Azure offered Stonecoil her own little keepsakes alongside the gifts of sunflower seeds each visitor received. "Keep them safe," the pearlcatcher chortled, "or I might just have t'come find ya and take them back!"