Creative Corner

@BarbaraFett I have to admit, I liked that way of settling the coin flip. After all, they wanted an adventure, and now they certainly will have one.

[center][size=5][color=orange][b]Journey Chronicles - Scene 39[/b][/size] [size=4][color=orange][b]Fulfills task for: Day 126 (August 7, 2017)[/b][/color][/size] [color=orange][b]Task completed on: November 23-24(?), 2019 Item of the Day:[/b][/color] [item=Bamboo Shoot] [/center] As Clan Ashfeather continued to make its way across the Sunbeam Ruins, their daily conversations focused more and more on their strategy for traveling down the cliff into the Shifting Expanse. They already knew that both the Light and Lightning flights maintained border-crossing guardhouses, similar to the ones they’d already passed through, at either end of the trail leading down the cliff. However, the trail itself and the surrounding cliffs were a constantly-disputed no-creature’s-land, where Light dragons, Lightning dragons, and harpy clans were constantly claiming and reclaiming territory from each other, and where no traveler could ever depend on any one of those groups to protect them from any other. It was every clan for themselves, and the members of Clan Ashfeather knew it. They all worked hard to sharpen their stealth, perception, defensive, and attack skills, putting at least an hour or two a day into practicing them. They also continued to perfect the logistics of their trip down the cliff. Now that they no longer had a Snapper in their clan, no one was obligated to walk all the way down the long series of switchbacks that made up the majority of the trail down the cliff. They were free to fly all the way down, if they wanted to. Then again, they did still have one tangerine-striped Ridgeback in the clan, and because of him, all of them flying down completely unseen was effectively not an option. They did the best they could to strategize about which parts of their route Kessel could fly over, and which parts he would be better off walking through. The resources they had at their disposal consisted of their original map of their clan’s journey, plus a few other maps and drawings focusing on the Light-Lightning border. Of course, they were all between a few months and a few years old, and it was highly likely that they were all out of date by now. The area around Light’s border guardhouse was filled with temporary encampments for use by clans who were passing through, and Clan Ashfeather claimed one for their last night in Light territory. As Mindor showed Stormglow how to light the fire, and Rythorn started unpacking food from his bags, Starbloom flew away from the group toward the edge of the cliff. She was the smallest and could fly nearly silently, which made her the best suited to scouting out the territory ahead of them. She carried a parchment and quill with her, and as soon as she was up high enough and far enough away from the cliff face to get a good look at it, she used them to draw a quick sketch of the cliff face. When the twilight had deepened enough that she could no longer draw, she flew back to the camp to share her drawing with the others. They updated their drawings with the new details Starbloom had picked out, mainly cracks and crevices in the cliff where harpies might be roosting, and made sure they had enough packages of meat for each one. The plan was that if they were approached by any of the harpy flocks, Rythorn would offer them meat in exchange for their safe passage through their territory. Starbloom meditated for part of the night, both to calm her nerves and to ensure that her connection to her magic, and that of the area around her, was primed and ready. Her shielding, healing, and Contuse spells were all she could contribute to a battle, if it came to that, but even though her skills on the battlefield were far from perfect, she had to try her best. She loved this clan and would give anything to see it reach its goal. The plan to get down the cliff face worked, for the most part. Some of the cracks and crevices Starbloom had seen were empty, but others did lead to harpy roosts, and the harpies they did pass by were glad to leave them alone if they were paid in food and tools. The clan had prepared well for those encounters. They were not expecting Serthis. It happened on the second-to-last switchback of the trail, when they were so close to the Lightning guardhouse at the bottom of the cliff that they thought they were practically home free. One of the rocky outcroppings that the trail passed by concealed another crevice, which, they realized far too late, was the entrance to a den of Serthis. The serpentine creatures struck the first blow, with no word or sound of warning, not even giving the dragons the chance to offer them any payment. Their marching column devolved into a confusion of legs, wings, claws, teeth, and magical blasts as they fought to defend themselves. In the midst of battle, Starbloom caught a flash of something white out of the corner of one eye. [i]Someone’s pearl?[/i] Strengthening the defensive shield around the dragons closest to her, she flew over to retrieve the errant pearl, which was rolling down the trail. She had to wrap both arms around it and cast an antigravity spell to pick it up, but she managed. [i]Who dropped this?[/i] Then she saw what had happened. Felicity, who had been the second in the column after Rythorn, had fallen, her dark form blocking the trail. Starbloom could see the wispy traces of pale-green Wind magic still lingering around her wings, the remains of a nasty spell that could only have come from one of their green Serthis attackers. Starbloom swooped down beside her friend’s head. “Felicity!” she cried out. “No. Not you. Please, not you. Don’t leave us. Please.” Felicity focused on the pearl Starbloom was holding. “Tha… Thank you…” With a great effort, she managed to roll onto her side so that she could use one forepaw to take the pearl from her. “This… with this, I’ll still be with you.” She held the pearl up and gazed into it. Her pink eyes glowed, and the pearl began to spin and shine with a white light. The light strengthened, then split into beams that shot out and hit each of her clanmates, as well as the Nature egg that Rythorn was still carrying with him. Starbloom felt a sense of her friend’s presence strengthening and reassuring her. “Mother!” Mindor had come to her side, Kessel right behind him. “Does this mean…?” “Yes,” Felicity said. “Kessel... if anything happens to Starbloom, you’re in charge.” “Yes, Mother. I remember,” said Kessel, his voice breaking. “Get Clan Ashfeather home safely. I know… you can do it. I love you both.” Felicity closed her eyes for the last time. They buried her at the bottom of the cliff, under a pile of rocks with her pearl carefully nestled at the top. The cairn was past the gatehouse, in Lightning territory; the staff of the gatehouse had been impeccably sympathetic and helpful to the traveling clan. They decided to spend the night in the area where they had stopped, too drained to go on. As that day ended and they were preparing for the evening meal, the last rays of the setting sun struck the leaves of the Nature egg Rythorn had been carrying with him since their time in the Viridian Labyrinth. The leaves began to rustle and glow more brightly. ------------------------- [b]In Memoriam[/b] [columns][img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/280013/28001219.png[/img] [nextcol] [b][color=orange]Felicity[/color][/b] Hatched: October 25, 2016 Exalted: July 31, 2017 Hatched into Clan Adeptica of the Starfall Isles, Felicity was a border scout for her original clan for a long time. Her close friendships with Starbloom and Ember led to her becoming one of the founding members of Clan Ashfeather. She is survived by two sons, Kessel and Mindor, a daughter-in-law, Mithril, and two granddaughters, Silviana and Stormglow. Her bravery, leadership, and inspirational example will never be forgotten. [/columns] (@Dakala - Thank you! :) @Petall @Sabariel - Sorry for the cliffhanger; I'm trying to spread out my remaining material and stay a few posts ahead on my writing and drawing. Will try to remember to post the next part Sunday or Monday.) (P.S. Sorry if anyone got a duplicate ping. I realized after the fact that I had forgotten to add an 'In Memoriam' section to this post, so I'm going back and adding it now. For the record, I did actually cry a little when Felicity's coli health bar hit zero. [emoji=pearlcatcher sad size=1])

@Petall - Aww, thanks :) I'm sorry to say there are more sad moments coming (I just wrote one last night), but at least the next chapter in the queue to be posted will be happy.

[center][size=5][color=orange][b]Event Post #11[/b][/size] [size=4][color=orange][b]Fulfills task for: Day 145 (August 26, 2017)[/b][/color][/size] [color=orange][b]Task completed on: August 2, 2017 (egg hatch); November 20, 2019 (writing) Item of the Day:[/b][/color] [item=Fiendcat] [/center] “Everybody!” Rythorn called out when he noticed what was happening. “Bring me some blankets and some towels. It’s time!” The other members of the clan did as he had asked. They used the blankets and a few long blades of grass to form a makeshift nest, and Rythorn placed the shaking egg in the center of it. “Well, this complicates our plans,” said Mithril. “We’ll be fine,” said Rythorn. “We still have the sling that used to be Kamien’s. It’s this new little one’s now.” Starbloom’s crests compressed and fidgeted in distress at being reminded, once again, of the loss of her adopted son. Still, she managed to say, “Yes, of course it is.” The egg cracked and split apart. A moment later, two pairs of green eyes blinked up from the nest. [img]https://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=0&body=82&bodygene=0&breed=3&element=10&eyetype=0&gender=0&tert=117&tertgene=0&winggene=0&wings=111&auth=60e64fdc3a977edf9c12360f72f20046bbbcb883&dummyext=prev.png[/img] Starbloom stared at the new hatchling in disbelief. Of all the breeds of hatchling that could have hatched from that egg, this one was a Mirror. Joy, hope, and reassurance like she hadn’t felt in ages cascaded over her. Starbloom felt certain that the hatching of the new Mirror pup had to be a sign - a sign that the spirit of their dear departed friend and leader, Ember, had never really left the clan she had helped to found. In the legacy of passion and tenacity she had left behind, she was a part of the clan still - and now the clan had a new member who would most likely take to those traits naturally. “Have you thought about what to name him?” Starbloom asked Rythorn. “I have,” Rythorn said, “but that’s my problem. I’ve thought about it so much and have so many ideas, I don’t know what to choose!” “If I might make a suggestion?” “Sure, go ahead.” “Well… I may be experiencing an excess of sentiment, but I do not believe the hatching of a Mirror into our clan is a coincidence. I believe it means that we truly are meant to go and live in the Ashfall Waste, and that the Flamecaller will welcome us gladly when we get there.” “I didn’t think anyone doubted that,” said Rythorn. “The truth is, I did,” Starbloom confessed. “To some degree. This has been a long journey, and we have suffered many losses. I had begun to wonder whether the destination at the end of the route marked on our map was as wonderful as we had always believed. But when I saw our new Mirror hatchling for the first time, it felt as if those banked embers that were our old hopes and dreams had burst into flame again. That is why I suggest we name him Milintica. It is an approximation of a phrase from the Coatl language that means, ‘He Waves Fire.’” “That is beautiful,” Mindor said. “Both the sentiment and the name. Thank you for sharing that with us, Starbloom.” “Yes, thank you,” agreed Rythorn. “Milintica it is.” …………. [i](An author’s note is in order here. During the period when I was recording my Pinkerton pulls for this challenge, I got my first-ever egg from the coli while doing some Pinkerton-mandated coli rounds. I decided to hatch it on August 2, 2017, just because I wanted to, and despite it being outside the challenge rules. Then, at the end of the month, I finally got another familiar and Random.org gave me #3 (Mirror). When I saw that result, I immediately decided to use that item pull to retroactively justify adding Milintica to my Pinkerlocke party. I wrote out this bonus scene and posted it at this point because I decide what to post in this thread, and in what order, based on whatever makes for the best story, even if it’s not the same order I got the items from Pinkerton in. Also, I had more story than I had materials items from Pinkerton, so I will be attaching some of my writing to event posts where applicable.)[/i] @Dakala @Petall @Sabariel - I decided to get my next happy post out right away. :)

[center][size=5][color=orange][b]Event Post #12[/b][/size] [size=4][color=orange][b]Fulfills task for: Day 1 (April 4, 2017)[/b][/color][/size] [color=orange][b]Task completed on: August 5, 2017 (Death Streak); December 27-??, 2019 (writing) Item of the Day:[/b][/color] [item=Scholar] [/center] Clan Ashfeather decided not to set off across the Shifting Expanse the very next morning, as they had originally planned. They remained camped where they were for a few days longer, giving Milintica time to grow in strength and coordination, and to learn the clan’s basic rhythms of life. Even though he wasn’t old enough to understand them yet, his elders recited the rhyming verses of the Law for the Mirrors for him. They all wanted him to know exactly what it meant to be one, as soon as he could. They couldn’t stay too long, though. They knew that if they waited until Milintica was big enough to ‘go forth and get food of his own,’ he’d be too big to fit into the sling, which they were bound and determined to use for at least part of their journey. Rythorn had adopted the hatchling as his son, and while all the older members of the clan helped to take care of him and teach him, Starbloom felt and acted more motherly than any of the others. Milintica had given her back the hope that she’d thought was lost forever after Ember and Kamien had died, and she made sure he knew it. She often told him stories from her days with Ember and Felicity back in the Starfall Isles, and of their early days on the road with Kamien. He listened closely, and said that when he grew up, he was going to be as strong and brave as Ember. Starbloom affirmed this, but told him that he should be his own dragon, too. Finally, the day came when Rythorn and Starbloom bundled Milintica into the old sling and set off across the Shifting Expanse. It seemed they passed nearly as many dragons, both fellow travelers and established local clans, here in the Stormcatcher’s domain as they had in the Gladekeeper’s - which was a good thing for Milintica. For all his lively spirit and thirst for knowledge, his clanmates could not teach him all the things he needed to learn. The only other member of their clan who ate meat at all was Rythorn, and he was incapable of the kind of stealthy, stalking movements that Mirrors used to hunt. Kessel, who was at least quadrupedal, did what he could to help train the hatchling, but he didn’t know much about game-hunting himself, being primarily a net- and spear-fisher. Under his tutelage, Milintica developed a remarkable taste for seafood for a Mirror. Whenever the opportunity arose, though, Kessel or one of the other adults in the clan would ask any other Mirrors they encountered in their travels for help teaching the hatchling, often in exchange for food, supplies, or protection. In this way, Milintica learned how to properly take advantage of his smaller size, speed, and agility. There was also one dragon who Milintica saw frequently along the road, presumably a fellow traveler, but who remained a bit of a mystery. He appeared at irregular intervals once Milintica was old enough to wander off by himself, and helped him to refine and perfect his hunting skills. He was a Wildclaw named Smolder, who looked like he would blend in perfectly among the lava flows of the Ashfall Waste, but he was a dragon of few words, and would not reveal anything more about himself to Milintica than his name. Smolder seemed completely uninterested in socializing or being part of a clan, and always disappeared into the shadows of the cliffs and mesas as mysteriously as he had appeared, once he and Milintica had finished hunting together. Whichever of them had struck the killing blow always ate first; Smolder had seemed to know this without Milintica telling him, which meant he had to be familiar with the Law for the Mirrors. However, Smolder always vanished before Rythorn could come to join them in their meal. One day, while Milintica was wandering the canyons, looking out for signs of prey and wondering whether Smolder would show up today, he heard a sound. Hooves. Many, many hooves. All traveling in the same direction. Milintica scrambled to get to a better vantage point, where he could see what was going on and possibly launch into a short, gliding flight to get closer to wherever the sound was coming from. Arriving at the top of a butte, he saw that a whole herd of zeeba was stampeding, entering the canyon through a side branch downstream from where he was. He also saw, far in the distance, a small figure picked out in blue and bright teal against the gray desert, as familiar to him as his own paws. The spot grew brighter in his heat vision as it turned and tried to run away. [i]“Stormglow!”[/i] Milintica cried out. He summoned all the power in his hind legs and wings to launch himself straight up, taking to the air in hopes of reaching her in time. The mechanics of flight weren’t so different for his Ridgeback and Pearlcatcher clanmates than they were for him, so he’d had no trouble learning to fly from them. Still, Mirrors were not known for their air speed, and by the time he reached the spot where he’d seen Stormglow, the zeeba herd had already overrun it. Landing on the bank of the shallow stream where Stormglow must have been filling their waterskins, Milintica lashed out with a roar and brought down the nearest zeeba, then the next nearest, more viciously than was strictly necessary. He almost went for a third before stopping himself, remembering that the Law forbade killing for the pleasure of it, and that, in any case, he had other concerns. He managed to get the two zeeba he’d taken out of the way of the stampede, most of which had passed by now. “Oh, Stormglow,” he murmured, cradling her lifeless head with a wingtip. “You deserved better than this. You deserved a warrior’s death.” The rest of the clan carefully moved Stormglow far away from the stream before burying her, with her pearl on top of her cairn, just as they had her grandmother. That night, Milintica ate his fill of the zeeba - the physical exertion of the day demanded it - but every bite was bitter with guilt. If only he had been able to fly faster, maybe he could have saved his clanmate. .................................. [i](Another author’s note: In my first post in this thread, I said that I would explain later why my first content post was for Day 2, instead of Day 1. This is that promised explanation. You can probably imagine my dismay when, on my very first item pull of my first Pinkerlocke, I got a battlestone and my coin flip came up heads. I decided to save it for a later date (when I had more dragons) and remember that I owed one Death Streak. I finally made good on that debt and executed that Death Streak on August 5, 2017. This post chronicles the result I got from it.)[/i] .................................. [b]In Memoriam[/b] [columns] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/347017/34701619.png[/img] [nextcol] [b][color=orange]Stormglow[/color][/b] Hatched: July 25, 2017 Exalted: August 5, 2017 Stormglow was hatched during a lightning storm in the Shifting Expanse that was visible from where her clan was staying in the Sunbeam Ruins. She watched her two Tundra siblings go off to join the Lightweaver’s forces while they were still fairly young. Preferring to remain with her clan, she survived the perilous crossing into Lightning territory, but fell victim to an unexpected encounter with stampeding zeeba. Her loss will be felt keenly by her parents and adopted clanmate, Milintica. [/columns]

[center][size=5][color=orange][b]Art Post #17[/b][/size] [size=4][color=orange][b]Fulfills task for: Day 122 (August 3, 2017)[/b][/color][/size] [color=orange][b]Task completed on: January 11, 2020 Item of the Day:[/b][/color] [item=Canopic Jar] [/center] [i](click for bigger)[/i] [url=https://66.media.tumblr.com/735239c4f9ce9c820871705929b452f4/de68e30db601e2b7-b5/s1280x1920/3cbd64b503694bb5e3bd5ff8662680658525a5be.jpg][img]https://66.media.tumblr.com/735239c4f9ce9c820871705929b452f4/de68e30db601e2b7-b5/s1280x1920/3cbd64b503694bb5e3bd5ff8662680658525a5be.jpg[/img][/url] This is an illustration of the death in Event Post #12. @Dakala @Petall @Sabariel - As usual, this post and the one directly above it are both new. (Thanks so much, Sabariel! Yeah, that coli death actually made me want to cry a little bit.)