That was a note that one of the fae dragons found pinned to a fence pole! It seems our enemy will soon make their appearance! Continue to train those melons and we will surely triumph!
The winters have always been cold. It is the reason why many dragons like to roost and hibernate close to their mates. Normally, the watermelon farm might well not be able to flourish in the winter months, but tender care ensures that the fruit continue to grow and flourish despite the bite of winter.
At least, that's how it would be any other winter.
It starts with a light coating of frost on the melons furthest from the center of the farm. Despite the tender care of the dragons, they can't seem to stop an early morning frost from forming upon the rinds of the precious fruit.
Then, frost could be found on the fruit towards the center as well - upon every melon on the farm; a horrid frost that remained long after the sunrise and could only be removed with much physical effort.
Then ... the roots began to brown and die, their lush green growing fainter and dirtier in color. Leaves began to shrivel and fall off.
There was only one possible answer. The Forsaken Fruit are using magic to make the winter unnaturally harsh and cold. They are attempting to destroy the farm! If we are to prevent Beastclan from creating a summer where one cannot enjoy a slice of watermelon by the pool, then the Watermelon Clan must unite!
How this adventure works:
The Watermelons must find a way to save the farm from the biting cold of this magically produced winter. We have only two weeks to try and find a solution or our precious watermelons may be in peril! Let us pool our knowledge and creativity to find a solution to defeat the Forsaken Fruit!
Some rules for the adventure:
- Your watermelon dragons are free to use magic in any fashion they could reasonably utilize it. However, watermelon dragons are limited to using magic specific to their birth flight (aka - a dragon born under the element of fire can only use fire magic).
- The land outside of the watermelon farm is full of evergreen trees, rocks, and other natural objects. Anything that you could reasonably find on a hike can be found outside the farm. However, Beastclan has been seen patrolling outside the farm and have even attacked dragons who have wandered out on their own! So, if you wish to explore or gather, it's recommended you don't do so alone.
- You can accomplish tasks equal to the number of watermelon dragons you own. Any hatchlings born during the two week period will not count as they are too young to be able to safely contribute. Also consider the size of your dragon when designating them for a task. For example, a fey dragon is far too small to lift an enormous boulder and an imperil is too large to perform more delicate tasks.
- When attempting a task or asking a question, please ping @/SilentWolfXIIV so he can see it!
- If you become confused or are unsure about what's already been done/discovered, please refer to the Book of Lore! Please note that the actions of the dragons are written out by their owners and the knowledge/responses gained are written by SilentWolfXIIV. Editing, graphics, and compiling is done my me.
- Have fun and be creative! It's recommended you collaborate with your fellow watermelon dragons to find ways to combine your efforts and save the farm!
Melondy was the first to react.
The atmosphere was filled with the chill of winter. An eerie silence with the bitter cold and the clouded vapors gathered in the air with each huff of breath. The crystalline water gathered on her scales in sharp geometric patterns frozen in time. The lids of her eye cracked open and she peered past her snout. Tension of something she could feel but the source unknown as of yet.
As she gathered herself the ice on her scales cracked from her movement and fell away. She could hear... no feel...
Thousands of screams.
Not audible to the ears, but powerful to be felt around her as one in tuned with nature. The breath left her as she bolted out of the cave. "The melons!" The noise she made would have cut the silence and sure stir those around.
"No. No. No No. NO. NO..."
The vines were faded from their lively greens to a grim brown. Leaves snapped off their stems and floated to the ground. The melons were covered in frost. Melondy dug into the snow and soil and laid her claws against the earth. A soft green glow surrounded her clawed paws as she used water (druid class) magic to tend to the soil.
But
Estrello was nearly as quick.
A noise against the silence caught his attention. An uneasy feeling grew in the pit of his stomach. "Rosaline. Flower. Go to Flo. Protect the young ones." His steps were quick as he nosed his way through drawers and pulled out vials of questionable oils only to pocket them a moment soon into his satchel. He made sure to grab his claw armor before heading out.
The Veilspun was bundled in cloth and leather to fight off the chill of the winter. He knew of nature but not much of the way of the druid like Melondy. She was busy concentrating on the soil. He had knowledge of plants and their uses, but a dead plant was not going to help him. A growl of frustration was on his lips.
He slid the claw caps on and buckled them. Estrello removed a vial of oil and carefully uncorked the vial and applied the weapon oil to his claws. This winter frost was brought on quicker than the chill of the day could afford. The work of magic. With a flutter of his wings he disappeared into the shadows to watch over Melondy.
While Estrello guarded over his fellow melon, Melondy could feel the moisture in the soil, feel her magic straining against some darker force that seems to be focusing on congealing the water, making what is supposed to be nourishing the plants into something that is harming them instead. She does get a feel for the source of the disturbance though. The magic that is afflicting the water in the soil seems to be coming somewhere from the north, deep in the Viridian Forest. The exact location isn't known, but the feeling of dark magic is unmistakable. It doesn't seem to be the only source of dark magic either.
As her melon cousins rushed to find a way to stop this frost,
Orangeglo turned her blazing eyes to the vulnerable little melons who had yet to hatch.
Born of the fire flight and blessed with primal eyes of fire, she is perfect for keeping the melons warm. If she can’t keep them from freezing from cold then no one can XD
She’d also research ways to keep the plants from freezing without fire magic maybe something her moms arcane magic can help with
The nature of Orangeglo's research leads her to believe that this magic is ... unique, but ultimately not something that is natural in Beastclan. It has the distinct air of being conjured by a dragon, but it has been ... changed somehow, like something is corrupting the normally living source of power. This would suggest that one of the Forsaken Fruit is channeling the spell herself, or, perhaps, is using a member of Beastclan as a conduit for the magic. Either way, no amount of magic wielded by any dragon can hope to block or stave off the spell forever, not so long as it's being channeled.
Melindo is more of a fighter than a thinker so he'll leave his cousin
Merlot to do the research into how to help unfreeze the melon farm. He's saddened by how heartbroken his mate Melanee is by the trouble at the farm, but trusts that she'll help Merlot with his research.
Meanwhile, Melindo starts calling out to his fellow melon kin to see who will join him on a scouting mission to see if they can find anyone with more information about this unnatural magic or who might be casting it. Will you head the call?
Melindo stands in the center of the farm, snow falling all around him and lay heavily on his wings and back. A perfect circle marks the edges of where he is calling for melons to come to his aid to enter the forest. Merlot joins the effort to research the nature of this magic and how it might be stopped.
Diamond dust soon fills the air, and every breath becomes smoke as the temperature continues to plummet. It seems the Forsaken Fruit have become aware that their attack has been identified. More heat will be needed to protect the melons!
But Melindo's call travels far...
Anguria has been working tirelessly to defrost the beloved family watermelons but even as she toils, understanding settles like a blanket of snow. As bleak as the browning fields.
This isn't enough.
They can't keep trying to fight the frost. It's the Forsaken Fruit who are casting this horrid spell! They have to find them!
When she hears the call of her melon cousin, Melindo, she immediately rushes out. Gifted in arcane magic and energy manipulation, perhaps she'll be able to help him follow the magical trail to it's source... or to any powerful mages in the area.
Citrullus stands strong against the ever-growing frost that has spread to their land where they stand slowing crawling on them themselves, he slowly pushed it back as much as he can using his water abilities but it grows stronger by the second. He shouts orders to his family to find a weak spot of sorts to this frost.
Vera stands strong next to him, fighting off frost and breaking it apart as she can from the ground and her , her guise giving her warmth from the cold.
Jade and
Florian are not to far behind them - Jade shouts off places and ideas of where the source could be coming from or even hiding - her vast amount of map knowledge showing through- while Florian listens to the winds and uses his crystals to find any source of magic in the Sorneith that could help or be the one causing the disturbance.
All the melons pause when they hear the call of their family member Melindo shouting out for help, they instantly rush out of their clan and to the skies to assist, as they get closer Florian feels a presence of magic and energy, and he knows it feels him to, he knows they could have an idea of where the enemy lies and maybe they know a melon that has an idea of how they can be defeated; as the lives of melons and future melons are at stake.
Chill crept through the undergrowth that encapsulated the clan's pastry sect. While his darling Leigh was unaffected, more worried about making sure the pastry dragons themself didn't freeze,
Lanatus was dealing with frost creeping over his claws, trying to make its way to freeze him too. He scraped the ice crystals off his feet with disgust.
"Leigh... do you have things covered here? With how cold it is... I know my family needs help back home. I just know it."
Leigh looked at him, light confusion in her face. She had no clue what he was talking about, but she trusted his judgement and intuition.
"Huh, yeah? This isn't the first winter I've been through with them. Go ahead and go back to the patch hon. We'll all be fine here."
He nodded softly and was off in a second, hardly even a farewell. The fly home wasn't a long one, but he pushed himself going as fast as he possibly could. He knew, deep down, that they were in danger from this frost and that they'd need all the help they could get. He wasn't sure how much help he could be - he certainly wasn't trained in any magical prowess, but he knew that he needed to be there anyway.
As he landed in his old home patch, he observed the situation. The ice had spread far more than he could have anticipated, and certainly any water magic he could even hope to conjure wouldn't be of any help at all. What he did have on his side though, was his massive size and strength. If he had been able to take down the beastclan that had attacked his clan back home when he was young, then certainly now, fully grown, he could easily bring down any scout parties that would dare to bother them.
The frigid air nipped at his snout. He knew that the chill in the air would be enough to freeze the fruits on the ground around him. Shelter. They needed shelter. It would help to keep the chill of the external air out, especially if a fire dragon within could help to keep the space warm, and a light dragon could produce the light that the shelter itself would block so that the fruits could continue to grow.... The science may not be sound, but it made sense in his mind and Lanatus isn't known for his smarts.
He headed towards the border of their home. Gather the fallen trees and start building. That was the plan. And he knew that between his physical training and using his weight to his advantage, any threat he came across while there wouldn't be a threat for long.
Dawn paced back and forth in the research facility she now called home. She didn't feel the cold much anymore, especially when she was with Jericho. Big... warm... Jericho. But thinking about them wouldn't help this.
"Dawn? What's the matter, love?"
Jericho's words snapped her from her thoughts.
"It's this cold... I know in my heart that the farm's going to be in danger from it. I've been keeping up to date with the drama happening there and I'm almost certain that the Forsaken Fruit is in charge of this... This is the coldest winter there's been in years!! We could go to the farm and help there, but that's not really going to fix anything and... and -"
"Stop. We don't know who your talking about or why in the universe they'd be trying to wipe out the young melons with the cold, but, clearly, we need to take them down. Right? If we can keep Kepler locked up where he can cause harm, certainly we can't take down some bad fruit, right? Just have to hit them at the source. And between the two of us, we think there's enough magic and strength to do that. Where do we find them?"
"I... Jericho... this isn't your battle... besides, if you come with me, then who's going to keep care of things here?"
"Cordelia can! Sure. This ISN'T our battle, but you're our mate! You're always helping us keep things in line here. We can help, and whether or not your whole family is going to be there to help out as well, we wouldn't be able to forgive ourselves if we let you go off and something happened to you."
"I don't even know where to find them, Jericho... I know what needs to be done, but I don't know how to do it. I don't know if we CAN even do it."
"Relax, Dawn. Look, we head to the farm first, find out what they know. Then we can go from there. We've trained you to be sensitive to magic, perhaps you can use this to help track down the uh... the...." they faltered for a second, "the... uh... bad fruit."
She slowly nodded. She knew that they were right. Surely some of the other members of her family would have a better idea of what was going on. It was decided then and there and before the end of the day, the two were off, headed to the original family patch. While Jericho went off to ask around for any information that could possibly help, Dawn pressed her claws into the ground beneath her.
Living with the stars meant she was being constantly overwhelmed by magic, so out her she was able to better get sense of what was coming from what. Such cold, hard ground. Self doubt pressed into her as she pressed on her senses. Would the magic even be strong enough for her to pick up on? Tracking wasn't her strong suite on a good day, but she knew that if they could get any information at all, it would help them find the source. Find the Forsaken Fruit. Bring an end to this awful winter.
To her regret,
Sweetpea had not been quick on the scene. She could see the strange frost coating the farm from the air as she approached, searching for the source of the sudden urge to return to her homeland. She spotted a large gathering with Melindo at its center, and instantly dived.
Her landing was not graceful, but she couldn't summon the effort to care at the moment, and neither could the others who heeded the call. After getting a brief explanation of the plan, she knew that a scouting mission would be the best course of action for someone of her strength. still, though, she wished that she could do more.
A flicker of movement from beyond the farm's edge caught her eye and instantly forced her body into fighting stance, a form that'd been perfected through months of training. It was probably just an animal, but there was no way to be sure. Or... was there?
Using magic wasn't something Sweetpea was all that used to, but she still had some power. She heightened her senses and took off yet again (only shouting a brief summary of her plan to someone who'd asked while she was already in the air), and began flying a wide circle around the farm. Her goal was to locate any enemies within the close borders of the farm, using her magic to amplify her already sharp senses. She hoped that there would only be a few of the Beastclans, but it was dangerous to hope now.
The Forsaken Fruit would soon pay for what they'd done, but that wasn't the top priority, no, the top priority was protecting the farm. And that job fell on every melon's shoulders, no matter how they did it.
Anguria, Citrullus, Vera, Jade, Florian, Lanatus, Dawn, and Sweetpea gathered near Melindo. Each of them prepared in their own way to defend their beloved watermelon farm from this creeping threat... When suddenly!
They all hear a deafening crack and a horrible splintering. The ice coating the ground on the fringes of the farm has become covered in cracks, the pieces rising into the air to swirl and congeal together until they form into a shape ... a dragon's shape. The couatl is of a slender build - obviously favoring speed over strength. Her scales are dark with accents visible beneath dark violet robes that flow and ripple with the force of the magic surging from her body. She wears a wide brim hat that doesn't hide the yellow/white of her eyes. Despite their brilliance, something dark and terrible stirs behind them - a horrid anger that seems to have a tangible force of its own.
Something like a shadow stirs in the air over her shoulder. A dark entity hovers over her back, glowing red eyes contemplating you with mocking fury. A spell tome hovers in the air between her wing joints, its pages flipping loudly in the current of magic flowing from her body.
"You cannot stop what is happening." She says in a whisper even colder than the ice that cracks beneath her paws. "Better to let the melons perish in the soothing slumber of ice than what is to come later." Her eyes move to the dragons attempting to keep the melons warm and safe. "My sisters will not stop until every last fruit is dead. Whilst even one stands, this winter will not stop, and they are guarded by more than just their own magic." She hisses her laughter, the book slowly moving to hover in front of her snout. "The Hollow One will take all who defy us. His hunger is endless, his appetite bottomless, and his rage ... boundless."
The pages of the book turn loudly as wind and snow swirl around her. Her laughter lingers in the air for several seconds after she's disappeared, a horrid, mocking sound empty of any and all happiness and joy. In the distant forest, visible to the scouts in the air, are four pyres of magic, white as snow and frigid as ice's shadow. They're located deep in the forest, where the trees are thickest to make an approach from the sky difficult. Already, the pillars of magic have turned the trees immediately around them into spires of ice, branches and needles having become as lethal as a rose's thorns. The amount of power at all four areas is the same, and through careful research, it seems that this is a ritual, meaning that so long as even one channel is left open, the magic cannot be stopped. If the farm is to be saved, the one channeling the magic in all four areas must be stopped.
A challenge then. Fortunately, the Forsaken Fruit have no idea what challenging the mighty watermelons means!
My, but how the melons have scattered! The next portion of this story is divided into five sub chapters. Clicking each snowflake will take you to the correlating portion of the story and don't worry, there's another snowflake to bring you back here at the end of each so you can read the epic conclusion!
Back at the farm, the battle continues to rage, melons versus the enraged rats and their leader. The Rat Lord howls his challenge at the melons fighting him, carving his way towards the defenseless melons in the distance. The pillars continue to burn coldly in the distance. There isn't much time before-
A warm breeze, like that felt at the beginning to spring, weaves its way through the battling dragons and Beastclan, bringing a sudden pause to the fighting. The ground trembles and begins to crack, grass sprouting up through the cracks along with flowers and dandelions.
A powerful eruption of green magic makes the entire farm tremble. A pyre of green magic that flows and glows like fire has appeared in the center of the farm, surrounded on all sides by towering pine trees that have begun to sprout from the soil. A figure can be seen rising in the center, glowing green eyes somehow making themselves visible. The magic slowly thins and then vanishes to reveal...
The Rat Lord pauses, gazing up at Waretelomn with obvious surprise ... possibly fear. The couatl flaps his wings, creating another warm breeze that sweeps through the farm. He gives a low hiss, baring his fangs, green radioactive melon juice dripping from the tips of his fangs to the ground.
"Minions, go forth and-"
Waretelomn speaks a burning word that summons a glob of acid that consumes the Rat Lord. The monstrocity shrieks in pain, the magic too much in his weakened, wounded state. The minions watch their leader turn to a mound of flesh and bones ... and flee with startled squeaks into the forest. Waretelomn watches them, his glowing eyes burning with something fierce and angry.
In the distance, all four pillars collapse at almost the same time. The air grows warmer and the ice and frost begins to thin and melt. Already the air is growing warmer, the air fresher. The magic of the Forsaken Fruit is vanishing, taking away the unnatural chill.
Waretelomn slowly floats to the ground and ... yawns. His still glowing scales shiver as he gives his body a shake and ruffles his feathers.
"Disturbing my nap ... how is a dragon to hibernate?" He grumbles, shaking his wings before turning back towards his and Sandia's den. "You kids *yawn* need to keep it down."
He walks, almost waddles, back into the cave, lashing his tail so trees grow in front of the entrance.
The calamity has been averted ... for now, but the Forsaken Fruit will surely return to attack again.
But all of you have shown that the mighty melons will not be easily defeated!
And so our first event comes to a close. I would like to thank everyone for participating! This went a *little* longer than I intended due to illness and unforeseen complications, but I hope you all enjoyed! I took notes throughout so things will run a little more smoothly.
I hope everyone is looking forward to some very interesting magical couatl hatchlings this spring ... assuming Waretelomn can be bothered to wake up. Perhaps we will see more melons ascend as well.
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