Flight Rising Discussion

Posting the daily lore on Bystander's behalf, he is the creator of this story and I am just a simple reposter person.

DAY 1

All of Sornieth has been buzzing this past month--after the dark, violence-filled Night of the Nocturne, they have survived to see another round of elemental festivals, starting with the Crystalline Gala. And this year, the Ice flight is throwing a Masquerade Ball, and everyone’s invited!

Pearl dropped the invitation into your lair weeks ago, and you’ve been psyched since you read the words “masquerade” and “ball” next to each other. In fact, you’ve decided to get there a week early to see if there’s anything they can do to help (and maybe see that spiral you met last year but forgot to get the address of).

But when you finally make it to the Fortress of Ends, everything is in disarray.

The first thing you notice is the suspicious absence of cats. You file this away in your head as you try to figure out what the actual problem is.

The second thing you notice is the behavior of the dragons in the room. There are multiple dragons hanging from chandeliers, the oddly geometric decorations have become jungle gyms for frantic dragons, and there’s an imperial trying to stick their head inside the fountain.

The third thing you notice is the frantic fae that flies into your shoulder and somehow manages to knock you back slightly.

You turn to look at them. “Hi,” you say, “I just got here. What’s going on?”

“What’s going on?” the fae all but shrieks at you, and you recoil slightly. You don’t think you’ve ever heard a fae speak with that much emotion in their voice, and it’s slightly off putting. Their crest is flattened against the crown of their head, and they look extremely distressed.

“I’m here to help,” you reassure them, but it doesn’t seem to do much. The fae looks just as upset as they had before.

“Well,” the fae starts, “this morning, when I went down to start my shift in the crypts, I stopped by to look at the crowns.”

“Hold on,” you interrupt, “what crowns?”

“The crowns? For the best dressed attendees?” the fae says, calmed down enough to give you a look that greatly insults your intelligence.

“Okay,” you say, knowing what comes next. “Let me guess: they were missing?”

“Yes! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must keep looking for the crowns.”

“Hold on, please. I’m a detective, and this chaos is only allowing the culprit to spirit the crowns away for their nefarious plans,” you say. You’re not really a detective, but you’ve read a few popular novels and you think you know what you’re doing. Besides, there’s no better way to start a detective career than solving a crime.

“Alright,” the fae says. “If you can find the crowns, then we can do that. There are only five dragons with nighttime access, though, so you’ll probably want to start there.”

Further Story Segments will be linked below once posted :
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 8 part 2

pings are daily lore pings from the form in this thread

posting day 2's lore on behalf of Bystander who is the writer. [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/frd/2809967/2#post_41985829][b]Previously,[/b][/url] [center][b]DAY 2[/b] [url=https://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=56641926] [img]https://flightrising.com/rendern/350/566420/56641926_350.png[/img] [/url][/center] A gaoler sits in the chair across from you, next to a window. He clears his throat, but is otherwise completely still in that unnerving way certain gaolers have. You’ve only met a few gaolers, and you’re not quite sure how to act around them--they get so big, but they’re so fluffy. You wonder if it’s offensive to ask if you can touch his fur (it looks so soft) before you remember you have a job to do. “Please introduce yourself to the scribe,” you say. The gaoler looks suspiciously at the Myosotis Fox next to you. It has somehow gotten ink on its coat and is currently wriggling on its back on the parchment, the way foxes do. This is completely normal. You wonder why the gaoler is looking at it like that. “Uh, okay,” the gaoler says, and his voice is extremely deep. “My name is Ehr, and I’m an Overseer here at the Fortress of Ends. This year, after the Night of the Nocturne, which is really not a great time down here,” and here, Ehr trails off, shivering slightly. You’re not really sure what sorts of things cause a dragon that big to shiver slightly, and you’re not really sure you want to know. You avert your eyes wait for him to continue, but he doesn’t. Eventually, you look over at him again, and he’s still shaking a bit. You thought gaolers were fearless, but apparently they get scared like every other dragon. It’s a bit heartening, honestly. “After the Night?” you prompt. Ehr shakes his head, which is honestly kind of intimidating even with your newfound knowledge that gaolers have normal dragon emotions. “Yeah, so, after the Night, I received a message from Pearl, and it said… Wait, I have it here,” Ehr says, then pulls out a scroll. He isn’t wearing any apparel or carrying any sort of bag on him. You have no idea where he kept the scroll, but it’s dry and not even a little crushed. You’re impressed despite yourself. You open it up and begin reading. [quote]Overseer Ehr- Until the Gala, you are to guard the sealed corridor on the third sublevel of the western wing of the Fortress.[/quote] The note is not signed, and the handwriting is that of a coatl. You can tell because of the very light feather marks after some of the runes, the kind coatls can’t help but to make because of the plumage on their forelegs. Or maybe it was written by someone who wanted you to think they were a coatl? How complex. Being a detective sure was fun. “What did you know about the note?” you ask Ehr. “Well, we get messages like that for every assignment,” Ehr says. “It’s routine, down to the time of day it was delivered. And the assignment wasn’t all that odd, comparatively--we all get weird assignments sometimes, especially between the Night and the Gala.” “Why?” you ask. “Well, that’s when no one gets their vacation time. After the Night, even the higher ups get a little spooked. We all tighten security, at least until the Gala. So there’s always too many of us around the Fortress, and to make sure we don’t get too spooked, they give us mundane tasks that really aren’t that important. I assumed that was what this was.” “Okay,” you say, thinking you get the gist. “So you were assigned to watch the crowns.” “Well,” says Ehr, drawing the word out, “not [i]really[/i]. I was assigned to watch the door to the corridor that led to the room with the crowns. No one goes back there, really, so it was an easy solo assignment. Not that I slacked off or anything--a lot of times escapees try to hide in those kinds of corridors, which I assume is why I was told to watch this one. It’s important to stay alert no matter how boring your task is.” “Okay,” you say, thinking. “So, you were guarding the door to the corridor that had the room with the crowns on the night they went missing, right?” “Yeah,” says Ehr. “It was pretty unremarkable, except at around moonset, when there was a commotion somewhere to the north. I went down the corridor to the base of the stairs to check it out, but no one answered when I asked if everything was okay, so I went back to my post. That must have been when the thieves got in.” You nod sympathetically as Ehr sighs. You aren’t really sure why he’s so upset, but you’re here for him. He’s a decent dragon, even if he is able to crush you accidentally. You’re sure that if he did, he’d be sorry about it, and that’s what matters, really. “After that, what happened?” you ask him. You need to get the entire story, no matter how much you like the dragon telling it. “Well, I went back to the door, and then, in the morning, Rose came by--” “Rose?” you interrupt, slightly rudely. Luckily, Ehr doesn’t seem to notice. “The fae you met earlier? That’s Rose. She’s been frantic about things going correctly this year--she’s been pushing for us to hold a ball for years, and she wants everything to go right. So losing the crowns so close to the start of the Gala has her in a complete tizzy.” “Oh,” you say lamely. That does explain a lot. “So, Rose came by?” “Yeah, Rose came by, and I let her through, because she has access. She’s been checking on the crowns before and after all her crypt shifts, so that was nothing abnormal. But this time, she went in and then shrieked and ran out, so I followed her, because that was really weird. Reu had come by to relieve me already, so I was allowed to leave anyways.” Here, you nod, and hum like you know what Ehr is talking about. Gaoler society sounds really complicated--or maybe just life in the Fortress of Ends is complicated, because the fae (Rose, you remember) had “shifts” too, whatever those were. You look at Ehr as he continues. “So I followed Rose to the main hall, and she told everyone around that the crowns were missing. We all started looking, of course, because you never know where thieves stash their loot before they can make a break for it. And then while we were looking she ran into you, and you know what happened from there.” You do know what happened from there, which means that this interview is over. That’s how all the interviews in the novels end, and you’re trying to do this one by the book. It is your very first crime, after all--you don’t want to accidentally let anyone know that you’re an amateur. “Thank you for your time, Ehr. You’ve been very helpful. If you could wait in the foyer and send the next witness in, that’d be lovely,” you say in your best detective voice. Ehr nods and walks out. You take the time before your next interview to scritch your familiar behind the ears, and then you wipe the ink off on a clean patch of the fox’s coat. This case is looking very promising so far. pings for daily lore are below, check out first page of hub to be added to various pinglists @Tafficat, @MerlinMausi, @sockmonkeygerald, @Katsuokai, @LadyCora, @Spinoride, @Brighteningskies, @Prester, @Sciencer, @crowvidae, @retrace, @Finlandia, @Welgan, @DriftingClouds, @venusambassador, @ScaretavaJad, @TheAwesoMew, @qwigoqwaga, @RisenWolf, @minervamaga, @betty, @ghostlyplants, @Watercolour, @WanderingTurtle, @shoujo, @Starwindrider

Day 3 lore (still written by Bystander, I'm just a humble poster with a lore doc) [center][b]DAY 3[/b] [url=https://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=53634526] [img]https://flightrising.com/rendern/350/536346/53634526_350.png[/img] [/url][/center] A pearlcatcher comes in next, playing an interesting game with her pearl as she walks that involves a lot of dangerous-looking moves. You feel yourself stare in an equal mixture of awe and terror as she bounces her pearl off her hip, hits it with a somehow elegant-looking toss of her head, then catches it with her tail. You’re either terrified that she’ll break her pearl or in love; you can’t tell which. She seats herself where Ehr had sat, and grins at you. “Hi! I’m Eirlys!” she says, and you can practically hear the exclamation points after every word she says. Her name sounds a lot like Ehr’s. Maybe it’s an ice flight thing? If you find that spiral again, you’re going to ask. You hum and try to look professional. Eirlys seems very intimidating, and you’ll have to be on top of your detective game so she can’t sniff out the amateur in you. She keeps looking at you, and you realize she’s waiting for you to start the interview. Drat! You’re supposed to look professional, not spacey. You clear your throat. “Can you go through the night of the incident, starting from the beginning and working your way through to now?” There, that sounded calm and collected. Nice. “Well,” she starts, tossing her pearl with her tail as she looks off somewhere over your right arm. You resist the urge to check what she’s looking at. “Look, I should start by saying, I’m just a festie,” she says, “so I’m not really trusted around here in the first place.” “Wait, what’s a festie?” you ask when Eirlys pauses for breath. She’s really pretty, in that way that most pearlcatchers are, and even though she seems way less aloof than any other pearlcatcher you’ve met, it’s still intimidating to talk to her. “A festie?” she asks, like she’s genuinely confused that you don’t know, but not in a condescending way. “Like, someone who hangs around fests and sells their services?” “Oh! Like a food vendor, or like that dragon that always shows up trying to sell you a lair timeshare, whatever that is?” “More like a food vendor,” Eirlys laughs, and the light glints off the veins of gold on her face. It’s shiny and distracting. “So, you were cooking?” you ask, kind of confused. If she was cooking, why would she have been anywhere near the west wing of the Fortress? You looked at the floorplans to prepare for these interviews, and the kitchens were in the south wing. “Not really. I’m a brewer!” Eirlys puffs up her chest in a way you’ve only ever seen coatls and skydancers do. You blink. “I thought Baldwin was the brewer?” you ask before you think the question through. Oh, you hope that wasn’t offensive. “Well, yeah, he’s the best, but he’s only one dragon, and so many clans need things brewed for them, especially around fest weeks. Like, to prep for the Gala, the ice flight needs a whole lot of things brewed for festival prizes, and a lot of people want to melt things down to save up to brew fest currency and skins and whatnot. So there’s a lot of work around fests for me, and I travel with them and set up shop where I can.” You narrow your eyes at her. You know Baldwin used to be a pearlcatcher, so it’s not too far fetched, but she’s acting very personable, and you’ve never known another pearlcatcher who’s acted like that. “Okay, I’m going to ask this, and I really don’t mean offense, but I’ve dealt with a decent number of pearlcatchers in the past, and--” “You want to ask what I’m doing spending my time among the ‘lesser species’?” Eirlys asks, losing almost all of the joy in her expression. You wince. “More why you don’t seem to consider yourself inexplicably better than the dragons you deal with, but I guess that’s how a pearlcatcher would phrase that question,” you respond, hoping to bring the mood up slightly. Eirlys huffs, so you think you might have succeeded. “I grew up in an insular, obsessive society that was only concerned with itself, and to a curious, friendly young dragon, that was stifling to an awful degree. I enjoy talking to people, hearing their stories, and helping them out, and seeing new places on the way. I wasn’t made to sit in some gilded room high above the rest of dragon society--I want to experience things, have fun, live my life,” she says passionately, leaning forward, but then shifts back again. “And I never had parents, either, so I never really had a place there. So I left. And I don’t regret it.” You nod. You get the feeling that this is something meaningful to her, but also that it’s not something she keeps secret. You smile at her, actually relaxing for the first time since you saw her walk into the room. “Okay,” you say, “now. About the theft.” ----- pings are below, want to stop getting daily lore pings, please pm me. (signup for the pings on the form on page 1 for daily lore) @Tafficat, @MerlinMausi, @sockmonkeygerald, @Katsuokai, @LadyCora, @Spinoride, @Brighteningskies, @Prester, @Sciencer, @crowvidae, @retrace, @Finlandia, @Welgan, @DriftingClouds, @venusambassador, @ScaretavaJad, @TheAwesoMew, @qwigoqwaga, @RisenWolf, @minervamaga, @betty, @ghostlyplants, @Watercolour, @WanderingTurtle, @shoujo, @Starwindrider, @harmonywish, @NlCKname, @Sidegrinder, @Scryzze, @mrgbmommy, @Aradan, @Sinjin