Quests & Challenges

Day Eleven:
Crim roll 1/5

The fates decree:
A budding romance.

Blackstone, gentle and brittle of heart as he is, is sturdy and resilient of body. Though he had sustained grievous injuries only a day prior, by the next he is already up and moving again.

Dusk surmises the burden of stress lifted from his shoulders to see Meinwen having made it through to adulthood against all odds has done wonders for his recovery and peace of mind. When the Spiral approaches to check in with him, she finds him, perhaps for the first time, smiling. Perhaps too, for the first time, she finds a flutter in her chest.


End report:
- Dusk and Blackstone have a nest: two eggs

---

Day Twelve:
Crim roll 2/5

The fates decree:
A Royal request.

Sirrah is aware of her position in the growing kingdom twofold. She knows of her hopefully permanent role as its Royal, and she knows of the murmurs of discontent in its shadows. She knows better, at this point, than to further test Dusk’s loyalty and fleeting patience.

And so she sets her sights on the newcomers.

“You two,” she tilts her fans toward the mottled Obelisk and deceivingly delicate-looking Guardian in their shared place side by side. “Come with me.”

“To where?” Jayce blurts out in something bordering on disrespectful naivety. He only realises his potential mistake when Nakia shoots him a scolding glance.

If there had been any amount of insult felt, Sirrah does not acknowledge it. “Out,” she says vaguely to start. “For food. What else?”

Dusk finds herself eyeing the three’s exchange with suspicion. She doubts—and rightly so—Sirrah’s intentions and choice of company aren’t so simple. Grow closer with the newcomers before they have a chance to think for themselves, before they have a chance to see her true colours.

The look Nakia gives the Spiral as their small party leaves for the kingdom borders tells her everything. She knows. Of course she knows. Sirrah’s far too late to earn their unwavering trust.

No one speaks until the party returns. With bated breath they had waited, and waited, and dreaded—how many would return? How much inevitable trouble would Sirrah’s questionable martial prowess earn them? How far would Jayce make it with a gash still fresh in his side? Gods forbid, would Nakia selflessly fight for the three of them?

When all three appear again through the overgrown paths, the settlement as a whole seems to take a breath. None worse for the wear. No one with hung heads, or new gashes. Nay, heads held high, even, for the generous satchel Nakia carries at her side.

Fleeting victories. Nocturn wonders how long it might last.


End report:
- Sirrah, Jayce, and Nakia venture on a quest; each gain a level

---

Day Thirteen:
Crim roll 3/5

The fates decree:
More mouths to feed.

It always happens like this. Always, there is a nest, and always, there is an innocent mind too new or too deeply mired in denial to accept the inevitable harsh reality.

For a self-proclaimed tailor, Nocturn is seen grimacing and scowling more than he is seen with his nose down to cloth and needles. Not even Meinwen, young, energetic Meinwen, is spared these dagger-sharp glares when she returns from her unannounced adventure.

Unable to calm himself for the duration of her absence, Blackstone nearly collapses when finally his unspoken daughter steps through the underbrush. He can barely get the questions of Where had you been? What were you thinking, leaving without a word? before the sounds of tiny footsteps stop him short.

Three hatchlings toddle their way through to join a triumphant Meinwen’s side. “I found them,” she declares proudly. “I know how deeply you care for hatchlings, and for me. I thought this might make you happy.”

Folly. While the burly Snapper sputters his conflicted response of worried gratitude, Nocturn snarls to himself in silence. More mouths to feed. He can’t stand it. A kingdom has to start from somewhere, surely, but bumbling hatchlings are never the answer.

“You should know,” he finds himself muttering aloud, scowl locked on Blackstone.

He should know. He would know—how fleeting their little lives are, how fragile. And yet here the fool is, accepting another three inevitable tragedies into his life.


End report:
- Three abandoned hatchlings join the kingdom; Helina, Kane, and Belim

---

Day Fourteen:
Crim roll 4/5

The fates decree:
Insect roll; 27 matches.

Anything would be better than to watch Blackstone fawn over his new hatchlings. He can’t stand it. He can’t. He won’t.

Nocturn all but drags the two newcomers out with him. It always goes like this—more mouths to feed, more mouths depleting their food stores. Everything is beginning to feel like a routine; a morbid, rehearsed waltz.

“We’re going,” he tells the two.

As usual, Jayce blurts out his first thought without consideration. “Why us?”

“Because I can’t stand anyone else here,” Nocturn mutters plainly.

Nakia is beginning to find it mutual. Almost, she regrets dragging Jayce into this mess of a kingdom. Almost, she regrets trailing along after the moody Skydancer. Almost, she would have left him behind, if not for the sense of revitalisation that surges through her during their trip.

It’s a peculiar stone with familiar carvings—one that resonates in her and eases her thoughts of regret and pessimism. The outing is an opportunity, she assures herself. It’s a chance to acclimate Jayce to the harsher world, to teach him the ropes, maybe even boost his own confidence.

Small steps. One, two, two and a half steps at a time, even if they must be first taken with disagreeable company.


End report:
- Nakia gains a life due to finding a Scratch stone [4 remaining]

---

Day Fifteen:
Crim roll 5/5

The fates decree:
Insect roll; 22 matches.

When Jayce declares his intentions, Nakia is a mix of surprised and proud. I’m going out to train, he had said. Maybe she’d guessed—hoped—correctly. Maybe he really was finding his way in this world, maybe their outing the night prior had been enough to give him the confidence to move forward—with or without her.

When Meinwen volunteers to go with, Nakia quickly loses her spot in their party to a worried Blackstone. Almost like a mother watching her hatchling grow too old to rely on her anymore, the Guardian finds her insides twist with conflict. She’s proud of him—but worried. Always, always she will be worried.

“Be careful,” she tells him, just as he had done for her days before.

“I’ll keep them both safe, don’t you worry.” Blackstone’s assuredness is infectious.

There’s nothing else for it. Dusk has chosen her unspoken mate well.

Nakia lets them go.

When the party hobbles back in, she knows she’s made a mistake. No one save herself, and Dusk, previously curled over a nest, stir the moment Blackstone slumps heavily into the clearing of the settlement. Both rush to his side to question what had occurred. Meinwen remains nearby, fidgeting her blood-caked hands from presumably having dressed his wounds. Jayce moves apart, head in his paws.

With a muffled voice, it’s the Obelisk who answers their pleas for answers. “We were ambushed,” he quivers. “The two of us were already injured. Meinwen acted as a decoy to draw the beasts’ attention away.”

Nakia returns to her friend’s side to comfort him through his explanation. Dusk can already guess where this is going, but she listens with a fierce intensity all the same.

“He risked everything to get a potion to me,” Jayce’s voice hitches with a narrowly-avoided sob, “and took a direct hit in so doing.”

“I’ve tended to him as best I could,” Meinwen assures, though her own voice trembles with adrenaline not yet faded. “He’ll make it. He will. We rushed home as soon as we could.”

Shame, is all that an eavesdropping Nocturn concludes.


End report:
- Blackstone loses a life [2 remaining]

I tend to roll next week’s batch as soon as the current one is posted, just so I can think on how I want to write the reports throughout the week, and I have to say we’re really in for it next week. RNG is both brilliantly on my side from a storytelling perspective and absolutely diabolical as usual

Day Sixteen:
Crim roll 1/5

The fates decree:
A much-needed helping hand.

As the softer side of the kingdom mourns the loss of one of the newest discovered hatchlings, a stranger approaches.

“There have been rumblings of a kingdom in turmoil,” the Mirror says. His gentle eyes sweep over the small, downtrodden group. Each regard him with a mixture of expectation and suspicion.

A flicker passes Dusk’s eyes when the stranger introduces himself first as an ex-knight. A still wet-eyed Blackstone looks on with hope when he introduces himself presently as a nanny of sorts.

The Snapper and Meinwen are quick to share their stories: of a guardian with too many losses to count already within his short time here, of a trend of abandoned hatchlings, and even in-settlement nests, quickly perishing.

“Death has rampaged through this settlement,” he understands. “No more. I would assist how I can.”

While Blackstone ushers him toward the due-to-hatch nest, Dusk stashes the inherently vague how I can comment for later. Her gaze flicks to Sirrah, apart from the group, haughty and above it all on her would-be throne.

Though Wylfred’s assistance has spared only one of their two children, the gears of fate groan and begin their next arduous turn.


End report:
- Helina doesn’t make it
- Wylfred, a lv7 Nesting-Helper, joins the kingdom
- Dusk and Blackstone’s nest hatch: of Aulon and Atuan, only Aulon survives the first night

---

Day Seventeen:
Crim roll 2/5

The fates decree:
A deceiving respite.

Nocturn has had enough. He has had enough, and enough, and enough, and his patience has only grown more thin.

While the others take their time to breathe, to fawn over the new mouths to feed, the Skydancer sets down his needle and thread.

His gaze follows the bustle of activity to Blackstone—still recovering, still blindly following his bleeding heart, still woefully optimistic.

A blight. Nothing more than a thorn in the settlement’s side. If he would let his heart bleed so figuratively, Nocturne will make it bleed in reality.


End report:
- Nocturn trades his job as a Tailor for Assassin, making Blackstone his target

---

Day Eighteen:
Crim roll 3/5

The fates decree:
Training day.

For a self-proclaimed former knight, Wylfred is keen to better prepare those less skilled than he. The Mirror takes it upon himself to bring each and every novice through a strict—but forgiving—course.

Even Blackstone, still on shaky legs from prior injuries, joins the modest group of Jayce, Nakia, Meinwen, and the newly-grown Kane and Bellim.

He is there to see Jayce’s evolution from a meek and uncertain boy of the Training Fields into a confident young man taking the lead—and even befriending an Amaranth Moth. He is there to see his own found daughter scuffle through the underbrush of the Woodland Path, and tumble out of it with the smallest hedgehog any of them have seen—and all the more vigorous for it.

He is there to see them all take up new mantles: Jayce, a teacher, fitting and strong and sure; Meinwen, a Matchmaker, inspired by the love between her father and Dusk; himself, content to settle down into a quieter life with Wylfred there to help tend the nests, an artist.

He is there, but not able to see, the turn of a once uncertain Tailor into a misguided monster.

An artist? In a kingdom barely standing on its own, the Snapper could not have chosen anything more productive? Nocturn is furious.

It takes little effort to attack the unsuspecting artist from the shadows and send him again to the ground in a heap of pain and blood.

Dusk is beside herself when she finds him barely clinging to life. As she writhes with fury, as she knots herself into the shape of revenge, she plots.

Something must change. It must. It will.


End report:
- Blackstone, Jayce, Nakia, Meinwen, Kane, and Bellim all gain a level
- Jayce becomes a Teacher and acquires an Amaranth Moth familiar
- Blackstone becomes an Artist
- Meinwen becomes a Matchmaker
- An undetected Nocturn successfully takes one of Blackstone’s lives [1 remaining]

---

Day Nineteen:
Crim roll 4/5

The fates decree:
Gears of change.

In the quiet morning, Jayce is quick to put his new skills to use.

“Who would have thought there would come a day when it was you looking after me?” Nakia can do nothing but smile a lopsided, nostalgic smile.

Sirrah has known better than to send a tempestuous Dusk out on any missions as of late. She knows better than to press her luck, and try the Spiral’s already thinning patience.

Oh, if only she knew.

The would-be ambassador makes her stance clear: if she is meant to slow into a state of stagnation with no role, no missions, no communication, then she will make it official. Better to quit and take the helm elsewhere than to suffer this tense silence another second.

With her papers thrown at the Fae’s feet, Dusk leaves it at that.

To protect her family, she will become the knight she was always meant to be.

At this stage, what use is there for stealth?

Nocturn enters the couple’s home to find Blackstone resting from yet more wounds beside his nest.

Through the ensuing scuffle, the sole hatchling never stirs.

When finally Nocturn finds his blade at his target’s neck, the Snapper coughs out his plea. He begs to know—to understand—why? Why is he doing this? Why him?

“Enough is enough,” the Skydancer spits. “Constantly depleting our stores of food with your insistence on bringing in more hatchlings, and more, and more—what use is there in it? Why—when all it accomplishes is filling our graves?”

“You forget Wylfred,” Blackstone wheezes, “here now to help us through.”

“Only now, after so much has been lost—what of the supplies we have wasted up to this point? What of your grief?”

Something clicks in the Snapper’s mind. “The loss hurts you too.”

Nocturn responds by lifting his target by the shoulders and jostling him back down into the ground with a desperate anger. “Of course it pains me!” He shrieks. “We were to venture forth—make a kingdom—but instead all we have done is feed our cemetery when we should have fed ourselves—found more recruits, residents—“

“Have we not done so?”

The Skydancer bares his teeth with apprehensive disdain. “We—“

“—now have help,” Blackstone reminds him. “The loss is painful, yes. There will always be love and loss and pain, but it is necessary to grow. To learn. Look not at the graves, but the progress we have made. There is hope, Nocturn. Where days ago we would have lost more than we have gained just overnight, we now have the means to keep moving forward.”

The would-be assassin’s grip eases with his gradually faltering resolve.

“Put down your weapons,” Blackstone says quietly. “A flourishing kingdom cannot be made with resignation. It must be made together—with hope, cooperation, and love.”

“You are as soft as ever,” the Skydancer surrenders. Slowly, his grip completely leaves, and he slumps to the side. Blackstone knows better than to acknowledge the glistening of his eyes. “It will be the death of us all one day.”

“Do you truly believe that?”

“… You never saw me tonight,” Nocturn evades, beginning to gather himself back up and head toward the door. “Isn’t that right, Blackstone?”

“I’ll look forward to whatever new garment you’ve made for us.”


End report:
- Dusk quits her role as Ambassador, and instead becomes a Knight [gains 3 lives; 4 remaining]
- Jayce teaches Nakia and Bellim, raising both their levels by 1
- Nocturn’s attempt on Blackstone’s life ends in reconciliation; Nocturn is redeemed back into the kingdom and returns to being a Tailor

---

Day Twenty:
Crim roll 5/5

The fates decree:
An olive crown.

The morning starts as any other. A meal, a hatchling babbling its success having made it through another night, the distant sound of a teacher instructing his pupils.

Though Nakia and Bellim triumphantly return with a handful of unusual spoils in addition to new aspirations, they are not met with high spirits. The settlement’s atmosphere has taken on a particularly dark one, and Dusk stands at the centre of it.

It doesn’t take long for her righteous raving to reach the ears of others: Sirrah must go. Change will come. If they are to survive as a settlement, it must.

It must.

It does.

Though Blackstone does not partake in the ensuing chaos, violence, and bloodshed, he understands. He sees the look of fury in his lover’s face, the calculated savagery in Nocturn’s movements, and the overwhelming presence that is Wylfred, and he knows.

A kingdom cannot be made with resignation. It will be made with ferocity and blood if it must—and it will flourish with hope, cooperation, and love. If the change that is required must be the callous hatred cut from its heart, then so be it.

Change will come.

And it does.

For the first time, a grave is filled not with the body of a hatchling, but an adult.

Cries for Dusk herself to take the helm as the new Royal are rallied. And yet, for all her proactive independence and calls for action, she declines. Nakia, too, is a contender beside Jayce, who flatly declines.

Gazes turn to young Meinwen: the strong daughter of the Ambassador-turned-Knight, and the gentle heart who had surely been the first to knock loose the gears of change. Under their guidance, she is sure to keep the kingdom moving forward.

In the celebrations to follow, Nocturn slips away, only to return after hours, bloodied and battered, baring a small parcel.

With shaking hands, he presents it to their newly-crowned Royal: a simple Green Olive Wreath.

A life lost, and one lost and redeemed.

From the blood of countless hatchlings and a Fae unfit to be a ruler, blooms a new kingdom.


End report:
- Jayce teaches Nakia and Bellim again, raising both their levels by 1
- Nakia becomes a Doctor
- During the training exercises, the kingdom gains a few items: Emerald Aviator Gloves, Green Lace Anklet, Shred, and Nakia acquires a Janustrap familiar
- Sirrah is overthrown as the Royal; Meinwen is crowned in her place
- Nocturn loses a life during a Marketplace run [3 remaining]

Day 21:
Crim roll 1/5

The fates decree:
A plague.

It starts with an undetectable lethargy.

A newly-grown Aulon, already particularly unusual for a Spiral for how much time he spends asleep, fails to wake at all for breakfast. Though he yet breathes, it’s evident by noon something is very, very wrong.

By evening, his worried parents, too, succumb to a peculiar fatigue. It takes barely hours for the unseen virus to sweep across the rest of the kingdom. Though the symptoms are relatively mild, for some, it is critical.

Come morning, Kane fails to respond to Blackstone’s pleading. Nakia, too late to tend to her due to her own ailment, calls the time.


End report:
- Kane is lost

---

Day 22:
Crim roll 2/5

The fates decree:
Downtime.

For a mercy, save for quiet conversations had, nothing of interest happens. Recovery from the illness the day prior goes apace; it recedes as quickly as it had come.

Nakia’s rounds in assisting those yet shaking off the side effects ends with Wylfred.

“There’s little you need to worry about,” he assures her. True to his word, he had been among the few to experience little to no symptoms at all.

The Guardian credits his strong reserve and trained body for it. It strikes her; his bloodline, too, must be strong.


End report:
- Nest of three eggs between Nakia and Wylfred

---

Day 23:
Crim roll 3/5

The fates decree:
A curious helping hand.

It surprises no one to see a stranger at the settlement’s doorstep so soon after its hardships and recent uprising.

What does surprise them, however, is the way in which the visiting Nocturne carries herself. There’s an air of mystery about her; an intriguing way she tilts her head when she speaks, the gravelly quality of her quiet voice, the occasional insect-like flicker of her wings.

Despite her peculiarities, Meinwen is not one to turn away an interested party. Even Nocturn welcomes her; surely she must have her reasons, right?


End report:
- Madina joins the kingdom

---

Day 24:
Crim roll 4/5

The fates decree:
Another new face.

Two days in a row, someone new arrives—but this time there is a certain bittersweet melancholy about it.

A gardener, the Mirror introduces himself as. It doesn’t take Nakia long at all to discover that by combining her knowledge and his, the loss their kingdom had suffered just days prior due to plague might have been avoided.

Something in his tone of voice, gentle as it is even though the words are blunt, assures her. It soothes even Blackstone’s grief: If there is a next time, and there is always a next time, we will prevent it.


End report:
- Torram, a lv5 Gardener, joins the kingdom

---

Day 25:
Crim roll 5/5

The fates decree:
A much-needed food run. (Meat roll; 44 rounds)

Where some might call it unwise, others think it commendable when Meinwen herself leads a small party of Bellim and the newcomer Madina to the hunting grounds.

Eager both to spend time with one of the more recently settled residents and the ever-motivated Bellim, the newly-crowned Royal reassures the worriers.

She sees something of herself in the young Fae: a lost, out of place hatchling, fearlessly taking everything head-on, making a name for himself in the rocky beginnings of a kingdom, come what may.

Even the most pessimistic see a sliver of hope, a sign of change, of things to come, when the party returns completely unscathed.


End report:
Nothing of interest happens today.

Day 26
Crim roll 1/5

The fates decree:
A different kind of emperor.

The settlement is located in Light territory. Sirrah knew the risks—they all did. Never once did they assume they were completely safe, and yet at the same time, never would they have guessed Luminax would stray this far.

Aulon, however sleepy, complains of a distant creaking. The others, even when they strain to listen, cannot hear it. Still the Spiral complains, until eventually he hides himself away in a burrow.

It isn’t until a broken, multi-voiced shriek reaches them like thunder from a nearing storm, that they hear what Aulon has, and understand.

By the time the Emperor is upon them, there’s little time left to prepare.

Rather than turn tail and run, Bellim attempts to stand and fight. If not for the displacement of air as one of Luminax’s great paws comes crashing down for him, he would surely have been fully crushed underfoot. Instead, he barely scrapes by with a broken wing, and is dragged away by a frantic Dusk.

When the dust finally settles, an inconsolable Nakia, having been forced to abandon her nest, returns to find the three eggs miraculously unharmed—and beginning to stir.


End report:
- The kingdom is attacked by an Emperor; Bellim loses all but one life
- Nakia and Wylfred’s nest hatch, adding Cora, Myria, and Layek to the settlement

---

Day 27
Crim roll 2/5

The fates decree:
Desperation.

Meinwen had been prepared for all else but what the settlement whispers must have been nothing short of the gods expressing their anger.

Following the Emperor’s attack, a perilous storm rages overhead; dark, cacophonous, unrelenting.

“The storm threatens to flood our streets or bring trees down upon us,” she hisses to her mother desperately. “We cannot risk losing another life.”

“Sirrah once placated the heavens with a familiar,” Dusk offers back with equal urgency undercutting her level demeanour.

“Is the life of a familiar no less important than one of our own?”

A nearby Nocturn is stunned into silence. To hear the words straight from their new leader’s mouth in contrast to the previous’s callous, unthinking conclusions, is a breath of fresh air. And yet…

“Circumstances now are more dire than they were then,” he cautions. “Would you suggest doing nothing at all, then?”

“No, but…”

Nakia steps forward. “If it worked last time, it will work again.”

They can only hope.

Begrudgingly, with tears in her eyes, Meinwen offers the life of a Janustrap forfeit by Nakia. By the end of the hour, the storms calm, and a tiny body stirs from the swaying tall grasses. Befitting the turmoil of the skies prior, a dark-scaled Guardian lifts his head to survey his new surroundings.

This time, at least, the hatchling left behind feels less like a curse, and more like a mercy.


End report:
- Nakia’s Janustrap is sacrificed
- Calad joins the kingdom

---

Day 28
Crim roll 3/5

The fates decree:
Regrouping.

Shaken by the tumultuous last few days, Meinwen is determined to keep moving forward. Under the recommendation of Dusk, she enlists the company of Bellim and Madina for a small venture.

Nothing too strenuous, she promises—for as energetic and go-getting as Bellim is, his wing remains in a crutch, and his pace is slowed. Instead, she offers to bring them to one of the less hostile villages nearby; to listen, to learn.

Their trek and open ears pay off, for by the time they return, the Fae and Nocturne have gained new knowledge, and as if in exchange for the lost Janustrap, a Sprig Glade Lord takes a liking to the Royal.

Meinwen does not see it as a life for a life. This, too, she sees as a mercy, as forgiveness, as a second chance to be cherished.

It is all too sad when, upon their arrival home, the party learns of the demise of one of Nakia and Wylfred’s hatchlings despite his best efforts.


End report:
- Meinwen gains a Spring Glade Lord as a familiar
- Bellim becomes a Matchmaker
- Madina becomes a Scout
- Layek doesn’t make it

---

Day 29
Crim roll 4/5

The fates decree:
Meat roll; 48 rounds.

The run-of-the-mill food run; though the party of Meinwen, Aulon, and Jayce return unharmed, Jayce does return with a certain new spring in his step.


End report:
- Jayce gains a life due to finding a Boulder Bolt [3 remaining]

---

Day 30
Crim roll 5/5

The fates decree:
A large quest.

The settlement’s bad luck is lucky, and its good luck is unlucky. Meinwen tries her chances a second day in a row, to bring herself and a small party out to observe and learn, and is swiftly reminded of the harshness of this world.

Though all three make it home alive, both herself and Madina are grievously injured—not even the accompanying Jayce can minimise the damage done.


End report:
- Meinwen loses a life [2 remaining]
- Madina loses a life [2 remaining]

Day 31
Crim roll 1/5

The fates decree:
A lucky flip of the coin.

There’s little reason, when they think about it, why exactly they might venture out today. Something compels Meinwen—to get stronger, to see what it is that seems to call her.

Unwilling to allow her to go alone, Jayce, ever-dutiful teacher that he is, accompanies her.

One wrong turn, and perhaps the duo would have been severely injured by laid traps. And yet, despite the odds, they find their way instead into a small clearing occupied not by hostility, but two curious faces.


End report:
- Meinwen and Jayce gain a level
- Boone and Sunniva join the kingdom
- Off her cooldown, Meinwen lays a nest with Jayce; four eggs

---

Day 32
Crim roll 2/5

The fates decree:
The unusually eventful 44-round meat roll that convinced the author not to condense this batch into one interlude-style overview.

Though recently reformed, Nocturn has not fully grown out of his pessimistic ways. He notes, with more bite than is intended, Mirrors and comparatively large Guardians are naturally big eaters. Their stores of food are suffering—and he tries, with effort, not to grimace at the thought of the new hatchlings on their way.

“I will go,” a newly-grown Calad volunteers. Even had he not been a Guardian himself and implied to be partly responsible, he sees it as an opportunity to strike out and pull his own weight in the settlement.

Sunniva and her age-old friend, Boone, are quick to join. A surprisingly well-coordinated group, the three set off with little worry. It isn’t until they disappear beyond the settlement borders that both Meinwen and Jayce question whether it was wise to send three inexperienced dragons into the thick of it without supervision.

And yet, despite the bruised and battered and poorly patched-together-with-bloodied-leaves-and-bandages trio limping in, the worried onlookers are treated not to dour faces and regret, but vigor and optimism.

“You should have seen it,” Sunniva brightly explains, flailing an arm in gesture toward her friend.

Boone is quick to wave her off, but Calad finishes the tale for them both.

“Two times was he dealt a serious blow,” the Guardian chimes with excitement, “and yet he never faltered. No, in fact, he seemed bolstered by the defeat, and forged on with twice the steam!”

“Quit,” Boone himself pleas, embarrassed. “Neither of you were any better. To look at either of you, one would think we suffered a complete loss.”

Sunniva barks with laughter. “Did we not?”

“We did,” Calad nods with mock solemnity.

“All three of you are insufferable!” Nocturn wails.

A nearby Nakia shakes her head in exasperated agreement as she tends to the trio’s wounds. “Do be more careful next time,” she chides.

“If there is a next time!” How unusual to see Nocturn so affected.

And yet the three fast-friends carry on with their banter and laughter, and those onlooking find it almost difficult to worry.


End report:
- Boone loses two lives [1 remaining]
- Sunniva loses a life [3 remaining]
- Calad loses a life, but gains another due to finding a Scratch stone [3 remaining]
- Sunniva acquires a Chipskink familiar

---

Days 33-34
Crim roll 3-4/5

The fates decree:
Nests, and more nests.

If asked why the settlement seemed to have fallen into a state of jovial reprieve, the residents would point to the band of three and their continued merry tales of their exploits the day prior.

As if overnight, the nests are filled, and a peculiar trio toddles in following Calad from seemingly nowhere. He finds it funny—fitting, almost, that he and his friends should find another trio.

As they laugh over wondering if this trio will be as troublesome as themselves, Nocturn hides his face with a groan. So many nests, so many hatchlings, so many new mouths to feed, and yet, for all his inward grumbling, he can no longer find it in himself to be angered by it. A healthy amount of concerned, certainly, but the kingdom is more stable now, he judges—more responsible.


End report:
- Nest of one egg between Dusk and Blackstone
- Dusk and Blackstone have formed a permanent pair
- A random clutch of hatchlings joins the kingdom, adding Malta, Marros, and Savion

---

Day 35
Crim roll 5/5

The fates decree:
Not so stable after all.

It’s almost eerie, how a scuffle is again heard in the square before it is seen. And yet, where one might expect to find an overly-realist Skydancer having snapped and gone after another parent or unsuspecting hatchling, instead it is the settlement’s own doctor.

Between shrieks and broken roars of rage and disagreement, it’s hard to discern just what exactly had prompted Nakia to turn against her gardener assistant. One might guess a conflict of methods, interests, but would that really result in the two of them circling each other in challenge? Would it really end with one lunging for the other with fangs and claws outstretched?

Blood is littered across the dusty paths—who it belongs to is impossible to tell. Scales of two different sizes are strewn across the grass. A still-young Cora emerges from her nest to see the bloody duel, horrified, terrified, dismayed.

She tries to call for her mother—and receives her, in the form of the Guardian’s heavy claws having been dodged by Torram’s quick jump to the side.

The young Mirror makes not a sound when she hits the ground.

Nakia, the moment she realises what she has done, fills the air with a bellow of grief and regret.

In a rage for retaliation, she hauls herself back up, turns toward Torram, and aims another swipe—too slow to react a second time when the grown Mirror dodges, forward this time, into her neck and chest.

Like her own daughter, Nakia falls, a paw to her wounded throat.

The settlement will never know what had sparked the argument—Torram never tells.

Jayce, too grief-stricken by the loss of his close friend, does not wish to know.


End report:
- Cora is caught in a crossfire and is killed
- Nakia is killed

Interlude 2
Pinkerton roll 1/1

He hasn’t been taking it well.

The settlement sees it in his eyes, in his posture—a dark shadow cast where the glint in them used to be, the way he carries himself as if wading through a mire instead of his usual spring.

“I’m going out,” he tells no one in particular. Where his companion who would normally be to hear him is empty space.

A worried Meinwen calls to him before he can begin to turn away, “Be safe.”

Jayce has no plans to be.

His absent wandering takes him deep into a forest that, with caution, cannot harm him—his days as a teacher, as a slowly-becoming-seasoned fighter, have put him above the minor beasts and bandits in the area. With heavy, aimless steps, he meanders recklessly, paying little attention to what does or does not surround him.

Trees. More trees. A rich splash of blue too tall to be a lake.

A—?

Jayce barely has time to look up before he walks headfirst into the trunk of a large body. The head of a patient Imperial lifts to look down at him curiously. Snapping back to reality, the Obelisk stumbles a few steps backward, sputtering his apologies.

“You look troubled,” she observes plainly.

He freezes. Her tone is so gentle, so warm. Not even Nakia at her most tender sounded this way. Against his will, in spite of or perhaps due entirely to the thought, his eyes well with tears.

The Imperial coos with worry, and curls her long self inward as though to shield him from whatever grief seems to gradually overtake him.

Guided by her motherly tones, her patience, and her understanding, Jayce spills his heart to the stranger. He tells her of the kingdom, of its hardships, of its people. He tells her of his life before it, of the one in whom he put all his trust, of their bond, their partnership. He tells them of an unpredictable scuffle, and the loss of Nakia. He regrets, he wails, he wishes.

Wracked with sobs he admits, “She was my love.”

When Jayce’s grief is temporarily run dry, the Imperial takes it upon herself to see him home.

She doesn’t turn when her front paw passes the threshold of the settlement. She doesn’t say her farewells. She only bows her head in the presence of Meinwen.


End report:
- Fori joins the kingdom

Day 36
Crim roll 1/5

The fates decree:
A largescale quest.

The settlement seems, at best, divided. There are those who silently scorn and murmur in low voices when Torram passes in the streets, and those too divorced from the events from days prior to have too strong of an opinion.

Fights will break out. Lives will be lost. That has always been the way of it—however questionably unavoidable at times.

Torram himself keeps his head low with apparent remorse. He had not meant to end a life, let alone two, over what had started as a petty squabble over ideals, then questioning of faith, then accusations and contempt. A simple gardener, and yet he has managed to feed his bed of herbs with blood.

Bellim, ever the optimist and believer of second-chances, approaches him on this day, a newly-grown Savion in tow. They are to head out for the day, to get to know each other, to reassess, to understand.

Savion learns that second chances are sometimes necessary to move forward in life. Torram, too, learns that guilt and regret get one nowhere—but instead the drive to move forward, to redeem oneself, to start anew.


End report:
- Savion, Bellim, and Torram’s quest ends with each gaining a level and losing no lives
- Jayce and Meinwen’s nest hatches, adding Haldana, Emil, Kala, and Adalee to the kingdom
- Dusk and Blackstone’s nest hatches, adding Wyrril to the kingdom

---

Day 37
Crim roll 2/5

The fates decree:
Insect roll; 25 rounds, and maybe some foolish “higher power” who forgot this wasn’t under quest rules.

It’s Myria’s idea, this time. The largely silent recluse who, unbeknownst to anyone else, has found himself looking up to the village ex-knight, and the on-his-way-to-redemption gardener.

He himself has felt he has lived and died and lived another life. A second chance would be welcome, even if under the guise of a simple run for food.

It ends, like it always does, in tragedy after tragedy. He watches Torram fall once, twice, and watches Wylfred use himself as a shield when the Guardian has already fallen.

With the harsh realities of life hammered back into him, Myria vows no more. If he is to be the only one to spare others the same pains he has, to spare them of further tragedies, then so be it.


End report:
- Torram loses two lives [1 remaining]
- Wylfred loses one life [2 remaining]
- Myria loses a life [2 remaining]
- Myria becomes a Necromancer

---

Days 38-39
Crim roll 3-4/5

The fates decree:
A budding rivalry.

Fate would find it funny. It would look down upon a reformed albeit pessimistic Skydancer with amusement and dare bend his life into ironic twists. It would see a lapse in his judgement lead to a bountiful nest with a Mirror—and the look of utter betrayal on the face of another Skydancer when discovered.

Boone isn’t sure what to be offended by more; that his long-time friend Sunniva would choose anyone but himself to lay a nest with, or that Nocturn dare impede upon their lives like this. He keeps his ire to himself, but cannot help but to scowl any time he so much as catches a glimpse of the tailor.

The tailor who, in what would seem to be a deliberate attempt to impress his new fancy, declares a change of heart the next day.

He grows tired of toiling with threads and needles, he claims. He would instead try his hand at more—science and magic so intertwined one can barely tell them apart.

Sunniva is thrilled; she jokes she may let him try his hand at bettering her image some day. Boone snarls and scoffs. What point is there in such a thing?


End report:
- Nocturn has a nest with Sunniva; four eggs
- Nocturn quits his job as a Tailor, switching instead to Alchemist

---

Day 40
Crim roll 5/5

The fates decree:
Something like a freeloader.

It’s odd to think the kingdom would advance to a point where dragons simply choose to settle into it with little more reason than to relocate.

When the tiny new face of a Fae introduces herself, no one barely bats an eye. Meinwen heartily accepts her with little thought to why or what motives the younger dragon might have—still with traces of naivety, it isn’t her place to know or ask.


End report:
- Clara joins the kingdom for as of yet unknown reasons

Day 41
Crim roll 1/5

The fates decree:
An honourable backstabbing.

It takes barely a day before suspicions surrounding the newly-joined Clara grow beyond quiet murmurs.

Among the onlookers, Myria is the most keen. He tails her in secret, watches her every move, and when finally his caution is rewarded with proof of her ill intentions, he challenges her loudly, unavoidably, determinedly. He gives her the option to forgo the fighting—he gives her the chance, to leave now and never look back.

She does not take it.

And so with little choice left, Myria does good on his word, and the duel commences. With their exceptional differences in size in mind, it’s little surprise when the Guardian comes out as the victor.


End report:
- Myria challenges Clara to a duel; Clara is killed
- Jayce and Meinwen’s nest hatches, adding Rave, Hauku, Enoth, and Enid to the kingdom

---

Days 42-43
Crim roll 2-3/5

The fates decree:
Seafood roll; 37 rounds.
Plant roll; 13 rounds.

The usual, as it always is.

And, as usual, it ends in a ways not expected.

With the jovial trio of Calad, Sunniva, and Boone setting off, their intended day-long trip is cut short when only two of them return with the corpse of a Skydancer, his last breath spent.

Sunniva does not mourn. She only keeps her head high, glad to have settled the disagreements, misunderstandings, and battered egos between herself and Boone before his departure.

When the following day comes with calls to complete the food rounds the now-duo were unable to see finished, a newly-grown Kala steps up.

Having lost so much already, Jayce is hesitant to let him go, and yet the Pearlcatcher insists. Meinwen sees something of herself in him, and Jayce, too, eventually relents, when Fori takes it upon herself to escort the youngling.

A meek Adalee questions if he, too, can attend. Shunned by some due to his peculiar eyes but not by his own brother, he too is heartily accepted under Fori’s wing.

Much to Jayce’s relief, the three return unharmed.


End report:
- During the first trip, a Crimson Rogue Bracer is found
- Boone is lost during the first trip
- Sunniva becomes a Librarian
- Calad becomes a Tailor

---

Day 44
Crim roll 4/5

The fates decree:
An uprising.

The neighbouring beast clans have not, will not, forget.

The carnage this time is not nearly so extreme. With the settlement boasting a skilled knight and fierce battlers, they are quickly driven back—but at the expense of at least one life.

An orphaned Skydancer, Savion, is left in the dust, unable to move again with a broken neck.

The kingdom, too, will not forget.


End report:
- Savion is lost

---

Day 45
Crim roll 5/5

The fates decree:
Loss, upon loss, upon loss.

Now, more than ever, Nakia’s absence is keenly felt. An illness not unlike the first sweeps through the settlement—it takes lives quietly, lulling them to sleep, deeper into nothingness, until nothing is left.

Among the first to never wake is Dusk and Blackstone’s newest hatchling, having just made it barely days into adulthood. It’s almost too much for a father to bear, to see another of his child-by-blood succumb to this same illness, only this time never to recover. Aulon was too young to understand the weight of it at the time. Now, he understands the fear and grief in his father’s eyes when his brother Spiral fails to move again.

When the unmoving body of Calad is found, Sunniva’s spirits are broken. She had handled the loss of her close childhood friend with grace, putting her heart in the Guardian instead—and now she has nothing. Her cries keen above the din of the settlement.

Torram is lost in his thoughts, wracked with guilt and regret. Had the disagreement between himself and Nakia never happened, perhaps they could have worked together to avoid this. Had they set aside their differences, perhaps Madina and realistic-yet-steadfast Nocturn would still be alive.

When he mourns his mistakes and blames himself, a nearby Myria shakes his head. His eyes are darkened with the tragedy they watch, but his expression is stony.

It’s not your fault, he tells him. It couldn’t be.


End report:
- Nocturn, Madina, Calad, and Wyrril are lost to illness