Quests & Challenges

@velvetpaws Thanks! And thanks for the link -- I'll check it out!

@velvetpaws @Weredogalism Ugh, I've fallen really behind. Let's start clearing backlog... [b]Day 30:[/b] [img]https://i.imgur.com/LlPMViq.png[/img] [i]"Aunt Liberty, Meirion took my chimera fangs!" Liberty met the eyes of young Madoc who was, as always, heartbreakingly earnest. The fact that he regularly "borrowed" from his brother's growing hoard of toys and oddments never seemed to make him calmer about the times he was borrowed from in return. Of course, Madoc's hoard was more fragile and valuable -- fossils and mineral samples, most dug up himself -- and he had reason to worry about Meirion treating them roughly. Still... well, one day they'd have to learn, wouldn't they? "All right," said Liberty. "Where is he?" Her question was answered a moment later by mock-roaring from down in the canyon, followed by the half-sincere shrieks of her own children. She hopped down from the ledge and coasted to the bottom, where Meirion was chasing Vengeance and Storm, puppeting the chimera fangs in his claws. "Snap! Snap! Gonna get you -- oh. Um. Aunt Liberty. Madoc wants these back, doesn't he?" "You should have guessed that," replied Liberty. "Why don't you all go play with Kiyo? His lasher's always glad to play the monster."[/i] And maybe Kiyo was grown up enough to carry his share of the hatchling-minding. Meanwhile, while all this is happening... [b]Day 31:[/b] [img]https://i.imgur.com/gXfe3DV.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/2W6eGyS.png[/img] ... Davion, Cadogan, and Palatine are in a combat marathon. 50 fights in the Blooming Grove go reasonably well, at least; Palatine picks up two levels, getting to 10 and getting an Ambush stone (yessss), while Davion hits 13 and Cadogan hits 12. [b]Day 32:[/b] [img]https://i.imgur.com/v7NaG9e.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/tAjzKkz.png[/img] Another Coliseum day, and with Madoc and Meirion old enough to fight, they enter the RNG rotation... which gives us Liberty, Kiyohiko, and poor level 1 Madoc in the Forgotten Cave. I'm invoking the mercy rule I amended to my OP recently -- Madoc has to fight, but we default to easy mode for teams/venues. I decide to send Madoc and Meirion to gain their first few levels in the Training Fields as a two-dragon team. It's a productive day! Nothing interesting drops, but both of them hit level 3 in their 20 fights, very close to 4. This puts them beyond mercy-rule levels for any venue anyone's qualified for, but a couple levels and the added VIT will hopefully make them sturdy enough to survive in a bigger venue now. [b]Day 33:[/b] [img]https://i.imgur.com/wXHY0hk.png[/img] [i]Gwawr, deep in seclusion in her private chambers, cracked the lid of the jar of vapors and inhaled deeply. The harsh steam of the Scorched Forest burnt her nostrils, as it always did, but with the scalding pain came clarity. She could feel her vague, wavering connection to the spirits of the land begin to strengthen and clear.[/i]Tell me,[i]she thought. [/i]What is in store for Palatine? His children?[i] The voice of the spirits of Earth was harsh, nigh-overwhelming, and something like tumbled gravel. [b]Their fate is not ours to decide. The gods rule dragons; you know this. Palatine's god is distant. This realm's god is further still, locked in old sadness. Nothing guides them but chance.[/b] It was an honest answer, though it burnt as much as the scalding steam. Her familiar guides were far from her charge's newfound country, and hers. Perhaps chance and strength would be enough. Perhaps not.[/i]

@velvetpaws @Weredogalism [b]Day 34: Forgotten Cave Follies[/b] [img]https://i.imgur.com/RvnQAls.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/N0qm8L0.png[/img] Remember what I said last post about Madoc and Meirion no longer being eligible for the mercy rule? The RNG sure did! It's time for Liberty (level 13), Kiyohiko (level 10), and Meirion (level 3) to give the Forgotten Caves a try for 40 fights. Verdict: kind of tricky! There are a lot of 3-melee packs in here, although thankfully having a Wind caster does good work against the multiple Earth enemies and the Lightning-element Cave Jewels. With a low-level Earth dragon in the party, though, I fled against packs of Water- or Wind-elemental fighters, and Blue Dragon Snails were kind of a problem, and in general I backed out to regain HP a lot (something like every 3 fights or so, on average). Meirion had some close calls, but he survived the day and hit level 7 by the end of it, getting a couple of augment stones for his troubles. Kiyohiko reached level 11 and got his Freezing Slash, which I imagine will be pretty useful. Liberty is... still level 13, but she's making progress, and Disorient really hits like a truck.

@antivehicular

Ha! I would've like to have a set of chimera fangs to play with when I was a kid. ^_^

You seem to be getting a lot more coli draws than I am (not that I'm complaining!) Pink apparently likes to give me stuff instead of food.

@velvetpaws I feel you. I wish I knew what the actual probabilities were; it feels to me like it goes in fits and starts, where I get a ton of coli drops and then a ton of others. And speaking of coli drops coming in fits and starts... [b]Day 35: At Least It's Not the Golem Workshop[/b] [img]https://i.imgur.com/p0vPcTs.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/EeeAHGO.png[/img] The RNG has spoken, again, and it says 50 fights with a newbie on the team -- the team is Kiyohiko, Meirion, and Storm. Kiyohiko is level 11, so his medium mode venue is the Sandswept Delta, which is just a little too low for Storm to mercy-rule out. So... time to fight carefully, I guess? Very carefully, and with lots of back-outs and flight from battle, the team gradually scraped by. Storm went from level 1 to level 7 -- the only good thing about these messy days -- and picked up Sap and two Might Fragments. Meirion hit level 9 and got one of my hoard's many, many Ambush stones. Kiyohiko didn't level, but he's getting close. And finally... [item=Greatshell] ... this weird thing decided to join the party! Storm didn't have a familiar yet, so now he has a very strange friend. Progress! @Weredogalism

@velvetpaws @Weredogalism [b]Day 36: In the Dark, but Not Alone[/b] [img]https://i.imgur.com/5ppxnvO.png[/img] Nice, a new dragon! I was just thinking about how much we could use some more elemental diversity. Let's see what breed... [img]https://i.imgur.com/Ey8SfKk.png[/img] Nocturne! One trip to the AH later, meet Orthus: [img]https://i.imgur.com/x1mmxRl.png[/img] (Female, Chocolate Basic/Peridot Basic/Cerise Okapi, Shadow Common eyes) She's a new element for the Pinkerlocke clan, which is nice after four surviving bred dragons skewing things heavily towards Earth. She's also much more of a blank slate gene-wise than the other dragons in the challenge, so I'll probably try to give her a primary and secondary on apparel-drop days, chance and survival permitting. I'm not up for going full prose mode at the moment, but in the lore, Orthus is found by Ofydd at the edge of the canyon during one of his midnight patrols. The baby Nocturne is guarded by a Chipskink, wearing a leather collar in which a scrap of parchment has been tucked, bearing shaky draconic runes: [i]HER NAME IS ORTHUS PLEASE TAKE CARE OF HER[/i] Orthus is small and light enough for Ofydd to carry, if uncomfortably, and stays fast asleep all the way home. She's clearly just barely hatched, but she's fed and healthy -- better than a lot of foundlings out this way. Time will tell if her good fortune holds out.

@antivehicular

Aww, cutie! It'll be fun to see how you gene her. ^_^

@velvetpaws @Weredogalism [b]Day 37: Cave-In[/b] [i]During an exploration into a deeper cave, three of the dragons of the clan find a precious gem, something with great magical potential -- and then, too late, one distracted dragon hears the rumbling...[/i] [img]https://i.imgur.com/Fbusqcy.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/GcFhoCc.png[/img] ahahaha welp. That's Cadogan (level 12), Meirion (level 9), and Storm (level 7) on a death streak in their highest-level venue, Forgotten Cave. Just 10 battles. Time to fight on through. And... well, that was nerve-wracking. Forgotten Cave has a ton of fast melee enemies, and a Plague and two Earth dragons aren't in a great place element-wise -- not hugely vulnerable, but they were just damage-racing most packs, and in a Death Streak, that gets serious. I started this streak with 5 Major Health Potions and 80-ish regulars and ended with no Majors and 70 regulars. I used potions like candy just to keep the party alive, and there were still some close calls. (At one point, Storm took a huge hit, and I had to stare at the screen for a couple seconds of shock before it registered that he was at 6 HP and still standing.) Everyone lived. Nothing particularly good happened; nobody levelled (although Storm is within a fight or two of level 8), and there were no interesting drops. But everyone lived, and that's good enough.

@velvetpaws @Weredogalism [b]Days 38 - 40: Progress and Its Cost[/b] Okay, lots to update here, if mostly lore. [b]Day 38:[/b] [img]https://i.imgur.com/IN9Nm5k.png[/img] [i]Palatine was beginning to see the shape of things. This land was dead, but it hadn't always been. Others had lived here -- and died, perhaps -- but they had left more behind than bones. He turned the finely-crafted gear over in his claws. This wasn't the handiwork of Beasts or of native survivors; this was imported, perhaps from his homeland. Certainly for a device of his homeland's manufacture. Iron like this conduced Lightning energy like little else -- fine copper, perhaps, but that was less durable. This was purpose-built, and someone had brought it here to do something. Whatever that was, he couldn't be sure, but it would be enough to make something else. A focus around the nests, say -- something to amplify the thin local mana, bring in greater power, to help the eggs and nestlings thrive. Something that would make civilization possible here. Something to please Liberty. He could start to see patterns in his head. Schematics. He'd have to talk to her...[/i] [b]Day 39:[/b] [img]https://i.imgur.com/RMsGipO.png[/img] [i]"Mm," said Palatine, his expression unreadable. "Rather fine copper. I wouldn't have thought." "Well," Davion replied, "we've got plenty of it and not much use. What do you need it for?" "A project we're beginning. Fairly elaborate, fairly complicated -- not very much I can explain about the technicals..." Davion sighed inwardly. Why was talking to Palatine always like this? He was always five steps ahead of her, assuming she was a simpleton, although maybe she was if he was always so far ahead. "I don't need anything technical. I'm just curious, Palatine. What is this for?" "Refocusing the mana. Powering the nesting grounds." Oh. Of course -- how could she argue with that? Davion remembered the egg rot all too well, and that had just been an egg, not... what had happened to the hatchling on the other nest. The mages' nest. How they lived with it, she couldn't imagine. "Ah, of course. Take all the copper you like. If there's any way I can help..." "There may be," said Palatine. "We're going to need reagents, out in the deeper woodlands. If you can provide part of my escort..." "Gladly."[/i] [b]Day 40:[/b] [img]https://i.imgur.com/PdiT5PS.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/KG9ARFm.png[/img] ... so about that escort... The RNG gave me a Death Streak with Davion, Palatine, and Kiyohiko, and with Davion at level 13, that meant the Bamboo Falls. "Well, they're all close enough in level," I thought. "Lots of Water enemies for two Ice and a Lightning. Should be okay?" It was okay for exactly nine fights -- everyone getting worn down and chewing through my stockpile of Major Health Potions, and the wolves weren't fun, but it was going okay. Then the tenth fight was a pack of Tigerblood Foos, and I miscalculated their potential damage output. Kiyohiko didn't get a potion when he probably needed it, and he hit the ground. He's going to the Hibernal Den instead of being exalted, because he's level 12 (and levelled on the fight he died) with decent stones, but... yeah. Guess who hasn't been flipping coins about Death Streaks? Guess who's going to flip a coin every time from now on? [i]"Kiyohiko's gone." There was no other way to say it, Davion thought, if she'd even had to say it at all. The still form of the Spiral draped over Palatine's back, sparkling scales already dulling, was enough. The others were already staring. Vengeance -- poor little Vengeance, who always seemed so small even as she was growing into a gangling tower of Ridgeback like her father -- seemed at the edge of tears. Slowly, Kiyohiko's Lasher floated away from him and towards her, nudging her with its nose. That only made the tears come faster. Liberty, as always, was the first to regain decorum. "Follow me. We'll take him below." Palatine nodded, and Davion followed the mages as they led the way into a cave... not the graveyard, though. Somewhere else. Part of their plan? "Palatine," said Liberty, "did you find it?" "Mm." Palatine produced a pair of objects from his travel bags: a little wooden box, flickering with shadow through the cracks in the boards, and a glimmering stone like the one Cadogan had recovered from the deeper caves. "Potent magic. It should suit." "Liberty?" said Davion. "Where are we going?" The question was answered: a cave, carved and polished smooth by claw-work, walls inlaid by wires of thin copper. The project room. It was unfinished, still empty, but even Davion could feel something gathering here. Liberty gestured to Palatine, who unslung Kiyohiko from his back and set him gently on the floor. Both the mages began chanting in unison, something in draconic syllables that didn't make up words. Ice sprouted around, and from, Kiyohiko's body. It stirred something in Davion's bones -- something familiar, something from the Icefield -- the prisons of the Icewarden, the eternal stasis -- Soon, nothing of Kiyohiko could be seen through the clouded ice. "He's... what did you do?" stammered Davion. "What are you doing with him?" "He's dead," said Liberty, "but his power is not. It will reinforce this place." "But he's -- you're --" "Davion, you should know as well as anyone how little we have. Nothing can go to waste. [u]Nothing.[/u]"

@antivehicular Whoaaa...Palatine, my dude. This is going some *very* interesting places. And poor Kiyohiko, dang, on the very last fight. He almost made it out. [emoji=tundra sad] Have a good Mistral Jamboree! (Are you writing it into your lore?)