Quests & Challenges

@Axqu HECKS TO THE YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! [emoji=coatl love size=2]

Ooh, yeah put me on the ping list! I love reading your ‘lockes.

@sykotikkytten @Erisna

AN: Hello! Gaolers came out a bit after my last entry, and Samaeth has always been a gaoler in my headcanon, so I breedchanged him. None of the others in the party know what he is; they just think he's a weird tundra.

Samaeth had last watch, and he woke the others early, starting with Lorn. She stretched and yawned, her canine teeth clicking together quietly. Lorn could bite, if she really wanted to. She didn't, though. Samaeth had made a good decision waking Lorn. She wasn't shy like him. The rest of the party awoke in short order, Lorn quietly singing to herself. Saul blinked his four eyes blearily and grumbled. He'd always woken before dawn, despite not being a morning person.

They were on the road in short order, with their rude camp packed up.

Gift stretched her wings and scouted on up ahead, coasting lazily on the thermals. Nothing for miles. She guided them away from a harpy camp, but luckily it didn't take them far out of their way. None of them particularly wanted to stop for lunch without water.

Soon, the oppressive heat of the desert started to take its toll. Lorn wobbled in the air and almost fell out of the sky; despite being shaved, her body was just not built to handle hard travel in the hot desert sun, especially not carrying a familiar. Samaeth fared a little better. He fanned his small wings to keep cool, his long strides easily keeping up with Saul's trot.

"Saul, we must stop!" barked Gift from up above. "Lorn struggles!"

Saul kicked himself when he looked back. He should've been paying more attention. "Where's the next shade?"

"It is North! An outcrop, five miles from here!"

"A'ight. Lorn, can ya' make it that far?" Saul asked.

Lorn grunted a shaky affirmative. They continued on, slower this time, until they reached the outcropping. It was a rude cave, barely any shelter to speak of, but Lorn collapsed gratefully at the back. She didn't even want to eat, but she took the time to settle her cauldron at her feet. Saul approached her and gently took her claw in his. "Hey. You doing okay?"

"A soft small breeze
in a canyon tall,
a gentle trickle
in a waterfall.
Both will grow
if giv'n the chance.
Your Lorn's no diff'rent
if Stormboss grants."

Lorn grinned a little and gave a shaky thumbs-up. Saul gently thumped her on the back and let her rest, taking first watch. If she said she was okay, then she was okay.

Samaeth sighed and padded outside, where Gift had stretched out in the sand. "W-well it coulda gone worse on our second day," he told her, settling down to write.

Gift sighed. "That is true. I believe that tomorrow we should follow the canyon. It shall lead us toward the Ashfall Waste, at least for a small while."

Samaeth smiled shyly. "Y-you're the one who f-f-flies best. H-have you e-ever considered being a s-s-scout?" he ventured.

"At my size? Please." She folded her legs under her. "I believe it is time to rest."

Samaeth sighed and curled up nearby. He'd only been trying to help. "Okay. Goodnight."

[emoji=gaoler love size=1]

@sykotikkytten @Erisna

Guess who finally got around to assigning stats and stones to part of the party? This gal did. Also guess who hates the Scorched Forest? This gal. Sam was down to 2 HP from an unlucky round.

Saul woke them early, with the dawn. Lorn seemed to be doing a lot better, and Saul wanted to see what his gaggle of misfits was really made of. He pushed them hard. Harder than, perhaps, he had any right to. They followed Carrion Canyon, Gift yelling directions from overhead while the others followed below. Lorn found she could keep up better by trailing in Gift's wake; the large Imperial cut through the drafts and high winds. If Lorn were inclined to such things, she might be embarrassed. As it was, she was just happy that Gift didn't mind 'towing' her.

The air crackled and sizzled with the promise of a storm-- all normal for the Shifting Expanse. What wasn't normal was the smell of rain hanging in the air. They'd made good time, but they needed shelter fast; the Shifting Expanse had some of the deadliest weather in Sornieth outside of the Windswept Plateau. The shelter couldn't be down in the canyon. While Gift and Lorn could navigate the treacherous winds, Saul was a clumsy flier and Samaeth couldn't fly at all. It also needed to be big enough to fit all four of them. Saul and Lorn weren't huge, but Gift and Sam were gigantic.

"W-we should really th-th-think about a p-portable shelter," Samaeth commented out loud, to anyone that would listen.

"Yeah, we should. You're the best one to design it, Sam. You're the closest thing we have to an engineer," Saul replied.

Sam didn't reply. He froze, then whistled for attention. "C-centaurs. Lots of 'em." Lorn had a good nose, but even she hadn't picked up on the scent. Sam's was better. A lot better.

At the same time, Gift circled back. "I found a big rock formation that may have a cave in which to spend the night!" she told Saul cheerfully. Saul motioned for her to land.

"See any centaurs?" Saul asked. Gift shook her head no. "I think we just found our shelter. I think we're gonna have to fight pretty damn hard for it. Lorn, you stay back. Gift, Sammy, you're with me."

"Friendship binds e'er the sweeter,
with each new vict'ry won,
perhaps their hate of dragons teeters,
and our friendship may show them all the sun?" Lorn ventured.

Saul had no idea why Lorn chose to communicate exclusively in godawful poetry, but she was quick and clear enough about it that he didn't care overmuch about it. He just put it down to a Windy quirk. "I really don't think so. Not just because I'm a career warrior. Think about it. If your oldest sworn enemy came at you with an olive branch after centuries of hostilities, but they wanted something of yours, what would you do? Being diplomatic would plant a big fat target on our backs."

Lorn looked visibly disappointed.
"And so the night will end in fire and blood;
we prey on them as fish upon the scud."

"Yeah, I know you're upset. I promise when we encounter other dragons, we'll try diplomacy first. Beastmen aren't gonna listen to us. All they want is draconic life extinguished. I wish it was different." Saul patted Lorn on the back. "They're vicious and savage. Trust me. They think they came before dragonkind and that Sornieth is rightfully theirs. They don't want peace. They believe the dragon gods are horrid usurpers instead of, well, deities. There is no peace with them."

"I do not mean to rush you all but the storm gathers!" Gift warned them. Saul tossed his head for them to follow and led Gift and Samaeth up to the mouth of the cave.

Lorn sat safely far away, playing with her cauldron familiar. She was very, very ill at ease.
"My heart and mind cannot agree with Saul;
there has to be a way for peace for all," she told it. The cauldron just hissed and bubbled, then poked at her foot, demanding that she brew something in it. Lorn had a feeling that she'd have plenty to brew with after the battle.

The battle was long, and arduous, and brutal, and bloody. It was Samaeth and Gift's first time seeing real combat; oh, sure, they'd trained under a few of the clan's warriors before heading out, but it was the first time they'd had to depend on themselves in a real battle. It was Saul's first time directing untrained dragons in a fight; he had to call Samaeth to heal him a few times when some lucky arrows hit, and he'd had to warn Gift to watch her back.

Overall, Saul was proud of them. They drove the centaurs out, in the end. All of them had almost died at least once. All of them were hurt and bloody and bruised. But they would eat well tonight on the stores the centaurs had left behind, and rest well in the massive cavern, and wait out the storm.

As gentle as he seemed, Samaeth didn't even flinch when the fight got brutal. It was like he was born for it, although the big tundra seemed to instinctively fight to capture rather than to kill. Saul would've wondered if he was Shade-touched, except that Samaeth read as way more pure than any of the rest of his clanmates when it came to background Shade-iation. Very odd.

For his part, the archivist did his best to patch up the three fighters, then went to get Lorn. He entertained the alchemist with poorly-told stories from some of his old history books, and Lorn seemed to appreciate it. Saul smiled. He was worried about her. Thinking about peace with Beastclans? She must be sick, somehow. He watched her drop some of the battle's detritus into the cauldron.

Gift gently nosed Saul's side. "They will be okay, friend. We emerged victorious, and Sam and I are stronger than before. I can feel it in my bones."

"Yeah, I know. I just worry is all."

"You truly do care more than you realize," Gift pointed out.

Saul chuckled. "Probably. Maybe we can figure out what made Sam grow so huge on the way. He's the biggest tundra I've ever seen. Maybe it's super potent magic?"

"Do you not think that he would have found that answer?" Gift gently admonished.

"Eh. Maybe. Maybe he just needs more access to different and better libraries," Saul ventured.

"Perhaps. I will take first watch. Goodnight, Saul."

"Gnight."

@Axqu
Oh heck yes, you’re doing another Nuzlocke? I was a huge fan of Galli’s adventure way back when, and I’d love to be on the pinglist for this one!

@Eveneon You're in!

@sykotikkytten @Erisna @Eveneon

Guess who got a tiny scrap of motivation? This gal!

Saul didn't want to push his crew as hard as he had the day before, especially not just after a storm. He'd taken the last watch, which he enjoyed, in a way. Watching the sun rise through the cloud cover of the Shifting Expanse had always been one of his little joys. He discovered, then, that Lorn hadn't been sleeping. She'd dropped a few more random items in her cauldron, building her supplies, but she hadn't slept as much as she should have. Saul sighed, gently pulling her aside. "Alright, Lorn, how long have you been awake?"

"The deepest and the darkest wounds of war,
come not from arrows shot nor knives that score.
The young equines that die with piercing screams,
tho' not draconic, haunt me in my dreams."

Saul sighed and gently cupped Lorn's chin in one claw. "Yeah. The first taste of battle can be rough. Look, there's still time. We're close enough to Clan AXQU territory that you can turn around. None of us will judge you for it." Saul wasn't an emotional guy. He didn't know how to bring comfort in a situation like this. He knew that sensitive dragons, the healers, often had the most trouble acclimating to a life of battle and bloodshed.

He did not expect Lorn to slap him.

"You think me weak? Like hatchlings on the stair
while Father strikes their mum and pulls her hair?"

Saul snarled. "If you're going to be a part of a traveling warband, we're going to be killing. We're going to kill beastclans, and wild beasts, and quite possibly other dragons. You're not weak if you can't handle it, but I need to know NOW if you can't so we can send you HOME. We're not a big enough pack that we can handle someone psychologically collapsing far from home. I don't want to have to leave you behind in some strange clan because you can't handle seeing a cute little Serthis dying by my claws. We're happy to help, but I need to know how this is going to go, and the next time you raise a claw against me I will bite it off. Are we clear?!"

Lorn sighed and looked down, thoroughly chastised.
"As clear as morning dew upon the grass,
I'll follow you tho' you may kill en masse."

Saul trotted out to the front of the cave, signaled to the others, and they were off.

Gift kited on the thermals overhead, while Sam kept pace with Saul on foot, and Lorn brought up the rear. Sam whuffed a little. "Th-that was unkind, b-b-back there. Sh-sh-she was j-just s-scared."

"Unkind, maybe, but true. Life is hard and cheap when you're not in a clan. I just don't want her to get in over her head and let her emotions get her killed."

"T-t-true?" Sam laughed bitterly. "I've h-h-had way t-too many unkind t-truths told t-to m-m-me," he spat.

Saul sighed. "Buddy, I don't know what to tell you. I don't give a pile of foxrat pellets for appearances, you know that. What, do you want me to lie to spare feelings? I can't afford to do that. I'd rather have her hate me than have her dead." He glanced up at Sam. "For what it's worth, I think you're too hard on yourself when it comes to appearances."

"Y-you're a b-bad liar."

"You look like you could tear open a Snapper from the top. I'm glad you're on my side."

Sam smiled a little, despite himself. "...t-thanks, Saul." He knew that was a mirror's version of a compliment. It did mean a lot, in its way.

They found an oasis after a while, and started to make camp. Gift took first watch again. Nobody really said much. There wasn't much to say, at this stage. The company drifted off to a calm and restful doze. Gift woke Sam for second watch without incident, and it looked like they were going to get through the night just fine.

Sam woke them all quietly in the middle of his shift. "S-serthis," he hissed. "Lots." Instantly, Saul put out the fire and Lorn hunkered down right next to the ashes. Sam knocked a poisoned dart out of the air with his magic and the fight began in earnest.

It was bloody and brutal, as fights with Serthis often were, but the crew was more prepared for it this time. Sam did his level best to heal everyone, and was getting better with time. Saul tore through their ranks in a fury of claws and blood. Gift turned many of them into paste under her enormous claws.

When the battle was over, they took stock of their inventory and Lorn melted down a lot of the battle detritus into alchemy materials. Between Sam and Lorn, they managed to get everyone patched up. Gift piled up the Serthis corpses a decent distance from their camp and torched them.

"There. That should dissuade our enemies from returning to us in the night." Gift turned to Saul and smiled. "We fight well. We fight better daily. I have more confidence in us now than ever."

Saul sighed. "Yeah... yeah. I s'pose. Is it gonna be enough though?"

Gift gently rested a claw on Saul's shoulder. "It will have to be. I believe in us."

Saul smiled. "Thanks, Gift."

@Axqu - ping me please !!!