Quests & Challenges

[b][i][size=4]Day 7:[/size][/b][/i] After an hour or two of traveling, the group deemed it far enough away from their old camp to effectively hunt. A quick debate settled that Rozzie would be the one to hunt (given that she blended into the shadows best), while the other three gathered plants and insects. Rozzie had been taught to hunt from a young age, but she was almost always supervised by her father or Abactius. Leaving had allowed her to better hone her skills, but she was still happy to take any chance she got to practice. It didn't take long to catch a handful of rats- enough to feed herself, but to sate Strawe, she'd have to keep looking. Sure, he could live off the plants and insects he'd gather, but Rozzie wanted to get something special for him- and maybe Rhiderch to. If she was remembering correctly, Spirals sometimes ate meat as well... Movement caught her attention, and Rozzie slid back into hunting mode. Slowly, quietly, she made her way through the undergrowth. Switching to heat vision, she could tell it was something big- not too big, but bigger than any prey out here... the thing came into view, and Rozzie immediately shot up, breaking her stealth. A Pearlcatcher hatchling stared back at her. [center][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/665973223854440449/669609110957719563/58609558_350.png[/img][/center] "Hello!" the little dragon greeted, turning away from the leaves they were tugging on. "Do you live around here? I-I'm lost." Rozzie blinked. "Um, I'm afraid not. I'm just a traveler." She looked around quickly. "Where's your parents?" The child shrugged. Their stutter seemed to be a natural thing, but even so, Rozzie could tell they were barely containing their anxiety. "I-I dunno. They woke me up in the middle of the night, a-and told me we were going on an adventure. A-And we walked for a really long time, and then they told me to stay here, a-and then they left? They said they were coming back, but they haven't..." They shifted uncomfortably, curling around their pearl. "I-I haven't seen my familiar since we left home, either..." Rozzie offered a wing, and when the hatchling nodded, she put it over him in comfort. They were clutching something else besides his pearl in their claws, Rozzie realized- a leg band, much too big to fit him at his current size. "My name's Rozzie. Me and my friends will keep you safe and help you find them, alright?" The hatchling nodded again. "Oh! My name's Cinnamon!" "That's a nice name," she said with a smile. Now, how was she gonna explain this one to the others? [rule] [item=teardrop pastel spinel leg band] Pinkerton demands more hatchlings. Like a fool, I obey. Pinglist: @Mystic9187 @Sabariel @secretlylying @StormFire3105

Days 8, 9, 10, 11:

Uhhh I don't remember the items exactly, but it was just a lot of pretty simple grinding since we have yet to leave the Training Fields lol. Strawe and Cinnamon got some coli time in, so good for them!

I got a Ragepuff familiar while grinding and gave it to Rozzie! I'll write something up to introduce it a little later.

(Currently on day 12 and planning to write for it, so I'll ping y'all when I post that.)

Cinnamon's very sweet, poor bab.
You've gotten pretty lucky so far, atleast the dragons have been lucky.

[b][i][size=4]Day 12:[/size][/b][/i] [i]Chirp! Chirp![/i] Rozzie blinked, lifting her head sleepily. She'd been fast asleep, curled up in the middle of the camp, until... [i]Chirp![/i] She got up, careful not to wake the others, as she stepped past to investigate. She followed the distressed chirps until she located the source- she found it, collapsed in a heap not too far from her camp. [center][img]https://flightrising.com/images/cms/familiar/art/22395.png[/img][/center] The poor thing was injured, feathers scattered everywhere. She moved towards him slowly. "Hey there, lil' guy. There, there... don't be scared, I don't want to hurt you." The bird chirped again, edging closer. It didn't take long before Rozzie had him under her wing, offering him a piece of meat from the bag she kept forgetting to take off before she went to sleep. The Ragepuff took it, then chirped again, and Rozzie could've sworn it sounded worried. "What's wrong, lil' friend?" she asked, looking around to see what he could've been so upset about. He shrugged out from under her wing, hopping back towards the camp, starting to chirp louder. "Wait, don't, you'll wake them up." But, she realized as she looked at them, something was off. Rhiderch was sleeping curled up like a hatchling, with Sinsey draped over her like a tiny, ineffective blanket, while Strawe... Strawe was missing. Fear coursed through Rozzie, drowning out the chirps of the Ragepuff. She was running before she even knew what she was doing, following the trail of Ragepuff down. She wasn't sure why she was so scared, she just knew she had to find her friend- Her foot caught on a stray branch, sending her toppling to the ground with a crack. She ignored the scrape on her chest and the funny ache in her shoulder, forcing herself back up. She could see something at the edge of her heat vision and forced herself forward, despite the stabbing pain behind her eyes. Strawe. She found Strawe, but... something was wrong. He wasn't moving. The Guardian was laying on the ground, one wing twisted beneath him at an awkward angle. Mutely, Rozzie stumbled to his side, pressing up against the larger dragon. His scales were cold- then again, he was an Ice dragon, so- something dark, almost black, was dripping from his mouth, staining the discolored scales on his face. He seemed stiff, even stiffer than a corpse should be, and his off-white scales seemed to have took a darker hue, and felt even stiffer beneath Rozzie's claws. Something was clutched in his claws, but Rozzie barely even noticed, as the truth dawned on her. Strawe was dead. Rozzie let out a sob, pressing his face into his chest. One of her first friends, a dragon she'd practically raised... and he was gone, so suddenly.., maybe Father had been right. Maybe she wasn't ready for the real world. A shriek broke her out of her moping. "[i]YOU KILLED HIM![/i]" [center][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/406289594611662868/673378324759969824/58609558_350.png[/img][/center] Rozzie started to brush the tears off her snout, struggling to form the words to explaini that this hadn't been her doing, but as she looked up, she realized Cinnamon wasn't looking at her. In fact, they were glaring past her, ears flattened against their head in anger. She followed their gaze, and her breath caught in her throat. [i]A Basilisk.[/i] [center][img]https://flightrising.com/images/cms/familiar/art/14442.png[/img][/center] A Grouse Basilisk, sure, but... no, wait. "Cinnamon," Rozzie said quickly, temporarily distracted from her mourning. Rhiderch and Sinsey had arrived as well, with the Ragepuff close behind, each in various states of confusion and shock. "Grouse Basilisks can't turn dragons to stone." Rozzie adjusted her position to look at the Pearlcatcher. Cinnamon looked... betrayed? With a wail of agony, they pounced. [rule] [item=scholar] DEATH STREAK! = true! Because my luck had to run out sometime :,D coli loot: [item=ragepuff] (from the other day), [item=grouse basilisk] The three for one special: Two familiar introductions and the first dragon death. I'm SO UPSET y'all. Despite only having Strawe for a few weeks (even less if we're going by posts), this feels like a terrible loss and I'm going to cry about it for a long time- so, I rolled Rozzie, Strawe, and Rhiderch, and I thought I was doing well, but then I blinked and OOPS my son's dead! -sobs- Also, this writing piece was getting long (for an FR post, that is-), so I thought I might as well leave it off on a cliffhanger to continue next time I write. What do you guys think~? Backlog: Trinket (x2) Pinglist: @Mystic9187 @Sabariel @secretlylying @StormFire3105

Day 13:

Cinnamon landed on their mark, growling as they pinned the Bailisk to the ground. "You killed him! I saw you in my dream, YOU KILLED HIM!"

Rozzie couldn't do anything but watched. In their dream..?

"I hear screaming, what's going on?" Rhiderch sprang into the scene, Sinsey perched on her back. The pair froze as they took in the situation. Sinsey immediately flitted to Rozzie, landing on Strawe's shoulder.

"Is he..?"

Rozzie nodded. Sinsey's crests and wings drooped. "Gods above..."

Cinnamon's growl broke through their thoughts. "They trusted you!"

"Uhm," said Rhiderch, "do you know the basilisk?"

Cinnamon's twisted to look at her, their eyes glowing with emotion. "I saw it in my dream. Mom--it was mom's. In my dream, it was--" they looked down, back at the creature, and frowned. "It was dripping black stuff from its beak. And it's feathers were all discolored, and... ashy... and Strawe was following it."

Rozzie looked between Cinnamon and the basilisk and Strawe. "Cinnamon, I... think we should talk about this."

The Pearlcatcher let go of the basilisk, which still cowered before them. "Sorry, I... don't know why I thought a dream would be accurate."

"It's alright."

Silence fell over the group as the gathered around Strawe's body. "We should bury him," Rhiderch stammered. Raoul chirped by her side, as if in agreement.

Cinnamon nodded, expression grim. "As soon as we do that, I thin we should get out of here."

---

uhm. hi.

So it's. been a hot second, huh?

Pinglist: @Mystic9187 @Sabariel @secretlylying @StormFire3105 (lmk if yall dont wanna be pinged anymore)

[size=4][i][b]Day 14:[/b][/i][/size] They had a funeral for Strawe. It... wasn't much. Cinnamon did some fancy Arcane magic to cover him in leaves and pine needles, since he was much too large for the smaller dragons to properly bury. None of the group said anything. The words escaped them all--they'd only known Strawe a short time, all things considered, but it felt so, so much longer. Rozzie wasn't sure how long she sat there, staring at the bright white and red scales of Strawe's exposed tail, trying to work up the energy to move. "We have to go," she heard Sinsey's hushed monotone saying. His crests were still collapsed with sorrow, even as he forced himself to flap his wings and take flight. "I know," Rozzie replied, squeezing her wings tight to her side to ground herself. She felt something nudge her injured and jumped in surprise, before realizing it was just the Ragepuff from before. "Hey, little guy. You wanna come with us?" The bird chirped. "I'll take that as a yes. I'll call you... Peep." Peep chirped again. Cinnamon flicked their tail towards the basilisk. Their anger had seeped away by now, leaving them just looking scared and sad again. "This is Dread, by the way." An oddly fitting name, Rozzie thought. Her shoulder twinged when she put weight on it, but she ignored it, straightening up. "Let's get out of here. Strawe wouldn't want us to just sit around moping, and..." She cast a glance back at his mostly-hidden body, remembered how strange his ashy scales had felt in her claws. "I don't like the feel of this place, anyway." Everyone seemed to agree with that, but as they started to move, a sharp voice caught their attention. "Wait!" [img]https://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=0&body=131&bodygene=23&breed=13&element=5&eyetype=1&gender=1&tert=2&tertgene=5&winggene=12&wings=14&auth=af66b456e42a44588be5bf99f0790d6c3f88f31a&dummyext=prev.png[/img] A young Skydancer came stumbling out of the brush. She didn't look much younger than Cinnamon, but still a hatchling. She wore a crude paper mask over her face. Rozzie had to squint at it for a minute before she realized it was meant to be mimicking a Nocturne. "You... uh..." the Skydancer stammered. Finally, she ducked her head. "Strawe--I'm sorry for your loss. I assume you were his friends?" "...That's right." Rozzie tilted her head. "How do you know his name?" "He told me it, before..." she trailed off. She flapped her wings once to regain her composure before folding them. That's when Rozzie noticed the markings, in the dim light of the just-rising sun. While the gray Python pattern of her main body seemed as natural as Rozzie's own, her yellow wings were slowly taking on a dark hue, just like Strawe's scales. Rozzie swore she could see the discoloration spreading as she watched. The Skydancer didn't draw attention to it, continuing. "My name's Adare. I... think I should go with you guys, now?" Rozzie exchanged a glance with the remainder of her pack, then nodded. "Alright, come on. You can tell us about yourself while we walk." [rule] can we all pretend there wasn't a 7 month gap between this and the last update? cool? cool. anyway. [item=paper nocturne masque] I did NOT realize you could get this from Pink! That's kinda neat. Adare is literally a newborn by sight terms but for story reasons, she's on the upper end of "hatchling." So no combat for her...... yet. Pinglist: @Sabariel

@Stormlark Also, skimming through this thread to jog my memory I saw that you asked to get pinged and I am simply blind or something cuz I never saw lmao. Thought I might as well ask if you want on the pinglist since this is like. kinda revived?

@GlitchedFox I changed my user from stormfire3105 to stormlark and forgot to mention it hehe. Could you update the pinglist?

@Stormlark AHA I am blind just not in the way I thought! No worries; I'll get on that!

May I be added to the pinglist? This is very interesting so far, and is reminding me i wanted to start one of my own at some point.