Quests & Challenges

[item=sparksylph husk] The silence of the sunroom was comfortable. Outside, Nadine and Windcloud could hear unfamiliar birds sing, and the chimes Windcloud had already hung from the rafters rang quietly in the soft breeze. The two dragons were curled together in the nest they'd made out of the cushions from the wicker furniture, and Nadine was sleepily watching Windcloud carve out the inside of one of the table legs the others had thrown down the hill. "Whatever happened to just staying the night?" Windcloud shrugged. "I didn't think traveling south was as pressing. I didn't have a destination in mind, really." She rubbed her nose against Nadine's. "You're a bonus." Nadine snorted with laughter. "Windcloud..." "It's true." Windcloud blew a puff of air into the partially-hollowed leg, and it raged inside for a moment, smoothing out the rough sides. "I probably would have gone on." "Aren't you drawn by the house?" "I don't know what you all mean by that. It seems like your magic draws from it, but mine-" She waved her tail towards the chimes in the rafters- "Mine's the wind." "I don't think I have magic." "To me you do." Windcloud winked two eyes at her. [size=1]Pinglist: @jazzghost @Violeteevee @BarbaraFett @Tynethyne @myriadofstars [/size]

[item=protective wasp] Russetrun was investigating the hallway with the windows that seemed to tilt towards the ground when one of the doors on their right opened. They poked their nose inside. This room had a large bed, four-poster with a canopy, which filled up most of the room. There were some shelves and drawers around the edges, but Russetrun knew they wouldn't be able to get to them around the bed. The curtains were drawn shut, so the only way Russetrun could see into the room was through the light coming through the windows in the hallway. [size=1]Pinglist: @jazzghost @Violeteevee @BarbaraFett @Tynethyne @myriadofstars [/size]

[item=vengeful claws] Outside on the patio, Joanna and Flamerule sprawled in the sun. A butterfly danced around Flamerule's face, making her sneeze occasionally. "I think there's going to be too many dragons in the house before too long," said Joanna, out of nowhere. "What?" "I think it's going to start trying to kill us. It likes the attention, but too much is too much." Flamerule didn't have anything to say to this, so she squinted up at the sun. "I think we need to watch out," said Joanna. "It's not just going to close one of us off anymore, we already know it can do that and we're trying to avoid it." "Do you really think so?" "I'm worried." [size=1]Pinglist: @jazzghost @Violeteevee @BarbaraFett @Tynethyne @myriadofstars [/size]

Ooh, this is getting ominous. I love it!

[item=lovebird] In the afternoon, Russetrun wandered up the stairs and into the ballroom. The double doors on the other side were open. They froze. "Joanna?" they called down the stairs, and soon she was in the ballroom with them. They advanced towards the doors. On the other side of the doors was what appeared to be the exact same ballroom. Russetrun blinked, and the room was full of two-legged animals in fancy dress dancing together in silence. They blinked again, and the room was empty once more. "I don't like the rooms duplicating themselves," said Joanna. "This one must have been the original if I had a vision, right?" Joanna hummed. "I'm not sure." [size=1]Pinglist: @jazzghost @Violeteevee @BarbaraFett @Tynethyne @myriadofstars [/size] [u]Doors:[/u] [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/qnc/2857223/3#post_43540342]Back to ballroom[/url] [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/qnc/2857223/11#post_44416244]Double Doors[/url] • [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/qnc/2857223/11#post_44406425]Mirror Door (hidden)[/url]

[item=hardshell] In the hallway with the diamond pattern on the door, the third door creaked open. Since this hallway wasn't frequented as much as some of the others, it was a few hours before Ironfury summoned Flamerule and they peeked in. Inside was a dusty closet full of old, moth-eaten coats. [size=1]Pinglist: @jazzghost @Violeteevee @BarbaraFett @Tynethyne @myriadofstars [/size]

[item=blooming vine] In the middle of the night, Windcloud woke up to find Nadine thrashing in her sleep, growling, lashing out with heavy feet. "Nadine!" Nadine's eyes shot open, and for a moment it looked like she didn't know where she was, wild-eyed and still snarling. Then she settled down, panting and no longer looking panicked. "Bad dream." "Hmm?" Windcloud settled closer to her. "The windows were open, and there were two two-legged creatures in here, and they were fighting. They were so angry..." Nadine closed her eyes. "And then one of them pushed the other out the window." "Oh..." "I still feel like they're here. Like they're angry." [size=1]Pinglist: @jazzghost @Violeteevee @BarbaraFett @Tynethyne @myriadofstars [/size]

[item=leopard gecko] The wind chimes in the rafters rang merrily with the breeze. Nadine bumped open the door, dragging sheets from the bedroom Russetrun had found the week before to add to their nest. "Windcloud?" she said. "I have sheets." There was no response but the chiming of wooden bells. The curtains on one window seemed to have somehow blown out the window, shielding the outside rather than being neatly tied at the inside of the window. Nadine dropped the sheets and went to the window to fix them. As she moved to catch the light fabric flying in the wind, Nadine saw the deep gouges like clawmarks in the wood of the windowsill. Her stomach turned with dread, and even though she didn't want to, she peered out the window and down. On the side of the rocky hill sprawled Windcloud, unmoving, the glass bell that was her pride from her initiation as a mage shattered on the rocks. Nadine's dream came back to her with a jolt, and she remembered the two-legged creature who had fallen out the same window. Pushed. Nadine didn't run down the stairs. When she walked out the front door and climbed around the house, there were neither windows that corresponded to her own nor Windcloud's body on the rocks. This wasn't a surprise, somehow. [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/58587025][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/585871/58587025.png[/img][/url] [size=1]Pinglist: @jazzghost @Violeteevee @BarbaraFett @Tynethyne @myriadofstars [/size]

[item=barhide cat shark] Nadine wandered down the hall with the windows that seemed to tilt towards the ground. The ghost of whatever had pushed Windcloud from the window haunted the back of her mind, and she felt like she was in a dream. The next door down from the one she'd pulled the sheets from was open, and without a thought Nadine went through. This was another bedroom, about twice the size, and the bed occupied a more reasonable proportion of the room. Not thinking, she went to strip the sheets from the bed. Behind her, the door swung shut and vanished into smooth wallpaper. [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/59919636][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/599197/59919636.png[/img][/url] [size=1]Pinglist: @jazzghost @Violeteevee @BarbaraFett @Tynethyne @myriadofstars [/size]

[item=ambush] Joanna had been the next one to visit the sunroom, look out the window, and see Windcloud's body on the rocky hill below. She called the others, and when they all came except Nadine, she and Flamerule set out to find Nadine. In the hallway with the tilted windows (where Nadine had been sealed into a bedroom, but they didn't know that yet), a new door was open. They went past the blank stretch of wall where there had once been a door to look into this new room, and here they found nothing but a copy of the first room in the hall, with a bed that took up almost the entire room. Ironfury trailed up the spiral stairs behind them, but he stopped in the middle of the hallway. "Joanna?" "Yes?" "There was a door here." "There isn't now?" Joanna and Flamerule hurried over to look at the blank wall with Ironfury. "Is this like the stairs Pyro was trapped in?" asked Flamerule. Ironfury nodded, swallowing hard. "There was a room back there, but there isn't anymore, and Nadine was in it." [size=1]Pinglist: @jazzghost @Violeteevee @BarbaraFett @Tynethyne @myriadofstars [/size]