Quests & Challenges

[center][size=5][b]Arcane Fates[/b][/size][/center] [size=3][b][i]Pinkerton isn't the only arbiter of dragons' destinies...[/i][/b][/size] [right][size=3][b][i]...what will [s]Crim[/s] Fate demand of you?[/i][/b][/size][/right] Once again, I feel the urge to do a Pinkerlocke, and since I'm already using Pinkerton pulls for my Pinkerlore challenge, I'm turning to Crim for an alternative. The first Crim request of the day (...or the first request where I actually remember that I'm doing this challenge...) determines what happens. This version of the rules is inspired by various other 'Lockes, including the OG Pinkerlocke by [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/frd/1525830]Tar[/url]. I've added a few quirks of my own, partly to reduce deaths and partly to bring in even more RNG. Because who doesn't love RNG? (...don't answer that.) [center][size=4][b][u]Rules[/u][/b][/size][/center] [b]Obligatory 'Locke Death Rule[/b]: If a dragon faints in the Coliseum, it gets a saving throw. Roll 1-26: If the result is the dragon's level or lower, it survives. If the result is higher than the dragon's level, it dies and must be exalted. EXCEPTION: Talon and Cornwall are immune to death until the clan consists of at least five dragons. [size=3][b][u]Drops of Fate[/u][/b][/size] [b]Food:[/b] Coliseum time! [indent]Plants: 10-20 matches Insects: 20-30 matches Seafood: 30-40 matches Meat: 40-50 matches[/indent] Choose whichever team and venue you want and go for it. Running from battles, using health potions, and ending the battle streak are all fine. [b]Materials[/b]: Write a thing! [b]Trinkets[/b]: [s]Do an art! (ha ha ha)[/s] Write a thing! (or do an art) [b]Familiars[/b]: Buy the cheapest dragon in the auction house of a specific breed. Use a random number generator to determine which breed to get. (Optionally, attach the familiar to the new dragon.) [indent]1. Adult 2. Hatchling --- 1. Fae 2. Guardian 3. Mirror 4. Pearlcatcher 5. Ridgeback 6. Tundra 7. Spiral 8. Imperial 9. Snapper 10. Wildclaw 11. Nocturne 12. Coatl 13. Skydancer 14. Bogsneak 15. Gaoler 16. Banescale 17. Veilspun (or reroll, if they're still too expensive)[/indent] Unnamed dragons will be named using the randomizer. Why? Because it's random! [b]Apparel[/b]: Breed two of your dragons (your choice) *or* apply a gene/breed/eye change scroll to any dragon. If no dragons are available to breed and you don't want to apply a scroll, you can bank the breeding result for later. For extra wacky funtimes, use RNG to select your breeding dragons or randomly choose a dragon to change! For the latter, roll on this table: [indent]1. Apply a random primary gene to the dragon. 2. Apply a random secondary gene to the dragon. 3. Apply a random tertiary gene to the dragon. 4. Apply a random eye type to the dragon. 5. Randomly breed change the dragon. 6. Scatter the dragon's colors or reroll on this table.[/indent] NOTE: You must flip a coin for each hatchling once they hatch. If tails, the dragon is dead and you must exalt it. Hatchlings with primal or multigaze eyes are immune. You can give the apparel to the dragon of your choice. [b]Battle items[/b] Flip a coin. Heads = DEATH STREAK Tails = Nothing happens DEATH STREAK rules: Select three dragons using a random number generator. Choose a venue that is one tier down from that of the highest level dragon and fight in that area without leaving/refreshing until you've completed 10 consecutive rounds or a dragon dies. Saving throws are allowed. [b]Crim-only draws[/b] [list] [*] Eggs: Buy the cheapest G1 hatchling on the AH. [/list] [size=3][b][u]Extras: Coli drops[/u][/b][/size] [LIST] [*]Egg: Flip a coin. Heads, the egg must be hatched and the dragon must join the clan. Tails, you can do whatever you like with the egg. [*]Apparel: You can add one piece of apparel of your choice to any dragon on the team. [*]Familiar: You can add any familiar to any dragon on the team. [*]Gene: You can add a gene of your choice of the same type (primary, secondary, tertiary) to any dragon on the team. [*]Skin crate: You can add a skin or accent of your choice to any dragon on the team. [*]Festival chest: You can apply any festival item of that element (past or present) or Joxar spare inventory item to any member of the clan. [*]NotN chest: If a chest contains a breed/gene change scroll, you can apply it to any dragon on the team. Nocturne eggs are treated the same as elemental eggs. Apparel and familiars from these chests are ignored. [*]Elemental battle item: Power-up! Pick a dragon on the current team of the appropriate element, if any. (While the clan is in the Starfall Isles, arcane items can be applied to dragons of any element.) That dragon gets a permanent bonus to its death saving throw. Bonuses are not stackable, but a lower bonus can be replaced by a higher one. The dragon does not have to actually equip the stone. [LIST] [*]Might/acuity fragment: +5 bonus to dragon's level [*]Slash/bolt: +10 bonus to dragon's level [*]Element attack: +15 bonus to dragon's level [/LIST] [*]Elemental runestone: Grants one automatic success on a death saving throw. You can hold onto this indefinitely and choose which dragon to use it on. (Protect your favorites!) [*]Eliminate: Cancels out one future death streak. If you're currently in a death streak, the streak ends immediately. If any dragons fainted before the eliminate dropped, they survive. [/LIST] [size=3][b][u]Finally....[/u][/b][/size] Feeling bored? Or lucky? You can visit Crim more than once a day, you know.... (All rules subject to updates as I hammer out the kinks.) Updates [LIST] [*] 2/19/21: Realized that adding to a dragon's save roll would make them *more* likely to die, not less, so I changed the wording to make it a bonus to the dragon's level instead [*] 12/28/20: Decided that counting apparel and familiars from NotN chests as coli drops was giving the dragons too much stuff and that these should be ignored going forward. [*] 12/23/20: Recalled that Crim sometimes asks for eggs and added a rule for it. [*] 12/22/20: Decided it was a bit [i]too[/i] random to roll for every gene/breed change and made that just an option. [*] 12/20/20: Discovered that I'd forgotten runestones could drop in the coli and added them to the list of extras. [/LIST] [rule]

[center][size=5][b]Characters[/b][/size][/center] [center][size=4][b][u]Active Dragons[/u][/b][/size][/center] [columns] [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/65563872][img]https://flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/655639/65563872p.png[/img][/url] [nextcol][size=4][color=transparent]___[/color][b]Talon[/b]: amnesiac, slightly paranoid guardian [color=transparent]___[/color]Lvl 11; +10 to saves[/size] [/columns] [columns] [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/65725624][img]https://flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/657257/65725624p.png[/img][/url] [nextcol][size=4][color=transparent]___[/color][b]Cornwall[/b]: adorable socially awkward dork [color=transparent]___[/color]Lvl 10[/size] [/columns] [columns] [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/65621756][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/656218/65621756p.png[/img][/url] [nextcol][size=4][color=transparent]___[/color][b]Layea[/b]: wayward, somewhat self-absorbed tourist [color=transparent]___[/color]Lvl 9[/size] [/columns] [columns] [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/66184355][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/portraits/661844/66184355p.png[/img][/url] [nextcol][size=4][color=transparent]___[/color][b]Ironwood[/b]: (previously) a baby [color=transparent]___[/color]Lvl 8[/size] [/columns] [center][size=4][b][u]Gone but Not Forgotten[/u][/b][/size][/center]

Crim draws



Coli drops

[center][u][b]Day 1[/u][/b][/center] [center][item=wispy foxtail] material - writing[/center] Talon jolted awake with a startled snort. Raising his head, he quickly looked around himself. A forest of slim, gray-barked trees surrounded him, beams of sunlight filtering through their delicate foliage to cast patches of gold on the mossy ground. Nothing he saw was familiar at all. He tried to remember how he'd gotten there, but he had only the most fleeting fragments of memories. Running away...away from [i]something[/i]. Smoke and thunder and ashes blowing through a stand of bamboo underneath a darkened sky. A giant airship going aloft. And then he was flying, falling, through terrible, relentlessly buffeting winds, something precious clutched in his claws. There was a voice speaking, or singing, and.... That was it. Everything else was a blank. Well, no. He [i]did[/i] know a few things. His name. He was a guardian dragon of the Wind flight, and he knew what [i]that[/i] meant. He tried to remember if he had a Charge, but all he felt inside himself was a deep, hollow ache. He must not have found her yet. ([i]...her?[/i]) He started to shift position and suddenly realized that he wasn't alone. A very young guardian hatchling was curled up against his foreleg. She'd been asleep, but when he moved she stirred, looking up at him with wide eyes that were the golden orange of Fire. Was she his Charge? No, he was quite sure that she wasn't. He realized that he knew her name, though. It was Cornwall. ([i]...huh. Weird name.[/i]) Reaching out, Talon petted the hatchling's head gently. "Hello, little one," he murmured. "Do you remember anything about how we got here?" Her solemn stare was his only answer, and he sighed. "Well. I guess we'll be finding things out together."

[center][u][b]Day 2[/u][/b][/center] [center][item=verdemoth] food: insect - 20-30 rounds[/center] I took shameless advantage of Talon's death immunity and actually took him into the coli alone. Boy, was that a pain in the tail. After lots and lots of refreshing and potions and 21 rounds (including only actual fights, not refreshes), he reached 4th level and we called it quits. Didn't even get any good drops. Bleah.

[center][u][b]Day 3[/u][/b][/center] [center][item=condor's breastplate] trinket - art[/center] [center]{art to come}[/center]

[center][u][b]Day 4[/u][/b][/center] [center][item=soylent blue] food: seafood - 30-40 rounds[/center] I did 33(-ish?) rounds, still in the training fields, still no good loot. I really kinda need some more dragons....

[center][u][b]Day 5[/u][/b][/center] [center][item=feline triskull] material - writing[/center] With a huff of relief, Talon settled himself into their sheltered hollow. The area seemed reasonably safe--at least, he hadn't seen any of the webwings that had attacked them and eventually driven them out of the glade where they'd first awakened. This part of the forest was steeply sloped, with large masses of rock jutting up among the trees. His and Cornwall's vivid colors stood out against the pale cream and rosy stone, but tucked down among the dense shadows of the trees, they should be fairly well concealed. He stretched his stiff and aching wings, wincing as the cuts on his vanes stung, then glanced down at Cornwall. The hatchling had seemed to enjoy their flight, stretching her wings out wide as he'd carried her, as if she were riding the air by herself. She'd obediently stayed put in the hollow while he'd scouted their immediate surroundings, and now she was watching him with a quizzical [i]what now?[/i] expression. She was a very well-behaved little girl--almost too well-behaved. He'd have thought that a hatchling would be noiser and much more inclined to get into trouble. "What do you think?" he asked. "Do you like it?" She cocked her head, then gave a low, droning hum. She hadn't yet spoken, although he thought she was old enough to, only hummed at him, and occasionally crooned to herself in seeming contentment. He didn't know enough about hatchlings (or remember enough, maybe) to know whether he should be worried. But she seemed healthy enough, and although oddly subdued, she didn't seem afraid or troubled. Maybe she just wasn't ready to talk. "We should be safe here for a little while, at least," he said. "I'll rest, and then I'll see about finding us something to eat. You can play, if you want to. Just don't go outside the rocks." She blinked at him, then began crawling around, investigating the various nooks and crannies. He watched her as she discovered the small heap of bones that he'd swept to one side. They were old, weather-worn, and fragile, not a recent kill--nothing to be concerned about. While she batted the skull around, he wondered what they were going to do next. He didn't really have any plans aside from figure out where they were and try to keep them both from getting killed. They should probably look for other dragons who might be able to help them, but for some reason the thought gave him a pang of unease. He wondered what lost memory was making him afraid. [rule] [s]Day 6 was another material, which I've banked. There's just not a whole lot going on right now to write about....[/s] I lied, or rather, inspiration suddenly struck.

[center][u][b]Day 6[/u][/b][/center] [center][item=banded olivine] material - writing[/center] He was standing in the great grasslands. From horizon to horizon, the green stretched away on all sides in rolling swells, like low waves. The ever-present wind shifted. He could smell burning. Terror seized him, but he couldn't move. It was as if his feet were anchored to the ground--he couldn't even lift up his wings. Heart pounding, he could only stare at the dark clouds looming up on the horizon. The grasslands weren't burning, he realized. The [i]sky[/i] was burning. Black smoke mounded up on itself, expanding to swallow the blue. In that darkness, red and orange flames flickered, and giant fiery coals fell like meteors. He could feel the ground shudder when they struck it, but the impacts made no sound. All he could hear was the hiss of wind in the grass, distant, strangely muffled, wordless shouting, and cutting through all else the rising rush of flame. A hot, ashy gale began to buffet him as the darkness grew, the last of the open sky above him was quickly disappearing--and he had to get out, he had to get away, [i]he couldn't let them take her[/i]-- He erupted awake with a roar, surging half to his feet before he realized where he was. There was no fire, no wind, and the only darkness was that of the cool, still night that surrounded them. Gasping, he sank down, leaning against the stone side of their shelter to steady himself. Cornwall was awake, staring at him, her eyes huge and alarmed. "[i]Tarrrrn?[/i]" The word was blurred, its inflection odd, but it was clearly meant to be his name. She'd said his name. "Oh," he breathed. "Oh, sweetheart. It's okay. I just had a bad dream." He reached out to draw her closer, and she nestled in willingly against his side. Not afraid of him, then. That was good. "Do you have bad dreams sometimes?" She nodded with an unhappy little [i]mrrr[/i], and a thought occurred to him. "Do you...dream of fire?" "[i]Fiiirrrre[/i]," she whimpered, and buried her face against his shoulder. His breathing had slowed, but his chest felt tight, some of the terror of the dream still clinging to him. As he held Cornwall close, he looked around at their hiding place, with its pale stones catching the moonlight that slipped through the willowy trees. He could hear the far-off murmur of a stream at the bottom of the slope and from somewhere the chiming calls of a night bird. It wasn't a familiar place, the kind of country that he was used to. But.... "We're safe," he told Cornwall. "The fire's far away. It can't get us here. This is a safe place." And they could stay there, he realized, for as long as they needed to. The thought gave him some ease. Hopefully those dreams would fade away in time. Hopefully he'd never have to remember. [rule] I didn't think I had anything to write about, and then--surprise! Sudden inspiration. And this now gives me an opening to possibly make a time jump, which is good, since Cornwall has grown up in game time.