I've attempted a Pinkerlocke once before- this exact one, in fact, with its same setting and plans- but petered out quickly on it. That said, I'm in the mood for another attempt, so welcome to...
Empty Night
This isn't quite going to be a standard Pinkerlocke- my alterations to the traditional rules include:
Food: I'll be doing this on not-quite-medium difficulty, but am not allowed to run from battles unless one of the current dragons has already been injured OR I have less than a full team. (These dragons are a little too brave for their own good, but they're not stupid. Use of healing items and ending streaks between battles are acceptable as per normal.)
Materials and Trinkets: If I don't have the energy to do a full piece, I should still do something- an outline, some lore planning, a quick sketch, whatever. A little progress is better than none at all, even if that progress is just some messy brainstorming!
Familiars: The RNG list is 1-20, as follows:
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. Obelisk
16. Fathom
17-20. Ancients! This will require an additional 1-10 roll, in order of the Ancient breeds releasing- Gaoler, Banescale, Veilspun, Aberration, Undertide, Aether, Sandsurge, Auraboa, Dusthide, and Everlux. (More numbers will be added here as the Ancient selection updates!)
Apparel: I'll be making gene plans for all my Pinkerlocke dragons, and geneing them towards those plans. If all the dragons currently in my lair are gened by when an apparel pull happens, and nobody is ready to breed, I'll treat this as a familiar pull instead.
Battle Items: Any injured dragons who are selected for a death streak die instantly, without entering combat, and will be replaced in the streak by a different random dragon. On averted death streaks, I may do ten battles on the easymode food rules, to allow for levelling weak dragons a bit (and to keep averted streaks from just being Nothing Days).
For convenience purposes, my starter dragons will be the cheapest adults of their breeds rather than simply the cheapest dragons.
Dragons who are knocked out in the Coliseum are injured, and will be marked with bandage apparel (bloody or white, as available) for a full week. (This timeframe may get changed if needed for difficulty!) If they're knocked out again in that time, they're Actually Dead. Hatchlings are still subject to the death coinflip, and will not have any alteration made to it.
Dead dragons can be sold for gems, using the wiki's average exalt payout table and the 1g:1kt rate I've been seeing recently, or given away to interested parties within the thread. (I'm far more desperate for gems than treasure at the moment, so this will allow me to get gems instead of treasure while still keeping the amount gained reasonably low, and can let people keep some of their favorites.)
While I only have to write lore and do art on days where materials and trinkets drop, I might do some creative stuff on other days if inspiration strikes me.
Familiars can be changed out at level 10, but otherwise they're a permanent thing- no swapping out for those sweet, sweet bonding bonuses!
Eggs obtained via Coli will be added to the Pinkerlocke no matter what, while eggs obtained via scavenging or chests will be added via a coinflip- heads means they're added to the Pinkerlocke, tails means they're not. (One exception: on NOTN we get ONE Nocturne egg, the first one I hatch that year, so the clan doesn't wind up a flood of nothing but Nocs!)
Eye changes are not allowed, with one exception- if I find Swirl at any point while doing Coli, it will be applied to one of the dragons who were on the team at that time.
Any dragon who reaches level 25 can join my main lair if they die.
In addition, I'd like to note the following things that will be present:
Queer content, in spades- I'm very openly queer, and this story's characters are likely to reflect that.
Canon-divergent lore, particularly as it pertains to the main setting of Empty Night. This is a place closely connected to Sornieth, but not truly part of it- among other things, this means there's no consistent way for a dragon to leave once they enter.
Second-person perspective, with some associated attempts at stream of consciousness writing. This second part will mostly happen in scenes intended to be disorienting, as I try to communicate the wrongness of the setting.
I've attempted a Pinkerlocke once before- this exact one, in fact, with its same setting and plans- but petered out quickly on it. That said, I'm in the mood for another attempt, so welcome to...
Empty Night
This isn't quite going to be a standard Pinkerlocke- my alterations to the traditional rules include:
Food: I'll be doing this on not-quite-medium difficulty, but am not allowed to run from battles unless one of the current dragons has already been injured OR I have less than a full team. (These dragons are a little too brave for their own good, but they're not stupid. Use of healing items and ending streaks between battles are acceptable as per normal.)
Materials and Trinkets: If I don't have the energy to do a full piece, I should still do something- an outline, some lore planning, a quick sketch, whatever. A little progress is better than none at all, even if that progress is just some messy brainstorming!
Familiars: The RNG list is 1-20, as follows:
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. Obelisk
16. Fathom
17-20. Ancients! This will require an additional 1-10 roll, in order of the Ancient breeds releasing- Gaoler, Banescale, Veilspun, Aberration, Undertide, Aether, Sandsurge, Auraboa, Dusthide, and Everlux. (More numbers will be added here as the Ancient selection updates!)
Apparel: I'll be making gene plans for all my Pinkerlocke dragons, and geneing them towards those plans. If all the dragons currently in my lair are gened by when an apparel pull happens, and nobody is ready to breed, I'll treat this as a familiar pull instead.
Battle Items: Any injured dragons who are selected for a death streak die instantly, without entering combat, and will be replaced in the streak by a different random dragon. On averted death streaks, I may do ten battles on the easymode food rules, to allow for levelling weak dragons a bit (and to keep averted streaks from just being Nothing Days).
For convenience purposes, my starter dragons will be the cheapest adults of their breeds rather than simply the cheapest dragons.
Dragons who are knocked out in the Coliseum are injured, and will be marked with bandage apparel (bloody or white, as available) for a full week. (This timeframe may get changed if needed for difficulty!) If they're knocked out again in that time, they're Actually Dead. Hatchlings are still subject to the death coinflip, and will not have any alteration made to it.
Dead dragons can be sold for gems, using the wiki's average exalt payout table and the 1g:1kt rate I've been seeing recently, or given away to interested parties within the thread. (I'm far more desperate for gems than treasure at the moment, so this will allow me to get gems instead of treasure while still keeping the amount gained reasonably low, and can let people keep some of their favorites.)
While I only have to write lore and do art on days where materials and trinkets drop, I might do some creative stuff on other days if inspiration strikes me.
Familiars can be changed out at level 10, but otherwise they're a permanent thing- no swapping out for those sweet, sweet bonding bonuses!
Eggs obtained via Coli will be added to the Pinkerlocke no matter what, while eggs obtained via scavenging or chests will be added via a coinflip- heads means they're added to the Pinkerlocke, tails means they're not. (One exception: on NOTN we get ONE Nocturne egg, the first one I hatch that year, so the clan doesn't wind up a flood of nothing but Nocs!)
Eye changes are not allowed, with one exception- if I find Swirl at any point while doing Coli, it will be applied to one of the dragons who were on the team at that time.
Any dragon who reaches level 25 can join my main lair if they die.
In addition, I'd like to note the following things that will be present:
Queer content, in spades- I'm very openly queer, and this story's characters are likely to reflect that.
Canon-divergent lore, particularly as it pertains to the main setting of Empty Night. This is a place closely connected to Sornieth, but not truly part of it- among other things, this means there's no consistent way for a dragon to leave once they enter.
Second-person perspective, with some associated attempts at stream of consciousness writing. This second part will mostly happen in scenes intended to be disorienting, as I try to communicate the wrongness of the setting.
[center][color=indigo][size=6][b]Day Zero[/b][/color][/size][/center]
-----
Rolling up my starting dragons, we've got a 7, a 14, and a 3! Let's meet our first clanmates- all three of them joined as unnamed dragons, scraping the current dominance fight's fodder floor at 14kt, and were given randomized names.
[url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/68772776]
[img]https://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=1&body=129&bodygene=57&breed=7&element=3&eyetype=0&gender=0&tert=117&tertgene=18&winggene=57&wings=109&auth=735623cfe999d067717c7a20c5329520cd2a3caf&dummyext=prev.png[/img]
[/url]
Birdwatcher, a Spiral, is here from Wind, and the oldest of the bunch at three months.
[url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/70304544]
[img]https://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=1&body=91&bodygene=23&breed=14&element=7&eyetype=0&gender=1&tert=8&tertgene=9&winggene=24&wings=70&auth=1d649426c2bf6d0697b9705068007ffb492643c5&dummyext=prev.png[/img]
[/url]
Misfortune, a Shadow-born Bogsneak, is youngest at a little over a month old.
[url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/70216779]
[img]https://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=1&body=91&bodygene=57&breed=3&element=9&eyetype=0&gender=0&tert=66&tertgene=5&winggene=0&wings=74&auth=2289b878cbf6ccfe8b01084d10c0b2486e087c6d&dummyext=prev.png[/img]
[/url]
And Sarval, a mere three days older than Misfortune, is an Arcane Mirror.
Rolling up my starting dragons, we've got a 7, a 14, and a 3! Let's meet our first clanmates- all three of them joined as unnamed dragons, scraping the current dominance fight's fodder floor at 14kt, and were given randomized names.
Birdwatcher, a Spiral, is here from Wind, and the oldest of the bunch at three months.
Misfortune, a Shadow-born Bogsneak, is youngest at a little over a month old.
And Sarval, a mere three days older than Misfortune, is an Arcane Mirror.
+3 FR time | they/them | local fae lover
[center][color=indigo][size=6][b]Day One[/b][/color][/size]
-----
Today's Item:
[item=Fallout Streak Pinion]
Writing[/center]
-----
It's dark here. Too dark, really- the area looks like Shadow territory at first glance, heavily forested and lit only by the bioluminescent undergrowth and a few misplaced starwoods, but even in the darkest parts of the forest there [i]should[/i] be some small amount of light seeping through the canopy. Here, there's none. Neither moonlight nor starlight makes its way down, here, and the space where three dragons find themselves is lit only by their own magic and darkened by the creeping feeling that something, somewhere, has already gone far too wrong.
Welcome to Empty Night.
A beautiful feather that doubles as a night-light.
45
Writing
It's dark here. Too dark, really- the area looks like Shadow territory at first glance, heavily forested and lit only by the bioluminescent undergrowth and a few misplaced starwoods, but even in the darkest parts of the forest there should be some small amount of light seeping through the canopy. Here, there's none. Neither moonlight nor starlight makes its way down, here, and the space where three dragons find themselves is lit only by their own magic and darkened by the creeping feeling that something, somewhere, has already gone far too wrong.
Welcome to Empty Night.
+3 FR time | they/them | local fae lover
[center][color=indigo][size=6][b]Day Two[/b][/color][/size]
-----
Today's Item:
[item=Brown Pelican]
40-50 Coli Matches[/center]
-----
Ah. That's a heck of a welcome, I guess. Our little clan's first fifty battles went well, with two potions used, and all three starters to level 4!
Ah. That's a heck of a welcome, I guess. Our little clan's first fifty battles went well, with two potions used, and all three starters to level 4!
+3 FR time | they/them | local fae lover
[center][color=indigo][size=6][b]Day Three[/b][/color][/size]
-----
Today's Item:
[item=Magnetite]
Writing[/center]
-----
"Food's ready!"
Misfortune started at the shrill noise that passed for Birdwatcher's voice coming from the entrance of her hollow, slipping her long neck out to squint up at them. "What do you want." It was more a demand than a question, her tone annoyed over the sudden intrusion, and her heart sank ever so slightly as the much smaller dragon's excited coiling motions paused.
"Oh, I just- wanted to let you know I finished making dinner in case you wanted to come eat with us butIcanjustbringyourfoodifyou'dprefer-"
"Gods' sake, Birdwatcher, stop talking so fast and let me come out. What did you make?"
"Oh you're coming!!! We caught a lot of deer yesterday so I went ahead and roasted some of them and I made a sauce for them with the honey we got and the roast drippings and Sarval helped me candy the flowers and I toasted some moths so we have those too and it'll be good I promise!"
Having finished extricating herself from her nest, Misfortune gave the rapidly rotating Spiral in front of her a smile, patted them with one wing, and started towards the common space to share a meal.
The engineers of Tempest Spire loathe this mineral.
48
Writing
"Food's ready!"
Misfortune started at the shrill noise that passed for Birdwatcher's voice coming from the entrance of her hollow, slipping her long neck out to squint up at them. "What do you want." It was more a demand than a question, her tone annoyed over the sudden intrusion, and her heart sank ever so slightly as the much smaller dragon's excited coiling motions paused.
"Oh, I just- wanted to let you know I finished making dinner in case you wanted to come eat with us butIcanjustbringyourfoodifyou'dprefer-"
"Gods' sake, Birdwatcher, stop talking so fast and let me come out. What did you make?"
"Oh you're coming!!! We caught a lot of deer yesterday so I went ahead and roasted some of them and I made a sauce for them with the honey we got and the roast drippings and Sarval helped me candy the flowers and I toasted some moths so we have those too and it'll be good I promise!"
Having finished extricating herself from her nest, Misfortune gave the rapidly rotating Spiral in front of her a smile, patted them with one wing, and started towards the common space to share a meal.
+3 FR time | they/them | local fae lover
[center][color=indigo][size=6][b]Day Four[/b][/color][/size]
-----
Today's Item:
[item=Treasure Plant]
10-20 Coli Matches[/center]
-----
20 battles was enough to get everyone up to level 5, but the Training Fields are starting to feel extremely weak- nobody even came near an injury!
May bring good luck if kept inside a lair... but may bring happiness if kept inside a tummy. Decisions.
64
7
10-20 Coli Matches
20 battles was enough to get everyone up to level 5, but the Training Fields are starting to feel extremely weak- nobody even came near an injury!
+3 FR time | they/them | local fae lover
[center][color=indigo][size=6][b]Day Five[/b][/color][/size]
-----
Today's Item:
[item=Jungle Grass]
10-20 Coli Matches[/center]
-----
(It's late as heck right now, so I'll be coming back to do these tomorrow)
+3 FR time | they/them | local fae lover 
