Quests & Challenges

@Pikabolt if you want I can put you down anyway just in case you get room later.

@Serai the best assassins.

[quote name="Bitterly" date="2022-04-22 21:31:55" ] @Pikabolt if you want I can put you down anyway just in case you get room later. [/quote] That would be great, thank you! Hopefully it won't be necessary, and these guys can lead good, happy lives. One can dream, right?

@Pikabolt I've got you down for Squall! And hopefully they live good happy lives, but we all know how things can go.

[center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/qnc/3115116#post_50621031]Pulls[/url] | [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/qnc/3115116#post_50621032]Jobs[/url] | [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/qnc/3115116#post_50621033]Clan Chillspike[/url] | [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/qnc/3115116#post_50621037]Clan Torchward[/url] | [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/qnc/3115116#post_50621038]Graveyard[/url][/center] [center][b]Day 41 - 4/23/22[/b][/center] [emoji=torch] All four of Fadrex and Nightfire's eggs hatch. They named the three females Charlie, Lissandra, and Xylia, and the male Bedek. Jorus reaches adulthood. He still has too many eyes but most of the clan have decided it's some sort of sign from the gods since his mother had been given to the clan from them as a gift. Faye gives Alpheratz a white and black coat. Slaun gives Ameria a crowned bonepriest that he's tamed since he thinks it might suit her morbid career choice. She's absolutely delighted by the creature and names it Norman. Paintpot successfully makes a trinket and gifts it to Irwyn. Jaimes, Shiro, and Vail send out Emerus and Irwyn on a double training session to try and help them become eligible for jobs. When they return Emerus becomes a librarian and Irwyn becomes an ambassador. Hrist slipped into Chillspike early enough that Sandalwood had only just left his home to get his own day started. This time, the assassin didn't have to wait long for the knight to be alone, and as soon as he was he struck, darting in to cleanly slip a dagger just behind the protection of the knight's breastplate and into his ribs. A quick twist and a claw moving in to muffle any sounds as the fae struggled to gasp his last breaths, and the deed was done. Hrist dragged the body off to a seldom visited alleyway and cleaned himself up for his visit to Jan. He spends as long as he can in her company, the two of them once more trying to avoid talking about the things that are keeping them apart. When he returns back to Torchward he goes to report his success to Queen Banshee and receives his new assignment, Tegona the Chillspike assassin. Unconcerned, he nods before returning to his quarters to relax. [emoji=snowflake] Madena and Mikhail reach adulthood. Cergil recovers from her wounds and is released from the infirmary's care. Tempo gives Morwen a glowing pocketmouse. Morwen makes a cape for Aurei. Again, Pastoral doesn't find any new dragons to join the clan. He decides to review his maps to try and find other recruitment venues. Dusk sends out Madena and Mikhail on a double training session. Windweaver can't manage to get any of her trinkets to work right. Tegona makes her way to Torchward to find her new target. She finds Vail staying behind to clean the training yard and grabs one of the spare training daggers, tossing it further to the side. The tundra spots it and walks over to pick it up when the assassin strikes, slitting her throat. She leaves the body where it lies, retreating to the shadows to watch for any blessings. There is no glow and she grins, satisfied with a job well done. She reports her success to her father with pride once she arrives home. King Ulysses passes her a piece of paper with her new assignment written on it. "Do you think you can handle it?" She looks down and sees Hrist's name. With a grim nod she says, "I think so." [center][b]Events - Morning[/b][/center] [b][emoji=torch] Volcanic Remnants, Material: rolled 5, Mercenary level 6[/b] Queen Banshee decides to bring her new ambassador to the trading post so that Irwyn can get in some practice with recruitment. They eventually meet an experienced adventurer, a guardian dragon names Zori. She's an artist who enjoys painting pictures of battlefields and Banshee curiously asks to see some of her work. She obliges and the Queen fawns over the pictures. "Exquisite. We really must have you for the clan." "They're decent I suppose," says Zori. After a bit more discussion she agrees to join Torchward and returns with them. [b][emoji=snowflake] Meal Moth, Food, Insect: 20-30 Coli Rounds[/b] Madena, Mikhail, and Xanis are sent out on a supply run. It's rather uneventful, but they do find a rather pretty clearing with a small waterfall as a stream runs down from the mountains. Xanis decides to linger and explore the area a bit longer while the other two carry their plunder back. When they return, Madena becomes a knight, and Mikhail becomes a name scribe. [center][b]Events - Midday[/b][/center] [b][emoji=torch] Dried Cedar Branch, Material: rolled 1, Scandal/Romance[/b] Hecate decides to go exploring on her own and manages to happen upon a little waterfall feeding a small pool near the base of the mountain. Taking a closer look, she realizes she's not alone as she spots a shape swimming in the pool. She approaches closer to get a curious look and Xanis pops his head up as he takes a breath. "Oh! Sorry about that! I didn't frighten you did I? I'm Xanis." he asks as soon as he spots the fae stranger. Hecate smiles and shakes her head. "I'm Hecate and no, you're fine. I'm sorry to intrude." "No need to apologize! The water is great and there's more than enough room for you to join if you wanted." Hecate decides to take the stranger up on his offer and the two get to talking as they swim and relax. Eventually that relaxing becomes a bit more involved. After they part ways, Hecate finds herself with five eggs. She decides to go to Viriya, hoping that the scout will know more about this Xanis fellow from her exploration of the surrounding area while also knowing the assassin's daughters are very good at keeping secrets. "He's a scout for Chillspike. Why?" "Oh no... oh no!" Hecate cringes and lowers her voice as she continues, "I have five eggs and he's the father..." Viriya blinks in surprise but quickly says, "I won't tell anyone." Hecate thanks her for her help and goes to try and figure out how to handle her egg situation. [b][emoji=snowflake] Wicker Dragon, Familiar: rolled 13, Skydancer[/b] With Pastoral's recent runs not working out, King Ulysses decides to head out with his ambassador to the trading post to see if together they can find new dragons to bring back. They meet a female skydancer named Ellie. She isn't sure at first if she wants to find a new clan, but between the two of them Ulysses and Pastoral manage to convince her to join Chillspike. [center][b]Events - Evening[/b][/center] [b][emoji=torch] Ward, Battle Item: flipped Tails, Skirmish[/b] "Well we definitely have to stop this one," says Zudan as he eyes his tea leaves. Rolla, a bit haggard after telling too many tiny heads too many bed time stories, nods in agreement. "It does look like a bad one. And I don't really see much else worth stopping. Just a bit of embarrassment really." Zudan frowned and asked, "Should we even bring up that we know about that? It seems weird..." With a shake of both her heads the aberration responded, "Nah, as soon as we make our decision and change something, or even decide not to change anything, we'll forget enough of the details that it won't matter. I tried writing it down once, but when I looked afterwards I couldn't read my own handwriting." That seemed to satisfy Zudan enough that he wasn't being too nosy about something personal. It was his turn, so he turned back to his teacup to concentrate on averting the fate. He was sure it was working, the tea leaves were beginning to make less sense, when suddenly he felt an intense pressure and pain around his heart. He couldn't even hear Rolla calling out his name as he collapsed and fell. Rolla immediately moved to check on him, but he was dead. She went to the Queen to deliver the news. [b][emoji=snowflake] Pachyderm Paintings, Trinket: rolled 11, I Quit[/b] Peppermint was out exploring when she saw the rocky outcropping and decided to climb up it. Once she got to the top though and saw the view she couldn't bring herself to leave. She wanted to remember the sight of the sun shining down on the trees and the mountain forever. She pulled out her map, turning the sheet upside down so she could draw the scene as best she could with what she had. It was a soothing experience, and when she returned she knew she wanted to keep it up. She quite being a scout to pursue art. [center][b]Necromancy[/b][/center] [emoji=torch] There were two bodies, but despite having two necromancers, Kylar explained they could still only bring back one shade. He was going into the technical explanation of how magic worked with the local leylines when Queen Banshee arrived. She was sorely tempted to leave her son dead, but fortune tellers were so incredibly useful. When they didn't just let you die. Vail was a teacher, but they already had two others. The Queen turned to Kylar and nodded. "You, bring the fortune teller back. Ameria, be sure to pay close attention." The two necromancers nodded and got to work and Kylar brought back Zudan as a shade. [emoji=snowflake] Only one death meant only one choice, so Noir and Seren had Sandalwood prepared for the ritual already by the time King Ulysses came to give his approval. The King nodded, and with that Noir brought back the knight as a shade. [center]*~~/\~~*[/center] Oh man! Hrist vs Tegona, assassin vs assassin! I am so curious to see how this is going to turn out. On a side note, I will be traveling soon (starting Tuesday) and while I might have time to do a few things I probably will be mobbed by family and friends (or on the road etc) too much to keep posting for the Kingdomlocke. I might try to sneak in some single pull days. I should be back to regular updates on either the 7th or 8th of May. I'm going to try and get posts done for tomorrow and Monday, but I might also end up being swamped with work as everyone tries to get me to do last minute things. [size=1]@MoonlilyluvsCas, @Serai, @Pikabolt, @Tesnivy, @Amberfox[/size]

That’s alright, there’s no pressure to update! We can wait, you should focus on your family and the trip

[center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/qnc/3115116#post_50621031]Pulls[/url] | [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/qnc/3115116#post_50621032]Jobs[/url] | [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/qnc/3115116#post_50621033]Clan Chillspike[/url] | [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/qnc/3115116#post_50621037]Clan Torchward[/url] | [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/qnc/3115116#post_50621038]Graveyard[/url][/center] [center][b]Day 42 - 4/24/22[/b][/center] [emoji=torch] Only two of Jaimes and Faye's eggs hatch. They name the fae male Gemard and the female guardian Emlyn. While they're proud of both their hatchlings (and all of their adopted ones as well), they do comment that Emlyn is quite striking in appearance and will probably grow up to be some sort of heart breaker. Glow and Lilith reach adulthood. Faye gives Nightfire a pair of pants so that she can sit on the ground while gardening without getting too dirty. Slaun gives Jorus an emerald webwing since it also has several eyes. Jorus names it Timple. Paintpot does not manage to make any new trinkets. Something about the weather is throwing off the calibration of her springs she assumes. Irwyn heads out on an ambassadorial mission, but has to turn back as the wind picks up enough that it keeps blowing debris in the road. The clouds in the distance indicate a storm is approaching, enforcing her decision. Jaimes and Shiro send out Jorus with Glow and then back out again with Lilith. The news that the enemy assassin was after Hrist had spread like wildfire in Chillspike, and that in turn had lead to Jan sneaking out very carefully in the night to meet with Viriya to deliver a warning to her father. Knowing he was being hunted, and by his own prey no less, the assassin decided to forego his usual trip to Chillspike for work and just stay in bed and relax while he waited for her to come to him. Rexy would make sure he was awake in time. [emoji=snowflake] While exploring, Shanti and Ryuki find a bush with bright glossy red berries. Curious they each eat some before they hear the Nesting Helpers calling for them to come back. They abandon the rest of the berries but it's too late, both had already eaten too much of the poison berries and die. Tempo gives Mango a satin pocketmouse. She names it Pretty. Morwen makes some wingcovers for Aurei. Pastoral is attacked on the road, but manages to defend himself. That combined with the weather starting to look ominous makes him head back home alone. Dusk sends out Ellie with Mikhail on a training run. Once they return she sends Ellie back out with Madena for another. Upon her return Ellie becomes a teacher. Windweaver encounters some difficulties in calibrating some of her finer tools, and she keeps accidentally zapping herself with static. She doesn't manage to get any new trinkets made while she tries to make adjustments in her workshop. Tegona had first scoured Chillspike looking for the assassin before making her way to Torchward. To her shock it appeared he was still in his quarters sleeping when she peered in through the window. Her gut told her something was wrong, maybe he had the plague and not up for work? Either way she had to try and take advantage of the moment, even if it meant potentially getting sick herself. She snuck in and struck at the sleeping figure without a moment's hesitation only to be assaulted by a cloud of feathers. Suddenly she felt a sharp pain as a blade slipped into her back. "Good enthusiasm, but I saw you hesitate before you came in. You should have trusted your gut." Not wanting Banshee to get any ideas about keeping Tegona for herself, (she seemed a good enough kid, and he knew he would hate for his daughters to be brought back as shades to fight against him), he dragged her body out of the clan territory with Rexy's help. He was sure the Chillspike scouts would be able to find her when she didn't report back. [center][b]Events - Morning[/b][/center] [b][emoji=torch] Sandhills Amaranth, Food, Plant: 10-20 Coli Rounds[/b] Queen Banshee found Knight Lucente and gave her a grin. "Send someone out on a supply run, our assassin just killed one of King Ulysses's daughters so we may have to send a condolence gift... and I'm sure he won't appreciate it." Slightly puzzled by the order, the knight shrugged and complied anyway. She sent out Jorus, Glow, and Lilith out to fetch some supplies, but since she wasn't sure what to have them focus on, she just told them to focus on food and medical supplies. They have an uneventful run and quickly get to work organizing the clan's stores with their new items. [b][emoji=snowflake] Earthen Acuity Fragment, Battle Item: flipped Heads, Surprise Attack[/b] The dragons on watch barely managed to get a warning out before Chillspike was under attack. The Torchward dragons swept in, spreading chaos and violence as they went with Queen Banshee cackling as she led the charge. King Ulysses frowned, he'd heard the Queen had been brought back as a shade, but it seemed that death had not mellowed her out in the least. He rallied his own clan to first defend and then eventually to start driving back their attackers. He had another brief tangle with Banshee, this time the enemy Queen having the upper hand as she left him wounded before calling for a strategic retreat. With their home defended at least, Ulysses began to call for his knights to escort the wounded to the infirmary, tally up the dead, and organize the rest. He looked over the casualty reports as he waited for the doctors to finish with everyone else. Tempo, Pastoral, Capra, and Mango had been destroyed. Dalmar, Dergil, and Arathian were dead. Dusk had lost a life and Ulysses himself, Demeter, Jan, Seren, Siella, Peppermint, Azannon, Mikhail, Ellie, and Trystram were all wounded. On the plus side it looked like with the additional weapons and armor that Siella and Siorus had been working on were put to good use. Lapis managed to kill Lilith, and Morwen managed to kill Duilin. The Torchward bodies were dragged outside of the clan territory and left for either the buzzards or to be retrieved by their comrades. [center][b]Events - Midday[/b][/center] [b][emoji=torch] Fiery Might Fragment, Battle Item: flipped Heads, Surprise Attack[/b] Part of Rolla felt terrible for Zudan. He'd been brought back from the dead but then ordered to thwart every terrible fate that he could until he died again just so that Rolla would last for longer. The other part of the aberration was delighted that she was so highly valued by the Queen. "Rolla, do you see this?" asked Zudan as he stared into his teacup. He was doing his best to try and not just sink into despair. Hopefully if he just kept doing a good job his mother would let them go back to alternating to spread out the danger. And hopefully she'd stop being mad at him. Rolla took a look at her cards and let out a soft hiss as she nodded. "Oh that is not good. Not good at all. I mean it makes sense why it will happen, but still. We should probably stop it." At least she hadn't just outright said Zudan should stop it, and he appreciated the flimsy bit of pretense. "Right, I'll handle this one." He focused his will on defying fate and gradually the tea leaves began to dissipate. "It's working," said Rolla as she studied her cards. She gave him a curious glance, brow raised, and Zudan took a moment to check himself over. "I think I'm fine. Let's go tell the Queen I stopped something for her." [b][emoji=snowflake] Mire Chestnut, Food, Plant: 10-20 Coli Rounds[/b] With some of their supplies destroyed in the attack, Thornhill sends out Siorus, Xanis, and Madena on a supply run. It's a rather uneventful trip and the three soon return with more food and medical supplies. [center][b]Events - Evening[/b][/center] [b][emoji=torch] Tarnished Steel Gorget, Apparel: Romance/Found Hatchlings[/b] Things were getting hot in the library; Emerus and Citrine had begun to bond over books, but then it had grown a bit more personal until they were interrupted by the sound of someone entering the library. The two immediately pretended like nothing had been going on as they sorted books until the other dragon left. Once it was clear they put up a sign, "Library closed for maintenance," and locked the door. By the time the library was opened again they had three eggs. [b][emoji=snowflake] Ward, Battle Item: flipped Heads, Surprise Attack[/b] It was hard to say which battle that the fortune tellers saw was worse, both of them resulted in quite a few casualties for the clan, but the one in the evening... that one had sparked a chain that led to King Ulysses dying among all the others. So when faced with that bit of information they had decided that it was this battle that should be stopped. Lapis took a breath as he took his turn to roll the dice with fate. With all of his concentration and will he focused on altering the future of the clan, removing this one spot out of its path. Thankfully either fate didn't notice or didn't care and he let out a long sigh of relief when he realized he wasn't dying this time. Xylant gave him a firm slap on the back. "Let's go give the King the news." [center][b]Necromancy[/b][/center] [emoji=torch] Banshee eyed the two bodies that had been retrieved after the battle with Chillspike. Duilin and Lilith, both were newer members to the clan, but Duilin already had a job while Lilith just held potential. She settled on bringing back the Blacksmith and gave her necromancers a nod. "Bring Duilin back. We'll just have to bury Lilith. It's up to you two who performs the ritual." Ameria batted her eyes at Kylar as she asked if she could it this time. He nodded and set up his notes nearby where she could easily look at them if she needed a quick refresher as she performed the ritual. It was only her second shade after all, and Kylar wanted to make sure that she didn't have any trouble on his watch. Soon she'd finished and Duilin let out a soft groan as he stood up and shook his head. She made sure the new shade was settled before having him help them bury Lilith. [emoji=snowflake] There were so many bodies, enough that Ulysses almost wanted to just go back to the infirmary and sleep and let someone else be the new king. But this was important, and he couldn't just ignore his duties. The shades had already been buried, but that still left Shanti, Ryuki, Tegona, Dalmar, and Arathian. If he wanted to be cold and calculating he'd have to decide between bringing back the assassin for added pressure against Torchward or the librarian for the valuable maps he could provide. If he wanted to be sentimental, then Tegona was the easy answer. But if he wanted to be kind... Ryuki still had a mother who would no doubt be delighted to have him back. He decided to leave it to chance, rolling dice to see who would be brought back. To his immense relief it seemed that luck was on his family's side. Noir studied the result and nodded before turning to Seren to figure out where they each stood in regards to how many shades they had. With both down to two, he performed the ritual and brought back Tegona as a shade. Ulysses would give her a new target in the morning, but for now he made sure that his necromancers would be able to handle the burials for the remaining dead before he returned to the infirmary. [center]*~~/\~~*[/center] Well, I suppose the assassination question has been answered.... Today was a mean day, but I did get to test out the adjustment to the sneak attack/blacksmith thing. Since sneak attacks are supposed to be more one sided a blacksmith will only work on 12 with a flip of a coin: heads = random dead attacker, tails = random wounded attacker. I'm pretty okay with how it's been turning out this way so far (I did rolls and such for every sneak attack that happened today including the thwarted ones). I might adjust it more in the future, who knows. [size=1]@MoonlilyluvsCas, @Serai, @Pikabolt, @Tesnivy, @Amberfox[/size]

Oh no, babies! This is why you don't let them wander around without supervision, they stick everything in their mouths D:

Sucks to have lost your necromancer, losing one is always a blow

Poor Tegona; the part about trusting your gut really struck home. That one mistake cost her her life. Assassins have dangerous jobs

@Pikabolt Seren was wounded but hopefully she pulls through and doesn't die. Ulysses would be sad and then Noir would have to do all the work again. And yeah, babies just getting into trouble in all sorts of ways :(

Maybe Tegona will learn to trust her gut. Hrist was at least... uh.... nice about the killing?