Quests & Challenges

@Krowst Thanks for the kind words! No worries about being "unrelated", comments are always welcome! If you'd like to be added to the pinglist, let me know, but no pressure :)

[center][b][i]Chapter 45: Broken?[/i][/b] [size=1]@Petall @Emordnilap @Solaristigres @Oranitha @Pocketdog @Cow809 @Murvax @BarbaraFett @SakuraSundae @Krowst[/size] [b]Pull:[/b] [item=searing bunny] [b]Sentence:[/b] Coli x 20-25 (I'm halving for a while) -----[/center] "Hey Murdoc. What are you doing?" Murdoc looked up from where he was methodically pulling at his bone doll. "Hi, Auntie Nev. I wanna see how Eddin works." Neveah sat curiously back on her haunches. "Eddin? Is that what you've named them?" She gestured at the doll. "Uh-huh." He flipped the doll over and moved one of its middle limbs back and forth. "I'm sure if you asked your papa, he'd be happy to show you." "Yeah, but Papa's not here." "He'll be back," Neveah sighed. "He certainly wouldn't want to miss the festival-goers who would most appreciate his art." "I wish A-na let us go along," Murdoc grumped. "I wanna see a festival!" "You'll get plenty of chances. I'm sure your brother would love to have you and Lu along to enjoy the Rockbreaker's festivities! The Riot is just... not the safest place for a first festival." Murdoc looked up. He wasn't very old yet, but he could stand eye-to-eye with Neveah. "Is that why you didn't go? Because it's not safe?" Neveah hesitated. "Well... sort of. It would be dangerous for me for very different reasons than why it would be dangerous to you." "Why?" "Because..." Neveah shuffled her wings against each other. "...Hmm. I have a big secret. Lots of people do. But mine... doesn't agree with a lot of Plague folk in particular. I'm sure there are plenty who are absolutely fine with... my existence... but not enough that I would risk putting myself in the middle of their celebrations of themselves. Someone would sniff me out, and then..." Murdoc kept pulling on the limbs of his doll. "What's the secret? Do A-na and Papa know?" "No, they don't. Uncle Salt is the only one here who knows. Although your papa is very perceptive, and may figure it out someday, I'm not planning on telling anyone right now. Not even you or Lu - I'm sorry." "Oh. Oops-" With a snap, the doll limb that Murdoc had been playing with tore partially free. He stared forlornly at it. "I tore the stitching..." "Just the stitching?" Neveah kneeled to look. "That should be an easy fix. I make repairs like that all the time." Murdoc brightened at that. "So I didn't break him!" "Not permanently," Neveah reassured him. "And hey, you were trying to figure out how he worked; I think my suture kit is in my den, so while I get that, why don't you see if you can tell what your papa did to make that joint work?" ----- *crashes in through the ceiling* hi I have had negative amounts of time and mental energy to the point where I haven't gotten the Coli for this done and I'm procrastinating on the art pull (still uninspired on it too), but there's a few different things tied to Plague and to Riot of Rot happening, so I couldn't [i]not[/i] do a RoR post...

Ooooo, what a sweet, chapter, I love Murdoc

BTW, if it's not too late I've decided to take the kiddo that did not survive (I understand if it is too late and they've been exalted though, it's past the 22nd which I believe you said the deadline was)

@Petall Fortunately for you, my negative-time schedule resulted in me totally forgetting to Do Anything with that deadline, lol. I'll send her over!

@Petall @Emordnilap @Solaristigres @Oranitha @Pocketdog @Cow809 @Murvax @BarbaraFett @SakuraSundae @Krowst
While I don't yet have to worry about the 12-ping maximum, as there's only ten of you, I've decided to get on the in-site pinglist train early!

I'll keep using the old pinglist for the forseeable future, especially since I know there's a few intermittently active people on it who may not get on the new one right away but may still want pings. But this'll be very useful for if/when I get more readers, so I'll probably use both for a while! (If it turns out that being on both versions means you get pinged twice to the same post, let me know and I'll take you off the old list!)

[center][b][i]Chapter 46: A Banner Year[/i][/b] [size=1]@Petall @Emordnilap @Solaristigres @Oranitha @Cow809 @Murvax @BarbaraFett @SakuraSundae @Krowst @pinglist-1476[/size] [b]Pull:[/b] [item=tangled band] [b]Sentence:[/b] Art -----[/center] The next time a visiting Guardian’s shadow passed over the clan, it was Murdoc who saw them first. He watched the heralding pixies curiously, then stood to greet the visitor. “Hullo. I’m Murdoc. Who are you?” The blue and brown dragon looked Murdoc up and down. “Morning, kid. My name’s Pix; I’ve visited before, some time ago. I believe it’d be your father I would like to talk to.” “Which one? Papa or A-na?” “Which- that’s a good question, actually.” Pix let Winchester off his back while he thought. “Are they both Guardians?” “No, just A-na. I’ll go get him.” - “It’s you!” Anzu exclaimed. “The mapmaker!” Pix bowed amusedly. “It is I! Yes, I’m back around to see how you all are doing. And I told you I’d offer up a clan emblem, since you didn’t already have one, yeah?” He pulled a length of fabric from a map case at his side. [img]https://images.squidge.org/images/2023/11/06/banner-attempt-4.png[/img] “It’s sturdy fabric,” he explained, “so it should last a while if you hang it from one of your root walls.” “Thank you so much,” Anzu breathed. “It looks wonderful. You really are a dragon of many talents, aren’t you?” Pix shrugged. “I suppose I am. How’s the restoration coming along?” “Slowly. We found a wall that probably held more water at some point, but it’s broken now. We’ve been a little... distracted.” Anzu nudged close to Murdoc, resting his tail over his son’s. “This one’s been showing some interest in working on the mystery, though!” Murdoc nodded. “There’s so many memories here that none of us know yet.” “Well, good for you!” Pix grinned. “And at a good time, too. Rockbreaker’s is surely where you’ll find archaeologists or dragonologists looking for eager apprentices.” Murdoc’s eyes widened. He looked questioningly up at his father. “Of course,” Anzu laughed. “Glory and Sprout will want to go to a festival grounds anyway. We’ll make it a family affair.” ----- It's been almost a year since this Pinkerlocke started! I would wait to post this on our anniversary, but it's still a week or so away and there's no guarantee I'd remember on the proper date ^^' If I [i]really[/i] have time, the next post might be an anni post though [emoji=special eyes size=1][emoji=special eyes size=1] Remember way back when I said I’d done an art thing that I didn’t want to reveal yet because it’s diegetic? That Minecraft banner is what I was talking about c: (the person this fandragon is based on used to do a lot of banner designing as one of his main Minecraft skills!) Oh yeah, and here’s the actual art for [i]this[/i] pull. Some things that glow... [img]https://images.squidge.org/images/2023/11/06/1105-A-few-things-that-glow.jpeg[/img] ----- Pinglist is going at the bottom of posts for now because I don't like how it looks in my otherwise fairly slim header. If you got pinged to this post twice because you're both on the old list and the new, let me know and I'll take you off the old. [pinglist=1476]

Oooo congrats on the (almost) one year!!! Also, love the banner and the art!!!

I'VE BEEN SO INACTIVE AAAAA. Razer continues to charm, it's so funny that the baby Guardians turned out all so similar, I love the discussion on Plague philosophy, the Minecraft banner design is so clever and fitting! Also, I can be taken off the old pinglist now. :)

Here's leetspeak translations for Day 43:

"10~6 \/!~!~6 |=|2!3~|)!" = "Long vining friend!"

"VV|-|47 4|23 `/0µ |)0!~6,10~6 \/!~!~6 |=|2!3~|)?" = "What are you doing, long vining friend?"

"7|-|353 4|23 7|-|3 3665? 7|-|3`/ 100|< 1!|<3 533|)5!" = "These are the eggs? They look like seeds!"

"! 54VV ^^4~`/ VV|-|0 |-|47(|-|3|) VV!7|-| ~47µ|23 ^^46!( VV|-|!13 VV0|2|<!~6 !~ 457|2014|3’5 14|2\/41 !~(µ|347!0~ |=4(!1!7`/." = "I saw many who hatched with nature magic while working in astrolab's larval incubation facility."

"|3μ7 0μ|2 3665 |)0~'7 100|< 1!|<3 7|-|47!" = "But our eggs don't look like that!"

"|3`/ 7|-|3 VV4`/! VV|-|3~ ! (4^^3 0μ7 |-|3|23 ! 54VV VV3 |307|-| |-|4\/3 ~3VV1`/ \/4|2!36473|) |<3|247!~0μ5 !~736μ^^3~7!" = "By the way! When I came out here I saw we both have newly variegated keratinous integument!"

"|)0 `/0μ VV4~7 70 5VV!7(|-| 5|-|!|=75 !~ 4 VV|-|!13?" = "Do you want to switch shifts in a while?"

"!’^^ (0113(7!~6 |=00|) |=!|257, |3μ7 ! VV0μ1|) 10\/3 70 593~|) 7!^^3 VV!7|-| 3665 464!~." = "I'm collecting food first, but I would love to spend time with eggs again."

[center][b][i]Chapter 47: Seeking Guidance[/i][/b] [size=1] @Solaristigres @Cow809 @Murvax @BarbaraFett @SakuraSundae @Krowst @pinglist-1476[/size] [b]Pull:[/b] [item=iron steampunk scarf][item=tattertail bilworper] [b]Sentence:[/b] Breed/Scroll a Dragon, New Dragon -----[/center] [center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/90212792][img]https://images.squidge.org/images/2023/11/23/Nikulas-intro.png[/img][/url][/center] A brightly-colored Mirror strode through the trees. The jungle was too dense and too dangerous for a full running pace, and anyway, Nikulas had nowhere in particular to go. She had a map, but had only been using it to know her location in the Wilds. It did show a clan nearby though. It wasn't one she recognized from the old map that had burned with her lair, but Nikulas wasn't exactly the type to memorize every clan name in the world. She was pretty far from home. Of course she wouldn't recognize much yet. A mass of living wood rose at a shallow angle from the ground, no undergrowth daring to come near but for moss and lichens. Higher and higher it went, until it curved out of sight and up through the canopy. Nikulas smiled and bounded onto it, its curvature not even noticeable enough to think about her balance. She stopped and checked the map to be sure - and indeed, this root would lead her very close to that clan. Maybe it was a newer clan, she thought as she ran. That would be ideal for her - unless they had formed from a situation like the one she had left. But new clans were started all the time, for any number of reasons, so it was likely- Red flashed in Nikulas’ peripheral vision, making her jump. She tensed in the direction of the intrusion, baring her teeth a little. A Skydancer with feathers like cut rubies and draped in fabric adorned with bones watched her with interest - and with amusement, Nikulas noted irritatedly. No doubt they were reading her frustration and instinctive suspicion. I have nothing to hide from them, though, she thought firmly. “Sorry for startling you,” the Skydancer said. Nikulas didn’t need antennae to tell that they weren’t actually very sorry. “Just passing through?” “Looking for a place, actually,” Nikulas replied as smoothly as she could. “There’s a clan close by, isn’t there? Are you part of it? Security detail?” “I am part of the clan, it’s just a little farther,” the Skydancer explained, gesturing to a few pieces of fabric hanging from another root that met the one they stood on in a vee. Even from this distance, Nikulas recognized the emblem on one of them as the same image that marked this clan on her map. “I’m Glory. I’m not hired security, but I make myself useful.” Nikulas followed Glory farther up the root, then both glided to the ground. “This is kind of a serendipitous meeting,” Glory observed. “You from my ancestral home, and me from yours.” “I suppose.” Nikulas craned her neck at the height of the root walls. Very defensible - though not much infrastructure around them. A small clan, probably, maybe one that didn’t know how good they had it here. “Could I talk to the leader of this clan, please? It seems like this might be just the type of place I’ve been looking for.” ----- Apparel pull was used to finish Razer's genes: [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/84957111][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/350/849572/84957111_350.png[/img][/url] Since he just kinda Gets Genes, I didn't really feel like writing him just Getting Genes for the third time when I also had an interesting new character to introduce!! [size=2][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/qnc/3184746/1#post_52717661]Visit this post to join the pinglist![/url]