Title: Setting up Camp x3 Minimum Posts: [3], or [1] per participant. Reward: +100 exp; the next [3] skills used while in camp are trained [1] post faster Information: Setting up camp is an important step to survival in this world. Not only does it give you a semi-defensible location to rest and recover, but also provides the opportunity to utilize one’s skills in order to set up supplies for the next few days. And of course the process will go faster if everyone helps out; anyone who doesn’t participate doesn’t get experience.
Title: Building up Defenses x1 Minimum Posts: [5] total among participants. Reward: +200 exp Information: In a world where you’re unfamiliar with the threats--or even if you are familiar--it never hurts to be extra careful. Take some time to build up a barrier between you and the outside world using the resources available to you: branches, stones, scraps of metal, natural formations, etc.
Title: Constructing a Lean-to x1 Minimum Posts: [3] total among participants. Reward: +100 exp Information: Having a roof over your head is important, and not everyone was fortunate to wake in a location with buildings to hole up in, or a tent. And even those that were might find their shelter in poor condition. Build a temporary shelter out of available resources: branches, boulders, etc. This is not the same as repurposing a location, and is meant to be temporary.
Title: Repurposing a Building x1 Minimum Posts: [6] total among participants. Reward: +200 exp Information: Repurposing a building can actually be a bit more difficult than just building a temporary shelter, mainly because you need to patch up the location with the resources available to you to keep out the elements. Take some time, gather your supplies, and fix up the location, and it might serve you well for much longer than a lean-to setup.
Title: Building a New Structure Minimum Posts: [10] total among participants Reward: +400 exp Information: Sometimes there might not be any sort of shelter where you need it to be, or what is available is damaged beyond repair. Building an entire building from the ground up is a gruelling process that takes a lot of resources, but one that can be completed quickly the more hands you have to help. Of course, you need enough of materials to make it in the first place, or it might not stand as long as you’d like. Evaluate the worth of the location and choose wisely, because those resources may be needed for something else.
Title: Using a Skill x16 Minimum Posts: Variable Reward: +25 exp Information: Using any skill, regardless of complexity, is a form of experience gain right? Even if only a minor one. Therefore, use your skills, teach yourself how to survive in this world, and use them to reclaim what once belonged to us.
Title: Treating an Injury/Illness Minimum Posts: Variable Reward: +25 exp per treatment, or +50 exp for medical classes Information: Taking care of yourself is important, as is taking care of your companions. By treating an injury or illness, you can guarantee they’ll recover quicker. Keep in mind though that administering medication too often can result in overdose, and most have limited medical knowledge, so step lightly when helping a comrade. Clean and rewrap wounds, administer medicine, and a variety of other actions. Claiming this does not stack with the Using a Skill objective.
Title: Gathering Supplies x7 Minimum Posts: Variable Reward: +10 exp Information: Gathering supplies is important, and doesn’t always require skill to do. Things like gathering firewood, or harvesting an easy plant once it has been identified for you, and so on. This allows you to still gain experience without having an associated skill--as long as you are well informed. If you try to gather something and don’t know how, there could be terrible consequences. This cannot be claimed for picking up things readily available; some effort is involved.
Title: Discovering Something New x2 Minimum Posts: Variable Reward: +50 exp Information: There’s a lot to discover in this new world, from plantlife, to animals, to even materials. And documenting those new finds is important. See what you can find out about it without getting yourself into danger, or worse, getting yourself killed.
Title: Researching a New Discovery x1 Minimum Posts: Variable Reward: Variable, depending on Tier or Rank Information: This is one place where all those skills you have can come together. Say you found a new plant that you couldn’t identify. After taking the cautious route to make sure it’s safe from a distance, you then decide to attempt to harvest it and do experiments to figure out what it could be used for, if anything. This is dangerous, but may be well worth the struggle if a new cure, a new spice, or stronger material is found.
Title: Crafting Something Minimum Posts: Variable Reward: Variable, depending on Tier; also counts toward training a craft Information: Another great use of the skills you’ve learned, but also for making supplies. Cooking, brewing, forging, and various other forms of craft. Once complete, not only do you have a better understanding of how to make something, you’ve also gained some experience from it.
Title: Successful Negotiation Minimum Posts: Variable Reward: +100 exp Information: Negotiating with someone else that may or may not speak your language can be difficult. But there's always good to come from making some sort of an agreement with another being, whether it's a peaceful relationship, or just asking for supplies. A successful, non-aggressive negotiation is a learning experience, and may make living in this world more bearable.
Title: Making an Ally x2 Minimum Posts: Variable Reward: +100 exp Information: Just like negotiations, getting along with something that may or may not speak your language can be difficult. So, making an ally, or, even better, a friend of someone can be a great advantage. Regardless if the allegiance is temporary or permanent, it is a learning experience.
Sitting cross-legged atop the damp earth, Granny mulled over the various worldly matters she had stumbled into recently while circulating her energy through her body, sending it out to mingle with the wind, and then pulling it back in to re-circulate through her body. The Forest King, after answering her questions, had left her to her own devices. He had offered help, but she had declined, insisting that she bear her burdens alone, for the time being. After all, if she could not even set up a camp, she had to wonder how she would be able to survive in this world. [Setting Up Camp 1/3] [Wind Manipulation D-rank 1/2]
The Forest King had set Granny up in a clearing, relatively quite dry compared to its surroundings. A clear stream moved peacefully to one side, and on the other stood stately trees. The spirit of this place was good. Granny decided that it would be a nice place to settle. Though, of course, right now, she could only focus on building a safe place for the night. [Setting up Camp 2/3]
Granny gave a flick of her hand and a weak breeze spiraled out from where she sat, sweeping her new home of dust and fallen leaves. Once this preparation was done, she stood up and, using this opportunity, experimentally tested her old powers, now greatly weakened, as she cleaned up the place. Even this wind that sprung from her finger tips, she had only been able to just no re-cultivate while she had been sitting on the ground. [Setting up Camp 3/3] [Wind Manipulation D-rank 2/2]
Now, the little granny hummed to herself. It had been so terribly long since she had last had to prepare a camp. Normally, she didn't have to fear. The little monsters would all know instinctively to avoid her. Ah, that's right. She should set up defenses now. It was much too early to begin setting up a campfire, so she could use this extra time to set up some protection. [Building up Defenses 1/5]
There was much wood all around, but Granny felt that it would be terrible to uproot trees so early. If she needed their materials, as she would at some point, she would treat them with all due respect and make sure that she used them to their fullest extent. Shaking off her little boots, and the socks with them, Granny stepped onto the earth with her bare feet and felt the dirt and soil through her skin. She felt the earth beneath. [Building up Defenses 2/5] [Earth Manipulation D-rank 1/2]
As she had felt the sky above just earlier, she circulated her spiritual energy. First through her body. Then down into the earth. Then she absorbed the earth's energy that had been mixed with hers, reintegrating the energy back into her system. With each cycle, she formed another strand of spiritual energy that connected her with the earth below, and yes, this was all pertinent to building defenses. [Building up Defenses 3/5] [Earth Manipulation D-rank 2/2]
Upon reaching this point, Granny began moving the earth around. Walking barefoot upon the ground, she held a basic stance. She breathed deeply. Then, as she released that breath, she released her energy and her stance, pushing the earth on one side into a low wall. [Building up Defenses 4/5] [Earth Manipulation C-rank 1/3]
Little by little, Granny built a low wall on all sides except for the waterfront. On that end, she had other plans on how to end. Breathe in, then out and push. Each push, taken slowly, further built her foundation. She wasn't simply completing an action, but each action was brought to fruit by the circulation of her energy through her body and the earth, continuing her earlier growth. [Building up Defenses 5/5] [Earth Manipulation C-rank 2/3]
As she felt a minor breakthrough incoming, Granny gave one last shove of earth. This time, rather than on the outskirts of her camp to form pits and walls that would deter attacks or otherwise alert her to their presence, she pushed a very simple, and consequently sturdy even after her energy would leave, mound of soil against a tree with low and thick branches. She quietly looked down at her hands. This time around, her cultivation advanced much faster than in her previous life, to the point that the two couldn't even be comparable. She looked to the skies. Only so much could be attributed to prior experience. It appeared this world would likely, in no time, host monstrous powers. [Constructing a Lean-To 1/3] [Earth Manipulation C-rank 3/3]
Though, despite the foreboding such thoughts would usually bring, Granny chuckled lightly instead as she put her hands upon the damp earth and pressed down on it. Ah, the youngsters would no doubt be very eager here. It seemed things could be interesting. Why the lack of fear? Well, early advancement meant little to one as old as granny. She had met many prodigies who could cultivate quickly, but very few ever reached the pinnacle. To attribute this wisdom to the whole world, what Granny meant to think was that there could be many monstrous powers, but this little old lady who was currently molding the earth so that she would have a sturdier foothold had also witnessed powers that went even far beyond monstrous. [Constructing a Lean-To 2/3]
Once she felt that her hands had worked the earth enough, Granny paused and observed her handiwork. This wasn't her first time pausing, actually. She had felt, after some time, that this soil was practically good at sticking together, and she had paused momentarily to consider it before deciding she would investigate further later. For now, she nimbly hopped upon the mound and then from there, hopped up high enough to grab onto and pull herself atop the branch that she had decided would be her temporary sleeping spot. Ah, to be so nimble and young. Though, then again, her old body hadn't actually been ravaged by the years, but to speak like such was the privilege of the ancient. [Construction a Lean-To 3/3] [Discovering Something New: Gray Clay 1/Variable]
Granny hopped down from the branch and back to the ground. She looked around the camp. Hm, yes. Firewood time. Granny ran into the woods directly south. It didn't take her terribly long at all to find a plethora of fallen wood. [Setting up Camp 2 1/3] [Using a Skill 1/1] [Survival Skills: Foraging 1/.5; 3/5 points]
Branches, rotting logs, fallen bushes. Life was everywhere, but consequently, so was what it left behind. Granny had little to no difficulty gathering a mass of fuel for her future camp fire, setting it aside in her storage bag so that she could make sure she had enough for the whole night. [Setting up Camp 2 2/3] [Using a Skill 2 1/1] [Survival Skills: Foraging 1/.5; 5/5 points]
What looked like random pick ups were actually somewhat thought out by the wise fox lady. Much of the wood was wet in these parts. She tried to pick out the driest, testing and feeling the texture of the dead wood. She came upon, at one point, a particularly interesting piece of wood. Something about it felt out of the ordinary, and there was quite a bit of it around. It wasn't difficult to find the tree these branches came from, and Granny placed a hand upon it experimentally. Yes, this was good wood. She would look into it later. [Setting up Camp 2 3/3] [Using a Skill 3 1/1] [Gathering Skills: Logging 1/.25; 4/5 points] [Discovering Something New 2: Elderwood 1/Variable]
As a small experiment, Granny focused on a piece of wood. She was back in her camp, her wood set down near a spot of dry-ish ground quite a ways away from her tree sleeping place. Today would be a cold night, it seemed. She would have to live with that. Concentrating on the wood, she found the faint traces of water within and tried to draw it out. It was… unsuccessful. Alas, she didn't have power, but her skill had also deteriorated. [Water Manipulation D-rank 1/2]
Still, that didn't mean her water manipulation was for nothing. She still had it. She could feel it within her. Standing on the riverbank, still barefoot, Granny focused on the water that caressed her skin. Fish were aplenty here, unused to predation. She felt only a little sorry that she would need to change that, as such was the natural way of life. Knowing that she didn't have much strength, she chose a small fish, and with a quick flip of her wrist, the water flipped the fish out. Then, she pounced, literally, on the fish out of water. [Setting up Camp 3 1/3] [Using a Skill 4 1/1] [Gathering Skills: Fishing 1/.25; 4/5 points] [Water Manipulation D-rank 2/2]
It had been a quick death. The victory was Granny's once the fish was on the ground. She had let it slip out of her grasp at first, but it was quick work with her earth manipulation to ensure that the fish wouldn't be able to return to the water. Before long, Granny had the gutted and scaled fish set up on a stick. A very smoky fire was going. How you ask? With a lot of difficulty. Granny had, while gutting the fish, also separated out a very fatty portion of the meat, and sparked it with tinder to get a fire big enough for the not-completely-dry wood to catch on fire. [Setting up Camp 3 2/3] [Using a Skill 5 1/1] [Cooking Skills: Roastery 1/.5; 3/5 points] [Earth Manipulation B-rank 1/4]
Roasting~ Roasting~ Roasting the fish~ Granny happily stationed the fish over the fire, laying it across a flat rock that was placed in the now roaring fire. She had used a bit of doton to shape the rock slightly. Its two sides were angled in to make sure all of the fish oil collected on a center line. Once gathered, another angle in the rock would coax the oil to drip into the mess kit that Granny had placed in a little pit she had dug into the ground so it would be at the right level. This way, she could collect the fish oil for future use, mainly lighting future fires. [Setting up Camp 3 3/3] [Using a Skill 6 1/1] [Cooking Skills: Roastery 1/.5; 5/5 points] [Earth Manipulation B-rank 2/4]
After the fish was cooked and eaten, Granny thanked for world for its sustenance. Then, she hopped up to widest yet lowest branch she could find and slept lightly through the night.
When the next morning came, Granny… continued to sleep.
It wasn't until it was well into noon that Granny woke up bleary eyed. She gave a wide, thin yawn before hopping down with crumpled clothes and bed hair, still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. With a pull of her hand, she pulled the water out of the nearby river. The liquid was gathered and swirled into an orb that floated in the air. [Water Manipulation C-rank 1/3]
The water spun languidly in place for a good few moments. At first, its shape was more than a little sloppy, sloshing and splashing, dripping water onto the ground. It soon got a steadier shape, though, as Granny became more awake. Before long, it was a neat little ball of water. [Water Manipulation C-rank 2/3]
Granny floated the ball of water towards her, and held it study. Then, using it much like a wash basin, she stuck her little hands into the ball. For a moment, the sphere threatened to break, but some extra concentration from Granny kept it from falling apart. After making sure the orb wouldn't crash, Granny very quickly washed her hands face with the water, making sure to get behind her ears and swishing some of the liquid through her mouth before spitting it out. Then, she proceeded to fix her hair as she let the orb of water move away from her and then splash back into the river. Oh dear, she almost lost it that time. She had grown quite out of practice. [Water Manipulation C-rank 3/3]
Today would be another busy day. Once Granny was once again appeared presentable, she set about at once. She reignited the still burning coals from yesterday night, layering more wood on top of the growing flames. The first task was water, so Granny once again returned to the river side. This time, with her pot. She could dip it in like a normal person. OR she could practice her arts. Reuniting her energy with that of the waters once again, her feet still bare since she'd taken her shoes off yesterday, Granny manipulated the flow of the river. [Gathering Supplies 1/1] [Water Manipulation B-rank 1/4]
Taking up a big mass of the water, Granny shaped the liquid into, once again, a compact orb. She worked slowly and carefully, with none of the haste of the youth or the first-timer. Perhaps that was why. With her experience, even though she had much room to grow, she didn't make as many mistakes. She knew to take the gathering of water slowly, and to just as patiently ease it over the pot. [Gathering Supplies 2/1] [Water Manipulation B-rank 2/4]
Sweat formed on Granny's brow with the focus she needed to exert over even this small amount of water. Tempting as it was to let the water completely go as soon as it hovered over the pot, Granny knew better. She wouldn't waste a single, precious drop. There were people dying of thirst in the desert after all! Carefully, without losing control over the rest of the water sphere, she opened a small hole in the bottom of the orb for the water to drain out of. [Gathering Supplies 3/1] [Water Manipulation B-rank 3/4]
Of course, this was much more difficult than it looked. What simply appeared to be a hole on the bottom of the orb was actually achieved with more effort than just poking an interference into the bottom. Granny had to control the entire process of the water rotating then rotating in a downwards fashion so it broke the surface of the orb while keeping the rest of the water rotating in such a fashion that it would all follow the initial flow instead of falling out all at once. The rotation here was also doubly important. It not only helped keep the orb in shape, but also collected the dirt and sediment to the outer edges, where Granny had the additional task of pulling them out of the water. In this way, Granny successfully gathered water, free of dirt or sediment, into a pot. [Gathering Supplies 4/1] [Water Manipulation B-rank 4/4]
After completing the hard task of gathering water, Granny now had to bring the pot full of water back to the roaring campfire. Again, she forced herself on the harder path. To grow and cultivate as quickly as she wanted to, she needed to put forth every effort she could. Gathering the earth's power within her, she controlled a careful wave of dirt that pushed the pot towards her campfire. [Gathering Supplies 5/1] [Earth Manipulation B-rank 3/4]
Whew. That was hard work. Aaah. She wasn't as young and ambitious as she used to be. Back when she was but a wee kit, she would have been pumped and raring to put forth her all in such tasks. However, now, she wished she was back on her farm. Alas, no rewards came to idle fingers. Granny wished to live the slow-paced life, but as a former wild animal, she knew mother nature was not always so kind. She manipulated the earth further to create a stand upon which the pot could be made to rest over the fire. Thus, in such a fashion, Granny gathered safe water to drink. Er, well rather. It would be safe to drink once it had boiled. [Gathering Supplies 6/1] [Earth Manipulation B-rank 4/4]
While the water boiled, Granny looked to the trees. The ground was too damp, so she would need to work on building flooring and roofing in the treetops. Perhaps, at a later time, she could look for a drier, sturdier surface to build a home on the dirt. However, for now, she had asked old Ironwood to leave her here so that she may grow to a point she found suitable. [Repurposing a Building 1/6]
First, Granny decided on the plentiful wood to be her main building material. She gathered as much wood as she could, mainly the deadwood that lay around, but some pieces, she needed to break off the trees themselves, something she achieved with much jumping and the help of her trusty hatchet. After gathering these branches, she stripped them of all unnecessary parts: moss, smaller branches growing out of them, leaves, etc. Then, she placed them near the fire to dry. [Repurposing a Building 2/6] [Using a Skill 7 1/1] [Gathering Skills: Logging 1/.25; 5/5 points]
Granny pulled down some vines from the nearby trees and cleaned her feet in the river while waiting for the wood to dry. Once everything was dry, she put her little boots back on and took the branches into her two good hands. With the vines she had been preparing to use as ropes, she quickly lashed the branches together. Two of the longest and thickest branches, ones that Granny had cut fresh off the trees to make sure she got the right size, were placed parallel to each other some distance apart. Then, the other branches were laid perpendicular to these two. [Repurposing a Building 3/6] [Gathering Supplies 7 1/1]
With the experience and knowledge of an over thousand year old fox, Granny tied the branches together. Perpendicular branches were tied to the parallel branches, connecting the opposite ends. If a branch wasn't big enough to connect the two parallel branches, then Granny tied smaller branches together. Then, to maintain the shape of the entire pallet, Granny laid two branches diagonally beneath all of the others and tied them to parallel branches as well, forming hard to distort triangles. [Repurposing a Building 4/6]
This pallet was taken up. Granny had chosen two low branches to be the base this floor would rest on. With the help of a "booster seat" made of dirt, she easily leaned this pallet against one of the two branches. Then, she just had to jump up and, from the side, pull this pallet up and over. She would be lying if she didn't use the wind to help guide her efforts. Guide and support. Following the patterns of her breath, the wind gusted below the pallet to bring it up and over. [Repurposing a Building 5/6] [Wind Manipulation C-rank 1/3]
Then, it was time for the roof. Granny took the vines that hung from her shoulder and tied them to the ends of the perpendicular branches that made her floor. The loose end, she tossed over head to a higher branch that hung above her. With the guidance of the wind she manipulated, and many attempts, she got a whole row of vines over her head on one end and then hanging down on the other end. These vines still had their leafy appendages, so after tying the loose ends down, between their leaves and the leaves of the rest of the tree above, Granny had sufficient protection from the elements. It was far from perfect, but this upgrade should keep her out of the elements for the next few days at least. [Repurposing a Building 6/6] [Wind Manipulation C-rank 2/3]
Granny hopped out of the tree, gathering the wind around her. She half-expected it to carry her and cushion her landing, if not fly her through the air as it once did in the past. She was disappointed when it did not, and she landed with all the hardness and weight of a physical body upon the earth. It was on her feet, but still, from ascended above earthly concerns to… her current state. Even if she felt that her wind element had gone up another rank, she could not help but feel slightly disappointed. [Wind Manipulation C-rank 3/3]
A roof over her head. Food and water in the river besides her--by the way, Granny had of course remembered to take the drinking water off the fire and had drunk from it, plus filled her waterskin. Granny had far from set a routine, but she was now ready to do more than just survive. [Using a Skill 8 1/1] [Gathering Skills: Mining 1/.25; 4/5 points]
Therefore, obviously, the first thing Granny do was play in the dirt. No, seriously. This was serious business. Stripping off her outer layer of clothes, Granny dug a deep hole in the muddy dirt near the river until she hit what she was looking for, soil of a different color. She reached into this gray, cloying soil and brought it up to her nose to sniff. She inspected it with her eyes. [Using a Skill 9 1/1] [Gathering Skills: Mining 1/.25; 5/5 points]
This soil was one of the few things she had, last night, felt could be of some use. Holding it in her hands, sticky and tenacious, she had an idea what it could be. It was even more so obvious in its current state, which was a lot wetter than when she had first come into contact with it. Granny opened and closed her hands around the material, and each knead further set the loose dirt into a firmer and more compact set. [Using a Skill 10 1/1] [Gathering Skills: Mining]
"My, my," Granny spoke to herself as she rubbed and rolled the sediment in her hands, "My, if I say, I believe this is clay." At this point, the wet dirt really did start to feel and shape much like clay. However, Granny knew that this wasn't quite right. At the same time, she was no clay expert. There was more that could be done to increase the quality of this clay. Though, for now, she supposed that she should be happy enough that it appeared to demonstrate clearly clay-like properties without being further processed. Perhaps, even if she couldn't use it perfectly, it would present to be some use for her. [Researching a New Discovery 1: Gray Clay] [Using a Skill 11 1/1] [Gathering Skills: Mining]
Granny spent most of the day, aside from gather dailies like food and firewood, playing with the clay then washing her clothes. She fell asleep early. When she woke up, this time in the morning, she was pleasantly surprised to find that her small clay hills had hardened and retained their shape. Firing would, of course, create sturdier results, and cleansing the clay of all impurities would create even greater quality, but this was proof she could use it even as simply as she had.
However, instead of clay, today, she was determined to look into these trees. She had found some of the wood here to be interesting. It was more intuition than anything. Now, however, Granny was going to take a good, hard look at this wood here with her extensive herb knowledge. [Using a Skill 12 1/1] [Herbology Skills: Identification 1/5 points]
Hm… Yes. Yes… Indeed. Okay, truth be told, Granny had not much clue regarding what this tree did. Her herbology knowledge all stemmed from another world, after all. Looking at a long dead branch wouldn't do her much good when she couldn't recognize any of the mundane plant life even. [Using a Skill 13 1/1] [Herbology Skills: Identification 2/5 points]
However, Granny wasn't one to give up. She could not name the species, perhaps, but she would learn what it did. With all due respect, she hopped onto the branch of one of the ancient trees, and murmuring words of gratitude, she snapped a small branch off. Sitting atop the trees, she observed this small branch that had only just been part of a living giant. [Using a Skill 14 1/1] [Herbology Skills: Identification 3/5 points]
She had been studying these trees not just today, but all of yesterday as well. Perhaps not single mindedly, but she had tapped alongside them while playing with clay, and while sleeping atop one of them, she had wondered what it was that made her feel like these trees thrummed with hidden life. From a dead limb she could find no answer. From the living whole, likewise, she had been unable to come to a conclusion. It was why she had torn this small limb off. [Using a Skill 15 1/1] [Herbology Skills: Identification 4/5 points]
However, even with this sacrifice, Granny found nothing. It appeared a greater mind, or one with more experience in this world, would be necessary to divulge the secrets of this tree. Granny weaved this small branch into the rest of her makeshift, temporary home. She could ask the old forest guardian of this when they met later. However, she had been hoping to show that this old lady wasn't as dawdling as she appeared to be. If anything, however, this had certainly been a lesson in humility. [Using a Skill 16 1/1] [Herbology Skills: Identification 5/5 points]
For the next few days, Granny spent her time leisurely. She experimented with her surroundings, stumbled upon some of the native folk, and "ho ho ho"ed her way through various conversations with the friendly neighbors. She was mightily disappointed to learn that wheat nor rice grew in these swamps. However, perhaps even worse was when she learned that these pitiful sprites and beasts, much less knowing what an oven was, had never even heard of cookies! Granny knew that she must rectify this as soon as possible. However, again, the dilemma returned to… Where would she find wheat and rice? Or even alternate grains? [Making an Ally 1 1/1]
These first days passed peacefully, and when the old forest king returned to pick up Granny, she had already begun her trademark, the farm. Neat rows of dirt were hoed into the ground, and a variety of small sprouts from various seeds Granny had gathered could be seen peeking out. Granny worked diligently not too far away, experimentally building an oven using the clay she had discovered. Although, as expected, it wasn't a product that looked like it could work very well. Still, she had various of the native life watching her with interest and curiosity. Cookies? What were htese cookies? When would Granny be able to make them? Somehow, "cookies" sounded like something that should be looked forward to. One even shyly brought Granny over a branch when it looked like she was looking for something to support her slipshod construction. [Making an Ally 2 1/1]
The king thrummed out, "Are you ready, ancient one?".
Granny put the last few pats on the globular mound, her actions deliberate and well-paced, no unlike that of an old lady's, before turning around to see the sprite's guardian. "Mmm," her response came slowly, and with much thought, "Dear, oh my, I suppose as ready as I would ever be?".
"Then there are many things I shall like to show you."
To this, Granny nodded and smiled endearingly before accompanying her guide.
There was much to see and much to do. Slowly, gradually, at the pace of her own, she would learn it all and build it up in these next few months. Not without help, mind you. Granny was only a granny, after all. She found a lost child, an adult actually, first and once the two settled in, others gathered, allured by the peace and security her settlement offered. Talents of all sorts, simple but skilled, surrounded Granny, and slowly, Granny's Farm was built.
Posted: Sun Jun 30, 2019 10:39 pm
A young fox girl sat upon a rocking chair, sipping occasionally from a wooden cup of tea in her hands as she watched the river flow past the town. With ears drooped demurely down and a wizened smile gracing her features, she had none of the liveliness of youth and all of the weight of old age. Her present happiness emitted a peace that could only be achieved with time. Her eyes stared contemplatively into the flowing waters. What profound things could she be thinking about right now?
"Ehm, Granny. What are you thinking about?" a pure voice asked with equal parts hesitation and curiosity. Apparently, someone had also been wondering about Granny's thoughts. There, hanging onto the arm of Granny's young chair, was a young child who looked only a little younger than Granny physically, but unlike the deceptively youthful fox, his eyes and posture held all of the expected characteristics of outgoing childhood. His red eyes brimmed with bright interest, his white hair was a little tousled after playing around with a ball until just now, and his pale cheeks were constantly suffused with a blush caused by his overflowing energy.
Of course, such an obedient child got his cheeks pinched as a greeting from Granny every chance she got, which she did so right now. Perhaps the red aftermarks left by the constant pinching were also why he almost always appeared to have a blush. "Oh, nothing very important, dearie," Granny answered as she moved from pinching to patting the kid on the head, "I was just thinking that, since everyone went through so much trouble to create an oven, what a shame it was that I still haven't found a way to make flours. Haaaah. Indeed, this is a problem, indeed..." Granny had sighed and said this was a problem. However, her smile certainly didn't look troubled. The acceptance of age, perhaps, and the confidence that all things will work out in the end, likely also mixed with the eternal patience. What was a few months to one who lived several generations over?
The "dearie," actual name Barnaby, or Bunny for short, simply swished his tail from side to side, not really understanding. He kept on smiling, though, because it didn't feel like there was any sort of trouble at all. He was pretty new to this place, having only arrived a day ago after who knows what nightmare of a hell he'd been through previously, so he naturally wasn't very familiar with the going-ons of this place. Add on that he was a kid, and he was fairly oblivious to all the going-ons. He just knew he liked cookies, and Granny also had a goal of making cookies, so he followed her.
Another voice came into the picture at this voice, more mature than seven year old Barnaby's, but still youthful. Granny had quickly grown accustomed to not associating the breaking voice of puberty or the untouched voice of childhood to the actual age of the speaker, though. After all, she was one such prime example. This new speaker was also the same. Though he sounded a little unstable and a bit different from the day, he said with all the poise of an adult, "We could try reaching out to trade. Certainly, there must be other settlements out there, perhaps not even too far away, that have grains we can use." Black hair, mysterious green eyes, and mystical markings upon his forehead, the slim figure of an adolescent draped in multiple layers of clothes that somehow, supernaturally, remained clean despite all the mud and dirt, approached Granny and Bunny. Beside him, an adolescent lion with white fur and eyes that were the same as his padded along quietly. These past few months, the lion had not aged as normal lions should. Between the identical stages of life and the eyes, it made one assume that the two had a connection deeper than most other owners and pets.
Bunny looked up and opened his mouth to say something.
Unfortunately he was immediately shut down by the cold-hearted teen, "Child, you should not bother your elders so."
Bunny shut his mouth obediently.
This time, a female's voice drifted over like firecrackers made of smoothly flowing water, lively yet elegant at the same time, "Now now, Zhuobian. You shouldn't be so strict with a little kid. Bunny, we have some boring things to talk about, so could you go run off and play?". How lucky girls were. They matured earlier, and when they did go through puberty, their breaking voices weren't as bad as boys'. The girl approaching this time looked a little older than Zhuobian, though she was about the same height as him. She wore clothes easy to move around in, and there was a tomboyish spirit about her. At the same time, however, she held herself in a refined manner, as a member of high society since birth should hold themselves. Soo-Jung Lee, like Granny, gave Bunny a squeeze on the cheek and pat on the head as she sent him off.
Zhuobian, full name, Zhuobian He, scoffed silently and turned his head to the side. Soojung, may look older than him and, like he, be older than she appeared, but he had lived far more years than her still.
Now given permission to play, Bunny gave a large and loud, "Thank you Noonateddy. Bye bye Laughingteddy and Granny!". Then, with an equally large and loud smile, he ran off to play.
Zhuobian's eye twitched.
Soojung smiled as she turned around and started to discuss the possibilities of trade with Zhuobian. It had been something she had considered, but she had been hesitant to sincerely bring it up without concrete information, whereas Zhuobian seems to have at least some sort of idea.
Granny had long since gone back to rocking in her chair and sipping her tea in peace, had been doing so since Soojung entered the scene. One ear, however, was now perked up and alert, attentively listening to the conversation occurring to her side. Such activity. Such energy. She let the young decide their future, but she would be ever at the side to guide them and make decisions when she needed to.
tab The edge of the paradise was nothing unusual for one who lived in the swamps of Kirigakure, Tall trees knotted with age, leaves large enough to cover a human skull, and the faint mist of the early morning were all hallmarks of a fairly normal forest in the depths of the Land of Water. What stood out this time was the broken down blocks of cement that littered the forest floor where walkways once had lay. Rusted steel tines that had once built fences struck out from the earth in random directions, bent from ages of wind and water and likely snow smashing against them at different angles. More, there flittered about in the trees and through the air unusual beings, birds with wings of fire and wind and water that leaped from tree to tree, turning their eyes to look at the intruder as Shadow stepped up to the scene. tab Whether Shadow noticed the Elarks eyes upon him wasn't certain, but he would surely see the opening in the trees with earth pockmarked by crumbling cement blocks that led deeper into the forest's interior. It was well traveled, and a quick look would reveal the prints of some fairly large reptile coming from the west and entering north into the forest's interior. Some were fairly smaller compared to the larger, meaning that they perhaps brought their children with them, which wouldn't necessarily be wrong in assuming as that meant they wandered in packs similar to Horses. What might give him pause was one tree where a raccoon looking beast lay dead, the tree behind it stripped of bark, showing the hallmarks of being boiled alive, with little fur remaining attached to its form. tab Other than this the forest lay relatively quiet, with only the flapping of "wings" to break the silence, and the mist making anything more than twenty feet ahead difficult to detect.
Royal Taorito
Posted: Thu Nov 28, 2019 12:54 pm
❝All these broken souls, they never make me whole. They don't...Thev don't know mv heart. Thev don't know mv heart.❞ ❝All these broken souls, they never make me whole. They don't...They don't know my heart. They don't know my heart.❞
【S I X T E E N⦁S I L E N T⦁G U A R D I A N】xxxxx◢ S h a d o w H ú n y i s t í r ◣xxxxx【C - R A N K⦁T I N K E R - T R A C K E R⦁U K Y O】
[x] The location listed on the instructions was only a couple of miles away from the town, taking maybe an hour or so to reach. Which I was pretty grateful of, given I didn't want to have to drag this thing back for any long distance. Especially if it was crazy or anything.
The closer I got to what I assumed was my destination, the more... peaceful my surrounding environment seemed to become. It was still and quiet, which made me conscious of the sounds I was making. Likewise as I went, cement and metal structures made their presence known, jutting awkwardly out of the landscape from some long lost town or city that stood there in the old world. Creatures watched me from the trees surrounding, but nothing really gave me pause until I came upon the well worn path of something a decent size. While it wasn't something that appeared to drag itself along the ground like most reptiles, the tracks it left behind were narrow and clawed, which gave the clue that this is what I was after.
I followed the tracks shortly until I came across the carcass of... something. Some raccoon looking creature that had been broiled. Beyond it, a tree was stripped of bark, which left the question of what exactly this thing ate. It killed the creature but didn't eat it, so either it had been a threat or they just liked the idea of killing--a thought that bode no good. The tree being stripped seemed more likely the food source, but again I couldn't be sure. Scowling slightly in contemplation, I stared forward again, continuing after the tracks but with my guard raised in case these things were actually violent.
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ❝ I'm scared to get close and I hate being alone. ❞
Stats: Power [3] || Agility [5] || Intelligence [5] || Mana [3] • Physical| Strength: 0.0 x Speed: +0.5 • Spiritual| Strength: 0.0 x Speed: 0.0 • Illusion| Strength: +0.5 • Arcanist Spell Cost: [-5] Mana • Simple and Unnamed Attack Cost: [-5] Stamina
Techniques Used: ✤ [Prepared] Ink Transport - C The user writes "transport" on a piece of paper with mana-infused ink. The user then places it wherever they would like to transport to, be it a location or on a specific person, such as an opponent's back. By concentrating a small amount of mana, the can transport to the paper's location, for purposes such as to silently attack an opponent or to reveal to their comrades the enemies location.
✤
Current Objectives: ✤ Track down creature.
Items of Note: ✤
[ e x p ] 8475 x|x [ r y o ] 0400 x|x [ m a n a ] 500 / 500 x|x [ s t a m i n a ] 450 / 450
[ m o o d ] neutral x|x [ h e a l t h ] fine x|x [ i n j u r i e s ] none
Shadow was the tracker and stealthier when alone, so Kagerou followed docilely several meters behind him. When he stopped, she stopped. When he moved forwards, back hunched and eyes trained at something beneath his feat, Kagerou moved forward cautiously. She, too, saw the tracks as she came up on them, and skirted to the side of the claw prints.
Then, Shadow stopped again, and Kagerou couldn't see what it was, just that he was staring at the base of the tree trunk. She took this small moment to purview her surroundings. The tension of hunting aside, this marshy forest was really a sight to behold. Beautiful plants grew in all directions, and the ancient trees raised their stately branches far above their heads. Life, even if it was of alien sorts to her, brimmed in this place. She took in a deep, silent breath of the mossy greenery and then exhaled it. Quiet, silent, this was the sort of place she wouldn't mind visiting again, just for leisure. Perhaps nestle in the crook of one of the branches with a good book...
The movement of black in the corner of Kagerou's vision, Shadow moving onwards, brought Kagerou's thoughts back down from the trees. Shadow had begun moving again, and she could now see the bloody mass that he had been examining earlier. She shot the corpse and the strange state of the tree an inquisitive look as she passed, but said nothing and did not go further than rubber necking the spectacle. Shadow was still on the move.
Nonetheless, it bothered her. Not the death of the raccoon... Well, a little bit the death of the raccoon, but all things died. It had been the remains of the raccoon that disturbed her. They had not looked like they had been stripped of any meat. The carcass simply left there, a fresh kill yet unmarred by scavengers. A fresh, boiled kill. That second part was important. Whatever they were facing had the ability to, in some way, shape, or form, use boiled water.
Her eyes trained on Shadow, worried. If he got a face full of boiled water... They had been following these tracks for a while now, right? Perhaps it was time that they grouped up? Found safety in numbers? Kagerou shook her head at her own thoughts. No, that would just ruin their entire reason for their current marching order.
Royal Taorito
Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2019 6:52 pm
_______________The Narrator Whispers... ||
tab Stalking into the peaceful forest was perhaps strange to the young ranger's senses. Someone so used to death and violence walking in paradise after seeing grizzly death wasn't apt to trust their senses, and if Shadow were the type he would be justified in this. The trees quickly became older every so many groupings, each thicket darkening, lengthening, covering more of the land in shadows as beams of light trickled through the foliage above and cascaded down upon their flesh, bringing warmth with every passing kiss. The trail only became easier to follow as they moved further in as the earth became more damp, taking to the shapes of that which graced it with their weight with relative ease. Each grew thicker, heavier, no longer slender but with more definition in each step. Scales covered their feet, and in some cases there appeared to be smaller, five-fingered prints with opposable thumbs that allowed for gripping. These, too, appeared as muddy prints across various trees, sometimes with more boiled foes, though in these cases they were always covered in various levels of consumption. tab Finally the chirping of birds and insects, the thrashing of fins through water began to permeate the forest. Whatever they had gone through appeared to have ended its reign, releasing its tight fisted grip upon sound and presence. Here life continued to exist without the meddling of outsiders. Perhaps this sudden change was the reason Shadow caught sight of a long, serpentine tail lashing through a bush at about his chest height off in the distance, or the soft hiss from the distance that pre-empted something striking water somewhere beyond the wall of foliage not two hundred feet off.
❝All these broken souls, they never make me whole. They don't...Thev don't know mv heart. Thev don't know mv heart.❞ ❝All these broken souls, they never make me whole. They don't...They don't know my heart. They don't know my heart.❞
【S I X T E E N⦁S I L E N T⦁G U A R D I A N】xxxxx◢ S h a d o w H ú n y i s t í r ◣xxxxx【C - R A N K⦁T I N K E R - T R A C K E R⦁U K Y O】
[x] Something felt...disconcerting about this place. That was the best word i could think of to describe it. It just felt off, and that feeling only grew with the size of the trees as we moved deeper into the section of the forest. Likewise, the ground grew more damp, suggesting we were close to some sort of marsh or bog. I didn't really look forward to the thought of wet feet but the footprints I was following led in its direction.
Every now and then, I had to glance behind me to make sure Kagerou was still there. While my sensitive ears could pick up her breathing, that was the only noise she made, almost like she didn't have a presence. I'd never noticed it before, but then, we never really stalked around previously, merely traveled in an awkward but amicable silence. Thankfully, she kept up at a distance so as not to spook whatever creatures we came across.
Eventually, the sounds of nature returned, whatever threat that had stopped them apparently leaving. With it came a small sense of relief but also the sounds of what I could only guess were what I was looking for. Movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention, and I turned just in time to see a scaled tail disappear into the brush. I looked back at Kagerou again to alert her to it before following after. I steadied my breathing, making it near silent, and moved on light feet after whatever I'd seen through the shrubs.
Beyond the wall of foliage, the forest opened up into a muddy swamp in which, maybe a hundred feet away, lay about twenty long-legged, lizard-like creatures I could assumed were the source of the tracks I'd followed. Most lounged about, although a pair seemed to be tossing around a squirrel with a flaming tail--I didn't put much thought into why the surrounding water wasn't putting the flame out. I probably would have felt sorry for the thing if my focus wasn't pulled away by the lizard who's tail I'd seen sprinting toward the rest of the group, which in turn brought my gaze to a large sunning rock. Atop this boulder was another of the lizards, a bit larger than the others, with a colorful frill surrounding her neck. That had to be the female, since it was the only one that bore such a feature.
I ducked back before I could be spotted and waited for Kagerou to catch up, so that she could see what I had found. With them being in the middle of a mud pit, I didn't really have any ideas on how to go about capturing the creature. However, it was off to one side, leaving its back vulnerable to approach from behind. Maybe that would be the--
I heard panting to my side, immediately recognizing the source as I turned to look at the ice dog reforming from a puddle it had apparently been following me through. I scowled at it, but it just wagged its tail, watching me eagerly. Every time I thought I'd lost it, it showed up again. Sighing inwardly, my gaze shifted to Kagerou. "I think if we circle around," I said softly, barely above a breath, "we might be able to catch the matriarch by surprise."
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ❝ I'm scared to get close and I hate being alone. ❞
Stats: Power [3] || Agility [5] || Intelligence [5] || Mana [3] • Physical| Strength: 0.0 x Speed: +0.5 • Spiritual| Strength: 0.0 x Speed: 0.0 • Illusion| Strength: +0.5 • Arcanist Spell Cost: [-5] Mana • Simple and Unnamed Attack Cost: [-5] Stamina
Techniques Used: ✤ [Prepared] Ink Transport - C The user writes "transport" on a piece of paper with mana-infused ink. The user then places it wherever they would like to transport to, be it a location or on a specific person, such as an opponent's back. By concentrating a small amount of mana, the can transport to the paper's location, for purposes such as to silently attack an opponent or to reveal to their comrades the enemies location.
✤
Current Objectives: ✤ Track down creature.
Items of Note: ✤
[ e x p ] 8475 x|x [ r y o ] 0400 x|x [ m a n a ] 500 / 500 x|x [ s t a m i n a ] 450 / 450
[ m o o d ] neutral x|x [ h e a l t h ] fine x|x [ i n j u r i e s ] none
Travelling through the solemn marsh, Kagerou would occasionally catch Shadow's eyes whenever he'd look back at her. Each time, she'd smile and nod assuringly at him. She figured he was just worried that she was fine and keeping up okay."Is it... really that strange?" Kagerou sweat dropped a smile after one of Shadow's check-ups. She was pretty sure that, with his sensitive ears, he should still be able to hear a little bit of her, at least stuff like her breathing, so then she could only imagine it was because this, her silent movement, was abnormal, which she supposed it was when she walked around with noisily ringing bells every other time she's been with Shadow. It was exactly because of cases like right now that that she wore such noisy implements to hide her lack of sound.
Eventually, the lizard's tracks led Shadow and Kagerou to the end of the somber paradise. Shadow was out first, stepping past the shade and into a relative cascade of light, almost like he had just crossed some sort of border. After spending the past who knows how long with only the faintest trickles of light shining down through the dense foliage, even the light that made it past an average swamp's foliage was a dramatic difference.
Although, perhaps light wasn't necessarily a good thing. Almost as soon as Shadow's skin was kissed with light, he stopped without warning. Kagerou, as well, froze, relaxing only when Shadow's eyes shifted to meet hers, signaling with its motions to look to the bushes. Assured that nothing was wrong with that brief moment of eye contact, Kagerou made haste to see where Shadow was motioning, but she was just a moment too late. The tail was gone. However, she could still pick up with crystal clear vision the waving of leaves the disappeared tail had left behind. The clarity of the details left Kagerou shaking her head, blinking, and rubbing her eyes. She wanted to take a look in a mirror, but now wasn't the time for that. Shadow had already begun moving after the prey. Kagerou hastened to keep up.
Before long, she also passed the same border Shadow had, and the norises of life returned like she had just stepped through some sort of boundary. Though she knew it was important to keep up with Shadow, she also couldn't help but cast one last look behind her at the ancient trees she and Shadow were leaving behind, like looking behind at a completely different world. She felt relieved, in a way. The abnormal quiet had not made her feel threatened as it had Shadow. She only felt like she would be very sorry, more sorry than usual, to have had to fight within such a peaceful land.
Eyes back forwards, she followed after Shadow, foot moving nimbly, favoring the drier roots and ground whenever possible, but also not afraid to dip, quietly, into the mud when necessary. She already knew she was moving as quietly as possible, not for lack of trying. She had already tried a few times, whenever she thought she was alone, to move even quieter than the silence her body already had a propensity for. Unfortunately, it appeared that without an appropriate teacher's or manual's guidance, she had hit a wall with her training in that sense.
Red eyes carefully alert and green hair flowing behind her in the similarly colored light of the swamp, the small teen followed after the older teen. Per usual, when he stopped, she stopped. As Shadow ducked behind a tree, Kagerou also dropped low, taking a knee but as she had yet to even come close to seeing the lizards, she didn't scramble to hide behind any cover.
While waiting for a signal from Shadow, Kagerou saw with her own two eyes a puddle near his feet come to life. Not gonna lie, it was the puppy that persuaded Kagerou to finally approach (the puddle and also the time passed plus the nuances in Shadow's expression that indicated the objective had been found safely). Creeping close enough to be in whisper range of Shadow and petting range of the ice pupper, Kagerou attempted to gather the... uh... liquid(?) canine into her arms and scritch its ears, or well, if she couldn't gather it, at least scritch its ears.
She was seriously listening to Shadow. Seriously. Even if, she was petting the doggo with a very content smile on her face-o, she really, truly was listening to Shadow as she peered through the gaps in the foliage to assess the situation with the lizards for herself. As proof, she at least gave serious suggestions through her smile. With her head turned so that she was speaking to Shadow though her eyes remained observing the lizards, Kagerou whispered in an even softer voice than Shadow's, "I think attacking the matriarch would get us chased by the males. And also..." Kagerou paused, letting the end of the sentence remain unfinished for a bit. Not like it was hard to guess what she wanted. Every encounter possible, she had wanted to do the same: keep the death toll as low as possible. Though, at the same time, she understood enough how much of a burden such a request would be, and so lately, like right now, she'd taken back her words, "Er... Never mind." Usually, she'd come up with an alternate suggestion. This time, however, she started swiveling her head around first, looking for something. Only after giving the place a look to verify the obvious (yes, there were plenty of sturdy trees to go around), she suggested, "How about we just watch this pack for a few days? We have rations, and they might not be able to climb the trees."
❝All these broken souls, they never make me whole. They don't...Thev don't know mv heart. Thev don't know mv heart.❞ ❝All these broken souls, they never make me whole. They don't...They don't know my heart. They don't know my heart.❞
【S I X T E E N⦁S I L E N T⦁G U A R D I A N】xxxxx◢ S h a d o w H ú n y i s t í r ◣xxxxx【C - R A N K⦁T I N K E R - T R A C K E R⦁U K Y O】
[x] I looked toward Kagerou with a small amount of confusion and a healthy amount of incredulity at her concern for the well-being of the lizards. While I didn't necessarily care if they were dead or alive--the job had no such stipulation--I didn't have a reason to go out of my way to hurt them. Or maybe my response to something was to stab it more often than I thought, which would warrant such a reaction. Regardless, though, the lizard-things were better off for us and the people of Kokorogakure alive. So that was how they would stay unless they became a threat.
She suggested camping out for a while, I assumed to learn their routine and all we could about them. It made sense; I supposed I was just in a hurry so that I could sleep with a roof over my head again, but what was a few more days exposed to the elements in the end? I nodded in agreement, watching the dog pant happily about getting scratched behind the ears. I frowned slightly at it but as always, it remained blissfully oblivious to my displeasure.
I pushed myself back up and glanced around at the trees. They were huge here, meaning we could probably fit quite comfortably in one of them while staying out of sight from the lizards. We could possibly even avoid interacting with them altogether until necessary from there. I just hoped she was right about them not being able to climb, because I was sure the could probably jump pretty well. I pointed to one of them not far from where we stood that looked like it had a decent sized platform at the base of the crown. "I'll see if I can see them from there."
Without waiting for an answer--there was no point in wasting time, and she was probably used to the lack of discussion anyway--, I jogged to it, picking up speed just as I reached the bottom so I could get a running start up the trunk. After scrambling a bit, I was able to find enough hand holds to reach the previously mentioned platform. Crossing it, I climbed a thick, angled branch that reached out over the clearing I'd observed the lizards in previously. I could see them, somewhat through the foliage, but I wasn't sure how efficient it would be. At the same time, if we moved any closer, they might spot us. I supposed we could figure that out once we had a better idea of how they acted.
I slid back down the branch and then proceed down the tree, dropping the last few feet to ground. "I think this could work for now."
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ❝ I'm scared to get close and I hate being alone. ❞
Stats: Power [3] || Agility [5] || Intelligence [5] || Mana [3] • Physical| Strength: 0.0 x Speed: +0.5 • Spiritual| Strength: 0.0 x Speed: 0.0 • Illusion| Strength: +0.5 • Arcanist Spell Cost: [-5] Mana • Simple and Unnamed Attack Cost: [-5] Stamina
Techniques Used: ✤ [Prepared] Ink Transport - C The user writes "transport" on a piece of paper with mana-infused ink. The user then places it wherever they would like to transport to, be it a location or on a specific person, such as an opponent's back. By concentrating a small amount of mana, the can transport to the paper's location, for purposes such as to silently attack an opponent or to reveal to their comrades the enemies location.
✤
Current Objectives: ✤ Track down creature.
Items of Note: ✤
[ e x p ] 8475 x|x [ r y o ] 0400 x|x [ m a n a ] 500 / 500 x|x [ s t a m i n a ] 450 / 450
[ m o o d ] neutral x|x [ h e a l t h ] fine x|x [ i n j u r i e s ] none
Without saying a word, Kagerou nodded as Shadow began making his way to the tree. She watched him scramble up, slightly amused, until she remembered that she would have to do the same. She smiled helplessly then, as she chased away the negative thoughts with more scratching of the ice pupper, this time on its back.
By the time Shadow had descended after ascertaining the observation value of the tree, Kagerou was back to thinking happy thoughts and had even moved so that she was sitting at the base of the tree, still petting the puppy in her arms. When he dropped the last few feet and landed, Kagerou reflexively cast her attention at the lizards to make sure they didn't think anything awry. The soft, marshy ground absorbed most of the noise of Shadow's landing, but she also didn't know how sensitive of a hearing these lizards could have. She caught no signs of anything to worry her and immediately returned her attention to Shadow as she placed the puppy on the ground and stood up.
"Okay," she whispered back in response, "Then let's use this as our base." She looked up into the branches, but even before that, she knew she would struggle significantly more to take the same route Shadow had taken. They had quite the height difference now, and she wasn't even sure if she could jump particularly higher than Shadow. There were a few handholds she thought she might be able to use if she crammed her fingers into the bark far enough, but she didn't want to risk it failing and then falling down.
Returning her thoughts back down to the earth, Kagerou found a small, solid rock without much difficulty, and she tied one end of her rope around said rock. 20', plus an extra five feet or so from her own height. Even if these towering trees had their branches high up, it had to be at least below this combined height, or so Kagerou thought. After a few swings to build up momentum, the little kunoichi released the impromptu grappling hook and aimed it for the lowest branch that looked sturdy enough to hold her and Shadow's weight. The stone arced and then curved around the branch, and once the rope was secured in place, Kagerou gave a few tugs to check the integrity of the rope she was about to climb. It held, and she smiled triumphantly at Shadow before plopping the ice puppy onto her shoulders and wasting no time in scrambling up the rope.
In a few smooth movements, assuming nothing went horribly wrong, she was up on the branch she had roped and quickly moving deftly to a nearby branch so that it would not need to strain with her and Shadow's weight. She gave a look-see from her new vantage point as she waited for her buddy to come up. She wasn't on the branch overhanging the lizard's pit, but from this height, there was nonetheless plenty to see of the other surroundings.
tab Several days passed, with little in the way of anything interesting happening with the lizards outside of several males attempting their luck at mating with the queen. They always failed as she threw them down, though she never did more than toss them down and watch them struggle to right themselves and fight their way back to some level of standing with her for another chance. Sometimes they would fight in other ways, perhaps for playing, where they would dip their tails in water before opening their mouths and jetting out steam with enough force to tear asunder bark. Or, it would have, but every time it would have hit a tree it would miss and hit the mud. This always seemed to puzzle the beasts who cocked their heads before moving out with their lives, sometimes picking up squirrels and other game for games of catch and toss. tab Every night, however, the queen would move off on her own, her frill splayed out to show others needed to back off. Always she moved into the denser brush and rolled into the mud, or into a lake, and swim by herself. Swaying side to side she wound her way around the area, seeming to watch the trees and other foliage with languid ease before sitting in the center of a pond and simply...watching. Watching the trees, and more importantly, the stars. Always she would stay this way for an hour, uncaring before she would move back to her herd and repeat. It was the one and only time she was ever alone throughout the day and not in the middle of the entire nest. Always she would return, watch the males trip over themselves trying to please her, before at last they would settle again. tab And during it all, the dog simply watched and panted, his expression never changing, lounging in whoever's lap happened to be open. tab
Royal Taorito
Posted: Mon Dec 30, 2019 8:30 am
❝All these broken souls, they never make me whole. They don't...Thev don't know mv heart. Thev don't know mv heart.❞ ❝All these broken souls, they never make me whole. They don't...They don't know my heart. They don't know my heart.❞
【S I X T E E N⦁S I L E N T⦁G U A R D I A N】xxxxx◢ S h a d o w H ú n y i s t í r ◣xxxxx【B - R A N K⦁T I N K E R - T R A C K E R⦁I N K B O R N】
[x] The next few days passes slowly while I did my best not to get restless. I wasn't necessarily impatient; I could have all the patience in the world if I wanted, but I felt antsy doing nothing aside from watching a bunch of lizards. In the past, we had always kept moving, so I think sitting still just made me irritable. I occupied my time by sketching and writing down as much information about the creatures, trees, and other plants as I could, exploring the area they lived in through the tree tops, and whittling away at sticks I found when neither of the other options seemed entertaining.
Not to mention sleep was an issue, but that wasn't anything new.
As we're brought to the present, I was working on making a net out of vines I had collected. The female proved consistent in spending time on her own every night, so that would be the best time to capture her without having to deal with the males. The only issue was if she did whatever they had used to boil that raccoon several days before. From what I'd seen, they could fire jets of steam. It seemed to just create a cloud of incredibly hot water vapor rather than any sort of cutting effect, so a net should be usable. At the very least we had to trap it long enough to tie it up, which was going to be its own adventure, I could imagine.
Weaving the last few strands together, I tied them off and tossed the finished net aside. I rubbed my eyes and glanced through the foliage toward the sky. It was getting fairly late, meaning we wouldn't have to wait too much longer, hopefully, to finally move. I checked on Kagerou to see what she was doing, consequently catching the eye of the dog that always seemed to be watching me. I ignored it. Assuming she wasn't asleep, I asked, "Anything else you can think of that we need?"
[As of right now, the plan is to trap her in a net while she's alone, probably heading to the water, and tie her up. If you have input on how we're getting her back to town after that, I'm all ears.]
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ❝ I'm scared to get close and I hate being alone. ❞
Stats: Power [4] || Agility [5] || Intelligence [5] || Mana [4] • Physical| Strength: 0.0 x Speed: +0.5 • Magical| Strength: +0.5 x Speed: +0.5 • Illusion| Strength: +0.0 • Arcanist Spell Cost: [-5] Mana • Simple and Unnamed Attack Cost: [-5] Stamina
Techniques Used: ✤ [Prepared] Ink Transport - C The user writes "transport" on a piece of paper with mana-infused ink. The user then places it wherever they would like to transport to, be it a location or on a specific person, such as an opponent's back. By concentrating a small amount of mana, the can transport to the paper's location, for purposes such as to silently attack an opponent or to reveal to their comrades the enemies location.
✤
Current Objectives: ✤ Track down creature.
Items of Note: ✤
[ e x p ] 13,150 x|x [ r y o ] 0,400 x|x [ m a n a ] 600 / 600 x|x [ s t a m i n a ] 550 / 550
[ m o o d ] neutral x|x [ h e a l t h ] fine x|x [ i n j u r i e s ] none
Kagerou's lap was open! Kagerou's lap was always open for a cute puppy, so she was left with the brunt of caring for the strange canine specimen. Though, one could only say "care" in the loosest manner of speech. The canine didn't seem to need to eat or do anything that living things usually needed. For all of the first day, Kagerou had just sat with the puppy, unmoving except for the hand that stroked its head. She appeared perfectly content and able to lounge, eerily silent, on a branch overlooking the lizards while the puppy lounged on her lap. Her eyes did not leave the lizards below, as if their mundane activities were some sort of performance that required her rapt attention. On that first day, when Shadow left to tail the matriarch, Kagerou had nodded and bid him farewell, then spent all of her time alone watching the remaining males as she had been watching the rest of that day.
After the first day, however, she thought it would be bad for a dog to be still for so long. She still had to observe, though, which left her conflicted until halfway through her watching of the males after Shadow had left to tail after the matriarch again. The entire second day had been almost as identical as the first. Just different mates trying to approach the female. She looked down at her targets, looked at the ice pupper, and then looked into the distance. "Just a bit of exercise," she thought as she quietly crawled to the trunk of the tree and climbed down, "And besides, there were a few things I want to test."
With quiet steps, she had moved far away from the lizards while still keeping in mind the way to get back to home tree. After she felt like she was sufficiently far away to make noises without attracting any attention, Kagerou put Shadow's pet down on the ground. First, she stretched her poor, cramped muscles. She was holding it in all this time she was still. Then, she picked up a sizable branch to help the puppy stretch its muscles. Waving the stick in front of the dog's face until it kind of looked like he knew what was happening, hard to tell when all it gave was a blank stare, Kagerou threw it as far as possible. To her approval, the dog ran after the stick as she thought it would.
"Right," she thought to herself and turned to the side, ready to start her work. Facing a nearby tree, Kagerou took a stance with her iron fan. Dexterously, she slashed at the trunk. Her aim was true and her intent to leave a scratch on the trunk should have succeeded, but instead, she was left with her fan skewing off path for no reason and hit thin air. It was just like when the lizards used their steam attack. Kagerou got in a few more tries, each result the same, before the ice puppy returned with the stick.
"Ah, you're back," Kagerou greeted as she heard the familiar panting. She stood still when she saw that the stick she was about to reach out for was floating in the ice puppy's belly. It wasn't a small stick, either. Bigger than the puppy was long, it stretched the ice puppy's belly in a strange fashion. She could only tilt her head, smile, and ask, "... Excuse me?".
Well, long story short. After multiple trials and errors during this night and the night after, Kagerou learned of ice puppy's fascinating ability to swallow and store anything along with its apparently astounding intelligence. Each time, Kagerou left to do her solo experiments and training with the puppy only after Shadow was gone. Not to be sneaky or anything, but while he was there, she didn't want to leave him alone. Even if their time together was spent in silence, it was precious time spent together nonetheless.
Sleep was still an issue for Shadow, so Kagerou tried to offer him some of the previously collected catnip to help. Though, after one sour look, she stopped offering. Nonetheless, even if Shadow couldn't sleep, she refused to leave the night watch solely to him, and continued to wake up as if they were trading watches, even if there was no trading and it was just both of them awake.
So on the final day, Shadow was making his net and Kagerou spent most of the day besides him looking over whatever drawing in his sketchbook that she was allowed to look at. She would have watched over the lizards but... Over the days observed, there was literally nothing different in their daily routine. At this point, she and Shadow had basically finished observing and were just finishing whatever preparations needed.
Kagerou was studying one of the drawings of herbs in Shadow's book when he spoke up for what was the first time all day. Her red eyes lifted from the pages and she smiled at him as she set the sketchbook down and proudly lifted up the dog. "Nope," she proudly showed off the puppy and whispered, "We're all ready on our end. Since you got the nets ready, Snickers and I will handle getting the objective to the village, which, by the way. Just how far from the pack does the matriarch go again? The farther the better, I think, just to reduce the chances of attracting the attention of the males."
Royal Taorito
Lanfaer
Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2020 7:54 pm
❝All these broken souls, they never make me whole. They don't...Thev don't know mv heart. Thev don't know mv heart.❞ ❝All these broken souls, they never make me whole. They don't...They don't know my heart. They don't know my heart.❞
【S I X T E E N⦁S I L E N T⦁G U A R D I A N】xxxxx◢ S h a d o w H ú n y i s t í r ◣xxxxx【B - R A N K⦁T I N K E R - T R A C K E R⦁I N K B O R N】
[x] My gaze shifted back to the dog, my scowl returning. Of course she named it. Not that I cared one way or another, since there was apparently no getting rid of it. She was giving it attention and that seemed to satisfy it. Turning away, I faced the direction I'd gone the last couple of nights while following the matriarch and gestured. "She goes a few hundred meters that way to swim." I dropped my hand again and knelt to gather up and fold the net for easier transport. Kagerou had a plan apparently, so I was fine with letting her deal with the lizard once my part was finished. I double checked I had the coil of rope at my hip, in case it was needed. Likewise, I made sure the rest of my supplies were packed away in my bag and pushed it toward Kagerou. I hadn't really asked her to take my things, but I was hoping she might agree so it wouldn't get in the way. Not to mention these things sat in a mud pit most of the day. I likely wasn't going to get away clean. "I don't want it to get wet," I explained somewhat lamely. If she refused, of course, I would take the bag back.
Standing back up, I glanced down to the lizard creatures lounging in the bog below. We probably had a few minutes at best before she started moving. "I'll go ahead so I'll be in position," I explained without taking my eyes off of the matriarch. "Do whatever you need to do." I waited a moment to see if she had anything more to say before turning and hesitating briefly, and then somewhat awkwardly making my leave.
I crossed over the branches I'd taken previous nights, following the path the matriarch used to get to her swimming pool. There was a short section along that way that, from above anyway, didn't look too muddy before reaching the water. My plan was to trap her in the net there to catch her long enough for either Kagerou or myself to catch her. I just hoped the net I'd made was sturdy enough to support her weight.
Dropping down from the tree, I splayed out the net on the path--not particularly happy with finding out how wrong I was about the mud--and loosely buried it with dirt and leaves. From there I set up a tripwire with part of my rope that would, ideally, pull the net up around her and lift her off the ground. Once the trap was ready, I clambered back up into the tree and waited.
[I would have put in more detail, but ran out of time.]
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ❝ I'm scared to get close and I hate being alone. ❞
Stats: Power [4] || Agility [5] || Intelligence [5] || Mana [4] • Physical| Strength: 0.0 x Speed: +0.5 • Magical| Strength: +0.5 x Speed: +0.5 • Illusion| Strength: +0.0 • Arcanist Spell Cost: [-5] Mana • Simple and Unnamed Attack Cost: [-5] Stamina
Techniques Used: ✤ [Prepared] Ink Transport - C The user writes "transport" on a piece of paper with mana-infused ink. The user then places it wherever they would like to transport to, be it a location or on a specific person, such as an opponent's back. By concentrating a small amount of mana, the can transport to the paper's location, for purposes such as to silently attack an opponent or to reveal to their comrades the enemies location.
✤
Current Objectives: ✤ Track down creature.
Items of Note: ✤
[ e x p ] 13,175 x|x [ r y o ] 0,400 x|x [ m a n a ] 600 / 600 x|x [ s t a m i n a ] 550 / 550
[ m o o d ] neutral x|x [ h e a l t h ] fine x|x [ i n j u r i e s ] none
"Short for Snickerdoodle," Kagerou explained, out of the blue, after Shadow clambered back up the tree after setting up his trap.
Back at base tree, she had simply nodded her quiet assent to him. She had been ready to since this morning. Though, since Shadow took the moment to hesitate awkwardly, she took the chance to adjust her bag and Shadow's, which she was more than happy to help with, to comfortably carry both. Mobility might be a problem, and she didn't want to get Shadow's stuff dirty so she would need to be careful about ever going down to the ground during a fight. However, she should at least be able to to somewhat comfortably operate as she needed to, should everything go as planned. Once Shadow started moving, Kagerou also followed. The liquid pupper had been released, trusted to follow Shadow alone.
Now they were in a tree, Kagerou patting the ice pupper that sat besides her and Shadow just assaulted with a sudden piece of small talk when all he probably wanted was to get whatever minute was left to rest and breathe before having to mud wrestle with a lizard of the opposite sex. Unfortunately for Shadow, Kagerou wanted to talk. After however many whole days of nothing but short, whispered exchanges, they were finally out of the predicted ear shot of the lizards. Anticipating Shadow's confusion as to what exactly she was talking about, she clarified, "Snickers is short for Snickerdoodle." She was explaining ice pupper's name as she looked, for once, not at her conversation partner.
She seemed to be looking down at the ground, the general area of Shadow's net. That was the only way to explain why her eyelids fell halfway over her eyes and her head was tilted down so her hair fell like curtains across her face, long green lashes and hair obscuring the bright red orbs that stared, in fact, at nothing. She thought her eyes might go unfocused, so she was trying to hide it.
Snickers's bizarre physical ability had not been the only thing Kagerou had discovered while slipping away in the evenings. She'd discovered her eyesight, so to speak, had returned in some ways, and in some ways, it was completely different. For instance, this ability to create points that Kagerou could peer from at a later time was not something the Sharingan should have. It should have been attributed to the Kinmukugan, instead, yet here Kagerou was, keeping tabs on the lizard leader through a previously created focal point so she would know when she would need to stop talking.
C: 525 / 525 S: 250 / 250
Focal Point Vision || 3: By focusing on an object for one [1] activation the character may place an unseen "focal point" upon the object. These focal points allow the cahracter to switch their "sight" to that location, as if they were there. This grants two [1] Focal Points, allowing the character to split their vision between the two points, or to use both eyes on one point. A Focal Point can only be maintained for a maximum of ten [10] posts of use, meaning it may remain indefinitely unless actively accessed.
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