Sometimes things go really right, and sometimes they go really wrong.
Ceartas had gone to check up on her colony of lab rats, expecting them to all be alive and healthy. What she found was the opposite of that. In the night, some predator had managed to track and find where she'd hidden them, broken into their pen and ate them where they rested, leaving nothing but a bunch of half-eaten corpses. They couldn't have even bothered to at least finish off the bodies; it was as if the creature was overwhelmed with choice and decided to just eat a little bit of everything.
A few rats had survived, miraculously, and some others had escaped - she could tell because she knew the exact amount of rodents she had. The injured ones were given a merciful, quick death. It would be much easier to acquire new ones than to heal the ones she had. And all the bodies she placed inside a wicker cage. The cage was lightweight enough and had a handle on the top that she could easily grab onto with her jaws. A simple turn-based hinge allowed her to lock and unlock the opening at the top, making it easy for her to just sweep the corpses up into the basket. She would have to thoroughly clean the area, starting with disposing of the bodies far enough away that it wouldn't attract any unwanted visitors.
This is what she did now. Grasping onto the cage with her mouth, she made in the general direction of the river. The weather this morning brought with it a somewhat chilly breeze, but the sun that occasionally peaked through the clouds often brief moments of warmth.
Quinnat rolled the dice.Character Diceroll 1: Unuccessful Diceroll must be above 500 to be successful.
0 was added for Dexterity.
479 was added for Level 2.
0 was added for A. No Enchantment.
6 was added for B. Homeland Buff.
Quinn’s paws joined the song of the rain at almost the same tempo as the torrent itself. He recalled running like this as a child, always keen to keep up with his siblings; he’d forgotten the thrill of it. Why hadn’t he run with abandon in what felt like years? Had there simply been nothing worth chasing? The Noble might’ve reflected on that more but his mind was working as fast as his limbs as he tried to figure out what he’d do if he actually, somehow, caught up to the gleaming-white stag.
“Woah - agh!!”
Quinn’s mind veered sharply off course as he galloped down a slope lined with firs. His legs followed suit a breath later, helping him skitter out of the way just in time to avoid a collision. But it was too late to prevent startling the figure camped out under the boughs and her snarl could’ve been a blade, it so effectively distracted the sprinting wolf from his pursuit of the pale stag. “Ah - I’m sorry - I’m just - it’s Ohr!”
At such a speed, putting a paw wrong had a knock-on effect which meant that to stop, Quinn had to throw his weight backwards. His claws slid against wet rock, sending a shudder down his spine, and still he hadn’t quite managed to halt. His feathers flared in an attempt to further slow him as the wind threatened to whip the pine boughs into his face.Success: avoids the branches
Failure: gets smacked in the face by a branch
Her tails wagged merrily when she received a friendly greeting back, eyes curiously fixed on Mr. Gabriel's own wagging tails. She'd never met a two-tailed wolf before! How exciting! The cross fox wondered if he'd been born with his tails, like Dos had been, or if they were earned through hard-work and training. Well, the description he gave of creating pouches and stuff from her rabbit's skin had her leaning towards the latter of the two - it sounded so complicated. No wonder most creatures just used magic if this was the standard process! But Dos didn't have any powers that would make all the stuff he'd talked about easier, so she would be working with the 'paws-on' method that the wolf claimed to be more familiar with.
"Really?" Dos chirped with delight. A gift? After already being shown this new, cool thing? Mr. Gabriel was, officially, the second coolest grown up wolf she'd ever met. Granted, he was literally just the second grown-up wolf she'd ever met up close, but that was beside the point. "It can be a surprise! I like surprises!"
Good ones anyway, and this was a good surprise, she thinks.
---
Speech.
After the brief uncomfortableness of physical contact from a total stranger and healing will power course through his body. Shifty felt explicably rejuvenated. He felt he could run over the Savanah like he did when he was a pup. "I accept your deal, only because it will be good to have an adequate healer in my back pocket when I rise to power in Duskorna. Shifty was mostly only enjoying the banter with Enya. He never really want to be responsible for leading an entire kingdom. One could aspire greatness in life. Maybe now she will get a hint of why he was called 'Shifty'. "If you don't keep an eye on me you'll have a thorn in your side before to long to remind you that i'm not to be over looked."
"Well you say i reek of Verdantis, Where to My lady? He was ready to move on first hour here and he already resented this water way.
(As a side note this is when Shifty changes over to Duskorna from Verdantis)
Speech.
"Ah hells, you don't know either?" the wolf frowned, annoyance about the blockade from their sun-bathing temporarily put to the side. There went that fleeting thought. If this other wolf didn't know where they were, then Larkspur was probably back at square one as far as getting out of here - with her wings out of commission for at least another day, there was no way for them to guarantee their safety. Heading back the way they came, only fire and death awaited - so would they have to venture aimlessly out into these colorful mountains until they finally found something resembling trees? Of course, they could also try sitting where they were until their wings healed, but who knew what kind of creatures roamed this place at night. "We can lead each other in circles then."
They folded their better groomed wing (the right one) back towards their flank, stretching a little as they sat up a bit. It was rude and a bit dangerous to be laying flat on their stomach with a strange wolf standing upon them - especially one apparently carrying a sword around. Who in the gods really needed a sword?
"Larkspur," they said all the same, motioning towards themself with a brown wing. "Your partner in this rainbow purgatory."
---
Speech.
It hadn't exactly been Reed's intention to magically poof across the new lands when she wished she could find one of her friends she missed so dearly. She didn't know that the endless hole she had found in the ground, full of water, had been a sort of wishing well when she'd haphazardly tossed a leaf into it to test the currents of the water. It was a frightening sensation to suddenly be sucked into said wishing well, her body warping as the teleportation magic zipped her from one side of the continent to the other side. Reed landed with a thunk on the hard rainbow colored ground and groaned from the impact. She really needed to stop falling through random worm holes.
Welp, no time like the present to figure out where she was now. She didn't bother to figure out how she had gotten here. At this point, teleportation almost felt normal to her. "Sigh" she said out loud as she also sighed along with it. "I'm never going to find my friends at this rate." By friends, of course, she meant Balthazar and Pip. So, step by step, Reed made her way through the strange rainbow hillside. She felt exposed as she traveled with how little shrubbery and trees there were. Her exposure was confirmed when she crested a hill and looked over the other side, seeing a wolf laying and splaying their wings out around them.
Naturally, Reed may a beeline for the stranger, running and prancing down the hillside with her dagger and cutlass clanking together in her harness on her side. "Hey!" she shouted at the stranger, happy to see something else out here besides nothingness. "Hey! You! Hey!" She continued to call as she closed the distance between the two of them. By the time Reed got to the stranger, she was panting and talking through breaths. "Hey. Do you know where we are?" Only after she asked her question did Reed turn to actually look the stranger over. Her eyes noticed the damaged feathers and she wondered what the stranger had gotten into. Was there a monster at work here?
Roxanne rolled the dice.Character Diceroll 1: Successful Diceroll must be above 500 to be successful.
0 was added for Perception.
560 was added for Level 1.
0 was added for A. No Enchantment.
9 was deducted for C. Vagrant Penalty.
'There!' Declared Reed, and Roxanne followed her gaze until it met with the darn creature that had scared her off the first time. Her face scrunches up in a silent snarl at it. Its long spikes almost reached her full height... but she will not be scared again! Reed's praise makes her head rise and tail rise with it, emboldened by her words. Now they were going to teach this... this... Duplispozard? What a funny name! Now, they were going to teach this Duplispozard a lesson!
Except, her father placed himself in front of her again, and this time she felt indignant. No fair, she wanted to join in too! She moves out from under him, and just then, he charges forward towards it. Roxanne follows after him, stopping for a moment to watch in awe as he grabs the Duplispozard by its tail and literally throw it into a wall. Ouch! It seemed dazed for a moment, and thought better than to mess with them, because instead of doing its screaming like last time, it started to run away! And then it multiplied again! The cub started chasing after the group, eyeing the creatures down as she tried to figure out which one it was. If successful, Roxanne would realize that all but one of them was actually moving the grass and plants around it as it ran, and she would pounce on the slow reptile's tail, keeping it from running. She didn't have a plan after that except to hold it down and hope maybe father or Reed would finish it off, because this thing is surprisingly strong! For her, at least.
But if unsuccessful, she'll fail to recognize which one is the correct one, leap on the wrong one, and end up with nothing but a mouthful of grass as it continues to run away. "Dang it..."
The physical contact made the connection between her Will and Shifty's strong enough for her magic to be a success this time. As the energy left her, she felt a drain on her own energy in return. She'd been hard at work since she'd first woke up and between the traveling and magic, was starting to feel fatigued. She had made a point of making sure her healing magic had been extra potent for him. Now, she was regretting it. "Hmph" she laughed as he tried to lecture her on not being aggressive right away. "I wonder what your history is to resort to aggression as a last resort, instead of a first. Maybe if you grew up like I did..." She let the rest of the sentence linger unspoken.
"Anyways. What I had in mind for a deal was this. Not only did I save your life, I also healed you too. So now, I figure you owe me right? Makes sense. But see, I'm a good wolf. I'm not going to hold helping someone over their head. You know why?" She paused momentarily, just long enough that Shifty might start to respond, then immediately started speaking again, cutting off any words he might have started to say. "That's not what Tsillah is all about. She's about empowering others, driving them to be the best possible outcomes of their selves. She sent me here to find you, to guide you down the right path. So, how about we make this deal instead. You come with me, back to my kingdom escorted by a Monarch, and you learn the ways of the Goddess who rescued you today."
