[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/xtHBczS.png[/img][/center] (The Following Roleplay takes place in the wilds of the Grand Duchy of Roran, in The Isekai Hell World. If you're interested in joining the world, message me, or Novama!) [hider=Grader Info] Narrator: Moonberry Participants: Maxxob Characters: Aedrianna Belmonte Edwin Stormcrest RP Goal: Survive the jungle that lies along the leyline running from Ryke to the Duchy Find Herbs to help Aedriannas Cousin. Asset goal: Edwin: Northern Ryke Village [Name Pending] F Aedrianna: Upgrade Asset Connection to Dread Mage Belmonte/Duchy Nobility F - E Character Standing: Edwin: A Aedrianna: S [/hider] [center]In the Quiet Jungle[/center] [center]╔═*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*═╗[/center] The air pressed warm and damp against the skin, thick with the scent of wet earth and crushed greenery. Dew clung to every broad leaf, dripping steadily into the loam below, while far above the canopy only offered faint, distant cries of birds. For all the riot of life expected in such a place, the rainforest felt muted—eerily quiet, save for the dripping water and the muffled clink of glass vials at Aedrianna’s side. Only a few hours had passed since they had left Aslan behind, following the narrowing trail into the deep wilds near the Continental Lake. Earlier, while riding pillion on his horse, Aedrianna had spoken with earnest detail despite the fatigue in her voice. She told him of Tomas, her young cousin, stricken with the same affliction she herself had once endured—Hypomanatrophy, the inability to process mana without sickness. The herbs they sought would not cure him, but they had eased her own suffering once, and she clung to that hope for his sake. Now she walked ahead, violet-blue eyes flicking restlessly between the greenery pressing close and the open book in her hands. Her attire balanced refinement with practicality: a fitted white coat traced with faint blue runes, black gloves that left her fingertips bare, and pale trousers cut for movement yet flattering in form. The satchel at her hip sagged with glass and parchment, its enchanted lining swallowing each sample she eagerly collected. Her steps were quick, her voice lively, and yet the shadows beneath her eyes betrayed her. Nightmares—by her own weary admission, constant and cruel—had carved a lingering exhaustion into her features. Even so, excitement shone through the fatigue, every discovery spoken of as if it were a victory. [COLOR=Pink]“This—”[/COLOR] she murmured, halting before a tree whose bark flaked in mottled patches of gray and green. She braced the book under one arm, pressed her gloved fingers into a seam, and with effort pried free a chunk. [COLOR=Pink]“This can be broken down, and the oil used to treat sicknesses of the skin.”[/COLOR] She tucked it swiftly into her satchel before glancing back at him, a smile breaking through her tiredness. She pointed out a spray of herbs sprouting from moss just off the path. [COLOR=Pink]“Those are great for fevers.”[/COLOR] The jungle around them seemed to lean closer. Thick trunks and dangling vines narrowed the trail until it felt almost like a corridor of green. Aside from her voice and the steady rhythm of his horse’s hooves, there was silence—too much silence for so wild a place. It pressed in at the edges, the kind of quiet that made the senses linger, as though the forest itself were holding its breath. [COLOR=Pink]“Aunt Sabine said they had no luck finding the Skythorne Blossom, or the Lumentide Kelp,”[/COLOR] Aedrianna said after a time, slowing her steps as she glanced back toward him. [COLOR=Pink]“She told me there was some monstrous beast, and their protection abandoned them.”[/COLOR] Her tone softened. [COLOR=Pink]“So… thank you for coming to keep me safe, Edwin.”[/COLOR] Her lips curved faintly as he drew closer, warmth flickering across her weary face. [COLOR=Pink]“You know, I met my friend Noelle the last time I went looking for Skythorne Blossom. Her and Rios, and Kota, and Sorieielle.”[/COLOR] A wistful sigh slipped from her as she thumbed through the pages of her book once more. [COLOR=Pink]“We’ll need to go closer to the water for the Lumentide Kelp. But the Blossom will be somewhere high. Aunt Sabine’s notes don’t say where, but I remember something in my Gran’s journals…”[/COLOR] Her words trailed, eyes lifting toward him as they pressed deeper beneath the canopy together. The trail wound on beneath the heavy canopy, the air thick with the scent of moss and wet bark. Soon, the narrow hunters’ path forked. To Edwin’s eyes, the split was clear. The left-hand track looked unremarkable at first glance—still close and overgrown, but in a way that felt natural. A faint rustle of movement drifted from somewhere ahead: the sound of small creatures disturbed by their passing. Shafts of light pierced through breaks in the canopy, striking the ferns and brush with mottled gold. The right-hand trail was different. The vines hung lower here, weaving a kind of curtain across the way forward. The undergrowth pressed tighter, shadows crowding more heavily between the trees. Even the air felt different—still and heavy, as if the very sound of the jungle had thinned. Not even the distant cries of birds seemed to reach this stretch. Aedrianna, nose still half-buried in her book and with a new glint of excitement in her eyes, did not seem to notice the difference. Her steps carried her without hesitation toward the quieter, denser path, her voice lifting again with enthusiasm as she marked down another note. [COLOR=Pink]“Look here, Edwin—These flowers all cluster together in certain areas.”[/COLOR] She brought her finger down towards the side of the path she was already starting, sweeping it along the path to point out some vibrant colored blooms all clustered together in a few bunches here and there. [color=Pink]"Those aren't very receptive of mana. So they tend to avoid the area where its stronger in the ambient sense." [/color] She smiled faintly over her shoulder, oblivious to the way the forest seemed to lean heavier over the trail she had chosen.