In the darkwoods, two majestic stags squared off, and the forest would quake at their battle.
On one side, a Huwu’idang, the deer of growth, a titan of flesh, hide and horn that stood tall as trees. Against it stood the challenger, the gnarled form of eldest of all the Redwood Deer to have ever grown in the Darkwood’s depths, a colossus of wood, leaf and bark.
For too long had the redwood stag stood in the shadows of the towering guardian. AN intruder, in its mind, for it had been first, and so did it not deserve to be renowned by all deer kind? Today, it would prove itself a superior protector of its herd, and of the forest itself. That the creation of Ia’Akhul seemed to show no fear at its challenge, and only a slight sense of admiration akin to that of a proud father infuriated it only further.
The two great beasts hooved the ground, the redwood bellowed its challenge one more time and then, in sync, both lowered their heads and brought their antlers to bear. Hoofalls struck like thunder as they charged each other, but this sound was naught compared to the cacophony that followed. Antlers of bone struck antlers of timber and resulted in a crash that sent a shockwave pulsing through the forest and sent all of nature fleeing…. And called a mad mortal forth to witness the spectacle despite her companion’s fears
Heads locked, deer of flesh and wood dug in their hooves and tried to push the other back, antlers clattering when one tried to adjust the angle enough that they could gore the other. The Huwu’idang forced the challenger back, back, till it was pressing it against a tree, only for the deer of wood to kick off this very same tree, cracking it and ramming its foe into a thicket of saplings, the young trees splintering under hoof.
The Huwu’idang brayed in pain, but not for itself but for the forest their battle was harming. It was clear this redwood lacked the respect the Huwu’idang’s kind held for the woods that were their home and duty to defend. This would not stand, and it was clear this one was not worthy. Yet. The metaphorical gloves came off and the guardian put the challenger slowly but surely in its place. Crash went the antlers and the trees as the ever more desperate forest-kin tore up the woods, the beast nearly trampling a pair of elves and a (much smaller than it) redwood doe in the process of its hard fought but ultimately fruitless battle.
That was the very last straw. The protector of the small twisted its neck and rammed it’s great antlers into the challenger’s side, tearing bark and flesh below as it hurled the great beast of timber aside. The redwood deer crashed to the forest floor, causing one last bout of destruction. It brayed in pain, tried to rise, and failed.
The battle was over.
The Huwu’idang brayed, but not in victory. No instead as its deep call rang out the remarkable happened. The dark woods lit up as green energy flooded out of the titan’s form, sweeping across the ruined battleground. Upturned soil settled and broken plants began to heal, not least among them the redwood deer, who’s wounds began to slowly close, much to its confusion.
The Huwu’idang trotted over, and bid it rise. It had a lesson to teach.
“Just, hnnnrgh, hold it together Stag!” Fern strained as she tried in vain to push the fallen tree off of Stag legs. Even with the [ranger]’s animal companion Doe, a female redwood deer, butting at the felled log, it was no use, and the trapped elf knew it.
“Just leave me. They’re coming!” he insisted, pointing up behind the [forest-friend adventurer], prompting her to turn and gasp as she beheld the two titans of the forest, now looking down at them.
The Huwu’idang grunted, and gestured towards the beleaguered elves and forest-kin with its snout, trying to communicate something to the Redwood Deer. It huffed, and raised a hoof to crush the two hunters of its kind, only for the Huwu’idang to bat it away before it could end their lives. Clearly it had not gotten the lesson.
Grunts and barks echoed between the pair as they crudely communicated, until a third voice interrupted with a trio of simple words “Please… Please help?” as the untrapped elf reached a hand up towards them, having sensed, perhaps, the guardians intention, or, more likely, just throwing hope out into the dark.
Sometimes hope was rewarded, the Huwu’idang leaning down and ever so gently pressing its snout against the palm that it dwarfed so, causing the [forest friend adventurer] to gasp in awe. Then it pulled back, nudged the redwood deer who had finally got the picture mostly due to Doe braying at it like her calf was trapped, and carefully reached down, grasped the felled tree in its jaws and hauled it off of the poor elf.
Fern gasped with surprise and relief as she watched this, before turning and bowing to the two titans of the woods.
She offered them a “Thank you” before practically tossing herself on Stag to hug him in relief
“Owowowowow, watch the legs” Stag complained. Fern apologized and began to help him up from one side while Doe scooped herself under him on the other, when all three realized that the two massive deer were still looking down at them intently.
“Um. Is. Is there something I can do for you in return?” she asked, to which the titan made a sound she, naturally, did not understand.
“I’m sorry, I don’t-” she began to communicate this, before being interrupted by a familiar voice
“It wants you to pay it back by taking care of nature. It's a bit concerned by these whole building and [pyromancers] things and would appreciate it if you elves would self regulate on that a bit” Jeon, who was dangling over on a branch like a lazy panther and/or cheshire cat helpful informed her.
“Wha, Jeon?” Fern stammered “how long have you been here? Why are you here?”
“Same as you, duh” the god who had been here to watch the giant animal fight replied before moving on “so yeah, live in harmony with the trees, protect nature, get into wars with dwarves over 3 saplings they uprooted, you know. Classic elf stuff.”
“What's a dwarf? Or a war?” Fern asked
“Not important. What is is that you are now burdened with glorious purpose” Jeon informed the elf, resulting in an “Oh no, not again” from Stag and a question of “I mean. I would like to do that, I think, but how? People want homes, and it's not like the can all move to sanctuary”
“Oh yes”Jeon replied to Stag before addressing the matter at hand “Don’t worry though I’ll help you out with this one. Plus this’ll go well with advancing your [forest friend adventurer] class” Jeon said, before hopping down from the tree and stepping between elf and forest titan.
“Ok, so, you” he pointed at the Huwu’idang “lower your head down, and then you” he pointed at Fern “are going to shave off a bit of this guy’s antler. And then eat it”
“What?” Fern replied in confusion and shock that was mirrored by the towering forest guardian
“Do that, and you’ll be able to take just a bit of his nature restoring power as your own. Then you can cultivate it, grow it, level it up, and do all sorts of things. The main one is help plants grow faster, but you could do so much more than just that”
Fern considered the possibility, looking around at the plants visibly growing around her, and had a thought “Could grow something like Sanctuary, by, by shaping plants as they grow like that maybe?”
“Exactamundo you clever elf” the god praised her while giving her a pair of finger guns. Then he back peddled a touch “Well maybe not on your own. Not for a while, maybe not ever in your life, but if you think smaller individual power wise, get more hands on the task and do some experimenting to figure it out…” Jeon suggested, and in so doing fully opened up a whole new world of possibilities for wood elf technology.
Understanding now, the Huwu’idang bowed its head and offered its antler to the elf, who, after ensuring that stag was safely supported by Doe, stepped forwards, took out a knife and scraped just a tiny little bit of the mighty antler. Dust in the hand really. Then, after a moment of hesitation stuffed it in her gob.
“Blech,” Fern made face at the taste, before waiting for a moment, and then asking “well, now wha-”
“-t” she finished, a smile on her face as the rush of leveling filled her.
This, she knew, was the beginning of a wonderful new age for her kind.
Start: 2mp/2ap
1 ap: teach the basics of Druidry to the elves of the dark wood, allowing them to gain variations of the [druid] class by entering a symbiotic relationship with Huwu’idang that lets them gain the same environmental restoration and growth encouragement magics as it. Then with levels and technology, they will be able to do so much more.
End: 2mp/1ap
A Huwu’idang (Ia’Akhul’s tree sized nature healing deer) is challenged by an equally massive redwood deer (one of Jeon’s violently anti lumberjack forest kin) for its position as head guardian of their patch of forest.
The Huwu’idang wins, but in the process the redwood really tears up the place (in a way not befitting a first guardian) and in the process topples a tree that pins Stag the wood elf to the ground (he was there because fern was there, and fern was there to be in awe of the giant deer fight).
The Huwu’idang heal’s its fallen foe and then the two go and help free the elf. In return the Huwu’idang wants the elf to help protect the forest. Jeon (who was also here to watch the giant deer fight) then steps in and sets up a symbiotic relationship between wood elf and Huwu’idang, where the elf gains the powers of the Huwu’idang in exchange for also taking on its duy as protector of nature and defender of the small.
darkwood adventure guild start: 15 plays a significant role +1 10,000 characters +1 darkwood adventure guild end: 17
Jeon tossed up another nut from a little sack and caught it in his mouth as Penumbra and their party finished off the last of the bandits. That had been an exciting little encounter, and though he was a touch disappointed in the elves for going down that path, well, they were dead now. So who cared.
Not him certainly. What he cared about was what would happen next on the [champion]’s little adventure. So much so that he decided to scout ahead and spoil himself a bit on what was coming next, only to come up disappointed.
“What? Did no one work on this bit yet? Yeesh” the god complained from atop a mountain top as he looked down at the vast expanse of basically nothing set between the woods Penumbra was currently traversing and the next bit of interesting terrain they'd reach: a distant desert.
“Tisk tisk, well we can't have that now can we” he said, before cracking his knuckles and saying, “Well then, guess it falls to me to liven things up a bit” before pausing and thinking about what he’d want to do, stood atop one leg while the toe beans of the other tap tap tapped against the bare mountain stone.
“Hmmm, well, savana? Nah. swamps? Nah not that either hmmm” he pondered before saying to himself “well, maybe the elves need a bit more space and then they’ll stop doing a banditry? But bleh, just making more of the same forest? So lame”
“Well. There’s more way to grow trees and liven up the place soooo” the god concluded, before reaching into his nut bag and then tossing a torrent of seeds out of it that lashed out and then rained down on the soil as of yet untouched by godly hands.
Trees burst from it, surrounding the few denizens of the land with a forest in an instant, the canopy above smothering out the sun and leaving them in the dark. For a moment. Then, suddenly, there was light as a sea of glowing motes swept into the woods, following in the wake of the Prince of the Woods as he pranced through it at breakneck speed. Then he hit the center, where the moats coalesced and then burst out, suffusing the woods with their glow.
“There we go, now that’s a nice aesthetic contrast” Jeon nodded to himself before thinking for a moment “and so I thiiiiiink I’ll just call these the Lightwoods. Simple enough. Now then, let’s spice things up a bit”
He pointed some fingers and made some base level creatures, your (water) bugs and birds, your Tonnikala. Simple enough. Toss in a few Nagna, a shoal of Gedhe’iwak and a Huwu’idang or two to keep the place growing nicely. The soil here was pretty nutrient poor, what with being next to a desert and all, and so the plants would need to feed. Thus in went some venus flytraps and pitcher plants.
Then he started adding some native forest-kin to the region. He pointed at a few of his new carnivorous plants, and caused them to uproot themselves and take to the sky as gulping Toni-flora. He pointed at another larger one and it ripped itself out of the ground, the hulking Dionera Rex roaring loudly before it began trudging through the forest, seeking prey. Smaller beasts of that ilk followed, shaped like other primordial beasts from petal feathered raptors to stegosaurus with leafy plates running across their backs and ankylosaurus with walnut-like armor casings.
As Jeon watched one of these herbivores then approached a towering seedpod looking plant that was the last of Jeon’s additions and took a precursory chomp, only for its glowing eyes to dim softly as poisons set in. Then vines lashed up from the earth, grappling the beast. As it struggled to escape it was then set upon by a pack of needle-toothed ape like Nagna, who ripped and tore at the sedated creature even as it managed to crush a few of their number till it fell, and its life juices fell around the plant.
The plant that the Nagna too had tried to drink the nectar of for sustenance. Now instead they ate a meager meal of part of their kill, and then began tearing the rest apart, strewing its parts around to their new master, the Cortex Flower, which had enthralled their minds to its will.
The herbivore dealt with, the plant split its manila thralls into two packs, one to stay and remain in ambush around, the others to roam out and hunt for more prey or thralls for their master.
“Perfect” Jeon declared as the biggest threat in the forest began to claim its domain. The biggest threat, and the biggest prize, for if harvested correctly, the mind controlling plant’s parts and poisons could have all sorts of uses that could open the mind to new power, induce euphoric highs or seal it shut and leave a victim complaint.
“Now that, should make for an interesting second leg of their journey, I think” the god declared, before skipping off to see how the [champion] handled this next leg of her journey.
Jeon has been stalking, I mean watching, Penumbra as the Umbra and her little party set out on their, to be, continent spanning adventure, when he realizes that a bit of that adventure will be going through the nowhere’s vill of the untouched land sat between the south continents central mountains and its mighty desert.
So he makes another forest over there, fills it with (water) bugs and birds, Tonnikkala, plant dinosaurs, some flying plant fish, and a type of plant called a Cortex Flower which can enthrall the minds of creatures that drink its nectar, bending them to its will and using them as defenders and hunters for fertilizer.
Start 5mp,5ap 3 mp to unlock the Forests Aspect: More than just trees, a forest is a diverse and complex ecosystem, that, while yes, defined by its largest of residents, includes so much more than that. From vines growing on the trees, to caterpillars munchkin on the leaves and birds tonikalla munching on the caterpillars, to the mushrooms munching on the rotting wood below, all are part of these great landscape defining realms.
Forests are also more than just an ecosystem, they are ancient heartlands of terrestrial life, and hallmarks and symbols of nature itself, ones oh so often stood in opposition and contrast to the civilizations who fell them for timber and /or clear them for farmland. To those of the plains, forests are deep dark mysterious things, hiding dangers and terrors, things best gnawed at the edges of or briefly penetrated and plundered for treasure such as furs, fruits or fungus rather than a place any sane being would live.
Of course, people and forests are not incompatible, and to those who would live in harmony with the trees, or even encourage them to flourish in new and wonderful ways, forests can be a sanctuary from the harsh world beyond, and a wonder deserving of protection. From [druids] to [treeshapers] and [forest guardians], mortals who live in tandem with the forests can enter a symbiotic relationship that allows both forest and friends to prosper.
2 ap (discount from 4 with forests) to make the lightwoods in the south west of the continent, between the mountains and the desert.
1 ap (discounted from 2) to make the Cortex Plant, a large growth which can End 2mp,1ap
Po was angry. Po was mad. Po burned a trail down from her newly minted molten sea, all the way to some mountain range just south of a great Mesa and wide river. Upon finding her way blocked by the mountains, she pouted and frowned and was generally… well she was mad, okay? Her frustration bubbled up from her fiery gut and with a loud roar, she spewed an angry fountain of heat from her mouth, melting herself a way through the mountainous chain.
Through the new fiery gate she walked, stomping and swearing the whole way through, until she found herself face to face with a great and impregnable forest. Her slitted, angry eyes widened to hungry saucers.
Down below in the deep dark woods Jeon was hanging out in a tree watching a party of [adventurers] hunting for an illustrious golden beetle he’d made when he suddenly looked to the west at the fiery eruption and his eyes went as wide as Po’s had, only his were filled with a mix of wonder and fear
“Oh. Oh that can’t be good” he said, before bursting out of the tree line and being caught by his roaming glider, the adventurer swooping off towards the mountain melting menace quick as could be, borne by wind, will and worry till had cleared the forest in a flash.
The glider then angled upwards, tossing the god off it and sending him falling the final part of the distance, his garb, hail and tail fluttering dramatically behind him as he fell, hand on the hilt of his blade. Like a cat, he landed on his feet, and then with a flourish he drew his thin blade and directed it towards the burning goddess, standing between her and the tinderbox behind hm.
“Halt! Or face the blade of Jeon Du Termas!” he commanded dramatically, taking a fencer’s posse with a stent look on his face. Then he almost immediately dropped the dramatic demeanor as he commented more casually “oh and love the whole living fire aesthetic by the way. Very cool- uh hot- no… it looks good on you!” while giving her a finger gun with his free hand.
Po narrowed her eyes. “Are you making fun of me?” She hissed, tugging her cloak closer.
“No? Trust me if i was it would be way more obvious. And have bad fire word play in it probably” Jeon replied before making a terrible decision and demonstrating “Like ooooh, you think you're hot stuff? I used to shoot hotter flames when I coughed”
“You never have, that’s a lie!” Po pointed a finger, taking Jeon all too seriously. “Look!” Po tilted her head up and with a blast of her voice, a pillar of searing heat melted into the sky, the oxygen around it popping menacingly.
Jeon raised a finger, lowered it, raised it, and then just agreed “Well looks like I staaaaaand corrected” and then giving a little bow, one had pressed to his chest (and the other still holding the sword) as he said “You have me humbled, lady flame. My old sneezes are naught compared to you” before standing upright again and adding “you know I really don’t miss those now that I think about it? Wait, have I ever sneezed since I became a god?” he thought for a moment and then concluded “Huh. don’t think so” before rounding all the way back and asking “So anyway, hi! How are you? And who? Who is kinda the big one.”
Po straightened out her cloak, which then tangled into flames regardless, and gave a hidden smile. “I’m Po, and I’m mad.”
“Ok neat” Jeon said, before giving her a little wave and a “Hi Po,” before asking the obvious question: “So why are you mad?”
“Stupid Homura said I couldn’t eat her giant.” Po crossed her arms. “She said I wasn’t good enough.” A pause and then a growl. “It makes me so mad!” Po stomped her foot, the ground cracking with menacing flames.
“Wh…” Jeon began to ask, and then just rolled with it “How rude of her!”
“I know!” Po shouted. “I tried anyway, but it didn’t work… I ate everything but the giant, and now I’m just mad.”
“As well you should!” Jeon agreed, continuing to just roll with it so he could get to the important question: “So what are you going to do with all that anger?”
“I’m gonna!” Po started and raised her fists to the sky. “I'm gonna!” A pause. “I’m gonna.. Do it!” Her body exploded into blue flames. “I’ll eat everything,” Po concluded. “I’ll show Homura I can eat her giant!”
“Sounds like a good way to get fa- i mean, uh, everything? As in everything, everything?” Jeon asked, a touch worried about this prospect, and so he tried “Won’t that take a while?”
Po let her hands fall back to her sides. “Maybe, but I don’t know what else to do.”
“Well, you could try and just eat the things that are hard to eat? Like. the sea? You know, for training?” Jeon suggested, before realizing this would be an awful idea if she actually pulled it off, and so suggested instead ”Ooooor you could delegate. Like. Have other people, uh, burn stuff for you. But sustainably, so they can keep doing it forever and, not as some kind of apocalypse cult. Not that those don't make great adventuring foes.. No. No no no. Sustainable fire. Sustainable . Fire. No ending the world.” that last bit being very much muttered at himself rather than Po
“But!” Po protested. “How would that prove anything to Homura!?”
“Well. uh. Wherever she looks she’ll see mortals making fire, and it will remind her of you? Also all the mortals will love you for making it warm at night and being able to bake pies and isn’t fame and recognition its own reward?” Jeon said, actually getting into this idea now “You’ll be a big shot! Super renowned! Every cooking fire will be a tribute to your name and this Homura? Ha, small fry in comparison. No follower loser.”
Leaping forward, Po took Jeon’s hands in her own, scalding grip. “You really think they’ll call her a loser?” Her tone was hopeful.
“Sure! I mean nothing is stopping you now but like, having a big name and a load of admirers definitely backs it up and makes it a fact!” Jeon explained “You will be the goddess of flame, giver of light, and she’ll be… well I don't know what she does other than owning a giant but hey, that means you are already winning!”
“I’m winning!?” Po’s grip tightened. “And then what happens?”
“You can gloat, you know, lord it over her all smug like” Jeon explained, trying to back up and finding himself stuck in the death grip, sword and all “And, uh, convince your followers to snub her too.”
“Perfect,” Po all but shouted. “How do we start?”
Jeon gave out a sigh of relief, and then perked up “First thing first is we go into the forest, find some elves, and teach them how to make fires. Without burning the whole place down in the process”
“Eugh, well if you think that’s the best way to stick it to Homura,” Po seemed unsure about the last part specifically. “Then lead the way.”
A few moments and a whole load of fire fighting later, and the pair were standing before a very intimidated elven [hunter] in the outskirts of the woods, the poor lad squinting as the goddess lit up the dark woods with her fabulous light. If it was any consolation his face pain and skin that had turned brassy in hue like most of his kin since they had met the similarly tinted god, was reducing the amount of sunburn he was getting by quite a bit
“Hi there, hmmmm, Paw?” Jeon guessed the elf’s name based on the face and bodypaint and giving a happy smile when he got a nod confirming he was right, before introducing the flame goddess “this spicy lady is Po, goddess of fire and she has a little lesson for you about, well, her whole deal”
"Yes! You're going to help me spread fire!" Po nodded enthusiastically. "Remember, one fire! All fire is me and someday I'll eat the world. Until then, you'll have to do some eating for me. Are you ready?"
Paw looked goggle eyed at Po, glanced at the enthusiastically nodding Jeon who’s smile did not quite meet his eyes, and then back to Po and hesitantly said “...yes?”
"Perfect!" Po clapped her hands, sending an uncomfortable wave of heat outwards. "Now show me your offering."
“My.. offering?” Paw said hesitantly, a touch confused until Jeon raised a hand to cover his mouth from Po and whispered “food” helpfully
“Oh. Ok. So like a gift?” Paw said, this whole situation seemingly making a lot more sense now,
They reached into a little leafy holster hanging by their side and pulled out a big chunky goldfish (that seemed to defy gravity even after it had been skewered by the Paw’s spear) and held it out for her to see: “Here, I caught this a little while ago. Would you like it?”
"It'll do." Po waved a hand and the entire spear burst into flames.
“Ah! Ahhhh!” Paw immediately panicked as the fire’s gnawed at their hand and they dropped the burning stick and meal in fight and pain.
"See?" Po continued happily. "Fire needs food to grow. So before enacting my will of fire, you need an offering for the fire. Now go find me another offering and I'll show you have to keep your fire… because yours is already sorta…" she looked down at the smouldering spear. "Well, anyway. Go get plenty of offerings and bring them back here!"
“But you destroyed my spear. And my hand hurts really badly” Paw whined, clutching their roasted hand before Jeon stepped in saying “they can't help you if they’re hurt, here, let me just” he glanced around and then snapped his fingers causing a few plants in the area to vanish in a shower of sparkles and appear before him.
“Crush the juice out of this” he said to himself as he remembered, squeezing the aloe-vera plant to get out its gel, and then carefully applying it to Paw’s burnt hand, the elf cringing as this was done and then looking amazed as the pain started to go down
“A miracle...”
“Hmm? What? No, plants can just be used for medicine and healing if you use them right dummy," Jeon said, as if it was obvious and he hadn’t just in that very moment introduced the elf to the concept “Now run along and get your tribe’s help feeding Po. Quickly” Jeon told the elf, shooing them off as soon as possible before they could aggravate Po any more
"Are you sure these people will be the ones to spread my fire?" Po asked anxiously. "They complain a lot."
“They just need to know how to handle it properly, and they’ll be good” Jeon assured her “your fire’s are brilliant and powerful, and oh so dangerous in untrained hands as a result. Which is part of why we are teaching them! Once they’ve got it they’ll do great things with it… and for you”
The day was late, the sun setting, and the elves of Paw’s tribe had gathered on the edge of the forest in sight of the still cooling mountain as it was bathed in the orange glow of approaching twilight. Piled before them was all the food they could find: everything from berries and nuts to roots and fruits, to bloody tonnikala and sap leaking forest-kin, all gifts to the hot one. They also looked exhausted, tired, and hungry, Jeon having urged them to put in all the effort they could to impress the goddess.
Po looked over it, cradling her chin in thought. She had pulled back her hood to get a better look at the offerings, letting her blazing hair flicker upwards. "Fruits don't burn very well. Or well they do, but they don't keep a flame."
As if to prove a point the fruits and berries suddenly popped, an angry hiss of steam bursting from the wrinkled risens. "Wood though…" the roots, nuts and forest-kin suddenly burst into orange flames, keeping a low flicker as Po continued to talk.
"Every time you feed the fire, you feed me. You can invoke my flame by offering my favorite foods and then applying heat. Then you can use my favor to do great things… such as to cook that Tonnikala!" Po smiled at the elves. "Gain my favor enough and maybe I'll teach you how to do… this!"
She flicked her wrist and a nearby spruce erupted into flames.
The Elves where struck between looks of unbridled terror, awe, and in a few, feelings of facination the hadn’t known they had as they beheld the twin infernos. Jeon meanwhile just sighed, drew his sword and vanished in a blur, and returned again in the blink of an eye as the trees around the burning spruce toppled down and created a firebreak around the blazing evergreen.
“W-we could do that” Paw asked, finding his tongue first among his kin thanks to exposure therapy “how?”
“Same way you do anything cool that breaks the rules of nature. Leveling of course!” Jeon stepped in to say.
Po placed her hand on Jeon’s cheek and pushed him away before stepping closer to the mortals, her flames licking dangerously close. From underneath her hood, her hungry eyes were peeking out like churning coals. “Just give me offerings and I’ll give you fire, no matter where you are. I’ll let you throw it, breathe it, spit it, pee it, whatever.”
This got a whole host of amazed looks. Also an equal if not greater of horrified ones. But it was the amazed ones who came closer rather than shy away, and so their words that reached the goddess.
“For your fire? I-I-I’d give anything,” “So strong,” “We wouldn't need to run and hide from a root serpent ever again,” “So pretty,” “How, tell us how,” “Do you have any favorite things to eat?”
“Bones, coal, tar, wood,” Po listed, “dry things, not wet things.”
“Coal?” “tar?” “got lots of wood though!” came the replies, and then the soon to be faithful broke apart, scurrying into the woods and returning a little later with armfuls of sticks and such. By that point the rest of the elves had either gotten a safe distance away or bailed entirely, leaving the stage entirely clear for the jr pyromancers to give this whole goddess feeding business thing a go.
Po clapped with heated delight as her new faithful started lighting twigs and branches on fire to make meager camp fires. Some tried offering for spells, and from those they got sparkles and small bolts of flame.
“Well, I’m sure this won't have any long term divisive consequences” Jeon said to himself as casually maneuvered around the [firestarter]’s camp doing a bit of fire control/safety instruction here and there to make sure no elves were roasted and no forests where burned down in the process of this little education session. The lack of casualties and collateral damage certainly helped smooth over relations with those that had initially been apprehensive, and though Jeon’s prediction might well come true sometime down the line, at the moment the displays of power where luring more and more elves out of the woodwork and into the smoky embrace beneath the open sky.
“So, I think this has turned out pretty well don’t you?” Jeon said once he shimmied back on over to Po after things were mostly in hand.
“Yes!” Po exclaimed before tapping her cheek. “Could be hotter though.”
“Hotter? Do I… want to know what you mean by that?” Jeon asked, morbidly curious
“Heat.” Po said. “Hot. Heat. Sizzle. Pop. Their fires are babies, not yet hot enough. They couldn’t melt a simple stone.”
“Well, I’m sure as they level and learn they’d get spicier fires” Jeon pointed out “gonna need hotter fires to do metal smithing for example”
“I don’t know if you figured me out yet.” Po crossed her arms and turned to Jeon. “But I’m not as patient as I seem.” A pause. “But if it’ll stick it to Homura like you said, I’ll do my best.”
“That’s the spirit, good things come to those who wait. And invest in the future. Probably. Probably should talk about that kind of thing with that trade goddess” Jeon tapped his lips thoughtfully and then came up an analogy “It’s like a spark, that will start a fire that will engulf the world”
“Well, thank you, John Dom Thomas.” Po put her hands on her hips. “I feel a little better now.”
“Glad to hear it!” the god replied, patting her on the shoulder and then going “ouch” and shaking his hand.
“So, uh, what’s next?” he asked after recovering
A long, thoughtful pause grew between the two gods before Po answered. “I don’t know.”
“Well… good luck with that!” Jeon replied, before prancing down to join the fire-starters and shouting “Hey! Who wants to learn what a barbecue is?”
1 AP Might used to teach elves how to make fire real good 1 AP might used to invent pyromancy and teach it to the elves. Pyromancy requires invoking Po’s name with an offering that will then grant the holder a fiery spell equal to the quality of the offering. An instance would be holding up a bit of coal, saying the offering mantra and then hurling a ball of fire from where the coal used to be.
Po is angy and burns a small path down from the taiga to the dark forest (don’t worry about collateral damage, the only big burn she did was to a poor mountain by the forest) and then she bumps into Jeon who decides to put her fire to good use rather than letting her just burn down the forest.
So she teaches some slightly crispy elves how to make fire and perform pyromancy. She calms down a bit.
Times had been tough for ol Jim the magnificent. See, his turtle escape from the treehouse dungeon had gone off without a hitch but, unfortunately, what had come after had been the tricky bit. Namly he’d found it hard to set up shop again anywhere, as any time he did, pesky [adventurers] would show up, chasing his legend and the fame that bringing him down would bring.
Well that or the tale of his monsters had spread through the darkwoods and not one tribe had any interest in having Jim and his undead hordes as a neighbor. It had been fun at first, but being on the run and having less and less time to regain his forces had gotten old, and then, dangerous.
He’d had a few close calls… and then one time everything had gone black, and he’d woken up somewhere entirely different. Sat on a throne in a treasure stuffed castle in the mountains, and surrounded by a pile of needle faced Nagna corpses.
Oh, and one other thing. He was now a level 1 [necromancer]
Time had passed since then and he’d managed to get back on his feet. His hordes had grown, at first made of the odd beasts that wandered into the desolate mountains, and then after he had consolidated his forces, he had raided from the deserts, woods, and bizarre bloody marsh that touched the mountain range his castle sat in for corpses.
This of course got the attention of the locals, and he was very much expecting [adventurers] to come a knocking to face him, stop his attacks/grave robbing and steal the booty his home was stuffed with. As such, when a thumping came at the gates of his caslte, he was both unsurprised and well prepared. He arrayed his minions ahead of him in the long entryway, weak zombies at the front, undead monsters in the middle, his two [apprentice necromancers] he’d picked up from the desert behind those and then he himself standing above them all dramatically
“Nyeheheh! So, the fools come at last! Well I've learned from my mistakes! No starting out my forces! Today they face my full might all at once! We will see who will get the best of who this time!” he declared as the banging grew louder, and louder.
And then it stopped.
And then the door caught fire. And then a massive scaly head smashed through it and into the room.
“W-w-what” Jim stammered as he looked up and up and beheld the monster that invited itself into his realm, stepping over the burning wreckage of the door and into the entry hall. Embers slope off of its bright red scales, and its mighty horns and wings almost scraped the ceiling of the grand entryway.
“Hmmm. Well this is strange. Then again. This big cave was already stange and alluring so…” the beast said before going “hmm” again and looking down with its amber eyes to find some zombies had walked over and started uselessly whaling at its scaly legs. “shoo shoo” the dragon said as it effortlessly swatted them away.
“What…. What are you!?” Jim demanded to know of the beast, which turned its head and informed him simply “I’m a dragon” before adding “now if you excuse me, I smelled treasure, hmmmmm, that way”
And with that the dragon started stomping through Jim’s hordes, the [necromancer] backing up as his cowardly ex-bandit [apprentices] cowered behind him. It ignored all three and pushed deeper into the castle, leaving a trail of ruined undead in its wake.
Jim stood there shocked for a bit, and then shouted, “Hey wait, come back!” and ran after the dragon. His two apprentices looked at eachother, and then decided to leg it in the opposite direction. Out the castle they went and they didn’t stop till they got back to the desert.
Back in castle du la Jim its master was haranguing the uninvited guest “What is the meaning of this? You can't just come in here and ignore me! Me! The amazing indestructible awe inspiring Jim!” he insisted, and yet was still ignored.
The dragon was far more interested in a set of locked doors “mmm, ahhh there. Behind there” it said and proceeded to wreck that set as well and unveiled a beautiful sight: the motherload of the castle’s treasure, stacked up in the vault
“oooooh. Sooo shiny” the dragon marveled at the gold and jewels piled within, and then immediately moved in to scoop up a calw full “and so much. I’lll have to come back”
“Come back? Hey! What does an overgrown lizard even want with gold and jewels anyway!” Jim shouted
“Lizard? Lizard!” the dragon snarled and turned its snout on the [necromancer] and blew smoke in his face “I am a dragon! Dra-gon! Got it?”
“Yes yes yes. Of course of course. Dragon. My mistake” Jim replied, only somewhat intimidated “But, ah, my question still stands”
“Hmf. Dragons collect things. It is what we do. You must know that” the dragon informed him dismissively
“Well… I do now. So you all collect jewels and things?” Jim asked
“Well, I do. The others made fun of me for collecting something there is so little off, but who is laughing now!” The dragons declared, giving off a booming laugh that caused the castles halls to shake and the gold to dance and chink like music to its ears.
“So… how big exactly was your collection?” Jim asked, getting the start of an idea.
“Hmm? Oh. well. Only a claw full really. Less, if I am behind honest” it replied, clearly a bit embarrassed about this fact
“Well. how about this. How about instead of going back and forth hauling this treasure to your drab cave you just go there once, fetch it, and then set up shop here!” Jim offered
“Hmmm” the dragon hummed. It did sound easier. And the castle was definitely nicer than its cave. There was just one issue “but how do I know you won't just steal it when I am away… ah. Wait. I know I'll just kill you!”
“No no wit wait wait” Jim held out his hand and shook them rapidly as if he could ward off the raised claw about to squish him “I can help you! I was just guarding the gold, I wouldn't steal it! I can make sure others don't instead”
“Why would I trust you? Or need you? Nothing can face a dragon” it gloated
“Think about it. Hundreds of extra eyes looking out for thieves instead of just your two. Trust me, you’ll need them. There’s nasty [adventurers] about, and breaking into places, killing everything inside and stealing anything not nailed down is their whole thing. And if they can't kill everything by attacking head on they’ll sneak in when you are asleep”
“Hmmm. That does sound like a nuisance” the dragon agreed
“Oh yes for certain. Plus, they’re my sworn enemies!” Jim declared with a raised fist, before reassuring the dragon “and that is why you can trust me. Together we will see off any nasty [adventurers] and keep this castle and the treasure safe as can be”
“Hmmm. And what do you get out of this?” the Dragon asked
“Well a terrifying dragon friend of course. Who wouldn't want that?”
“Hmmm” the dragon thought for a long moment and then agreed “deal”
“Excellent! With you and me, side by side, those fools won’t stand a chance, nyeyeyeye!”
Jeon has transpanyed Jim into the mountains between the darkwoods, the desert and the bloodmire, and given him a castle full of gold and a class: [necromancer] (which he can and has taught to others)
He sets up another undead force, and then faces the first being to come and try and claim the castle’s booty: a dragon. Not standing a chance, Jim instead negotiates and convinced the dragon to make its home in the castle, adding a big scaly fire breathing guardian to castle du la jim
Start: 0mp/3ap 1 ap (discounted from 2 with adventure) to make the small landscaping change of a spooky castle up in the mountains 1 ap to make Jim a champion with the [necromancer] class 1 ap to fill the castle with mundane treasures End: 0mp/0ap
Jim, he of many titles Start: 0 1 spirit, at a minimum, is awarded to a champion for every post in which they appear as more than just a passing mention in one line. 1 spirit is additionally awarded to a champion if they are featured in a post that does not involve the deity that created them. 1 spirit is additionally earned if the post is of medium length (think about 5,000+ chars). This is just so that it’s not so much more ‘optimal’ to break posts into lots of smaller chunks to farm spirit. End: 3
Members have a high chance of getting bonus forest related skills. Rebrand to simply the Adventurer’s Guild and go global. [Adventurers] in the guild can also now gain bonus trade and shadow related skills.
Jim:3
[necromancer] class, able to upgrade others to it as well
Darkwood Guardians: 2
Consisting mostly of Rangers and Druids, they have a deep connection with the Darkwoods, allowing for greater coordination with its natural defenders, as well as enhanced skill in operating within its confines. Each member gains either the [guardian] class, a defensive class that synergizes well with existing ones, and with other [guardians]. Their leaders are [Wardens], a class capable of anointing fresh [Guardians] and one that will also gain skills to empower their subordinates.
While it might have cost Kamek a great deal of energy, there was no denying that Blazermate and Susie’s hanging back and wheeling and dealing with the undead pirate king had paid off. No more flying, surfing or whale back riding for the troop no sir, from here to Twilight town it was going to be smooth sailing on the back of the fully crewed pirate ship.
Well that was the hope as the Troop settled down on deck to rest. Said hope then proceeded to be dashed in about the time it got them to get comfortable.
It all started with a cry none had expected to hear out here to the east, and yet, here they were again, Abyssals. A swarm of their fliers appeared out of the blue and without provocation, swooping in to deliver a bombing run.
”No no no! Turn back! I’m your boss or something so shoo!” Rika the resident Abyssal jujmped to her feet to shouted up at the bombers flying in, but it was no use. They had other masters, ones that had fallen into the wrong crowd (though it could be argued that Rika’s specific turtle villain crowd weren't the best either).
Said turtle based crowd’s where blasted into action by the, well, blasts rocking the ship: Bowser hunkered down in his shell and returned sporadic fire with the cannons atop it, Jr ran for the cover of his car and leapt head first into it before taking it off and Kamek… well she was still exhausted from using her magic for pirate ship transport, so she mostly just hobbled for the cover of the brig.
The gang would not be getting any mage support this time round.
They’d have to take the boat he had helped acquire as compensation, the boat that had a single cannon on it that Jr had salvaged to return fire with. Against them, as it turned out, was an airship, a giant snail (also an airship), a cannon platform and an unknown number of enemies in the water, all arrayed in a mighty fine ambush despite the lack of any kind of cohesion in their aesthetic other than being kinda piraty and nautically. Had he had brain cells, Bowser might have found this a bit odd, but as he had at most two rattling around there and so his response to this, after the bombers had done their first run, had been to stomp up to the prow of the ship, plant a foot on the bowsprit and bellow:
”I DON’T KNOW WHO YOU THINK YOU ARE, BUT I KNOW WHO I AM, AND THAT’S THE ADMIRAL OF AWESOME, THE BARON OF BAD ATTITUDE AND THE ONE AND ONLY KOOPA KING WHO IS GOING TO BE ALL YOUR DOOM! FLEE BEFORE BOWSER YOU SCHMUCKS, BEFORE I RIP UP YOUR LAME AIRSHIPS AND STOMP EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU INTO THE OCEAN FLOOR!”
While he was trying to intimidate them, their enemies were busy raining hell down on them from afar, and, worse, up close.
”Bowser! Torpedoes!” Rika cried out as the explosive tubes hammered the underside of the ship from some unseen foes, giving the poor ship ensconced Kamek quite the bout of seasickness on top of putting her life in danger.
”Oh, that’s brave. Getting up close. Well then let’s see how you like it!” the king said as turned his gaze to the waters, and then joined in with what Rika was already doing: returning fire with torpedoes of their own.
The ship girl had hopped overboard and was dropping off twin pairs of torpedoes from the undersized of her gauntlets which she sent wheezing towards where she thought the enemy subs were.
When Bowser got in on the action he had no such finesse. He retracted into his shell and started spinning, firing off a hail of fury spikes straight up into the air, which then arched end over end and fell down and hit the waters, where the propellers on their rears bit into the wet and pushed them down down into the blue to explode like depth charges vaguely around where the unseen shipgirls where.
As for the whale fellow hooking away at the ship, well, he was about to meet one of his kin, as Rika’s white whale, now free of acting as a transport for king or cannon, dived down under the water, ready to meet biting jaw with biting jaw, and anchor flail with anchor tail.
Down below, the arrival of torpedoes in their underwater battleground prompted the Abyssal twins to take notice. “We’ve got incoming,” Elsie, the younger but paradoxically bigger of the two, idly commented, prompting Thumpback to tear himself away from his task of tearing up the Adrian’s underside to look.
“I can see that,” Adie snipped back at her. The older but smaller and more elegantly-dressed of the pair kept her focus on the primary target, pounding away at the pirate ship’s hull with the four emplacements on her massive, heart-shaped arm cannon.
Elsie adjusted her horned sensory visor. The indigo light building within her own cannon’s ‘eye’ died down. “Doesn’t look like they’re really aiming at us, though,” she deadpanned.
“Hence, why I’m not bothered!” Rolling her eyes, Adie double-checked to make sure. Whoever her assailants were, they seemingly hoped to take out the subaqueous threat without getting wet themselves. Sure, Rika’s torpedoes entered the sisters’ vicinity but they weren’t locked on. The fury spikes fell around them like rain, driven by their propellers straight down to the sea floor on all sides, but with three submariners sheltered directly below the Adrian it took only minor adjustments to avoid the explosives. After a few moments, Adie quit firing to restock her ammunition. “There! That oughta be good enough, right El?”
“Keel is approximately seventy-percent destroyed,” her sister reported. “The rudder is disabled, so they’re unable to steer, and the loss of ballast in the bilge increases the risk of listing.” A rain of golden coins from the hold, which together with stones in the bottom of the ship helped keep the whole thing balanced upright, glittered in the fitful light as they fell to the sea floor. “They’re taking on massive amounts of water.”
Adie waved her hand. “Okay, okay, that’s plenty. Ready for the next step, I’m sure.” She narrowed her eyes at Thumpback. “Your turn, blubber brain.”
The whale grumbled, releasing a fount of angry bubbled. “Once this job’s done, we’ll settle things, mark my words.” He twirled his anchor around like a lasso, preparing to hurl it up and into the guts of the Adrian with titanic strength.
It was then that Rika’s nightmarish beluga appeared, plunging down through the water toward the three on or above the sea floor. The sight took Thumpback by surprise, who quit spinning his anchor and grabbed hold of it like an axe. “Hey, heads up!”
“We see it, obviously!” Adie huffed. Without even needing to communicate, both sisters changed targets. Both unleashed a handful of shells from their arm cannons, which not being self-propelled couldn’t change course and would eventually slow down to act as depth charges. They then charged up their weapons, and when the white whale got close enough, they fired twin energy beams -one indigo and one lavender- both to damage the enemy and set off the shells.
The whale, naturally, returned with its own fire, its own twin double barreled turrets unleashing shots as it swerved to avoid running headlong into their fire, braudsizing them as it circled at a distance where its longer barreled guns had an advantage. Nevertheless, it took some damage, particularly from the range-irrespective beams.
”Did we hit anything? Ships not shaking any more” Bowser asked up above. Around him, the Adrian continued to accumulate withering damage from the cannons on all sides. Even if the barrage was letting up a little due to the others’ efforts, the irreparable damage done to the ship’s hull and innards was threatening its structural integrity.
”They’re just shooting up my whale now!” Rkia replied ”and no, I don’t think so?”
It was a shame she hadn’t gotten any depth charges on these things, she was thinking, before she recalled what she did have them. A few button presses later and two little hanger bays snapped open on the side of the gauntlets, launching a pair of Abyssal Reconnaissance Planes which shot out over the water, scanning equipment and giving her a better view of what was going down down there.
”I think I see, aw no, princesses!” Rika despaired, having somewhat hoped she wouldn't have to deal with that whole messy aftermath by traveling to the rest of the world. Well if the planes hadn’t sunk that hope the pair down below certainly did.
”Well, where are they!” Bowser wanted to know ”Because I can’t swim anymore remember!”
”I.. I.. I.. ah whoreson” Rika cursed and then committed shouting ”Follow my lead” and cocking both guns and torpedoes, spraying with more accurate fire and an actual target lock now on the subsurface princesses. Bowser followed her lead, but not with shells but with sound, sending supersonic waves down into the water to confuse their foes.
Down below, the Abyssals were treating Rika’s beluga roughly. On its own against the three submariners, it lacked speed, maneuverability, armaments beyond its two head-cannons, and worst of all, intelligence. Their cuttlefish torpedoes left chunks missing in its pallid flesh, and when the giant Thumpback hooked its mouth with his enormous anchor and pulled, he left a massive split in the monster’s jaw. Still, the largely one-sided beatdown didn’t give the sisters tunnel vision. Bullets quickly lost speed underwater, but when Rika sent a flurry of far more accurate torpedoes their way, they were forced to use their lasers defensively.
“They have a lock on us,” Elsie pointed out.
“Obviously!”
“Should we relocate?”
Adie scoffed. “No way, we’re sitting pretty down here. It’s just one enemy on the water. See her scooting around up there?” From below, she could see Rika’s every move silhouetted against the light, while the Abyssals blended into the shadows of the deep against the sea floor. “I give ‘em one more person up there blindly chucking stuff down at us, tops. But, ugh, what’s this noise?” She held onto her head, wincing. “Some kind of alarm?”
“Unknown. It’s affecting me, as well.” Elsie expression tightened. “My targeting is deteriorating. I recommend activating your FCS-CIC as a countermeasure.”
“Well, duh! I’m already on it.” With an internal toggle Adie activated her sonar, sending her own pulses of sound through the water. Every solid surface in a massive radius caused the waves to bounce back straight to her, allowing her to image her surroundings perfectly. “Hah, there we go. Feel better already!”
Elsie nodded. “Must be negating the sound somewhat.”
“That’d be why. But…ugh!” Adie expression turned toward disgust. “Hey, big guy. Y’know you have barnacles down there, right?”
Thumpback grunted. “Mind your own business, pipsqueak. Is it go time, or what?”
“Yeah, let’s,” Adie affirmed, dispatching another volley of incoming fire with her laser and torpedoes. “My ASW is best-in-class. Once my sonar’s on, I’m invincible underwater.”
“We’ll cover you,” Elsie added.
Thumpback grunted again, and spun up his anchor. This time he let it loose, and it shot straight up to crash through the wood and lodge in the bowels of the Adrian’s starboard side. Then, using his incredible might, the giant began to pull. Already gutted and filling with water, the ship began to tilt sideways.
Having been already leaning on the edge of the ship, this tip was more than enough to unsteady Bowser, his arm’s going flailing in the open air before he hit the water and sunk like a stone, cheeks puffed up as he held onto the air he had.
”Bowser!” Rika cried out alarm and, after a quick breath, dove into the water and tried her best to swim after him, calling for her battered whale’s help to save the sinking king.
At least they could see their foes a bit better now, and rather than stay a sitting duck or panic while sinking Bowser moved first to defend himself. Or rather get someone to defend him, the King summoning Marie Korbel, the former, skull girl, to aid him beneath the waves.
The undead maid took one look about, got the gist of the situation and then unleashed a wave of flying skulls at the ship girls, and a horde of skeletal mariners at the big whale while she herself acted as cover for the king tried and failed to swim
”Gaah, this can't be how it ends!” he raged ”I'm Bowser,The bad guy, chumpy water doesn't deserve to be the thing that does mne in!”
“You do realize your breathing under water just fine right?” Marie, who didn't need to breathe thanks to being dead, pointed out.
”Huh?”
Sea Life (Tentacruel): Bowser can breathe underwater, and has an innate talent for navigating aquatic environments.
”Oh. Sweet!” was Bowser’s rather understated response to not drowning as he landed on the seafloor.
Rika, surprised and relieved by this turn of events, turned her focus to fire support, her desperate dive into the drink meaning she was better able to see how her cannon shots were arching under the water, the ship girl using them to supplement her dwindling torpedo supply while racking up the shots towards her All Out Assault.
Taken by surprise but far from helpless, the Abyssal sisters carved a path through the avalanche of bone with their lasers and blew holes in the undead legion with their torpedoes, but that was a lot of skeletons. The oversaturation of targets taxed Adie’s sonar to the point that she didn’t detect Rika’s own torpedoes until they’d gotten much too close for comfort, at which point her countermeasures got her caught in the blast. “Agh!” she gasped, gritting her teeth. Her arm cannon worked as a shield in a pinch, but it was far from perfect, and if it took too much damage it wouldn’t work as a weapon.
“Adie!” Elsie exclaimed, chomping through an undead sailor with her arm before she swam to her sister’s side. “Are you well?”
“I’m fine,” the Abyssal snapped. “And if you’re about to say something like, that big reptile is coming towards us, save your breath!” Swimming backward, she blasted apart a skeletal horror with her laser, then singled out Thumpback. “Hey, meathead, quit playin’ with the ship! We’ve got bigger fish to fry!”
The whale retracted his weapon and turned to face Bowser. “Time to drop anchor, then.” Both titans began to approach one another, though in terms of size Thumpback definitely had the Koopa King beat. “Let’s dance, turtle!”
An unusual but not unknown situation for the littler big guy.
”Alright, show time!” he declared, and then owned his mouth... And found bubbles coming out instead of a fireball. ”uh, alright” the king said before recovering and putting up his dukes ”Alright bring it” he said, bouncing from foot to foot and then snapping his shell open to deploy two spider Dreugh limbs out the bottom and using them and water jets from his cannons to launch himself forwards with a massively wound up right hook, Kinetic Strike Module blowing bubbles as its engines failed to ignite under the water.
Up above Rika popped her head out for air, and then had a thought. If those two could work just fine under water, could she? She was fairly sure they weren't submarine princesses, but rather a cruiser and a destroyer. She steeled herself, ducked into the water, and took a hesitant shallow breath. Unfortunately, the dilution of her Abyssal nature through spirit fusion left her water-breathing abilities sorely lacking. A little got through, but it still felt like choking, enough to force an instinctive panic response, she ship girl scrambling for the surface and hacking up the water up there before cursing ”Belech! No, that didn't work”
Down below, Thumpback accepted Bowser’s challenge while his uneasy allies worked through the remainder of Marie’s skeleton horde. Though the King Koopa moved faster than one might expect, water resistance hindered any large objection’s acceleration through the deep, giving Thumpback enough time to answer in kind. With longer limbs he aimed a giant kick at Bowser’s middle, then planned to swing his anchor like massive flail once the blow connected, not even considering the possibility that things might not go to plan.
”Ooof” went Bowser as he got booted in the gut, bubbles streaming from his mouth as he was punted back. Still he had enough sense in him to spot the incoming spin, the king popping the turrets on the side of incoming blow out, and firing a blast of water out of them, turning him towards the incoming wrecking chain.
Positioned correctly, he raised his dukes, mecha mit shield and kinetic strike module both raised side by side in a boxer’s guard to block the hit. That wasn’t all he did though, and as the king landed he deployed the other three sets of cannons on the side now facing Thumpback and blindly fired cannon shells in his direction.
With how close he was to such a large target, however, Bowser was in luck. The shells burst forth and struck Thumpback before the water resistance slowed them down, resulting to a chain explosion to the torso. Additionally, blocking his anchor robbed it of all its momentum, leaving it dead weight in the water for the whale to drag along the ocean floor as he stumbled back from Bowser’s broadside. “Ghh!” Thumpback bubbled, irate but able to keep himself under control. He snagged his anchor on a rock and used it as leverage to burst forward again. This time he went in with a tackle to open Bowser up, his true purpose being to reach out with his giant mitt and grab the Koopa by the head. Even if bludgeoning didn’t work well underwater, crushing force would do the job just fine.
Another burst of water, another turn, and Bowser was presenting his spiky shell back to the incoming whale. However, this meant that if he did tough out the spikes, Bowser wasn't going to be able to dodge the attack. Fortunately for Bowser however, he was a turtle.
Unable to halt his momentum, Thumpback ran into the spikes, albeit not at high speed and with enough natural durability that it wouldn’t be too bad. His attempt to get a grip on Bowser failed as his target withdrew into his shell, though that also gave the whale free reign for a moment to do what he pleased. He upended the shell and planted Bowser spikes-first into the seabed, then with his anchor in hand, began to drive its point into Bowser’s middle with both hands.
Nearby, the skeleton onslaught was coming to an end. Adie swerved out of the way of an undead sailor and brought her arm cannon down on top of it, pinning it against the gravelly sea floor in a spray of sediment. With a scowl she brought her heel down, shattering the skull. Elsie, back to back with her sister, cleaved the last couple boneheads in half with her laser, then scanned her surroundings. “The enemy wave has petered out.”
“Why are you telling this to the one with sonar?” Despite her reproach Adie held her fist up beside her, and Elsie clanked her own against it. On the outside one might seem obnoxiously critical and the other coldly aloof, but the sisters didn’t need words to express their bond. “Let’s focus on the big lunk who thinks he can muscle in on our turf.”
“Understood.” With Elsie in the lead, the Abyssals swam to assist Thumpback.
Which was right about the time a recovered Rika got back in the fight, the ship girl having to hold her breath as she rode atop the back of her whale that was diving down towards the ship girls at a right angle to how they were trying to go after Bowser. Ship and girl opened fire on the other two, shells and torpedoes flying, until there was a click and the highest caliber of the ship girl's assorted guns suddenly unleashed a veritable wave of shots as her All Out Assault triggered.
Adie whipped around like she’d heard someone talking behind her back, fully informed about the smorgasbord of ordnance headed her way thanks to her sonar. “Elsie, watch it!”
While the shells fizzled out, the torpedoes bore down on them en masse, moving quickly. There wasn’t enough time to flee for cover, and they couldn’t mow all of them down in time, even while swimming backward. Elsie’s gaze turned to the sea floor. “Adie. Dust Bowl.”
“Yeah, sure!” With their artillery the sisters pounded away at the ground around them, kicking up a massive cloud of sand and stone that hung suspended in the water. It spread for hundreds of feet in every direction and obscured their position. Rika’s torpedo fusillade disappeared inside, a few detonating on contact with larger pieces of rubble, and the rest plowing blindly through to blow up as close to the Abyssals’ last known location as possible. A veritable fireworks display went off inside the silkscreen, and when it finally came to an end, the dust settled with no sign of the sisters to be found except Elsie’s mask, shattered in half.
”!” Rika couldn't speak, but she was certainly alarmed by her seemingly having killed the sisters… only to then realize there were no spirits. That relieved her, and also alarmed her slightly, because they could be anywhere.
At least they weren't bearing down on Bowser any more, and so, with her barrage done, she had her whale bring her up for air.
Meanwhile the ship girl’s target was in the worst position for a turtle to be: tipped on his back. Not a good time. He poked his head out of his shell just in time to react to the blow, his claws reaching up to try and grab the wide bars of the anchor before it smashed point first into his gut.
This would leave him and the whale kind of stuck, so Bowser did his best to wrestle himself to the side, Dreugh limbs deployed from his shell trying to help with that. He also got himself some more help on top of that, and with a ”Get him boys!” summoned Mallet and Sledge right above Thumpback, who dropped down to grab him and start whacking him with their hammers before they ran out of air.
Unbothered by the flies buzzing around him, Thumpback wrestled back. He lifted a foot to try to pin Bowser down, then applied pressure.
”Oof, argh, hey, maybe we can talk this out?” Bowser said, now stuck holding the anchor as he started getting the air crushed out of him by a stomping foot. Turns out letting yourself get caught by the bigger guy was not a smart move, and his smallfry went doing much. He had something of a trump card, but he wasn't sure where the ship girls where’s so he couldn't risk it, and instead he dug in to his toolkit of stickers for a different one, summoning Trowlon just under the thigh of the leg Thumpback was using to crush him, and then having the large lifter rise up to try and off balance the whale enough to toss him off and then use his cannons to jet propel himself away from the massive bruiser.
The Trowlon’s uncanny ascending abilities worked flawlessly, levering Thumpback right off his target. Off-balance and too heavy to do much of anything about it, he stumbled backward while windmilling his arms, and Bowser got away.
Not too far away, Rika’s retreat prompted the sea floor to stir. Adie and Elsie arose from the muck, the former’s gremlin leer and the latter’s dazzling, almost crystalline aquamarine eyes fixed on Rika as she went up for air. “If you think that little stunt sank us…” Adie began.
“...You’re dead wrong,” Elsie finished.
The two unleashed a swarm of cuttlefish torpedoes, followed shortly by Elsie’s Abyssal Searchlight. When Rika turned around, its eye-searing glare would momentarily blind her, leaving her and the white whale at the mercy of a terrific bombardment.
Though she couldn't see what was coming, she had to assume something was coming, and so there was only one course of action she had open to her. The girl tapped the side of her whale and then leaned down close as it sped up, racing towards the surface, trying to outrun the shots.
While her dated sunglasses did not dim the glare, they did help in another way as any shots that got within a 5 foot radius were slowed by their power. She fired her turrets backwards blindly too, but the goal was simple. Breach the water with stylish amounts of speed and leave the torpedoes floundering in the water. Hounded by a series of explosions for too close for comfort, her whale burst from the waves, but things did not go quite according to plan .With its giant mouth, arms, and tiny tail, her ride did not build up enough speed. It cleared the water, but only just, and the torpedoes that arrived soon after either struck the monstrous beluga away from Rika, or hit her slow-down field to hang in the air like floating mines when the whale crashed down. It smacked into the water hard, severely wounded, but Rika got flung off having avoided most of the damage.
Down below Bowser had gotten himself free, and now needed to try and work out a way to not repeat his sluggish leap of an opener. He scratched his cheek for a few moments, and then got a Bowser of an idea: if jumping resulted in slow, then he just had to do a run instead. So he did just that, stomping at first and then storming forwards, fist balled up for a pretty telegraphed right hook, while a Dreugh held back and charged electricity, ready for a more sneaky left jab.
Underwater, just about everything happened in slow motion, which included Thumpback’s response. He found his footing and turned to Bowser to bring both fists down on him when he came near, but the Koopa King was tougher cookie than Thumpback bargained for. Instead of flattening Bowser against the sea bed, the whale’s fists came up short against the turtle’s shell, and the next moment Bowser’s own strikes hit home. Electricity packed a punch down here, more than making up for what the spiky bruiser lost in speed as he went on the offensive.
”Ah ha! That’ll work” Bowser said, getting a clue and backing up just a bit so he could use his arms as well as shell to guard against more attacks, and then started jabbing away with the Dreugh limbs when they had charged up, aiming to deliver shock after shock if he could.
”Ahhhhh!” Rika screamed as she went flailing through the air off the back of her critically wounded whale, surrounded by explosions before splashing down with a stumbling gait atop the waves once more, only now she was soaked with seawater
”Ahhhhh whoreson,” she swore, and then pivoted before more shots came in and wracked her brains.
”I… can't beat them two on one and in their element” she concluded and then resolving ”So… gotta trust Bowser, and keep them off of him till he’s done with that big whale guy”
With that in mind she commanded ”Suppressing fire” and went back to using her scout planes to track the underwater ship girls, spacing out her fire so she could conserve ammo while keeping their focus on her and what little remained of her wrecked whale.
Far below, Elsie narrowed her eyes. “Looks like she’s had enough of us.”
“That’s a shame, ‘cause we’ve only just gotten started.” Adie did not feel challenged by the handful of shots winding their way down through the water. “C’mon, let’s teach her a lesson.
Her sister peered over at Thumpback. His seafloor slugfest with Bowser had continued to intensify for a few moments now, trading hefty blows back and forth. Bit by bit, the whale was beginning to realize that despite being smaller, his opponent was more of a powerhouse than he first suspected. “Shouldn’t we help him?” Elsie ventured. “Our crews are ostensibly working together on this mission, after all.”
“Eh…you know, we prooooobably should. But wouldn’t it be funny if we didn’t?” Adie said, smirking.
Elsie tilted her head, a dry smile on her face. One joint venture wasn’t about to smooth over the months of bad blood built up between the Risky and LeFwee pirates, the submariners most of all. Though many came and went, Thumpback and the Abyss Sisters remained, locked in a stalemate of sheer brawn versus firepower. Even the most indifferent Marauder couldn’t snub a chance like this. “...I concur.”
“HEY!” Thumpback bellowed, bubbles flying from his mouth. His baleen had been chipped in the fight, and his lips bled into the water. “Don’t turn your backs on my, you conniving fiends. What about the truce?”
Elsie crossed her arms, her tone matter of fact. “The truce pertained only to not harming one another. It didn’t say anything about save you.”
“Have fun with your little playmate there, blubber brains!” Adie laughed, turning away. She swam up toward the Adrian, which at this point had sunken to just above its second deck, and Elsie followed. Once they took shelter directly beneath the ship, taking out Rika’s torpedoes along the way, the scout planes lost her. From there they would seemingly hide out, further destroying the pirate ship in order to force Rika to come to them, but the two took a more devious tactic. They pushed up into the Adrian’s underbelly through the holes, swam through its gutted interior, and climbed up onto the ship itself. In only a few short moments, the sisters stood in the captain’s quarters, looking down at Rika through a hole in the side. “She’s almost cute,” she muttered as she took aim with her guns. “Like a seal puppy chasing its own tail.”
Elsie leveled her four-barreled arm cannon at Rika as well. “Weapons hot.”
Rika was completely blindsided by this strategy, having not even considered that they would ever board the ship, let alone get up there uncontested. Her sunglasses flashed as the shots came in, but they only gave her time to turn towards her attackers and receive shellfire to the gut. A blast slammed into her chest, sending her skidding back. She raised her her gauntlets in guard and tried to be evasive, but she had been out positioned on top of being outnumbered, her whale going down in the first volley.
Explosions sang, shells slammed, and then with a one two hit Rika’s defenders were blown apart and she was blown away after a dozen heartbeats of resistance, the final explosion sending her flying a short distance away from the ship towards the cannon tower before she hit the water, out cold, and started sinking, bubbles trailing from her lips.
Down below Bowser had been busy dismantling Thumpback’s defenses, simply overwhelming the bigger brute with shocking stabs, claw swipes and balsts of poison from his cruel cannons.
”And this, this is why you don’t do villainous team ups,” Bowser helpfully enlightened his foe as he dealt him a thousand cuts ”They always stab you in the back or leave you to face the hero on your own while they take the prize.”
“So just like you and yours, leaving her to those two,” Thumpback garbled, choking on poisoned ocean water, bleeding from cuts and muscles spasming from electric shocks.
”What…?” Bowser didn’t get it, for a moment, but then he got a cock sure look on his face as he insisted ”Ha, no, Rika can handle herself”
The whale just let out a single “ha” as he finally fell, rendered too weak to stand by . The gave a victorious grin, and then saw where his enemy’s eyes were looking. Up and past him.
The seafloor locked King spun, eyes wide, looked up, and saw Rika sinking towards him.
”NO!” Bowser cried out, running towards her and then trying futilely to swim up to catch her, his weight dragging his boyantless form down every time.
The Abyssals lowered their smoking weapons. “Target eliminated,” Elsie reported.
“Eh, she might still be kickin’ around down there, but whatever. Close enough,” Adie replied, shrugging.
Elsie looked around at the Adrian, noting how the water had risen above the second deck, as well as the ship’s pronounced list to one side. “It looks like our job is just about done here.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Adie said, a smug smile on her face. “This ship’s doomed, so we’ve done all we need to. Might as well clock out early, eh? And if things go belly-up here, well, we’ll be long gone, eh?”
“Agreed.” With a final glance at the place where Rika went down, the sisters prepared to leave the battle.
Which was exactly when a monstrosity burst from the waves, the towering terror of tentacles that was Scylla breaching the waves and, upon her back was Bowser. The king was looking very worse for wear due to the strain of the summoning, but he held in one hand: Rika, and in the other: the form of Heel, the Rabbid supporter striker which he was using/commanding to wake up the unconscious ship girl and bring her back from the edge of death just as someone in the background was calling out ”Kaaameeeek!”
The sight of not just Bowser, but a gigantic deep-sea horror emerging from the water took the sisters completely aback, and they quickly shrunk away from the hole in the the wall of the captain’s quarters. With all those enormous limbs and fangs almost close enough to reach out and touch, it wasn’t hard to imagine what had become of Thumpback, and with more enemies on the way, the two suddenly felt very confident in their decision to bug out. “Oh!” They went for the door at the exact same time and got stuck, crammed in the doorway for a moment as both struggled to be the first out. After a few seconds of urgent whispers and shoving, Elsie pushed through and promptly fell flat, only to get stepped on by Adie as she ran for the port-side railing. Brows furrowed, Elsie reached up and grabbed her sister’s ankle, tripping her. With a muffled swear the girl tumbled over the railing in an ungainly fashion, and the next second Elsie dove after her.
”Ah, well, that solves that problem” said a voice after the sisters had made a run for it, before Kamek’s head emerged from under the captain’s desk. She briefly poked her head out the door to confirm that yes, the abyssals where indeed running for it, before turning back and heading for the hole they had been looking out off, the head of her broom tapping against the deck of the ship as she went.
When she stepped to the edge she found two things. First, the water was rapidly rising, or that her and the ship was rapidly sinking.
”Oh dear. The captain will not be pleased about that” she noted, before looking up and finding the second thing: a heavily overloaded clown car stuffed full of wounded people (one of which she didn’t even know), and also a very cramped Jr clamoring for her attention.
”Kaaameeeek! Kamek Kamek Kamek! Help!” the prince demanded
”I leave you alone for… fine fine scoot over. Ship’s going down” she told him, before pulling out a mana potion, popping the cork and chugging it. Her cheeks briefly bloated as she was struck with mana sickness that combined with her fatigue in just the worst way, but it was enough for her to be able to pop out a set of white mage clones to start trying to do something about the damage they’d all taken.
Virgin Victory teleport room Top of the Split mountain Outside the Convent of Our Lady of the Charred Visage Tostarena Town
The rest of the trip had been blissfully uneventful. No more close run-ins with the cat police, no more UFOs attacks. Just riding a train with the lads and then arriving at their destination: a town bathed in twilight.
The sight was a nostalgic one to Midna, this land blanketed in an eternal sunset orange, and it also made her frightfully home sick, because this wasn't home. She’d had to take a few moments away from the others to compose herself, despite having known in her gut that it wasn't going to be where her people were. Then she was back to her usual self, and set about finding where the bulk of the team had ended up.
It wasn’t hard, all she had to do was ask a few passers by if they had seen any of the motley and distinctive crew that made up the seekers passing by and they pointed her gang right to them. Where she found them was at some kind of stable for more self driving machines, ones a bit like some of the ones that had raced past them at the start of their climb up the split mountain. How long ago that felt now
Her first stop, after just a quick general catch up with Tora and the rest of the main group who were just hanging around, was with Sectonia, and not for a social call. No she was getting her loot from the convent converted using the mimic hat. Specifically crushing all three of the sisters she’d nabbed before they had made a run for it.
Piece of a Golden Mask Piece of embossed gold, part of a mask broken years ago. The nuns of the Convent of the Charred Visage swear never to let the world see their burned faces, and the conviction of its old wearer has permeated the metal. A rosary bead that grants 25% protection against flames
Sharpnened Volcano Fragment Deals less damage than your average axe on hit, but will light the target on fire, causing the target to take damage over time until the flames are quenched or 7.5 seconds pass
Sun on a Stick Deals less damage than your average bat on his, but will deal a critical hit to a burning target without putting the target out. Also grants 25% protection against flames while in hand
She kept the disciple for now. He was strong, and she wanted to fuse with him for that strength, but also he was unstable and so she decided to wait till peach arrived to have a way of undoing the damage if it managed to be too great for her sanity to handle.
As for the items, well, the Piece of a Golden Mask she decided to frame as a trophy rather than a symbol of any kind of shared faith, and it went on the rosary string next to her other reminder of that awful part of the mountain (after a brief argument with Sectonia about her claiming it as tribute in-order to mitigate rid of her fire weakness. A fire weakness she was going to get rid of anyway, as Midna pointed out, this having come up in their conversation before she got to crushing)
The other two weapons were an interesting addition to her arsenal that was for sure, and if Sectonia’s appraisal was anything to rely on, they looked to be quite the little combo machine, if she could pull off switching the fire starter for the fire lover in time.
After those were stashed away, she had an actual look into what this place was that they had decided to wait for the blue team’s arrival. Turned out that yes, the machines were being used for much the same thing as the ones that had blazed past them on the mountain trail: racing. Not that that was all they could be used for, as she found out. Indeed mainly they were meant for transport, which sounded useful, or even warfare, which sounded even more useful.
Partly out of curiosity, partially out of an interest in learning a new useful skill, and partially out of the lingering frustration of not being able to operate the train, Minda then inquired if there was somewhere she could learn how to use one of these machines.
That was how she ended up standing outside of a little shack with a sign saying ‘U-Drive-U’ and talking to a moose lady wearing a police uniform (not that she knew what either of those where)
“You wanna learn how to drive huh? It's harder than you think it is.” the moose, who had introduced herself as Instructor Mooselini, told her with a stern voice.
”Well I can ride animals already, so what can be so different about riding a mechanical machine, right?” Midna said, entirely proving the instructors statement true
“Uh huh?” she replied, looking very skeptical, before pointing a challenging finger at the princess and saying “If you think you can handle it, try this rap!”
”rap?” the princess replied, and thus, after the pair of them had pile into a ‘refurbished’ Mucle began her dual introduction to both rap and driving.
“Alright, we're here, just sittin' in the car. I want you to show me if you can get far.” the instructor said before she began to instructed her instructee
“Step on the gas!” ”Step on the gas?” “Step on the brakes!” ”Step on the brakes?” “Step on the gas!” ”Step on the gas?” the princess replied hesitantly each time, heavily mismanaging the pedals that her short form had a fair bit of difficulty reaching
“When I say boom boom boom, you say bam bam bam! No pause in between, come on, let's jam!” she was instructed more forcefully, and this time with some (literal) pointers
“Step on the gas!” ”Step on the gas!” “Step on the brakes!” ”Step on the brakes!” “Step on the brakes!” ”Step on the brakes!” “Step on the gas!” ”Step on the gas!” she echoed, getting a basic bit of control right before they raced out into the open street without Midna really having intended that
“I'm glad you know which way to go, but it ain't gonna stop me, here we go.” the moose said, not realizing Midna’s mistake, and then gave her a crash course on how to navigate a town behind the wheel
“Check and turn the signals to the right!” ”Check and turn the signals to the right?” “Now turn to the right!” ”Now turn to the right!!!!!!!” Minda basically screamed in response as they swerved around a corner with next to no control “Check and turn the signals to the left!” ”Check and turn the signals to the left!” “Now turn to the left!” ”Now turn to the left!”
“Woh ho ho ho! Stop the car! We got an emergency, can't you see?” the instructor suddenly commanded, much to Midna’s relief and also a bit of concern. Had she failed? She was sure she did better on the second turn
“Do you know why we stopped the car?” “Do I know why we stopped the car?” “Guess…” “Guess?” “What…” “What?” “Do you know why we stopped the car?” “Do I know why we stopped the car?”
“I forgot to close the door.”
“You forgot to close the door?” Midna echoed slowly, before thinking for a moment and then pointing out angrily “There is no door!”
“…”
“right”
“Now just don't forget This ain't kung fu, come on again!” the instructor commanded, getting them to set off again
“Check and turn the signals to the right!” “Check and turn the signals to the right!” “Step on the gas now turn to the right!” “Step on the gas now turn to the right!” “Check and turn the signals to the left!” “Check and turn the signals to the left!” “Step on the gas now turn to the left!” she commanded as they served through town “Step on the gas now turn to the left!” Midna replied in turn, actually feeling likes he was getting the hang of both the driving and this whole rap thing, right in time for Mooselini to commanded:
“Step on the brakes!” “Step on the brakes!” Midna echoed as they slowed
“Do you know why we stopped the car again?” she asked “Do I know why we stopped the car again?” Midna asked once they had parked by the side of the road again
“That's because you just got your license!“ the moose informed her, throwing up her arms in celebration.
“What, already? I mean Woo hooo!! Yes!!” Midna cheered, amazed at how lax this vetting process was.
Then only a few minutes later, after getting her photo taken and inserted into her new license, Midna was joining in the race, roaring around the track in a borrowed technical.
To bake an apple pie from scratch (in the Darkwoods)
As Stag the [ranger] watched a young elf lad cautiously edge towards the towering redwood deer among a herd of its fellows. Rather than a spear on hand as might have been expected in days only recently gone by however, the boy’s only ‘weapon’ was a juicy green apple. The forest-kin snorted and turned its gaze on the elf when it sensed his approach. In response the boy froze in alarm, only to sigh in relief as the deer’s eyes left him and instead looked at the apple he was holding. He moved closer and then offered it up to the majestic creature who gave it a sniff and then, after a final tense moment, took a chomp out of it.
The elf lad beamed, and then ever so carefully reached out and gave the deer a pet on the head and a scratch behind the ear, which it seemed to appreciate just as much as the apple.
Then he looked even more delighted as a little notification spoke in his mind:
Class gained: level 1 [herder]
Skill gained: [herd creature empathy]
And he suddenly connected to the deer with his skill, and marveled as he found its simple mind quite content with this offering.
“I did it” the elf whispered to himself, and then he looked ever so proud as he got a little smattering of applause from the other [herders] who had been standing around supervising/watching the initiation of another member into their class. Stag joined in, reminiscing about the time he essentially created the ceremony and gained the class himself. He’d promptly lost it a level later when his [ranger] class devoured his new [herder] class (there was no escape from the life Fern had dragged him into apparently, not that he’d really been trying to get away from it anyway) and ‘upgraded’ [herd creature empathy] into [companion: deepened bond].
He was half sure that his [animal companion] Doe (he had been amazed to learn she’d somehow gained a class thanks to that same [companion: deepened bond] skill) being jealous of the other deer he’d tamed had been what had caused that particular change. Or maybe he was being paranoid.
Still, though the initiation had been nice to watch, that wasn’t why he was here, and so once the [herders] finished congratulating their new comrade the [ranger] strolled over to speak with their leader, Doe trotting along at his side.
“Ah hello there Stag, so good to see you again!” the elf in question said, stepping forward to clasping arms with the [ranger], who smiled as he took part in the gesture and said “and you Spear”
“So, what brings a famous [adventurer] like you out here to my little herd?” he teased, knowing full well how to push his old friend’s buttons.
“Just a delivery” a slightly flushing Stag said, before he turned and opened a few leaf based packs hung over Doe’s side and pulled out a set of acorn bread loaves that had been made by the tribe. He handed them over to the [herder] before adding “and another request for the usual”
“Ahhh, Pebble still hard at it eh?” the [herder] guessed, as he handed over the bread and then moved over to one of their herd animals to get Stag what he had requested “you know how I love this new bread stuff, but I feel bad for you lot, putting up with her whole pie making thing. How long has it been?”
“Eh, not too long. I mean we only have this bread because it's a step on the journey to that” Stag replied, defending his friend, though his stomach protested at the thought of taste testing another failed attempt.
Still, as a friend he had to do whatever he could to help her out, and in this case it was personally heading out here to get more ingredients after Pebble had exhausted her existing supplies. This he got after a bit of complaining from a few of Redwood deer, the [herder] doing his thing with the the help of his [induce lactation] skill and getting the [ranger] several leafy containers worth of fresh forest-kin milk, which, if he had any point of comparison, he’d have was akin to a mix of soymilk and almond milk in taste and consistency. As it was, it was the only kind of milk he had known, and it had been one of the trickier things to figure out how to get on the ingredient list.
No one had had to invent a whole new class and way of iterating with the wildlife to get acorns or eggs for example.
Either way, now that he had (more of) it, the [ranger] bid farewell to the [herders] and headed back home. And yes, it was home, rather than just back to the tribe, because in the time since retrieving the book, they’d settled down. Stag still found himself wishing they’d chosen anywhere else to do so though, because the place they had still gave him the odd set of nightmarish flashbacks.
A short trip later he exited the treeline and entered the shade of the canopy of a single massive tree. Once there him and Doe headed over to the trunk and the [ranger] gave a whistle up into the branches.
An elven head popped out of the foliage, in response to his summons, and it did not look pleased to see him. Or, rather, his companion. “Uurgh, didn’t we just let you down Stag” the elf complained, “can't you just leave it down there?”
“You know how she gets” Stag replied, Doe had a tendency to complain, loudly, about being left behind, before adding “Besides, I need her to carry all this milk”
“Uuurgh, fine. I’ll go get help” the elf replied, before adding a last spiteful “again!” before vanishing back into the trees.
A few moments later and a whole lot of pulling later and Stag and Doe had been hauled up into the tree via vine ropes, and they were back in the place he and his party had claimed the cookbook: the tree house dungeon, once home of Jim, now renamed simply to Sanctuary.
After they’d finished their quest, the [adventurers] had left this place behind, but after telling tales of it to others, some of the other people had come to check it out to see if there was anything else to be found. There wasn’t any other treasure to be found (something Jeon hand made notes to himself about to the tune of ‘add secondary loot’), they had found that, once the last of the dead were cleared out, it was actually quite a nice place.
Stag and his [animal companion] trotted along the roads of the now lightly occupied tree house town, trotting past the dwellings that were far more secure against shark attacks than any leafy nest, and past elves gathering from branches that had been somehow made to bear all of the tree’s seeds in one place, the mighty oak bearing plethora of acorns in a scattering of concentrated gardens, ripe for the easy pickings.
Still even this might not have been enough to keep them here, but they had stuck around for two other additional reasons. The first was that Pebble’s research had resulted in them being able to make stone ovens, which you obviously didn’t want to leave behind or tray and carry with you, and the other was Jeon’s debatablely helpful addition to the situation he’d made once he’d found out they were thinking about setting up shop: fermenting.
The smell of baking, alcohol and cheese greeted Stag as he arrived in the area they’d set aside for all their baking and brewing needs, and then he headed for its heart, pushing open the door and meeting back up with his fellows.
Fern was sitting at the table on a (fortunately unanimated) chair, next to a member of the underground exploration adventure that hadn’t made it to the treehouse adventure: Bark, the once (primitive) shield and armor bearing elf who had been injured during one of their interim adventurers. His leg had never healed right and he had had to retire from that life. Now he’d ended being the unfortunate test subject of Pebble’s many baking attempts
“Hi all. I brought more milk. I’m sure you're quite happy about that Bark right?” Stag said as he and his [animal companion] entered, not above making that joke himself
“Oh lay off. That joke is so overdone at this point” Fern chided him, but Bark just laughed it off
“Actually, that last one wasn't so bad. Though maybe the cider is helping” the wounded adventurer joked, before sipping from the stone bowl that held his drink.
“Did I hear something about milk?” came a voice from the kitchen, before a soot faced Pebble popped her head out, saw who had arrived and brightened up a bit “oh, good, you're here. You know I think I’m on the edge of a break through, so thanks for being so fast”
“Yeah. No problem” Stag replied, before guiding the stooping Doe over so Pebble could retrieve the milk. Then he went and found a seat at the table next to the other two, with Doe joining them a few moments later once she was unloaded, the redwood deer settling herself down and stealing a drink from Bark’s bowl, much to his annoyance.
The three elves + animal relaxed together for a time after, leaving Pebble to her experiments.
She had in the back room a load of bowls, eggs from varicose waterbird species, some apples, assorted nuts and seeds to be ground into flour, the newly acquired milk, and, in the middle of all this, Grannysmith’s cookbook, popped open on the apple pie. Despite having everything she needed, there was one major thing holding her back:
Not a single elf in the world could read. This meant getting the exact measurements of the various ingredients out of the book absolutely impossible, not to mention the cooking times.
Still, through trial, error and practicing with simpler recipes, she was sure that this time, this time, it would be the one. She swiftly set to work, pulling together all the ingredients in a stone bowl. Pastry was made, filling created, and then more pastry on top. Then once that was set up she took her latest attempt and pushed it into her stone oven that was little more than a stack of rocks holding up an upper and lower shelf made of stone slabs.
Then all there was to do was wait. Pebble joined the others, counting the time in her head as they drank and small talked. Then once the self made moments of time were over, she stepped away and used a bit of hide as oven mitts to grab the encouragingly tasty smelling pie and pulled it out.
And then her eyes went wide
Level 3 [baker] => level 4 [baker]
There was no skill this level, but as omens went it was ever so good.
“Oh. my. Gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh. I think I’ve done it!” she cheered, hurrying into the other room and almost tripping with excitement, Fern managing to catch her friend before fate ruined her moment.
Instead of a disaster, the pie was slapped down on the table, a knife was acquired and the dish divided up for the eating. There was a bit of well earned apprehension before the elves tucked in, paused, and then just utterly devoured the pie slices.
“Well. How was it?” Pebble asked, ever so redundantly, and got a chorus of approval from her friends that made her tear up a little.
She’d done it. She’d baked the pie! Now all she needed to do was pull it off consistently, and also make a pie worthy of a goddess.
No pressure right?
Darkwood [Adventurers] Guild: Start: 11
-3 to invent the technology: domestication -3 to invent the technology: stone working -3 to invent the technology: baking and other more complex cooking methods
+1 prestige: playing a significant role in the post +1 prestige: +10000 characters
End: 4
Jeon start: 1mp/3ap
1 mp to teach the technology: fermenting (to make the wine and cheese necessary for a good time)
The elves of the dark woods had had, for the first time, a reason to get together at anything but a tribal level for something other than a festival, and unfortunately it was for dire tidings.
A voice had boomed across the forest from a being they did not know, buch which many assumed was a god. Unfortunately for them, their own god had gone on a wander after introducing them to levels and so they were stuck with trying to figure out what was going on on their own.
The ones close to the mountains sent messengers to and fro looking for answers from those closer to where the voice had been coming from. What they found was that the south of the woods south had changed. By day all was the same, but by night?
The trees became dread apparitions which felt strange, alien and haunting, causing many on the first knight to flee in terror. Worse than that fear that could be overcome, the beasts of the woods seemed to be able to turn intangible right up until they didn’t want to be. Sky sharks had already been nasty pieces of work, but now that they could phase through the floor with only their fins sticking out of the soil? Utterly terrifying.
The only blessing was that the forest-kin remained unchanged, the bark wolves, root serpents and other large predators were just as confused by the shadow woods as the elves. That confusion seemed to cause a great deal of anger, as the woods being twisted and warped into unfamiliar forms at night made any treekin in there at the time mighty furious and very temperamental as well. Trying to hunt them was a good way to get swarmed by any and all of the plant-beasts in the area predator and prey alike.
All this was why the people on their way deep into the chunk of the shadow woods that had once been part of the dark woods were not tribes people, nor hunters, but the newly minted [adventurers]. Because if anyone was going to be both brave and strong enough to actually seek out the source of the voice, it was those foolish enough to walk in Jeon’s pawprints.
The party who would make the fateful meeting were led by two people. The first was the level 21 [shadowlands survivor] Blackberry, rugged a raven haired elf who had lost her tribe when the woods changed and caused mass panic, and had only survived thanks to luck and the kind of rapid levelling a crisis apparently provided. A small pile of skills dedicated to hurting or defending against the intangible was seeing off the shadow beasts that lurked in the night.
The other was the emerald eyed and blond haired Fang, who was but a meer level 7 [adventurer] but who had a fair amount of connections and acclaim within the tribes deeper into the woods thanks in part to his charming looks and lovely singing voice, and in part due to rescuing a child from the clutches of an ent (which had ment the kid no harm, the lad had climbing atop it while it was sleeping, and then got stuck up there after it woke up) via the closest thing you could do to negotiation with a non sentient tree man. His [sooth] skill, gained after that renowned rescue, was what was keeping the lost and angry kin from blaming them for this whole phenomenon.
Those two, along with a band of less notable [adventurers] stalked through the woods, [traversal: forest] guiding their already swift steps between the trees as the sun was setting above the canopy.
“The dark comes soon, how far are we pushing on?” Fang asked the expert on these woods, to which Blackberry silently directed a finger along the river they were following towards a particularly sturdy tree only some way away, never taking her hands of her wooden spear while doing so.
Fang nodded, and they pushed forwards, the [adventurers] reaching their intended resting spot as the sun set, and the woods changed, sturdy comforting trees turning to shadowy reflections, especially not from the hammerhead sharks which seemed to have adapted particularly well to swimming through the ground to ambush prey from below.
So, to survive, they would change that, as the [shadow survivor] reached her hand forwards and touched the tree she had pointed out and muttered “[sanctuary tree]” which caused it to slowly revert to its day time form and for a calm aura to permeate its branches, soothing the dread the woods instilled in their hearts and returning the leaf cover within which the elves could hide from sight.
With limber hands and nimble feet the [adventurers] used their movement skill to slip up into the sturdy branches where they would be safe from the unthinking predators. What they had not thought of, at least in a negative light, was how their little sanctuary stood out to anyone who did think, and one such being had been sent out to meet the neighbours, only to discover them having invited themselves in already.
Penumbra gathered some meat from the Satyr hunters, a few sharpened sticks and some very shiny rocks they’ve discovered close to the river. Not knowing what those rocks were but made out of a shiny yellow material after they were cleaned in water, they seemed valuable and might attract the eyes of their neighbours. Provided that they haven’t discovered a use of the rocks which would make Penumbra look very dumb and lose their trade value considerably.
Saying their goodbyes to the gathered Umbra & Satyr combination, they ventured forward into the forest. There was still light outside and as such, the trees were green and full of life but night was fast approaching and with it, the domain of shadows would soon take reign.
It was the first time for Penumbra to leave the village being made by a food-maker, they saw no need nor want to leave it. Living a sheltered life up until now, his first adventure was certainly bound to be scary but his faith in the Goddess was enough to make them walk forward without heed of any danger or so they lied to themselves.
Penumbra floated for a long time, not taking any breaks until eventually they had to. Darkness soon replaced the light and forest started changing. Shadows swirled around and the trees started to change, green gave way to a misty black and soon, everything changed. Penumbra looked around in amazement, seeing it when the Goddess made it was one thing but away from her, it was truly mesmerising. The Goddess’s love for her creations was great and so was their devotion.
While waiting for everything to change, they started to move their hands around. Testing their new powers. Their shadowy form responded almost instantly to their commands. Spikes, hammers and a multitude of different forms. Anything that would come to mind, their body could reproduce with amazing accuracy.
Eventually they had to keep moving. Their task was more important than their new form, after all. And so, they floated and floated. Taking in the sights and praising the Goddess for every new lifeform they saw and then they stopped. Something was weird. Further down the road, a tree stood tall. Green as it was during the day. Thoughts of meeting some kind of tree divine ran through Penumbra’s mind and if they had knees, they would shake in fear.
One was to jump in front of a Tarsk to save a fellow Satyr, a thing which Penumbra still wonders how they were even able to do. One is to jump in danger, head first out of their own free will. Penumbra prepared a spiky hand in case they would need it and approached the tree, cautiously and with a raised voice shouted :
“ If anyone is out there, please, come out and if you’re a divine, know I have the protection of the Goddess Ashevelen and she won’t take kindly to your meddling in her affairs!” shouted Penumbra in the Umbral language.
For a moment there was no response, and then there was a faint rustling and shimmying in the tree and then as one a gang of armed elves dropped from it. They raised their wooden spears towards her and fanned out defensively. All of them seemed to be covered in tattoos or body paint of some kind, which covered their bodies where their light leafy clothing did not.
The one who had black splotches that look a bit like a blackberry on her cheek seemed to be the leader, who was barking instructions at the others. Another elf, one with a pair of points over his lips like fangs, placed a hand on her shoulder and spoke softly, but the first shook him off and gestured her weapon towards Penumbra’s own spiked hand.
Penumbra stayed still and watched the elves surround them. In a one-on-one fight, they’d win with no problems against an elf but against multiple potential enemies? They had to be smart about it.
“ Calm. Calm. I’m a friend. ” said Penumbra in a non-threatening voice. Their hand going back to a normal state. It could be brought back almost instantaneously if needed but the elves didn’t know that.
“ I am Penumbra of the Umbra people. ” continued, pointing towards them when they said “Penumbra”.
This caused a burst of incomprehensible words between the elves as they presumably argued about what to do now that the Umbra had put their weapon away. At the very least, a few of the ones on the edge shifted to be pointing theirs outwards towards the woods rather than at Penumbra’s, but the one with the blackberry was still very much on edge, teeth and weapon bared and a haunted look in her eyes. The one with the fangs however seemed to get the idea and gestured towards himself and tried to get a word in, only to be elbowed by the angry one before she advanced, her weapon raised threateningly.
Penumbra looked at “blackberry”’s spear and smiled. Pointing an arm towards him, their arm changed as well to mimic the weapon exactly. After a second or two, they put their arms together and they changed shapes again. This time, into blackberry’s almost exact face but with a smile on it.
“ I am a friend. Me. Penumbra. You? ” repeated Penumbra, their hands becoming normal and pointing from themselves to blackberry.
Blackberry however was not listening, she was instead shocked for several seconds, as were most of the other elves. Then she grabbed the spear the fanged one was holding and yelled [something] that engulfed her new pointed stick with a glowing light as she thrust towards Penumbra, a mad look in the elf’s eyes.
Penumbra looked at the glowing light and started to evade, not knowing if their ability would work against light and not wanting to try it out. At that moment, shadows started to form around. Similar to a mist, it enveloped the nearby area and Ashevelen appeared in the midst of it.
“ Stop. ” said Ashevelen, voice strong enough to stop even the most stubborn mortal.
“ Penumbra, I’ve given you a task. That was to befriend these mortals and what are you doing? Fighting with them, while I understand this ain’t fully your fault, I still hold you responsible. I shall offer you a boon and then I will take my leave. If they wish to kill you afterwards, it would seem I made a mistake. ” continued Ashe as Penumbra and likely the elves around, bent their knees in respect or fear of the Goddess.
With a snap of her fingers, knowledge filled Penumbra’s mind. The knowledge of the elven language or at least the one the nearby elves used and before Penumbra managed to utter a word, she disappeared in the same way she came.
“ My Goddess…I…thank you. I shall prove that your faith in me was not misplaced. ” said Penumbra to no one in particular, hoping that their Goddess would hear them.
The elves certainly did hear the Umbra’s words, though they still did not understand them. They’d backed up a fair bit in fright and Fang was presently trying to sooth Blackberry, who was visibly trembling and holding the spear with a deathgrip.
Penumbra did, however, understand, or at least in part, when Fang said “[sooth]” while caressing the shocked and angry elf’s hair and telling her it was going to be ok. Miraculously, his words seemed to come true as Blackberry’s breathing calmed from the fever pitch it had been at and she let go of the weapon at last.
With a look of surprise, Penumbra focused more on Fang. Whatever magic they used, clearly worked and blackberry calmed. Shaking their head in surprise and closing their eyes to center themselves, Penumbra smiled.
“ Hello? Can you understand me? I am Penumbra, I am a friend.” said Penumbra in the elven language. Their accent was thick but still understandable, even with the unfamiliar words coming out of their mouth.
“Friend?” Fang echoed, a touch taken aback by the sudden comprehension between them, before nodding and agreeing that “Good. Then this is a miss understanding” before pointing up and saying “then please, join us in sanctuary, and we can talk safe from the shadows” pausing, and then clarifying “the other shadows” before he and the other elves practically vanished up into the foliage of the lone leafy tree in the world it's dark reflections.
With a hand in front, Penumbra shook their head.
“ You don’t need to fear the shadows while you’re with me. Shadows and Umbra are friends, so, I am sorry but I cannot in good conscience follow you. Stay down, so we may speak freely and let anything that may come, in my care. ” quickly replied Penumbra, their voice full of courage.
Fang’s hea popped back out of the foliage. Upside down.
“Umbra? You're not a ghost?” the hanging byh is feet elf asked, ignoring a muffled “ha knew it!” coming from another elf and then glancing to the other side as Blackberry's voice, but not her form, emerged from the leaves as she asked “You can guarantee the sharks will leave us alone?”
Penumbra’s face was one of confusion. “ Ghosts? I don’t understand what you mean. I’m the champion of the Goddess Ashevelen and a member of the Umbra race, created by herself.” replied Penumbra quickly, not understand at all what she meant by ghosts.
“ Even if they don’t leave you alone and one approaches, let me handle it. My kind has been hunting them for food since we were made. ” they added, with a smile.
There was a pause, and then Blackberry dropped down out of the tree again and told the not ghost “then we are in your care,” before glancing up at the head of Fang, who grumbled and flipped around to land beside her.
“The dead remain as intangible beings called ghosts according to Jeon, our creator. Some of us had caught glances of your kind and thought they were that” he explained to them.
“Like you” the gloating elf popped their head out of the tree to say, before returning to it. While some of the other elves dropped down to join Blackberry and Fang, the majority, it seemed, were going to stay safe and alert in the tree just in case this was an elaborate ruse.
“Like… me yes” Fang continued, ”but it seems I am wrong and that superstition can be put to rest”
“Still. What are you? How are you related to the shadow beasts? Do you know what happened to our woods and why the edge is no more?” Blackberry took over the conversation to ask, desperate to know why her life had been turned upside down.
“ Dead stay as intangible beings? Hmm… ” replied Penumbra with a look of confusion on their face and then, they slapped themselves over the side of their body.
“ AH! You’re talking about souls! My kind, the Umbra, haven’t seen any souls around here. It’s just…us and the recently created Tarsk, and you, I guess.”
Looking at the group, this was the first time Penumbra actually studied them. Two hands and two legs, same as the Satyrs but their feet looked different. Like hands but not really. A weird sight for Penumbra.
“ As I said, I am an Umbra. I have been called Penumbra by our creator. Your forest was aukcendun by Ashevelen. She is one with the shadows now and as such, she made a part of the forest to be more welcoming to my kind. ” explained Penumbra. The word they said was in the Umbra language, a word they simply eluded them in the elven language.
“Everything has one, and they all remain behind after death. According to Jeon anyway” Fang explained regarding souls, his tone giving an indication that he was presently finding the claim a little more dubious than he had before.
Blackberry meanwhile was scratching her head at the word ‘aukcendun’ but frowned at the idea of making the woods more welcoming for the Umbra, saying “But the woods were made for us, and now your god has gone and made part of them less friendly to us. People have died because of what she did. My people” that last filled with an undercurrent of pain that made it clear the loss was oh so personal.
Penumbra put their hands forward and bowed their head in forgiveness.
“ While I cannot talk about the hows or whys of why my Goddess did this or if she even considered the lives of other mortals, I can only say, sorry. I know it isn’t enough and I know it doesn’t mean much but know that the Umbra wish to be your allies. Our part of the forest is kept clear of threats by our Satyrs, another mortal race. If you ever encounter them, tell them this word, avrade , it means “trade” in our language. They will provide protection against the shadow creatures. ” replied Penumbra, a shade of remorse in their voice.
After a few seconds, they took out of a holding bag made of leaves that they had strapped to their body a few of the shiny rocks they discovered and then the meat.
“ I offer you these. They are very hard rocks, you can use them to bring down many animals if you tie them to your spears. Take them as an offering and a sign of positive future relations between our people. ” continued Penumbra, smiling.
There was hesitation. Then Fang moved to accept, only to be blocked by Fern’s arm, though the elf looked deep in thought rather than angry as might be feared.
“Her actions weren't yours” she finally decided “and who really understands how gods think? So, I accept this gift for elves and the … intent behind it. That you are people, not prey or predator” giving something of an incite into how the elves thought, lived, and had been taught. The woods were grand and in many ways dangerous and so there had been no need for alliances other than that of elf vs nature.
She stepped forwards, took the bag in one hand and then suddenly pushed closer to Penumbra and wrapped her around them in a one armed hug and apologised “I am sorry for trying to strike you. Will you forgive me?”
Penumbra, not being used to being touched, turned incorporeal almost straight away and moved backwards. Their arms becoming sharp swords, eyes looking at all the elves in confusion and at the same time, threat.
“ What, what are you trying to do? Is this how your people trap others? I’ll let you know it won’t work on me. I offer you trade and you attack me? ” quickly said Penumbra, their anger clear.
“Huh?” Blackberry looked confused as she was left holding the peace offering and faced with an angry Penumbra, while the rest of the elves bristled back to being on edge and she found herself as peace maker instead of Fang “No no. It's a hug. A hug. It is. its. It’s a thing you do with people to show, um, affection? And empathy and trust?” she tried to explain to the Umbra, having not realised that such a gesture was not universal.
Penumbra, still in a fight-or-flight state, thinking they were somehow being tricked, left their “weapons” on but the look on their calmed down, if just a bit.
“ Hug. I know this word in your language but we have none in mine. I don’t know the meaning of it. Affection? Empathy? Same like Satyr? Touch, touch, make more? ” realisation overcame the confusion on their face and anger replaced it, quickly. Their whole body this time got covered in tiny spikes and they stood tall.
“ Were you trying to breed with me, Elf?!
The elf’s month worked for a few moments as she tried to find the words, and then just resolved to power past all the confusion, raised questions, objections and the bit of her mind wanting to know how that would even work and got to, simply: “I’m trying to be friends”
Suddenly Penumbra’s shadowy form came back to normal and they smiled at Fang, slowly nodding their head.
“ Friends? I don’t understand. “Buesnauk”? Ally? Is that what you mean? ” replied Penumbra quickly, the word friend had no translation in their own language but maybe, ally, is what the elf meant.
“Um. Maybe? Friends are like. Family. But not related? Closer than just another member of a tribe or just another person. But not a lover or anything like that” Blackberry tried
“Comrades?” Fang interjected to suggest another pseudonym that might bridge the gap between their ways of looking at things.”Me and Blackberry are that. We work with each other because we have skills and talents that the other lacks, but don’t know each other well enough to be friends? Unlike the rest of my party, who are for sure my buddies”
“ I don’t understand what you mean with those words. Work together, ally. Trade together, ally. You have to know each other to be these “friends” you’re talking about? All should be allies, trade flows where allies meet or so, the Goddess teaches us. That is my purpose here, to make allies. ”
“What is… ‘trade’ again?” Fang asked, glancing at Blackberry, who shrugged. The elves had been born with a lot of words, but a whole host of them had fallen out of usage due to, well, lack of usage, and that was one of them.
Penumbra looked at Fang, then Blackberry and then back at Fang. An incredulous look on their face.
“ What? What do you mean? You don’t know what trading is? Oh, my. May the creator strike me down right now if I don’t teach you. This cannot stand. Trading is a passion. Trading is a test of wits between two or more parties, each trying to earn a profit over the other one, each trying to outsmart the other. A trade is a service to yourself and to your community. Trade is a part of any group of people, be it a trade of goods or trade of services. ” their tone changed with every word, slowly becoming inspiring. Penumbra spoke with conviction, duty and especially, devotion.
The pair of elves looked at each other and then back at the Umbra, who’s passion and poetic words they found impressive, but not all that informative.
“Perhaps… demonstrate?” Fang suggested
Moving side to side, looking around, Penumbra was thinking and thinking. Looking for objects around them to prove a successful trade and then it hit them. Their two arms each took a different shape, in miniature. One was the face of the Satyr they saved, the other was of Fang. Then Penumbra started mimicking the voice of each…to the best of their ability, putting up a show in which the Satyr wished to buy a fish from Fang while offering some fruits from the forest.
The puppet show went on, showing how the Satyr wished to trade 1 fish for 4 fruits, arguing that it took him a long time to catch the fish. Fang countered that the fruits had to be foraged from the woods which meant that their life was in danger while doing it. Quickly, the Satyr changed tactics, mentioning the many uses of the fish he caught while also pointing out how good the fish looks and how big it is. Eventually, they both agreed that 1 fish for 2 fruits was a good trade and they both were happy.
The little show managed to lure basically all the elves down, or at least into view, so they could watch, and at the end they gave the shadow puppeteer a quiet round of applause for their efforts. Unfortunately the take away from what they had been demonstrating was: “So it’s like two really picky people exchanging gifts?” from Fang while blackberry was more hung up about wanting to know where someone would get fish that wasn't the forest.
Penumbra shook their head in a sad motion.
“ They aren’t exchanging gifts. Each had something that the other one wanted or lacked. The Satyr was a fisherman, he spent long hours catching some fish but he had too many fish and a meal with only fish is a poor meal. He wanted some fruits but he had no skill in finding those fruits nor did he want to endanger his life. On the other hand, Fang had the skill to get fruits but not the skill of a fisherman. In essence, one had what the other one needed. But, then, the Satyr wanted 4 fruits for his 1 fish because he believed that the labour he put to catch 1 fish would be equal to the labour it took Fang to get the 4 fruits. Fang disagreed and countered that her life was in danger all the time while getting the fruits while the fisherman simply had to wait for the fish to bite, no danger at all. Does that make more sense or should I provide another example? ” explained Penumbra with the patience of a teacher.
“You have never hunted fish. Their bites can be nasty” Blackberry replied, before lifting up an arm and pointing to a suspiciously chomp shaped scar “Got this one from a barracuda that came right through a tree trunk at me” she explained
“I think I see the point, outside the strange ideas about fish” Fang said, likely giving the Umbra hope before dashing it by saying “but why argue about it so much? Or focus so much on the now?” He scratched his head and tried to think of a good way to explain how the elves' economy worked, which was not something he’d had to do before. “If I pick berries today, I will share them with my party who will have been doing other useful things. When I was with my tribe we pooled everything we had together so we could all eat. Then when tribes meet we exchange gifts, and it is bad manners to argue about what is given or received”
“ That’s not how it should be. If one of you decides not to work at all because the tribe will sustain them, eventually the whole tribe will suffer. Irrelevant of whatever punishment you may give them. If you trade with one another, there will always be a need for one to work. ‘Lest they find themselves with no food or shelter. But, even as you said it, that’s still trading. In a way. You exchange a service, say, berry gathering while the others do something else for you. ” replied Penumbra and then with a smile, they took a stick from the ground and became incorporeal for a few seconds, in which they put the stick through their hand a few times. “ It helps to be an Umbra when you’re out fishing, they can’t bite what they cannot touch. ”
"An annoying trick. Makes the fish here a pain when its night. Or did, I got my own trick after enough levels” Blackberry replied to the fishing comment, while Fang continued to debate with Penumbra over this whole trade thing “If someone is lazy, we give them a good kick. If someone keeps being a problem, we exile them. It works. Less wasteful than arguing all the time about what is worth what and carrying thing around to ‘trade’ with people in the tribe”
“ Not a trick, an ability. ” a quick reply to Blackberry came and then, Penumbra turned towards Fang with the patience of a long winded teacher “ If you exile people, you lose one member of your tribe. After time, cold, creatures of the forest…you’ll end up needing the same member you exiled to help out. We aren’t carrying stuff around all that time. We’ve got a place where we go and trade, called a marketplace. ” added Penumbra and then an idea hit them.
“Ah! It’s a hard concept to grasp but there are others in my village who can explain it better than I can. Would you be willing to follow me back to it? I’ll show you how the Umbra live and you’ll understand. I guarantee you my protection. ” said Penumbra after a few seconds, bowing their head and closing their eyes. A traditional sign of solemn vow in the Umbra society.
“A person who you allow to starve can’t help either” Fang countered, but left it at that and considered her offer along with the others.
" No one starves, we've got something against that as well! You'll see! " replied Penumbra.
The elves glanced at each other and exchanged muttered words, knowing that while Penumbra seemed safe there was no guarantee that they were not pulling some long con, or overestimating their abilities. That said, they hadn’t exactly gotten out here without being willing to take risks or by being unable to handle themselves. They had come here to learn all they could to help their people, grow their acclaim, and earn more levels. So the response was something of a forgone conclusion.
“Please, by all means, lead the way,” Blackberry replied.
The elves of the darkwood send out [advenurors] to see what happened to the south of the forest. At the same time, Penumbra starts their journey to discover the elves and see if they can be allies. After an initial altercation, the two mortal races discovered their languages are too different and they cannot talk with each other. After a few failed attempts on both sides, Ashevelen intervenes just before communication breaks down completely and teaches Penumbra how to speak the elvish language.
While Penumbra knew the words, they didn’t fully understand the meaning behind them and when Fang tried to hug them, Penumbra thought they’re being attacked only for that to change quickly when Fang said they were trying to provide “empathy and affection” which Penumbra understood as “breeding”.
Eventually, they go over that bit and they go into a lengthy conversation in which Penumbra tries to teach the gift economy having elves what trading means by putting up a shadow puppet show then giving different examples of trades while explaining each side’s point of view.
The debate goes back and forth, and does not reach a satisfactory conclusion, the cultural differences too great to breach in a single conversation. Instead of letting this drag out, Penumbra invites them back to the village of the Umbra, so they can see a trading society working with their own eyes, an offer the [adventurers] take them up on.
Jeon start: 5mp/5ap 4 mp (discounted from 8 with adventure!): to create the class system. See roleplayerguild.com/posts/5390338 for more details as to how this works
2 ap (discounted form 3 with adventure!): to make the Darkwood [Adventurers] Guild holy order, a presently pretty loose knit group of adventures based out of the Darkwoods. Members have a high chance of getting bonus forest related skills.
Jeon end: 1mp/3ap
+1 spirit, awarded to Penumbra for appearing in the post +1 spirit awarded to Penumbra as this is a collab +1 spirit for being (mostly) away from their deity +1 spirit due to +5000 characters +1 spirit due to +10000 characters
total: 5
Darkwood [Adventurers] Guild: +1 prestige: playing a significant role in the post +1 prestige: collab +1 prestige: +10000 characters Current total: 3
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