Welcome to Gaia! ::

Sometimes, especially when one is descending rapidly in a trashcan attached to a hot air balloon, it paid to think ahead.

Too bad Lucille was only starting to realize the full gravity of the situation. And of her choice of floating up to the sky in a trashcan.

For one, trashcans do not make for a smooth landing.

“Ommph,” grunted the Reaper as she was unceremoniously flung out from the collapsed hot air balloon. “That hurt,”

“Any…sand whales?”

It was the same villager who had brought her over earlier.

“Thank you for caring,” muttered Lucille as she got up.

“Well?”

“No, the coast is clear,” said the young Reaper. “Look…perhaps if I could have a place to-,”

“No time. Still need help,” snapped the old villager impatiently. “Need eggs. Pronto,”

“Oh, well, it’s alright then…,” muttered Lucille grumpily as she hurried after the retreating figure.

-----------------------------------

“Climb this mountain and obtain a previous untainted wyvern egg,” said the villager jumping straight to the point of their current quest. “Bring it down safely. Do not break it,”

Lucille stared. The mountain was huuge! And the slopes were steep!

“Look, you silly old man,” said Lucille exasperatedly. “I have just hunted a manic turkey for you, got myself up into the sky for a lookout duty and now you want me to scale a mountain?”

“Yes,” said the villager in a matter-o-fact tone. “It is important,”

“Well…can I get something to drink at least?” asked Lucille warily. “I am thirsty you know,”

“After you bring the egg down,” said the villager after a moment’s pause. “You can rest in the village,”

“You mean it?”

All Lucille got from her guide was a cold glare before he shambled off into the fog once again.

“You are too generous,” muttered Lucille under her breath. Aunt Myrtle’s place was starting to look more and more inviting the longer that she remained here.

Damn.

Pushing her hat back and tucking her spell book safely into her backpack, Lucille began her ascend. For the better part of her journey upwards, the climb was unremarkable save for a few erratic boulders and loose pebbles. Had she had her geology book with her, Lucille would have been glad to know that the mountain contained several types of rutilated quartz, a modest selection of geodes and a couple of mineral ores lying around. But as she had not, Lucille only saw what any layman would see.

Rocks after rocks after rocks.

Then, as though someone had flipped a crazy switch, weird things began happening.

For example, and contrary to popular beliefs about crustaceans, lobsters began appearing amongst the cracks and cervices of the rock. What was even more alarming was their ability to launch themselves at her with surprising dexterity.

Having dodged that, Lucille was then assaulted with several varieties of endemic snakes that seemed keen on having their first taste of an eco-tourist.

Not to mention those boulder tossing monkeys.

Especially not those boulder tossing monkeys.

“What is wrong with this place?!” exclaimed Lucille as she narrowly dodged a well launched lobster.

“Everything’s just so…aggressive!”

Scrambling up the last few feet to the summit, Lucille panted as she stared down at the object of her quest. A wyvern egg. Lucille could feel her breath caught in her throat. The egg was enormous! And she had to lug it down! Through all of that madness!