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 Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 11:43 am
This Quest is for Sauron who is striving to become a Lancer.
OOC
||. The quest prompt must be answered with a 2000 word reply (can be more).
||. Respond to the prompt given with an adventure of your own creation as long as it meets the requirements of the specific tasks.
||. NPCs may be used as long as they advance the quest in an interesting manner.
||. You cannot include any playable characters other than the quest taker.
||. Your responses will be graded on a letter grade scale. A grade of D or F will result in repeating the quest process, C or better will result in passing and possible rewards.
||. Questions about quests can be asked here.
IC
The morning was just peaking over the horizon but already a cacophony of sounds seemed to be tearing through the terrain. Something was going on deeper into the forest, and it didn't sound too friendly.
Upon closer inspection and some searching for the source, it would seem that at the Tale-Jauhar border there was a leaf girl - and she looked like she couldn't be much older than 18 - trying to go head to head against an old and angry looking Kinfa. It would seem that at her young age she was trying to tame it...
Quest Tasks
||. The quest must include the 18 year old girl NPC and the old and stubborn Kinfa.
||. By the end Sauron must have attempted to help the girl, but ultimately fail.
||. This trial should test Sauron's resourcefulness and his skills in consoling/persuading the girl to give up for now.
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Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 7:38 pm
Sauron picked up a few jars for potential collecting later that day, he ate breakfast and packed a little more for lunch. He walked out of Ast with Naka, his sprite, floating behind, chirping and chattering in a one sided conversation. He hummed as he walked and sighed in relief as he was engulfed by nature once again, the trappings of social expectations fell away the further one got from town. Here it was the natural laws one played by. As he walked over twisted roots, he steadied himself on the rough trunks with riddled jagged bark, he felt reconnected with nature. He passed some familiar trees and mused to himself that perhaps he would head a different direction today, find some new/old friends. There was much knowledge to be gained by trees, who were patient and bent with the wind.
He huffed as he went up a hill, if he didn't know better he would say Naka was scolding him for being so out of shape. Okay, okay so he should spend more time walking through the trees then sitting and watching interesting creatures from them. Perhaps the sprite had a point. He dragged himself the last little ways up the hill, yes definitely more walking. He slide gleefully down the other side, it was a beautiful day, the air damp with humidity and the birdsong nonstop in the forest.The hairs rose on the back of his neck....something felt wrong. He became edgy and somewhat unnerved. He was curious though and followed the odd feeling. After what seemed like no time at all he was on the Jahaur/Tale border, peeking out at the wide expanse of savanna, it was beautiful in its own way, more exposed and golden but it was definitely not home.
He skipped in an out of the tree line, examining the differences in the plants that grew along either edge. He had studied himself into a calm phase, almost meditative in quality. When a very undignified shriek shook him out of his reverie. What could possibly be making that horrible noise? Perhaps someone was being tortured? Mauled? After the shriek came a whole series of nattering, chattering, hearty scolding and many squawks echoing though the area. He glanced at Naka and she nodded. This racket deserved investigations! He slipped into a more wooded part and swung through the trees coming upon the somewhat comedic scene carefully.
Right ahead of where he had originally been walking on the border a young leaf girl sweated as she ran out of the way of an old crotchety, raggedy feathered Kinfa. It was charging her, back and forth, she kept racing away at the last moment, the barmy lass uttered sweet calming words to the distressed bird, who evidently was having none of the little slip of a girl tromping around her territory. She was too old for this it was insulting, a young birds game, she had had uncountable clutches and this was her reward!
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Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 2:48 pm
Sauron took a long look at the girl, she was young and spry no more then eighteen years of age. She would eventually tire under the onslaught of the great bird. He called out to her, "Here, get to the trees! I'll distract the old girl."
She glared at him. "No thanks, I can handle this myself." Well that was a little short sighted of her, stubborn child. He reached out to her again with his voice, "I'll help you work out a plan! I have some experience with wildlife. Really, I can help!" he hoped she would agree, it was only a matter of time before...to late. The bird had taken advantage of the girls distraction the Kinfa buffeted her with its wings and gave a glancing blow to her arm, which was lucky as the claws on the feet, though slightly dulled with age could do much worse then a small scratch. The leaf girl cried out in pain and shock, the bird ran over top of her and was just about to spin for another charge when Sauron who had shimmied down the tree when she fell, streaked by the enraged animal. Seeing a new target the bird kicked some dirt over the girl and raced after this new threat to her peace.
"Quick, up the tree!" he called. Naka flew and chittered at the girl, encouraging her to get up. Glancing behind him Sauron saw the great wide orbs of the grouchy old Kinfa's eyes. She was gaining on him, this girl had some major stride on her. He ducked into a thick knot of trees and dove into a big thorn brush. The bird had some maneuverability issues getting through the trees and proceeded to pad around his thorn brush suspiciously. She could hear him in there, she knew he was there but she couldn't see him. A growl came rumbling from her throat, and Sauron, who was trying to stay as still as possible in a cramped and awkward position. There were thorns digging in everywhere, but he had nabbed the first spot that looked likely, he was fast at climbing trees but not that fast.
Naka, his little angel came and flew loops around the birds head, making her madder and leading her back out into the more roomy area. Sauron extricated himself, bleeding lightly from many pinpricks and crawled up the nearest tree. Well he was certainly getting his exercise today. He hoped that the leaf had indeed crawled up the tree because the bird was back out there and squawking again.
He got up into the canopy and swung slowly over to where she was huddled with her arms wrapped around her leg, she had wrapped a cloth around her arm to stop the slight bleeding.
"I'm sorry you were injured, but I was doing just fine without your help." She told him as she noticed the little cuts all over him.
Well she was certainly grateful..not. "I take it you want the old gal as a pet?"
The girl nodded.
"You don't think that a younger, more amenable bird would be more suitable? Or something small like a sprite?"
She shook her head adamant. "No she will be mine, she is the one I want."
"Do you think she will nest again? Perhaps you could lift an egg instead, it would still be part her?"
"Nope I want the adult."
"Well if you are set in that, you probably want to make a leg trap. Look for a tree that looks like a mop. Vines such as those should be strong enough to hold her. He stood and started looking for himself. He was still a little jittery after almost being kinfachow, and slipped once on some slippery moss. Landing hard on his butt, he grunted and glanced down to see the old gal in question staring at him balefully from below, no doubt waiting to pounce him should he fall off of his branch. "You know you don't have to be so difficult you old bat." She hissed at him in answer. Gingerly he stood up again, wary of another slip and continued on.
Soon he could smell the fragrant perfume of the tree he was looking for, following his nose he came upon the great mop-like crown of the vine covered tree. He had always liked them because they had funky haircuts..or lack thereof. He used the spines on a hostile looking nearby leaf to painstakingly saw though a few of the vines and pulled them up from their lazy sprawl to the forest floor. The kinfa stayed below and tried to catch them as they slithered upward.
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Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 3:16 pm
He wrapped a bundle around one of his legs and tied it off for easier carrying and two around his arms, he wasn't sure how much he would need for this particular endeavor. upon his return he spotted a fruit bush not to far away that only had fruit above about the height of the kinfa, unfortunately it was somewhat removed from the tree line.
The Leaf girl, who said her name was Lina and he gave his own name to her as an afterthought, had also found some vines. "So what is the plan?" She asked excitedly.
"I was thinking of a leg noose trap using either us or hopefully that fruit over there as bait, what do you think?"
"It does kinda sound better than trying to talk her into submission," she nodded at her arm. "How do we get the fruit?"
"Well, you are going to slide down the tree to just above the ground and try to distract her while I sneak over to the fruit bush."
She grinned and held up a fluffy leaf waving it in the air like a wing.
"Exactly," Sauron grinned, delighted that she was clever enough to imitate another kinfa's movements.
When they were ready, Lina poised in the arm of a branch with her feathery leaves, and Sauron ready to bolt to the fruit bush, hopefully without the kinfa noticing. He sent Naka to tell her it was alright to start and Lina let out a oddly realistic Kinfa call. Sauron raced to the bush and scrambled up the short trunk, his eyes peeled for the angry bird, but all was well, he reached for some fruit and had to poke some down with a stick as even he was not tall enough to reach the oblong red fruits in the bush by himself. Two hit the dirt and he winced at the noise, a querulous call came from where the old kinfa was trying to get Lina out of her territory and the infernal tree. Sauron streaked for the large stand of trees again, hiding the fruit in a pocket as he saw the kinfa race out after him. Crud, he made a leap for the tree and scrambled up it just in time, the birds beak closing on thin air where his butt had been seconds before. He slumped on a high branch, gasping for air.
Lina plopped down across from him grinning brightly. "Thank you for helping me."
"Don't thank me yet, we haven't actually caught her. Now we need to tie a sliding knot loop in the vine that will close on her foot when we pull. So lets get the vine set up before we set the fruit out or she will steal us blind before we get there."
In about an hour the vines were tied end to end and a loop set in one, they tossed the lot except the tail end to the ground and threw down piles of leaves after it as camouflage.
Sauron used another sharp leaf to cut one of the fruits so its sultry scent permeated the area and tossed it and the other down where they would draw the bird toward the vines.
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Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 6:45 pm
The clever old kinfa peeked her head around the side of the trunks, she squinted up at the trees but saw nothing, as Sauron and Lina were holding their collective breath in anticipatory caution. The old bird gurgled and stepped forward, the smell of freshly cut fruit drawing her forward, her foot stepped into the the center of the noose while her neck snaked out and she swallowed the sliced fruit first, Sauron stared Lina down holding her position until the bird reached for the second fruit, he nodded and both of them pulled. The noose tightened around her leg and Sauron tied it off. "Now!" he called. They scrambled down the tree and pounced the angry bird which roared at the hatchlings tackling her. She managed to toss little Lina off with a powerful thrust of a leg. Then she stared poor Sauron right in the eye as she stood and smushed him up against a tree as he held on for dear life. The breath was squashed out of him and he wilted like an old leaf slipping to the ground like so much detritus.
The old kinfa huffed, kicked the noose off after figuring out she had to walk a few steps back to loosen it. Knowing the other two were incapacitated for the moment she strode back and ate the fruit, sneered a the shifter and the leaf in turn and strutted away.
"Well," Sauron croaked. "If you are really determined to get her, I would wait for a while to see if she forgets and come back later with a lot more food. She still went after that fruit after the trauma of the morning meaning its worth the effort to her." His head swam, was it still morning? Naka fluttered down, stood on his shoulder as he sat at the bottom of the tree he had been flattened against. "Nice of you to join us." He said. She simply placed her palm on his face and shook her head at him.
"Do you really think she will forget all this?" Lina asked.
"Not really but she would probably be in a much better mood on a day a few weeks from now, don't you think?" He asked her opinion trying to get her to see the reasoning for herself. Him telling her what to do would never ever work.
"Well, she is pretty mad."
"Yes, and she probably won't allow anyone near here for a while, best to let her defenses fall slowly away, and surprise her with a tithing. Maybe keeping the tithings up for a while would help your cause. But for now, we should probably rest and you could work on your running and collecting in the mean time if you wanted, it might help."
Lina nodded and got up gingerly. She helped him get to his feet. "Do you need assistance to your home?" She asked.
He blinked at her, she was being very courteous now. Apparently he had worked hard enough to earn some respect. "If you could help me get back to the the middle of Jahaur, I could probably take it from there, I'm reluctant to stay here, as my continued presence may keep the kinfa mad for longer then necessary. The faster I get away the sooner you can try again with her at a later date."
"Okay," she said. "I'll try this new tactic, thank you for trying." She helped him into the trees and escorted him to the center of the Jahaur forest. He told her about some of the different plants as they were pretty slow moving, he thought maybe a rib or two was bruised, it was hard for him to breath when he moved to fast.
They said their goodbyes and he waved her off with a wish of good luck in her next kinfa taming attempt.
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Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 2:01 pm
Class Quest Result
C+
Sauron has passed and received a rank of Lancer!
Congratulations Sauron!
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