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There was an advantage to being an early riser, and also to being able to breathe underwater. At least, there was an advantage when it came to this particular night: Dictys was nearly alone here. The seadweller population was, after all, significantly lower than the, er, not seadweller population, and the proportion of the populace that had the funding or mechanical ability to possess an apparatus to aid underwater breath also tended to be at least lazy or exhausted enough to never get up early enough to head to the beach at this hour. (Ah, yes - once again the water’s saturation was proving beneficial to Dictys’ schedule). Ey ducked eir head with its neat little braid into the underwater cave nearest it, and ey was rewarded almost immediately by a pocket of two eggs curled almost fondly into each other.

Victory. A grin curled lazily over Dictys’ lips, and ey snatched the two eggs with gusto, and kicked off deeper into the water in search of more. There – a third egg, this one an appropriate purple with elegant golden filigree, winked at em from behind the cover of some ferns and a large rock. How fortunate! (Well, fortunate was not really the word – to be honest the caves here really did seem empty)

Still, Dictys kept swimming. Ey never really knew what ey could find, and there was always the hope that one contained something rather more interesting than chocolate. Ey could easily purchase more of it, and in generally higher quantities than the eggs ey found in these searches. Plus, Mommydaddy thought it might be helpful in Dictys’ eternal search for more future crew members, and always tagged along obligingly rather than having to be dumped into that silly tank. Of course, this was all with the stipulation that Dictys actually attempt to socialize, which – hey! Ey’d tried, back during the attempt to save the empire. It had just been that the tealblood teenager Dictys had been saddled with was so insolent…

In any case, Dictys managed to nab seven more eggs before deciding to veer off into a cave system ey knew definitively led abovewater. Ey had to interact with the adoring public sometime, right?

10!

[+] Kursha Vidari

Technically it was not a competition. Technically it was a time for fun and festivity. Things had not always been that way though. No. Technically once upon a time it had been a celebration of barbarism. Nowadays though, it was technically just an excuse to binge on sweet, chocolatey goodness and explore the countryside. Technically, it was a lot of things, but technically Kursha did not care. As far as he was concerned, it was nothing more than another opportunity to prove himself and maybe kick up some fun in the process.

Gingerly, Kursha lowered himself down into a cave, rucksack strapped securely over his shoulder. Many trolls were toting cute wicker baskets. Kursha was not so foolish. A basket was a fragile, unwieldy device. Tip it too far and the eggs would tumble out. Gather too many eggs and the bottom might cave. Also, it would be far too easy to steal from a basket. Though Kursha had no intention of stealing himself, he certainly did not trust others not to. He would stick with his not-as-cute rucksack, thank you very much.

As he descended, Kursha discovered a single egg, tucked away on a rocky outcrop. He slipped it over his shoulder into the rucksack. It was rather fortunate he thought, since the cave entrances should have been picked clean by now. He had intended on starting earlier in the evening, but the Colonel had introduced a new training regimen. She was not likely to forgive him for missing a session to go off egg-hunting. Though the egg hunt was a long tradition, the Colonel viewed it as an excuse to go play.

'Play'!

Kursha would show her 'play' when he returned having bested everyone else in this silly, childish past-time. To do that though, he needed to find more eggs. As of now he had a not-so-stellar total of one.

At last, Kursha's feet found the cave floor.* Peeling himself away from the wall, he took stock of his hunting ground. It was not as deep as he had hoped, but a few winding tunnels offered potential. Starting down the left tunnel, Kursha began his search. He looked in all the obvious places first - behind stalagmites, inside furrows, around corners. As expected, he did not find much. To his surprise though, he did find two brown eggs nestled almost in plain side. Their colour must have camouflaged them.

He continued down the corridor, and it opened up into a vast cavern. A vast column stood in the centre near a pool of water. Thick stalagmites formed small plateuas. Soda straw stalagtites peppered the ceiling along with sweeping curtains of slick drapery. Kursha's light cast strange shadows across the walls that seemed to resemble wild beasts or people. He shined his flashlight on the centre pool. It seemed to let out a pale glow.

Kursha approached it carefully. When he was certain there were no fish, he tread into the water. It did not look especially deep, but by the time he had reached the centre, it had reached his knees. Bending down, he retrieved three tightly sealed eggs out from the bottom of the pool. One was not as well-wrapped as the others and was slightly soggy. Kursha did not mind. He threw it into the rucksack with the rest.

As he waded back out of the pool, he saw another troll on the other side of the cavern. She was too far for him to make out any details but he called to her anyway. He did not have to speak loudly. The sound carried well over the walls.

"Hello! I'm surprised to see another face. How goes it?" He was in a good mood so he felt no need to antagonise Keionx.

*It was not so steep a descent, but he had searched every nook and cranny for more eggs.

((Can my next roll be 4, 5, and 6? Except not, because we're only using four sided dice.))

On most days Etsali would have been sneaking about her own home city right about now, finding discarded treasures to add to her collection and looking for not-so-discarded ones to steal, but today was not just any day. This was All Egg Day, and All Egg Day invariably meant it was time for the age old tradition of the Egg Hunt. She wasn't the sort of troll to care much about the actual historical values of the thing, but she was very very interested in any activity that gave her a chance to hone her observation skills, gave her a chance to practice her thievery on other would be hunters, and also gave her access to tasty chocolate wrapped in very shiny colors. So here she was, slinking through the caverns rather than her city streets, with her eyes painted and prepared to find all the eggs before any other trolls could. Keeper would be proud.

Scanning every inch of her surroundings as she moved, the troll moved forward with light steps, trying to keep as quiet as possible in case she came upon a target instead of a treasure. It was as she was half focused on the mental cadence of 'heel-toe, heel-toe' that she saw her first prize, a blue egg that caught a little of the light as she lifted it off the ground. As she slipped it into her basket, a beaten up but surprisingly sturdy thing that her lusus had produced from somewhere before they'd started their journey here, she let out a triumphant little laugh. One egg down and so many many more to go! She was still laughing as she moved on, too caught up in glancing at the shiny wrapper now and then to remember the disconnect between the sound and her attempts at silent footfalls.

Three more were found in quick succession and then another two, in so many different colors, because nothing could possibly escape her eyes. She was stooping to pluck a red one from its hiding place when she heard the voices echoing in. It wasn't long before she'd tracked them to their source and her eyes positively gleamed as she considered the two trolls. An orange blood and a green blood, as best she could tell. She traced the shape of Kursha's rucksack, wondering how many eggs were hidden away in there, eyed the easier target that was Keionx's basket, and weighed her options. Then she was stalking forward to join them, teeth bared in a cheerful grin.

"Hi there! Having much luck on your hunts?" Her eyes couldn't quite stop drifting back to the basket and rucksack, but that was okay. She couldn't wait to see what new opportunities would spring up for her.

Not unless of course, the eggs were of chocolate. Thick dark, gooey, rich, milky, creamy, smooth and fine chocolate. The kind any troll could have one bite of and be lost in a sea of utter bliss. That was the magic of chocolate. But for Lunear, it was painful. It was a reminder that this was like a stepping stone for the menace. The future followers of rainbow drinkers. They could pretend to be eating and slurping up the blood of their fellow trolls. It was all fun and games until someone started glowing and drinking real blood, not candy fillings.

It was a while, though, before Dictys saw the end of the water. A single orange egg greeted em upon arrival, as though in welcome. Dictys took it gracefully, and tucked it into eir basket - and then paused, turning, to lift Mommydaddy out of the water and arrange them on eir shoulders like a miniature white scarf. Then ey looked around: it seemed as though ey'd emerged into a cavern with a river of sorts leading...well, the way Dictys had come. This was exactly as Dictys had expected - ey'd traveled this way before, of course!

But now perhaps it was time to seek new places, or at least new trolls. Ey headed tentatively for a place with less sound, first, because it was likely to have more eggs. It was strategic! Mommydaddy spoke up then in eir familiar chittering voice - what was Dictys doing? There was sure to be fewer trolls that way! “Relax, Mommydaddy,” ey told them, almost absentminded, as ey reached for an egg. “This is strategic for egg-searching. I’ll head toward that tunnel next, see?” Dictys indicated a tunnel that seemed to have voices echoing from it, and turned back to eir hunt. Three, four…oh! That was fifteen eggs so far. Not so bad, Dictys thought.

Ey really had been about to head for the tunnel with voices emanating from it – but a strange crack! sounded, and DIctys’ interest piqued. Mommydaddy chittered again as they realized where Dictys was headed – for Dictys, darling, that could be unsafe! Dictys found that ey didn’t really mind that possibility, though: ey had Mommydaddy with em, and ey’d never heard of a seadweller dying to some silly All Egg Day hunt. Not in recent times, anyway. But sure enough, Dictys rounded the corner only to spot…a very fashionable blueblood. Oh, Dictys did like bling.

Ey tiptoed, though, as well as ey ever could abovewater, to nab two eggs behind the other troll. Success! There was so much egg in Dictys’ basket now: proof of eir truly superior ability. Ey moved back toward the other troll, though, and cleared eir throat. “Hello there,” ey pronounced, rather smoothly, ey thought.

17!

Total: 14


Encouraged by her fellow orange blood's polite smile, Etsali completed her approach, close enough now to talk easily but with just enough wiggle room to make a break for it if their friendliness didn't last. It was always good to be prepared, after all, and the green blood's grin had an edge to it that was both very interesting and very clearly meant to be a little threatening. If he was being so protective of the rucksack, did that mean he really did have a lot of eggs already? She was so curious she could barely stand it, but it would be so tricky to get it away from him and he was clearly already on the alert. Maybe if she waited a while.

It was pretty easy to divert her attention, after all, because Keionx was showing off a basket-full of eggs right that very moment. Leaning forward a little to look at them all, the troll let out an obligatory 'Ooooh!' But then the basket was being whisked away as its owner excused herself and Etsali allowed her eyes to drift back to Kursha. There was that smile, still, and he didn't seem to have anything to say so she kept grinning right back. Definitely amused now, she wondered if he knew that friendly expressions weren't generally supposed to be such tense affairs. But hey, maybe it was good practice for those days when the soon-to-be master thief would have to smile in the face of danger!

At last the other troll rejoined them, her collection even larger already, and Etsali let her attention shift gradually back. She tilted her basket, just a bit, so that her own eggs were better visible. "I got a pretty good start, I think. I'll have plenty more soon!" And then Kursha spoke up, issuing a challenge that had her laughing out loud this time. Oh, she knew just what her favor was going to be when she won. "Sounds like fun. You're on!"

She lingered there a second more, eyes darting around, then took a step back and whirled into movement, dashing off towards the eggs she'd spotted. No way was she losing this competition!