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Post by Emery on Mar 19, 2024 14:57:06 GMT -6
The quest board was usually a good place to find ideas on what to do. Emery had been looking to pick up some more resources- credits, quest points, whatever- and she had decided to bring Moxie with her. He was a good enough companion nowadays. Large and destructive yes, but by this point he was extremely loyal and well trained. Even if he wasn't a good match for more delicate tasks, she could trust him to pay attention to her commands and provide physical support if necessary. So here she was looking at the quest board- but it appeared she wasn't alone. A wolven mammalian also stood at the board, looking at the notices. That in and of itself wasn't unusual- the board had far more tasks on it than any one person could hope to complete. She did nudge Moxie off to the side though, not wanting her pet to disturb the gentleman. Emery 6 Moxie 45.1/45.1 1 (This is Emery's first time completing this quest. Emery does not have Cartography.)
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Post by Emery on Mar 20, 2024 7:59:09 GMT -6
Emery scanned the available tasks, but most of them were either taken, not worth her time, or simply not something she was able to do. For example, one of the tasks required the ability to sail a boat- not something Emery could do. Eventually she came to the conclusion that there just wasn't anything here she could do today. A shame, but perhaps the day wasn't wasted entirely. The public park wasn't far from here- perhaps she could take Moxie out for a training session. She turned away without taking any of the fliers, tugging on Moxie's lead to urge him along. "None of it to your taste?" Said the wolf mammalian, not turning to look at her. "...No." She said, with a moment's hesitation. The man chuckled and finally looked at her, a suspicious glint in his eye. "That's a shame. With that kito, I'm sure you could handle some pretty tough jobs."
Emery 7 Moxie 45.2/45.2 2
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Post by Emery on Mar 20, 2024 8:03:11 GMT -6
"...If you have a proposal, state it." Emery said. She didn't care for the nudge nudge, wink wink sort of proposals. Subtlety was a waste of time, and there was no one else here anyway. Emery had come late in the day to the quest board, so everything else had already been taken. "Right to business!" The man said, holding up his hands. "I can respect that." He pulled out a piece of paper from one of the pockets from his coat. The coat had a lot of pockets, some of them oddly weighted or jingling suspiciously. Emery didn't take the paper- not yet. Lucky for her though, he continued to talk. "I want to get ahold of something. You know how creatures from the Labs are normally sterile, right? Can't have babies. Y'know, for copyright reasons." He said, throwing up some finger quotes around the word "copyright" while rolling his eyes.
Emery 8 Moxie 45.3/45.3 3
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Post by Emery on Mar 20, 2024 8:23:49 GMT -6
"...I'm familiar, yes." Emery said, drumming her fingers on her thigh. Moxie leaned down over her shoulder, narrowing his eyes at the man. "Well! There's been a few feral critters that have escaped into the wild over the past couples years. Not many, so they aren't really a problem for the local wildlife. Except... I've received reports of a very special chiryma out in the wilds." He looked over his shoulder furtively, as if expecting someone to be listening in. "One that has a nest. Full of REAL eggs." The line on Emery's screen wavered. Now that was interesting. A labs species capable of reproduction? "Are these eggs... fertile?" She asked. He shrugged. "I don't know! Nobody knows. That'd be the interesting part. If there's a lab creature that can actually reproduce, then that would cause a lot of problems for The Labs for a lot of reasons..."
Emery 9 Moxie 45.4/45.4 4
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Post by Emery on Mar 20, 2024 8:28:33 GMT -6
"...but it would be a good thing for people who don't like the labs usual restrictions, eh?" He finished with a wink. "Hmm. So you're asking me to help you commit copyright infringement." Emery said plainly. The mammalian placed his hands over his chest in mock despair. "You wound me! I could be a labs scientist that's simply looking to recover a rare and valuable specimen!" He leaned forward, a smile on his face. "It doesn't matter to you either way, right? You still get your quest points. And! I can throw in something a little extra. All I need is one of the chirymas eggs before something else gets to them. Or her." He said, holding out the paper again. Now that she had stepped a bit closer, Emery could see that it was a map, with a route drawn out to where the chiryma was, with a big obnoxious 'X' to mark the spot.
Emery 10 Moxie 46.0/46.0 5
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Post by Emery on Mar 20, 2024 8:39:20 GMT -6
Emery was conflicted. On one hand, this guy was definitely a criminal. But... perhaps he wasn't? She didn't see how he could give her quest points if he wasn't logged in the system as a quest giver somewhere. Plus, she could simply refuse to turn over the egg until he offered up the goods. The map was a little confusing to her, however. She couldn't tell what the scaling was, and there was no compass rose. Was... was the top of the paper north? She turned it around a few times and the man smirked before gesturing to a blob on the bottom right of the map. "That's the Labs City. You're going to have to walk out into the wilds a way to find her. We've been able to keep track of her via a mix of drones and scrying spells, but we've never actually been to the location. You'll have to find it yourself."
Emery 11 Moxie 46.1/46.1 6
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Post by Emery on Mar 20, 2024 8:41:28 GMT -6
Emery paused for a moment, finally taking the map from him as an indication that she'd do it. She did have one question however. "...We?" She said, her screen turning to face him. The man's face twisted in embarrassment- apparently he hadn't meant to let that slip. "Well! You have all you need! There's an address on the back of the map. Just deliver the egg there when you're done. Good luck! Though I'm sure you won't need it, ha." He said, and hurried off down the sidewalk. Emery knew she had no chance of catching up to him, so she didn't bother. Well, this was certainly a task. A more strenuous one than she had been hoping for, but she could make it work. However, she would need a bit of time to prepare. "Come on Moxie. We need to make a stop at home." She said, and walked him back.
Emery 12 Moxie 46.2/46.2 7
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Post by Emery on Mar 20, 2024 8:54:00 GMT -6
A day later, she was as ready as she'd ever been. It took her a long time to dig out her old hiking gear. She hadn't been well enough to use it in a long time. Honestly, she still probably wasn't well enough to use it. But she wasn't about to let this opportunity slip through her fingers. This chiryma was something bizarre, and even if this WAS illegal, Emery had plenty of plausible deniability that she could pull out if she got caught. The scientific possibilities of this were staggering, and Emery was never one to turn down the opportunity to learn something new- especially if it was something that the powers that be didn't WANT her to know. Plus, the man had implied she would get something other than just quest points for doing this. Perhaps she'd be able to keep something from the chiryma's nest? She couldn't imagine.
Emery 13 Moxie 46.3/46.3 8
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Post by Emery on Mar 20, 2024 8:59:57 GMT -6
Or it could just be credits. She always liked credits. Still, she shook her head and cleared her mind. She needed to focus. She had her pack laid out in front of her. She had a first aid kit. It was a big one, both because of her own medical issues and in case Moxie needed assistance as well. A week's worth of food for her and Moxie. It would be slim pickings for Moxie, but she was sure he'd manage to supplement his own diet on the way there with that big mouth of his. The map- though she had made copies of it and the address AND had left a couple copies at home, in case she managed to lose them while she was out and still needed the address to turn the egg in. Spare clothes. Tons of water. Sunblock, bug spray, camping gear. She was all packed.
Emery 14 Moxie 46.4/46.4 9
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Post by Emery on Mar 20, 2024 9:02:54 GMT -6
Most of the heavier things Moxie would be carrying. He wasn't formally trained in carrying a pack, but he also didn't really seem to care when Emery threw something over his back or tied it to him. It was just that he didn't particularly care about keeping those things on him or keeping them from getting damaged, either. She would have to keep a close eye on him. Emery was also bringing her best braces and prosthetics, ones designed for heavy use and physical strain. She hoped they would be enough- it was going to be a rough time out there. She took a deep breath and let it go. It was time to grab her pet and leave. After she retrieved Moxie from the kennels, she walked through town with him at her side. It wasn't too late to turn around and go home. She hadn't been outside the City in years.
Emery 15 Moxie 47.0/47.0 10
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Post by Emery on Mar 20, 2024 9:05:42 GMT -6
In fact, Moxie had never been outside the city at all. But ultimately, she knew she wasn't doing that. Emery was a stubborn woman- she'd see this through. The buildings they passed by got steadily shorter and more poorly maintained, and trees and grass got more frequent between them. Soon they gave way entirely to wilderness, vast fields of grass that turned up and away from the city. Emery checked the map again. It looked like they had to cut across the plains and then from there they had two options- cutting through the temperate rainforest to the northwest of the city, or following the long way around its edge for easier hiking. Emery knew full well that she couldn't handle a tougher hike... but following the grasslands would push her to the limit of the supplies she had packed, and if the trip took even a little bit longer than she was expecting, they could run out of food.
Emery 16 Moxie 47.1/47.1 11
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Post by Emery on Mar 20, 2024 9:07:58 GMT -6
She glanced at Moxie. He would never put up with starvation, that was for sure. So to keep him happy, she'd at least try to go through the forest. Besides, if worst came to worst she could always veer east again and pop back out in the grasslands once more. Once they passed through the forest, the chiryma had apparently nested in slightly bumpier, hillier grasslands to the north. The nest was apparently quite obvious- she had looked up pictures of chiryma nests as well, just to be safe. (Though the ones in the pictures always had dud eggs or were from chiryma who had been given special hormones and chemicals to allow them to reproduce. This feral chiryma was truly a special thing.) So she and Moxie continued walking, and soon the grassy hill they were climbing leveled out a bit, allowing Emery to stare off into the horizon.
Emery 17 Moxie 47.2/47.2 12
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Post by Emery on Mar 20, 2024 9:20:27 GMT -6
But first, she turned back. It was still early morning. The sun was peeking above the horizon, but the hills and mountains from the eastern draconic canyons and plateaus cast a shadowy pall over the city still. The various streetlights and windows were still lit, making the whole city glitter like stars. She smiled- perhaps other places and races thought it was a parasite, something strange grown out of the earth like a fungus. But she thought it was beautiful. She only had to leave it temporarily though- she would be back before she knew it. Hopefully. Unless she died out in the woods because a chiryma kicked her so hard it snapped her neck. But still, baby steps. And so step she did, out across the fields of grass. She ran her fingers through the strands- it was all healthy prairie. Despite the city's imposing size, it wasn't really that bad for the environment.
Emery 18 Moxie 47.3/47.3 13
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Post by Emery on Mar 20, 2024 9:24:45 GMT -6
Instead of sprawling across the environment, the city's footprint was focused on one comparatively small spot with an incredibly high population density. All of its effect was in that one small spot instead of damaging the surrounding wilderness. It had to of course- where else would they get the genetic samples for their beasts if they were busy driving the surrounding animals to extinction? Many of the creatures that lived in the wilderness were just as strange as the ones who lived in the city, after all. Dash-claws, dragons, Emery had even heard tales of more mystical things like kitsunes lurking out in the woods. They couldn't risk scaring those off, now could they? Emery was sure she wouldn't meet anything that dramatic on this trip, however. These grasslands and the forest, while pretty, were full of pretty standard flora and fauna. Nothing that a guide to poisonous plants and a bodyguard couldn't handle.
Emery 19 Moxie 47.4/47.4 14
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Post by Emery on Mar 20, 2024 9:27:19 GMT -6
Moxie was, of course, her bodyguard. He had been doing a splendid job of carrying the food supplies and water tanks so far, one foot in front of the other in his characteristic happy go lucky way. His eyes were fixed on the horizon, not a care in the world, leaving Emery to handle navigation. Already she could see the forest coming up, a band of green on the horizon. She could already feel the environment changing in preparation as well. The air felt more misty and humid, and more birds fluttered around above her. They nested and slept in the forest, and then dispersed out into the grasslands during the day to feast on grass seeds. At this time of day, Emery was watching their morning commute, so to speak. The path to the forest wasn't as quick as it looked, however. It took Emery hours to reach it at her pace.
Emery 20 Moxie 48.0/48.0 15
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