Star
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Post by Star on May 28, 2020 1:29:47 GMT -6
I had found the quest board to be a good source of trinkets to add to my hoard. They weren't always as impressive as I would like, but most of the time they were at least worth looking at. I had heard rumors that some of the things given out by desperate quest seekers were possibly magical. That caught my interest long enough to give it a look as often as I could manage. As much as I was flattered by the woman who chased me down as soon as I arrived, I had to wonder what she was thinking. Clearly I looked strong enough to help her with her problem, but the way she rambled on and the way she approached in the first place made me suspicious. I was wary of what this quest might have in store from the moment I hastily yanked the slip of paper out of her hands. I didn't stick around for long to hear what she said, so she better have written everything worth knowing on the page. Normally I would take care of these sorts of things on my own, but after skimming the note, I felt a little more comfortable bringing along a companion for protection. I wasn't familiar with the species described in the note, but I knew that there weren't many creatures out there that could take on Porthos when he's determined. He's also brightly colored and intimidating, in case we could get away with just chasing the mystery monster off. [10.85, 5.2]
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Star
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Post by Star on May 28, 2020 6:39:50 GMT -6
The people who made the requests often wrote down a location as part of the information, so I had some practice in following them. The human system of numbering locations was very nonsensical, but I eventually figured it out. I could not even begin to speculate why they did things this way. A lot of human traditions were like that. Perhaps they made sense to someone, long ago, and now they were just too used to what they had to consider a change for the better.
The garden was thick with plants, making it difficult to discern where the target creature was. What did a Nyssa even look like? It might have been wise of me to ask before I arrived, but I really didn't want to stick around the strange woman for too long. I supposed we would have to find out the hard way. Perhaps we would be lucky and it was actually a small, cute creature and it's threat was entirely overestimated. From how she was acting, I thought the chances of that were low, so I stayed close to Porthos, knowing that he would protect me with his poisonous skin and powerful clubbed tail.
[10.9, 5.4]
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Star
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Post by Star on May 28, 2020 6:52:21 GMT -6
"Nye-sss-ah," I said aloud, puzzling my way through the word. Sometimes humans were quite literal with their naming systems, and it was fairly easy to tell which sort of creature something was by what they called it. This was not one of those times, as far as I could tell. The mystery continued.
I could think of no other way to confront the creature than to traverse the garden and see if it showed up. If the woman's frantic explanation was any indication, it was really doing a number on things, and it should make itself obvious if we find it. From there, we just had to give it a good thumping and it would go away. Hopefully it would not return again, like the woman alluded to before. Clearly, the person doing this last time had not done a thorough enough job. I would not be making the same mistake.
Porthos was sniffing at the various flowers as we walked the paths leading deeper into the garden. One of them made him sneeze, which I found rather comical. The sound of it drove many smaller creatures away, and he began to chase one of them. I had no choice but to follow him.
[10.95, 5.6]
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Star
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Post by Star on May 28, 2020 7:01:00 GMT -6
"Porthos!" I called out. He made no mention of stopping until he had caught or lost whatever it was he was chasing. I quickly caught up and hissed at him for misbehaving. I saw him swallow something, but I did not catch what it was. I frowned. We would not be telling the lady who owned the garden about that one. "You must pay attention," I scolded. "It is important that we do not lose track of our goal."
Speaking of losing track, I did not watch which way we were going as we ran deep into the gardens. The thick leaves and the shade of the overhanging trees made it difficult to figure out which way we had come from. I could have flown above the tree line to look around, but I was concerned about Porthos running off again. I decided to pick a direction and stick with it. The place couldn't be that big, could it?
[11, 5.8]
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Star
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Post by Star on May 28, 2020 7:14:03 GMT -6
I could hear the rustling of leaves, and it definitely wasn't just the wind. I whipped around to see that Porthos was still standing there with that dumb look of pride on his face. It wasn't him. It must be the Nyssa! I ran after the sound, hoping that Porthos would get the hint and come along. Even if he did not, I would probably be able to find him again later. Not that many things around here were neon green and orange. Luckily I didn't have to worry about it, because whatever it was caught his attention, too.
I could see something moving around among the plants and trees, but I could not make out its shape. I was right. It was not a cute little harmless creature that was being exaggerated into a big threat. Whatever it was, it was pretty big, and I could see how it caused so much chaos and destruction around here. Still, I was having trouble figuring out what exactly it looked like, even with my excellent night vision. I closed my eyes and let the shimmering light of my gleaming scales illuminate me. I breathed in deeply, bathing in the power of the light. I was ready.
Porthos wasn't especially fast, but he caught up well enough. His large frill was fully extended as a warning to anything that approached, and his huge club tail tapped against trees and rocks as he ran. There was absolutely no missing him and the threat he implied with his impressive display.
[11.05, 6] [Star uses Gleam for +1 Resistance.]
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Post by Jack on May 28, 2020 9:22:33 GMT -6
The Nyssa creaked, alarmed but hostile as the Tat-lung and the Chelcauda came into it's view. What were they going to do now?
(1-5, nothing happens)
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Star
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Post by Star on May 29, 2020 6:09:51 GMT -6
There was a sound of creaking, like the trees above me were threatening to crash down. Was it the creature pressing on them? I looked up to see if I could find the source of the noise. Nothing out of the ordinary, just more trees and leaves, though they were beginning to shake around as if stirred by a rough wind. One tree in particular was moving more violently than the others, and I became concerned that it would crash down on us. I could fly out of the way, but Porthos didn't stand a chance.
"Move, dummy!" I shouted. I reached out to shove him, but withdrew my claws just in time. Porthos was poisonous to the touch and I didn't want to risk injury by touching him. This was a conundrum not as easily solved as I would have liked. I quickly looked around for a tree branch I could use to help me.
[11.1, 6.2]
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Star
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Post by Star on May 29, 2020 6:31:17 GMT -6
There weren't any easily accessible tree branches, but I did find a large fern which I ripped from the ground. The lady would have to forgive me, as there would certainly be bigger problems if the trees came crashing down on the two of us. I swatted at Porthos aggressively, hissing and urging him to step back away from the trees in case they came crashing down. He seemed frightened and upset, but I would have to make it up to him later. For now I was too busy saving his life.
Once Porthos was a safe distance from the action, I checked back over my shoulder to find out what exactly was going on. It was then that I saw it. The unmistakable face of some kind of creature, or at least its eyes. Slowly I was able to separate the form from the surrounding wildlife and I realized something important: the monster was a tree. The creaking and groaning wasn't a tree about to be pushed over by the creature, but the creature itself slowly turning our way. This certainly complicated things.
[11.15, 6.4]
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Star
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Post by Star on May 29, 2020 6:47:38 GMT -6
For a moment, I was torn. Should I attack or just try to scare it off? When I imagined coming here and chasing it away, I imagined something... more manageable. The unruly creature was huge and I knew next to nothing about it. Even its anatomy was a strange mix of a beast and a tree. It reminded me a bit of how Sapphire was both part creature and part gem, but it was so small compared to this thing. The Nyssa. I regretted not looking up more information about them before rushing out to confront it. I wouldn't be making that mistake again.
For the task at hand, I had to come up with a plan quickly. The Nyssa was most likely pissed at me, and Porthos was equal parts confused and angry about everything that had happened so far. I floated over to Porthos and landed gently next to him as not to rile him up any further. "I am sorry," I said. I know he could not understand, but it made me feel better to say it. I tossed the fern I had been chasing him with aside, hoping that was enough for him to forgive me.
[11.2, 6.6]
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Star
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Post by Star on May 29, 2020 6:58:51 GMT -6
Whether or not he was still upset about me chasing him, Porthos did not look like he intended to attack me. I was relieved to see that he did have some sense in him after all. He did still seem very upset, however, and he was watching the tree creature with increasing intensity. I took a breath and solidified my plan. We would have to approach it. Whether or not we would have to wage a full scale attack was still up in the air, but we had to do something before it made a more dramatic move.
I nodded my head toward the Nyssa and hoped that Porthos would take the hint. Even if he didn't follow right away, I was reasonably sure he would participate if I led the way. It was a bit much to expect him to take charge, but he was a reasonably competent follower. If we succeeded here, I would certainly consider training him for battle, or perhaps paying someone else to do it. I realized that bringing a creature who knew no commands into a fight was not an especially wise decision, but I had assumed that it would be much easier than this and that his intimidating presence would be enough on its own. A mistake I did not intend to make twice.
[11.25, 6.8]
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Star
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Post by Star on May 29, 2020 7:06:28 GMT -6
I flew up into the trees so that I could come eye to eye with the massive creature terrorizing the garden. I made sure that it was looking at me before letting out my loudest, harshest growl. I had not yet met a creature that did not falter at the sound of my fearsome growl, but it had little effect on the Nyssa. I suspected that it was simply too dense to even know it was meant to be afraid. Fine. If it wanted to fight, then we would have to fight.
I assumed I would have the Nyssa's attention, but I had assumed wrong. It turned away from me as if to shun my threat and went straight for Porthos. It swiped a massive tree-like claw in his direction and tried to grab him. If I was not so afraid for his well being, I would be amused by the fact that it was about to poison itself. Thinking quickly, I grabbed another large fern from the ground and swiped it into the face of the tree monster. "Back," I hissed the same way I had when chasing Porthos off. It stumbled backwards just enough to let him run around its side.
[11.3, 7]
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Star
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Post by Star on May 29, 2020 7:15:04 GMT -6
The woody claws that had been aimed at Porthos were now focused entirely on me. While that had been my plan, I immediately started to regret provoking it. I was able to easily dodge out of the way of its claws as I continued to study the creature. There was a doubt in my mind that the two of us could win this fight. It was such a large, hardy creature, and the more we fought, the more we risked damaging the garden and therefore our chances at a reward. We would be better off trying to chase it off than we would trying to kill it, but I was running out of things to try. If it wasn't afraid of Porthos' hood display or my loudest growl, then what could we do to show it we mean business?
I might have had trouble coming up with something, but Porthos knew exactly what he wanted to do. He came around the side of the creature so it couldn't easily catch him and slapped it as hard as he could with the club on the end of its tail. I could hear the rattling of the club and the resonating strike ring out into the trees. "Good job, Porthos!" I called out, dodging yet another furious swipe from the now even more enraged Nyssa.
[11.35, 7.2] [Star uses Dodge. Porthos uses Tail Strike.]
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 29, 2020 11:04:51 GMT -6
You've managed to defeat the nyssa! Looks like you made the right decision bringing your chelcauda along!
[You have rolled a success. Feel free to keep playing! Your QP will be added shortly.]
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