Ramal
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Post by Ramal on Jun 22, 2023 0:02:36 GMT -6
“Right then,” Ramal muttered to himself while reviewing the amount of food he had. He was down to just the dry stuff, nothing fresh left at all. While a packet of instant noodles was probably one of the land peoples’ most clever inventions, he really didn’t want to live on it exclusively. He was really craving some fresh fish, something to remind him of home in this dismal time. The feeling was enough to convince him that he should pick up an odd job or two.
Thankfully, this city had an amazing solution for just that problem. There was a quest board posted in town where citizens could make requests and others could complete them in exchange for some goods as well as some points or something. It really expedited the often awkward and tedious process of finding someone willing to employ him on short notice for menial tasks. He wasn't sure what to expect, but he was willing to give it a try if it meant he could eat something new.
[4.95] First completion.
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Ramal
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Post by Ramal on Jun 22, 2023 0:04:10 GMT -6
As he approached the board, he was nearly tackled by an enthusiastic young drake Sarane. Ramal was surprised to see how fast and strong he was, even at his smaller size. He thought back to the little whelp he had at home and how she was growing quickly, as well. The hens were a bit less intimidating, but still fairly large and in need of solid training. Before he could spend too much time daydreaming about Socks, he was reminded by the kind stranger that he was here to do something.
“Ya,” he said with a nod. Without much thought he grabbed the nearest note and started to walk away with it, already convinced that he was going to do that one without even reading the requirements. He was sure that, whatever it was, it would be fine. Just before he got out of earshot, he turned back around to the person who greeted him and said. “Oi, thanks!”
[5]
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Ramal
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Post by Ramal on Jun 22, 2023 0:04:24 GMT -6
Ramal was not familiar with the kind of creature described in the note, but he was fairly confident that he could teach it not to chew on furniture. He had done so already with a variety of his own creatures out of necessity, so he had picked up a few things. The second part he was not as familiar with, but he couldn’t imagine it would be that hard.
When he arrived to pick up the creature, Ramal was a bit surprised to find out how large and lumpy it was. The creature appeared at first to be made out of stone, which made sense, if he had paid attention to its name. With a bit more observation, he realized that it was actually more like a big lizard covered in huge rock-like scales. He wasn’t sure if that was more or less weird than being a literal rock. When it came to the labs’ experiments, he had learned it was best not to question such things.
[5.05]
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Ramal
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Post by Ramal on Jun 22, 2023 0:04:35 GMT -6
Leading him to the training ground made Ramal really understand why such training was needed. He was frequently distracted by just about anything that moved, and he kept chewing on his lead. Ramal was really starting to wonder what he got himself into. Perhaps he should have spent a little more time considering which note to take after all.
The first step was to consistently stop Stonemoss from chewing the lead. Traveling was a lot harder with having to stop every few minutes to stop him, but progress was being made. The time between stops was longer and longer until it seemed that he did (finally) understand that leads were not for chewing on. Not a moment too soon, either, since the poor thing had nearly fallen apart. Ramal suspected that Stonemoss’ owner would not be too happy about that, but he would have to make it up to them later.
[5.1]
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Ramal
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Post by Ramal on Jun 22, 2023 0:05:48 GMT -6
Now that they were at the park, Ramal pulled the note out of his shirt pocket and reviewed it again. “Ston-muh… no, stone. Stone… moss! Ya, that makes sense.” Ramal couldn’t help but to grin at the obnoxiously obvious breed name they gave this particular creature.
“Lah-mah-deed-on,” he spoke slowly as he sounded out the second word. No matter how many times he tried, it seemed like he would never quite get the hang of how to say species names without hearing someone else say them first. Syllables in common were just too different from what he grew up with. Perhaps some day it would be more natural, but until then he would just have to do his best and hope that other people knew what he meant.
“Lama, that’s like Ramal, almost,” he said, rearranging the letters and sounds in his head. “I think this means we are meant to be friends.”
[5.15]
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Ramal
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Post by Ramal on Jun 22, 2023 0:06:08 GMT -6
“The note says that your owner wants you to be able to defend yourself,” Ramal explained. Sometimes explaining the problem out loud made it make more sense.
“You look very tough to me,” Ramal laughed. “I wouldn’t want to fight you.”
Nonetheless, he did have to complete the task in order to get the reward. At least he was pretty sure that was how it worked. Nobody gave out prizes for trying and failing to do a job. If they did, his life would be so much easier.
Ramal reached out for Stonemoss’ tail, and the large creature turned back and snapped at his hand out of reflex. “Woah! No, no biting,” he said sternly. It was the same phrase he had been using when Stonemoss was chewing his lead earlier. Immediately he looked apologetic, not wanting to be scolded any more.
“Ya, it’s alright my friend,” he said.
[5.2]
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Ramal
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Post by Ramal on Jun 22, 2023 0:07:00 GMT -6
He gently stroked the soft part of Stonemoss’ nose (the only part that looked safe to touch from this angle) to let him know that everything was fine between them.
“Maybe we should teach you biting instead of tail swinging,” Ramal said with a grin. “You are very good at it already.” He patted Stonemoss on its side, warning him that he would be going around to touch his tail. This time, he wasn’t as startled when Ramal went to inspect his tail.
It had a crystalline club on the end of its long spiked tail. He could imagine that it would hurt very much to be struck by it. Did this creature really need his help with self defense? He had a feeling that it could really take care of itself, but the owner was pretty specific about what they wanted. Maybe they still thought of him as a cute little baby or something. He could see that being true.
[5.25]
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Ramal
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Post by Ramal on Jun 22, 2023 0:07:13 GMT -6
“I like your tail,” Ramal said. He always felt the need to say something to the creatures he was with every once and while. Otherwise it felt weird to be going on for ages in silence.
Ramal turned to the side and showed off his own flowing tail, flicking it back and forth. “Do you like mine?” he asked. Then he swished it back and forth some more, hoping that the motion would spur some activity in his new friend. Instead of swinging his tail around, Stonemoss waved his head back and forth to follow the tip of his tail.
“Now you,” he said, reaching out to grab the end of Stonemoss’ tail. The amount of time they had spent together already stopped him from being too tense as a part of his body was grabbed. Ramal was a little relieved by that, as he knew he was taking a gamble.
[5.3]
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Ramal
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Post by Ramal on Jun 22, 2023 0:07:46 GMT -6
Ramal spent the next few minutes slowly building up Stonemoss’ tolerance to having his tail touched and moved. Eventually, he could wave it around freely without him being too tense or upset. He remembered to feed the creature a handful of treats as he was doing this to encourage him to keep up the good behavior.
“Now for the… strike part,” he thought aloud to himself about what he would do next. He quickly found an abandoned bale of hay and tried to drag it over. However, it barely moved and the spiky bits of plant scratched at his delicate skin. After looking at the scratches on his hands and thinking about it for a bit, he realized that he could just bring Stonemoss to the hay instead of the other way around.
Though he felt quite silly, Ramal quickly got over it and continued his work. For most of the afternoon he continued the drills, demonstrating how to strike the hay bale then miming the motion, and even moving Stonemoss’ tail (albeit slowly) himself to emphasize the point.
[5.35]
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Ramal
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Post by Ramal on Jun 22, 2023 0:10:16 GMT -6
It wasn’t fun or quick work, but he was delighted as he continued to see progress. Stonemoss was a bit of a stubborn creature, however. Just as Ramal thought they were making a breakthrough, he would get distracted or start chewing on something again. He could see now why his owner wanted to outsource this particular task.
Ramal did not see himself as a tough taskmaster, but he was persistent enough to see it through to the end. By the time the sun was starting to fade from the sky, he was fairly confident that he had finished his task. Stonemoss would smack whatever he was pointing at with his tail. It wasn’t elegant, but it certainly worked. They even caused an entire tree limb to come crashing down at one point.
"I think you got it," Ramal said. It was time to take him back home and collect his prize. As much as he liked his new best buddy, Ramal was looking forward to going back home to rest. Teaching a creature how to defend itself was hard work indeed.
[5.4]
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Post by NPC on Jul 23, 2023 4:28:14 GMT -6
Congratulations, you have successfully completed the quest! Your QP will be added to the bank, and your prize will be sent out shortly.
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