Winds of Change (Pinkerlocke)

[Ana]

Ohh no ..

[Varethyn]

Yeah I'm glad I left the story where I did as it allows for stuff like this, but yeeeeeeeeesh. After all this toying with my heart it finally makes the stab.
...At least it wasn't Matar? ^_^;

Day 33



Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees!

As one falls another one joins. A male, dark-plumed coatl. This will be interesting.

[Varethyn]

Day 34



Chapter 12

WARNING: FEELS

Vin jolted awake, fully expecting his nose to be filled with the stench of burning chemicals. Or for an explosion of some sort to have happened. Or maybe they'd been melted together into some kind of non-Imperial Emperor-like monster. You never, never, nevernevernever fall asleep while doing alchemy. Bad things tended to happen.

After patting himself down the Spiral was relieved to see that all appeared normal. At some point the Fae child had fallen asleep in his coils and was now groaning groggily at the sudden movement, though still seemed to be asleep. The only other difference was that Hawthorne was gone. In her place was a pile of the purple mushrooms she'd been cultivating, a huge sack and a scroll of parchment so large the smaller dragon species could easily mistake it for a blanket.

Slowly, carefully so not to disturb the sleeping hatchling too badly Vin reached out to unfurl and pull the note closer. Not that it needed to be too close to read the massive Ridgeback script.

Anvindr,
Forgive my leaving without saying anything. Everything looked to be under control and we accomplished what was needed to be done. My mate, Florence, had come searching for me. I have a terrible tendency to wander further than intended in my search for herbs and the like. She and I watched over you and yours to make sure the brewing was successful and that you were all safe from the fire. We both wish your friends a swift recovery and I hope the items we have left you will be of use.

Sincerely,
Hawthorne

Beneath was another note written in red ink – at least he hoped it was red ink – and with rather over-the-top elegant handwriting.

Arr!
It truly be a shame to see ye in such a state. It warms me heart knowin' me mate were able to help ye out. She definitely be the best booty a pirate like me could ask fer. T'was hard to part with but it were saddening to see ye this way so I be leavin' ye some coin and supplies to help ye get back on yer feet. If'n ye be needin' aid in the future just holler for Hawthorne and ol' Florence. We'll sort ye right out.

May the winds change in yer favour.
Florence

Putting the parchment down Vin glanced over at the rack of vials, now of assorted sizes, that they had been brewing the tonics in. Sure enough each of them sat stable, containing an orange fluid. The enhanced healing potion. One of his had, annoyingly, cracked, spilling its contents on the ground. Thankfully no harm came of it beyond wasted ingredients. He began to get up to see to the girls, only to stop and look down at the sleeping Makani and all but melted. How could he dare disturb the tiny thing? But... he had to get over to Saira and Ilmatar to see how they were doing.

After a few seconds deliberation on how to proceed the black Spiral settled on half slithering, half dragging himself along with his hands and what he could of his tail. It was rough scraping over the rock but soon enough he was level with the fallen pair, snagging a vial along the way just in case. Sadly for all the help he wanted to provide he was an alchemist, not a healer. He had absolutely no idea what else to do except to wait and periodically administer the tonic.

Being pinned down and working with dragons twice his size or more was difficult. He did what he could, adjusting bandages, tugging at the pelt rug to keep it flat, flicking away stray feathers. And of course prodding the pair in the cheek to see if they'd react yet. Nothing. A sigh of boredom and worry escaped his maw and he slid himself back over to where their packs had been left, rummaging through his own to grab a nice crunchy bug or two to snack on.

After the first bite he felt eyes on him. Glancing down still with his mouth full Vin found himself staring into the huge red-green eyes of Makani, who was eyeing the insect hungrily. Wrapping a long tongue around his breakfast Anvindr pulled the bug fully into his mouth and crunched loudly as he rummaged for more young-Fae-sized snackage. Finding a decent cricket he offered it down to the tiny green one, who warily took it and began nibbling in silence.

Poor thing. Barely a few weeks old and already having to deal with the harsh reality of Sornieth. As well as the very, very odd goings on with the weather and who-knows-what-else. Not to mention how uncomfortable he must be around the Spiral. His adoptive mother had taught him never to go near Vin although never really explaining why. This was the first time they'd been together since Makani hatched. It was weird for both of them. Vin procured his waterskin, took a swig, offered it to the Fae who accepted and drunk greedily from it. After that they both sat quietly as they waited for the girls to wake up. Vin felt uncomfortable. Found he was sitting on a rock, curved, horn-like. He tossed it.

To say they'd taken a beating was an understatement. By some miracle no bones had appeared broken. At least, not noticeably so. Bruises and cuts and scrapes covered their bodies head to tail. Feathers were broken, torn out, misplaced. Matar had taken the least damage being so much bigger than the others. But Saira. Poor Saira. So slim, so delicate. Her dress was in ruins, the decorative thorns and roses squashed. A petal from her tiara came loose, fell pitifully to the ground.

“Will they ever wake up?”

The voice was so quiet that Vin barely registered it. When the words did click he didn't look down, keeping red eyes on the unconscious pair. “I don't know.” he admitted, just as quietly. “Matar should be okay but Saira... It's hard to tell. Those lesions on her chest don't look good.”

“What are leeshons?”

This time he did look down, matching Makani's gaze. How do you explain grievous injuries to a child? As he opened his mouth to attempt there came a hacking coughing fit. Quick as a flash, after gently depositing a protesting Makani on the ground, Vin was next the now awake Skydancer. “Oh goodness thank goodness you're awake I was so worried and we watched and waited and made potions and bandaged you and-and-and-” He cut himself off as Saira continued to cough, large eyes widening further as he saw the flecks of blood landing in her fur. Oh Plaguebringer there had been internal damage.

“Water...” Saira rasped once the fit stopped. Anvindr nodded furiously, snatching up the waterkskin and pouring the liquid into the waiting mouth. She drank, swallowed, started coughing again and rolled to the side to spit it out, now reddened with blood. With rattling gasps she collapsed on her side, glassy eyes trying to focus on Vin. “I... won't last... much longer.”

“No no no don't say that!” Vin whined, holding Saira's face in his hands. “You-you'll be okay. You'll both be okay. We-we-we-we made the potions. They're better they work! They work! Why aren't they working?!”

Saira managed a weak smile, lifting a hand to rest on Vin's. “Qiriq have-” she coughed again. “Qiriq... have very... sharp hooves. They tore... right through...”

Vin squinted in attempt to keep back tears, forcing a smile and clamping Saira's beak-like jaws together before resting a spindly finger on her lips. “Shh. Shh shh shhhhhh. Stop talking. Rest. It'll be okay. It'll all be okay.”

“You... tried … your best.” the Skydancer wheezed, spluttered, spat out more blood, looked at him again. “I... believe you... you're a... good... person.” She took in breath, harsh, ragged. “Tell... Tell Matar... I'm sorry. For... for forcing her... She doesn't... need to... go back.” Tears slid down her cheeks as she laid her head against the ground, still clutching Vin's hand. “Just... please... her father... One more time...” Another ragged breath, shallower, failing. “Look after... Mak...an...i...” With a final, rattling breath her hand slipped from his and her lime-green eyes closed.

“No.” the Spiral whispered, catching and squeezing the hand before it fell. “No no. No no no no! No! NO!” He rubbed his cheek against her hand, now limp. Lifeless. “Why does this keep happening?!” he wailed at the soot-stained skies. Then he broke down, laying over the still, beautiful, cream-furred body, weeping openly.

A little away the tiny green figure of Makani grasped tightly at the bag straps, claws digging into the leather. He bit his lower lip as tears ran down his frilled face, trembling. He'd witnessed his first death.





I'll give it a few days before I exalt Saira in case anyone would like to adopt her.

In the meantime squawking intensifies

[Ana]

Poor you with the ankle. Lucky with the egg!!

[Varethyn]

Day 35



Can't do it right now due to lack of mats, but I plan to give the new boy (who needs a name still, whoops) Skink. Soooo, pretend he has Skink xP

[Varethyn]

Chapter 12 is now available. Warning, major feels. I actually cried writing it.
Lupis, let me know if I overdid it with Florence's note xP

Day 36



Once I've finished getting the new guy his Skink and remade some treasure Makani will probably get Contour.

[Ana]

Ohh soo well written. . And so sad. Poor poor Vin..Makanis first tear. .ohh poor little fae. ..

[Lupis]

Omg no, I LOVE how over the top Florence's note is. That's just like her- she'd be a total joke if she wasn't so capable. Absolutely loved Hawthorne and Florence's part in this!

But ugh, god, poor Vin. ;_; he's rapidly becoming my favorite character involved. I'm so excited to see how he develops, and I'm loving his bonding time with Makani, even if the circumstances weren't the best.

[Varethyn]

Reminder that Saira is available for adoption. If she isn't rescued in the next couple days she'll be exalted.
Also, if anyone fancies it I'm accepting bios for these guys - I've found I'm absolutely terrible when thinking up bios for my dragons

Day 37





Another guest opportunity! Show me who you'd like to show up next and what you'd like them to do (if anything)

[Ana]

I can't sadly save Sarai but I might have an idea for a questline.

Questline name : Vigilante is You

Description : Griefstriken over the lost of Sarai Vin pursuade Matar to see revenge on those who killed Sarai and wounded Matar. Obviously need to collect and research some harmful potions they can use. The new Coatl could be a rogue/tracker they hire to find the culprits.

I am not good at these things I have written 2 1/2 bios in 3 years so I am terrible at that..Im better with coding templates

[Varethyn]

Hehe no worries. That's a nice idea, except that the death wasn't intentional. The Twisting Crescendo, the tornado in the Wind region, is spinning the opposite way to how it used to and in turn is bringing in hot air and embers from the Fire region, instead of the cold air from Ice, causing forest fires. This one in particular made the local wildlife stampede and sadly our dragons were in the path. So there's no one to hunt down. Although they all probably dislike qiriq, rambra/zeeba and death's-head stags right now xP

Also is there anyone you'd like to offer as the next guest?

[Ana]

But does Vin knows about the tornado? He could think it was intentional - mad scientist who made the brig tornado blot the wrong way e.g.. heh Im bad at this. Uhh for guest i think one of my scavengers would make sense. I think a girl this time. My usual restrictions and feel free to include her familiar if you want

[Krysteena]

Henlo I don't play fr much anymore (just enough to impulse buy and commission art) but I've been reading this nuzlocke and crying over it. Out of curiosity, if the guest list runs dry, would I be in the clear to slide a possible guest on in? Totally cool if not, I don't post on the fr forum at all so I'd understand

[Lupis]

I can try to help with bios! Do you have a basic list of characteristics for each dragon that needs one? (Like, "unusually small" or "twitches a lot" or "wings made of glass") I can try to whip something up for the main players if you do!

And gosh, I just had a dragon guest in, so I'll pass this time. I'm excited to see who shows up, though!

[Varethyn]

But does Vin knows about the tornado? He could think it was intentional - mad scientist who made the brig tornado blot the wrong way e.g.. heh Im bad at this. Uhh for guest i think one of my scavengers would make sense. I think a girl this time. My usual restrictions and feel free to include her familiar if you want

I like to believe that dragons from the neighbouring regions (Fire, Plague, Water, Arcane and Ice) are all fully aware of the tornado and how it affects them (the tsunami in Hear Today, Gone Tomorrow I like to think as a result of the changing wind as it comes after the Wind story) but you do raise a good point that not everyone would be aware of or fully appreciate each others' landmarks. In this case Vin spent most of his time on the outskirts of the Plague/Wind borders so he would know about it.

Henlo I don't play fr much anymore (just enough to impulse buy and commission art) but I've been reading this nuzlocke and crying over it. Out of curiosity, if the guest list runs dry, would I be in the clear to slide a possible guest on in? Totally cool if not, I don't post on the fr forum at all so I'd understand

Hey! I'm glad you're enjoying it and I'm so sorry I made you cry. Are you asking that if you were the only one to offer a guest that you'd have be guaranteed to be entered? Or that you'd rather only offer if no one else does? I admit the entering thing has gotten rather smudgy - the idea was that everyone could post a dragon to be a guest at any point during the thread and the trinket + tails roll would have me choose one of them to join in using RNG. Then when someone's dragon got rolled they could re-enter with another dragon.

As long as you have a lair and want to join in you're more than welcome! I'd rather you didn't hold out until the list was otherwise dry but it's completely up to you when you want to enter Otherwise yes, if you're the only one to enter by the next RP segment then your dragon will automatically be the guest of the entry regardless if if you've had one prior.

I can try to help with bios! Do you have a basic list of characteristics for each dragon that needs one? (Like, "unusually small" or "twitches a lot" or "wings made of glass") I can try to whip something up for the main players if you do!

And gosh, I just had a dragon guest in, so I'll pass this time. I'm excited to see who shows up, though!

Hm, I actually hadn't thought about little quirks like that. I'll need to give it some thought, especially for Maki since he doesn't have much character yet. Looking over everyone they all seem about average for their respective species. I guess the most notable right now is that Matar has chosen to be more of a physical fighter when Coatl are generally magical. Saira -did- have glassy feathers that sounded like wind chimes (facet) but... well.

[Krysteena]

Thank you for the info! I did just mean if I could pop in in general with the guests, I'm not too fussed if mine doesn't make it in, just want to give that extra option if wanted~ I'll wait this time around, but when the next guest opportunity pops up I'll throw someone I think would fit in

[Varethyn]

Day 38



I had no hope when I saw the lineup.





I am never doing hardmode rules again.

[Lupis]

OH HECKING- UUUGHH ;_; She didn't even get a chance! Ugh, god, that's godawful luck. The coin flips have really been out to get you lately, but Matar is a horrible one to lose. That just leaves... Vin, Makani and the new boy, right?

[Varethyn]

That's right, along with a Fire egg. Vin gets the fun job of raising Makani while finding out where Matar and Saira lived and break the news. Also new guy shows up and... stuff happens idk. New Guy's name is now Eurus by the way, meaning (God of the) East Wind. In fact most of their names had something to do with wind except Saira:

Ilmatar - "air"
Ahio - "whirlwind"
Anvindr - "against the wind" - was initially going to be a villain but ended up having a change of heart
Saira - "traveller" - referring to her being a Dryland Drifter variant of the Zephyr Dancer subspecies

I seriously need to rethink how to do training in Pinkerlockes. Getting your "main crew" to a high level without any familiar drops then suddenly having a lv1 dropped on you is haaaaaaaaarsh when using standard (hardmode) rules (see first post) which only makes a difficult task that much harder. It's seriously a miracle that Makani survived.

[Ana]

Ohh noo Matar :/ Dont exalt her.. Make her rp entries here into a bio, plus her art and I am sure someone on fr will take her in!

Hardmode suxs :/