hadain's quests

[rem sleep]

username; Trollish
kalons featured; Belial / Abacus / Elizabeth
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click the image for higher res/bigger size :0c

The imps were attracted to Abacus and his shiny golden armor... they ended up just using Abacus as bait to lure the imps out and they had to pry the imps off of him. :' )

[nebulavery]

username; nebulavery
kalons featured; nerina
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Shiny? Nerina can work with shiny. She’s used to costume jewelry - she puts it on every day for her job, tugging on a silicone mermaid tail and clipping fake pearls into her hair before slipping into the performance pool and making her swimming routine look effortless in front of a wonderstruck aquarium crowd. If anyone knows how to sell stage jewelry, it’s her. Considering Hadain’s disposition, this is a good thing: Nerina doubts he would be much pleased if she returned empty-handed.

Ducking into a hidden corner of the shop, Nerina arranges the goodies. Necklaces are draped, earrings are clipped in, and silk is styled in a glimmering cloud. It takes a moment more to arrange her posture, dropping her shoulders and slumping her back in her best imitation of an unreasonably rich Kalon whose life force has been sapped. It’s hard to resist her usual showy flair - Nerina swears up and down she just can’t help it - but she supposes this is another sort of performance.

Stepping onto the street, Nerina watches out the corner of her eye for shadows. A few Kalons are giving her rather outrageous getup curious glances, but nothing out of the ordinary from the attention it would gather in her hometown. Simply strolling the streets isn’t going to cut it - she’s going to have to seek out trouble. Thankfully, finding trouble is another of Nerina’s areas of expertise.

Nerina stops at a flower seller’s stall and pretends to be smelling some half-wilted roses while watching the crowd of passerbys. Most of them are going about rather ordinary business, but a few slip into nondescript alleyways and cease to return. Giving the seller of flowers a few coins, Nerina slips a lily behind her ear and heads down one of the alleyways.

Honestly, it’s laughable how easy Nerina makes herself to follow. She stops every few minutes to “fix” her hair, to pick up a charm that has slipped off one of her newly acquired necklaces, to consult a stray theme park brochure in her bag as if it was a map of the village. It’s only minutes before she gets the sense that she has a shadow.

It’s not the sound of irregular footfalls she hears, but instead the light whooshing of wings after she leaves a fake pearl behind. Nerina lets another few pearls drop, letting her unseen tag-along get more and more brazen before whipping around with surprising speed for someone wearing such egregious amounts of frippery. Her shadow, as skittish as a hare, takes off before Nerina can grab more than a pawful of fabric from them. She’s left with a pawful of cheap sackcloth attached to a wooden spine - part of a pair of crudely crafted wings sized for a kit. Turning the corner of the alleyway, she finds the kit in question attempting to hop up and over a brick wall but failing due to the rips in their flying contraption. With the kit so distracted, it takes only stealth and seconds to pin down the kit.

With a surprised squeak and the sickening crunch of wood snapping, the kit is trapped. Nerina gives it her best “getting a visitor ignoring the ‘closed’ signs to go away” stare until it stops squirming and stares up at her, afraid. “Here. Take these trinkets and stop terrorizing the shopkeepers. If I catch you bothering them again, I’ll break more than your wooden wings next time,” Nerina spits, putting as much venom into her voice as she can muster. Shaking off her jewelry and silks, Nerina hands them to the kit and releases it from her grip, shaking her head slightly as it scurries off.

Good thing it didn’t know she wasn’t even capable of hurting the bugs under her sink.

[Rorrim]

username; Kouhai
kalons featured; Faris, Amir, & Eliseo
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(( oh no, they're cute. ))

( @Amir ;; Nothing quite says "Hero" like getting your earrings ripped out by the first creature you face. )

[CSMintCat]

username; CSMintCat
kalons featured; Cody
image/story; Linked for size!

[Mima]

username; mima
kalons featured; nameless, furin, salvia
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His head was halfway down one of the burrows before the shopkeep could even finish his sentence. Though Furin certainly didn’t have any experience with hunting down shades, he had spirit. A lot of spirit. He looked like a fox stuck headfirst in snow, tail straight up in the air. Unfortunately, he quickly backed out of the hole in the side of the building emptyhanded- empty-jawed?- and shook his head. The hole was too deep for him to just fish the thing out, and too narrow for him to fit all the way into. Inconvenient.

”I think the intention was to lure them out of the holes.”

Furin’s bangs flew into his face as he whipped around to see the stranger. He, too, looked strange- calloused paw pads, ebon and red body marked by brilliant neon eyes. The horned adolescent blinked. With a sigh, the stranger pulled a handful of sparkling glass jewels from somewhere in his cloak. Standing on his very tiptoes to investigate them, Furin looked between them and the other Kalon incredulously.

”…You’re just gonna use those as bait?”

”…They were made to be bait, no matter if it’s to shadow gremlins or unsuspecting Kalons. They’re fake.”

Though he still looked puzzled, the adolescent Kalon backed off a couple paces to let the older one set down his quarry of gems. He soon found himself urged into the shadows by the other Kalon, as if waiting to ambush something.

But the silence was awkward. ”Do you have an, uh- a n-”

”No.”

”…a name?”

”I said no.”

”Oh. …What do I call you?”

”Whatever you want.”

This exchange did not make the situation any more awkward.

The two of them just sat there silently in the shadows from then on. This lasted a good four minutes before three of the shadowy gremlins finally emerged from their lairs, chittering something between each other. Furin’s body tensed. The minute the three shadowy creatures got near the faux gems, he leapt into action, hitting one straight on with a pounce. Though he had expected to hit a fleshy body, instead he hit the ground hard as the creature dissipated instantly into black mist.

He could hear in the distance a disappointed click from the one who hadn’t given a name, and suddenly felt something whirr by his ear. As he opened his eyes, he noticed another one of the three exploding into smoke as it was hit by a thrown rock. The remaining gremlin hissed at the situation, shadowy arm lashing out to a length that seemed impossible. Three claws caught Furin hard in the face, drawing bleeding scratches in their path down his muzzle. With a whimper, he lashed out with his own paw, smacking the creature away as it lunged again for round two. When it hit the ground, it too exploded into a shadowy gas and disappeared back into the overcast sky.

”That… Didn’t work.”

”Well, they’re gone, ain’t they?”

”Not for long, I fear.” The black Kalon heaved a sigh. ”There’s something here that’s causing these creatures to appear- to solve this problem, I think we have to figure out what that is.”

Furin groaned. He had signed onto this seeking easy money to get himself a meal, not for solving an occult mystery about gremlins.

The two soon retired to inside of a nearby tavern to formulate their plan. The nameless one had ordered himself some sort of mixed drink, and had paid some pennies for some kind of soup, bread and water for the former servant who sat across the table from him. For the most part Furin was staring into space as his newfound ally silently drew something on a large sheet of parchment which took up the majority of the table. Occasionally one would stop what they were doing to have some food or drink, but it was still in silence.

Despite the fact he was looking anywhere but at the plan, Furin was still blindsided by the purple Kalon who had approached the table in earnest. ”Excuse me,” they asked, jumping a bit at the same time he did in response to the question. ”Did you need those cuts on your nose looked at? They would probably be better off if you bandaged them.”

Nameless raised an eyebrow at them, and Furin merely blinked a couple times in response at first. After a moment he managed an ”Uh, sure?”

The new Kalon merely smiled, reaching into their shoulder bag to pull out some sort of swabs and disinfecting liquid. ”This may sting, but try to stay still.” Their quiet reminder flew over the head of Furin, who winced a bit at the first application of disinfectant but quickly got over it. Working methodically on patching the wounds, they didn’t even turn when the other Kalon at the table spoke up.

”You got a name?”

”Salvia.”

”What brings you to a dark little town like this?”

”What does it look like?” This sentence was punctuated with something of an uncharacteristic smirk. ”What about you two? You don’t sound like you’re from these parts either.”

A quick one. That would be useful. ”We’ve been asked to help with those little gremlins out in the streets. As you can see, we haven’t been too successful.” He pointed to Furin’s wounds, the younger Kalon replying with only a glare. ”Know anything that could help?”

Salvia paused a moment to think. ”The most effective way to banish darkness is the light,” they replied eventually. Cryptic and vague. Nameless frowned, but this didn’t deter Salvia from finishing their sentence. ”With this overcast sky, these gremlins are able to run free. But perhaps if we had some sort of light, we could stop them.”

”Oh, I didn’t think ‘a that.” Furin piped up, gently rubbing the now- applied bandages on the top of his muzzle. ”Like, they’re shadows and stuff, it shoulda been obvious they wouldn’t like the sun.”

”Sometimes the simplest thoughts are the most brilliant. Let’s get back to work.” Pushing his now-depleted drink and former plan aside, Nameless stood up from his seat, beckoning Furin to come along.

”I’ll go with. If you get into any more scrapes, I can help.”

”Just don’t slow us down.”

A couple more pennies were spent on a candle and a lantern. Again, at a different location, they baited the trap- now with the beautiful silken fabric given as a backup. Again, they waited. Again, after only minutes, the handful of gremlins (five this time) found themselves unable to resist their temptation and scurried from their dens. But this time Furin kept himself in place. Salvia braced themselves against the wall a few steps away, ready to jump in- just in case the gremlins struck back again.

With a swiftness neither of the others had seen before, the unnamed one jumped into action. In one fluid movement he leapt towards the fabric, landing directly on top of it and in the center of the group of shadows. And then with his paw he turned the hood of the lantern, exposing the flickering candlelight to the dull air around him.

With a hiss the shadowy creatures began to retreat. This was Furin’s cue- with the recklessness of a ram he charged in, horns forward. Moving in a circle himself, he battered each of the gremlins one by one, watching them disappear into mist behind him-

And then, as that mist rose, it burst into flame and fell down as ashes on the street.

Skidding to a stop, Furin grinned. ”I think we got ‘em!” He squeaked, elated at getting to actually do something effective.

”Five down.” Salvia’s voice rang out from behind the wall.

”…And about a hundred more to go.”

”Ugh, don’t remind me.”

”A candle won’t defeat the night alone. It takes someone to light it. We must keep moving if we want to get this done soon.”

A bit crestfallen despite their success, Furin nodded. It was something.

So it was better than nothing.


[1337 words]

[Nessiie]

username; echos.
kalons featured; Stella
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The queen took the small bag from Hadain, waving a small goodbye before walking out of the store and back on the streets. It wasn't long until she spotted a small, ugly creature that she assumed were the gremlines she had been told about. Constellation frowned at the weird green things, eying them curiously as they sat in the shadows. They seemed to be watching her just as she was watching them.They hid out behind houses, in the sewers, she even spotted one on a roof. Stella took a few steps forward, pulling the fake jewlery to offer them to the creatures in front of her. "You want these, don't you... guys?" She wasn't sure what to call them, or even if they understood what she was saying at all. A couple of them stepped towards her, inspecting the fakes in her hands. With a growl, they leaned back on their long legs and folded their arms, refusing her offerings. Instead, they looked at the solid gold bracelets that covered her arms. They flicked their eyes to the rubies that hung around her neck. They were smart, these creatures. Knew precious metals from ordinary steel. "You want these ones, yes?" She took off a thin gold bracelet and held it above of them, fove or so reaching up hungrily for the shiny, valuable accessory. The jewels meant nothing to her, she had more than an abundance. Sparing some gold and silver would do no harm if it helped her capture the aweful beings. She tossed a few wristbands to them, and they immediately started feeding on the metal. She reached for one, but it hissed st her, snapping it's tiny famgs at her hand. Huffing, Stella tore off one of her many necklaces and chucked it at the thing. It leapt and took the necklace, slurping it up as if it was a pasta noodle. They seemed to be satisfied with what she had giffen them, their sharp teeth widened in content smiles as they ate. They didn't seem to mind her being around them anymore. They were almost so ugly that they were cute, with their long droopy ears and their beady black eyes that reminded her of obsidian. Realizing she still had to collect the gremlins, she got to work. As they were occupied with devouring her jewlery, Constellation began picking the small critters up and putting them in the bag provided by Hadain. She frowned at their trapped growls, careful not to let any out when putting new ones in. Once all ten were restrained, she left to go back to the shop, leaving the few glinting scraps of her jewels behind her. "I'm here." She announced her presence in the shop as she walked to the counter where the man stood. "Caught ten of them, sir" she told him, holding up the writhing, screaming bag. One had managed to bite a hole in it, and was now sticking it's skinny arm out in an attempt to grab anything it could. Hadain took the burlap sack and uttered a small thank you before handing her the five gems she was owed. And again, Constellation set out on the road to continue her quest.

[NightFlame22]

NightFlame22 • Chandraneela

Chandraneela wandered the streets, adorned in the jewelry and colorful silks that Hadain had given her. She hoped that these in combination with her shimmering coat and hair would attract the treasure-loving creatures, although she wasn’t quite sure what she would do if they did appear. She wasn’t good at setting traps, and fighting was definitely not an option… She secretly hoped that he had simply tricked her into dressing like a fool for a good laugh.

She did a couple twirls for good show, letting the jewelry catch the lamplight. She had been out here since darkness fell, but there was no sign of the pests the blacksmith asked her to deal with. She was just about to head in before she heard a very faint noise. Scritch. Scratch. She froze, glancing around as she tried to locate the source of the sound. Scritch. Scratch. Was it behind her? Scritch. Scratch. Scritch. Perhaps it was too her left. Scritch-scratch. No, to her right! Scritch-scratch. Scritch-scratch. Scritch- Chandra whipped her head around, desperate to see the what was approaching her so quickly. Standing behind her was a small creature, caught in the act of trying to snatch a silk off her tail. She had a moment to study it, staring it dead in the eyes, the poor thing frozen like a deer in headlights. Its eyes seemed to take up most of its face, bugged-out and watery like a frog’s. It had rectangular-shaped pupils and vivid purple irises that reflected the light. The outstretched arm was thinner than a twig and just as long, and the other hanging by its side seemed to drag along the ground. Its hind legs were rather short in comparison, only about half as long as the forelegs, but still rather spindly. Its gray skin was bare save for a few tufts of white hairs on the tips of its fleshy, webbed ears and bony tail. She could see its ribs and spine poking out, as though it was starving. She almost felt sorry for the pitiful thing. “Oh, just look at-”

Chandra was cut off by a new sound, not unlike the old one, except much faster and louder. Scritch-scratch. Scritch-scritch-scratch. Scritch-scratch-scritch. Scritch-scratch-scritch-scritch-scratch-scritch- She looked all around in a panic as a whole horde of gremlins formed a circle around her. The one she had been studying bared its tiny fangs in a mischievous smile and let out a series of high-pitched squeaks. The rest of the creatures echoed the battle cry, causing Chandra to wince and cover her ears from the piercing shriek. The horde converged, and she found herself being dragged down by dozens of sharp little claws. She yelped and shook off a couple of the silks, freeing herself just enough to jump away. A short glance over her shoulder showed that she was being followed, and she ran like her life depended on it. “Alright, so I’ve found the gremlins! But how do I capture them???” She looked around in a panic, desperately looking for anything that might help her, and noticed an empty trash bin that had been knocked over. Suddenly, she had an idea. She slowed down a bit, letting the gremlins close the gap between them and her. As soon as she felt their claws on the tip of her tail, she made a beeline for the empty bin. Just as she was about to run into it, she gave a mighty leap and soared to the other side. Her pursuers were not so lucky, and most of them ended up running straight into the bin. Chandra quickly turned the bin upside-down so the gremlins were trapped inside, and promptly sat on top of it so they couldn’t escape. She let out a sigh of relief as she relaxed a little, then bit her lip as she realized something. “Aw, great… How am I going to get these things back to Hadain?”

(655 words)

[armads]

username: e4rlgrey
kalons featured: Cass
794 words

Cassiopeia let out a heaving sigh, her head lolling to rest on one shoulder. The false pearls she carried dangled carelessly between her fingers, glinting dully in the pale gray light of morning. She'd been out since well before dawn, hunting what had been described to her only as "gremlins." She'd never seen one of these creatures firsthand, but she had chased her fair share of rodents away from her plants, and she figured that was probably about the same.

Now, hunched over in an alleyway somewhere, cold and sleepy, shaking cheap jewelry at what could have been a plain old crack in the wall, she was beginning to have second thoughts.

The herbalist certainly wasn't a regular in Hadain's armory. In fact, she'd barely given it a passing glance before all this demon nonsense. However, after she was nearly impaled by a monster while out picking berries the previous afternoon, Cass decided that she was in need of some protection. When she suggested a trade, one of her finest poultices or juices in return for some lightweight body armor, Hadain had merely raised a grizzled eyebrow. Instead, he offered her any item of her choosing if she took care of his little pest problem. Something in the way he said it made Cass think that he didn't believe she could do it and, stubbornly, she hadn't been able to turn him down.

"I'll bet he doesn't even have a gremlin problem," she grumbled. "He just wanted to get me out of his shop." She straightened up and shifted her weight a few times, trying to restore circulation to her feet. Almost instinctively, she reached into the pouch she kept at her waist and retrieved a small vial of vibrant green leaves. "I should just go back home and have some tea." She placed two of the leaves on her tongue, letting their sharp mint flavor fill her mouth as she pondered the situation.

Suddenly, in the pitch darkness of the crack she'd been appeasing, two round, yellow eyes appeared. They peered out at her, eerie and unblinking, and for a moment, Cassiopeia considered running away. She quickly thought better of it and, clearing her thoat nervously, she called out to the creature.

"Uh, hello there. Hi. Listen, uh, could you come out of there? Just a little?" She shook the pearls in what she hoped was an enticing manner. "Pretty please?"

By way of answer, a few more sets of eyes appeared. They shifted unnaturally, the nest of monsters seemingly clambering over one another until, finally, one lone gremlin emerged. He clung to the stone wall with tiny, clawed fingers and assessed her with his single eye.

Cassiopeia wrinkled her nose, watching the gremlin carefully. They were an ugly little species, with four long, gangly limbs, teeth that grew too large to stay contained within their mouth, and leathery gray skin that stretched tightly over their hunched, skeletal bodies. And if each and every one of those eyes was another gremlin? Perhaps this was more than she bargained for.

Still, she'd gotten this far and she didn't want this all to be for nothing. Slowly, tentatively, Cassiopeia extended her arm, offering up the fake jewelry. The gremlin leaped from the wall to perch on her hand, causing her to let out a short yelp, but instead of going after the bait she'd been using all this time, he scrabbled up to her shoulders and down her other arm to nose at her vial of mint.

"Oh! Do you... D'you like that?" Dropping the pearls without a second thought, Cass uncorked the bottle and offered the monster a leaf. He clasped it tightly and nibbled at the edges for a few moments. Then, emitting a small noise that sounded like a cross between a cat's purr and the rumble of an upset stomach, the gremlin stuffed the whole thing into his mouth.

"Guess that answers that."

—————————

Hadain was out sweeping his storefront, preparing to open up shop for the day, when the herb-scented woman from the day before hurried past, about a dozen gremlins clutched in her arms.

"Look! I got them all!" she proclaimed in a loud whisper, as though it were a secret.

The armorer regarded her incredulously, his mind working quickly to piece together the strange sight before him. "What did you do, poison them?"

Cassiopeia's eyes went wide. "Poison? Oh, no! They're just sleeping. I gave them some valerian. Now I just have to get them home and into my wheelbarrow so that I can release them into the forest before they wake up." Her lips curled up in a self-satisfied grin. "Then I'll be right back here to see you and your finest selection of armor, sir."

[gone----]

username; eunkyung.
kalons featured; Roster, jae-sung | 511 words
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To say Jae-Sung was rather uninterested in the small creatures known as gremlins was an understatement. However, after promising to help with the problem, the male shuffled into the cold streets and began wandering, aware of the creatures' presences as they watched him move. He had the fabric and the jewelry in hand, as he walked down the street, glancing around subtly to look at the small creatures, before continuing on, as if he were an oblivious person. But Jae-Sung almost exaggeratedly swings his arms, allows the fabric to show itself in the moonlight as it flutters in his wake and the jewelry to shimmer in the light, as he takes slow, careful strides down the empty street.

The male hears little scrabbles of many feet as he moves down the street, and soon is aware of the creatures following him, clearly enjoying the way the jewelry shimmers and the fabric sways. They were clearly interested in taking it for themselves, and yet, not ready to reveal their nature to the kalon's eye either. Instead they just follow in the shadows, not wanting to draw attention and hopefully secretively making their way through the city. Despite Jae-Sung already aware of their presence tailing his every move.

The gremlins followed the kalon as he moved. He would move, they moved. When he stopped, every single one of them came to a stop.

Suddenly, Jae-Sung pretended to yawn and settled down against the wall of a nearby building, put the piece of fabric and the jewelry beside him, before leaning against the hard, cold surface of the wall. He sighs and lets his eyes flutter close and his grip on the items loosen, as he pretends to fall into slumber.

There was silence for a while, as the gremlins watched him, eyed the possessions he had in his grasp. And once they were sure that he was asleep (or thought so at least), they made their move out into the open. They moved in darting motions, swift but precise and swiped at his belongings.

However, once the gremlins were far enough from their shadowy hiding places, Jae-Sung couldnt help but crack into a smile and peel an eye back to gaze at them through slitted eyes. "Gotcha" he mutters under his breath, as he sits up a little straighter and couldn't help but chuckle as the gremlins froze. Almost as if they were deer caught by surprise.

Jae-Sung shook the items that he had tightened his grasp at and raised a brow. "See these? Want them? If you want them, you're gonna have to stay out of hiding to see them" he chuckles, as he tosses a piece of he fake jewelry in the direction of the gremlins. Instantly, they dove for it, eager to have the shiny object in their hands.

But one wasn't enough. And thus, Jae-Sung kept them out in the open of the streets and occupied through the night with his pieces of fine fabric and fake jewelry, occasionally teasing them, or throwing a piece for them to grab.

[Birdy]

username; The Pirate
kalons featured; Jordan (she's the one hiding in the back)
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