Goons | Exploration

[SomethingFishy~]

-boop-

[Nyakuni]

I'll follow the known paths!
Explorer Name: Silver
Bands (if any): None!
I take my first steps with care, checking the map regularly to be sure I haven't gotten lost. There are locations marked with interesting landmarks to choose from. I think I'll start with the...
Choose one: [Cracked Plains]

Silver is a bit shy, and because of this wanders off and finds himself in a strange place.

[The wilds are dangerous, so it's best not to wander when there are clear paths to the areas of interest to most goons. While many of these areas are chosen by goons for their abundance of some kind of resource or other, the cracked plains tend to draw out goons of a more curious nature. The cracked plains begin with the drying of the earth and fading of plant life, and stretch out into the distance with increasingly deep splinters in the ground. Young goons will tell stories of a paradise on the other side which only the bravest can reach, but most are wiser before they reach adulthood than to test the theory. On the other hand, the more interesting mystery becomes apparent to those with age and wisdom: the cracked plains are often wet with rain, and yet the ground rarely becomes more than a touch muddy. The secret of the dry earth brings many inquiring minds, but is far from any solution.

The sun is out at the moment, and the chill in the air makes you grateful that you didn't come during the usual downpour, but the cracked plains are still a fairly miserable place to spend one's time without a goal in mind. What is yours?]

Choose one: [Good question. I don't even know why I'm here. I'm going to find someplace nicer!]|[Peer into the cracks. Maybe you'll spot a clue someone else overlooked.]|[Look for patterns in the cracks.]|[Fish around in some of the deeper cracks for lost or hidden treasures!]|[Dig into one of the deeper cracks.]|[Wander out further into the plains.]

[SomethingFishy~]

Sign me up for the relic expedition!

(have a green band now xD)

[Nyakuni]

💕 [Say goodbye to mom first!] 💕

[After she's been so kind, how can you just wander off? No doubt mom would be worried sick about you! You wait for the chance to say a proper farewell to your host, but once the peeping finally dies down and mom isn't running off again you don't get the chance to say anything before the creature is once again climbing on top of you. This time, she is spreads herself out over the whole nest, warm feathers settling over her children protectively. Oh dear. Mom is very heavy, and it doesn't seem she wants to let you go.]

Choose one: [Well, I guess I'll have to stay after all!]|[Try to push mom off.]|[Tell mom not to baby you so much.]|[Scream in hopes of scaring mom off of you long enough to escape.]|[May as well search for stuff in the nest while you're here. Maybe you'll find something to help you get away.]

[SomethingFishy~]

I'll follow the known paths!
Explorer Name: Starlite
Bands (if any): none
I take my first steps with care, checking the map regularly to be sure I haven't gotten lost. There are locations marked with interesting landmarks to choose from. I think I'll start with the...
Choose one: [Berry Bushes]

[Nyakuni]

Sign me up for the relic expedition!

[Your excitement upon spotting the sheet advertising the merchants' expedition got away with you, and before you knew it you had not only added your name but been redirected to the guild hall and purchased your way into the guild just for the chance to take part. Luckily, rather than being annoyed by this whimsical attitude, many of the guild members seem excited to have along a human companion. If they had known simply posting the sheet would encourage one to join, they probably would have done so sooner. Before you know it, the date of the expedition has arrived and the caravan is packing up to go. There are enough provisions for the whole guild and their mercenary guards, as well as various crates, boxes, bags, and trunks all ready to be filled with looted treasures. The days of travel are long and the bedding is far from luxurious, but you quickly discover that the lands beyond those which have been mapped by the majority of the goon settlement are well worth the effort. There are clouds of golden-flecked sand that shimmer before the sun, flowers and vines which glow in various mellow hues under the moonlight, birds that move as if dancing to their own music, insects reminiscent of liquid gems and vibrant marine life, fruits with smells you have no word for, and creatures familiar and foreign alike in sizes that boggle the mind.

When you arrive at the ruin, it is not at all what you expect, although the merchants seem unsurprised. The trees in the area are so tall and distant that it feels more like being in the midst of a massive cavern than a forest, the canopy far overhead and invisible to the naked eye only making the sensation stronger. It was surreal when smooth white trees at a size you were more used to began to pop up, until one that had cracked and fallen makes you realize they are not trees at all, but carved bones. Your group has stopped in front of a particularly large bone-tree that winds around a strange metal disk. The disc has ridged ripples from edge to center, where a hole large enough for you to step into if you chose gushes water from knee height. The water pours out into the dense violet moss which chokes much of the foliage in the area, but beyond a few feet of damp the water seems to disappear. This is the area that the merchants believe to hide a bounty, which they suggest both because of the presence of the strange relic that continues to flow with water though there is no apparent source, and the way the water goes away just as mysteriously as it appears. It is time to begin your adventure!]

Choose one: [Examine the broken tree.]|[Examine the damp moss.]|[Examine the relic's surface.]|[Peer into the relic.]|[Circle the tree.]|[Climb the tree.]

Or leave the group and risk greater dangers on your own for greater rewards:
[Search the trees beyond the one housing the relic.]|[Dare to enter the relic's mouth.]

[Nyakuni]

I'll follow the known paths!
Explorer Name: Starlite
Bands (if any): none
I take my first steps with care, checking the map regularly to be sure I haven't gotten lost. There are locations marked with interesting landmarks to choose from. I think I'll start with the...
Choose one: [Berry Bushes]

[The wilds are dangerous, so it's best not to wander when there are clear paths to the areas of most interest. The berry bushes are one of the most popular, since when the berries are ripe for picking they serve as excellent food and currency! Either would be welcome in your new circumstances. The summer is almost out, so you don't immediately find what you're looking for, but instead have to forage deeper in the bushes before you find something of interest.

You think you see the bright healthy red of berries behind the thorns of a particularly mean looking briar. You could risk pushing past them to get at the prize on the other side. On the other hand, you think you saw something else with a lovely red streak up above in a tree. You don't actually know where ruberries are found, now you come to think of it, but if you don't fancy the risk of getting all scratched up for nothing, so it might be a safer bet to try climbing the tree or knocking whatever it is down.]

Choose one: [Try to move the thorns out of the way to get at the berries.]|[Throw stones and other projectiles at the tree to dislodge the hidden reward!]|[Climb carefully and figure out what you've spotted before taking anything.]|[I'm not taking any silly risks! There are lots of bushes around here. I'll find a better option if I keep looking.]

[SomethingFishy~]

{Fishy | Human | On an Expedition}
My wonder and curiosity over this relic are too overwhelming...I must examine it!
[Examine the relic's surface.]


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{Starlite | Goon | At Berry Bushes}
My coat is much to nice to go pushing my way through thorn bushes...I guess I will climb this tree carefully to see what is up there.
[Climb carefully and figure out what you've spotted before taking anything.]

[Corn flak]

✨ [May as well search for stuff in the nest while you're here. Maybe you'll find something to help you get away.] ✨

[Nyakuni]

{Fishy | Human | On an Expedition}
[Examine the relic's surface.]
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{Starlite | Goon | At Berry Bushes}
[Climb carefully and figure out what you've spotted before taking anything.]

[Fishy]

[You are not the only one who decides that there must be more to the relic itself, but there are few enough and the relic large enough that you do not get into one another's way. The disc seems to be made of a coppery metal, and although the ridges are mostly intact, the edges are corroded into sharp points in many places, and some entirely down to the disc surface. The circles are perfectly round, or were when they were made. There are a few marks in the ridges not accounted for by time, though. It seems as if someone or something once crudely cut into the metal, and all that now remains of the markings are more sharp edges. It looks as if the ridges actually go deeper than the surface of the disc at the base, but the fissure between ridge and disc is so small it's hard to tell if it was intentional or has just been damaged.

While you searched, it seems a number of the goons with you have begun cutting away at the moss where the water vanishes, but the plant life is thick, and digging through it is proving difficult. A few of the merchants who were examining other items are now offering their strength to the cause, and one of the guards seems to have been bribed to help as well.]

Choose one: [Examine the broken tree.]|[Examine the water.]|[Join the digging.]|[Trace what is left of the markings on the ridges.]|[Peer into the relic.]|[Circle the tree.]|[Climb the tree.]

Or leave the group and risk greater dangers on your own for greater rewards:
[Search the trees beyond the one housing the relic.]|[Dare to enter the relic's mouth.]

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[Starlite]

[There's no ice on the trunk or prickles hiding between the bark, but you're careful just the same as you climb the tree. There are plenty of stories of goons getting too comfortable and doing something rash because their last crazy idea worked out. As you climb higher, you are quickly reminded that ideas don't have to be crazy to be dangerous, either. If you were to fall, you could very well get hurt. Maybe you should stop looking down. Yeah, definitely a good idea to stop looking down.

Instead, you look ahead, and realize that while you were preoccupied, you arrived at your destination! Nestled in the crook of the branch is a red material flapping about like a flag in the wind. It looks long and soft, but to have been there this long it must be quite stuck. It probably wouldn't be any more dangerous than climbing up here was to dislodge, but maybe it isn't worth the trouble. You didn't come here looking for clothing, after all. Maybe there is something more interesting on another branch, or you should just return to the safety of the ground and try elsewhere...]

Choose One: [Yes, I'm tired of heights, let's go back to the ground and look around some more.]|[It looks warm, and I'm pretty cold. I'll try to free it.]|[I probably missed something on a branch lower down, I'll look again.]|[All the best rewards come with the greatest challenges! I'll climb to the very top and check every branch along the way!]|[Maybe I'll look just a little further up...]