Quest Time! Shrubbery Shenanigans : The Hedgerow Headache!

[thequestgiver]

Up high on the top most turret of the castle is a somewhat strange sight for those who care to look up; a 10 foot tall dragon perched on one of the ledges, much like a gargoyle, seeming to be having a conversation with the air. Those of impossibly good eyesight might be able to spot the dragon’s companion; a 3 foot tall pixie with nut brown skin and silver-green leaf like hair, who’s lounging lazily on top of the dragon’s head, idly tracing lines around his scales. (But really. No one has eyesight that good. No, not even you, Harold.)

“If we keep waiting for there to be more of them, we’re going to be here forever, you know.”

There was a snort and a bit of a pout from the dragon, who reached up and idly started twirling his mustache. “Well, then, I suppose we can get things started earlier than planned.”

A similar snort answered his own. “As if you ever plan anything,” the pixie returned with amused admonishment. “Just admit it, you’re as bored as I am.”

“Well, maybe,” the dragon allowed. “It’s been so very quiet lately, hasn’t it? Even that load of etchings I brought to town didn’t stir up much of a fuss.”

“You didn’t hardly give them to anyone who’d cause a fuss,” the pixie countered. “The neutral types don’t really cause any sort of ripples in the fabric of things any more.”

The dragon pouts a bit. “It’s such a shame, really. Makes things far less lively. We need a little more life in here.”

“No argument here,” came the reply, the pixie stretching before getting carefully to her feet. “So, what do you think? Something for them to chase after? Or something more cryptic?”

Sven clapped his claws. “Ooh, let’s go cryptic, it’s been so long since we’ve done cryptic...maybe a maze? Something requiring wits? The foresight to bring along some breadcrumbs or string?”

The pixie debated as she carefully balanced on one foot on the top of one of Sven’s scales. “A test to see how alive they are?” she reflected thoughtfully as she stretched. “That might work, for a starting point.”

“And I’ve got an outstanding prize for them I can put in the middle of the maze!” Sven grinned with far too many teeth. “Something really valuable, and how they react to it will let us know how they handle things!”

Joan leaned down, to raise an eyebrow at her companion. “Something valuable. From you?” she repeated with a faint snort.

“All of my stuff valuable,” Sven said innocently. Too innocently. “Super duper valuable.”

Another, louder snort answered that. “Valuable to who, ” she returned, leaning an arm down to balance her weight on her companions snout.

“You say that like I care about any opinions other than my own,” came the airy reply.

With a small laugh, Joan somersaulted down Sven’s snout, fluttering in the air in front of him. “My mistake,” she allowed with amusement as she began to fly off towards the city walls.

Sven stretched his own wings and started off after her.

The next morning the gossip of the moment was all about the large thorne maze that had shown up overnight, not far from the Two-Faced Forest, with rumors that a fabulous treasure lay in the center, guarded by a vicious dragon! … or was it a troll? Myrtle said it must be a dragon, because dragons were the type to guard treasures like that, but almost everyone else said it was a troll, or worse, a goblin -- you know, the type that never brushed its teeth and always smelled of cabbage? No, not Uncle Westmere, though that is a good description of him most days--

But yes, anyway, the maze! A really big one, almost as big as the capital itself! Any hero who has the ill luck to encounter the townsfolk will find themselves pested to go check it out and see what all this talk of treasure really is about!

Not long after the rumors begin, a small group of trumpeters emerge from the castle, their horns somehow loud enough to be heard through the din of gossipers. … though it does take a few tries before said din finally dies down enough that the caller can finally bellow out his message (while the trumpeters quickly cover their ears):

“Let it be KNOOOOWN! The King does now SUMMON all the HEROES of the land to INVESTIGATE this disturbance that has ARRISIN just outside our city’s BORDERS and to then REPORT BACK their findings as to what TREASURE they hath found!”

He pauses to take a deep breath before continuing. “THAT IS AAAAALL!”

With one last tweddley twee of the horns, the bellower and the trumpeters retreat back into the castle.

(Coordination post is here)

Comments

To the King? To the King!

[offyougonow]

As often is the case, the King is holding court in the King Cave (as he’s calling it this week,) lounging in his armchair-esque throne, chatting it up casually with his advisors. Anyone who wants to speak with him is free to do so; the bellower isn’t even there to yell any ridiculous titles at the moment!

Gathering Around the Maze

[thequestgiver]

Welp. That sure is a giant hedge maze. The walls have to be at least ten foot, and seem to cuve in, making it annoyingly hard for anyone who can fly to simply up and over to the center. Anyone who does hover over it can see enough through the thicket blanketing the top of the maze to tell that there doesn’t seem to be anything openly lurking about, but there’s no way to really map the walls either, the thickness of the thicket (see what I did there?) is inconsistent, being too dense to see through in some areas, but thin enough to catch glimpse some vague shapes of walls and pathways in others. At least it doesn’t seem likely you’ll be eaten by a Grue, so that’s something, at least.

Well, seems like there’s no helping it. If you want to know what’s in there, you’ll have to go in there yourself. Or you could just hang around by the entrance, waiting for others. Go in as a group, coordinate your efforts, it’s not like it’s a contest or anything. At least, I don’t think it is. If it were, someone would have told me, I’m sure. I mean, I am the narrator, after all, if I don’t know what’s going on, how do they expect you all to know? Ridiculous, I know. Anyway, hang around and chat, or just charge right in, the choice is yours, hero.

Enter Maze

[thequestgiver]

You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike. Well. Not really all alike, some turn one way, some turn the other, but to save you all from typing “Look Wall” every 5 steps, I’ll just tell you flat out, they all look alike; a mess of bramble and thorns twisted together to form a nasty looking hedgerow that thankfully still lets in the daylight, and does allow you to see anyone on the other side of the wall. Each pathway is about wide enough for two people to walk side by side comfortably. The third member of any party will have to walk ahead or behind, however, unless they fancy getting their arms all scratched up by the bramble.

You can go left, right, straight ahead, or just turn around and leave if you’re so inclined. What’ll it be?

[scarsolderthanyou]

Stone has not had any experiences with actual mazes. Maze-like tunnels and caverns, but mazes made on purpose? Okay, it's a little bit interesting, and surely his sense of smell and ability to shapeshift and climb or fly over the walls will make it easier. Besides, he'd like to meet an actual dragon, since he supposedly looks like one.

So he saunters on in, groundling formed, curious what he might find. First things first, he turns left, since that's the side his good eye is on.

[thequestgiver]

    
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 _|w     |___|      |_ 
 _      S ___        _ 
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The walls of the maze are very well tended, a thick wall of brush that lets in just enough light to keep everything nice and visible. It also gives a rather strong scent of greenery, as if the walls were just trimmed that morning. It doesn't overpower everything, but it does make it a bit difficult to tell much of anything past "wow, there sure is a lot of greenery in this here maze now ain't there." The openness of the mesh of the bramble allowing for the breeze to pass through isn't helping matters any either. But, there is a scent of... something up ahead...

The walls widen up into a small room, just about big enough for someone to laydown and have a nap on the floor and not hit the walls as they stretched out. Oddly enough, in the corner of the room, there's a small set of stairs, each step barely more than an inch square, carefully hewn out from the greenery. The diminutive staircase leads up to a very small cubby in the wall, where a worm wearing a red scarf is sitting.

"'Ello," it greets, voice pleasant, if slightly hard to hear for its size.

[peaceintheworld]

The sudden appearance of a hedge maze and a sharp shift in the town's gossip was enough to finally encourage Sayoko to step out of the little safety zone that she and Tachibana had made together. Nothing bad had happened, nothing dangerous had shown up at their doorstep... and for all that it was comfortable to keep close to the clinic-slash-workshop that they'd been building... she knew she couldn't stay safely in that comfort zone forever. That was no way to live her life. Maybe a tiny, tiny adventure would be a good way to find her footing...

So there she stands at the entrance of the maze, having traded in her foofy princess dress for something much more practical peasant-like, staring at the entrance with a mixture of determination and uncertainty. She... she'd make sure to go with someone, at least. Possibly several someones. This ought to be a group effort.

[triggerhappytraitor]

It had been... honestly a bit of a relief that Sayoko was willing to have a look at the maze. After the intense and condensed trauma she had survived, he had been rather worried about how long it would take her to even want to risk stepping out into the unknown again.

He reached out a hand to take hers, offering a reassuring squeeze. "Just remember, I'm right here, no matter what. As long as we're together, we can face anything, right?"

[peaceintheworld]

She takes Tachibana's hand automatically, fingers lacing comfortably with his. His presence here is such a comfort... "We can." She smiles at him... but her smile turns a little bashful in short order. "Though I think you're a little better at facing these sorts of things than I am."

[triggerhappytraitor]

"Only because I have more practice," Tachibana pointed out, giving her hand another small squeeze. "Starting out, I was utterly awful at it. You remember that one chem lab where the professor always liked giving us surprise practical exams?"

[peaceintheworld]

"You do! And I'm not going to get practice without... practicing, am I?" Her gaze shifts back to the entrance of the maze... and then she pulls a face, immediately remembering that one chem lab.

"Ugh, I'd almost managed to forget! Why did you have to bring that up?" It's a protest that comes with laughter, though. Ahh, those were simpler days...

[triggerhappytraitor]

"Because if you think of it like one of those labs, it's not so bad, right?" Tachibana pointed out, smile warming at her laugh. "Just remind yourself that you know what you're doing, and even if you don't, you just have to keep trying until it works."

[peaceintheworld]

"I suppose... and I usually managed to get some questions right..." Which is downplaying her general capacity to puzzle things out in a hurry, but confidence is a tricky thing to build back up.

"I'm... willing to keep trying. As long as it takes. As long as I can keep trying." Her hand holds his a little tighter, as she says that. There are some mistakes that are very hard to come back from. Some that are more lethal than others. "If... there's fighting to be done in there, you'll handle that?"

[triggerhappytraitor]

"More of them than I did, consistently," Tachibana reminded warmly before squeezing her hand again.

At her question, he nodded. "You can just duck behind me, anytime it looks like there'll be trouble and I'll take care of it. Promise."

[peaceintheworld]

"Let's hope there are quiz questions in there, then." She laughs once more, encouraged by... by his everything. His hand in hers and his promise to protect her. This feels just a tiny bit more doable, now. Her feet shift, as though she's finally ready to proceed inward.

"Have you ever had to navigate something like this before?"

[triggerhappytraitor]

"A literal maze? No, this is a first," he admitted with a faint amused huff.

[peaceintheworld]

"Ah. Neither have I! We'll be making this up as we go, hmm?" And this is the time that, with her free hand, she pulls a well-rolled ball of yarn from her skirt's pockets. (Because of course her skirt has pockets. Nice big ones. It's a fantasy land full of all sorts of fantasies.)

[triggerhappytraitor]

Tachibana blinked once before realization twitched his lips into a smile. "To mark the path we take in, so we don't get lost?"

[scarsolderthanyou]

That is a very small talking thing. In Stone's experience, things that talked were usually a little bigger than that. He doesn't think this is the thing he was smelling. He does, however, crouch down next to it.

"Hello, back. Who might you be?"

[thequestgiver]

"Melvin's who I might be. Might also not, hard to say these days. But Melvin will do for now," the worm returned cheerfully. "Having a bit of a romp through the brush, are you?"

[scarsolderthanyou]

"Yeah. Somebody said there was a dragon at the middle." He grins, all sharp teeth. "I'm trying to find it."

[thequestgiver]

"A dragon? Oh deary me, and here I thought this was going to be a nice, safe, quiet, neighborhood..." the worm lamented. "Not with those troublemakers and their constant fighting making places unlivable. I've had to move a few times because of that sort of ruffian. Very unpleasant to wake up in the morning and see a big nasty fight out your front door."

[scarsolderthanyou]

"I think a big nasty fight might be a little different from your perspective than mine," Stone points out. "What happened last time you had to move?"

[thequestgiver]

"They burnt the whole forest down, they did. Just having a bit of a tuft," the worm sighed, shaking his head. "The problem with those immortal types, you know. Always forgetting that the rest of the world isn't like them."

[finalizes]

Saffron shoots straight ahead into the maze, with her dad barely able to follow.

A dragon! That's exciting! She's always happy to talk to other dragons. She just hopes this one is nice, once they found it.

Laughs follows at his best speed, trying to keep up despite not having wings and thus having to deal with whatever ground there is underneath his paws.

[finalizes]

Laughs has long elected to ignore whatever clothes had been given to him and to instead run around in his breed form all the time. The townspeople are surprisingly accepting of him and Saffron in wolf forms, so why not take advantage of it?

Unusually, though, Saffron is in dragon form today, zipping forth and back from side to side in excitement. She zips over to Sayoko when she spots her and flies a circle around her head, telempathically projecting images of a big dragon on a small hill of sweets at her. They gotta go inside and say hello to that dragon!