- Pronouns
- They/Them
Be on the lookout for a shapeshifter! Hang on, I'll give you a more detailed description... um...
Dragon Harem Quest - Or: Saying You Were Gay Wasn't The Conversation-Ender You Hoped For
- Thread starter ZerbanDaGreat
- Start date
- Original
Be on the lookout for a shapeshifter! Hang on, I'll give you a more detailed description... um...
- Location
- Castle Oblivious
Hell where a bloody Dragon.Uh, excuse me, how dare you tell us how many boyfriends to have. We'll stop collecting when we're good and ready.
Hoarding is literaly in our blood.
Eldingar hoards precious things.
Both precious items and precious people.
I mean look at Abzu, you could easily describe them as precious.
So Takara, who are you to tell us not to hoard.
Your telling us to get off our vice while indulging ours.
Stealing.
Its clear to me now that Takara is not going to reattune the map,
at least I theorize.
They are a kleptomaniac and wants to steal, in this case she wants to steal our boifriends.
They want to have the thrill of the heist, even in love.
Why try to hook up with someone you just like when you can steel someones potential partner in love?
So Takara,
Why don't you fall of your high horse.
You want to steal love, Eldingar wants to hoard love.
We all have our vices.
Wade Garrett
Just trying to do the right thing
- Pronouns
- He/His/Him
[X] Check the abandoned mansion in the forest you remember being on the map.
[X] Issachar. Still pretending he's just some friendly neighbour but you know damn well there's some secret shit in there that'll invariably come out if you make him tag along somewhere. Available to pursue a map-spot.
I kinda have to vote for Issachar early and often.
[X] Issachar. Still pretending he's just some friendly neighbour but you know damn well there's some secret shit in there that'll invariably come out if you make him tag along somewhere. Available to pursue a map-spot.
I kinda have to vote for Issachar early and often.
[X] Check the abandoned mansion in the forest you remember being on the map.
[X] Issachar. Still pretending he's just some friendly neighbour but you know damn well there's some secret shit in there that'll invariably come out if you make him tag along somewhere. Available to pursue a map-spot.
[X] Issachar. Still pretending he's just some friendly neighbour but you know damn well there's some secret shit in there that'll invariably come out if you make him tag along somewhere. Available to pursue a map-spot.
- Location
- Ohio
My parents love watching supernatural. How did I not see the Castiel in this situation?
keenscythe
No longer NEET
- Location
- WA, USA
[X] Check the abandoned mansion in the forest you remember being on the map.
[X] Issachar. Still pretending he's just some friendly neighbour but you know damn well there's some secret shit in there that'll invariably come out if you make him tag along somewhere. Available to pursue a map-spot.
[X] Issachar. Still pretending he's just some friendly neighbour but you know damn well there's some secret shit in there that'll invariably come out if you make him tag along somewhere. Available to pursue a map-spot.
HolyInquisition
Opinionated
- Location
- Halfway to Anywhere
[X] Check the abandoned mansion in the forest you remember being on the map.
[X] Abzu. Friendly and quite the powerful wizard, even if the muteness is a bit of an impediment there. You're unsure how they'll do in public. Available to pursue a map-spot.
Any chasing after the hoard-thief can wait until our current army of love interests is rested, and our presence in the spire may be an obstacle to that rest, rather than a benefit.
[X] Abzu. Friendly and quite the powerful wizard, even if the muteness is a bit of an impediment there. You're unsure how they'll do in public. Available to pursue a map-spot.
Any chasing after the hoard-thief can wait until our current army of love interests is rested, and our presence in the spire may be an obstacle to that rest, rather than a benefit.
Cadis
Proud Capoeria Angola Quintal Capoerista
- Location
- United States
This is great.
[X] Check the abandoned mansion in the forest you remember being on the map.
[X] Issachar. Still pretending he's just some friendly neighbour but you know damn well there's some secret shit in there that'll invariably come out if you make him tag along somewhere. Available to pursue a map-spot.
[X] Issachar. Still pretending he's just some friendly neighbour but you know damn well there's some secret shit in there that'll invariably come out if you make him tag along somewhere. Available to pursue a map-spot.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Abzu's going to be busy, on account of as soon as Jun-ho's not distracted by embarrassment and sympathy for Eldingar he's going to notice that there's an adorable goo-wizard and want to cuddle them.
Mizu
Software Developer
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
Extra you
[X] Check the abandoned mansion in the forest you remember being on the map.
[X] Issachar. Still pretending he's just some friendly neighbour but you know damn well there's some secret shit in there that'll invariably come out if you make him tag along somewhere. Available to pursue a map-spot.
- Location
- Nargothrond
[X] Check the abandoned mansion in the forest you remember being on the map.
[X] Issachar. Still pretending he's just some friendly neighbour but you know damn well there's some secret shit in there that'll invariably come out if you make him tag along somewhere. Available to pursue a map-spot.
[X] Issachar. Still pretending he's just some friendly neighbour but you know damn well there's some secret shit in there that'll invariably come out if you make him tag along somewhere. Available to pursue a map-spot.
Madou Sutegobana
Autocorrupt has been disabled.
- Location
- Twin Realms Mandala
[X] Forget the whole thing and just have a housewarming party right here, all six of you. You won't be able to pay attention to one of them in particular.
[X] Check the abandoned mansion in the forest you remember being on the map.
[X] Issachar. Still pretending he's just some friendly neighbour but you know damn well there's some secret shit in there that'll invariably come out if you make him tag along somewhere. Available to pursue a map-spot.
[X] Issachar. Still pretending he's just some friendly neighbour but you know damn well there's some secret shit in there that'll invariably come out if you make him tag along somewhere. Available to pursue a map-spot.
- Location
- The Land of Many Bregrets
- Pronouns
- They/Them
...
I mean, they're not wrong...
call yourself a thief takara abzu just stole your scene
Olive
Silent Princess
[X] Check the abandoned mansion in the forest you remember being on the map.
[X] Issachar. Still pretending he's just some friendly neighbour but you know damn well there's some secret shit in there that'll invariably come out if you make him tag along somewhere. Available to pursue a map-spot.
Chapter Twenty-Five: You Know If Anything This Curse Is More Boon Than Bane, Really Drives The Market Price Down For A Property That's High On Aesthetics And Low On People To Bother You
ZerbanDaGreat
Daemon Noble of D E M O G R A P H I C S
- Pronouns
- They/them
"I need to get out of the spire," you say. "Look for another map point while it's still fresh in my mind. Issachar, feel like coming with me to check an abandoned mansion hidden deep in the forest, or do you have crucial farming to do?"
Issachar gestures dismissively as best he can while still holding a plate of banana bread. "It's mostly a hands-off job, you try to be there to fix the rod if it breaks down and swap out the casks when they fill up, but I took care of all that before I left so I should be free for a day or two. I'd be happy to come along."
"Fantastic." You half-turn to face the gooey wizard. "Abzu, thank you for coming but you can head home now if you'd like. I'm sure you've got experiments cooking or what-have-you."
[Can I stay a bit, actually?] they sign.
"Mm?" You arch one brow-ridge.
[I already met Makram but you've got more friends I haven't yet!] they reply with an enthusiastic little sign-wiggle. [And the renovations look exciting!] [Can I stay and meet everyone and look around?] [Pleeeeeeease?]
"Oh." You blink. Abzu's energy is as disarming as ever. You feel yourself soften if only slightly - at least they're being polite and actually asking. "Of course. Don't touch my gold but you can all try the wine if you want, Makram brought enough for an army."
[Yaaaaaay!]
"The only question I would have -(here try some)-" Issachar adds, holding out the plate complete with breadknife for all to take a piece, "is what our travel arrangements are. Are we angling to be teleported there or...?"
"I don't suppose you might have any ideas?" you ask pointedly. "Any methods of travelling quickly? Finding the place? Getting us there? No? Not a one?"
"I am sadly just a humble lightning farmer come bearing gifts of banana bread," Issachar replies coolly, meeting your gaze with such ease you swear you see a flicker of Makram-esque smug within it. "I'm afraid travel plans are best left up to you."
You narrow your eyes at him. "I'll have to carry you in my claws. It'll be uncomfortable."
"I can handle discomfort," he says. "Bread?"
Grumbling under your breath about the various things he can do with his bread you take the offered knife and slice off a piece of the at this point quite heavily diminished loaf. Holding it gingerly in your talons, after a moment's consideration you just toss it into your jaws and snap them shut like a feeding crocodile.
Your eyes widen as the cinnamon-spiced sweet banana flavour explodes across your tongue. "Mm!" You chew quickly, swallowing the still-warm slice and tonguing the crumbs from between your fangs. "That was... actually fantastic, do you cook often?"
Issachar smiles, unguarded and genuine in a way you haven't seen from him yet. "Yes, well, I do have a lot of free time and not much else to occupy myself with. So I dabble. I'm pleased to hear you like it." He helpfully lowers it so Abzu can reach, letting the diminutive wizard take the plate off his hands fully.
"I suppose it's acceptable for ah, 'rustic' cooking," Makram interjects in his very Makram way. "But really if we're talking about skill at the culinary arts you should look no further than my own considerable talents. Give me an hour and I could whip up a seven-course banquet fit for a king, as I often did back in my day, you see the style of the time was-"
"I'd love to see you in action one of these days if you're free," Belial says, completely ignoring the ifrit as he continues talking about what you think is some kind of gold-leaf dish with live doves living in it. "I dabbled a bit in the day but I kinda dropped off, might think about getting back into it."
"Ooh can I watch?" Jun-ho asks. "Haven't so much as tried cooking toast before so honestly cooking is basically magic to me."
[The true magic is in the act of creation] Abzu signs earnestly.
Makram makes a face like he wants to vomit violently all over everyone in the room. You... don't know how you feel to be honest, there's a sort of funny flutter in the pit of your stomach and you scratch the back of your neck to try and cover for it. The scrape of talons on armoured scales draws Issachar's attention and he seems to get the gist of things.
"We'll pencil it in when we get back," he says. "But for now; Eldingar, shall we?"
"Better hope you're not afraid of heights," you reply.
Issachar is indeed not afraid of heights because the man seems to be wholly dedicated to cultivating the images of an unflappable humble wise man and it irritates you to the core. He doesn't so much as scream once you wrap one all-encompassing foreclaw around him, carrying him as easily as a child might carry a tin soldier, and swoop off up into the sky with all the terrifying force and acceleration an adult dragon is capable of. Carrying a mortal like this while flying is a new experience and an awkward one at that, but equally infuriatingly Issachar offers not a word of complaint as you gingerly try to adjust your grip to a level that's comfortable in the long term without just dropping him.
Over an hour straight of flying and Issachar is silent, seemingly content to just watch the world pass him by from a view usually reserved for the gods and those equally impressive as them like dragons. Or... birds, really. While you admit that anyone would be awed in his position, he's him and you're still in a bad mood and suspicious as hell so it just grates at you until you can stand the silence no more.
"It's... not hurting you, is it? You're alright?" you ask awkwardly. Nailed it.
"Mm! I really am fine!" he calls back, having to shout just to be heard over the air itself at this height. "And you?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" You of course have the kind of deep, bassy voice that men can only dream of in this form, so he can probably hear the vibrations of your words in his bones at this range.
"You know what I mean! How are you feeling? I haven't seen you in a while and it seems like a lot's happened in the intervening time!"
You sigh heavily, your breath charging a low-hanging cloud as you pass. You crane your neck to look at him properly. "Honestly my life is figuratively speaking about as much of a mess as my hoard was when you showed up in my lair. Except every time I pick up a coin and put it back someone runs in and kicks over five more."
"Really?" Issachar leans against your top talon, arms folded on top of the scaly surface. You'd think he were leaning on a desk, not terrifyingly high up in the sky in the clutches of a dragon. "Because from where I'm standing things seem better than ever!"
"That so?" you say bitterly. "Then you should probably be standing way closer."
"Well may I?" he asks.
"Wh- y-" You eye him suspiciously, let out a huffy breath, and lift your eyes to navigate properly. "Hmf. I already have four strangers with easy access to my home, might as well make it five. You certainly ingratiated yourself with that bread."
"You know the offer to visit still stands too!" he reminds you. "If you liked the bread there's plenty more where that came from! And if you need anything else, my door is always open!"
"Yeah yeah..." you say somewhat petulantly, and focus on navigating. While your memories of the map are already hazy and threatening to blur even further by the day, the general area of the mansion is pretty hard to miss. It's a vast sprawling forest, as ancient and storied as the world itself and a teeming habitat for all sorts of wildlife both magical and mundane. You think it was declared a conservation site at some point in recent history, recent enough that the mansion in question predates it. Perhaps the wealthy family that had such an estate built eventually succumbed to a curse of some kind? Probably nature-related, curses have a way of working out in just the right fashion for the victim to cry 'my hubris!' in their final moments. Really the most surprising part is how they didn't manage to hire some adventurers to break it in time.
You're sidetracking yourself. You're bored and letting your head stay in the clouds figuratively as well as literally. You angle your wings and take yourself into a gentle descent, the landscape below resolving itself clearer and clearer as you pass the forest limits and glide over an endless sea of unbroken leafy green canopy, dappled gold by the steadily setting sun. Your shadow ripples across the undulating waves of green a little to your left like a silent companion.
"Weird," you say. "You'd think a mansion would be visible for miles around from the air."
"Could be magic," Issachar suggests, no longer forced to yell to be heard at this altitude. "If it's been cursed to be swallowed by the forest forever then it might not 'exist' from the air."
"Mm. Point." You let yourself glide a little lower, skipping the very tips of the treetops with your trailing hindclaws and tail, squinting to try and peer through the forest's protective shell. "Any ideas?"
"Try setting down right here, dead ahead, I think there's a straightaway under us."
You comply, for lack of any other plans. You shift your grip on Issachar as best you can, trying to keep ahold of him even as you shrink down and he seems to rapidly expand out of your grip. You hold out one transforming foreclaw as you breach the canopy layer, staving off the worst of the whipping boughs and breaking branches as you descend into the shade. By the time you're through the worst of it you're down to bipedal form, clutching Issachar in an underarm grip like a child clinging to a particularly big cat. You grunt softly, easing off the throttle with a few rapid flaps, before finally setting the two of you down on the forest floor below in a stumbling but otherwise relatively soft landing.
"Hah! There." You brush yourself down, tugging out a few twigs that got caught between the points of your horns. "Flawless execution."
"Was that your first time carrying someone?" Issachar asks. "If so you were surprisingly good at it - you've got a very light touch."
"Myeah, well, it doesn't take a genius to figure out what hurts a squishy mortal and what doesn't," you brush him off, taking in your surroundings properly now that you're not in danger of dropping him. As an immortal dragon against whom even armies are insufficient of course you aren't intimidated by the oppressive curtain of shadow the canopy casts or the immense towering height of every broad, pillar-like tree, such that even in your true form you could comfortably move around. It's just fairly noteworthy is all. Nothing to let bother you. There's faded remnants of a path beneath your feet, perhaps even paved once, now all but completely reclaimed by the forest. It ripples and undulates like a serpent underfoot, shot through with roots the thickness of your arm or greater, a single dashed lifeline of civilisation winding its way through the forest and towards the great wrought-iron gate beyond, topped in a crest you don't recognise.
"Well would you look at that," you say. "You got us right to the front door. How curious."
"It was quite the lucky break wasn't it?" he replies guilelessly.
"Yes. Very." You're not in the mood to pursue this outside. Maybe once you've found whoever it is that's secreted themselves away in this mansion you'll drop all pretence and hound the man to reveal his secrets. You lead the way, muscling the gates open with a long high-pitched whine of protest from the ancient metal.
What lies beyond is like its own little bubble in time. Despite the disrepair of the road, of the gate, the crumbling outer wall consumed by moss and lichen, within it seems utterly pristine. The lawn is neat and well-kept, so sparkling emerald it seems only freshly watered. There's a fountain in the middle of the grounds, a multi-tiered thing of marble so perfect not even the water has managed to darken it yet. On this side of the perimeter the wall is as strong as the day it was built, high and uniform, tipped with gleaming steel spikes. To the left you see a greenhouse, massive glass panes fogged by condensation, turning whatever lies within to vague blurs even to your keen eyes. To the right you see an honest-to-goodness hedge maze just like you've always secretly wanted, the dense bushy green 'walls' so high you'd have to fly to cheat. Straight head is of course the main building, and you must admit it's a fine building by mortal standards. It's a three storey villa, surrounded in all sides by perfectly-kept hedgerows and flower gardens, the sort of thing you'd need an army of groundskeepers to get that good-looking. It's big, it's tall, it's broad, it's opulent, it's everything you could want in a home. And best of all it's completely em-
Your eyes flicker back to one window in particular, third from the right on the second floor.
"See something?" Issachar asks.
"I thought I saw a light on," you reply. "Probably just a ghost."
As if it weren't obvious enough by the extreme contrast, not a drop more natural light falls upon the estate compared to the road you just left behind. The forest arches up overhead like a thousand gnarled, grasping fingers, closing tight over the estate and dragging it down into its leafy darkness. The branches actually seem to have directly grown into knots, clinging to each other in solidarity to ensure that the sun can never truly shine upon this place again. And then, just to cap it all off, if you crane your neck you think you can spy the edge of a family graveyard off past the main building on the other side of the grounds.
"This does seem very cursed doesn't it?" Issachar observes.
"Oh yeah. So cursed I already feel all greasy," you say as you walk towards the front door anyway. "And it's been what, twenty seconds?"
"Most definitely cursed," he agrees, following you.
The sun was already starting to set by the time you got here, but the deepening shadow only bothers you in the vague sense that seeing in greyscale is annoying. There's Issachar to consider but also fuck him he probably has special eyes, the magical liar. The two of you skirt the fountain and walk right up to the front door in comfortable silence, casting your eyes all about for some sign of a thread to start unravelling the mystery at play here. Issachar draws ahead, giving the handle a good jiggle.
"Locked," he says. "It seems like there's a-"
You pick up a rock and hurl it through the adjacent window with a deafening crash. Almost before you can even move the curse blatantly takes hold - the very sound itself reverses with an uncomfortable high-pitched glassy keening as the rock leaps off the floor inside and comes hurling back through the healing window straight at your face.
Bonk. It bounces off your scales harmlessly and lands by your foot.
"It was worth a shot," you say. Issachar has his eyebrows raised as high as they'll go but he refrains from commenting, only shuffles over to make room as you approach to inspect the doors beside him. You stretch out your hand, tracing the shapes of the locking mechanism with your talontips.
"The house crest, it looks like," you murmur, mostly for your own benefit. "A three-headed dragon I think. But the emblem's incomplete. See?" You tap the shaped hollows. "We have to find the missing dragon heads."
He looks at you like you're the one with the three heads. "But why would you lock your front door with three keys that are still accessible from outside the locked door?" he asks, so bewildered it's precious. "That seems more like a lock designed to annoy the owner than keep anyone out-"
"Shhhh shhh shh shh Issachar," you shush him. You pres one daggerlike talon to his lips and he goes crosseyed looking down at it. You pull it away again. "If basic puzzle etiquette is this new to you then I invite you to please shush. Obviously the lair has to be locked, but it's a rubbish lair that nobody can actually get into. So you tease an adventurer's brain by putting them through a series of progressively more difficult trials to wear them down and then slowly funnel them towards your personal chambers!"
"... hm. I suppose this would be your area of expertise," he replies.
"Check under the welcome mat, sometimes you leave one in a really obvious place as a fakeout."
He kicks the mat away. No key.
"Well worth a shot too." You turn in a quick circle. "Maze, greenhouse, cemetary out the back. One key each, probably with their own lesser puzzles or bound monsters guarding them, gather them all up and we're in! Simple."
Issachar glances up at the great leafy dome high above, squinting at the fading rays of sunlight that filter through at increasingly slanted angles. "That might take a while. And it might not be safe to be caught outside come nightfall in a place as cursed as this."
You shrug. "If speed is your problem we can always split up."
Now it's his turn to look at you like you're a moron.
"... what?"
"Nothing, I'm sure it'll be fine."
He wanders away from the door and you follow, the pair of you pausing a couple metres from the porch to take one more look at the sub-challenges to come. He looks at you expectantly, letting you make the decisions. Smart guy, no wonder he's made it this far. But he is right, there's always the chance that something annoying or more overtly evil might happen if you're not in the mansion by sundown. But you're a dragon and he's an [indeterminate] so it's unlikely to be an issue. Perhaps this could even be an opportunity...
[ ] Go with Issachar to each location in order. You'll have time to chat, but he'll probably make you do all the work, and you might not beat the sunset.
[ ] Split up. Go to the maze while he goes to the greenhouse, reconvene at the cemetary. You'll definitely make it before sunset with no possible downsides.
[ ] Split up then follow him in secret. He might start using the secret powers you know he has while he thinks you're not around to see, so what better chance to catch him in the act?
Issachar gestures dismissively as best he can while still holding a plate of banana bread. "It's mostly a hands-off job, you try to be there to fix the rod if it breaks down and swap out the casks when they fill up, but I took care of all that before I left so I should be free for a day or two. I'd be happy to come along."
"Fantastic." You half-turn to face the gooey wizard. "Abzu, thank you for coming but you can head home now if you'd like. I'm sure you've got experiments cooking or what-have-you."
[Can I stay a bit, actually?] they sign.
"Mm?" You arch one brow-ridge.
[I already met Makram but you've got more friends I haven't yet!] they reply with an enthusiastic little sign-wiggle. [And the renovations look exciting!] [Can I stay and meet everyone and look around?] [Pleeeeeeease?]
"Oh." You blink. Abzu's energy is as disarming as ever. You feel yourself soften if only slightly - at least they're being polite and actually asking. "Of course. Don't touch my gold but you can all try the wine if you want, Makram brought enough for an army."
[Yaaaaaay!
] "The only question I would have -(here try some)-" Issachar adds, holding out the plate complete with breadknife for all to take a piece, "is what our travel arrangements are. Are we angling to be teleported there or...?"
"I don't suppose you might have any ideas?" you ask pointedly. "Any methods of travelling quickly? Finding the place? Getting us there? No? Not a one?"
"I am sadly just a humble lightning farmer come bearing gifts of banana bread," Issachar replies coolly, meeting your gaze with such ease you swear you see a flicker of Makram-esque smug within it. "I'm afraid travel plans are best left up to you."
You narrow your eyes at him. "I'll have to carry you in my claws. It'll be uncomfortable."
"I can handle discomfort," he says. "Bread?"
Grumbling under your breath about the various things he can do with his bread you take the offered knife and slice off a piece of the at this point quite heavily diminished loaf. Holding it gingerly in your talons, after a moment's consideration you just toss it into your jaws and snap them shut like a feeding crocodile.
Your eyes widen as the cinnamon-spiced sweet banana flavour explodes across your tongue. "Mm!" You chew quickly, swallowing the still-warm slice and tonguing the crumbs from between your fangs. "That was... actually fantastic, do you cook often?"
Issachar smiles, unguarded and genuine in a way you haven't seen from him yet. "Yes, well, I do have a lot of free time and not much else to occupy myself with. So I dabble. I'm pleased to hear you like it." He helpfully lowers it so Abzu can reach, letting the diminutive wizard take the plate off his hands fully.
"I suppose it's acceptable for ah, 'rustic' cooking," Makram interjects in his very Makram way. "But really if we're talking about skill at the culinary arts you should look no further than my own considerable talents. Give me an hour and I could whip up a seven-course banquet fit for a king, as I often did back in my day, you see the style of the time was-"
"I'd love to see you in action one of these days if you're free," Belial says, completely ignoring the ifrit as he continues talking about what you think is some kind of gold-leaf dish with live doves living in it. "I dabbled a bit in the day but I kinda dropped off, might think about getting back into it."
"Ooh can I watch?" Jun-ho asks. "Haven't so much as tried cooking toast before so honestly cooking is basically magic to me."
[The true magic is in the act of creation] Abzu signs earnestly.
Makram makes a face like he wants to vomit violently all over everyone in the room. You... don't know how you feel to be honest, there's a sort of funny flutter in the pit of your stomach and you scratch the back of your neck to try and cover for it. The scrape of talons on armoured scales draws Issachar's attention and he seems to get the gist of things.
"We'll pencil it in when we get back," he says. "But for now; Eldingar, shall we?"
"Better hope you're not afraid of heights," you reply.
Issachar is indeed not afraid of heights because the man seems to be wholly dedicated to cultivating the images of an unflappable humble wise man and it irritates you to the core. He doesn't so much as scream once you wrap one all-encompassing foreclaw around him, carrying him as easily as a child might carry a tin soldier, and swoop off up into the sky with all the terrifying force and acceleration an adult dragon is capable of. Carrying a mortal like this while flying is a new experience and an awkward one at that, but equally infuriatingly Issachar offers not a word of complaint as you gingerly try to adjust your grip to a level that's comfortable in the long term without just dropping him.
Over an hour straight of flying and Issachar is silent, seemingly content to just watch the world pass him by from a view usually reserved for the gods and those equally impressive as them like dragons. Or... birds, really. While you admit that anyone would be awed in his position, he's him and you're still in a bad mood and suspicious as hell so it just grates at you until you can stand the silence no more.
"It's... not hurting you, is it? You're alright?" you ask awkwardly. Nailed it.
"Mm! I really am fine!" he calls back, having to shout just to be heard over the air itself at this height. "And you?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" You of course have the kind of deep, bassy voice that men can only dream of in this form, so he can probably hear the vibrations of your words in his bones at this range.
"You know what I mean! How are you feeling? I haven't seen you in a while and it seems like a lot's happened in the intervening time!"
You sigh heavily, your breath charging a low-hanging cloud as you pass. You crane your neck to look at him properly. "Honestly my life is figuratively speaking about as much of a mess as my hoard was when you showed up in my lair. Except every time I pick up a coin and put it back someone runs in and kicks over five more."
"Really?" Issachar leans against your top talon, arms folded on top of the scaly surface. You'd think he were leaning on a desk, not terrifyingly high up in the sky in the clutches of a dragon. "Because from where I'm standing things seem better than ever!"
"That so?" you say bitterly. "Then you should probably be standing way closer."
"Well may I?" he asks.
"Wh- y-" You eye him suspiciously, let out a huffy breath, and lift your eyes to navigate properly. "Hmf. I already have four strangers with easy access to my home, might as well make it five. You certainly ingratiated yourself with that bread."
"You know the offer to visit still stands too!" he reminds you. "If you liked the bread there's plenty more where that came from! And if you need anything else, my door is always open!"
"Yeah yeah..." you say somewhat petulantly, and focus on navigating. While your memories of the map are already hazy and threatening to blur even further by the day, the general area of the mansion is pretty hard to miss. It's a vast sprawling forest, as ancient and storied as the world itself and a teeming habitat for all sorts of wildlife both magical and mundane. You think it was declared a conservation site at some point in recent history, recent enough that the mansion in question predates it. Perhaps the wealthy family that had such an estate built eventually succumbed to a curse of some kind? Probably nature-related, curses have a way of working out in just the right fashion for the victim to cry 'my hubris!' in their final moments. Really the most surprising part is how they didn't manage to hire some adventurers to break it in time.
You're sidetracking yourself. You're bored and letting your head stay in the clouds figuratively as well as literally. You angle your wings and take yourself into a gentle descent, the landscape below resolving itself clearer and clearer as you pass the forest limits and glide over an endless sea of unbroken leafy green canopy, dappled gold by the steadily setting sun. Your shadow ripples across the undulating waves of green a little to your left like a silent companion.
"Weird," you say. "You'd think a mansion would be visible for miles around from the air."
"Could be magic," Issachar suggests, no longer forced to yell to be heard at this altitude. "If it's been cursed to be swallowed by the forest forever then it might not 'exist' from the air."
"Mm. Point." You let yourself glide a little lower, skipping the very tips of the treetops with your trailing hindclaws and tail, squinting to try and peer through the forest's protective shell. "Any ideas?"
"Try setting down right here, dead ahead, I think there's a straightaway under us."
You comply, for lack of any other plans. You shift your grip on Issachar as best you can, trying to keep ahold of him even as you shrink down and he seems to rapidly expand out of your grip. You hold out one transforming foreclaw as you breach the canopy layer, staving off the worst of the whipping boughs and breaking branches as you descend into the shade. By the time you're through the worst of it you're down to bipedal form, clutching Issachar in an underarm grip like a child clinging to a particularly big cat. You grunt softly, easing off the throttle with a few rapid flaps, before finally setting the two of you down on the forest floor below in a stumbling but otherwise relatively soft landing.
"Hah! There." You brush yourself down, tugging out a few twigs that got caught between the points of your horns. "Flawless execution."
"Was that your first time carrying someone?" Issachar asks. "If so you were surprisingly good at it - you've got a very light touch."
"Myeah, well, it doesn't take a genius to figure out what hurts a squishy mortal and what doesn't," you brush him off, taking in your surroundings properly now that you're not in danger of dropping him. As an immortal dragon against whom even armies are insufficient of course you aren't intimidated by the oppressive curtain of shadow the canopy casts or the immense towering height of every broad, pillar-like tree, such that even in your true form you could comfortably move around. It's just fairly noteworthy is all. Nothing to let bother you. There's faded remnants of a path beneath your feet, perhaps even paved once, now all but completely reclaimed by the forest. It ripples and undulates like a serpent underfoot, shot through with roots the thickness of your arm or greater, a single dashed lifeline of civilisation winding its way through the forest and towards the great wrought-iron gate beyond, topped in a crest you don't recognise.
"Well would you look at that," you say. "You got us right to the front door. How curious."
"It was quite the lucky break wasn't it?" he replies guilelessly.
"Yes. Very." You're not in the mood to pursue this outside. Maybe once you've found whoever it is that's secreted themselves away in this mansion you'll drop all pretence and hound the man to reveal his secrets. You lead the way, muscling the gates open with a long high-pitched whine of protest from the ancient metal.
What lies beyond is like its own little bubble in time. Despite the disrepair of the road, of the gate, the crumbling outer wall consumed by moss and lichen, within it seems utterly pristine. The lawn is neat and well-kept, so sparkling emerald it seems only freshly watered. There's a fountain in the middle of the grounds, a multi-tiered thing of marble so perfect not even the water has managed to darken it yet. On this side of the perimeter the wall is as strong as the day it was built, high and uniform, tipped with gleaming steel spikes. To the left you see a greenhouse, massive glass panes fogged by condensation, turning whatever lies within to vague blurs even to your keen eyes. To the right you see an honest-to-goodness hedge maze just like you've always secretly wanted, the dense bushy green 'walls' so high you'd have to fly to cheat. Straight head is of course the main building, and you must admit it's a fine building by mortal standards. It's a three storey villa, surrounded in all sides by perfectly-kept hedgerows and flower gardens, the sort of thing you'd need an army of groundskeepers to get that good-looking. It's big, it's tall, it's broad, it's opulent, it's everything you could want in a home. And best of all it's completely em-
Your eyes flicker back to one window in particular, third from the right on the second floor.
"See something?" Issachar asks.
"I thought I saw a light on," you reply. "Probably just a ghost."
As if it weren't obvious enough by the extreme contrast, not a drop more natural light falls upon the estate compared to the road you just left behind. The forest arches up overhead like a thousand gnarled, grasping fingers, closing tight over the estate and dragging it down into its leafy darkness. The branches actually seem to have directly grown into knots, clinging to each other in solidarity to ensure that the sun can never truly shine upon this place again. And then, just to cap it all off, if you crane your neck you think you can spy the edge of a family graveyard off past the main building on the other side of the grounds.
"This does seem very cursed doesn't it?" Issachar observes.
"Oh yeah. So cursed I already feel all greasy," you say as you walk towards the front door anyway. "And it's been what, twenty seconds?"
"Most definitely cursed," he agrees, following you.
The sun was already starting to set by the time you got here, but the deepening shadow only bothers you in the vague sense that seeing in greyscale is annoying. There's Issachar to consider but also fuck him he probably has special eyes, the magical liar. The two of you skirt the fountain and walk right up to the front door in comfortable silence, casting your eyes all about for some sign of a thread to start unravelling the mystery at play here. Issachar draws ahead, giving the handle a good jiggle.
"Locked," he says. "It seems like there's a-"
You pick up a rock and hurl it through the adjacent window with a deafening crash. Almost before you can even move the curse blatantly takes hold - the very sound itself reverses with an uncomfortable high-pitched glassy keening as the rock leaps off the floor inside and comes hurling back through the healing window straight at your face.
Bonk. It bounces off your scales harmlessly and lands by your foot.
"It was worth a shot," you say. Issachar has his eyebrows raised as high as they'll go but he refrains from commenting, only shuffles over to make room as you approach to inspect the doors beside him. You stretch out your hand, tracing the shapes of the locking mechanism with your talontips.
"The house crest, it looks like," you murmur, mostly for your own benefit. "A three-headed dragon I think. But the emblem's incomplete. See?" You tap the shaped hollows. "We have to find the missing dragon heads."
He looks at you like you're the one with the three heads. "But why would you lock your front door with three keys that are still accessible from outside the locked door?" he asks, so bewildered it's precious. "That seems more like a lock designed to annoy the owner than keep anyone out-"
"Shhhh shhh shh shh Issachar," you shush him. You pres one daggerlike talon to his lips and he goes crosseyed looking down at it. You pull it away again. "If basic puzzle etiquette is this new to you then I invite you to please shush. Obviously the lair has to be locked, but it's a rubbish lair that nobody can actually get into. So you tease an adventurer's brain by putting them through a series of progressively more difficult trials to wear them down and then slowly funnel them towards your personal chambers!"
"... hm. I suppose this would be your area of expertise," he replies.
"Check under the welcome mat, sometimes you leave one in a really obvious place as a fakeout."
He kicks the mat away. No key.
"Well worth a shot too." You turn in a quick circle. "Maze, greenhouse, cemetary out the back. One key each, probably with their own lesser puzzles or bound monsters guarding them, gather them all up and we're in! Simple."
Issachar glances up at the great leafy dome high above, squinting at the fading rays of sunlight that filter through at increasingly slanted angles. "That might take a while. And it might not be safe to be caught outside come nightfall in a place as cursed as this."
You shrug. "If speed is your problem we can always split up."
Now it's his turn to look at you like you're a moron.
"... what?"
"Nothing, I'm sure it'll be fine."
He wanders away from the door and you follow, the pair of you pausing a couple metres from the porch to take one more look at the sub-challenges to come. He looks at you expectantly, letting you make the decisions. Smart guy, no wonder he's made it this far. But he is right, there's always the chance that something annoying or more overtly evil might happen if you're not in the mansion by sundown. But you're a dragon and he's an [indeterminate] so it's unlikely to be an issue. Perhaps this could even be an opportunity...
[ ] Go with Issachar to each location in order. You'll have time to chat, but he'll probably make you do all the work, and you might not beat the sunset.
[ ] Split up. Go to the maze while he goes to the greenhouse, reconvene at the cemetary. You'll definitely make it before sunset with no possible downsides.
[ ] Split up then follow him in secret. He might start using the secret powers you know he has while he thinks you're not around to see, so what better chance to catch him in the act?
Salty
Shadow Cabal Assumptor Supreme
- Location
- Sun, Moon, Talia
- Pronouns
- I/Me
haha clearly you thot you could escape me by posting at fuckyouit'sdingoo'clock, but little did you know that I was always there!
waiting
[X] Split up then follow him in secret. He might start using the secret powers you know he has while he thinks you're not around to see, so what better chance to catch him in the act?
Because while it's not going to work, it is going to be fucking hilarious.
waiting
[X] Split up then follow him in secret. He might start using the secret powers you know he has while he thinks you're not around to see, so what better chance to catch him in the act?
Because while it's not going to work, it is going to be fucking hilarious.
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Omegahugger
Inattentive Idiot
Abzu and Jun-ho still haven't 'spoken' together on-screen, my sanity's still intact.
[ ] Go with Issachar to each location in order. You'll have time to chat, but he'll probably make you do all the work, and you might not beat the sunset.
Issachar just showed he has no knowledge of how puzzles work, so if we leave him on his own chances are he'll screw up something and need rescuing like a damsel in distr-...
[X] Split up. Go to the maze while he goes to the greenhouse, reconvene at the cemetary. You'll definitely make it before sunset with no possible downsides.
Oh, I'm just voting this for no particular reason at all. Really, no need to worry about any nefarious purpose behind me placing that X right there.
On a side note, what kind of plant-life do you think we can find in the greenhouse? Given how overgrown and cursed anything is, there could even be animated ivy to snatch something like interloping humAngels up.
That's what he sai-Wait, that joke doesn't work when it's literally what he said.
[ ] Go with Issachar to each location in order. You'll have time to chat, but he'll probably make you do all the work, and you might not beat the sunset.
Issachar just showed he has no knowledge of how puzzles work, so if we leave him on his own chances are he'll screw up something and need rescuing like a damsel in distr-...
[X] Split up. Go to the maze while he goes to the greenhouse, reconvene at the cemetary. You'll definitely make it before sunset with no possible downsides.
Oh, I'm just voting this for no particular reason at all. Really, no need to worry about any nefarious purpose behind me placing that X right there.
On a side note, what kind of plant-life do you think we can find in the greenhouse? Given how overgrown and cursed anything is, there could even be animated ivy to snatch something like interloping humAngels up.
Eldingar: *feels happiness and comfort*
Also Eldingar: "What is this? Am I sick?"
He almost definitely isn't, but imagine if Issachar was just legitimately a normal lightning farmer. He's just inflappable and lucky.
God, I love it when people make Resident Evil key jokes.
On the one hand, Issachar has a point - why the fuck would you split up? On the other hand, Issachar is a mysterious person, who is almost certainly in no danger whatsoever, and Eldingar is a dragon.
[X] Go with Issachar to each location in order. You'll have time to chat, but he'll probably make you do all the work, and you might not beat the sunset.
We want to hang out with Issachar? Let's hang out. I want to see more banter. And get a better handle on Isscahar.
keenscythe
No longer NEET
- Location
- WA, USA
[X] Go with Issachar to each location in order. You'll have time to chat, but he'll probably make you do all the work, and you might not beat the sunset.
- Location
- Austria
Banana bread seems like a wonderful metaphor for how sweet and nice Issachar is.
He was a perfect fit for the mood Eldingar is (was?) in.
Also, lol at "puzzle etiquette".
Anyway, it's a working date, so let's talk and all.
[X] Go with Issachar to each location in order. You'll have time to chat, but he'll probably make you do all the work, and you might not beat the sunset.
He was a perfect fit for the mood Eldingar is (was?) in.
Also, lol at "puzzle etiquette".
Anyway, it's a working date, so let's talk and all.
[X] Go with Issachar to each location in order. You'll have time to chat, but he'll probably make you do all the work, and you might not beat the sunset.
- Location
- in the trash
[X] Split up then follow him in secret. He might start using the secret powers you know he has while he thinks you're not around to see, so what better chance to catch him in the act?
Because it'll be hilarious to watch Eldingar's slowly mounting frustration as Issachar refuses to use any mystical powers even when Eldingar is ostensibly not around.
Because it'll be hilarious to watch Eldingar's slowly mounting frustration as Issachar refuses to use any mystical powers even when Eldingar is ostensibly not around.