Adventuring the world with the (mostly) trusty help of a fae village.
Grow the village.
Grow your strength.
See the world.
Be surprised and regret seeing marvels.
Fae get born from the nature and activities, technology has faeries too.
So do even phones and family weapons with emotional connections nowadays. If there is enough energy around.
Encounter them all, invite them to your village if you can.
Make friends and enemies.
I'm quite rusty with writing, so updates will be slow-ish. I'm trying to get into the groove again, so I wanted to explore this setting I made up as a quest.
I want to get the words flowing again
I want to imagine this going like Kino's travels
English is not my first language so do point out my mistakes to me.
My fae aren't malicious, but still mischievous and beget wonder and terror sometimes
_______________________________________
An overgrown thicket was just slightly jutting out at different parts of the village, and it seemed oh so interesting, but by now you were realizing
going there was a big mistake.
Did you turn left or did you turn right. You didn't know anymore!
You had a feeling you were seeing this bush for the third time.
As you made another step your foot pressed on a rotten root with a loud "chwunk" sound.
You've been lost for about 4 hours already and you were really starting to panic. And your trusty communicator wasn't a military model so this far away from civilization it didn't have any connection and you couldn't call for help.
Now you know you weren't supposed to go here since you were neither an experienced local nor one of the Enhanced, but having concluded your studies you wanted to have some fun. So you went to your uncle in the countryside which was the easiest way to take break away from the big city life. To do more and to travel around to other cities you needed a certain amount of strength or importance. Well, or wealth, but same thing really. Outside of the city zones the world was filled with monsters, anomalies, and strange emanations so you'd need protections to travel.
Another step, another branch you had to push out of your way with your hand.
You could test into the armed forces but it really didn't seem safe for you. And to join the Enhanced you needed some kind of talent either inborn or trained and you had neither. Your family never had enough money to spare for training what meagre potential you had.
Your uncle sure will be mad at you for not listening to caution. but you were visiting and the wood was there, and you've never been to one!
Trying to keep your spirits up really wasn't easy, and to scream for help seemed like a bad idea
But at least this area was safe, quite away from the scramble veil, with monsters rarely passing the veil wall of your home zone, with emitters well keeping the monsters away. And you didn't hear any alarms about any parts being destroyed or broken through, before you got lost. You've heard that other city states had different defences, but your home zone was safe and welcoming even if more rural and with only few interesting things.
This should have been the right path but nature didn't care what you thought. It was putting more and more trees in your way and you were fed up with it.
Fed up and hungry and thirsty.
"But wait if you are fed up with hungriness can it mean that hunger is filling you? Does it mean you are full with hunger?
Oh I think I'm already going crazy..."
There were some berries you've found but they weren't enough to sate you and you needed water still. And you were smelling a fruity scent the past while, a very tempting scent.
Also you were hearing plenty of buzzing and chirping.
Maybe it was time to give up and try to find where the scent was coming from even if just to satisfy your curiosity.
With your mind made up you went right through the bushes between the trees. Going forward the terrain has changed and you needed to climb.
As you were passing the small crag you almost lost your footing, a roundish uneven stone was protruding like a toe out of it so you had to help yourself with your hands to climb it. Standing up you looked around. More greenery greeted you, but there was something colourful ahead. A streak of violet behind a very thick tree. It was kinda scary but curiosity got the better of you.
"..ere". Some noise was heard
Seemed like a squirrel, but you didn't know much in the matter of animal noises.
Coming closer you noticed that it was something between a bush and a tree, a big violet mess of branches with a lot of flowers. Those flowers had petals scrunched in a bit of a spiral and they had stamens that were all white and long and poking with sorta balls on end. There were also some fruits that seemed to be like 3 balls connected together, like a skewer. At that thought you started salivating. Grabbing one you place it on your palm and try to poke it. It seemed to be covered in a shaggy and soft cover so you were about to peel it.
But as you feel it around a strange feeling of nausea hits you. It felt like you were tasting dandelions and smelling grass. You vision was swimming. As you fell to you knees you lost your balance and your head went right towards the branches. Your vision seemed to shrink as if your eyes were closing sideways horizontally.
Darkness.
A sudden intrusion of moistness.
A pinprick of pain.
Your unconsciousness was lasting, but intrusions were pushing you out.
Your awareness seemed to grow through your body and connect back to it. As if your nerves were something new in your body. The feelings in your limbs were returning.
As you opened your eyes you saw the sky. As you turned over you felt moss under your hands. It felt soft and inviting. You planted your face back into it. Comforting
"No no, stop, wait a second, moss? Sky? I was near a fruit tree on the ground" You couldn't help but exclaim aloud .
A shiny something flew from outside of your field of view and touched your forehead, then started flying side to side, and around you.
"How are you feeling, you strange strange...something? Also who and what are you?" This flying ball asked. Looking closer it was a small shiny figure with spiral wings, a small woman dressed in violet robes and it was mainly the white streaks on the wings in a zigzag pattern that had light shining from them. You've never heard of any creatures like that. Not like you were a big expert on the wilderness, but surely you would have heard about some creatures as strange as that!
"No, that's what I want to ask, who are you?" The light was kinda hurting your eyes so you have started squinting.
"Nuh-uh, I've asked first. Me and my sisters found you right on the entrance of our home and it's very unexpected to find humans being able to see us. Even more so, someone entering our very home!" The figure seemed to fidget and just couldn't stay still. This time it flew on top of your hair and started rolling a lock of your hair in a spiral.
As more strength returned to your body, you finally were able to sit. Now you could see that you were in a small glade and there were three small structures, buildings you guessed, suspended on the tree branches. One seemed like a mixture of a hut and a nest, like feathers and branches, fur and assorted junk piled to form something that still seemed close to some old village huts you saw in photos during your school classes. Strangely it felt homely and very inviting. Another seemed like a hive with horns growing from all over it and it felt like you were in danger just looking at it. And last house was all distended and spiralling and had white and violet glowing stripes, it was conical and seemed to grow like a flower and it was most likely belonging to the small figure that was now trying to tug two of your locks together in different directions...
"Hey" you tried to poke the small shiny woman to shoo her away.
"Oh now you are listening to me again. As I said, since we were born we saw you humans around but you never heard us. And you were always getting scared and hurrying away when we'd poke you all! And now there is an absolute weirdo like you right here at our doorstep. We coukn't even push you back out while you were sleeping, it was like big dumb rock stuck in the stream! Now way to push it out! Ugh!" this flying figure started huffing in exasperation.
A second and third figure flew toward you from behind the trees. One seemed to wear a vest and a skirt made out of fur and the second was wearing a gown made out of vines and had a horn growing from the forehead. The furry figure approached the one you were speaking with and hugged from behind.
"Hey Nada, did you already discuss with this stranger where she would sleep? Me and Maha saw some materials we could repurpose for a dwelling" She turned her face to you and continued.
"What's your name by the way, mine is Shess?"
"It's Jess, Jess Alsser" You annonciated and tried to stand up, but as queasiness rose up together with your own self, uninvited passenger in your body, you had to sit back down.
"Don't try to rise!" Shess exclaimed. "I don't know how you appeared in our village but however you appeared here it made a jumble of your energies. it seems like something that would really hurt! I've grabbed some materials and Ill try to make a remedy for you"
A third figure nodded, "I had a similar problem when I was smacked right into a tree by a monster, meanies the lot of them." Maha stomped the air and you felt a pulse wash over you. The other two glared at her.
"Sorry" She seemed sincerely apologetic.
"Since you are stuck here we'll prepare a dwelling for you, it will be interesting to see what we can come up with for some as big as you," continued Shess.
The three of them pointed out their houses comfirming your guesses.
"We'll use our own houses as inspiration for yours so just choose one. More introductions can wait"
You will be able to do it all but this sets the initial focus:
[X] Flower house, each petal a room, spacially distorted {initial energy focus}
[X] write the best-est-est books, describing things none ever saw
House chosen
Sub-ambition chosen
Specialization gained
Communicator changed to clamshell type
"There are many types of fairies, those of nature, of man-made things, of concepts - there is no strict hierarchy between these types, but a fairy can be born stronger when belonging to the latter ones. Strictly speaking there is no such a thing as a fire fae for example, but it would be a faerie of a tree struck by lightning or a faery born of a particularly big volcano eruption. Whatever birthed them had to bear significance for those around, be it animals, humans or monsters."
Notes of Jess Alsser
You have opened your trusty clamshell type communicator to switch it in the drawing tablet mode and started sketching the flower you saw before fainting.
Reflexively you've also checked the connection to the network but it was completely absent.
"This is the Dagroot", said Nada as she looked from your shoulder.
"It's like a fairy catnip. Well not exactly, but it makes us kinda hyperactive and makes us feel good at the same time"
"I was born to a similarly mystical tree, but one that is of a more soothing kind. Faeries get born in places full of energy, but nature also changes in places like that. Sometimes both things happen at once."
You carefully noted it all down in your communicator.
_____________________________________________________
Since you were stuck here, there was a dire need to care of your living conditions..
Having made the decision, you joined Nada on an empty place near her house, where she brought something that seemed like a coiled root.
She plonked it into the ground beside you and then she fluttered in the air to place herself right in front of your face, on your eye level.
"It's a house for you so you will have to help me! Now we will share our thoughts in unison to form something appropriate for someone as big and tall as you.
I'll use your energy like yeast to puff up one of the seeds my house has made over the years, like dough we'll rise it up and up! And I'll use my energy to bake it and to pop bubbles that will form. Metaphorically of course," she smiled, bobbing in the air back and forth.
Then, not leaving you any time to answer, she has pressed her small forehead against yours.
It felt cold.
Suddenly you felt a spark going off, like that time you licked a 9 volt battery. It didn't feel bad but you felt a tingly sensation passing through you,
You felt as if the air became more dense and the wind started moving slow like molasses.
A pressure was building up in your ears. Your saliva started tasting like honey mixed with grounded cashews.
Your awareness seemed to extend towards the ground ahead of you.
As the seed started sprouting it felt alive and wrong and, "Oh, wow!" you exclaimed in surprise.
"...oh by the spirits, what is that!?" you gasped.
The seed seemed to have become a droplet of some dark liquid that started boiling. A wave of heat washed over you.
It seemed to be growing like a pistil.
Then, like a fountain it splashed outward and then started spiralling
Winding up on itself.
And you were staying right in center. And you couldn't move. There was no fear, surprisingly, just the feeling of union with the growing flower.
Droplets were falling as the tentacle growths started sprouting from all over it.
Leaves appeared in-between the growths. At first they were flat and almost nonexistent., but then, a sudden change, they gained vitality and colour, one by one.
Another wave of heat. And another, and another... each time growing in frequency.
Each growth has sprouted texture by now, then it changed colour, started morphing into a petal. Nectar droplets formed and evaporated.
The flower smelled appetizingly, it enveloped you with a cloud of vapour that had a tangy scent. Something in the scent reminded you of a dreamless night. Briefly, it felt like words were vibrating outwards from inside of your body.
One by one the petals were growing. Five big petals in all. And some smaller around the center.
Thus it continued, on and on, until there was a flash of light and you couldn't see anything. You had to blink and suppress tears from the suddenness of it.
You've found yourself in a round white chamber. It had a stairway up in the middle and five rooms separated by doors with grey frosted glass with blurry effect.
It felt like you could almost see through the door. But it was just like tangible shadow.
Strangely the rooms were spacey and with high ceilings, much higher and bigger than you remember the flower growing. It wasn't dark because walls had small shining fruits growing like lanterns.
"Of course it's bigger on the inside, you silly goose!", Nada perked up immediately after you asked about it.
"The more you feed your house, the more you are connected to it and the bigger it will be. When we fae get born most of us are lonely with no one around us but we get born near something we were a part of emotionally and figuratively. So we can usually scoop that something up and make it grow, build on it. And then it becomes a house connected to us. And this is the seed born from mine!" she continued.
"But I'm not one of you, so this house should be different, right? you doubted it would be exactly like theirs.
"Not really. This house was grown through you, so it's yours. And it's like an offspring of my house. You'll have to care for it and it will sprout more chambers. In fact lie down right here on the floor" she pointed under herself.
"Now, now, do it!"
"Close down your eyes, breathe in-out, just like that, yes".
You did as she said and right on your forehead she laid down on her stomach.
You have tried to relax and slowly you felt something on the edge of your awareness. Only faintly but you felt the barest hint of something.
Time passed.
It was still there, tantalizingly on the edge.
This was relaxing. You were just lying there and letting that feeling wash over you.
Ebbing and flowing...
[Your home has sprouted]
[Your energy is ticklish now]
_____________________________________________________
After the meditation session you felt more connected to the flower house. The three faeries joined you and one by one you went through all the rooms.
There was no furniture in any of them, except for a bed, in the biggest room, that was a very very thick leaf rolled on its narrow end in a surprisingly soft and comfortable pillow.
It was thick enough to make this bed almost 50cm high!
The staircase had nothing to connect to. Flower was young after all.
As you moved around, Shess explained, "We can move our houses and that's why me and my sisters are all living together. We aren't really related by blood, none of the fae are, but we are kindred and calling ourselves sisters make it the truth."
"We are sisters because in a way all of us faeries are related, born of this world, sons and daughters of reality", interjected Nada.
Having satisfied curiosity everyone moved outside where Shess and Maha prepared some food for everyone.
Shess fluttered to the pile of fruits and leaves piled up on the grass. And took out from under the leaves a big fish with sharp teeth protruding from its menacing maw.
"Fish!?" your really didn't expect it. Yet there it was, prepared for you.
As you stood there confused, the other two faeries grabbed your hands and extended them forward and Shess foisted the fish into them.
The three of them faced you with sparkling eyes, fluttering in expectation.
You just stared at the fish, then you tried to smell it. It was smelling like you'd expect. Fishy.
You really didn't know what to do with it!
"It's tasty, just try it out! Just bite the head off with your big mouth! Gnaw on it!" grinned Maha.
You'll like it, you'll like it!" chanted the other two.
You felt faint at the very idea, and could only beg them for more help.
___________________________
There was no cutlery in your size so you were just grabbing fruits with your hands and frying the fish on open fire coals. And poking it with a stick
The faeries looked really askance at your actions. You couldn't help it though! Their looks kinda hurt so you couldn't help but apologize.
You didn't even know what you were apologizing for! And they just continued staring at you, disappointed.
When asked about the fish, Maha was the first to answer, " It's not like we can only eat vegetables, we belong to the nature andthe nature has food chains like where the rabbit eats grass, wolf eats rabbit and the lizard monster eats them all. So as we are connected to the nature we can eat the same things as you."
"And also things you can't, like monsters or moonlight! Now be impressed! Come on!" she turned her nose up and regally gestured towards you.
Now choose one action to prioritize what to do next:
(Try to make something easy to impress them, but also learn from them)
[] Try to impress with your hand craft skills, learn as you go
-[] [Optionally] Write in the instruments you'd want
(Watch how it can be done and ask questions)
[] Ask them for help and explain what you need.
-[] [Optionally] Choose the type of food you'd want to cook first
(Fresh of your house growing experience)
[] Explore the edges of the fairy village and look around.
-[] [Optionally] Write in
Sorry for the wait, I was really busy in real life, with no free time to dedicate towards writing. Video meetings were even in the evenings.
(money is important...)
I've been sitting on this chapter almost ready for five days, but I really wanted to add meat on the bones.
I've tried to describe how this stuff is actually crafted, so hopefully it's educative if nothing else
You can actually do it as described.
I'm unsatisfied with this chapter, more events should have happened, but I took too much time already. I'll try to be faster.
Really really sorry.
I'll try to crank out some lore posts soon outside of votes.
______________________________________________________________________________
(Quick sketch diagram of the cuts)
In the mean time you have decided to make some tools to eat more comfortably. You had plans for two forks, a long one with two points and a normal one with four points. The long fork was just a rough tool you saw used for cooking meat. Not that you had meat here but it seemed like a useful thing for any frying.
Then you'd make a spoon which should be harder to do without sand and without oil. You could make a steak knife, but, you started chuckling at the thought, why make a knife with a knife!? Weird looks you got from the faeries forced you to make a serious face almost immediately.
Lastly you could attempt to make a cup, a shrink cup. The hardest thing to do. Something you've never tried to do. This would be your magnum opus, you were sure of it.
Now to start it all.
With your back against the hazy edge of the area, you've set down right there and the three faeries started pushing you through edge each with their own method and type of energy. This would either push you through or at least hopefully attune you. You felt a slight pressure but little else. It was also surprisingly comfortable and soft, like leaning against a springy sofa.
Shess brought some pieces of malmwood that were seemingly easier to cut and some vines you have asked for. To get them for you Maha kicked some trees and they cracked right where she has hit them. It was mind-boggling! Such strength in such a small body!
She then grabbed the pieces and carelessly strewn them around you, then lazily floated near you..
You've ordered the logs of wood around you in two rows, from longest to shortest. One row of chonky wide logs and branches and another of thin ones. And you whipped out your prized tool. Saws, drills, blades, it had it all. No cutlery though.
First thing first you have looked all over them, twirling them over and around, they had whitish sapwood and light reddish to pinkish heartwood. Their wood was generally straight-grained with a fine, uniform texture, and was generally characterized by a plain, often curly or wavy pattern. So you supposed those grains were easier to cut?
So it was time to make some, rough but functioning tools. You had some theoretical knowledge, but, oh well, you've never done it!
It shouldn't be so hard, right?
...
It was. You've put a splinter in your finger in the first five minutes. Shess had to take it out with her small hands.
To make the normal fork you have chosen a thin trunk piece of wood and placed it on the ground, then you've pressed a sharpish and long flat stone vertically on top of it, right in the centre. And then you started hammering it with a stone you have picked up. This was to split the log into two parts. The first two logs went to waste but then you got a handle on it.
Next thing to do was carving a curved to flat part, sort of a step, on one end of the split log about 6cm in to make the head of the fork. Curving your wrist to make a sort of rising movement you've done it.
Another step was to carve the shape of the handle starting from where the head is, so cutting away the sides. Again curving the wrist to make the handle deeper on that end. then you had to flatten the handle. About half the width had to be eliminated while adjusting the shape at the same time. You have left the bark on the handle to make the fork more beautiful later and to hold it more comfortably.
Next you have started to flatten the head a bit more. The mouth piece of the head was still to thick but you could adjust the shape to make it more comfortable to eat with. Then using a piece of the coal you have marked where the points of the fork would be on the head. Switching to the saw part of the multi-tool you have carefully started making the points cutting right where you have marked. done that you have switched back to the knife and started cutting out the grains and adjusting to make sure the fork wouldn't give you splinters ever.
Last thing to do was taking the sturdy thin vine and passing it between the points to make the space there curved and completely splinter free. It was quite elegantly done if you could say it yourself.
To make a spoon the hardest part was to do the caved part of the head. You have decided to make a longer spoon so you had to cut a second log. The start was a similar process to making a fork, so splitting the log into two parts. And making a curved step again on one end about 10cm in.
Then with a coal you have drawn a big circle and then a small circle lined up on the head. An the an oval circle to connect them. Pushing the spine of the blade with a thumb you have started carving along the line you have drawn. carving in towards the line. Slowly-slowly but ever so more assuredly you repeated the motions. Bit by bit you were deepening and caving in the wood. You were basically cutting out and removing the fibres helping with you fingers.
After you have caved in enough you have switched to the bottle opener tool to scratch out and stretch out the fibres. After that very gently with a small knife you have started removing some more fibres that remained.
Now you had to make a handle again. So like with fork you did motions outwards while curving your wrist. Now your actions were quite fast and assured. Though to cut fine details you did slow motions while bringing the knife towards yourself.
Having completed the handle for the most part you have switched to the saw and starting cutting away the material around the caved in shape. You were really scared of ruining all your work with your cutting actions, but you lucked out and did it correctly. But you weren't finished yet, now you had to switch back to the knife and cut out wood to shape the outward part of the caved in head... So nerve-wracking!
You did it mostly correct you thought, the shape wasn't rough on touch anymore. You took it in your hand and made some scooping motions. The handle was too long, so you have shortened it. Now it was about right!
To make a long fork you just took the second split part of the long log. Now you could cut everything more roughly since you'd use it to cook and not eat with. Again marking with coal and then cutting away by the end, this time for only two points.
Last thing to do was the hardest, now you had to make a shrink cup. To make it you chose a chonky log and shortened it on both sides. Then you started drilling a hole on both flat-tish sides of the log. Then you switched to the saw-blade and started connecting the holes to make it hollow all the way through. You missed though and didn't make it. It didn't matter that much because you had to drill more to make the holes bigger. This took you some hours and a lot of patience. Finally you have flattened the round edges to make sure the cup would look good. Maha got bored in that time and went to sleep on your head. But Shess and Nada were still watching and channelling energy through you into the area edge.
Next you had to make a channel for the bottom of the cup. To do that you started gently carving with a hook tool. this would be the groove where the bottom would be inserted.
To craft the bottom you have split a chunky log in two. And then you have split a flat plank about 1cm thick from one of the halves. After pressing the hollow log you made to the plank you marked the bottom circle inside it with a coal. After this you have cut a circle around it about 1mm thicker than marked circle.
Slowly and carefully.
You made the edges tempered on one side until they were as wide as the groove you made for it. So by the end you had a convex bottom and then checked if it would fit to the cup. Luckily it did. So with the convex shape pointing outwards you have started gently hammering the bottom inside. Until you felt that the base fell into the groove.
Now you just had to wait until the wood would dry. On the bottom fibres are length-wise so it would shrink and keep the bottom tight later.
So with cutlery done you could use a plank as simple plate
With leftover pieces of wood you made some rough skewers. And you kept aside some branches you'd use as sticks to hold them.
You have tried to make a figurine with one of the leftover pieces to cut away but it was a failure. You've tried to make a bear but you made some really goofy un-bear-able ears it looked nothing like it. it made faeries laugh hard so it was a bit of a mixed success. But it inspired Shess to carve bunny and bear faces on the bark on the handles of the cutlery you made. It looked really cute if a bit childish but your parents weren't here to comment on it, so you could enjoy it fully.
It took you a long time but you had made a lot to be proud of.
"Now I have to wait for everything to dry, especially the cup. It might take a couple of weeks but it will be worth it!" you said.
"Weeks!? We have to wait weeks? That's horrible!" Faeries exclaimed, interrupting each other.
"No way I'll wait so long, " said Nada.
"Let me tinker with it" she said, as she grabbed the edge with both hands and carried it down on the ground. Then she climbed inside and concentrated.
The earth started crumbling and a thin root slithered out, all lively like a snake, from under the ground. That root coiled around the cup poking it as if tasting the wood. Then it slithered inside. With one hand touching the side of the cup, she petted the root with her other hand and guided the pointy end to stay right by her hand.
After a brief moment of concentration she started guiding it like a Wind Broom you'd use every week to collect dirt in your house. Ever so slowly she was guiding it all around the cup sides, all the while keeping one hand right by the roots' side. the one at your home was from.
The cup changed coloration slightly and creaked a bit.
Jittery, all four of you brought the cup to the spring to check and it did work! No water passed through the bottom of the cup. The shrink cup did indeed shrink.
"Now pass me the rest!" Impreriously, Nada ordered you.
Siltently you passed her the cutlery, one by one, as she treated them. It was perfect now.
As Nada explained, being the most connected to the plants life she could make plants do things they weren't born able to. Roots get water from the ground. If you squint you can see it as roots being water magnets. In a way you can fudge the nature of things through power. It's what faeries are born to do. Make something sorta true into actually true. Not really lies, not really truth. A mix. The connection between facts and fiction. The fuzzier the distinction is, the less people know the truth and the stronger the faeries are, the more changes can be wrought.
"Also attunement was going very well. Just some more sessions and you'll be able to come and go. Though you'll be permanently connected to here. It's how it works. But not like we would murderize you to keep the secret! In fact you won't be able get rid of us! Mwa-ha-ha!" Nada posed in the air and laughed uproariously.
Food check.
Cutlery check.
Roof over you head check.
Bed check.
You were now ready for anything to come.
You weren't missing anything were you?
[] Write-in
[] You could explore every nook and cranny of this zone, this glade and forest enclosed inside. You could also pester faeries with questions about them, in exchange Shess would use your hair to make a masterpiece™ on your head.
[] Or you could start making a table for your new house. Feeding the house also seemed like a good idea. Maybe you could find out how to grow something inside instead.
Glossary notes:
Wind Brooms, the staple household devices, mounting a rechargeable monster blood mixed with crystal dust powered batteries and comprised of a rubbish compartment connected to a funnel brush through a pipe. Many a blanket were sucked inside through the very potent suction force set by default.
The cheapest models are usually sold by Tochno Dynamics.
"Tochno Dynamics™ bears no responsibility for damage incurred through improper introduction to suction forces to possessions"
