[X][Gratitude] Agrees with Kurt (You head to the farmhouse)
We're most likely wrong, and what's worse, guilty of hubris by thinking we could force Fate to use our interpretation of the prophecy instead of offering beneficial interpretations and hoping that one sticks.
Having Blossom agree with us will only lead us down deeper on the path of tragic hero brought low by their on flaws.
Yes, Persephone might be miffled, but she'll understand that it wasn't our decision.
Assuming reasonability on the part of a god is a very odd assumption.
That said, I'm voting with you on this one.
It's best to cover our ass, even if that means we're getting redundant flowers (two spring times). For some reason, I feel like the Dryad flower is like a "free space" or a substitute. There's probably a flower around that's more directly involved in the quest that can be switched out for the Dryad flower.
That's just speculation though.
[X][Gratitude] Agrees with Kurt (You head to the farmhouse)
[X][Gratitude] Agrees with Kurt (You head to the farmhouse)
@Monk PenguinI was curious about something.. Would it be possible to use a point to unlock the concept of Spring later?
It would be interesting to see if developing various similar abstract concepts help Sam understand the mental block that's preventing him from progressing.
I can't recall if this has been brought up before, and it's not necessarily something we can experiment with now, but what if we tried to imbue a plant with the concept of Growth rather than trying to make it grow using it directly? Would it cause things around it to grow? Would it be limited to plants? Would it act like a relay extending the range we can influence plants in?
That last one's obviously a long shot, but the upside of not having to be there for growth to be enhanced seems worth the attempt. Especially if it affects more than just plants. We could potentially plant something near the training areas of Camp to promote the Growth of the campers.
And even if it only affects plants it might be nice to use as a potential gift for the various nature spirits, especially dryad we encounter.
Maybe eventually. It just seemed like it would cause game balance issues to do this early. Although you could create other limits, such as awareness of the plants being influenced or just have it attract unwanted attention to keep from spreading infinitely.
It seems I missed the forest for the trees... I previously suggested to try other applications for our power of Growth, or to learn to imbue plants with single aspects of growth, like Learning, but didn't think about applying Growth itself as an enchantment.
we need to first learn how to consciously apply growth to our personal development if we want to achieve noticeable progress on concepts that would otherwise require multiple training actions.
Since it's probably easier to apply growth to helping someone else grow, we could try it when teaching our sisters at camp (I'm sure they'll be interested in edafokinesis) - first get a feel for how growth plays into learning and teaching, then use our powers to boost said growth.
Learning. We both have a child of Athena with us (we know from durability that adding the perspective of someone else boosts our concepts) and it partially falls under the umbrella of Growth.
By itself it might not do much, but the potential to boost our own learning progress or create plant constructs that can learn to act semi-independently (e.g. plant golems) are both tantalising.
[X][Gratitude] Agrees with You (You head towards the setting sun)
As to why I went against the votes, it's primarily because this way is faster and I'm trying to move things along. Sorry :/
"I think Sam is right," Blossom begins, turning to Kurt, "You're not necessarily wrong that we could find a magical flower at the farmhouse, but we also have one right here, and if we're wrong, we can always go back."
You're not entirely sure that last statement is correct. After all, whoever is judging you, you have your suspicions, could decide that you've failed if you bring the wrong flower, but the prophecy suggests that Blossom dies if you fail, which you can't see your divine half-sister doing. Sure she's come off as mischievous several times, but never outright malicious enough to off your friend if she fails the quest. Going back over it though, what do you really know about the gods. You've done a bit of studying, and there are some half-remembered things that you should really write down at some point, but maybe you're being arrogant trying to predict the gods. You pull yourself back to the present, you're overthinking things.
"So it's settled then?" you ask.
"Looks like it," Kurt nods.
Looking up at the sky, you can see that it's mid-afternoon, probably around 3:15 p.m. or so, if you had to guess. You take a step back and note that your estimate was oddly specific, but now isn't exactly the time to investigate.
Turing West, you're disappointed to note that you can no longer quite see where the forest you saw earlier meets the fields of wheat, as the wheat is too tall for you to see over, as it has been for the majority of the quest.
"How far away did I say the forest was, again?" you ask the group.
"You said it'd be around three days walk, if we hurry," Kurt reminds you.
"Do we have enough food?" Blossom asks.
You pull out the pouch of wheat berries you've foraged, examining it. "We definitely have enough for 2 days. We can maybe extend it if we ration it, or we could hope to find something edible in the forest."
"I don't really like either of those options," Kurt says. "Do you think we can get away with gathering some more wheat? Are any of the flowers around here edible?"
You take a quick glance around you at the flower field. "Most of these flowers aren't poisonous if you eat them, but they also have almost no nutritional value. We could fill our stomachs, but we'd get hungry again really quick," you begin. "That's not even accounting for whatever magic is lacing them. As for the wheat…" you think a short, inquisitive prayer towards your mother. Unlike before, where you got a warm and cosy feeling, you get nothing. "I don't think so. It seems like that offer might be off the table."
"Are you sure you guys don't want to go back to the farmhouse?" Kurt asks again. "They probably have food there."
"Persephone seemed impatient. I don't think we should keep her waiting," you say.
"I'm not sure how much longer this'll hold up," Blossom says, pointing towards her hastily mended crutch. "Neither paths seem great, but I just want to get this done with."
Kurt frowns, but doesn't protest. "Alright, let's set off then."
Your pace through the wheat fields is slower than before. All of you know why, but you don't bring it up, because you know Blossom is trying her best despite her exhaustion. You've all sort of been relying on whatever physical advantages you have from being half-bloods to carry you through this quest, but it seems like the repeated physical exertions are taking their toll on Blossom. She doesn't complain, or say anything at all really, as you trudge towards the forest that is slowly becoming visible between the stalks of wheat, aside from sighs of relief whenever you stop to rest or eat.
At night you have quiet chats with Kurt when she's asleep, about whether or not one of you should do something to help her, but neither of you can come to an agreement on what to do. Kurt can't carry her on his back because he doesn't have the physical endurance, you can't carry her with plants because you don't have the magical endurance. You suggest making a sled or something similar out plants, but the only plant around with any structural integrity at all is wheat, which is definitely off-limits. Brief experiments with the grass in between fields yields only the knowledge that while you can make the grass more durable, that doesn't mean that it's sturdy enough to form a structure. You wind up with something more akin to a sack then a sled, which would mean dragging Blossom along the ground without any good way of reducing the amount of friction that would generate.
You both wind up simply waiting to see if she asks for help, but it seems like she's decided to be stubborn for some reason. You can't recall her feeling self-conscious about her physical abilities before, but your knowledge is anecdotal at best, and she certainly acts differently around you. Besides, you're reasonably sure this quest is important to her in a way that few other tasks are.
On the third day, after you stop for a midday meal, you realize that you're going to run out of food soon. At dinner that night, you realize your water supplies are also running low.
On the fourth day of walking, if you count the day you started, you eat the last of your food, and you reach the edge of the forest. Tall trees loom even over the abnormally tall wheat, creating a shady expanse, dense with greenery, beneath their canopies. To some, it might seem imposing, but you feel most at home when there are trees around you. Now that you think about it, that doesn't really sound right since Demeter is foremost a goddess of agriculture, to your knowledge. Maybe it's something you picked up from your dad.
As soon as you reach the edge of the forest Blossom leans on a tree, and then slumps down to the ground, her back resting on the rough bark of some sort of oak, breathing heavily. Kurt follows shortly after, and it's only then that you notice that he seems to be having a tough time of it as well.
That, in particular, seems off to you. Blossom might not be acquainted with long durations of physical exertion, but you definitely can't say the same for Kurt. Furthermore, as he's older and taller than you, he should have a pretty huge physical advantage over you, since you had to take way more steps than he did to cover the same ground. Maybe it's the fact that you were in Demeter's domain, or maybe it's something to do with being demigods. Maybe it's something else.
You put those thoughts out of your mind when you realize that right about now is when you would be eating, except that you're out of food.
Unlike the fields of wheat, the forest doesn't feel particularly sacred, which means you can probably forage for food. The only issue you have is that Blossom and Kurt are definitely too tired to come, and might not even know what to look for. You know they have survival classes at camp, but you don't know if either of them ever took those classes.
"You two stay here, I'll go look for something to eat," you say.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Kurt gasps more than asks.
"You two don't seem in any shape to come help," you point out. "I feel fine, and I'm really at my best in a forest."
Kurt mutters something unintelligible and glances over to Blossom, who is really out of it. You're not sure if she's actually asleep or just closing her eyes for a bit, but you suspect the former.
"Ok," Kurt relents, "I'll keep an eye out around here. Try not to go too far away." He doesn't mention whether that's for your sake or their sakes.
"Got it."
You set off into the forest. After a bit of moving about, you start noticing things that are off. For one, there's more edible plants here than you think there should be. It's not enough to be absurd, and you are admittedly unfamiliar with the native plants of the midwest, but you didn't think alfalfa or elderberries were this common, especially not in forests. Another thing is the range of plants that seem to be growing here. You know that forests can house a variety of not only trees but other plants, but you're pretty sure vine maples don't grow at this latitude, and olive trees don't grow in places this dense. Well, if you weren't sure whether or not this forest was magical, you are now.
You decide to follow Kurt's advice and try not to stray too far away from where they're resting. If anything, the inherent variety of the forest helps you keep track of where you are, since no two places seem quite the same. You gather a generous amount of edible plants, and make your way back towards where you think Kurt and Blossom are, taking the shortest path rather than retracing your steps.
On the way back, you notice one particular flower that stands out from the rest of the underbrush. You first pick up on it because your plant sensing pings off of it as if it were significantly magical, and you can't help but be curious. Maybe this is one of the flowers you're supposed to collect and Blossom doesn't need to wade through this uneven terrain.
As you catch sight of the flower, you are immediately entranced. It's the most beautiful flower you've ever seen. No, not just the most beautiful flower, it's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen. It has six white tepals flaring out around a corona that's a yellow that almost seems golden. The appearance reminds you of a daffodil.
You get closer. You want, no, you need to get a better look at it. Your gaze remains fixed on it, even as you approach, as if you could etch it's appearance into your retinas. As you do so, something feels wrong, but that feeling of wrongness is distant. It's less important than getting closer to the flower.
It's only when you get close enough to reach out and pluck the flower, that something breaks through the fogginess of your mind. You remember the genus that all daffodils belong to.
Then you're falling. You can see what looks like the exit of a tunnel getting further away from you as you fall, eventually fading to a pinprick of light, and then nothing. The last thing to go through your mind as you fall, is that you should have expected this.
Next chapter is from the perspective of…
[][Perspective] Blossom
[][Perspective] Kurt
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Votes for the next chapter:
"Behold, this quest has been brought back from the dead!" - Me, Probably.
Anyway, I can't remember how often I used to update this quest (before I stopped), but as of now I'm aiming for around a once a week update schedule. Hope to win back all of your participation.
I really liked the way that this chapter turned out. I understand that some people are going to be upset because I definitely railroaded the story into this series of events. That is fully on purpose and I think it's justified by the fact that fate is a set of three old ladies.
The cliffhanger, on the other hand, is just there because I thought it seemed appropriate.
Well I was exited to see this update again till I saw we'd been railroaded. Really can't be bothered now, after all where a QM decides to railroad once they'll decide to do it again and often they'll try and hide it behind the dice, while the QM here didn't do that it's likely more because they couldn't in this case given the votes are open and anybody can count them than because of some moral reason. Unfortunately once the implicit agreement not to lie/cheat/railroad is broken I personally have trouble trusting the results in the future.
Well I was exited to see this update again till I saw we'd been railroaded. Really can't be bothered now, after all where a QM decides to railroad once they'll decide to do it again and often they'll try and hide it behind the dice, while the QM here didn't do that it's likely more because they couldn't in this case given the votes are open and anybody can count them than because of some moral reason. Unfortunatley once the implicit agreement not to lie/cheat/railroad is broken I personally have trouble trusting the results in the future.
Sorry but in my opinion railroading is never justified, if you set the precedent that at any point our decisions can be rendered entirely null and void then why should we be invested? Why should people take the time to make plans and strategies when no matter what we do things are always going to go a certain way? We'd be just as well voting to jump off a cliff every time
If you want to claim "because the Fates exist, everything is already planned" fine, but write a story instead of a quest
It's not really that much of a railroad. Initially we were all set to vote against the farmhouse until we got a subtle hint that it could have its own consequence. Which led to us switching votes.
What's more important is that this quest has got started again, sometimes we need to give leeway to authors to just continue on out of difficult corners. It's hard as hell to set to writing a story again after a long time..
Blossom might be tired but seeing the emotional side to this from her perspective would be so narratively interesting!
[X][Perspective] Blossom
