{Ore Drakes} The Expedition Outpost | OPEN

[SeaCrest]

Ember
When you look up, there are suddenly over a dozen drakes perched in the trees above you. Just watching.

Do you...

• Wait for them to make the first move?
• Put the hatchling down and back away?

[Ember]

"Yeeeeah, should have seen that coming," Ember mutters to herself. Maybe this exploring thing is not that great. Now she's faced with two choices: put the hatchling down or simply wait it out. On the one hand, they probably won't attack if she's holding their hatchling but on the other they definitely won't trust her if she keeps it hostage. Ember puts the hatchling down and backs away very quickly, hands held up and empty.

[SeaCrest]

Ember
A striped drake in a rainbow of colors glides down, spreading its wings protectively over the hatchlings. Another drake, this one the color of the sky at dusk and patterned with silvery swirls, swoops down, bearing something shiny in its jaws, which it deposits at your feet. Two more spiral down, all holding something that they put down in front of you. Your drakes press close to you, somewhat cowed by all these strange, wild drakes.

Do you...

• Take the gifts?
• Decline the gifts?

[Ember]

Okay...not being attacked is good. Ember feels some guilt over the very colourful striped drakes display of protectiveness but overall...yeah, not being attacked. Key point there. The gifting is a little strange though and she's a bit alarmed that her drakes are pressing into her, clearly not really comfortable with all the other drakes. Which begs the question of if the gifts are safe to take or not. The last time she took something offered it led to her taking home an egg and so far no repercussions. Is it rude to accept more gifts? Probably...not? Ember warily reaches to take the gifts.

[YourLoveOnly]

I will sent one of my drakes in to fetch it, afraid I may get stuck myself.

[Saturnalia]

Shaydra contemplates the options laid out before her, head tilted slightly to the side.

"Sun sounds pretty good," she finally says. "I think we'll head north." Chem stretches languidly and rises, ready to be off.

"Thanks," Shaydra says before heading out. "May your job out here be blessedly easy!"

[SeaCrest]

Ember
The drakes appear pleased with your choice. They gather up their hatchlings and leave as quickly as they appeared, leaving you with your gifts.

You have obtained 2x Copper Ore and 1x Silver Ore!

You put away your loot and look around. Do you...

• Mark a new direction and head out?
• Follow your previous mark and try to take a different path this time?

YourLoveOnly || YLO
Your drake returns with a Copper Ore! You add it to your pack.

You have obtained 1x Copper Ore!

You move on, until you come to a small creek. Do you...

• Cross the creek?
• Follow the creek upstream?
• Follow the creek downstream?

Saturnalia || Shaydra
Clara waves lazily before disappearing back into the trees as soundlessly as she'd appeared.

You head north, enjoying the warmth of the sun as the trees begin to thin out. Fruit trees and bushes loaded with berries are abundant here, as are signs of drake habitation; claw marks on trees, footprints in the soft dirt, the occasional piece of eggshell.

You come to a sunfruit tree that is heavy with ripe fruit. Do you...

• Pick one for later?
• Move on?

[Saturnalia]

Shay and Chem enjoy the warmth as they travel north, and Shay notes all of the signs of drake activity. They strike her as good omens, though the drakes themselves don't yet show themselves.

Coming to the fruit trees, she recognizes the Sunfruit and decides to pick one for later. She figures it could come in useful if the drakes enjoy it.

[SeaCrest]

Saturnalia || Shaydra
You have obtained 1x Sunfruit!

You pick a fruit, stowing it carefully before continuing. You can smell the ocean, and a quick look at your map indicates that there's a circular bay at the north end of the island, near where you think you are. You forge on ahead, until the trees end abruptly at the edge of a sandy expanse.

Do you...

• Head out onto the beach?
• Stay in the trees?

[YourLoveOnly]

Follow the creek downstream!

[Sunchaser]

I Head left along the edge of the bank

[Saturnalia]

Shaydra packs the sunfruit away and heads onward, sniffing the air as the scent of salt creeps into it. As she and chem break free of the trees, she makes a satisfied little sound, taking a moment to survey the scene, before heading towards the beach.

[Ryuukokoro]

(( This thread moves so fast!  I feel like I'm always behind! ))


The sight of a beautiful red-coated deer bounding away from us caused my breath to freeze in my chest. I came to a halt but Moss wasn't interested in copying my actions, still pursuing the fleeing creature. I put my lips together and blew a sharp whistle.

The green-shaded Drake turned back to look in my direction. He seemed to be considering, then he turned back toward me and fluttered quickly to my spot. I stood still and held out my arm as a landing post.

This was chancy. That was the whistle I used when I had a treat for the Drakes. It wouldn't put us in a very good relationship if I used it too many times without having treats for him. But desperate times called for desperate measures. As soon as Moss landed, I tucked him under my arm and took off in the other direction, away from the fleeing deer. I didn't come out to the woods to harass wildlife!

Moss wiggled but I kept a good hold on him as I quickly retraced my steps. Cross made little chortling sounds in my ear that sounded amused.

I worried about the fawn, but I knew if I went back to it and waited to see if the doe returned, Moss would just continue to try to interact with the baby and make it more anxious. Leading intruders away from their babies by running away was a standard doe tactic, so I knew she would go back to the baby after I left. I decided to take my Drakes and leave the area.

[Ember]

Ember breathes a sigh of relief as the drakes leave and gratefully puts away their gifts. That went better than she expected, overall, and she happily gives her accompanying drakes pats to settle them now that the...flock? is gone. Humming a pleasant tune, Ember marks a new direction and heads out.

[SeaCrest]

YourLoveOnly || YLO
You follow the creek downstream, ducking under a sweeping willow-like tree with vaguely purple leaves. In the shade you notice a small box that looks like it might have fallen out of someone's pack.

Do you...

• Investigate the box?
• Leave the box and continue downstream?
• Climb the tree?
• Cross the creek?

Sunchaser
The ground is quite uneven as you head left, lumpy under the grass. Small yellow flowers dot the green carpet in little clusters. Presently, you come to a young tree that is growing just at the edge of the bank, its trunk curving upwards at the base.

Do you...

• Continue in this direction?
• Head downhill?
• Go back into the forest?

Saturnalia || Shaydra
The sand is warm beneath your toes, and bright white in the sunlight. You can clearly see the curve of the bay as the sand slopes gently down to the bright blue water. The tide is out, and the tide line is full of seaweed, kelp, driftwood, and other debris. Do you...

• Take a dip in the ocean?
• Do some beachcombing?
• Take a nap in the sun?

Ryuukokoro || Ryuu
You leave the area, reasonably sure that the mother will go back to her fawn once you've left. The trees thin as the incline increases, and you find yourself heading up into the foothills of the mountains. The mountains themselves are marked as off-limits for explorers at the moment, but the foothills are fair game.

Do you...

• Head up into the foothills?
• Move parallel to the barrier line and explore the edge of the forest?
• Turn around and go home?

Ember
Fortunately, picking a new direction seems to do the trick. With everything being unfamiliar, you don't get turned around when you think you recognize something, and you find yourself wandering a grove of trees with deep red leaves and purple-streaked bark where the dark brown outer layer has fallen off.

Do you...

• Head northwest?
• Head north?
• Head northeast?
• Head east?

[Ember]

Ember spends a bit of time marvelling over the grove of trees she finds herself in. Purple bark! How interesting! To say nothing of the colour of the leaves! Without quite meaning to, Ember finds herself going northeast.

[Saturnalia]

Shaydra hasn't had a lot of opportunities to spend time on a beach. There are a lot of tempting options while she's here with nowhere in particular to go and no schedule to keep to. All that driftwood and debris is so tempting, though, so she decides to do some beachcombing.

Chem happily comes along, investigating as well.

[YourLoveOnly]

I am a curious person, so there is one option.. Investigate the box! XD

[SeaCrest]

Ember
You drift northeast under the cover of the trees, until they shift from purple-barked and red-leafed to something a bit more familiar; tall white birches, the dark stripes of their bark striking against the white outer layer.

Below the trees, the grass is quite dark, an unfamiliar variety that is almost blue in the light, speckled with tiny white flowers.

Do you...

• Climb a tree?
• Pick some flowers?
• Take a nap?
• Continue onwards?

Saturnalia || Shaydra
Some things you discover are less than pleasing, like the rotting clump of seaweed covered in flies, but others are interesting; some nice shells, a piece of agate, some beach glass.

The biggest prize, however, is a piece of petrified wood, sparkling with firey, opalescent colors.

Do you...

• Continue beachcombing?
• Take a dip in the ocean?
• Take a nap in the sun?
• Head west along the bay?
• Head east along the bay?
• Head back into the forest?

[Ember]

Ember decides to take a nap.

[SeaCrest]

Ember
You lay down to take a nap on the plush grass below the trees, reasonably sure that there should be nothing on Odekka that can harm you to any great degree.

While you sleep, something has come by and rooted in your pack. It didn't take anything, but when you wake up, you find that your belongings are strewn all over the place. It's going to take some time to find and gather them all.

Do you...

• Get up and collect your things right away?
• Look to see if you can find the culprit?

[Ember]

Ember can't help but laugh a little after she's woken up enough to process that her stuff is everywhere! With a quiet snort to herself she tries not to disturb her drakes as they continue to nap and gets up to collect her stuff right away. She's guessing some critter - drake or otherwise - had gone rooting in her pack.

[Saturnalia]

Shaydra enjoys the time beachcombing; it's not something she's ever had the luxury of doing much of. The petrified wood is a particularly exciting find; she's never seen anything quite like it.

After a while, she turns her attention to the water itself. Chem also stops investigating some seaweed and stares out at the bay.

Shaydra sets aside her packs and anything else the saltwater might damage while swimming, and then turns back to Chem. The drake is just staring at her, waiting.

With a flash of fang-filled grin, Shay bursts into motion, sprinting towards the water, the drake at her heels.

[SeaCrest]

YourLoveOnly || YLO
You open the box, and find a dye Kit!

You have obtained 1x Dye Kit!

Do you...

• Head downstream?
• Climb the tree?
• Cross the creek?

Ember
You collect your things with no further issues, and soon you have everything organized and put away again. Shouldering your pack, you consider what to do next.

Do you...

• Climb a tree?
• Pick some flowers?
• Head northeast?
• Head northwest?
• Head west?
• Head east?

Saturnalia || Shaydra
You spend some time splashing around happily in the water with your drake. When you return to shore, you find that a wild drake is investigating your packs.

Do you...

• Wait for it to leave?
• Approach carefully?
• Try to scare it off?

[Saturnalia]

Shaydra cautiously and carefully approaches the drake and her packs, trying not to scare it, and stopping a little ways away. She wonders if maybe it can smell the sunfruit inside one of the bags, or if it's after something else. She's less worried about what's in the packs, and more curious about what the drake is after. And, after all, she'd wanted to see some wild drakes doing what they do!

[YourLoveOnly]

Yay! Now let's climb the tree to get a better idea of my surroundings.

[Ember]

Ember decides to pick a couple flowers as a small souvenir of the place. Not too many, just a few.

[SeaCrest]

Saturnalia || Shaydra
The drake freezes when it spots you, and immediately whips around and flees, taking wing and disappearing into the trees.

Do you...

• Check your pack?
• Eye the trees to see if you can still see the drake?

YourLoveOnly || YLO
You climb the tree, but it's difficult to make anything out beyond the drooping branches. It's not a very tall tree, either, and eventually, you have to concede that you can't see anything useful.

Do you...

• Head downstream?
• Cross the creek?

Ember
You pick a few of the tiny flowers and store them carefully. That done, you straighten up, only to find that Vili is watching you from the trees, along with another, pale gold drake.

Do you...

• Nod to them and move on?
• Offer them something to eat?
• Wait to see what they do?

[Ember]

"Oh," Ember breathes as she looks up to see she has company. "Look Rhea, Andromeda, we've found some more friends, apparently, or have they found us?" Curiously, Ember watches them, waiting to see what they do.

[SeaCrest]

Ember
You wait, and are rewarded when Vili swoops down to land in front of you, his friend following. Vili is as gorgeous as you remember, bright orange and black patches on a white base, golden eyes looking up at you with recognition.

The other drake, pale gold, with greeny-blue swirls on its wings, almost like the crests of waves seen from above, circles you warily, although Vili seems to feel no such compunction and examines you from head to toe before turning his attention to your drakes. They, too, receive a thorough examination. Seemingly satisfied, Vili folds his wings, taking up a sitting position on a nearby tree root protruding from the ground.

His beachy friend, seeming somewhat disgruntled, takes herself off into the branches of a tree, peering down at you cautiously.

After another minute of examination, the two drakes leave as suddenly as they appeared, leaving you rather confused.

Do you...

• Climb a tree?
• Head northeast?
• Head northwest?
• Head west?
• Head east?

[YourLoveOnly]

Let's continue to head downstream then!

[Saturnalia]

Alas, Shaydra thinks, watching the drake take off. Still, it was nice to see one all the same. She scans the trees to see if she can still spot it.

[Ember]

Riiight that was weird. Ember turns to the west, still wondering what the drakes could have wanted.

[SeaCrest]

YourLoveOnly || YLO
You head downstream, and find yourself at the edge of a swamp. There's no good way to cross it on foot, unless you fancy taking a chance and trying to hop across on the logs floating in the murky water.

Do you...

• Go left around the swamp?
• Go right around the swamp?
• Try to cross the swamp using the fallen trees?
• Build a raft?
• Turn around and go home?

Saturnalia || Shaydra
You scan the trees, but eventually you have to concede that the drake is long gone. Do you...

• Head west along the bay?
• Head east along the bay?
• Head back into the forest?

Ember
You head west, noting that the terrain here is quite rocky, despite the dense forest and ground cover. It soon becomes apparent why when you emerge from the tree line to see what must have once been a glacier, but now is only a dry riverbed dotted with plants. The rich silt from the glacier must have given the forest a head start.

Do you...

• Continue west, uphill?
• Cross the riverbed and head north?
• Turn east, following the riverbed?

[Ember]

Ember marvels at the dried river bed for a bit before crossing it and heading north.

[YourLoveOnly]

Being part of the scouts for a few years has to be good for something! Let's build a raft.

[SeaCrest]

Ember
You head north, leaving the riverbed behind. The terrain is still hilly and rough, and you come across a small cave while hiking over another hill. Do you...

• Enter the cave?
• Send one or both of your drakes in to investigate?
• Leave the cave and continue uphill?

YourLoveOnly || YLO
You manage to piece together a rather ugly-looking raft, although it's a stable as you can possibly make it. Do you...

• Put the raft on the water and get on?
• Find something to use as a punt first?

[Ember]

Ember peers into the cave before gently nudging at her drakes. "Would you two mind taking a look in this cave for me?" She asks, sending her two drakes into the cave.

[YourLoveOnly]

Find something to use! Or well, attempt anyway XD

[Saturnalia]

Shaydra takes stock of her options and grabs her packs and things. She looks to either side, and then, more or less at random, heads east along the bay, Chem at her side.

[Ryuukokoro]

(( I'mma try to keep things brief so I can get in more responses with my limited free time! We'll see if that works...))


Having already spent quite a bit of time in the forest, and having had to keep my Drakes out of trouble one too many times, I decide to head up into the foothills.

[SeaCrest]

Ember
Your drakes return in short order, spirits high, and although they can't exactly speak to you, they seem unperturbed by their foray into the cave. Do you...

• Enter the cave?
• Leave the cave and continue uphill?

YourLoveOnly || YLO
You find a long branch that might work to push you around. Hopefully it's long enough to reach the bottom, or wide enough that you can try to use it as an oar.

You get on your raft, and although it bobs rather ominously, it stabilizes quickly. Do you...

• Head straight across?
• Veer left?
• Veer right?

Saturnalia || Shaydra
You head east along the bay, feeling the warm sand beneath your feet as the sun beats down on your head. Something sparkles, catching your eye from a pile of seaweed heaped at the tide line. Do you...

• Investigate the sparkles?
• Continue east?

Ryuukokoro || Ryuu
You head up into the foothills, feeling the slight burn in your calves as you hike up the incline. The shadow of something in the air passes over you, and you look up just in time to see a pale drake with flaming wings disappear into the mountains. The terrain here is rocky and uneven, with pockets of hardy-looking scrubs and rather stumpy-looking trees, but there are bushes heavy with red and pale green berries that look a bit like strangely half-ripened raspberries or blackberries.

Do you...

• Try to follow the drake?
• Pick some berries for later?
• Look to see if anyone has eaten some of the berries?
• Continue west?

[YourLoveOnly]

Let's try to head straight across. With my primitive transportation it is not unlikely that I'll get thrown off course so the middle seems like the safest place to be. Hopefully I can get further this way and not get stuck by running into one of the sides right away.

[SeaCrest]

YourLoveOnly || YLO
You try to head straight across, but your raft catches on something underwater and starts to turn. Despite your best efforts, you end up drifting sideways, spinning until you end up facing the direction you came from. Your drakes flutter anxiously at you, while you think with some asperity that at least they can get themselves across the swamp with no problem. Concerted effort on your part only produces more spinning. Your oar isn't wide enough to provide enough propulsion, and it's not long enough to touch the bottom of the swamp, either.

You might be stuck.

What do you try now?

[Ember]

Ember enters the cave.

[Ryuukokoro]

My jaw drops and almost stumble headfirst into a prickly bush as the shadow passes over us. I'm hardly an expert in the ways of Drakes, but the sight of the one above me brings me to a screeching halt. I've never seen one with wings that look like magical flame. Perhaps there is something special about the wild Drake, because Cross curls tight around my shoulders and even Moss is still, watching the shape pass over us.

Without conscious thought I start to follow the Drake. As I trot forward, trying to keep the Drake in sight, I tug my Map out of my pocket and make a quick X where I think I am. After all, when I'm done exploring the others who study the Drakes might want to know where I was when I saw such a probably-rare beauty. With that task done, I push the map back into my pocket and hurry after the Drake.

[SeaCrest]

Ember
You enter the cave, and find that the ceiling is quite low, but the cave itself is very deep. Thankful that you have a new, uncracked lantern, you illuminate the initial cave. There is fine, multicolored sand on the floor, in small patches. A shard of eggshell indicates that this may be a regular clutching ground for wild drakes, and that the multicolored "sand" might very well be old eggshells. There are no eggs here currently, though.

Do you...

• Proceed deeper into the cave?
• Go back outside?

Ryuukokoro || Ryuu
You follow the drake as best as you can, but eventually, it outpaces you, ducking behind a ridge and disappearing into the mountains. You are near the border marked on your map, which means you probably can't follow the drake where it's gone now.

Do you...

• Continue in the direction you last saw the drake until you hit the boundary?
• Head east?
• Head west?

[Ember]

Ember marvels at the sight of what appears to be an old nesting ground, one potentially still occasionally used, and decides to proceed deeper into the cave.

[Ryuukokoro]

Disappointed that I lost sight of such a majestic creature, but glad that I got some potentially new information to share with the others out there learning about Drakes, I head west.

[SeaCrest]

Ember
Cautiously, you proceed deeper into the cave, scanning your surroundings as you move forward. The light of your lantern throws every nook and cranny into sharp relief, shadows elongating and shifting as you move. The sound of falling rock makes you flinch, but you realize it is only one of your drakes, knocking some gravel from the wall as they cling to the rock, poking their nose into a hole.

This is, evidently, a poor choice, as a swarm of tiny bats floods out, surprising your drake, who loses their grip and skids down the wall. The bats flutter, filling the air in a panicked cyclone, before they flee outside. Turning back to your path, you find that the cave splits off into two tunnels.

Do you...

• Take the left tunnel?
• Take the right tunnel?
• Turn around and leave the cave?

Ryuukokoro || Ryuu
You head west, steering clear of the boundary. Presently, you come to the edge of a cliff, with no visible way down.

Do you...

• Head left?
• Head right?
• Head back the way you came?
• Call Barnaby for a pickup and go home?