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Post by marvelousmoose on Jul 3, 2013 23:38:31 GMT
((OOC: This is a solo quest, so I'm going to try to do it alone (I restarted it when I realized that dragons don't really work on Earth)))
Erin looked up as the messenger approached. She shifted on her pile of treasure, looking down on his terrified face as she transformed. "What business do you have here? This location is not one that I wish to be public knowledge," She said, picking up a sword from the pile and running her fingers along the blade. In truth, she didn't really like pointy weapons, she preferred to just fry her victims or kill them with her own hands, but this seemed a bit more...intimidating. The boy certainly seemed to be breaking a sweat. "I-uh-I," he cleared his throat, "I was given instructions to deliver this here. Questing Association business." He stuck out his hand, his body hunching in on itself as she moved closer. She took the paper, letting her long, sharp fingernails scratch his hand as she took it. Casually, she broke the seal on it and removed the red ribbon that was supposed to flag it as 'important.' She did a partial transformation to light the ribbon on fire and watched as it floated to the ground in ashes. The boy was clearly beyond terrified by this point, and she was thoroughly enjoying it.
Urgent Business Erin, your presence has been requested at the Questing Association headquarters as soon as is possible, we have a very important job for you
There was no signature at the bottom. "Well that's not vague at all," she said, turning to walk toward a door and motioning that the boy should follow her, "I'll be sending a reply message, but I will also be taking your name, town of residence, and a sample of your blood. Nothing special, just the usual mandatory routine. You see, this location is a secret, it's my, shall we say, collection. I don't want word of my collection spreading, and I certainly don't want any of my precious treasures to go missing." She looked pointedly at the boy, who dropped the shiny coin he had been holding. He was white as a sheet and paling. She smiled. It was so fun to mess with the ones like this. It really wasn't very nice, but she just couldn't help herself.
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Post by marvelousmoose on Jul 4, 2013 15:04:14 GMT
Erin changed into traveling clothes and transformed into a dragon as she left the cave. The messenger followed behind her, nearly getting crushed by her tail. "I don't want you getting lost or left behind, and I'm taking you with me to the QA to validate your claim that they are the ones who sent you, so I'm going to let you ride on my back," she told him, "You are to ride between the two spines just in front of my wings. If you interfere with my ability to move my wings, I will throw you off and you will plummet to your death, is that understood?" The boy nodded and climbed up onto her back fairly quickly. As soon as he was barely seated, Erin took off, starting the flight with a steep dive toward the forest from her mountaintop that ended when she finally spread her wings, just inches above the treetops. She could hear the boy's heart racing, and was impressed that he hadn't screamed. Quickly, she flew over the treetops before landing in a clearing. As she landed, she transformed into a human. The boy, of course, finding nothing to hold on to, fell. He landed on the ground, and despite his complaining, Erin knew he was fine. She walked over to a large tree and knocked on the trunk several times. "It's Erin, let me in," she called. The trunk swung outward, revealing a curving stairwell of roots. She grabbed the boy by the arm and dragged him after her. He was shaking slightly, and seemed more frightened than he probably should have. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Erin led him down several hallways and into a large stone room with a plethora of mismatched chairs and a reception desk. The elf behind the desk looked up as they entered. "How may I help you?" She asked in a voice that could not have displayed less enthusiasm. "I was called in, I don't know why. Erin DiAngelo," Erin said. The elf looked over a list in front of her and nodded, pointing to a door. "Thank you," Erin said, "could you please do something with this boy? He knows too much but I don't want to kill him," the elf sighed and walked around the desk. "Come with me kid, we're going to have some nice memory-erasing fun." Erin smiled and made her way toward the indicated door.
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Post by marvelousmoose on Jul 4, 2013 15:16:52 GMT
The office was neither small nor large, with a desk, three chairs, and several bookshelves. Sitting behind the desk was a man in a hideous green and orange suit. "Hello Erin," he said as she entered, "take a seat. I'm sure you're wondering why I called you in-" "What in hell's name possessed you to give that boy my location?" She interrupted. "I-I'm sorry? What?" "The messenger you sent, he came right into my treasure trove, I'll have to move the whole thing now. The last time I moved it was your fault too. Do you have any idea how long that takes? How much effort? How much it costs? My horde is one of the greatest in the universe, but it won't be for long if you keep giving away it's location!" She was very worked up, and whenever she exhaled, a puff of smoke followed. The man coughed, "I apologize, of course, if you would be so kind as to put a message in the complaints box-" "Stop pulling my tail, you don't have a complaints box, and if you do, it's not functional. I will be speaking with your higher ups as soon as I get out of here." "Well, since you're here, I will give you the quest you were assigned. We need you to, uh, acquire, some artifacts." Erin perked up at that. "What kind of artifacts?" She asked, intrigued. "Here is the list," the man said, handing her a sheet of paper. She skimmed over it, "All right, I'm on it," she said, exiting before he could say anything else.
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Post by marvelousmoose on Jul 4, 2013 22:07:18 GMT
Back in her caves, Erin made plans for her treasure to be moved and used her libraries to find more information on the items on the list. She made a map of her intended plans, grouping items by location, and headed out. Without the burden of a human to take with her, she simply jumped off the cliff in human form, swan diving through the clouds for a minute before transforming. Her first stop was a faerie court, and she expected the whole encounter to go well considering her family's ties. She suspected that she was related to the faerie queen on some level, but had never figured it out for sure.
As Erin got closer to the court, she heard shouting and saw fire, making her fly faster, tucking in her wings and diving toward the palace. Long before they could see her, she could see them, and what she saw did not please her. A young faerie girl (she was fairly sure it was the princess, but couldn't actually tell) was in (probably iron) chains and surrounded by armored humans atop the castle wall. The entire situation looked incredibly tense and as far as she could tell, it was going badly for the faeries. She dove into view, snapping out her wings dramatically as she landed atop the tallest tower and sending a massive flame toward the clouds. Everything stopped and the everyone stared at her. "Just what do you think you're doing?" She demanded, her voice echoing throughout the forest. The humans stood petrified for a second before pointing their weapons at her. You've got to be kidding me, she thought as she was showered with arrows. She rolled her eyes and deflected them with her wings before jumping off the tower and diving toward the humans. They forgot about the princess, who had clearly been their bargaining piece/hostage, and tried to run. Faerie soldiers who had been standing tensely at the ready rushed in to grab her, carefully avoiding the iron chains.
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Post by marvelousmoose on Jul 5, 2013 17:34:48 GMT
After all the humans were taken care of, some roasted alive by Erin and some killed by faerie soldiers, Erin landed in the courtyard and shifted down. "What was that all about?" She asked, pulling a breath mint out of one of her cloak's many pockets. "They want our lands, our treasures, and our servitude," replied the princess, wincing as the iron shifted and burned her again. Erin took them and broke them off, transforming halfway to use her dragon form's arm strength. "I don't mean to be rude," she started, "but how are they even a threat?" "They kidnap our people and burn our forests. For the most part we have them under control, but the whole situation is going downhill." "Ah, well is your mother around?" Erin asked, "I need to speak with her." "Yes, she is most likely in the safe room, I will take you there."
Escorted by several guards, Erin and the princess made their way into the palace. The entire place seemed deserted, except for several guards lining the hallways. As soon as they saw the princess, several went running in different directions, probably to share the news that she was safe. They came to a stop in front of a wall, and the princess placed her hand on a slightly different colored leaf in the paint. The leaf glowed slightly and the wall slid away, leading to a long hallway.
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Post by marvelousmoose on Jul 5, 2013 18:06:39 GMT
The queen looked incredibly relieved to see the princess and embraced her in a hug. A few minutes later she noticed Erin. "Arriana! How lovely to see you, I will assume that you are to thank for my daughter's safety," she said, moving to hug Erin. "I actually go by Erin these days, and yes, I was coming to make a request when I noticed her predicament. It was the least I could do," Erin said as she returned the hug. "What were you going to ask?" The queen asked, "I hope I can be as helpful to you as you have been to us." "Rumor has it you have a certain jewel, the Diamond of Ice," Erin explained, "I was wondering if there was any way I could buy it from you or do something in exchange for it. I would be perfectly willing to go and put the fear of god in those humans if it will help." "I do have the Diamond," the queen said, "but even with our relationship, I will require more. I am sure you understand just how valuable it is. If you could keep those humans from ever bothering us again, that would be incredibly helpful, and I would be completely willing to give you the Diamond."
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Post by marvelousmoose on Jul 5, 2013 23:25:34 GMT
Erin left a short while later with directions to the camp where the humans were based. As she flew, she saw patches of burnt forest, some of them the size of villages. She flew over villages too, and noted that while some had clearly had minor encounters with fire, they seemed mostly untouched. It took her about half an hour to reach the camp. She flew up above the clouds so that they wouldn't see her, took some deep breaths in preparation for fire breathing, angled herself down, and tucked in her wings, dropping very quickly. She aimed for the center of the camp, a wide circle with a fire in the center. The people who were already there saw her and screamed, running to get out of her way before she landed. Instead of tucking in her wings, as she usually did when on land, she extended them to their full length behind her, damaging two tents with their razor sharp edges. She made herself as big as possible, knowing full well that she looked very intimidating. "Where is your leader?!" She roared, smoke rising in ringlets from her nostrils and little sparks leaving her mouth as she spoke. A tent nearby caught fire and a few people ran to put it out while others ran to get the leader and/or weapons.
A man wearing a wolf's skin over his shoulders approached Erin. He pointed a sharp spear at her with one hand and held a club in the other. "What do you want beast?!" He demanded, waving the spear. He looked like an idiot. She shot a small ball of flame at the weapon and it caught fire, the entire shaft burning in seconds. He only barely managed to drop it in time, and she didn't doubt that he had burned his hand. "I am no beast, you fool," she hissed, lowering her neck so that her eyes were level with his, "you are the beast here." He gulped, a thin sweat breaking out on his brow and his heart rate doubling. "Why are you here?" He demanded, trying to keep his calm. "I am here to tell you to stop attacking the faeries," she said, "if I hear of any more attacks, I will return and I will watch as you slowly burn. No man or woman in your camp will be spared. Children, however, will not be killed, but taken to be trained as servants in assorted locations. None of them will be kept together, no matter how close they may be." She made sure that her voice was loud enough to be heard throughout almost the entire camp. Several men jumped out of the bushes and hurled spears at her, followed by arrows. She burned them all with an impressive breath of flame, and quickly burned each person who had attacked her, not enough to kill any of them, but enough that they would not be moving much for a long time. "Take this as your first and only warning," she said as she launched herself back into the air, sweeping her wings down hard to create a gust of wind that put out every flame in the camp.
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Post by marvelousmoose on Jul 21, 2013 16:11:24 GMT
Erin returned to the palace and explained to the queen what she had done. The queen and all the faeries thanked her and presented her with the Diamond, asking that she return to visit often. Erin agreed, although she knew it was unlikely she would return anytime soon due to her busy schedule, and told them to make sure to call her if the humans became a nuisance again.
After she left, Erin made her way to her new caves, dropping off the Diamond in a special room that she dedicated to Questing Association related treasure. She shifted down to her human form and made her way to her kitchen. Her servants had done a very good job of moving her in, and everything was already set up as it needed to be. She made herself some toast with peanut butter and ate it while she planned for the next item on her agenda. A set of swords and daggers made from dragons' teeth and spines. She would enjoy retrieving these and destroying them 'accidentally.' They were held in a castle not far from the faerie queen's as the dragon flew, and were prized heirlooms the royal family of that kingdom. Unfortunately, the dragons and that royal family had an alliance, one that Erin herself had signed (had she known about the dragon weapons, however, the treaty would have been written very differently), and she could not afford to weaken the alliance. She would have to steal them undetected and unidentified.
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Post by marvelousmoose on Jul 22, 2013 21:51:37 GMT
Erin landed just outside of the view of the capital city and transformed into a human. She had changed into black leggings with soft black boots, a black tunic, and a large flowing black cape. The walk was annoyingly slow compared to flying but she reached the city gates just before they closed for dusk. She made her way through the darkening streets toward the castle, her hood down because she did not fear anybody would recognize her. The last time she had been in this city had been eighty years before. The buildings were slightly different, but for the most part it was exactly the same. When she reached the castle walls, she called on her draconic abilities and jumped most of the way up, grabbing onto the stones and climbing up the rest of the way. A guard saw her and yelled, pointing. She ran for the nearest stairway but guards were coming from both sides by this point. Without hesitating, she ran to the other side of the wall and jumped. She free-fell for a few moments as she transformed just enough to extend her wings slightly beneath the cover of her cloak. She pulled them in as she landed and rolled, getting up and running at high speed toward the castle. Arrows pierced the air around her as she ran, but none came anywhere close to actually hitting her. As soon as she was out of the wall guards' view and the arrows' range, she changed her course, making her way to the older parts of the castle.
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Post by marvelousmoose on Aug 11, 2013 18:57:40 GMT
(OOC: I very clearly didn't finish this in time but I'll probably work on it sporadically for a while)
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