Porthca Landing II: Lost & Found

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As the wagon trundled on through the morning, Virra quickly lost interest in the halting conversation and let her mind wander. She was busy observing a pair of butterflies duelling in the underbrush when she became aware that Magnolia was speaking.

"Huh...?" she muttered, raising her head just in time to see the five massive shapes plummeting to the ground. Immediately she was on her feet, vaulting over the side of the wagon and drawing her minuscule bow. She kept an arrow nocked and aimed as she moved forwards, waiting for the moment that one of the huge creatures noticed her friends. When the others were in position around one of the wyverns, she let the psionically infused arrow fly and pierce the thing in its side with disproportionate force.

She didn't get a chance to draw another. In moments both wyverns were dead and the only surviving manticore fled, heavily wounded — unlike the group, who seemed to be completely untouched by the carnage. Virra started to grin, then jumped into the air and pumped her fist. "We're DRAGON SLAYERS!" she whooped.
 
oh bad day bad day bad day. This isn't good Magnolia, remember last time you saw two Wyverns together? Mating pair! Gross ewwhh why are you thinking about that now! Your life is in danger and you are sitting here thinking about Wyvern mating...

Snapping to her senses as the beasts headed toward ground, Mags summons an old favorite. Grandma's wooden soup spoon! A sweet memory from her childhood of good food and strong discipline. "Face my Gg's wrath, foul monsters!"

The fight was bloody, with teeth and claw tearing at each other, it only ended when with a great burst of concentration she smashed the last Wyvern in the skull. From her position of relative safety she yelled acrossed the battlefield, "I am the master of spooning, fear me!"
 
With the monsters lying still on the ground ahead of the cart, Virra quickly set to inspecting them up close, oohing and ahhing as she pulled their lips back to inspect their fangs. Putting together some long-dormant memories of reading biology textbooks, Niradnam's eager assistance, a bit of divine nudging from Magnolia and a dash of stolen insight from the noosphere, she quickly got a sense of which parts of the creatures would be the most useful.

"Okay," she announced to the group at large, getting under one of the wyverns' wings and pushing it up with both of her hands. "These things could make some really nifty cloaks if we cut them off, same with the manticore ones. The scales would make for a really good shield, and the teeth would be good daggers. Manticore teeth, though, I've heard those can make sweet dice sometimes, and I think caltrops too... ooh, and their spiny tails can be made into darts if you're into that." She grinned at her companions. "So, who wants to get their hands dirty?"
 
As Virra began sizing up their haul, Tyrius thought for a moment about what it would be like if he could show Elizabeth what a wyvern looked like. Taking his diary out of his bag, Tyrius pulled a pencil out of his writing set and found a clean page on which to sketch. Sitting on the ground cross legged about six feet from his subject, Tyrius worked quickly to establish the basic form of the Wyvern on the page, then blocking in shapes before he set about trying to capture the more minute details with his pencil, frantically erasing and sketching until he had an image that wasn't too dissimilar to the subject. While it would not match being able to see a real wyvern, it was at least better than any description that Tyrius could manage.

Packing up his diary again into his bag, Tyrius looked to Virra as he took off his navy blue jacket and hung it on a nearby branch, figuring it would be an utter pain to try and get blood out of it. Rolling up his sleeves, Tyrius walked over. "That's a lot of items we could make from the bodies," Tyrius said as he started to help by snapping the teeth out. "Have you done this sort of thing before?" the sorcerer asked Virra.
 
"It would be a shame to have killed something and left the corpse to rot." Mags had another thought as she watched the group harvest the monsters. "Hhmmm if my theory is correct about a mating pair...there may be a nest nearby. We should keep an eye out!"

Magnolia pitches in with the slaughtering of the beasts, helping where she can and asking for Yondalla's assistance with everything else.
 
Anxious not to miss out, Virra quickly tied her hair back, got her sleeves rolled up and set to work on the wyvern's first wing, only to be immediately disracted by Tyrius's question. She laughed. "Are you kidding? I've never got to pick a monster like this before!" Clicking her tongue reproachfully, she rooted in her pocket for a sturdy knife that she'd been using to cobble Cate's new shoes. "The only other time I got to do something like this was when I was working in that tannery in Bunula. Oh, but I guess I got to do some skinning when I was with those trappers outside of Cadun... hm." Her face was a mask of concentration as she began to work away at the joints that kept the wing connected to the wyvern's torso. "And a little bit from all of those animal husbandry jobs, now that I think about it..."

She broke off from her reminiscing as Magnolia spoke up. "Well, sure, but there's no way we'll be able to reach a wyvern nest from the ground, Mags," she giggled. "Silly." There was a loud cracking noise as she forced her knife between two bones and began to saw it back and forth.
 
Tyrius listened as Virra talked about the tannery and the trappers as he carefully pried out each tooth, trying to keep them as intact as possible, using his dagger a crowbar. "Sounds like you have a lot more experience on this than most of us," remarked the red headed sorcerer, setting another tooth by his side among the growing pile of removed teeth. "I'll be honest - this beats being sat at a desk filling out paperwork any day." Popping another tooth out that seemed to already have been lose, Tyrius tilted his head back a little.

"Are you thinking we might get attacked, Magnolia?" asked Tyrius over his shoulder as he set to work further along the wyvern's jawline.
 
Evening of the Fourteenth Day | Towards the Coast:

Managing to collect a fair amount of salvage from the various beasts, Magnolia with the aid of Ander started to lead the hunt for a potential nest, believing the wyverns to have been a mated pair. Studying the area and a few things from inside the creature's guts, the halfling believes she's found a trail and begins to lead the group, however it leads away from the route the group had been going and instead turns directly towards the coast itself. Niradnam seems to look a bit hesitant at the side-trip, glancing towards the other direction a few times before resigning himself to making sure the bits and pieces collected are safely stored away, the large wings of the creatures left behind, unfortunately too much for the carriage to manage.

The sun starts to lower from where it sat in the sky as the sea becomes visible on the horizon each time they crest a hill, only to disappear when the trees thicken up once more. The ring on Valerie's finger pulses with a sense of longing but also irritation at the sight. The pair of trackers continue to lead the group down to the coast, leaving the wagon on the more solid ground to prevent the wagon wheels getting stuck in the sand, they lead the group down and around to what appears to be a cave dug out by the water, damp and dark ... Continuing inwards, Niradnam murmuring a spell and creating small lights for the party, the faint glimmer of metal is visible, coins, armor and weapons too ... as well as what looks to be thirteen scaled-looking eggs about the size of decent-sized pumpkins.
 
Rowanne kept her gaze on the beasts as they plummeted to the ground, hand on her greatsword ready to draw. She waited to see what action the others took before inbueing her blade with divine magic and rushing forward to Ander's side. Impatient to make contact she summoned a spiritual weapon of her own, a spear not unlike that of Athena's. Rowanne advanced with Ander and attacked with her own greatsword but swung wide, fortunately her spiritual weapon struck true with both of it's attacks. Rowanne was still frustrated that her own attack was not able to make contact.

Rowanne was surprised to hear Virra's knowledge of Wyvern and Manitcore body part uses and she watched in slight horror as the dismantled the beasts.

Rowanne follows the group as they search for the Wyvern nests. She didn't quite understand why they were searching for them, what harm would eggs or babies do? When they reached the nest and she say their hoard she understood.
 
Her high pitched squeal echoed in the cavern. "oh my goodness, oh my goodness do you know what this means? We can raise and train Wyverns! They are extremely loyal when raised properly, and you can even ride on them!"

Yes Magnolia, that wise little voice in her head, but when the are born they are extremely hungry; also fond of chomping on fingers. That's IF you can manage to hatch the eggs. This could take years!

Shut up brain, why do you always bring me down? We could easily do this with at least one! The others won't survive without parents and we still have their blood on us. What would Yondalla say if we ended a bloodline because we were too scared to raise a child? Maybe there is something that can help us around here...

Surveying the wyverns haul, she found nothing of great relevance to the raising of wyverns so she returned her attention to choosing an egg...

"Don't care what you guys are doing, but I'm adopting" her cheeks hurt from the smile plastered on her face.
 
Ander rolled his eyes at the excitement over raising monsters, but he supposed it was better to have these creatures on their side rather than fighting them any more. He and Rowanne couldn't decide who should take the gauntlets that bestowed extra strength on their wearers, so they decided to flip one of the coins in the pile for them. When Ander's side came up, he felt excited, though he tried to remain as neutral as he could, see as it was rude to his new friend to lord the items over her. "I promise to put 'em ta good use, Miss Rowanne. Hopefully our travels won't be quite as... monster filled from now on, though," the man smiled at the cleric as he walked back to the cart carrying one of the sacks of coins that were being gathered for the party to split.
 
Covering his ears slightly as Magnolia squealed, Tyrius took a second look at the nest. He had thought at first blush that they were just dangerous creatures that should be destroyed. One quick shatter spell aimed at the center of the nest would do it.

Thinking back to the books he'd read in Azarad, Tyrius remembered reading how fiercely loyal wyverns could be, and how they imprinted on the creature that raised them. He'd read about wyverns that had lived in a family as a protective pet. 'Considering how they reacted to Pyria, I think it'd be stretching things just a bit to haul all of the eggs home and give one each to my brother and sisters.' thought Tyrius to himself, 'still, I was considering buying a pet in Wyford. This is effectively a free pet that I can raise from birth.'

Looking at each egg, Tyrius decided he'd look for the reddest egg he could find. "Think I'll join you in that Magnolia," said Tyrius as he found an egg that was covered in red scales. Gently lifting it up, Tyrius held it carefully, just spending a few moments staring at it and wondering about the little life inside of it.
 
Virra's exclamation of surprise was just as loud as Magnolia's, possibly on purpose. She stood before the treasure hoard, ready to burst from excitement as she wrung her hands. "Thirteen? Thirteen?" Her voice was incredulous, like a child receiving an impossible gift. "That's not how magic egg clutches work. In stories it's only ever one, or three. Or ten if it's dumb and for kids. Thirteen is..."

She laughed out loud, twirling on the spot for sheer joy. "Oh, you better believe we're adopting! And all this other stuff, it's coming with us too. Guys, we're gonna be rich, and famous, and..." Still laughing, she dived at Mags and tried to pick her up in a hug.
 
At the sight of the sea, Valerie felt a pang of some sort that was not her own. Pushing that thought from her mind, she continued onwards with the group to the wyvern's nest, her blade at the ready as they moved through the barely lit darkness. At Magnolia's scream, Valerie nearly swung out with her glaive at the shadows before seeing the glinting of gold and other things. After a brief discussion, she gratefully took the boots, glad that she would now be able to manage the weight of her equipment far easier.

When it came to the wyvern eggs, Valerie briefly considered the fact that these creatures were horrific monsters that would be a danger to everyone around them before getting swept up in the excitement. She picked out the palest egg she could find and hefted it, walking back over to Ander with a huge smile. "Oh, Ander! This is so exciting! We can ride wyverns, just like the heroes in the stories! Would you like one as well?"
 
Virra put Mags back down after a minute, gleefully rubbing her hands. "Okay, okay, okay. Gotta be careful with these," she said, taking a firm hold of one egg and bringing it back to the cart. Once she judged that it was snug and safe among their other gear, she went back to the cave and returned a minute later with another one. "This so makes up for leaving the wings behind," she giggled, turning to go for a third.
 
Ander tries to hold in his frustration about the others adopting monsters, but then Virra mentions becoming rich. Rich? They want to sell these monsters?

"Ok! That's enough! I can see how riding around like heroes of legend could be great, but we are NOT going to sell the others to anyone." His face goes a bit red as he doesn't enjoy being the party pooper, but he needs to get this out. "I think you lot can be trusted to control these beasts and not let them be used for evil, but to sell the eggs? Who knows who would buy them? Slavers, murderers, criminals?" He looks around at stunned faces before saying, "Take your pets, but every other egg is going to be destroyed!"
 
Hearing Ander's admonishment, Tyrius cradled his egg protectively, his quarterstaff hanging from the crook of his arm. He could see Ander's logic though, the only people who'd be buying wyvern eggs were those with more money than sense - or those who wanted to use them for a tool.

Lowering his face a little, Tyrius said, "I'll do it - I have a spell I've been using on those bandits and on the wyverns we fought. It'll be a quick death, hopefully even painless. And I'm not going to claim to know anywhere near as much as you about the great beyond but at least, at least the clutch goes together."
 
At Ander's response, Valerie's expression immediately dropped from her face. "Oh... I... I am sorry, Ander..." She glanced down at the egg in her hand before looking back to Ander, and then to the other eggs. She walked over to the nest and dutifully set it back down before nodding solemnly. "Yes, Ander is right. We should not allow more creatures like that to exist in the world. If we were merely travelers that encountered that squabble in our path, I doubt we would have fared nearly as well against them. It is for the best." She gave the egg one last look before walking out of the cave, going to sit by the cart.
 
Virra froze up in shock -- she hadn't counted on being yelled at by Ander of all people when she mentioned riches. "...Seriously?" Her face, normally a deep greyish-brown, began to look decidedly pale as Ty and Val took his side. "Guys, wait, hold on," she said, urgency mounting in her voice. "This isn't, like, finding stray kittens or something. This is a thing people never get to see -- this should be the highlight of our lives. You're not thinking straight."

Desperately, she looked to Mags and Eliza. "Guys, tell them," she pleaded.
 
Tyrius looked to Virra, continuing to cradle the red scaled egg in his arms. "Virra, Ander didn't say no period. But selling them..." Tyrius trailed off. "Selling them's a line too far. I thought about maybe getting one each for my siblings, but-" Tyrius looked to the side, gently rubbing one hand up and down on the eggs shell. "I'm only doing this because it's the right thing to do. What happens when you sell a wyvern to someone, they get bored of it and just let it run wild?"
 
Evening of the Fourteenth Day | Wyvern Cave:

Banrigg helped sort through the treasure hoard, taking the items back to the cart while Niradnam worked with Eliza to identify the different things that had glowed under Detect Magic. Listening to the others discuss back and forth he crouched next to the nest, studying the different eggs, Egnaro hovering around his feet. He picked up one of the darker colored eggs, turning it in his hands then looked back at the others, "... if I may. I do see Lord Ander's point about selling these -- even if you sold them or gave them to people you considered trustworthy, who's to say they wouldn't sell them in turn? Or be attacked for them? No ... as it is, who's to say we won't be attacked for them if people know we have them. Wyverns aren't dragons as most think, but they're still powerful and deadly."

The faint glow of the Dancing Lights hovered through the air as Niradnam bit his lip thinking, "I confess ... I really would like to try and raise a wyvern, assuming it even hatches to begin with, but I also understand it's not a task to be taken lightly." He stood, holding the darker egg, "At the very least, even if it doesn't hatch, the knowledge of a wyvern egg can be useful to document at Azarad." Hefting the egg he continued, "However we still have a task to accomplish ... so I suggest those intending to take one, for better or worse, should likely do so now so we can attempt to get back on track before the sun lowers too much and we have to stop for the night."
 
Virra began to get the distinct sense that the argument was already lost. She looked between each of the party once again, and then her eyes fell on the first egg she loaded onto the cart. The largest and most imposing that she had seen in the nest.

"This one is mine," she said, then sat down next to it and crossed her legs.
 
She could feel her heart breaking, why did they insist of murdering the clutch? Was it possible that they spoke out of ignorance? Someone had to point out the obvious even if they refused to acknowledge it.

"You don't have to... They won't survive without their parents. Don't believe me? Look at crocodiles, the mother guards the nest and the babies even after they are born. I suppose Wyverns are similar to birds in that regard, with parents bringing the young food until they are strong enough... They will succumb to natural predators or starvation..."

Small tears ran down her face, just because something was viewed as a monster didn't make it so. Yes, they were dangerous but so were bears and tigers. Whitnessing so many of her companions express their resolve she only had one solution... And it came as a whisper...

"Collapse the entrance... Then none will find the clutch and they will be at the mercy of the gods." It didn't seem like a point Ander could argue, if anything it was the cosmic balence.

Reaching toward one of the smaller eggs, one without a hope of survival on its own, Megs picked it up and carried it to the cart. "I'm saving this one though, and I will be no part in whatever you do with the rest."
Megs wrapped herself and a blanket around the egg and prayed... For those who would never grow to see the sky.
 
Seeing the sight of Magnolia crying, Tyrius almost felt like crying himself. Keeping a gentle hold of his egg, which he'd temporarily named in his head already as Tyrius Junior until he could think of a better name, Tyrius said to those who remained, "Which is exactly why I'm going to cast the same spell I used on the bandits and on the adult wyverns. I don't -" Tyrius had to stop talking before he choked on the tears he was desperately trying to hold back, "I don't relish the thought of doing this, but a quick death is better than slow starvation or being food for some other predator."

Standing for a few minutes with his chin resting on the top of the egg's scaly shell, Tyrius slid off his jacket and draped it over the egg. "When I - can someone keep an eye on this egg for me? I don't particularly want it in the area when I-" Tyrius trailed off, unable to say what they all knew would happen.
 
Eliza was struck with terror at the sight of the battling beasts. She cowered lower in the cart hoping to stay out of sight. She couldn’t believe how brave, or foolish, her companions were acting as one-by-one they rushed into battle.

Fortunately, she was a wizard and that meant ranged spells. She raised her wand and shot 4 blasts at the creatures targeting the least damaged ones in an effort to help even out the field and keep the creatures fighting for longer.

She felt dismayed at how little effect her spell had and decided to switch strategies. Moments later, Faust could be seen sprinting through the field towards Ander. The mouse smacked the sword sending electrical sparks flying and, climbing, leapt onto Ander’s shoulder to keep out of the grass and away from slithery snakes that enjoyed delicacies such a mice.

That fight finished shortly and she followed the rest towards the caverns feeling very intrigued. She wondered what everyone was so terrified off, eggs couldn’t hurt them yet.

She kept to the side of the clutch, studying the eggs and their wonderfully colorful shells. She snapped up in horror at the suggestions almost tripping over her staff. “No! They haven’t done anything wrong! There has to be a better way than just to smash them or starve them!” She felt dismayed.

She did understand where they were coming from but she was sure there was something they could do short of killing the clutch. She knew they couldn’t raise all the eggs by themselves, even one or two could be a recipe for disaster, but maybe their were people that could.

“How about we take them somewhere with experience raising such beasts. Tyrius, you said that they could be trained. Do you know by whom? Is there a menagerie or a temple to wild beasts. We could maybe even take them to Azarad. The college probably has a school for magical creatures.” She said tying to convince the group that there were better options. “If we fail to find anyone better equipped and the eggs start hatching then we can resort to the other options. It won’t make much of a difference if we get rid of them them now or later.”
 
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