Soomdevi gets some chicken seed and Akoril and Alrinkiri find some promising tracks outside the dorm.
It seems the chicken wanted to visit the chicks you brought home from the market; the tracks lead to their cozy little hutch. It seems she stalked around there for some time, walking in circles and pecking at the ground. Then, the tracks meander over to the Soaring Spire.
Where then they disappear.
Chimwemwe, Wisps, and Soomdevi hear something, though… a faint buk-buk-buk-buk… coming from above your heads…
Chimwemwe steps away from the Soaring Spire and then looks upwards.
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He sees a chicken peering down at him from the roof for just a moment before it disappears!
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Alrinkiri leaps against the spire and then springs off of it, using its magic to boost up to the roof! They act quickly, trying to find the chicken, not thinking how the sight of a predatory-shaped creature leaping up to the roof and stalking towards it might look to the chicken...
Akoril watches from the ground, with delusion that he can do something helpful if either Alrinkiri or the chicken falls.
”Someone shou—. Or that,” Chinwemwe’s suggestion falters as the feline automaton leaps into action.
Somehow the chicken fails to understand Soomdevi.
Alrinkri soars up into the sky, and gracefully lands on the school roof. They notice it has a small garden up here complete with potted plants; clearly, students are also using the spire to get up here and hang out.
When the chicken notices she's being stalked by a terrifying big cat she darts away!
As the chicken turns to dart away, Alrinkiri pounces, careful to keep their claws retracted and not to land their weight on the bird.
The terrified bird slips away! She leaps off the roof… and remembers she can't fy. Worse still, there is a gnoll directly under her. One who is not Anchor Root. She flaps her wings frantically, trying to achieve flight as she sails over Wisp’s head.
Can someone catch her with an acrobatics check or some other clever plan?
The stars might happen to have positioned Chimwemwe in just the right place. Or they might be out of alignment.
Wisps tries to grab at the chicken, but it remains out of reach!
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As the chicken tumbles into the weird anti-gravity well around the pillar, her fall slows. This change in velocity is unanticipated by Wisps, whose hand darts out in front of the chicken, catching only air.
Soomdevi just ends up throwing chicken feed around; the pillar pulls the seed into the sky.
Chimwemwe catches the chicken by her rump, and thanks the stars before she pecks his hand and bounces out — into the waiting gnoll's arms.
Though she's swearing at you in chicken, Anchor Root’s feathered friend is safe and sound at last.
Akoril shouts "I got it! Now somebody find Anchor before I get pecked too"
Chimwemwe shakes his pecked hand with a hiss. Once Akoril has the chicken pinned, he presses a pinch of bloodwort from his pouch into the wound. "I think, hmm--did Anchor Root ever mentin the chicken's name?--I think the chicken has a better chance at calling Anchor Root back. Does anyone have twine? We can make a lead."
"Nice catch, Chimwemwe! I don't think she did mention her name."
If there's no sign of Anchor Root upon return to the tunnels, Wisps calls out to the spiders.
Hello, cousins! Have you seen a gnoll in here? She may have been crying.
You never caught a name for the chicken.
--
Noxolo shrugs. Dunno. The Snabble yawns, showing a disturbing amount of sharp teeth. She makes no effort to deny smoking down there. The tunnels are pretty cool. Dry in the rainy season. It's okay place for dance parties. You could go to one sometime. Today her hair is magically spiked up and dyed. Or whatever.
--
There are lots of spiders in the tunnels, hiding in the places no one looks or thinks about.
That way they whisper before hiding from the chicken. You follow the spiders until you see Anchor Root in a storage room. She's pacing anxiously back and forth, her tears dry. She looks up at you but doesn;t notice the chicken quite yet.
Ummmm… sorry… sorry I ran away… it's embarrassing…
"No need to feel embarrassed," Chimwemwe says. "We found your chicken on the roof."
"Oh, we would love to come to a dance party!"
As she follows the spiders, Thank you, cousins! So many of you here!
To Anchor Root, "Yes, Chimwemwe saved your chicken friend from falling!"
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Ohhhh… on the rooff!? ummm… anyways… THANK YOU!
Anchor Root cannot help but smile with relief when she accepts the chicken, which she gently places on the floor. The bird squawks one last at you before running after the hastily departing gnoll.
----
The next day, Anchor Root, Mariama, and Chizire wait at the usual meeting spot for your Cascade Bearer assignment. Chizire is curled up on a blanket under the eaves and more than half asleep.
Mariama observes the drowsing catfolk with detached interest before turning to raise a hand in greeting. From an objective standpoint, it’s really impressive how he can sleep anywhere. We’re Cascade Bearers. Or at least, I am. Anchor Root is filling in because Chizire is... Chizire. She grins at the sleeping cat. Hmm. Shall I put some slugs on his face? Think he'll like that?
Mmmm… I can hear you. Chizire yawns and rolls over.
Mariama frowns at the catfolk, then turns back to you. Anyway, our branch advances magical theory. It’s our job to make new magic safe for everyone to use, so we don’t have a repeat of the exploding nose incident. We don’t talk about the exploding nose incident.
We're going to do some sparkly finger-wiggles and power up those gremlin bells you strung out yesterday. Which was really smart to do, by the way. I am impressed. First, we need some special oils to do the ritual, though. Anchor Root’s here to tell you what to get.
The small gnoll squeaks and flinches as attention turns to her. Um.mmmm.. we need scarlet cap oil, bone oil, and... Anchor Root whimpers and fidgets her paws together. C-c-c-caterpillar oil. But they need to be the right... ummm…, I’ll just… ummm… show you.
Mariama nods. Listen to Anchor Root. The gnoll flinhes again. If you have trouble making the oil, come back here and I’ll wake Chizire up. You know he's good at brewing… when he actually bothers to DO SOMETHING! She says the last part so loud the catfolk almost wakes up. Almost.
Be done in eight hours, or you’ll miss dinner. And try to have fun!
☀☀☀
You gather your gear and your umbrellas and depart with Anchor Root. Today her chicken is on a lead so as not to get too far away (or flung into the sky).
Ummm… thank you for saving my chicken yesterday. And um… s-sorry she got so mad at you. The chicken seems to have forgotten about all that now, and happily follows your group.
Anchor looks at the ground. Ummm… anyway… we should get lucky bones first. If we can find a pile of bones, I can… umm… pick out the lucky ones.
"It was more of a team effort," Chimwemwe says to Anchor Root.
After dinner that day, he returns to the common area, whittling tiny wooden parts.
<<<o>>>
"I'd suggest a butcher's trash, but I'm not sure if those animals were lucky," Chimwemwe says with a friendly smile at Anchor Root.
Anchor Root quivers at the idea of visiting a butcher and hat she might see within. Umm… I'd like to wait outside… no… umm… down the block… Her chicken says buk-buk. in agreement.
I don't know what makes a bone lucky or not. I just… know when I see them.
"I'm sure we can find a more...naturally occurring source of bones in the woods, if you'd rather."
Akoril looks to Chimwemwe and then Anchor Root and then back "I'm not sure we need to stir up trouble rummaging through refuse. How about we just buy a sack of bones from a butcher, people use them all the time for soups and the like."
I can sort through the bnones. I just don't like being in those places… umm… thanks for understanding…
You to to the local butcher. Out of respect for the Magaambya, he's willing to give you leftover bones for free, but you must wait an hour for him to get some free time to bag them up.
If you're willing to pay 1 gp, he can do so immediately.
"If you guys want to wait, we can play Old Mage," Chimwemwe says, pulling out his deck.
You sit outside under an umbrella at an old café, playing Old Mage; Alrinkiri is most often stuck with the card. Wisps is the clear winner, barely beating Chimwemwe and his astrology-fueled luck in most games.
Anchor is quiet and sips her glass of water, but acquits herself surprisingly well. She plays games with everyone on game night too, after all! The chicken sits in a chair next to her with a little cup of water, too.
☀☀☀
You collect the bones and bring them back to Anchor Root. She sits down cross-legged by the pile and holds each one of them for a minute or two before placing some of them into a new, smaller pile. One at a time, she holds each of these bones to her ear and taps them with a finger. She ends up picking out a couple of knuckles, a rib, and a neck bone. Her voice, for once, is totally confident. These are lucky bones.
You return to campus; Anchor takes you to one of the labs. Ummm… now you have to burn the lucky bones to make lucky bone oil. She looks bewildered by all the equipment. But… ummm… I don't know how to do that… it might ruin them if you don't do a good job…
You must carbonize the bones and then use the sludgy remains to make the bone oil. A trained craftsperson or naturalist can take 1 hour to craft the oil.
Ummm… if none of you think you can do it, we can try to wake up Chizire and ask him to help…
Akoril sits with Chimwemwe, "Teach me the rules, this may come in handy."
---
"While I don't eat the flesh of animals, we try not to let any pieces of what we do have go to waste, and many a sick steed has been nursed back to health with bonebroth, let me show you how to boil them down."
Chimwemwe takes notes on the process and assists Akoril by retrieving and consolidating the equipment necessary in the lab. "Interesting. And the next ingredient? Scarlet cap oil?"
Akoril deftly creates the bone oil over the course of an hour.
Umm… yeah. The oil. Here… Anchor Root draws a dried, red, cup‑shaped mushroom from her pouch. You need to get these. They grow out in the jungle.
She describes the area of the jungle where she found the fungi and suggests you find fresh ones there as the dried ones she has won't make the oil. She needs mushrooms that have received a lot of sunlight and moonlight, which means harvesting the mushrooms growing high on a jungle tree. Redridge mother calls them tree blood. Sorry.
The area Anchor directed you to is about 1 hour outside of Nantambu.
Since you are going to the jungle, you should take your adventuring gear. If you have no other questions for Root, it is time to set off.
"No need to be sorry," Chimwemwe says with a friendly smile. "I can climb trees as well as the ladders and ropes of Hyrantum. Unless you meant sorry because the mushrooms are poisonous. Are they poisonous? Do we need to handle them in any special way?"
Umm… they're not… and they don't look like any ones that are poisonous. Sorry I forgot make that clear…
"Oh. How many do we need," he asks.
Ummmm…. sorry…. a few handfuls.
"Sounds like an adventure!"
"It will be nice to walk amongst the trees again."
Akoril asks "How many more ingredients do you need, and anything else from the woods while we're there? I'd hate to make the trek twice."
Akoril asks "How many more ingredients do you need, and anything else from the woods while we're there? I'd hate to make the trek twice."
Ummm… Anchor Root's lips begin to tremble. I guess… I guess… I should show you.
Anchor Root takes you to her room. The chicken rushes over to its bowl of feed. Stacks of small, cleaned animal bones sit in the corners, and several large tubs serve as homes to her collection of pet fruit beetles, many of which are the size of a human fist. She's a collector of beetles and other creatures, just like Chimwemwe.
She points at fuzzy, colorful caterpillar larva sitting on a branch. You need to collect these… they are at the edge of the forest, on branches in the shade, like this… She gives you directions. But they can be hard to find… ummm… and they can sting you if you touch them… ummm… be careful when you… when you… sqi-sqi-squiiishhhhh — SNIFFLE… SNIFFLE…
She begins crying uncontrollably at the thought of people harming the caterpillars. Might be best to leave her alone for the time being.
"Don't worry, Anchor, we'll be as kind to them as we can."
"Thank you, Anchor Root," Chimwemwe says. "That's great to know. And we'll be careful to not get stung when we sacrifice them."
He returns to his room to gather equipment for exploration and specimen collection. He pulls his gambeson over his head ands strap on his bronze brigandine armor. The runes painted on the plates are still fresh from this morning's application.
Chimwemwe grabs his spear from its place beside his door as he hustles to rejoin the rest of his cohort. "Should we search for the caterpillars first, since they're at the edge and the place Anchor Root said we'd find the caps is deeper? Or collect them on our way back?"
Anchor Root will also mention that you will need to squish the mushrooms. Pressing the oil from the scarlet caps is simple and requires no check, but it does require gradual squeezing that takes 1 hour.
Squishing the caterpillars takes a few minutes… but it might hurt a lot.
It takes an hour to get to the forest glade Root described.
Here you find a tree covered with mushrooms starting 20 feet up its trunk. It stands in the middle of a clearing. Several wide leaves droop down from the top of the tree. The forest has been full of chirping birds and creatures rustling in the underbrush, but it's oddly quiet here.
Chimwemwe puts away his compass once they arrive at the clearing. He stares at the tree with the mushrooms on it while drawing figures in the air with his finger. "That's pretty high," he comments and stows his spear over his shoulder.
Walking up to the trunk, he flexes his fingers a few times and takes off his sandals. Chimwemwe then places his hands on the bark, hoisting himself upwards, and grabs hold with his knees and feet. "Just like fixing a bridge with dad."