Familiarity Quests
Author's Notes
Arborea Part 1: Downward Descent It’s not the brightest idea you’ve had but curiosity got the better of you. The residents of Minfheil are always chattering about losing small objects when they drop down through the canopy. Recently, one of the Haenyms dropped an intricate flower crown they had just finished weaving; needless to say, they were quite distraught about it, and that’s when the thought of descending through the foliage popped into your mind. After you inform others of your intent, they look at you in bewilderment. Few have ever made the trek downwards before and those who return are never the same. But who are they to stop you? With a shrug, they provide you with some of their best rappelling equipment — ropes, harnesses, spurs, pulleys, etc. — and show you to where the branches part just right, so the foliage is less dense.
Arborea
Wanda had heard about that one Haenyms who had lost their intricate flower crown to the foliage of Arborea. Everyone knew it was impossible to get something back if it had fallen underneath the green leaves. You simply had to say goodbye to whatever you had lost, even if it was meaningful to you. Even Wanda had once been a victim of this terrible void: she had tripped on a small, round twig, and the apple pies she was holding knew the same fate as the Haenym's flower crown. The pink veela was staying on Arborea for a week, participating in a baking contest in the main city. She was enjoying the change of scenery and the sweet scent of this planet.
When she heard the news, the pink veela felt a strange feeling. Injustice. It wasn't fair that people living on Arborea had to live that way. Something had to be done! And she was willing to do it. An idea sprouted into her mind: going down in rappel mode. Wanda had never done that before, therefor she thought it would be best to not go alone. Who knew what kind of creatures could lurk down there? Who knew what she was about to find. She wasn't the best at using weapons. Her defense skills stopped at being able to scratch someone's face pretty badly and yelling as loud as she could. Her bad tempered should have made her capable of defending herself, but she couldn't spend a single minute training with someone as she was, let's say, a bit ashamed of her lack of skills. This is why the pink veela thought it would be better to bring someone with her. Quickly, a name popped into her head. Olivia would be a great choice! Her nitpicki friend was a blacksmith and knew how to use weapons like no one else. Olivia was strong and would understand the unjustice Wanda was feeling, joining her immediately.
As soon as Olivia was called and Wanda had told her about her plan, the orange nitpicki was meeting with the pink veela. It had been a while since they had not seen each other. Last time Wanda had come to Olivia's shop to sharpen some of her knives and ended up leaving the blacksmith with a dagger and a small axe, perfect to cut meat.
Olivia was looking at the rappelling equipment, pulling on it to test its resistance.
- I think we're good to go! It looks resistance enough for the both of us, said Olivia.
- You, me, and your weapons.
Wanda was pointing her finger to a greyish pile of weapons, shining brightly under the sun. You could feel the warmth emitting from it from several meters away. The nitpicky had brought way too many weapons according to the pink veela, simply saying that you could never have enough weapons. Once they were both tied up and ready, they started descending thanks to an inhabitant of Arborea who wanted to help them.
The air was colder. Wanda's fur started spiking up on her back. It was strange leaving Arborea and it's warmth to find such a cold place underneath the foliage. The ground wasn't as far away from the surface as the pink veela thought, and Olivia and her got down fast. It seemed like they were walking on a dirt or soil ground, but it was pitch black. Various items were laying on the ground, and some of them covered in dirt and dust. Olivia was standing as tall as she could, glancing in every direction to make sure nothing would attack them. A sweet scent of flowers intrigued Wanda.
- I think I can smell the flower crown! Its in this direction! Follow me, Olivia!
The orange nitpicky nodded and followed Wanda closely, barely making a sound while running with a gigantic axe between her paws. Wanda's nose was right, soon they arrived near a pile of precious looking items. Coins, flowers, gems and more were pilled up to look like some kind of throne. The flower crown was laying at the top. Without paying much attention to her surrounding and wanting to get out of there as soon as possible, Wanda climbed the pill to get the crown. The scent of flowers was strong in this clearing. Olivia was anxiously waiting for her friend to climb back down, watching her every step to make sure she wouldn't fall and hurt herself. The nitpicky knew the person or the creature who was living there wouldn't enjoy seeing them stealing from its pile. Wanda caught the flower crown with her paw and by doing so moved the pile a bit, ending up making it collapsed. She started falling between the shiny coins and the delicate flowers. A gentle paw caught her waist. Looking up, Wanda realised Olivia had already put her harness back up and had managed to catch the pink veela in her fall.
We have to get out of there! I think something is coming!
Olivia was right. As they were getting pulled up a dark and massive silhouette approached the collapsed pill of items. A roar echoed, making the leaves shiver.