Construction and Commerce (Blood Raid) |

kyragoldtalon
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Construction and Commerce (Blood Raid) Aug 16, 2019 16:10:32 GMT -5

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Post by kyragoldtalon on Aug 16, 2019 16:10:32 GMT -5

Ky'Laurel had spent most of her earliest days holed up in the cavern she had (eventually) decided was her home. Sure, she had gone and 'tamed' a couple of little beasts called Meowlers, and she had done a small bit of traveling back and forth between her cave and the pens, but beyond that she hadn't done anything but maintain her self-made hot tub and rest all day in it. A small part of Ky was perfectly okay with this fact. After all, she had started off as nothing more than a soft, ball-shaped blob that had absolutely no advantage over the world around her. Her cave was warm, and a bit secluded, and if she ever started to amass an amount of wealth she could probably guard it here very easily.

But she couldn't amass that wealth without leaving, and at least something had changed between the Ky'Laurel back then and the Ky'Laurel now. She wasn't a perfectly round sphere of a blob anymore. At some point, almost overnight, she had just sprouted these long arms and shorter muscled legs. The way she saw the world changed somehow, as if her face had jutted out forwards from her body (a quick glance at her reflection in the pool within her cave confirmed that, in fact, it had). It all took a brief period of time getting used to, but once she had she realized she wasn't entirely defenseless anymore. Her blunt claws, perfect for digging (so she discovered by making herself a little sleeping den for when she really didn't feel like getting wet), could probably scratch a blobling if they tried to come after her or her stuff. Her legs longed to move, and she found herself growing restless.

Ky had heard of a city being erected nearby, eavesdropping on the chatter that surrounded the Meowler pens during a particularly busy day. Perhaps that was a place to set out for, she thought, since cities usually meant a fair amount of trade, and trade meant growing her collection. Of course, with the limited amount of items she had now, she'd have to really work to haggle any transactions in her favor. With the idea of hard but fruitful work in her head, she set forth from her home to find the nearby city and, hopefully, a population of bloblings to do business with.

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Word Count: 395

kyragoldtalon
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Construction and Commerce (Blood Raid) Aug 16, 2019 17:11:05 GMT -5

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Post by kyragoldtalon on Aug 16, 2019 17:11:05 GMT -5

((Location: Mossy Mountains to Smiley Sands))

It was as she was traveling through the moss covered mountains that Ky'Laurel got the call. A message, from Ichor, over the... EB? Was that what the system was called? Ky wasn't really sure, she had shut herself off from that system as best she could. The idea of being able to send and receive messages directly from one's thoughts weirded her out a fair bit. Or maybe she was misunderstanding how the whole thing worked. Either way, the sudden alert startled her into freezing in place a moment, before she finally bothered to check what it was.

Ah, a mass ping. Something about meeting up with other bloblings and the goddess herself in the Smiley Sands. Ky'Laurel shook her head and filed the message away. Not where she was headed right now, and she was certain a number of other bloblings would heed the call anyways. However, the brief interruption was enough for her to continue moving forwards mindlessly, paying absolutely no attention to where she was going. Thoughts of what kind of thing Ichor could possibly want swam through her mind, and she never bothered looking up to see if the city she sought was coming into view or not.

It was as the air grew warmer, and the ground began to turn into softer sand that Ky finally bothered to see where she was. Actually looking ahead, she noticed the much flatter and redder landscape of the deserts ahead of her. What? This wasn't a city! She could already see a number of bloblings in the distance, all gathered around a slowly diminishing pile of... pouches? Ky decided it was perhaps best to investigate.

"Ah, what's this?" she asked, coming up to the pile of bags and one blobling that was picking through them. The other blobling turned to briefly regard her before scoffing at Ky and returning to picking at the pile.

"Somebody didn't pay attention at Ichor's meeting. These are the seeds, yeah?"

So put off by the rude response that she didn't even return a remark, Ky'Laurel just scowled and quickly snatched a single bag from the pile before wandering off again.

Seeds? Is that what Ichor wanted, bloblings to go around planting seeds? Ky supposed that was a way to spread life around, but she wasn't sure why it required a meeting of bloblings in the desert. Seeds could be found inside the plants they came from. Ky'Laurel bothered to spare a glace towards the small seed pouch, and saw a colorful symbol decorating the side, something rainbow and shaped like a question mark. It gave Ky the idea that this was some kind of mystery plant. Interesting. It was something Ky would have to look into in the future, but for now... she was nowhere near a city.

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Post Number: 2
Word Count: 466

Last Edit: Aug 16, 2019 22:00:20 GMT -5 by kyragoldtalon

kyragoldtalon
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Posts: 443

Construction and Commerce (Blood Raid) Aug 16, 2019 21:58:57 GMT -5

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Post by kyragoldtalon on Aug 16, 2019 21:58:57 GMT -5

((Current Location: Smiley Sands))

Little packet of seeds in hand, Ky'Laurel decided to turn around and start heading back the way she had come from. She must have taken a wrong turn somewhere... actually, come to think of it, probably around the time that she had gotten that message from Ichor. If she wanted to find her way to the city, then she would just have to walk back the same amount of time it had taken her to get here. With a slight hum, she started to a bit quickly walk back towards the direction she thought she came from...

.... Thought. No, there was just a fair bit more sand out ahead of her there. Ky'Laurel grumbled and turned again. This had to be the way! After a few more moments, she wasn't really sure of that, either. She did spot another group of bloblings ahead a small distance, and figured it had to be the lingering group from the goddess's request. She didn't really want to, but maybe she'd have to ask one of them the direction the mountains were.

However, as she approached, she noticed it was an entirely different group. These ones sat circling a large... fire, was it?... and seemed to be chatting and laughing and moving about. A very brief sense of memory tickled at the back of Ky's mind, and she got the feeling that she could find something in a setting like this. Did trade happen here? Curiosity overcame her worry of being lost, and she carefully and quietly slid up to the group. When she was comfortably seated among them, she spoke up.

"I don't suppose this is some kind of market gathering, is it?" If she was being honest, she already felt she knew the answer, and it tinged her question with a bit of disappointment. But still, whatever this was, it did seem interesting.

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((Events of Truth or Dare here!

))

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Interesting hadn't been the half of it. Apparently the entire thing had been a game about asking. Asking a blob to tell the full truth of some pressing question, or asking them to perform some kind of task that was presented with an illusion of challenge or danger. Ky herself had been asked a question that, for reasons not entirely known to her, made her feel entirely embarrassed. Perhaps it had just been the way the speaker of the question had eyed her when asking it, or maybe it was the fact that she had essentially been asked to make judgements about other bloblings she didn't even know.

In the end though, Ky had learned quite a bit, both about herself and the world around her. She had learned that she admired the qualities of creativity and resourcefulness in other blobings, as well as those who could display some kind of physical prowess. She had better ideas of what kind of form she wanted to take on one day, if her desires influenced that at all. She did vaguely recall desiring limbs and hands not long before she had taken on her current form, so maybe it did. The sight of one blob with a long body that transitioned to tail seamlessly made her think that, one day, she wanted a tail much like that too.

And, though it had nothing to do with herself or other bloblings, Ky'Laurel had learned an interesting thing about how fire and sand interacted with one another. After the party began to disperse, Ky sat in awe (and half buried in sand) as she stared at an oddly shiny patch of the stuff where a bright ball of flame had struck moments before. When she was certain no other blobling was looking, she reached over to run her hand over the shiny surface. It was still a bit hot, but no worse than the stones Ky left beside lava flows to heat up for her own hot tub's use. As it cooled further, she noticed the pressure applied by her caused the shiny layer atop the sand to crack, breaking into sharp little chunks. What an interesting substance... perhaps this was something she could offer in trades for other items. She gathered as much as she could, which honestly wasn't a lot at all, and opened up the seed bag to throw the shards of shinesand in with the seeds.

"Sorry if they poke you, little guys. This is just a very interesting find."

Blood Raid Post
Post Number: 3
Word Count: 732

Last Edit: Aug 16, 2019 21:59:28 GMT -5 by kyragoldtalon

kyragoldtalon
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Posts: 443

Construction and Commerce (Blood Raid) Aug 17, 2019 23:48:41 GMT -5

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Post by kyragoldtalon on Aug 17, 2019 23:48:41 GMT -5

((Location: Smiley Sands to Mossy Mountains.))

This time, with the help of a blobling that had lingered in the area after the events of Truth or Dare had ended, Ky'Laurel was pointed back towards the correct direction of the mountains. She didn't particularly care for having to ask for help, and immediately after it was received the other blob stared at her expectantly.

"Er.... thank you?"

That seemed to satisfy them, and they nodded before heading off their own way. Ky'Laurel frowned, grateful that an admission of gratitude was all that was required in return, but loathing the feeling of owing someone something. It was one small push towards her resolving that, in the future, if she ever asked for help from someone she'd want to immediately know what they desired in return. And it went the other way as well! If they asked her help, she'd want them to know what she expected back. If she ever wanted to help for the sake of helping... well, she'd likely offer before asked.

Her thoughts kept to a similar path as she made the return trek home, going over what she liked about and expected from other bloblings... what she liked about and expected from herself. She only really registered that she had set foot in her cave again when she heard a pointed meow from her meowler, Cobalt.

"Oh, goodness dear, I know, dinner is late. Forgive me?"

It was, in fact, getting to be a long day for Ky, and she didn't really think she'd have the energy to try and head back out for the city now. She still had work to do here, just to simply prepare for rest. At least, with the help of her limbs, that whole process was much easier. Pulling stones from her pool of water, she began to chuck them back up to the upper level, and then climbed up there herself to settle them all close to the lava streams and pool. As they heated up, she returned below to feed her meowlers... and decide what she was to do with these shards and seeds.

The shards, she decided, had to be set off to the side so that she could get to the seeds beneath. Carefully, she pulled out the sharp bits, frowning as they poked at and stung her fingers, and hid them at the top of her cave. Thankfully, the meowlers didn't really bother to climb up there, probably wary of the lava, so she didn't fear them finding the shinesand. When it came to the seeds, Ky found that most of them had, in fact, been scratched up or even crushed by traveling with the foreign material. Only two of them were in a condition she deemed worth planting, and even then she saw the scratches scarring their surfaces...

Outside the front of her cave, she dug up small patches of soil on either side of the entrance, placing the two seeds one in each hole. She didn't really expect them to thrive here, but a small part of her hoped they would survive the scars and the cold, curious as to what they would be. Seeds planted, she took the unsalvageable ones and tossed them out somewhere into the mountains, saving the bag for her own use. Back into this bag the shining shards went, and then Ky carefully flung the heated stones down to her pool below. When it was sufficiently heated, she settled herself into the waters and inspected one of the many shards. Heat and sand made this...

... How could she recreate it?

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Post Number: 4
Word Count: 594

kyragoldtalon
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Construction and Commerce (Blood Raid) Aug 21, 2019 22:45:00 GMT -5

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Post by kyragoldtalon on Aug 21, 2019 22:45:00 GMT -5

At some point, Ky'Laurel fell asleep holding the odd shining sand at the edge of her pool. Dreams of the Old World swam through her head, things she would not remember upon waking. Well, most things. As if brought into her mind by the curious shards that had returned home with her, something about her dream seemed to stick... a name?

Silica?

Ky found herself waking up in much cooler water, the little piece of shine sand still loosely held in her hand. She had been toying with the shard in her sleep, and somehow had managed to grind it against the rough stone floor until the sharper edges had been filed away. By some miracle, the shard hadn't cracked in the process. Maybe it had to do with the water? That was another quirk about the material Ky'Laurel would have to study. But first, she needed to make a lot more of the stuff...

She was beginning to think that the measly amount she had wouldn't do much for her in real trade. If she was going to get anything of worth, it would take all she had. And she wanted many things of worth! She was going to have to go and collect more sand, but she wasn't sure how she was going to carry it all back. Maybe it would be worth it to go and grab a few more pouches of those seeds....

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After the meowlers had their breakfast, it was back out towards the sands with Ky. With her pouch of shards she made her way towards the desert once again, passing by the meowler pens as she always did... as luck would have it, Damazi had recently added tents alongside the pens to provide nice secluded areas for meowlers to breed. One blobling had taken inspiration from the tents and started making some of his own further ahead. One scrap of material hung from some posts had scribbles painted across it.

'Spend time sleeping under the stars! Campground!'

Ky wandered up to the cheerful blobling that seemed to take care of this 'campground', and stared at one of the tents.

"Say, how much to buy one of your tents, friend?"

The happy blob shook his head (whole body? he seemed to have only grown arms during the evolution phase...). "Free! I just want some friendly blobs to go camping with! Just come sleep here whenever you want."

Ky'Laurel frowned, trying to word it a different way. "No, I mean... how much to take one of the tents with me? I was thinking of, ah.... traveling around. Was hoping for some portable shelter." It was entirely a lie, but she felt it was better than saying 'I want to use your creation to lug around pounds of sand'. Besides, maybe she could get a better price if she appealed to the other blobs love of 'camping'.

The other blob looked momentarily crushed that Ky wasn't going to spend the time camping with him, but indeed his love of the activity and the idea of another blob even participating in it won out in the end.

"Well, what were you thinking? Paying coin for it? I could probably part with one of the smaller ones for cheap!"

Ky nodded and made a hand motion like 'sorta'. "I was thinking more a trade of items. I recently came in possession of something interesting...."

In the end, Ky was able to obtain a smallish tent and the necessary posts to set it up in return for all of her sharpest and thinnest pieces of shinesand (which was sadly most of what she had). The camping blobling had excitedly said he could use the sharp pieces as tools to sew up more tents, which were apparently a cloth made out of the fluff around lambfruit, as well as patch up any holes in them. Through the trade, Ky had learned about a new hobby that this particular blob enjoyed. It certainly wasn't her hobby of choice, but it was still nice to know a bit more about the world and others around her.

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Post Number: 5
Word Count: 684

kyragoldtalon
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Construction and Commerce (Blood Raid) Aug 27, 2019 23:22:16 GMT -5

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Post by kyragoldtalon on Aug 27, 2019 23:22:16 GMT -5

It took her a couple of trips back and forth, but eventually Ky'Laurel was able to gather up a sizeable pile of sand. Over the course of her trips, it had grown into a tiny hill in the upper portion of her cavern, just far enough away from the lava pool to not start melting right then and there. She ended up coming home to hungry meowlers every time, so she figured a trip to the Smiley Sands and back to the better part of a 'day'... or, roughly that long. Ky was making sure to take extra steps to avoid the campground. The tent she had traded for was already staining red from the soft sand.

Getting the sand back to her lair was, surprisingly, the easy part. Even though she knew that heat plus sand were the components to make the shining shards, she really wasn't certain how much heat was needed. And, as it turned out, putting clumps of sand next to the lava the same way she did her rocks was not enough. Frustratingly, nothing happened to the sand, no matter how long Ky waited for a change to happen. The next best thing would be to throw it into the hot lava, but Ky wasn't sure she would be able to get it back out... after all, she wasn't built to swim in the stuff.

There had to be a way she could get more heat onto the sand without tossing it into a place it would be irretrievable from... her thoughts kept flitting back to the Truth or Dare game, and how one blobling had demonstrated the ability to make fire grow with just the use of his wings. That was a possibility, but it would be a while before she was able to do something like that.

Thankfully, trying to create shinesand wasn't the only project she had to work on. When things got to frustrating inside of the cavern, she was able to go outside and tend to the two little seeds she had planted outside the entrance. Gardening was much easier work, possibly thanks to the fact that it seemed to be a hobby shared by a number of bloblings. There was plenty of information out there on the EB that told Ky how to properly take care of seeds. They seemed to like water, and mineral-y soil was good for them too. Ky was sure to take a few of her failed shinesand attempts and add them to the ground the mystery seeds were planted in, hoping the added minerals would do the little baby plants some good.

Somewhere off on a near yet distant mountainside, a smashed and gnarled group of seeds were taking just as well to their own plot of land...

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Post Number: 6
Word Count: 464

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Construction and Commerce (Blood Raid)

Post by kyragoldtalon on Aug 16, 2019 16:10:32 GMT -5

Post by kyragoldtalon on Aug 16, 2019 17:11:05 GMT -5

Post by kyragoldtalon on Aug 16, 2019 21:58:57 GMT -5

Post by kyragoldtalon on Aug 17, 2019 23:48:41 GMT -5

Post by kyragoldtalon on Aug 21, 2019 22:45:00 GMT -5

Post by kyragoldtalon on Aug 27, 2019 23:22:16 GMT -5