Frost Flowers, In This Heat? BY Morrigan

Wholly uninterested in spending any time walking, once her sister had all but commanded they do so, Mirage shifted. Taking on the appearance of a small, yet gaudily colored bird (a splendid fairywren to be even more specific). Her own birds had hung back from the group, perching from a distance, but never overly far. Especially the one containing the spirit that she'd cast out on the way to this adventure. Small, beady little eyes took the group in, seeking out the best to perch upon. She'd not want to torment her niece or nephew - they suffered enough being children of Morrigan, after all. Nor did Mirage truly care for children - even if neither were truly children any longer. That still left plenty of choices, but she did not wish to perch on whomever might trudge at the back. She'd miss all the action at that rate. No, she had to find someone that would be close to Morrigan. If not Morrigan herself.

A few choice scenarios running through her head lead to her final decision: the white-haired man who seemed to have information. And what better place to be than perched upon the one who'd divulge the needed information. Surely that meant he'd not lag behind. Decision made in mere moments from the time she took on her bird form, Mirage flew herself to the man and settled on his head. She let out a cheep that might have sounded as if she were proud of herself, though truly it was pure, unadulterated amusement.

in this post
Mirage shapeshifts into a splended fairywren and lands on Ragnar (with Grace's permission! <3), bc she's a lazy b and wants a free ride.

The triumph of his quest for answers still rang loudly through him. There was no way to know if the girl was right but they could only trust it, being the only coherent and useful sounding bit of information at their disposal. No one else seemed keen to share. He pulled focus by way of clearing his throat, the action causing a wisp of cloud to form briefly in front of him. "There is a frozen lake north of this spot. " He started explaining as he walked forward, weaving towards the front of their troop in an attempt to catch up to the Witch. 

"I am told the flowers ar-" He stopped when a brilliant blue wren landed atop his head. He hadn't seen her transform but based on what he'd seen so far, it appeared that the azure haired mage was now the very same one perched atop of his head. He rolled his eyes up, with half a mind to shoo her away when he thought better of it. He knew all too well the consequences of denying even the most trivial daliance to a determined mage. Instead he pointed forward as he finally fell in step with their host. "...the flowers are inside of a nearby cave." He chanced a look over his shoulder, aware that the pace his set wasn't incredibly attainable given his size compared to others. He slowed as best he could. 

[color=#419dc1]" IN THIS POST"[/color] Ragnar tells everyone the location he learned (he hopes it's right) and starts walking

Asha was rather disappointed that she hadn't gotten any information on her little trip to the Green House, even though she had been delighted to see all the pretty flowers they had in there. Perhaps if she'd been able to bring back useful information to her mother it would have gone towards their rather tense relationship. It seemed the only one of them to get any useful information had been the man Ragnar. There was something about him that left Asha feeling a bit intimidated.

Once Morrigan said they'd walk, Asha, at least temporarily, decided to change into a lynx. It was much better suited to running up a mountain and still keep up with everyone than she'd have been on her own. She fell into step with the others and tried not to get in anyone's way.

IN THIS POST Asha changes to a lynx and follows everyone up the mountain

Hermione had grumpily trudged her way back, after having discovered nothing of value to their little quest. The last thing she had wanted was to feel like a spare part, but the spirit within urged her forward. It filled her thoughts with dedication to the duty in which she had signed herself up for and would see through to the end. Besides, this wasn't about her preening.

Not only had she been intrigued by the witch's favour, but she wondered if perhaps she would discover a way forward in her own goals. It was a long shot, given that these flowers likely had nothing to do with casting out undead hordes, but she had been short of leads, as of late.

The witch ordered that they walked and talked, and so she listened as the only member of their group to glean anything of interest, a pale haired man who had the look of someone who had seen many a battle, began to speak. Began to, for another in their group transformed herself into a rather gaudy blue wren proceeded to land on his head. She smirked in amusement as the man was able to finish his sentence regardless.

Well, that's one way to get a free ride!, she quipped before furrowing her brow in thought. Inside a nearby cave? Was that all? It just seems too simple. Mione was cautious by nature, and something seemed...not off so much, but she couldn't put a finger on it.

As they continued to walk, she noted that the girl had transformed herself into a lynx in order to follow. She really needed to learn how to shapeshift herself, but it wouldn't be as easy as that. Bloody useful though!

Zachary listened and watched, knowing he couldn't shapeshift into anything else, although he one day hoped to achieve such things. It wasn't the reward he was looking for, but he could learn it from someone else at a later date. Right now he needed to focus on what they were doing so that he could get what he came for. Knowledge. Just as it had always been. Seeing one hitch a ride on the Warden with them was amusing in a way, though he was pulled from any musings about it when Hermione spoke of how easy it seemed.

"Likely because it's not." Zach responded easily. He was wary by nature. Having gone through the things he had, it was only natural. "Anything worth having is always more difficult than it seems at first to get. I didn't expect someone wise enough to realize it to be among us. Aside from a certain few." Meaning Morrigan, Keiran, and Mirage. It was a simple way of saying he was at least surprised by her observation rather than bothered. Perhaps even a little relieved there was someone who noticed it said something as well.

Still, he followed everyone up the mountain with his staff out, ready for the worst. It would be best to be prepared if nothing else. Better to expect to the worst than have it surprise you. For that reason, he cast protection magic on himself with a push of magic through his veins. The feeling of coolness washing over him let him know that the spell worked and now he just had to keep it going. It was for the best that he keep it up for now, until they got back at best.

IN THIS POST; zach agreed with hermione and then cast a protection ward spell over himself.

Morrigan's Post

The last thing that Morrigan wanted was for this information to turn into a wild goose chase, but as Ragnar had been the only one to come back with even remotely useful information, it was the only option available to them. She detested failure, at any cost she was determined not to go back empty handed. So far the group was proving to be relatively capable, though she wasn't going to hold her breath or anything.

As they arrived at the cave entrance she peered in, she could already see a fork in the path a way into the cave, there was no telling how many paths they'd have to choose between as they ventured further in. Then again perhaps all roads led to the same place, it was really anyone's guess. She looked around and once everyone had a chance to catch their breaths she looked over at them.

Looks like we may have some decisions to make as we venture in, your guess is as good as mine and there's always the chance that all roads lead to the same place, I only know that as far as I can see back in the dark it appears to fork. You should look for a glowing light as you go that will indicate if we are on the right trail or not. You'll want to be careful as we get close, as I said it is said the flowers have the ability to put people to sleep. She sighed, with her luck it would put everyone but her to sleep and then she'd have to deal with it all.

Kieran's Post

Kieran kept pace with his sister, that has shifted into a Lynx and both of them did their best to keep up with Morrigan, just a step or two behind. He felt bad how bad the relationship was between mother and Asha, especially since he had such a good relationship with her. Perhaps this quest would give them a chance to bond, though there was also a chance it could make things worse. He did his best to dwell on the positive.

As they arrived at the cave, Kieran listened to his mother and nodded at her words. The cave didn't exactly look welcoming, but that was entirely besides the point, they were going in regardless.

I say we go left to start. He had a feeling about left, but then perhaps he was just tired and overthinking it, but left felt like a good place to start, so once they were all on the same page, Kieran headed into the cave with Morrigan and Asha and assumed the rest would follow.

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OOC

The cave is a bit windy but ultimately if you follow glowy lights then at the end you'll find the flowers, when you do, you will need to roll a check to see if your character falls asleep or not.

/roll d20

Evens your character is fine
Odds your character goes all Dorthy Gale and falls asleep in the field of flowers, there's no place like home, there's no place like home, no but seriously asleep are you


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In This Post

They have reached the mouth of the cave. It is windy with more than one path. They have entered and are going to the left and will be keeping a look out for glowy lights.

Once they reached the cave Asha was somewhat relieved, she only hoped the information was good and they weren't following lies or bad information. She knew what it meant to get these flowers and she didn't want to let her mother down. She was doing everything she could to look competent and brave as they made their way there, anything to not piss off mother for once.

As mother spoke, Asha decided it was time to change back to human for this leg of the journey, though she was admittedly low key terrified of what else might be in the cave. This was her first real quest or mission or anything really, after all she'd only been on the planet roughly five years despite her sixteen year old appearance. She stayed close to Kieran as they entered the cave.

Anything else that lives in caves that I should be worried about Kieran? It was half a rhetorical question, she knew of some things that might be in a cave and honestly she was scared enough she didn't need to hear about any more. After some lefts and rights, keeping the glowy lights always in their field of vision, things opened up quickly and they were suddenly flowers.

Asha walked a ways in and felt fine, she smiled.

Wow, I've never seen anything like it before!!!!

Kieran's Post

Kieran was really good at spotting all the glowy lights, at least most of the time. They definitely made good time going through the cave and for the most part didn't see anything dangerous, just mushrooms, the occasional nug, a few bats, all harmless. He had considered if there might be anything more sinister guarding the flowers, or living within them, but he pushed that out of his mind for now. They were prepared should anything like that come up.

Asha had gotten ahead of him and Morrigan a bit, he tired to catch up but suddenly they had emerged into a wider part of the cave, covered in flowers. At first he was in awe, but soon he felt woozy and tired. Fuck, not this, not now, before he could even call out he felt himself collapsing to the floor.

Asha heard Kieran hit the ground and and over to him, calling his name, but it didn't mater, he was out completely, nothing she could do was going to wake him up.

It gave Mirage immense joy that the man did not see to care to unseat her from her perch upon him. She began preening with his hair as they walked, listening and vaguely keeping an eye on where they were at and the information that her ride had to convey.

There was a bit of chatting among the others, but Mirage didn't give much attention to the others. They had no useful information to offer. No more than she didn't already know, at least.

When they arrived at the cave, she finally let the white-haired man be. Swooping down off his neck and shifting into a warg. If there were to be trouble, one must always be prepared. And this place... It smells like death, she informed the party, a growling timbre behind her words.

Trotting behind Morrigan's children, Mirage kept a sharp eye on their surroundings. Keen to watch out for spiders or deepstalkers. They didn't need little things to worry about when there could be trouble in the mere thing they sought.

Entering the chamber with their treasure, however, presented interesting results. Mirage, herself - and to no great feeling of surprise - was fine. Asha'bellanar was even fine. The other child of her sister, however, crumbled to the floor like a useless pile of rocks.

Mirage flicked her tail, sitting down near the entrance to watch as others emerged into the chamber. Oh look, a disappointment. Her gaze, briefly, flicked to Morrigan though. I suppose he does take after you most.

in this post
Mirage rolled a 4 and is unaffected by the magic of the flowers. She sits at the entrance as a large, beautifully colored warg - mocking her sister.

[color=red]THIS THREAD IS CLOSED! Everyone, and I mean everyone involved, receives the reward. <3 This has given me some ideas on how to make quests quicker paced, and less like large group threads. Thank you all for being my guinea pigs![/color]