#wh: garigill clan

[mistral-golem]

The Search

This is the continuation of the response to a hatchling letter sent by Dewdrop of the Garigill Clan. (Read part one here) @ashpinewidow owns Dewdrop and her mother, Lan. Ogun hails from @tirnaillclan​! I won him in their giveaway :3c Veriphon hails from @theclanofeffort​!

Ogun and Veriphon had been exiting the larder, planning on making their way to the tea house to relax after a long hunt, when they were stopped by a frantic Artorius and Sianadh. Before they could even ask what was wrong, Artorius told them the whole story about the letter he had received and the danger his family was in. After hearing his plight, there was no way Ogun and Veriphon could turn down Artorius’ request to have them help track Lan down.

“Of course we will help you! We can leave right now before it gets too dark out. Do you know which path she may have set out on?” Ogun spoke quickly, the urgency of the situation reflected in the tone of his voice. A look of relief washed over Artorius’ face, “Thank you!! Oh thank you so much! I fear this will be a long journey, we should make sure to gather suppli-” “No need! We can find everything we need in the wild, stopping to get supplies now would just waste what precious little time we have! Quickly! Take us to where she left so we can find her before she reaches her clan!” Veriphon interrupted. Artorius, unaccustomed to being talked to so rudely, stared at the Mirror for a moment with a look of disdain. This was short-lived however, as Artorius realized that Veriphon was right and this was no time to start an argument. “Okay, follow me. I will take you to where she left.” the Pearlcatcher said, and the group of four headed to the eastern border of Windsong Haven, towards the Ashfall Waste.

The edges of the sky began burning a soft orange and pink when the group reached the border between the Windswept Plateau and the Ashfall Waste, signaling that the night would soon be upon them. “Th… this where she left me… sh… she said she was lo… looking forward to an ea… easy journey through the Ember… Emberglow Hearth.” Artorius’ struggled to speak, tears welling up in his eyes. Being in the place where he may have seen his mate for the very last time was almost too much for him to bear. “Come on, old silverscale, we don’t have time for your blubbering while mother is in danger!!!” Sianadh shouted at his father before rushing off into the Emberglow Hearth. Before he got too far away, Veriphon awkwardly shouted after him, “Ummmm… actually it’s THIS way!” Sianadh turned abruptly to see his companion pointing in a more northerly direction, where a very faint set of pearlcatcher prints could be seen trailing off in the direction of the Shifting Expanse. Saying nothing, and looking quite sheepish, Sianadh trotted back towards the others and followed as Veriphon and Ogun led the way.

It was fairly easy to track Lan’s path through the Emberglow Hearth, they merely had to look for her paw prints that were left behind in the freshly cooled lava. In areas of older lava, they were able to track her by seeing where she had picked her favorite flowers, speckled tiger lilies, leaving some leaves and stems behind. Luckily for them, her love of flowers made it easy to figure out where she had been.

By the time they reached the Shifting Expanse, night had fallen. Luckily for the group, however, the stars and moon illuminated the silvery sand of the expanse quite well. It did prove to be a little more difficult to follow Lan’s path though, as any prints that had been left by her were swept away by the wind across the sand. The group managed to pick up her trail after Ogun spotted little bits of blood soaked into the parched ground. It seemed that Lan had injured herself while trying to pick a flower from the top of a cactus. The blood trail didn’t last too long, but soon after it ran out they came across several bits of cactus drained of their juices, resting in the sand. The group concluded that this was the work of Lan, she had to have been getting thirsty in the heat of the desert and the cacti were a great source of fluids.

The group reached the Sunbeam Ruins as the night began to fade. They were all feeling disheartened that they had not caught up with Lan yet though. Artorius and Sianadh were starting to get frantic at this point, and their panicking caused several delays as they set off on a few false trails among the ruins. At long last, Ogun and Veriphon were able to help them get back on track and make it to the Viridian Labyrinth just as the sky began to blush with the faintest hints of dawn. This is where the Mirrors’ skills as trackers would truly come in handy. Ogun and Veriphon stayed focused on picking out the subtle patterns of dislodged pebbles, bruised grasses, and broken leaves and twigs Lan had left in her wake.

After some time, they heard someone call out to them, “PAPA! SIANADH! What are you doing here!?!?” A light blue and green shape hurtled out of the brush, slamming into Artorius and then Sianadh, trapping them both in a strong embrace. They blinked a few times before realizing that Dewdrop had found them! What was she doing there?? How had she escaped?? They had so many questions for her but all they could do was return the embrace and laugh, before becoming somber and sullen once more.

“Where’s your mother? Why isn’t she with you?” Artorius asked his daughter. “With me? I thought she would be with you! Didn’t you get my letter?” Dewdrop said, quickly becoming concerned. “Yes, we got your letter but it was too late, mother had already left to go back to Garigill…” Sianadh replied, their father was too busy fighting back tears to speak. “We set out to catch up to her before she reached the clan but it seems we were too late as well…” he continued, his words trailing off as his sister put together the pieces of what had happened. “Oh no!! If she made it to Garigill already, she’s surely been captured! We have to save her!!! We must hurry and get there before it’s too late!!” Dewdrop shouted anxiously, and the two Mirrors and Pearlcatchers nodded at her, indicating that she should lead the way. They swiftly began their task anew, this time with a more difficult goal - rescuing Lan. The closer they got to Garigill, the stronger Artorius and Sianadh’s anxiety became.

The feeling overwhelmed them when the group arrived at Garigill to find it devoid of life. No dragons or beasts came to greet them, no one was in their homes, it was as if everyone who used to live there had vanished without a trace. Though they had met up with Dewdrop, and were glad that she was safe at least, the entire group felt dread and uneasiness about what would come next. 

[mistral-golem]

A hatchling letter has arrived from Dewdrop of @ashpinewidow‘s clan!

Bad things are going down... 

Here is the aftermath of Artorius receiving it. (will link to the post after I make it)