[God Quest] You cut first and I cut back

She heads out of Torchline immediately after sending off a few letters, pulling up everyone she brought with her and the ship included to make port elsewhere. A hinderance, but she'd be damned if she'd be caught gaining any benefit from Torchline's trade and people, definitely not tonight while everything's still so fresh.

Almost out of habit she directs the captain to a familiar port, and if the supplies are more scarce, they'll fucking make due for now. Leaving behind Wyatt's complaints she shoves her hands in her pockets, ill-equipped for the chill here, not having planned on going this route. Luckily the edge of anger and a quick pace keep her warm, and a few signpost skips later, she's finally slowing to a crouch before a familiar shrine.

It feels strange, to stand here without Smooches, but the dogs are all holed up in the desert tents, not having the heart to leave the pup here after all. "Hey, Frey," she murmurs, drawing in a deep breath, trying to find steadiness rather than bringing all her shit to the god's doorstep. Her quiver and bow are slung on her back, and from her back pocket she slips free a section of allogator skin that she's had fashioned into a bracelet. She deposits it on the shrine, along with some of the meat cured into jerky. "Took longer than I thought," she murmured, her lip pulling into one side of her face as she tips her chin deeper to her chest. "Allogator proved real tough, but I've completed what you set out for me." And after all of it, she does feel sharper.

---

Quest received here I know a few things a man oughta know

For upgrade her Pencil Sharpener
The Pencil Sharpener | An earthen quiver that sharpens any arrow placed inside.
Type: Dark | Style: Offensive | Level: Upgraded | Cost: Action

1. Complete a thread sharpening a weapon by hand (an arrow, a blade etc.), considering the effort and finesse needed to perfect the edge.
[SE] I'm brave in fixed amounts - sharpens a knife by hand and struggles a bit to do so, especially when not paying full attention

2. Complete a thread using the weapon in 1. to hunt something with a thick hide. Allogators and fyrhunds are great choices for this!
[PQ] Only question left is who's gonna break first, me or the dawn? - used the knife from #1 to blind the Allogator and help her skin it at the end

3. Complete a training thread with the Pencil Sharpener, focusing on a particular area on an opponent (e.g. headshots/leg shots only).
[Training] just a trim at the tips - training thread focusing on firing quiver sharpened arrows at Thalassa's legs

4. Complete a thread drawing blood (her own or someone else's) with an arrow sharpened by the Pencil Sharpener, applying the blood to the quiver.
Bittersweet dreams keep me up at night - draws her own blood with a quiver-sharpened arrow digging out a splinter

Accepted receive +20 and roll with advantage at all shrines. Include this at the bottom of all shrine posts.

Colt

Hole in your heart with some good aim

code by sky

Frey

"If it wasn't tough it wouldn't have been worth doing. Isn't that how the saying goes?" Frey's voice sounds like the rustling of leaves in a Leafchange breeze this season, and when they arrive at the shrine it's in a blaze of colour and with a lingering chill in the air, like the promise of Deepfrost in the not too distant future. Not ideal for Colt's choice of attire, but then nature will be nature however you choose to dress.

Reaching to collect the allogator bracelet and the jerky, they slip the former onto their wrist and the latter between their teeth, sweeping around Colt to examine the Pencil Sharpener on her back. "It is looking good," they declare, "and so are you." Their fingers only brush the quiver briefly, leaving behind the scent of clove and cinammon, but it's enough to finish the blessing she had started with her own hard work.

"There." They smile toothily around the jerky. "Sharp as a tack."

---

Colt has completed her quest and has upgraded her Pencil Sharpener to mastered!

The Pencil Sharpener | An earthen quiver that sharpens any arrow placed inside.
Type: Dark | Style: Offensive | Level: Mastered | Cost: Action

A fresh chill rolls up Colt’s spine at Frey’s arrival. Nothing cruel, just the cool wind of them slipping right past her clothes and reaching under her skin, breezing past all her layers, even the less physical ones, with a disarming ease. Their voice carries that usual language of leaves, patient and sighing all at once. The reminder of a belief Colt holds tightly earns an answering smile, humoring her own struggles and the perspective to step outside them and appreciate what they provide her when all is said and done. ”Too true,” she admits to Frey, gaze rising to the smear of color that is her god’s form. It’s a stunning testament to the beautiful display of change.

The slip of scales and the pull of meat folding into the image of autumn standing before her seems fitting, as if the earth is just retaking what it had loaned some shape to for a time. Death and decay worn not like dark robes, but sunsets blazing a line over the land, rich with the potential for new growth, in time. Colt inhales a deep, steadying breath as Frey moves around her, head tilting faintly into the praise, the way a dog leans into the hand that pets it. Normally, she lets compliments bead up and roll off her, less skin than varnish at this point, but she’s grateful for something that feels kind tonight.

”Thank you,” she says with a newfound steadiness, her own teeth flashing among the gratitude. ”I’ll be mindful that it can pierce thicker hides now,” she murmurs, which is to say anyone too thin won’t stand a chance. Tipping her hat in farewell, Colt steps away, falling into a familiar route to the House to see a friend about a bed for the night.

[FIN]

Colt

Hole in your heart with some good aim

code by sky