Ash and Bone

Anju

It has been some time, but Anju has been understandably busy with new rulers, new duties, and most recently a gigantic moth. With all the stress of her recent life, the shrine is a welcome moment of solitude for the Captain. A chance to sit and reflect, to steady her breathing and lower her walls, eager to see her chosen herald again after so long.

Alongside the bow before her she lays her offering - little wooden arrows with suction cups on their ends, a playful take on the ammunition usually meant for children but accompanied by a few larger ones that suspiciously fit her own bow. Definitely unused. She hopes Ludo will entertain itself with them while she is at the shrine.

“Ludo, I’ve finished my tasks. I hope you haven’t disappeared as well?” Only ever here does the teasing in her tone find place and purpose, and though she’d surely feel as lost as the others if Ludo vanished the same way Safrin has, she selfishly hasn’t lingered on the idea because she is too grateful her herald hasn’t.

- - -

Anju has received a quest to upgrade the following here: Dial Tone

Type: Dark | Style: Offensive | Level: Basic
Scorch Recurve | A bow infused with volcanic ash. A rich, dark colour, it is always warm to the touch. Any arrow drawn with the bow will ignite on release.

She must:

1. Complete a thread collecting a bone from the Boneyard in Hak Etme.
- underbelly of the world
2. Complete a thread practicing archery at sunrise. (This may be a Training thread, but it doesn't have to be).
- Chase the Sun Across the Sky
3. Complete a thread hunting fauna of your choice with the Scorch Recurve bow.
- Arcadian Wilds
4. Complete a thread making black saltwater taffy.
- iso understanding

I am a kamikaze
Lonelier than a patriarch labeled liar

ludo Braved the forests, braved the stone Braved the icy winds and fire Braved and beat them on my own Ludo has not disappeared, no, but there is something decidedly off about its presence. It doesn't appear visibly, though the bow and the offering is schlorped into some void or another so the herald can do its work. There's a sound like the spectral equivalent of someone screwing up a paper ball of trash, and Anju's bow is almost belched back at her, complete and upgraded as promised. "You said you would bring taffy," Ludo informs her coldly. Anju has completed her quest and receives the following: Type: Dark | Style: Offensive | Level: Upgraded Scorch Recurve | A bow infused with bone and volcanic ash. A rich, dark colour, it is always warm to the touch. Any arrow drawn with the bow will ignite on release.

Anju

Anju had brought taffy, but she had assumed it to be part of the quest requirements, not her offering. Only when the bow is belched back at her without having taken the candy with it does she realize her mistake - and though Ludo is quite foreboding, Anju is a devout woman, and merely bows her head in apology instead of defending herself.

Her hands bring the taffy forward in her open palms to show to Ludo. “Apologies, I thought they were for the bow, not for an offering. They may not be as delicious as the first batch though.” She is certainly no professional candy maker, but she idly wonders if Ludo will be able to tell the difference. What did deity tastebuds look like? Food was often a shrine offering…

“Thank you, Ludo.” She itches - as always - to ask what she can do for her herald, but it feels presumptuous for once. They’re in peace times are they not? Even with Safrin’s absence? And given she has already done a bang up job with the mothman, perhaps she’s not the one Ludo needs for those sorts of things.

~FIN

I am a kamikaze
Lonelier than a patriarch labeled liar