The task to gather a voidborn flora or fauna from Halo was one that Hadama had decided to take for himself since his Academy resistance made it more comfortable for him to tolerate the frigid temperatures that the northern region boasted even in Longheat. He had sent Noah a letter requesting his friend's aid as a guide, though the changes wrought by the tidal waves that had washed across Caido had not left many old landmarks standing if they were anywhere near the coast.
Or were now underwater, as the case may be.
He met Noah outside the Citadel gates, where the waters of the bay very nearly allowed him entry to the city of Snowcloak itself. He could not hide his weariness, but he still held himself with a calm and determined gravitas as he bore up under the rebuilding of Torchline and the pursuit of this quest to protect his people. He carried his trident with him, but he hoped it would not be needed today. More important was the waterproof box upon his back that made swimming awkward, but held what he would need to bring their quarry safely home to Torchline.
Or at least, he hoped it would be safely contained.
"Noah," he greeted when the other man emerged. "How is your family?"
01-22-2024, 07:34 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-22-2024, 07:35 PM by Noah.)
Noah was always keen to show up on time to his friends’ summons, and today was no different. The Longheat sun made the snow and water glitter, and it appeared peaceful and calm out across the tundra. Glacier eyes met the merking’s form when he appeared, and the hunter closed the distance between them with ease, though tried to keep his boots dry and out of the water by crouching at the edge for a moment. ”Hadama, hello.”Noah said as he greeted his friend with a firm handshake. ”They’re good. The twins stumbled upon a shrine under the care of their grandparents—“ a statement that sparked a sidelong glance of you know how grandparents are towards the merking ”—and aged. I don’t know who they met, they can’t quite recall it.” Noah said. ”But they’re good. We’re adjusting. It’s tough going from babies to kids in such short notice.” He chuckled some, low and breathy as a cloud of mist puffed from his lips and entered the chilly air.
With pleasantries and greetings out of the way, the men could begin the work on what they were together to accomplish. ”So Rae granted this quest for Torchline? What was it like, meeting them?” Noah asked, recalling the information from the two letters Hadama had sent. It was curious that Rae had cleansed and healed Flora’s wound. He had only heard little details of it, and when he saw her in the wilds it hadn’t presented itself in the forefront — meaning, the Doubletake had looked as Noah had always known her to look, which was put together. the forsaken
One could almost imagine that Hadama had arrived at one of Torchline's white-sand beaches on a day like this, if not for the ice floes bobbing along in the water a little ways out from their meeting place. The Tidebreaker pulled the water beneath him up so Noah would not have to crouch down quite so far, taking his friend's hand in greeting and gratitude as they caught up for a moment.
"Ah." The news of the twins caught him entirely off-guard and Hadama blinked, at a loss for words as he digested this turn of events. "That sounds... difficult," he rumbled in agreement, slow and careful with his words as he tried to imagine such an abrupt change to a parent's life.
Hadama was sunk in contemplation until Noah pulled him back from his thoughts and he began to swim slowly alongside the shore, heading away from the Citadel where the Wardens had likely cleared the void-touched threats to their people already. "Rae is..." he searched for the right words, unhurried but ultimately unable to settle in a simple adjective and choosing instead: "...formidable. They were not pleased with these new predators." He looked at the Forsaken from his lower perspective. "They were not a comforting god. But I am grateful for their decision to help Torchline." Neither was Vi said to be a comforting or comfortable god, either, as the mermanta considered Noah's own allegiance and experiences pursuing it.
"I would like to find one of the frostblooms today. It will be easier to keep contained until all of Rae's requirements are met," he explained to his friend and guide as they moved further into the water-logged Tundra.
Keeping pace with the merking, Noah was careful to stay on the shore rather than attempt to wade in the frigid floodwaters. ”If they weren’t formidable, I’d say you were a fool.” Noah taunted with a slight Cheshire grin towards his friend. But a little chuckle dismissed it for the seriousness that it was. ”Vi has never been comforting either. Their worries are far above our mortality.” Even his immortality. ”But it makes sense they are concerned for their world.”
”I don’t imagine they will be that hard to find.” Noah said with a frown. Given how quickly the hunting group had stumbled upon them before was not promising fortune for the Citadel, but enough of a promise for these two today. In fact, it was only about a half-hour in to their trek that Noah saw the first signs of vibrating, violent purple. the forsaken
You know how sometimes you step outside and the cold just catches your lungs? And you cough and gasp and desperately try to inhale more oxygen?
Congratulations! You probably just wandered into a breath snatch!
Yeah, that glittering cloud of glittering frost wasn’t friendly either. Who knew?
You’ve encountered a Breath Snatch. This counts as an uncommon creature encounter for the purposes of levelling, but does not count as a Random Event for levelling or MP. There will be no further admin/re intervention. If you choose to follow this creature, you do so at your own risk, however, just having it in this thread is enough to satisfy your levelling requirements. (You may not kill this creature without admin permission. ) Breath Snatch (uncommon) - A minor Halo nuisance, the Breath Snatch is a small elemental spirit that lingers in open areas on cold days. They're easiest to notice on bright days, a concentrated cloud of glittering frost lingering in the air, but if not noticed and walked into, the elemental will disperse in a puff of freezing air, often freezing the breath in the lungs of whomever was unlucky enough to come across it. It doesn't seem to possess enough sentience to be truly malevolent. Large groups of the spirits are rare, but potentially deadly if walked into unknowingly.
Noah's taunting drew a sideways glance from the mermanta, and a quirk of his lips. He inclined his head in acknowledgment of the teasing, but the demigod's words were no lie. Only a fool, indeed, would not be awed by the great old gods. And no one living had more experience with one of them than Noah. "Indeed. I would not want to be on their bad side," he murmured with his usual gift for understatement as they traveled the frozen and half-swamped Tundra in companionable silence broken by occasional quiet conversation.
Until it was broken by the curious glitter of floating frost beneath the Longheat sun. Hadama paused to admire the play of light through the strange phenomenon--
And then coughed as the elemental menace floated gleefully into his face. Quick as thought he dived beneath the water, expelling the frozen air out through his gills and drawing water into his lungs to ease them. His cold resistance from the Academy saved him from serious pain, but the discomfort was very real as he called out from beneath the safety of the waves: What was that?
The glitter in the air is unmistakable. Noah, above the water, lets out a chuckle from the depths of his belly. Had they not been on a mission for Torchline, that demanded seriousness, nor were they on the tundra with void touched creatures at any turn, Noah may have laughed harder and deeper from Hadama's surprise. But it made sense. So he only chuckled.
A breath snatch. Common. Nothing to fear. The hunter reassured the mer, waiting for him to surface again before moving on towards the frostblooms they were looking for. How many of the plants do you need? Noah asked, pausing again several paces away from the plant that he swore was pulsing with violent purple energy.
the forsaken
Hadama would have done the same if Noah had earned the attentions of a friendly octopus or mischievous Hel in Torchline, and he didn't seem to mind the demigod's subdued laughter. He swam a little ways ahead before surfacing again, just in case, and shook his steely hair back in a wet cascade before matching pace with Noah again.
Hmm. It is aptly named, he rumbled, clearing his throat of a last few ice crystals.
They approached the clump of frostblooms and all humor faded from the mermanta's eyes as he considered the corrupted flora. The grouping had an evil glow about it, and the chill that radiated from the beautiful but cursed petals seemed to penetrate even Hadama's cold resistance. Three, to be safe. Alive. And it was clear from his tone that he was not happy about that stipulation. No more than that. The rest, they could destroy as Vi had bade them.
He worked the box off his back and opened it carefully on the edge of the snowy shore so it would stay dry. A sturdy terrarium of thick glass rested inside, and he unlocked the top to open it, ready to receive the frostblooms with a chunk of native soil to keep them alive until all other ingredients were gathered.
We can use our weapons to dig beneath them, he suggested, nodding to Noah's spear and his own trident. Getting them inside will be the most difficult part. It would require coordination and balance, but they had enough experience working together that he was confident they could manage.
With the breath snatch behind them, they could move forward with the task at hand.
The merking gave his thoughts and instructions, and the hunter listened carefully. Noah kept his eyes on the flower — could it be called that at this point? — as Hadama talked, focusing on the way it pulsed threateningly. ”Deimos said not to touch them, so we will need to be careful about that.” He informed, reminding the mer about their time destroying the blooms on the tundra but a few weeks prior to this endeavor.
Taking his spear, Noah moved forward. He sunk the sunlit tip into the frozen earth and, to no one’s surprise, the god-touched weapon sliced through the permafrost as if it were warm butter. He continued to slice around the plant, trying to get around it wide enough that it would still fit in the box Hadama had prepared, but that it also wouldn’t be close enough for him to accidentally touch. the forsaken
"Indeed," Hadama agreed soberly with Noah's admonition to avoid physical contact. Even within the protection of the terrarium and its carrier-box, the mermanta was not looking forward to transporting the plants back to Torchline and having them so near to himself even for the short time his Aquaportation would require.
He held back and out of the way as Noah moved around the clump with his spear, marking out a good section of the corrupted blossoms to fit in the terrarium. Once the spear had done its work in freeing the plants from the permafrost the merman raised himself up on a pillar of water to get a better angle with his trident as he reached out with the long handle and pushed the triple tines into the channel the sunspear had cut, then levered the weapon beneath the clump. He waited for Noah to get into position with his spear again to steady their burden before carefully shifting the flowers towards the terrarium like Caido's most dangerous variant of an egg-and-spoon race.
It took both weapons and several near-drops to finagle the foliage into the terrarium at the ends of their weapons, and the mermanta was tense as a wire with concentration as the clump of permafrost and its wicked inhabitants finally fell the last few inches into its new home. Only then did Hadama's jaw relax so he could nod gratefully to Noah. "Thank you. The rest, we can destroy." The fewer void-touched plants and animals the better as far as he was concerned.
A merking and a demigod arrive on the tundra to accomplish a team building activity.
The End.
Just kidding.
Kind of.
Noah brought his spear back some to allow room for Hadama to work. He used the tip of it to help steady the bloom as the king lifted it. Each time the plant almost toppled over Noah voiced a hissing sound, and pings of relief each time it steadied rained over him until finally the plant was secure within its holding box.
”There we go.” Noah said as the plant finally rested within the box. Using the tip of his spear to close it—still careful to keep himself away—Noah then turned to its sisters. Nodding towards his friend, Noah then sent an arc of fire at the remaining plants and their roots. He burned and broiled until there was nothing but water and ash.
Departing was easy between them, and Noah promised to meet Hadama soon for their regular standing trainings. Then, each of them used their respective teleportation abiliities to go to their homes.
Fin the forsaken
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