ARTIO

THE PLANT MASTER

She watched them as they came, quietly assessing.

Rift. She had been aware of him, even if he had never known her in whatever lives he had known, and her eyes narrowed slightly--in thought, not suspicion. He was... changed. His competency could not be doubted, however: the strength of power that pulsed in his Chrysoberyl was undeniable. Good.

Titanite, shambling in, more plant than animal but untrained. His focus hadn't aligned with his birth element, but perhaps she could make use of him regardless.

The Chorus, Artio's gaze drifting blankly to the rat. A hand raised as if to test the air, and a frown ticked at her features. This... was not a Gembound. But its magic was more than a Lesser, and... no, she sensed no Order on it. "I request honesty," she told it simply; the risk that it was somehow a Hive spy would grate on her if she had no answer.

Clementine: her form unfamiliar to Artio, fresh and young, her magic wholly untrained.

In her mind, she was sorting them. And when Marigold approached, equally untrained despite an ancient age, lacking wholly in magic of any form, she tentatively tagged her in the same category as Clementine.

Maw, whom she recognized, who'd helped her in the past, and the feline earned a nod of recognition here.

Fahl, likewise, and with another nod she greeted him. Neither he nor Maw bore magic that would specifically aid her cause, here, but they could serve other roles, she was certain--she was already thinking, considering what could be done with a little press of Earth magic.

Larkspur, and water had its place; Calamity, again tagged into the same category as Larkspur in her mind, despite the magical aura of plants clinging to it.

When Master Artio imagined there were enough of them, she cleared her throat and stood taller.

"Thank you all for your offer. It is time to regrow some of the damage done by Order." Artio knelt in a graceful whisper of leaf-clothing, her bark creaking softly. She set down the basket, gesturing to it. "I ask your aid. There are many ways to help. Till the earth. Enrich it with rot. Plant the seeds with your claws. Offer them warmth. Light. Water. Purge them of any infection." She paused, studying them.

They were competitive, weren't they? If she were correctly remembering Farina's wisdom, between her crustacean beloved's spitting snarls.

"In reward, I offer improvements to your forms, or augments, if you wish: the bark of trees, the thorns of vines, the blooms of wild roses. Or anything else you can imagine. Or..." Wooden fingers tapped hollowly at her lower torso as she considered. "Or I may teach you the magic of any plant spell you wish. Or the ability to discern Order from your own form of power. But... let us make a game of it. I know that planting seeds is hardly fun for many of you, as necessary as it may be."

She began to delicately point at them, one by one, as she stood.

"We will split you into three teams. They will be led by... You, you, and you." She pointed to Rift, Maw, and Fahl.

Then she began to sort them, carefully, by her perception of their power. The Chorus was difficult. They were powerful, but limited in movement, and their element didn't quite align; and she had enough leaders, for now. The rest were simple enough to split.

Rift's team would consist of Titanite and Clementine.
Maw's team, of Larkspur and Marigold.
And Fahl would lead The Chorus and Calamity.

"Whichever team accomplishes the most mending may choose two rewards per person, rather than merely one." She nodded to herself, and then crooked a bark-finger at Rift. "Please take your team to the trench. Order quite damaged the growth there with its infestation. The forest around it is still... processing the rot," she informed him, with a wince.

"Fahl, your trio I task with restoring the area around The Monarch. ...That is the giant silver mushroom fruit at the room's center, yes?" She graced him with the faintest smile before shifting her gaze to Maw.

"I do not think we were ever properly introduced, despite your past aid. Your name would be welcome but I do not require it, of course. Please take your team to The Eyes--the water pools. It will be quite safe. Check the cave walls there, and regrow what was destroyed."

Artio paused, studying the Gembounds before her. "If you have no questions, please begin. I will monitor your progress, and aid where needed. Take what you can carry of the seeds."

Gembounds are being split into three groups, as follows:

Rift, leading Titanite and Clementine, in restoring the area near The Fern Trench.
Maw, leading Larkspur and Marigold, in doing the same for The Eyes.
Fahl, leading Chorus and Calamity, in restoring the area near The Monarch.

Each Gembound should make one roll to prepare, restore, or otherwise help mend the area. There's no restrictions on the aid or type of roll that can be made. The next round will be posted at some point on September 2nd, so please try to get rolls in by the end of the 1st in your time zone.

At the end of the quest, in three rounds' time, the sum total of each teams' successful rolls will be tallied.

Each participant MUST roll in all three rounds in order to claim a reward, so as not to let down their team! The winning team's members can pick two rewards.

Reward options include a Minor Mutation, with some flexibility, in a plant-like theme, ex. a bark-like texture to the skin, leaf-like pelage, small thorns on the hide, floral scent, etc. Other options are any spell in the Plant category, or the Detect Radiation spell.

@Rift (Chorus) @Titanite @Clementine @Maw @Larkspur @Marigold @Fahl @Calamity

Clementine gave Maw an appreciative look and a whispered, "oh! That's so nice of you, thank you!" Remaining sat by this kind feline's side. At least until they were separated into different groups.

Clementine would cast an apologetic smile over her shoulder before toddling away to join her Rift and the team.

There was little she thought she could help with, seeing those gathered around her. They all looked like experts in nature and gardening, if their own floral appearances were anything to go by. Well, she supposed she could help the old fashioned way; digging and planting. Truthfully, she wasn't certain in what she'd need to look out for to protect the plants (other than her own hungry tummy).

She'd offer to help carry some of the seeds for her team before allowing herself to be led to the trench.

Once there, she'd find herself a spot of dead, less than thriving plants. With careful hooves, she'd dig out small divots for seeds to rest in. Only getting a handful done before the weight of hefting her own tusks began to strain her neck. Constantly looking down, having them snag on the uneven terrain; it was exhausting.

...Perhaps her team wouldn't mind if she took a little time to lay down, resting her heavy head on the soil with a long suffering sigh.

@Maw (half interaction)
(if this needs to be moved to a new thread in the trench please let me know! it was just getting close to the deadline for my timezone)

Maw stood in mild discomfort as Master Artio seemed to study them, or study something ambiguous about them. To Maw's surprise, this would become not some harrowing quest or daring adventure, but a game. A gardening game. Maw had never even conceived of such a thing. Her eyes would enlargen the way cats' eyes do when something is particularly interesting. This was sure to get her mind off of comets and humans for a while.

Maw would only offer a curt, albeit not upset nod to Clementine when the teams were chosen and they were separate. It might be hard for the freshly-made old girl to understand Maw's intentions or gauge her feelings, but that was how Maw was. Succinct. Blunt. Quiet. Usually.

To Artio's instructions, Maw would offer a similar nod, albeit one more visible and respectful. "Maw," she would introduce herself with her characteristic paw-to-chest technique to tell people where to apply the name.

Maw would bow a little at Artio's orders (what else was she supposed to do?) and then split off to find her teammates and survey their area. Her teammates: the little bird that had announced itself, and someone else. Meanwhile, the Eyes was a big pool of water—ideal for Maw's purposes. Her epic, ultimate strategy would be what she did best: copying the homework of Nature Itself. She knew where to pull the water from; the one thing she needed was a large plot of land prepared to be sprinkled. That was, if the back wall required such repairs.

"My team! Come!" The 3-foot tall cat would throw her fuzzy paw-hand up into the air. She would watch who came, and study their forms. That little bird knew how to fly, and Maw had watched many Lesser birds be quite useful in the dispersion of seeds. The other creature, Maw could not tell who or what they were, but they looked limber and quick, and any paws were good for digging. Once gathered, she would lead them to the Eyes.

Maw figured her game plan was simple. She could literally create storms and monsoons on command; it's what she did. She needed everyone to help with the rest of the process. "Larkspur? Can fly and drop seeds where needed. Wide area." Maw would use her paw-hands to assist with communication. Manna said she had a tendency to be too vague. To emphasize her point, Maw would take a small pawful of the collection of Artio's seeds she had taken and toss it in front of her so that the seeds would scatter wide. "Focus damaged areas. And..." Maw would turn to look at Marigold, pausing to offer them a chance to give her their name. "We dig." Maw would drop to her knees and demonstrate the kind of hole to dig to bury the scattered seeds in. "Look for good soil. Dark an wet." This, too, Maw would attempt to demonstrate. Plenty of the soil in Eridanus was rich and healthy, even after the various burnings and invasions. Perhaps even because of them. In less bountiful land, one had to plunge their fingers deep into the earth to upturn healthy soil. Finding it in Eridanus shouldn't be a problem.

"Give it, uh... space," Maw would also instruct, as she would attempt to find a space far enough away from the initial hole to bury the next seed. She struggled to find the words to describe why. What was a short way of explaining all of plant ecology? The ecology of the caves, and by extension the ecology of Earth after which they were modeled? Skies above. She couldn't get into any of that.

Best to just let the title of "team leader" speak for itself. They didn't need to follow her exactly, or follow her lead at all if they didn't want to. It would simply be wise. And Maw might glare at them a little if they screwed up especially bad—but she was working on that! Manna told her once that being judgmental was unnecessary because things tended to work themselves out. Manna had said this because he had struggled so hard to hold onto a fish (with his GIGANTIC JAGUAR JAWS adapted for fishing over TENS of cycles) that it had the chance to flounder out of his mouth and smack Maw dead in the face. And Maw had glared.

So maybe she wasn't working on it super hard, but she was trying.

@Clementine (really minor interaction)
@Larkspur (optional instruction from team leader)
@Marigold (optional instruction from team leader)

Calamity's approach drew a low, startled hiss from Marigold. It wasn't incomprehensible, but the fact that it appeared, unfathomably, to be alive, opened a deep pit in their guts. What?

But she'd been assigned to someone else, she noted with gratitude. She held her head low as she tailed behind the cat, eyes fixed on an unknown point ahead. Marigold had made an art of running on empty. As a result, she almost bumped into Maw as they reached their destination.

The Eyes. She remembered them, and they had stayed much the same. Her attention lingered a little too long on the still water, only to dart back to Maw a beat too late, staring blankly instead of giving a name.

But she could dig. She studied the ground, thin tongue flicking around the soil - could she smell good soil? Time to find out.

The level of attention they gave the task wasn't entirely necessary. They drifted from spot to spot, already aware of the best spots to dig, though not conscious of this knowledge. Marigold would seem like a natural.

@Maw (non)interaction

His tail curled with joy at being singled to lead. He hadn't thought himself worthy, but if Artio did, then his own confidence felt bolstered. Perhaps he was giving himself too little credit - he had tended and defended the Sanctuary for many cycles now.

Turning to his group, Rift lifted his head. "Okay, to the trench, then. Let's do this!" He looked to the two - Clementine and Titanite. Neither of which he recognized but there was something vaguely familiar in Titanite that he couldn't quite place. He stared for only a moment before leading the way onwards towards the trench.

Indeed, the growth here was suffering. It had once been something lush, with ferns as tall as trees, but many of them were reduced and wilting. He huffed at the sight and followed Clementine down, studying her for a bit as she began to dig into the soil. He had really been planning to just begin flourishing what was down here, but he realized that would leave the other two with, well, little to nothing to help with. They needed to work together.

The trenches she was digging were good - perfect spots to bury seeds (or spores), so he turned towards some of the newer growth fighting through and ran a paw over the soil. The sprouts rapidly began to grow, until a number of flowers and small shrubs were fruiting and flowering. He began to carefully collect fruits and seeds from the plants to bring them over the Clementine - perfect to busy into the holes she'd made.

He looked to the hybrid noticing her weariness. "Are you alright?" Concern flooded his expression, briefly forgetting about the plants. "Do you need any help?"

@Clementine (interaction)

The rat blinked as Artio trained her attention sharply upon it. The Chorus seemed to freeze under that stare, the simply sentence carrying weight, and might they detect, a threat? Hm, they did not blame her. They, too, were of a paranoid type. Which was why they did not particularly want to divulge this information in front of everyone, but ah...they would not risk her ire. At least nobody here seemed hostile.

"Our apologies, we are only cautious. This one simply speaks for us - we are The Chorus. Mycelia beneath your feet, invisible thread through the earth and trees, all throughout the forest - some of these cords are us. We are not of the white rot that blanketed this place, we are our own. We would like to see this cave healthy again." They had never, after all, seen it in its prime health. They had only seen small parts of Eridanus that had escaped the infection. They would like to see the cave flourish - it would benefit all of them.

The rat looked to Fahl and sidled up next to him, turning their attention towards the leader of their group. "We have roots near the Monarch. We shall begin ahead." Indeed, far away near the Monarch the Chorus began to get to work. There was a good amount of greenery there that had been damaged and nearly destroyed by the infection. They began to rapidly grow themselves into some of this rotting greenery, fruiting swiftly to begin breaking it down.

Meanwhile, the Consul looked towards Calamity, part of their attention still on the gembound they were following. "We have met. Another beyond the gembound form, it is good to lay eyes upon you now. At last." It was...beautiful. They had been able to get a good idea of its shape and construction before, but now it saw the color and the light and the greenery upon it - and yes the mushrooms there, that was from them! Small orange mushrooms that grew separately, but had come from their gift.

Having been around the caves for a decent while now, though not nearly enough to be considered anywhere close to ancient, Fahl wasn't unaccustomed to the sheer variety of Gembounds that existed, ranging from what he thought was relatively ordinary to the downright strange. Nevertheless, after a small bit of pride welled up in his chest at being entrusted a leadership role, even for such a mundane task as this, a sliver of confusion couldn't be entirely suppressed once properly taking in the forms of the two teammates assigned to him. Try as he might to recall anyone similar, experience couldn't fully account for either of them.

The floating orb drew upon a fascinating memory: his trial and the pebbles revolving around a miniature light he'd ignited himself. Hadn't one looked almost like the being before him? Maybe not? So surreal was the test of power that he struggled separating reality from the visions inflicted upon him during it.

As for the rat, that creature had expanded into something far more beyond his comprehension as it explained its existence. This Chorus wasn't the rodent speaking, but rather a sapient growth native to this cave. Yet somehow they possessed a mouthpiece with the standard limbs and vocal cords he was used to. Not wanting to appear too disconcerted by this development, he directed a sage nod to The Chorus' servant as if there was nothing strange about part of them already being situated by the giant mushroom they would be heading to.

"Very well. I will do some preparations too," he declared. "Raking through the soil. Do warn me if I risk anywhere you... populate unseen."

"As for..." For a few seconds, Fahl stared dumbly at Calamity, jaw working away as he chewed over what next he might say. The orb hadn't demonstrated the same eloquence as the cooperative fungus had thus far. "You. Can you spread that moss much like you can onto yourself? Maybe you can patch some of worst areas we encounter."

His intentions expressed and perhaps some idea of capabilities potentially gleaned, there wasn't much point in dallying any longer to figure out a plan of action. Finer details could be discussed underneath the Monarch's shade while they began their restoration job in earnest. Fahl raised his chin as he pinpointed where the towering fixture of Eridanus stood and headed off toward it.

Once there, the iguana paced about, eyes scanning the ground. Upon noticing a strip of land that appeared ravaged and barren compared to where fruiting fungus flourished, he sank claws into the soil and drew them back in an effort to create furrows for his group's seeds to be planted in. This motion he repeated, again and again, gently pulling away dirt in an effort to not create too major a depth for any future sprouts to contend with when they emerged. He placed a claw in one of the spaces he made and was satisfied by what his mind measured.

Gardening: now that was something Larkspur could get behind! And a game—a competition! The swallow crouched, wings tipped and spread slightly, completely locked in now. Larkspur liked games, and fun, and also winning. Show-off? ...Yes. But who can blame them?

They scooped up a big clawful of seeds and an even bigger mouthful, and swooped after their bipedal team leader, practically vibrating with eagerness. They needed no more than the first instruction before being set loose. Flying was their specialty! They were so good at flying. Larkspur swooped and dove in arcs barely able to be followed with the eyes around the Eyes, letting seeds fall from their claws and bill as they did. And, as promised, they followed it up with a bit of magic: the seeds were too small for them to focus on, but a leggy shrub that had lagged behind its peers in flowering was the perfect target to help along. As Larkspur passed it, a wave of magic followed from the opalized gem at their throat, sinking into the plant's veins and giving it the extra push it needed to spring into bloom. Buds pushed from its stems and opened into full blossoms at visible speeds in the wake of an iridescent green blur.

CALAMITY

so all the things can grow

It would shrink away at the sound of Marigold's hiss, plates compressing so only thin beams of amber light shone through the cracks. Calamity knew itself to be resilient, but it still had no interest in conflict. It did, briefly, feel guilty for startling someone, but that quickly faded as it's attention shifted to Artio's request.

Really, it didn't care much about the rewards or competition. It would garden, because that's what it did, and while most of it's efforts were usually directed towards its own personal garden, it did want to see the whole of Eridanus flourishing. It would drift towards it's teammates, humming affirmatively at Fahl's order and doing it's best attempt at a nod. And at Chorus's greeting it would sing it's own wordless hello, hoping that they could feel its joy at this reunion, it's curiosity at this rat, this new node of themself. The familiarity of it all burned and it yearned for that connection renewed, for that easy communication and company. But that took so much energy, energy better spent revitalizing this place. They could talk later, it hoped.

It would drift around the shadow of The Monarch, coaxing life out of whatever dormant seeds or fledgling mosses it happened upon. It's efforts were distracted, unfocused, as it continued to reminiscent about the past and imagine futures.

@Marigold [mention]
@The Chorus @Fahl

Titanite trundled along, root-like limbs thlutting softly into the soil with every step. Upon their arrival at the trench, he looked around.

It seemed to him that the plants were covered, so he exhaled (a strange wheeze sound, like wind through rattling autumn leaves) and leaned down to a patch of little, budding mushrooms. Artio had detested Order, right? He knew, vaguely, that the mushrooms--the healthy, natural, good ones--competed with that nasty mold.

"I will grow... good mushrooms," he informed the other two of his trio. Rift was growing the plants that Clementine had dug room for, and he eyed that with approval before settling into his own work. If Clementine needed rest, Titanite didn't seem to mind--or maybe he didn't quite notice.

Branch-like fingers cupped delicately around the fruiting bodies, and Titanite focused. The glimmer of magic spread, but weakly, and-... Nothing happened?

Strange, he thought, staring in consternation. Failing magic? Now? With a Master maybe watching..? Bad times, man. Bad times.