Word around King's Valley is that slimy infestations of gastropods consisting of both the shelled and the non-shelled varieties are actively terrorizing their bountiful harvests, and so there have been calls for assistance in the autumn harvest. Ambika had no real interest in the tedium surrounding the regular struggles of farm life and would have been happy to just shelf this piece of information in the recesses of her mind, if not for the fact that there was currently a snail that was about as tall as a small wagon slowly making its way across the beaten path she was travelling on. One would think they would include such fanciful details in their job postings, but Ambika posited that the priorities were in getting people who would be willing to handle the down-to-earth tasks over people who just wanted to slay giant snails. After all, it would be much easier to get the former to slay giant snails if that need arose rather than the inverse.

Not wanting to step on snail ooze or agitate the currently harmless fellow, Ambika opted to walk off the beaten path and take a detour instead. It cost her some 30 minutes of extra walking, but she managed to safely reach her destination - a farming village that also served as a popular stop for travellers. The village was pretty hectic, with various figures criss-crossing one another and hurrying along to do their business. Ambika was about to eye for someone she could inquire and garner a fruitful response from when a gruff, muscular Grem grabbed her by the arm and started dragging her to the fields.

"You're late! We need all the help we can get! Those blasted snails are chewing away at the crop!" The Grem roared loudly and deliberately, drawing the attention of the other workers. "You're in charge of that plot. Now go!" The Grem proceeded to march off without allowing Ambika to get a word in edgewise.

Ambika furrowed her brows in evident frustration, making a mental note to never come to this village again during harvest season. Having little real choice in the matter thanks to the Grem's loud declaration, she silently got to work picking out the regular-sized snails and slugs from their golden sustenance and putting them inside a wooden bucket that has a netting over its top, with a gap in the middle just large enough for a hand to pass through.

SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: Reap what we sow
Participants: Two or more
Location: Anywhere
Post Requirements: 5 post per person, 200 words per post
Reward: +1 Renown
Description: The Black Harvest is upon us, the time of year where the crops are harvested and families prepare for Winter's Crown. The recent events in Charon has made it hard to dedicate time and people to the harvest, as many are still recovering from the events in King's Valley. Local cities are asking for outside help to come in and help collect the harvest. This includes harvesting the crop, cleaning up debris and helping move it to a safe storage facility. While the task may seem easy, pesky creatures may have claimed the crop as home and may be a tad grumpy to find you disturbing them. 

[1]Flying by on a cloud shaped like a long dragon Gafelker could see the fields below him with all the people working hard to clear them of the parasites. As Gafelker got low to the ground. A stern, burly, and grim man started to yell at Gafelker. "Hay You, You can't escape that easy get your little butt down here now!" yelled the man angrily as he picked up a bucket.

Looking surprised Gafelker pointed at himself. "What, who me" questioned Gafelker with a smile. Thinking Gafelker was wondering what the old man was going to do to him one thing was for sure the old man had no fear. "Ha! Old man what are you going to do come up here and get me," teased Gafelker with a smile on his face.

"Yes, you Little Gnome!" The man yelled in reply then threw the bucket at the Gnome hitting him in the chest and knocking off his cloud and onto the ground. Lucky for Gafelker he was close to the ground when he got knocked off. A plume of dust rose as Gafelker landed in a pile of harvest wheat breaking his fall.

Before Gafelker could do anything or the dust settled. The old man was on him. Picking up buy his robles. "You little adventurers always think you are all that and you can ack the way you want." The man yelled in Gafelker's face. "You are late too," added the old man as he set Gafelker down now we hired you to help get rid of the bug problem so do your job," ordered the old man stomping off mumbling.

Gafelker dusted himself off and picked up his staff. He thought about just burning the fields after that old man. Gafelker walked out into the fields you could barely see Gafelker walking. He stopped just before bumping into someone.

Her hair is mostly greys and whites, the left side covering the left of her face. The right side is tied into a side bun with spare hair dangling down her right shoulder. She has slanted eyes and a wrinkled. Her clothing consists of mostly blacks and muted colors. Practical clothing that covers her while also not restricting motion much.

"Oh excuse me," says Gafelker almost tripping over the lady. "Wait your that bard, wow you are so... good.." Gafelker complemented Ambika.


[1] Cloud Waltzing:

"I see the Grem got you too," Ambika remarked dryly, shrugging off the compliment. "Would rather not be here myself."
Inching in a little closer to Gafelker, Ambika whispered her observations in his ear. "The Grem alternates between patrolling the outside perimeter of the plot fields and hopping across plots to check on the workers. It takes about 10 minutes for him to complete a lap around the perimeter, and about 12 to hop through the plots. Long Stride user."
"The grains are not dense enough to hide figures when viewed from above, and the surroundings too open to avoid discovery." Ambika glances to the side, eyeing the sheer lack of trees in these open plains.
"Hey, you two! Stop your blabbering and get back to work!" the Grem shouted from the other side of the path they were on. "We're already 3 days off-schedule thanks to you blasted adventurers not honouring your promises!"

Ambika rolled her eyes and was about to resume work when a slight reflection caught her eye on the higher ends of the grain. Slowly shifting her line of sight, she scrutinized the mysterious glint without shifting her head. It was the eye of a larger-than-normal snail; nothing compared to the one she saw some moments prior, but still very much out of the ordinary. And it seemed to be charging towards Ambika at full speed, which in all honesty wasn't very fast, so Ambika had more than enough time to activate Long Stride and gracefully jumped away with her wooden bucket on one hand, and Gafelker's robe on the other.

When Ambika leaped a wooden pail in one hand and Gafelker's robe in the other hand. Gafelker let out a scream. "AAAaaa..." as he landed. Gafelker was not in a good mood now. Being bumped a round yet again this day. He had been pulled or pushed one too many times today. But after he got the look at the Giant Snail he was thankful for the save that Ambika had done. Gafelker got to his feet quickly and cleaned himself off with his hand. He had a disgruntled look on his face eyeing the Large Snail.

His other hand had the staff that started to glow yellow as electricity started to arc over the staff. The Large Snail turned and looked at others in the field. It was charging after people with no real reason to be seen. As one of the wood buckets dropped it stopped. The Large Snail slowly broke the bucket and let out the other little snails.

Gafelker said some not-so-nice words in Gnomish. "I want to just burn down this whole field with the critters in it." shouted Gafelker. He stopped forward facing the Giant Snail. "Hay you, Slime ball," shouted Gafelker anger in his tone. A Fire Pixie flew up beside Gafelker and hovered "Master Gafelker. Place calm yourself before you blow this place up with fire," The Pixie begged with desperation in her voice.


[1] Beside Gafelker a spirit appears in the form of a Wolf. Some power comes from the wolf as the energy builds on the staff. Gafelker looks at the wolf who looks back they seem to be communicating for a moment. Gafelker sighed. "Ambika, Should I kill the Large Snail?" asked Gafelker sounding disappointed. as the Large Snail turned to face Gafelker and Ambika.


NPC Iris
[1] Spirit Guardian/Spirit Shroud

"Probably. No guarantees it will not cause more issues, but I would say it is a fair assumption that is part of the job description hoisted upon us." Ambika replied to Gafelker. "Besides, they appear to have a vested interest in undoing the work here. Gods know I have no desire of spending another second here if I had a choice," continued Ambika as she finished setting up and loading her crossbow.

As the Large Snail charged towards her wooden bucket that was now on the floor, Ambika deftly kicked the bucket upwards, causing the snail to slow down as confusion set in from the added distance in an unexpected direction and Ambika quickly circled round and aimed her crossbow to strike two tentacles in one bolt. The crossbow bolt successfully pierced through an upper and lower tentacle respectively on both sides, but Ambika ends up almost stepping on some slow-moving snails and slugs that were freed by the Large Snail's destruction of the bucket just now and had to dance her way out of that, leaving her little time to reload her crossbow or find an effective option to deal with the now-enraged gastropod that was now directing all its anger at her and charging furiously.

The bard was a brave one thought Gafelker. He watched Ambika maneuver around the Large Snail. Like a knight, she used her speed and grace to get in a good position with her crossbow. Ambika fired her crossbow at the Large Snail. Gafelker got a smile across her face. "You have this!" Gafelker shouted. He had no intention to let that thing hurt Ambika but poked some fun at Ambika.

[1] Placing his hand on the ground Gafelker waited for the right timing. He spoke words of magic. He made a large slab of stone to rise up out of the ground, creating a rectangular wall made of earth. This wall is 10 feet in height and 20 feet in width. The Large Snail ran into it making some cracks in the wall. It stopped its charge and appeared to be confused.

Taking that moment that the Large Snail stopped Gafelker spoke the magic words for the creation of lighting. The staff sends forth a thin, quick beam of lighting out. It crackled and coursed through the air in a straight line, blasting through anything in the path of the staff. When the crackling energy hit the snail It twitched and jerked as it was hit. There was a simultaneous thunderous boom as well causing concussive force flatting the area around the Large snail.

[1] Stone Wall Earth Domain Skill/ Spirit Shroud

SPOILER: Click to show

You cause a large slab of stone to rise up out of the ground, creating a rectangular wall made of the earth. This wall remains where it was created and can be used to block ranged attacks or separate enemies, blocking off parts of the battlefield. The wall can be returned to the earth by will or knocked down with enough force. This wall is 5 feet in height and 10 feet in width.

[2] Lightning Bolt Sky Domain Sound of Thunder/ Spirit Shroud

SPOILER: Click to show

By pointing your finger, you send forth a thin, quick beam of lighting shooting out. It will crackle and course through the air in a straight line, blasting through anything in the path of your finger. While it is a thin, easy-to-dodge beam, it delivers a high amount of damage. Deals lightning damage. Sound of Thunder:
Anytime you cast a spell that deals lightning damage you can create a thunderous boom as well, causing concussive force (Blunt Damage) to be added to the aforementioned spell and its affected area. This has the side effect of disrupting any sound-based spells or abilities within the immediate area of the thunderous boom.

Large Snail: Takes a large amount of damage.

Still active: Spirit Guardian/Spirit Shroud

Ambika pulls through and manages to activate Long Stride to jump away before Gafelker's spells activated and turned the surroundings into gastropod paste. The boom was horrible to her ears though, and she could feel the disorientation kicking in as she was forced to bring herself down low to the ground to stabilise her landing. The ringing in her ears wasn't going to leave for a bit too, leaving her functionally deaf until her hearing recovered.

Looking to the direction of the Large Snail, the Stone Wall appeared to be holding up relatively well, if partially damaged from the concussive boom allowing for parts of the snail within to be seen. The snail inside though has certainly suffered quite the damage, though unfortunately for the both of them, snails have no sense of hearing and therefore, could not be deprived of that.

Eyeing a glimpse of the cracks running along the snail's shell, Ambika steadied her aim and waited for the right instant to fire.
"Aim for the bolt!" Ambika shouted as she fired her metallic crossbow bolt, which barely slipped past the thick shell and scraped the snail's innards, causing it to shudder in pain and once again, direct its attention to Ambika.

Impressed with Ambika thinking she was quick and impressively accurate with the crossbow. Gafelker watched The bolt hit a break in the shell and pierced into the snail's innards, causing it to shake in pain. The snail turns its attention to Ambika. Gafelker heard something about the bolt and looked at the shiny bolt sticking out.

[1] Gafelker spoke words of magic as energy crackled over the staff to make a succession of slight, sharp, popping sounds as lighting leaped from the staff drawn to the metal crossbow bolt. The bolt glowed as the lighting ran through it melting it slightly. The sound of thunder echoed around the field. The cracks in the snail's shell grew bigger as goo leaked out of the snail.

The Snail convulsed in pain as smoke started to rise from the snail's shell. Its head jerked violently as the lighting danced across its body. The burning of the flesh from the lighting The smell was horrible as it filled the area.

Gafelker did not want to take another chance with this
snail he raised his staff again Gafelker wanted to burn the Snail to ash to end it now. he also knew if he did the field and the harvest would probably go with it. He could not let the people starve when winter came.

[2] "OK, slime ball you are cooked." Gafelker shouted saying the words as a quick stream of lighting shot out from the staff. It crackled and coursed through the air in a straight line, blasting through the snail when it hit. More goo oozed out of the cracks in the shell. The Snail smoked as more foul smell filled the air.

Gafelker smiled then coughed some at the smell. "That is what heppends when I get mad," said Gafelker with satisfaction. He could see the little creatures were also dead around it. Gafelker shook his head walking toward the Snail. "To bad I was not Primeval Warden I could have stopped this rampage," remarked Gafelker.



[1] Lightning Bolt / Sound of Thunder
Electrical Surge from the last post.

[2] Lightning Bolt

Ambika's hearing was steadily recovering now. She could see and sense Gafelker was throwing out a quip, but the words eluded her. It didn't really matter. The Large Snail was fried into an electrifying crisp, and so were the snails and slugs in its surroundings, filling the air with the smells of varying degrees of charred escargot. All that with minimal damage to the harvests should be an appreciable feat.

But of course, the grumpy Grem who roped them into this fiasco in the first place had no praises or appreciation for any of that. Instead, there was only anger at the mess that was generated, and the casualties to the crops. If that wasn't enough, the Grem was now yelling threats about cutting their pay and making them do triple work as retaliation. That was the last straw for Ambika, and she decided enough was enough. Discreetly using Minor Trickery while pretending to be slowly returning to work, she slowly and steadily lifted her snail bucket until it was on top of the Grem's head and let it rip, introducing the Grem's face and body to a sludge of slimy gastropods. Ambika then traipsed around the Grem to get his attention, and in his rage as well as obscured vision, he failed to realise that Ambika was luring him right into the gooey remains of the Large Small and he fell face first into it.

"Come on now, we should leave." Ambika signalled to Gafelker. Taking a few short moments to prepare herself, she activated Long Stride to get a headstart and hightail out of these blasted fields.

Watching the grumpy Grem throw his fit, Gafelker gave a grin and a huff, saying some not-so-nice words in Gnomish. He thought of a few other things to do, grumpy Grem. Rising his staff in the air, he would speak some words of magic, then stop himself. "He is not worth it," Gafelker said to himself. Gafelker lowered his staff and leaned on it as Grem yelled at him from across the field.

The other workers just looked on in amazement at the two adventures. They would look at Grem and then at the adventures to see their reactions. Some of the workers just went back to work after being yelled at. With a wave of Gafelker's hand, he dismissed Grem's rant. This did not make Grem calm down at all. Grem's face turned red in anger.

Hearing Ambika's call to leave made Gafelker think that was the best idea all day. He could find a meal somewhere else and be treated better than what is happening right now. He lifted his staff back into the air. Teal runes started to glow on the staff as the wind picked up, and some clouds began to form next to him. The clouds started to create a snake-like dragon with four legs. It was white and fluffy and about 20 feet long. Climbing onto the cloud, Gafelker waved at the people there. He floated over to Ambika. "I agree with you Ambika. Lets get out of here what a ride?" he asked politely.

Ambika was not about to look a gift cloud dragon in its mouth, so she hopped on with her crossbow at the ready and trained at the now-exploding Grem, just to make sure he didn't try anything again whilst also keeping an eye for any workers who might also decide to hitchhike as the dragon ascended up and away from the fields, whisking them away from these unfavourable working conditions they didn't even have any say to.

"Thank you." Ambika politely graced her ally with her gratitude as they soared along the low skies and she kept her eyes on the ground, spotting a few more gigantic molluscs slithering slowly along the golden pastures. Not that it was any of their business though, so she was content to simply enjoy the chilly winds blowing at her face once they were far enough from civilization.

"So, where are we going?" Ambika felt a slight pang of concern as she thought back to the fact that she did not have any opportunity to properly scour the village before having to leave umprompted, but she doubted Kishan would have dallied in such a hostile location, perceptive and sharp as he was. Besides, if had he been there and put in such a position, he probably would have beaten the Grem senseless or worse. Probably worse. That child had little in the way of mercy if he had a choice.

Climbing high in the sky, Gafelker and Shanti sail on the wind, riding the cloud that Gafelker had summoned. The wind blowing in their faces feels good, and they can hear the sound of the air passing over them, their clothing rustling in the breeze. They can see the people and the houses down below, not even noticing them. Finally, Gafelker can relax some.

The large Arcane Academy snow owl flew next to Gafelker. He could tell by the leg band the owl displayed. It was a beautiful owl, snow white, with a hint of blue in its feathers. It was carrying a scroll case in its talons, the marking of the Arcane Academy on the scroll. It flew over Gafelker close to Gafelker, dropped the scroll case in his lap, and then flew off. The scroll case was silver with runes written on it. It was very ornate.

"Uh.. I have been summoned to the Arcane Academy. I do not need to open the scroll case. I know it from the Academy," explained Gafelker, turning in a different direction. He heard her ask him to call her Shanti. He bowed his head in acknowledgment. "Shanti, are you coming with me, or do you want to be dropped off somewhere?" Gafelker asked over the wind. Hearing of Shanti's enemies, Gafelker gave a grin. "You are with me now. I will do what I can to help you," promised Gafelker, asking himself what he was getting into.

It took a day of hard flying to get to the Academy. Arriving, they landed in the courtyard. As an Archmage came out of the doors to check on Gafelker and Shanti the Archmage was surprised to see them. Gafelker lifted the scroll for her to see. The Archmage motioned for them to follow.