Submission (#6197) Approved

Quest: Resonance - Act 1
Act Type: Bravery
Word Count: 961
Adult Elnin Present: N/A
Regional Affinity: Silveil
Claiming Regional Affinity for: Sazial [ELN971]
Adventurer Rank Unlock Mini-Requirement: Adventuring Outfit and Act of Bravery Adventurer Rank Requirement

Sazial was in Silveil City when he caught wind of a rumor that there might be something good in an abandoned home a little ways out of the city along the lake’s edge. Sazial slipped a jacket of sorts over his head and back before fixing some pouches to a belt around his midsection. The small outfit for adventuring looked like it had seen better days as the sleeves were frayed where his paws slid through. Also attached to his belt was a small ordinary lantern that glowed with a few mushrooms inside it. With that he felt ready to set out into the woods. As he walked out of town his eyes glanced back at the shoreline and the sprawling eldertree that rested just beneath the water. Outside of the woods the sky could clearly be seen but as he reached the treeline it grew harder and harder to make out between the branches. The undergrowth of the forest instead was riddled with glowing mushrooms for the most part, while a few gaps in the treetops allowed Starlight to pour through them.

He had a hard time remembering just how long he had walked, paws feeling a bit sore beneath him and the air in the forest damp and chilling as the trip went on. The coat he wore for the most part helped but his pawpads eventually went from feeling sore to feeling a bit numb. Still there was no sign of the house he was looking for. His mind ran with thoughts of what neat things might be there and with this trip being one he had taken alone he didn’t need to worry about having to split any of the things he found. He just hoped they were small enough to fit in the pouches on his belt. If he really had to, he could pull out a bag he had shoved in one of the smaller pouches, but the idea of having to drag something larger back or carry something home between his jaws made him tired just thinking about it.

After a bit of time spent resting his paws he heard something creak a bit as he leaned back and the tuft at the end of his grove tail fluffed up with fright. Eerily he didn’t know how he hadn’t seen it before but behind him was the abandoned home. Maybe it was just dark he tried to tell himself as he swallowed down his nerves a bit. Walking up to the door of the place he noticed it was slightly ajar but the frame around it must have warped because he couldn’t get the door to open any further. Luckily the gap was big enough for him to squeeze through. Carefully he tip-towed around the wreckage and litter that was scattered about the house.

He felt uncomfortable as the cobwebs clung to his fur though. It was a good sign no one had been here for a while, but he also felt uneasy. In a few areas the floorboards had broken down entirely and bioluminescent mushrooms grew up between them. The roof had half collapsed and eventually a cloud must have passed because the house was at least partially lit by the starlight for a bit. There was a cellar of sorts that Sazial knew he couldn’t brave. Any treasure down there wasn’t worth acquiring for as dark as it was. Instead he wandered around for a bit until he found the stairs upstairs. At least there it would be brighter but a cautious paw tested the stairs for good measure, just to see if they would break down at all.

When most of the boards he stepped on had held, he carefully made his way up the stairs while avoiding any holes. Upstairs he found lots of old things and starlight poured in significantly enough that Sazial couldn’t help but feel a bit sad looking at the state of the house. If it had been fixed up and not abandoned maybe he would have liked to call a place like this home, but instead it was left to decay. Something small and eye-catching must have fallen off a dresser and landed on a pillow at one point in time. As he approached the object he could see the pillow was quite flat and worn out. The object itself though was a lovely little music box. Sazial felt his heart leap a bit. It was small enough, if no one would come back for the object here he could just take it right?

He paused for a moment to consider his options before nodding firmly to himself, as if agreeing with someone. He would take it back with him to the city and work on cleaning it up. Surely enjoying the music box would be better than having it gather dust around here and no one had come back for it in all this time it seemed. On his way back down the stairs his paw slipped a bit and he felt the floorboards creak with the sudden movement, threatening to give out from the moment of the fall, but instead they held. Once Sazial regained his footing he heard towards the door. With some difficulty he was able to squeeze himself between the door’s threshold to return to the home’s front yard.

Sazial felt the tension in his body leave a bit. The house evoked a lot of emotions but most of all he had felt tense wandering around the space, wondering if something would move or fall. Once outside though he felt confident it would be just one trip back to Silveil City and he would be content back with the adult nin he had been staying with while in the city.