Homunculus' Nuzlocke!

Chapter 15 - Mind Block

Madlen: Human, we need to talk about Moriuk, I can’t see anything about her past-- it’s like she’s blocking me out.

Human: Maybe she has reasons to do so, she probably doesn’t want people prying into her mind.

Madlen: It’s not that though, usually I can sense if there’s things that people are hiding, like personal things. I don’t like to pry without reason, like when we met, I learned enough about you just to know that I could trust you. I didn’t search your whole mind. But with Moriuk, the spirits are silent. I can’t tell anything about her.

Human: She must have a strong mind then.

Madlen: Maybe, but you can see why this is a problem right? We can’t let dragons into our clan if we can’t tell their true intentions.

Human: Why would she have ill intentions? She was blown here by chance, we helped her. Why would anyone want to hurt their saviors. She’s a good addition to the clan, her mind is strong and her body will be as well once she is recovered.

Madlen: But-

Human: Madlen, I trust you to give me advice and information, and even your opinions sometimes. But that doesn’t mean I have to go along with every hunch you get. Moriuk will stay with the clan until prove arises to support your claims.

Chapter 14 - The Elder

Moriuk - Priest - Scavenger

Moriuk is the oldest member of the clan, older that Human even. She was blown in during a particularly rough blizzard. She had been lost all night and was too tired to keep going, so she gave up control of her body and let the wind take her. Human ended up finding her the next morning, almost completely covered in ice.

 She likes to spend her time alone, sometimes flying, sometimes building little trinkets out of sap and other things she finds. She doesn’t mess with Caddock as much as the others, maybe because he knows the fae language and is very accustomed to their style of living.

-----

Moriuk doesn’t talk about her previous clan, or the markings on her body and face. She laughs off any questions and changes the topic. This started getting annoying for Madlen, knowing that this new dragon could mean harm to them. She decides to ask the spirits about her, setting up all her gear and cleaning her mind.

Silence.

Madlen tries to concentrate harder, but still there’s nothing. This has never happened before, the spirits are never silent. Even when she wasn’t concentrating they were always whispering at the edges of her mind.

But now, whenever she would turn her focus to Moriuk, they would go silent once more.

Chapter 13: Feisty One

Madlen and Human’s second nest hatched leaving one survivor, a feisty, female guardian, who is also the first dragon born into the clan with markings. Her name is Aeronwen.

Chapter 12: Frozen Floof

The clan’s got it’s first Tundra!

Madlen found the egg while searching for Eternal Snow. It must have been lost because it had been burred under heaps of snow. She brushed it off and took it home to hatch in the warmth of the clan.

At first they weren’t sure if she even was a dragon because there was just so much fur. But after a few moments, the fuzzball began to squeak.

Here’s Tiaka!

Human and Madlen have a conversation at the edge of the clan border. The others have all settled down to go to bed. They're forms can be made out faintly in the moonlight. Human: I’ve noticed something recently, the patterns on our scales is changing. At first I thought it was nothing, maybe some dirt or a strange shadow, but now it’s undeniable. Madlen: I have, it’s because we’re stronger, we fought for these markings, and they will be passed down as a badge of pride.

Madlen: It’s been a tough few months for the clan. The team has been fighting through thick and thin to find food and supplies. It’s been hard on us all. Just the other day I was weakened when we were faced up against a whole hoard of enemies. There were too many to fight and they quickly overwhelmed us. Caddock was at his wits end trying to heal us all and himself, while also fighting off the monsters. But it wasn’t going to work. I was poisoned by one of the serpentine and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it. We retreated with heavy hearts.

[Madlen’s lives have dropped to two]

Quill 

Quill, the first dragon to be born into the clan. He’s dependable, and tries to make careful decisions. He’s best friends with Lasciel as they grew up together, they often hang out with each other around the clan. Quill takes his job very seriously and will obey his clan leader no matter what. He’s also a bit gullible, so that can get him into some trouble, seeing as Lasciel likes to play tricks sometimes.

Chapter 9: Lasciel’s Gift

Lasciel’s been very productive lately as an alchemist:

Meet Morbi the Shiny Residue!

Caddock: It’s been a productive time for the clan. We’ve grown stronger and smarter. It’s been tough fighting everyday. The first few days I could barely keep my clanmates alive, but now that we’ve gotten better at working together, as a team, we can beat anything we come up against.

Our first fight in the Woodland was against a Janustrap, a plant like creature with a terrifying bite. It caught us all off guard, and it probably would have killed us if Human hadn't been there to keep it’s attacks away. Unfortunately, it was too powerful for even him. We fled. Human’s life force, while he was able to protect ours, has faded a bit. He isn’t as daring as he used to be, though his power hasn’t faded in the slightest.

The scar is mostly faded now, but sometimes if the light is right, I catch a glimpse of it. And I can’t help but feel sick to my stomach, because I was supposed to be there. I was supposed to be healing them, but I wasn’t.

This can’t happen again.

Caddock - Lvl 8 - Historian - Digger

Lovable dork. Really into artifacts and learning. Left his previous clan to learn more about the other places in Sornieth. He likes to make friends, is usually cheerful and likes caring for hatchlings. He’s very interested in Madlen’s powers and wants to learn more about what caused them unfortunately, she’s stays aloof to him. He likes to take small journeys away from the clan, almost like a scout, but not too far. He fears losing this new clan seeing as they’ve been very kind to him.

Chapter 7: New Life

The next day, the clan gathers in wait for the eggs to hatch. Only Madlen and Human know of the vision, they didn’t want to worry Lasciel with it, and they still only barely know Caddock. Madlen’s stomach still feels as if it is twisted.

They wait, and wait, and finally, an egg shakes a bit. Malen inhales sharply– It’s the one that Lasciel touched, the one that’s light faded briefly.

It shakes a bit more, and a tiny tapping sound emits from the egg.

A few more minutes go by. The tapping turns to a cracking, and the light colored, gooy head of a guardian hatchling appears. Madlen lets out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

The guardian is out in the nest few moments and starts peering around, blinking his eyes at the dragons looking over him.

The other eggs don’t move, and Madlen knows, they never will.

Human:There have been many changes in the last few days, for one, we have a new member of the clan, a nocturne by the name of Caddock. Madlen and I have decided to let him stay with our clan, as he will be a huge help with our new hatchlings and, not to mention, Lasciel.

[New clan member, Caddock! His roles are Historian and Digger]

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Madlen, eyes closed, perching on a huge broken pillar. She’s allowing her mind to open, and see into the future. There a bit of incense at in front of her, and the pink smoke is curling up to meet her nostrils.

Malden: I see the clan, Human and I, and Lasciel with her injured leg between us. And the newcomer, Caddock, has just walking into my vision. We’re all looking at something on the ground, waiting, I think. The eggs! I think I see them!

Oh, but now the vision is fading. Why? Is something going to happen to the eggs? Is this connected to what happened with Lasciel?

Madlen’s stomach turns in horror at what she sees nest. It’s almost enough for her to break concentration, but she knows she must not.

Madlen, recording the events for day in a scroll. Her handwriting is messy, but legible. She wishes that they had a scribe or something to take over this job.

Madlen: I’m never letting Lasciel near the eggs again. She’s been constantly  running around the grounds for the last few days- driving me insane with it. I have some doubts about letting Human hatch her, but what’s done is done, and I just have to accept that.

But, today, that whelp, was just too much. Human had left to hunt for the day, leaving me to watch over the hatchling. She wanted to see the nest, curiously peeking over the edge, between the blades grass. I didn’t see any harm on letting her down with the eggs- it wasn’t like she could break their shells with her weak little arms.

So, I gave her a nod and she tumbled down amongst the eggs. They are all much bigger than her, and she crawls over them, resting herself on one and basking in the heat of the noon sun.

I watched her for a moment, and my irritation with her was lessened. For she simply was a hatchling, who didn’t know what was wrong or right, only what she herself wanted.

Then, something changed. The egg she was resting on- it’s pulse rate. It was slowly getting slower and slower, and the constant glow from it started fading.

My action was immediate.  I tried to gently swat her away-- maybe it was too immediate.

I caught her completely off guard, and my attempt sent her sprawling. She cried out in pain, one of her back legs bent at an unsettling angle. I felt regret well up inside me, knowing that my action could not be undone.

Chapter 4: Small Tragedy

One night, awhile after Lasciel hatched, the clan was sleeping together in there usual manner; Human and Madlen curled together, heads pointing outward and in different directions in order to keep watch, and little Lasciel sleeping in the center between them.

It happened very late at night, the bigger dragons were deep in their slumber, so deep in fact that one of Madlen’s blacklegs was twitching incessantly. Then it lurched suddenly and hit Lasciel with a quick thwack! The blow didn’t do much harm, except wake the poor hatchling.

Lasciel stumbled away from the middle of the pile, cursing Madlen and her restless sleeping, and deciding to sleep closer to Human.

She drifted to sleep, warmed by the breath of Human. Then, the nightmares came. Vivid, pounding, more real than she could imagine. There was something surrounding her, was it alive? They were crawling over her, trying to get between her scales- these hidden, formless parasites. She began thrashing about, trying to claw her way to freedom.

A loud, frightening noise awoke her. It took a few moments to remember- then she smelled the sickly sweet sent of blood on her claws, and knew what she had done.

Chapter 3: Risky Fight

Human - Lvl 2 / Madlen - Lvl 2

Human: We took a risk and left the nest to train for the day- it went better than expected. Madlen and myself have both become stronger, but I think we should wait for Lasciel to grow bigger before we go out again. That way, we have a better chance of coming back alive.

Madlen: I don’t like this. I feel as if we have made a mistake. Even though we were gone for only a short while, there’s no telling what happened in that time. Lasciel and the eggs seem fine, but- I can’t shake that feeling.

Madlen: I’ll do a reading tomorrow, and see what this means for the clan.

[Note: I’ve sadly already broken a few of my rules, the one saying dragons on nests can’t fight. I will come up with an in-game consequence for that because I really don’t want to break my own rules this early on without having an extreme downside. IDK, maybe one of the eggs gets stolen or something.]

Lasciel - Lvl 1

A rambunctious nocturne with too much energy for two guardians. She hatched from an egg sent by an anonymous clan with a peculiar message. Madlen feels unsure about this addition to the clan. Before Lasciel was hatched, Madlen had an uneasy feeling and now the two still don’t get along. Lasciel sees Human as a father figure, and wants to build her bond with him, seeing as Madlen is emotionally unavailable to her, he’s her only sense of companionship. They had a rocky start together, Lasciel accidentally lashed out at him one night. She had been sleeping next to him, sprawled over his face like a cat. And something happened, a nightmare or sleepwalking. But she clawed off the scales on Human’s face, leaving a split scar over his left eye. Lasciel has also showed a natural skill in alchemy, which has been helpful for the clan as it starts out.