[center][size=3][b][color=#f0932f]Grenwog[/color]
[color=#7eaa3d]Festival[/color]
[color=#e5e12e]Trouble A-Poaches![/color][/b][/size][/center]
Today's Event or April Fools' Portal Painting > Trouble A-Poaches!
<<You walk in from the left and stand next to a Salamander strapped with chests, bags and a saddle, Valencia stands a few feet away with a flying light purple moglin on a grass plain with mountains in the distance>>
[b]Valencia[/b]: Welcome back to Battleon, <<You>>! I hope your quest went well.
[b]<<You>>[/b]: If you call chasing months-old leftover undead plants away from Skraeling nomads and being stuck with their stench for the entire trip back, returning ON FOOT because no camel or salamander would go near me...
[b]<<You>>[/b]: ...then discovering that sand leeches are very much not an old nomad's tale, but a real thing that is coarser than sand itself and gets in even more places... "went well", then yes, it went splendidly.
[b]Valencia[/b]: Hahaha, oh wow, that takes me back. I mean- ! That sounds terrible and I'm glad you haven't been eggsanguinated.
[b]<<You>>[/b]: ….
[b]Valencia[/b]: Did you [u]happen get[/u] my message?
[b]<<You>>[/b]: All four of them, yes. Seriously, you and your business proposals with hearts everywhere... But I got the important one on my way back to town. What's this about the festival being in shambles?
[b]Valencia[/b]: I'm afraid it's gotten even worse since I sent for you. Now it doesn't look like there's going to be a celebration at all.
[b]<<You>>[/b]: It sure doesn't. Not a werehare in sight, like you said, but where's everyone? Usually they'd be putting up decorations by now.
[b]Valencia[/b]: Some people went missing in the neighboring villages a few days ago, so most people left to mount a search party led by Robina.
[b]<<You>>[/b]: Rats, I wish I'd arrived sooner. I could have caught up with them to lend a hand. But they've got a good tracker at the head, at least.
[b]Valencia[/b]: Well, there's something we could do for them anyways.
[b]<<You>>[/b]: What do you have in mind?
[b]Valencia[/b]: I've been thinking that you and I could make sure they still have a Grenwog Festival to come back to. It should be just the thing to cheer up the missing people, too.
[b]<<You>>[/b]: That strikes me as the less important of two jobs, but since I'm this late to the investigation...
[b]Valencia[/b]: Making people smile can be important too. I'm no slouch at tracking myself, and with your eggspertise we should be able to crack this in time for the celebration.
[b]<<You>>[/b]: *twitch*
[b]Valencia[/b]: C'mon, it'll be fun. We haven't worked together in ages.
[b]<<You>>[/b]: I can tell I'm going to regret this, but we've refused to let armies and dinosaurs ruin this holiday before...
[b]Valencia[/b]: [u]Eggcelent[/u]! I knew I could count on you!
[b]<<You>>[/b]: *twitch*
[b]<<You>>[/b]: Let's just go already.
[b]Valencia[/b]: I know just where to start. Oh, Grumbugly? Get the guards. And if anyone gets past them, I want you to blast them sky high with enough fire for me to see it from anywhere, then sit on them until I'm back.
[b]Grumbugly[/b]: Grrrr? Grrr.
<<Valencia leaps and descends onto the ground crouching on the path between two trees, in the distance is the Guardian tower>>
[b]Valencia[/b]: Over here! I found a trail.
<<You walk in from the left and Valencia stands up>>
[b]<<You>>[/b]: Looks like two sets of tracks.
[b]Valencia[/b]: Or a quadruped dragging one pair of legs. One set's digitigrade, the other looks like it slipped on the cobbles, but not on the... Oh.
[b]<<You>>[/b]: Yeah. The Grenwog. And it's heading AWAY from Battleon?
[b]Valencia[/b]: It can't have eaten its fill already. I'm eggstremely certain that [u]there[/u] no werebunnies showed up at Battleon to beggin with.
[b]<<You>>[/b]: Do you think you could maybe... NOT do-
[b]Valencia[/b]: Hold that thought, it looks like we're not the only ones on the trail!
[*]Battle with Valencia's help
Valencia will now battle by your side!
[*]Battle by yourself
[b]Two Battles from Monster Pool with Full Heal after[/b]
[b]Battle[/b]: [link=https://forums2.battleon.com/f/tm.asp?m=20934104]Grand Eggobbler Sr.[/link]
Full Heal
[b]Valencia[/b]: ...Aren't those usually ambush predators?
[b]<<You>>[/b]: They must really be smelling blood if they're actively tracking the Grenwog instead of lying in wait... Although without eggs, they don't exactly have much of an ambush to set up.
[b]Valencia[/b]: Plus a starved Grenwog might make for easy enough prey to draw random monsters and eggsasperated adventurers.
[b]<<You>>[/b]: It's going to be seeking refuge, then. Come on, I know just the forest pass to get to the usual lairs quickly. It's not far from where the tracks lead.
[b]Valencia[/b]: If we find the Grenwog, we might be able to follow it to wherever the eggs actually are. Off we go, then! This is getting eggciting.
[b]<<You>>[/b]: Follow me, then.
<<A grey background with nothing in it>>
[b]<<You>>[/b]: Wait, you just did it again. Twice. Gah!
<<A large tree trunk bent over forms an arch over a path in [link=http://aqwwiki.wikidot.com/charred-path]Screen 7[/link], there is a mountain in the distance>>
[b]Valencia[/b]: ...But the mercs got the black book instead of the golden book we were shooting for, and the entire eggsploration came crashing down on us when they started trying to read it.
[b]Valencia[/b]: With a little help from Warlic's bug potions, though, I still managed to get out of there with my treasure.
[b]Valencia[/b]: Purely eggstemporaneous, I assure you. I didn't know we'd have to deal with those bugs, or I'd have brought enough for them too. Even if they were jerks.
<<Valencia leaps and descends onto the ground, You walk in from the left to stand next to her>>
[b]<<You>>[/b]: Okay, Valencia, stop. What's going on?
[b]Valencia[/b]: What do you mean?
[b]<<You>>[/b]: I'm not complaining about getting to hang out with you again, or about you being in a good mood. And I know you like the Grenwog Festival, but you're acting strange.
[b]Valencia[/b]: "Strange"?
[b]<<You>>[/b]: Come on, Val. You've seen me drop the clueless hero routine a lot of times by now.
[b]Valencia[/b]: Alright, alright... Yes, I know I usually stick to either the big causes or the big treasure hunts. Stay on the profitable side of things and hire adventurers for everything else. To be fair, I do have a business to run.
[b]Valencia[/b]: But Grenwog is kind of dear to me. It means a little more than just a spring festival. This stays between us, alright? But there's a lot of good memories attached to it that I won't get to eggsperience again.
[b]<<You>>[/b]: So saving the holiday is kind of like preserving those memories.
[b]Valencia[/b]: Eggsactly.
[b]<<You>>[/b]: ...And that. I'm used to taking a fair deal of PUNishment, but not from you.
[b]Valencia[/b]: You don't have to be so neggative about it.
[b]<<You>>[/b]: Did you just...?
[b]Valencia[/b]: Heheh. That's where the fond memories come in. I love egg hunts so much because they used to be a Surehunter family tradition. I know I've given the name something of a different reputation, but we used to be...
[b]<<You>>[/b]: ...More like Zephyros than he'd like to admit?
[b]Valencia[/b]: Psh. We were better. He's better than I'll acknowledge to his face, but we were a family, after all. A team.
[b]Valencia[/b]: ...And then we weren't. But before my mother passed, and my father... went his own way, Grenwog was about the one time of year that we'd slow down and have a little time at home.
[b]Valencia[/b]: There was this years-long eggscavation when I was a little girl, and my parents kept digging up these little golden eggs from the ruins. There were so many of them...
[b]<<You>>[/b]: *twitch*
[b]Valencia[/b]: You know, several ancient civilizations all throughout the Greenguard and western eggspanse areas treated the egg as a symbol of the coming of spring. The infinite potential of life in the simplest shape.
[b]Valencia[/b]: *chuckle* Daddy would hide them all over the house so I'd have to search for them, and make more egg jokes the closer I got to finding one. Mom used to joke that his sense of humor got cursed at the dig site.
[b]<<You>>[/b]: That's rather sweet. ...And explains a lot. Even your play time was all about archeology and hidden treasure.
[b]Valencia[/b]: It was great while it lasted.
[b]<<You>>[/b]: I'm sorry things went so wrong for you then. But alright. You clearly cherish these memories, so you can count on me to keep them alive. 
[b]Valencia[/b]: Wonderful!
[b]<<You>>[/b]: …. 
[b]Valencia[/b]: ….?
[b]<<You>>[/b]: The puns aren't stopping now that we've bonded, are they.
[b]Valencia[/b]: <<You>>, they're barely starting.
[b]<<You>>[/b]: ...I'm going to take this out on the monsters that think we haven't noticed their ambush.
[b]Monster[/b]: Oh come on, it was just getting good.
[b]Four Battles from Monster Pool with Full Heal after each two[/b]
[b]<<You>>[/b]: I got my cheap catharsis out of the way, and those monsters won't be going around ruining your ruthless businesswoman image. Can we get back on the trail now? All the fighting kind of scuffed it.
[b]???[/b]: You can, but you may not.
<<Branches grow from the trunk of the arching tree to block the path in the forest while a green sphere appears a few steps in front of Valencia and You, a [link=http://aqwwiki.wikidot.com/fall-dryad-pet]Dryad[/link] emerges from it>>
[b]???[/b]: The forest is in a vulnerable state in this region. It will not permit further incursions until its assailants are expelled.
[b]<<You>>[/b]: Judging by your appearance and the sudden implication that the forest itself has a will, I'm assuming you're some sort of guardian figure.
[b]???[/b]: Your perception of the evident is noted.
[b]<<You>>[/b]: A snarky one. Aren't we off to a great start already...
[b]Valencia[/b]: ...Huh. I've only read about this, it's been generations since a Surehunter last recorded finding one. So I might be wrong, but I think she's a Dryad.
[b]Folia[/b]: Correct. My name is Folia.
[b]<<You>>[/b]: Alright then, Folia the Dryad. Why exactly can't we enter?
[b]Folia[/b]: Hunters have recently entered the forest. This is typical, and accepted. Life consumes life, and so it endures and evolves. But this group shows none of the restraint that your kind normally practices.
[b]Folia[/b]: They kill beyond their share and far beyond their fill. This is not predation, but destruction. They topple the balance of the forest. While change is a part of balance, there must be a rhythm to it, lest the cycle become a spiral.
[b]<<You>>[/b]: We definitely don't want to do anything like that. In fact, it looks like these hunters may have caused the problem we've been looking into. Werebunnies haven't been doing their usual rounds for the start of spring.
[b]Valencia[/b]: ...And if the local wildlife is getting stirred up by eggcessive hunting, that might have something to do with the disappearances.
[b]Folia[/b]: ...This is known to the forest.
[b]<<You>>[/b]: The werebunnies or missing people?
[b]Folia[/b]: The cycle is disturbed. Werebunnies are frightened by the hunters and displaced predators, and remain in their hutches. Grenwogs find no prey in civilization, and so they overhunt the forest passes.
[b]Folia[/b]: Contained, the prey grows desperate and transforms, laying ambushes. The ambushes deprive other predators of prey, and increase hostility. And so the forest must cope. It calls out.
[b]Folia[/b]: Those of us who answer the call leave our lives behind to become its wardens. But others are stranded just as the creatures of the forest are.
[b]<<You>>[/b]: Then you're one of the people who went missing... Rats, everyone in town is on a wild gobbler chase! Please let us through. We can rescue the others, deal with the hunters and save Grenwog in one trip.
[b]Folia[/b]: ...This may be wise. The forest is not yet willing to take extreme measures to eliminate this threat, for the consequences may reach an opposite but equally undesirable intensity.
[b]Folia[/b]: Comparatively, you resolve this with both precision and speed. So be it.
[b]Folia[/b]: You are not on the best terms with the creatures of the forest, but you do not destroy wantonly. You are free to pass, but... be warned. I remember you, <<You>>, you and your heroism...
[b]Folia[/b]: ...but my brethren may not be so welcoming. They can be zealous to a fault in the defense of their oath.
<<The branches of the tree remove themselves from the ground of the forest path>>
[b]<<You>>[/b]: Thank you. We'll get the stranded people out and solve the situation as soon as possible.
[b]Two Battles from Monster Pool with Full Heal after[/b]
<<Valencia leaps and descends onto the ground as You walk in from the left and stop in front of a pile of pink with yellow zig zags and purple with cyan zig zags eggs in the forest>>
[b]<<You>>[/b]: That's an odd pile of eggs. They're normally laid in lairs, not clustered up like that. 
[b]Valencia[/b]: These were definitely left here by someone. Like, say, a poacher. Which would make them-
[b]<<You>>[/b]: Please don't.
[b]Valencia[/b]: Spoilsport.
[b]<<You>>[/b]: Wait. Do you hear anything?
Stat
Roll
[b][u]Ambush![/u][/b]
[color=#6b472b]Forest creatures noticed the eggs and started using them as bait! Can you get the eggs and slip out quickly and quietly?[/color]
[b]Difficulty[/b]: 77
[b]Stat Used[/b]: Dexterity
[*][color=#732c27]Roll![/color]
If you fail the roll
[*]Defy It!
[color=#80272d]By an effort of will you can spend <<value>> Sp to automatically win the roll. Do you wish to do that?[/color]
[ul][*]Yes
[*]No[/ul]
[*]Next
If you selected No, Next or lack the Sp to defy it
[ul][b]Battle[/b]: [link=https://forums2.battleon.com/f/tm.asp?m=20934742]Grenwog[/link]
[center][size=2][b][color=#e5e12e]Some of the eggs
broke in the fight, but
you still got a lot!
+100-600 Eggs![/color][/b][/size]
[color=#eb0021]Oh no![/color][/center][/ul]
If you succeeded the roll
[ul][center][size=2][b][color=#e5e12e]Jackpot! And you're
out in time to avoid
the ambush!
+100-999 Eggs![/color][/b][/size]
[color=#eb0021]Yes![/color][/center][/ul]
[b]Two Battles from Monster Pool with Full Heal after[/b]
<<A farmer and a person in Rogue outfit kneel next to the pile of eggs>>
[b]<<You>>[/b]: There you are! People have been looking for you everywhere! Don't worry, you're safe now.
[b]Farmer[/b]: Oh thank the gods! I was out in the woods doing my... business when I heard explosions and the wildlife started going crazy! I've been too afraid to go anywhere.
[b]Villager[/b]: ...I was just out trying to find some eggs, then the same thing happened. I've been staying by this huge pile hoping for whoever put it together to stop by and show me the way back.
[b]Valencia[/b]: The fastest way back is the path we came from.. Just follow the trail of unconscious monsters, tracks of battle and chunks of bruised ego.
[b]<<You>>[/b]: It won't be safe for long, though. These poachers are really stirring the forest up.
[b]Valencia[/b]: Seriously, legg it.
[b]<<You>>[/b]: ...I genuinely can't tell with you anymore.
[center][size=2][b][color=#e5e12e]That's a lot of eggs. You're
starting to wonder if Valencia
has a pun for every single one.
+100-1500 Eggs![/color][/b][/size]
[color=#eb0021]Yes!![/color][/center]
[b]Two Battles from Monster Pool with Full Heal after[/b]
<<A poacher in [link=https://forums2.battleon.com/f/tm.asp?m=20064064]Hunter armor[/link] stands at the edge of a cliff on [link=http://aqwwiki.wikidot.com/luna-cove]Screen 14[/link]>>
[b]Jurg[/b]: Come on, you sock-wearing, accented fuzzball... All the rabbits and gobblers got spooked away, now smell the eggs and get on my sights...
[b]<<You>>[/b]: I should've known it was your sorry behind and pathetic stubble behind all of this trouble.
<<Jurg turns around to face You on the left>>
[b]Jurg[/b]: Oh great. YOU again.
[b]Valencia[/b]: You now this poacher?
[b]Jurg[/b]: I'll have you know I was a renowned hunter until this so-called "hero" decided to stomp over my career.
[b]<<You>>[/b]: Oh, put the Grenwog's sock in it.
[b]Valencia[/b]: Ew.
[b]Jurg[/b]: Were you expecting me to just change careers because you ruined my reputation and chased off my clientele?
[b]Jurg[/b]: I'm a survivor, <<You>>, and what I used to do for money, now I do it because there's nothing else for me to do. No one will buy from me or give me any hunting work.
[b]Jurg[/b]: But you know what? That's fine. I don't need payment. The way I see it, this is a promotion. From hunter to apex predator. Quite a bit better, wouldn't you agree?
[b]<<You>>[/b]: Right from the start, you put innocent people in danger to create the very problems you then sold yourself as the solution to. And you're not only still justifying it, you're doing it again.
[b]<<You>>[/b]: More of your "survival of the fittest", not doubt.
[b]Valencia[/b]: Are you going to keep egging him on, or are you actually going to stop him?
[b]<<You>>[/b]: ...Draw your weapon, Jurg. You're not getting out with a warning this time.
[b]Jurg[/b]: Oh, I'm sorry, did you think I had my back uncovered? HUNTERS, to arms!
[b]Two Battles[/b]: Poacher
Full Heal
[b]Battle[/b]: [link=https://forums2.battleon.com/f/tm.asp?m=20935245]Jurg the Poacher[/link]
Full Heal
[b]Valencia[/b]: Apeggs predator? Please. You're a cornered runt with delusions of [u]grandeour[/u].
[b]Jurg[/b]: Not... Not quite beaten yet. Come at me again, I dare you...
[b]<<You>>[/b]: And step on the trap I've been carefully avoiding this whole fight? But then I wouldn't get to do THIS.
<<You avoid a brown mace swinging from the tree branch, it hits Jurg knocking him off the cliff and splashing into the waters below>>
[b]Jurg[/b]: Augh! Hot hot hot! This is almost boiling!
<<The large rock on the path near the cliff shakes>>
[b]Jurg[/b]: ...Oh no.
<<The large rock rolls off the cliff and falls onto Jurg with a crashing sound>>
[b]Jurg[/b]: … Oww…
[b]Jurg[/b]: Just you wait until I figure out where all my limbs go, and... And I'm stuck.
[b]Jurg[/b]: Grenwog, don't you dare. I swear if I could get my arms free... GET OFF. I AM NOT A CHAIR.
[b]<<You>>[/b]: That should sort him out, I think. The Grenwog AND the Grenwog Festival are saved from his stupidity.
[b]Valencia[/b]: So you cracked him over the head and dropped him in the simmering springs. That was some eggregious hurt you put on him.
[b]<<You>>[/b]: ...You're not about to say that was too cruel, right? The boulder was a coincidence, and he's tough enough to get out of there. Eventually.
[b]Valencia[/b]: No, I was about to say that it looks like the poacher got po-
[b]<<You>>[/b]: ...Valencia, I know you've been siting on that one for a while, but I am bEGGing you not to say it.
[b]Valencia[/b]: ….
[b]<<You>>[/b]: ...I just did it myself, didn't I.
[b]Valencia[/b]: Twice. And it was everything I hoped for.
[*]<<A black heart icon>>
<<The scene of the top of a forest with a mountain in the distance and a large tilted tree trunk shakes as three grey silhouettes of birds fly upwards emerging from the forest below>>
[b]<<You>>[/b]: AUGH!
[center][size=2][b]Shop: Grenwog: Trouble A-Poaches![/b][/size]
Weapons:
Survivor's Rough Rifle [Lv 5, 15, 35, 55, 75, 95, 115, 135, 150G]
Survivor's Blazing Rifle [Lv 5, 15, 35, 55, 75, 95, 115, 135, 150G]
Spells:
Dryad Aqua Blast [Lv 5, 15, 35, 55, 75, 95, 115, 135, 150G][/center]
[*]Play again!
[*][color=#f0932f]Grenwog[/color]
[color=#7eaa3d]Festival[/color]
[*]Guardian Tower!
[*]Leave
[center][b]Monster Pool[/b][/center]
[link=https://forums2.battleon.com/f/tm.asp?m=20933182]All-Consuming Were-Hare[/link]
Berserk BURP
[link=https://forums2.battleon.com/f/tm.asp?m=20933591]Bun-Broiler[/link]
[link=https://forums2.battleon.com/f/tm.asp?m=20933747]Chiken[/link]
Corybantic BURP
Dryad
[link=http://forums2.battleon.com/f/tm.asp?m=20935475]Esurient Were-Hare[/link]
[link=https://forums2.battleon.com/f/tm.asp?m=20934308]FlibbityGibbit[/link]
[link=https://forums2.battleon.com/f/tm.asp?m=20934669]Gorarog[/link]
[link=https://forums2.battleon.com/f/tm.asp?m=20934728]Green Knight[/link]
[link=http://forums2.battleon.com/f/tm.asp?m=20935475]Insatiable Were-Hare[/link]
Maddened BURP
Ravenous BURP
[link=http://forums2.battleon.com/f/tm.asp?m=20935475]Soul Devouring Were-Hare[/link]
[link=http://forums2.battleon.com/f/tm.asp?m=20935475]World-Eating Were-Hare[/link]
[center][size=2][b]3 Text errors[/b] are underlined both in transcript above and below:[/size][/center]
Did you [u]happen get[/u] my message?
Should be "happen to get".
[u]Eggcelent[/u]! I knew I could count on you!
Should be "Eggcellent".
It can't have eaten its fill already. I'm eggstremely certain that [u]there[/u] no werebunnies showed up at Battleon to beggin with.
Should remove "there".
You're a cornered runt with delusions of [u]grandeour[/u].
Should be "grandeur".