Homecoming [OPEN]

[Flower]

Homecoming [Open]

Valerys walked out into the desert sands, and the breeze blew the crimson jacket behind her -- catching it up in the dust and the dirt. Underneath was a short, white tanktop with a strange glyph. She also had on a pair of pants which, although wouldn't be ideal for other people in the desert heat, was crafted from her own skin thanks to her unique bloodline. Her messenger pack was slung over her shoulders.

For the first time, in a very long time, Valerys was wearing her "real" face. The first one she had crafted for herself after birth. Her short, auburn hair licked her ears as she walked, and the weight of the spear, Bitter Mercy, brought her a strange sense of guilt. It had been given to her ages ago by her mentor, Shenki, who had once been known as the White Wolf of Sand.

Other than that, she hadn't brought any other weapons. Never one to worry too much over her own life, Val thought that it would be nice to take a stroll through the desert and survey the recent damage. The Sand Village was in ruins, after many years of neglect, but the deserts seemed to remain the same. They had always been barren, and barren they still were.

As she crossed over a dune, Valerys looked out into the upcoming valley. Sand and cacti stretched across the landscape, with a small, ruined tower rising off in the distance. She knew that somewhere, far off beyond that, was the sea.

"Well," she said to herself, "It does feel nice to be home."

[Flower]

Agave
Rank: "C"
Type: Rare, Huge, Herb
Effect: A versitile desert plant used for various purposes from alcohol to soap.
Special: Preparation: —; Duration: —
Drawback: ---
Description: Original habitat is unknown but it grows wild in desert areas on cultivated land and in pine woods. Sandy places in desert scrub at elevations. Contact with fresh sap can cause dermatitis in sensitive people. The plants have a very sharp and tough spine at the tip of each leaf. They need to be carefully sliced in the garden. Agave is an evergreen perennial growing to 24 feet by 8 feet at a slow rate. Suitable for: light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils and prefers well-drained soil. It prefers dry or moist soil and can tolerate drought. Edible Parts: Leaves; sap; seed; stem. The heart of the plant is very rich in saccharine matter and can be eaten when baked. Sweet and nutritious, but rather fibrous. It is partly below ground. Seed—ground into a flour and used as a thickener in soups or used with cereal flours when making bread. Flower stalk— roasted. used like asparagus. Sap from the cut flowering stems is used as a syrup or fermented into mescal. The sap can also be tapped by boring a hole into the middle of the plant at the base of the flowering stem. The sap has long been used as a binding agent for various powders used as poultices on wounds. The sap can also be taken internally in the treatment of diarrhea. The sap is antiseptic, diaphoretic, diuretic, and laxative. An infusion of the chopped leaf is purgative and the juice of the leaves is applied to bruises. The plant is used internally in the treatment of indigestion, flatulence, constipation, jaundice and dysentery. The sap has disinfectant properties and can be taken internally to check the growth of putrefactive bacteria in the stomach and intestines. Water in which agave fibre has been soaked for a day can be used as a scalp disinfectant and tonic in cases of falling hair. The plant contains saponins. An extract of the leaves is used as a soap. Chop up the leaves or the roots into small pieces and then simmer them in water to extract the saponins. Do not over boil or you will start to break down the saponins. A paper can also be made from the leaves. The dried flowering stems are used as a waterproof thatch and as a razor strop. This herb has enough for 1 mug. Agave is normally sold at 500 Ryo per Pound. Agave are found in clusters of 1d8.
Availability: Summer; Region: Desert; Identification: Average; Cultivation: Difficult
Limit: Must know Botany for Desert Regions. 18% chance in finding.
Cost: 375 Ryo per Mug.

(18% Chance)

As she came over the hill, Valerys strolled into the rolling valleys and suddenly it dawned on her that it was the middle of summer. The heat should have reminded her right away but her buddy was unusually adapted to the harsh temperatures. She knew that his was the best time of year to harvest the agave plant, so as she was walking past the sand dunes she kept her eyes peeled for any signs of the unique foliage. Eventually she came to the crumbling tower she spotted earlier, looking like a pin prick in the distance but eventually growing larger at her approach. Once she came close to the ruins, Valerys started to search around the remains for any signs of the agave plant. I must look pretty silly, she thought to herself as she stooped down to inspect under a pillar. No signs of the plant so far, but she knew that this little oasis might be the perfect place to find the old remains of a garden or greenhouse.

[󠀐󠀐󠀐󠀐Y]

Valerys would indeed feel silly, as she squatted and stooped to find only a small yucca plant.

[No Agave found]

[Flower]

Agave
Rank: "C"
Type: Rare, Huge, Herb
Effect: A versitile desert plant used for various purposes from alcohol to soap.
Special: Preparation: —; Duration: —
Drawback: ---
Description: Original habitat is unknown but it grows wild in desert areas on cultivated land and in pine woods. Sandy places in desert scrub at elevations. Contact with fresh sap can cause dermatitis in sensitive people. The plants have a very sharp and tough spine at the tip of each leaf. They need to be carefully sliced in the garden. Agave is an evergreen perennial growing to 24 feet by 8 feet at a slow rate. Suitable for: light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils and prefers well-drained soil. It prefers dry or moist soil and can tolerate drought. Edible Parts: Leaves; sap; seed; stem. The heart of the plant is very rich in saccharine matter and can be eaten when baked. Sweet and nutritious, but rather fibrous. It is partly below ground. Seed—ground into a flour and used as a thickener in soups or used with cereal flours when making bread. Flower stalk— roasted. used like asparagus. Sap from the cut flowering stems is used as a syrup or fermented into mescal. The sap can also be tapped by boring a hole into the middle of the plant at the base of the flowering stem. The sap has long been used as a binding agent for various powders used as poultices on wounds. The sap can also be taken internally in the treatment of diarrhea. The sap is antiseptic, diaphoretic, diuretic, and laxative. An infusion of the chopped leaf is purgative and the juice of the leaves is applied to bruises. The plant is used internally in the treatment of indigestion, flatulence, constipation, jaundice and dysentery. The sap has disinfectant properties and can be taken internally to check the growth of putrefactive bacteria in the stomach and intestines. Water in which agave fibre has been soaked for a day can be used as a scalp disinfectant and tonic in cases of falling hair. The plant contains saponins. An extract of the leaves is used as a soap. Chop up the leaves or the roots into small pieces and then simmer them in water to extract the saponins. Do not over boil or you will start to break down the saponins. A paper can also be made from the leaves. The dried flowering stems are used as a waterproof thatch and as a razor strop. This herb has enough for 1 mug. Agave is normally sold at 500 Ryo per Pound. Agave are found in clusters of 1d8.
Availability: Summer; Region: Desert; Identification: Average; Cultivation: Difficult
Limit: Must know Botany for Desert Regions. 18% chance in finding.
Cost: 375 Ryo per Mug.

(18% chance)

She'd had no luck in her search under the pillar, so Valerys decided that she would need to scan the ruins a bit closer if she were to find what she was looking for. The agave plant was common enough, but she always did have the worst luck with things like that -- she wouldn't have been surprised to be spending days searching for such a simple product. But that was okay, because she had all the time in the world since the disarray of the Sand Village. Peeking inside of what had once been a doorway, Valerys started to inspect the crumbling, stone floor. There were several juvenile plants poking up through the cracks, so she stopped at each one and inspected them closely hoping that one of them would be what she was seeking. The agave was a rather large plant, with a sharp spine, not exactly an easy plant to gloss over which played to her favor. 

[Flower]

Agave
Rank: "C"
Type: Rare, Huge, Herb
Effect: A versitile desert plant used for various purposes from alcohol to soap.
Special: Preparation: —; Duration: —
Drawback: ---
Description: Original habitat is unknown but it grows wild in desert areas on cultivated land and in pine woods. Sandy places in desert scrub at elevations. Contact with fresh sap can cause dermatitis in sensitive people. The plants have a very sharp and tough spine at the tip of each leaf. They need to be carefully sliced in the garden. Agave is an evergreen perennial growing to 24 feet by 8 feet at a slow rate. Suitable for: light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils and prefers well-drained soil. It prefers dry or moist soil and can tolerate drought. Edible Parts: Leaves; sap; seed; stem. The heart of the plant is very rich in saccharine matter and can be eaten when baked. Sweet and nutritious, but rather fibrous. It is partly below ground. Seed—ground into a flour and used as a thickener in soups or used with cereal flours when making bread. Flower stalk— roasted. used like asparagus. Sap from the cut flowering stems is used as a syrup or fermented into mescal. The sap can also be tapped by boring a hole into the middle of the plant at the base of the flowering stem. The sap has long been used as a binding agent for various powders used as poultices on wounds. The sap can also be taken internally in the treatment of diarrhea. The sap is antiseptic, diaphoretic, diuretic, and laxative. An infusion of the chopped leaf is purgative and the juice of the leaves is applied to bruises. The plant is used internally in the treatment of indigestion, flatulence, constipation, jaundice and dysentery. The sap has disinfectant properties and can be taken internally to check the growth of putrefactive bacteria in the stomach and intestines. Water in which agave fibre has been soaked for a day can be used as a scalp disinfectant and tonic in cases of falling hair. The plant contains saponins. An extract of the leaves is used as a soap. Chop up the leaves or the roots into small pieces and then simmer them in water to extract the saponins. Do not over boil or you will start to break down the saponins. A paper can also be made from the leaves. The dried flowering stems are used as a waterproof thatch and as a razor strop. This herb has enough for 1 mug. Agave is normally sold at 500 Ryo per Pound. Agave are found in clusters of 1d8.
Availability: Summer; Region: Desert; Identification: Average; Cultivation: Difficult
Limit: Must know Botany for Desert Regions. 18% chance in finding.
Cost: 375 Ryo per Mug.

(2nd Post, 18% Chance)

As she was looking over the plants growing out of the floor, one of them caught Valerys eye. It had a set of spiny leaves that looked like they could have been from the Agave plant. Crouching down to get a better look, Valerys lifted one of the leaflets with her fingers and inspected it more closely. She had been studying desert plants for quite a long time, and her skills in both identification and cultivation were astounding. Yet this plant seemed to be giving her trouble. While it looked like the infamous agave, the leaves were a bit too short and the color a bit too dark. She looked around to see if there were any other plants like the one she had found, hoping to get a better specimen to compare -- but she was out of luck. She would have to rely on her own wisdom to discover whether this was agave or not.

[MONEY]

Unfortunately, the Agave seemed to be hiding from the determined Valerys this day.

(No Agave found)

[Flower]

Agave
Rank: "C"
Type: Rare, Huge, Herb
Effect: A versitile desert plant used for various purposes from alcohol to soap.
Special: Preparation: —; Duration: —
Drawback: ---
Description: Original habitat is unknown but it grows wild in desert areas on cultivated land and in pine woods. Sandy places in desert scrub at elevations. Contact with fresh sap can cause dermatitis in sensitive people. The plants have a very sharp and tough spine at the tip of each leaf. They need to be carefully sliced in the garden. Agave is an evergreen perennial growing to 24 feet by 8 feet at a slow rate. Suitable for: light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils and prefers well-drained soil. It prefers dry or moist soil and can tolerate drought. Edible Parts: Leaves; sap; seed; stem. The heart of the plant is very rich in saccharine matter and can be eaten when baked. Sweet and nutritious, but rather fibrous. It is partly below ground. Seed—ground into a flour and used as a thickener in soups or used with cereal flours when making bread. Flower stalk— roasted. used like asparagus. Sap from the cut flowering stems is used as a syrup or fermented into mescal. The sap can also be tapped by boring a hole into the middle of the plant at the base of the flowering stem. The sap has long been used as a binding agent for various powders used as poultices on wounds. The sap can also be taken internally in the treatment of diarrhea. The sap is antiseptic, diaphoretic, diuretic, and laxative. An infusion of the chopped leaf is purgative and the juice of the leaves is applied to bruises. The plant is used internally in the treatment of indigestion, flatulence, constipation, jaundice and dysentery. The sap has disinfectant properties and can be taken internally to check the growth of putrefactive bacteria in the stomach and intestines. Water in which agave fibre has been soaked for a day can be used as a scalp disinfectant and tonic in cases of falling hair. The plant contains saponins. An extract of the leaves is used as a soap. Chop up the leaves or the roots into small pieces and then simmer them in water to extract the saponins. Do not over boil or you will start to break down the saponins. A paper can also be made from the leaves. The dried flowering stems are used as a waterproof thatch and as a razor strop. This herb has enough for 1 mug. Agave is normally sold at 500 Ryo per Pound. Agave are found in clusters of 1d8.
Availability: Summer; Region: Desert; Identification: Average; Cultivation: Difficult
Limit: Must know Botany for Desert Regions. 18% chance in finding.
Cost: 375 Ryo per Mug.

(18% chance)

The agave had turned out to be quite elusive, something that Valerys should have expected -- of course, it would not go easily. The plant she had taken so long to inspect had turned out not to be agave, which she realized when she cut into the stem and started to look for sap and quick realized that there was none. Just a dried up husk inside of the plant that so similar to other desert foliage. There were a few small plants still growing in the cracks of the pillars and columns that still supported the tower, but none of them were big enough to be an agave plant -- not even a baby. There was an adjacent room, whose ceiling had also fallen in, that Valerys decided to study in case a cluster of the plants had found their way into the lonely bedroom. She peeked her head around the corner, literally crossing her fingers that this time she would have success.

[󠀐󠀐󠀐󠀐Y]

None found.

[Flower]

Scarlet Pimpernel
Rank: "B"
Type: Rare, Diminutive, Herb
Effect: Quite similar to a poison, this herb targets the mind of those who are introduced to it.
Special: Preparation: 2 weeks; Duration: 1d5x5 hours
Drawback: ---
Description: This weedy plant grows from a central root in a starburst pattern, its leaves hugging the stem close in little hemispheres. It blooms are a muted orange with red in the center. One unit of scarlet pimpernel can be applied to a weapon as though it were a poison. Creatures dealt damage by a weapon coated in scarlet pimpernel must make a Fortitude Save 10 +2 per Cultivator's Skill Mastery + Impeccable Will or take -5 Intelligence Skill Damage plus an additional 5 points for every Cultivator's Skill Mastery. This herb has enough 50ml doses equal to 1.
Availability: Summer; Region: Desert; Identification: Average; Cultivation: Difficult
Limit: Must know Botany for Desert Regions. 18% chance in finding.
Cost: 16,200 per Plant and Dose.

(18% chance)

Having settled for not being able to discover an agave plant, Valerys moved on to looking for a different -- more useful -- herb that she had learned about not too long ago from a friend who she'd met while traveling over seas. It was called a Scarlet Pimpernel, and grew in a lovely starbust pattern that made Valerys feel all the more uneasy (knowing that it hid a vicious, mental poison). She continued to look around the ruins of the tower and had eventually made her way into what would have been the backyard, if the dwelling had been allowed to continue standing. There was, in fact, a patch of worn dirt that could have once been a small garden. Old fence posts, which were overgrown with desert vines, still stood near the edges. Valerys strolled forward to check it out, hoping that her eyes would catch the sweet assurance of scarlet.

[Flower]

Scarlet Pimpernel
Rank: "B"
Type: Rare, Diminutive, Herb
Effect: Quite similar to a poison, this herb targets the mind of those who are introduced to it.
Special: Preparation: 2 weeks; Duration: 1d5x5 hours
Drawback: ---
Description: This weedy plant grows from a central root in a starburst pattern, its leaves hugging the stem close in little hemispheres. It blooms are a muted orange with red in the center. One unit of scarlet pimpernel can be applied to a weapon as though it were a poison. Creatures dealt damage by a weapon coated in scarlet pimpernel must make a Fortitude Save 10 +2 per Cultivator's Skill Mastery + Impeccable Will or take -5 Intelligence Skill Damage plus an additional 5 points for every Cultivator's Skill Mastery. This herb has enough 50ml doses equal to 1.
Availability: Summer; Region: Desert; Identification: Average; Cultivation: Difficult
Limit: Must know Botany for Desert Regions. 18% chance in finding.
Cost: 16,200 per Plant and Dose.

(2nd post, 18% chance)

Alas, it was not the pimpernel! And after Val was so sure that she had found it out in this little garden. But her search was not over yet and Valerys bent down to look at the few plants that were still able to grow in the arid environment. There were not many plants that could do so well in the desert, but the scarlet pimpernel was different. Even its starburst petals seemed to be a testament to its virility in the otherwise barren landscape. None of the nearest plants were the pimpernel, so Valerys expanded her search throughout the rest of the yard behind the tower. There were some overgrown bushes, and plants, that hadn't been tended to for quite some time. It was to these bushes that Valerys now treked, determined to crawl and dig around them in search of the elusive, poisonous weed.

[Umehara]

2 Attempts.

None Found. D:

[Titan of Stone]

The neko had made her way toward the coast flyng aimlessly as she went, swaying to and fro curious if anything about the desert had changed but aside from the quiet in the capital, it really hadnt. A quiet huff followed the Tsuchikage as she saw a few ruins dotting the sands began to descend, normally she would've perched up high, but the sand and stones made her nostalhic of 'that' night so she floated down to rest on the stones in the shade of the pillar her hair flowing off her body like an aurora veil as the woman laid there her eyes closed but her senses open.

[Flower]

Scarlet Pimpernel
Rank: "B"
Type: Rare, Diminutive, Herb
Effect: Quite similar to a poison, this herb targets the mind of those who are introduced to it.
Special: Preparation: 2 weeks; Duration: 1d5x5 hours
Drawback: ---
Description: This weedy plant grows from a central root in a starburst pattern, its leaves hugging the stem close in little hemispheres. It blooms are a muted orange with red in the center. One unit of scarlet pimpernel can be applied to a weapon as though it were a poison. Creatures dealt damage by a weapon coated in scarlet pimpernel must make a Fortitude Save 10 +2 per Cultivator's Skill Mastery + Impeccable Will or take -5 Intelligence Skill Damage plus an additional 5 points for every Cultivator's Skill Mastery. This herb has enough 50ml doses equal to 1.
Availability: Summer; Region: Desert; Identification: Average; Cultivation: Difficult
Limit: Must know Botany for Desert Regions. 18% chance in finding.
Cost: 16,200 per Plant and Dose.

(18% chance)

Even after crawling and digging around in the dirt, Valerys had no success finding the elusive pimpernel. She let out a huff before deciding that it was time to leave these little ruins and made her way for the exit. Just as she did, and stepped out into the desert breeze, she saw a familiar sight that caught her by surprise. It was the tsuchikage, Krystal, whom she had once known and had a relationship with. But that had been before she had taken her venture into the world, and come back to find it in ruins. 

"Krystal...?" she said with only the slightest hint of her concern, "Is that really you?" 

It had been years, but Kedoin such as themselves were not affected by the cruel embrace of time. The neko was sitting in the shade of a pillar. As she approached, Valerys kept her eyes open for the pimpernel -- just in case it should happen to be hiding in plain sight. And kept a watchful eye on Krystal, who was always liable to come up with some sort of surprise. 

[Titan of Stone]

The violet veiled feline peaked over as she heard a voice making her blink a few times before touching her skin making sure she wasn't have heat induced illusions again. The most obvious difference the Kedoin would see was her gold eyes were now bordered with deep black smoky rings like eyeshadow but the rest of her body was immaculate just like when she had last seen it. The neko would raise up onto her feet floating as before while her purple cloud of hair hung on the air around her facing the red head almost suspiciously.

"I know that voice, that face, but are you my shapeshifter?" She asked softly her eyes focusing as it saw deeper through skin and bone and her ears angled slightly picking up the sounds of her body and voice, a staunch difference from the excitable cat the killer left behind.

[󠀐󠀐󠀐󠀐Y]

None found.