In this world, Magic is Everything. All people, all races, are granted with the power to perform mystical and magical feats via grimories, mystical tomes granted to each and every child on their 15th birthday. Those blessed by the mana can have their names written down in legend.
Shattered Grimoires is the work of the mind(s) of Ardere & Shattered Grimoire's staff. All characters and content are copyright their creators, and may not be replicated without their creators' permission. Black Clover is owned by Yuki Tabata and published by Viz Shonen Jump. All images belong to their original owners. The theme you are currently viewing was made by Eliza of ElizaCodes exclusively for Shattered Grimoires.
[attr="class","shadowsTitle"] INT [break] Civilian
[attr="class","shadowsBody"]
[attr="class","shadowsHead"] When Nature Calls
A local town has put out a request for anyone that is willing to help find their missing citizens, it seems that something is causing some unlucky individuals that wander to close to the nearby woods to disappear and never be seen again. Find out what is going on and take care of whatever is causing the disturbance.
[attr="class","shadowsSub"]Details
Maximum Number of Players: 4 [break]Minimum Word Count: 2000 [break]Location: Hage [break]Special Requirements: N/A
[attr="class","shadowsSub"]NPC Information
What NPCs are in this mission? Please fill out the template for any notable NPCs. While those you have to socially interact with during the mission are not required any enemy that is presented in the mission must be listed in here. [break][break] Name of NPC: Dryad x3 per player
[break] [break]Health Limit: Intermediate [break]Physical Speed: 5 m/s [break]Physical Damage: Intermediate [break]Magic Element and Types: Wind | Sensory | Attack Creation [break]Combat Style: These feisty creatures like to try and get their victims under an illusion to harm themselves or others by messing with their sense of sight and hearing. If that doesn’t work they will attack with Wind blades. [break]Additional Information: Any information that you would like to add about the NPC. Such as what they look like, any noticeable features, what their stats are, etc.
Running his hand through his hair to get a bug out that flew in as he passed along the main road leading into Hage, Griswold picked it out and flicked it into the grass by his side. Figuring he did not need to kill it as it might be able to just go about its business as usual while safely in the tall grass, his gaze was set on the village ahead. It had been a couple of days since he had last been here, what with him having to go back into a dungeon he had once been forced to give up on completing, which he got to do quite quickly with the help of a more or less unknown mage that had also shown up at the front door after he had personally already freed the door of any vines. Even though he would have easily been able to blow through that whole place on his own after all the rigorous training and life threatening situations he had been through, it was still somewhat nice not to have to do it all on his own.
Aside from the dungeon he had taken part in, there was also the fishing competition he had joined, which was something that had become slightly less of a competition and more of a life or death situation as things progressed towards a battle against massive squid creatures out on the open ocean. Had they lost that fight or lost their ship, chances were that he would not have made his way back to Hage ever again, as swimming all the way back to shore with marine monstrosities in pursuit was not exactly the kind of something he could see himself managing. For how much fun it looked to look out across a beach and see the shimmering waters of the sea, it was a really cold and treacherous place to the uninitiated, and Griswold was incredibly uninitiated. The fact that he could swim was already quite something as he lived nowhere near large bodies of water, so the fact that he was even on the ocean was by itself quite special already.
Even though it had been a life or death situation with monsters that wanted to drag the ship down and eat everyone on board, he had still done his best not to indiscriminately kill everything beneath the ship, instead putting the focus on chasing them away as the captain of the vessel, who was himself a member of the Crimson Lion squad, claimed that these “Kraken” were merely babies who were likely still learning how to hunt and kill. This meant that they might also be frightened more easily than an adult, at which point the lesson he taught them might keep them from attacking ships again in the future. At least that was what he hoped his actions has brought about, as his intentions were not always directly linked to a positive change in behavior. Point and case being the time he had tried teaching a tribe of goblins a lesson about not attacking any human settlements again.
This had clearly backfired quite a bit, as the only lesson they had taken out of it was not to attack settlements head on, instead attacking the smaller locations surrounding them such as orchards and farmlands. Obviously, he had to teach them a lesson again, though he left no survivors this time around, hoping this would finally set the proper example. And finally, there was his strange little detour through the forest of the witch queen, which was potentially the most dangerous thing he had undertaken in the past week. Because of the fact that the current witch queen turned out to be the archdemon Lilith in disguise, the place was far from safe as there had been a lot of talk about demons dwelling in the place now, waiting for people to pass by that they could murder. Having been sent in there with the goal of writing up a map that might give the people venturing in there soon an idea as to what they were to expect and how to better navigate, Griswold had been one of the few people that actually dared to go in at all.
Truth be told, he could not blame anyone for doing so, or rather for not doing so, seeing as not everyone had the stones to stare down and fight a demon, lesser or not. And the truth of the matter was that he was sure he couldn’t do it either, though that would not keep him from doing the right thing. After all, he had signed up for the royal knights exams in hopes of becoming one of those few knights that got picked to fight against the three archdemons in the hopes of erasing them from this world they were never even supposed to be in to begin with. Knowing however that he was far from strong enough to actually be able to do so, and might for that reason not even get picked to become one of those few mages tasked with this, the very least he could do was aid those that were sent into the forest with a map to help them navigate their surroundings and move across the lands of the witch queen as safely as possible. At least that was what his reasoning was behind being the fool that actually dared to go in.
Given the things he had encountered and fought there, he truly understood why people did not want to go there, and why he would not be all that hyped to head into any forests soon. So as he wandered into Hage, ready to be taking part in the same activities he always took part in for several weeks in a row now, there was something that piqued his interest. Normally when he made his way in, he was quickly greeted by the other volunteers from the village who were all set and ready to begin or continue fixing the damage caused to the town during the shattering. In time, they had managed to do a lot of work, broke down a lot of battered houses for every bit of reusable materials they could find while patching up the buildings that could be saved. Finding that it was a good way for him to pass the time between missions, now that he was no longer a knight and was but a civilian just like every other person in this place, he had a lot more time to actually help out around here. That was, if his other extracurricular activities would allow for it.
This time however, he was not greeted by people who were happy to see him, but instead by people who had been seemingly waiting for just about anyone to stop by and respond to their plea for help. Stopping in his tracks, he overheard the people that had come to him, hysterically ranting about how several people had not been coming back from the forest near the border to the fringe. Wondering why people would even go there now that he had taken care of the wolf problems in the area, it would have made sense for them to go cutting wood in the area that was now both closer and free from danger. Maybe the people had not really believed the place to be safe now, which was why they had gone that far. Still, the fact that they had gotten lost near the fringe was a rather troublesome thought, one that had to be looked into properly as soon as possible. As such, he did not even attempt to walk there as he had done to Hage, taking out his broom and flying out straight away.
If there was a chance that he could help any of them by bringing them back home, and giving them a good scolding so as to never go to such dangerous places again, it was going to be worth the effort. Why any peasant would ever venture so close to the border for some wood was honestly beyond him, just as it was honestly beyond stupid to even attempt such a thing. Given the amount of creatures that lived within the fringe that had been warped by natural mana that would not hesitate to kill a human of whatever size, gender or age, anyone who possessed next to no mana and had no real magic to toss around should just never attempt it. In a matter of minutes, Griswold managed to get from Hage to the forest along the border, which was just where the search truly began as the forests themselves were quite vast. Still, they could not have gotten too far as they were likely just looking for some good lumber.
Even though he really did not want to go into any forests after what he had encountered in the witches forest during his mapping mission, there was no getting around it. And so as he landed, he used his ability to sense out mana signatures in order to look for the largest ones while just hoping that they would belong to people. As soon as he located the first few signatures, he also took notice of three that were different, larger and giving off a different kind of feel. Imagining that they very well might be mana beasts of some kind, he approached the scene carefully, finding that nobody had died yet due to the lack of blood in the direct surroundings. When he approached, he could clearly tell that the people were wandering about, yet they were actively running from one another or trying to punch or kick them, meaning something had happened that had turned them all violent. And just as he was about to approach them, it was as if the people turned into monsters, even though it was only for a moment. It was an illusion, though not one strong enough to fool him. So as he rubbed his eyes and took a look around, three strange beings stepped forward.
Staring down the creatures that had clearly been borne from nature itself, he stayed his hand for the time being, hoping that he might be able to get out of this without having to actually kill them. As an elf who had grown up within the former Shadesinger enclave out in the fringe, he had been bestowed with a lot of respect for nature as a whole. And as such, he would prefer not having to cut down any of the creatures that protected nature itself from any possible harm, which was exactly where things turned into somewhat of a conflict of interests. As much as he wanted to keep himself from harming nature, he also did not want anything harming the peasants he had been protecting ever since he was turned into a member of the clover country three years ago. The fact that peasants had saved his life was exactly why he wished to do his best at saving them too, even if that meant breaking away from what rules and morals he had been growing up with as a child.
Sticking his blade into the ground and taking a step back, he allowed the dryads to approach for a moment to see it for what it was. As it was the very same blade that had kept him safe during his venture throughout the witches’ forest, it was a weapon that had a very strong connection to nature as a whole. If the stories were to be believed, it was a weapon made by the first queen of the witches, who had created the handle out of iron wood while the crystalline blade was made from the spirit of the forest itself. Running their fingers down the blade, it was as if they could sense the strong tie it had with the wild world, after which they turned to Griswold himself. Getting ridiculously close to him, he waited for them to finish what they were doing before he would result to using violence or not. Feeling him up, the felt his ears and tugged at it as if checking whether or not they were real or not, seemingly taking a liking to the fact that he was an elf to a fair extent.
While the true elves had died out a long time ago, the fact that he was raised as an elf and had their genes running through his body made him feel quite honored, and seemed to be something that helped him out quite a bit now. Once they were done feeling him up, they began speaking to him in the native language of the elves, which was quite the surprise to him. The last time he had been able to speak this language was when he met the spirit of the elven lord Anneamdil inside of an ancient elven crypt near the foothills of Kiten. Even though he spoke the language quite well, he was still fairly rusty since he was so used to speaking only in the human tongue. Starting off quite badly, the dryads looked at him as if they started becoming uncertain as to whether he was truly an elf or not as they showed their slightly elongated canines and let out a hiss. Quickly restoring his tongue and speaking the way he should however made them rethink their hostility soon enough.
“Tha thu nad elf, ach thusa leis na daoine sin a dhìon a bhiodh a ’gearradh sìos ar coille? Dè airson? ”
“Chan eil fios aca dè a bhios iad a ’dèanamh, spioradan coille. Bidh iad a ’sireadh dìreach fiodh gus an urrainn dhaibh am baile aca ath-thogail a chaidh a mhilleadh le deamhain. .”
“Deamhain a chanas tu? Bha sinn a ’faireachdainn dragh ann an sruthadh an t-saoghail nàdarra, a bhiodh a’ mìneachadh mòran. Thoir do dhaoine leat, ach tha fios agad ma thilleas iad gus na craobhan againn a ghearradh sìos, gum bi iad air an cuir sìos agus air an cleachdadh mar thodhar.”
“Tapadh leibh airson do thuigse, spioradan uasal. Chì mi dha nach till iad a-chaoidh an seo.”
Not wasting a second of the time that he had been given by the dryads, one of them snapped their fingers as a means of releasing the illusion they had cast that made the lumberjacks attack and chase after one another. Once they had realized what had happened, they took up their axes as if ready to physically engage with the dryads themselves, which Griswold quickly managed to dissuade. Claiming that they had ventured into a forest that was considered sacred by these forest spirits and the fact that they had a perfectly good and safe forest literally around the corner now that Griswold had cleared the place of wolves, the former magic knight began leading them all out of the forest and back to Hage. Even though some of the more brawny guys had issues with leaving things off this way, Griswold made it quite clear that if the dryads had wanted them dead, they’d have been turned into fertilizer rather than getting caught in an illusion.
Luckily for him, everyone had been too preoccupied with the illusion they were under to even register the fact that Griswold had been capable of talking to the dryads in a tongue they both shared. Had this become common knowledge, it was likely that people might have become distrustful of him, even after all of the work he had done around the town and all the people in it that he had already aided. They were a superstitious and distrustful lot, so if he were to be seen making friendly with the creatures of the forest that would have probably wanted to kill them from their own point of view, they would most likely not trust him enough to have him around anymore. That said, if they did turn on him over something like this that literally saved all of their lives, it was going to be their loss rather than his. He had already done so much to help these people figure out ways in which they might be able to return to their former lives, working his ass off in construction assignments and chasing away dangerous wildlife, so if their trust in him could be broken so easily, he was likely going to be better off without them anyway.
By the time he had safely escorted everyone back to the village and received the praise of Hage for the fifteenth or so time in his short period of being a citizen in the land of clover, he again made it clear that the nearby forests were safe for cutting wood and scavenging for food, and that the wolves had truly been taken care of this time. Even though many were still skeptical, and probably for good reason, he posed them with a simple question. Would they rather face down some wolves or face down some angry dryads, a question that seemed to resonate with every single person he had just saved to the point where they chose to put their faith in Griswold once again.
With everything back the way they should be, he returned to the reconstruction work that still had to be done around the town. Given the amount of work they had already done, as well as the lumber they had brought back, he imagined they’d be done in about a month or maybe two. Because it had already been cut, the dryads had allowed them to keep it so it would not have been done in vain, which was quite kind of them. Hopefully in time, the people of Hage would learn not to antagonize the dryads, lest they get themselves killed for stupid reasons.
1131 (3000)
Last Edit: May 14, 2021 13:14:30 GMT -5 by Griswold
(You are an elf, yet you with to protect these humans who would cut down our forest? What for?)
(They know not what they do, forest spirits. They seek only lumber so they can rebuild their village which has been damaged by demons)
(Demons you say? We felt a disturbance in the flow of the natural world, which would explain a lot. Take your humans with you, but know that if they return to cut down our trees, they shall be mulched down and used for fertilizer.)
(Thank you for your understanding, noble spirits. I shall see to it that they never return here.)
Last Edit: May 14, 2021 12:46:56 GMT -5 by Griswold