Pour la Reine du Printemps, Une Couronne

**Exegesis Agarwal** · Feb 28th, 2019 12:28 AM

Once again in the workshop. This is starting to feel like home already.

The morning air had not yet begun to warm the tiny Hollow. Exegesis unwound the the last of the black leather cord from the sjambock project, pinning it in place to begin work.

This should be relatively simple.... Why can't I get that tune out of my head? Where did I hear that?

"You know there ain't no rest for the wicked, 'till we close our eyes for good..."

Crafting a leather sling:

Size 1, Durability 1 = target of 4 successes.

Dex 2 + Craft 4 + Workshop +3 + Exceptional quality -3 = 6 dice
Success by the fourth roll.

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2019-02-28 00:19:43	[01] Exegesis Agarwal rolls 6 to Crafting a sling (10 Again)	10, 4, 4, 1, 3, 9, 6	2 successes

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2019-02-28 00:19:43	[02] Exegesis Agarwal rolls 6 to Crafting a sling (10 Again)	9, 5, 3, 3, 7, 4	1 success

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2019-02-28 00:19:43	[03] Exegesis Agarwal rolls 6 to Crafting a sling (10 Again)	5, 2, 2, 3, 1, 4	failure

3 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2019-02-28 00:19:43	[04] Exegesis Agarwal rolls 6 to Crafting a sling (10 Again)	6, 10, 1, 5, 5, 10, 8, 4	3 successes

That evening, Exegesis huffed for a moment in the cool air of the ribcage-hollow.

"I need to exercise more. This thing isn't that heavy." The aforementioned thing being a robust terrarium. A few minutes later and the terrarium was vacated of its McDonalds' takeout bag and was filled with a low line of dirt, several sticks and some loose foliage. Then, very carefully, because experience had taught that these things liked to sting, Exegesis opened the jar and placed it in the terrarium, the thick lid coming down immediately afterward.

Slowly, the half-frozen forest green hedge beetles pondered their way out of the jar and began to explore their new surroundings. Each of them bore an exaggerated facial expression on their shell, marked in pale white on the beetle's carapace.
The odd murmuring seems to have stopped, though that might just be the effect of the stupor.

"Lets see if you're ready to eat."

Reaching into the McDonald's bag, Exegesis removed three chicken nuggets and prepared to drop them into the terrarium. A flurry of motion brought Exegesis's attention back with a snap, as the beetles came fully awake, and began tearing each other apart. The murmuring did not recommence, it was instead replaced by a sound like a sussurus of neurotic, humorless, laughter.

"Wait, no, dammit-" The nuggets were being ignored entirely. Frantic, Exegesis looked for some way to interrupt the process, but nothing was forthcoming. After a few moments spent trying to come up with a method of salvaging the situation it seemed time to let it go.

"Well, that was a total waste of time."

Frustrated and deflated, Exegesis tossed the bag across the room and decided to call it a night. At least finishing the sling meant something was accomplished.

**Exegesis Agarwal** · Feb 28th, 2019 08:07 AM

In the morning Exegesis had planned to clean out the terrarium, but found it curiously more populated then before. About another fifth had been added to the number of beetles. The nuggets, it seemed, were no where to be found.
"Did you eat it?"

In their place a few patches of blue-green moss krept across the bare dirt. Moss that seemed quite plentiful where these beetles were originally living. It was impossible to tell which beetles were new by the faces on their backs, and none seemed particularly smaller than the rest. Further chicken nuggets elicited no response at all.

The next three days involved further experiments in feeding. Roadkill, nothing. Raw meat, nothing. Cooked chicken, nothing. None of the plant material did anything, but that wasn't too surprising; These had seemed like carrion beetles. The eventual use of a Burger King patty triggered the frenzy again, with the same increase in numbers the next morning.

"Fast food, specifically?" A second patty did nothing. Neither did several other restaurants' menus tried that day.

There's a pattern here. I'll find it eventually. For now though, time to find a river...

**Exegesis Agarwal** · Feb 28th, 2019 08:32 PM

Kneeling, riverside, in the perpetual twilight of this part of the hedge had been colder work than Exegesis had expected. Luckily the burgeoning idea they had wouldn't take much river mud to execute. Probably. Three Tupperware containers filled quickly enough.

Something moved overhead. Exegesis froze.
A minute passed, with no more sound than the soft motion of the river.
Exegesis picked up the three containers and prepared to head back.

Another movement overhead.

Exegesis froze again, but allowed for a slow thaw of movement, putting down the containers and unwinding the sjambok from around their waste in a glacial movement over the course of thirty seconds. Eyes cast upward didn't register movement for a few more seconds. Even then the shape in the bramble trees was hard to pick out.

Unable to really make an ID, Exegesis was bolstered, if only slightly, by the fact that the little shape was little, about the size of a toy dog breed. Exegesis slid along the riverbank, trying to bring the low moon into position such that the hob could be seen. It's form was slender and spindly, with a mottled coat and a long face. Between its limbs long flaps of skin could be seen. The words 'sugar glider' and 'ant-eater' both came to mind.

That doesn't look too dangerous.
Now less tense, Exegesis straightened up and observed the creature rooting through the clumps of bramble, wicking its tongue between the barbs and consuming the little dots of movement that could only be made out by their reflective carapaces sending the moonlight back into the night. At the same time Exegesis unwound the sling and placed the sjambok back around their waist. Leaning down and selecting a smooth round stone took a little longer than was ideal, as the small hob moved along the branches and threatened to move out of range.

Exegesis loaded the stone and whirled the sling, glad to have taken the time to fray the fringe enough to dampen the sound.

1 success

Dex 2 + Athletics 1 + Weapon Mod 2 = 5 dice
Using the stats for a bat for the hob, 1 bashing.

The stone hit with a crack like a baseball, magnified in the silence of the night. The sound made Exegesis wince and cast around, for an instant, to see if any unwanted attention had been garnered. The hob was nowhere to be found.

Hopping from stone to stone to cross the river, they took a few moments to examine where the hob had been and where it had gone.

The hob has a Wits of 1 & Stealth 0, but it can fly, which I would call about a +2. It's also night (+2), and the creature is size 1. Call that +1. You get about 1 success for every 3 dice, so I'd call a pool of 6 to evade the same as a -2 on the roll to find it.
Wits 3 + Survival 1 - Penalties above 2 = 2 dice

failure

Unable to find the little hob, Exegesis decided to turn back.

**Exegesis Agarwal** · Feb 28th, 2019 08:32 PM

Kneeling,
riverside, in the perpetual twilight of this part of the hedge had
been colder work than Exegesis had expected. Luckily the burgeoning
idea they had wouldn't take much river mud to execute. Probably. Three Tupperware containers filled quickly enough. 
 
Something
moved overhead. Exegesis froze.
A
minute passed, with no more sound than the soft motion of the river. 

Exegesis
picked up the three containers and prepared to head back. 
Another
movement overhead. 
 
Exegesis
froze again, but allowed for a slow thaw of movement, putting down
the containers and unwinding the sjambok from around their waste in a
glacial movement over the course of thirty seconds. Eyes cast upward
didn't register movement for a few more seconds. Even then the shape
in the bramble trees was hard to pick out. 
 
Unable
to really make an ID, Exegesis was bolstered, if only slightly, by
the fact that the little shape was little, about the size of a
toy dog breed. Exegesis slid along the riverbank, trying to bring the
low moon into position such that the hob could be seen. It's form was
slender and spindly, with a mottled coat and a long face. Between its
limbs long flaps of skin could be seen. The words 'sugar glider' and
'ant-eater' both came to mind. 
 
That
doesn't look too dangerous. Now
less tense, Exegesis straightened up and observed the creature
rooting through the clumps of bramble, wicking its tongue between the
barbs and consuming the little dots of movement that could only be
made out by their reflective carapaces sending the moonlight back
into the night. At the same time Exegesis unwound the sling and
placed the sjambok back around their waist. Leaning down and
selecting a smooth round stone took a little longer than was ideal,
as the small hob moved along the branches and threatened to move out
of range. 
 
Exegesis
loaded the stone and whirled the sling, glad to have taken the time
to fray the fringe enough to dampen the sound.

1
success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2019-02-28 20:05:07	Exegesis Agarwal rolls 5 to Sling attack (10 Again)	10, 1, 3, 1, 4, 3	1 success

Dex
2 + Athletics 1 + Weapon Mod 2 = 5 dice 
Using
the stats for a bat for the hob, 1 bashing.

The
stone hit with a crack like a baseball, magnified in the silence of
the night. The sound made Exegesis wince and cast around, for an
instant, to see if any unwanted attention had been garnered. The hob
was nowhere to be found. 
Hopping
from stone to stone to cross the river, they took a few moments to
examine where the hob had been and where it had gone.

The
hob has a Wits of 1 & Stealth 0, but it can fly, which I would
call about a +2. It's also night (+2), and the creature is size 1.
Call that +1. You get about 1 success for every 3 dice, so I'd call a
pool of 6 to evade the same as a -2 on the roll to find it. 
Wits
3 + Survival 1 - Penalties above 2 = 2 dice

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2019-02-28 20:27:01	Exegesis Agarwal rolls 2 to Finding the ant glider. (10 Again)	2, 7	failure

Unable
to find the little hob, Exegesis decided to turn back.

**Exegesis Agarwal** · Mar 1st, 2019 01:01 PM

The pattern, it turns out, hadn't had anything to do with what the beetles were fed. They never actually appeared to it what they were given, but they would shred itm like they would shred each other, whenever new food was introduced.

Maybe I shouldn't call it food. Exegesis mused, I need another term. Catalyst?

The beetles wouldn't swarm without dead meat, and they wouldn't swarm more often than every three days. Even so, their numbers would be easy to keep up. Getting used to the cycles of neurotic laughter might be a little harder... That blue-green moss was creeping up the walls of the terrarium now. Cleaning it would be difficult...

"I had hoped to bring you meat from something more familiar, but it seems I'm not much of a hunter yet."

And I will have to make due with a more mundane leather than I had hoped for this part of the project.
Unrolling a brushed hide, Exegesis traced multiple patterns with a sharpie. Spraying the patterns with water, they became easy to cut with an exacto. An hour later, the leather flats went into the soak vat. In another hour it would be time to pull the flats out and select one for the current work. The rest would become more typical masks for the storefront.

Crafting a Columbina mask.

Dex 2 + Crafts 4 + Workshop 3 + Masterpiece -5 = 4 dice

Durability 1 + Size 1 = 4 Successes target

1 success

3 successes

Later that night, after the mask had been fully sculpted and left to dry on a cement head, Exegesis found themself studying it. The piece had come out perfectly, it's contours exact, its shape a direct expression of what had been envisioned. It was still unpainted though, the plain leather showing its full tooth, and Exegesis had to conclude that this was the fact that was bothering them. If you meant for the leather to show you sealed the outside. If you didn't, you painted it, or dyed it. Raw leather wasn't supposed to be sitting naked. It felt unnatural.

"You'll have to sit unfinished for a bit, little dove. Just until I get the rest of your ingredients together."

**Exegesis Agarwal** · Mar 3rd, 2019 10:36 PM

Separating out half the beetles was easy; the terrarium was designed for it. Lowing in the dividing glass was straightforward. Drowning the beetles in icewater was likewise simple, at least in a procedural sense. Their murmuring took on an eerie tone through the water, somehow magnified. The fact that it picked up speed as the creatures drowned was unnerving, and Exegesis found themself wondering, not for the first time, if there was a way to soundproof the terrarium.

Crushing the beetles with a mortar and pestle was monotonous, and that was, itself, made worse by echo of the beetles sounds clinging to the mind, trying to fill the empty space alongside the quite task of pounding them into paste. At least it was done though, and Exegesis mixed part of the result into warm water for the soak basin that held the thin show leather. The rest was mixed with a grey acrylic medium and painted onto the columbina. As the columbina dried Exegesis folded the stiffening show leather into a decorative rap on a cement head, creating a turban.

Crafting a turban.

Dex 2 + Crafts 4 + Workshop 3 + Masterpiece -5 = 4 dice

Durability 1 + Size 1 = 4 Successes target

4 successes

That turning out easier than expected, Exegesis was ready to call it a night early.