EQ Game Mini Quest- The Griffon Merchant and the Trees

It was a humid, average day in Outer Hayven, when a only slightly out of place Griffon pulled up in a small cart covered in odd items and knick knacks in the southern end of the market, catching a few eyes, but at first nothing seemed too strange as he got out and started about his business.

He was a medium size thing, brown throughout, owl-like, as he cleared his throat and pulled out a microphone.

“HELLO? HELLO! Yes, hello! I am Gerald Omino, Trader from the fine city of Griffonstone! I have come looking for a specific trade good I have heard can be found in these here jungle towards the south, and wish for upwards of four volunteers to help me look for this elusive product, so I might invest in the acquisition of it!”

he smirks, taking a moment to look at the small crowd he had gathered.
“Ill pay 50 Gold Bits up front, 100 once we return, and 150 if we are able to find what I so desire. Now, I must say I have heard the area we are searching is less then hospitable, so I ask you come prepared for danger, hmm, yes. Any takers?”

Eve was just minding her own business, perusing the market stalls and enjoying the nice day, when she heard the griffon trader's proclamation. Hmm... I could use 300 bits, maybe I'll see what this guy wants. Moving away from the quilts she was considering buying, Eve starts searching for the source of the noise.

Gary was in his house, playing around with his smowl, Banzai, when he heard the gryphon yelling outside. He looked out his front window and saw him standing there, making some speech or whatever. He was about to turn away and go back to his cute little birb, but he quickly changed his mind when he heard the pay. That was... Three hundred gold bits if they succeeded! He quickly went about gathering up his equipment. Armor, helmet, cleaver, shadow goggles, started kit. He looked at the golden horseshoe Day had given him and decided against it. He could not afford to lose that. He got himself ready and after making sure Banzai was comfortable, rushed out the door, "Yeah, yeah! Me! Over here!" The now armored Gary called out

Night walks outside as the griffon is introducing himself. intrigued, night heads over and listens to the griffons tale. without a word he heads back inside and prepares his gear for the travels, coming back out and raising his hoof "I'll join you" Night calls out


Gerald nods happily as the Griffon and  Pegasus come up to him, most others turned off it seemed by the prospect of danger.

“Ah, splendid! Now, what would your names be, hmm?” He asks quickly, looking around to see if any others would approach.

Eve spots a few familiar faces already lined up in front of the merchant. She decides to step forward. "I'll come along as well," the witch says to the griffon.

"My names Nightlight sir" Night bows slightly

Gary bowed his head "Gary Oak"

Eve tilts her hat backwards. "Eve."

"Bit" "So when do we head out?"


“Ah, a third, splendid!” he says, before jumping a good foot into the air as Bit appears out of nowhere, simply stating his name casually.

“O-oh, well aren't you a sneaky one! Well, thats, uhh, four then! Wonderful! If you didnt hear, I am Gerald Omino, trader of rare goods to and from Griffonstone, though...” he says, smirking, “if this pans out, I might have a more stable product to sale.”

Clearing his throat, he reaches into the wagon behind him, and pulls on a set of padded scale, and straps a longsword to his side, aswell as slapping on a backpack...and then produces four bags, clinking with bits.

“Right, I promised 50 bits to start, and here are your 50 bits. I would ask you to not take this and run off, please?” he says with a weak smile.

Gary smiled and happily took one of the bags, "Course not, Gerald! A deal's a deal" He tried to reassure him.

Eve takes the bag and slips it into a pocket inside her robes. She doesn't have a witty comment or anything particularly meaningful to say, so she just nods at the trader.

Night takes the coins "You wont have any running from me, im excited for the adventure"

"Don't worry, if anyone runs off they'll have to deal with me"


Looking to Bit, Gerald smiles. “right now!” and then he turns around, picks up some sorta amulet from his cart, aims it as said cart and with a flash, the cart is incased in solid, purple crystal!

“Well, now that I can be assured nothing will be stolen...” he says,putting the amulet in his backpack, and pulling out a map, “i can lead us out!” He says, and with a wave of his claw, starts walking towards the southern gate!

Gary looked between Gerald and where his cart was, opening his mouth to speak but just blubbering like a fish. How in the hell? Y'know what, no. This is Equestria. Strange shit. He just huffed and followed along

Eve wonders if she could learn a thing or two from this griffon. She sets off after the group.

Night looks in surprise at the cart and then follows the griffon



As the group enter into the jungle, Gerald takes a moment to look over the map carefully. “hmm, yes, this way then!” he nods, rolling it up and leading them off and into the great unknown.

It would be about an hour before Gerald calls for a break. “I gotta take a moment to climb up, make sure the landscapes all fit and proper, yes, yes. You good fellows, stay hydrated!” he smiles, and flies up, hopping up the trees, most likely his armor making full flight difficult.

As the group settles in to rest, the noises of the jungle surrounded them, the canopy above only protecting them so much from the heat of the day, much less the humid air.

[D12+Perception everyone!]
Bit, 9
Gary, 6
Eve, 11
Night, 1


The area seems calm enough, the branches swaying a bit in the slight breeze, until Bit and Eve hear faint rustling from their left, a bit deep into the forest though, but getting closer it seems.

Gary hears it once it seems to be fairly close, but Night is distracted by a beauty of a bird chirping in a nearby tree, though I mean, it is a really pretty bird, who could blame him?

Gary's head shot around to glare into the jungle at the rustling noise, but turned away again. Lots of wildlife was out here.

Bit keeps an eye out to their left.

Her ears perk up, Eve's eyes wander through the undergrowth, perturbed by the rustling. What if it's a rapist or a giant spider? Or a giant rapist spider. She shudders at the thought.

Night tries to pull his eyes away from the bird.

Suddenly, the bushes to their left and front rustle heavily, and...two little wild boar pop out, and looking scared out of their wits, heading right for the group!

"aww cute"
"and fast"
"and coming right for us"
Bit levels her spear

Eve sidesteps behind Gary.

Night finally looks away to see a boar coming right at him. He attempts to jump out of the way.

Gary held his ground and readied himself, but didn't draw his weapon. They were too small and looked like they were running away from something.


One of the boars comes to a skidding halt, just before getting impaled on Bits spear, and cowers down, shaking and covering its head with its front legs.

The other ones dashes under Garys legs, then under Eves, hiding in her cape as it shakes.

And then suddenly, five creatures juuust bigger then a griffon pop out infront of the group! Two from the front, three to the left.

They look like wolves, but their snouts are a bit too flat and wide, and their paws are over sized, at least twice as big as they should be, and they have bone spikes along their spine....

They growl, lowering themselves as they drool and lick their lips as they start approaching the group, but stop a few feet away, and look between the pigs and ponies, and bark a bit....but the barking sounds...odd, almost....like it has an order to it?


[d12-3+knowledge or perception, if you wish, not required]
Eve, -2
Night, 9
Gary, 5
Bit,2


Eve kneels down and puts a hoof on the boar's back. "It's okay baby, you're safe with me." The witch draws her wand, the tip sparking with arcane flames.

Gary jumps in surprise as the boar goes under him and shoots around to make sure Eve is okay, but quickly turns back around as the wolf looking creatures pop out and he pulls his two-handed cleaver out, hovering with it ready.

night pulls his knife and readies himself toward the wolf creatures


"Good choice piggy"


Eve is too busy comforting the wildlife to really pay attention to the wolves odd noises, and Bit too busy threatening the other,  but Gary...swears, it sounds....familiar for some reason.

Night however, is the one who has it click in his brain. Speech. Or at least, primitive speech. As the biggest Wolf thing growls some more, it only clicks further. Like depictions of cavemen first learning to communicate, Night hears similar patterns in the wolves drawn out growls and barks.

The big one stomps on the dirt a bit, seemingly nodding towards the pigs as they circle the group...maybe they just want their dinner, and not to fight?


Gary looks oddly at the big wolf. This thing was acting... strange for a predator

"These two got away, you should go and hunt something else." Bit says.

Night backs away from the nearest boar "its his dinner i think, if the boar is caught its fair game isnt it?"

Gary looks between the boars and the wolves, back and forth., "Well... No need for us to get in the way and get mauled over some boars. It's nature..." He said glumly, making a face but still moving out of the way.


The Wolf things seem to become a bit less violent, until they see Bit and Eve not backing down, and start lowering themselves again, growling a few times, clearly not wanting to wait much longer!

Gary grows worried and looks at Eve and Bit "Just let them have the pigs, there's no need to get hospitalized here!"

"Fine" Bit says.

"Its really not worth the risk here" night adds

Eve loves animals, however. She can't let these pigs go with a clear conscience.

With all but Eve backing up, the big wolf approaches the fist boar, who looks up, between the wolf and the group, eyes full of fear as the wolf goes to clamp down on it, another wolf approaching Eve from the side, growling.

looks down at the boar infront of her "Run"  Bit says.

Gary grimaces as the wolf takes the boar, but such is life... He casts a glance towards Eve and notices she's still being defiant, "Eve, just let them have it, it's not worth it!" He hisses

"I know life is precious, but id rather the 4 of us live than one boar" night tries to reason with eve.

Eve has an idea, she usually uses her sorcery for mischief, but perhaps she could use it to save at least one boar. "Shh, I'll take care of this," she whispers to the pig. Under her cloak, she first uses her wand to clean the scent of the pig, using the Prestidigitation spell. Next, she uses the same spell to cover the pig in dirt and twigs, until it perfectly matches the jungle floor. She steps back and swishes her cloak. "What boar?"

[d12+2 Eve]
Eve,9

Eves spell works without a hitch, the wolf approaching her sniffing in confusion, the smell having been snuffed out it seems! The Alpha hands off the other boar to another, sniffing too, but after a moment growls, and he and his pack run off to the right, either having smelled something for thinking the pig ran in that direction, maybe both?

As they disappear, suddenly Gerald jumps down from a tree branch, landing next to Gary. “oof, sorry chaps, was on my way down when I saw the commotion, figured best stay hidden, see what happens, so I could surprise em if they attacked.” He stands up, brushing dust off of himself as he smiles at Eve “Risky move madam, but I guess its hard to condemn a kind heart. Say, something seem odd bout those wolves, and im not talking their complexion...”


Gary jumped back when Gerald landed next to him but calmed down to see it was only their charge. He nodded at his words and turned to Eve, "Yeah, at least you stuck to your morals there. Good job on the spell. Just glad this all didn't turn bloody"

Nights jaw drops at the spectacle "Bravo Eve that was a risky endeavor" Night looks to gerald "God you startled me"

"Good thinking Eve"

Eve releases the breath that she was holding, wiping away a bead of sweat from her brow. The boar stands and shakes himself clean of the dirt and debris. "They went that way, take care of yourself." She tells the piggy with a sympathetic smile. She turns to the group and bows. "It was nothing."

The piggy rubs against Eves leg, then runs in the other direction, taking one moment to look at where its friend had been, clear sadness in its eyes, before it disappears into the undergrowth.

Gerald rubs the back of his head. “Well, uhh, sorry about all that chaps, but everyone good to go?” He points. “if so, we should be heading this way!”

"Yeah let's head out"

Night keeps his knife ready and takes point

Eve puts her wand back into her cloak. She sighs, regretting that she couldn't save them both, she was good, yes, but she wasn't a miracle worker. You did what you could. Shaking herself off, she nods. "Yes, let's keep going."



As the group gets back on their feet, Gerald leads them into the jungle, and in about half an hour they reach the thinner areas of the jungle to the south west.

He takes a moment to look over the map again. “hmm, yes...wait, no, yeah yes.....right, this way!” he nods, and keeps moving.
[d12+perception]
Eve,5
Gary,11
Bit,1
Night,3


Bit,Eve and Night are simply idly keeping with the group, taking in the sights but not paying attention to the task at hand.

Gary though starts to feel a bit strange, until he realizes what it is. Something has been following them, for at least an hour, trailing them from behind....

Gerald stops once again, looking at the group with a smile. “should be juuuuuuust one more moment, sorry ill be right back again!” and start climbing the trees again....

Gary suddenly stops. He had a... Feely feel. He turned his head and glared around at the jungle around them. He felt eyes on him, "We're being followed..." He muttered.

"What? How are you sure?" Night seems to not believe

Eve looks around. "Hmm? I don't see anything..."

Gary continued to glare around at the jungle, but addressed them "It's just... I've got my gut telling me something's out there and the last time our gracious host left up a tree, we were in danger too"

"That is true, ill keep an eye out" Night preps his knife

suddenly, Gary hears rustling coming in their direction from behind...and then everyone hears more.

And then Gerald lands, a worried look on his face. “movemovemoveMOVE!” he says, pointing to the right and not wasting any time rushing there himself!

[d12+Dex, End, or strength! 7+ success, 2-crit fail!]
Gary,reroll, 8 ,success
1/3
Eve,12, success
Night,11, success
Bit, 13, success

Eve doesn't have to be told twice. One could almost here the bongo sound effect from Scooby Doo as she high tailed it out of the way.

As the group high tails it after Gerald, the hear a loud roar behind them and watch as entire trees get pushed out of the way, as a fully grown Bull Hound charges after them, looking mighty hungry and large enough to crush them easily!

“This way hurryhurryHURRYHURRY!” Gerald says, and point towards the left, where a cliff face is, a climb of about fifteen feet or so...

“someone carry the Earth pony my armor weighs to much to even fly properly!” Gerald says, as he jumps up onto the cliff face and starts climbing.
[D12+flight or strength if you climb instead of fly]
[7+ pass, 9+success, 2- crit fail]
[-2 if carry Eve]
Eve, no roll
Gary,reroll, 11, success
2/3
Night, 9, success
Bit,8, pass

Gary lifted off and swooped over to nab Eve, taking off before they hit the cliff, "Come on, wings, don't fail me!"

Eve yelps, being carred away into the air. She holds on her her hat with one hoof and Gary's arm with the other.


Gary takes air and lands himself and Eve safely up top, As Gerald clambers up top too, followed soon by Nightlight.

Bit however, lagged behind, and feels the cliff-side vibrate hard as the massive creature RAMS it to try and knock him off!
[Bit, d12-1+strength, 6+ pass, 8+ success, 2- crit fail]
Bit, 8, success

Bit hangs on hard though, and is able to climb up and to safety!

The beast rams into the wall a few more times, before growling at the group, and turning and leaving, disappearing into the jungle with a rash and rumble.

Gerald pants heavily. “Oh...oh man....Bull Hounds....guess we stepped into his territory a bit....not fun, hard, thick skin on those guys...”

Gary manages to lift himself covered in armor, supplies, and Eve up onto the cliff and gently lets her down, landing beside her, panting and huffing for air, "Y.. you alright, Eve?"

Eve plops down, her knees shaking. Her hat falls off and onto the ground. "Th-Thanks Gary, I'm okay."

"ohhh that as intense"

Night pants after the climb "Holy... hell. Lets not do that again"

He looks at her and chuckled, picking her hat off the ground and putting it lazily back on her head, "Alrighty then, let's get a move on!" He pats her roughly on the back and turns to see what Gerald's gonna do next

Gerald quickly takes out his canteen and takes a looong gulp of water, before jumping back to his feet.
“r-right, well, no need to let this ruin the mood! Onwards, as all great explores do!” He pulls out the map, looking at the trees below. “Right, shouldn't be too out of the way, we should almost be close by...yes....close indeed!”

Gerald leads them down the cliffside to the left, and back into the jungle. Another hour of winding paths come, but finally Gerald squees a bit like a school girl as he pushes some bushes aside, and then turns to the others.

“We...we did it, were here! Ohh...hold onto your hats, have I got something to show you folks!”

Night literally grabs his hat for fun "oh boy here it comes"

Gary was pretty sure it'd be nothing, "In before it's a disappointment~"

Eve wasn't fond of walking, and doing so in a jungle isn't in her top ten of what she was expecting to do today, but her spirits lifted at the prospect of actually finding the damn thing.



As Gerald leads them into a slightly more open patch, they come across...odd, dark teal wooded trees, with dark purple leaves, of the willow style, growing fruits as big as their heads of a dark orange color, and covered in spikes, with little lines into them like where one would peel the sections of an orange apart, though the shell looked very hard.

“I Give you, the Kielletty Fruit, of the Teito Tree! Thought to have gone extinct ages ago, the fruit, and evne wood, has many practical uses, heh, though eating it without being properly prepared is deadly, funnily enough!” He skips up to the nearest tree, poking at a low hanging fruit. “im gonna make a killing off farming these, oh, and of course setting up in your town, itll benefit too!”

[d12+perception folks!]
Night,3
Eve,1
Gary,3
Bit,7

As the group takes in the sight, only Bit notices something off....the Trees, while a bit crudely done, look properly trimmed and taken care of, and lined up not perfectly, but too well to be natural...

points it out to the group "what do you all think of this?"

Eve was briefly sticken blind too engrossed in the trees to notice anything. "Hmm? Oh, umm, maybe that's how they grow naturally?"

"I don't know...It just doesn't seem natural. This could be a garden."

"well i dont know if its natural, it sure is odd though"

Gary looked around at the trees, "Whelp, we're probably on a plantation..."

Gerald rolls his eyes a bit, and with a bit of strain, plucks one of the fruits, setting it down on the ground. “Nonsense, no ones grown these babies in decades.” He shrugs, “And even if it was, who cares right? It could be put to better use in our hands for sure.”

"true" Bit says."let's keep moving, but stay alert."

Eve feels this is wrong, but she doesn't know enough about Teito trees to argue.

Night nods and grabs his knife.

Gary sighed and closed his eyes. This is where he got conflicted, breaking the law. But did it apply if they were outside of Hayven? Ugh! "Fine, fine! If nobody's farming them, that's fine, but if a plantation owner comes for us, we give up. We're not thieves"

"Yeah i guess if someone comes by we leave but otherwise we keep going"

"If we hurry we can still make good time."

Gerald chuckled. “bah, who could claim them  though? Plus, as my people always say 'cant defned it, cant claim it.' “ he says with a nod, and pulls out a knife, and starts prying the fruit open.

“nowhere to go, juuusst, gotta get this thing into manageable chunks, then we can fly up, mark this place down, and head home. With your support and my funding, we can come in, chop these babies down, and transport the goods and seed closer to town, and start up a proper plantation!” He coughs, “The seeds oddly grow inside the wood see, and they only produce one set of fruit in their lifetime, so you gotta cut the old ones down. Luckily, the wood sells well too!”

Inside the fruit were some small, round, rubbery looking ping-ball sized red things, then the shell was full of some brownish-orange stuff that looked like pudding.  Wrapping the chunks up, Gerald starts taking off his armor. “now, Nightlight, Gary, ill need your help mapping the area a bit, everyone else, feel free to take your own samples!”


"Well maybe not, if someone is farming these trees then they have a right to them. Can't go around chopping them down."

Gary made a face at the unappealing looking fruit, but perked up at the thought of getting to fly and map, "Sure, I can do that"

"What do you want me to do?" Night hopes theres no flying involved

“Er, fly?” Gerald says, clearly not noticing the condition of Nights wings.

Eve doesn't particularly care for thievery, though perhaps something as rare as these fruits may very well prove to be a good alchemical ingredient. She puts her forehooves on a tree and shakes it in the hope that one will fall down.

Eve sees no fruit fall ,but the big, spikey fruits on the otherwise thin, near the ground branches swerve around a lot, becoming like flails!
[Eve, d12+dex!]
Eve,8

"Well the thing is, i can't" Night says reluctantly "I had an accident and lost the ability to fly"

Gerald blinks, and looks away, sweating a bit.
“o-oh, I didnt realize, er...come, Gary, sky!” and he takes off.

Meanwhile, Eve barely ducks in time, her hat getting smashed against the tree as the spikes stick it good into the bark of the tree!

Gary takes off after Gerald, not noticing Eve nearly getting swatted.

Night moves on and sees eve get almost rekt by a fruit "Ya alright?"


Eve growls. "Stupid tree, think you're better than me, eh?" She says, popping the spikes out of her hat. She pulls out her wand, about to light this mfer up using the fireball spell she's never had the opportunity to use, but she decides that she is the bigger person in this scenario, and murder/arson is never the answer.

As Gary and Gerald are up above, Gerald looking over the map, he looks around. “hmm....think thats...yes, Outer Hayven....hmm, so few landmarks...you see anything else to help mark this place down better Gary?” he asks.
[Gary, d12+1+perception]
Gary, 8

Gary spots a bit of a raised cliff are that might help, and the line where the jungle start becoming thinner, but not much else. It is odd though, to see where OH is, and hoe much they have changed the landscape around it as they colonize the area...

Nightlight gets a fruit, its kind heavy, but that is expected from a head sized fruit. it is manegable to carry though, minus the spikes being annoying to avoid.

Gary looks out across the jungle, not seeing much that could help them, "Uhh... There's the cliff we had to climb up to get here!" He pointed and squinted "And... Eh, that's about it"

Gerald nods, and writes more on the map.
“Well then, lets head down and home!” He nods happily, and flaps back down, landing among the fruit.

“So, ive got everything I need, lets get home and you folks paid!” he smirks, “and maybe if your willing to help back up my claim to this, I could use a local business partner.” He says with a smirk.

Gary lands back down beside him and quirks an eye at the spiked fruit embedded in the tree, but shrugs. He also wasn't at all interested in a business proposal, not his cup of tea.

Night tries to juggle the fruit with his teeth .

Night cant really do this with head sized fruit and just his teeth, stepping back as the heavy thing falls and stick into the dirt.


With a laugh from Gerald, they head on home. It was a long trip back, but quicker as they were not searching for anything.

When they come back into town and back to the market, Gerald uses the amulet, and with a flash his cart is free, and he turns, a bag of bits for each of the four.

“Ah, 250 golden Bits as promised, per person. I thank you for your help good folks. Feel free to go back and take a fruit or two for yourself, but I must ask, are you all sure you have no interest in helping me setup shop here? Its a very profitable enterprise, I assure you.”

"I might be interested"  Bit says.


Gary gleefully takes the bag and puts it into his bag. Well, did he want to help out? More profit... "Maybe... what would it entail?"

Eve graciously accepts her bits, effectively doubling her previous savings, so she's quite happy with this outcome. "No thank you, entrepreneurship is not my specialty or even particularly interesting."

Night graciously accepts the bits "No thank you sir i have my own business to run, thanks for the offer though"

Gerald shrugs, turning to Gary and Bit. “Well, besides having local boys helping my claim, I have ventures and shops to setup in Griffonstone, so would need some folks here to oversee the construction of the production facilities and shop here, aswell as the plantation. Id of course help fund and run it when I have time but, ah, wouldn't be able to do it all on my own, see?”

He clears his throat. “to help convince you, ill tell you what all the tree and fruit can do!”

Gary just shook his head, "Well, it sounds nice, but I know nothing about starting up a business, finding labor, all that. Thanks anyways though!" He turned and waves, heading off.

Eve shakes her head, but... perhaps she'll return to the grove sometime in the future to get herself some of these useful things. She waves goodbye to the party and happy merchant and sets off on her way.

Night heads back toward his bakery to put his things away.

With none really interested, Gerald shrugs. “Well, thanks anyways, im sure ill figure it out on my own!”

with that, he hooked up his cart and headed on his way.