The Malachite that he obtained must have been enough to impress the villagers... possibly. This train of thought was a familiar one by now and it had always turned out to be some backward request that still made it very clear the villagers trusted him not one bit. And why, exactly, was he helping them out anyway? He wasn't entirely sure... Helping wasn't really his forte, it was more in the hindering genre.
There wasn't much else to do around town, anyway, and with so many weirdos wandering around they must be having a hayday asking angry favours and keeping people out. Dekana shook his head, he thoughts had wandered off track again – why was he helping? Well, at this point, why not? He'd scaled a mountain, been chased by creatures, found a pretty mineral wall and been bitten by a crazy minipet... not too bad all things considered. And nobody had come looking for him from the school yet, which was even better!
He stood before the table as as the Dragonseer flopped some materials onto the surface and explained what his task was: build a basket for the balloon he was going to borrow, fly up and look around. Dekana needed to look out for danger and sand whales – the youth wasn't sure what constituted danger and had no clue what a sand whale was supposed to look like either but he nodded anyway. The villagers had a tendency to simply state rather then explain. Fly up, look around, he could do that.
He just wasn't expecting the stuff on the table to be... what it was. The rope was believable – he needed to make a basket after all – but the flaming carpet? Really? That's all they had? It must have been induced to burn in perpetuity... and it was only burning on one side. Alright.
Dekana made a face at the Dragonseer and dragged his carpet out the door, amused when the flames licked at a bolt of cloth and the thing went up in a tower of fire. He called out an apology as the Dragonseer ran back and forth chaotically, randomly tossing water and dirt on the flaming fabric.
Outside, Dekana laid the carpet out flame-side down and stood on it, frowning. Make a basket.... he tested the rope on the flames (which didn't seem to show any signs of stopping despite being smothered) and the rope resisted the fire. Good, at least their equipment worked together... but why a flaming carpet? What kind of statement was that?
About an hour of fiddling and tying and draping later, Dekana finally managed to get the basket into a semi-basket shape that would fulfill the role. The Dragonseer, having finally put out the fire, came out to give him the balloon portion, grumbled something about being surprised the basket existed and good luck, you'll need it before hurrying back inside.
Dekana looked after him with an odd expression – good luck, he'll need it? That meant something was going to be trouble.... but it was too late, the balloon was rising and quickly too.
The speed with which the balloon was rising was impressive and the tether rope was starting to look as if it was straining. Dekana was at once extremely proud of his sturdy basket and concerned he was going to float away completely. Maybe if he slid down the tether he could escape?
With a bob that made Dekana's stomach lurch, the balloon came to a halt nearly a hundred feet up. The air was thin and his breath misted around him. There was a strange hue to the air as well, darker like something lingered in the air currents as he looked around, shivering. Nothing dangerous seemed to pop out and no sand whales as far as he could tell – but then again, he hadn't a clue what it looked like.
The village, however, was clearly visible, stretched out below in a curving 'S' shape that wasn't particularly remarkable to Dekana.
The coolness was creeping into his bones now and he was starting to feel like he was being watched, the condensation on his skin starting to feel like it was trying to creep into him. There was a definite presence, he was certain, and it was focusing on him. They'd sent him up here because they didn't want to be exposed to whatever was eyeing him! He KNEW he'd not made any progress.
Growling, he hit the descend lever even as dark purplish-black wisps crept around him and sank into his flesh.
OOC
Character Name:Dekana Faction: Monster Student Appearance: LInk! Miasma meter 14 (Students: Every time you gain Miasma, multiply it by x2. So, in a prompt if you gain +2 miasma, it is actually +4 for you.)
Items obtained: Herbivore Egg Knowledge: Village shaped like an S.
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