Unlike House Cat form, the Crow form had an almost uniform body - varying only in size and minor aesthetic differences, versus the House Cat form that seemed to vary largely from person to person in size, color, and even breed. When Garath landed down back on the asphalt, it was next to Brock, Dave, and three other crows that Garath wouldn't have been able to differentiate from Dave without the nameplates affixed to their heads.
*Ready to fly?* he asked them, shifting his weight from one clawed foot to the other excitedly.
With a bit of practice and a bit of wildly flailing through the air, all four of them managed to at least get the hang of what could be called aerial travel. Sharon struggled with even walking as a crow, claiming she was too top heavy. Warrion picked up the basics immediately and had started attempting ninety-degree dives before the seventy-eight-year-young Naturist had even achieved lift. Athios took to the form naturally as well, climbing in altitude until her muscles screamed then riding the wind slowly down in easy circles.
High above the ruined city, Garath found his mind unusually clear. The natural white noise of rushing wind drowned out any other sounds, both the typical sounds and the noise of his thoughts. He was able to come to the decision that he would be the one to organize and develop The Band of the Hawk into something wonderful, despite his earlier reluctance.
While it was true that deep down, he wished for some mega-competent chamberlain to show up out of nowhere with an undying devotion to serve him, he knew it wouldn't happen. He also knew that he had the ability to plan and develop the community and he was finally ready to accept the responsibility that would entail. Now over two-hundred men, women, and children living together at BOTH HQ would be given the option to become a member of the Guild and join him in his mission to create a home. Apart from MMOs, the only games that captured Garath's attention were real time strategy games like Age of Empires and Warcraft 2 - developing cities and raising armies while establishing a defensible base had always been a thrilling experience for him. He hoped he could translate his experiences from those kinds of games into creating a safe and thriving community for The Band.
His mind jumped back to the present and he panicked while circling lazily high above HQ. Ever since he had removed the egg from his Items panel the evening before, he had patted his right-side pant-pocket to make sure the little silver egg was still safe inside. After discussing it on the beach, Garath tried to place the egg back into his Items panel with no luck. An error message appeared in his mind's eye each time he tried. Luckily, the thumbnail sized egg proved very sturdy and it went into the only place that Garath felt comfortable keeping it until he was able to plant it, his pocket. In his pants. The pants he was wearing when he was in human form.
With the frightening possibilities of what could happen to a living organism when it was transported to wherever his clothes went while shape shifted in mind, Garath hurried back to the singular outdoor dining couch on the asphalt outside the red-brick headquarters building and shifted back to his human form. As soon as he felt that his arms could even bend that way again, he reached into his pocket and retrieved the egg.
You have found a consecrated egg. Plant it in nutrient Rich soil and water it each morning at sunrise for three days.
*Note: the purity of the water provided will effect the creature inside for its entire life, choose well.
Time remaining to plant and provide water: 32 hours 16 minutes 19 seconds.
The prompt provided both relief that the egg seemed in good order and the stress to complete his first quest as the seconds ticked away on the prompt hovering in his vision. He was anxious to get moving but had two action items to check off his mounting internal list before flying off to gather high quality water for his egg and exploring the Aquawood Depths.
First, he asked Warrion, Athios, and Sharon to poke around and see if anyone was interested in filling the fifth party slot for the dungeon. Second, he needed to get the ball rolling on converting the Raid Group to a Guild. He sank back into the soft couch and navigated his panels to send a private message to every person in the Raid, as well as the two that were still awaiting their invite.
Private message from Garath to /RAID; Beckywinkerstaff; Cindywinkerstaff - 00/00/06 @ 06:28:
Hello everyone,
I'll keep this brief for now, but I wanted to give you something to think about over the next few days.
Our Raid Group has reached max capacity at 200 members and we have more people coming for food and shelter every day. I was given the option to convert our Raid Group into a Guild - I can only speculate on the ramifications of converting but it seems harmless in and of itself. I assume that being part of a Guild will also have additional benefits, apart from either expanding or erasing our current 200 person maximum.
I have decided to dissolve the Raid Group as of right now. I will be creating a Guild under the same name, The Band of the Hawk, within the next few days.
If you would like to be a part of the Guild, simply reply to this message requesting an invitation. Before you do, please consider the following carefully:
The Band of the Hawk will be a place
