167: Interlude: Crisplet

Crisplet had been working hard on his statues. It was his favourite thing to do outside of cooking, exploring, and attacking evil creatures like tree bugs after all, and today was a special day.

You have reached level 5 in Ashborne Architect.

You have 3 available Evolution Quests.

Evolution Quest:

Craft 5 unique statues: 0/5

Tell a story in Ash: 0/1

Craft 3 objects that are utilised as a tool: 0/3

As he looked over his quests, he knew they would be easy to complete, so he got to work right away, first going to his friend, Lily, because he’d need to tell a story, and Lily always listened. Lily was the best.

He told a story of the bright days, the days before he was brought to this plane, his earliest memories, when he was just a small flame in an ocean of fire.

Setting the landscape as an ocean of fire and ash, with a small, tiny flame that represented Crisplet in the middle of it, waves of flame crashing over the top and drowning out the little flame, overwhelmed by it all, he didn’t know how long he had spent there. It was impossible to think, impossible to grow, endlessly moving with the fire. Then he was gone, taken from the bright place, and he could think, he could be. He was Crisplet.

He used dark ash and coal to explain how he viewed the world when he arrived. It was so dark, so quiet, but he had a friend. He had Trevor, and in the dark space was a single bright fire.

Remembering a time he threw a piece of coal at Trevor because he was talking about dismissing him, and he didn’t want to go back to the world of fire. He wanted to explore.

Several ash statues were made, showing Crisplet throwing a piece of coal at Trevor, causing Lily to smile.

Lily got called away to help Trevor with the big fat lizard he was cutting up in the other room, so Crisplet looked over his completed quests. He wasn’t too worried about the tools. They had Magic Man for tools.

Evolution Quest:

Craft 5 unique statues: Complete!

Tell a story in Ash: Complete!

Craft 3 objects that are utilised as a tool: 0/3

Three evolution options are available for Ashborne Architect.

Skill: Ashborne Architect → Ashborne Monument

• Sculptures no longer decay naturally.
• Highly resistant to weather and the passage of time.
• Sculptures emanate faint residual warmth.

Skill: Ashborne Architect → Ashborne Tableau

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• Sculptures may move freely to support a story being told.
• Figures dissolve upon the conclusion of the story.
• Sculptures are capable of expressing emotion through mana, form and motion.

Skill: Ashborne Architect → Ashborne Effigy

• Able to create semi-permanent sculptures.
• Sculptures can store and collect fire mana.
• Stored fire mana allows limited movement.
• Movement fades once stored mana is exhausted.
• If fire mana is absent for a prolonged period, the sculpture will decay.

Looking over all the abilities, he didn’t think he needed to just make permanent statues. They had Magic Man for that, and it was tempting for him to pick the story skill. He loved sharing stories with Lily.

But there was an obvious choice for him. The effigy would allow him to create something that could move and stick around. That was perfect. He remembered a while back when Trevor really liked the tree he had made with everyone sitting in the branches, and he really wanted to make that permanent.