Author |
Topic: Candletree (Read 416 times) |
|
alien2
Uberpuzzler
Gender: 
Posts: 6986
|
- Yellow text only contains parts important for the riddle.
CANDLETREE
Candletree is the homeland of the Shadow Halflings. The region borders Mirnodor and it is located in the northwest of Tamanak.
Shadow Halflings are two heads shorter than Dwarves. Their feet from ankles down are covered with black fur, while Halflings have brown fur on their feet. Shadow Halflings have a few advanced abilities while Halflings have only sneaking. Shadow Halflings usually get offended if one mistakes them for Halflings. Being dexterous, they excel at nimble sneaking and pickpocketing, which is why longshanks also call them Sneakpicks. Their magic tool for lock picking is called Ognar. Ognar is similar to iron, but only when in contact with a hand of a Shadow Halfling it can change its shape in order to fit the lock. The magical ability shadowrun enables them a partial invisibility from several minutes to several hours a day. A magic sphere around their body hides clothes and object they carry as well. If a Shadow Halfling eats a cooked type of acorn called agnut, obtained from a Shadow Oak which grows mostly in Candletree, he can stay in shadworun for a whole day. Although agnut isn’t tasty, it is nourishing to a high degree, as one agnut completely satiates for one day.
Because of their small size and insufficient reach of their arms, they’re no match when confronted head-to-head with longshanks, so they compensate with sneaking, shadowrun and devastating backstab attacks. They wear elastic clothes for their torso which has skin like rubber and several bellybutton-like valves. They can inflate themselves as a balloon and fly vertically up and down, thanks to glands that synthesize, release and allocate gas similar to helium. The gas doesn’t last long since its molecules are so small they can escape by passing through the gaps in the body tissues. If they fly too high, they can break their legs on landing or even worse plunge to their demise.
Shadow Halflings pick apples by inflating themselves rather than using ladders or climbing trees. Last week a few young Shadow Halflings trespassed on private property of Hob Willow and stole all the apples from lower boughs of one tree. Hob is rather crude and he dislikes trespassers. He owns ten apple trees with apala apples with green peel and a bit of alcohol.
Their most dangerous combination of skills is to enter shadowrun, sneak behind a longshank, fly up while inflated and then aim with a dagger at the neck or middle of the back. The bone structure in their arms and shoulders enables them to possess special strength deriving from the momentum and lever-like bones, thus they can deeply pierce with a sharp weapon and deal a deadly blow.
Shadow Halflings had a rather bad reputation when they were nomads. Other races looked on them abhorrently or with prejudice, calling them shadow rogues and wandering thieves. Most settled in Candletree becoming peaceful and deeply tied to their homeland, so it is a rarity for a Shadow Halfling to leave Candletree.
Shadow Halflings live in Pontil Trees which have a very wide and hollow trunk they hew into homes. Most tree houses have a door and one floor with a round window just above the door. Curious Shadow Halflings leave the window ajar or wide opened during day, closing it before they go to bed.
The two biggest forests in Candletree are Orogrand and Bergud, separated by a pampa. Complacent Shadow Halflings live in Orogrand while Curious live in Bergud. Complacent are content as they don’t concern themselves much with the rest of the world. Although Curious rarely leave Candletree, in part because they can be uncomfortable around longshanks, they are interested in the outside world. Curious sometimes welcome visitors of other races like rhapsodists, troubadours and storytellers. Some Shadow Halflings believe that if Orogrand and Bergud merge together by becoming one forest, they will no longer be divided into Complacent and Curious.
Frg Antwood doesn’t concern himself with affiliation to neither Complacent nor Curious. Frg proposed to make Green Bridge which is how he calls his vision to make line out of Pontil Trees by planting seeds thus connecting Orogrand and Bergud. Because of his surname, young ones belly laugh at his expense by saying that he eats ants.
Shadow Halflings make and sell candles. They use beeswax and auback wax obtained from the Pontil Tree. The other races they sell candles to are mostly Men traders from Mirnodor. They also build small sailboats mostly for fishing and small four-wheel carriages dragged by pygmy horses. They use pygmy horses to make burrows as well. As of late, the most favorite topic of conversation is how Nad Silentwalk caught a fish as big as him with a fishing rod.
A dead body of a Shadow Halfling produces a biopolymer residue, a byproduct of decomposition process that resembles a spider silk. That is why they tell stories to younglings about a big invisible spider called Argag who wraps up his prey and likes to eat Shadow Halflings. They scare them like so by telling them that Argag likes to eat young Shadow Halflings who misbehave.
The title Proudfeet encompasses all dignified and wealthier families. Proudfeet have two floors each with a window. They plant seeds of Pontil Trees to make avenues, alleys or secluded homes. They also pay a Druid to enchant seeds so that Pontil Trees grow to their full size within a year. Wealthiest Proudfeet live in the avenues lined with trees. The most notable avenue where Curious Proudfeet live is made out of eleven trees which form a line. The avenue is called Twenty-two Windows and it is located in the Park of Empty Pockets. In the last tree lives Shem from the renowned family Pocketier. Although young, he already has advanced lock picking skills and he is capable of staying in shadowrun for a few hours. Aside for repeated stories told by the mentioned visitors, there isn’t much information and contact with the outside world. But Shem has a picture book which contains footprints of many different creatures. This is why he is a pretty good scout too.
Shem’s best and most loyal friend Brim Greenlock lives on the Hillock of Reaching Arm. Brim lives in an albino Pontil Tree which is surrounded by grass and Brenim flowers. Brim is suffering from aquaphobia so he avoids boating and swimming. Since all of Brim’s male relatives are proud fishermen who sail for recreation as well, he would like more than anything to sail in a boat for at least once to please them.
|
| « Last Edit: Apr 25th, 2015, 3:07am by alien2 » |
 IP Logged |
|
|
|
alien2
Uberpuzzler
Gender:
Posts: 6986
|
 |
Re: Candletree
« Reply #1 on: Apr 22nd, 2015, 4:50am » |
 Quote  Modify
|
At night, the Brenim flower is partially invisible and its petals close into a bud to decrease the scent. It is like so because of the biggest night flying insect Bomr which only eats petals of flowers with strong odor. Bomr flies mostly at night to avoid birds that hunt during day and would eat him. Bomr sees well on a fair night by using the light of the Moon and the stars.
Garb Highbranch is the strongest and rather handsome Shadow Halfling. Garb loves the lovely Nara Bough. He is ascetic regarding special abilities like shadowrun and pickpocketing because he thinks it is rude to use them and also the path that might lead to the dark side and ruin. He also restrains himself from using his physical strength against those who might provoke him. He didn’t play as a youngling with Shadow Halflings of his age since he was always more serious. One time Shem, Brim and a few other young Shadow Halflings were following and provoking Garb while he was walking. At one moment, he stood still in place, turned around, and stared at them with a piercing look. They all froze and remained silent for the rest of the day.
The Jingle Tree is a small tree that grows chiefly in Candletree. It has small bells on its branches which ring in a breeze. The sound of the bells attracts certain bees and birds to pollinate its white odorless flowers. The flowers of Jingle Trees have no odor because of Bomr. The bells are mostly copper and rarely silver.
Brim found a silver bell on a Jingle Tree which was his birthday gift to Shem. The bell was also an apology because Brim scared Shem on a foggy night below his window by imitating Sablarog. Sablarog is a dragon made out of mist. He cannot hurt anyone but he cannot be hurt either. He flies low and slowly, making a dreadful sound similar to slowly breathing out. Most dread when seeing or hearing Sablarog, especially young ones. Shem pouted for a few days and then happily accepted Brim’s gift.
Brim’s birthday arrived two months after Shem’s. It was a windy day and Brim was thrilled by Shem’s gift which he tried out right away on the pampa. If I tell you that Shem hired several Shadow Halflings to make the gift based on his idea, can you answer correctly what was Shem’s inventive and imaginative gift he bought for Brim?
Every spring there is a Celebration of the White Tree held in the Park of Empty Pockets. It’s when Shadow Halflings feast at long tables outside, have witty speeches, tell tales to younglings and engage in contests of lock picking and Leviaton. The contest of lock picking is held between the most skillful which compete who can pick more locks on small lined up doors. These doors are fixed and stand up straight thanks to a stick at their bottom placed in a hole in the ground. Leviaton is a contest about who dares to fly highest. There is a pole 50m tall with hook ladder and small sticks placed in small holes throughout the pole. All sticks have a little triangular cloth with a number which corresponds to height measured in meters. Some believe that a Giant Gordion carried and placed the pole made out of Odorin, the tallest tree in Mirnodor. Odorin was cut and hewed by Dolin and other Dwarves. The winners of lock picking contest and Leviaton each get a citation scroll and a pouch full of silver coins from the elder Nod Shadowwalk. Most call him Granod because that way they pay their respect to the elder of Candletree. Shem was first at the lock picking contest two years in a row. His friend Brim holds the world record in Leviaton. During the last celebration, he flew 31 m up in the air grabbing the stick and didn’t even break a leg upon landing.
Shadow Halflings tell tales about Bam Silentfoot who had an evil alignment. Bam was a nomad, thief and murderer. Because of backstabbing many he advanced in level and his skin became permanently transparent. He was repulsive to others who looked at his face and hands in disgust. When he inflicted a deadly blow by backstabbing a powerful Warlock Arshabal, all of his organs became entirely invisible. While Arshabal was engaged in a battle with his mighty opponent Belgrim who wanted his Aarla Black magic ring, Bam sneaked behind his back in shadowrun and killed him. Bam remained invisible till the end of his days as he couldn’t leave shadowrun anymore. Others called him Evil Ghost and they didn’t want to deal with him anymore. This is why he couldn’t sell stolen valuable items anymore.
There is a tale about two Shadow Halflings, Tama and Nak, who apparently gave their names to Tamanak and entered a legend.
Tama’s real name was Tuck and he loved Maka. The two of them were inseparable so they called him Tama, according to initials of their first name, that is T (ta) and M (ma). Most called him like so out of affection, while others had a good laugh at his expense, saying he does house jobs and takes orders from her. When Maka unexpectedly died, Tama left Candletree to try to find solace. He traveled south all the way to Frozen Tears, where he entered shadowrun to hide from Ice Trolls and Ice Dragons. He climbed the Mountain of Cold Breathe and stood on the highest peak called Cold Finger. He then inflated himself and flew three dozen meters in the air, reaching the green cloud called Traveler which happened to be right above him. Most residence of Tamanak believe that Traveler is a doorway that leads to a place of eternal happiness called Green Fields. Shadow Halflings believe that Traveler leads to the Moon and say that the Moon is green because Pontil Trees grow there. They call the Full Moon Blossoming Crown.
Nak went to the vast region Wastelands which is partially unexplored and filled with danger. There dwell mighty creatures like Giants and Fire Dragons. He found the rare Sssuborin flower there and ate it, because of which he lived 728 years, far longer than any other Shadow Halfling. The Sssuborin Flower is also called Hissing Flower and Snake Flower. The flower lives forever as it regenerates itself partly by shedding its outer parts like a snake.
|
| « Last Edit: Apr 24th, 2015, 3:52am by alien2 » |
IP Logged |
|
|
|
alien2
Uberpuzzler
Gender:
Posts: 6986
|
|
Re: Candletree
« Reply #2 on: Apr 24th, 2015, 3:52am » |
Quote Modify
|
Shadow Halflings like to tell stories about Gordion who lived a long time ago. Skeptical Complacent have doubts about Gordion carrying the wooden pole to Candletree for Leviaton and tell a different story about a Druid who visited Candletree and planted a seed of Odorin. They say Dwarves erected a temporary construction around the fully grown tree and turned it into a pole. Curious say that Gordion came two times to Candletree. The first time he brought the pole. The second time he visited Candletree for a giant candle made by three dozen Shadow Halflings. The biggest candle in the world was a way of saying thanks for bringing the pole. The candle was originally intended for him to read at night the Big Book of Tales, the only gigantic book in the world. He accidentally stepped on Pippin Nimblefingers who was Gordion’s friend. They called them Shortest and Tallest. Gordion never forgave himself. He took the candle for solace and went to Wastelands, never to return. The most Curious believe that a giant footprint on earth is the proof that Gordion has been to Candletree. The most Complacent believe that the footprint was made with shovels.
|
|
IP Logged |
|
|
|
alien2
Uberpuzzler
Gender:
Posts: 6986
|
|
Re: Candletree
« Reply #3 on: Jun 20th, 2015, 2:36am » |
Quote Modify
|
A pygmy horse dragged the gift to the pampa where Brim tied the pygmy horse to a tree.
|
|
IP Logged |
|
|
|
|
RIDDLES SITE
WRITE MATH!
Home 
Help 
Search 
Members 
Login 
Register
Reply
Notify of replies
Send Topic
Print