Challenge 1: An egg found in the snow...
Time had a way of escaping one who was deeply engrossed in their work. A woman with a thick, deep green cloak around her shoulders was hard at work, standing over a blueprint, hands moving quickly with a sharpened chicken’s feather tip dipped in fresh ink as she sketched out her biggest project to date. Her dark brown hair was braided back though it was starting to slip faintly from its binds and there were ink smudges all over the woman’s hands, face, and even a bit on her pointed ears. Her name was Bee and she had a dream. A dream to open up her own Coffee Shop for all to enjoy…but first she actually needed to have the coffee beans to even open up her shop, and the first step towards that was building her own greenhouse. Behind her table were her various blueprints were scattered, various machines from macerators to recyclers chugged away behind her, slowly building up the cache of materials she would need in order to get started.
Bee was well aware that she hadn’t exactly picked a very good location to make a greenhouse, snow biomes, or just snow in general, meant that only the hardiest of plants could survive the constant cold and snow but she figured, wouldn’t that make the coffee taste even better once she had bred the right plants together? It would surely make for a strong brew!...At least that was what she thought.
So engrossed she was in her thoughts, the woman rarely noticed time fly until the nightly winds rattled at the doors to her workshop and reminded her to go to bed. Tonight was no different as an ear twitched slightly at the sound of the eternal winter wind blowing. “Time for bed then, I guess.” She sighed quietly, putting away her materials and shutting down the machines for the night. Pulling the hood of her cloak over her head and pulling up the mouth piece as well to shield her from the cold. Twisting the gem of the ring on her finger, she felt herself float up slightly and quickly moving forward, she went out into the cold, working against the wind up to her floating island. She had just landed when a glint, back down below, caught her eye. “What in the name of minecraftia is that?” Bee mumbled to herself, pulling her cloak tighter around herself in a vain attempt to keep out the cold as she went to the opposite side of her island to peer down. She saw a black mass, unidentifiable in the dark, slink away from the area marked out as the grave for her beloved dog that had passed away not very long ago. Scowling, the woman figured it was some monster trying to mess with it and leaped off the side of the island, quickly activating her flying ring in order to make her fall more graceful and less deadly, already pulling out her trusty bow, hand at the ready to notch an arrow from the quiver strapped to her back.
Landing, she looked around warily, hearing the faint hisses and groans from nearby monsters just above the howling wind. She walked forward until she stood in front of the grave and knelt down, examining it. Nothing looked out of place aside from the headstone looking a little weather worn but…what was that? Just off to the side of the grave there was something oval shaped sticking out of the snow and if she had come any later she would have missed it, the object being buried under the snow. Reaching into her bag, the woman pulled out and lit a torch. She knew it wouldn’t last long in this harsh wind but she wanted to see what it was before she handled something potentially dangerous. From what Bee could tell it looked like…an egg? It had a light gray base with dark gray hash marks as a design, reminding her a bit of fabric. It was larger than a chicken egg and for a moment Bee wondered if it could be one of the legendary ‘spawn eggs’ that only the most powerful of mages could conjure but it looked a bit too big even for that if she remembered correctly from the illustrations she had seen of spawn eggs. It looked big enough to fit comfortably in both palms pressed together.
Bee shivered as a particularly strong wind blew and put her torch out, reminding her along with her numb hands how cold it was and she began to feel sorry for the egg sitting out here in the snow and cold. Surely, whatever was inside would die if left out here, all alone? Biting her lip, she debated with herself. For all she knew, it could be some kind of horrible monster that would try to eat her the moment it hatched…or it could be a defenseless baby left all alone. Groaning aloud and telling herself mentally that she was going to regret this, Bee bent over and scooped the egg into her arms, wrapping her cloak around herself and the egg as with a twist of the ring on her finger, she was once again sky bound. Moving quickly, she burst inside her warm home and quickly forced the door closed, sighing with relief as the noise of the wind was reduced greatly. Egg still cradled in her arms, she sat down on her bed and took a better look at the egg in the better light. It wasn’t completely smooth to the touch and had an odd bump or two that she could feel when she ran her hands along the surface but other than that, she couldn’t feel any abnormalities. Bee remembered a trick an old friend of hers had shown her in order to check if a chicken egg had a chick inside of it or not. Going over to one of the glowstones that lit her home, she gently placed the egg on top so that the light showed what, if anything, was inside.
What she saw nearly melted her heart. Through the shell and inside some kind of fluid she could see the outline of some baby creature. Looking long enough she could see a bit of movement inside to confirm it was still alive despite being out there in the cold for notch only knew how long and…the poor thing almost looked like it was shivering. Bee bit her lip, knowing that if she didn’t do something to warm the creature inside up, it surely wouldn’t survive the night. Thinking quickly, she took off her cloak, not needing it because she was inside and wrapped the egg in it while she pulled out her largest bucket (a basin really, she used it to give herself makeshift baths since the spring water outside was as cold as death itself) and using one of her smaller buckets, dumped water into it until it was half way full. She then hauled the half-filled basin on top of her furnaces that was almost always burning to create warmth inside of her home and threw a few new coals inside until the water was not to hot but not too cold.
Being careful not to spill it, she put it down in her bedroom and went over to the egg. Once she check to make sure whatever was inside hadn’t died while she was away she gently lowered it into the warm water. Using an old piece of cloth, she rubbed at the shell of the egg with the soaked cloth, using the water as a means to warm the egg up without accidentally boiling it, as she might have if she had just put it directly on or even in the furnace. Bee continued this gentle procedure until the egg was warm to the touch and she wasn’t sure if she was imagining this or not, but she felt little nudges coming from inside the egg, as if the heat had managed to perk up whatever was inside. The woman’s smile was tired, but genuine as she picked up the egg from the water, drying it carefully with another cloth and bundling it once more in her cloak while she cleaned up.
Now was the matter of helping the egg keep its warmth. She couldn’t exactly sleep with it in her arms or wrapped around it, she could possibly squish it or, notch forbid, knock it down onto the hard wooden floors and crack it open before whatever was inside was ready to be born. Bee thought about it for a while until her tired mind came up with an idea. Taking some of the glowstone she had stored in her chests, she arranged a sort of makeshift nest. The glowstone would produce enough heat on their own when grouped together in a large enough bunch while her cloak would serve as another way to help retain the warmth and protect the egg from the sharp edges of the stone helping to warm it. Bee laughed a little when she tugged the hood over the egg as if the egg was wearing it and took that as a sign that it was way past her bed time. Dimming the lights and making sure to stoke the fire once more to keep her home warm overnight, Bee climbed into bed and faced the little glowing nest at the side of her room. In the morning she would have to remember to look over the egg a little more thoroughly and check her books to see if she could identify it. Though she was berating herself for it, she could already feel herself growing attached to the little creature inside. Bee wasn’t entirely sure if this was a good thing or not but as her eyes grew heavier and heavier, she resolved to worry about it in the morning…
Time had a way of escaping one who was deeply engrossed in their work. A woman with a thick, deep green cloak around her shoulders was hard at work, standing over a blueprint, hands moving quickly with a sharpened chicken’s feather tip dipped in fresh ink as she sketched out her biggest project to date. Her dark brown hair was braided back though it was starting to slip faintly from its binds and there were ink smudges all over the woman’s hands, face, and even a bit on her pointed ears. Her name was Bee and she had a dream. A dream to open up her own Coffee Shop for all to enjoy…but first she actually needed to have the coffee beans to even open up her shop, and the first step towards that was building her own greenhouse. Behind her table were her various blueprints were scattered, various machines from macerators to recyclers chugged away behind her, slowly building up the cache of materials she would need in order to get started.
Bee was well aware that she hadn’t exactly picked a very good location to make a greenhouse, snow biomes, or just snow in general, meant that only the hardiest of plants could survive the constant cold and snow but she figured, wouldn’t that make the coffee taste even better once she had bred the right plants together? It would surely make for a strong brew!...At least that was what she thought.
So engrossed she was in her thoughts, the woman rarely noticed time fly until the nightly winds rattled at the doors to her workshop and reminded her to go to bed. Tonight was no different as an ear twitched slightly at the sound of the eternal winter wind blowing. “Time for bed then, I guess.” She sighed quietly, putting away her materials and shutting down the machines for the night. Pulling the hood of her cloak over her head and pulling up the mouth piece as well to shield her from the cold. Twisting the gem of the ring on her finger, she felt herself float up slightly and quickly moving forward, she went out into the cold, working against the wind up to her floating island. She had just landed when a glint, back down below, caught her eye. “What in the name of minecraftia is that?” Bee mumbled to herself, pulling her cloak tighter around herself in a vain attempt to keep out the cold as she went to the opposite side of her island to peer down. She saw a black mass, unidentifiable in the dark, slink away from the area marked out as the grave for her beloved dog that had passed away not very long ago. Scowling, the woman figured it was some monster trying to mess with it and leaped off the side of the island, quickly activating her flying ring in order to make her fall more graceful and less deadly, already pulling out her trusty bow, hand at the ready to notch an arrow from the quiver strapped to her back.
Landing, she looked around warily, hearing the faint hisses and groans from nearby monsters just above the howling wind. She walked forward until she stood in front of the grave and knelt down, examining it. Nothing looked out of place aside from the headstone looking a little weather worn but…what was that? Just off to the side of the grave there was something oval shaped sticking out of the snow and if she had come any later she would have missed it, the object being buried under the snow. Reaching into her bag, the woman pulled out and lit a torch. She knew it wouldn’t last long in this harsh wind but she wanted to see what it was before she handled something potentially dangerous. From what Bee could tell it looked like…an egg? It had a light gray base with dark gray hash marks as a design, reminding her a bit of fabric. It was larger than a chicken egg and for a moment Bee wondered if it could be one of the legendary ‘spawn eggs’ that only the most powerful of mages could conjure but it looked a bit too big even for that if she remembered correctly from the illustrations she had seen of spawn eggs. It looked big enough to fit comfortably in both palms pressed together.
Bee shivered as a particularly strong wind blew and put her torch out, reminding her along with her numb hands how cold it was and she began to feel sorry for the egg sitting out here in the snow and cold. Surely, whatever was inside would die if left out here, all alone? Biting her lip, she debated with herself. For all she knew, it could be some kind of horrible monster that would try to eat her the moment it hatched…or it could be a defenseless baby left all alone. Groaning aloud and telling herself mentally that she was going to regret this, Bee bent over and scooped the egg into her arms, wrapping her cloak around herself and the egg as with a twist of the ring on her finger, she was once again sky bound. Moving quickly, she burst inside her warm home and quickly forced the door closed, sighing with relief as the noise of the wind was reduced greatly. Egg still cradled in her arms, she sat down on her bed and took a better look at the egg in the better light. It wasn’t completely smooth to the touch and had an odd bump or two that she could feel when she ran her hands along the surface but other than that, she couldn’t feel any abnormalities. Bee remembered a trick an old friend of hers had shown her in order to check if a chicken egg had a chick inside of it or not. Going over to one of the glowstones that lit her home, she gently placed the egg on top so that the light showed what, if anything, was inside.
What she saw nearly melted her heart. Through the shell and inside some kind of fluid she could see the outline of some baby creature. Looking long enough she could see a bit of movement inside to confirm it was still alive despite being out there in the cold for notch only knew how long and…the poor thing almost looked like it was shivering. Bee bit her lip, knowing that if she didn’t do something to warm the creature inside up, it surely wouldn’t survive the night. Thinking quickly, she took off her cloak, not needing it because she was inside and wrapped the egg in it while she pulled out her largest bucket (a basin really, she used it to give herself makeshift baths since the spring water outside was as cold as death itself) and using one of her smaller buckets, dumped water into it until it was half way full. She then hauled the half-filled basin on top of her furnaces that was almost always burning to create warmth inside of her home and threw a few new coals inside until the water was not to hot but not too cold.
Being careful not to spill it, she put it down in her bedroom and went over to the egg. Once she check to make sure whatever was inside hadn’t died while she was away she gently lowered it into the warm water. Using an old piece of cloth, she rubbed at the shell of the egg with the soaked cloth, using the water as a means to warm the egg up without accidentally boiling it, as she might have if she had just put it directly on or even in the furnace. Bee continued this gentle procedure until the egg was warm to the touch and she wasn’t sure if she was imagining this or not, but she felt little nudges coming from inside the egg, as if the heat had managed to perk up whatever was inside. The woman’s smile was tired, but genuine as she picked up the egg from the water, drying it carefully with another cloth and bundling it once more in her cloak while she cleaned up.
Now was the matter of helping the egg keep its warmth. She couldn’t exactly sleep with it in her arms or wrapped around it, she could possibly squish it or, notch forbid, knock it down onto the hard wooden floors and crack it open before whatever was inside was ready to be born. Bee thought about it for a while until her tired mind came up with an idea. Taking some of the glowstone she had stored in her chests, she arranged a sort of makeshift nest. The glowstone would produce enough heat on their own when grouped together in a large enough bunch while her cloak would serve as another way to help retain the warmth and protect the egg from the sharp edges of the stone helping to warm it. Bee laughed a little when she tugged the hood over the egg as if the egg was wearing it and took that as a sign that it was way past her bed time. Dimming the lights and making sure to stoke the fire once more to keep her home warm overnight, Bee climbed into bed and faced the little glowing nest at the side of her room. In the morning she would have to remember to look over the egg a little more thoroughly and check her books to see if she could identify it. Though she was berating herself for it, she could already feel herself growing attached to the little creature inside. Bee wasn’t entirely sure if this was a good thing or not but as her eyes grew heavier and heavier, she resolved to worry about it in the morning…