[Xanth]

The party is in full swing by late afternoon when the music suddenly stops and a feminine voice calls out above the noise as if from hidden speakers.

"Hidden throughout this garden are some chocolate dragons, modelled after my precious Faroah. You're welcome to take them - but first, you have to find them." The speaker is clearly enjoying herself, her tone filled with amusement and anticipation. "You may look anywhere within the bounday of the lawn." She paused, then chuckled. "What are you waiting for, then?"

OOC: Post your IC searches on this thread (and by that I mean, your character really does need to look in an IC post). I'll use random.org to decide if you've found a chocolate faroah. If not, don't worry - you might have found something else instead!

You get to keep everything you find (no matter how cool or weird it is). :^^:

Piper's Boutique ¤ Dafont ¤ Anime Rain ¤ Aethereality ¤ Keira Knightley

[Loranth]

Lora heard the whimsical tone of playfulness speak to the swashbuckling party-goers and clapped with excitement.

"Well come on maties! What arrrgh we waitin' for?" She said with her best sly serving wench voice. She took one last look at the people around her and then grabbed her skirt in both hands and sprinted to the gazebo, hiking it up a bit to make sure she didn't trip during the run. Without pausing to see if anyone followed, she started looking inbetween the intricate hedges and flowers in the flowerbed bordering the structure. If there was chocolate here, she'd surely find it! Loranth figured that a hundred years worth of Easter Sundays in France would've added a tad of experience to her chocolate finding skills, even if it was shaped like a dragon instead of an egg.

She yelped as a twig in the hedge pricked her finger, and brought her hand to her face to see if she was bleeding. Just a scrape it seemed, no blood on her finger. With a determined motion, she continued her search for little chocolate faroahs, mischievous smile back in place.

[Official NPC]

You chose a good spot to search but, sadly, all you've found so far is a centipede.

Ew.

Did you want to keep that?

[Piper]

Piper felt a bit weird searching the garden for hidden goodies, but then, when did she ever not feel weird? Still, it was definitely a new and exciting experience. If these kinds of things occurred in New York, she'd never been aware of them and now, she hovered awkwardly, looking around for someplace to search, and stared at the other seekers with a mixture of bewilderment and amusement. Many of them seemed perfectly oblivious to how silly they looked dashing about and rummaging through the undergrowth, but that made Piper all the more self-conscious.

About to smooth down her skirt, Piper blushed furiously as she remembered she wasn't wearing one, and instead hitched up her pants to squat beside the buffet table. Lifting the table cloth - Ooh, that's pretty, I wonder what kind of lace that is? - she peered awkwardly under the table, not really expecting to find anything.

Piper's Boutique ¤ Dafont ¤ Aethereality

[Leeta]

Leeta had scarcely arrived when the music stopped abruptly. Turning her head with some other confused pirates, a voice suddenly rung out through the garden.

"Hidden throughout this garden are some chocolate dragons, modelled after my precious Faroah. You're welcome to take them - but first, you have to find them." The demon girl's eyes lit up - chocolate? She clapped her hands and grinned. I wonder if there's any caramel chocolate dragons? she wondered.

She cast her eyes around the lawn, looking for likely spots where chocolate would hide. Spying the hanging baskets full of flowers, Leeta weaved in between the guests rushing about to find the hiding chocolate dragons and stuck her hand in one of the baskets. She did not stop to wonder if there could be something else in the basket besides chocolate and flowers, which was a shame considering that there could be anything waiting to give her fingers a bite.

---

OOC: I'm assuming the hanging baskets are within reach; if not, I'll edit ^^.

[Calanthiel]

Chocolate dragons?! Cal grinned wryly at the announcement - the whimsy of the temple building was apparently to be matched by a certain degree of whimsy in the choice of party activities. Still, if the goddess or her servants wanted to watch her guests scramble in the garden for chocolate treats, who was he to deny them the pleasure?

He strolled over to the nearest of the flowering cherry trees, nimbly dodging between the excited guests who hurried to hunt for chocolates, and trying not to get run down by the occasional over -excited pirate. Reaching his goal, he gently brushed aside the graceful sprays of pink flowers to look for any treats nestled in the branches, a soft shower of the loose petals falling over him and drifting away in the breeze, as he took his time looking closely for anything out of place.

Credits: Original Character Art by Evie; Brushes: 1, 2; Font. Inspiration.
The good code is Emma's, the mistakes my own work.

[Loranth]

¤ PB ¤ Dafont ¤ Sparkling Tea ¤ Aethereality ¤ Evangeline Lily ¤

Loranth didn't find any chocolate Faroahs in the first place she'd chosen to look. Instead, she disturbed a many-legged centipede and gave it a wide berth and decided to pick a new spot to explore in her search for chocolate dragons.

She decided to search inside the actual gazebo instead of in the flora surrounding it. Standing inside the gazebo made her feel very small - it was quite a tall one with beautiful arches in between the outer supports. Inside, a comfortable-looking bench lined the structure and there were light purple pillows placed at regular intervals along the plushy seat.

Loranth eyed the pillows suspiciously. Perhaps a chocolate could be hiding behind one of the pillows? She approached the nearest pair and lifted them to see what lay beneath.

---

OOC: I hope you don't mind my description of the interior of the gazebo? I can change it, please let me know!

[Official NPC]

Piper:

I'm not sure what you expected to find under there, girl, but there are certainly no chocolate dragons!

Leeta:

Ooh, what's this? You've found one of the smaller chocolate dragons! Thankfully, it's wrapped in purple foil and tucked inside a pretty organza bag. Well, I wouldn't want to eat chocolate that had been buried in a hanging basket, would you?

((Gabbi: Just so you know for your next post, Leeta would've had to stand on tiptoe and stretch her arm up, so it would have been a blind search but they are within reach, yes. ^^))

Calanthiel:

Whimsy indeed! Sadly, you haven't found a chocolate dragon. You have, in fact, disturbed the real thing (probably in the act of hiding more chocolates, darn you!). After a brief moment of startled staring and apparent indecision, Faroah flicks out his tongue (how rude!) and poofs away, leaving you to find another searching place.

Loranth:

Yay! No centipedes here! Plus, you've managed to find a small chocolate dragon wrapped in purple foil and a gold organza bag. (Don't forget to put the cushion back. )

[Piper]

Piper wasn't surprised to find absolutely nothing under the table, except a few bits of rubbish. Feeling silly but somehow more determined, she dropped the tablecloth and stood up, looking around. It seemed like all the obvious places were already being searched so she tried to think where she'd hide things so they could be found but not too easily. And came up blank. Good thing she wasn't running this thing.

Since she was already quite near the pond, Piper headed towards it with a vague intent to search the reeds along the edge - as far from the swans as possible. She'd heard they attacked people who got too close. Or was that geese?

As she walked, Piper realised she could be searching the table too, and paused to lift a beautiful crystal bowl that was filled with potato chips. Glancing left and right, she started to dip her hand in to rummage through them, then bit her lip and stopped. Well, that was just rude. Maybe if she just looked up from the bottom...

Lifting it above her head, Piper craned her neck awkwardly to peer into the bowl from below, wondering if it was possible to die from embarrassment.

Piper's Boutique ¤ Dafont ¤ Aethereality

[Leeta]

The baskets were quite high up (probably so people wouldn't unwittingly walk into them and smack their heads), but not so high that Leeta couldn't reach if she stretched her limbs. The Zanaryan couldn't see what was in the basket, but she felt her fingers brush against something that wasn't the same shape or texture as a flower stem. It was...a sort of material, she decided. Definitely a foreign substance! Excited, the girl pulled at it and lifted it out of the flowers.

It was a chocolate dragon! "Yay!" she squealed, and after jumping about a little bit the girl inspected her prize more carefully. The dragon was small-ish, but the demon girl wasn't disappointed. Considering that this was chocolate from such a powerful being like Xanth, she was sure this chocolate was of the highest quality. Normally she wolfed down food in a flash, but Leeta made the rare decision to wait and savour this treat later.

It was wrapped up carefully in purple foil and packaged in a bag made out of some kind of sheer fabric. Leeta still didn't know much at all about Xanth except that she was a very important person, but finding such a pretty and delicious prize made her feel some admiration beyond the cold respect paid to people more powerful than yourself. And the scene of the temple gardens had impressed Leeta as well. This Xanth lady's got some classy style, the demon girl thought appreciatively.

Already having claimed a prize, the demon girl decided not to search quite so aggressively for more chocolate. Holding her bag close to her side, she breezed through the crowd and wandered over a place in the garden where a few beautiful blossom trees were, and bent to gaze closely at the base of one of them. Perhaps there might be a prize hiding in the slight shadow of the small tree?

[Isabel]

Isabel was resting under a tree listening to the music and the sounds of party goers inconspicuously. Suddenly the music stops, everyone fell silent and a voice spoke.

"Hidden throughout this garden are some chocolate dragons, modelled after my precious Faroah. You're welcome to take them - but first, you have to find them. You may look anywhere within the bounday of the lawn."

Isabel stood and thought for a moment. She looked up at the cherry tree an idea forming in her head. "Here goes nothing!" She smiled, rubbed her hands together and slowly climbed the tree. Reaching the branches with all the lovely cherry blossoms, she stretched out her hand and started feeling through the nooks and crannies of the tree.

Iardacil | Yasny-chan | coolwing
Christopher Hansen | et al.
Complete Credits in Journal

[Official NPC]

Piper:

Well, what an odd place to look. But you were right, there's definitely something in there! I'm sure if you use one of the spoons on the table, you'll be able to fish out the chocolate dragon you've found!

Leeta:

Hmm, what's that tucked in against the base of the tree, just peeking out of a pile of pink petals? It looks like suspiciously like a chocolate cat, but I fear you'll need to pick it up and take it out of its foil wrapping to know for sure.

Isabel:

I'm not sure climbing a tree in that outfit was a wise decision! Your skirt snagged on a branch and tumbled you down to the ground, tearing in the process and showering you in petals and leaves, but at least you haven't broken any bones. And ooh, look, you also seem to have shaken a candy egg and a caterpillar out of the tree!

[Isabel]

Climbing a tree wearing a long skirt was a very bad idea. "Why didn't I think of wearing a pair of pants instead of a skirt", Isabel mumbled under her breath. She was just about to reach for the topmost branch when her skirt snagged yet again causing her to slip. She let out a small squeak right before she fell on her rump on the ground, the tree showering her with its petals and leaves as if laughing at her. "Ouch... that'll leave a bruise". She glared back at the tree and stuck her tongue out. She was inspecting herself for any scratches when something hit the top of her head and fell down on her lap. "Oooh! A candy egg!" It wasn't what she was hoping to find but it was better than nothing. She placed her egg inside her bag and was about to stand up when something fell again between her eyes. She stared at it for a second then squealed again. She jumped up, suddenly flicking the caterpillar away from her face. "Bloody hell!" She waited for her heartbeat to return to normal when she noticed her skirt for the first time. Isabel pouted at the small tear at the hem. It was a nice skirt and now it's ruined. Well, maybe it would help make her look more piratey.

Not giving up just yet, Isabel looked about for other possible hiding places for that elusive chocolate dragon. She spotted some bushes near the patio and thought to look there. Others may have looked there but there is still the chance they may have overlooked something. She approached the bushes and started to slowly rummage through it, careful not to snag her costume on it.

Iardacil | Yasny-chan | coolwing
Christopher Hansen | et al.
Complete Credits in Journal

[Kioni]

An excited gleam hit Kioni's eyes. A hunt for chocolate! Her eyes rapidly skimmed the surroundings and she frowned just a little bit. Everyone else was searching the good parts already! Where would she look?

Nippling on her thumbnail in thought, Kioni eventually spotted a place that might work out.

"Okay!" Kioni said to herself, psyching herself out. "You can do this! Find those dragons!"

The young Dragon went around the gazebo and looked up. She'd spotted someone inside the gazebo already... but she bet no one had looked on top! With that, Kioni went to one of the walls and proceeded to climb until her hand felt the roof. Giving herself one great heave, the girl peeked her head over to see what she found.

[Calanthiel]

Cal had just enough time to jump in surprise (dislodging another handful of petals into his hair) and stumble out some words "oh, hello pret..." before the delicate little creature had disappeared. "...ty" Cal finished and then chuckled to himself, shaking his head. Dragon imp. Not quite the same thing as a chocolate dragon! He reached out and plucked a tiny spray of the cherry blossoms, and tucked it into his buttonhole. He figured he was probably covered in the loose pink petals anyway, so he might as well work with it! Who says pirates can't have pretty flowers?

He turned around, put his back to the tree, and looked around the garden again, watching the pirates darting back and forth in search of their treasure. If only X marked the spot! 10 paces north, then 5 paces east, starting from the old cherry tree... A wry smile touched his lips - he was pretty sure the invite hadn't contained a treasure map and even if it had he could just imagine the trouble they'd be if he started digging up a corner of the garden!

In truth, though, the other guests had all the good hiding spots he could see well and truly covered. So, only one thing for it - he turned and went to look in a terrible hiding spot (for chocolate, at least!) instead, going to the pond, and looking through the plants that grew on the verge between the lawn and the water, and in the shallow water near the edge. He didn't really expect to find anything here, but looking for chocolates was clearly the thing to done right now and the pond was pretty anyway!

Credits: Original Character Art by Evie; Brushes: 1, 2; Font. Inspiration.
The good code is Emma's, the mistakes my own work.

[Loranth]

¤ PB ¤ Dafont ¤ Sparkling Tea ¤ Aethereality ¤ Evangeline Lily ¤

Lora peeked under the cushions and shouted, "Ahoy! Tharr be chocolate dragons here!" She set the pillows down beside the purple foil-wrapped chocolate in it's dainty organza bag. She beamed with excitement at having found her first chocolate. Actually, now that she thought about it - she wasn't sure she should continue her search for another. She didn't want to appear greedy and there were so many people here she wasn't sure if everyone would be able to get more than one.

Instead of continuing her pillaging of the gardens, she sat down slowly on the cushioned bench in the gazebo and decided to let the others continue the hunt. She eyed her chocolate and wondered if she should actually eat it now or later. She did love chocolate dearly though, and wanted to taste what Elysian chocolate must be like, so she gingerly took the chocolate out of the bag and started to search for the seam in the purple foil.

[Official NPC]

Isabel:

Thankfully, you don't stumble across any creepy-crawlies this time, although the two imps you interrupt could qualify if you're afraid of rodent-esque pests. However, they appear more frightened of you, squeaking in alarm as they drop the chocolate faroah they were carrying and scamper off into the undergrowth.

Ooh, did I say chocolate faroah?

Kioni:

I'm afraid there's not much on the roof of the gazebo besides cherry blossom petals and a bit of moss. Would you like to try again?

Calanthiel:

How grand! You've found a purple tin tucked half in and half out of the water among the grasses at the edge of the pond. A little birdie tells me there's a chocolate dragon inside but I'd scarper before those swans come after you!

Loranth:

Hmm, not sure you'll find any dragons just sitting there. XP

[Piper]

Piper was actually rather stunned to realise that, as she lifted the bowl to peer into the underside, she could actually see something in there. It was like peering into a cereal box knowing there was a toy inside - too scared to go poking around because she'd had her hand slapped a few times by her mom for that behaviour in the past - and just seeing something poking out. Except there was no Nancy to stop her from grabbing the toy (or in this case, chocolate... she hoped?), only Piper's own reluctance to dip her hand in there.

She glanced around at the other partygoers, wondering if anyone would notice, and then realised that really wasn't the point. She'd know what she'd done, and while she was pretty sure her hands were clean it still was rude. So she glanced around again, this time up and down the table in search of another bowl she could dump this one out into and hopefully grab the chocolate (if that really was a chocolate and not something else) from the top. Instead, her gaze lit on the pretty glass that held a bunch of cutlery, and Piper grinned slowly.

Putting the bowl back down, she grabbed two spoons, one in each hand, and started rummaging through the potato chips. Eventually, she managed to drag out the chocolate - yep! Yesssss, it was definitely a chocolate dragon, and wrapped in foil that sparkled quite nicely in the sun - out of the bowl, along with a few potato chips that she nibbled on while tucking her treasure into the purse at her waist, hidden under the long shirt.

Piper's Boutique ¤ Dafont ¤ Aethereality

[Xanth]

After a couple of hours, the searchers have dwindled in number and it seems there are no more chocolate dragons to be found. The music fades as the voice pipes up once more: "Alas, there are no more chocolate dragons scattered throughout this garden. You may keep whatever you have found... although I might suggest to some of you that you not attempt to take what you have found home with you. Those imps can become quite an infestation." There is a chuckle and a brief pause before she continues. "I do hope you have enjoyed our little hunt!" With that, the music becomes audible again.

OOC: Along with whatever you've found in this thread (sadly, no, that doesn't include any creatures ) hunters will be going home with a goodie bag filled with chocolates shaped like animals and candy eggs.

In addition, you've earned this lovely goodie bag for your trophy cabinet.

Congratulations, and I hope you've had fun! :grin:

Piper's Boutique ¤ Dafont ¤ Anime Rain ¤ Aethereality ¤ Keira Knightley