Kyngdom Survival Guide

*A Travel Guide

Chatterbox: KYNGDOM™ Power of Hoof

*A Travel Guide

*A Travel Guide to Northwest Kyngdom That is Totally Not Top Secret and Has Nothing to Do with Anything Important

So you want to take a trip to Northwest Kyngdom? Wonderful! Pack your bags, grow an extra layer of fur, and hop onto the Badger Express, the high-speed badger-drawn train that will carry you northward.


Travel tip: The Badger Express has a wonderful dining car that serves a creamy, piping-hot soup called Pinesüppe: root vegetables simmered for hours with pine needles and topped off with a rich drizzle of sap.

Once you disembark, take a moment to notice how your breath turns into an intricately-patterned fog in the air. There is a magic to northwest Kyngdom that no one can explain--almost everything here, no matter how dangerous, is aesthetically pleasing. Gaze at the fields of soft, untouched snow, the evergreens glimmering with icicles so elaborate that you would have sworn they were carved by artists, and the aurora borealis that dance through the sky like omens of a better life. This is the home of Regina, the Silver Reindeer, who is…just your average reindeer!


Travel tip: Pack light but warm! Bring lots of high-protein snacks--we recommend grubs! Regina is the guardian of Hoof!

Though Regina looks so noble so as to be unapproachable, she is actually very friendly, and loves showing newcomers around her land. She lives in a mansion (nobody said reindeer weren’t materialistic!) that she named Jökull, the Old Norse word for ice. It is a place of good cheer, where the super-sweet juice of the local Winter Black Cherry flows year-round (delicious over ice or warmed up!). Zephyra loves to spend her holidays here.


Travel tip: Examine Regina closely when she walks. Three of her feet are shod in beautiful mother-of-pearl horseshoes that glimmer when she walks, but the fourth bears only a rusty horseshoe. Look closely at that horseshoe. I think you know what it is. Don’t you?

Regina will warn you about the forest of blue juniper trees that look so appealing and smell like Christmas on a platter. This is the Decoy Forest, and its pull is strong. When you walk through it--which you should never do--you will see what you want to see. Lost loves will cry out to you from the trees. Your mother, as a teenager, may appear, begging you to be her friend. Ignore them all. Have another mug of Winter Black Cherry cider. Enjoy your stay.


Travel tip: The pull of the Decoy Forest? B.I.G. feels it, too. When Cornelia Hornshaw stares into the Forest, she sees an image of the Fourth Power. But she still doesn’t know where it’s located. She’s heading there now, though. Will anybody stop her?

submitted by FAFA Intelligence, Bog & Burrow Inn
(January 4, 2017 - 12:58 pm)

I look up to see Ronan running towards us, but then he abrubtly stops.

"Ronan? Where were you! Oh, whatever. Just come over here and help your girlfriend out." I know it's not right to tease someone in a time of crisis, but Icy's blacked out for the time being, and I feel the need to lighten the mood. 

"What- she's not-" Ronan stutters

"Just get over here, loverboy!" Shouts Anwen.

submitted by shadow, age 13
(January 13, 2017 - 4:28 pm)

XD I ship Rocy, too.

submitted by Viola?, age Secret, Secret
(January 13, 2017 - 10:11 pm)

I step forward. 

"We are Sprocket, Elliot and Trillian of the resistance. We mean you no harm and i apologise for the behavior of my friend here. He is used to having an army to back up his sharp tongue."

the wolf chuckles. "We understand, what is your buisness in our forest?

 

umm... what is our buisness? i came on this thread mostly to help Sprocket. 

submitted by Nebula, Trillian
(January 13, 2017 - 7:31 pm)

Yala almost launches at Elliot, and Zjier growls. 

"How you have the sense of saying we work for that scum is unbelievable."

He throws back his head and laughs. "You think that's a good enough excuse?"

Yala breaks free and starts muttering under her breath. Suddenly Elliot is frozen, and is suspensed in the air, slowly tipping to where it looks like he is laying down.

"Yala, enough!" I growl.

Yala scoffs but takes it away as Elliot lands down with a thump.

I think we might be making more more enemies than friends. But we're trying for three wolves that haven't had contact with really anyone else for a few thousand years.  

submitted by Master Nova
(January 13, 2017 - 7:36 pm)

I flap my wings and shoot toward everyone, spinning toward earth- hard.  Landing in a patch of snow hurts more than it looks, and lucky me, the others have'nt heard. The Moon shines in the sky like a polished silver coin, glittering in the half light.

Good. A full moon.

I creep closer, hearing the angry voices.  It looks like an argument is happening, which is strange, because the thoughts im hearing are not aggressive at all. I take out my flute charm and spin it. The charm expands and stratches untill it morphs into a full-length flute. Perfect.

Suddenly Yala whips his head right at my  hiding spot. Before I can throw up a shield, im dragged out by pure magic. Yala looks at me like, look at what we have here. I dont say anything, which makes even Icy look at me suspiciously.

"Who are you?" The words come from Ronan, which is interesting because even he thinks about the chance of spies.

"MoonRacer Londyn Flyte, last holder of the Key and final species of WereWynter," I say with gritted teeth.

Nova-and no im not calling him master nova untill he truly proves himself a master-cocks his head and lifts an eyebrow. "The WereWynters died out ages ago,"he snarls.

I laugh bitterly. "And you never found the Winter Key, either. Where else did you think something that can control all of this"I sweep my eyes around all of the Forest"have gone? It was never found." 

Muttering breaks out among the group. 

Nova steps forward. "Then there is only one way to prove you are not a spy. Let me sift through your memories."

"Fine," I say, because i want to show them that i am trying to help. How ironic.

And what follows is eight minutes of excruciating pain as everything ive experienced is shown right in front of Nova.

SORRY IF I CONTROLLED PEOPLE WAY TOO MUCH 

 

submitted by MoonRacer, age 12.99
(January 13, 2017 - 10:24 pm)

Elliot lands down with a thud. He scrambles up, his red face in stark contrast to all of the snow on him. I couldn't help it. I laughed.

Trillian joins in and soon we are all cracking up. Elliot looks angry, but pretty soon he starts to laugh as well.

We slowly lapsed into silence, wiping tears from our eyes. Trillian was still giggling silently, and I would have an outburst every two seconds.

"I'm really sorry about that," I say between hiccups. "We just had a humor moment."

"What is your purpose in this forest?" one of the wolves, Master Yala, growls.

I start to relate the story of how I had gotten the request for help, and had decided to come to the north to help fight Catastrophe. I would help in any way to prevent Catastrophe from gaining power, as he already had the sword of Ravenmoore.

Elliot then began to tell his story, about helping a girl named Lia and the bandits on the train.

Eventually he stops and we again lapse into silence. It was the wolves turn to speak. 

submitted by Sprocket
(January 13, 2017 - 11:04 pm)

"I think she's sturring," I say to Ronan and Anwen, "Ronan, could you grab me some sage, lavended and...." I think back to that book of herbal remedies I read awhile back, "I think I'll also need a match. You wouldn't happen to have one of those one your person, would you?"

submitted by shadow, age 13
(January 14, 2017 - 7:05 am)

Sage and lavender? Sounds like tea.

submitted by Viola?, age Secret, Secret
(January 14, 2017 - 12:59 pm)

I'm a girl, Zjier's a boy, and Yala's a girl. Just to clear things up. 

Once I'm done sifting through...Moonracer's... memories, Elliot suddenly crashes to the ground out of no where and the vampires begin to laugh. The Three of us eye each other, confused at what is so humorous. Finally they stop laughing and Yala asks them what they are doing in the forest. Then throughout the course of about ten minutes, they explain everything. They look at us expectantly but we just nod and think about what they said. 

I think they're telling the truth, Yala communicates. 

How can we know? Zjier asks. 

I agree, I reply. But they don't seem to not be telling the truth.

I say we give it a shot. Yala says. 

We look at the others, and they stand a bit confused.

Zjier clears his throat. "Do you know which weapon Catastrophe is going for next?"

"Rumors say he is going to get the Crown," Sprocket replies.

"No!" Yala outbursts. Then she starts laughing. "Then he will get nowhere. The powers of the weapons don't work too well if you go out of order. He must get the Sword, the Shield, and then the Crown. Is it not obvious for dumb witted beings like him?"

"But he also might, just might, know that the Crown is among three wolves like yourselves," Trillian says.

"So we shift," Zjier replies, shrugging. "What's the most common thing right now?"

Trillian and Sprocket look at each other. "Teenagers." 

submitted by Master Nova
(January 14, 2017 - 8:15 am)

Ronan. Relief washes through me, though I'm not sure why. It just seems as if now that Ronan's around, things will be made right. I just hope he can help my friends. He stutters in embarrassed confusion as Shadow tells him to help his 'girlfriend' and I break the silence by calling, "Just get over here, loverboy!" Before dashing off to get help. I feel a bit better now that Shadow and I aren't alone with an injured Icy, but adrenaline is still pumping through my veins as I run back the way the train took me. 

~

By the time I reach the station, I'm freezing and exhausted. A kindly badger offers to let me lodge at the inn and tavern called the Cavern&Tavern that lies near the Badger Express, but I politely decline, telling her of my predicament. "Oh dear me, oh dear, dear, dear me," she says over and over again, pacing the floor. Her brow is furrowed, and I feel bad, for I know that I just worried this poor badger sick. Then her brow un-furrows, and she looks at me, wide eyed. "Hey!" She snaps her claws. "Ya know, I used to be a medic! Maybe I could 'elp 'er!" She then notices my wet and disheveled state, and kindly offers me a blanket. I take it gratefully, wrapping it around my cold, sore body. Despite this, I know I'll still have to walk back all the way I came with the old badger, which is agonizing to think about. And even then, I'm not so sure I trust this old badger with my sister's life. "Thank you for the offer, but I think I need to communicate with someone from middle Kyngdom, ( OUT OF CHARRIE: Middle Kyngdom is where Bog&Burrow in is located, right? IN CHARRIE:) where I'm from." The badger looks a bit disheartened at first, but then nods and hands me a Cypher Communications Device (CCD) from which I can contact medics from the area. But then the screen goes black. We've lost power. I sigh, flipping the device shut and handing it back to the badger. "Maybe it would be best if we wait the night," she starts, and then seeing the look on my face, abruptly closes her mouth. She tells me to wait while she brews some tea, and when she returns, I notice something different about her expression, and also the fact that there is no tea. A few moments later, something like a badger-drawn carriage approaches the station. Not as big as a train, just a small cart pulled by four friendly badgers who seem to be gabbing away at each other even as they run. I turn to realize the badger is gone, and when she returns, she has a few canteens of tea. "Let's go." She says. And we do. 

submitted by Anwen
(January 14, 2017 - 9:05 am)

I am asleep, and dreaming in my dream memories are before my eyes, but then it stops, I am looking through my own eyes but I do not remember this, a women and a man spoke together I onley caught bits and pieces, they said that to send me away they said I was too young that I was onley 400, they said they would have to send me to my, Aunt Stella?? what were they talking about my aunt Stella I did not understand. then I woke up I knew I had to go, go back too Stella, find anssers,

Lia M.

submitted by Lia M.
(January 14, 2017 - 1:13 pm)

The badgers at the Inn promise to take care of Icy, and Ronan, Anwen and I sit in the lobby of the small motel sipping tea. The badgers have taken the liberty of bringing our things inside, and I lend a cold-looking Anwen one of the sweatshirts I packed.

"So, Icy never quite mentioned you," I start, "Are the two of you- related?"

"Yes, actually. We're twins."

submitted by shadow, age 13
(January 14, 2017 - 2:44 pm)

I was cold. Really cold. The fire had died a long time ago, and we were still talking. The wolves were debating the idea of shifting into teenagers, and Trillian and I were giving tips on how to look. 

Trillian was trying to describe to them about hair color (they wanted bright green, she said more incognito), when I walked over to Elliot.

"Um, so what you said about being taught?" I ask.

He nods.

"So, when this all blows over I wonder if you could show me how to develop some more powers if it is possible. I think it would be really useful in this war if I could do something more. Right now all I can do is make things."

I hold my breath, waiting for his response. 

submitted by Sprocket
(January 14, 2017 - 8:07 pm)

Sure. I have every major and some of the monor powers, including projection of energy, flight, sheilds, enchanting, telepathy, and some others, so I can teach you.

submitted by Elliot
(January 14, 2017 - 11:35 pm)

Well, that was no fun.

I scramble up and transform back into a human. Yala's released me, which Is a good sign. Hmm...Do they trust me?

"You've done that before." I say to Nova. "The whole memory scanning thing..You act like you do it a lot."

A shrug."It's handy  for checking people's true feelings."

"Wait...You trust me?"

Another shrug. "You seem okay enough."

I grin. "Trust me, huh? Then naybe I should give you something back." The pain is really getting to me.

The Three growl, and tension cranks up another notch. Some of the humans draw their various weapons.

I wave my hand. "Relax, people. Don't get ready to skewer me just yet."

I snap my fingers. Every single illusion in the forest dissapears.Both the humans and the animals look surprised, as if I suddenly did something nice for once...Oh wait, I did.

Yala's looks at me with new respect, like, how did you do that?

I wink right back.  A small blue spark appears from my eyelid and spirals up, disappearing into the starlit sky. The flute that I've been holding the whole time glows slightly with a blue aura.

"Remember, I have the Key. And it's not only you three that have power in the forest. This is my home as well-and trespassers are not appreciated."

Authors note:

The Key is a  powerful object that allows the holder to control all illusions in the Decoy forest. It is an instrument of any kind, but the last recorded sightings of the key said it to be a small flute charm...

submitted by MoonRacer, age 12.99
(January 14, 2017 - 8:12 pm)