Trick or Treat: Day 6

The winds were whistling pleasantly through the spire-like mountains and rock formations of the Singing Vale, Vice felt the gentle breeze ruffle his feathers and he paused to enjoy the quaint atmosphere. Out of all the places he had wandered to so far this was by far one of his favorites, the creatures here were easy to deal with and the landscape was gorgeous. Not to mention this mountainous region wasn't exactly the easiest place to build houses upon let alone towns so there were far fewer sentient beings to deal with much to the grouchy hermit's delight. Living his life alone in peace was all the dark ketucari could ask for and so far this region had really provided just that! As Vice eventually started to wander along the treacherous mountain path once more he realized he could hear an unnatural sound echoing off the mountain walls ahead of him. He frowned as his mood was immediately ruined, of course he had spoken too soon. As he rounded a bend on the cliff side he could see far below a small group of merchant wagons slowly pulling their cargo through the narrow valley road.

Their large bulky carts, heavily laden with goods were struggling with the uneven rocky terrain and the large bulky creatures they had hauling them were obviously struggling to pull their heavy loads uphill. Vice decided to pause and stare at them as they struggled, inwardly making snide remarks at the merchant's foolish attempt at a shortcut. In a region like this it was far better to stick to the well known routes as you could easily get stranded or lose large cargo like that to the terrain long before you had to deal with bandits or wild life. As he watched he noticed the caravans bodyguards scanning the landscape as their employers struggled, at least someone was properly doing their job... or perhaps not as they hadn't seemed to notice the massive black ketucari perched on the cliff directly above them. Vice shook his head and stood up to leave just as one of the straps holding some of their cargo snapped, sending part of the cart's load tumbling to the ground. Much to the black ketucari's surprise he realized the dropped cargo appeared to be pumpkins.

As he thought about it, wasn't it about that time of year to celebrate the fall with Halloween? He reminisced fondly on his time as a pup playing with other pups in his pack as they enjoyed the fall festivities. It had been a long time since he had done anything to celebrate a holiday and now that he had been reminded of their existence he felt the urge to carve a pumpkin of his own. As Vice watched the merchants scramble from high above he suddenly remembered something else. Hadn't he seen a wild pumpkin vine a few days ago? In fact wasn't that vine not too far from here? What would be the odds that there might be a pumpkin on said vine that hadn't been ravaged by wild life yet large enough for the ketucari to carve? With a bit of long lost excitement in his step Vice quickly made his way along the cliff face in the direction he remembered the vine being in. It took a few hours of precarious climbing and navigating but the black ketucari finally caught a glimpse of the familiar plant dangling off the ledge of a spire peak far above. During the time it took him to navigate back to this place the black ketucari had ended up on the valley floor just like the merchants had been and now that he was looking up at the vine it was rather impressive he had managed to spot it and recognize it in the first place.

He squinted up at the barely discernible smudge of green hundreds of feet far above him. He was sure it was a pumpkin plant vine but from his vantage point he couldn't see any orange, hopefully there were some fruits still resting on the ground at the top of the spire. Vice quickly approached the precarious cliff and found footholds that would allow him to ascend. Slowly but surely Vice climbed his way up the cliff, digging his long sharp claws into the dense rock to pull himself up. The massive inky ketucari finally managed to reach the cliff where the vine dangled off the edge and as he pulled himself huffing and puffing up he was delighted to see multiple of the familiar orange fruit partially hidden among the dense bushes atop the cliff. Vice forced the long branches of the bushes aside and examined the pumpkins closely, almost all the pumpkins were in pristine condition and the ones that were not perfect were only slightly marked by some light insect activity. Perhaps the underbrush up here had successfully hidden these fruits from all the local wildlife but himself. He inwardly felt proud of his keen eyes that had spotted the well hidden vine before finally making a selection for the pumpkin he would carve.

Once he had his pumpkin he sat back and examined its large orange surface. It was truly the perfect pumpkin to carve into a jack-o-lantern but what should he carve? It had been so long since he had made one he wasn't sure what design to go with! After much musing he decided to carve the face of the scariest domain guardian he had glimpsed so far which just so happened to be the domain guardian of this region Hianlian. He shuddered as he remembered seeing that massive beast leisurely snoozing out in the open without a care in the world, thankfully he had managed to slip away unnoticed back then but still the idea of facing something like that was terrifying. Vice quickly got to work, expertly using his long claws to carve out the vestige of the beast's magnificent face on the pumpkin. After almost an hour of diligent work Vice held up his creation proudly, an excellent portrayal of a frontal view of Hianlian snarling glared back at him. Vice nodded his head in satisfaction, not only had his carving turned out perfectly but it was really satisfying to make as well, and yet something seemed to be missing... What had he forgotten? He turned the fruit over in his paws staring at his carving in confusion until the sudden realization finally hit him. He had forgotten to hollow out the insides.