Hatching Baskets

A hatching basket is traditionally a small, relatively narrow, round basket with a tall, thin handle. It is designed to hold a dandipuff egg snugly and securely. It often has a ribbon tied around the front, to determine the gender of the egg- pink for female and blue for male, respectively. In order to be functional, it must be crafted from trees that grew on the property of Shadowcrest Gardens. Its main purpose is to hold and protect a dandipuff egg, and, optionally, to be the main tool used to customize the developing dandipuff within it. It is only large enough to hold one egg at a time. Hatching baskets work by using magic, that is, a force of reality manipulated by the intentions of those who believe in it that is yet to have a credible scientific explanation. Beyond this, there is no concise explanation for how or why hatching baskets or dandipuffs behave in this way, or when the connection between the two was first made.

Gathering Ingredients
Keeping an egg in a hatching basket without adding ingredients will produce a standard colored dandipuff. Customizing a dandipuff with a hatching basket requires one to gather at least one organic object from anywhere within the premises of Shadowcrest. Flowers, fairy dust, leaves, dirt, rocks, anything should work, so long as it is natural and small enough to fit on or in the basket. Commonly the ingredients, especially botanical ingredients with stems, are tied to the handle. Traditionally the order of these items on the handle would predict where and how each item would change the dandipuff's appearance. The first ingredient on the left side effected the nose, the next one changed the eyes, etc. Although this has been recorded to have some effect, it is not always reliable and some ingredients are incapable of being tied.

The properties of these items will always effect the dandipuff if the process is completed correctly, but the effects are not always predictable. Most commonly, an object will effect a color of the dandipuff's body (for example, the eyes, feet, tail, body, etc) based on the color of the object or as a combination of colors from different objects. But occasionally, the right item can even change your dandipuff's physical shape, personality, scent, and with very special items- grant the dandipuff unique abilities. Generally, no combination of objects can make the same dandipuff twice. The user can use as little or as many objects as they like, although often 'less is more'.

Only collecting ingredients, however, will not be enough to make any changes to the dandipuff, as all steps must be taken in order to acheieve any results.

The River & Bell Tower
In Shadowcrest Gardens, there is a very old stone bell tower that sits at the edge of a hill, overlooking a lake where the river which cuts through Shadowcrest empties out. Every once in a while, the massive bells on top will chime a melodic song which carries far across the land.

Although few, if any, have ever seen him, legend has it a nameless 'wizard' of some sort dwells within the cold tower of stone. He is the one responsible for making the hatching baskets work. Once all of the desired ingredients have been gathered and attached securely to the basket, one must set the egg in its basket down from a marked point along the river, and allow it to be carried down by the current. Through either magic or some special design, hatching baskets are waterproof and will not tip over or spill ingredients when in the water, even during a storm. The wizard also has appointed his unicorn guardians to never let a single basket go astray. Eventually, the current takes them to the shore of the lake, where the wizard gathers them and takes them into his tower. Some mysterious and unobserved spell is performed, causing the pure white egg to change into colors corresponding with its owner's chosen items. Once the wizard completes whatever it is he must do to achieve this effect, he leaves the completed eggs in their baskets without any of the ingredients just outside of his tower and plays a short chime to alert all concerned. The wizard himself is mysterious and reclusive, any attempts to contact him will just have his unicorn sent to answer for him.

Completed Baskets
After being picked up from the bell tower, the changed eggs will behave just as they otherwise would have, aside from their changed appearance. The time they take to hatch will depend on how much attention and love they recieve from the egg's owner. Once hatched, the puffling should have a more unusual appearance, taking on changes influenced by the ingredients chosen in the earlier part of the process.

Types of Hatching Baskets
Hatching Baskets are plentiful in Shadowcrest. Some special kinds of hatching baskets, which have properties that influence the egg it will hold differently, are woven and sold for varying prices by the locals. The easiest way to acquire a plain hatching basket, however, is to take one of the many left by the Old Tree, where both eggs and baskets are left.

Plain hatching baskets
These are the most commonly found hatching baskets in Shadowcrest, they have existed for generations and their origins are unknown. They are free to use and found in abundance around the Old Tree, where there are also an abundance of dandipuff eggs to put in them. It is considered customary to put the hatching basket back where it was found after one has finished with it. Despite their age and being made from natural materials, they have held up remarkably well which could be attributed to the magic qualities they posess.

Colorful hatching baskets
As the name implies, these hatching baskets have been dyed with multiple magical dyes that gives them a bright and colorful appearance. They can come in a variety of colors. Because most naturally found ingredients used to change a dandipuff's color are of more muted colors, these baskets are used to encourage brighter and more saturated colors in the dandipuff.