ORIGIN

News of the scattered prizes in Centaurus were quick to spread to the rest of the caves, and like many others, Sair wasted no time. With bow, quiver and blanket carefully stashed away in a temporary den, Sair's bag was empty and ready for anything the cave might throw at them. Her? Him? Today was a shifting day, where even Sair wasn't sure what to refer to themself as.

Sair's new dye-job was on full display, star-like patches twinkling in the bright 'sky'light. Just how did the Shapers create such an effect? She wished to think it was almost like the real thing, from her visions, but it was nowhere near as blinding or as hot. As close as one could get in the caves, she supposed.

"Now just where should I start?" The horse had begun talking to itself in recent days, when it was alone, using its usual summoned wisp as faux companionship. She almost forgot, some days, that it only moved at her command. "Maybe by one of the landmarks? There aren't many..." They scanned the cave for a moment, hoping for... something. Anything, really, that might catch their eye. It was mostly dirt, stone and sand. A small trickle of water through a crack in the cave floor provided at least something that stood apart from the desert-like cave.

Stories had spread about how Centaurus worked, but it seemed much was still unknown about the caves' newest addition. Rediscovery was more fitting. The horse wasn't sure if they even believed what they had heard, yet, and had set to answer those questions while it sought the treasure that was supposedly scattered about. Not very well hidden, given the open nature of the cave. Still, Sair glanced about, hoping he was wrong and this was not all some big prank. He had heard that the Shapers liked to play games, though he had yet to meet any of them.

"Speaking." Thinking. Doing.
OOC: Sair is my chosen character for a chance to get the enchanted items

No beginner's luck, it seemed. It would be too easy if they had found something right away anyway; Half the fun was in the finding. There was something about searching where many others had been, or where no others had been, and finding something overlooked or otherwise undiscovered, unseen by any other eyes than theirs. At least in recent years, given that these things had to have been made at some point.

"This was a better hiding place than I thought." She shrugged, sipping at what little water they had found before trekking further into the heat. There was little to look at here. The occasional mostly bare plant or big rock, maybe. The rare lesser, something reptilian but abnormal for the caves. Otherwise, there was nothing. Nothing but dust, which was quickly finding its way into Sair's feathering. He already knew just how much he would dislike this cave.

But still, he pushed on. What worth was treasure if you did not work for it? What could be learned without research? He would not find nearly as much joy in discovering if not for the work it required. This would be his first real expedition, and nothing short of a chrysalis was going to stop him from finding something!

"Speaking." Thinking. Doing.
OOC:

Like a game of hot and cold, altered to hot and hotter, Sair felt the cave's warmth begin to get to her as she marched on. She was glad that she had left her blanket behind for this adventure. It would have killed her.

Something just seemed right about this direction. Like something had been here recently. Sair was not a hunter, and therefore not a tracker by any means, but something seemed... disturbed, here. And further along, as they followed nothing short of intuition, there was another landmark. Standing stones. Stones that appeared as if they were standing, at least, in their own strange way

"No rock is going to keep me out!" She declared, chuckling away to herself as she called for her usual companion. It was better than nothing.

There was still a ways to walk to reach the stones, so Sair settled for talking to themself as a way to pass the time. There was little else to do, after all. "I wonder what all the big fuss is. 'Three special things' doesn't give me a lot to go on." She pondered as she walked, trying to avoid thinking about her quickly dampening coat. Of course 'special things' had caught her attention, because Sair simply needed to know, always, but the description only left her with more questions.

"Speaking." Thinking. Doing.
OOC:

The stones were about as boring as the rest of the cave had been. No plant life could be seen clinging to them, no lessers hiding beneath them, and no carvings in their faces. They were just stones, all standing almost straight up, scattered about without much rhyme or reason. What about them was important?

Ah, well that would do it. Scuff marks led to a single stone that was out of place, knocked out of its sentinal stance to lay almost flat, pointing... To nothing. Well, nothing that Sair could see yet, anyway. They had known already that it would not be a simple task, even if such a clue was so easily found by their keen eyes. It was almost as if some ethereal force was guiding her, pulling her along.

"They weren't very careful now, were they?" She mused to her wisp, resuming the journey. She was just glad that she had noticed the tilted stone; she could have been stuck there much longer if not for the carelessness of a single Shaper. Or was it intentional? Either way, she was just happy to be moving again. Every step brought her closer to the prize, and closer to a nice cold bath. That would be quite the reward, after all this.

"Ah, look at me! I've barely been here and I'm already complaining!" She cried, wisp playfully tugging at her mane in reprimand. "It will be worth it, I know!"

"Speaking." Thinking. Doing.
OOC:

Sair walked.

And walked.

And walked, until their stomach began to complain more than their mind did. The heat was livable, sure, but it was sickening. What little water they had found at the start was all sweated out by now, and they were becoming nauseous. Sair preferred this over the cold, but it was still uncomfortable. Something to be addressed before it impeded their ability to search.

With a disappointed sigh, Sair began to scrape at the ground, trying to leave some sort of mark that she could find her way back to. She would leave the wisp here, too, so long as she didn't have to wander far enough that it would dissipate. When she had a satisfying enough little pile of dirt and scuff marks, she circled, scanning the area for anything that might provide a little bit of relief.

There was nothing nearby that would provide any shade, not that it would do much given the still air, but there was a glint of something a little ways off. Maybe water, she hoped, but it could always have been metal or a stone, or even a mirage at this point. She wasn't that dehydrated though, was she?

"Speaking." Thinking. Doing.
OOC:

Even the small, still puddle of water was a relief. It offered little in terms of cooling, and it was rather gross in taste, but it was something. She gulped at it greedily, drinking it dry. It wasn't satisfying by any means, but enough to keep her going. A small, barely living succulent nearby provided a snack to settle her stomach, and that was enough for now.

"I hope the rumours about this place are true." She found herself wondering aloud, searching for her path-marker. "It would be a shame if this cave was always so dreary."

Thankfully, the wisp she had summoned remained a little guide back towards her dirt pile that served as a trailhead. It was little trouble to return, but there was still a long walk ahead towards the next visible landmark. At least it was visible, now, as she reached the top of another small incline in the cave's terrain. Another grouping of stones, this time piled up like a hare's den.

"Speaking." Thinking. Doing.
OOC:

Sair had only more questions as they walked. Was the item hidden in the den-like construction of stones? Was there a clue there, guarded by some lesser they would have to outsmart? Was it a diversion? So many possibilities lay just ahead, and all Sair had to do was get there.

By now, the horse's pelt was slick with sweat, a foamy white layer covering most of their dark patches. They looked like a ghost, wandering slowly along, if not for their darkly coloured back half. Half dead, half alive; that pretty well described how Sair felt on this journey. What little water they had found was no help against the heat.

"They could have hidden them in any other cave, you know." She rambled on, addressing the wisp that she was quickly losing focus on. It flickered in and out of existence. "I wonder if Ursa would even be nice, this time of year. It can't be full of blizzards all the time, can it?" Yes, it could, but Sair had avoided any mention of the cave long enough that she did not know. She did not want to know, surprisingly, despite wanting to know just about everything else there was to know. They did not care that it contradicted all they stood for, because it was Ursa, and she hated Ursa.

"Speaking." Thinking. Doing.
OOC:

Ursa was even starting to sound nice, right about now. They felt as though they had been walking for days. It had been a few hours, maybe, with all the breaks and pit stops for what little they could find to sustain themself. It was a large cave, and its heat made the journey longer than it otherwise would have been.

"Alright now, show me your secrets." She spoke to the pile of rocks as she finally reached them, fatigue evident in her voice. The wisp had long since dissipated, no longer maintained by the quickly tiring horse. If she could fit beneath the rocks, she would, if only for a little shade.

She was beginning to wish that she had brought someone along, but she also would have regretted it upon realizing what kind of torment this was. The company would have been nice for such a long journey, but between sharing the sparse water and struggling against cramping limbs, she wondered if they would remain friends after such a trip. Would they have fought over the prize, in the end? She hoped not, but it was impossibly difficult to truly judge another gembound's nature. She needed to find it, on her own, both for the integrity of the discovery and to avoid losing her chance to study such a thing.

"What if it is only a joke?" She found herself worrying again, that this would all be for nothing.

"Speaking." Thinking. Doing.
OOC:

Sair braved the mystery of the hole, having to practically lay down in the dirt to be able to peer within, praying to anything they might think of that there was no lizard with a taste for eyeballs that had made this den its home. With a sigh of relief that did nothing but make Sair inhale dust, resulting in a coughing fit, they did find something other than a danger within the stones. It was no 'special item', but it would at least prove to be another clue.

An arrow, formed of three small sticks, sat in the divet.

"They could have at least gotten creative with it, couldn't they?" She huffed, hoping that all that creativity had gone towards the items rather than the hiding of them. It looked as if the stones had been dragged, carefully set around and above the arrow to hide it. That took some work, at least, but the stones were just as boring as the others had been.

With nothing else holding her here, she walked off, following the arrow's direction.

"Speaking." Thinking. Doing.
OOC: