ORIGIN

Despite the number of events transpiring in the strange, shadowed room, it seems nothing can be heard from its entrance. Those clamoring at the tunnel are engulfed in silence. Try as they may, they were always being watched. The eyes continued to stare at them, slowly blinking, focusing; some of them would blink, closing and disappearing for good, opening up somewhere else. Any time anybody drew nearer to them, they would vanish and appear further along, as though trying to summon them into the darkness. The hyena plunged into the darkness, followed by the cerberus.

There was a great shuffling, the sound of feather or fur ruffling, like some fiend sweeping through the night. In the place of Giggle's presence, there is nothingness but a feeling of cold settling in close to the ground. Giggle has vanished without a trace.

A sound pierces the darkness. It is audible from everywhere in the room, and it seems to come from everywhere at the same time. The eyes widen with the sound. It is that of Giggle's manic hyena laugh.

Then silence for another few seconds... and through the quiet, a small chirp. The twittering noise seems frantic and desperate for attention, and unlike the cackle, seems to be coming from one direction in particular.

Giggle has vanished and can no longer post. Characters must roll Other to locate the source of the chirping noise. One character rolling a minimum of Barely Successful will be picked at random to find the chirping sound.

@Aleera @Ambrus @Fallah @Sadie @Ashtoreth @Azazel @Vincenzo @Eve @Kerberos

The darkness persisted, though around the winged noodle, it would slowly begin to part like a thin silk curtain. The chirping continued, ringing through the room with mounting desperation, until - lo and behold - before the winged noodle there sat a small, baby bird. It's appearance was sudden and unprecedented, and if the young noodle isn't watching where she's going, she could easily trip over it. The bird, though, is inky black much like the darkness surrounding them. It has a single, bright red eye in the center of its face - this is what is known as a Hallowed Caller. This tiny hatchling appears to have its wing trapped under a heavy bone that must have fallen during all the commotion and is peeping frantically.

Ashtoreth does not need to roll to remove the bone.

@Aleera @Ambrus @Fallah @Sadie @Ashtoreth @Azazel @Vincenzo @Eve @Kerberos

The tiny bird could feel that it wasn't alone. Suddenly, there were footsteps, and then the creature was upon it. At first, it called out in fright, unknowing of what the creature was doing. Before it really realized it, however, the weight upon its wing was suddenly lifted. It peeped and hopped back, flapping its wings desperately. Though it appeared tentative of the winged noodle, it never stopped making noise, chirping and calling and crying out before it finally took to the air. It flapped around the noodle, delighted for freedom - but it wasn't free yet. Though it's single eye was wide, it was unseeing. This darkness suffocated them all.

The bird twittered and circled the noodle's head, then darted off into the blackness, calling out to the Gembounds in the cave. As though it were a beckoning to follow.

Round 1/3
This next part of the quest will consist of 3 rounds. Each round consists of 4 character posts - after 4 character posts, the next round will begin. Each character must follow the sound of the Hallowed Caller as it leads them through the darkness. However, they must guess which direction the bird is in. In your posts, please specify a direction that your character is heading: North, South, East, or West. There will be ONE true direction that the bird has gone. If a character goes in the wrong direction, they may be lucky enough to face no repercussions... or they may encounter the consequences of their poor tracking.

@Aleera @Ambrus @Fallah @Sadie @Ashtoreth @Azazel @Vincenzo @Eve @Kerberos