ORIGIN

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Along the western wall of Canis, half-covered by scrawled carvings, was a jagged section of rock. Stalagmites hung along it where water had dripped over centuries, and piles of bones--like everywhere else in this cave--lay piled up before it.

A dark-cloaked figure stood before it, facing it. Around it danced several phosphorescent blue-green wisps, casting an eerie light over the cave wall.

Masked head tilted, antlers askew as it peered over the stone.

It was time.

The figure spread its arms, gazing up at the stone: a soft sound began to emanate from it. At first it was quiet, not unlike an elephant's warning trumpet: but it grew, a trombone's blare that shook and roared and faded through the caves, reaching even its farthest reaches.

The Masked Merchant then lowered his arms, turned toward Canis, and waited.

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There was another call, as well. Those Gembound who knew the Summon Wisp spell would have their wisps spontaneously appear, drifting (sometimes quite erratically) back toward Canis, as if to lead them there. It would be up to them whether or not to follow.

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The Quest "The Trials - Part I" has begun! New Gembound may join in at any time.

@Septiezal @Iris @Shango @Yoosung @Charoite @Wilder @Ejder @Mosaic @Selena @Acheron @Aequum Regem @Thothaga @Miru

It wasn't a far walk for Wilder to make - she was already in Canis when the wisp suddenly appeared, just as it had cycles ago. She had a mix of feelings when she saw the magic activate without her consent, knowing exactly why it had and what it wanted. The first thing was relief that there was finally something to do rather then mope around the home of the Bonebound but also a mix of fear and anticipation - the last time she had followed the wisps had been a terrible, horrifying experience and there was a distinct possibility that Pride would follow the wisps as well. She did not want to see him.

But her curiosity and her sense of adventure got the better of her. She had been rewarded last time for finding her way through the cave, surely she would this time as well. And besides, she was not one to turn down an opportunity like this. The loud blaring sound had perked her interest. Something important was going to happen.

She trotted through the cave, following where her own wisps were leading her, until she came to the western wall where a familiar figure was waiting. The Masked Merchant standing before jagged rocks. For a second it seemed like she was just going to stand there and watch him before a glimmer of the old Wilder perked through. Her tail raised happily and she smiled. "Hello! You said last time there were more things to do. I'm older now - and ready! What do you need?"

A blue-green wisp bobbed and floated its way this and that before leading toward Canis's west wall, followed closely by its owner.

Shango swept in on scalefeathered wings, gliding down and landing with a clatter of hoof-bottomed bird-feet. (What a strange creature.) He peered at the Masked Merchant, and then to Wilder, blinking a little.

"Hello-" he began, then thought to himself, What was her name? ...Ehh. After a moment, he settled for "-..cat." This greeting successfully (debatably) concluded, he turned toward the Merchant.

"I am here," he informed it, as if that wasn't clear. "What is it?" Some might have been put off by the danger of the last trial, but Shango had been rather oblivious to it all. A mixture of inexperience and... well, wings, had given him the advantage of blithely bypassing almost all the near-fatal dangers that had lurked within. So where some might have been determined to steer well clear of the Masked Merchant forever after, Shango turned up wondering what he'd get as a reward this time.

He looked slowly around. Canis was dry. Too dry. It needed rain; it needed thunder. "Stooooorm," he murmured to himself, and called upon his magicka.

For the first time in who knew how long, Canis' air began to thicken with mist, and raindrops began to pelt down from above.

PG-13 for One (1) Bad Word

Eythan was actually mad for not entirely the wrong reasons.

For one, there was a tall, dark figure in Canis, and his mind immediately flickered to the Collector, despite this one having antlers. Maybe the bastard had changed up his appearance, somehow, to try and get a leg up on him. For second, said bastard was blaring noise in the vault of bones and disturbing his rest.

So, of course he was mad.

The gryphon drifted down from the chambers, sleep-disheveled and ears flicked back. "Oi, Collector. What the fuck do you think you're doing, now?"

Yoosung had been sleeping when his Wisps appeared.

Even though the Trial had occured several Cycles past, he was still feeling the effects. They had taken quite a toll of him, and so when he stood, it was slowly, on stiff legs that creaked and groaned. He, too, groaned as he stretched, watching as the Wisps danced wildly at the mouth of his den, calling for him. 'Come on!' they seemed to say, 'Follow me!'

And so he did.

He was led to a Cave that he had found once, and avoided since. A Cave full of bones, that had scared him to his core. He could see himself lying in there one day, his fur long gone, skin rotted, nothing but a gem and brittle bones. A deep-set chill clenched his heart, only worsening as he saw the Masked Merchant. He stood back, well aware of what the Merchant wanted. Yoosung desperately wanted to turn and leave, pretend he hadn't come to a hated Cave to meet a hated person, but there was a Gembound here that he could not abandoned.

The foolish kitten. Damn. Looks like he was going to do this, then. He refused to allow her to get killed by this monster.

He didn't notice the hybrid until it suddenly made Canis storm, and the dog stood, shaking off his dampening fur. His claws tock-tock-tocked on rock and bone as he approached, calling out "Hello Wilder." before sitting down abruptly behind her, steadfastly not greeting the Masked Merchant, opting instead to glower at it with his differently aligned eyes, fur bristling.

And, it seemed, he was not the only one to despise the Masked Merchant. Another hybrid approached, calling out to the Merchant (Yoosung fought the urge to cover the kitten's ears) demanding to know what it wanted.

I've been on a lonely tripdragging along a lonely shadow

Kalama'd found herself drawn by floating lights and a strange noise. From all over Canis, and definitely from parts other, motes of light drifted lazily towards a source. At first she'd tried to ignore the motes, but her childish wonder won out, and she'd followed the lights, taking care to avoid or hop over patches of water on the way, mesmerized by the color of the motes. She was pretty proud of the fact she hadn't fallen in any puddles, or gotten any water on the feathers starting to come in on her feet. She felt pretty proud of her newfound balance.

The caves had it out for her, it seemed. Water, the thing she'd avoided the entire way here, began to pelt down as rain. She stifled an annoyed noise. She shook out as droplets fell on her, rain flattening her now rare spots of down and soak into her feathers. She hated the rain. She felt a visceral hatred for water in all forms. And most of all she hated her down. She was mostly feathers now, atleast, but a stubborn patch had made itself home on her head and tail tip, places she couldnt reach. She'd tried to pull the down out herself, but its hard working without her, yknow, beak.

Kalama tilted her head at the scene. A good portion of the gembound here seemed on edge due to some weird cloaked thing with a mask, but Kalama couldnt see why. She could definitely destroy that spindly looking thing in a fight.

It was taller, sure, and she couldn't see it's face which was kind of creepy, and the cloak was pretty creepy too, but it was just looks. She bet it was nothing but bones underneath that cloak. She made an effort to appear more self-assured, stretching her neck tall and fluffing her tail, to show she wasn't as intimidated as these other gembound.

"Whats with the dust lights? " She said, trying her best to feign confidence and confront the thing everyone was scared of. She belatedly realized that Eythan was there, and her display of feigned confidence begin to crumble. "Teacher?"

Speech. Thought

Though the Masked Merchant stayed stock-still--a statue of a creature--in the new rainfall, the air around it seemed to become more charged, somehow more visceral, at the arrival of Yoosung, and the words of Eythan.

It remained silent and still for a long while yet before slowly turning its unsettling, round mask toward Eythan. "You mistake me," it rattle-murmured softly, "for a doddering troublemaker, seeking... playthings."

After a moment it drew itself up higher, and its voice raised, ringing through the space. Its words were still... damaged, wrong, surreal, but now they were loud, like the gentle cracking of bone and the dripping leaking of marrow. "In ages past," it began, occasionally stopping for a rasping breath, "the cave beyond this wall was the Place of Trials... a vast expanse of inhospitable land. Within lies a crucible, where... the strongest might be forged, and the weak cast aside." It paused, seemingly gauging the interest it had garnered, looking slowly among them. "A deadly place. Yet... one not without its vast rewards. I do not ask you to enter," it added, holding up one spindly, clawed finger. "But should you aid me in opening... the Place of Trials, should you prove yourself worthy in that regard... you will be rewarded."

It then looked toward Yoosung. All of the wisps that had been slowly orbiting the Masked Merchant shot out toward him, striking the rock just before the dog and exploding in a hot blast of ghostfire--seemingly harmless at that distance, if searingly-hot, but a clear warning nonetheless. "Worthy," it told him, "but your actions are... not forgotten. Do not, repeat them..." It then looked to the others, spreading its arms. "This magic will be your reward. To open the way... you must bring gems. The gems of the fallen... the gems of the powerful. Those who might have passed the test... will be the ones to open the way."

In order to participate in this quest, Gembound must collectively return at least ten gemstones of Pupil or higher-level Gembound (or Brawler, or Strategist), and five or more gemstones of Master-level Gembound (or Champion, or Genius). These may be obtained by utilizing the spell Detect Magic on gemstones, with a Successful roll indicating Pupil level, and a Critical Success indicating Master. Alternatively, living Gembound may be slain for their stones.

Successful completion of this quest will begin opening access to a new cave, and reward participants with a new and final Master-level Wisp spell which requires Will o' Wisp as a prerequisite.

New Gembound may join this quest at any time.

@Yoosung @Kalama @Eythan @Shango @Wilder

Friends began to appear around Wilder, most she recognized and she happily jumped up to greet them. Shango was the first to greet her so she turned and trotted over to him. "Hi Shango! It's nice to see you again!" She reached forward to press her nose against him - anywhere, really, although she was aiming for a leg.

She got distracted, however, when the air began to grow damp and something wet landed on her head. She flinched and jumped back, looking up to see where it had come from when another drop of moisture landed on her nose. And all of a sudden, water droplets came pouring from the sky. She stared at it for a moment, extremely confused. Was something happening? Were the caves flooding? But Shango looked pleased with himself and, a moment later, she realized that this must be magic.

Her change was sudden. She had been standing there, confused for a moment and the next she was laughing, running around and jumping to catch the water as it fell, splashing through the puddles it made and generally acting like a child. But she didn't mind - what fun! She wanted to learn this spell too sometime so she could have this fun whenever she wanted!

But there were others to greet as well so she bounced her way through the group. "Hi, Eythan!" She didn't know him well but he was Aure's brother! That meant they were friends! "Are you here to go through the new cave as well?" A soft voice spoke behind her and she turned, a grin spreading across her face at the appearance of another friend. "Hi, Yoosung! It's good to see you!" She pushed her nose forward to touch it with his before bouncing away at the last arrival - a bird of some kind. A young bird. "Hi! I'm Wilder! What's your name!" With a purr she tried to lean forward and touch her nose to the chick's feathers before bouncing back and settling in front of the Merchant to listen to what he was saying.

She watched as the wisps were thrown and a strike of fear went through her as she saw them going towards Yoosung. "No, wait!" But it was too late to stop them, although they thankfully exploded a harmless distance away from the dog. She breathed out a sigh of relief and turned back, wondering if that was the magic he was speaking of. If that was the case, then she would do it! She was excited again! Another grin split her face. "I'll find rocks for you! I like finding rock, I did it before! Thanks Mr. Merchant! I'll be right back!" She turned and shot away into Canis to go and find the powerful stones that the Masked Merchant requested.

*temporary exit

Kalama gave an indignant squawk when the kitten leaned forward, trying to press her nose against her. Kalama leaned away from the touch, but not enough to prevent her from touching. Kalama's animosity towards the kitten was nigh instant. She snapped her beak forward at the kitten's retreating tail, wings raised and ready to give chase, as she bounded off to the collector.

She stopped just short, clapping her beak shut, and lowering her wings, realizing there was a good chance her teacher would see, and an even greater chance he'd disapprove. And the rest of the gembound here would probably show the same disdain for her attack, she realizes belatedly, considering the cat had greeted all of them.

"Dont touch me furball." She hisses venomously at Wilder, and shakes, ruffling her neck feathers. She didn't start the fight, technically. She was in the right. She stamps her foot, and sits in a sulking heap of feathers, glaring at the ground in a tantrum.

She perks up, though, when the collector began talking. She didn't really know this 'Place of Trials' was, but she did understand the idea of rewards. And a new cave to explore excited her. She's thrown out of her thoughts when the tall thing(placeholder don't look at me) sends a barrage of will o wisps at the dog. She startles, launching herself up, and only after she sees they did not hit she settles, but does not sit once more, in case the wisps were turned on her. She got the impression that this wasn't someone she wanted to cross. She understood, now, the reason for the tension.

They had to collect gemstones? She could do that, she'd seen some on skulls here and there. All she had to do was pluck em out and carry them back, probably. It'd be easy. But he wanted living gemstones, which sounded less easy. She didn't really know how to find living gemstones, but she wouldn't admit that, so she'd sit here and wait, pretending to scratch at the ground and find food. Perhaphs someone would allow her to not mooch, she totally wouldnt do that, but assist.

Speech. Thought

Shango didn't listen to... well, to most of what the Masked Merchant actually said. It wasn't that he was ignoring him, really, or even being rude; just that his mind was elsewhere. His imagination danced among the drops of rain that he'd summoned, racing along nonexistent streaks of lightning and--stones? What was that? Shango swung his glowing eyes back toward the Merchant.

He wasn't really sure what the stranger meant, but the last thing had given him new magic, and it wasn't like he was doing much.

Sure, he'd go find some stones!

With a sweep of scalefeathered wings and the clatter of hoof-bottomed bird-feet, he scurried off, his loping gallop carrying him swiftly away without a word.

temporary exit Shango

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Game Master Dark

Wilder

Shango

Eythan

Yoosung

Kalama

Game Master Dark

Wilder

Kalama

Shango