ORIGIN - [Quest] AEON EWER

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Storms ravaged the cave, and Pisces was no exception. The waterfall seemed swollen with opaque floodwaters, though the lagoon itself seemed to remain fairly clear. Its waters, however, had flooded well over their banks, so that the entire lower elevations of the cave were full of several inches, at least, of water. Lower portions would need swimming to traverse them. Higher up, the ridges and the warrens provided some measure of safe ground travel, though they, too, were slicked wet and cold with rain and mist.

As with Fornax, a strange odor seemed to rise here and there: sweet, yet rotten, somehow. The lagoon itself remained free from this scent, but at the deeper pools that gathered elsewhere, and in particular the broad and shallow lake that in better weather was known as The Ponds, the smell was far stronger.

The source of the strange smell was not immediately obvious, and might require some investigating to uncover.

Zelk walked into Pisces careful and curious. She had been very observant, and noticed that the caves had gone wild with water. Rains and storms filled through her home, and she knew that the other gembounds in the cave were taken by surprise as well. Of course, this was no problem for her. She was not just made for land, but water as well. She walked in and saw rains and storms fill Pisces. Water came up to her legs and had risen to the point where she could swim. Zelk knew that this was not natural, something strange was going on, something that needed to be uncovered. Suddenly, a strange sickly sweet smell hit her nose, and it smelled rotten. The polar bear followed the smell, and she was kind of surprised at what she found. "What in the caves is happening here?"

P A L L A S
the man who sleeps with a knife
is a fool every night but one

Pallas hated this. He hated the water, hated the unnaturalness of everything. The liquid in Cetus had practically flushed him out of home, the waters threatening to flood his den. He'd secured everything he could before storming off to find whatever was causing this.

The linsang didn't like travelling- not one bit. His frustrations echoed in his steps, splashing through the watery floor of the tunnels between caves. When he'd arrived in Pisces, the anger only rose higher, a permanent scowl writing itself across his face.

This sucked.

His claws flexed as he neared a deeper pool of water, one he couldn't simply cross without swimming. His lip curled at the thought. It smelled awful here- much worse than Cetus. Whatever's making all this rain must be producing the scent too. Lifting his nose into the air, Pallas closed his eyes and focused on the scent wafting over him, ears perked and body stiff straight.

As the scent hit the roof of his mouth, Pallas blanched, keeping himself from enveloping too much into the disgustingly sweet taste. He was able to pinpoint the right way, but part of him regretted coming out. If this got any worse, he swore to himself that he'd give up and leave. This was not worth it.

The little rat hopped in long, quick leaps through the puddles, zigzagging rapidly this way and that to keep to the shallower paths. Splash, splash, splash. He was wet, and the rain did not smell spectacularly pleasant. In fact, he'd located a rather disturbing odor up ahead.

Archimedes was fairly fastidious, and while curious, he was also rather disgusted by the odor. He scrambled, instead of toward the lagoon and the pools, up along the warrens and into the ledges to the far south. There he at last rested, washing his face and whiskers, and peering down at what was happening below. The cave was flooded, that much was easy to be seen: as all of them seemed to be. The rain had been unabating, these last few days.

He hadn't seen all that many gembound out and about, either, but these two below seemed intent on finding whatever it was beneath.

Rather than seek it out, the rat with his strong nose chose to stay on the opposite side of these Gembound from it--huddled on the ledge, grooming himself of the rainwater, and watching what might happen.

Luck, however, was not on his side. As he groomed himself, he caught a strong whiff of whatever was causing the awful sweet-rotting stink, and realized that there was a source of it very, very close beside him. Recoiling he turned, sniffing it out of instinct, before bounding a few paces away. It had come up through the water, perhaps, but caves above did it reek.

Almost despite himself he came crawling back, curious but also drawn by its carrion smell, inspecting it more closely.

Those investigating would find that the odor had spread throughout Pisces, though sources would not be too hard to locate.

Zelk, Pallas and Archimedes would each find tiny, pale structures of unknown origin. They were like flowers, or perhaps leaf-like bracts, layered like a rose but not quite plant-like in appearance, and it was at these that the odor was strongest. All were hard, rough to the touch, grainy even--and though soaked, somehow soft as if a fuzz coated them that might be visible once dried out. All were a waxy grey-white, darkened through by the wet. None were larger than a fist, with the smallest perhaps as small as a dog's nose or a cat's paw.

And now that the Gembound knew what to look for, they could spot them throughout Pisces' flooded waters: rising from beneath as if disturbed by the floods and storm, floating along the surface, some landing to lie abandoned in the shallow puddles on the rock. The pale, unidentifiable clusters were beautiful, yet somehow otherworldly, as if there was something just not quite right about them.

To all three Gembound, it would be clear that these items were rare, perhaps special, even valuable. They would feel a strong desire to take them, to share them with others--but never to lose them, or to give them away.

New characters may still join this thread at any time.

@Zelk @Pallas

P A L L A S
the man who sleeps with a knife
is a fool every night but one

The water here was awful, and the scent was even more-so. It set poorly against the roof of Pallas’s mouth. It felt like it tainted his taste buds, swirling about the gem atop the base of his tongue.

Despite his inhibitions of the single sense, the moment Pallas locked eyes on… Whatever it is, his pupils rounded in pure interest, as if he were enchanted by the items. Energy shot through the Gembound’s body as he neared the offending items, a cluster near his feet revealing itself in the water spilled across the floor. His heart caught in his throat as he lowered himself, a small voice in the back of his head screaming of the unnaturalness of it overridden by the hoarder’s voice firmly ringing through his mind.

He needed these, even if they smelled horrible. He could get used to the smell. Like a cat discovering catnip, he bat at the thing in smitten interest, mouth parted slightly as he gathered them up closer to him. Pallas raised a particularly large portion of the cluster to his eyes to examine it and coughed at the smell hitting his nostrils directly, curling up his lips. Despite it looking special, it was still kind of disgusting. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too powerful to be perfumed by the flowers it looked like, though.

The linsang sat down, water soaking the fur of his tail and haunches as he swept the long appendage around a particular cluster. Dark eyes took in the room, hovering over the other Gembounds briefly before searching for more clusters. His muscles twitched as his mind urged him to gather more. He shut his thoughts to the instinct, curling protectively around his own sizable gathering, lightly batting the little flower things with his paws and rolling them in the water below.

Huckleberry hadn't stepped out of Eridanus in what seemed like forever but now, with the continuous raining and storms that were even happening in the dense jungle, he had been curious to see how Pisces was holding up. It was a good way to stretch his legs, at the very least.

The tunnel on the way in was already beginning to flood, with Huckleberry wading in water before he even stepped foot in the cave. And, when he did at last step into Pisces, it was a right shock. The laggoon and all the ponds had swelled and the waterfall poured down seemingly twice as big as it used to be. Or, at least, that's what he thought - he hadn't visited this cave in a while. He could feel Shiny shifting on his back, stretching her head above his neck to get a better look.

There were others around, poking at strange objects floating in the water and along the rocks. For a moment, Huckleberry was confused but then he breathed in deeper and a strange odor hit his senses. Were the objects what everyone was looking at?

"Should I check, Shiny? Should I look at it and touch it? See what it is? I wanna know, oh, I wanna know but what if it's bad?" Shiny purred on his back, seemingly amused by his question. If you do not look at it now, you'll pester me about it all night. Look, there's one nearby. Huckleberry glanced back to see her pointing her paw out at the water. Curious, he followed her gaze and saw the strange petal-thing. He stepped up and leaned down, opening his mouth to carefully pick it out of the water. As soon as he did, though, he was caught with an intense feeling and desire. The suddeness caused him to drop the thing, but as soon as he did, he lunged forward, reaching out a bird-like claw to scoop it up next to him. "Pretty...pretty, pretty...its mine! Look at it Shiny! Look! But don't touch, because its mine." Shiny leaned over to get a better look, but her eyes were narrowed with suspicion. Huckleberry did not notice.

Each of those drawn further into the lure of the strange objects would feel compelled to take them, to share them.

Take them. Spread them. Share them.

Any further Gembound arriving would feel the same draw toward the strange odor, and likewise be affected should they sniff, touch, or otherwise closely interact with the clusters.

Further gembound who interact with the clusters, whether in Fornax or Pisces or shared by one of the Affected, should notify Game Master Dark so that their names can be added to the following list (likewise if anyone has been missed). For now, there will be no other discernable effects on affected characters, bar the desire to hoard and share the clusters. They are free to exit the thread, and attempt, if they wish, to share the gift.

Any attempt to investigate the objects or the affected should include a tag to Game Master Dark.

List of Affected: Opal Three-Seven-Six, Sergei, Archimedes, Zelk, Pallas, Adelaide, Lamia, Huckleberry

@Huckleberry @Pallas @Zelk

P A L L A S
the man who sleeps with a knife
is a fool every night but one

Pallas shuddered as he drew the stones he'd gathered closer to his body. These were his. Nobody could take them. Large, round eyes squinted to the others in the room. Oh, how pitiful that they didn't see these! Dual urges warred with each other- he wanted so share them, he wanted them to see his things, whatever these were, but he knew that they would take what was rightfully his.

Instinctively, his back arched in discomfort as his tail slapped the water below, teeth bared to the world as he curled tighter around his prize, circling about it. They would take them. They could see them, but no- no, they had their own. They could have them- No, no, they all belonged to him! Pallas sputtered as he rose to his feet, pacing uncomfortably about his prizes, pupils pinpricks. His fur tingled with anxious energy. They were going to take his things. Theirs were inferior. His were the best.

He knew of others who didn't have them, who wouldn't be tempted to take them. That owl. That owl he'd met in Cetus- yes, she could see them. She didn't have any, she wasn't here. She could revel in their glory, his glories. They were his to have, his to hold, his to enjoy, his to flaunt. These fools around him had no idea, had no clue how inferior their own were to his. His objects were the best. There was no disputing it.

His pacing slowed to a halt as the linsang crouched, taking a few laps of the clearer water of Pisces before taking the things in his mouth. He couldn't fit much, but he was careful to position a bigger one closer to his gem over his tongue, careful to not swallow any of the precious things. The rest of his cluster, he gathered in a paw, and with a muffled hiss to the others he began to hobble back towards his home.

It would take a while, but he'd make sure not to leave any of his things behind. They were his to show- he just had to track down the others of Cetus. For now, he could store them in his den. Perhaps he could even invite others- No! They'd only risk stealing them from under his nose!

Closing his eyes and heart from the dual trains of thought, Pallas trekked onwards, slowly heading back the way he came.

Exit Pallas unless stopped

When something happened, Artume was one of the first to know.

So when it started to rain? She began to follow. At first, she had thought it exclusive to only a cave or two, a spell gone wrong, perhaps. But as she and Bold explored, moved through Tunnel after Tunnel, Cave after Cave, she was taken aback as she realized that the entire Cave system was filling with water.

It had been Pisces that caught her attention--it smelled of rot, sweet, but in a way that made her fur stand on end. So she trudged through the water, stepping high, with Bold splashing behind her.

The others caught her attention: the linsang, hobbling away, the hybrid exclaiming over something they'd found, a bear looking around. The stag bleated "Are you all well?" her ears twitching even as she raised her head to taste the air, wondering if one of them was the source of this smell.

But, no--Bold got her attention--"Look at this!" and she plodded over to peer at the stone he had found.

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