The group split in two. And the light--its intensity and its breadth--also split in two. There was chaos, in the darkness: as Gembound struggled to rescue one another, dashing in and out of the dim pools of light, the sounds of running and the agonized cries of Kini-yolotl and Anemoi, as they cried out for Pumpkin, ringing too loudly in the dark.

Those who had stayed behind would find themselves facing bitter cold as they dipped into the shadows, scratched by unseen claws of ice, bloodied by seemingly nothing. There was no sound bar the Gembound. Nothing to sense, for Owlface's magical questing, bar the oppressive sense of some dark magic pressing in all around. Nothing to fight back against. Black and Fireheart would be wounded the worst--not severe enough to be life-threatening, but bad enough to cause major, lasting scar tissue if they survived the unnatural night, enough to leave blood streaking freely in rivulets over their fur. Their rescuers--Pumpkin and Ifrit, Elyon and Orenstein, Warrior and Usingizi, would all find themselves grabbed, scratched, by nothing--and then the grip and lashing was gone, as they tumbled one by one back into the second pool of light. Ahead, the rest of the Gembound, and the first Wisp, were bobbing slowly over the treacherous marsh.

Anemoi's barrier would never have reached another; it was meant to be maintained, and simply puffed away, a wasted breath into the night. And Orenstein, striking out at the darkness: would it be more frightening to say that his magic lashed out and found something, hiding out there, invisible in the cold-? Or was the truth more terrifying: that his magic found nothing, impotently falling away, the darkness ripping at his allies seemingly without form?

Both groups could draw back together, this round, in their push ahead beneath the large wisp. As they did so, the light would bloom outward, once again doubling in size and in brightness. But along the path ahead lay several patches of sucking quicksand, invisible twists of toxic air, and deceptively deep pools hidden by a silty surface. The shadows, too, still moved unnaturally, threatening to swallow any who drew too far from the light. And yet, for now, there was silence: no further attack, the violence halting as abruptly as it had started, as if the predator in the dark had gone back to simply stalking them.

A tall, twisted swathe of dead tree limbs--arranged to look something like a scarecrow--was suddenly exposed up ahead by the moving wisp-light. It smelled of pitch. The Gembound had found the first Torch. For now, the wisp would hover here... as if waiting.

_______________

Gembound must choose whether to protect one other Gembound, to protect the entire group, or to take some other action like trying to light the torch, or investigating the vicinity. Players must CLARIFY after their post, AFTER their table, which of the following they are rolling for. Anyone rolling a fail must choose a hazard listed above--quicksand, shadow, deep water or toxic gas--and write their character becoming entrapped by this near the torch. More than one Gembound may aid in lighting the torch.

(Low risk)
(Higher risk)
(Highest risk)

A Gembound's roll must reflect their in-character actions.