ooc: Don't feel obligated to post to the tunnel thread more than once, since it's just for travel. This is the important one. :P Edit: Mature tag cause swearing contest!

Small but resilient, Cancer found himself more or less leading the group as the hoard of gembounds finally reached Polaris cave. As they stepped out of the icey tunnel and into the well-lit chamber, once again, Cancer found himself short on air. He slowed to a stop as he took in the sight of it, and that energizing effect hit him. For once, the usually bantery cat was silenced, speechless.

"This... this is Polaris?" He gasped after a minute, looking wide-eyed and innocent for a change. "...it's so big. I've never seen so many colors in one place..." When he finally moved again, it was to climb up a nearby stone to get a better view. The spire, blue and bright, caught his eyes first and he found himself slack-jawed at the sight of it. It's like the horn of something... unimaginably powerful... what... what is it? He looked away for the spectacle to look upon the sprawling river. It seemed to run from North to East, and in the back of his mind, he mapped it out through stone to run from his lagoon. Yes, he was right to assume his home the source of the water for the caves. At least, this river. His eyes followed it to the crumbled remains at its end, and he found himself at a loss for what he saw.

"That's them, isn't it? Those are the golems you guys talked about." Moving in the distance, rocky beasts of varying sizes and shapes, all mulling about their crumbled dam. He noted with some disdain how large some of them looked- and Azazel expected them to fight these things? "I see what all the fuss is about now, but I don't see how it's a good idea to try and take these guys on in combat." He turned his eyes to Azazel for a quick moment, then turned his gaze back to the scene ahead.

A moment later, his horns and eyes lit up, and he cast out his preferred spell- Red Sense. He'd never cast it so far, but with some effort, he aimed its focus on the ruined dam and its moving residents- trying to get a feel of them, how large they really were, how many...

tag: Makyna, Leon, Azazel, Bevy, whoever else we end up traveling with?

Cancer's only aknowlegement to being warned was a flick of his right ear- he knew what he was doing. A quick scan told him there were more than he could count to yet, but that was good enough. He sat upright and looked back at the group as his magic cut off in an instant- he was getting good at doing that. They spoke of killing golems, and the implications made Cancer's sour expression return. He coughed before he spoke, to cut Azazel off from saying anything more.

"No one's killing anything until we figure out why they're here." He turned to look back down at the golems with just his eyes, narrowed gaze calculating possibilities. "They're not hurting anything now, right? Maybe... Maybe when you guys went in claws flailing, that scared them?" He looked pointedly at Azazel now. "I mean, if you woke up from your first-sleep and suddenly, there are tiny creatures swarming you, how would you feel?" The cat wasn't done talking yet. He had a point to make.

"Why don't we just put fighting them as a last-resort plan and come up with something a little more intelligent than bashing rocks with clubs." He glanced at Leon this time, then even Makyna got this crass look- but gentler, of course. "What we need is someone who can try and talk to them, without getting too close..." With that, his gaze turned and stayed on Makyna. He knew she had that ability, to throw her voice and make it sound as if it were coming from far away in another direction. That's what he needed now- but better. "Makyna, you can do that thing, where you fill the whole cave with words. Do you think, if we found you a safe place, where they won't see or feel you, you could cast a strong spell like that, see if they're smart enough to communicate?" He'd give her a moment to mull it over, by turning to the others.

"Bevy, I want you up there. See those spires? Think you can land and cling to one? I need you to be at the ready in case things go wrong- which they won't, but still." He looked to Cancer and Azazel next. "Azazel, I have no rank over you, so in the end, you can do whatever, but here's my idea for the both of you.

"Azazel will find a high vantage point. If the Golems turn on us, you'll drop down with an attack- but only if they turn on us. Don't get trigger happy." He turned to Leon. "Same with you. Find a good vantage point and be ready to fight if things go badly." He looked back at the golems now and paused to really think this time. "I'll uhm..." Oh dear, this was what he'd been dreading. He wasn't good at fighting- his magic was detection only, for the most part. That left him with only his brains and brawns- and leopards weren't really brawny. "Makyna, I'll be with you, guiding you on what to say. We want to be as polite and friendly as possible. If they're intelligent, at all, I want them to know that we aren't all out for blood." Clearly, Cancer wasn't fond of the idea of fighting golems for no good reason.

"Unless anyone has a better idea, can we call this a plan and get this thing started? Or are we gonna call a council every time something unfamiliar pops up in the cave?" He considered the pair of males with contempt- they'd been awful quick to assume these things dangerous. Knowing Azazel and the way he did things, it wasn't all that unlikely to assume the bird hit first- or some like-minded 'bound had. This whole she-bang was probably a misunderstanding.

Those happened a lot around here, it seemed.

Sure enough, everyone but Leon liked the idea and when the bear shouted his disapproval, the cat whirled to meet it head on. He let the bear cub roar his complaints, then with a glance at Makyna, he turned his savage temper on the brute. This wasn't a time to be getting jealous, and Makyna deserved an equal part to play- she was anything but a damsal, and he knew it.

"OH SURE, it would be YOU disapproving this, wouldn't it?" This was it. Time to shine and put this bear cub in his place. They were equals, here. All of them. Cancer didn't plan on fighting if they turned on them. He and Makyna were both equally fast and the same size for now- they could both get away cleanly if somethin went wrong. The stubby-legged bear? Not as likely. "Listen, you fat-headed jerk, I'm not putting Makyna in that kind of danger, alright? You and Azazel can fight these things if something goes wrong. That's why you're the flanking party. You'll be in just the right position to dive in and intercept them, and give Makyna and I, who can't fight those things, a chance to get the hell out of there! OH, but you don't think that far ahead, do you!? You just want to keep me away from her, because you're greedy and jealous!" Yeah, he'd noticed. He didn't know why the hell the bear had any reason to be so pent up over his friendship with the lioness, but he wasn't going to let it ruin the task at hand.

"I get that you guys think these things are hostile killing machines or whatever, but I somehow sincerely doubt you even thought to try diplomacy with them the first time! We need to be absolutely sure there's no other way to get through to them before we go smashing rock-heads all over the place, okay!?" His fur bristled and that long tail lashed side to side, claws digging into the stone. He wasn't yelling, but the coarse tone of his voice and the rapid-fire words were enough to get his anger across. "And I know Makyna's smart enough for this, but I've got the balls to debate with them if they turn out to be smart!"

"I get that you don't like me or whatever, Leon, but for once could you just set that aside and look at the bigger picture? We need to have all bases covered here. If Bevy gives the alarm, or Makyna and I turn tail, you two brutes can go ahead and knock some heads." Then, he had a thought, and added, "Besides, from where we'd be, we'd be safe from any initial response. I can sense if they're closing in or getting riled with my magic. We're safer than you lot out in the open, even if we are the ones casting magic- so what's a better idea than that, pray tell?"