[QUEST] And suddenly...! Nothing happened.

The filly whickered, running awkwardly. She kicked up her hind-legs, before bucking, leaping off the ground for a moment. It was such a nice day! She had so much energy! But, unfortunately, the cave of stars didn't really have any long, open spaces where she could stretch her legs without fear of tripping and falling.

Seeing an opening, Llamrei tilted her head. Maybe there would be somewhere she could run? But what if there was danger out there? But she really wanted to stretch her legs!

Finally, she began to creep out, walking slowly and preparing to run. And then there was an awful screaming sound, and she whickered, rearing up. Alas, the sound echoed, so all she could do was run straight forward, hoping to stay away from it.

Of course, with her luck, she almost ran over the source. She dug in her hooves, skidding to a stop only inches from the... thing.

"I'm speaking..."
'I'm thinking...'

Asimona was taking a quick rest at the entrance to the cave, intent on following the distant sound of the howling wind. She had wondered where the wind was coming from and how it worked - would she be able to fly in it? It was probably good flight training as well. If she wanted to get stronger, then the wind would probably help her.

But then a scream jerked her out of her nap and she looked around with alarm. It was different then the screams she had heard before, which were deeper more distressed. This, however, was just a scream and it was high pitched. She jerked around towards where she heard it and realized that it was in a direction. Good. Perhaps that was a way to differentiate which ones were real or not.

She stood and trotted away down the tunnel. After a bit, she saw the shadow of a creature beginning to form at the end of her vision. She realized that it was a...something. Something she'd never seen before, standing before a partially-completed statue. She stopped and looked, confused, at the creature. "Did you scream? Are you okay?"

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

tags: @Howl
notes: notes here

The day had been long, peaceful. Since his accident with primal magic Amras hadn't ventured too far past the room of stars, opting instead to just take a break for once. The elements still called to him, still begged to be brought into being, but with the symbols his mind had revealed to him written upon the side of his tunnel wall he no longer felt the burning rush to seek them out that he had while the lights were out.

It was nice, just resting here in the quiet city on a patch of grass feeling presence of lesser gembound sneaking around out of eyesight and the silent life of the greenery below. He knew that it was an aspect of the twelve, that with little effort he could be running experiments into harnessing its essence. What might happen though if he did so? With his accident in such recent memory might he cause harm out of magic fatigue? This was a living thing, he could feel it. What would happen if his magic manifested and in his quest for power he sapped all life from the plants around him; stealing away that potential for himself?

Perhaps if his life had gone a slightly different direction he would have no issue with that. If his only life goal were to become powerful then that might even be a favorable outcome. As he reached the end of his quest for elemental completion, however, the question of "what's next" was beginning to weigh heavily. Would he be a powerful but self-serving mage, or would he be a pillar of strength for the young and the fragile? In a world different from this one it could have easily been the former, but here in the cave of life there could be no other option than what he had chosen.

His wings were outstretched, almost as if feeling the starlight shine down upon them. His head rested upon soft soil in a state of peace, his gem began the faintest of glows as without conscious thought magic flowed in and around him, touching every blade of grass that rested under him.

And in an instant the moment of peace all snapped away. A howl of pain or alarm or disturbance of some kind rang out loud from the tunnel leading to his home room. A path he had walked hundreds of times littered with carvings and artifacts. The glow that had just barely began to set snapped away into nothingness before the gryphon could even notice that it was beginning to take on a green hue. He had to get up, he had to see what was going on.

Thus Amras folded his wings back at his side and stood upon all four limbs, walking at first, then speeding up into a trot, then eventually transitioning into a full sprint as he made his way to the source of the sound. It was a monkey, or at least a gembound the most closely resembled a monkey. it didn't seem particularly injured, but it was standing by that one statue that had always seemed slightly different. Did they know its significance perhaps?

The gryphon slowed to a stop as others arrived at the scene as well. He said nothing, his one question already asked by a dragon that had arrived. He did, however make sure to keep some distance from said dragon, not for fear but due to the cold chill that seemed to be radiating from their body. Without a top layer of feathers or particularly thick fur he was not particularly fond of the cold where he could avoid it.

Pouch 1: Baubled talc rods x12	Pouch 2: Charcoal dust (50 in³)	Pouch 3: Empty	Pouch 4: Charcoal chunks x7 (medium)
Back bag: Empty

Take hold of the power within
"And shape the fabric of reality around you"
tags:
notes: None

A loud, harsh hiss erupted from the shadowy veils around the ruins. Suddenly, a large, girthy serpent shot out of the black and slithered toward Howl, his ember eyes burning like a raging inferno. It frightening fast for something of its size.The massive python stopped in front the hybrid and drew his 20ft coils close to him in a hostile pose.

"You better have a good reason for sssscreaming your lungssss off, monkey-thing!" He spat. "You scared off my prey!" Septiezal flicked his tongue as he hissed once more. He wanted to strike at the nuisance, perhaps he would scare them off if he couldn't strangle them in his coils. That would have been a shame. This loud mouthed troubled seemed like a delicious, though the area would momentarily free from their insufferable howling.

Then Septiezal felt hoof beats against the ground and it saw a black filly come rushing towards them. Jolted by the swift movement and in a sour mood, he drew his head back hissed at her too. It wasn't long before she was accompanied by a four-legged winged lizard and a gryphon. Septiezal drew himself in, feeling intimidated, although he still stubbornly held his irate demeanor. He was suddenly outnumbered. He woundered if they were its allies. Would they attack him for threating their friend? Septiezal was starting to regret his outburst.
"speak"

Asimona watched with surprise as more and more gembounds began to show up. Then again, she shouldn't have been surprised. The scream was quite loud. She couldn't have been the only one that had heard it. A black horse, who seemed terrified, a gryphon, who seemed interested, and a serpent that seemed quite frustrated. They had all gathered at the call.

She leaned towards the statue, but being careful not to touch it, giving it a polite sniff. There was something that smelled funny. Perhaps it was the magic that the screamer spoke of. Envy had said something about magic and she supposed that her cold aura was magic as well, even if she didn't know she was using it. At the thought, she was now well aware of the thin layer of cold now that covered her skin.

A scavenger hunt? What would that accomplish? Then again, she was quite curious as to the origins of the statue and, since it was magical, what would happen when it was put back together. Also, it was a good chance to practice her tracking and to explore the caves she had not been able to travel just yet. She could meet new gembounds and learn and grow. And maybe this statue could help them as well. She smiled at the thought and turned to the screamer. "Sure, I'll help you! I'd like to see what happens when the statue is put back together. But I, er, haven't explored too much and I'm not sure where everything is. Where should I start looking?"

She stepped back and looked around, realizing that the horse was missing. She swiveled around to see it cowering in the shadows. Slowly, she approached, keeping her head high and her tail low to show that she wasn't a threat. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

tags: @Howl @Llamrei @Septiezal @Amras
notes: notes here

'This is certainly an odd fellow.' Amras thought as he watched them shuffle around. 'Not bad or sketchy, just odd. Is this what happens when you exist for a long time with no work put into a vocation?'

As the story began more and more questions began to arise. Who were the Merrymen, and what had happened to them? Where had this creature been hiding all the time to avoid their fate? How had the statue broken out of the wall, were inanimate objects even capable of using magic?

Actually he knew the answer to that last one. The one who taught him about using different elements, the Blacksmith, had given a wolf some kind of magic item that enhanced their powers. What if this statue was another such magic item, only with it being broken its enchantment had been thrown off balance somehow. If they restored its physical form could they also restore its magic function? What had its function been anyways?

As to be expected one answer led to more questions. He could probably sit here all day contemplating this and trying to figure it out by clues in the area, but in the end he would almost certainly seek out the pieces anyways. The pieces would give the answers to most of his current questions, and quite possibly open up new and even more interesting things to look into.

"It certainly sounds like an interesting task, I'll come along as well. Do we have any clues where the pieces might be?"

Pouch 1: Baubled talc rods x12	Pouch 2: Charcoal dust (50 in³)	Pouch 3: Empty	Pouch 4: Charcoal chunks x7 (medium)
Back bag: Empty

Take hold of the power within
"And shape the fabric of reality around you"
tags: @Septiezal @Howl @Asimona @Llamrei
notes: None

"...What?" Septiezal stared at the monkey hybrid for a moment, flustered.This Gembound's accident was horrendous! He had a hard time understanding the vibrations. The only thing he could piece together was that he wanted to do a scavenger hunt involving the broken statue. That alone felt hardly important to the python, but Septiezal know he probably misunderstood some important details by the way the others expressed their readiness.

"You're acsssent is horrible!" He snapped. "Speak clearly, I have no ears!" Septiezal flicked his tongue and glanced at the trembling, black filly shrinking away. There was fear in her scent. The silver, winged lizard attempted to calm her. Septiezal knew how that was going to turn out. He grunted and looked at the statute. "What's so special about this broken statue?" The serpent flicked his tail towards it, then huffed. "Is it magical? That's usually the case."

"speak"