Morpho is a patient creature. That does not change now despite the danger. Morpho stays close with the surviving group, moving forward in time with their steps. The mantis does not wane nor waver, just keeps going. Feels the rumble-tumble of the sandworms, but carries on.

Is the time now? Morpho does not know. Perhaps the mantis will keep with them for a little longer. After all, many may fall behind... In that case, the mantis will decide what to do then. For now, Morpho tries to carry on.

He survived.. and by the looks of it, so did everyone else. He hardly knew anyone here, and he knew they all were asking for it, but he still didn't want to see any of them die.

He doubted every single one of them would survive to the finish line, though.

His heart thrummed in time with his footsteps, the pain jolting up his back leg adding a discordant melody to the whole 'song.' His breath came out a lengthy hisses slid between teeth. This was truly the dumbest decision he had ever made.

He stayed well away from the cliff edges, as close to the middle of the path as he could to avoid the scorpions and spiders hiding in the crevices. And... it worked. Somehow. Maybe life was finally giving him a break.

[Staying with the group]

Ketur's false sense of security does not last long. They are terrified. The rumbles, the gembounds in danger - they were so stunned they could not help anyone. But it seems everyone was safe despite that. Still, though, Ketur is unable to turn around now. Surely they would be eaten alive, never to see the light of 'day' again.

They grit their teeth together, and push on shaky legs. This is not good. Will someone be proud of them if they live? Hopefully... Ketur has never had anyone be proud of them before.

Ketur is staying with the group

He hadn't expected to receive such ire from at least two of his competitors. Were they all incessantly buddy-buddy, teamworking fools?

"This is a competition, if you weren't aware." He would answer, sharply. "And I would not consider any of that incessant noise 'music.'" Whether he was referring to Hymn's whistling gem or Corsair's song was unclear. Most likely, both.

He continued flying despite the ache it put on his under-utilized wings, landed whenever it was necessarily- whether the walls got too tight or simply to catch his breath. All the while his keen eyes examined his competitors.

He wasn't done yet, that's for sure.

[Forging ahead]

@Corsair @Hymn [vis]

Round Four

And up they went: the scrabbling, scuffling, accidentally-kicking-out-pebbles-that-cascaded-down-ominously-far, as they traversed the narrow switchback trails carved up the canyon walls. Between blazing light and steeped shadow they went as they passed between the monolithic red-rock towers above.

Some of them--predictably--failed. A fall, here and there, scrabbling claws, even if there was no time to scream. Or a silent vanishing as one or another fell prey to the shimmer of a waiting Spire Spider--ahh, and here came the lash of Sand Scorpion tails, whipping out as if they'd been waiting many cycles for just this moment to kill their prey.

The Merchant watched from Tunnel P, his head tracking each movement as though he could see them all through the rock and sand, though from here they would not be more than specks to even such an eye. A low rush of air escaped him, like a waiting breath.

Then he stepped into Hydra: his form trundling gradually along, shifting into strange and surreal shadow as he made his way behind the group.

Kaizer, Zhusha, Morpho, Ivory, Star, and Galleon are in danger. Ivory and Zhusha are being hypnotized and drawn in by Spire Spiders. Kaizer and Star are being attacked by Sand Scorpions from rocky crevices. Galleon and Morpho are both taking nasty falls down the cliffside. Galleon will sustain a serious injury from her fall, so that if she survives she will fall back one placement. These characters must post to save themselves or may be saved by anyone in the same Placement as they.

Everyone else may optionally post to sabotage, react, or aid anyone who shares their placement. However, a Critical Fail rolled at any point will inflict an injury that will cause the character to fall back by one placement.

A character may post once to roll to defend against each sabotage attempt made against them in addition to posting their own action.

---

Placement:

First: Spinnaker, Duck Duck, Fleas, Anselm, Hymn, Aran, Huntsman

Second: Corsair, Wisperia

Third: Kaizer, Fiver, K'cil, Conleth, Ketur, Jim, Zhusha, Morpho, Ivory, Reverend, Star, Galleon, One, Glory, Ruby-Beta, Whistle, Captain, Warrior

The next post will take place on September 5th.

@Wisperia (Hymn, Star) @Galleon (Fleas, Anselm) (Glory) @Whistle (K'cil, Duck Duck) @Ketur (Morpho, Aran) @Zhusha (Captain, Jim) @Conleth (Huntsman, One) @Reverend (Spinnaker, Kaizer) @Warrior (Corsair, Ivory) @Fiver

- IVORY-

There was a pleasant hum to her world. A soft, fuzzy edge of shimmering blue and silver. As she plodded forward, it was with the mind of one half-asleep, dreaming while her feet shuffled one before the next.

Only for an instant did her consciousness swim to the surface long enough for her to recognize the danger she was in. Alarm threaded through her mind like icewater. She turned, forcing her body to obey, managing to force out one single kick of a hoof. It was the sort of half-hearted, desperate kick that--if it failed, would leave her helpless, turning back, drifting to her death-... But it didn't.

She felt the hoof connect: a solid yet somehow squishy thud, if a glancing blow. It was enough to jar her more awake, enough to send her hypnotic ambusher scurrying backward with a guttural hiss--and she broke away like a panicked horse, galloping for the trail in fear. "SPIIIIIDERS!" she bawled, a warning to anyone who would listen.

Galleon gasped as she felt the cliff give way beneath her. She was falling. There was nothing to stop her. She flailed clumsily as she fell. Were she to fall to the bottom of the crucible, she would die. She knew this instinctually. Her own body would crush her, breaking her bones and rupturing her organs. The cliff jutted out in random ledges beneath her. Perhaps there was some salvation. Desperate, she reached out with her jaws and fins, seeking to snag at a ledge, at least slowing if not stopping her descent.

Her teeth snagged on a ledge. Pain shook her body, and she felt shards of her teeth fracture against the stone. But she had not continued falling yet. For but a moment a glimmer of hope flickered in her. Hope that it would hold her weight. Her heart sunk as she felt it crumble. There was fear. Terror. And then acceptance. She would die where she was meant to be. The blue glow in her eyes flickered and then faded out as she could do nothing but await the end.

"When I speak"
When I think

The spider's dance was so beautiful.

Fascinated by its shimmering colors, the way its legs moved as imperturbably smoothly as calm, cool water, Zhusha drew ever closer--until Ivory's bawling shout warned him of its true danger. He startled, leaping into the air in a burst of flapping wings. The hypnosis faltered with the distraction, and when he stole a glance back, dizzy and confused, he finally saw the spider for what it really was--a predator waiting to kill and eat anyone it could.

With a cry of indignation, Zhusha wheeled around and continued up the plateau with newfound energy and spite. Don't forget--I'm here to plant these seeds! He would not let himself be distracted again.

burn me to ashes and scatter me in the flooding spring river
that i might drift with the fallen flowers to a place no one has known

With the string of potentially lethal failures suffered by the Gembound around him, Mr. Jimothy could no longer continue forward as imperturbably as he had been. In particular, the sand shark's fall was likely to end in her death if no one helped her--but how could anyone help? How could anyone break the fall of a creature of her size?

He saw her twist in the air and lunge for a ledge with her teeth--it's working! Relief flooded him for a second, and then the ledge crumbled.

"NO!" he shouted, taking a decisive step forward and stomping a paw on the ground. The actual stomp didn't do much--unfortunately, he was only a fox and not some massive hooved beast--but the magic that rippled from his gem was more important. Golden eyes narrowed, fixated on a suitable patch of rock wall in the path of Galleon's rapid descent, and pieces of rock crumbled away. The overall mass of rock dislodged wasn't much, but the detail was what mattered. An existing ledge, too small to be of use, was widened into a potentially usable one.

"QUICK! GRAB THE LEDGE!" Would it be enough? Would the newly expanded ledge even manage to hold the sand shark's weight? Or would it crumble away as the previous ledge had, as the stones around it had when Jim had made it in half a second ago? Jim leaned forward anxiously, bushy tail twitching. He could only hope it would be enough to slow her fall to a nonlethal speed, if not stop it.

Please don't let anyone die now.

fox credit - dash huang on flickr

@Galleon (vis)

The sight of a scorpion lashing out from a crevice sparked a deeply unpleasant memory of a similar scorpion attacking Captain himself, and instinct immediately sparked to kill it, the same way he'd killed the one before.

"ARRRR, YA SCURVY DOG, I'LL TURN YA INTO SHARK BAIT!" the buffalo bellowed, stomping a hoof and tossing his horns in rage. Unfortunately, the wave of anger clouded both vision and judgment, and a misplaced hoof in the motion of stomping slipped on the perilously narrow trail. A muscle twisted, his recent injury screamed in protest, and for the second time in as many hours, Captain lost his footing.

"YARRRGH!" was all he could shout as he tumbled down the steep, rocky trail, each bump and tumble bringing him closer to a dangerous precipice.