Despite the instructions to plant the seeds atop the Crucible technically being clear, how exactly they were supposed to work was rather ambiguous. Zhusha had guessed that the seeds might be to create plant life and shelter, to make Hydra more inhabitable--but that still left the question of the Eyehook Vultures. He couldn't see that danger going away because of seeds of all things anytime soon.

But seeds were the task at hand, so Zhusha would complete it. No use worrying about the particulars; they'd find out soon enough. But they needed to be careful: perhaps the seeds would even make the vultures more aggressive in the short run, like the discs had done to the worms.

Fly fast. And he did, swooping across the top of the plateaus to scatter his seeds, maneuvering in bursts of white-and-black wingflaps to avoid the vicious vultures. They came perilously close to striking him, at times; he even felt the wind of several barely-missed attacks ruffle the feathers along his wings and back.

But he'd made it without death or injury. With a shake of his feet, he emptied out the last seeds and swooped to safety, watching over any others who might be less lucky.

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

Zhusha is staying with the group.

An exhale of relief, and almost disbelief. Everyone made it. But even though it seemed like they'd already traversed a gauntlet of enough dangers to last a lifetime, there was still so much left.

Make it past the vultures. Plant the seeds on the plateau. Trek to the Dead Marsh... heaven knows how far away that is from here. Put in stakes. Plant seeds. Just thinking about what momentous tasks were still left in front of them, compared to what they'd completed so far, was overwhelming.

Can't turn back now. Although the two beasts who'd tasked them with this had left the consequences of doing so ambiguous, even if they did not punish the Gembound themselves... it would probably be unwise to leave the group, where they could help each other if needed. Plus... some of these Gembound might need Jim's help, too.

Taking a deep breath, Jim darted across the plateau, staying low to the ground and praying that his fur would camouflage him against the rock. As he planted his seeds little by little, his heart raced, magical sense constantly darting about for any approaching Eyehooks. This trial is going to give me heart problems and shorten my lifespan even if I don't die here, Jim thought despairingly.

fox credit - dash huang on flickr

By the time he'd recovered his footing just in time to prevent a catastrophic fall, Captain was sandy, battered, bruised, and the rest of the group had left him in the dust. "UGH, SCURVY DOGS," he muttered to himself, wincing as sand scratched at his throat. But he knew it was no one's fault but his own for making such a fool of himself.

No time to waste! He had to catch up! Captain broke into a lumbering trot, scattering seeds as he went. When the Eyehook Vultures came at him, he snorted angrily and stomped his hooves--and used his magic, which finally worked as intended this time, to create deadly glass storms to drive them away.

No one could stop him from coming out of this trial on top, like a true pirate!

Captain pushes ahead

Their path took them higher, back to that relentless heat. Conleth was particularly build for the head, but that didn't mean he was USED to it. It didn't mean he had to enjoy it that much either.

But that was the least of his worries. He tried to stick as close to Star as possible, watching the skyhooks carefully. They reminded him of Star, actually! Except MUCH, MUCH bigger. And something about them felt.. meaner. Like those two stinger-tipped tails that had nearly dragged Star away.

"Careful." He'd repeat quietly, digging for one of his seed-filled pouches as he saw other gembound doing the same thing. Right, they had a mission here. They were helping!

Once again he'd manage to escape the attention of any danger. Maybe he was too small to be considered a worthy meal?

@Star

Once assuring that everyone had made it by safely, Glory landed on the top of the ravine, where a multitude of bird nests lay. He eyed those vicious birds with a sharp eye, turning to dig in his pack. Hadn’t they been instructed to throw seeds around here?

He didn’t like all the sneaking around. Why not just go in and burn them all? Fight as a group and drive them off? It seemed a much more honorable route than whatever it was the Merchant was planning. But he wasn’t here to question this time. He was here to make it through alive and make sure everyone else made it through. So he wasn’t even going to risk their ire in case they decided to go for one of the weaker ones.

Shuffling forward, keeping close to the ground that blended in with his feathers. He snatched up a flat rock and piled some seeds on it before sending it forward with a touch of magic. It shivered as it went, loosening some of the seeds, but the majority he managed to dump into a nest without even approaching the eye hooks at all.

Setting the rock aside, he sighed and shuffled away to watch for danger and wait for the others to finish.

Glory is staying with the group

Landing up on the plateau was safe enough, and the others in the group weren't far behind. It was going well enough. So far.

As the vultures glower down at it from their perches, Reverend shakes himself off, pulling out the bag of seedlings. No time like the present. But maybe a small precaution would help...

However, when he tried to use his magic to hide away into the shadows, it instead backfired, flaring blindingly bright. Several of the eyehooks immediately took offense to his disturbance, and soon he was swarmed, countless wings and talons and beaks rending and tearing at its flesh.

The heat was starting to get unbearable. Kaizer's fur, so long and dark, was roasting him like he was a potato wrapped in tin foil. But the sooner he pressed on, the sooner it would be safe again to rest.

"The plants," it murmurs to himself, remembering the Merchant's instructions. Plucking the packet out of the pouch, the dragon-kooru starts to scatter them. And with a nudge of its magic, he tries to encourage them to sprout.

Sure enough, within moments, green tendrils peek out, snaking up towards the harsh light.

Kaizer is staying in his current position.

It's not ambiguous the danger the looming vultures pose. But even still, Spinnaker has to keep pushing on.

The pouch is emptied as he flies over the plateau, seeds scattering into the dust. Go! Go! he chants mentally, Keep going! The sooner I'm gone, the better.

But the wind he'd been hoping his magic would summon peters out instead, dumping Spinnaker ungracefully in front of an angry Eyehook mother's nest. And she does not enjoy his tresspass.

A wickedly sharp beak bears down on him.

They were almost there! Almost at the end of this trial! And thank god too, considering they never wanted to see Huntsman ever again. Fear of getting murdered and all that. Some gembounds were crazy. The final step was easy enough, just spreading some seeds in the area. He stayed in flight as he dispersed the seeds, noting that the ground seemed way too hot for him to land.

It went without incident, the eyehooks choosing not to attack him (were they too busy attacking the others?). Anyway! He would be off to the next step. No point sticking around when there was a risk of getting targeted again, by either the vultures or other gembounds.

Hymn is moving forward.

Everything had gone by without much incident, the previous step at least. The burning hot stone seemed to sear into her toes, making her hesitate to continue. It would be best to stay in the areas with some dried grasses and branches so that she didn't suffer from burns. The seeds were scattered as she went along, though they were more focused in certain areas rather than spread out due to the path she took. They tended to be concentrated in the less hot areas. Maybe that was a good thing. Did plants grow better in not-burning areas? There were a few times where the eyehooks took notice, but none of them decided to attack. Good.

Wisperia is moving forward.