"I'm not sure what I'll ask for, either," Coyote admitted, watching Warrior uncover another stone.

When he indicated her, she darted in, ever-wary of Warrior's far greater size (she couldn't help but be). But her attention was soon wholly taken by the pretty gemstone. "Hey, this isn't bad. Under all the grime," she added, digging it free with a few rough swipes of her paws.

But she was realizing, a little belatedly, a problem: she had no way to carry this stuff. She'd picked the stones up, looking hopefully around the landscape, before realizing this. If we find more, how am I gonna get 'em back there? She looked to Warrior.

"I'unno 'ow 'oo 'e'..." She blinked and spat the gemstones out. "I don't know how to get these back there. Just a minute."

She spent a few moments darting about, her quick movements taking her swiftly from one crevice in the rock to the next. Eventually she found something vaguely useful--gross, but useful. It was a tattered bit of hide from something that'd died in one of the holes. And hadn't melted into Oil. ...Cool.

She carried it over, considered, then dropped the stones on it and carefully worked it into a sort of loop around them. A sling, maybe, or a knapsack. Then she looked at Warrior, and gave him a nod: she was ready to continue.

Warrior watched, idly curious. When Coyote found a way to carry the stones, he nodded, and turned. Already he was searching, again, though he remained always alert for danger. "I've carried others on my back, before. You're welcome to jump up, if you get tired. I won't fly with you there," he added. He wasn't sure how that would go. Most likely, a falling canine. He wasn't sure how he felt about a predator being up there, either, even one as small as she was; something instinctive made him twitch at that idea.

When he cast his magic out, this time, he felt a backlash that whipped through the gemstone horn atop his head. At the same instant it was like the entirety of Hydra lit up in his sight: blinding, painful, like the whole cave was magic.

"Oh-..." he said, hissing in a pained breath. He cowered back, closing his eyes for a long moment, shuddering until it passed. "...My magic-... It, uh. Didn't cooperate."

After a moment he dared to open them again, though a slow and throbbing ache remained.

Coyote winced and set the rag down. "Yeah..." She wasn't sure what else to say, bar waiting a moment and asking, "You okay?" There wasn't much she could do about it. She just hoped he wasn't... broken, or something. She needed him to keep searching, or she'd not get any reward. Probably not even for two gemstones if she went alone now.

Warrior offered a faint nod. "I will be fine, thank you."

It took him a moment nonetheless to gather himself and set off again, moving at a slow but steady stride. "So, tell me-..." and he interrupted himself, glancing back with amusement. "I was about to start a conversation, ask where you are from, but I forgot you're carrying that." He laughed a little at himself, then looked forward again, lifting his head to scan the terrain. "I suppose you know how dangerous Hydra is. It means Gembounds die here all the time. Moreso during Trials, but... those, they don't leave their stones. The Merchant destroys them. Something about culling the weak." He said this grimly, then shook his head. "But the others, anyone else who dies out here, and all the Lessers that get eaten before they can turn to Oil, their stones are everywhere. Some places are more dangerous than others, though. It means more dangerous to search, but... more likely, too. And the cave's not that bad, not since the last Trial. I wonder if that's why he pacified it..?" he mused aloud. "So he could open this other cave-? Anyway-... There is one thing I can think of."

He changed his angle, plodding up toward where the river would spill out down into the Dead Marsh. "The river, it empties out up here. Have to be careful for when it floods. But it carries all sorts of things down. Gemstones, probably. Certainly the dead--anyone and anything caught in its floodwaters. But there's no flood now, so we can check around where it spills out." That seemed wise, to him.

He hesitated, the pain fresh, before trying again. But as they drew closer he cast his magic out. "There," he said, after a moment, never slowing his pace. "Under that cluster of dead tree branches on the left. There's something in the mud down there. Be careful--sometimes it's quicksand," he warned.

Coyote gave Warrior an amused wag of her tail as he realized her mouth was full. She trotted along, one ear on him and one turning like a giant radar dish to keep track of ambient sounds and potential threats. Once he eventually pointed out the trees, she set down her ragged hide and trotted to them, speaking meanwhile.

"I'm from the cave with all the bones in it, Canis. The one right through the tunnel. That's where I hatched from, anyway," she clarified. "I don't really stay in one place, you know? -Here?" She glanced up, checking that she had the right spot, then began to dig. Her paws scuffed at the dust, then the muck just below.

After a moment she came up with another pretty stone, this one glittering purple after she licked a flat plane free of dust. "Pretty," she commented. "So he wants this stuff as catalysts. I guess that means he needs the magic-? I feel kinda bad, if they could've been brought to life," she mused. Still-... a reward'd be nice. Even if she didn't know what, yet.

She trotted back, settling the stone beside the others, but not yet picking up the hide. Warrior had said this was a place where more than one thing might gather, after all, and she looked first to him and then up to where the river--now just a trickle--was emptying out. "I'll see if there's any bones; maybe there'll be gemstones in 'em. You see anything else?" she asked.

tally: pupil-level Uvarovite, fledgling-level Prasiolite, fledging level Taaffeite

He was still slowly scanning, though one ear was on her as hers had been on Hydra. "I do know. I lived here, much of my life, but I did travel, too." He focused for a moment on the landscape, letting Coyote dig. After a moment, something jarred his senses; the idle search for magic found something powerful. It wasn't... right, though, and Warrior tried to focus on what was wrong with it. "There's something else, but... wait here."

He set off, striding toward where he felt something in the muck beneath where the river fell. He was close enough here to the little trickles that the river's spray began to coat him with a damp sheen. To and fro he paced, then paused--Here. This was where it was. He dug with his hooves, then hastily pulled back as the sickly Oil-black gleam of something corrupted became visible. It was powerful, but hot to the touch even to his hooves. "You'll need to be very careful with this," he warned. "It is Chaos, I think."

He hesitated. "At least this one couldn't have been a child. I suppose that's why he'd need stones, yes."

tally: pupil-level Uvarovite, fledgling-level Prasiolite, fledging level Taaffeite, copper sickle enchanted with Master-level corruption magic

Coyote crept forward, hackles raised at Warrior's tone. She came right up between his front hooves, peering down.

"...Sick," she said, wide-eyed. The sickle was copper, but even from here she could feel that it was more than mere metal. "I saw something just like this, earlier--but silver. One of the guys at the Merchant had two of 'em. Magic, too, or at least one was. It had a light on it. But this one's... it feels off. Yeah." She hesitated; she really, really didn't want to touch it. Her instincts railed against it.

Coyote turned back, trotting to the ragged hide and dragging it over. It took some doing, but she managed to get the hide over and around the sickle--and Warrior leaned down, using his slightly more prehensile lips to fully secure the thing. "Just dunno how I'm going to carry the gemstones, now," she mused.

"I can get them, in a moment," Warrior answered, glancing down at them. Three, but all small enough for him to fit into his mouth, at least. It'd be... awkward, and gross (considering where they'd undoubtedly come from), but doable.

Enough to earn a reward, as morally questionable as it might have been. "Careful not to touch that," he said, despite the caution the coyote was already showing. He then picked his way past, looking up and down the river's end.

"There. Weaker, but still strong," he announced, setting off at a quick trot. He had to get almost under the spill of the river to get there, and even then had to dig with hooves and mouth both to uncover it: a bizarre-looking gemstone. It was a deep, rich blue cube, but encased in a second, perfect cube of transparent stone. A Carletonite, though he didn't know the word. "Do you think this is enough?" he asked, looking back to Coyote.

tally: pupil-level Uvarovite, fledgling-level Prasiolite, fledging level Taaffeite, copper sickle enchanted with Master-level corruption magic, pupil-level Carletonite

Coyote glanced down, then shrugged and nodded. "I hope so? If not, he can tell us. He's accepting, uhh... like magic, but cast into this other stone he's got, too, so if you still have it in ya you could put spells in that for, I dunno, more reward? ...Are you ready to go?" she asked, after a moment's thought.

At his nod, she turned, picking up the hide-wrapped sickle in her teeth. A glance back told her that the horse (pegasus? whatever he was) was picking up all the gemstones, one by one, using his tongue to shuffle them into his cheeks as best he could. An amused glance was fired her way, and she grinned around the sickle before turning to lead the way back at a swift trot.

exit both