He found, as he tried again, that his magicka faltered. He was too weary, after the long search and the repeated use of his power. He shook his head and backed away, a little disappointed that he wouldn't be sparing more gemstones, today.

Warrior then turned, plodding off a bit and flopping into the sand, wings spread out to cool himself. He had a feeling they'd all be waiting here for some time, and he could use a rest.

In the meantime he turned a closer eye on the strange new cave mouth: the melted glass, the empty dark. It was... eerie, but it was interesting.

AWAKENING THE DREAMER

Part I - A Catalyst

The Merchant stood silent, a faint nod or extension of his hand to receive the offerings all that he showed in response.

The stone flashed and glowed, then settled, the magic within calming.

"When it is half... I will provide... the rest," he rasped. It was taking too long; he had not wanted to sacrifice his own power but it was seemingly necessary.

---

Total Magic Offered: 38/100

The Catalyst Stone holds 22 points of magic in total.
An additional 16 points in the form of offerings have been delivered in total.
The overall total is therefore 38 points.

Upon reaching 50 points out of 100, the Masked Merchant will provide the rest needed to Awaken the Dreamer. Gembounds who've turned in their magicka can then claim their in-character rewards.

Tagging the following characters in case they wanted to turn anything in to claim a reward:

@V-Zoisite-One @Garnet-Epsilon @Reverend @Fleas @The Piano (sorry if I missed any turn-ins from these already!)

There was a particularly small gembound in Hydra today, a six inch fairy, and he had been listening, observing. He did not fully understand, but that seemed deliberate, in a way. Beings had been rewarded for casting magic, in any case.

He did not care for stones, for he had his children, unhatched as they were still, they were his children and he would wait for them. But an item of enchantment suitable for him? That was curiosity inducing. Maybe, if he was lucky, he could get enough items for him and his children both, to give to them when they hatched.

It would have to be small items for him to carry them all, but… It was a motivating thought, for all that casting his magic, his life, into this object sat uneasily with him.

He supposed he could increase his senses, and he would know if it worked when the magic started working and then vanished early.

For a moment, he could sense so much, and then it was torn away early. As expected.

Four successful attempts would be needed, though, not one, for an item for him and each of his unhatched children.

So he tried to cast again. He did not dare try his empathy spell, not daring to sense the stone they were feeding magic into. So higher senses it was yet again.

It did not even start working this time.

Perhaps the thing had drained him more than expected, but he still felt his reservoir of magic. He could keeping casting.

And so he would.

This time, he could feel the success, and then feel it stripped away, a similarly unnerving experience the second time as well.

That was half of what he needed done. Just two more successful casts, and he would be done with this half-explained but rewarding task set done.

Hopefully, this would be good for four items, and not just one, he thought.

He attempted to cast again.

Yet again, it worked, the spell taking form then being stripped away from him.

He could feel a sense of exhaustion gnawing at his magic. This was more consecutive casts than he tended to do. But he just needed one more now.

For a second, he thought it had worked, but his senses felt stripped entirely. It was unnerving beyond words, but then he realized it was spell backlash.

It should fade. He would wait it out, try again. It felt horrible weakening to be without senses here, but other beings milled about, he would simply watch them until his senses recovered.

It took a bit for his senses to recover, but the fairy was determined. He could have cast a less powerful spell, he supposed, but he did not want his last gift to be lesser than the rest, if he was indeed to receive four.

This time, the success was perfect, and it was almost equally awful having that stripped away as his own magical failure had been.

He was done, now, and he would ask for his rewards. Four magical items, one for each successful cast, that he could carry out of here. For him and his unhatched children.

AWAKENING THE DREAMER

Part I - A Catalyst

Silence, again, as he waited. The Catalyst Stone was offered out, held quietly as Samael alternatingly failed catastrophically or succeeded beautifully in his casts.

At length the stone was retracted, the casts complete, and the merchant awaited a price to be named. These prizes would be delivered when the magicka had fulfilled its needs, but the rest had named theirs, and he expected it from this one, too.

---

Total Magic Offered: 38/100

The Catalyst Stone holds 30 points of magic in total.
An additional 16 points in the form of offerings have been delivered in total.
The overall total is therefore 46 points.

Upon reaching 50 points out of 100, the Masked Merchant will provide the rest needed to Awaken the Dreamer. Gembounds who've turned in their magicka can then claim their in-character rewards.

Ten had come with the rest of the few Chaos Forge members here. And they had watched, but they had not known what to do. Their magic created mushroom friends, so far as they had used it so far, and they didn't want to create mushroom friends that simply got destroyed by this.

But they should do something magical, they thought. Maybe if they could figure out another spell with their magic. Surely not all fungi spells created mushroom friends, they thought.

So they reached inwards, and they grabbed for their magic.

And promptly fell unconscious as their spores blew back on themself.