Going Batty!


Eggbert was all in a fluster!

A family of pixie bats had taken up residence in a small, unused section of the Palace. Nobody had noticed in time, and they'd multipled, and--well, now they were everywhere! And he needed those rooms! He had a little dustpan in one hand, but his tiny jumps and waves only upset the little bats on the ceiling. They chittered and stirred, forming small clouds of two dozen or so bats that fluttered in a panic.

They seemed unable to find their way out, and Eggbert's tophat was in danger of falling off.



_________
Please help Eggbert clear out the Pixie bats! They are harmless, and any signs of violence will upset the little guy.

Order characters, if they are... ahem... "bold" enough and take no overt actions to make their alignment known, may join, but may be at risk from other Order-hostile characters within the thread.

This will be a very short event; the next (and possibly final, if guests are very helpful) post will be in three days' time.

Erasmus had been exploring on their way to hopefully see Alek. It was odd, being apart from the aquatic dragon. They did not like it, but they liked the potential of fighting even less. Alek was trying to go somewhere that Erasmus could not entirely follow, and that had to alright even if it did not feel like such.

The building had caught Erasmus's gaze, and they had begun exploring it with initial idleness. But they had heard the bats from a distance, and curiosity and something else had drawn them towards investigation. And now they saw the agitated bats and the distressed being.

"Gentle, friend. Scaring right now," Erasmus spoke in their raspy voice.

It seemed the bats needed to find a way out. Perhaps, if Erasmus moved a few with their mind gently to outside the room, the rest would follow?

Some bats were moved to the place they would need to to escape. And though Erasmus was unaware of, their mild calming pheromones began to seep into the room.

Whisper had come here with Erasmus. The journey had originally been to Leo, where they had gotten the cool ring! Then after that, they arrived at Cepheus where they had met a weird-looking creature with a very small tophat. Although the pixie bats were rather small in comparison to most other gembounds, quite a number of them were a decent size bigger than Whisper. They were small! Though they could fly, they instead chose to stick close to Erasmus and utilize their magic to scare them away.

But they were still young, and their attempts at summoning any magic at all failed. Whisper huffed and narrowed their eyes at the bats, almost as if blaming them for the failure despite that not being the case at all.

GRAY SOUL AND STATIC IN MY EYES

He was in a room nearby, exploring some open parts of the palace. He hadn't been awake when this section of the caves had been open and the palace here was unlike anything he'd ever seen! Simple things such as carved pillars, vases of flowers, and various lamps and wall decor had him stopping and pointing at them, whispering to Shiny, "Have you ever seen something so amazing?"

His wanderings were cut short by a nearby commotion that had him swiftly galloping into the offending room. Bats everywhere, a few gembound trying to shoo them out, and a little guy in the most adorable costume he'd ever seen batting at them with a dustpan.

Oh! He could do something here!

"Cover your ears!" Huckleberry shouted out as he focused his magic in the corner of the ceiling, where many of the bats gathered. A loud (but not deafening) clap of thunder exploded in the middle of the air, scattering many of the bats into a frenzied escape from the loud, frightening noise.

TRY TO SEE THE FUTURE,
BUT I'M NOT SURE IF IT APPLIES

ANALA
From a spark to a flame

Honestly, Anala wasn't too sure how she had wandered up here. She heard from some passing gembound or another that some other gembound or another needed help, and why wouldn't she? Who knew, maybe there was something interesting to see or someone interesting to fight here! And so she had set off, following the rumour directly into an unfamiliar cave and an even less familiar building. It was easy enough to follow the sounds of chittering and... thunder? Indoors? Well now she HAD to go in there!
"Shoo, shoo!" She jumped at the gathered crowd of bats, barking as loud as she could. "Get!" She wasn't too sure why clearing the room was important, and she didn't bother to ask, but she did know that she was going to scare the most!

The bats were... less than pleased by her efforts.
One particularly loud bark and one particularly badly timed jump caused a flurry of bats to scatter right into her face, destroying any sense of balance the wolf had. In a bit of a panic due to her sudden lack of sight, she twisted mid-air, landing at an awkward angle and cartwheeling into the wall. She sat there for a moment, choking and sputtering on the interrupted bark. "Oh get off! Shoo! Ow!!" The tumble may have caused the bats to vacate from her face, but she was left with quite the twisted ankle. She was going to feel that tomorrow.

OOC Notes:

Absolute chaos swept the room. Barking. A thunderclap, intended to frighten a cloud of creatures who navigated via sound. (Eggbert covered his ears.) Bats flying every which way. At the very least, Erasmus had managed to scoop one or two out with magic.

The rest, in a panic, eventually found the same route; aside from a little guano, there was no harm done.

Eggbert sat back, panting, and wiped imaginary sweat from a tiny ducklike brow. Then he turned, waddling away--pausing to gesture for the rest to follow.

Something interesting struck the few gathered Gembounds, meanwhile; a new knowledge, as if an echo of the bats'... well, echoes. A new magic, an imitation of the bats' echolocation.

All they had to do was... click?

And use their new magic, of course.

_________

The Gembounds are being invited to a small, off-screen dinner in the kitchen as thanks for their aid. They have also unlocked, and will shortly receive, the spell Echo Sight. Players may now exit this thread.

Echo Sight
Low Intensity Detection. The user manipulates sound waves, creating sharp clicks or whistles that echo across terrain. The return echoes grant a sound-based map of their surroundings.

@Erasmus @Whisper @Anala @Huckleberry

Erasmus heard the cry for those present to cover their ears, and they were about to do that, when they realized that Whisper had no hands. Whisper could not cover their ears.

And so despite their extremely sensitive senses, Erasmus covered Whisper's ears carefully. Then came the thunderclap and Erasmus wished they could have be deafened by it. Instead, the sound shook through their ears right into their skull.

They weakly whined, a hiss of incredible discomfort following. Their hair covered their eyes for a reason, their senses were so attuned to the world as to be overwhelming. They had mostly gotten better with sound, but they were left trembling after the Thunderclap by the winged-furred being.

Still, they did not regret saving Whisper from the experience at the cost of their own. The sudden knowledge of a new sort of magic was odd, yet fascinating.

Eventually, once recovered, Erasmus would speak, their voice raspy, speaking to Whisper. "Whisper safe? Want follow?" they nodded in the direction of the hatted being.

If they did follow, unless there was some blood, they likely would simply watch their child, not consume anything themself. They knew better to consume anything other than blood, with how their system worked.

[Exit Erasmus]

@Whisper (for visibility)

GRAY SOUL AND STATIC IN MY EYES

Huckleberry stood from his spot, watching all the bats rush out of the room. Shiny still had all four of her ears pressed against her skull, but as quiet settled in the room, she finally let them go. Huckleberry stood tall and proud, happy with himself for being so helpful here! He even got some new knowledge along with it, although the source was anyone's guess.

He could tell some of the gembound nearby were looking pretty rattled so he quickly set off a little chiming tune, hopefully to soothe the ears and calm everyone down. And also create a nice little melody as Eggbert led them away. But, of course, it just came out as some rattling squeaks, like aftershocks of the thunderclap that he quickly cut off.

"Where do you think he's taking us?" Huckleberry asked Shiny, who shrugged. Well, he was about to have the best meal of his life.

*exit

TRY TO SEE THE FUTURE,
BUT I'M NOT SURE IF IT APPLIES

Chaos. Chaos everywhere. No matter how Whisper tried to be brave (they were a dragon after all), they began to quiver. This was too much! And they were small, and someone yelled, and- Erasmus covered their ears, shielding them from the worst of the noise. Their claws dug into their parent's shoulder, not hard enough to draw blood, but perhaps enough to feel like tiny needles pressing against the skin.

"Safe. Thanks." They got out, loosening their grip. They felt bad that Erasmus had allowed their own hearing to get damaged to help them. And Whisper hoped they would grow stronger one day so they could protect Erasmus!

Now off to the banquet! "Yes!" There was plenty of food there, and much, much more than plenty for a small dragon. They ate all they could, foods of all kinds. Even though they saw that Erasmus could not eat many of the things they could eat, they tried one of everything and gave their parent a very detailled rundown of what it tasted like and what they rated it.

"Exit Whisper"

@Erasmus
(For visibility!)

ANALA
From a spark to a flame

Careful not to put too much weight on her sore paw, Anala was glad that she wouldn't have to do any more jumping around to chase the little bats away. Thankfully, they migrated out, leaving her with some echo of magic as they fled. Their way of seeing through clicks had left some kind of impression on her.
Glad for a chance to rest, Anala thoroughly enjoyed the offered meal before she wandered off, looking for a good cave to nap in. She couldn't help but find some adoration for Eggbert. The reward for helping them was no magic item, but it was heartfelt. And delicious.

OOC Notes:

/exit