He'd pause, staring up in awe at the MASSIVE statue- of course, nearly everything was massive from his perspective, but this statue especially. He didn't really stop to consider this might be a puzzle until some of the others started to pipe up. Relic's suggestion made him pause. Despite the others' instant rejection of that idea, Connie seemed to actually consider it. However, in the end he has to agree with the catfolk. "The statue is really big! It'd probably take all day to eat it! And it'd probably hurt..." Still, he filed that away as 'Plan B.'

One of the carvings rather clearly depicted the vines covering the room, so he figured that was as good of a starting point as any. He'd approach one of the thinner offshoots and gnaw on it, attempting to chew off a small section of it. It was surprisingly thick and woody, so it took some time to get through, but eventually he was holding a length of vine maybe a foot or so long, which was quite unwieldy for the tiny rodent.

"Can someone help me give this to the statue?" He'd ask, holding up the vine as high as he could.

@Relic @Flower

Khavur would take an egg. Yeah.

Later on, in the dungeon, Khavur would be listening to everyone in succession (minus the... "little" green thing that seemed to be having a small fit over there. For whatever reason he wouldn't want to look that way). It was giving him a headache. Given the two heads, it was more of a double headache. And yet he still managed to follow along.

Statue. Pictures. One eating plants, one eating mice, and one eating rocks. Two trying to find plants, and two others trying to get mice. Rocks, he supposed, should be decently ubiquitous. Two unique ideas as well: the idea to eat the statue, which Khavur initially felt inclined to at least entertain before this philosopher was promptly shut down; and, the idea to feed the statue in order of the pictures that appeared. Now that sounded smart.

A small creature appeared to either not have heard it, or not have been listening. It asked for someone to help it reach the mouth so it could deposit the plant. Cute. While Khavur's obligatory analysis of the creature ran in the background, in the world outside his mind he approached the little creature. Several things he considered now:

a.) Throw in the egg.

b.) Help the little creature test its theory.

c.) Was this little creature not also... a rodent?

Khavur was curious about each of these options, but decided upon one of the three based on two particular factoids:

1.) If the egg was not depicted, it would likely be a waste of a life that could instead be used for future experiments,

and 2.) Khavur might gain something more out of being nice to the little rodent.

Perhaps in this moment Khavur was feeling more in favor of the principle of no lives wasted.

For a brief moment, Khavur felt a pang of surprise that he was even capable of registering that last option (option C). Usually he would have expected a kind of influence... or perhaps there had already been one? He shook his heads. Not right now.

Two large, scaly heads would curl down close to Conleth's eye level. "Hello, little mouse. Perhaps you did not hear, but another member of this party suggested to put them in order. Still, we might test your theory." Here, Khavur offered a large clawed hand for the mouse to climb on if they so desired. "But be ready to collect another plant if it does not work."

Regardless of what Conleth chose to do, Khavur would continue busying himself with the progression of Howler's idea. He would attempt to employ the oldest skill in his book: hunting for rats.

(OOC: Khavur is helping Connie put in the plant if Connie wants, and then trying and FAILING to look for rats. good lird)

@Conleth (interaction)

She continued to stay by Howler, more nervous then usual, distress quickly ramping as they walked through the next room. She seemed to make no effort to try and solve the puzzle in front of them, nor did she respond to anyone speaking to her, eyes staring wildly at the shadows, where creatures watched. She did not know them, or know what they were, but she feared them.

A sob left her throat as she turned to Howler. "Do you seeeee? They aren't...leaving meee...." But he was busy. Trying to catch a rat. She wasn't really sure why but she had nothing else right now. So she followed and snapped after an escaping rodent, but her jaws clamped on nothing. She could feel the shadow in the corner laughing at her.

They suck in between their teeth at the number of people who got nicked up by those... skrungly little reptiles.

The family dynamics between Attikias and the neon green... child? Of his are almost funny, gaining a few huffed laughs from the harpy, which snuff out quickly when they notice how... panicked everyone looks. Right. Great. Uh. That isn't good.

Some shrugging as they work the heebie jeebies out of their wings, for a moment they wish they'd brought their ropes, and level their spear as they move on with the group.

The statue that is staring them down in the next room is... odd.

Untouched, unworn- oh shiny!

As well as vaguely creepy. Double nice. It has to guard something important, given the missing bricks and the fact that this took lots of time, so they begin to search for any sort of clue, wing stretching out to shift the leaves out of the way of the... carvings?

The little squeaky being with the vine has the right idea, they tilt their head as they watch them, and make mental note of all the people and... things in people's hands. Grippers.

They pull on their magic to locate anything else alive in the room with them- the rats on the lithogliph must mean food. Right?

Right, because they spot some heartbeats, unfocused as they may be…. And after a moment of stillness, they explode into motion, striking forward and hands wide to grab whatever might need some convincing to stay put in their hands while they figure out if it’s the living creature that’s needed, or its blood.

Hunter's assurance is a weight off his chest. Sighing out as much anxiety as he can, Attikias keeps close to usher the two of them on, offering Plover a rub on xir shoulder for a quick, fleeting moment. Xe's recovering, and Hunter's okay, so Attikias is okay.

Off xe goes. Leaving xem be, Attikias turns his attention to properly inspect the statue, looking up then down then around for anything else. There's a hole for whatever reason; he'd pass that off as just being part of the statue if it weren't for the markings behind it. They were hard to see; he reached for the plants covering them, trying to tug away the vines as he inspected them.

Meat, plants... rocks?

Furrowing his brows, Attikias turned away and scanned the room to see what the others were doing. "I'll get a rock..?" Uncertainty tinged his voice as he meandered towards the rubble, reaching for a good hand-sized piece. 'Is it really just rocks?' One choice piece was easily hefted up in one hand. This'd do some damage if he threw it at someone. Not that he would, but it was definitely a good size for the statue, presumably.

The main issue was getting food up to the mouth. "Okay." He's not clambering up there. Could he make the toss? Rolling the rock between his hands, Attikias gnawed at the inside of his cheek, judging the distance. Once the mouth was clear, he rolled his shoulders, reared back his arm, and threw the rubble overhand towards the statue's maw.

Sergei trundled forward, brow furrowed. He examined the wall carvings and then looked at the statue. Relic had said... eat the statue? So he tried. He opened his jaws, not knowing any better, and gnawed at the stone. But--that hurt his teeth, and he stopped after a moment, shaking his head (and rubbing his jaw) with chagrin. "No," he reported.

He glanced at Flower (making sure she was okay, though he already had seen that she was) and shuffled off, bending over to look for rocks to put into the statue's mouth.

Somehow, in a room full of crumbled rubble, he could not find a single simple stone: he kept picking up bits of dust, which ran through his fingers.

Naskarra, unfortunately, was not thinking about the potential in of the skrunglers, moreso a snack for later. All the same, she tucked the eggs into the crook of her baby arms as a snack for later. From the discussion she overheard, and what she'd seen, they needed a mouse. Or better. Naskarra put her nose to work, sniffing around. She spotted a scurrying shape darting for the hall that led here. Naskarra sprinted after it, having the advantage of momentum this time. She caught it as it let out a sharp squeak, one that she cut off with a quick bite. Naskarra returned, dropping the rat into the statue's hole.

Rocks. Plants. Mice. As the last of them were funneled into the statue's open maw (the mice scrambling back out, alive and squeaking, a moment later), the rubies that made up its eyes slowly began to ignite in red fire. That is to say, poetically, that its eyes glowed red.

Behind it, part of the smooth brick wall began to grind away, hauling itself into a hidden gap and opening a path forward.

The room ahead was a hallway: one lit only by the glow of the light of the room the Gembounds were already in. Farther in, the corridor was dimmer, almost dark; but the light that did enter illuminated a series of alcoves built into the sides of the overgrown brick.

These alcoves were filled with treasure chests: some open, some closed but not sealed, all of beautiful red-brown wood tooled with gold. Coins spilled forth, gemstones strewn about them, armor and weapons on stands and racks in other alcoves. This was a loot room, a reward for having come this far in the training dungeon. And it seemed perfectly safe for the taking.

---

Characters should roll & post a general concept of what they are looking for (ex. "a sharp weapon," "a living gemstone," etc.) and the next GM post will detail what they have received! They may also collect a number of coins equal to the number of their roll. Small bags and boxes, albeit decayed with time, are available to tuck away their spoils; there's just enough for everyone to loot something.

The next post will take place on June 25th, afternoon/evening GMT. Hunter should be double-posted for the next round.

@Howler @Flower @Rosary @Relic @Sergei @Naskarra @Plover @Khavur @Conleth @Hunter @Renasci @Attikias

She was too busy inspecting the flowers to really be apart of everything going on, so she just shrugged it off and stood up, watching everyone for a moment as everything went into the slots perfectly. She reached up to pet Fernie on her shoulder, noticing his toothy little grin, clearly as excited as she was.

Walking in, she began to search for a weapon, specifically something staff like. She had one already, but it wasn't very good, as she hadn't had a chance to slim it down and make it better. For now it just was a giant stick. No, she wanted something better, a walking stick that could be used as a weapon if she could. But of course she wasn't picky, she just would take anything that she saw that caught her eye.