I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see the light in the shade of the morning sun

Callista nodded at the snake and shrugged. She didn't think it was a good idea but who the heck was she to stop a kid? She straightened up as well and looked around at the rest of the ground. Well...if something went wrong, they were quite protected, right? She had her magic, Coilean had. Um. Knife hands. And they had an entire dragon with them, surely they would be alright.

And, probably, this wasn't much anyways. Perhaps something had attacked them and they were just bleeding. Maybe that group on the beach was just helping them...ah, no use lingering! She set off with Coilean, gaze trained on what was in front of them, and also readying herself for...whatever it was.

That my life would depend on the evening moon
That the night would never comе

Content Warning
This post contains potentially sensitive material:

gore

At the end of the trail, on the beach, the gembound would approach and notice that it was a gathering of lesser gembound, the scent of blood heavy on the air. A red caroller and a catsquirrel stood before the prone body of a tunnel runner, leaning over it as if...mourning it. It was an odd sight. Lessers usually didn't behave like this, right?

But then they would realize that they weren't mourning it, as the catsquirrel jerked its head back, tearing a chunk of the deer's skin with it, splattering blood on its companion. The gembound might come to a grizly realization then that the caroller was not red, but was simply covered in blood.

For the two lessers were tearing the flesh off of this deer. It was, most likely, long dead by now, judging from the state of its corpse. Yet the two otherwise harmless lessers continued to meticulously remove its skin, using careful claws, teeth, and beaks to expose its insides.

A voice suddenly sears inside the minds of all the gembound - it is no longer echoing whispers, but something speaking directly to each of them, in a thousands voices, nearly incomprehensible. But it is the same voice, the same words.

Ｏᵈ Ỗᖻᑘ ҽටƐ? ᕲ丂Ň'ᖶ ⓞᔕⓤ ⓨᘿέ?
ẸŤh҉ᖇ乇 ﾉᔕ ｎσ ϻσⒺŕ ﾑｐᓰη Ｏᶰฬ!
ⓨɾØ ａυe҉ ℱᔕᗩᗴ! ʸⓞմΔ ℝe҉ Ŝᕲѵεᵃ!!
a҉ｅ ₩卄v҉€ ʳᗴᓍｖᖶ爪Ｄ Ｅʰᵉ ΔᓰᕵŇ!

The caroller and the catsquirrel pause their work at once and turn to look. Now it is easier to see - half the caroller's face has blown out into black and green crystals. The flesh is decaying around its crystal skeleton. The catsquirrel's remaining fluff have slicked down, hiding its own infection, but there is no hiding the epidote veins crawling out from where its eyes once were. nor the entirely crystal tail that sweeps up as it grows alert.

They stare at the gembound, unmoving.

@Coilean @Callista @Eulogy @Aurelle @Lichen

The issue of being blind and having to sense your way around was that you often missed certain fine details. Lichen was aware of the lessers, with aid from the spell, but she was completely in the dark about what they were doing.

The addition of a new voice also startled her, making her stop after she'd fallen in step with the others of the group. Visibly wincing at the volume of the voice, shaking her head as if to clear it. That must've been the talking... corpse the others were talking about.

But wasn't the corpse back in the tunnel? She was accruing more questions than answers. Perhaps there was simply something there she was missing. Her feelers retracted, and her sense of nearby gembound was snuffed out, leaving her in the dark again.

Perhaps there was something else to sense here...

I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see the light in the shade of the morning sun

She stared at the scene ahead, horror hollowing a pit in her stomach as she took a step back. Suddenly, she very much wanted to turn and run away from whatever the actual fuck this is, but she stood her ground. Remembering that Aurelle was blind and couldn't see the grisly sight, she moved back to be closer to her so she could whisper.

"We can see them. It's...horrible. I think it was a scavenger deer back there, its dead now. There's two lessers skinning it. They've got this...this crystal on them. On their faces and eyes and stuff. They're looking right at us." Her veins felt icy, unsure of what to do. Her paws clenched, wondering if she should prepare to fight them off. She took a protective stance a little in front of Aurelle, not thinking for the moment if it would be offensive, but the elf didn't strike her as a fighter.

Callista, at least, could defend the both of them.

That my life would depend on the evening moon
That the night would never comе

@Aurelle @Lichen telling them what she sees

They would use one of Coilean's outstretched limbs to quickly slither onto his shoulders. They weren't large enough to fully wrap around Coilean's neck, but they hugged as much of it as they could for stability. And then they were off! It was kind of fun, being so tall. They had a far better view than they typically did.

So they got to see every detail of this scene in it's gruesome glory. Two bloodied, crystal-riddled lessers standing over the mutilated body of a third. There was so much blood- more than the desiccated rabbit's corpse, or the little trail they'd been following.

And then the voice- the whisper- was back, but it was so much louder this time. And they couldn't help but feel dread, this time, more than relief at finally relocating it. Maybe it was the horror of this entire scene, or the other's reactions to it. Or maybe they were just finally developing some common sense.

There wasn't much they could do, just huddle against Coilean's shoulder and hope he could protect them.

@Coilean

"Awwwwwwouh. " Oh no.
Coilean was obviously the one to assume the lessers were holding a funeral. And of course, they were not. His black lips tightened in disgust, then peeled back into a snarl as the two turned. What on...?

"...Should we try to catch them? it's. It's awful. But... They're small, right?"

He was not comfortable with idea of just letting them keep on flaying that tunnel runner, or whatever else they came across. He lifted an arm closer to his neck instinctively when he felt Eulogy squeeze. Coilean wasn't planning on throwing himself into the fray either.

The caroller tilts its head at the gathered gembound and then lets out a shrill call. The catsquirrel next to it turns its body fully and begins to take a few shaky steps forward. Its mouth is moving, rasping, as if trying to form words that its vocal chords cannot fully produce.

The sand in front of the gembound shifts. Its the only warning they get before, a few seconds later, it explodes outwards as three more lessers erupt from beneath the ground.

The basilisk that lunges for Coilean's feet barely has a recognizable head anymore - its all dark green crystal, including the teeth and tongue revealed in its lunge. The lava rat that leaps at Callista still has its teeth, at least, but epidote claws are bared beneath a body mostly skeletal and stone. The kyte that scrabbles up from the sand and claws for Lichen doesn't have wings anymore - both limbs have been taken over by crystal, as has the majority of its head - half still clings to flesh while the other is all green crystal skull.

Behind them, the caroller and the catsquirrel approach further, as if they are about to throw themselves into the fray as well.

They all hear the whispers, almost desperate now.

Ӏҽ 山ìచӀ ỼའƐᗝƐⱮ འӋԱϚට చហØ.
Ӌҽ๏ ᘺᓰᑘᒪ ŁŦᗴӀ էҍ乇ҽɾⓔ.

CAROLLER 15/15	CATSQUIRREL 15/15	KYTE 35/35
BASILISK 25/25	LAVA RAT 30/30

@Aurelle @Lichen @Coilean @Eulogy @Callista

"Capturing them--" Lichen began to inquire before she heard it. Movement.

Right as she'd snuffed out her idea of where the lessers were, there were too many others around to get bearings on what was where by hearing alone. The feelers unfurled once more...

That sensation returned, the electromagnetic tingle along the delicate sensory organs. The lessers were closer now; she could sense that much. One of the voices of their group had told her that the lessers were skinning the deer; in the rush, she couldn't remember who the voice had belonged to.

Were they next? There was a child here. Aurelle was here.

Lichen rushed a step forward, hoping she was at least one of the larger targets here and that they'd go for her first. Unaware that one was already planning that...

100%

ATTEMPT: feel for where the lessers are and BRACE FOR IMPACT

DEFENSE: nothing special

Aurelle's ears twitched. She heard something before Callista said anything; something oddly reminisent of cloth being torn apart. The voice from earlier came back and her ears tilted almost upright. She heard Callista loud and clear. Not that that made her any less bewildered.

"They're... skinning them?" Not that she'd get an answer, either.

Something screamed, and there was a crash and rush of sand. Something was coming close-- many somethings were, actually, but the closest seemed to be going for Lichen right next to her. Attacking? Seeking help? For a moment, Aurelle wasn't sure.

Anyone with eyes might say it was obvious, but surely it was always acceptable to make sure?

Her magic reached out for the kyte.

100%

ATTEMPT: empathize with the kyte
DEFENSE: none :heart:
INJURIES: none

"...They're getting clos- ACK!"

As Coilean began to warn the blind members of the party, the sand exploded into movement. Something large was darting towards him, the spiky end pointed toward his feet.

Nope. Nup. Nuh-uh. He jumped backwards, breaking into a sprint to try and create some distance between the lessers and the baby he was actively carrying.

100%

ATTEMPT: run away
DEFENSE: uhm.
INJURIES: none

OOC:
Ӏҽ 山ìచӀ ỼའƐᗝƐⱮ འӋԱϚට చហØ > WE WILL REMOVE YOURS NOW.
Ӌҽ๏ ᘺᓰᑘᒪ ŁŦᗴӀ էҍ乇ҽɾⓔ. > YOU WILL FEEL BETTER.