Through the silence, there seems to be a small sound - it's like the clattering of rocks against the ground, as if the ground itself was still shaking. It wasn't, but something persisted. Enough searching may find that there are a collection of rocks scattered across the room that are beginning to slowly jerk and shift by themselves, as if manipulated by some invisible force. What is most off-putting though is that these small rocks aren't the only things that are moving.

Many Gembounds have met their ultimate end in the room of Polaris. Their remains lay scattered across the floor, some in desolate crevices, others dusty and out in the open, some even unearthed by the recent fissures opened during the battle with the dragon. For a long time they had lingered unmoving and alone, having met their fate ages ago.

Today, a new life grips them.

There is one pile of bones that slowly begins to tug together, grating against the ground as each piece moves, until they come together to form some amalgamation of a creature never meant to exist. Slowly, the frankenskeleton begins to shamble towards the Gembounds.

Dragon saw the others coming in, and eyed them briefly. Some he'd met, some he hadn't; some were friends, some... less so. But before he could speak, he realized that things were still shaking, albeit slightly. He glanced around... then looked more closely, narrowing his eyes.

What the hell...?

Some few rocks still shook, and... were those... bones? Dragon's eyes widened, and he quickly backed up, tail slithering behind him in reverse. The thing was lumbering toward them and out of pure fear-driven instinct, the alligator opened his jaws to blast fire its way in a threat display. He coughed at first, and it wasn't all that impressive a blast, but a plume of flame curled from his jaws and licked toward the strange being anyway. Meanwhile the alligator kept backing up, leaving the giant moth wings behind on the rock floor.

"WHAT ARE YOU?!" he bellowed--still scurrying along in reverse.

{ art by dark } ~ { table by aura . edited by banshee and dark }

There was silence, except for Teyouma's many voices, but soon he put an end to that as well. The weight in the room (if that was the right word for it, the heady, humid, strange pressure that he could feel pressing in on all sides) caught his attention and pulled him onwards, staggering with indecision and a mild exhaustion, until he came to an abrupt - and awkward - halt. By peering down from a rising cluster of stone debris, he could see at least one figure in the distance. A small thing, low slung. There was something smaller and blacker, like a shadow but with a pointed face, nearby. Teyouma's eyes narrowed as he watched but did nothing else; he thought maybe that those things, those creatures, were the cause of the pressure.

Then the scratching noises began. The silence blossomed in to tiny scrambling stone-on-stone sounds, and soon enough Teyouma was watching as clusters of debris began to collect. Collect? Gather? He had no real words for this - they were togethering, and Teyouma in all his newness, didn't see anything wrong with that. One arm reached up to scratch at his braincase for a moment or two, but otherwise he was a useless bystander.

When the quake happened, Fallah hunkered down real close to the ground. Nope Not again. Nooooopppeee.

Fallah couldn't deny it forever. Slowly, the lynx rose and padded towards the commotion, groaning inwardly. As she neared it, she took mental note of the gembounds. Right... so... Large lizard, small Nemean that was less cat and wings and more rat, Fisher, Black, white looking bark friend (Black's light, maybe?), a small black bird, and a collection of moving bones.

Bones?

Fallah did a double-take. Yeah, that did not look good. Fallah sighed then jumped into action by Fisher and Black. She summoned her magic, aiming to create a barrier of ice in front of her and her friends. Protection.

@black
@fisher

The strange skeleton continues to slowly amble towards the frightened Gembounds, and it seems nothing can stop it, not even the alligator's breath of flame. The fire does, however, scorch the greasy grey bones and smear them with black. The skull that has attacked to the amalgamation begins to chitter idly at the Gembounds, clacking its teeth together. Somewhere beyond, more strange skeletons have drawn together and are advancing on the onlookers. There are seven abhorrent skeletal creatures approaching from all sides, but its difficult to tell whether their intentions are hostile or not. Probably best not to risk it.

If these skeletons are not stopped, its very possible that they can overtake Polaris! Characters must eliminate the skeletons in order to proceed. Simply roll to attack any of the seven skeletons. A roll of Successful will take out a skeleton, or two Barely Successfuls.

Her ice wall was made, but the bone continued to approach. Fallah turned to her companions, "Stay." she commanded, turning to jump at the skeletons. She wouldn't let her friends get hurt. Black could watch over Fisher. She stood on top of her barrier, her claws keeping her steady. Aiming for the nearest moving bones, Fallah raised her magic, aiming to blast one of the skeletons with water.

how could something so fair...

... be so cruel?

δεξιά . κέντρο . αριστερά

There was a great rumbling, and it drew a massive beast. One that was not afraid of a bunch of shambling bones.

No, Kerberos was starving. He had been playing with lizards and a blind wolf, but that hadn't been enough for him. When the world shook and gembounds gathered, he sought them out.

And when his six pink eyes spotted the small army of skeletons, the beast let out a loud, sharp howl that pierced the air with three distinct pitches. He rose up on his hind legs despite being front heavy and bared his teeth-- but his tail. Oh, his tail. It wagged with a furious excitement. For nothing could be more exciting than a bunch of moving skeletons.

The huge dumb dog charged right into the horde of bones, determined to chew them all to bits.

Fallah was by Fisher's side in a flash a relief flooded the noodle, his tail wagging softly as she summoned a wall of ice (that reminded him of the tunnel he was so fond of) to protect them. With a short bark of, "Thanks!" the noodle nestled down and watched the bones take shape and start approaching their defensive line.

He wasn't sure how much he could help but he would certainly give it a try. It was the least he could do to try and help hold off the skeleton invaders. Whatever was going down was pretty bad news. His gem ached as he tried to focus his magic, and he knew he probably shouldn't be pushing himself... But he had to try.

Taking a deep breath, the sparks began to light up across his spine. He was sure he could push his electrical energy through the ground towards someone... But it had never worked before. He closed his eyes and tried to shove his attack under the wall of ice towards the skeletons anyway-- but he wasn't feeling too confident about it, either way.

... But somehow, despite the pain that surged through his bones, the effort seemed to come naturally. Electricity spiked down into the earth and tunneled its way to the other side of the ice wall, creating a deadly zone to any skeletal monster that got too close. He had to focus, had to hold it there, but he was stunned as a skeleton was shattered by the vicious bite of his electric bark.

"Woah," he breathed, a nervous smile twitching up on to his muzzle.

One of the skeletons shook and crawled closer to the lynx. As it was met with a blast of water, the pressure caused the bones to suddenly fall apart, clattering on the ground again.

Kerberos managed to take out one of the skeletons, sending its bones flying - however, the magic that bound it together was too strong to simply fall apart. From where they lay on the ground, they began to slowly drag over the ground, recompiling themselves into an entirely new horrific amalgamation behind Kerberos and already beginning to advance.

Another skeleton, electrocuted by the fisher cat's surge of electricity, instantly heat up and exploded - smoldering bones flew in every direction, one such large, hefty skull sailing through another skeleton, taking it out as well.

Four skeletons remain. The skeleton Kerberos is attacking requires one more Barely Successful.

@Fisher @Kerberos @Fallah @Teyouma II @Dragon @Ghost @Eve @Black

It was working. The magic bones were being blasted apart! Fallah glanced over to Fisher when he attacked, glad he stayed behind her shield. For a moment, Fallah wished she had some sort of toxic spray that could melt all the bones. Maybe one day, she could mix a poison spell with her water spell to make that kind of magic? She pushed the thought back for later. Right now, they were fighting. Fallah took a couple of breaths and then focused her magic once more, aiming for a skeleton farther away, hoping to shoot it apart with a blast of ice.