Despite the number of events transpiring in the strange, shadowed room, it seems nothing can be heard from its entrance. Those clamoring at the tunnel are engulfed in silence. Try as they may, they were always being watched. The eyes continued to stare at them, slowly blinking, focusing; some of them would blink, closing and disappearing for good, opening up somewhere else. Any time anybody drew nearer to them, they would vanish and appear further along, as though trying to summon them into the darkness. The hyena plunged into the darkness, followed by the cerberus.

There was a great shuffling, the sound of feather or fur ruffling, like some fiend sweeping through the night. In the place of Giggle's presence, there is nothingness but a feeling of cold settling in close to the ground. Giggle has vanished without a trace.

A sound pierces the darkness. It is audible from everywhere in the room, and it seems to come from everywhere at the same time. The eyes widen with the sound. It is that of Giggle's manic hyena laugh.

Then silence for another few seconds... and through the quiet, a small chirp. The twittering noise seems frantic and desperate for attention, and unlike the cackle, seems to be coming from one direction in particular.

Giggle has vanished and can no longer post. Characters must roll Other to locate the source of the chirping noise. One character rolling a minimum of Barely Successful will be picked at random to find the chirping sound.

@Aleera @Ambrus @Fallah @Sadie @Ashtoreth @Azazel @Vincenzo @Eve @Kerberos

all you have is your fire

and the place it need to reach

δεξιά . κέντρο . αριστερά

Kerberos had a firm grip on Giggle's tail, and yet, somehow, she was torn from him. His entire body was aching with pain after that vicious HYPER BEAM ATTACK, and now he was lost and alone. Trembling, he tried to twist around and check to see if Delphine and the others were still trailing behind, but he couldn't even see that far back. He could barely see the other noses just next to his faces, and so... Panic insued.

The dog let out a three-pitched howling whine of distress and plunged forward, barking and yelping for his momma. "GIGGLE?" "WHERE ARE YOU?" "COME BACK! He barked up a storm, and didn't stop. He had to find her, he had to find out where she had gone. He was so scared-- how could she have disappeared!?

"GIVE HER BACK!" "GIGGLE!" "STOP IT!" "MOM?!" "BONES?" "ANYOOOOOOOOOOONE?"

The Ave could barely manage to find whatever critter had been lurking in the Chambers. He wasn't sure where it was. Azazel had been fooled by some lichens into thinking he'd found Kerberos. Was Kerberos even here? Focusing his magic, Azazel would fearfully attempt to reach Giggle. "Giggle, I... Giggle?" In his mindspace, there was only silence. Out beyond, a manic laugh sounded, deep and masculine. It was the sound of Giggle. "GIGGLE!" he cried soundlessly into the darkness, "GIGGLE! KERBEROS! BONES! Anyone?" Each cry was silent, muted by the dark cloak of shadow that had been draped over Canis. He was impossibly lost. Was this even the end of the Chambers, where he had planted his spawn? The Bone King knew that there couldn't be a way. Just as he hung his head, a low chirping sound rose in volume, droning on and on. If he followed the sound, would he find whatever had taken Giggle? Only time would tell. So he attempted to take to the air and searched for the source of the sound.

But sadly, our favorite Bone King crashed into a rock and fell unceremoniously onto the floor, sprawled out in a heap of feathers.

Things moved in the shadows, strange apparitions that terrified the newborn, but since she knew anything else she merely assumed that this was the world. That this was her world. Silent as a mouse, the winged mustelid scurried into a wall and started to scramble through the maze, ears twitching.

A horrible laughing rang through her ears and she went the opposite way, instead hearing a curious chirping that seemed to invite her to explore, to find. Eyes bright and searching, she tried to make sense of the input of darkness before her and moved along using her sense of feeling, sticking close to the chamber's walls as she tried to locate the sound herself.

It was getting closer, at any rate. The noodle smiled to herself, pointed teeth clicking in the silence as if to echo the noise. She was eager to meet whatever was making that noise, too curious and innocent to be held back by her nervousness. She had to know-- she was just like her fathers.

Listen to me + Hear my thoughts

VINNIE THE VOICE
Vinnie wasn't sure if this was what was meant to happen. Did everything go dark, before one hatched? Was he doomed never to see his beloved blues and greens and greys again, and live only in blackness?

He began to give soft, frightened, choking squawks, and if he'd been human, certainly one could have said that the juvenile seagull was crying. He squeezed pale eyes shut, cowering into the niche he'd tucked himself into, hiding away from the darkness.

He was unaware of the drama unfolding only a hundred yards or so away, what with the muffled sounds in the void-dark; he knew only that he was alone, and afraid, and that he was blind. Misery gripped him, and despite his freezing terror, he began to screech for help.

"HELP! ANYONE?!"

The cries tore from his beak, piercing, yet muffled by the blanket of black. And before he could continue, a menacing, masculine chuckle echoed around him.

Eyes sprang wide and he froze, his tiny heart racing, gaze picking into the stifling blackness for any sign of the sound's creator.

But there was nothing.

The seagull again began to cry.

________________

((ooc -- I did a roll off-site to see where he'd be hatched, RIP.))

The darkness persisted, though around the winged noodle, it would slowly begin to part like a thin silk curtain. The chirping continued, ringing through the room with mounting desperation, until - lo and behold - before the winged noodle there sat a small, baby bird. It's appearance was sudden and unprecedented, and if the young noodle isn't watching where she's going, she could easily trip over it. The bird, though, is inky black much like the darkness surrounding them. It has a single, bright red eye in the center of its face - this is what is known as a Hallowed Caller. This tiny hatchling appears to have its wing trapped under a heavy bone that must have fallen during all the commotion and is peeping frantically.

Ashtoreth does not need to roll to remove the bone.

@Aleera @Ambrus @Fallah @Sadie @Ashtoreth @Azazel @Vincenzo @Eve @Kerberos

Ashtoreth stumbled through the darkness until she found the smallest bundle of feathers. At first, she was certain that this creature was related to her, being made of feathers-- but it was shaped weird and didn't smell right. It did, however, sound hurt and quite stressed.

Sniffing around, she found the bone pinning the bird down by bumping into it with her nose. Immediately upon finding out that the caller-bird was stuck under the bone, she grasped it in her teeth and pulled the bone away, falling back on to her haunches. Quickly, she scrambled up on top of the bone and nosed around, making sure that the wing wasn't stuck anymore. Her eyes met that single red eye and despite how spooky it was-- this was all she knew. To her, the Hallowed Caller was her very first friend.

She felt her tail wiggling, her wings flapping excitedly. She reached out a paw to the small black hatchling, her beady eyes trying to make out the faint shapes in the darkness. She couldn't speak, so she hoped that the bird understood she was friendly.

Listen to me + Hear my thoughts

The tiny bird could feel that it wasn't alone. Suddenly, there were footsteps, and then the creature was upon it. At first, it called out in fright, unknowing of what the creature was doing. Before it really realized it, however, the weight upon its wing was suddenly lifted. It peeped and hopped back, flapping its wings desperately. Though it appeared tentative of the winged noodle, it never stopped making noise, chirping and calling and crying out before it finally took to the air. It flapped around the noodle, delighted for freedom - but it wasn't free yet. Though it's single eye was wide, it was unseeing. This darkness suffocated them all.

The bird twittered and circled the noodle's head, then darted off into the blackness, calling out to the Gembounds in the cave. As though it were a beckoning to follow.

Round 1/3
This next part of the quest will consist of 3 rounds. Each round consists of 4 character posts - after 4 character posts, the next round will begin. Each character must follow the sound of the Hallowed Caller as it leads them through the darkness. However, they must guess which direction the bird is in. In your posts, please specify a direction that your character is heading: North, South, East, or West. There will be ONE true direction that the bird has gone. If a character goes in the wrong direction, they may be lucky enough to face no repercussions... or they may encounter the consequences of their poor tracking.

@Aleera @Ambrus @Fallah @Sadie @Ashtoreth @Azazel @Vincenzo @Eve @Kerberos

Fallah became enthralled in the happenings of the cave. Suddenly there was a bird, chirping, chirping and fluttering away. She couldn't see where it went, but she tried to follow the noise. Where was it coming from? It felt like neither one way or another, but, with a little hesitation, Fallah broke away from her moo friend and moved EAST, thinking that must be the direction the bird had gone.

The Ave could not find anything, carmine eyes unable to find anything. He had ended up running into a wall, the skull upon his crown clattering as it met stone. Shaking his head rapidly to try and get the rattling feeling out of it. Azazel had wandered somewhere outside of the Chambers, and he had no idea where the noodley-thing was anymore. Maybe it was just some terrified Lesser Gembound. There was no sound outside of the loud cackling of the hyena for a long time.

But then there was chirping. The call of a bird. Fluttering. The sound was ubiquitous. He had to decide on a direction. Feeling afflated, the Bone King flapped his wings once or twice before gliding into the darkness... in the western direction.

[ rolled 1 through 4 off-site and got West! ]