ooc: Don't feel obligated to post to the tunnel thread more than once, since it's just for travel. This is the important one. :P Edit: Mature tag cause swearing contest!

Small but resilient, Cancer found himself more or less leading the group as the hoard of gembounds finally reached Polaris cave. As they stepped out of the icey tunnel and into the well-lit chamber, once again, Cancer found himself short on air. He slowed to a stop as he took in the sight of it, and that energizing effect hit him. For once, the usually bantery cat was silenced, speechless.

"This... this is Polaris?" He gasped after a minute, looking wide-eyed and innocent for a change. "...it's so big. I've never seen so many colors in one place..." When he finally moved again, it was to climb up a nearby stone to get a better view. The spire, blue and bright, caught his eyes first and he found himself slack-jawed at the sight of it. It's like the horn of something... unimaginably powerful... what... what is it? He looked away for the spectacle to look upon the sprawling river. It seemed to run from North to East, and in the back of his mind, he mapped it out through stone to run from his lagoon. Yes, he was right to assume his home the source of the water for the caves. At least, this river. His eyes followed it to the crumbled remains at its end, and he found himself at a loss for what he saw.

"That's them, isn't it? Those are the golems you guys talked about." Moving in the distance, rocky beasts of varying sizes and shapes, all mulling about their crumbled dam. He noted with some disdain how large some of them looked- and Azazel expected them to fight these things? "I see what all the fuss is about now, but I don't see how it's a good idea to try and take these guys on in combat." He turned his eyes to Azazel for a quick moment, then turned his gaze back to the scene ahead.

A moment later, his horns and eyes lit up, and he cast out his preferred spell- Red Sense. He'd never cast it so far, but with some effort, he aimed its focus on the ruined dam and its moving residents- trying to get a feel of them, how large they really were, how many...

tag: Makyna, Leon, Azazel, Bevy, whoever else we end up traveling with?

Bevy was quite happy to stay perched on Cancer's horn, its smooth, round tip perfect for her slight form. It was true that they were headed to Polaris, and even she couldn't help but giggle, breast feathers ruffling up, when Cancer was awestruck. He had never been anywhere else, he hadn't seen the world. He may knew how to organize and talk, but explorer he was not.

"This is it," she chirped softly, lowering her beak to his ear. "I was born here, y'know." She had always thought it was too scary, though she kept finding herself back through the massive chamber. She knew it like the flight feathers in her wings.

Bevy also knew the golems well. It had been her who had awoken them, flooding the river and turning the lights on. The memory still made her shiver, but everyone had escaped unharmed. Now the golems were running amok, a danger to the gembounds with magic.

As soon as Cancer began to glow under her red feathers, she felt a tingly sense of unease. "The golems can sense magic, Cancer. I know they're far away, but careful, okay?" She asked of her friend, her tweets soft and timid.

Sure enough, as Leon warned Bevy and Makyna to hang back, they joined them anyways. He was less worried about Bevy than he was for Makyna - after all, Bevy had wings. She could fly and avoid the golems relatively easily. Makyna, however, was in the same position as the rest of them and would have to rely on quick paws to get away from the golems. Not that Leon was going to let them get anywhere near her in the first place - but still. He only wished that she would be more mindful of his words. As Bevy spoke her caution to Cancer, the bear blinked and turned to him, wide-eyed. "Don't," He warned. "I don't know what you're doing, but don't use magic."

If it didn't attract the golems now, it would certainly gain their interest if they got closer. Leon took a few steps after Cancer, moving up to his side to gaze out across the room. The golems milled idly about, some of them scraping at the ground, while others sat unmoving - waiting - for what? Leon frowned and glanced to Azazel. "I didn't realize there were so many of them. We definitely need to be careful around here..." His voice trailed off for a moment and his gaze returned to the golems, only for him to turn back to the bearded vulture once more. "Didn't you say you had a way to fight them?" Leon had been curious then, but more so now, having seen the golems again and been reminded of just how large and frightening they truly were.

Life is precious.

She knew Leon was worried about her and she knew that he wanted her to wait behind but what was the fun in that? She had come here to research golems and darn it that was what she was going to do! Like any of them she needed to know how to combat them, what strategies to use and all that. So, dutifully she tracked on right behind the rest of her friends to Polaris.

The place was the same as ever, minus the golems roaming around, that was distinctly different. There was no yeti here either... That day... That day had been awful and as the memory tried to resurface she pushed it away. That would only burden here, it would be better to think of other things. Such as how on earth they were going to combat these large stone creatures! Makyna had never seen a golem before and though they were just as Aza'zel had described, it still gave her a little fear to be watching them. What could they do about them?

Cancer's wonder caused a smile to form on her face as she looked at him. "I can't believe you've never been here before! Me'n'Leon will have to take you exploring one day." She said with a laugh, partly joking and partly not. The lioness knew what Leon would think of bringing Cancer along.... Perhaps she and would would have to go exploring alone. It was a shame he spent all of his days in that one cavern. She'd go made if she tried that.

In reply to Cancer she said, "It's not a good idea but we need to know how to fight them. What if one of us is attacked by them or they come to Pisces? If we don't know how to defend ourselves we're doomed but if we do... then we've got a chance." The lioness said logically. It made sense to her. You couldn't fight what you didn't know anything about. Knowledge was power.

Now she turned to Leon and Aza'zel. "Aza said he fought one once and he and his friend killed it. Isn't that right?" If the bird could attack and kill a golem then she'd no doubt that she and her friends could. After all, Leon was huge! He had plenty of strength to attack the creatures with! While she herself had the magic to take things apart.

"Speech." || "Thoughts."

table by lisa

words: 401
tagged: Cancer, Bevy, Leon, Aza'zel
ooc: ---
muse: 6/10

Well. Bevy had insisted on coming along, but The Bone King knew that Makyna was meant to come, because of their previous meeting in Cetus, having stopped to bathe real quick. Riding along on the thermals in the caverns, Azazel watched out below. Cancer definitely hadn't been here before, stirring up a small chuckle from the ave. The feline was so intruiged by Polaris, and he lived right nextdoor to it! Just how exactly could Cancer be cooped up in that room full of water, when there was so much more to Origin Caves? He'd definitely have to convince his scaredy butt to search for greener pastures, even if he thought Pisces was the greenest. He was so very wrong in that opinion. Just what if he showed him Canis? The persian leopard would have the time of his life organizing all of the bones in there!

All heads turned to him, and The Bone King raised an eyebrow, swooping down to land on the cave floor with an audible click! click! of talons. "Yes, I have fought a golem before, and a conga line of four. I'm not sure if I killed them, though. It was more of tearing them into a pile of rocks then leaving." Shrugging a bit guiltily, Azazel chuckled, hopefully tearing them to bits was the answer to at least deactivating them for some time. "They seem really strong and formidable, but in reality, they're very weak. All it takes is to jump on some of their rocks to get them to high-tail it away from you. I found that out by accident. I was just trying to distract one so it didn't crush Krakarak, and the whole beast just fell into a lump."

Cancer's only aknowlegement to being warned was a flick of his right ear- he knew what he was doing. A quick scan told him there were more than he could count to yet, but that was good enough. He sat upright and looked back at the group as his magic cut off in an instant- he was getting good at doing that. They spoke of killing golems, and the implications made Cancer's sour expression return. He coughed before he spoke, to cut Azazel off from saying anything more.

"No one's killing anything until we figure out why they're here." He turned to look back down at the golems with just his eyes, narrowed gaze calculating possibilities. "They're not hurting anything now, right? Maybe... Maybe when you guys went in claws flailing, that scared them?" He looked pointedly at Azazel now. "I mean, if you woke up from your first-sleep and suddenly, there are tiny creatures swarming you, how would you feel?" The cat wasn't done talking yet. He had a point to make.

"Why don't we just put fighting them as a last-resort plan and come up with something a little more intelligent than bashing rocks with clubs." He glanced at Leon this time, then even Makyna got this crass look- but gentler, of course. "What we need is someone who can try and talk to them, without getting too close..." With that, his gaze turned and stayed on Makyna. He knew she had that ability, to throw her voice and make it sound as if it were coming from far away in another direction. That's what he needed now- but better. "Makyna, you can do that thing, where you fill the whole cave with words. Do you think, if we found you a safe place, where they won't see or feel you, you could cast a strong spell like that, see if they're smart enough to communicate?" He'd give her a moment to mull it over, by turning to the others.

"Bevy, I want you up there. See those spires? Think you can land and cling to one? I need you to be at the ready in case things go wrong- which they won't, but still." He looked to Cancer and Azazel next. "Azazel, I have no rank over you, so in the end, you can do whatever, but here's my idea for the both of you.

"Azazel will find a high vantage point. If the Golems turn on us, you'll drop down with an attack- but only if they turn on us. Don't get trigger happy." He turned to Leon. "Same with you. Find a good vantage point and be ready to fight if things go badly." He looked back at the golems now and paused to really think this time. "I'll uhm..." Oh dear, this was what he'd been dreading. He wasn't good at fighting- his magic was detection only, for the most part. That left him with only his brains and brawns- and leopards weren't really brawny. "Makyna, I'll be with you, guiding you on what to say. We want to be as polite and friendly as possible. If they're intelligent, at all, I want them to know that we aren't all out for blood." Clearly, Cancer wasn't fond of the idea of fighting golems for no good reason.

"Unless anyone has a better idea, can we call this a plan and get this thing started? Or are we gonna call a council every time something unfamiliar pops up in the cave?" He considered the pair of males with contempt- they'd been awful quick to assume these things dangerous. Knowing Azazel and the way he did things, it wasn't all that unlikely to assume the bird hit first- or some like-minded 'bound had. This whole she-bang was probably a misunderstanding.

Those happened a lot around here, it seemed.

With the arrival of the Gembounds, the golems could sense the air of magic surrounding them. However, the Gembounds were still a good distance away, and the magic imbued in the surrounding shattered dam was too powerful to draw them away. Cancer's magic use didn't go unnoticed - several of the golems would stop and turn towards it before continuing their slow lumber across the ground, inspecting shards and stones as they passed by. In total, there appeared to be about seventeen of the golems all milling around the dam - and more golems were coming together from the rocks of the shattered wall.

Bevy didn't like the look of it at all, and Cancer insisting that he knew what he was doing wasn't much comfort either. She could only trust her friend, even if it made her heart race, and do what he asked. "Okay, okay... Just be careful," she tweeted softly to his ears before taking flight above the leopard's head. Her flight wasn't graceful, but it took her high above the reach of the golems. She swooped to a good perch of crystals where she could watch both groups-- the gembound and the golems-- and waited for her friends to do their thing.

Maybe the golems were friendly. She had tried to heal one and had woken it up. Could she spot the one now, was it even still here? Her sharp bird eyes peered at the individual golems, but despite being all different shapes and sizes they more or less looked the same. Rocks with gems. Unnatural. What were they even doing, milling about?

Despite her worries about using magick, young Bevy found herself desperate to find the individual she had poured her magick into. There was a good way to do this, but she hadn't known she could do this until it happened. A bit of magickal power unlocked in the small pitohui bird, and suddenly the world of bacteria started to become visible.

It wasn't quite like seeing, but already she began to feel the bacteria in the room. Like white dots swarming over different surfaces, clinging to different materials in different clumps. It almost overwhelmed her at first, as she clung to her perch and looked around in awe. Could she really tell where her magick had gone? There seemed to be so much of this stuff in the heart of origin cave.

i imagine there will probably be some kind of squabble, so maybe we can nix the post order for now to get it settled and then carry on as usual? :P

Makyna commented about taking Cancer exploring, and then again about having to investigate the golems further so that they knew how to fight them. Much as Leon wanted the lioness to stay as far away from the danger as possible, she was right. They would need to examine these creatures further if they wanted to know how to beat them. They weren't like normal Gembounds - they didn't have skin that could hurt or bones to break. They were just rocks.

His attention returned to Azazel, listening as the bird described the few times he had encountered the golems. Apparently the easiest way to deal with the golems was to just smash them apart - which made sense, given they were just moving piles of rocks. If they could smash the golems apart, they wouldn't be able to come after them... or may they could, just in smaller pieces. It would take some trying to figure out how to deal with them. Thankfully, Leon had yet to hear of anybody getting killed by the golems - so maybe they weren't as dangerous as they perceived them to be. Leon didn't really want to take the chance either way. He was about to comment on Azazel's technique before Cancer butted in, and Leon fell silent, turning his sights to the leopard.

For some reason, he doubted the danger of the golems. Leon slowly narrowed his eyes, unsure if he was willing to follow somebody that didn't believe an obvious threat to be, well, a threat. He allowed some leeway in that Cancer hadn't experienced their aggression before, but Leon had - didn't Leon's word mean anything? While the bear sat silently and listened to his plan, he didn't like it. Especially as he suggested Makyna using her magic to probe the golems, and Cancer being the one to guard her. "No way," Leon cut in. "These things, all they know is magic - and you think it's a good idea for Makyna to sit out and invite them over? What happens if they find a way to get to her? What are you gonna do?" He frowned, stepping closer to Cancer with a skeptical gesture of his nose. "If you're gonna put a giant target on her back at least have somebody there that can protect her from getting torn apart by those golems when they come. Besides, Makyna's smart enough, she doesn't need you whispering in her ear." He sneered.

If Leon was ever defensive about anything, it was Makyna. There was no way he was going to let Cancer plop her down somewhere and call all the golems to them. Leon didn't even like that idea - why couldn't they just let Makyna sit back instead of throwing her into the middle of it? Even so, his friend likely wouldn't agree to sitting idle - the least they could do was let Leon, a capable warrior (relatively) guard her.

Sure enough, everyone but Leon liked the idea and when the bear shouted his disapproval, the cat whirled to meet it head on. He let the bear cub roar his complaints, then with a glance at Makyna, he turned his savage temper on the brute. This wasn't a time to be getting jealous, and Makyna deserved an equal part to play- she was anything but a damsal, and he knew it.

"OH SURE, it would be YOU disapproving this, wouldn't it?" This was it. Time to shine and put this bear cub in his place. They were equals, here. All of them. Cancer didn't plan on fighting if they turned on them. He and Makyna were both equally fast and the same size for now- they could both get away cleanly if somethin went wrong. The stubby-legged bear? Not as likely. "Listen, you fat-headed jerk, I'm not putting Makyna in that kind of danger, alright? You and Azazel can fight these things if something goes wrong. That's why you're the flanking party. You'll be in just the right position to dive in and intercept them, and give Makyna and I, who can't fight those things, a chance to get the hell out of there! OH, but you don't think that far ahead, do you!? You just want to keep me away from her, because you're greedy and jealous!" Yeah, he'd noticed. He didn't know why the hell the bear had any reason to be so pent up over his friendship with the lioness, but he wasn't going to let it ruin the task at hand.

"I get that you guys think these things are hostile killing machines or whatever, but I somehow sincerely doubt you even thought to try diplomacy with them the first time! We need to be absolutely sure there's no other way to get through to them before we go smashing rock-heads all over the place, okay!?" His fur bristled and that long tail lashed side to side, claws digging into the stone. He wasn't yelling, but the coarse tone of his voice and the rapid-fire words were enough to get his anger across. "And I know Makyna's smart enough for this, but I've got the balls to debate with them if they turn out to be smart!"

"I get that you don't like me or whatever, Leon, but for once could you just set that aside and look at the bigger picture? We need to have all bases covered here. If Bevy gives the alarm, or Makyna and I turn tail, you two brutes can go ahead and knock some heads." Then, he had a thought, and added, "Besides, from where we'd be, we'd be safe from any initial response. I can sense if they're closing in or getting riled with my magic. We're safer than you lot out in the open, even if we are the ones casting magic- so what's a better idea than that, pray tell?"