At first it was just a sound, the rustling of leaves to the side of the small group. Soon however there was also a scent of something vile and a very bloated, very sickly-looking rat darted out from the bushes running like its life depended on it. Apparently not caring for life of limb the small creature dashed right between the deer and cat as a much louder sound made it clear that it was definitely running from something.

Sure enough, toppling over the bush a vibrant blue creature as large as a full-grown lion burst into the clearing with a focused look and one talon held in the air as though it had hurt it and couldn't use it to help in running. Reflection on the memory of the image would reveal that there was a slight shimmer to the space around that hand-like appendage as he slammed it down as soon as he had clear line of sight to the fleeing rodent.

The extremely visible gryphon lost its footing attempting to stop so suddenly, but whatever it had been preparing seemed to take hold instantly nonetheless. A trail of brown energy hovered across the surface of the ground between the two new creatures and a two foot wide column of clear quartz crystal burst from the ground under the rat with such ferocity that it looked like it might either bludgeon it to death of send it flying to the top of the trees.

Instead however the rat squealed loudly as it fruitlessly attempted to climb out of the structure; not a column but a thick tube that now had it trapped inside. The inner walls were apparently smooth with no footing, and as added precaution the top had been caged shut with a few more smaller columns zig zagging and intersecting across the opening after leaving the soil.

The gryphon lay sprawled on the ground, apparently breathing too heavily to immediately take full recognition of the two larger shapes in front of him. That changed after a few seconds as his eyes widened and a sheepish grin set itself upon his face.

"Sorry for interrupting." he spoke, still not quite to the point of picking himself upright.

---

Pouch 1: Baubled talc rods x12	Pouch 2: Charcoal dust (50 in3)	Pouch 3: Dried Mothers Tear mushrooms (25 in3)	Pouch 4: Charcoal chunks x7 (medium)
Back bag: Empty

Take hold of the power within
"And shape the fabric of reality around you"
tags: @Rift @Pride
notes: None

((note: entrance coordinated through Discord))

Rift thought for a moment, trying to remember if he had ever met a weasel and one with a poisonous gem. But, as far as he could remember, he had never come across such a creature. "Hm, no, I'm sorry, I've never met them before. Although I see what you are doing with the sap. Not a bad idea. But I deal with more poisonous plants then poisonous gems here. I have..."

He was cut off by a sudden crashing and turned around just to see Amras throwing himself after a foul smelling rat. A little shocked, he stepped back, his ear flicking with surprise. "Oh, hi Amras. I see you're still on the hunt."

That was good, even if he had stopped for now, at least the gryphon was still going after the creatures that carried the disease. He stepped forward and leaned down, sniffing the crystal and the rat inside. "Has your hunt been successful? More importantly," he turned towards Amras, his face growing serious, "have you touched any? Are you feeling sick at all?" During his time cleaning the plants, he had had to stop to cleanse himself of plague that had somehow made its way into his system.

@Pride

Pride startled back when the gryphon came plowing through, far more than he had at the much more sedate appearance of the cougar. Instead he scrambled back, tumbling into the leaves and leaping away a few paces with an alarmed, sharp snort.

He came back upright, rolling from the ferns to hear the other two talking and blinked, a few times. He was still a fawn--and a prey animal at heart, one with little experience of the world. A huge, clawed, beaked creature smashing into the clearing set off all his instincts, and it took him a moment to gather himself.

"...Not at all," he responded with no hint of tone, to Amras' apology. It might have been dour or genuine. He then shook his coat out as he listened to the pair speak. Something about a hunt--predators after all, then. Perhaps they might kill him? But surely, if that was what Rift wished, he would have done so already. They knew one another, apparently--and this stranger's name was Amras.

Quiet, Pride stepped back to his stones, and focusing on the second one with its sap, he tried to busy himself with his magic while they spoke. This, he struggled with. It was as if the resin resisted his efforts, and after a moment of sharp, intense focus, his pinpoint surge of magicka was allowed to simply dissipate as he gave up. He'd have to gather himself and try again, but meanwhile-...

He turned his attention back to the pair. "Have you touched any? Do you feel sick at all?" Pride listened, one ear flicking, with interest; but he did not know of what they spoke, and so could not make heads or tails of the conversation.

The white fawn then spoke, faint humor lacing his voice, each word again carefully chosen. "I am Pride. I trust... if you plan to eat me, you... would allow me to fight back." It seemed only sporting, after all. Though he didn't get the impression that that's what these two really wanted.

@Amras

A silent moment passed as the other two recovered their wits as much as Amras had. In that time the gryphon was able to fully take in the situation. He had arrived at the edge of the clearing with Rift and an unknown deer facing each other. How he happened upon Rift again before their scheduled meeting was astounding given the size of the room, but Amras optimistically chose to interpret that as an indication that he was being thorough. Neither seemed to be too tense and the deer wasn't running despite its instinctual retreat so it was likely a social visit or Rift requesting help from another.

"Good to see you again, Rift." he said, finally getting up onto all four limbs again. His eyes drifted to the cylinder in which the rat was currently occupied still trying to scurry up the sides, only to get a third of the way at best before falling back down. "I've been able to track down a few plagued creatures; one I had to electrify, one I had to completely freeze in the stream, one that I had to throw into the room edge before it could gore me with a charge, and finally this one which seems to have been successfully captured alive.

It'd been a long day...

"Luckily I think I managed to avoid physically touching any, but it may not be a bad idea to clean up and call it a day after we figure out what to do with this one."

Just as he finished his reply the fawn spoke up, apparently having gone back to a strange pile of stones and sap during the conversation. It didn't looke like something the young gembound would likely eat, what were they doing?

Amras emphatically shook his head, his eyes dashing to Rift for a second. Had they been threatening them? Surely not. "By no means!" he offered with resolve, "Aside from the fact that neither of us requires meat at this point neither of us has ever eaten a talking one."

At least he really hoped Rift had never eaten a talking one.

"It is good to meet you, Pride. My name is Amras."

Really, what was with kids names these days? First there was Envy, then there was the bat that had three different names, and now there was Pride.

---

Pouch 1: Baubled talc rods x12	Pouch 2: Charcoal dust (50 in3)	Pouch 3: Dried Mothers Tear mushrooms (25 in3)	Pouch 4: Charcoal chunks x7 (medium)
Back bag: Empty

Take hold of the power within
"And shape the fabric of reality around you"
tags: @Rift @Pride
notes: None

Rift hadn't really noticed Pride's sudden stumble back until he made his way back to where he was before. He glanced over at his reply to the apology, wondering if it was sarcasm or genuine. Well, it didn't matter. At the moment, what mattered most was making sure Amras was okay.

"It'd good that you haven't touched any, but apparently the plague travels by air as well. Just in case..." His ear started shimmering as magic began to activate, twisting and forming until a small layer of blueish-green light enveloped his paw. Warmth and strength flowed through his leg and he raised it, pressing it gently on Amras. When he pulled his paw away, there would be a glowing mark left over that would quickly dissipate through the gryphon's body, cleansing away any plague that may have touched him. "There. If any plague had caught onto you, it is gone now."

He turned towards Pride, chuckling along with his statement. "No, I haven't eaten fresh prey in a cycle at least! Besides, I'd also never eat anything that talked. That's completely barbaric. No, light is my source of nourishment." His green fur rippled as he spoke of his new eating habits. Sebastian had always thought it was strange that he would rather hang in trees, taking in light for food instead of catching it or, at the very least, eating the fruits of the plants he grew. Sometimes he did, for a treat, but not often.

Then his face grew serious as he remembered what kind of trouble the forest could be in. "Pride...you haven't seen any strange looking creatures around, have you? They would be like regular animals, but with a foul stench and sick looking bodies."

@Pride

Pride considered this question carefully.

He had seen very few rats in his short life, and most had seemed entirely healthy. He certainly hadn't seen any here, in Eridanus--he had no idea of the plague-bearer, or Rift's successful joint effort to preserve Eridanus entirely from his touch.

He also had hunted, briefly, in Polaris, but that-... That was another matter altogether. He hummed to himself in brief thought, focusing on his magicka again, channeling it, whilst at the same time casting his mind closely over his brief span of memories of the cave. This time, the resin over the stone heated and bubbled easily, and he took note of this, then left it to dry, to see what would happen.

"I do not... believe so," he said at last, thoughtfully, "but then, I have only hunted a few times, and that is to help another who could not," he added. He was tempted, almost, to ask for help with Aster's leg--but these two were huge, and he would never forgive himself if he came back to Polaris, with them in tow, and they killed her as she lay helpless. He did not know them well enough.

"Though--... One or two there did smell... off," he admitted. "None of those that I... captured, however. And in Orion... I caught the same odor, though... never saw its source." Perhaps it was only something minor that he scented. He had assumed it to be dead rats; perhaps it was? He had never, however, caught the scent in Canis.

At length Pride glanced up at the others, watching them with pale grey eyes, curious. "You both, it seems... hold noble goals."

@Amras

Amras watched with great interest as Rift approached him with spell in paw. He could feel the flow of alien magic, similar to the influence from the magic festival but worlds apart in nature. This felt soft, warm, benign. He could feel the innate magic in his body gather against it, but rather than push back it made way. He could feel the warmth spread through him as magic affected life and life flourished within. Life that was not his but was beneficial to him. This was definitely disease magic, but a usage so much different from the nauseating spell that the mushrooms had given him insight into.

Perhaps he could adapt it, emulate it to attempt to cure the rat in its cage. There was a good chance that it was too late for it, but a live test subject would certainly be beneficial. The gryphon nodded solemnly to his new friend in thanks for their help on multiple levels.

"It sounds like you have nobility of your own to be willing to hunt to help another." Amras replied to the deer. "Is your current set up for them as well?"

What exactly they were doing with the sap and rocks was a bit of a mystery, unless the sap was flammable and the deer was without light there was little that he could think of that they might have been trying to accomplish.

---

Pouch 1: Baubled talc rods x12	Pouch 2: Charcoal dust (50 in3)	Pouch 3: Dried Mothers Tear mushrooms (25 in3)	Pouch 4: Charcoal chunks x7 (medium)
Back bag: Empty

Take hold of the power within
"And shape the fabric of reality around you"
tags: @Rift @Pride
notes: None

Well, it was at least good that Pride had not encountered the sick rats in person, although him having caught the scent was worrying. He couldn't tell how far into the forest the rats and animals had infected, but he could assume that it was deeper then he would have liked. Anger once again flashed through his eyes at the thought of the horse. More and more work to be done, more creatures that lived under the forest's protection harmed and dying. And only because a deluded creature had dared step foot in here.

But this was not the time to get angry. There were two others here and it was not an appropriate time to go on a rant about the idiots that came through the forest. No, he had to think about what Pride had said. Nobility. Was his protecting of the forest noble? His goals of keeping it clean and safe? It seemed a strange word to tie into his work, but he guessed that, perhaps, it was. Safety and protection for innocent life. Yes, noble indeed.

He gave a nervous laugh. "Yes, perhaps, but nobility is never something I pursued. Only the protection of the forest." But turning his attention back to this creature with the poison gem, he wondered what it would be like to never eat, to never taste the sweetness of berries or the delicate mint leaf. The thought made him very sad and he suddenly felt like he had to do something.

Rift turned to the side, leaned down, and touched his nose to the earth. From the seeds beneath the dirt, a small sprout appeared, which quickly grew and spread, growing leaves and small red buds until there was a large bush. The buds sprouted into flowers which, as the magic finished working, dropped away into lovely red berries.

Rift turned back to Pride. "When you return to your friend, take some of these berries to them. Perhaps when they can eat, they can enjoy the sweet taste of raspberries!"

@Pride

"I hold nobility... in high regard, in my actions," Pride explained, sparing Amras a brief glance. Nobility was important. Acting in a noble fashion. "And even if you did not intend, Rift, it is still noble, I believe. The... aid, here, no. It is for a little one, Amras. A weasel, I believe. It is named--Envy." He was about to speak further, but he noticed Rift growing his plants, and he looked up and over at his actions.

The berries, it seemed, had grown quite quickly; Pride stepped delicately over, picking one up and eating it himself.

Yes, it was sweet; it did not seem to be toxic, at least. He bobbed his head a bit in approval, and looked to Rift. "I have little way to carry them," he responded, "but I can perhaps bring Envy back here. I was going to use that sap, but it seems... you have removed it." He glanced at the tree, only the faintest reproach in his tone. He understood that Rift was healing plants, but it would be an inconvenience to have to find another source.

Ahh, well.

At length, he shifted his pale gaze to Amras, curious.

"And what do you do?" he asked, at length. The two--Amras and Rift--had spoke as if quite familiar to one another, and Pride found himself wondering what it was that the creature did. He clearly had set himself to some task--finding sick creatures?--but why?

@Amras

The gryphon's eyes widened at the sound of Envy's name. The poor little creature that Li had taken under their care, weak in body but tackling the world with a personality that would probably get them in trouble one day. He was curious what the younger one was doing these days, whether that had trough chance began to accept the friendship of others or if this deer had been a target of less benign forms of convincing.

"I know Envy," he spoke as his face began to return to a more neutral position, "They were raised by my first friend in the caves, and I've watched them grow up from afar. Life dealt them a harsh hand but their innate skill in magic seems to have overcome much of it. Perhaps if the sap doesn't work we can collaborate some time on other methods?"

He had given this problem a decent bit of thought in the past, but every solution seemed like it would either be useless or more detrimental than the gem itself. Should the gem be blocked by something not strong enough it would just wash away. If blocked with something too thick Envy could honestly die due to inability to breathe. Unless of course they figured out how to breathe without needing air; not as unlikely as one would think with their reactive spell acquisition.

In response to the second question Amras simply grinned and indicated toward the trapped rat. "As for me: I am a researcher of magic, lead in my field. To this point I've mostly been working on theoretical composition, but now that I have almost all the basics down I'm pretty sure I'm going to need something else to do with my time."

---

Pouch 1: Baubled talc rods x12	Pouch 2: Charcoal dust (50 in3)	Pouch 3: Dried Mothers Tear mushrooms (25 in3)	Pouch 4: Charcoal chunks x7 (medium)
Back bag: Empty

Take hold of the power within
"And shape the fabric of reality around you"
tags: @Rift @Pride
notes: Sorry this took so long!