OF WISPS AND WHISPERS

CETUS - Ghostlight

A strange glow illuminates the distant mist. It seems to dance from one place to another, far-off and flickering: a pale green-blue fire that never stays in one place for long.

There are many of these ghostlights scattered throughout the swamp--and following them will draw the too-curious further into the thick forest. Those following on foot will splash through the black and murky water, with all its dangers, and deeper and deeper into the fog.

It's far too easy to get lost--and the dancing lights all seem to lead to the same place... a clearing that seems to spark with magical energy.

Electric Storm, Electric Storm, Electric Storm, Don't Cry Baby
The bobtailed cat had been resting under the dimmed lights of Cetus on top the smooth surface of her rocky den when a strange glow illuminated her closed eyelids. It was so sudden that the feline was immediately awaken just in time to see the strange green eye bounce along. It was a curious thing that drew her attention. Perhaps it was the newly formed friendship with Zeno that gave her more courage in the face of the unknown, or perhaps it was simply a feline’s curiosity of lights and flying bug like things. Whatever was the cause, Selena found herself almost uncharacteristically following after the glow. She slinked along the ground, merging with the multitude of shadows that formed by the weakening lights. Through soft dirt and murky waters, she made her way. It was unpleasant but nothing new for the feline who had made Cetus her home. The fog seemed to thicken making the swamp harder to see. The blue green grow was fuzzy but still visible as a strange beacon lighting the way. It would be difficult to figure her way back. For a moment, Selena stopped and glanced behind her. The eeriness of the situation had finally registered in her mind. With the fog, it would be easy for a predator to approach. For all she knew, the strange light was a trap of some sort…. Yet going back would be difficult with the fog and her travels through the watery ponds that scattered about. The fog would likely thin later and make the trip back later. She was alone and lost, which was terrifying. Ears flattened against her skull as her tiny tail flicked. Unfortunately, following the light was her best course of action. So, before the light faded from view, she went cautiously after it. Speech Thoughts Tags: Notes:

Charoite

Notice the small things. The rewards are inversely proportional.

A faint humming can perhaps be heard nearby as Charoite enters Cetus, but otherwise is likely drowned out for anyone more than a dozen feet away by the constant sound of rushing water. He's never been here before, and for a moment considers turning back before he gets lost in the thick mist. However it is at this moment that he notices the strange flickering green light, and curiosity gets the better of him. He tries his best to keep track of which way he is flying so that he can retrace his route to find the way back out, but this hope is dashed by the fact that the light seems to move to different spots. This however only makes the tiny bird even more curious about what this thing was, and he continues to try and follow it even as it moves.

Eventually he zips past a burnt orange feline, so focused on the light in front of him he almost doesn't notice until after he zooms between her large brown ears, suddenly stops in mid air and turns around, likely looking like an insect at first glance. He realizes at this point that he is unlikely to find his way back out of this cave on his own, but perhaps this cat knew the way out, even if first he still wanted to know what the strange light was. Finally, raising his tiny voice as loudly as he could manage, he speaks. "Hello? Are you following the strange light too?

In his quest to search the caves, to learn them, and to find Lesser Gembound in each, Pride had neglected Cetus. There were others, too, that he had yet to visit--Fornax among them--but this one was the most important, he felt, to have evaded his notice.

The hyena Giggle had spoken to him of her own familiar, of its ability to weave in and out of what she called "void," whatever that might be--and he knew now that the birds came from Cetus. So now the white stag wandered, a ghostly figure in the thick mist, his lower legs already coated with black from the swamp water. The place simultaneously put him on edge--anything could be anywhere, predators all around--and soothed him with its quiet shroud of fog. It was a natural cloak that could work for a prey animal--or against it, hiding a predator from sight until it was too late. This kept his instincts in a strange sort of nervous lull, calm yet alert to a danger he would never, regardless, be able to see.

It was only when the lights came that his mind had truly sharpened, one slender foreleg lifting, his ears fanning forward alertly. A fear, that of the unknown, of impossible things in the darkness, thrilled through him. What... is that? he thought to himself.

Quickly, he ran through the creatures he knew to live here. Birds, and spiders, rats too--all of these lived in most caves, and likely here as well. But none glowed. Deer, though... He'd seen a deer or two in Eridanus with bioluminescent markings. They had, to his understanding, been hybridized with some creature or other from here--from Cetus.

Perhaps those were lesser Gembound, ahead? Deer, like himself, but flashing and glowing in the darkness?

Pride picked up his pace, stepping swiftly after them, but they seemed to forever be out of reach. Soon enough he'd given up all attempts at moving hidden, instead splashing clumsily after them in bounding leaps through the black swamp water, letting out a stag's call into the fog behind them--hoping to call them back.

But they did not slow, and he followed blindly, deeper and deeper into the marsh.

The strange will o'wisps led at last into a misty clearing, and here Pride stopped, turning to look about him with wide, pale eyes. Were they friend, or foe..? Whatever they were, this place sparked with magic, and he flicked his tail as he circled to follow the strange lights. He hadn't yet spotted the others, had they even entered the clearing yet--his focus was, thus far, wholly on the glow that had lured him here.

This was his swamp!

...Well, it was his father's swamp! The alligator considered it his duty to keep track of all that transpired in Cetus, and more importantly, to ensure that any thread to his Children of Rot was immediately identified, and steps taken to defend against it.

That said, survival was his goal above all else, the keyword to existence, and so he was not so swift to charge blindly after this lights. It had been bad enough last time, with the screaming trees, and so he waited until he could hear others moving forward through the mists. None were his Children, and so he followed in silence, at first, drifting along through the marsh in the pitch-black.

When he came at last upon the source--a clearing ahead, dry land that seemed as filled with fog as the rest of Cetus and yet danced with the strange ghostlights--he paused out of sight, a soft hiss of suspicion escaping him. He slipped back a bit, lowered down into the muck, not quite entering into the clearing itself.

He stayed hidden, instead, hidden in the black and watching, a feeling of unease filling him. For once he did not bellow a challenge, or blast flame into the air--no, he would wait, he would see what would happen, and he would only set it on fire if it proved to be a threat.

Let it be a surprise to the strange lights, if he had to attack; let them be unaware of his lurking flame.

Yoosung had finally dared to leave Polaris, going through Tunnel H.

And, oh, it was cold! He had never experienced the cold before, but found he rather enjoyed it. And the water that dripped from the top of the tunnel was interesting, often plopping onto his head when he least expected it.

But now he stood at the entrance to Cetus, hesitant. It smelled funny, like old must and death. But he refused to turn tail and run, to retreat back to Polaris where he had spent all of his life.

And so he stepped forward, only to yelp "오!" when his paw sunk ankle deep into the ground. He whined loudly, but finally began to walk into the cave, only to be startled when he saw a green-blue fire.

And... something about them drew him. So he followed them, high-stepping through the swamp until something bright and white drew his eye. And it didn't take him long to realize that it was another Gembound - perhaps a Greater? He had only met a few Greater Gembounds in his time awake, and so he called out, "Hel-hel-hello." he had not had much of a chance to learn the common tongue, having hatched innately knowing a language that most of the Gembounds seemed incapable of speaking. "Are you, you..." he trailed off, brow furrowing as he searched for the word.

What was the common-tongue word for 다음?

Finally, he shook his head, and skipped the word, "the li-lights?"

@Pride

I've been on a lonely tripdragging along a lonely shadow

OF WISPS AND WHISPERS

CETUS - Ghostlight

The wisps vanished.

All at once, the clearing was plunged into darkness. The glowing, dancing lights had led the travellers here, to the middle of Cetus' thick wood--and now they left them stranded there. A soft, strange whispering began to fill the air, and the fog appeared to somehow deepen, to thread with shadows.

Those present would suddenly find themselves disoriented--which way was back..? Where had they come from?

And now, they could hear--in the soft chaos of the whispers that filled the fog--murmurs of their own names.

In the darkness beyond the clearing, something moved.

@Selena @Charoite @Pride @Dragon @Yoosung

Septiezal knew she should not have followed these strange, glowing lights, he felt it in the pit of his stomach, but they were so beautiful. The soft blue glow seemed to hypnotize him. They made him feel.. at peace. He had not felt such peace in a long, long time. He followed alone, away from the others. Actually, he did not know their were others.

Wait until I tell the others about this!
He had to justify his careless actions in his head as discovering something for the sake of the Children of Rot. What if this lead to something big? What if its a trap? Septiezal shook the thought from his head. He hoped not.

It wasn't until he approached the clearing when his tongue started to pick up on the scent of many gembounds, all fresh. The serpent paused, for a moment and considered turning back, but his curiosity got the better of him. What were they all doing here? Had the wisp led them here too? He slithered up a tree to scout out the situation. There were indeed other Gembounds. They all seemed to be gathered around the wisps. Septiezal flicked his tongue once more.

Dragon?

The thought he smelled the alligator somewhere nearby, but Dragon hung around Cetus so much, it was hard distinguishing his scent from the sour reek of Cetus.

Suddenly, the wisped vanished and the clearing went dark. Septiezal dug his claws into the branch, fear rising. Its a trap! I knew it! Huddled in the tree, he dare not move.

Something was out there...

"speak"

@Selena @Charoite @Pride @Dragon @Yoosung

Pridddeee...

He paused, one hoof held still midair, slicked black with mud up to the knee. He'd entered the clearing, a white and ghostly shape of his own in the shifting mist. Ears flicked forward, body tensing. What is that, murmuring my name..? But then came a familiar sight--the tiny hummingbird Charoite, peeping his questions.

Faint relief swept through the stag, and he relaxed some. Obviously it had been the hummingbird quietly calling him by name--he hoped--and not the swamp itself speaking to him. He turned back, spotting the strange dog--with its strange language--and he bowed his head in greeting to both of them. He thought he caught a faint scent of another, nearby--perhaps Selena--but over the stench of the swamp it was difficult to be sure.

"Hello--it is nice to meet you, I am Pride," he said to the dog, and then, to Charoite, with more warmth and less formality--"And it is good to see you again. I am glad that you are well. Yes, I was following the lights--foolish, perhaps, now that they have vanished. Errant magic..?"

The stag mulled this over, then looked forward.

In the trees beyond the mist, something was moving, something large and dark. He again tensed. His voice dropped quiet, a soft and urgent warning. "Something is out there."

@Charoite @Selena @Yoosung

Dragon settled lower in the mud, his dark eyes narrowing some. There were others, here, speaking--others he didn't know, strangers to him. None of them were Children (he had no idea Septiezal was nearby; had he been, he'd have been pleased that the snake was hidden as well as he was).

He could see something moving in the distance, in the mist--heard the quiet warning of the white deer. Slowly, he shifted his magicka to his hide; he was already almost impossible to see, but he attempted to deepen this even further, to mottle his hide with darker patches to break up his outline even more.

It didn't matter much--he was half-submerged, regardless--but it couldn't hurt.

Probably.

With no way to tell if his spell had worked, he merely lay there in silence, waiting.