Tamelyn Thunderhoof And I will fear no darkness

Sometimes, Tamelyn found the most amazing places when she traveled.

Other times, she found windy, dusty hellholes like this.

The fawn was now more of a doe, her lankiness gradually smoothing out in the svelte form she would possess as a true adult, but she wasn't quite there yet. Any gracefulness she might have begun to display was hidden by the hunched, miserable posture she took against the ceaseless wind. Her head was lowered, nose pointed to the ground, and her eyes were squinted against the dust the constant breeze threw up. To further complicate things, her still-healing rib twinged with each step, further slowing her down. Stupid Aquarian. She was looking for another way out of the cavern so she could continue on her way, but as it turned out, she'd find something entirely different.

She gradually became aware of a new noise under the howl of the wind. It was low and periodic, an intake of air followed by a whoosh as it was driven out again. It was the breath of some massive creature, and for a moment, she paused, unsure of herself. Then, Tamelyn shook herself and plunged determinedly onward. Let it never be said that Tamelyn Thunderhoof had ever chickened out of something because of a stupid noise.

A few more minutes of travel brought her to a sort of crater, sheltered by an outcropping of rock. The breathing noise had gradually gotten louder, and now she could see the source: a massive winged lizard, seemingly imbued with fire, slumbered there. She paused again, flicking her ears forward. She could hear the sleepy breaths of another creature, this one much smaller. As she drew closer, more creatures came into view, but these ones were awake. She recognized the lion cub, and was glad to see he was doing well after the battle in Cetus, but the sheep was unfamiliar, as was the…deer? Bird? Deer-bird? There was also a wolf-thing, but unlike Arkrael, he was winged, and hunched on two legs. It seemed slightly unnatural to the deer, and she gave him a wide berth as she drew closer to the scene. There was also an owl she recognized, though she had never spoken to him before. As interesting as this little gathering was, Tamelyn was more interested in the sleeping beasts, and the stones they guarded.

With great care, she slid down the slopes of the pit until she was standing before the two creatures. She could probably wake them up with a good solid Thunderclap, but something in her urged caution. The dragon didn’t look like he’d be very friendly awake, and the lamb…Well, the lamb was just too darn cute. There had to be something sinister about her.

Tamelyn looked down at the stones lying on the ground, one in particular catching her eye. It was a beautiful deep blue color, like the morning glories that sometimes grew in Eriandus. She had been used to seeing stones only on Gembound, what was this one doing all by itself? With quiet steps, she drew closer and lowered her head, seeking to take the stone gently in her mouth and pull it from the ground. Her eyes remained fixed on the two creatures, ready to leap away and rocket up the slopes of the crater if either woke up.

"Listen to me."

table by lisa, image and modifications by FennecFyre

One after the other, more and more gembounds seemed to be showing up to investigate the area. The owl that had flown onto the Dragon was not his problem so he ultimately ignored it as he studied the gem in front of him. A soft rumbling sounded in his chest. Though when the mighty beast before him suddenly moved, Damian froze in his spot and shot his gaze up. His breath froze in his lungs and he remained motionless until he knew for certain the dragon was not going to move again. The deerbird had swooped in and grasped up the deer. Whether it was to save him or feast upon it Damian did not know, nor did he care.

Shaking his thoughts away Damian turned his gaze down to the Seraphinite. For a moment Damian settled with clawing at the ground around the gem. Once he felt like it was enough he once again grasped his paws around the Seraphinite again and began pulling and tugging. There was a sudden crack before the gem broke free and he went flying back to fall on his rump. A dark smirk suddenly curled across his features as he held the gem in the palm of his paw. He studied the size of it for a long moment before he quickly scrambled up and looked around, eager to find a way out.

"Speech"

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Ooc:
Tags:

table coded by banshee | For Free Use! | Edited by Arkrael

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The little owl screamed all the way up, loud and ear-piercing, terrified. Something had snatched him up from his quiet and peaceful jaunty walk and flew off with him and he'd been certain it was going to eat him. Panicked, he fumbled and fluttered away the moment he was set down, squawking and shrieking.

It was only after nothing touched him for awhile that he went still, trembling and listening around.

He could hear the click of hooves somewhere nearby, and a rustle of feathers, and someone had tried to speak to him, he thought, but he'd been so busy squalling that he hadn't heard it. And he could hear breathing.

A large, heavy, vast breathing, from below--from where he'd been walking just a moment before.

Had he come up so high?!

He crept forward, cautious this time, until his talons met the pit's edge. Here he peered down, eyes blind but tufted ears taking it in. Yes, there was something down there--something warm--and it was very, very large. But it hadn't attacked him. Its breathing was even; perhaps it was injured and unconscious? Was it trapped?

Hesitant, the little owl tried his best to send a thought to the creature, trying to connect his mind to its.

Hello...? Do you need help, down there? I can hear you but--but I can't see you. I'm blind. Are you there? Are you hurt?

The thought came with a telepathic wave of genuine concern, even of fear for the creature. What if it was afraid, down there, and alone? If there was a large Gembound lying there helpless and hurt, then maybe he could find Bevy to come and help.

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The dragon and the lamb fail to respond to Tamelyn stealing the kyanite, nor to Damien taking the seraphinite. They do not budge or shift, apparently completely unaware of what is happening. As Dark tries to reach out to the dragon with his mind, the owl will receive a feeling in response. There are no audible, coherent words - only a strong feeling of dozy animosity.

With all the commotion and the prancing and the yelling and talking it was no surprise that the queen eventually caught wind of intruders. It wasn't as if they were quiet. Diamondfang wasn't completely happy with others desecrating her borders and stealing her items. That pit was hers and those gems were hers! As far as she was concerned anything that showed up within Monoceros belonged to her whether someone had "claimed" them or not.

Within the shade of a rock the queen sat as she watched the goings-on. Apparently these were not very smart creatures if they wanted to wake that dragon. No matter if they succeeded then she'd just swoop in to steal all of their gems while they were roasted and if they didn't wake the dragon and tried to escape... well, she could always call Nem and they'd forcefully take the gems away. Not yet though. She would wait and let them do all of the work first while she remained next to the stone with fur changed to match the shade of the rock ground below her.

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words: 182
tagged: Quest
ooc: Fang is lying the shadows, not participating, just watching the others. She won't make a move till someone tries to leave with a gem or one of the creatures wakes.
muse: 5/10

"Talking looks like this."
Thinking looks like this...

Timby felt that trying to wake the lamb was hopeless. He couldnt fly like the deer-bird or winged beast. He could jump very high like the animal with the spotted fur He guessed he could try telepathy. He feared he would wake it up it and the dragon though.

The owl seemed to do it however and the dragon still didn't wake. He guess he could give it a shot but it probably wouldn't do much. It didn't. In a different way that he expected though. He thought that the spell would work but it would ignore the message. Instead the spell just failed. He was really out of ideas now."Speech"

The lion remained prudent in action, attention focused on the scene unfolding before him. The weird deer-bird thing he had no name for seemed to dash in, bring out a screaming owl, and following that reprimanded it, somehow. Then, the weird dog gembound got a stone and so did a deer. Usui noted how she slid down the slides and so attempted to do a similar thing. He wasn’t too sure what the stones were but he felt that they could provide more answers regarding Origin. As such, he slowly lowered himself down, rump first, and landed near to the dragon. Pale green eyes scanned the area and fell upon the jagged cluster of danburite. With muffled footfalls, the lion carefully inched his way towards the sleeping dragon and attempted to get the stone.

Alas, he yannked and tugged but it refused to bulge. Usui decided to take a break and stood by the gem he'd wish to take, controlling his breathing so as not to awaken the creatures within.

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The owl peered blindly down and listened intently, and heard all manner of noises--shifting, breathing, the faintest touch of paw to stone so quiet that he barely heard it. It was like a mouse's footsteps, though he could hear the slight grating of stone-on-stone--or was that teeth-on-stone?--that came after.

He shivered, a little. He could feel that the creature he'd landed on had been hostile, though, and wondered if maybe the one who had snatched him away had been warning him of the danger? Maybe the ones in the pit knew of the danger, too.

But maybe they didn't.

Dark debated. Did he remain silent, and let someone possibly risk their lives? Or did he speak up and possibly put them in danger with his voice alone? He compromised, deciding to call out in a soft and gentle hoot, voice melodic, to whoever could hear him.

"The sleeping-thing isn't happy," he warned quietly. Then, after briefly pausing for thought, "I think he hates."

Then dark lingered quietly, just listening to the goings-on below.

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No other creature stirred for a while. The lion cub realized that this was the last stone – and he felt a sense of possessiveness wash over him. He’d really like to keep that stone and understand more about it. Perhaps it’d reveal to him something about Origin! And so the lion cub placed his paws against the rock and attempted to dislodge it slowly, gently, from the surrounding area. The muscles in his limbs tensed and his tail curved as he concentrated, not wishing to fail at all this time. "Come on,” he whispered beneath his breath, talking to no one in particular. This time the stone moved. The boy was careful to grip it between his jaws, then he turned and carefully jumped out of the pit, using the rough walls for traction against his paws and claws. Once out, he turned his head just once to glance at the sleeping creatures, wondering if anything else would happen…or he’d make an exit.

Usui has successfully claimed the danburite. All five stones have been claimed; with no stones left in the pit, the dragon and the lamb shift slightly, but do not wake. For now, all visitors to the pit will see no response from either of them.

(Note: i'll fancy this up later, you can have your characters exit as part 1 is complete)