Mr. Algol was making a ruckus again, and Eythan was watching from afar... just in case. Of what, he couldn't tell you; neither could he tell you what he'd do if there was trickery afoot. The Collector was a powerful entity and all that smooth businessman aura was totally a front for something sinister. Y'know, thievery and getting punched by supercharged golems without giving any return. Ugh.

Bright eyes watched the proceedings, as Gembound scuffled about and chased after the many-legged sled (gross) and flew up to stalactites containing scrolls. Some of them peeled open their scrolls and it was anticlimatic. Nothing evil was conjured by seeing the words. No great demon plagued Canis. Just a bunch of papers dancing around.

The gryphon pulled his beak into a thin line. Maybe he should cut the Collector a bit more slack. It wasn't like he had a ton of evidence for why he was the avatar of all that was wrong with the caves, other than slimy vibes and pinprick red eyes that were immensely unsettling. Eythan slunk forwards a little bit, clearing away bones here and there - looking for a chest to pry open and examine the contents of.

Maybe there'd be something in here that Damask would like?

No... dice?

Sorda was just barely able to snatch a strangely shaped object before tumbling off the sled as it made a sharp turn. She fell into a pile of bones, sending many clattering around her, though she herself was unscathed. She got up, shaking herself off, and began to analyze the object she had grabbed from the back of the strange running creature.

A wooden stick with two circles on either side. A bit too big to carry easily, though. She gave it a strong push and it rolled for a little bit, until it bumped into a stray rock. It looked like it could be useful, though for what exactly she wasn't quite sure. She stashed it nearby, propping the rock against the wheels so it wouldn't roll away, and then she started to look around the cave again, looking for her text target amidst all the chaos.

She thought about chasing the sled again, but nearby where she'd fell was a rather fancy looking chest, half buried in a pile of bones. This should be a lot easier to open than chasing after that sled would be, right? She then sat down in front of the chest and got to work trying to open it.

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coding by wulf for template purposes

Aran would find that he'd caught up to a small, flickering cave Light-Orb, attached by metal wires to a stone that gives off sharp zaps when touched. If he is using his mouth to grab it, Aran will need to roll to avoid accidentally touching wires; if he fails, he will be shocked and likely drop the circuit, shattering the orb! If he is trying to paw it off the sled with a hoof, or drag it with antlers, while carrying his scroll in his mouth, he will need to roll to avoid shattering it when it strikes the ground. The shock is not, however, dangerous.

Knowledge in general, it seemed, indeed had its price. Even if that price was "Algol's amusement." Eythan wasn't entirely off the mark--at least, not with his summary of the Collector's persona. As for the chest, however... As the gryphon moved to pry open a chest, its eyes opened.

That-... shouldn't happen--should it? Its eyes were large, and round, with two vast black pupils, sunken into the woodwork of the lid. Then the lid itself snapped open, revealing a massive, ragged set of jaws where the lid should be.

The mimic lunged for Eythan, snapping for his face. That could get ugly really fast, and not just metaphorically speaking. Eythan will need to roll to avoid a mangled face from a Mimic attack!

Sorda's chest was far more amiable. Within lay a long, supple scrap of leather with diagrams explaining how to treat and tan leather to be perfectly soft--or tough and waterproof.

@Aran @Eythan @Sorda

Nemo
The lammergeier had been on a mission since he'd encountered the hyena- find something pretty and interesting, to make him more pretty and interesting. He's not sure how to make dye yet, or what to even think of in terms of coloring himself, so when he hears a strange voice call out to the caves- well. Time to go stick his beak where it doesn't belong.

He'd also been practicing his flight- still too nervous to get very high for very long, he could keep himself a few feet off the ground, but that's about it.

While entering Canis. the absolute chaos that greets him has his jaw hanging wide. No thank you- those big chests seem to be full of things for bigger Gembound, and although he's large he's not quite that big, and the things tied to the stalactites are... too high.

And so the white and black bird winds himself up to strike out after a fluttering, almost alive-looking piece of... something making its way around the room, like many others. It's reminds him of a bat, but that, surprisingly, is what brings him up short.

He's here for something new and interesting- so why not see if he can catch that scrambling... thing that seems to be spilling interesting things all over?

With the scroll resting in his antlers, Aran was able to carry it with relative ease. He didn't have the dexterity that some did, but he was able to carry whatever he had well enough to not drop it unless he wasn't paying attention. Aran would have to find a safe place to stash his stuff later on - so no one steals it and so he didn't have to have his antlers full of things. Or maybe. Find something to carry them.

He doubted he could find something like that, though.

The light that caught his eye before, was closer now. It was covered in some kind of metal wires, and had some sort of aura about it. Aran wanted to know what it was, but that also would mean picking it up without breaking it. He hoped he wouldn't break it. Moving his mouth to try and pick it up, while avoiding the wires, he wondered if the shocking feeling would hurt.

He grabbed it with his teeth, almost dropping it in the process. However, the Barasingha somehow was able to catch it before it hit the ground. There was some kind of shocking feeling in his mouth, but it didn't hurt as much as he thought it would. Either way - he couldn't carry anything else. So he would try to leave without getting in anyone's way.

[Attempted Exit]

Rainstorm wasn't a small fledgling of a bird anymore! And they hadn't been for a short amount of time. The victorian crowned pigeon took to exploring a lot more now, though not taking flight as often as other birds. Rainstorm liked being on the ground! They weren't scared of heights, but there was no reason for them to fly when they could just as equally walk.

So, when they heard the booming voice of some strange thing, they came running.

There was some weird thing with. So, so many legs. So strange it was, so curious Rainstorm became! The bird wanted to get on top of that sled to see what was going on! However, there also were some interesting things going on outside of the leggy thing, too. Chests littered all over and other things being dropped around. So many choices so little time! Some strange long papers, too.

swear words beyond this point lmao

Is that an eye - Beat. Two eyes. Beat. OH SHIT!

One second, he was just enjoying himself - and the next? Facing a mouth full of splinter-inducing teeth. Not a single thing glimmered or sparkled in there; so Eythan was going to take a hard pass on dealing with this. No reward, no reason to take a risk.

That didn't mean he didn't absolutely scream in shock: "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACKGH?!" His wings fluttered up, beating to give himself distance. Claws came up, and he made a desperate bid to shove the damn box over. All that done, the gryphon made his escape.

All with a foul "you motherFUCKER!" Of course he'd play a trick on him and only him. "ASSHOLE!" Where does such colorful language come from? "BONES," - at least yelling seemed to help cool off that adrenaline rush - "FUCKIN' HATE! Hate you for that. Caves, man. Way to go..." and all his swearing sort of trailed off into an incoherent string of mumbling as he caught back up with reality.

So there was cursed shit to deal with.

For a long moment, Dip stared into the chest.

"You glorious bastard," she then murmured, half to herself, as she leaned down to take the cup in one hand and the little bags in the other, feeling them out with her thumb and sniffing them before she knocked back the entire cup.

This was all she'd come for, really. She was in the process of trying to cram the kettle into her pocket when something smacked into her leg. She looked down, blinked, and then slowly knelt before the writhing hybrid.

Its fur was fucking hideous. "Heeeeeey, bud," sje cooed anyway, reaching out to scoop Delta up into her arms. She ran her fingers up and down its back, itching it. "You all good?"

Serendipity picked herself back up with the cat-bird-thing cradled in her arms, stepping back out into Canis. She looked around, paused, and then released one hand off Delta to try and snag one of the pieces of paper.

Garnet- Epsilon

They stare at the scroll after grabbing it, as it expecting it to do something, but before they can properly open it and get a good look at their prize, a familiar yowl causes it's attention to snap towards its sibling as it streaks across Canis.

Oh shit.

Grabbing the paper and opening its wings, Epsilon twists and drops off the stalactite, using it's tail like a fulcrum and wings like a parachute as they make the quickest descent they can- clattering into the bones and looking around for a place to stash their... crinkly thing.

A few bones and some scrabbling later, they deposit the paper in a skull, and wedge some small bones in its eye sockets to hide it before taking to the air again, and scanning for their now neon sibling amongst the chaos.

Someone had grabbed Delta, and was carrying them away- some upright blue thing, with hands that seem dexterous. An interesting Gembound, who had found an edible prize, it seemed.

Delta looked different enough that they weren't too worried about cover being blown- but they decide to stick around, and so change their flight pattern to bring them towards the sled- deciding that keeping up with the odd thing would be just as good a distraction, and a half decent way to see how other Gembound reacted.

So, they fold their wings and dive, throwing one or the other open to weave midair, hoping to snatch something off the back of the galloping sled, something that would be more useful than the crinkly thing had been at first glance.

At first, she blinked curiously, having opened up the scroll upside-down. But, twisting her head and the paper itself ah! ... What was it? Water... Moving? All four eyes squinted as she brought it closer to her face, sniffing curiously. Who'd left this, then? Oh, wait- wait, the guy that Dad told her about, maybe? He lived here, she was pretty sure.

Cool. She... Wasn't sure why water needed to be moved, but perhaps it made sense, if someone wanted to like. She didn't know- maybe they were thirsty and lazy? But, it took time to set something up like this.

She huffed and rolled the scroll up loosely, placing it in her mouth (and careful not to get the parchment wet) as she turned her attention to more stalactites. Well, these things were here for a reason, and she did like the string! Maybe her siblings would wanna do something with this stuff- or maybe she could like... Oooohhh, she could make a library of all the scrolls.

Later, little girl, as she jumped up, arms reaching out for another hanging object.