pumpkin was a little dazed from sleep, shaking his head to wake himself up as they moved, perched on the horns of kini-yotol. he seemed a little excited to finally leave the cave and stretch his wings, looking up at the merchant who had raised them. despite the lack of kindness, although lack of cruelty, he had tried his best to be enthusiastic when they were around, as if screaming for attention.

so when the tiger ran away and was met with a swift demise from the one they must have been raised by since birth, it was an understatement to say it was a little jarring. he looked with horror but kept his eyes forward after he came to his senses, looking at the merchant with fear? anger? nonetheless, reluctant respect, he stayed close until morganite set down the pile of baubles for them to take. he swooped down only momentarily to grab a little neck-piece, a ring to most, with an orange-like glow. he flew back to kini's horns, quiet. he hadn't been quiet in a while.

... oh.

She towered over nearly every Gembound here - bar the fiery-eyed fellow; but even then, he was lowered into the crowd. Elyon couldn't say she blamed him. This cold was... awful. It'd taken a lot for her to brave another return to Canis, but a little green messenger'd flown into Monoceros and announced this... Trial's occurance. Ordained by Master Vargas, run by the Masked Merchant.

After seeing what'd come from her stone (Caves, lured by rats?! What a fool she was!) the centaur wanted to... well, perhaps foil this effort of testing innocents. She'd bid her farewells to Glory after sharpening her halberd and the spikes on her shield, and after checking the integrity of its bottom. When all seemed well enough, Elyon'd arrived here.

It was, again, cold, and she couldn't help but shudder beneath the gaze above and at eye level as she approached the pile of baubles.

Bright eyes fixed on four toxic green ones for entirely too long - and didn't miss the slight widening, the working of a jaw wanting to say something but failing to find covert enough words. Estranged - and asshole - or not, that was her damn kid. She flashed her teeth in a weak grin, winking one eye. I'll be a'ight. Shouldering her halberd, the centaur stooped onto a knee, drawing a glimmering blue shawl from the pile.

"Hey, l'il guys - I can carry you, if you need me to. Plenty of space aboard," she called quietly as she tied it around her waist (sweatshirt-style) and clattered towards the group.

I'm awake? I'm awake. Where am i? Im-
This stream of thought was interrupted as the newly awoken Owlface came tumbling out of a Papagoite chrysalis, landing inelegantly on his stomach. He, along with his other siblings, were herded out of the cave in a daze. He followed the rest of his siblings, looking around curiously at the new surroundings. He was about to investigate further when a blur of orange and black ran past him. He barely caught the masked merchant appearing next to his sister. A pool of black oil. And then continuing as if nothing happened. His neck frill flared with a combination of anger and fear.
She’s dead she’s dead she’s dead. I should run. I can’t run. He’ll kill me too.
He managed to calm himself- at least on the outside, following after the masked merchant and the rest of his siblings. He was on edge, knowing that that probably wouldn’t be the first death today, despite how much he desperately hoped otherwise.

What is this place? Why are we here? Who are these strangers?
Standing in the mouth of hydra, alongside his siblings, Owlface had more than a few questions. Wary of the other gembound, he stuck close to his siblings, his gaze flickering around as he examined the area around him.
It’s too hot. Even the ground is hot. Why are we here? What’s that rock? What is a trial. Torches?
Then the light and heat of hydra began to rapidly dissipate. He looked around rapidly, trying to take in as much of his surroundings as possible before or if the light faded completely. In the distance, just barely visible in the horizon, were.. Creatures.
What are those? Gembound? They don’t look right. Monsters? It’s getting cold. And dark. Too dark. It shouldn’t be this dark.
His frill flared slightly with unease. Being part owl, he had fairly good night vision. But this? It was far too dark to see, even for him. It made him uneasy in a way that was foreign. Not to mention the figures he’d caught a glimpse of in the distance.

He trotted over to the small pile of trinkets that Morganite had dragged over. He digged through it, looking for the best item. A blade-shaped rock, which looked more pointy than it felt, and a long, soft piece of fabric. He tied the rock to his left forearm using the fabric, so it mirrored his right, where he gemstone jutted out. With this done, he returned to examining his surroundings.
It's way too dark. I can’t see anything. I wish there was more light. I can’t hear anything but the others talking. What if i-
He reached out his his magicka, attempting to sense what his eyes and ears could not.

Anemoi

Trailing slowly behind the group, behind the Masked Merchant, Anemoi flinches violently when they watch one of their sisters quickly snuffed out.

Would she have made it with us? Would we... I be able to avenge her? Protect her?

Anemoi says nothing aloud about their friend's death, says nothing about the kaiju pair guarding the glowing light sources, but shoots them both the angriest glare her violet eyes can muster.

As everyone else choses, Anemoi eyes the pile critically, finally reaching forward with her muzzle to pull out a long, winding and thin chain necklace- twisting once, twice and using a tusk to loop it around her thick neck, the shining links clinking gently, and she rifles about a bit more before she finds a ring that she can wedge onto her right tusk, the ring being more like a twisted, flat shape of metal that is almost vine-like.

"Hunt... in the dark..." she mutters, and takes a side step towards some of their family, eyeing the wisp, and then the centaur like creature, and the monkey who shivered between them all...

"Let's.. stick together then. More light, more safety from whatever was out there. Is out there."

One moment there, one moment gone. He watched with deep sadness as one of their own was taken so quickly, and they all moved on as if nothing had happened. For there was nothing that they could really do. He would shed a tear for the feline though as they walked, afraid that no one else would.

At first there was so much heat that Oren felt he might melt on the spot and they would have to go on without him, then, just as suddenly as the feline had been erased, the heat was replaced with darkness and cold. He watched silently as Morganite brought back gifts for them, waiting as everyone else took some before he would reach forth and take a cloak. He wrapped it snuggly around his shoulders both for warmth and light and comfort. "At least they're kind enough to give us gifts." The others were all just taking this the wrong way, think positively, they had a glowing wisp light and some trinkets and they were given a task to do to have some fun! Best not to dwell on the fact that it was pitch black, cold, and they said some ominous things. "Maybe this is some weird serenading ritual..." A whisper in the dark, though with how quiet everything was a whisper was not so secret.

Ignoring all the negativity that was going around, everyone looking afraid and talking as if they were going to die, even ignoring the fact that he could see things out there, in the dark, Oren would take deep breath and throw on that perky attitude. If you ignored it it wasn't there. "You know what this means guys?" A pause for dramatic effect, looking around at every one of their family members (not that he was ignoring the others that gathered, but he didn't really know them). "Family trip!" His lips rose in imitation of a monkey's smile and went around trying to boop everyone's nose and if he couldn't reach their nose and it would take too long to clamber up their legs and neck (looking at you Ifrit) he would boop their feet instead. Look, they were in a terribly dark room with terribly scary things watching them and other's telling them that this would be terrible, they needed some smiles to light up the cave.

Her eyes narrowed at the merchant as he crushed the beautiful stone in his hands. It was all she could do not to rush the beast now and tear into him something fierce, but she kept still. Her family needed her right now, and she knew that if she challenged him, her chrysoberyl eye would face the same fate. It was consciously why she was keeping Kini and Morganite on her blind side -- usually she never would, but she'd rather have gembound she trusted there rather than any of these multiple strangers.

Sora wasn't one for jewelry, but she respected Morganite and wanted to humor her group. The hog grunted quietly and sniffed through the pile, but it looked as though she was getting one of the last picks. Which wasn't a big deal, honestly. Again -- not much of a jewelry pig. She shifted and glanced at something that seemed to be an... earring? "Orenstein, would you mind clipping this on my ear for me?" she offered, nodding at Morganite and Kini's guidance to stay close. While in their youth Sora had been of a mind to challenge them for dominance in the drove, but now that they were older and the group was more of a sounder (though she'd heard the others call it a herd or flock), she was happy to settle down in her role as a submissive protector. There were members of the group who were smaller than her, and she was happy to protect them.

She grunted as her family examined the area and continued cautiously ahead, but she largely ignored the others. Except for the strange monsters side by side. She was smart enough to identify the resemblance -- the smaller one was clearly the offspring of the other, and she snorted as she noticed that the smaller one didn't seem to be participating. The larger one was working with the Merchant, which told her all she needed to know. She lowered her voice, hopefully not letting anyone else hear her. "Hey, guys? Maybe we should drop these baubles if the thing eats light. Sounds like we need to be afraid of it. Might as well let everyone else draw its attention."

The horse screeching about danger clearly frightened Simon, though, and it made her bristle. She'd be protecting her family with Morganite and Kini, no matter what they had to say about it -- this was her sounder, and it wasn't just the boar's job to protect it. "We'll be fine," she grunted. "We'll go and do our flower power thing after this whole mess is over, and we'll all be okay." Sora was lying, and she knew it. But she might as well try to reassure her fellows in the meantime.


@morganite @simon @kini-yolotl @charles @ifrit @pumpkin @owlface @anemoi @orenstein

TRIAL OF HYDRA - DARKNESS

ROUND 2 - THE DEAD MARSH

The Merchant spared only the briefest glances for those taking Baubled items, for Puck's armful of 'stolen' goods, for Warrior's arrival and Black's shadows. He, like Vargas, simply waited for them to prepare.

Owlface's magic reached out, meanwhile: testing, prodding, light but enough to sense that the whole of Hydra was... not quite right. There was some magic out there, something ancient and alien to them, something that echoed in the tall, black hound-beast cloaked behind them. Something that shrouded the entirety of the cave in darkness, and pulsed as though alive.

__________________

As the gathered Gembound at last lapsed into waiting, uneasy silence, the Masked Merchant spoke. "Go," was all he said: and then the wisp, some ten feet above them, swept out and began drifting into Hydra. The pool of light that it cast was some twenty feet in diameter: large enough for the group, if only barely. A single lapse of focus, a misstep, an unlucky cast of shadow, and a Gembound might find themselves out of its light, and facing an uncertain fate in the unnatural night beyond.

The wisp shifted to the right, wavering and wobbling its way in an unsteady weaving toward the toxic air of the Dead Marsh. Those familiar with its waiting quicksands and pitfalls might worry at attempting to traverse an already-treacherous terrain in pitch darkness; but the wisp, it seemed, 'knew' where it was to lead them.

And beyond the obvious danger, there was something else: a touch of the magic that Owlface had sensed. A cold darkness, still and silent, as though a large room had been shrunken small: echoes muffled, an unnatural pitch black just outside the pools of dim light. It was as if something waited, just outside the light: patient, lurking, and cold.

__________________

Gembound must roll to stay in the pools of light cast by the wisp, or other sources of light. Players may creatively use any type of rolls and spells they see fit, so long the roll is intended toward the goal of reaching the Dead Marsh safely.

Gembound must choose whether to aim only for their own survival, this round, or to protect one other Gembound, or to protect the entire group. Players must CLARIFY after their post, AFTER their table, which of the following they are rolling for.

Code:

<b>NAME is rolling to survive.</b>

(Low risk)

Code:

<b>NAME is rolling to protect OTHER NAME(S).</b>

(Higher risk)

Code:

<b>NAME is rolling to protect the entire group.</b>

(Highest risk)

A Gembound's roll must reflect their in-character actions.

Note: splitting lights will cause each pool of light to diminish. A Gembound choosing to break away from the group will find that the light they've left behind has dimmed and shrunken away. This might be noticed in case of the future necessity of splitting ranks for any reason.

@Pumpkin @Owlface @Orenstein @Rainstorm @Kini-yolotl @Simon @Styx (Mango, Hera) @Morganite @Charles @Puck (Usingizi, Quartz) @Nassir (Howl, Elyon) @Warrior (Black, Fireheart) @Sora @Ifrit @Anemoi

pumpkin watched as the wisp stretched above them. scared of what might lie in the darkness, as he always had been, he raced to follow it, hoping he could stay within it,...

he could stay within the light, shivering, looking back to his family, hoping they could aswell, twittering in distress.

Pumpkin is rolling to survive.

Okay, so, Sora would never admit it... but she was definitely afraid of the dark. Seeing the way the Masked Merchant's wisp flickered up and left a narrow radius made her skin crawl, and she quickly forgot her advice about losing the baubles. Sora wasn't consciously aware that the darkness posed any real threat. Still, instinct was a powerful thing. No, her unconscious unease meant that she was brushing it off and following Pumpkin as best she could, trying to keep within the tight circle. But because she wasn't thinking and wasn't consciously aware that the darkness was dangerous, she had no mind to try and herd in her fellows.

After all -- why should she be afraid of the dark? Sora bristled, partially to comfort herself and partially to look bigger. She had an excellent sense of smell, after all. It wasn't like she relied all that much on her sight anyway. But still... the idea of being totally blind made her want to hop around like the birds did when they got nervous, so she pushed the thought firmly from her mind. As long as she stayed in this circle, she'd be fine! Not that it was easy to get into in the first place, and with all the other bodies moving around with the same idea, she was really wondering if she'd be successful in the first place...

SORA is rolling to survive.

The endearing remarks of its family would brighten Kini's mood, but the beginning of whatever this journey would be shot Kini back to seriousness. The light would move, and Kini with it. The oci-goat would try to lead its familial group toward the blue-green light as best it could: with its words. "Follow the blue-green light that moves. Keep talking to each other so we can follow each other's voices. Stay close -- if you are in danger, use your voice, use your sound, use your senses. Don't be afraid. Charles, Pumpkin, stay perched on someone, and Simon, try to coil around someone if you can. It's the easiest way to stay together."

With that, Kini would go forth, trying to make sure it was brushing someone's fur or close enough to feel someone's heat as it went. Its eyes were focused on the lights, and its ears trained for any sound. It would deviate the second it felt anyone was in danger, because certainly, the darkness was scary, but the endangerment of family... that was so much more than terrifying.

Please, whatever had control now... let it protect them. Let it allow Kini to protect them.

KINI is rolling to protect the entire group.