They were told to go, the wisp dancing off, so go he did.

His wings ruffled, mantling to the effect of making him seem even taller than he already was, and he trotted into the light of the wisp, twitching his ears and listening to the horse, the hybrid, stomach clenching in unease.

The Dead Marsh.

He remembered it. Near suffocating on the air, the holes beneath his paws, the Eyehooks and sand and mud. When he felt it wet, he spread his wings wide and leaped, made sure to keep to the edge of the group - if he got boxed in, then what use would his wings be?

Styx is rolling to survive.

Morganite was about to run to join the others before Simon spoke up, and they wasted no time in scooping him up and putting him on their back.

"I'll protect you, Simon," they promised, nosing him gently before running forward before the light left, falling in beside Kini.

Morganite felt jitters crawl up their spine as they looked at the white horse, biting their lip as they realized that already, death may just be upon them. They desperately hoped that her group wouldn't be stupid and would only protect themselves. As morbid as the thought was... perhaps the others could be used as a meat shield instead. They hated the thought of killing, of death of any kind, but they hated the thought of losing any more of their family even more, tears welling up at the memory of their fallen companion, the tiger.

"Stay close," they said, their voice more commanding than they thought it would be, but they refused to show their stress and have the others panic too.

MORGANITE is rolling to protect SIMON.

Oh! Time to go, then.

Into the air the eagle winged, a shrill call spilling from her chest - "For the Children of Rot!" she cheered, she would learn! Learn it all, bring home the spoils, bring home all to be learned!

She squinted into the light of the Wisp, eyes darting from Gembound to Gembound, from the smallest to the largest, and keen ears listened to the voices, swooping lower to be closer for fear of sticking out and being picked off, mantling her wings as the massive thing offered a perch, mindful of her talons as she landed on @Ifrit if he allowed it.

Her head jerked in the way of a bird, snapping this way and that - what was that noise? Did she see something?

Speech. Thought.

Hera is rolling to survive.

Rainstorm wasn't afraid. Not yet, anyway. They were told to go - there was such a large group of gembounds there. Of all kinds of shapes and sizes and species. And oh! There the wisp went! Moving and creating a stream of light in which they were told to follow. Rainstorm, a cautious bird, did follow. Albeit not in the front of the group, sticking in the middle. There was still a chance to be shoved out, but least the bird could try to stay within the large group of creatures.

There really was so many.

"Hopefully nothing weird shows up." The bird muttered to themselves, surely one of the others would have been able to hear, too. The darkness surrounded them, it was kind of scary.

Rainstorm is rolling to survive

The Masked Merchant said go, and Ru would not disobey. Ru followed the wisp, as did the rest of the group. Reluctantly so. Ru continued to channel their magicka, and eased it beneath their hooves. The sand noiseless beneath their trot.

The dark threw Ru off. They could not see much, save for the gembound surrounding the wisp. Could not be prepared to react. Yet in any case, Ru kept their eyes peeled. Their eyes drifted over the group. A section of them seemed to keep together. Friends? If they could work together, they were possible allies, Ru noted. It would keep an eye on them. The rest were mostly unfamiliar. But they recognized one. At least, it looked similar.

A brown fossa, a bit smaller than Ru themselves. It seemed to be missing its skull. Strange. Was it a useful ally? A friend? One unlikely to die? It would certainly remember Ru from their first group. At least, Ru hoped. Their attention moved on, and they began paying attention to the murmurs and talk of the group, eyes on the dark. The horse mentioned they were headed for the marsh, and Ru shuddered. The memories were unwelcome. The pain, the fatigue, the shame. Was this whole trial to be a repeat of Ru's failings? A mind game that lasted until they died?

Hopefully nothing weird shows up." Another said. Ru gave them a glance. A bird. Smaller than the seagull. If they were anything similar, it would not last long within a normal trial. A pity.

"Something much worse than weird is out here." They did not know how to track it. How to avoid it. How to tell when it was there. What it even was. The lessers of Hydra were easy to understand, comparatively. Its skin prickled.

Quartz is rolling to survive.

Anemoi

The walrus hybrid blows a nervous raspberry as they all fall silent, and nudges back their friend as they are booped in fun, offering a broad smile.

Anemoi is lucky that she's not able to feel much of the cold, but the whispering of the shadows, the feeling of being watched sliding over their hide like a slick, disgusting silk makes her feel sick.

It puts her on edge, and she does her best to keep up- and listens to the horse that had come galloping out if Hydra like the light itself.

"Excuse me, bright one in the back?" she calls, flopping along as quickly as she can to keep towards the center of the group, "I feel like the... eye hooks or whatever they're called have been eaten by the dark... so I don't see them as being an issue. I mean, not that I can see much else but you know what I mean."

She's doing her best to keep the group calm, and mutters words of encouragement to those nearby, sadly not looking too closely towards the edge of the pool of safety in fear that making eye contact with whatever stands just beyond would inspire it to reach out and grab them.

Anemoi is rolling to survive.

Puck was quick to see an opportunity, and took Elyon's offer. The small monkey stuffed the stones in its paws within its mouth. He climbed upon her back, settling on a shoulder. With the combined weight of his horns and the stones he coveted like a little gremlin, it was tough to imagine he'd keep up well otherwise.

"Puck thanks you."

Puck said, spitting out the stones. No sooner than he'd settled, did the Masked Merchant said go, and the wisp raced off. While others worried about the dark and the marshes, Pucks thoughts were elsewhere. Puck was focused upon the shiny items the others held. He wondered how they would react if he stole them. If he threw the items into the dark, would they chase them?

With so many gembound here, and the darkness of the cave to protect him, Puck felt secure to steal and harass those around him. Maybe a good gust would scare the gembound here. Whilst these plots raced in his mind, Puck glared at the rest of the rest of the group with rancid red eyes.

Puck is rolling to survive.

Usingizi slithered after the group. She was a thick snake. Made for swimming through water and quick darts, not an endurance chase after a glowing orb. She pressed her gem, nervous. Others seemed to have noticed the same thing as her. The strange shapes. Most unnerved, like her. The birdfaced creature called the darkness...alive? And she could feel it in the cold, oppressive way the dark folded in on them. She slithered closer to the center.

If the dark was the same as the strange, warping shapes she saw, she began to question if they had a friendly mote in their body. Did they even have a body, in the first place? She flicked her tongue, searching the air. Usingizi decided to test their nature. Her magicka welled within her stone, and she focused on the dark, aiming to speak far off from the group.

"Hello?" Her echoed voice came out breathy and distorted. Scared sounding. Perhaps in this case it was better that it did. "Who is out there? Are you friendly?" She was unsure if she would get a reply. She realized she didn't want one.



USINGIZI is rolling to survive.

It was a quick movement of his hands to help Sora with the light, keeping his own cloak around him by grasping it with his teeth as he helped. He barely moved from the peccary's side as movement started to spread around the entire group, Kini's words echoing in his mind. Why did they all make it sound like this was going to be the last time they would see each other (though with the darkness of the cave that perhaps wasn't such a big guess to make)?

The wisp was moving and warnings were being whispered around, ride's offered and fear lingered in the air as tangible as the parasitic cold. There wasn't much he could do to help, watching with a deep sadness as Ifrit and another let light come into their eyes, one had made himself another wisp and larger creatures were vying to protect all. Yet, all he could do was offer smiles and keep up his positive attitude so that those that survive (not that any would die of course) would survive without a broken heart and defeated attitude.

Moving with the others as much as possible, staying as far from the shadows as he could as if they might burn him, and eyes trying to search in the darkness for something he went around weaving between everyone rather than just staying between those in his family. Everyone here needed to cheer up, it would do no good for any of them to take favourites at this point. "Hey look, isn't this cloak nice?" A spin in a circle and flapping the fabric around him then a hop, skip and a jump to continue to keep up with the others. "I would tell you a joke," Another little dance around the group, weaving in between everyone (mostly just trying not to be stepped on by some of the larger ones though). "But they're a little boaring" He searched for Sora in the group then to give her a little wink, not that it was very easy with their only light source being a wisp and some glowing trinkets. If they wanted everyone to keep talking so they can stay close to each other then he had them covered, he could talk for days.

If he didn't acknowledge the darkness, the cold air, the creeping sense of being watched and hunted, then none of it existed.


ORENSTEIN is rolling to protect the entire group.

As soon as the wisp began to move into Hydra, and the group began to move as well, Charles hopped off of Morganite and began to follow on the ground. He would rather not have them burden themselves with him. He was comfortable here, anyways, walking properly, where he could feel the sand, still warm but quickly cooling, beneath his feet. "Ah, I wish we could have seen this place in the light, don't you all? I've never seen sand like this - it's so warm! I wonder what the marshes look like too!" As the terrain began to change, he wondered more and more what this place would look like, the cheery wondering and imagining staving away any fear and his chattering, hopefully, staving off his family's as well. "I'll bet the ceiling is ten times taller then Ifrit! I wonder if I can touch it? Wouldn't that be amazing? A ceiling so high even one with wings couldn't dream of reaching it!"

It occurred to him, then, that the horse actually lived here and he bounced forward, trailing behind him. "Excuse me, Sir Horse! Could you tell me what this place looks like? I'm dying to know!" All the while he did his best to keep with the group, stay as close to his family as possible while still trying to get answers from Warrior. He glanced back at Ornstein as he told his joke and let out a chattering chirp. "Ahaha that's a good one! Do keep telling them, I ever so love jokes!"

CHARLES is rolling to survive.