The rhythmic rush of warm surf, the wheeling of the birds high above, the gentle rustle of the trees along Leo's island ridges. It seemed a paradise, to the first Gembound explorers to now set foot here. Food must be plentiful, here. Life... peaceful?

For the perceptive, there were, of course, secrets to find. Here, a cluster of hidden-away seashells--a collection someone had held fondness for. There, a pewter goblet, abandoned and tarnished with time. And here...

Here, the Gembound might find the narrow path winding from a sandy shore near Leo's upper entrance, curling tight and almost--almost--treacherous up around one of the rocky islands. It was a long trek--half an hour or more to the top, but the view was worth it. Ancient stone ruins stood here, brightly-lit and airy; it looked like some sort of old temple. There was much to see, and find here--a statue and a tomb, crumbled stone and collapsed walls. But the first, and perhaps most interesting, thing was a mural on the wall of the trail: ancient pigment painted carefully into the stucco-like, smooth stone just before the trail reached these ruins at the top.



This mural seemed to tell a story, and it held a look of importance: a warning, perhaps, or a promise, or a legend of ancient times. It held five panels, and an empty space for a sixth at its end. Unfinished, or something more? Two figures, interacting; one large and heroic, painted in ochre brown. The other smaller, hunched, and clothed in black.

For those seeking lost knowledge, finding the missing pieces of these first five panels might grant new wisdom... Perhaps something lost for eons. But the ruins atop this island were expansive; and a great deal of time had passed.

The panels could be anywhere...

The Quest "Lost Knowledge" has begun! New characters may join at any time. There are missing pieces to this mural, and Gembound must find them, and place them back, in order to complete the story and learn what the mural has to offer. The panels are unlikely to have gone much past the ruins, and so exploration here will likely uncover at least a few.

The new caves had been a jewel, a beacon, a place to find. Caves only knew how long they'd been locked away; new knowledge was to be found here, and new people who could answer new questions that Tahi-shei had. He'd been systematically examining every detail he could find when he'd eventually, in his preliminary sweep of Leo, been brought to the ruins sat high and proud atop their hill.

Now, he was peering down his nose at the broken-up mural, and already beginning to search around the rest of the ruins for pieces that had been lost. He wanted to know what was written here! Or, drawn, anyway. More importantly, he wanted to see if there was anyone nearby who could answer his questions about it -- Leo seemed to have more locals than he'd initially expected, and many of them seemed to be quite old indeed (specifically, he was thinking of Isra).

Aran had never been to this part of the caves before - if anything he didn't even know it was here in the first place. It seemed to pop up out of nowhere, and the thought of that was intimidating. Even moreso, was the weird looking... Thing he was looking at. It had missing spots, as if it was supposed to be put together but it didn't quite work out for the last thing that tried. Was it dangerous? The idea made the deer quiver slightly - he didn't want to almost die again. It was scary, despite how morbid he thought.

Shoving those thoughts far, far away, Aran wanted to know what this was all about, and it appeared that other gembounds did too. That was okay, since it seemed like it would be a lot of work to find what was missing. Panels? Yeah, those. Some of those were missing. Investigating would be the first thing to do, and he would be doing it. First things first - did this have to do with some kind of magic?

Comet was very happy to be going on the expedition, not only because it was a new cave, but because this time, it was a FAMILY TRIP. She was coming with James, Kaimana, and even newly hatched Levi! This was going to be great. The sandy shore was nice, but the observant pup spotted a path that wound up around one of the islands, so of course, she led her family in that direction.

After the tiring trek, Comet eagerly looked around the place, and spotted ruins that looked very familiar. Oh, just like Orion's ruins! But she went back to the trail, because something had caught her eye. "Look here!" she called to her family, "These drawings are weird. They are missing some pieces too..."

That meant some exploration of the area then! Perhaps she would be able to find some pieces? Without waiting for her family to catch up with her thought processes, Comet ran off to go look for some pieces.

@Kaimana
@James
@Leviathan

---

Oka!

---

Oka had ended up in Polaris once more. After the growth of their tree, they had been searching for more crystals. And that search led them through a tunnel, where oka had spent an embarassingly long time talking to their reflection. They'd become lost in the strange, mirror tunnel, and had gone for the first exit they'd seen. Somehow, that meant they'd ended up in Leo. Not that Oka was aware of the caves name. Only its size. Its beauty.

And the cave was sprawling. It was beautiful. Different from anything Oka'd seen so far. They found themselves gliding upon the shorelines, enjoying the warm waters and gentle current. And it was lush to boot. It reminded oka of Eridanus, in a way.Oka was tempted to stay here, if only for the fact they wouldn't have had to spend time in that disorienting tunnel once more.

Oka guessed this was their home now. If they were to stay here, Oka would need to meet the vegetation of the land. They began to climb the cliffsides, hoping to get closer to the vegetation, to check it out and add it to their collection. But what they found were ruins. Stone ones. Not what they'd expected. Some plants grew here, scraggly ones. Their ears caught the sound of gembound nearby.

Their eyes perked up. The gembound were facing the ground, looking for pieces of...something. Oka casually cast their gaze down, to see if anything was nearby them. And kept looking. Without realizing, Oka's search had lead them away from the group, to a sarcophagus of a figure, something strange grasped in it's hands. Oka felt along the stone structure following the shapes to the ground. Where a shaped rested beneath.

It was a small scrap, with dark markings on it. Oka picked it up gently, twisting it around. It wasn't particularly pretty. A strange shape. They didn't understand the fuss over the stone pieces. "Hi! How did you all get here? I got lost in this weird tunnel and ended up here." Oka swept closer. "Um, are you all looking for these things?" Oka said.

Himmel

He'd found his way through the corridor to Leo without knowing what drew him along, nor where he was going, but once he'd made it to the sandy beach Himmel was perplexed. It was different from the ponds; the ground was so loose, but with each step the grains compacted beneath his hooves. It was awkward to traverse and he did not like the susurration of the fine grains each time he lifted a step free of it. But he made his way, eventually coming upon a path.

The path was easier for him to follow. A half hour of hiking - pausing for small inspections of the piled stones dotting the way - and Himmel was out of breath, however he was faced with something old and unnatural rising out of the stone; he was also not as alone as he'd initially thought.

"Look here!" a voice called, and he pivoted his ears - then his full attention - towards the pale shape. The same unsettled feeling ran up his spine when he thought he recognized the stranger; they were from the ponds! From when the big group had helped the strange crying man! More importantly Himmel saw two of his own kind - gaze shifting in a double take - and he stood there staring at the two fawns.

The mural on the wall was temporarily fogotten. He approached the more impressive of the two: a deer that looked a lot like him but bejeweled with green upon its antlers. It was a crown to be envious of. Still Himmel did not get too close; he wasn't sure of this place or these people, and was thankful that their attention was so focused on the nearby wall.

James trotted along happily, tail swishing side-to-side, his wings slightly extended to let the sea breeze flutter through his feathers. He cantered through the surf a bit, sniffing at seashells and even trying to roll in the water only to get a face full of salt, making him spook and tear off across the sand, kicking and bucking like a mustang. He shook his head and snorted at the water, pinning his ears at it. Stupid water.

He'd followed Comet after that, to the mural. He sniffed it and nosed Comet gently, a familiar scent filling his nose.

It went up and he turned his head, blinking as he spotted Tahi. He made a pleased noise and trotted over, tail raised and head held high. Kaimana and Comet would definitely notice his interest in the deer.

"Tahi!", he said, ears perked forward as he smiled at the other, "I didn't expect to see you here- how have you been?"

He almost sidled up to the deer, wings fluffing up, his crest and his tail flaring out. Damn peacock.

Though he seemed oblivious to his own body language. One could almost say, 'lmao.'

Oh this place was fabulous. It was similar to Fornax, her home, but it captivated Kaimana like a sparkling jewel among the many new caves. About the new caves -- the rumbling had been odd, but she'd been rather busy with a certain new hatchling -- a certain new family, really -- to have gone investigating. She figured Comet would, and then coming running back with a million new and wild tales. Yes, it was a little frightening to know that the pup was endangering her life... pretty much constantly, but it was just what Comet enjoyed. She always came back, happy, excited, and tired at last, that was what mattered.

This time they were all going on a trip together. Kaimana was keeping Levi very close to her side. It might be good for Levi to look around at these new caves as well. Someday soon-ish, Levi would be big enough to travel all throughout them. That was nothing to shy away from! Perhaps Levi had that same taste for travel as Comet and Damask did. This was really, very literally, the way to find out.

Comet noticed the ruins first, mentioned the mural, and, naturally, went running off to find... more pieces? Oh, very, very curious. Count Kaimana in. It seemed as though others were also taking part in this scavenger hunt. Well then, let the... games? Let them begin. "Levi, would you like to help me look for a piece?" Levi could do what he wanted, as long as it was within eyesight of either Kaimana or James, but she figured she ought to offer in case the child wanted to participate with the rest of them.

James... where was James now? Oh, off trying to catch the attention of... Tahi? A deer, who had also attended. Well James was being extremely obvious about the thoughts going on there. Kaimana raised a brow and chuckled under her breath as she watched the horse make, well, a bit of an obvious fool of himself. Did he know...? Didn't seem to. Kaimana's chuckle elevated to a giggle. She almost wanted to stay and watch how "Tahi" would react. She wouldn't. But she wanted to.

@Leviathan

The bright red hatchling had been reluctant to leave Fornax. His domain, his home, his ocean -- leaving it felt like leaving a part of himself, even if Mama had assured him that it'd only be for a little while. Luring him with 'family trip' and 'adventure' and 'new experiences' hadn't done much, and ultimately he'd only yielded because he'd been able to tell Kaimana was getting frustrated with him. unlawful seizure had floated around in his mind, but eventually he'd reluctantly stumbled after her. It wasn't like he had anything better to do if she wasn't around.

He'd stuck close to her legs, sometimes weaving between them and nearly tripping her, until he'd ended up getting tired about halfway through. Now, he was laying draped over her back, his wings fanning slowly in and out like a butterfly's -- they'd been getting stronger recently, and he was able to stand with them for balance for longer and longer periods of time now. He was pretty sure that once he was stable on two legs, he'd probably be able to try flying. Maybe, he thought idly, looking around the massive, watery expanses of Leo, I can hop off this cliff and go swimming.

Would he like to help look? No, not really -- but he still tucked in his wings rolled off of her (not towards the cliff, thank you) and onto his back. Then, Levi got to four legs and stretched out his wings. "Sure." He snapped at a little buzzing thing that had been harassing him and sniffed, starting to trot towards the mural. He stretched his wings out to touch the ground for balance and pushed himself up to get a better look at it, sniffing at the dusty stone. Maybe clues would be held here.

Haven swooped in with a happy laugh, flying above the group before diving down to the sea, dragging her feet in the water before swooping back up again. She clung to the cliff face, her claws easily allowing her to remain firmly attached as she waited for her mate to arrive.

"Hello!", she called down below.

She noticed a commotion around a particular section of the cliff and flew down curiously, attaching herself to the wall above the mural, completely unaware of it as she tried to glean information about what was going on.

A mural... missing pieces. Oh! A puzzle!!

She delicately dragged her fingers over the holes before flying off, using her echolocation to get a clear picture of the shapes before diving down to try and find pieces that matched. It would be difficult to figure it out without sight, but she could certainly try!

@Electrum