Things were happening, and Aran could hear various voices speaking. It sounded like a victor had been achieved, but the others were also moving to a different cave. Which meant he had to follow too, didn't it? At least he could follow their voices and their moving to figure out which cave they were going (James in particular mentioned Orion).

In which, he stood to follow.

Exit Aran

At first she was finding nothing. And then, something.

Something.

There, straight ahead of her, was that it? The thing this was all about?

It was in her power, under her thumb. She could squash it like a friend bug. Or she could summon the others to it, have it be handled that way.

This was her decision.

And yet, the moment she tried to make said decision, she found that she... could not. Stare. All she could do... was stare. It wasn't even the present playing in front of her. It was the past. It was the future. It was everything, all in front of her, all at once. And her breath hitched. And she heard calls from somewhere else, somewhere distant, another plane. Perhaps a world overlapping her own.

And she stared at it.

For a second, nothing moved.

She couldn't move.

The world could be ripping at the seams around her and... she wouldn't have been able to do anything but stand here. And stare. And staring. And stared.

Then it was all over.

Cold. Out of breath. Alone. Like she had escaped something, but not the thing she wanted to. She had run from a choice... and sacrificed her own will in the process. Everything that happened after didn't matter. It wasn't... connected to her. Not a part of her being. When you are functionally a cadaver, what then is the meaning of life to you? She hadn't moved. In an instant, she had died instead of her Quarry.

Now she was back. Now she was going to leave, wordlessly.

Think "Speak"

- exit Madhukar -

She came to the mass spent; the last trickles of her more easily accessible magic were welling up with just enough force to taint the earth she walked upon, to fill her surroundings with whispers of the void, to bring a gentle smoldering to the fresh, pus-laden wound along her jaw. Oil dribbled from her, black as the muck caking her sides. That damnable alligator had been small, but his capabilities had been admirable.

It was merely a shame that he'd fled to chrysalize—and that the swamp itself seemed to balk in a challenge against her. A petulant hissing, a promise.

Draconua did not know the definition of fear, but she knew when it would serve her well to simply move on after the crowd. Other caves would not resist her so, she thought. Even so, she came at the heels of the hunting party, splitting the earth on her way out and leaving black, black, black in her wake.

This really was the last of her capabilities, for now.

exit draconua

Tahi-shei leaned slightly into James's touch, and watched in mild dismay as James pulled away from him and more or less brushed him off. He frowned as James stalked away, already in pursuit of the Quarry again to try and rescue it. Damn his bleeding heart, but Tahi-shei was happy to be watching -- the hunters and defenders seemed to be seriously overexerting themselves. Even the giant Vargasian monstrosity with the Oil and mess looked tired.

Dubiously, and avoiding her trail of disaster as best he could, he followed the group back towards Orion.

/exit tahi-shei

Comet frowned in worry as she watched James with Tahi. He didn't look to good. Perhaps she should try to convince him to just watch with her, all this danger was not worth it! But he headed off towards Orion before she could voice her fears, and she followed.

"Exit Comet"

Cryogen

He'd barely been able to keep up, and had refused to enter the deeper, sucking parts of the swamps as something terrible tore at the edges of his mind.

They finally took a deep breath and went after Warrior, greeting him with a gentle headbutt and helping any stranded gembound in the muck, avoiding the toxic and noxious blasted gunk left behind by Dracouna.

Cryogen felt useless, this round, drained from the sucking mud and the long trek, but they pick up their hooves and follows after, not liking how close the chase had gotten.

; Enter and Exit for my sanity, to Orion