This was dangerous, and he really shouldn't be here (or at least, that's what Skein had been telling him this entire time, despite following him all the way to Fornax) but what else was he supposed to do? Just sit around and wait for Dad to come back so he could tell them what happened? Besides, Dad has said it'd be underwater, and he had gills! He was basically meant to be underwater!

As soon as Dragon was spotted through the humongous crowd, he slithered over, weaving through whoever hadn't already entered the water. "You said it'd be dangerous, but it's okay! I got a knife!" He said, with all the enthusiasm of someone who should not, in any circumstances, be given a knife. He'd wiggle excitedly (although looking somewhat overwhelmed by the sheer amount of strangers)

The blacksmith's pile of enchanted trinkets would be regarded with wide, curious eyes. "Did you make these?" He'd ask, and, already assuming the answer, he'd follow it up with "That's so cool! I wanna make things too, someday!" And he already did! Well, kind of. Attik had helped him a lot with the knife. But he'd still helped, so that counted for something, right? Regardless of any response the Blacksmith offered, he'd rifle through the pile of items, looking for the perfect

The necklace was clearly made for someone a size bigger or two than him- it fitted more like a lanyard than a necklace. But that meant there would be plenty of light! And it was super pretty, regardless. He was about to leave there- he didn't need a water breathing trinket, after all- but a thought struck him. What if someone else lost their water breathing thing? They were going to go really, really deep, so what if they weren't able to get back up to breath? He'd snatch a bracelet, just in case.

Forgrave's pile of orb-filled pouches was regarded with just as much fascination as the blacksmith's trinkets. He'd quickly take a pouch of either color, and with some finagling, managed to attach them to his necklace 'lanyard.' He'd smile at Forgraves, giving him a small wave before quickly moving to gather with the others.

He'd dive into the water, sticking as close to Dragon as he could. The link was met with (like most things) a sense of childish fascination. Woah!! Hi! This is so weird- but cool!!

(Brandle has taken a baubled necklace and a spare water breathing bracelet, as well as a light pouch and a dark pouch. He also has a knife that Attikias helped him make)

@Dragon @Skein (?)

For once the lapis dragon felt... odd raising his voice to speak again, but he manages to get his body back under his control, nodding along with what Haven is saying about Telesto once he can, and stepping forward to press his muzzle to hers affectionately. "I agree, we need to speak with her- but for now, let's get in the water.. thank you for grabbing these, dear. Let me..." He reaches forward with his forepaws, leaning slightly back to help loop the necklaces across their necks, with a small chuckle as he adds, "You chose two that match each other, Haven... That's perfect!"


Another bump against her neck with his snout, and he opens a wing to guide her with him, not unlike a human placing his hand at the small of someone's back to bring them fondly along. He takes quick note of all the others - other dragons, particularly, and he eyes the pair that had broken off, and then Blight as he'd taken to the air, and then dove into the water. I can't wait to dive like that... it's nice to see other's actually can fish.
He also accidentally projects, Well, at least we know we have strength in num- goodnness! Is she that upset to see us...? As he registers Telesto's panic, and subsequent retreat into the water. But that does remind him-

"I can control electricity, and I'm large and skilled enough within the water to pull a few of the more ungainly members of our group along with me safely. I've teeth and claws, and a determination to complete this. So," Flicking his tail and opening his fins to full mast, and nearly visibly tripling his size, he steps into the water, flashing a smug smile and dipping beneath the waves and wait before the drop off for anyone who may grab onto him before they all take to the depths, arching his spine to become a bright gold outlines figure, blending in with the fading light as his wings fold halfway in... and, had anyone ever seen a flying fish, he, his figure may strike some familiarity into them.

FRIEND
I WILL ALWAYS BE LOOKING FOR YOU

"Hemmo!"

Aww look, it's a little fishy!

A small silver-and-teal guppy surfaced in the bubbling wake of Farina. Huge black eyes and a pouting snout stuck up from the waves. He skittered to the side as Patrick sunk into the water, before returning back to watch the crowd in childish curiosity. Where did he come from? How old was he? What did he know? It was a mystery, and he sure as hell wasn't saying anything.

The Barracuda fingerling swam around in a circle as the splashing of creatures disturbed the water. "Paddy? Go deeb swim? Peoble? Peoble go deeb swim?" he asked, echoing the seahorse's words. He accessed the situation: a group of funny not-fishes, going into the ocean, with funny little jewelries... seemed like a nice group! He had no idea what their goal was, but decided to stick around. "Mmm... Yes! Can swim too! Am help!"

He speeded up to the closest gembound: a big dark creature that looked vaguely like a bulky eel. "Hemmo!" he buzzed, "Who are youuuu?" But he was already zooming away, plinking through the crowd and saying greetings to everyone he passed. "Hemmo! Hi! Hi! Hemmo! Hi-- ooh, cool! Eeee!" It seemed the very act of talking to people energized him.

When he was finally done saying hi to everyone in the universe, he swam back to Brandle like a socially-hyper toddler. Which he was. "Hiiii again! You have knife? COOL! What's a knife? What you doing? Can join?" Barely giving the poor soul a chance to respond, he did a cartwheel through the water. "Wanna see how fast I zoom? I zoom very fast!"

He flapped his fins as hard as he could-- and traveled a whopping 6 inches. "See dat?" he exclaimed, "Very fast! Nyoooom! Whaddabout you?"

@Brandle It's Friend time

More and more Gembounds showed up; Gembounds of all shapes, sizes, colors, ages it seemed. Khavur was a little starstruck just marveling at them all. So many... some beastly and some... well, compared to Khavur's family, rather plain. Patrick, Patty, their guide, was allowing their thoughts to reach each other, much like Khavur's link. Khavur tuned out most, if not all the thoughts, not because of some proclivity towards abstaining from communication, but more because... Khavur did not understand the majority of the messages here. No context turned the whole mesh of words into clutter. Khavur had learned a lot about tuning out thoughts from its permanent link with Maximus! And, speaking of Maximus, it didn't want to bother them with all of this cerebral dead weight. So it busied itself with other tasks.

Steering clear of Labradorite-One, Khavur crept towards the trinket pile. Things to help with water breathing and light... Khavur would take a band of water breathing for one killing claw and a baubled band for another. It figured that for the duration of travel, its killing claws would just be... wonky, underwater. Best to keep them tucked in until absolutely necessary, as it would in flight.

Khavur would not take any sort of pouch or further interact with anyone around. Wouldn't want to draw any further attention to itself. How would its anti-camouflage fare in the deep, if Khavur even made it there? Would it become like a little sun in there, bursting with light? Or would it not matter at all...

'Maximus, I am going to accompany the... the labradorite on a, um, mission of sorts. I do not know entirely what this is for; something about saving "Artio"? I hope to find out details. I...' There was hesitance shared, almost a hint of fear. 'I may tell you what I see. To keep calm. We will be going into the waters of a room with a great deal of water. It is not Leo. ...' Khavur didn't really know what else to say. The apprehension was building.

Incoming: "... You will be swimming? Across or below?"

...Outgoing: 'Below.'

And the response to that, naturally, was, "But... you cannot breathe underwater. I don't..." Followed immediately by a portion of contact and, most of all, fear. Khavur's heart broke a little, knowing this fear yet remained in Maximus. The shame, the constant emotional draining. It caused Khavur's temper to flare for a second -- how DARE they insult him? disgrace him? they know not strength, they knowing NOTHING of perfection! -- and falter away. Focus shifted; "... Trinkets." Obvious, understandable relief. ""So you can breathe. Smart. Well... if this 'Artio' is in trouble, then they need help, right? Just... stay safe please. I know you'll do well but I just... I worry." Khavur's own relief filtered in. It was nice to know the Reaver was not the only one who worried here.

A pause for thought, then, 'Thank you. Safety is my priority, I promise you.' Khavur returned with monolith sentences, born and rooted into the earth as though they had been there since the dawn of time. 'Part of my learning is... knowing when to cease my efforts.'

Suddenly a flower; bright, pink, beautiful. "I found this. I will give it to you when you return."

Khavur was taken aback by the offer, though for what reason it did not know. Flowers not foreign, and Maximus giving them was not uncommon... Perhaps it was the beauty, then, that struck Khavur. Made it admire, made it... 'I love you.' The smile there was prominent, palpable, like a ray of sunlight warming the skin. Once again, focus shifted; Khavur said nothing more. The fear receded, and the relief and calm grew.

"I love you too." No hesitation. Call: end.

Khavur is claiming a Band of Water Breathing and a Baubled Band.

Khavur did not say anything via the Pattylink.

There are more Gembound than it expected.

A lot more Gembound than it expected. The crowd gathered around the Blacksmith upon their first meeting was large enough, but that gathering pales in comparison to the creatures collected here today. Both small and large, both loud and not, humanoid and quadruped and all sorts of shapes—

—Terror considers itself lucky that none of them are its former victims. It doesn't regret any of its attacks (it was hungry), but some Gembound launching itself at them seeking revenge would put a wrench into things. Despite its proclivity towards violence, it understands there are greater things here today. Things that require... (ugh) cooperation.

Frankly, it almost didn't come. What use was endangering itself for strangers? It's simply... the more it thought about it, the more it thought about the thrill of adventure, of a potential fight... despite its thoughts, it couldn't help but follow the siren song of blood.

Plus, there will be rewards. It's hardly materialistic—it doesn't know if it'll even do anything with whatever the Blacksmith sees fit to give it as compensation—but it is a nice bonus, they suppose.

It approaches from the water, slipping into the group with little fanfare. Many are already diving, after the little misshapen fish-thing that appears to be their—guide? That little misshapen thing? It looks...

Edible. The fleeting, slightly ominous thought rolls through the bond as Terror swims within range.

Still, it's the way they're getting to this Black City in the first place, so it'll refrain from preying upon it. It looks to be more trouble than it's worth, anyway.

[ edit : ignore the other roll, i just forgot to uncheck the box lmao
congrats on your barely successful though terror! ]

"Dad! Dad, wait up!"

Ah, that's a familiar sound.

The leopard almost rushes headlong into the water—before stopping in his tracks at the edge of the shore, looking down into the depths. At the Gembound disappearing into the bay, colors and shapes and sizes galore becoming dim with the water. It all begins to fade into blue.

Gosh, that's—that's a lot of water. Astéri doesn't think he's been around that much water in his life.

Still, his dad is down there! And there's a stone that needs saving and an adventure to be had and he's not gonna back down from that!

Tail swishing side-to-side with excitement, he grabs the nearest water breathing-magicky-thing—a cuff, it turns out—and works it onto his wrist as fast as possible without dropping the thing.

It is really pretty. Maybe if Astéri wasn't so late and wasn't in so much of a rush, he'd stop to admire it. But no time for that—!

He makes a heel-face turn and leaps for the water, trusting blindly in the cuff's ability to let him breathe the sea below. Luckily, he's gone swimming a few times in his life, in the rivers and ponds of Eridanus, so he's not totally off-guard, although he's definitely out of his element here.

Literally. Fire's kind of his thing—and a good thing it is!—but he has no idea how it'll hold up underwater.

Oh well, let's give it a try!

Excited thoughts cut into the bond, flickering into everyone else's awareness at a mile a minute. Dad! Dad! Hi, I'm here, sorry I'm so late, hi Hunter, hi Carja!! Let's go find a city!

It turns out, removing Astéri's need for air lets him ramble even faster than usual.

Note: Astéri's thoughts are red due to the lilac being practically unreadable on the table.
Astéri has taken a cuff of water breathing.
@Attikias @Hunter @Carja (tags for visibility!)

The she-dragon turned to her fellow dragon, eyes twinkling with a happy smile, "Hi Blight!! Of course we'll look out for each other! If you want, you can stay close to me since I light up and you'll be able to see easier."

Offering a gentle wing nudge, she craned her head to search for anyone else familiar before turning to the water, head tilted to make sure she saw Blight follow.

Carja bounced happily as she heard Asteri, leaping for the water and spreading her wings to glide over it before diving in. She swam down deep and opened her eyes and vents, glowing brightly in the dark water. Her tail swished up and down and she dove, her wings folding up tight as she swam strong, half-built for this.

”Whoever wishes can ride upon my back! I am the glowing black dragon! Ascent, my dear, use your tail to propel you, it'll be easier. And hello Asteri!”

She tested her breathing and laughed to herself, overjoyed. This was going to be so much fun!!

Haven purred happily and nuzzled up against Electrum, her tail flicking happily. She leaned back to let Electrum put on her necklace and bumped her nose against his, a gesture of thankfulness.

"We'll talk to her after, but for now we need to stick together," she said, wincing at the many projected thoughts.

She followed Electrum, using his presence to guide her flight around the others who were also flying into the sky. It was a mess of different Gembound but thankfully she needn't worry about her echolocation in the water. She, like Electrum, hunted fish, so she was able to dive down, locate her prey, and snatch it up. Her swimming was pretty okay, too.

"I don't need a light," she said softly to her mate, "But I got you one."

She craned her neck and closed her wings, diving down towards the water with her body streamlined, her tail closed until she dove into the water. She hit and shot beneath the waves, her nostrils and gills closing instinctively. There was a moment of panic as she tried to convince herself to breathe, face scrunched up in discomfort.

She held her breath instead, knowing that she'd just inhale eventually and the spell would work then. It would be fine.

@Electrum

Skein had followed their family to this point. Skein's companionship was...dubious. They were certainly entertaining. Skein was...very active. They constantly had something to say to Brandle--mostly negative. About how this wasnt safe, they didn't know anyone there, and they couldn't talk to anyone. The small waddling creature did not stop scolding Brandle. There wasn't a moment when Skein's beak was not open or about to. Finally, their beak snapped shut. The group came into view.

"S-stay quiet! Dont talk to them!" Skein snapped. Their hair and feathers fluffed up, their eyes both filled with distrust.

Skein approached the pile of waterbreathing items, though it was debatable they needed it. Oddly, they seemed to be hiding behind Brandle, instead of leading. As Brandle grabbed a waterbreathing item, Skein, too, nabbed one. An enchanted necklace that they wriggled into. They did not touch any of the other objects Brandle took, instead serving icy cold glares to Forgraves and Attikias. They stayed behind a moment, glaring. Their beak snapped open, an angry: "Don't talk to my brother OR me! Stay away from us!" The same gracious denial was given to the gembound offering rides.

"Don't use any of that stuff Brandle," they whispered, following him into the waves. "We don't know them--we cant trust them! That fox could've put bad stufff in the orbs! And that weird purple guy could, I dunno, i don't trust what he made, either! We can't trust anyone here.Skein paused, realizing their thoughts were projected. "Don't listen to our conversations!" They added, angrily. Skein swam up to Dragon, latching on to their tail scutes with their claws. The only thing they trusted.

@Brandle

(Mentioned: Dragon, Forgraves, Attikias, anyone offering rides)

aesthetic music

THE BLACK CITY

The Blacksmith called the seahorse-beast back, a brief and frantic blip in the chaos. Glyphed key exchanged hands (or rather, hands-to-fins) and the descent at last began.

Patrick dove. Those Gembounds who wished, would follow.

At first, all was noise and flashing light: the glimmer of daylight shafting down through green waters, the froth and slap of the breakers in the shallows. The tangle of bodies glimpsed to every side as they tried to avoid one another in the massive crowd. But as the Gembounds dove deeper, everything became...

...Darker. Quieter.

The heat of the lava vents intensified as they passed by. Geysers plumed bubbling, boiling water only a few dozen meters away, and the warmth was intense. Yet Patrick dove deeper. The water grew darker, dimmer. Eventually, silent. Gone were the sounds of churning waves, replaced by the muffled silence of water pressing in on ears. The light faded, the sight of Gembounds to either side becoming murky and half-seen. In the crowd, despite its size, each of them were nearly alone. It would be all too easy to become separated down here--lost from the group in Fornax's seas.

At last they came to a great, stone door: laid in the floor of Fornax's very sea, close to one wall. It led directly downward, and it was locked--and yet great, prominent stone spikes to either side held bodies impaled atop them. Husks, translucent with age and glassy with Order, of Praetors: long-dead and serving, perhaps, as a warning by the gates. Water-adapted insect limbs drifted lifelessly with the slow-sweeping tide, illuminated only by the brief flashes of bioluminescence and baubled items.

Glyphed Key slotted into a hollow in the stone. Its faint purple light flared, and traced out along the door in glowing, esoteric patterns. And then the doors swung open: falling inward, downward, not only unlocked but unhinged, each falling away into the dark.

"HERE WE GO!" cried Patrick, cheerful, into each and every mind. "THE POINT OF NO RETURN. THERE'S OTHER WAYS IN, OF COURSE--BUT MASTER FARINA CAN'T FIT THROUGH THOSE. LOOK AT THE IDIOTS OF ORDER, TOO! HA! THEY THOUGHT THEY COULD GET DOWN HERE..."

Beneath the door was utter darkness, down beneath a new ceiling: part of Fornax's very floor, jagged and uneven. No light reached down here, beyond the dividing wall. Only immeasurable black depths, far cooler--colder, even--than above, and distant glimpses of other lights far off in the unfathomable black. How far did this ocean extend-? How deep did it go; how far out did it reach? They travelled through that muffled silence, and it became harder to move, the pressure on their bodies stronger here.

Down, and down, and down, and down. Would they ever come up again-?

Every now and then, they passed another impaled Praetor body, swinging abrupt and limp out of the black, skeletal and hollow, illuminated in the sudden garish light of their passing. And then they bagan passing other things, in the dark: great, smooth black obelisks, some jutting upward from the floor, others from the ceiling, others simply... floating in the dark waters. Each, like the bodies, appeared suddenly; each was glyphed in pink or neon green, or sometimes purple, the meaning of the sigils unknown but the light carrying a little way into the dark.

"WELCOME TO THE BLACK CITY. WE HAVE TO FIND THE GREEN KEY NEXT. IT'LL BE LOST... SOMEWHERE. ALONG HERE," Patrick told them. It would be nearly a half an hour of direct swimming... perhaps tiring, perhaps draining to those unused to long journeys through incomprehensible dark, with no landmarks to guide them back. But down below was the floor of a cave: uneven, pocked with deep ravines and holes, filled with mysterious creatures. Clear jellyfish swam by in a school, lights flaring along their lengths in rhythmic patterns. "DON'T TOUCH THOSE! DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING ALIVE," Patrick advised, his own body a flashing beacon for the Gembounds to find again in the dark. "BUT LOOK FOR THE KEY. IT'S THE KEY OF DECAY AND IT'S DOWN HERE SOMEWHERE. GREEN LIGHT, MAGIC--SPREAD OUT IF YOU HAVE TO, BUT FIND IT IF YOU CAN!"

______________

After a very long descent into the Black City, the Gembounds are being tasked with attempting to locate a small, green-glyphed black Key stone. They may roll to attempt to find it in any way, or take this time to make further preparations or actions as they wish. Successful rolls will not necessarily all find the key, but a GM response will clarify what is found...

Anyone consuming one of Forgraves' gel balls will intensely crave another flask-full. They may roll an Other roll to see how many days this craving will last, but this roll may take place after the Black City thread if players wish. Taking another dose will allow them to re-roll the craving duration.

New characters may no longer join this thread.

Code:

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@Forgraves @Electrum (Garnet-Episilon) @Attikias (Cerilaine) @Hunter (The Orarian) @Khavur (Madhukar, Kaimana) @Bedlam (Ascent, Pelt) @Haven (Carja) @Indigo @Hestia @Fahl @Whale @Galleon (Skein) @Telesto (Brandle, V-Labradorite-One) @Esther @Dragon (Blight) @Terror (Astéri)