[Origin Cave]

Quest: Shed Some Light

Origin Cave is in complete darkness. You may notice that along the walls and ceiling are glass orbs suspended by ropes and wires, but what are they? Follow them and you will find that they all converge at the Core - specifically, a large hydroelectric generator. This machine sits in a recess in the cave floor, in the middle of what looks to be a dry riverbed. This machine might have something to do with the glass orbs, but it'll require some further investigation.

Join This Quest

If you would like to participate in this quest, post with your character in this thread. Completing this quest will require some teamwork, so don't be afraid to roleplay it out! Feel free to request a GM when you feel you may be ready to proceed.

Participants:
Tamelyn, Phoenix, Leon, Deer Dad (NPC), Majora

Deer eyes were typically designed to see best at dusk and dawn. As it was, there was really no dusk or dawn in the Cave, only endless darkness, spotted with pockets of light where bioluminescent plants grew. Tamelyn had lost count of how many times she had bashed her nose into a cave wall wandering around the caverns, but it was currently throbbing with pain and putting the little fawn into a foul mood.

She had been meandering down a tunnel, eyes wide to take in what pitiful light there was, her steps hesitant as she anticipated each turn to smash another rock wall into her poor face. To her surprise, however, this tunnel opened up into a wide space. She wasn't sure how wide, given the lack of light, but it seemed much bigger than the forest cavern she had emerged in. At least there was less chance of bruising her snout out here.

She stepped into the cavern, looking about as she walked. Suddenly, the ground sloped under her feet, and she gasped, nearly falling flat on her face. She caught herself at the bottom of the incline, finding herself in something that almost looked like the trench she had hatched in, just much shallower and wider. It wasn't the riverbed that held her attention, though, it was the strange object laying nearby. Startled at the sight of it, Tamelyn crouched, her large ears laid flat against her head. When thing didn't move, she approached, curious.

Well, it obviously wasn't alive, at least. It didn't look like the rest of the rocks in the cave, though. It was angular and rough, rather than organic and smooth. Ropes snaked up to the ceiling, disappearing into the darkness. Tamelyn pouted, confused by the strange construct. She didn't like to be confused. She moved closer, sniffing a particularly complex-looking part. Rust flaked off in her nose, and she sneezed explosively. Without her meaning to, the action sent a small spark of electricity arcing from her to the machine.

The small, fleeting crackle of electricity briefly illuminated the surrounding area. It reflected off the rusted metal surface, catching light against the tarnished silver. The electrical zap was hardly enough to leave any kind of mark or have any effect on the machine. It continues to lie dormant.

we burn, burn and we say good night
(AND WE DO IT ALL AGAIN AND AROUND AND AROUND WE GO)
Even the most energetic of young, growing gembounds needed their rest. Among the many chores that life necessitated, this one irritated Phoenix the most; frankly, it was a waste of precious time that was better spent flying, hunting, or doing just about anything else. It'd been a couple of days since she'd broken free of her chrysalis, however, and exhaustion had ultimately forced her to succumb. This had presented the additional problem of finding a resting site in the big, largely empty room that was Polaris, given that it also happened to be pitch-black. After flapping around for a while, she'd finally found a satisfactory place to sleep — which was actually to say she'd tangled herself up in it, but hey, she'd worry about her flying later. The perch was a long, thick wire-thing, to be precise, apparently suspended from the ceiling above a pile of shiny stuff. Under any other circumstances, the situation would've warranted thorough investigation, and that would assuredly follow soon; the mechanistic setup was just too interestingly weird to resist. For the time being, though, it had to do without more than a once-over. The girl had thus taken her place atop the wire, tucked her head beneath her wing, and settled down for a light nap. It all went quite well after that — until somebody had to waltz on into the scene.

The footsteps were tolerable. Despite the occasional stumbling, the clop of hooves on stone was but a minor disruption; so long as the stranger didn't bother her, Phoenix merely dug her beak deeper into her feathers and left well enough alone, musing at the possibility of accosting her company after her nap. Even the sneeze, loud and gross as it was, could be excused.

Now, physically zapping wires with perfectly innocuous birds trying to sleep on them? That was uncalled for.

As a twinge of electricity coursed beneath her feet and lit up the room, Phoenix spooked, straightening herself and shifting her wings in unease. Her alarm quickly dissolved to chagrin, however, and she scanned her surroundings in staccato jolts and tilts of her head, seeking out the source of the disturbance. She soon set her crosshairs on a small, delicate form on the ground, just outlined by the cave's luminescence as she stood before the metallic assemblage of machinery. Was this figure responsible? Phoenix could only assume so. The shock hadn't exactly hurt, but its creator deserved a very stern talking-to nevertheless.

The hawk cried out in a shrill, angry screech before swooping her way downward and onto an outcropping of metal along the construct's edge, just above and in front of her unfortunate target. The landing was clumsy, but passable, and her talons soon found purchase along the rough, rusty surface beneath her. She didn't fold her wings there, though — rather, she kept them spread wide and beat them hard, billowing air into the fawn's face. The exhilarating sensation of heat raced from her stone, through her shoulders, and into the broad, mottled feathers of her wings, brought on less by will and more by sheer fury. Good. No one liked a little smoke in their eyes — just as no one liked being woken up from a perfectly peaceable nap. "SCREEEE!" she shouted in another scream. "WHY YOU UNSLEEPEN THE GREAT FIREBIRD OF ME?!"

Polaris had become a place of familiarity and comfort. It was partially because of how powerful the pull of magic was towards the room, and partially because he simply hadn't ventured much further than the Core. Once, he'd been to another large room whose ceiling glittered with stars, but that was it. He was quick to return here, hoping that Rohan and Teyouma would be around somewhere. Leon wasn't exactly sure where he'd left them, but once object permanence had become a thing in his juvenile little brain, he was certain they would turn up eventually. So back into the central room he found himself, stumbling through the darkness, making his way only by the light of glowing crystals. Bear eyes weren't very sharp in comparison to the vision capabilities of other animals, but at least the reflective surface behind his retina allowed him to take advantage of poor light.

He would pause every now and then, scratching at the earth in hopes of catching the scent of his friends. Now that sense was one he could truly harness - still, there was no trace of them nearby. The youth leaned back and groaned, lazily scratching his chest. Then a flash of light caught his attention. Just out of the corner of his eye, he saw something illuminate against a reflective surface, a fleeting crackle of lightning. Just like Rohan's! Was it him? Leon straightened up and, withing skipping a beat, made a bolt for the flash of light.

As he neared it, he found that he wasn't the only one drawn to the spark. In the darkness he caught a glimpse of a red bird, her shrieks echoing through the room as her wings brewed a torrent in the face of another animal. Approaching, he could see smoke billowing from the bird, feeling its heat; and realizing that the poor recipient of the bird's attack was not his friend. Still, it wasn't a very nice thing to do. "HEY!" He growled loudly, lunging beside the deer. Enthusiasm, excitement, fear, anger - all these things spawned the heat in his limbs, heat that coalesced in his clumsy bear paws without so much as a second thought. Leon swung blindly at the bird only once, unlikely to hit her despite the rapid heating of his readied paws.

Tamelyn jumped back, startled at the brief burst of light. Had...had she done that? The machine didn't react, however, dampening her excitement somewhat. It had to do something. Otherwise it just...just a rock.

She didn't have much time to ponder the construct, as suddenly a squawk rang from overhead. She jumped away as something landed heavily on the machine. She could barely make it out in the gloom, but it was smaller than her. The creature screeched at her, flailing strange limbs in her direction. Along with the flailing came a few puffs of smoke that made the fawn cough and shake her head, oversized ears flapping back and forth with the motion. Suddenly, someone shouted, and another creature appeared out of the darkness, this one by foot. It seemed irritated at the smaller swing, and swung a paw at it, glowing with heat. Tam sidestepped, careful not to get hit herself.

Once the ruckus had died down, she was able to see both animals clearly. The first had the oddest-looking face she had ever seen, with a strange, hard muzzle, and only two legs. The cough became a scoff. "Yous not a fiyahburd." she said with the kind of solemnity only a child could manage. "Yous is just...just fluffy." The bird did look awfully ruffled. The other creature looked more like her, or rather, more like Arkrael. She wondered how her wolf friend was doing since they hatched. She peered at him curiously, tail flicking. "Who'ses you?" Oh, where were her manners? She straightened, puffing out her chest proudly. "Ah'm Tam-el-lin." She was still getting the hang of her name.

we burn, burn and we say good night
(AND WE DO IT ALL AGAIN AND AROUND AND AROUND WE GO)
Compensating for its thin, gangly frame in sheer agility, the offending creature was quick to spring away, but it was affected by Phoenix's semi-successful endeavors nevertheless; it was with much self-satisfaction that she observed the coughing and struggling of her company, a sight that made the slight pain in her wings more than worth it. It was nothing they weren't used to — she'd discovered her smoke-making capabilities not long after awakening and had been practicing them ever since, delighting in her magic and even choosing her name and title on its basis. Exercising such power over a creature that had it coming was all the more delightful.

Sadly, it wasn't meant to last for long. In short order, another form barreled its way from the shadows, decidedly bigger than the first. "HEY!" Both the creature's shout and his bulky slowness gave Phoenix ample warning as to his attack, and she hopped backward to give him a wide berth, unfazed. A fizzle of heat swept by, for it seemed that she wasn't the only one with a penchant for fire. In her spell's final throes, the hawk made sure to include him in the smoky cyclone, only allowing her wings to still once they'd fully cooled.

This done, the smaller of the creatures — a girl, by the sound of her voice — addressed her, making a strange, pretentious noise in her throat. "Yous not a fiyahburd." How dare she! "Am TOO!" Phoenix snapped back, brandishing her wings as proof; the smoke had dissipated, but they still stunk of it and radiated heat. Nobody could defy her status in the face of such irrefutable evidence! Except for strange deer children, apparently. "Yous is just... just fluffy." At this, the hawk merely recoiled and glared in indignation. A hint of self-consciousness prickled forth at the verdict, but she shoved it down immediately, puffing up in pride. So what if her feathers were still a little fuzzy! She was only a few days out of her chrysalis, barely free of chick-fluff — she had a right. Besides, it wasn't like the other gembound was much better off. Those spots weren't molting off anytime soon. In a few cycles' time, she'd see Phoenix in all her fully-matured glory and weep.

Anyway, the fawn had turned to her would-be savior now. "Who'ses you? Ah'm Tam-el-lin."

Despite her obvious lack of invitation to respond, the firebird butted her way in; neither of these animals' names interested her as much of the initial issue of being shocked awake. The way she saw it, it was only fair. Tamelyn hadn't responded to her question, so Tamelyn didn't get to have a response to hers, either. "Tell me! Why you unsleepen. Why bad zap." After the briefest of pauses, during which she glanced down at the construct on which she stood, Phoenix asked the most profound question of all: "Why this." So many inexplicable things had decided to happen at the very moment she'd settled down for a nap. Resting truly wasn't the bird's field of expertise.

Unfortunately, his act of heroism earned him another pair of badly burnt paws - just like the last time he'd gotten over-excited, his paws ached with sudden tenderness as the heat gathered in his paw pads and began to burn his skin. At the same time, the bird had administered one last gust of smoky air at him, causing him to cough. Leon jumped back, leaning back on his hind legs again and waving his arms around - it had worked the last time to dispel the heat, after all - and whining. "Ow ow! Darn!" He cursed, whimpered, and nursed his burnt paws by zealously licking and sucking on them. His pride was just as wounded.

Still, Leon narrowed his eyes at the bird. He cast a side glance at the deer as she countered the bird and introduced herself, and the bird failed to do the same. After a moment of embarrassed silence, Leon took his paws away from his mouth and let them hang against his chest. "My name's Leon." He answered with a certain nod, then looked back at the red bird. "If you're a firebird, then I'm a firebear! What does that make you?" The boy turned to Tamelyn and furrowed his brow. "Wait! I saw you do the sparky. You're like my friend Rohan!" Leon brightened and grinned. So the bird could do fire stuff, and the deer could do electricity stuff, just like Leon and Rohan. That meant there must be more like them around! "Yea, what were you trying to do? I saw it from like a mile away!" Alright, so the claim was a little out there, but in all fairness Leon didn't even know what a mile was.

The bird spoke up before the bear could, and Tamelyn glared down her nose at it's squawking accusations. "I didn't mean to, dum-head..." she pouted. "Was tryin' to make the...the thingy do somethin'." She indicated the machine with a tilt of her head. The bird seemed just as perplexed by it. "Dunno why. 'Swhat I was trying to find."

The bear had evidently burned himself, and was nursing his paw. Tam looked back at him, concerned. "Are you okay?" He finally gave his name, and Tamelyn brightened. She liked making new friends. She cocked her head as Leon turned to her, speaking excitedly about something. Someone else could make bright bursts of light too? She glowed under his praise, exaggerated as it was. Still, it hadn't really accomplished anything.

She was still very young, and had a child's attention span. Once again, her attention was drawn back to the machine. "It's gotta do somethin'." she said, quietly, almost to herself. She gave it another look-over, trying to figure out how it was supposed to work. A large wheel-like structure loomed in the darkness. Hm... She approached it, studying the paddles. Maybe she could move them somehow? The fawn reared onto her hind legs and put her front hooves on the wheel. Grunting with effort, she pushed downwards, attempting to turn the wheel. No such luck. The girl dropped back to the ground, breathing hard. She just wasn't strong enough on her own. But maybe with others...

"Hey!" she bleated towards the other two animals. "Go like dis and push down!" She reared again, putting her forelegs on the paddle. The bear cub might be able to help her, though she wasn't sure about the bird. She took a moment to gather her strength, waiting for the others to get into position. When Leon had his paws on the paddle was well, she pushed down again, trying to make the wheel rotate.


(If Leon wouldn't help her with this, let me know and I'll edit.)

Even with the collective force of the young animals pushing against its blades, the only sign of a response the machine gives is a low, resistant groan. The sound is a sudden break in the silence of the room, a sharp and haunting metallic lilt. It echoes against the cave walls and eventually vanishes, leaving the room shrouded once more in the darkness and the quiet.


But something else moved in the quiet. It began as a small rhythm, barely noticeable. Like the sound of raindrops against rock. Clack. Clack. Clack. It was slow, but it soon mounted in volume, and with it came the feel of purpose. Clack. Clack. Clack. The sound emanated through the room. It carried grace, divinity, and wisdom. It grew closer, following the sound that summoned it, the sound that spoke of need and from the darkness manifested a form. Swaths of cold blue crawled up the breast of a long-legged deer and would soon illuminate his face, gentle and knowing.

For a long while, the stag only stared at the trio. He was grand, but he too was naive. In the arms of his many branched antlers grew an abundance of mushrooms all glistening in the dim light, a ruby red as fire glinting upon his head. Soft as his expression was, the deer could not fathom what the children were doing. He slowly tilted his great head to one side, and blinked.

"You are trying to engage the machine. You do not know how." He mused. It was only a guess. Even despite the aged intonation of his handsome voice, he seemed inquisitive. The stag righted his head, lifting his gaze to the rusted contraption before them. A few seconds followed before it seemed a light had clicked in his head and he was met with realization. A humble twinge birthed upon his maw. "This machine remembers how." He spoke with ancient knowledge, suddenly recalling. But he could not help. It was not his place. "Find its memories. I believe... there is someone that can help you... someone that can find them." The deer narrowed his eyes for a moment, thoughtful. Then he looked back to the children, and his visage found itself in a solemn smile.

He cast them no second glance. He did not turn, nor alter his course; he simply carried on the same direction, walking past the children and back into the darkness.