Quest: The Fiery Pit

Usually, the graceful stag moved with slow and calculated elegance; he took time in his movements, knowing full well the consequences of his appearance where ever he may go. He was thoughtful and concise in his decisions, and though he delighted in seeing the other Gembounds, his presence was often forged of mystery and fleeting.

Not this time. He had led Tamelyn away from Monoceros, mindful of where their hooves took them as they would have no idea where Raheerah would emerge after delving into the vents in the ceiling. They traveled through Orion, where it remained still, silent and dark - leading the stag to believe that the massive dragon had gone to Polaris to set it ablaze. While the stag desperately wanted to check in on the core and confirm his suspicions (in a perfect world, Polaris would be untouched and Raheerah will have taken some alien path to a place outside of the caves), he had a more important task, and he had promised Tamelyn that he knew how to fix this. Or at least, he knew how to try.

A deep foreboding resided in the pit of his stomach. The answer had been with him all along, but he relented against seeking it until now. Why? That explanation was lost in him, only that some part of him, lost somewhere in the recesses of his memory, did not want to go to the place he had to. Pisces. The name reverberated through the entirety of his being.

They entered the room, and the deer felt another pang of guilt upon remembering the group that lived here. A collection of Gembounds had made this room their home, living out of it and storing their belongings in the dens carved into the walls and under ledges. They all made a family here, and somehow, he felt unwelcome. The stag knew his presence was sure to attract the attention of others - but for now, he kept his head down and his eyes on his destination. The waterfall.

The glistening cascade roared ahead, producing a cloud of thick moisture that billowed up from the lagoon. The heavy mist left a gleaming residue of water on his short fur and his antlers, feeding water to the fungi that sprouted from his skin. He hesitated as he drew near, then his long legs arched and carried him into the shroud, through all the water until he had stopped at the very edge of the lagoon. Somewhere down there lay the answer... The stag narrowed his eyes and leaned forward, trying to see through the rippling water surface; however, there was only darkness in its depths. He closed his eyes and shook his head, turning back to Tamelyn. "It is here."

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:
Part One: Rafael, Timby, Usui, Damien, Dark, Tamelyn, Diamondfang (Read Thread)
Stealing Stones: Diamondfang, Nemesis (Read Thread)
Waking the Lamb: Cancer, Leon, Amaria (Read Thread)
Part Two: Baratheon, Nemesis, Tamelyn, Dark, Rafael, Cancer (Read Thread)

@Tamelyn

Sleeping... meditating... a muffled calm, distant drumming... heartbeat...

Not long had passed since his own clash with the titan of the pit and he still bore the marks of the bastards bile that had managed to scour off half his face. Thankfully, he wasn't completely inept at long distance but he struggled with finer tasks such as, say putting two sticks together. Combat he hadn't yet attempted and he didn't intend to until he had had these injuries for a while longer. In time it should get better though he assumed.

But in his recovery, he had spent time within Orion scouting out his next move. The Merry Men were on hold for the moment and he figured it would be better if he left it that way at least until he had come up with a strategic move against Maji Walezi. In coming up with this plan, he was once more within the beautiful cave that was Pisces, but he held no envy. This place was constantly wet, it always felt slightly sticky and most of all it stank of those water loving freaks. Quietly, he skulked in the shadows, but today he wanted to see how he would be able to poison this water system without accidentally infecting every body of water within Origin. One eye watched the waterfall as he moved silently, but he was forced to constantly glance around in order to make sure he wasn't approached without him realizing. This handicap was growing more frustrating in his plan and his teeth ground together.

There was something though, and he froze. Unable to see Deer Dad, not that he had ever seen him before, he cast out his magic to attempt to feel the concentrated areas of microbes in an attempt to better feel out who had entered the area...

...Though it fritzed out fairly quickly and he didn't get a reading on anything. So with no other option, he moved towards a rather large gap within the rocks and squeezed in. Trapped yes, but he figured no one could see him here and if they tried to he would give them the fright of their lives. Patiently waiting, he kept his eyes on the large deep pool within the centre of Pisces, the other side being the homes of Maji Walezi, he was confident he wouldn't be spotted by normal eyes anyway.

As they traveled, Tamelyn had drifted back and forth beside the stag, walking closely at his side one minute, before seemingly remembering herself and falling back to a respectful following distance. She was scared, moreso than she had ever been, though more for the other Gembounds in the cave than herself. Raheerah was a monster, already killing one and severely injuring another. If he wasn't stopped, the entire cave would burn. The stag--Astraea, that was his name--seemed to know what to do, and this was why Tamelyn tried to stay close to him, his presence a reassurance to her. But at the same time, it was obvious that something was different about him since the last time they had met, when she was only a cycle or so old. He was one of them, the elder Gembound, like the Beast and Aquarian and Raheerah. She couldn't bring herself to be afraid of someone she had viewed with such admiration before, but she could no longer see him as harmlessly benign. She could smell many creatures when they came to the falls, but saw none for the moment. She was surprised to recognize a few scents, though they were incredibly faint. Leon had been here? And Fisher? She hadn't seen the bear in ages, but hoped Fisher was doing okay. Her first electric friend. She was jostled out of her musings as the stag stopped, causing her to nearly bump into his hindquarters. She stopped just before they collided, and moved up to stand beside him, looking down curiously as the lagoon he had indicated. What was down there? She looked back up at the stag, trying to rally her shattered courage. "What do you need me to do?" "Speak"

By This One

She was here. Her dear hatchmate. Large paws carried her gracefully through the tunnels, easily following the scent trail that was left behind allowing her to know just which way Tamelyn had been going. There was another though. One that was only vaguely familiar. A scent she had only been graced with once before. It was curious to think about what Tamelyn could be up to with this particular stag. It definitely made her mind race, but she didn't put to much effort into thinking about it as she hurried along.

As she came into an area her eyes quickly looked around. An abundant of scents quickly caught her senses, trying to drown out the one sent she was after. She knew this area. It wasn't a place she ventured often having only gone through it to get to where she was going. This place was claimed by the Maji Walezi and it was the place her clouded leopard acquaintance lived. Or did. She hadn't really heard from Amaria in quite awhile. The further she got into Pisces the closer she drew towards her goal.

The moment her gaze landed on the doe an instant grin slipped across her features and she quickly hurried over just in time to hear Tamelyn question DeerDad about something. So, instead of speaking right away as they were clearly doing something, Arkrael slid up along Tamelyn and gave a friendly bump of her shoulder. Her gaze slid up towards DeerDad, curiosity lighting up the emerald gem that most others could actually see.

"Speech"
'Thoughts'

---

Tags:
OoC: Rae's not stalking Tam I promise XD. She just misses her hatchmate.

enna . ratchet . calypso . anan
sweet and soft . bright and cheery . critical and melodic . childlike and loud

i'm a songwriter who's put my childhood memories and teenage angst into songs

There were gembounds here, ones that didn't belong to Maji Walezi. Lots of them. More than their should have been. At first, there was a feeling of rage at that fact, yet as the tiny bird took flight and flew towards the voices, a wash of nostalgia hit the pitohui. A memory of someone long ago, who had saved her very fledgling life.

And, in reaction, the child in Bevy came out. She flew over the deer, her eyes bright as she observed the fauna and greeted them with great, loud joy. "Hello!" There was a great joy in meeting new friends, and she could hardly contain herself.

"Welcome to Maji Walezi, friends! I'm Anan Bevy, and this is my home! Are you looking for something? Can I help?"

.Anan

For a moment the stag was silent. He'd placed his focus on the depths of the lagoon before him; while the surface churned and roiled with the motion of the waterfall, deep down the waters remained still and calm. He narrowed his eyes, leaning in further until his nose hovered just above the surface, and he couldn't deny the pulling he felt towards the water, the yearning that accompanied it. Tamelyn had come to his side, and so the stag withdrew and straightened up, turning his head to look at her. He wasn't certain if they could accomplish this task with just the two of them - thankfully, others were quick to arrive at the scene, having taken notice of the arrival of two strangers in their home.

The wolf moved up beside Tamelyn and greeted her silently, while a small bird had come fluttering in, announcing herself and that she lived here. The deer nodded silently and offered a smile. "Hello, Anan Bevy. I apologize for intruding, but it would seem we are indeed searching for something." He began, and slowly traced his gaze back to the lagoon. "The dragon in the pit has awoken. We aren't sure where he's gone, but he's sure to cause havoc where ever he ends up." A small sigh. The stag had an idea of where he'd gone, but he couldn't say for sure, at least not yet. He stepped back and looked to the gathering of Gembounds before gesturing to the lagoon. "Something lies at the bottom of this lagoon... another Gembound that can help us."

The only problem was... how would they reach them?

The owl flew in slowly, flitting from point to point, breathing heavily. His sinuses were still slightly swollen, making it hard to hear and thus hard for the blind bird to navigate. He squawked out only weakly, arrowing toward the sound of Bevy's voice. He didn't know what else was going on, didn't know the situation nor its context. All he knew was that he had a warning to deliver, so he did.

"Bevy, Bevy--Bevy--" he began, flapping along the ground like a broken-winged grounded bird. "Help? The thing-with-fire went up, up, it's in the place-with-the-crystal and everything is on fire. ...It's hot," he added, in a complaining voice.

He didn't have much useful information to add, aside from the fact that the dragon was in Polaris. He nearly bumbled into the back of the stag's legs, even, only managing to avoid by scrambling back when he heard the clicking of hooves. Then he made his way toward where he thought Bevy was, now silent.

________________

She caught Arkrael's scent before she caught sight of her. The wolf's arrival came as a shock to her--throughout this entire hullabaloo, she hadn't once given thought to where Rae was, or if she had encountered Raheerah. I am, without a doubt, the worst hatchmate ever. The pressures of the day mounted upon eachother, and when Arkrael nuzzled her, she pressed her face into the wolf's shoulder, a hoarse noise escaping her throat. She remained there for a moment, trembling slightly, until the images of fire and burned flesh had faded from her mind and she detach herself from Arkrael's side. She knew that she had probably confused the wolf with her display, so she tried to gather herself to explain. "There's a dragon running loose," she murmured quietly to her hatchmate. "It's already killed one Gembound and it might kill again, if we don't stop it." More Gembound had joined them by now, including two she recognized, though didn't know: a brightly-colored bird, and an owl with vivid green eyes and muted feathers. Astraea spoke again, explaining why he had brought them to the pools. So there was another creature in the pool that could help them. Was it a water monster, like Aquarian? She was hesitant about waking another one of those up, but she trusted the stag. That just left the problem of how to wake them up. "Maybe I could try something," she said quietly, stepping towards the pool and dipping one hoof in, so that her gemstone was half-submerged. She breathed in, then breathed out, reaching for an old, familiar spell. Her grip on her magic was shaky, uncertain--after her recent failures, she had begun to fear if she had somehow lost it permanently. But the very least she could do was try. Slowly, she channeled energy from her stone to the water, attempting to sending a very, very gentle electric current into the depths of the pool. And, to her amazement, her powers obeyed her for once. Elation would wait, however, as she focused all her energy on throttling her magic, allowing only the tiniest amount of voltage to enter the water. If she was careful, it would do nothing more than buzz the water, potentially rousing whatever slept beneath the surface. "Speak"

By This One

Quiet roar... constant... slow breathing... icy home...

Though the spell was successful, nothing happened.