[Origin Cave]

Quest: The Carvings

Old, worn down illustrations appear to be carved into the walls of this tunnel, but no one can decipher them. They are too shallow and obscure to be made out. Somehow, some one needs to figure out how to make these carvings visible so that everyone can see them, otherwise they may remain a mystery forever. Perhaps it may help to take a cue from efforts of the past... of course, the only way to do this would be with some magic.

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: Nyx, Isaac, Louie, Bevy, Makyna, Cancer, Aza'zel
Part Two: Bevy, Majesty (read thread)

Nyx Dawnwalker Follow your dreams.

Nyx was still a little shaky on her long legs, but the further she went, the better it worked. The fawn decided to explore her surroundings and look for a place with less open space - Polaris was just too open for her taste and all the echos of noises she couldn't place frightened her.

An opening in one of the walls of the Core looked very inviting to Nyx and the young doe immediately went to explore the Tunnel. What an adventure! The dim glow of the plants and crystals continued here and helped Nyx as she did her best to avoid tripping and falling. The Tunnel was very long for tiny Nyx, but soon something caught her attention.
There was something on the wall, right? Her eyes weren't made for this kind of darkness, but something in her said that if only she concentrated enough, she'd be able to see something.

But despite her admirable focus on the wall, Nyx' eyes weren't able to decipher anything. Her curiousity began to grow, if only there was a way to see what secrets the wall held..

"Listen to me."

table by lisa

There was so much to explore! He wasn't very old considering he had just broken free of his cocoon, but he managed to maintain some control over his wobbly legs after departing from meeting the two animals. He didn't learn a lot from them other than one of them barked a lot as he did so he dealt with that with his infant mind. Of course, his own thoughts were on exploring the tunnel from his birth room leading nowhere in particular, but the string of lights guided the pup anyway as his tail wagged furiously and he continued forward without a set goal on where he wanted to end up. Although there was a way to see, the lighting was still rather dim. It would lead to the pup nearly being flung forward from shuffling his paws so carelessly across the floor. He continued with the quirky habit of his until he tripped over his large paws, and he somersaulted through the tunnel. He didn't crash into anyone in particular, but he was a close distance away from a pair of four legs from what he could see. His butt and hind legs were up in the air as his head laid in the dirt with a few particles dusty on his muzzle. His face was heated from having to be seen like that, and some part of him wished there wasn't a way to be seen with the lights illuminating around him. That wishing touched his gem as the stone reached out to the photons in hopes to turn it off. "Yuuu." he mumbled nervously as he laid there. POST ROLL EDIT: His gem cast away the photons so his body was harder to spot in the tunnel, but he laid there longer than he intended; feeling fatigued for no particular reason to him. Image Credit

Louie

Goo was still stuck to the ends of his fur and with a brisk shake of his head, he cleared the last of it from his gemstone. Immediately, he made to move away from the Core, the amount of creatures emerging from the area was enough to drive him to find more solitude. It took hours, in fact he was surprised he even had the energy to do so, but though his chrysalis lay back in tatters, it was as though he had been asleep and become well rested from doing so.

Head tilted upwards, he watched the "sky" as he moved. There appeared to be no end to the blackness and it was only via his already partial night vision that he could move through the gloom. Whiskers brushing against the walls, he basically felt his way to where the fawn and the carvings were but on setting eyes upon her, he froze and let out a distressed clucking noise. Not one to back down however, he moved forwards with his ears pricked and chest puffed out. Small only by stature, he gave the doe a meaningful gaze as his heated eyes glanced down her before turning their attention to the carvings that were etched so faintly into the stone.

Without even speaking a word to Nyx, he merely made his way closer before propping himself up on his back legs, running his toes through every crevice he could reach with his tail twitching behind him. It felt good, feeling things was good but this was a new sort of feeling and it elated him. All he wanted to do was come to grips with the world they had just entered and as such, he looked over his shoulder at the fawn.

"L-Louie." That was all he dared to say as he hadn't yet fully formed this personality of secrecy, but he felt anything more than a name would end in one having their own hold over him. Attention back on the wall, he jumped down. It was too dark to make out what it said, and he was all but inept in creating light.

It was only upon the revealing of Isaac that he shrunk backwards into the shadows, his fur sticking on end but he was unable to do much except stare at the German Shepherd. A fawn was one thing but another carnivore, a larger one at that, was enough to spell trouble and he scowled deeply.

"Listen to me."

table by lisa

Nyx Dawnwalker Follow your dreams.

Focusing on the dark wall was beginning to hurt Nyx' charcoal-colored eyes. She couldn't see much, but she knew something was there, she'd caught a glimpse of it, but now whatever was there could as well have vanished and the fawn wouldn't even know.

A sudden noise stole Nyx' attention away from the mysterious wall and she stared wide-eyed into the half-darkness further down the tunnel. Near her lay Large Bark, his muzzle in the dirt. His vaguely familiar 'Youuu' made the tiny doe smile.
If possible, Nyx' eyes widened further when Large Bark suddenly began to blend into the darkness, until she could see him just as bad on the ground as she could see the carvings on the wall. "Oh..!" She gasped, turning her head to look for Large Bark, even going as far as to lift her legs and look under them.

Nyx noticed he wasn't under her legs either and went back to starring at the place where he'd last been. Maybe, if she concentrated enough, she could hear him! "Large Bark?" The fawn asked with her high voice, listening for an answer, a breath, anything from the creature.

Spell Roll
Nyx took large, slow breaths as she focused on her hearing. She did her best to filter the echos out and- There! The fawn could hear the steady and calming thump-thump, thump-thump of a heart. It had to be that of Large Bark - she could hear her own as well and their heart-beats weren't in-tune, which made it easier to detect the other. "There!" Nyx cheered, clopping her hoof in front of where she'd last seen Large Bark. His heart-beat came from there, suggesting that he hadn't moved since vanishing.

Another creature joined Nyx and Large Bark in the Tunnel. To the fawn's surprise, at first the red-pelted thing ignored her completely, only to turn around and face her once it had taken a look at the carvings. Weird, she thought, but smiled at him nonetheless. "You is Louie?" The doe asked, tilting her head as she watched the stranger with her black eyes. "Me is Nyx." She spoke happily, eyes lingering on Louie a second longer before turning to the carvings again. "What?" Nyx asked, turning to Louie as she pointed at the wall with her hoof.

"Listen to me."

table by lisa

Isaac was in his own little world until he heard his familiar nickname from the fawn. He looked up to barely see her outline while the photons turned off plenty of the lights to see with. His own eyes were wide like the fawn's as his body faded from sight, and the illumination dimmed further surrounding the position he was currently at. His heart thumped loudly in his chest as he remained silent while Nyx was staring towards the direction he came from. She was cheering about something with her weird feet clopping in her excitement, or something like that. He tried not to focus entirely on her as he started panting from the increasing exhaustion. The process of blending in with the darkness was something Isaac did not expect, but he came to that conclusion that he had turned invisible when he couldn't see his own self in the pitch black shade. From the surprise he felt, he emitted a yelp at his invisible self. It wasn't until his gem, and energy were sapped of its resources that the shadows that enveloped him receded. It did not mean his eyes relaxed as he stared wide-eyed at his reappearing form before his face heated up again. He slowly unraveled his body as it felt sore from the pose he remained in, and the power that drained him of most of his energy. He got to his feet, but he unsteadily made his way towards the deer before flopping on his belly. "No move, no move." he mumbled as he laid against the cold surface. He managed to lift his head to glance towards the direction Nyx was looking at, and he finally noticed the red canine-like creature that happened to look rather rudely. He assumed that was Louie based off of the words spoken, and it seemed like a good idea to expose identities like he did before with her and Fisher. "Isaac!" he chimed in. The name was his! He was proud to claim himself as Isaac even though if it was just a sound that he automatically identified himself with. Image Credit

Louie

Claustrophobia began to seize the critter as he pressed his back into the wall, above him the carvings continued to give him an uneasy feelings, the scrawls beneath only faintly resembling pictures but in the darkness and with his fright of the others present he couldn't bring himself to actually decipher any of it. Rump actually running across the faint bumps, he decided he was better off being on higher ground and gazed, rather he tried to figure out if there was in fact a slightly raised ledge on the other side of where they were gathered.

In a few silent bounds, as silent as they could be given he had to put all his weight into his back legs for the final push, he jumped to scramble up the ledge.

Other Attempt Roll

It wasn't graceful, and he slammed into the edge of the ledge with a yelp as the wind was knocked out of him and his back legs failed to get a grip on the smooth surface, instead flailing wildly. Unable to reach the top, he let himself fall back and he hit the ground with a gentle thud as he landed on his right shoulder. That German Shepherd huffed out his name, in a rather deep voice that caused his fur to prickle but he was humiliated beyond belief. Flushing deep red under his fur, he curled his lip and tried to scrabble back to his feet and face both of them again. Frustrated and pissed off, he glared at the pair despite the light being so poor. He hadn't even been able to register Nyx's question at his running of his paws over the stone. They just... Felt important. It was definitely a difficult sensation to put his thumb on and, while he wished to slink back over and run his paws over them once again, he held himself back out of his understanding he had messed up and already appeared weaker in the eyes of his enemies.

"Listen to me."

table by lisa

While feeling the texture of the wall, you may find that its raised surfaces have been worn down and eroded, either by time or deliberate efforts you can not tell. However, you will also find that outlining each raised surface are small divets in the rock. They have been chiseled in, acting as outlines to the carvings. You are unable to determine what images the divets make, as some of them are distinguishable, where others are too shallow to see the difference. Maybe if you filled in the divets and the borders of the raised areas of rock, you could pick out the image, but it is impossible to decipher if left as is. You will also notice that white lichens seem to flourish on these walls.

Nyx Dawnwalker Follow your dreams.

To Nyx frustration, Isaac didn't show himself even after she'd discovered where he was. But it was a cool trick, being able to hear heartbeats. She wondered if others could do that too? Probably not, she guessed, seeing as she couldn't become invisible like Isaac could, as much as she tried to.

While he didn't look like it was planned, Isaac slowly became visible again. Accidental or not, Nyx was happy that she could see Large Bark again. The gembound was obviously tired when he flopped down in front of Nyx and mumbled something. The doe giggled and leaned down to lick Isaac behind an ear. "Good Isaac." She said, somewhat proudly. He must be very exhausted, she realized as she felt a little tired from using her magicka.
Between her shoulder blades, the Sky Blue Topaz glowed dimly.

While Isaac was as cheery as Nyx knew him, the fawn herself wasn't as open with Louie. Something about him made her uneasy - his eyes? - and she didn't dare stare at him for too long.
It obviously didn't help his mood when instead of landing on the ledge he'd been aiming for, Louie slammed against it. Nyx winced but stayed silent when his eyes landed on her and Isaac. His glare was down-right evil and the fawn hadn't seen anyone so angry before. "Louie okay?" She decided to ask, timidly, but standing her ground nonetheless.

Nyx decided not to push the matter and turned towards the barely visible carvings in the wall again. Maybe she could focus on her sight like she had done with her hearing to spot Isaac and then see more than the other two? The young doe decided that it was worth a try and focused on her sight, ignoring the noises and smells around her for the sake of her sight.

"Listen to me."

table by lisa

The difference between the raised surfaces and the chiseled divets becomes clearer to only the fawn. If stared at long enough, one may be able to recognize the curving lines of an illustration, but as of yet it is still too faded to decipher. Many smaller details such as preserved claw marks become apparent around the carvings, suggesting they were forged by someone primitive.