The Singing Crystals

The caves are strangely flush with magicka, the swell of it sending shivers of power through the tunnels. The Spire crackles with energy, and a strange chiming comes from new crystals forming all over the caves, often hidden in out-of-the-way areas.


In tunnel O, a strange figure lurks watching the Polaris entrance from a distance. Her organs seem visible beneath translucent skin, and webbed feet tip four slender legs. If approached, she will curtly tell any Gembounds who offer aid:

"Those singing crystals. If you want to... 'help' with my research, bring them to me. Yes. You'll be rewarded."

__________

The quest The Singing Crystals has begun! Gembound wishing to aid in gathering up these mysterious crystals may bring them to Jupiter in this thread. At the end of the quest, those participating will be rewarded for their help.

These crystals can be found anywhere in Origin Cave, and can be located by their unusual sound. Beware, though: some may be in hard-to-reach places, or even dangerous ones. You may roleplay finding crystals in any cave or tunnel, and GM intervention is not necessary to retrieve crystals, but all will require an Other roll of at least Barely Successful to retrieve.

As a maiden she tiptoes shy with her light
She is modest and pure as she graces the night
The Mother-Spire was restless this cycle, and so was Thothaga. The influx of magicka was a barrage on the spider's senses. She was forced to retreat into one of the tunnels, more specifically, Tunnel O. In Polaris, it hard to concentrate. She felt too alive there. It gave her the arachnid equivalent of a head headache. This was the one time her sensitivity towards magicka felt like a curse. Thothaga wondered why the Mother-Spire was birthing singing offspring when it hadn't done so before. Despite the annoying throb, their song was beautiful to listen to.

In Tunnel O she came across another gembound more bizarre-looking than her, carrying what looked like strange sticks. The dog-sized spider stopped dead in her tracks.

"Don't hurt me, I talk!" She blurted out, tilting her body upwards and waving her pedipalps in an attempt to convey urgency. This was force of habit, lesser spiders then weren't exactly welcome sights.

But the stranger spoke of the sing crystals instead.

"You hear the Spire's offspring sing too?" She consciously gave her body a tilt of interest. I wonder if I am getting better at expressing emotions. Invertebrates loved their expressions. "They call to Her, but why?"

She was interested in the stranger's research, and her reward, but mostly her reward. "Oh? What is the reward?" Thothaga asked. She hoped it wasn't an attempted squishing.

"Listen to me."
Thoughts...

TAG: // OOC:

Kin-Kin had caught traces of an odd scent in Polaris and felt whispers of magic in her bones. With no real use for the crystal she now carried in her jaws, she was now at a loss for somewhere to actually put it. With a swish of her tail and her head held high, Kin-Kin followed the scent, wondering if its appearance had something to do with that of the odd crystals.

She travelled at a brisk trot, the scent growing ever more pungeant in her twitching nostrils, before she finally came upon its source. Her ears perked as she approached, heeding their words, and it seemed she'd come to the right place. With a sparkle in her eyes and glow swelling around her, the golden wolf stepped forward and laid her prize at the feet of the strange creature awaiting her coming. Then she sat back on her haunches and patiently awaited her reward.


/showthread.php?tid=5671&pid=45298#pid45298
Crystal obtained here

Envy savoured the tingling of the magical crystal in their jaws as much as they were able, and wished they could behold the glistening thing in their jaws as they ran... but they had to admit that the constant ringing and singing of the thing was getting to be a little more than annoying. And they were only looking for a good place to hide the damn thing! Somewhere that only they could find.

Envy didn't notice until the last moment that they'd wandered into the vicinity of something... or someone... new, and when they did notice, the weasel dropped their crystal in a mixture of shock and disgust, for looming over them was the most hideous thing they'd ever seen. Their jaw dropped, and they were just about to tell the being to its face what they thought of it, when... they spoke of the singing crystals. Is that what this was?

Envy's gaze drifted towards the incessantly noisy thing they'd brought. Their eyes narrowed. A reward? Their interest was definitely piqued, and Envy sat back on their haunches eagerly, waiting to hear more. The gem was lingering between them, and Envy couldn't help but notice that she mentioned there might be more. Envy was reluctant to get rid of their prize, but... well, it was getting annoying. And if the potential was there to have their cake and eat it, who were they to say no?

Envy pawed the thing towards the disgusting centaur and stepped back.


Crystal found here:
/showthread.php?tid=5729&pid=45869#pid45869

Electric Storm, Electric Storm, Electric Storm, Don't Cry Baby
Tunnel O was damp and humid with a low hanging ceiling. It was not the best of conditions for many of the creatures that lived in the surrounding caverns. However, for a particular bobcat, it felt similar to the misty conditions of her den in Cetus. And it was there in the tunnel that she now found herself wandering down. Soft furred paws muffled the sound of her paw pads against the stone as she moved along. In her maw rested a strange gem that vibrated with a high hum. It was troublesome carrying it this way, the sound moving through her teeth and into her skull, but she hoped it would be worth it. After finding the stone, she had heard from others at a distance that a strange being was down this particular tunnel and searching for them. Selena had no need for the crystal herself. So, against her better judgement she had begun a brief journey towards the mysterious being. Her fortune with such creatures had gone well previously. She hoped that her lucky streak would continue. Soon she found herself amongst a strange gather of creatures. Already a crowd was forming! At once her ears fell against her skull and her body lowered against the ground. The idea of others being on a similar mission had not crossed her mind. Doubts and second thoughts streaked across her mind. She wasn’t seen yet, it would be easy to turn around. Then her pale green eyes fell onto the strange creature that had to be the one she had heard others talk about. Never before had she seen such a creature! As pale as a ghost with long thin legs and a serious expression on it’s face. A tremor went through Selena’s body. It was too late to run away, for surely the creature would notice. If it truly wanted the singing crystals so badly it was likely to turn from a generous offer to a malicious attack should she back away at this point. With shaky steps Selena inched closer to the group to present her crystal with prayers that this action would not be in error. Speech Thoughts Tags: Notes: Crystal found here: /showthread.php?tid=5666 (Thread still in progress, I hope this counts!)

Down from the Polaris entrance came the click click sound of hooves against stone. The slender cervine trotted along at a carefree pace along the tunnel. Usually she stayed in either Eridanus or Polaris, but something told her on this day to explore a different path than normal. With no reason to argue against the spontaneous thought the springbok began at once on her newest adventure. Who knows, she might find some new plant that she could bring back to the garden she was slowly planning.

While no particular plant offered her much interest, soon a group of seemingly random creatures did. Enka’s ears and tail twitched curiously as she wandered closer to the forming group. It was an odd collection to say the least. At first, there appeared to be nothing in common. Then she noticed that the strange humming she had heard before, the very same humming from the crystal she was currently carrying, was quite loud here. Like a chorus. On closer inspection she noticed that all the creatures except for the one who’s body almost appeared like two creatures combined into one, had similar crystals. Did these crystals draw them all together?

Most curious indeed.

Enka was about to ask the one closest to her what was going on when she caught the armed creature’s words. “Help? Reward?” She repeated. Of course, she was more than willing to help. The crystal was nice and all, but if someone needed it then of course she would give it too them. She was reminded of the strange “Bazaar” she had visited recently in Polaris. Was this a similar deal?

“Of course, we’ll help!” Enka announced happily around the crystal in her mouth. Then, with a glance around at the others gathered, she wandered briefly if she should have spoken for them as well. “Oh, ahh, I’ll help at least,” she tried to recover with a weak smile.

---

Speech
Thoughts

Tags:
Notes: Crystal found here: /showthread.php?tid=5667&pid=45232#pid45232 (Thread still in progress. I hope this counts!)

Some time had passed since Bremen's wild adventure at the dam, where he had obtained not one or two but FIVE mysterious singing stones. Two of those were now safely hidden in his super-secret-no-one-knows about it hiding spot, but the other three were held gently in his big beak as the hybrid skipped toward the six-limb lady's last location.

He was not the only one to arrive at this time it seemed, seeing a small crowd already forming around the great being. The others, it seemed, hadn't had nearly as much trouble as he had with his cuts and scrapes and bruises. Perhaps that's what he got for waiting for so long and having to choose a really dangerous place to search. Then again he seemed to be the only one with more than one crystal so far, even if each crystal in his collection was fairly small.

With an energy as though he were not currently aching in every muscle and a hum from his throat to make the trio a quartet Bremen pranced forward into the crowd and dropped his three gems at the feet of the big creature.

"I got these for you, just like you asked. There were a lot of scary rock monsters that seemed to want them too."

Okay, maybe just one that he encountered, but 'a lot' sounded a lot more impressive, right?

---

’Thinking... thinking... thinking…’
"This is my voice, isn't it neat?"
Note: Crystals obtained in /showthread.php?tid=5728

Faelan had every intention to take the strange singing crystal to Polaris to examine it alongside the one that had cropped up during the magic competition. For some reason, he couldn't shake the connection of each gem making some sort of noise. He knew that there were vast differences between them, but that one similarity struck him as important.

As soon as the lion saw the translucent-skinned creature, and heard her proposal, he stopped though. He wasn't entirely fond of the idea involving himself with the unnatural looking being, mainly because it reminded him too much of the one that had trapped him in the void. However, he saw the benefit in a reward, and in not having to carry the crystal any further.
Even though he hadn't gone very far with it yet, it was already annoying him. The sound constantly thrummed up through his teeth and chimed away at every single one of his nerves. He figured that he could re-examine the towering, dark green gem just fine without this small one. If he ultimately decided that he did need to see them side by side, then he could surely find another.

A sense of relief washed over Faelan whenever he finally set the gem down in front of the stranger. He felt uneasy looking at them, so he focused his gaze on the gem that now lay on the tunnel floor. It sparkled in the pale blue light, seemingly no different than any other gem.

"speak"

Notes; Found gem HERE

Only one stone.

Jayberry had meant to find more, really she had, but time had gotten away from her. So when she trotted up to the... thing, surrounded by other Gembounds, she had only a single singing gem to show her efforts.

Found here: /showthread.php?tid=5714

Asimona staggered into the tunnel, her front leg dragging uselessly against the ground. Every time it was jostled, pain wrenched her broken shoulder and she could barely stop herself from letting out a roar of pain and frustration. She was still hurt, both externally and internally, about her terrible defeat. It had taken only a single hit from that golem to ground her and stop her. She had curled up in a cave along the wall somewhere, hoping that the pain would go away, but it hadn't.

Now, there was ice crusted around her shoulder where the worst of the swelling was. It numbed it somewhat, but the internal damage was too much to be fixed from the outside. She would need help or natural courses would seal the bone incorrectly.

As soon as she stepped up to the creature that had sent her on this journey in the first place, she collapsed, her dead leg splayed out to the side. After a moment, she managed to sit herself up and reach up with her good arm and rip the satchel right off her neck.

She opened the top and let the crystals she had collected scatter in front of her, their soft chime, once a melody in her ear, now only singing of her defeat. With disgust, she turned her head away. "I hope they're worth it," she murmured angrily.

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags:
notes: Crystals found in this thread: /showthread.php?tid=5669&pid=45265#pid45265