A tangle of Gembounds at one side of Polaris, near the river, appeared to be arguing. Their voices carried, and near the center of the group, a glowing, pulsing gem sat. With a flash, abruptly, it vanished--and reappeared nearer Polaris' center. Those of the group could still see it--but now it would be visible to others, as well.



The gem was smallish in size, perhaps the size of the skull of a house cat. Along its twenty facets ran white-pulsing glyphs of various designs: a skull, bones, a few things near-unrecognizable. It seemed to flash as if to call attention to itself--but what did the stone want? What purpose could it serve?

Join This Quest

If you would like to participate in this quest, post with your character in this thread. Anyone can join at any time. 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.

@Asimona @Skeena @Talion

Glory was having a nice outing from Monoceros. It had been a little while since he had left the room of howling wind and, he had to say, it was a nice change to be flying in both silence and peace. Polaris was quiet and no wind ruffled his feathers, making it easier to fly but harder to glide. No wind could boost under his wings.

As he banked lower, he caught sight of a few strange gembounds gathered together, seemingly arguing. He was about to go lower and see what was going on when he saw movement and something disappeared and reappeared some way away.

His interest piqued, he changed his course and glided down towards the gleaming gem and set himself down next to it. Narrowing his eyes, he leaned forward and gave the gem a careful peck. It was strange, glowing, with weird runes. What was it?

He tried to think if he had seen the bone runes before and thought he felt something in there, but he couldn't be sure.

A flash of light caught Scorch's attention as he was resting, and, of course, he just had to go check it out. Who knew what kind of amazing discovery was awaiting? The decision was made easier by the fact that he couldn't sleep over the noise of the nearby argument. Seriously, did they not have any consideration?

Then again, he had the feeling that not many slept in the middle of the day.

It looked like an eagle had beat him to the investigation. Oh well, he was in no hurry. Though he had to question if pecking the gem was a good idea, what with its obviously magical nature and images of flashing bones. "Hey, uh, shouldn't you be a little more careful with that? I mean, look at those bones. What if it does something creepy to you? Oh, I'm Scorch, by the way. What's your name?"

As a maiden she tiptoes shy with her light
She is modest and pure as she graces the night
The cave spider's shell crunched as Thothaga's large fangs pressed it into her mouth. Viscus ooze spilled from the cracks in her meal's exoskeleton. She was making a mess, but Thothaga did not care. Something much more interesting had caught her attention. A bluish, pulsing light shone from afar. Even from the vantage point atop her stalagmite, it made the hair on her legs tingle. What ever this thing was, it was something special. Could this be why the Crystal Mother led her back to Polaris?

Thothaga casted out a line of silk that unfolded into a canopy as it caught the wind. Gracefully, it swept the giant, dog-sized spider of her feet and she glided a little ways towards the light before sticking a landing on Polaris' stony, cave floor. Abandoning the wisplike trail of web, she crawled towards the strange object. There were now two more gembounds around it.

Thothaga gasped when her eight eyes fell upon the faceted gem. She had never seen anything like it in her life. The half eaten cave spider fell from her fangs, and momentarily, she forgot about the two other gembounds as she greedily pushed her way to it.

"Symbols?" She said to herself. "I've never seen one with symbols before!"

The aura radiating from this gem was incredible, as if it was trying to ensnare her in a glowing web. Thothaga's curiosity got the better of her and the young spider reach out her foreleg to poke it.


"Listen to me."
Thoughts...

TAG: @Glory @Scorch // OOC: then suddenly... SPIDER!

The gem was prodded, here and there--pecked by an eagle beak, poked by a spider's leg.

At the touch, its glyphs flashed all at once, brightly, as if encouraging the Gembound. Yet, nothing more happened. Perhaps more was needed to divine its nature.

@Glory @Thothaga @Scorch

Skeena grumbled.

The Voice was irritating, snapping at her for letting the Dragon pin her. But she tried her best to ignore it. She wasn't a large Gembound, nor was she terribly fast. So it was taking her longer than she would have liked to find the stone.

Well, find wasn't the right word. She could see it glowing far ahead. But it was taking her ages to actually get there.

And when she arrived, there were others there. A bird, pecking at the gem. Another bird, observing nervously. And a massive cave spider, tapping it with a hairy foreleg.

Approaching, Skeena observed the symbols once more. There were bones - a skull? Perhaps mother could help? She called out, "Some of those Glyphs look familiar. My mother is Giggle, the Bone Reader. Perhaps she could help us?"

The gem was poked and prodded, but aside from a flash of the bone symbols nothing else seemed to happen. Scorch breathed a sigh of relief. So touch seemed to make the glyphs light up, huh? An idea struck him out of the blue. What if... What if it was touched by a gem? No, no, no, that was much too dangerous. What if the flashing bones were meant to be a warning? The newcomer had the right idea, they should figure out what the symbols meant.

"Yeah, that sounds like a great idea! he replied. "Thanks for offering. And I was thinking - not to encourage risky behaviors, but the gem seems to respond to touch. Maybe if the bone symbols don't turn out to be a warning or something, we could try to touch it with a gem? Just a wild idea, please don't try it yet, it could be dangerous or it might not do anything," he babbled. "Oh, and we should all introduce ourselves! I'm Scorch. Nice to meet you all!"

Glory wasn't really ready for all of the gembounds suddenly gathering around and he looked around them with a burning gaze, huffing with indignation when the huge spider pushed past him. It didn't really strike him as odd that there would be a giant spider in the first place. He was friends with a dragon after all.

But to be treated with such disrespect? How rude! He stepped back forward so that he was standing next to the gem again. "I know what I'm doing," he flashed towards the owl. "It's a gem, not a bug. I'm sure it can take a little peck. And you," he looked towards the spider, a streak of anger flashing in his eyes, "be careful where you're walking! We all want to know what's up with the gem, right? No need to be pushy!" His head raised up proudly, trying to look bigger and more important. He was going to be in charge of this mission to figure out the secret of the gem.

He nodded towards the strange hybrid that had walked up. "A reader of the bones? Perhaps she lives in the bone room. I thought, perhaps, that we should take the gem there. It certainly has something to do with bones." He gave the owl a harsh look for just a second before nodding at him again. "An excellent idea, Scorch. I am Glory," he announced, proudly, opening his wings to show off their golden beauty. "We shall work together to find these secrets. But first," he took off into the air and hovered around, eyes raking the ground for anything that looked like a bone, but his search came up fruitless. When he landed, he gave his head a small shake. "It seems there are no bones to test my theory. Perhaps we could see how the gem reacts to the presence of bones first before we move it so far."

Searching for a new home was so tiring. Felina refused to give up, though. She decided to try to find something in Polaris.

She found the great blue-tinted cave easily enough. As the female bobcat runt went deeper inside, she heard a variety of voices. The ones speaking were just as diverse. She saw a very small mouse like Gembound ((Skeena)), an eagle ((Glory)) and...the biggest spider she'd ever seen ((Thothaga))! There was a fourth Gembound she couldn't identify ((Scorch)), too.

Even amid the gathering of Gembounds, the large multi-faceted blue gem stood out. Overcome with curiosity, she walked over to the group. She stopped roughly three feet from them.

With eyes that can identify a cave rat in a room full of darkness ((she's a cat, after all. Felines can see at night better than canines and some other animals)), she saw the bone-like runes adorning the gem's facets. How very mysterious! Felina was now hoping for answers as much as the rest of the gathered Gembounds.

@glory, @scorch, @skeena, @thothaga, @dark

As a maiden she tiptoes shy with her light
She is modest and pure as she graces the night
"Oh!" She gasped once more. "It glows when you touch it! Fascinating!"

Thothaga ignored Glory's scolding. The faceted gem was way more interesting than how she had ruffled the eagle's feathers. It felt like it wanted to speak to them, but the words were locked away, incomprehensible. The spider spun around to Skeena, an old looking creature who looked like a mouse, but not quite. "You recognized these glyphs, mouse-creature?" This Bone Reader of the bone room sounded familiar. Maybe Oliver had mentioned this gembound to her. If she spoke to bones, then perhaps she could speak to the glyphs. "Yes!" She agreed. "Your mother could be helpful."

The other eagle, had introduced himself as Scorch, and he seemed to be more cautious than everyone else. "Hello, Scorch, you can call me Thothaga." She paused, watching Glory take flight to find a bone for this theory, before turning back to Scorch to say. "I think we should touch it some more."

If Thothaga had a neck, she would have shook her head at other eagle as came back unfruitful and suggested more bone tests. Instead, her fangs twitched impatiently, and she spoke up. "No Glory, it is trying to tell us something and I do not think poking it with bones will unlock its words." She turned towards the gem and pondered over it a bit. "Perhaps... if we touch the glyphs in a certain order..." Her leg hovered over it as if she wanted to touch it again, but then Thothaga withdrew it. "We need to brings this to Giggle.. or.. could Giggle be brought here?"

Suddenly, she felt soft, approaching footfalls of Felina behind them. "Oh, hello." Thothaga greeted. "Are you Giggle?" She still had no idea what a hyena looked like.

"Listen to me."
Thoughts...

TAG: @Glory @Scorch @Skeena @Felina // OOC: