Quest: The Fiery Pit

There was a great disturbance in the caves. He could sense it, even from Polaris. The surge of magic that filled the room, a shimmering energy, was disrupted. The ground felt as if it shook beneath his hooves and he could feel something great, something evil, finally awakening from thousands of years of slumber. Something terrible had happened and he needed to know what it was.

The great stag moved with urgency as opposed to his usual graceful slowness. Before long, he'd arrived in Monoceros. The twister raged in the center of the room, making it difficult for him to hone in on the magical energy that shuddered in the wake of the massive force. He traveled through the room, his head low, scanning for any signs of disturbance. The stag would eventually make his way towards the gorges, dipping deeper into the canyons; there, he saw scuffs and streaks of black against the rock, tufts of black and brown fur scattered throughout and blood, everywhere. A deluge of sadness washed over his heart. Then, he noticed the fissure in the earth. But where did it lead?

He couldn't follow the fissure, he was too large. But he walked, tapping the ground and listening, trying to follow its path. Eventually, it did lead him to the edges of a pit. The stag felt he had no reason for caution, approaching the edge of the pit - there, he spotted the massive dragon coiled around the tiny lamb. As soon as he saw the dragon, he withdrew and hid. Even hiding, he could hear the sudden shifting of the gargantuan dragon, grunting, as if he knew of the deer's presence.

This wasn't good. They weren't supposed to be awake, how did anybody find them? He furrowed his brow. Something had to be done... for as long as that dragon was awake, the Gembounds of Origin Cave were in danger. But what could he do? The stag turned and slipped away from the pit, following the winding gorge until it led him to a different finger of the canyon stretching away. He would be safe there. Something tugged at the fringes of his mind. Something he could do. The stag stood, closing his eyes and trying to remember.

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

Wandering. That's what he seemed to be doing a lot of nowadays. Sometimes he wandered with others sometimes alone, as he was today. His wandering brought him to Monoceros after he'd caught something to feed his belly. He knew the difference between turning on his friends and being able to control himself, at least where prey was involved, depended on how well he kept himself fed.

As the dragon made his way through the new area he followed his nose to the scent of another. Around rocks and over paths he went until he saw a tall figure. A great brown deer with fungi growing from his body. Booker would love this fellow! Since he seemed to be part mushroom and had a fatherly air about him Baratheon liked him immediately. The dragon wagged his tail and approached. His pink eyes were bright with curiosity because he just noticed that the deer seemed to be hiding... but from what? Only one way to find out

Well, two, but as much as Baratheon liked fighting he wasn't in the mood for Bloodlusting. "Hello! What're you hiding from?" He asked curiously as he came to a stop right in front of the larger gembound.

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words: 202
tagged: Quest
ooc: ---
muse: 5/10

"Speech"
Thoughts

Nemesis would not fight... A large amount of them. She had been watching, with Fang-- who had gotten more involved than she had-- and she knew the hole was trouble. She hated it there, violent and invasive, in her home. She had known of the blood shed on her home, the stranger that had dirtied her home. It made her angry. For a little while, it had quieted down...

But then a strange, large deer had come. He had retreated into hiding after seeing the creatures in the hole. She did not like him very much, did not trust him, but she had let him retreat without interruption. It was when the white, long, horrible thing appeared, that the impending sense of danger and distrust made her squirm. She scuffed her large feet at the ground, lowering her head to the ground.

Who was this stranger? He spoke, loudly to the hiding buck, the one who-- while bothered her just with his presence-- seemed intent on being harmless. He had appeared, out of no where, acting like he practically owned the place with his bright white fur and sharp teeth. Something told the rhino that this noodle was dangerous, perhaps even deadly. She couldn't let him stay.

"What do you want? Why are you here?" Nemesis asked, approaching the pair. Their sizes were great enough to rival hers, and it concerned her. She couldn't fight them both, and Nemesis... Well. She wasn't good at much else.

Tamelyn Thunderhoof And I will fear no darkness

Since taking the stone, Tamelyn hadn't returned to Monoceros. It was barren of browse, and there were plenty of other places to jump and run and play. It was the distant howling of the winds that had drawn her back, partly out of curiosity, and partly out of apprehension. She should have known that there would be consequences for taking the kyanite, which was currently squirreled away in Eriandus, safe from golems and Gembound alike. She wondered if she should have brought it, but maybe there was a small, jealous part of her that wanted to keep the pretty stone. Furthermore, she was beginning to have a theory. She had never before seen a gemstone that wasn't attached to a Gembound. As far as she knew, there was no such thing as a mundane jewel. So where was the Gembound this stone had belonged to? In a way, she almost felt bound to protect it until it's owner could be found.

Normally, she could navigate the crags of Monoceros easily, her powerful legs allowing her to leap from rock to rock. But the wind had increased to such violent proportions that it was all she could do to stay upright, let alone clamber on the boulders. The trench cutting through the ground offered some shelter, so she slid carefully down the pebbly slope, hearing the wind reduced to a low moaning outside. Tamelyn shook herself out, sending a cloud of dust out from her pelt, then continued on, not sure what it was she was looking for. She did eventually find it though: a familiar face, one she hadn't seen since youth. She gasped as she turned a corner to see Deer Dad, standing there with two other Gembounds. "It's you!" she said excitedly, trotting towards him with a bright smile. "You're back!" She only had a little time to enjoy his presence again, however, as the wind had begun to pick up again outside the gorge.

Tamelyn craned her head up, casting a fearful look at the flying dust overhead, then look back at Deer Dad. "What's going on out there? The winds seem worse that usual."

"Listen to me."

table by lisa, image and modifications by FennecFyre

Quest: The Fiery Pit

The stag lingered, stuck in his thoughts and fearful of what may come of the dragon and the lamb in the pit. He had seen them sleeping there before and kept the pit a secret from the Gembounds as best he could - he knew the chances of them finding the pit would be lower if they didn't even know of its existence, but somehow they must have discovered it. What was even worse, he didn't know what kind of dangers would come with waking the beasts, but he knew it couldn't be good. Even straining to eavesdrop, he couldn't hear any voices. The dragon and the lamb didn't speak to each other in their roused privacy. With his eyes closed, he tried to remember but his concentration was broken by the sound of another creature's approach. Sunset eyes immediately peeled open to fall upon a furry white creature, draconic in appearance. As soon as he began to speak, the stag stiffened. "Shhhhh!" He hushed, casting a glance back in the direction of the pit.

They probably wouldn't be able to hear from over here, but the stag didn't know how great the senses of the beasts truly were. He barely heard the young dragon's words before another creature approached them, demanding to know what they were doing here. "Shhh! Quiet," The stag repeated insistently. Didn't these Gembounds know of the danger lurking nearby?

Sure enough, a third appeared, but the stag recognized this one. Her piebald pattern was unique among the other deer he had seen in the caves. "Tamelyn!" He exclaimed quietly, beckoning her closer with a small jerk of his head. Once she had approached and asked her questions as well, the stag's shoulders eased. "I never left." He said idly, glancing back at the pit. "You three shouldn't be here. Those monsters in the pit, they're awake and I don't know what they're capable of." The stag explained, shuffling his hooves quietly. There must be something he could do, but the answer... It felt just out of reach!

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"He's angry."

The voice came soft and light, the scratching of talons following as the little blind owl hopped forward to the others.

He had come back here, intending to keep watch, and to listen, and to warn the others--the Pisces-dwellers--if the thing came for them. He'd found himself curious, really--worried, yes, but wondering if the thing would wake, if it was trapped, if it were frightened as well as furious.

"I tried to speak to it. To its... mind. To ask if it needed help. The big one. The scaled-one." He lifted one two-by-two-clawed foot, peering blindly as his talons as he remembered walking over the creature's back. The dragon's back, but he did not know that.

Then Dark crept to the pit's edge, peering down, slipping right between the deer--or even blindly between and beneath their legs--to listen to the massive beast breathing down below. He then slipped back, a split-second later, to continue his explanation.

"It hated. It's angry. I feel bad," he added, softly. What could cause such a large and powerful beast--something that he could walk all over as if it were a hill--to be filled with so much latent loathing...?

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"This is my home!" Nemesis replied abruptly, stomping at the earth underneath her. Everyone else had plenty to say, sure, but they didn't belong here. They were intruders. There were so many of them too-- and as far as she knew, the Dragon and Sheep had been born here and had a right to live here as well. The dragon, she reasoned, had a right to be angry. All of these awful strangers were here, mucking about, invading her home. She wanted to burn them all to ash, to make sure that they left and never returned... But despite her growing size, she was still just a young gembound. Shivering, she glared at the adult buck and held her ground, eyes burning.

"I'm not going to leave! I don't know who you are, but I belong here-- I was born here! And you should stay out!" She yelled, unafraid of waking the dragon bellow. From what she had seen, he had been hard to disturb. More so, her anger was getting away from her. These strangers had no right to come in here and act like they had a say... They didn't live here. This was her problem, her and the rest of the Merrymen, and she wasn't about to let a bunch of stranger wander in and cause trouble!

She CERTAINLY wasn't about to let some stranger tell her she didn't belong here! If he wasn't tall and, really, quite powerful looking, she would have attacked him in a heartbeat for saying that. If anything, he was the one who should get out. It was him that was drawing all the attention...!

The stag continued to look back and forth, from the direction of the pit to the Gembounds before him. He fretted, oh, he worried - he didn't want to see anybody injured at the hands of those monsters, especially because he had come here. Another one had joined them, a little owl that came hobbling forward. The stag turned his head towards the bird, furrowing his brow with concern. A creature like this definitely shouldn't be here, so close to danger, and yet he spoke of having communicated with one of them. The dragon. The stag blinked, immediately worried - but he wasn't surprised at what the owl had told him. "Do not feel bad," He answered quietly, lowering his head to peer down at the owl with a softened gaze. He parted his lips in an attempt to reassure the owl further, but couldn't think of what to say. What, that he was sure the dragon didn't mean it? To not take it personally? That would be a lie if ever he'd heard one.

After having warned the other Gembounds, one of them - the largest one - was particularly adamant about not leaving despite the obvious threat that lurked in the pit nearby. The stag's eyes widened in alarm at the volume of her voice, quickly flicking his gaze between her and the pit as she yelled at him. Couldn't she understand that she was in danger? "I'm not trying to push you out of your home, but please, you need to understand it's not-"

His voice cut off at a sudden low, foreboding rumbling. The stag jumped, hooves clacking against the ground as he whirled around to face the pit.

There a massive shadow suddenly began to grow. A cloud of smoke billowed up from the pit, and the beast of gleaming black scales rose upon his hind legs, peering over the edge.

The stag jumped out, trying to herd the Gembounds away and around the corner. "You have to run, now, fast!" He urged them, panicked.

Behind him, a wicked laugh poured from the beast as he lurched closer. One of his massive hands gripped the edge of the pit wall, claws digging into the rock. Pebbles and dust fell away at his grasp, clattering down the wall; the lamb was silent, or unheard. His other arm reached over and dug into the floor, and the dragon slowly began to hoist himself up, climbing the wall. Orange eyes wide and bright, glaring with hatred - he stared down the Gembounds that clamored to hide, snorting a spiral of smoke from his glowing nostrils.

Any characters that do not exit in this round will be subject to fighting Raheerah.

His question wasn't answered but Baratheon didn't mind. The deer sounded frantic. What had him so upset? The young dragon was oozing with curiosity. "Sorry..." The volume of his voice dropped considerably. Still, he took it upon himself to look around. He was small compared to the buck but he still had some more size on him and he was unafraid. That thing with Quix had been a fluke and not everyone had that sort of power.

The dragon stood up on his hind legs, a new talent that had come since he had grown, his tail stretched out behind him to help him keep balance as he looked around at this greater vantage point. He took a few steps forward on his hind legs and was able, just barely, to see the back of a massive black creature with scales. Woooow.... What was that? More curiosity instead of fear erupted in his belly. It was then that he heard the deer speak again and he turned his head to walk back and drop down onto all four of his feet. With his new cockiness Baratheon shook his head, "I think I can handle it." He could fly (more or less) and was safer than anyone here, unlike the small spotted deer and owl.

Then the angry rhino started yelling in tones that was sure to annoy the large deer. "Are you trying to get us all killed? Deer Dude just told us to shush-it!" He turned his pink eyes on her with a glare. He was certain he could handle a fight but he didn't want to force one if he didn't have to.

Right on cue the thing in the pit stirred with a curl of dark smoke. Baratheon's eyes widened as he saw the approach of the massive beast whihc was undeniably a dragon. Were... Were they related? His mouth opened wide as he stared at those massive paws and the massive black body. "Run? Sorry, but I'm not good at that." For better or for worse he was in this. Cowardice was not something that he wanted to do. If this thing wanted to cause him harm then he was glad for his Bloodlust. "Are... Are you a dragon too?" He questioned the large beast as he stood there, looking up at him with curiosity and hope in his eyes.

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words: 394
tagged: Quest
ooc: ---
muse: 6/10

"Speech"
Thoughts

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Dark listened, fluffing his feathers and tilting his head--and then suddenly there was a slithering, and a grinding, and a cry for them to run. Fear fought in him, and he was torn between the animal's instinct to freeze in place and hide--which wouldn't work against a blast of flame, but then, the instinct hadn't been developed with dragons in mind--or to flap off and try to dart for safety on the wing. Most creatures would have seen a dragon and run for it, perhaps; but Dark was blind. He couldn't see that it was a dragon, and worst still, he couldn't see where "safety" lay.

When the low, wicked-sounding laugh rumbled over him, the instinct to flee won out. With a soft squawk of fear the owl turned and launched into the air, soaring softly away and around, wings catching on Monoceros's currents and tossing him skyward.

He circled overhead, trying desperately to listen over the howling winds for a hint as to where he could safely land. Dark wasn't out of danger, by any means, but at least he wasn't ten feet in front of a ferocious dragon's face.

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