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 Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 7:55 pm
Here's where the storyline/plotting for the shop will be posted for easy access for the owners. This is to help any newcomers and regulars know what is going on in the world of Moonlit Shadows. Right now it's mainly going to be old plot updates that Wolfie RP'd with a select few. But once the storyline gets going again new updates will be added. Please do not post here!And now there is a map of the Moonlit Universe that will be updated with new places as the storyline progresses.  Key: The big house looking thing is Moonlit Manor the smaller one to the left is my cabin the one to the upper right is the shack. The light green is a field dark green is forest olive green at the bottom left is the swamp with the black V being the V bridge. Brown is a path the dark blue means deep water or a lake light blue means shallow water The blue part that goes straight down is the waterfall. the grey little humps are caves pink is flowers the mountain shapes in the upper right are mountains ((XD)) the black squares is the town.
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Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 7:57 pm
Meeting Alo at the Obstacle Course ((Here's the link to the event if you want to read the entire thing. Link)) A while ago (actually a couple of years ago) an Obstacle Course adventure took place. A good friend of Wolfie's, Talencia, was leading this adventure. She lead everyone to a small waterfall, which was the first obstacle. It was there that Wolfie made an important discovery that at the time wasn't so important. Wolfie Duke "Why me?" She asked as she hung there. Things like this always happen to me. The blood rushed in her ears and she no longer could hear anything beyond her own heart. She tried to judge the distance to the water, but thought twice about it. Too high. A Belly flop was not in her plans for the day. Neither was drowning.
As she continued to hang, she looked around behind the net for something a little more solid to catch her grip on. Heavy moss covered much of the rocks. Some was slick, whereas other patches held a texture to them. Perhaps enough for footing. She brushed her hand across the wet moss, wondering if there was a ledge beneath it. Instead, she noted bright white markings beneath.
"Hey Benson, I found something!" She called, shaking her head in attempt to hear him. The pup continued its way down until it could go no more, taking a flying doggie leap out into the pool below. With a splash he went under, only to pop up seconds later, paddling fiercely, tongue lolling out one side of his mouth. He wasnt even paying attention to her. Go figure.
Wolfie shoved aside more moss. It was runes of some sort!! She struggled to sit up in the net. God, that gym membership hadnt paid off. She couldnt even do a good reverse crunch. The rope creaked. With one final decision, Wolfie gropped the rope beneath her, kicked herself in an arc, and back flipped....
...luckily, the rope she had grabbed was solid and her momentum had not flung her off and down the side of the rocks. She dangled for a moment, then searched for footing. Struggling to stay put, she reached into her back pocket and pulled out her pad and pen and wrote down what she saw. It might come in handy for something later on. She got the feeling Benson knew what it meant.
With the pad returned to its place, she continued down the cargo net, a little shaken, but determined to get onto terra firma as fast as she could. No more repeat sessions of upside down gymnastics were needed to persuade her otherwise. Once she was done she caught up to the others at the river where the next obstacle lied. They had to cross the river and as everyone was starting to cross Wolfie noticed something or rather someone. Wolfie Duke Wolfie notices a sudden myst rising from the river edge. How odd. It is thick and swirling. It moved in fast. Noone else seemed to heed notice to this strange happening. Was she the only one that was really seeing it? Oh my!
Somewhere behind it, she swears she can see another moonlit. How strange indeed. It wasnt one of theirs. It was almost the color of the myst. Small, and quiet, its movements slow. With a wink, the myst disappears with it, leaving behind a girl. What the heck was that about! Wolfie gapes at the strange girl.
"Who are you and how did you get here?" She demands, not hostile, just in utter shock. Who is this mysterious Moonlit and why is he showing himself to Wolfie? That still remains to be answered but from his other actions one can determined that he is good and trying to help Wolfie..... but help her with what? Well anyways back to our tale..... Wolfie crossed the river after the others and was trying to catch up before night truly fell. However the myst wolf had another surprise for our dear friend. Wolfie Duke Suddenly she heard a twig snap and whirled around. There was that myst wolf again! She gaped at him a while, flashlight shining right through him and onto a young girl. The pup yipped in awknowledgement and disappeared. The girl, however, remained, a backpack at her feet
((Sunn, feel free to say what color the pack is and what its made out of...its yours for the RP...make it yours))
"Hello," Wolfie began. "Are you lost? Can I help you? Or did HPM send you out here for the obstacle course?" Wolfie walked over to the girl. "If so, its getting late and perhaps we should catch up with the others. This is Benson," She pointed to her teal and tan pup. "And Im Wolfie." After this little surprise Wolfie caught up to the others and called it a night. That night a storm hit and in the morning everyone was shown the next obstacle. It was a giant tree that they had to climb and then cross a log bridge to another platform. There they could have breakfast. During breakfast the myst wolf returned with a surprise. Wolfie Duke With a hush, the wind suddenly picks up again, the sun bending behind clouds and the tree limbs weaving in the breeze. Something wasnt quite right and Wolfies hair stood on end. This was almost like the time....
...and then it appeared. The mysterious moonlit that she had seen before. Only, this time it looked older, somhow less luminescent and more mystlike. It yipped and spun in a circle. Something clinked to the deck of the tree stand. With another yip the wind hustled again and it was gone.
Wolfie stood stunned for a moment. Slowly, as if expecting the Moonlit to return, she crawled upon the deck of the stand on her hands and knees, searching for the thing that went clink. The sun began to return and soon she could see clearly what it was. A trinket of sorts. Wolfie Duke "I dont know." With careful fingers she picked it up. Lightweight it was indeed. She blew on it lightly and it whisped. "I believe its some sort of feathered earing." Wolfie sat and pondered for a moment. First the glyphs on the rocks, now this. What was it that the mysty Moonlit was trying to tell her. She had a feeling it was important.
Holding the object higher into the light she pushed her thumb through the tuft of brown feather and over the wooden bead. "Perhaps its from the ancients. Our ancestors. Or theirs. Im just not sure. I have a feeling we will soon find out what is going on out here." Wolfie Duke "Yea, something happened alright." Wolfien nodded as she clutched the trinket. "Its been here before. I know its showing me something. Like he wants me to know. Its the first time though that hes shown with so many others around. I wonder why." She sounded confussed. With a shrug, she picked up a bagle and began to munch before the next obstacle began.
"Where is everyone else. I havent seen Evermoon for a while. Is she sleeping somewhere? Dixie too." They continued on first zipping down the tree on zip cords. They then moved to the swamp and the V-bridge. They crossed the bridge and then Wolfie took her turn. But as she crossed it she heard a noise..... Wolfie Duke Wolfie shook her head in exasperation. This trip was turning out to be quite the adventure. Okay guys, we need to cross now. Everyone before me She pushed forward the rest of the gang and watched them walk across the v-bridge one by one. The ropes quivered and shook and she cringed more than once. The Moonlits seemed to have no real problem crossing, which seemed to be the surprise of the day. Better balance, she figured.
Something chirped overhead and she gazed around to find the sound. Hero, did you mention something about a baby bird? She heard the noise again. I swear I hear a nest of them somewhere. Anyone else hear birds? Stepping onto the ropes she tried to remember what HPM had said about finding a new race out in these parts. Someone else had to have seen them by now. What was the source of this noise? Was it a new race of moonlits? Or was an old race that had been forgotten? And who is this myst wolf and why is he helping Wolfie? And for those who wish to know what the obstacles were, here's a nice list with the description of the obstacle. The waterfall, which has two paths: The stream had chosen a staggered way down the cliff face. Shelves of slick rock and short drops led to a very deep pool at its base. The stream itself flowed energetically over this, carrying lightweight things with it. Moss covered nearly all surfaces, making them slick where the moss was wet. The rope ladder really was more of a heavy duty cargo net, anchored to the top of the cliff near the waterfall and stretching to the meadow below. The net was worn and torn from weather and use, leaving gaping holes in some places. The next obstacle is the river crossing. You had the choice of crossing with some rocks scattered all over although some weren't stable, a pile of logs and branches... some were quite large and others were only somewhat big that had washed ashore just upstream of the rocks, and a large tree that grew over the riverbank that had one branch extending over the river. It was bouncy and wouldn't hold much weight. Next is the platform tree with the log bridge to another tree. The massive tree before them had several ways up. Along one side of the towering trunk were pegs, driven in at random points. Along another side were notches cut into the bark, just large enough for a fingertip or toehold. Lastly, there was two ropes dangling from way up high. They were side by side, a few feet apart, and knotted at regular intervals. All three ways extended the equivelant of two or three stories up the ancient tree, all ending at a platform that circled the tree. From there was the log bridge Tal had mentioned. Although the logs did not spin, they were not steady either. They were connected by large brackets that allowed them to bend and swing slightly at each junction. There were five sections of log, each six feet long, stretching across thin air in a single line of bridge to the platform of the neighboring tree. Next is the zip lines. Each line had a different path, some almost directly down to the ground, others a slower, gentler way down that went through the branches of lower growing trees. One or two never actually touched the ground, ending at another tree several feet off the ground, though not at a dangerous height. In a pile nearby were varying types of attatchments for the lines. There was a typical harness to strap around the legs and waist. There also was a sling, much like the seat of a playground swing. Lastly, there was a simple bar that was large enough to sit on as well as hang from. And finally is the V-bridge in the swamp. It's a really long description.... so go here to read it. And that's all of the obstacles.
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Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 7:58 pm
Discovering the Moonstones ((Phoenix Round 2 Entry)) Wolfie Duke Prompt Silently you pull on the tiny brass knob of the old oak desk in the hall. The aged desk had once belonged to Wolfie?s Great Aunt Beatrice, who has recently passed. Unfortunately, it is your job to prepare the estate for sale since Wolfie is so busy trying to keep tabs on everything else. You slip your hand inside the drawer, pulling out a single, long ivory envelope that has been aged with time. Turning it over in your hands, you wonder who it could be from, and what it might say inside.
"Dearest niece,
I am sorry I could not have stayed longer to see you as you grew older and into your life. I am sad to say that most likely you are by now selling things off my estate. I ask that you should, at least, keep the desk. It is a valuable antique, a gift from my mother, your grandmother. I wish to see it kept in good hands. If you do not wish to keep it, please donate it to a museum. I am happy to say that I've had a satisfied life and that I'm glad you're growing up to be the beautiful woman you are.
Fare thee well, my niece,
Aunt Beatrice."
My eyes widened as I finished reading the note--no, letter--as I felt my mouth drop open in surprise. "How... How odd," I murmured. "Well, it's obvious I can't let this desk fall into the estate sale. This is urgent..." Nodding to myself, I headed off to find Wolfie and tell her all that I'd discovered. Grinning, my thoughts whirled, Good thing I found that note! Wolfie, you'll love this letter, I think, as I strolled over to where I last saw Wolfie.PhoenixGuardianMikazuki Weaving my way out of the mansion (I didn't exactly have the BEST sense of direction, but I had some), I continued to contemplate the letter I'd just read. "Will Wolfie know what the desk is hiding or for?" I mused. I should've paid attention to my surroundings...
...I got lost. Again, for the sixth time. I seriously needed to stop thinking so much. Groaning, I tried my best to retrace my steps and get UNlost... was that even a word? Anyway, I soon figured out I was just going around in circles...
...Urg. Stupid, that's what I was. Sighing, I made my way outside (finally) and looked around for Wolfie, still holding the cream-colored envelope with the letter (...maybe it was more like a will...) tucked safely inside. "Wolfie!!" I called, hoping I'd find her. The mystery with the envelope and the desk was killing me with my curiosity at its peak. Grrrr.... Wolfie Duke Wolfie sat reclined in the old sofa of the great room. She was watching the pups play when she noted Phoenix come rushing in.
"What? What is it? I dont think Ive ever seen you move so fast hun. Is one of the Moonlits hurt? Is the house on fire? Did HPM Create the 24th genome and accidenally mutate her head off?" PhoenixGuardianMikazuki "Wolfie! No!! No way! Look! I found something--it's for your, from your aunt. I think it might..." A "clunk" kind of noise was made, and a miniature silver key fell from the envelope I held out to give to Wolfie. I bent to pick it up. "Hm? I didn't notice this before!" I recalled see a keyhole in the desk... was this possibly the key to open it?
"Wolfie, take a look at the letter, and here." I handed her the little key as well as the envelope. Wolfie Duke Wolfie reached out and took both the envelope and the little silver key from Phoenix. It was much a relief that noone was hurt and the house wasnt on fire. And apparently HPM was fine as well. But this...this was a strange little envelope.
"You found it where?" Wolfie looked a little confussed. She had made sure the desk was cleaned out before she had let the others try to set it up for auction. Could it have gotten stuck somewhere inside and fallen out with all the jarring or people walking by?
She turned the key over in her hands. "I beleive I know where this came from... but I cant be sure..." She squinted and looked for the tiny familiar markings on the inside of the key's hole. Something someone would not ordinarily look for. "Phoenix, this doesnt belong to the desk, do you know what it was doing with the envelope?"
Once again she paused, remaniscent of her aunt, tears welling up in her eyes. "I...I cant read this hun. Can you read it for me? Im still...a...bit touchy. I guess," She paused. "She was very close to me growing up and I spent many summers here with her." PhoenixGuardianMikazuki I nodded, only empathizing, as I had never had a family member die, nor one that I was close to die. "Sure, Wolfie. Are you sure that key isn't supposed to be for the desk, though? I remember seeing a keyhole that that key would work for," I commented. Take the letter, I re-read what I'd just recently read earlier. As I finished, I noticed something I didn't see before. "Huh?" I said out loud, confused, and read:
"P.s. Wolfie, the desk holds something extremely valuable. See if you can figure out what it is, and if you do, you will hold the greatest treasure in the world..."
Slightly grinning, I said, "That sounded almost a little cheesy since I've read something similar in novels, but then again, she might be right, Wolfie! Maybe we should check it out! C'mon--I bet this little 'treasure hunt' will cheer you right up!" I was eager, mainly because I couldn't stand seeing a friend look as sad as Wolfie did, right then. Wolfie Duke "No, the drawer with the keyhole is unlocked. Spud, my aunt's huge Great Dane smacked it about ten years ago and shattered the chamber."
She paused. "What an odd little note Bea left me though. And even stranger challenge. Find something? With the desk? Its a desk and weve been through it!" She was stumped. Half-heartedly she got to her feet.
"Okay, lets grab a cup of tea first and find some tools. I get the feeling were going to need some sort of kit for this. Not sure what we will use or need, but I dont wanna run around the house after we start to get something. Agreed?" PhoenixGuardianMikazuki "Agreed," Phoenix said, and began to help Wolfie. "Hm... Flower tea. Delish." The dark-haired girl grinned happily as she sipped her tea. "...I believe that there's something she wants. Do you think she was hiding that she had mystical powers or some-- Ouch! Aqua! What was that for?" Phoenix's two-headed moonlit chick had bitten her finger (the hand that wasn't holding the teacup) a little hard.
Aquarius cheeped and pecked Phoenix lightly. "Eh? Oh, you're hungry. Heheh, sorry. Here you go!" Phoenix gave her little blue-two-headed chick some food who happily began to gobble it up. "Sorry about that Wolfie," Phoenix said, a light pink tinge on her face indicating her embarressment. "Anyway, so? Do you think your aunt is actually some type of sorcerer who once rescued the world?" Wolfie Duke Wolife laughed at that one. "Aunt Bea? The only thing she was a sorceror of was the kitchen. Man, could that woman ever cook!" She thoughtfully rubbed her tummy in rememberance. "Ever know someone like that?"
Wolfie headed down the hall towards the desk. Now she was just perplexed with the whole thing. "Phoenix, I have no clue what it is about this desk she wanted us to know..." She paused. "Lets pull it out from the wall so we can get a really good look at it." Wolfie pocketed a handful of tools along the way including a flashlight, a pencil, a crowbar, a lockpick, and some safty glasses.... she wasnt sure she had anything useful, but then again it was a desk. What would be useful here? PhoenixGuardianMikazuki "Hey! What's this?" Phoenix exclaimed as she noticed something shining in a darker corner behind the desk. Reaching in, she pulled out a glass orb that fit just right in her palm. "Hey! I know what this is!" The orb glowed with pale, pretty light, like moonlight.
"A moonstone! How cool is that! I wonder what it's for? Whatcha think, Wolfie?" Phoenix was surprised to even find such an item at all--moonstones were quite rare, after all. "A moonstone! I can't believe it!" she exclaimed, awed by the gem she held in her hand. "These are... wow!!" She couldn't get over it. Wolfie Duke "What's a Moonstone?" Wolfie was genuinly lost. "I've never heard of them. And what would a stone be doing behind the desk?" PhoenixGuardianMikazuki "Mm... Moonstones are super rare. They're said to be able to catch the light of the moon! So... Aqua, come here." I beckoned to my elegantly blue-colored, twin-headed bird flying around near the roof. He descended, making a perch out of my shoulder. "Here, Aquarian. Touch this, will you?" I showed the moonstone to him.
He leaned down with one of his heads, letting his beak touch it. A flash of pale, silvery light appeared, and when he moved away, crying his surprised, the light disappeared. "Oh... awesome!!! Eltian magic!!" I cried, astonished. "How did your aunt get her hands on one of these? Moonlits were... hm. Actually, what's the whole history behind Moonlits, anyway?" I asked, curious now.
Aqua was eyeing the moonstone warily on my shoulder, so I said, "Aqua, you can go outside to stretch. I'll meet you later, unless I whistle for you, ok?" He bowed his heads, and then flew out the door. Wolfie Duke "Oh boy," Wolfie said hesitantly. "Its quite a story actually. And theres lots of spaces to be filled in yet." Wolfie sat on the floor near the desk and pushed herself up against the wall. "Remember on the Obstacle course I uncovered some rune markings and that myst wolf kept showing up? I think they have some part in the history of things out there. Im sure over time we will find out more."
She took a deep breath and began the long tale of the two native boys who shot an arrow into the stars and how the heavens poured fourth a strange rain in which the animals drank from. She told of how the boys discovered the moonlits many months later and brought them to the shaman of the tribe and how he beleived it was a gift of the people of the stars.
"I know it sounds crazy, but Im a descendant of the tribe. And from all of whats been told through the family, I have no reason to doubt the tale. There is something more here than what meets the eye, and I get the feeling that the woods are full of mysteries. I feel that this place is full of them too."
"So... how did my aunt get that stone?" Wolfie scratched her head for a moment and looked at Phoenix. "Hun, I know she used to spend days at a time out there," Wolfie motioned towards the woods. "Perhaps that myst wolf showed her things as well?" PhoenixGuardianMikazuki "Well, moonstones can only be found out in the wild..." I agreed, fascinated with the story. "Hm. I agree... maybe this myst wolf of yours might have something to do with your aunt. I've studied different things, but this myth... well, true story, I'm hoping... sounds like it might be connected to these moonstones. Moonstones were used by Eltians, people similar to what we know are called elves, but they lingered more with the night, since their power came from the moon instead of the sun, which the elves' powers came from.
"Moonstones are very important, I think, to the Moonlits. Maybe we should search the woods... and see if we meet up with anything... unusual. Aqua's been acting weird lately, and I can't tell if Lunar is feeling any different (since he's still a cub), but otherwise, this is very, very intriguing and I say we find out what's up. This myst wolf might even appear before us...!" I was very excited now. Thanks to the discovery of the moonstone, Wolfie's family history might be completely revealed, and her family history was very, very fascinating... Wolfie Duke "I agree about the woods holding something more, but then again the myst wolf chooses when he wants for me to see him. So Im not sure just tromping out there is going to accomplish anything. Do you think aunt Bea had anything else hidden around here?" PhoenixGuardianMikazuki "Hm... Maybe! Let's keep searching." I whistled and Lunar-Star came running in, whimpering and nosing before snuggling around Wolfie's feet. I giggled. "So cute," I cooed as I picked him up. Lunar gave me a puppy kiss, and I laughed a bit more. "We can use Aqua's help since he's got two heads too," I thought aloud. I blew two short whistles, and the blue bird came flying in. "All right!" I said, grinning as I put Lunar down. "Let's start searching. Maybe there might be another clue, like another letter," I suggested.
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Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 7:59 pm
Learning About the Duos ((Evermoon Round 2 Entry)) Wolfie Duke Prompt Silently you pull on the tiny brass knob of the old oak desk in the hall. The aged desk had once belonged to Wolfie's Great Aunt Beatrice, who has recently passed. Unfortunately, it is your job to prepare the estate for sale since Wolfie is so busy trying to keep tabs on everything else. You slip your hand inside the drawer, pulling out a single, long ivory envelope that has been aged with time. Turning it over in your hands, you wonder who it could be from, and what it might say inside. Ever looked at the envelope and wondered if she should open it, deciding that she was going to she sat down by the desk leaning against the wall and opened the letter. To whom it my concern;
If you are reading this letter then I know that I have passed from this world and into the next. I have kept a secret all my life, one that my mother passed on to me from her deathbed and that her mother before her passed it on to her and one that I now pass on to you.
I'am sure that you, reader, are aware of the Moonlits, the colored wolfs that seem to not follow nature's patterns. No one knows for sure where they came from or how they were brought into this world.
Or so you think. You see my family is a long line of descends from Hok'ee the original finder of the moonlits. He kept a secret from the seer that day and when he died years later he told his only child this secret.
I never had any children and at the time this letter was written neither had my only sister.
The secret of the moonlits is this, that day in the forest were Hok'ee had found the three pups he saw something else as well, a bird, a large bird with two tails that also followed the moonlits coloring. It was sitting on a branch just above the pups and it seen to be watching over them. Hok'ee told his child that day that the bird was not of this world or the next but of another world completely, that maybe it was from the realm of the gods. That were ever it was from it had brought the pups with it. When asked Hok'ee said that after that day he never again saw the bird or any other pups in the wild again. That reader, is the secret of the moonlits, they are not from this world and I hope that some day the magical bird that Hok'ee saw well soon return to watch over the moonlits once more. Ever stared at the latter for a minute but the peeping of Momo snapped her out of it. She reached down to pet the little Dou and her hand stopped half way. The bird, had he seen an ancient Dou bird? Ever scooped up Momo and ran to find Wolfie and show her the letter. Wolfie Duke Wolfie dozed on the couch in the great room. It had been a long long week. The death of her great aunt had really been getting to her and she was just drained to the core. So much work to be done to get this place back into shape again. She was very glad for all the help that the Moonlit Owners were giving her. In trade, they could each take a room in this great old house and stay as long as they wished.
The house, however, had many secrets and intricasies. As she snored loudly from the couch, a crash came down the hallway. Ever was yelling at the top of her lungs and an annoying peeping was folloing her. Wolfie bolted upright, confussed at first, then just plain disgruntled at all the commotion. Evermoon Ever bounded down the stairs, Momo nestled in her hair, looking for Wolfie. She checked a few rooms before remembering Wolfie saying that she was going to lay down, so she runs into the room waving the letter.
"Wolfie! Wolfie! Look at this!" Wolfie Duke "Who, What, Where?!" Wolfie grunted still confussed. "Oh, its you Ever...hey, cute chickie!" She noticed Momo in her hair. "So whats so important that You came tromping down the stairs like a herd of elephants?" Evermoon Ever bent over with her hands on her knees trying to catch her breath, after a minute she strightened up and thrust the letter at Wolfie.
"I found it while cleaning up the study, it was in some old desk."
Momo peeped from her 'nest' in Ever's hair Wolfie Duke "Errrr....A letter?" Wolfie took it from Ever still quite confussed. "Have you read it?" Evermoon "errr... yay, sorry abour that." Ever said as she keep pulling at Momo for a minute before giving up. Wolfie Duke Wolfie took the letter in her hands and carefully peeled it open. Reading it slowly, she had to pause. With a strange look shot to Ever, Wolfie read it again and traced her fingers over the words as if it held some significant meaning.
"I think we are onto something..." Evermoon Ever raised her eyebrows and blinked.
"you think..." she ran her hand through her hair, forgetting about Momo who squeeked in surprise causing Ever to yelp and try to glare at the bird.
"damn thing, I need to you a nest." she mummbled.
"Anyway, what are we going to do now Wolfie?" Wolfie Duke Stiffles a giggle and points to momo. "I think get a nest." She couldnt help it and put her hand in front of her as she laughed. "Im sorry, its not funny but it so is"
Wolfie sat and thought for a moment. "I think we should keep looking around the house for more clues. Aunt Bea had to have left me something more. Start with the great room? I have no better centerpoint to begin unless you have ideas?" Evermoon Ever rolled her eyes and giggled, finaly getting Momo out of her hair.
"oh haha. The great rooms as good as any, lead the way." She gave Wolfie a playful glare and mentioned her towards the door.
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Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 8:00 pm
The Secret of the Anthros? ((Hero Round 2 Entry)) Wolfie Duke Prompt Silently you pull on the tiny brass knob of the old oak desk in the hall. The aged desk had once belonged to Wolfie�s Great Aunt Beatrice, who has recently passed. Unfortunately, it is your job to prepare the estate for sale since Wolfie is so busy trying to keep tabs on everything else. You slip your hand inside the drawer, pulling out a single, long ivory envelope that has been aged with time. Turning it over in your hands, you wonder who it could be from, and what it might say inside. Silently you pull on the tiny brass knob of the old oak desk in the hall. The aged desk had once belonged to Wolfie?s Great Aunt Beatrice, who has recently passed. Unfortunately, it is your job to prepare the estate for sale since Wolfie is so busy trying to keep tabs on everything else. You slip your hand inside the drawer, pulling out a single, long ivory envelope that has been aged with time. Turning it over in your hands, you wonder who it could be from, and what it might say inside.? "Don't open that letter, Hero!" Doma growled, " That isn't yours and we're not even suppose to be here!" He paced back and forth infront of the old desk. "I know, Doma," Hero replied shortly. "But this has laready caught my attention, so might as well do it before my wild hare dies..." Doma growled, not liking Hero's metiphorical puns. He sat down, his eyes glaring up at her. If she wasn't so beautiful..... "Doma, if you're going to glare... do it while keeping watch..." Hero replied while opening the old envolpe. Her fingers trembled as they reached for the paper inside. Carefully taking it out as if it were to crumple into dust any second. Doma grumbled and went to the doorway peeking down the dark empty hall. But his grumbling was ignored as Hero opened the paper to find it was a letter. It Read Dear Mrs. Holtaice,
We regret to inform the sudden passing of your husband Dr. Charles holtaice. The cause of death was by an expiremental malfunction. Your husband was one of many scientist to have fallen.
We will be in touch if ever you need anything
Moon L.I.T.SHero red the name again. Moon L.I.T.S... "But that's not possible.." she thought a loud. But her attention upon the matter was taken from her by Doma's glow dangerous growl. She looked up and saw the back of Doma's neck puffed out like a lion's mane. That only ment one thing... They were not alone... Quickly she shoved the letter into her shirt and raced to the door and looked out. A huge black shadow started slowly to come toward them. A shadow with glowing blue eyes.... Without another thought Hero picked up Doma and raced down the hall turning sharp corners looking for a place to hide. Suddenly she found what looked like an old labratory and ducked inside. The shadow passed them without notice for the room. Doma squirmed out of Hero's grasp and bit her hand. "I told you this wasn't a good idea!!" He snapped. "Now we're in danger... AGAIN!!" Hero rubbed her hand, the bite mark healing slowly. "Look, I'm sorry ok?" Hero shot back "At least we're safe..." "Yeah... Safe until that shadowly thing figures out where we are and comes after us again." He then lumbered away and laid down with a huff. Hero shook her head, frowning. She then pulled the letter out, suddenly a small peice of paper fell out of it and landed upon the floor. She bent down and picked it up. It was some sort of picture of ancient native american writing. Being 2/3s herself she could identify that it was instructions of turning a moonlit into some sort of humanoid creature. "Maybe that's why Wolfie's Great uncle died... because they created a monster..." She whispered gently. Hero Rarehart Doma didn't reply. Hero figured he was asleep so she made her way to a desk and sat down. She searched around for a lamp light, after a moment she found it and turned it on. It was then Doma whirled around. "What are you doing!" He snapped. "You want that thing to find us?" "It chased us in the dark, Doma... It might not like the light... " Was all she said her head and back bent over the picture. "Now be quiet and let me finish reading the inscriptions." Doma growled and went to the other side of the room with yet another huff. But Hero was too much intreged by the picture to do anything about it. It read: By Heaven's Pure and Noble light
Will make the Moon children fight for right.
By Hells disdaungting and hating flare
Will make the moon children hard to bare.Hero pondered at the inscription for a moment. Then decided to flip it over. March 12, 1964. Room#B12 Drawer 3 She blinked. Ok... this is getting weird... She remembered as she opened the door that it said B12, she looked at the drawers and saw that they were numbered. Carefully she opened the third drawer and found a very dusty old file. She took it out carefully and read the tag. Anthro Research Boy she hated to be dumbfounded more than once. She opened the file and began to read. My colleques and I found an anchent cavern in the Hindarious Mountians, we believe it was once suppose to a tribal council area. We found many tribal markings upon the wall, each telling a story or instructing how to do or make something. We found it quite priceless, but our employer Mr. James Kinlier, the person who is funding our research, said it was usless information until we got to the one we had been searching for. How to make Anthropod Moon Children. It was a story about how the God of the Stars came down from the mountain peak in the form of an Anthro Moon Child. He told the people of the Moon Children that he was pleased with their bonds with their Moon Children and that he will grant a select few the opertunity to become anthros like himself. He then gave them the instructions on how to make them. But there was one person who didn't want them to be all good, so while the village slept he went into the cavern and changed some of the instructions. Sadly to say we cannot figure out what happened after that, for most of the writing was faded away.Hero Rarehart Hero flipped though the files and found a written entry. After countless months of endless testing, we managed to create an Anthro. But the Anthro proved to much for us to bare, it's fur blacker than pitch, it's eyes full of hell's flame. We then realized one thing... We created a monster.After that, there was nothing more. Nothing, not even blood stains. Hero realized she had stumbled onto something, something big, something that might do some damage to her friends. "I've got to hide these, where no one will stumble upon them and find them, or use them against Wolfie and the others." She said. BOOM! BOOM! CRASH!! The door burst open and the shadow appeared. It lunged for Hero but Doma lept upon it sinking his fangs into the back of the shadow's neck. The shadow gave a blood curdling scream as it reared and thrashed about, but Doma held firm sinking deeper until the shadow threw him off casing him to fly across the room and hit the wall falling limp to the ground. By the time the shadow turned around Hero had her whip ready rage in her eyes like flames. With a slash she grabbed the shadow's neck and yanked, strangling it. She brought it closer into the lamp light. It squealed and tried to struggle but Hero's grip held firm. "Why do you attack us!" She demanded. "What have we done to you?!" youzzz found deh filezzzz... I've come to claim itzzzz... for decadezzzz I have been zzearchingzzz for it.... Hero tugged harder. "You're not getting them! They are now in my possession and They will remain with me until I give them to their proper owner. Wolfie Duke." She then thrusted the shadow into the light, the shadow screamed and withered into nothing, her whip fell limp. She dropped it and went quickly to Doma's side falling onto her knees. "Oh Doma... I'm sorry I didn't listen to you..." She said holding her dear friend. "I'm so sorry..." "Next time... Listen...Because you sure can't smell it..." Came Doma's raspy voice. He looked up at her, his eyes twinkling dimly. Hero hugged him tightly. Thankful he was alive. Hero Rarehart But her little celebration was about to end quickly as she felt the air in the room grow terribly cold. She began to shiver, her breath forming infront of her with every forced gasp. Sheer cold. A spirit was in the room, a dangerous one. She looked over her shoulder and saw a man with glowing red eyes, and an ill favored look. He did not want her there. Hero had experienced the spirit world once before, that didn't leave a good impression or reputation there. She knew she and Doma, mostly Doma in his state was in danger, great grave danger. The specter kept coming closer mouthing the words, "Get out, or die." But he kept blocking the exit she had intended on using. All Doma could do was growl weakly though he was terrified out of his wits. "Hero, we have to get out of here..." Doma growled, leaning against the wall for support. "I know, but he's blocking our only exit. I can't fully well fight a Specter... even a Demonic one at that..." Hero's mind was racing, she had to think of a way. She had to calm herself. Calm. That's it! She could try to calm the spirit, try being the operitive word. She took a deep breath, squeezed Doma's fur once more before standing up and facing the Specter. "What do you want?" She mouthed back, remembering that the Spirits couldn't talk out loud, not even whisper. "Get out, or die." The Specter repeated, his red eyes flashing. "We can't if you're in our way." She mouthed back. "Return what you have taken." The Specter mouthed. "Unless you're, Wolfie Duke's Great Uncle, there is no chance in that happening. These belong to Wolfie, she needs to know the truth." "No!" The Specter replied, and if it were alive and yelling it would have echoed down the hall because it shot straight for her. Hero held her arms as a block as the formless mass of the specter rushed through her and the world around her went black. She lowered her arms and found herself between worlds. There she saw a demon holding a man hostage. "What do you want?!" She repeated. "Why do you want the files kept seceret?" "There are some things left unsolved, Hero daughter of Terrieance." The demon hissed. "If word got out that the Anthros are genetic mutations, then the whole balance of corperation will fall." "That's why the Shadow attacked! You've been trying to keep this a seceret." She cried realising this. She then noticed that the man was pleading to her with his eyes. Hero took her whip, "Let the man go, and I'll give you your files." She figured he was a lesser demon and very stupid. Which he was. The man was realeased but the demon had it coming. Stupid as the were, they were still dangerous. The man rubbed his neck. "Thank you for setting my soul free, take the files and tell Wolfie everything. Tell her, tell the world." He then faded out along with the Between world and she was back in the lab. "Hero, what happened? You just froze as if you were in shock, are you alright?" Doma cried limping toward her. Hero bent down. "Yes, dear Doma. I am, everything will be fine. I have to tell Wolfie, I have to tell everyone about what I found out." Wolfie Duke As wolfie reclined on the sofa in the greatroom, she could hear a great commotion going on from somewhere on the bottom floor of the building. The house, which was three stories high, had many little secrets to it. Her aunt had told her such. The basement was offlimits to the group, and so was the attic, but the other three floors were an assortment of mysteries and rooms to be claimed and explored. She hadnt had the time to go through them all yet. Not at all.... Hero Rarehart Hero carried Doma up the stairs to where Wolfie was where she had left her. She set him down in the other sofa and handed Wolfie the Letter, files and notes she had found. Then began to recelect her story of what happened, using only her honest words. It took quite some time before Hero had finished. She then sat down next to Doma, her hand gently stroking his head. "So now you know everything, Wolfie. What I told you was the truth, I'd never lie to you about it, even when it had to do with such things." She paused a moment before going on. "I think a little more than rasing a family happened here. As you can see in that picture of the engravings, there was more to it than just evolution. Wolfie... they were creating creatures for their bidding, not for friends or partners, but for tools to use against one another, the Anthros." Wolfie Duke "Bah! I dont think my family made Moonlits for their bidding. That's insane!" Hero Rarehart "But I have the proof right here! And Doma can clarify what happen! " Hero had never been so intent about proving the truth. "Wolfie, your great uncle had no intent on doing that to harm people. From what I experienced I believe that your Great Uncle had no idea what he was truely dealing with. I had delt with this once before, a long time ago. They are told one thing which means another. They are manipulated into believeing one thing and doing something totally different." Hero's eyes were intent, and burning with truth. "I would never lie to you Wolfie. I would never lie about what happened to me and Doma." Doma nodded in agreement. Suddenly the lights in the entire house went black, Hero stood, looking around, Doma growling, though in too much in pain to stand. Wolfie Duke "Hero enough with the babbling on. Go find the fusebox. Im still too groggy to do so myself. I need to sit and think for a bit. Im sure there is something we are missing hun. Perhaps you are right, perhaps not....I really think we are missing something important here." Hero Rarehart Hero couldn't help but feel that Wolfie wasn't going to accept what she told her. But she couldn't argue. So, she felt her way out of the room and walked down the hall way. Hoping to find the kitchen, where the fuse box was. "this would have been alot simpliar if I had listen to Doma..." She grumbled to herself, having one of her rare moments of regret. She could hear the murmurs of the other moonlits as they too began to wonder what happened to the lights. One of the sent a flash of bright light in one room helping Hero to see that she was about to run into a wall. She turned just as the light faded and saw the kitchen. A flashlight upon the counter. She began to reach for it when something, or someone tackled her to the ground. Hero Rarehart Silent Moon, Hero's mute Moonlit was terrified of the dark, so he went searching for Hero to comfort him. As he searched the house he ran into Fenir, who terrified him greatly because he was entirely black as a shadow with glowing red eyes. In his fright he ran into the kitchen without looking, running smack into Hero. Hero doubled back and caught hold of Silent Moon. Once she figured out who it was she was relieved. "Silent Moon! What's wrong?" Silent Moon tried his best to explain what happened. "Easy boy... I understand, you were frightened by the power outage. It's ok, You're safe." She said panting trying to sooth him. She then pushed him off of her "It's ok..." Suddenly thunder boomed. "Yeah, it's ok..." She then took the flash light, stood up and made her way to the fuse box. As she opened the door, she found it was destroied. "Oh just lovely..." She groaned. "COme one, Wolfie has to know." Using her flash light she and Silent Moon went back up the hallway toward the room where Wolfie was.
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Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 8:22 am
The Basement Letter ((Bane Round 2 Entry)) Wolfie Duke Prompt Silently you pull on the tiny brass knob of the old oak desk in the hall. The aged desk had once belonged to Wolfie�s Great Aunt Beatrice, who has recently passed. Unfortunately, it is your job to prepare the estate for sale since Wolfie is so busy trying to keep tabs on everything else. You slip your hand inside the drawer, pulling out a single, long ivory envelope that has been aged with time. Turning it over in your hands, you wonder who it could be from, and what it might say inside. Silently you pull on the tiny brass knob of the old oak desk in the hall. The aged desk had once belonged to Wolfie?s Great Aunt Beatrice, who has recently passed. Unfortunately, it is your job to prepare the estate for sale since Wolfie is so busy trying to keep tabs on everything else. You slip your hand inside the drawer, pulling out a single, long ivory envelope that has been aged with time. Turning it over in your hands, you wonder who it could be from, and what it might say inside. Dear Beatrice, I am writeing you in what could be my final days in this acursed place, what I write to you in this letter must never leave your possesion for what I am about to tell you will be/ is hard to to digest to say the least. As you well know, I bought this house and all of its contents about a decade ago and as my elder letters support that I have been leaveing quite happily in this house up until about a year ago. I awoke at an akward time to say the least it was 7:13 at evening, this was strange for me because I usually rose for my daily meditations at 5 am every day and those usually go till about noon. This day however I awoke from a panicked dream that I have trouble remembering but I do remember awakeing in a cold sweat and immediatly snatching up the Katana I have made a habit of storing by my bedside. This is not the strangest of accurences yet, not by far I quickly dressed in my usuall vestments this time taking extra care to gather a few hidden weapons. I then quickly searched my entire estate from top to bottem finding almost nothing out of ordinary, then I went to the basement... What I found shocked and frightened me, which as you should know is a hard thing to do to a man of my skills. I had not gone to the basement much sence I bought the place, it gave me the creeps as they say, as I entered the celler on this occasion I noticed a sinister looking emerald glow comeing from a crate with enough dust for a whole collony of dust bunnys to settle on and thrive for a while. Approching the crate I slowly tiped the lid with the hilt of my Katana letting it slowly fall to the ground. In this box of evil was an orb of green about the size of a Melon, as I gazed upon the the green orb my vision started to tunnel and I blacked out. When I awoke I was in my reading room and my first thought was to write you, my sence of dread and the feeling of being watched has only grown I feel I don't have much time..... The note cuts off here but a sickly dark smear is at the bottom there is no signiture allowing you to belive that this person threw the letter out a window or some such before he could sign. Wolfie Duke Wolfie looked around the corner of the great room. She had noticed a newcomer but hadnt quite figure out where he had gone to. Perhaps one of the others was showing him around. He was a nice fellow, it seemed, but very quiet. Perhaps she would get more of a chance to talk with him at a point sometime in the near future. With a shrug, she resumed her post on the couch and snuggled in for a little nap. WolvesBane Wolf enters the room and bows low. "Greetings M'lady, how are you this fine night?" he stands up his smile warm and genuine. "It gives me great pleasure to be here with all these people, allow me to introduce myself, my name is Wolf, Gentlemen and Guardian extraordinaire at your service." At this he drops into another bow. �Thank you for allowing me to stay here.� Wolfie Duke Wolfie quirked an eyebrow. "Hello. I am Wolfie." She stiffled a giggle. "I hope that noone confussed the two of us when a name gets yelled across the house... its often quite hectic in here."
She sat up on the couch once more and took a good look at him. "You are more than welcome for your stay here. This place brings back a lot of memories for me and its good to have people around to help me clean it up and get it into shape."
She paused, thinking. "Protector? Of what?" She placed a hand behind her stiff neck and rubbed it a bit as she spoke. "There are only us and the Moonlits here." With a grunt as she rubbed over a knot she continued. "Anyhow, I beleive Hero mentioned you found something while cleaning out my Aunt Bea's desk? Anything interesting?" WolvesBane "Why protector of the weak, of the poor of those who cannot protect themselves. Thats who I protect." He smiles beaming. "And hopefully our names won't be to confuseing but I don't think it will be to hard." he nods his face turning semi-serious. "I did find a note however that was written to a Beatrice, one of your relitives perhaps?" he paused waiting for her answer. "In any event you best take a look at it, it was quite an interesting read..." he trailed off not knowing what to say next.
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Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 12:39 pm
Lion's Accidental Discovery ((If you want to read the actual thing you may go here. It starts on page 2 and goes to page 6. It then picks up on page 3 in the Common Room for a couple of posts.)) On a cold winter evening a young lady by the name of Lionsrage or Lion for short went outside to throw away a bag of trash. As she made her way to the woods to dispose of the trash she noticed a thudding noise. She wondered what made the noise and investigated the spot she had stepped in last. It was there on the ground that made the noise and she discovered a hallow spot. As she wiped away the snow to investigate further the boards gave way dropping her into a very dark hole. She moved the broken boards off and discovered she had hit her head. She looked around wondering how to get out before she called for help. Perhaps someone was outside at this late hour. However no one was out and Lion fell asleep until morning. She woke up and looked around. However it was still dark in the hole with only a little bit of light. She discovered a shelf with a glass bottle on it. She left it alone and walked back to where she had fell. She called out again hoping someone would hear her. But then an idea struck her. She whistled for her moonlits hoping they would be near. At the time she had called out Wolfie walked out of the house. She heard the faint called and soon heard Lion's moonlits, Alaster and Calendery. The two pups got Wolfie's attention and she gathered something was wrong for them to be without their owner. She went inside and got some supplies. When she came back out she had her backpack and they started their search. Wolfie spotted something scattered in the distance and they began to wander over that way. As they drew closer Wolfie called out to Lion. She then saw what was scattered all over, the trash. Lion heard Wolfie's call and cried out. She then threw up a board hoping to get a response. Wolfie Duke Wolfie kicked through the trash. there was no sign of any foul play with it...or any creature like a bear. How unusual it was for the can to be out this far. A bucket laid pressed up against a tree nearby. That was out of place too. Was it there before the snowfall or after? She couldnt tell, the wind picking up the snow and drifting it over its surface.
Something landed near her and Wolfie jumped. Carefully reaching into her back pocket she pulled out her multi-purpose tool. It wasnt much as far as protection went, but it was better than nothing. She scanned the area for what made the noise. Taking a few uneasy steps, she eased towards the object on the ground. Splintered board? Board?
Wolfie tumbled that concept over in her head for a few minutes and remember that Aunt Bea had mentioned that there were a couple of chambers of the cellar out as far as the woods. Wolfie had always thought that both strange and a myth. Why would anyone extend a cellar farther than a house? It made no sense. Yet here was board. She looked up into the trees just to make sure one of her stands wasnt coming down. Sure...that had to be the explaination of things. Lionsrage78 Alaster and Calendery were warm in Wolfies jacket. They took turns poking their head out of the opening at the top to sniff the air. Alaster's turn came and he sniffed. Wolife jumped scaring the pup's. They squealed at her and tucked their body's closer to her's.Hearing crunching ice above her and the familiar sound of the pup's she had been raising, Lion bent back down to the floor of the hole. Feeling around with her hands. Her hand found another board. This one was to big to throw. "Throwing this up there might hurt someone if they were near or one of the pup's if they made it this far out." She told herself. Laying it back down she continued to feel for something else to throw. Sliding her feet along the floor, she shuffled herself close to the shelf. "Where is that glass bottle?" she spoke in a low tone determined now that someone had to be up there. Getting to the shelf, Lion squinted her eyes so that maybe it would help her see better in the dim light. Seeing a glint of light reflecting off the bottle, she grabbed for it. Holding it tight so it wouldn't fall and break. Lion felt warmth in her hands as she shuffled back to the opening. Lion looked at her hands clasped around the bottle. It was glowing! Scared of what she held she quickly tossed it up and out of the hole and yelled once more. "HELLO, CAN YOU HEAR ME? ANYONE? I"M STUCK IN A HOLE, PLEASE HELP ME!
Lion looked down at her still warm hands wondering, "What in the world was in that bottle?" She put her hands in the pockets of her jeans. Wolfie Duke Wolfie watched as a glowing light shot up out of the ground. She ducked instintively and watched the bottle land in the snow. She moved quicker to this object...the glow was too bright to be man-made. With excitement she picked up the bottle.
"Well, Ill be..." Wolfie dazed off for a moment turning the bottle over in her hands. "Its a moonstone in a bottle. Evermoon was right...there are more of these things around." She paused and looked down. Only feet from her was a hole. Slowly, she put two and two together: board, bottle, hole... someone was trying to get her attention.
Kneeling she called down into the hole. "Lion, is that you?" The pups wriggled in her jacket and she struggled to keep their little heads inside so they wouldnt fall into the opening. Lion called out confirming that it was her down in the hole. Wolfie tucked the bottle into her bag before replying that the pups were with her and that she shouldn't be throwing things up. They then talked about where Lion was. Wolfie believed it to be part of the cellar and said that Lion shouldn't go exploring. They talked a bit more as Wolfie inspected the the area around the hole. They determined that it was too risky on the one side and Wolfie moved to the other but had nothing other than some rope to get Lion out. Lionsrage78 Alaster whined at Wolfie. He began to shake a little getting warmer by the second. steam started to rise from his fur.
Calendery unsure of what was happening, clawed at Wolfie's stomach.
Lion looked around her once more with the extra light maybe there was something close by to help Wolfie help her. Following the light trail that came in from above her. There seemed to be something to the right of her. She couldn't make out what it was but it was something big and square. "There is something down here." She called to Wolfie. "It kinda looks like a real big box." Should I try to look in it and see if there is something that might help?" Lions took a small step to her right facing the box and waited for Wolfie to tell her what she should do. Wolfie Duke "A box? What kind of box." Wolfie felt Alaster starting to get warm and knew he knew what he was doing. "Shhh... settle down. No this time pup." she cooed to him, ruffling his head fluff a bit.
Wolfie realized that if she was careful to wrap the rope around the beam, it might just be long enough to jump onto. She pondered it for a minute. No, not quite long enough...but perhaps if Lion stood on that box. A box worried her. Anything could be in a box. How didnt Lion break it in the fall? Perhaps it was a shelving unit knocked over. Lion had found the Moonstone somewhere. Too many possibilities. Lionsrage78 Alaster calmed down at Wolfies touch and snuggled back into her jacket.
Calendery nipped at Alaster's tail as he wiggled his way back beside her.
Lion bent forward then squat down facing the box like thing in front of her. "I'll try and walk over to it" She said as she inspected the floor. "I think the floor here is ok to walk on." Lion said as she stood up and took a cautious step toward the box. Slowly she stepped closer to the box testing each step she took. Close enough to touch, Lion reached out a shaky hand. Her fingers touching the side panel. It felt cold under her finger tips. "It's Cold?" she said aloud more to herself than to Wolfie. She placed her palm on it sliding her hand across it. Taking her hand away she yelled up to Wolfie. "I don't think it's wood Wolfie. It feels like metal." Lion held on to the sides of the metal box and used it for support, side stepping around to the other side of it. Placing her hands on this side of the metal box she slid her hands down it's cold surface once again. About half way down her had hit something sticking out of the side of it. Lion bent down to get a better view of what her hand hit. "Wolfie, this is not just a box, It's a safe!" Lion looked up at Wolfie. "Can you see this? Shine the light right here." Lion pointed down at the safe. Lionsrage78 Lion looked back to the safe with the new light Wolfie supplied. "Yes, I believe it is. It has a dial on it like a safe would." Lion bent down toward the dial, her face so close, her nose almost touched. "How strange." Lion stood up. " Instead of numbers there are letter's on the dial." Lion looked up at Wolfie "Have you ever seen a safe like that?" She walked back under the opening above her to get a better look at Wolfie. "Do you think that safe would be ok to stand on? There is a shelf next to it. I could try and climb on top of the safe to reach the rope you have." Lion walked to the shelf. She took a good look at the shelf. " I don't see much else on this shelf. It was the one I found the warm bottle on or what you called the Moonstone." Lion placed her hands on the shelf and pushed on it. "The shelf seems a little wriggly but It might be strong enough to hold my weight for a moment or two." Lion walked back over to the opening."I wish you could get a better look at that safe." She said as she pointed at it once more. "Hey Wolfie, You have pup's older than my little one's. Do you think they could help?" She asked as she leaned up against the closest wall, feeling a bit dizzy, and touched her forehead. Soon another figure walked over and joined Wolfie. It was TrueNeverborn and his anthro moonlit Fenrir. They were curious about what was going on and decided to help. Wolfie Duke "Okay, okay. Everybody just calm down. Fenrir, though you often are a great help at things the rest of us can't do, I think this time you might just be more harm than good. You are too heavy to be standing close to the edge of the room. And there isnt enough room for wingspan to get you down and up with flight of some sort." Wolfie paused and looked at Neverborn in the snow.
"Is now the time to be going into hystarics?! Neverborn!" She kicks some snow on top of him and looks back down towards Lion.
"Lion, don't drink that water too fast. Its cold and you have been down there a while. Im not sure if thats going to drop your core temperature too fast." Wolfie turned to Fenrir. "I think I found you a job. Can you go back to the Common Room and see if someone there can make a canteen of warm tea? And find a throw or something warm for her to put on for a bit. I want to make sure this place is stable. We dont want to collapse it further and injure her or make it so we cant figure out this strange safe later on." Wolfie looked down into the hole.
"Okay Lion, we should have you out of there soon. A safe should hold you but Im not sure the shelving would. I don't want that toppling onto the safe because we will never be able to get it out that way." Wolfie took off her winter hat and tossed it into the hole. It landed softly on Lion's face as she was looking up. "Put that on and stay warm. Hang in there hun." Wolfie sent down her gloves as well and her flashlight. This way Lion could stay somewhat warm and check things out in the hole. Lionsrage78 Alaster and Calendery wiggled inside Wolfie's jacket at the sound of her whistle. Calendery poked her head out of the opening. She sniffed at Wolfie's neck giving Wolfie a lick. Alaster, below snuggled close to Wolfie warming his fur up with his small magic trying to keep his new friend warm.
"Snow? Wonderful, that is just what I need right now." Lion spoke her teeth chattering just a little. "Thanks" she said to Wolfie as she sliped the mittens on her cold fingers. Lion stepped back a little in time to hear the flashlight plop on the ground. "Not to much light, It seems to just be enough to see shadows." Lion walked over to the flashlight and picked it up. "I'll take a look around, but I think I'll try to stay in the open where you can see me." Lion flicked on the light and waved it around the room she had fallen in. There were many shelves lining the wall. It looked like some kind of storage area. The shelves had items on them here and there. A few bottles like the one she tossed up at Wolfie. "There are a few more of those bottles I threw at you. But they are different colors." Lion took a few steps toward the safe to get a better look at it. She noticed that the safe was not dirty at all, no dust. "That sure is strange Wolfie, this safe looks new. It's not even dirty. If it has been down here for along time wouldn't it have collected dust?" Lion bent down and Swept some dirt into a small pile with her hands. She picked it up and tossed it onto the safe. The dirt fell away from the safe without so much as a single speck falling onto the safe. "It can't get dirty Wolfie. The dirt won't stay on it." She said as she tried once more to throw dirt on the safe. Lion waved the light in the other direction. There were more shelves and a door. The door was blocked off by boards nailed across it in an X shape and a few more boards across the top and bottom of the door. Lion stepped back under the hole above her so that she could see Wolfie. "There is a door over there." She said as she pointed toward the door. "It's boarded up and there is a knob on it, but it don't look as if has been open in a very long time. I think someone put boards on it for a reason. I don't want to find out why they put them there alone. The weird thing is, is that I don't see any other doors down here." She said as she waved the light around the room. "If someone boarded up the room from this side, How did they get out?" Lion looked up at Wolfie seeing her pup Calendery. "Thanks Wolfie for taking such good care of them." She said as she nodded to the blue nose popping out of Wolfie's jacket. Wolfie Duke "Collect those bottles if you can. I get the feeling that Hero might not be off ranting wild tales after all. A safe with a spell of some sort? And why all the moonstones in one place?" Wolfie thought for a moment. "moonstones do have a sort of magic. I wonder what would happen if we take them all away. Perhaps they are controling the safe somehow." Lionsrage78 Lion waved the light toward the nearest shelf. "Collect them? Ok. I think I can do that." She said with a little flick of nervousness in her voice. Lion stepped toward the shelf watching her feet as she went. The boards creaked under her feet as she tested each step. Getting to the shelf she shined the light on 3 bottles. The first one was a bright blue, the second an orange, and the third was green. Remembering the first bottle she had held, she reached out a hand and touched the first bottle. It too started to glow and her hand felt warm against it. Placing the flashlight under her arm she carefully picked up the 3 bottles and walked back to the opening. "Now what? Do I throw them up there?" Lion felt a little dizzy and bent down to place the bottles on the ground. She stood up and grabbed the flashlight from under her arm. She waved the light around the room at the other shelves. "There looks to be about 10 to 15 more bottles. I'll try to get them and place them here on the ground, while you figure out how I'm to get them to you." Lion walked to the other shelves and started to collect the other bottles. Each time she touched a new bottle it would glow and become warm in her hands until she laid them on the ground in the group she had already collected. Lionsrage78 Lion walked over to the pack and picked it up. She opened it and found the sheet and pulled it out. Carefully she began to weave the sheet around each bottle and placed the bundle into the pack. "Ok, I put them all in there. I'm not to sure if there are any more bottles. I got all the ones I could see." Lion placed the pack on the ground and stepped away from it. "I'm glad my pup's are out of the cold! A fire sounds great right now." She tucked her hands deep into her pocket. Lion looked at Wolfie. "What do you think is in the safe? Now that the uh...Moonstones are away from it I'll try to get it dirty again." Lion pulled her hands from her pockets, picked up the canteen and took a small sip. She walked back to the safe bent down to pick up a little dirt. She slipped off a mitten and grabbed the dirt tossing it up over the safe. Nothing. "It still stay's clean." She said as she walked back to the opening. Lion put the mitten back on and tucked her hands in her pockets once more. Wolfie Duke "very interesting." Wolfie commented. Robyn came back to her barking loudly. With a grumble, she pulled Wolfie away from Lion's hole and more into the yard. There was Ripple dragging a small wooden ladder across the yard.
Of course! There had been one under the porch for cleaning the gutters, but Wolfie had found it too short, the bottom having rotted away. It was still stable, just worn. "Thank goodness for old fashioned!" Wolfie commented as her pup dropped it at her feet. She knew it was much lighter than the ones that existed noadays. She never would have thought of the tiny thing. It might just be long enough for Wolfie to slip the rope around Lion. Now that they had the ladder Wolfie and Lion came up with a way for getting Lion out of the hole. They would lower the ladder down and then Wolfie would pull Lion up with the rope. But first Lion wanted Wolfie to pull the bag with the moonstone up. Wolfie Duke Wolfie laughed. "I wouldnt worry so much about the stones but your back. Dang, I dont think Ive ever seen one in a bottle like this. Whats the point of it? I need to show these to evermoon." Wolfie began hauling up the rope and was careful not to smack the pack on the pieces of board sticking out of the hole. Lionsrage78 "Evermoon? Would Evermoon know about the safe?" Lion asked as she held on to the ladder waiting for Wolfie to finish up with the pack. Wolfie Duke "I dont think so but it never hurts to ask." Wolfie set the pack far back from the hole.
"Okay the rope is coming down again. Tie it tightly to your waist. The moonlits are going to pull the rope to get you closer to me, then Im going to grab your arms and we will haul you up if we can. Just watch out for the beam. I dont need you hitting your head." Wolfie noticed the sticky little dent above Lion's eye. "Well, looks like you already did that once, eh?" As Wolfie was about to help pull Lion up Fenrir came back. True told him to help pull Lion up while he went to the house to get a fire started. Wolfie and Fenrir then pulled Lion up to safety. Once Lion was up they went into the house to warm up. Wolfie Duke Wolfie limply clung to the items in her hands, unsure of what to do with them. The worst was over and things could return to normal, yet she didnt feel normal.
First of all, there were the colored moonstones. So many of them in such a strange little room. A strange little room that was boarded off from the rest of the house. Secondly, the safe bothered her. What enchantment could possibly be upon it.
She knew, that this could only mean the future of things here at the mansion.
**Common Room** TrueNeverborn Fenrir lazily looks upon Lion then noses as 'welcome' bow. True quickly fixes a cup of 'Bea Tea' with some milk and honey and hands it to Lion. "Glad to see your out, what are these moonstones you aretalking about?" True turns to Wolfie, "Are they the same crystals that hit that Hero-girl in the head during the 'trials.'" Lionsrage78 Lion lookes a Fenrir as he bowed. And she smiled. "You may seem so harsh on the outside my friend but I will never think that of you." Lion took the tea from True "Thank you." She sipped at the tea letting it warm her. "I don't know what the moonstones are. I'm still rather new here. I'm glad If I was any help to Wolfie by getting them but when I touched them..." Her thoughts faded off and she just stared into the fire.
Calendery noticed Lion and nipped at her heel. Lion quickly came back and looked down at Calendery. "Don't worry so much my over protective friend. My mind may wonder but I'm still here."
Alaster still in Wolfies lap, got comfortable. Wolfie Duke Wolfie looked to Lion and frowned. "I only wish I knew what these Moonstones meant. They are so odd. All of these colors. Up until yesterday I didnt even knew they existed. Perhaps Evermoon might know more."
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Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 12:39 pm
Finding Spud and the Mysterious Trunk ((This story starts in the Common Room on page 3 and goes to page 10-11. The end of this storyline is the beginning of the next one. )) Wolfie Duke A ticking sound emitted itself from somewhere in the room. Wolfie quickly glanced about in assumption that it was one of the pups clicking their toenails on the hardwood. It was the inevitable, right? But all of the pups lay asleep in front of the fire. Wolfie counted again, pondering if she had missed a ruffled tuff or double counted one of KaliFangs bundles of joy.
One, two, three, ten, eighteen... she counted on. But still, none seemed missing. Even her own were laying doggedly on the floor, tongues lagging out of the corners of mouthes, eyes twitching in sleepy delight. Indeed things seemed in order.
Many of the new guests were chatting away on the couch. Lion seemed content with her Bea Tea and Fenrir was an interesting chap after all. Things were in order, Wolfie tried to tell herself again. Things are in order. But there it was again. That clicking.
Chicka chicka clicka clicka rappity tappity click. Wolfie Duke Tickety tick tickety clickety chickety chick...
It didnt sound like mice. Or chewing for that matter. And with all the moonlit pups around, how could a mouse bear to be in the same room? It moved under the floorboards. Wolfie was sure of it. It had to be since it was under her feet one minute and gone the next.
"Hey guys, does anyone hear that?" She paused and set her tea onto the floor, careful not to spill it over standing up. She tip toed across the room and listened for it again. Silence. Of course, she thought. As soon as I want to hear it, its gone.
She picked up the corner of the rug by the fire and peeked. Nothing under there. Wolfie laughed inside. It was as if she had expected there to be a trap door or something. Of course, there was the basement but it was still too dangerous to go into and forbidden at that. Punishable by banishment. It was a fluke that Lion had fallen into one of its chambers...or assumed chambers. That was still to be investigated.
Clickety... Silence. Tack. Longer silence. Tick Tick Tick Clickety Scratch.... Lionsrage78 Lions took a sip of tea and looked toward Wolfie. She watched as Wolfie looked around the room for whatever had made the noise. Lion sat her cup on the mantle and Slowly started to walk around the room trying not to stir the pups. If they awake they might not hear it again. Lion steped over a moonlit close to Wolfie and whispered. "I hear it. But where is it coming from. The floor? The Wall?" Lion tip toed over to a clear space on the floor and bent down on her knees pressed her ear to the hardwood. Tickety tickety Tick "Over here Wolfie." Lions said as she pointed to the floor. "Listen." The sound Faded and came back many times. Like something was in the floor running back and forth. Wolfie Duke "I think its in the floor too Lion. However, it sounds too close to be the basement. Perhaps its in between levels of the house? You know, the beam crawl space?"
Wolfie knealt beside her and placed her hand to the hardwood. "The question remains, what is it?" She shuddered. It turns out that not only the humans could hear the noise but so could a blind moonlit named Tira. She was Talencia's wolf. She tracked the noise with her head and soon some other moonlits began to listen for the noise as well. Just then something crashed beneath Wolfie causing her to start. This caused Fenrir to grow aggressive and he started to tear up the floor. Moosey began yelling at him while Wolfie smacked him with a rolled up magazine. She then told Fenrir to go to the kitchen and find the stuff on a list in there. She then told Moosey that she should move the unstable pups up to the piano room. Wolfie then decided that they needed to hunt down the source of the noise. As Wolfie was getting ready to leave the room she ran into Yuki and her moonlit Hakana. Before Yuki helped Wolfie up, Bindy (another one of Tal's wolves) ran by to go get a flashlight. Wolfie then went on her way to help take the unstable moonlits to the piano room. Wolfie Duke Wolfie scrambled to a hault in the hallway. "C'mon Tal! What are we waiting for?! We have a noise to find." Wolfie motioned towards to hall and flopped to her knees, the skin scraping on the cold hardwood floor.
She silently wished she had remembered to wear warmer pants this morning. There had been rumor of snow again and it was too danged cold in this old place to be tromping around in windpants. "And bring the flashlight if you found it." She placed her ear to the floor and listened. It was much harder to follow the noise from the hallway, but slowly she shuffled down the hallway on her knees, leaning down to place her ear to the floor every few feet.
Scritchy scritch chick clickey tick...
It was still on the move whatever it was. Strange how it didnt seem to notice them clamering around above. What could it be? Wolfies mind roamed with the possibilities. Wolfie Duke Tickty tick clickety...
Wolfie had had enough of the noise and following it. The thing only seemed to be scrambling from one side of the hall to the other. It was making Wolfie's knees sore and her head hurt from all the concentration that had been going into finding the mysterious noise.
With one loud (and brave mind you) thunk, Wolfie smashed her fist into the baseboards. Suddenly everything was silent. And as if whatever it was had been struck by as bolt of lightning, it went shooting across the hall, skittering as it went.
Sctratch tickey tick tick tick tickey tick tick sctitchety... It moved faster until it seemed to slide out of control. Schhhhhhhhhhllllllll- THUNK! And all whas quiet again except for a faint sound **whine** Talencia Tira had started following Wolfie without Tal, who was waiting for Bindy to return. She padded slowly behind her, pausing often to c**k her head and listen. When the scrabbling stopped, she padded over and looked straight down at the floor... then gave a single, sharp bark.
This is what caused the clickiting to charge down the hallway. As it began to slip and slide, Tira charged after it. She was just a few steps behind when it slid with a loud thud into the wall. When it whined, she stopped and approached with perked ears. She stopped with no problems before touching the wall, then suddenly began to scrabble at the floorboards with ther front paws, whining urgently. She seemed convinced that whatever was under there needed her.Tal had meanwhile been waiting at the bottom of the stairs, calling to Bindy. From out of th dark at the top of the stairs he suddenly came flying, flashlight in mouth. He leapt nearly then entire flight of steps and landed on Tal, who toppled over with a grunt. "Good...," gasp, "boy....," gasp, "Bindy!" She gently shoved the wolf off of her and accepted the flashlight.
That was when she noticed Tira's desperate digging at the floorboards at the end of the hall nearby. She ran over, clicking on the flashlight as she went. The bobbing of the light caught a glint of metal in the wall of the stairs beside them, and Tal stopped. She walked gently beside Tira and peered at the metal. It was a latch... in a wall? Curious, she tugged on it, and it opened. She shone the flashlight inside cautiously.
It was a small room, as many old houses have under their staircases. It was dusty and cobwebby. There were a few objects stored there, but what caught Tal's attention most was a dark space opening up into the floor... could it be?
"Wolfie! I think I may have found a way down beneath the floor!" she called excitedly. "Come look!" Wolfie Duke Wolfie watched Tira follow the scrambling and come to a precise stop in front of the wall. Whatever it was below was driving her nutty. The wolf tore at the floorboards, her nails scraping at the hardwood.
"Coming!" Wolfie got to her feet and gently rubbed her sore knees before jogging over to the staircase. "Tal, is that what I think it is?" Wolfie cocked her head to the side and watched the flashlight beam cross over the small room.
Inside lay and old seamans trunk, which Wolfie knew had belonged to Aunt Bea's Second husband Edmund Hill, a master sea captain. Bea had always loved the ocean. It was forwonder that she never had chosen to live there. His initials were carved into the side with the blade of his clam knife. Wolfie remembered the days when Edmund had brought them home by the bucketload, fresh with saltwater and their bellies full of cornstarch... greedy little sea things ate and ate until they became sweet and sandless... usually.
Her attention soon passed from the trunk to the gap in the floor behind it. Boards were missing and there was enough space to slide a thin body through. How odd, thought Wolfie. I wonder what might have gotten into such a space...it has been closed for ages. Talencia Tal stooped and walked into the the room. It wasn't too bad right at the top, but the room narrowed down where the floor was open. That was, of course, where the stairs came down to meet the floor.
"I think this may be the key to discovering what or who is caught between the floors!" She tugged on the dusty chest to move it to the side so they could get to the open space to the area beneath the floor.
"But Wolfie, we should close that door. If any of our pups wander in here, they'll be in danger. This is definitely not the place for the little ones to be!" Tal then came up with the idea of having one of her moonlits, Morgana, to guard the door so the little pups didn't get in. Wolfie declared she didn't want to go first so Tal took up that task. With Tal going first Wolfie gave her the flashlight. Tal shone the light down into the hole and found it to be safe. Wolfie Duke Wolfie silently wished she had just left the noise alone. Afterall, it was just a noise to begin with and it had turned into quite a chase. She slittered over to the hole and dropped in. Being much shorter than Tal, Wolfie didnt have much to hunch over. However, one of the first things she manged to do was catch her arm on a nail.
"Its got me Tal!" She yelped as she tugged at the sleeve. With a resounding 'rrrrrrrriiiiiiiipppp' Wolfie caught glance of what had indeed caught her with the first swoop of the flashlight beam. "Ooopppsss." She fingered the gap in her shirt and silently cursed herself for not being more careful. She had just lost one of her favorite sweaters to a nail sticking out. How lame. It couldnt have been one of the pups in paint or leaning against a newly oiled doorframe. It wasnt even so much as falling off of the ladder or even spilling bleach. A simple. Stupid. Nail.
Wolfie looked at the other beams. A set of initials were carved into the one overhead. 'E.H. & B.D.' "Hey Yuki," Wolfie called up to the newcomer. "Get a look at this!" Wolfie Duke Wolfie grinned. "Perhaps this was their little get-a-way spot" she ran her fingers lightly over the carvings. "I think Its Edward Hill and Beatrice Duke." Wolfie concidered the trunk again for a moment. "Or just Edmunds's. We did find his trunk closeby afterall. Anything is possible?" Wolfie followed the flashlight beam as it moved away.
"Okay Tal, where are we off to? Isnt Tira going to lead?" Yuki then asked who Edward and Beatrice were. Wolfie Duke Wolfie laughed as Yuki tugged on her sleeve. "Aunt Bea is Beatrice Duke. She was my great Aunt. And Edward Hill was her second hustband. The sea captain that owned that trunk we stumbled upon." Wolfie paused before following Tal along the length of the chamber. "I think its romantic that one of them carved the initials in here."
Wolfie took hold of Yuki's sleeve in return and began to inch towards Talencia, who was somewhere out of immediate sight. She could only see the waivering flashlight pouncing off old beams and cobwebs. "Hey Tal, slow down. I dont wanna loose you down here." Wolfie brushed a sticky web from her face and gagged slightly as it stuck in her hair. No dead bugs, no dead bugs she thought.
"Not sure what we heard. I guess we will find out pretty soon." Talencia Talencia paused at the whine and swung towards it. Just as she did, though, it moved of course! She snorted amusedly at Wolfie and Yuki not wantintg to go first. She inched forward towards the corner that held their quarry.
She swiped a few more cobwebs out of the way carefully... she didn't want to spook it again. She then slowly moved her flashlight beam towards the corner. As she slid the beam across the floor, pawprints were visible in the dust that covered the floor thickly. The prints were small, though, as the whine has proven.
She let the beam follow the pawprints towards the corner slowly, until finally, her light found the coerner and what they had been seeking. She caught her berath in a little gasp. "Wolfie! LOOK!" Wolfie Duke Wolfie struggled to see what Tal was showing her. The flashlight bobbled with her excitement and the beam bounced with her. "Slow down, it might spook!" And with that the thing let out a frightened yip.
"Tal! Its a Moonlit!" Wolfie was stunned. But it wasnt just any moonlit. It appeared to be someone familiar to Wolfie and she just couldnt put her finger on it. Wolfie Duke Wolfie was in a state of shock. Why was this pup so familiar to her yet she had never laid eyes on it before? It pushed its butt into the air and waggled it slightly in a frightened excitement, unsure of what it wished to do with itself. With a slight snuffled, cobwebs and dust flew everywhere. Tal picked up the moonlit but ended up dropping the flashlight. She then called Morgana over to the hole to get the pup. As Wolfie searched for the flashlight she came across something else. Wolfie Duke "That was a cheap shot." Wolfie laughed as she heard Tal dash for the stair room. "You're lucky you didnt run into a beam." Speaking of which, Wolfie felt unusually close to one.
As she bent down to scour the floor for the lost flashlight, Her hand ran across something small and solid. It clattered a few inches and sat silent. It was uniquely cool yet warmed to her touch. Reaching for it again, she let her fingers grasp around it. "I think I found something else. Im going to bring it out with me." She clutched it and rolled the tiny object around, it heating up as she spoke.
"Yuki, do you feel that flashlight anywhere near you?" Wolfie Duke Wolfie tumbled the item again and watched it pulse in the light. Whoa.... pulse? Wolfie looked closer. It was another one of those moonstones. A strange green colored one that seemed to vibrate under the flashlight. There was a rope tied through it somehow, though it had been split, perhaps with wear.
Wolfie glanced back at the spot she had found it in. Hmmmm. "I wonder if Evermoon would agree with me, but I have the feeling that this stone has something to do with that moonlit." Wolfie tucked the trinket into her pocket for the timebeing and reached for the opening of the hole instead.
Hefting herself out of the dark hiding spot she paused for breath and looked back down into the hole. "Yuki, you need help?" She waited for a reply, watching Tals moonlits around the newcomer. [[Yuki]] Yuki watched the stone pulse in Wolfie's hand. 'Cool!' She looked back up at Wolfie and nodded. "It looks like it. Look at the rope. Maybe the stone was tied around the moonlit or something. Hey!" She continued to speculate as Wolfie hoisted herself up through the hole. "Maybe the stone has some sort of effect on the moonlits. You know, like your potions."
Yuki prepared to pull herself up next. "No, thanks. I got it." She shut the flashlight off and squeezed it into her pocket, then pulled herself up and out of the whole. She smiled as the faint yips of her puppy echoed around.Hakana was bouncing around Nykol and her moonlit. It seems she had given up trying to play with the new pup, while it was being cleaned. She put her front paws on Nykol's lap and reached up, to sniff at Severus. Wolfie Duke "Perhaps?" Wolfie pondered those thoughts for a moment. "It might explain the hording of them down in the chamber outside that Lion and I found." Yuki then brought up the matter of opening up the trunk. She and Wolfie moved the trunk to the common room to open it. [[Yuki]] Yuki gasped gleefully. "Really?!" It wasn't really a question, more of a shocked statement. She plopped to her knees and took the key from Wolfie. After looking over it for a moment, she slid the key into the trunk's keyhole and prayed it would work. Slowly, she turned the key. The loud clanks comming from the trunk told Yuki that the key was a perfect fit for it.
"It works!" She pulled the key out and handed it back to Wolfie. Her hands rested on the lid of the trunk and lifted it slowly. A cloud of dust sprayed out and into Yuki's face, sending her into a coughing fit. She waved the dust away and cleared her eyes.Hakana was sitting back watching her owner and Wolfie examine the trunk. Once Yuki was occupied by the dust, Hakana took it upon herself to take the first glance into the trunk. She put her from paws on the edge of the trunk and lowered her head in. When she pulled her head back out, various, multicolored bangles were dangling from her mouth. She sat them on the floor and slipped her paw into them. "Hakana! Get out of there...that's Wolfie's stuff." She shooed her away and shook her head as the bangles around Hakana's ankle jingled. She laughed at Wolfie. "Looks like Hakana is nosier than I am." She glanced into the trunk and noticed discolored squares. They looked like pictures, but she wasn't sure who they were of. She also noticed a few familiar items that she had seen in Wolfie's store like the earings and bracers, but not the same colors and patterns. "Hmm..." She spotted something that reflected the light in the room and took her hand and lightly moved some things around. "Oh!" She pulled out a few articles of jewlery. "They must have belonged to your Aunt." She held them out for Wolfie to take.((If you didn't want me to put items in the trunk then I can edit it out *nods* biggrin )) Wolfie Duke ((RL issues. Shes back now and packed with great ideas!)) "Those jewels are from England. And no," Wolfie giggled a bit "They arent the queen's jewels." Wolfie took a seat and began shuffling through the old photos. Many were of her Uncle at different places around the world and important people that had meant something to him.
She fingered a tiny crackled photo and held it up to Yuki. "This was the guy he won the bangles from." Wolfie flipped the photo over and was disappointed that there was no name or date to go with things.
Wolfie gasped lightly as she found a picture of her aunt and uncle together. It was old, and weathered, but intact none the same inside an old gold leafed frame. Wolfie guessed it was only about two inches big inside the frame, but it held great purpose to her. "I promise you Auntie, Im gonna make this all work." She spoke under her breath, fingering the dust off the glass carefully.
With a saddened frown she wondered why her aunt hadnt put this up somewhere. The two of them were on a beach somewhere, palm trees blowing in the wind, waves lapping at their bare feet. Wolfie's Aunt had on some sort of flowing dress, a sun hat in one hand. Her uncle a button up shirt, equally flowing. Must have been a nice place for them to look so happy, she thought.Wolfie Duke Wolfie pet the pup thoughtfully and with a soft sigh looked into her eyes. "Arent you the stunning one at the party?" She ruffled Hakana's fluff a bit and gave her a reassuring pat.
"Me too. But Im beginning to wonder of this old house isnt just as much as an adventure. Who would have ever thought there would be sealed up chambers and waterfalls and things in the trees and swamps?" She stopped and passed the photo to Yuki for a moment shuffling through other things inside the trunk.
Finding an old ships log Wolfie smiles. "This would interest you. Perhaps you should take it and read it sometime? Might make good fun before bedtime to read to Hakana." She pushed off a layer of dust and opened the book, testing the bindings slightly before scanning over a page, yellowed with time and warped with salt water.
" 'June 12, 1974: Today we embarked on a journey that is to take us half-way around the world to the land down under. Though the outback is someplace I have never really dreamed of visiting, Beatrice thought it would be nice for me to take the time to meet with the Aussies and discuss plans to bring back a sugar glider. She has a real desire for one of those cutely wretched little beasts. However much I protested, she never gave in. Stubborn as a mule she is. So here I am wondering why I am such a fool to have just picked up what I was doing and head to Australia to talk about flying rats that like sweets. With disgust, I hope she finds better companionship in getting a dog. Or I find something worth my while in order to finally afford that ring I had been meaning to get her. Until next time, fare-the-well.' "
Wolfie stopped to catch her breath. "This was written before my uncle married my aunt. They were only dating at the time. Its funny to hear his stories sometimes. Somewhere in here is how he finally purchased her a great dane, Spud. He never did end up coming home with one of those gliders. Turned around half-way through that trip if you keep reading." Wolfie laughed and slapped the book closed, handing it to Yuki. Talencia Tal stood up while Wolfie was talking and appraoched the picture she was talking about. When her friend trailed off she glanced back at her with an amused look. "Oh, we love you just like you are, Wolfie, and you know it!" She turned back to the framed photo and gently picked it up. It surely wasn't terribly big. She turned and leaned back against the solid fieldstone rock fireplace. She examined it closely and ran her fingers across the frame thoughtfully.
"Wolfie...," she began and took a half step forward. Just then, here came the dusty brown pup from around the corner. He was running with his tongue lolling, ears flapping, a look of puppyish delight in getting away from the bath Tira had been giving him.
And here came Tira, dashing after him! She was clearly relying on listening to where the puppy went to navigate at her high rate of speed. She did managed to pivot perfectly around an end-table, but that was because it had always been there, never been moved. Her memory generally served her very well in traversing the house.
But Tal was now standing directly in the way! The pup dashed between her legs without any hesitation or pause to indicate to the blind she-wolf that there was a living obstacle there. Thus it was that full-grown Tira rammed full force into Talencia.
Tira let out a surprised and fearful yelp. Talencia yelped too, but halfway through the sound it changed from astonishment to dismay. For in nearly being knocked over, she'd lost her grip on the old picture. In slow motion, she watched as it flung from her fingertips. She reached as best she could to catch it, but ended up just sending it spinning in the air even further from her. With a second cry she watched as it shattered on the stone fireplace.
"Oh Wolfie, I'm so sorry!" She wanted to scramble to pick up the photo, but was instead wrapping her arms about the shaken and upset Tira, who knew she'd created the chaos. She was mindful of the wolf's paws and wanted to restrain her from stepping into the pool of shattered glass that glittered brightly on the hearth. Wolfie Duke Wolfie looked confussed for a moment with the bombarding of questions. "Yes, this place used to belong to my Great Aunt Beatrice. Its old and it has lots of secrets. Seems to me that the secrets of the trunk might be something worth looking into." She sat on the floor and thumbed the picture frame.
As if on cue, something tumbled out from between the old photo and the cardboard backing. At first Wolfie assumed it was just a piece of parchment to absorb all the old must and such. But then, she noted, it seemed to have something written on it. With a strange look of confussion, she set the frame down next to her and curled her legs up on the floor.
With a gentle touch, she picked up the paper. It was thin, and light as a feather with a texture such as a natural parchment. Old. Very old indeed. It looked quite similar to that of the letter Bea had left in the desk in the hall. Perhaps it had something to do with it? Things were falling into place. Letter...key...trunk...paper... Wolfie Duke "I...don't...know?" Wolfie was just as confussed as Talencia was. There had been so much excitement and happening that things were beginning to overwhelm her just a bit. "First the new pup and then this."
Shaking out the piece of parchement, Wolfie instantly came alert. "A MAP!" Wolfie shouted, startling the pups around her as well as many of the owners. "It looks like a map!" Wolfie blundered something inaudible as she scanned over the piece quickly. "Its of the woods outside. Theres a lot of scribblings all over this thing but if you give me a second I might be able to decifer them. Its definitely NOT my aunts writting."
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Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 8:41 pm
Riddles of the Runes ((This starts on page 10 in the Common Room and goes to page 12 before continuing at the RP Event)) Sorry about the images not working. I'm guessing Tal deleted them from her photobucket account. Wolfie Duke Wolfie looked confussed for a moment with the bombarding of questions. "Yes, this place used to belong to my Great Aunt Beatrice. Its old and it has lots of secrets. Seems to me that the secrets of the trunk might be something worth looking into." She sat on the floor and thumbed the picture frame.
As if on cue, something tumbled out from between the old photo and the cardboard backing. At first Wolfie assumed it was just a piece of parchment to absorb all the old must and such. But then, she noted, it seemed to have something written on it. With a strange look of confussion, she set the frame down next to her and curled her legs up on the floor.
With a gentle touch, she picked up the paper. It was thin, and light as a feather with a texture such as a natural parchment. Old. Very old indeed. It looked quite similar to that of the letter Bea had left in the desk in the hall. Perhaps it had something to do with it? Things were falling into place. Letter...key...trunk...paper...
Shaking out the piece of parchement, Wolfie instantly came alert. "A MAP!" Wolfie shouted, startling the pups around her as well as many of the owners. "It looks like a map!" Wolfie blundered something inaudible as she scanned over the piece quickly. "Its of the woods outside. Theres a lot of scribblings all over this thing but if you give me a second I might be able to decifer them. Its definitely NOT my aunts writting."
Wolfie pointed at something on the map. "If I wasnt so daft at things going on around here, I would say these look like symbols of some sort." She sketched her fingers over a few. Wolfie leaned her head into Tals in hopes the two of them could figure out what this meant.
"Do you think the moonlits understand what this is? I mean, this is definitely not like any map Ive ever seen." With an inhaled whiff, Wolfie covered her nose. "And it smells fishy. I bet whoever wrote this perhaps wrote with fishbone and squid ink or somesuch. Whoknows with them-folk" Wolfie replied with a disgusted huff. "might explain the scrawlieness of things" Talencia "Well, let's start over.... here. That does sort of look like a house... I think." Tal squinted at the map uncertainly. "Let me try and read this here near the house.... thing." Tal took one edge of the map to draw it nearer to her.
"Broken teeth?" she repeated, looking up at the others. "What in the world could that mean?" She frowned in thought, looking again at it. Blade Kuroda As the map was found, Blade had fallen silent for a little while before approaching Talencia to take a better look at the item. After thinking about it for a moment, he looked around the house and sighed. "It's probably talking about something that looks like 'broken teeth'..." Stepping back once, he muttered a few words under his breath as he went over the little riddle written on the piece of paper. Since he wasn't very familiar with this house, he just threw out some possible answers. "From the sounds of it... it might be a door, a window with bars, or a fence of some sort. Then again, I could be way off on this." Talencia Tal looked up at Blade as he peered at the map, then paced thoughtfully. She nodded slowly at his words. "Yes... those are some excellent ideas. I am wondering what it is we will be looking for when we find the spot?" She returned her attention to the riddle.
"Find a niche? Yikes, that's awfully vague!" She shakes her head. "I don't know. It sort of sounds like there is a spot to find something... wherever these broken teeth are." She glanced up at Blade. "Do you think?" Wolfie Duke Wolfie nodded and nodded again. Everyone had excellent ideas. "If the drawing, if you can call it that," She began "shows a house, perhaps what we are looking for isnt inside here." Wolfie stood up and looked around for her coat and scarf.
Finding them hanging over the back of the couch she also retrieved her backpack, whose contents were now in a secret place inside her bedroom. With it empty, it was so much lighter. A whistle later and all her Moonlits assembled.
"Lets go on an adventure!" She shouted almost too merrily. Perhaps the lack of sleep was really getting to her. Who could tell at this point? With a glance to Talencia she cocked her head to the side. "Do you think we should bring the journal and the compass Tal? I find it odd they were all sorta together." Soon everyone left the common room and went outside to start the adventure. Talencia When Blade had suggested a fence, Tal's eyes lit up. "Yes! I know of an ancient old fence... it's only half there." She prodded Wolfie and pointed out the direction she remembered it being. "Remember? Out beside that footpath that skirts the forest?"
It wasn't long before the group was capering along that very footpath. The area on the left was heavily forested, shadowed and cool green. A row of logs jutted up from the earth, each standing alone from the other. Rotted pieces of board could be seen here and there amongst the leaf litter.
To the right of the dirt path was a slow rising slope of a hillside. Rocks had been settled against it long ago, to shore it up from eroding the path away during the rainy season. All sorts of things were tucked in the nooks and crannies of the large rocks. photo copyright of WolfieDuke
"Well, let's see if we can find whatever it is we are looking for!" Gamely, she began to poke around the rocks nearest the path's edge. Blade went to the fence and began looking for a niche. Yuki climbed up the rocky hill to stand by Tal. Meanwhile Celestia was having some problems with her moonlit, Reioseiga, who had run off. She ended up chasing after him and slid into a cavern. Talencia The old fenceposts truly did have lovely small holes in each of them. The rotted boards below used to fit into them. Now, these holes held years of dirt and soil, watered by blowing rain, and seeded by whatever was carried on the wind. Within the paricular hole that Jade had hopped into, a tiny blue flower grew. The head nearest the delicate plant carefully pulled it's roots out of the built-up soil and poked out. Jade cheeped at Blade for him to take the very small plant.
She raised her voice to call to the rest. "If you find any interesting plants, keep them! Moosey is sure to love what we manage to find!"Her voice echoed to Celestia and Reioseiga in the cavern. As they wandered through the chilly darkness, an unevenness in the rock floor tripped them up. They escaped any real harm, but came face to face with a very odd plant. It grew up from some leaf litter than had collected in cup in the rock. It gleamed palely in a stray shaft of sunlight that found it's way through the stone formations above. It was easy to loosen out of it's natural pot, and wasn't too big to tuck into a pack or pocket.Talencia then began to look up thoughtfully. "Wouldn't we need to go up to climb?" She strolled into the forest, still looking up. "I wonder?" Morgana, who had chased after them in their mad dash out of the house, followed her closely, tail wagging and tongue lolling at the taste of adventure in the air.((I will use the italics, bold, brown for when I'm indicating someone finding something. If me moving your characters bothers you, just let me know and I'll work around it! ::smiles:: You need not keep any of the images yourself. We'll keep track!)) With that everyone went off on their own searching for whatever it was they were searching for. Talencia When Hana tumbled down on top of the black pup, she uprooted something as she fell. It laid beside the two pups, it's roots looking odd and strange. The wolves notably stayed clear of it, carefully circling around it to avoid touching it. Clearly this was an unusual plant. Would it be useful to Moosey, by chance?Meanwhile, as Blade perched in a tree, he found good footing where the branch met the trunk. But as he settled his back against the sturdy trunk and secured his footing on the branch, he dislodged something caught in the crevice where the two parts met. It fell and bonked Tal on the head as she was walking by, musing to herself."Yipes!" She leaped backwards in alarm at being pegged on the head by something. She stooped to pick it up, then grinned up at Blade. "I think perhaps you have found what we were looking for, Blade!" She held up a small, smooth round disc made of stone. On it's surface a rune was carved. "We may not have found it quite like Mr. Hill meant us to, but we found it!"
She tossed it back up to Blade, since he had found it, and then dashed off to find Wolfie. "WOLFIE! We found it!" she yelled as she ran. "Blade found what we were looking for!"((We will be proceeding to the next location soon! Grats to those who found things this round!)) Talencia Tal bounded up to Wolfie, grinning happily. Random pups of her own were chasing after her... she had so many, she was beginning to lose track of who was where when! Most notable was a small black pup with pretty gold butterfly markings that nearly tripped her just as she drew up by her friend.
She caught her balance by grasping Wolfie's shoulder, laughing breathlessly. "We found what the map was looking for! "Find a niche if you look about/Climb to peek and then to shout" was a fold in the bark where a tree's branch met the trunk!" She paused for breath. "Now we just have to find what our next clue should be!"
She took another deep breath and tugged off her backpack. She gently removed the old folded parchment map and opened it up. She tugged Wolfie near to help as they peered at the weird drawings and writing that scrawled across the map.
"Let's see... if we got our first clue where we WERE... that would mean we need to find the next clue where we are NOW." She ran a gentle finger across the surface of the parchment, searching. "Ah, here." She pointed to a specific spot on the map.
"Largest plate you've yet seen/Find your joy amidst the green/Remove grey peas until it's clean!" She blinked at Wolfie. "Green something on a huge plate? With grey peas? Any ideas?" However, before Wolfie did more than thoughtfully open her mouth, Morgana began leaping about them excitedly."Momma, Momma, I know where that is! A biiiiiig plate! Very big! And it's green!" She was so excited that she could barely get the words out, with yips and yelps scattered between her short bursts of speech. "A plate, Momma! Come on!"With that, the pretty female turned and darted down the road. Giving the others a wild, blank look, Talencia turned and ran after her swift moonlit. When she finally caught up with her, they stood on the edge of a large meadow.
It was almost perfectly circular, bordered by the same forest that ran along the road earlier. Even with the melting snow, it was already grown over by thick green grass. A wire fence ran across the middle, splitting it in two, and weeds already flourished around the posts. Whatever hid in the grass was masked by the wild growth spurred by the onset of spring.
"Well... I think we have our plate." Tal said absently. The field was large. This wasn't going to be too easy, she was sure. She fondled Morgana's ears and praised her softly. "Wonderful work, darling. Thank you!" Celestia Elysium Celestia and her moonlits returned just in time to hear the next part of the riddle. She followed the others to the large field while pondering the hints. 'Okay... So the plate is the field, green would obviously be the grass, but grey peas? Do they want us to search through pebbles?'Celestia gently rubbed her temples to hopefully ward off the incoming headache. She knelt down to Rei and Hisana's eye levels and said, "Hey guys, wanna see if we can find the next clue?" Rei bounced around excitedly while Hisana tilted her head in curiousity. Giggling, Celestia continued, "Okay. Can you try looking around the different stones in the field? Bark loudly if you find anything, 'kay?" With a brief wag of their tails, they disappeared into the thick green grass. Celestia laid down on a group of boulders and continued to speculate about this clue. 'Plate... green... grey peas...' She suddenly shot up in her seat. 'Wait a minute...' She imagined how this field would look like in an aerial view. With a circular field and grass, it would certainly look like a plate with greens. With boulders. Looking like... "Grey peas!" Celestia softly exclaimed. She clamored off the boulders she was sitting on, and knelt to see if there were any cracks between the boulders. "But wait... They said "remove grey peas until it's clean"... Can these even be moved?" Peeking into the dark cracks between the stones, Celestia couldn't really tell if anything, such as a small piece of paper was tucked into it. Praying that there weren't any creepy crawlers waiting for her, Celestia used the sensitive pads of her fingers to feel for any items in the crevice. Talencia Tal strolled out across the field and peeked over the fence. She was enjoying the warm spring sun that shone down upon them unimpeded. The woods had been a little chilly, with the snow melting and such. Here all was green and warm and growing.
Morgana went bounding past her, leaping gracefully over the fence, to the other side of the meadow's "plate". Little Elana went scampering after her, wriggling her way through one of the squares made by the wirse. Tal stuck the toes of her hiking boots in these as well to climb over. Just then Geldan also barreled through, his round tummy nearly getting him stuck before he popped out on the other side. Tal stayed where she was so she wouldn't land on the plump green pup. Once he scurried off with the others, she dropped to the ground and meandered after them.
She came first to Morgana, who was sitting quietly, tail curled over her paws, watching the pups with clear amusement. Curious, Tal looked on to see what was so entertaining. Just ahead she saw Elana's form leaping about, whirling and jumping and kicking in mid-air. Now, this wasn't all that unusual a sight, really. Elana seemed to delight in dancing, in ANY form. But this time she wasn't just dancing, but she was pouncing, and yipping and barking, at something else. And it wasn't Geldan, for he cam scampering back, yapping excitedly.
"It seems Elana has found something, Mother." Morgana said with a smile, her voice melodious as always. "Let's go find out who she is playing with." And with that Morgan padded forward, lovely busy tail waving slowly.
Tal followed, with Geldan bouncing at her heels. When she arrived near Elana, at first she was alarmed and dismayed. A small young bunny was darting back and forth, staying within Elana's pouncing paws. For that alarming first moment it looked as if Elana was chasing and trying to hurt the rabbit. But soon it became apparent that they were playing together!
"Elana, who is your friend?" Tal asked softly, so as not to frighten the wild bunny. She crouched low to make herself smaller and sat down nearby. Elana yipped happily and bounded over to her, gracefully as always, and the bunny came with her. Elana leaped up into Tal's lap, and astonishingly, the rabbit followed! Laughing, Tal tousled the pup and gently petted the long-eared creature. It was black with a bright blue eye and white on it's chest. "Hello there, sweetheart," she crooned.Elana barked then, clearly telling her seomthing. Mystified, Tal looked to Morgana for a translation. The talkative wolf was pleased to oblige. "Elana has named her Mittens... though I haven't a clue why." Morgana barked a laugh.During this wild escapade, the wind gusted merrily across the open field of grass and growing thigns. It carried with it the scent of many blooming things, as well as bits and pieces of those same blooming things. The spring wind blew around the humans and wolves, scattering things left and right. A delicate blossom blew past Pixie and caught on Aura's blanket, appearing to be more of a decoration than an accident.Meanwhile, Celestia was trying to find something in the rock pile. With her hand stuck into the crevice as far as it would go, her fingertips grazed something that shifted under her touch. When she tried again, it shifted again, falling right of it's ledge and into a larger crevice. This one was deep, but not very wide. Attempting to reach whatever it was she had loosened, she gingerly stuck her entire arm in. Maddeningly, only her fingertips barely brushed it. She just couldn't quite reach it. She definitely needed help of some kind to retrieve whatever it was! Celestia Elysium Celestia tried to reach further in and barely touched the item again. Pulling her arm back and glaring at the crevice, she was tempted to bang her head on the boulders in frustration. She sat back on the grass to think about what to do. Loud barks broke through Celestia's concentration. Rei bound across the field while Hisana trailed behind him. In her mouth, she carried what seemed to be a ball of fluff. Rei skidded to a stop while Hisana gently deposited what seemed to be an animal into Celestia's lap. For the moment, Celestia ignored the slumbering animal as she took in her "puppies". It seems like these moonlits can grow pretty quickly! Rei and Hisana were larger than their younger counterparts. Her attention returned to the new animal when she felt it's small claws dig into the material of her pants. Uncurling from its position, a pink fox-like animal with a pale yellow tail yawned from it's nap. Celestia's jaw dropped. "You found a..." a bewildered owner scrambled for it's name, "ZURUI??" Both moonlits barked in affirmination. Hisana began placing many twigs on the ground. Confused, Celestia waited until she was finished. "Tessa?" The said zurui wiggled and yipped. 'You know, she might just fit into that space... But for such a pup, wouldn't it dangerous...?'Suddenly, Tessa scrambled off Celestia's lap and landed in front of the boulders. Carefully squeezing herself in, Tessa slowly crawled towards the mysterious item. Alarmed at the zurui's actions, Celestia plucked a keychain flashlight that was connected to her keys from her pocket and flattened herself to the ground. She shone the light into the crack between boulders, banishing the shadows away. With the light, she could see Tessa as she reached down and batted the item towards to opening. Every now and then, Tessa would creep towards the opening and pause to examine the item some more. Wolfie Duke Wolfie carefully hoisted herself up and over the fence. It seemed like it had been there many years, although she did not remember coming across this field before, she had her bets that Tom was surely the one to have built this sucker.
A shimmer of color moved through the field. Robyn and Ripple bounded after each other, yipping as they went. Tails were pulled in 'tag' and a few tumbles and bounds later, they were beyond her sight in the bright daytime sun.
"Tal, does this place look like the place to you?" Wolfie stuffed her hands in her pockets, unsure of how she could be helpful at such a time. This may have been her land now, but she really didnt feel like any of this belonged to her. This was the land of her ancestors. A sacred place. Free. Free to all.
Her fingers graced something in her pocked. With a puzzled look on her face, she ran her fingers across it again. It seemed to be a piece of paper, crisped with having been washed inside her jeans. Drat. Wolfie thought. I forgot to clean out my pockets again. Talencia Before long, Tessa had managed to swat the object out of the crevice and into Celestia's hand. The fox-like creature looked quite pleased with herself and pranced about as Celestia examined it. It looked an awful lot like the stone disc that Blade had found at the last location. It was the same size and made of the same sort of rock, smoothed evenly, except for a single rune carved into it's surface.
When this entourage met with the others near the pile of rocks, Tal smiled at Blade. "Any results?" Just then she spotted Celestia scrambling down from the pile, a stone disc in her hands. "Fabulous!" she cheered. Let's take a moment to catch our breaths, shall we?"
After a time of sitting and chatting quietly, during which time Wolfie joined them, Talencia pulled the map out again. "Now, let's see... where is the picture of this round meadow?" Mittnes, who was sitting in her lap, poked her little head over the map, then solemnly placed a dainty paw on a picture. Amused, Tal stroked the rabbit's velvety ears and then set her down. Peering at where Mittens had touched, she saw sure enough it looked like their currently location.
"Find a place where man would hide/Be a beast, don't go inside." She mulled this over. "It clearly can't be the house... but where else would a person hide?""It said a man, mother." Morgana reminded her, prim paws tucked under her tail as she sat nearby. Since learning to talk, the she-wolf had always been very specific about her words, and felt everyone else should be too. "Not a person, a man.""A man? Like Mr. Hill?" She glanced at Wolfie questioningly. "Where would he 'hide'? A manly retreat? What.... about that place you told me about Wolfie?" She wriggled closer to her good friend, getting excited again. "Remember? A sort of shack you said he tended to go to when Aunt Bea got too frilly for him?" She bounced, her tail of long hair flapping. It was in a deep part of the forest! I remember now!"
And with that, Tal was off. This whole adventure seemed to ignite a fervor in her. She loved mysteries and riddles and hiking, so this was right up her alley. She didn't quite charge off so fast this time, recalling how the others almost got left behind. Instead she walked quickly, casting glances back at them to be sure they were following her alright.
Into the woods she led them, away from the large, bright circle of green meadow and into the almost chilly shade of the trees. It took some time, though they were helped by hitting a very faint, narrow trail. Eventually, something was visible through the screening trucks. Tal stopped right in front of it triumphantly.
It was a very old abandoned building. It was covered in chunky, hand-made shingles of wood and was extremely tiny, only big enough for perhaps a chair and a desk inside with a little space for movement left over. It sat upon a solid concrete foundation and sported a hinged screendoor that covered a rough plank door. It did sort of remind Tal of a ship's door, but perhaps that was just her imagination. The shack also had two windows, one on each side of the door, but no others. The trees had grown in close to the shack and branches hung over it as a natural second roof. Vines crept up the sides of the shack, and bushes grew near it.
But where did that riddle mean the rune was hidden?? Blade Kuroda Blade was just about to answer Tal, but he too saw that Celestia now had a rune similar to the one he had found earlier. "Nice job there," he called out to her beofore listening to the next part of the riddle. Then, following Talencia to the area of the old wooden shack, he recalled the words of the riddle, thinking about what they may have meant along the way. "Be a beast, don't go inside... So do we tear up the outside area?" Above, Jade had landed on the roof of the shack to rest her wings for a bit. While one head looked around at the surroundings, the other gazed curiously at her owner below. Glancing over at the others for a moment, he took out a knife and stood by the outer wall of the shack. "..I hope you don't mind me doing this," he said as he pulled and pried away a few of the wooden shingles. Wolfie Duke Wolfie looked at the old shack. It should have been taken down years ago because it served more as a danger to the moonlits than a haven. "Its okay Blade. Im not sure it should still be standing anyhow. Many of the things Tom built with my aunt are in decay now. Lion fell into a basement chamber a while back." Wolfie Duke Wolfie turned around in time to see Blue arrive with her kaboodle of moonlit pups at her heels. "Welcome back to the pack." Wolfie kidded. She knelt in the mossy underbrush and scraped some moss off a rock. Nudging it a little harder with her foot, she uprooted it from its home.
Spying a tiny walkway to the shack, built with chipped pieces of slate embedded in the ground, Wolfie had an idea. With her fingertips she began clawing at the slate, tring to find a loose edge. With a heave, she managed to grasp one, sending her sprawling onto her butt, the stone held high over her head. Wolfie closed her eyes as dirt rained down upon her. With a cringe she hoped there were no creepy crawlies in sight. Wolfie Duke Wolfie giggled a little bit as the sand and dirt stopped falling. She blinked as tiny pieces entered her eyes. With a choke she placed the slate beside her and brushed herself off.
"I don't know if lifting these will help, but I definitely want to take these slates back to the house. Wouldnt they look nice in front of the front porch instead of out in the middle of the woods?" Wolfie began clawing at another slate. It crumbled in her hands. With a pout, she pushed aside the pieces.
"Im not sure how many of these will be left in tact. They seem thin and frail and Im sure that the rain falling off the trees has carved some very tacticle cracks in them where we cant see." The greenish grey shards looked sharp, but they were soft with age, like clay. Wolfie squished the pieces in her hand a bit before choosing another stone. Talencia Talencia watched the others while she mulled the riddle. "Be a beast?" she mused aloud. "How can we be like beasts?" She began to circle the small shack while she spoke. "Well... beasts usually don't go inside, so that makes sense," but was interrupted by the happy yapping of one of the many wolves, who also circled the house and were nosign here and there. "Well," she amended, "MOST beasts don't go inside, heh."
She continued pacing around the shack slowly as she thought. "But how can we humans be like beasts?" She looked up as Blue ran up. "Have an ideas on how to act like a beast, Blue?" she called. She had a feeling that this was a very important part of the clue, and if they didn't figure it out, they wouldn't find the rune. Wolfie Duke Wolfie watched Tal and scrambled over to her in the same manner since she was already pretty much on the ground. The soil near the shack was much softer than that of the pathway of slate. It squished beneath her and the moisture soaked through the knees of her jeans. Ick!
"Tal, do you think we should just give up? We have been here a long while and Im sure the moonlits and the rest of the crew would like a moment to eat something. Im sure we packed treats away?" Wolfie rocked back on her haunches and managed to give it too much momentum. She toppled over on her back, proping herself up with her elbows.
"So graceful," Wolfie mocked herself sarcastically. Blowing a whisp of her blue-silver hair out of her eyes, she noticed that the foundation at her left elbow was slightly worn away from the weather. It had eroded it away, showing the conglomerate that had created it. It was not indeed pure cement like many modern foundations, but a much stronger mixture made of stones and sand and a cement-like substance. Her uncle had always known what would weather out the storm. Wolfie supposed it was the seaman in him.Wolfie rubbed the mud off her hand onto the foundation, its surface dragging the dry-wet mush onto its corrogated surface. With a pause, she wiped it away again, noticing some deep grooves. A lightbulb went off.
Shuffling quickly though her pockets she began to babble. "Tal, Tal!" She pulled out a notepad and whipped through pages. "OMG, I have seen these runes before. And look!" She pointed insistantly at those grooves in the foundation. "Look! No, dont give me that look," Wolfie started at Tal as a cautious glance was passed. "I mean it." Blade Kuroda After hearing Wolfie, Blade looked towards her, then at the ground and foundations she was near. Stopping with the shingles, he stepped over by her. It seemed that the foundations were crumbling away to some extent. So after giving it a light kick to make sure it wasn't really wasting away, he thought about the riddle once more. Be a beast...Glancing over at the various Moonlits in the area, it sort of clicked in his mind. So as he crouched down by the foundations, he moved away some of the soil near it. After he dug away at it for a little while, he looked at the others. "Can one of the Moonlits dig right here? They'd probably do a better job of it than I." Bluedemonwolf Blue watched as Blade began to dig. She looked down as Scruffy bumped into her. The first thing she noticed was that he had grown. The second was he was watching Blade dig and was whining. "Wow, took you long enough to grow. What do you want to go play or something?" Blue asked Scruffy. Scruffy looked at Blue then at Blade and whined again. Blue gave Scruffy a confused look as she tried to figure out what he wanted. Hana walked over and made digging motion. Then it clicked. "Oh. You want to go dig where Blade's digging." Scruffy let out a happy little bark at this. "Okay you can go but listen to what they say." Blue told Scruffy. Scruffy walked over to Blade and looked at him as if to make sure it was okay. When he was sure, he began to dig in the spot Blade had started. Wolfie Duke Wolfie thumbed through the notepad in her pocket. Why were these scribblings on the foundation so familiar?! It occured to her about the day at the waterfall. Someone was leaving clues! They were the same markings! She wondered what meaning they had. The next glyph her fingers traced over looked more like a cave painting than a rune stone.
"Tal, I think this looks like a duo-bird... dont you?" Wolfie noted the double beaks popping out of the carving. "I wonder if this is a clue about what we are hunting after?"She nodded her head with enthusiasm. "Tal, I think this is what we have been looking for. This seems to be a history of sorts to the duos!" She jumped to her feet and began looking for the map. Forgetting that dear Talencia had possession of it, she scrambled from person to person, looking at the contents in their hands. Excitment fueled her and logic, for a change, was not. Talencia Blade's diggings resulted in uprooting a rather odd looking spiky plant. It wasn't prickly, but it's oddly shaped blooms tipped each stem in deep red. Yes, it seemed another plant that HPM might be interested in!
Nearby, when Blue's Hana motioned digging, her paw slapped a tall stalk of flowers over, snappting the stem. Still, the stem of flowers looked interesting. Perhaps it was worth keeping to show HPM as well?
Wolfie, meanwhile, had pawed at her section of the foundation and had unknowingly loosened something that had been inset among the duo-bird carvings. It fell out almost without a sound and lay amid the tumbled dirt. It somehow had managed to fall rune-side up, it's elegant marking drawing attention to it.
Talencia Seeing Wolfie looking all over for it, Tal tapped her on her shoulder and pulled it out of the pack. "Here it is, are we ready to move on?" Together they peered at it. "I think this must be the shack," Tal commented, pointing. "So there is our next riddle."
"Laughter you will hear/ Look not far, for it is near/ Take a breath, hold back your fear." Tal read it thoughtfully. So if the riddle is here... and it says it is near....," she raised her head to look around.
"Does anyone hear anything?" Wolfie Duke "Hold my breath?" Wolfie looked baffled momentarily. "I dont know quiet what to hold my breath for."
She scraped up the rune at her feet and tucked it quickly into her pocket. It seemed like it would prove useful sooner or later in some aspect of this hunt. So far, half the riddles had been solved. They had a good feeling it had something to do with the duo-birds, now it was just a matter of what. Talencia While Tal and the rest mulled, the blind moonlit Tira had followed the rest of the pack along, and she now gave a bark and went plunging off into the forest. Tal turned to look after her, but just a moment later she heard a faint noise. A different noise. But as she frowned to focus on it, it stopped. Then Tira came bounding back, yipping and with all four paws dripping wet.
Joyfully she leaped onto Tal, getting her slimy with wet leaf litter. "Ugh, thanks for the excitment dear, but that's a bit much for me!" She gently fended off the enthusiastic Moonlit and gave Wolfie a puzzled look.((And a thank you to Celestia for catching my mistake... the riddle should read MOVING laughter. ::gives her kudos at the very least:: )) Celestia Elysium Rei glanced at the moonlit and declared, "I think I'll take the pups back to the house... It seems a bit dangerous for them to be romping around" He picked up Skysong and was followed by Byakuya and the rest of the moonlits. It looks like Sakuya had long abandoned her in favor for the house as well. Just as Celestia was wondering if she was alone, Kazuya nuzzled her ankles. He seemed delighted in the mysteries of the forest. Bounding forward to see the other moonlit, Kazuya cautiously sniffed the paws. He eyed the leaves attached to the appendage and nibbled on it. "Bleh!" he cried, spitting it back out instantly. Celestia couldn't help but giggle at his reaction. Trying to muffle her laughter, she practically stuffed her whole arm into her mouth. When she uncorked her mouth, she was under control again. She took a closer look at the moonlit and said, "Don't you think she's kinda... wet? How did that happen?" Kazuya muttered something about slimy leaves being utterly disgusting. Desperately trying not burst out laughing again, Celestia said, "Is there something near here? Like a lake? A pond? A stream?" As she was listing the possiblities, inspiration struck her like a thunderclap. "Hey, do you think the moving laughter refers to something else? Maybe frogs or something?" Once she said it aloud, she couldn't help but wonder if she was just completely off... Bluedemonwolf Blue was thinking about the riddle when she heard a noise. She looked up and saw Tira run up to Tal. "Hey Blue isn't Tira's paws wet? What could cause that in a forest?" Eros thought to Blue. "Hmm. Wet paws. A stream, river, or any body of water could do that." Blue told Indy.
Scruffy was listening to Celestia make suggestions, while Blue explained things to Eros. Scruffy walked over to Blue and nudged her. When he had her attention he pointed to Celestia. Blue couldn't think what he would want with Celestia. "Eros would you mind telling me what he wants." "Sure Blue. He says Celestia was suggesting a lake, pond, or stream and that moving laughter might be frogs." Eros said.
Blue walked over to Celestia and thought about the riddle once more. "You know Celestia, I was sort of thinking about the same thing. But I don't think I hear frogs. When I think of moving laughter I think of a stream for some reason. But who knows I maybe way off." Blue said.
Wolfie Duke Robyn had been tagging along in the back of the pack for quite a while now. Wolfie had often wondered why her and Ripple were not as close to her as some of the others. They fared well together and were friendly indeed, but seemed to stray from other peoples moonlits. Perhaps it was just the way of life.
The female moonlit went bounding out of sight after some of the other pups, quite a different sight indeed. "I dunno... perhaps the pups are onto something. Robyn and Ripple only get excited when they are near water. Danged if I know why they are so elementally drawn. Perhaps we all should follow." However the group was called back to the house before the adventure finished.
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Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 11:09 am
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Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 11:10 am
Exploring the Basement ((Starts the same as Continuing the Riddle of the Runes, goes to the Back Porch: page 57 and 58, then to the Basement))
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