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Although waving his torch around seemed to repel the round little creatures rather than attract them, the scarabs did in general seem to be so ceaselessly hungry that after a few frightened seconds of fleeing, they carefully scuttled out again to see what Boreas was doing, still keeping their distance from his torch. A few of them clacked their mandibles at him hopefully.

What they didn't do, however, was attempt to make any leaps toward the door, though it was hard to guess precisely whether they were afraid of the moat itself, or of Boreas with his torch just across the moat.

The ledge in front of the door was only barely wide enough for one of his feet to fit sideways. There was no good way to catch himself like that, and he ended up knocking into the door and falling back -- but fortunately the moat was only a foot wide, and so he hadn't been in too much danger of falling in unless he tripped. It was probably best not to make a repeat performance of it, though, just in case -- they'd seen what had happened to equally-blameless Rosaline, who'd been trying to investigate just like they were.

Raite's method was sound -- but the scarabs were fast little creatures, and just as he started to grab one, it scooted its way onto the treasure pile. Living here as long as they had, the beetles seemed to have an awareness of where they were safe, and where they weren't. They held much stiller when they were nestled in among the treasure.

[OOC: All players are now free to attempt to pick up a scarab -- but they're shifty little buggers, and can't be lured out of the treasure pile. Before your post, please generate a random number from 1 to 20 to attempt to retrieve a scarab. Results are as follows:

1-5: Successfully catch a scarab without incident, holding it by the back end between your fingers.

6-10: Successfully catch a scarab, but not so cleanly -- the scarab bites you, taking a nice chunk out of your finger before you can get ahold of it.

11-18: You miss, grabbing onto a simple gold item instead. You drop this as quickly as you can, and breathe a sigh of relief.

19-20: You miss, grabbing onto a gold item studded with one or more pieces of carnelian. The djinn leaps out to devour you in flame. Wait for the GM's confirmation before writing a death post.]

Howl's absolute terror of the creatures had somehow, narrowly, saved his life: his fingers brushed over a carnelian-studded belt buckle, but no sooner had the gem begun to glow than the terrified boy flung himself backward as hard as he could.

He hit the ground skidding, with a jarring thump that shot pain up his elbow. He'd skinned his arm pretty badly, and his elbow was throbbing a little, but nothing life-threatening -- he was most definitely alive.

"Touch not, lest ye be touched," piped up the djinni. It sounded like it was snickering.

After practically being thrown back, the long-haired boy let out a faint hissing sound, glancing to his free arm as a throbbing pain ran through the entire limb.

His eyes, however, quickly were drawn to the faint glowing of the carnelian gem. The ominous warning from the creature of flame and light (no doubt) was not something to be taken lightly. With a steady nod of the head, he waited until the rumbling words dispersed into silence once more before carefully offering his own.

"I will keep that in mind, thank you."

He was sorely tempted to add a "good sir" to the end of his statement, but alas, there was no confirmation as to the gender of these strange creatures. And he was not about to get burned over assuming the wrong gender and upsetting the djinni.

Howl was unaware of it, but his body had begun to tremble on its own. Even as he once more turned his eyes to look at the rather ugly wound upon his left arm, he failed to notice how his torch shake slightly within his hold. He took in a few breaths, trying to calm himself down from what could have been a disaster.

"I suspect... antiseptic would be out of the question..."

If he had allowed it, his nose would have crinkled in distaste. Howl made sure his nose didn't do what it wanted though, for that would leave ugly little wrinkles along the bridge of his nose in later years.

I hope this heals up well enough so it doesn't leave a scar.

Rather than stand up at the moment, Howl decided to remain sitting on the ground.

Turning her head to see Boreas attempt to lure the scarabs over the moat, Erin narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. The idea had merit--the door was not made of stone like the floor, walls, and probably ceiling, nor was it made of gold...which was all that the scarabs had left of their deceased companions.

The dijinni certainly wasn't interested in being helpful, and thus she turned away from the creature with a quiet 'hmph.' Tricky thing, speaking in riddles to waste their time. There was always the chance of getting bitten by the scarabs, of course...but if they didn't do something before their torches ran out, they would be as surely devoured as the others.

She'd rather chance being nipped once or twice. Watching carefully for her chance, Erin attempted to snatch up a scarab.

Scylla watched her companions moving. Howl falling backwards, Boreas' attempt at seducing the golden beasts across the moat. Pyxis and the young woman leaning down to lift up scarabs. Scylla felt her nerves catch, looking at the glittering little beasts of destruction. She'd seen what they did to living flesh. She'd seen it. So trembling, just a little, she emulated their actions, reaching out for a scarab of her own to hurl. As she did, her eyes caught on Pyxis reaching out. She opened her mouth, leaning in to say something to him, and...

It was too late.

Near her, the little Senshi went up in a whoosh of flame. She shrieked, jumping back, eyes wide with horror. The- god, the-

She hadn't even known his name.

Nausea rose up in her throat, and near her, a scarab clicked his mandibles tauntingly. She reached out with a shriek, grabbing for it. It wasn't the scarab who had killed, it was the Djinn... but... she reached out for it anyway, intending to catch the creature and drop it over the moat and onto the door ledge. She had the anger-fueled thought of just throwing it... But no...

Easter egg hunting. That's what this is. I wonder who will find the golden egg?

Though strangely calm and whimsical for the situation, that was all he could think about as he noticed that not only was he trying to find a scarab to grab hold of, but also everyone else was concentrating intensely on the pile of treasure to see if they could find the golden egg. He felt kind of dumb as he wanted to laugh as he imagined all of them in child form, all dressed up in their Sunday best. Maybe these thoughts made him calmer, kept him from feeling the intense pressure that was on his shoulders if he did in fact grab the wrong item. Or perhaps, he himself was purely unable to allow the guillotine to slide down and chop off the head of all their hopes. Whatever the case, he took another breath and reached down as he saw a fat little scarab he thought moved a little slower than the others and grabbed for the widest part of its body.

Silence filled his mind for a brief second before he felt the adrenaline pump through his veins as the tiny beetle scurried away from his hand and his fingers touched the goblet that lay beneath the insect. His eyes widened in fear, his heart was racing, and he felt like was frozen there for eternity. He didn't even turn his gaze to the carnelian guardians that lay near by and forced his body into action and flung himself away from the pile of treasure, leaving the goblet where it stood. Every moment leading up to his departure from the treasure pile had felt like it was going by in slow motion; however, the moment Sailor Boreas felt the hard thud of the stone floor, his mind and especially his body, were well aware of the true passage of time.

Oh no, Oh no, Oh no, ... OH NO

He was breathing deeply, sharp quick breathes that revealed his dismay at touching the forbidden fruit. His eyes darted around the room, watching the Djinn and making sure they didn't point their flames his way. He hoped they didn't notice or simply didn't care. Hell, he didn't care if they were thinking about carrot cake and rhinoceroses, as long as they didn't notice his transgression, he could care less.

The coast is clear.

A sigh escaped his lips as he was certain he had escaped the fiery wrath of the wardens of the treasure keep. A smile started to form on his face once again; however, before it could fully reveal itself, Boreas noticed the most awful smell. He knew it well already. He knew what it meant. It meant another was taken in their endeavor to open the metal door. He didn't want to know who it was, but he couldn't help it. He turned to mentally call roll.

Howl, check. Scylla, check. Raite, check. Erin, check. Pyxis... not present ...

He wasn't sure what to say to the others. The words that arose in his mind seemed too encouraging almost. Boreas turned away from the sight of another fallen traveler. He completed the smile across his face, not out of carelessness or ignorance, but as the only thing he knew to make the situation a little better for not only himself, but the remaining travelers in their group.

"Are you guys going to carry those bugs to the door or throw them at the door? We have to be careful how we handle them. I don't want anyone disappearing. Perhaps we should all stay close and have our torches ready? Just in case!"

He changed the subject because he couldn't think of anything else to do besides move forward. In all honesty, there wasn't much else to do, except move forward.

His fingers had barely brushed against the scarab - it didn't even turn to acknowledge his misfortune, just continued parading along the sandy floor. This wasn't like the bugs he was used to playing with, who would double-back and make it a fun game, winding between his fingers and tickling his palms. This was a cruel joke. When Pyxis saw the carnelian beneath his fingers, his initial reaction was that it was awfully pretty, not that he was about to be encased in flame.

But it came. Though it was all so fast, the last moments felt like an agonizing eternity. The others would have barely heard the beginnings of his terrified cry, but he heard his scream ringing over and over in his ears. There was no time for images to flash before his eyes. There was no time to tell the others goodbye, or to thank them for holding his hand and helping him along.

In an instant, he was gone. He left nothing of physical value behind, but would have hoped that the others kept his memory with them, if only to urge them along in their journey.

(I can mash this into my other post if I need to. Wasn't sure how to do it while keeping order in mind. XD)

[Shaz: It's totally fine this way! Sands still has no posting order requirement. <3 Poor Pyxis. :,(]