[ketsup]

All dusk long, there was something to do. You had either set out after Beo (only to be turned back by a most shadowy hand-in-a-bush), stayed at the camp, or gone with Sybil on the Ghost Tour. Camp was calm, and the rest of the night went off without any issue, thankfully. The Ghost Tour was a blast—mostly because it wasn't some cheesy set-up thing... apparently Sybil actually knew a lot of the ghosts and got them to appear for a chat. Her secondary motive, as some lambies had caught on, was to gather information as well.

The Tour crew headed back as the sky began to brighten in Castellina. A real sunrise, now that's a nice change! Sybil pulled their giant carriage back into the enchanted area, and things shifted to the familiar moon-day blue. She brought them back into the campground proper, and then took a good look around. Everything seemed ok?

She sent the rest of the lambies back to activities or to rest for moon-day and things were peaceful. Too peaceful. As dusk fell, she gathered everyone for Fireside. This time, Beo joined you all.



Beo appears calmer and overall much less bestial than what you saw the other night.
Sybil gestures in his direction, introducing you, "Revelers, this is Beo, for those who have not properly met him. He is known as the Elder of the Children—a protector." Beo nodded at the group, silently.
Before Sybil can continue, somewhere in the crowd a small voice blurts out: "Did you find the monster??" Beo's expression softens at the sound of the lambaby's query and he carefully rests on the ground at everyone's (well, mostly-everyone's) eye level. In a very low rumbling voice, he replies, "Yes. I did."

At this, Sybil rests her head on the ground too, looking at him expectantly like a giant version of all the other curious lambies in the crowd, "Ohhh?"
Beo closes his eyes a moment, and then continues, "A nightmare splinter. A piece of a dream. Chaotic. Mostly harmless," he unfurls a giant paw to reveal a jar with a little shadowy, glowing worm inside. If a worm could look angry, this was an angry shadow worm. "The beast was made of splinters. A panicking nightmare of fragments. I have caught only this one." He sighs gruffly, "I did not know it was made of splinters. Disappointing. I enjoyed the hunt regardless."

Sybil pondered this new information, and combining with what she'd gleaned from the ghosts last dusk, she was starting to piece things together. "So, if it's made of splinters, then the beast is still splintered right now?"
"Yes." came the gruff reply, "If we do not catch it, it will gather together again. It needs to be returned to whose nightmare it split from."
That was good enough for Sybil. "Excellent. For those of you who are feeling brave and ready to get out there, we need help gathering the nightmare splinters. There shouldn't be any forces nearly as scary as what you saw the other night, unless they have a chance to re-form. So let's make sure to beat them to it."

She gathers up as many jars or containers as possible and hands them out, along with a host of butterfly nets and lights of varying types (someone came prepared). Before you leave, she adds: "And stay together!"

☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆

This prompt closes tomorrow 10/30, at 10 pm CT!
Time to catch some nightmare splinters... The more, the better. Keep on the lookout for shadow lambies, if you do! Art or writing is ok!

Code: Select all

[center][b][i]The Hunt is on![/i][/b]
{ Respond with your lambie(s) IC for whatever they find on the hunt! }
[/center]


[KestrelTheFirecat]

The Hunt is on!
Seafoam walks around to think about what was really desired with the jar and she finds herself walking over to a shadowy figure and sees some shards. She opens the jar and collects most of them. The shards start to form into a small bird. She speaks in suprise and leaps back dropping the jar. The she goes to pick up the jar and looks at it curriouly.

Brezze walks and see some shards and leaps up to grab the shard and puts them in the jar. She smiles as she puts them in the jar and sees that it almost fills the bottom of the jar.As she sees the jar she sees that it was forming into a small shadowy butterfly.

Kate and Astrid walk closely together and they bolth spot a shadowy figure and then see some of the nightmare shards floating around it. They bolth rush forward and collects the shards in their jars.

[Queen Vivane]

The Hunt is on!
Sleeper had done exactly as promised, protecting Babiri to the best of her ability. Admittedly the shadowy hand had startled the pair of them but since it had shown no hostility the pair had simply returned to camp. Awaiting those had gone on the tour or done the same as them and gone after Beo, probably turned away by the hand as well.

She lay by the fire, Babiri nestled safely between her forelegs. He'd long since stopped trembling but had taken a shine to the larger Lambie so both Lambies that made "The Corrupt Celestial Sleeper" had agreed that it was rather nice to have someone to watch over again. They had been quite pleased that he was happy enough to stick with them despite them being two lambicorns pretty much blended together to make one big lambicorn.

6 eyes stared at the jar in a mixture of curiosity and horror. A panicking nightmare of fragments, it was both unnerving and sparked wonderings in Sleeper. Beo's confirmation that there were more splinters still scattered about the forest, firmly set Sleeper on helping with Bairir quick to firmly state that he was coming with her. The pair grabbed as many jars and nets as they could carry with Babiri calmly draping a few strands of fairy lights across himself, much to Sleeper's amusement. Setting out into the forest was less of a rush this time, easily able to meander through and search for more angry-looking worms.

[lilpupin]

The Hunt is on!

That little nightmare splinter may have expected being caught by a hoof or paw, but this is definitely not what it saw coming.
Oobicorn ran off again into the forest, and although he came back with a splinter in a jar he got quite the scolding from mustach-oobicorn. I don't think he'll be doing that again. The gang found two nightmare splinters and have brought them back to Beo and Sybil. Although the group may create nightmares from time to time, they know where they belong, and this world is certainly not it.

[Rylf]

The Hunt is on!
Aronia set out towards the forest with a small frown, unsure about this creepy expedition. “Idk if this is really safe..” she murmured to a Lambicorn that happened to be close by, but she trudged on anyways. With multiple glass bottles Stuck precariously into her goo, she explored the forest, capturing any “angry worms” she happened upon. Each and every time, she internally freaked out about it touching or hurting her. But she still managed to catch 5 of them, sticking them onto her tail so they were as far away from her as possible.

[bakuraas.]

The Hunt is on!
special featuring Orin, Quijano, and Iso

Morgrim had gone out, following a group of others while not staying too close. The rest of his team was doing other stuff, so he was on his own mostly in this regard. He didn't have too much fear about what he could find, especially since everyone was around somewhere in the woods looking for the same thing. It was very silent, some of the other lambies in the group ahead complaining that they couldn't find anything. Morgrim couldn't help but doubt that, surely that creature didn't get itself together already. Just as he was gong to turn back to look for another group to follow, his eyes noticed a small bit of glow deeper into the forest. Curious, he followed the light, pushing past trees and going towards where he saw the light. As he got closer, he head small twinkling sounds, and head soft speaking.

He peeked his head out of the trees, seeing a group of three lambies surrounding a small closed jar. An adult lambie, an older teen, and a lambabie to be specific. All of them had strange wings, with feathers that seemed to glisten in the night. Morgrim knew immediately what they were- Fae Lambies. He had seen many before, but he had never truly met one- especially not one of the modern age. He stayed quiet, listening to them speak. "See, Quijano? All creatures will be nice if given kindness." One said, their pink hair flowing in the small gusts of wind that blew through the trees. The small lambaby held a glowing, brightly colored worm-creature, giggling softly as it moved to nuzzle the hair of the small one. The blue-accented lambie beside them both sighed, picking up the worm and pulling out a second jar to put it in. This is when Morgrim noticed the difference. The singular bright worm was smiling and seemed content, but those other worms- they surely were nightmare fragments. "Well, that's one of them at least. As long as it's kept away from the nightmare fragments, it should be alright." The teen said, sten and quiet. The pink-haired lambie laughed in return. "Iso, you're far too worried. I've heard that some campers were sent out to find these guys too, surely it can't be-" He was interrupted by the other. "No, they're dangerous, Orin. I only allowed Quijano to hold one because I knew that it would be a good lesson for him."

The blue and gray lambie then turned, now directly looking to Morgrim. The male back away slightly, but before he could try to disappear quietly, the lambie spoke. "Speaking of, you must be here because of Sybil and Beo, aren't you?" Morgrim paused, before deciding to simply be honest. "Y-Yeah..how could you tell?" Morgrim watched the male exhale deeply, letting rainbow smoke and brown smoke leave his mouth, disappearing into the air before he spoke again. "Call it a hunch. Either way, get in here before something tries to attack you." Morgrim moved to do as he was asked, sitting down next to the group. The small lambaby smiled and waved at him, and Morgrim happily waved back with a smile. However, that didn't last long, looking back over to the other lambies as the pink-haired lambie began to speak.

"Uh, big apologies for my friend. He hasn't been too smiley ever since summer. We should probably introduce ourselves. I'm Orin, that little bundle of joy is my son Quijano, and Mr.Grumpy Jacket over here is my friend Iso" Iso sighed, moving to grab one of the nightmare fragment worms, passing them over to Morgrim. "Enough pleasantries. Take this one and leave." He growled, only for Orin to softly put the worm in the other's paw and smile. "Don't listen to him, You can take two of them with you, we have enough jars for that. Or, well, let me show you something that might be helpful later. First, put your paw over your other paw, like you're gently holding the fragment. If it bites you, don't worry, they don't have any teeth so it doesn't hurt too much." Morgrim followed the instruction, clasping his paws together lightly as to not crush the little thing. In response, the worm seemed to wiggle into the small cave made out of his paws.

"Yes perfect, just like that. Now, try humming a little tune- anything works really." Morgrim began to hum, looking to see Orin smiling and Iso seemingly become more adjusted to the other's presence, at least not fully frowning at him. As he hummed, he felt movement in his paws until eventually the movement stopped, and he felt a small bit of fluid on his pawpads. Upon closer inspection, he saw that there was black sludge dripping out of his clasped paws. Morgrim was slightly concerned, but Orin was quick to speak after that. "Perfect, now open your paws." As Morgrim opened his paws, he saw that the small worm had seemingly become pure, their angry expression turned to a peaceful one, and the darkness that used to shown onto it's flesh had not dripped away, quite literally, into a puddle that fell out of his hand.

Morgrim looked up to Orin, as if looking for an answer, but he simply smirked and handed the other an empty jar with air holes in it. Morgrim put the small worm into the jar, watching it curl up in sleep at the bottom of it. "Can't tell you too much about what happened, but I hope this helps in the future. Also uh..." Orin handed the other another bottle, this one already filled with an angry nightmare fragment that seemed to shake with every movement. "Take that one too, I'm sure the elders aren't looking for the other one." Morgrim smiled towards the group, almost speechless. "Uh,Thank you!" He said happily, watching as Iso nodded and spoke. "Don't mention it. Literally don't or else we might get kicked out. Either way, we'll be around I'm sure. Enjoy your festival."

When he returned, Morgrim put both the jars in front of Sybil and Beo, though not really speaking much about anything that happened. In Fact, he straight up lied. "I uh, found this other one and put it in a jar too, I don't know what it is but it was actually really nice! I don't know if either of you know anything about this but if you do I'd like to know about it!"

[rem sleep]

The Hunt is on!
Rome enthusiastically took the supplies offered, unable to communicate his enthusiasm about this quest he merely settled for an avid nod and some rumbling chirping sounds that he produced from behind his avian mask. He had an idea brewing already-- actually no, several ideas! So many ideas that it would be hard to just settle on one, but surely he couldn't do all of them. He quickly ran through all his prototype plans as he wandered off with the other lambicorns from camp and pondered on which plan would be best. Since he didn't have anyone helping him-- just his solo self-- he figured he'd play it safe.

He set up a light as well as some potential bait-- he wasn't sure what nightmare splinters would like? but he thought maybe candycorn and some other fun trinkets he had in his robe pockets would do the trick to catch their eyes! wait, did splinters have eyes?-- and set up a snare trap to go off when the area was stepped on-- like a net, but he didn't need to get close to anything. In the meantime he'd wait in the brush, not too far off from where he heard the other lambicorns hunting with his net handy-- in case anything snuck up on him!

His trap was, perhaps, a little naive and impromptu, but he was rather proud of his ingenious thought, and so he huddled up in the bushes and listened to the distant clamor as-- against all odds-- nightmare splinters actually did take an interest in this little trap of his, and Rome gathered through re-setting the trap a couple times a couple good nets of splinters to bring back! Ah yes, ingenuity at its finest.

He returned home with the other lambicorns with an extra spring in his step, apparently very proud of himself. Rome was glowing with energy like the sun itself right about now-- it was a lot easier not to be scared of the ghosts when he had them caught in his net! Served them right for scaring him out of his wits the other night!

[WitchHazel]

The Hunt is on!
Beatrix shoved a multitude of jars into her satchel and fluttered off into the woods. She flew higher, up into the branches of a tree and seated herself amongst the branches. Taking a breath, Beatrix cast a circle, then focused her energy on finding the nightmare splinters. Something like that should have an exceptionally dark energy, so I should be able to pick up on it if I look for something dark. She could sense the energies of other lambies in the woods around her, as well as a decent amount of fae energy... Being descended from the fae - unseelie, to be precise - she could sense their energy more readily than any others. Shaking her head, she concentrated on finding the darkness. She could feel a mass of negative energy pulling her off to the right, so she opened her eyes and followed the feeling of fear and malintent.
When she arrived at the source of the energy, Beatrix swooped down to the ground. She could see a multitude of nightmare splinters starting to coalesce into a dark, shadowy form. With a grunt of exasperation, she pulled a shiny, metallic substance from her satchel and threw it at the splinters. It hit the mark, and was quickly absorbed by them. Now comes the fun part. Beatrix took a vial of water from within the folds of her robes. She lobbed it at the shadowy creatures, and swiftly dove behind a rock, covering her ears.
The resulting explosion rang out across the woods, blasting the nightmare splinters apart. Thankfully, it was contained enough that it didn't damage the forest around it. The splinters emitted an unearthly screech as they separated. When the startling event was over, Beatrix uncapped a jar, collecting as many of the little creatures as she could find.

[Dr. Paine]

The Hunt is on!

"Nope. No-freakin'-way are you getting me out there." Tera dug his claws into the ground, resolutely avoiding eye contact with Novaria and Fi. "Splintered... chaotic nightmare beast- look, we lived through the Dream and Nightmare stuff, we like kinda helped avert a war between Elders, we're allowed to relax, right?"

"This could be something dangerous," Novaria countered. "And if it's fragmented, it shouldn't be able to do much, right? You heard Sybil, it's safe until it's reformed- Fi, c'mon, help me out here!"

Fi shook her head, tracing in the dirt with the tip of her hoof. "I- I'm not sure. I mean..." she glanced at Tera. "He's got a point, I really don't want to get caught up in something dangerous. But Nova's got a point too..." Fi sighed, stamping her hoof. "No, you're right, we need to take care of this before it gets worse." She stood up, her expression resolute- but softening, when she looked at Tera again. "If you don't want to go, we won't make you, okay?"

Novaria nodded. "Fi and I can pair up for this, so we won't be going alone." They smiled, giving Tera a reassuring nudge. "We'll be back before you know it, 'kay?"

"Don't come crying to me when a nightmare thing eats your brains," Tera mumbled, but he managed a small smile as the other two left. They'd be fine, surely... he was just being paranoid, but still, it was kind of good to be able to stay back... right?
--


Nocturne closed her eyes, sighing lightly as she settled herself into a corner of the camp. She wanted to assist, truly- something to leave such fragments was certainly more a danger than she'd thought there'd be at an event like this, and she felt like there was something she ought to do about it! But the fact was, as much as her heart was willing, her body was... very much not. Even if her activities had been fairly minimal, it was still apparently more than she could handle, and Nocturne could already feel the exhaustion setting in, making it her limbs feel like they were full of lead and her thoughts all tangled up and prone to just dropping off. Her projections would do no good- sure, she could look and try to find something, but they were entirely incorporeal, there was no way she could actually catch...

A thought floated through Nocturne's mind, as she drifted between wakefulness and sleep. Those three who found her earlier... what were they up to?

---

So.
An hour wasn't all that long a time, nope. Perfectly reasonable.

Perfectly anxiety inducing where in the world were they?!

Tera paced around the fire, trying to keep his nerves under control. There hadn't been any sort of like... screaming or panicking from the woods yet, from anyone, so that was a good sign, right? No nightmare splinter beasts... unless it like, ate your brains and made it where you couldn't scream, which was entirely possible?

"They're alright," he said quietly to himself. "They're alright, they're okay, they're having a great time and probably laughing at me for being so chicken, they might be getting attacked by a flood of evil nightmare worms oh g-"

"I think we'd know if something were that wrong."

There was no delicate way to put it- Tera jumped nearly a foot in the air, his voice going nearly as high as well, and it took nearly a full minute before he'd recovered enough to process that it was a familiar voice at his ear, coming from a familiar- though now far more intangible- shape by his side. "The heck was that for?! And who said you could eavesdrop?!" he snapped, the fur on his neck bristling.

Nocturne smiled slightly, her form shimmering and flickering in the firelight. "No one, of course... and I was simply trying to reassure you," the Elder said. "I had hoped to find all three of you, but... well, I think we might be able to help each other." She nodded towards the rear of the camp, where her body rested, sound asleep. "I want to assist my sister-"

"What."

Nocturne waved a paw. "Not important. I want to help gather the nightmare splinters, but... well, I'm afraid I've overdone it and need some rest, and I can't interact with things physically when I'm like this. You... I'm guessing you want to go look for your friends?"

Tera mumbled a response, managing a small nod.

"And you will need someone to accompany you."

Another nod.

"Splendid!" Nocturne grinned, seeming to shimmer just a touch brighter. "Then grab a jar and we'll be along!"

---

Now, Tera was convinced this would be an endeavor ending in some degree of death and or consumed brains, but... really? It took about ten minutes to find Fi and Novaria, who had apparently gotten distracted following a trail of glowing fungi, after capturing one splinter. The quartet stayed out a little while longer, eventually returning to the camp with several shards... and some of the glowing mushrooms, because hey! Who can resist wanting to show off a neat glowing fungus?

[craig?]

The Hunt is on!
Tapioca jumped as the net and jars were shoved into his paws. "M-me?! B-" And with that, he was sent off to catch the splinters.