Veronique

Snuggle! The colors and the flowers make her feel inviting <3

SDs are my weak spot!

Veronique is just so soothing to look at. Her colors are classic and windy.
I love what you have done with your lair with lore and the letters from hatchlings dispersed throughout. It's an inspiration for me to one day get my stuff together and do the same! I like how the map kit apparel ties her look together with the oranges and the greens, a real rustic and yet sophisticated!

Oh wow, she's so lovely!!! I especially like how that accent works with everything.

Veronique lighted down on the platform, claws clicking against the stone. Her Myosotis Fox jumps off of her back with a yip and tries to wander off, promptly stopped in its tracks by a claw. Veronique clicked softly. "Don't wander now. This is no playground."

She looks about, raising an eyebrow at the streams of mysterious green liquid, and spots a familiar form up ahead. She approaches the figure, her fox trotting at her side.

"Fountain," she greets. "It's been a while. I didn't expect to see you here." As she spoke, she peered around her, keeping a watchful eye on her small companion. "Shall we proceed? After all, we are here to explore." She nodded into the fog that hid the stretching platform.

"Hey Veronique its great to see you again." Fountain excitedly replies. "I decided to come to see more of the area, it's nice in the Shifting Expanse but it got dull. So why are you here?" He questions before walking towards the mist. But first he decides to check out the grooves.

Keeping her eyes forward, Veronique chuckles softly. "Sightseeing, in the Bonewood Spire? Surely there are less deadly sights in Sornieth worth seeing...?" She trails off and tilts her head to glance at the Bogsneak. "Why am I here, though? For the same reason, to be honest. I feel like I have seen it all by now. When I heard about this, I couldn't resist." Veronique glanced at her fox. "Neither could Zara-- Zara?"

The fox was staring suspiciously past Veronique. She followed its gaze, and stopped short when she noticed the strange talon-shaped figures forming in the smoke. "Well, that's... interesting." She observed them for a moment. "What do you make of that, Fountain?"

Fountain slowly reaches towards the groove but stops when Veronique says she is there for the same reason he is. "So you question me about it but you're here for the same reason." He exclaims. He then diverts his glance towards the fog. "What do you mean?" He asks as the talons begin to form. "Oh that, its probably some type of illusion or magic but either way I don't like it one bit." He responds in a slightly concerned tone as he begins to move more towards Veronique, picking up her familiar on the way. "You should probably keep them with you until we get through this fog so we don't lose them." He says.

Choosing to ignore Fountain's comment about her own supposed hypocrisy, Veronique watches Zara scamper up Fountain's back and settle between his shoulders, familiar with this riding position. "Yes, that is probably best. Thank you," she murmurs and squints at the odd formations. Raising her voice a bit, she addresses the group without looking away. "Would any of you happen to have an item you wouldn't mind parting with?"

Fountain just looks at her like you're seriously not gonna acknowledge that. "You're welcome its just safer with us." He replied. "What kind of item do you need or want?" He questions while moving up through the group a little to get closer to the formations to see what they are caused by.

Veronique looks back at Fountain steadily. "Something that can be thrown into that. Do you have something?" She looks doubtfully at his clothing, most of which seems to be made up of large pieces.

He watches the dragons examining the pool for a moment, and then decides it's not worth his time. He treads over to the largest group of dragons just in time to see the strange claws in the smoke. He watches it dissipate, but still covers his mouth and nose with his scarf, careful not to inhale anything. He pushes dragons aside to make his way to the front of the group, and waits for someone to make the first move. He hears a dragon asking for an item to throw and check if the way is clear, so he takes a small throwing knife out of his bag and tosses it through where the wall of smoke once was

Fountain pulls off his goggles and splits them in half giving Veronique one of the eye covers. "Could this work?" He questions. "If not we can use the elastic band as a slingshot if we need to."

Veronique shushes Fountain and intently watches the knife sail through the fog, with a side note of "Well, that was a waste of a good pair of goggles..."

Fountain begins to tie the strap of the goggles back onto the eye covers and pulls a small thin metal bar out of his gloves from his small stash of spare parts to recreate the goggle bridge and puts them back on. "Its never a waste if you are an engineers apprentice." He replies looking at the cloud.

"Interesting.." Vayle says, watching the claws dissipate into nothing. As far as she knew, she'd never seen smoke that acted like this. Vayle, curious to a fault, tries to inhale some of the smoke to see what it does.

Veronique sighs as the knife sails through the fog, unaffected by its odd formations. Dismissing the visions, Veronique questions Vayle. "What does it smell like?" She steps forward and glances curiously into the pool of liquid, before unfastening her teardrop belt and lowering it carefully into the pool, avoiding contact with the liquid. She feels around for anything floating within, or for a bottom to the pool.

Fountain begins to investigate the pool the best way he knows how and begins to reach his hand towards the green liquid. While doing so he looks over towards Veronique and asks "Did you feel anything down there at all?"

"Are you hoping to catch a deadly disease? Would that alleviate your boredom?" Veronique questioned Fountain in a mild tone. "So far, I don't feel anything, but hold on..."

Beck on the lower level, Veronique doesn't feel anything in the water. It seems the pool rune much deeper than it seems. As the belt is pulled from the water, a strange sizzling is heard. The gems hung from the belt are untouched, as polished and sparkling as ever. But... the leather on which the gems are strung (BIODEGRADABLE MATERIAL) seems to rot away, the green water eating at the material.

Fountain quickly pulls his hand back away from the water just before he touches it after seeing what happens to the belt. "Well touching it is no longer an option or even a thought." He exclaims as he heads towards the left set stairs.

Ketsueki approaches Veronique, who was testing the pool with her belt.
"Acid. Don't touch it" he says and then starts climbing the stairs without waiting for a response.

Veronique lets the gems fall back into the pool, deciding that collecting them wasn't worth the risk of disease. Her eyes follow the path of the acidic cascade upwards, to the balcony. Curious, she follows Fountain up the left set of stairs.

As they climb, Zara stirs on Fountain's back. She wriggles off of him and hops down to the stone, biting down on one of the dusty drapes and yanking. Veronique starts and reaches to pull her away. "Zara!!"

The drapes fall to the floor in a heap, without any fuss. They send up a puff of dust as they land, it seems they were falling apart long before the dragons entered the palace. On one side of the drapes, there are faint markings. They look like runic script, written in black ink.

The little fox sneezes and releases the dusty drapes. Veronique reaches down and picks up the fabric, spreading it out to inspect it. "Well, well, Zara. It looks like you found something..." She trails off as she hears the chanting of another Skydancer. After he falls silent, she remarks, "Well, that sounded interesting. Any idea what it means?"

Upon listening to the chanting, Revio returned a few steps back to see who it came from. "What was that?" he asked, without actually awaiting for a response. Curious, he walks around and reaches for one of the drapes scattered around, soon enough discovering the runes written on it. "Oh, I know this script." He mutters, before reading it silently.

Having finally caught up to the rest of the group, Chaos interest is drawn by a small commotion on the marble stairs. He walks up to the Skydancer (@KairinRose) and peers over a her shoulder at the cloth. "What do you have there?"

Veronique held the drapes still so that the two dragons (@Watercolour @felistopaz) could see. "Can either of you read this? If not, I think I'll hang onto this, if you don't mind."

Fountain continues up the stairs ignoring the commotion and peers into the ballroom with and notices the glass scattered across the floor. He then begins to look around at the pillars which seem to be in pristine condition. "I wonder if there is anything going on with these pillars." He thinks to himself as he goes towards the pillars inspecting them one by one.

"Oh yes, feel free to keep it." Revio nodded as he gently let go of the drape, and took a step back. "There's a wee bit of the history of this place written on it." He threw the shard of glass he got before down on the pool below the balcony, without thinking too much about it. And started to head back to the ballroom, again with slow steps.

"Nope, just gibberish to me." Chaos shrugged. "Looks pretty though!" He stepped back to let her put it away, eyeing the chanting dragon curiously.

"A bit of history, and a bit of prophesy." Cobra's voice drifted from behind Revio. She had yet to speak, opting to simply follow behind the group and watch their moves, but felt this was important enough to mention., She too could read the runes, written in a language known only to native dragons of this area.

Doubtful that the dragon who had spoken actually knew what the words said, and making sure everyone had seen the print, Veronique folds up the drape and hands it to Zara, who climbs back onto her back. Veronique proceeds up the stairs, looking around for anything interesting.

Aqua sees some things that appears to be- gems? He decided it might be something valuable to get out of here, so he asked (@Kialla dragon) if he could borrow the remains of the broken goggles. He got a nice little plan, he he.

Veronique's voice intercepted Aqua's request. "Those decorative stones don't have much value, I can assure you." She continued up to the balcony. Curiously she looked down over the pool for a moment, before entering the large room. She stooped down and picked up a few shards of glass, ones without any blood on them. These could be useful elsewhere."

Aqua said to Veronique " I will be using that as a rope so that my familiar (a sweet puff) holds on to it, and brings me back that object. Its a genius plan.

"If you are so eager to retrieve my acid-eaten belt for a few shimmery stones, knock yourself out." Veronique spoke in an even tone as she stepped further into the large room. She walked around the pool and began to investigate the far side of the room.

Veronique inspects the east doorway, peering through the stylized bars. She pushes it open and calls softly, "Fountain, would you follow behind me through here?"

Fountain diverts his attention from the pillars and makes his way to Veronique. "Yeah east sounds good." He replies while admiring the architecture of the doors. "Maybe I should take a few shards of this glass in case we need it for something." He thinks to himself while picking up a decent size shard of glass.

Veronique nods decisively and steps carefully into the hallway, keeping to the far side to avoid the acid. She trails a claw along the wall, feeling for anything odd.

Fountain trails closely behind Veronique while looking at the ground to make sure not to hit any traps on the way there.

Zara is the first one out of the hallway. She bounds into the room as they come to the end of the passageway. A sharp click from Veronique has the hyperactive fox returning to her heel. Veronique looks around with interest, stepping out of the way to let Fountain through.

"The decor is wonderful," Veronique murmurs. She peers into one of the mirrors and then heads towards the center of the room. Holding Zara back from the pool of acid, she examines the intricate carvings with interest. The shine of the red stones catches her eye.

Yiki examines the incense burner, taking in his claws. He turns it over, feeling the ridges patterns. As he inspects, his brambles surge and grasp onto it as well.

Fountain begins entering the room just as the flash goes off nearly blinding him if it were not for his goggles. "What was that an explosion or something." He yells just as the room becomes in focus once again. He immediately rushes over to Yiki to see if they are ok but makes sure not to get to close. As he is standing there he notices Veronique admiring the room and decides to fly up towards the dragons around the pedestal but stays far enough away to make sure he can get out before anything to dangerous may happen.

Veronique stares worriedly at Yiki. "What happened? Are you okay?"

Meanwhile, her Myosotis Fox hides behind Veronique, startled by the flash of light.

Yiki does nothing as of right now. He doesn't visibly seem to be possessed, nor does he exhibit any hostile behavior.

Casting a last worried glance at Yiki, who hadn't reacted to her question at all, Veronique looks back at the carvings. The stones that had caught her attention are now a dull red. Veronique takes one of her glass shards and uses it to pry up a few stones, holding onto them.[/u[

"Guys! Look at this!" Cobra called out to the rest of the room, as she reached her entire hand through the black surface. "I think it's an exit." and with that she pushed the rest of herself through the exit, choosing to leave the Spire.

Fountain notices that Cobra managed to leave but decides to stay and keep an eye on Yiki and starts running a claw down one of the dragon statues and and goes over to Veronique. "Any idea what that flash of light was all about?" He questions and helps pry up some of the stones holding on to one.

Veronique worriedly glances back at Yiki. "I don't know. Something happened to them. They haven't said anything for a while now." She steps away from the pedestal and comes up in front of Yiki, looking into his eyes. "Can you hear me, Yiki?"

Fountain goes over to the mirrors and starts looking into each of them. "Does anyone know anything else important about this room other than that incense in the door?" He asks to anyone listening while going to grab a few of the bones the incense was sitting on.

Fountain begins to think to himself. "I wonder if there is anything behind these mirrors." He calls over to Veronique. "Hey can you help me with something I have an idea."

Veronique is distracted from trying to get a reaction from Yiki by Fountain's call. "Hmm? What is this idea?" She hesitates to move away from Yiki.

Fountain walks over to Veronique and Yiki. "I wanna break all these mirrors and see what happens or if something is behind them." He replies. "Maybe it might have something to help Yiki."

Veronique looks skeptical. "I don't see how anything could be behind the mirrors, let alone something that would help Yiki, but if you feel that smashing glass would be beneficial to this venture, by all means. How can I help?"

Fountain hands Veronique a bone to hit the mirrors with. "Take this and break the mirrors on the left and I will get the ones on the right. Also for how it could be beneficial is there may be a secret compartment behind one of these with something we could use."

(Just butting in to say y'all are breaking mirrors? The most unlucky thing to do? In a giant death-trap? Good luck xD)

Not seeing any reason not to at least try, Veronique takes the offered bone and jabs it through the glass of the mirrors, starting to the left of the discovered doorway.

@AwkwardTrashCant
YEAH @KIALLA GOD youre gonna get us all KILLED
it wasnt my idea or anything

@KairinRose Don't pin this on me

Fountain takes a bone and slams it into the mirror as hard as he can watching the pieces clatter to the floor starting from the right of the discovered doorway.

The mirrors go shattering everywhere, the shards raining down on the tiled floor almost musically. Behind the mirrors are stone walls with arched glass (still more glass, the builders of the Spires weren't that creative) windows. It seems this place used to be a ballroom like the other room, before mirrors covered the windows.
The glass is fortified by some ancient wards and barriers placed some centuries ago, so escape is not possible by breaking the windows.
However, as the mirrors shatter, Yiki whips around and launches himself at the nearest dragon, which happens to be Veronique. Yiki's claws are outstretched, his eyes take on a pupil-less white stare. He makes no sound, and reminds in eerie silence as his body surges forward.
Veronique is under attack by Yiki (possessed).

Fountain looks over at Veronique as Yiki lunges at her."Veronique look out." He screams as loud as he can so she hears it. All while doing his best to try and get her out of the way so he can take the impact to his mostly metal steampunk apparel.

Capercaillie stood frozen as Yiki lunged at one of the other dragons, his jaws wide in a silent snarl. Why did I sign up to this!

(I would have written more, but I've missed quite a bit. Could anyone sum up what's happened in the Eastern room?)

@NocturnistheDark everyone came in, yiki picked up the incense burner and got possessed, crane took the incense burner after that and went back to go the other way, other people poked around and then veronique and fountain decided to start breaking mirrors, which caused the possessed yiki to attack veronique

@Kialla np!!! shot

@KairinRose tytytyty

"Veronique, look out!"

Fountain's cry of alarm pierces the air and Veronique whirls about, just in time to see a gleaming blur rushing at her. Acting purely on instinct and a sudden rush of adrenaline, she throws herself to the side, out of Yiki's direct path. Zara scrambles off of her and leaps into the pile of bones, scattering them into the pool of acid and onto the floor around it. Out of the corner of her eye, Veronique notices Fountain heading towards her. She barely has a second to process that thought before she's forced to move, dancing around the pool to put some distance and a solid obstacle between herself and the possessed dragon.

As Veronique moves out of the way Fountain does whatever he can to try and stop himself from colliding into Yiki. In doing that he ends up catching his foot on Yiki's tail causing him to barrel into the wall with a giant crash of dargon and metal.

Seeing Yiki just attack a fellow dragon, Seawind picks up a stone from the ground and hurls it at Yiki's head, hoping that the distraction would divert his attention away from Veronique and Fountain. As the stone soars through the air, Seawind arms herself with the trident strapped on her back, now grasped in her armored claws, expecting an attack from Yiki.

Yiki turns silently, never making a sound despite the expression of blank rage on his face. He leaps over the pool and instead lunges at Seawind, seemingly not caring about the rather sharp spear clutched in Seawind’s talons.

As Yiki pounces at Seawind, she sees Yiki's weakness. Since he is in the air, he is unable to dodge any attacks. Seawind forcefully swings her trident at Yiki's face, hoping that a well placed whack on the head will leave him unconscious.

A few thorny brambles thud to the ground, sliced off of Yiki’s body but not really hurting him. It seems the brambles do not feel pain. Yiki, however, stops his siege for a moment to curiously study the still-writhing thorns.
The thing currently inhabiting Yiki’s body evidently has been improsoned for a long time, having not recognized the plants so characteristic of the Shadowbinder.

Seawind takes another swing at Yiki's head. The possessed dragon has been distracted. It should be an easy hit.

The hit connects solidly, sending a clang echoing through the room, Yiki’s head fears and his pupil less eyes focus again on the challenger. His tail suddenly lashes out, sharp thorns whipping towards Seawind’s face.
(Those of you in the same room, feel free to join combat a little!)

Seawind sticks out her trident in the path of Yiki's tail, edges pointing forward. She is trying to injure Yiki's tail so he won't be able to use it in battle.
"Anybody willing to help?"

After the crash Fountain tries to clear his head in order to help Seawind fight Yiki. He pulls a long piece of wrapped up wire out of his spare parts stash and a bone and a shard of glass in order to make some type of weapon. He does this by wrapping the wire around the bone and glass to hold it together. "Hold him for a second while I finish this quick." He yells over to Seawind. Once he finishes his makeshift weapon he charges at Yiki with his newly crafted dagger aiming for a soft spot on Yiki's body.

Veronique watches the scene unfold, heart thundering in her chest. Combat is not something she is accustomed to, and she has no weapon on her-- but she can't just stand by and let the possessed nightmare tear apart her friend and this dragon that had come to her rescue. At a complete loss, Veronique impulsively rips off her right wing drape, surprisingly heavy despite being a decorative piece, and charges the horror with a wild roar, slamming it into his face.

Seawind, seeing the other dragons join in the fight, has just thought of something.
"Veronique, Fountain, we need a plan! We cannot be successful if we all do our own thing. I suggest we bind Yiki's claws together and tie something around his mouth so he cannot bite through the bindings."
Seawind now addresses all the dragons in the room.
"Anyone here have any rope, cloth, or rags we can use to tie up this dragon?"

Aqua was sitting confused in a corner of the room.
Aqua: "Ehhh??"

Fountain lands his dagger in a soft spot just behind Yiki's left front leg. "I have some wire we could tie his mouth shut with but I'm not gonna be able to do it without someone holding him." He says while holding the dagger in Yiki and pulling out a long bundled bunch of wire.

Back in the other room, Yiki has been stabbed in the armpit (ouch) by Kialla's Fountain. He whips around and snarls soundlessly at the blow,
Just in time to slam his head against the shaft of Seawind's spear. He crumples to the ground. Though his body is limp and beaten, his eyes remain open and alert, their bloodred gaze rolling wildly about the room.

Deimos jumps back just in time to escape the melee that ensued between possessed Yiki and others. "Should we restrain him before he can hurt himself or anyone else?" He asked while looking for some rope.

Breathing heavily, Veronique stares for a moment at the fallen dragon, then calmly fastens her wing drape back to her right wing and takes the tangled bundle of wire Fountain had. "Yes, that would be best, I think." She gets to work untangling the wire with nimble claws. "Does anyone here have any medical training? After he's bound, we should make sure he's alright and see if we can get him back to normal."

Fountain sits there trying to hold Yiki so Veronique can bind him. "We shouldn't pull out this dagger until someone is here to try and help so he doesn't start bleeding like crazy." He sits there watching Veronique do what she needs to and he looks back at Seawind to make sure they are ok.

Seawind takes a quick glance at the now tied up dragon.
"I know it sounds cruel, but we should not tend to all of Yiki's injuries. We don't know how strong that spirit inside of him is, or how strong our bindings are. That thing could tear through its bindings and attack one of us at any time. We should instead figure out a way to get that spirit out of him. "
"Who has that incense burner that created the light before Yiki was possessed?"

"I'm not gonna sit here and leave him injured and have it infected or have him bleed out and watch him die because of it." Fountain snaps back at Seawind. "If you want the incense burner its in the west room go get it but i am not gonna promise Yiki won't be tended to while you're gone." Fountain looks down at Yiki. "If anything happens to any of us I'll take responsibility for it." He says looking at the wound he caused.

"That, right now, is not Yiki!" Seawind snaps back. "We should heal the worse wounds, but leave the others unattended. Would you willingly heal your enemy if you knew there was a good chance that he would strike back at you?"

"I know Yiki's in there and if they were my ally I would this wire is more than strong enough enough to hold him and if it makes you feel better I won't let him out of my sight fair but every wound except the armpit one I am finding someone to tend to." Fountain hesitantly replies.

"I am comfortable with that. But I think a few more dragons should keep watch. Now do you know which dragon in particular took the burner? I'll head over to the west room to search."

Having been silent throughout Fountain and Seawind's argument, Veronique speaks up. "The Coatl has the incense burner. The one who wears a cloak." Hesitantly, she crouches beside Yiki. "I side with Fountain on this matter, by the way."

"I'm pretty sure their name was Crane if i remember correctly." Fountain replies sitting by Yiki.

"I agree with most of the things you say, Fountain. I never wanted to pick a fight. But one should always consider the worst so they can work to prevent it. I wish you luck in tending to Yiki. I'll see if I can find Crane."
Seawind ceases talking as she begins walking toward the door.
She enters into the west room and spots the fresh debris. Knowing that the dragons in the room were smart enough to escape the falling stone or were willing to help those unable to escape in time, she ignores the stone and calls out.
"Who here is the dragon that took the incense burner from the east room? I believe the name was Crane."

With no luck in finding the burner, Seawind returns to the previous room where Yiki stil was unconcious. She walked over to the other dragons and asked, "Did you guys have any luck in healing Yiki?"

Since Veronique and Fountain were the other dragons that had to deal with Yiki, Seawind thought that they could help her find a way to rid the spirit from Yiki. She asked them, " What do you two suppose we should do with Yiki? We must find a way to get that spirit out of him. But all we have with us are other dragons, the items they have with them, the mirrors and, the green water. Releasing the spirit should have something to do with the things found in the spires, and the water has proved itself to have terrible consequences when touched. Do you think we could use the mirrors?"

Veronique was so focused on fixing Yiki up that it took Seawind multiple tries to get her attention. Startled, Veronique finally looked up. "Oh. I apologize. I suppose we can try the mirrors, but did you not find the Coatl with the incense burner?"

got my shiny star //dabs

Fountain looks over at Seawind. "Its a good bet, what do you say we check some of the big pieces for anything interesting on the back mainly from the left side cuz he reacted when Veronique smashed the mirrors on the left."

"I don't think it has anything to do with any specific mirror," Veronique interjects. "Most likely, I was simply the closest target."

Seawind replied
"Sadly, I did not. The dragons that went into the west hall were already beginning to explore new parts of the spire when I got there. I do not know what happened to the Coatl. I wanted to come back and check on Yiki anyway, so I came back."
Seawind takes a glance at the mirrors on the wall.
"What do you suppose we should do?

Fountain gets up and walks over to the mirrors. "I hate to say it but these shards may fit together in some sort of pattern on the back of these mirrors if we can figure out how to fit every piece together again."

Veronique stares doubtfully at all the tiny reflective fragments. "Every piece?..." She picks up one of the larger pieces and holds it out in front of Yiki's figure.

"Maybe not every piece but we don't have many other ideas now do we." Fountain responds with a snap. "Sorry I just hate the position we are in right now."

"Collecting and arranging most of the shards would be too time consuming. We should begin with something simple." Seawind replied to Fountain. "What if we just made Yiki look into a mirror? I know it sounds hopeless, but there's only one way to find out if it works. If it does, problem solved. If it doesn't, no problem cuz we didn't spend a lot of time on it and we can easily move on to the next idea."

"Ok we can do that but where are we gonna find a mirror cuz I don't think one of these shards is gonna do it." Fountain replies.

"It might. But if it doesn't work I could go to the west room. There was another passage there. Hopefully I could find a mirror there while you guys tried something else."
Seawind wanted to try her idea and picked up a large share of glass from the ground. She cautiously brought it over to Yiki and held it over his eye so that Yiki could see his reflection.

Though bound and tied securely, Yiki snarls, finally breaking his silence, and moves his head as far from the shard as he can, straining against the bonds. His tail begins to lash furiously. It seems the secret to expelling the thing has to do with the mirrors that previously paneled this room.
Know anywhere else that fits this description?

"Okay...so the spirit hates the mirror," Seawind states.
Suddenly, an idea sprung up in her mind.
"Stay here guys! I may be wrong, but I think I overheard some dragons in the west room talking about another room filled with mirrors! We can bring Yiki there and see what the mirrors do to the spirit. Just let me go check that it's true.
Seawind sprints toward the door.
"Make sure Yiki doesn't escape!"

The glowy red room turns out to be a dead end, so after the blue imperials antics don't cause anything interesting. Chaos wanders back out. Many of the other dragons seem to head back to the main room, so he follows along, only to find out that a whole set of new towers seems to have mysteriously appeared out of the greenish lake. Curious, he decides to take a look. (Chaos flies over to room 13)

Seawind enters into the room where a few dragons just left. She examines it and sees the walls lined with mirrors.
"Thank goodness!"
She rushes back out and back into the east room.
"Guys, there's another room with a bunch of mirrors. They are still intact, so they might have a much larger effect on the spirit inside of Yiki. The whole room is lined with them. So shall we take Yiki to the mirror room?"

Fountain looks over towards Seawind. "If you think it will help we can but how are we gonna move Yiki."

Room 13 is actually the second floor of room 12, but enough of the floor remains that we'll consider them separate rooms. 13's air is heavy and acidic with smoke. Though the mist you can barely make out the lines of a sigil circle. Instead of the lines being inked on the ground, there are more gouges in the ground, filled with greenish water (does that make sense, I can't figure out how to word it). As you step into the room, you notice a jumbled assortment of gems and jewels hanging from the ceiling, all in shades of red and black. They hang from the ceiling on chains and watch like unblinking eyes, throwing glints of light around the walls. There's so many of them that the ceiling is completely obscured by garnets and onyx. Your lungs begin to burn, obviously you can't stay in here for very long, yet you feel there is something very important in this room, something that is crucial to your escape.

Seawind replies to Fountain.
"We could try to drag him, but that seems kinda cruel. Or we could hold a bunch of mirror shards up to him. Hopefully that would make him move away from us. We could tie his feet together so he can't move too fast, and we can slowly chase him into the room."

Chaos coughs in the mist and hastily covers his snout with a feathery wing. He flaps the other wing in an attempt to clear the air as much as possible. As the mist clears slightly, he tries to make out what the sigils on the floor are, and looks around to see if there is anything else of interest in the room (Room 13).

Chaos recognizes this sigil circle as a teleportation circle. He notices the marks within the circle bear a faint resemblance of the floorplan of the Spires. Right in the center (2 on the map), there is a crudely slashed X, inscribed in tiny letters:
ALTAR
As Chaos' eyes flick over the letters, the circle suddenly flares with light, and activates.
(If Chaos steps through the circle, it will teleport him to a certain destination, not necessarily the altar.)

That was... not the mode of transportation I had imagined this happening in, haha. Let's assume you do that, and Yiki is forced, snarling and furious, into the small mirrored room. As soon as he's fully through the tiny doorway, the mirrors suddenly darken, then lose their reflection entirely, as if they were just panels of stone. You can faintly see something moving behind, or perhaps in, the stone, in the form of bloodred streaks (Can't figure out how to word that, ugh).
Moving Yiki into the mirrored room transferred the thing into the mirrors, freeing Yiki. That's why he reacted aggressively to Veronique smashing the mirrors. You realized that the mirrors in the other room were originally placed as a second line of defense in case the thing escaped the Burner.

Yiki is alive, however the ordeal has left him infected with a disease that will not kill him outright unless certain circumstances are met. @stormdragon21, you now have control over Yiki again. Good luck ;)

((Apparently, Rhagnell and Sanguis have just been rolled over by Yiki, and possibly Seawind, Fountain, and Veronique. In any case, it's just gotten rather crowded in here.))

Rhagnell picks herself up, checks on Sanguis briefly, then turns to complain to the larger dragons who've just forced themselves through, but sees the odd transformation of the mirrors when Yiki is forced into the room. She turns back to Sanguis and says, "The mirrors in the other room no longer reflect anything. The red light has also dimmed...Oo! Something seems to be moving behind, or in, the mirrors! The armored Imperial with brambles is no longer hissing and spitting. We have also been joined by a black/blue/goldish female Imperial, a blue male Bogsneak, and a silver/greenish Skydancer."

(Aaaah, what do - argh, well, no risk no fun I guess, huh?)

In a split-second decision, Chaos throws caution to the wind and jumps through the teleportation circle.

Sanguis spreads her wings and lashes her tail widely, claiming the space around her, as well as expecting another threat to come at her, in which case, she knew she would fall. Her talons, back and neck still ached and her stomach churned, yet she stood tall, albeit weakly.

"So, what now?" she asks in a hiss. Not being able to see what was happening around her was getting a bit frustrating, for once in her life.

ALRIGHT Chaos leaps though the circle, and abruptly finds himself in the main foyer (That’s 2 on the map). Then gravity takes hold, and Chaos plunges into the pool...
Update will arrive in an hour or so, for the sake of suspense.

Quick reminder that Bonewood Spires will end today!

UPDATE:
Chaos sinks slowly through the green water, thinking that surely he is about to die, either of poison or drowning. He can’t tell how deep this pool goes, at this point it’s more like a well than a pool. But the blackness never comes, and then, Chaos is on solid ground again.
He stands in a circular room (Jesus more circular rooms the architect here wasn’t that creative). Its walls and floor are made of polished stone, inlaid with ruby and obsidian gems. The ceiling looks like the surface of a pond, rippling and greenish, almost like gravity had been reversed. The only light comes from the water, an eerie glow similar to the kind you’d expect from a ghost.
IN the center of the room is an Altar. A simple, unadorned slab of stone that, despite its outwards appearance, resonates with unspoken power.
It is your one chance at freedom.

Normally, only Chaos would know about the Altar. Under these circumstances, all dragons in the Spires get a mental twinge, alerting them to this new discovery.

@CelestialPrime unfortunately me and @KairinRose are gonna have to drop out we habe to much going on to keep up. It was really fun thank you so much for the opportunity

((I've mentioned this before, but where am I and what is going on where I am?))

"Okay, so Yiki is saved. What now."
Seawnd begins talking to herself.
"I guess I could start looking for other exits."
Seawind begins examining the walls, floor, and ceiling for anything that might hint an exit.

@stormdragon21 you’re currently with Seawind in the small mirrored room (room 10). You have control of Yiki again, but have contracted a disease with an unknown effect.
As you make your way out of the room, the trapped spirit hissing and clawing uselessly at you in the walls, you see the shattered dome has a new hole in it, as if something has escaped through the dome. It could have been another dragon, or something more sinister.
The hole is large enough for a dragon to fly though... *0*

Seawind notices Yiki looking at something in the ceiling. She looks up and spots the hole in the dome. She then looks at Yiki and says
"Do you think it's an exit?"

Yiki looks up at the hole, still shaken by the possession. "...yes." he says. "I will go. Are you coming?" He spreads his wings and flies through the gap in the ceiling.

Seawind responds.
"There may not be another chance for me to escape, so yes, I will come."
Seawind launches into the air and flies through the hole, following Yiki.

Yiki is quite correct, that is an exit. Seawind soars out of it easily, freeing herself of the Spires. Unfortunately, Yiki does not make it out. The disease he contracted from his possession means that he can't exit the Spires by any means other than the altar. All other attempts kill him.
Yiki has been eliminated by disease. Thanks for playing, StormDragon21! I hope you had fun ^0^

Gasping and flailing, Chaos scrambles back to his feet. He needs a moment before the realization sets in that he is a) not dead and b) not dying either. Blinking sheepishly, he looks around the room. The slab of stone in the middle of it catches his eyes immediately; as unassuming as it looks, he can feel the power thrumming through it. This must be the altar they were told about - a chance of freedom for all of them! Excitedly, he bounds over to it, only to stop short - there was something about artifacts needing to be placed on it, wasn't there? The only thing he has is the Crystal feather from the chandelier... without much hope, he carefully places it on the altar.

The altar before Chaos rumbles as he sets the feather on its surface. Then, cracks begin to spiderweb across the polished stone. Chaos feels drops of water land on his head, as he looks up, he sees the water that makes up the ceiling begin to roil. He realizes the ground is falling apart beneath his talons.
The Spires are crumbling.
Those in the towers experience a similar scene: The water in the pools are spilling out of their basins, no longer confined to their grooves and wells. Books fall off their shelves and jars shatter upon impact. The dome is the first to break.
Shards glass rain down on the marble floor, killing any dragons still in that area. I don’t think anyone’s in there at the moment. The spirit confined within the mirrors shrieks in protest as its prison walls rattle.
Morgan, in the other room, hurriedly begins to search through the drapes. Under all the tattered, musty fabric, she finds a large, heavy tome, bound in leather and studded in citrine jewels. It seems important. Then a large chunk of wall falls away, revealing the darkening sky of the Plaguebringer’s domain. Without hesitation, she leaps through the hole, winging off towards freedom.
Voodoo, several rooms away, feels the tremors beneath his feet. The Bird shuffles nervously on his shoulder. It seems to be crumbling alongside the tower. As you watch, its wings fall away, then its ribs, and then it simply disintegrates into dust. This bird has been kept from peaceful death for many eons, at last it has found its rest.
Voodoo blinks. He’s not in the Spires anymore. He’s outside, next to another Skydancer, who’s sitting in a lawn chair, with an ice cream float in hand (in talon? Hhngg writing dragons is difficult). Remember him?
Rhagnell and Sanguis are in the main room with the massive shattering dome? I’m not really sure so we’re going to assume they are.
Sanguis’ sensitive ears pick up on the fracturing glass dome before Rhagnell’s eyes can see it. Then, it all comes crashing down. Melodic, tinkling rainfall of sharp-edged glass. That’s all there is. Sanguis and Rhagnell shelter themselves with their wings, expecting death to be upon them. It never arrives.
Daughters of plague, be free of this contagion, whispers a disembodied voice. You can’t tell where it comes from, and it sounds neither female nor male. The voice barely stirs the air, and within moments, it dissipates into the air. There’s glass all over the floor, glittering piles of the smashed dome cover the floor like snow. There’s not a single shard near the dragons. But the dome is gone, leaving a massive round opening. It’s big enough to fly through.
————————
All dragons still trapped within the Spires make it out similarly. The Spires crumble into dust and bone, the water draining into the earth, leaving a flat plain where hissing moats and soaring towers once stood. The Bonewood Spires are no more.
————————-
Thanks to everyone who played! I hope you had fun ^0^
Badges will be out by the end of this week, as will be a brief history/backstory of the Spires that I wrote a few weeks back. It’s going to explain most of what I had planned out for the event (including Artifacts, all the random diseases you could have contracted, and some other weird things I had in store for you). You can ask questions about the Spires for a little bit until then, I’ll type up short responses explaining. Feel free to unsubscribe now (I don’t know how many posts this thing got, it was waaay more than I expected lol)
Y’all are awesome, thanks again for playing <3

Theme: The Definition of Beauty
Round: Fashion

A soft green Skydancer gracefully stepped forward. "My name is Veronique, from Carovana del Denti di Leone. It is, simply, a clan of nomads who cannot choose between adventure and stability. I've traveled under Kairin's lead since the clan was merely a half-baked idea of building a lair and placing the whole construction upon a cart. It sounded ridiculous and impossible, which is, of course, why I loved it from the start." She smiled softly, eyes twinkling with mirth.
A claw raised elegantly as Veronique continued. "I couldn't see myself living any other life. I am surrounded by friends and family, and yet my life is full of surprises and adventures, this very event being the latest of them!" Veronique laughed and winked towards the crowd, at the reluctant Imperial she'd dragged into the event with her. "I say the world is too vast to deprive oneself of enjoying its treasures to the fullest, and what better way to do so than with your loved ones at your side? Is that not the true meaning of beauty? I believe so."
Veronique nodded once, a confident smile on her face. She looked around at the other pageant entrants for a moment. "Thank you, and good luck to everyone!" She took a step back and serenely admired the ongoing pageant.

Judge 1: DreamyChimera
Score:
Aesthetics- 4 out of 5
Theme- 3 out of 3
"There's a playful elegance in the look you've chosen, one that few dragons could make look so natural. But you not only pull it off but do so in such a way that no other dragon could ever hope to copy. The warm amber mingles with your verdant green body perfectly. It's a charm that your personality and natural beauty helps to bring together."

Judge 2: SpiderQueen8
Score:
Aesthetics- 2 out of 5
Theme- 1 out of 3

Judge 3: Kawaiicoco789
Score:
Aesthetics- 3 out of 5
Theme- 1 out of 3

Won 1st place in a Wind Flight-themed costume contest (prize was a Falcon scroll for Rolan) - run by DeadlyInformant