[EVENT] Charting the Land [Open!]

[Annchen]

Eld was quick to follow the new orders and searched "his" area. Not that he could hear a thing, or see anything other than the rest of the group searching. He started to wonder if they had all just imagined a cry for help. It was possible to hide in the desert, but it wasn't very plausible, was it?

"Nothing here," he called when he had fanned out as far as seemed reasonable.  

[Andranis]

She had just collapsed into the relief of the cool sand, when the call was heard. The white lioness lifted her head, green eyes narrow. Who was THAT...? She got up, stretching a bit, before she started to wander, looking for it. As she followed the sound, Arevik soon found herself out on the hot sands. She stopped walking, eyes narrow against the glare as she flicked her ears about, listening... Waiting.

Luut shook his head at Arevik, then looked around. The two-tone red lion sat down, trying to think of where to go first. He let out a huff, then rose back to his paws, following Arevik. She looked like she'd heard something, but when he strained his own ears, he heard nothing. He looked at her funny, a frown on his face.

Right behind Luut, Moe followed, before his large ears twitched. His nose soon followed suit, as the jackal looked around. "Hey... I hear something..." Red eyes scanned the horizon, before he turned in the general direction. "I think it came from that way!"  

[Whimsical Blue]

Ear cocked at the ground, Morag struggled to hear properly with everyone talking and shouting. The sound was so muffled it was hard to tell where it was coming from. Maybe this way...

The dark lioness followed it till she saw the line between shadow and sun, where she paused a moment in thought. No matter. Putting aside her own comfort, the spymaster boldly strode back out into the sun, hoping she would last longer this time.

Whomever it was, they needed help and she wouldn't turn her back on that.  

[Kaelyndra]

At first, the red lioness had thought desert exhaustion was getting the better of her. Clinging desperately to the shade, the bleary scenery had begun to sharpen. Voices became more clear, and she thought she could distinctly make out the sound everyone was claiming to hear.

Head tipped, ear down towards the ground, she began to follow it. One step, two.

The sun cast a ray of light over her paw. It already felt hot. Asami squinted and stopped there. Better let someone else investigate that! She retreated back into the shade.  

[Hopefolly]

Missing someone? Niu couldn't say she'd kept track of everyone, but when she assayed the situation, it seemed to her everyone was present and accounted for. Could it be a rogue? A Nergui? Her ears rotated forward and listened. The results left her momentarily puzzled. Was that sound coming from below them?

There was always an explanation for these things... Had the sand caved in somewhere?

---

Nono had went from taking languid steps, to a brisk walk, to something of a hurried jog. That ugly lion would not best her, and she met him around the rock at exactly the time -- or, at least, so close that it would be hard to determine a winner.

Not that there was a competition.

The sound of someone below her paws drew her attention away from the peculiar male. She threw her head back so her hood fell to her shoulders. Her mess of curls sprung out, but so did her ears.

Where was that voice coming from?  

[Mogami]

Nkera quickly rose from his sitting position when he heard the muffled sounds. Others had heard them as well so the guard didn’t even have time to question himself before he started to follow the voice(s?) as well as he could. He only noticed he’d jumped right back into the sunlight when he felt his mane heating up again.

“I hear something here.” The guard said slowly, looking back at the rest of the group and the ones closest to him in particular. “But I can’t see anything.” He looked confused as he watched the vast desert before his eyes, a place that seemed to have no hiding places for the owner of the mysterious voice.

-------------------------

“Did you hear that…?” Baise asked with a strange expression as she slowly made her way to a group that had returned to the sun-kissed sands. She was a practical lioness but the fact that she could hear voices but not find their origin was somewhat disturbing. “Like a ghost…” Even under the watchful eye of the burning sun, the pure white lioness felt a shiver running down her spine.

“Can anyone tell where it’s coming from?” she asked aloud, growing desperate for a logical explanation that would put her sceptic mind at ease. She looked at the rest of the lions from the scouting mission, hoping at least one would be able to ease her mind.  

[Puhterodactyl]

Jahina heard the sound again, and followed her little ears as best as she could. She cocked her head and crossed out of the arch's shadow, her eyes mostly unfocused except to make sure she didn't stumble over anything. "Is it over here?" She looked back at the group, as though they somehow knew. Other lions seemed to think it could be coming from beneath them...


Cyprinnus looked at the juvenile and shrugged. Beats him, he could barely hear it at all. Maybe there was still water in his ears. He followed Jahina back into the oppressive heat. In case she stumbled upon something, it'd only be smart to make sure she wasn't out there alone to face it.  

[Mimsey]

[ The two people who rolled high enough to detect the location haven't filled in their posts- but rather than do another roll to determine location I am just going to assume they will be filled in at some point to keep things moving. ]


A voice coming from underneath them? Veru followed the others past the arch and back into the bitter sun, his paws fumbling in the sand as they adjusted to the change in temperature.

As the group navigated around the small stretch of area, the voice continued to echo. The closer they got, the more [X]'s assessment seemed correct: somehow, the voice was coming from underneath them. Veru had certainly heard of unlucky individuals getting caught in a cave during a sandstorm, but this was open desert. There weren't any large rocks around here! But then again, he'd never seen anything quite like that structure above them. Were the two related?

"If the voice is coming from beneath us, there must be something down here big enough for someone to have gotten caught in." Since no one had uncovered where exactly it seemed to be emitting from, he started to dig in the sand. Poking around any divet that seemed like it could hide the surface of something.

arrow The voice continues to call for help. Better start digging!

Roll a dice, 1-10. In order for our unfortunate friend to be rescued, the number of rolls must add up to 20!

The first person to roll over 5 will mark the 'location' the structure is at.  

[Whimsical Blue]

Underneath them? Morag stared down between her paws with a frown. Did that mean the standing stones marked the entrance to some sort of underground cave system? As interesting as that was, it also seemed next to useless. The pride could dare use it... What if tomorrow a sandstorm covered the entrances and sealed them inside like this unfortunate soul?

Speaking of... Padding around with ears to the ground, the dark lioness searched with the others for the source of the voice. Just as she heard Veru begin to dig behind her, the quality of the voice changed and Morag realized this must be it and not some echo or distortion.

"Here! Quickly, I found it!" She shouted as she set to with abandon, dig deep trenches into the shifting sands with her paws and flinging it into the air behind her. She was so going to regret this later... Digging a hole in sand in the sun? But there was really nothing for it.  

[SilverLutz]

Kasoro turned to watch as more lions came out into the sun. He wasn't alone in hearing the voice out here. But someone said something about the voice coming from beneath them...and it turned out, the lower he brought his head to the sand, the more he could hear the cries. How had that happened? There was no way for someone to get eaten up by the sand like that.

...right?

Shaking his head, Kasoro moved to aid Morag who seemed to have found the location of the voice. He stood on the other side of the hole that she began, helping to widen it first, then deepen it. It was hard going, though, as the sand kept running back into the hole. He started to fling the sand harder to keep it away, and that seemed to help. What they really needed were more paws.

Mat's ears perked up as they said the voices were coming from underground. Really? That was so cool! She bounded over to the hole Morag and Kasoro were digging and began to help, pushing away the mounds of sand that were piling up. She doubted she could reach into the hole to help dig, so she'd make sure that he sand didn't get high enough to fall back in the hole...or worse. Fall on top of one of her pride mates!  

[Cajanic]

Ubawa wasn't going to waste any time- if the noise was coming from beneath them, then from beneath them he was going to try and get to. He had claws, and while he was more used to using them to rip at fur and flesh, he was perfectly away of their other uses. So he got to digging, pulling at the sand and trying to get towards the being seemingly trapped beneath them. Was it some kind of cavern or something? A hole? He had no idea- but they would be able to ask all their questions once the being was discovered.

He was not one to think they would fail at anything, so for him the dig, even if it didn't feel like the sand was really moving, was helpful.

Volkeno, meanwhile, was pretty sure everyone had lost their minds. She hadn't been able to hear the calls, and she was starting to think there was some kind of gas leaking in the ruins that was making them all go nuts. Then, as she moved over to help Ubawa dig, she finally heard it for herself.

"Oh! Someone's trapped!" She said, about eight years tardy to the party. Instantly, her claws came out and she started to dig.  

[Annchen]

Eld was pretty sure they were all going mad. Digging in the desert in this heat? But someone was calling from underneath them so the dark male stood there, shoulder to shoulder with the others, digging. He tried to kick the sand as far back as possible to avoid it slipping back into the hole. Hopefully his comrades wouldn't try to walk past behind him and get a face full of sand.

"Sounds as if they're still alive at least," he said.  

[Andranis]

Her ears flicked, before she turned and looked at Veru. When Morag began to dig in a spot, she hurried over to her cousin and began to dig beside her. She grimaced as the sand flew. "I hope they're not TOO far down, I don't want to spend all day doing this!" Or all night. Or a week, for that matter. They'd already spent quite a bit of energy just GETTING here, and the water was a bit of a distance away. They'd likely get back to it in time to maybe drown in it. "Luut, put those big fat paws to good use!"

He glared at Arevik. His paws were not fat! But as he began to dig on the other side of Morag, he realized... Yeah, his paws were kinda big. But then, compared to lions that came in out of the savannah to join the desert, a LOT of their paws were rather big. The adaptation to the desert sands proved a boon as he threw huge waves of sand behind him, until it suddenly gave under him and he found himself face-first in sand. Luut sat up, then glared at the laughing jackal, before he got up and started to clear the sand back from around the dig spot. It'd do them no good if they all collapsed into the sand pit they were digging.

Moe, using his smaller size, began to dig at the center, tossing sand up as his little paws move. Of course, smaller size also made it more difficult, and the jackal soon found himself panting and marveling at the lions. He climbed back out and joined Luut, clearing the tossed sand further away so nobody found themselves falling in. "Now I wish I was a lion..."