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Pref List: ori, spyro
Decision: B
Current HP: 3/10
Current Fireflies: 13 + 3 (8/2 - 1)

The voices grow louder the farther you walk - but they stop abruptly when you reach a large chamber, with the bird from earlier sitting primly in the center, along with two equally-intimidating companions (one each in red, white, and black plumage). Behind them is a large rock, blocking most of the entrance to another cavern.

The black one speaks. "Since you were quick, you may share a drink with us while we wait." There is a pool of purple water, which the three birds have positioned themselves around. No matter what else you do, however, none of the birds speak: they're clearly waiting for everyone else to arrive.

Bury was hesitant to accept the birds offer of a drink, but she was feeling quite weak already. Besides, what harm could it be? They could have taken her out fairly quickly in her weakened state if they had wanted to. As she knelt down to join them, other kin started to slowly file in from the path she and some of the others had taken to get there. Once everyone had joined them, the birds spoke up.

"What you seek is past this rock," says the red bird. "I will allow passage after a test of wits."

"I will allow passage after a test of camaraderie," says the white bird.

"I will allow passage after a test of strength," says the black bird.

Bury smirked. There was no tough decision here. She was a Zikwa, after all. "Camaraderie. That is the one that means the most to me. Even if it weren't, I have no strength to show you. No wits about me, for if I did, would I have become this injured to begin with?" she asked rhetorically, still knelt by the pool of water. "Camaraderie led me here, after all."

Pref List: ori, spyro
Decision: A
Current HP: 8/10
Current Fireflies: 9

Haunt sighed at her options. She certainly wasn't much for camaraderie, nor was she especially strong. The kimeti doe was fairly sure she was very little help with the rest of them while they pushed that giant log...

In any case, she would choose the red bird, and the test of wits.

Pref List: Ori, Spyro
Decision: C
Current HP: 7/10
Current Fireflies: 9



Guardian stepped from the cavern to the base of the waterfall, and took a drink of the water, looked around and headed back. While slaking her thirst had been welcomed, it was obviously the wrong path to take.

Stepping into the room she eyed the birds curiously, surprised as one after the other started to speak aloud, giving their requirements to pass. She thought a moment on the choices before she was moving toward the black bird.

Strength came in many forms after all, not just physical she was aware, she felt she was best suited to attempting the test of strength in the end and hoped she would be.

Pref List: Ori, Spyro
Decision: B
Current HP: 7/10
Current Fireflies: 5

At first, she didn't want to drink from the pool. However..... she was parched. She accepted the offer, sighing softly as she settled near the pool of water once her thirst was quenched. Stretching her legs, Bird Chaser waited for the others to arrive. Once they had, she listened intently, nodding sharply.

She had a choice to make, and she picked the second option.

Noticing again the Buck that seemed to trail her to the stream and here, glancing along his face she blinks as she realizes he likely can not see.

Leaning close, the warm scent of her blossoms rising, Beloved whispers, "Hello, I am Beloved. Do you want to travel together in this strange dream?"

Please follow the dice-related instructions only for your choice.

If you did not roll before this post, you do not gain or lose anything this round, but you will not be required to take the 5 HP penalty from skipping a round.
--
If you picked A, you hear the red bird's voice, mocking, but only in your mind. What prevents you from walking forward? it asks. It turns and flies through the tunnel ahead of you, although its ridiculous wingspan shouldn't fit between the cave's narrow walls.

Eventually, you walk forward. The answer, of course, is nothing: this is a dream, after all, and in dreams, you can do what you'd like, including squeezing through impossibly tight spaces. If your roll was even, the push forward is a struggle: knowing you can move past the barrier and summoning the willpower to do it are, after all, two different stories. You lose 4 HP, but 15 fireflies follow you, concerned. If your roll was odd, you lose 2 HP, but gain 10 firefly followers.

--
If you picked B, the white bird nods. Its neck seems to lengthen, along with its wingspan. Its task is actually quite simple, although perhaps not what you might have expected - it seems like it's simply too lazy to perform its own emotional labor. "There is a lovely pig who tends to a garden. Show her a dance that expresses the depth of my regard, and I will carry you to your goal."

With that, the bird swoops over your head and out of the room, presumably to watch the performances in the pig's garden.

You follow, eventually. No matter how lovely your dancing, the boar only seems to laugh. Six fireflies join your dance as backup, however. When everyone has performed, though, she plucks a rose from her garden and lays it at the bird's feet. "I think you still do not understand love," she tells the bird. "But come again tomorrow." She winks at you.

The bird is too sulky to help you any longer, but the pig takes pity on you. "Are you too weak to carry these travelers?" she chides the white bird, and it somehow takes every kin present on its wings, and flies through the walls of the cave to your destination.

Multiply your roll by 2. Lose the first/tens digit in HP, and gain the second/ones digit in additional fireflies (if your doubled roll is a single-digit number, the first digit is 0.)

--
If you picked C, the black bird seems gleeful. As the other groups get to work, it announces, cheerfully, "Your task is to remove the stone from the entrance. Once you have done that, you may pass."

Unlike its companions, it stays behind to watch.

Moving the stone is tiring, but easier with the help of the other kin here. Eventually you manage, and four fireflies come to congratulate you on your prowess. Divide your roll by 5 and round down - this is the amount of HP you lose working on the stone. Subtract your roll from 20 and divide by 2. Round up. You gain this many additional fireflies.

--
If you picked D, you attempt to take a sip of water while you wait for a chance to enact your plan. If your roll is perfectly divisible by 3, the black bird notices you and strikes at you with its sharp beak or talons. You lose 5 HP - it's truly formidable. Otherwise, gain an amount of fireflies equivalent to the number displayed on your roll.

The black bird is too physically imposing for many schemes to succeed, but eventually you make it through - by following after the kin who've completed the black bird's task.

--
CHOICE FIVE
The black bird's laughter echoes in your ears, but at least you've made it through. Here, the red bird is waiting for you, next to a nest that contains - yes - the children you have been seeking, along with two large, jeweled stones that could not possibly be kin eggs. "You're the one who lost track of them," she sniffs. "They're mine now. You'd only lose track of them again."

You're so close. How do you respond?

[For clarification, there is only one clutch worth of children/sacs in the nest - each kin perceives the clutch/sac differently. Remember to roll 2d20 rather than 1d20! If you mess up and roll 1d20, please reroll by rolling 2d20 in one post, and disregarding your other roll. ]

A) This bird offered the test of wit, earlier, right? You'll present your reasons rationally. It will appreciate that.
B) You can prove you're a better protector than a large bird by engaging it in an honorable duel.
C) The bird seems to be a capable, if capricious, guardian. Maybe you don't need to be the clutch's sole protector - you'll use the bird as help, and watch over the clutch when the bird leaves on one of its whims, like its fellow-birds.
D) Well - the bird itself has pointed out that this is just a dream. You have a certain amount of control over dreams, right? If you can manage to convince yourself that the clutch was never lost, perhaps it'll be true in the dream, as well...

Since this is the last choice, you have until 10 AM PT (GMT - 8 ) on March 2, 2017 to post your reply. Please roll 2d20 (not 1d20) with your post.

--

If you have reached 0 HP or less, you have somehow died in your dream. You wake up, safe, and with the clutch you were protecting also safe. You are no longer eligible to win Ori or Spyro unless we come out with fewer than 2 survivors, but you may write a concluding/wake up post to conclude your roleplay, along with a tally of fireflies gained in case we decide to award additional prizes.

*rolls correctly*

Pref List: ori, spyro
Decision: A) This bird offered the test of wit, earlier, right?
Current HP: 7/10
Current Fireflies: 11

Frogs Rule the River should've guessed the strength task would be moving that stone. Better than a fight, she thinks, getting to work. The others who'd chosen strength move in, and after a bit of struggle they get it moved. Not wasting time to recover, she goes in.

Inside are the sacs she'd adopted, and the red bird guards them. Frogs listens to the bird's words, pondering her options. Let the bird keep them? Team up with the bird? Debate the flaw in the bird's reasoning?

Making her choice, Frogs approaches the bird and speaks, "How can you say I lost track of them, when they were stolen? Can you remain awake for days and weeks on end? I didn't just leave them, they were right beside me when I went to sleep."