Ollie lifted his head to the sky. He invited Wilder to be his partner to the red strange lands after the shuddering and bucking of the mountains. Their warlord had called them to find out what they could about it.

"What do you think happened?" He asked the larger mossy wolf. Ollie's white tail flicked side to side, trying to shake off the nervousness in his steps. This place wasn't here when they passed the glow shroom caves before. He observed the foliage closely at the base of one of the spires. Bushes that had years to grow and plants that were substantially enmeshed into the soil as if they had been here all along.

"Speech"

If anyone knew the lay of the land, it was Wilder. Having spent most of his puphood wandering the different territories of Boreas and Auster, he was certain he could guide anyone anywhere. So when he and Ollie approached this... new area that he had never seen before in his life, he was taken by surprise. Certainly something this menacing sticking out from the ground would have been noticed before. Peering up at those metal spires with their etched runes and rusted edges, these things clearly weren't sparkling new.

He can't help the way his ears fold backward and the hair along his spine bristles. Not only had the mountains been trembling, threatening to cave in, but the sky was bathed in crimson, scouring sun in blood. What was going on? Looking around, almost wildly, as if he was a pup once more, he tries to quell the quickening of his heart.

"Logical answer is sink hole," his tone is clipped, but not toward Ollie, but more so toward the spikes that the Armada's healer wanders toward. "Don' touch 'em," Wilder warns, making sure to stay close enough to the smaller male in case something menacing decided to pop out.

"Wilder"

hasn't their world undergone enough change? things can't seem to stop shifting beneath their feet, and just when Spider is finally getting used to the new normal their life has undertaken, the literal world has to go and shit itself! Spider can't help but glance constantly up at the sky, tracking the bloodied swath of it with a perpetually bristling pelt. they're doing it now as they tag along with Ollie and Wilder, loping through the territory with their ears curved back against their skull. the tiniest of sounds - a snapping twig, the shift of a branch - has them whirling with their teeth bared, eyes scanning their surroundings with obsessive fervour. and that unease only increases as they examine those spikes. "maybe...maybe it's aliens," Spider murmurs, rather unhelpfully. they attempt to inject a fissure of humour into their voice, hiding their uncertainty behind a breathy chuckle. "careful, Ollie, they might eat your brain."
"Araneae Fatalis"

The moss wolf was just as unsettled as Ollie. The healer looked up at the protruding spikes with a nervous chuckle at Spider's joke.

"They, uhh... look a bit too stony to be aliens that want to eat brains..." he replied, trying to throw the sarcasm back. It fell flat as Wilder suggested not to touch the spires. Ollie nodded, Wilder was the most experienced in this area, the guy was a good scout, something Ollie didn't know much about. He couldn't help but want to reach out a paw just to mess with the guy though. He didn't, he was too unnerved about the whole thing.

"What you know about sinkholes Wilder? I've never heard of them." The youth asked, using his eyes to check in with Spider. Spider was the highest rank among them, did they have any directions they could look into?

His gaze shifted to the base of one of the spikes.
"There's something written on it," he muttered to them drawing closer to the spike but not touching it.


"Speech"

Wilder's unease is only heightened with Spider coming along too. Not only did he have to watch over their best healer, but the Heir as well? Fuck. He would only curse under his breath a few times as he notices Ollie and Spider wandering closer to the spires. Nothing good was going to come from this. His nose wrinkles, distaste in his mouth as the wailing grows louder on the wind. "Sinkholes 're like quicksand, but more dang'rous," he comments, his tone still clipped, ignoring Spider's sarcasm about aliens. This was no time to joke.

"The groun' suddenly jus' opens an' nothin' stops it," Wilder adds, keeping his gaze trained on the unusually soft dirt that spread out between the spires. An ear flicks toward Ollie when he mentions that there's writing on the spires, but he doesn't pay it much attention. If the healer could figure out what he said, Wilder was sure the boy would say something.

"Wilder"

Spider hangs back with Ollie as Wilder explains, though a part of them itches to get closer, to prod and poke and investigate. Spider scruffs their paws through the earth, frowning; they never were very good at sitting still and doing the smart thing. “great,” they click, the word snapping from their tongue, “a giant gaping hole.” they steal a glance at those strange drawings, then find themselves unable to look away. their eyes trace over the spikes’ strange shape, humming uncertainly under their breath. “some of them kind of look like…drawings?” they dare half an inch closer, neck craning as far as they dare. were those…faces? “angry drawings.” why else would they be glaring like that?

"Araneae Fatalis"

Oleander tilts his head to peer closer to the spire, noting Spider's observation himself. "Huh." He said to Wilder's definition of sinkhole. "Huh..." He said again to the strange etchings on the spire. He lifted his head to glance over at another base of the spike, letting his paws lead him over the soft ground toward it, then moved the strange foliage aside.

"Hey, this one has its face rubbed off or something. It's like it got more worn." He mused to the others, wondering if they noticed anything else about the spikes and the crazy red sky. Maybe he can grab his brother and explore some more.

"Speech"

Wilder lets Spider and Ollie examine the spires more closely. Their notes about the facial carvings was intriguing to a degree, but he still hesitated to approach. Something was wrong, so very wrong with this place. He wasn't entirely convinced that it didn't connect with the sky turning red. It was as red as the color of his eyes and that truly was unnatural.

"Prolly a warnin'," Wilder grumbles under his breath as he turns to look at the other spires nearby. Those too had etchings on them near the bottom. Were they all like that? Taking a step closer to another one, he notices how the dirt changes. Sinking ever so slightly, Wilder notices how he's in between the two spires. Huh, that's odd. "The dirt is a differen' consistency," he says quietly, unsure if the boys can hear him. Reaching a paw forward, Wilder begins to dig.

"Wilder"