Snatched

Tea Leaf inclined his head in acknowledgement of what Momus had to say. "Considering all the tales of this forest having a life unto itself, I can't say I'm surprised." Tea Lead acknowledged before his ears flicked back at the sound of the rumbling kicking up once again. "And by the sound of things, we aren't exactly being invited in for tea." He added, his eyes turning to the direction the rumbling was coming from, or at least his best estimate considering it was rather hard to tell when it kept coming and going.

"You know, any unicorn who insists that you lot don't need wings because you have magic is full of crap. Just thought I'd let you know." Razor Back had caught up to Sugary, gliding lazily around the cloud that the unicorn had produced for himself. "Just for the record, catching a damsel falling from the sky is 40 bits." Razor remarked; several of her scratches from the earlier bird swarm were still rather sore looking and the thestral was, despite her blase attitude, making a point not to brush the treetops again.

For a brief moment Salem seemed to actively ignore Momus, the unicorn still speed reading the last few sentences regarding the Kite. “Hmmmm... ahhhh, good. Well, big monster or not, I’m pretty much certain I know what we’re dealing with here. Our little pony shouldn’t need to be concerned with the idea of being a Gilded Kite’s lunch.” ’Well, there is the spiders, but I’ve not heard anything about GIANT marrow spiders... yet.’ After tentatively putting the book back into its chest, Salem continued. “It’s nest should be in one of the dome trees around. There aren’t many and they stick out like a sore hoof so there’s no way we won’t know it when we see it. Anyw— wait, this again?”

Salem once again picked up the snake with his magic and frowned before stuffing the reptile into a large sack and tying it closed. “Anyway, as I was saying, we can save the finer details for later.” He drew his crossbow, “First let’s see if something’s about to try and have us for lunch.”

'Hexer' split Nothung into its ten shards, bracing herself for anything at this point. "Well, considering the bird was delicate enough to not rip his sister in half in grabbing him I'd say it has other plans for him. And, sorry, Salem." As the rumbling continued, 'Hexer' turned from tense to annoyed, as she produced semi-translucent sword-like weapons around herself in an arc over her head, the points facing where she was looking. Come out already so I can shoot you dammit. "I can go find the trail of the bird, but that will take time we don't have at the moment and it'll be painful for me. Getting above the canopy seems risky as from what I can tell either the Everfree is having a bad day in general or this bird can make other birds attack anything pursuing it. Looking for dome trees is a much more efficient and easier idea, given how specific a requirement it is." Much better than running around sniffing for bird blood that isn't there.

'Hexer's eye twitched and one of her ears flicked as she sensed something else. Someone being an idiot. "Oh goddamn who the fuck is trying to fly over the canopy and is yelling about it? They're just going to wake more shit up and get shredded by birds!"

Still agitated by the previous disturbance and the present rumbling, the swarm of predatory birds seem to need no further provocation than for a cloud and some previously sampled meat to come all too willingly flying into their territory once again, the hum of their wings warning of their pursuit, the thunder that warns of the lightning of their razor sharp beaks.


In the forest, the rest of the group hears more rumbling, then no rumbling, then louder rumbling, then no rumbling, and then it feels like it's directly below them...but a ways below them. It's enough to cause the ground to tremble, and any with poor balance might be in danger of losing their hoofing, but it doesn't seem to be rising...

...or is it? In the interval that had previously been more silent, there comes another sort, but...softer, quieter...more numerous? Whatever the new rumble is, it most certainly is approaching, getting louder by the second.

The first few pop up from the ground under Salem's cart and Burlap. The rumbling approaches until it's at the surface, and what looks like chitinous worms about the thickness of a slim pony's legs burst through the dirt. Pairs of pincers unfold from their bodies and bite down at them, three of them latching onto the wood of the cart, one poking up from directly under Burlap's hoof to try to latch onto the leg. Very shortly another pair come up under Diamond's hooves and try to grab onto them.

A few animal cries coming from nearby indicate that some of them successfully find prey, one particularly unlucky squirrel-looking creature seen snatched by one at the base of a tree it had started fleeing up, then dragged back underground.

Sugary wasn't exactly the most perceptive stallion at the moment, given his tired state, so seeing Razor Back hover near him in her wounded state got his thoughts a bit all over the place. "Hm...!? Razor Edge, what happened!?" He couldn't even remember to say her name right. "This is no time to look cool for a lady with more battle scars, we have a young stallion to save...! And this isn't flying, it's gait with style."

Of course, his battle instincts were still sharp enough as he saw the very numerous flying creatures coming at them, and prepared for them in advance as he pulled Razor onto the cloud with him before she got too angry with him, and expanded the fluffyness of the cloud he was on to envelop them both, sheltering them within it. The outside then became enveloped in a thick snowy and icy cover, snowing beneath it as it flew to try and absorb or bounce off the likely oncoming pelts, while one telescope would partially poke out the front as the stallion held it to try and maneuver a bit to avoid having it cracked. "Might wanna stab out the walls at random soon..."