The jaguar cubs have proven to be quite a chore to feed, and their diet requires an ample supply of meat … but fortunately this island is not devoid of small (non-sapient) prey, nor of hunters right now … especially since there's not as much competition to worry about.

Jezebel has taken it upon herself to draft Twilight-Wing to give these jaguars a head start on their education … by trying to teach them Savanite sign. Progress is slow, but, of course, you have to start somewhere. Meanwhile, Jezebel seems to have been working a bit on breaking the language barrier herself, as she shows signs of picking up quite a few Vartan phrases … Of course, though, she can't contribute any such phrases herself.

A new morning finds Zoltan out in the jungle, doing his part to help add to the supply of food for the two cubs. Although the bats and Vartans have been searching, there has been no sign of any other survivors on the island, aside from themselves.

Zoltan crawls along on the jungle floor as quietly as he can. He keeps his eyes open for any creatures that might be nearby… or the tracks of the same.

As the hippogryph crawls along, his ears catch the sound of a screeing sound, at first sounding much like one of the Eeee, but he has heard their voices so often that he can tell the tonality of this is subtly different … from something considerably smaller, and in that thicket across the way.

Zoltan freezes as his ears catch the noise. Once he's focused in on the source, he begins to creep forward until he's gotten in pouncing range. He squints his eyes at the bush… trying to make out his prey's shape.

The prey is a small, dark creature – at least, small compared to Zoltan – too large to be a Creen. From a glint of light off of a carapace, it must be one of Sinai's various shelled creatures … but it doesn't look terribly familiar, though perhaps vaguely so.

After a bit of perusal to put the features together, a name comes to mind – a chibix. Or, actually, as Rephidim speak goes, he could have just as easily said "bat", since the words are the same. It is a pseudo-arthropod creature that would normally have a pair of bat-like wings, but this seems to be missing its wings entirely. Its back is swollen up into a hump, to the point of some of its shelled plates not quite fitting together properly.

As for why Eeee might be compared to this creature, the reason, aside from the wings and its nocturnal habits, would be found in its especially large ears, blunt face, big nose, and that screeching noise it makes as it struggles with the shrubbery.

The Vartan crawls closer to the creature, less mindful of stealth now that it appears that the chibix is crippled. He crawls around the thicket and makes his way towards the creature.

The pathetic creature struggles even harder now in fright, but quickly exhausts itself at the panicked exertion, and collapses, shuddering.

( Such easy prey. I wonder what happened to cause it's wings to be torn out. Best to go ahead and put it out of it's misery… ) Zoltan moves toward the bat… then stops. He pulls a rock from out of his pouch and throws it against the ground near the chibix. ( Probably just my paranoia acting up… but this looks too much like bait for a trap to suit me. )

Nothing springs. Nothing snaps. But … there IS something a bit odd about that bush. The chibix has no wings to tangle. What is HOLDING it, then?

Zoltan focuses his eyes on the bush as he creeps slowly forward. More and more the Chibix is looking to be nothing more than bait. He pulls out another stone, and this time hurls it at the bush.

The stone flies into the bush … and there's no sound of it hitting the ground. The stone was too heavy to just get caught in the branches of the flimsy-looking plant.

Zoltan nervously grabs the longest stick he can find. He reaches out with it and gives the chibix a poke – trying to push it away from the bush.

It takes quite a poke, but the chibix tears free, leaving a piece of shell in its place. Now, it can be seen that the bush must have grown around some sort of a fence made of barbs of a chitin-like material and melded together.

Zoltan relaxes a bit. He moves forward and picks up the bat, giving it a sharp blow on it's head to put it out of its misery. He moves toward the fence and kicks it gently with one of his hoofed feet while his hands wrap up the dead chibix and stow it away in his pack.

Zoltan's hoof sticks in the sharp barbs. It takes all of his strength to pull free, and, in the process, the sensation of those barbs scraping against his hoof is NOT all that pleasant!

The hippogryph hisses in pain as he wrenches his hoof free. He falls on his backside and scoops up a rock. Rubbing his foot with one hand, he halfheartedly throws the rock at the fence with the other.

The rock sticks. The fence seems to be constructed fairly cleverly, "grabbing" anything that hits it, using the pressure applied against it to close in … and then with the inward-turning hooks, making it hard to pull back out again without doing horrible damage to oneself, with the way the hooks dig in.

The fence appears to go to the tree line. Flying over it shouldn't be a chore. It is evidently designed against walkers, not those who fly.

Zoltan backs away from the fence just in case one of his wings decides to entangle itself in the fence. He unfurls his wings and leaps into the air, flying over the fence and cautiously landing in a tree on the other side. He peers around at his new surroundings.

Previously hidden by the thickets and trees … a cabin is visible in this enclosure. It's dilapidated, showing no sign of recent habitation … but it still stands, and still has a mostly intact roof.

Zoltan climbs down from his perch and walks toward the cabin. He looks around for any hint of the occupants.

The construction shows signs of salvage of broken pieces from airships of various styles – indicating a trip to the airship graveyard. However, despite the mish-mash of styles from the different craft salvaged … the structure of the cabin would seem to suggest a Vartan influence.

Walking as lightly as he can so as not to disturb the structure of the cabin, Zoltan enters. His eyes squint in the dimness as he looks at the furnishings (or lack thereof) inside.

Piles of long-decayed wood hint at where furnishings once were, much of it gone beyond recognition. As for why the walls still stand, they must have undergone some sort of means of preservation that wasn't bothered on the furniture. But there are still a few things standing – some furniture that also looks salvaged from airships. Just inside the door, what looks like some sort of lamp sits atop a pedestal.

Zoltan digs out the tinderbox Boghaz gave him and feels around at the top of the lamp… trying to locate a wick or something intact he can light.

The lamp doesn't have a wick, but there's a nozzle in the side.

The Vartan slowly turns the nozzle… odd thing for a lamp to have. But whomever lived here probably salvaged it from some odd airship from an even odder land.

As the nozzle turns, there's a faint sound the Vartan can hear, like escaping gas. He can adjust the flow of it, through the top, by turning the nozzle.

Zoltan turns the gas flow down to a minimal level to avoid a potential fireball effect, and then strikes a spark from his tinderbox into the flow.

A flame bursts out of the top of the tube, and Zoltan is able to adjust it until it provides a reasonable tongue of flame to serve to light the chamber. It's an odd lamp, having a framework that extends above the flame, and some sort of sphere held within that frame, directly above the flame.

The Vartan examines the odd lamp, curious as to whether it once served a different purpose at one time besides lighting a room. He brightens the light a bit more and looks around the cabin again… hoping that the light will bring more secrets into view.

The interior of the cabin looks like a cross between the cabin of an airship, and a laboratory. Beakers, tubes, containers, strange instruments … they can be found everywhere, many fallen and broken, but some still at least vaguely recognizable. There are many tanks, and a pile of decayed books where a bookshelf once stood. On one table that still stands, there is what appears to be a model of Paradys itself … except that it's upside down with three cones sticking in the air.

( What in Dagh's name was going on in here? ) Zoltan walks up to the island model, examining it for any peculiar details that he might not have seen on the strange computer monitor back in the tower.

It seems that the wooden model has had several push-pins stuck in it at various points. By the stickiness of the pins, they may have once had some sort of paper flags attached … but the paper has long since fell away. The model itself is very fragile, and one of the cones falls off immediately.

Zoltan looks around the room for a surviving scrap or paper and a writing implement. Perhaps he can copy the model.

The scraps Zoltan comes across are so fragile that they prove to be fairly useless. No, genuinely useless. But an inkwell presents itself … except that the ink has all long dried.

Zoltan exits the cabin and looks at the jungle floor, he finds a large yellow leaf, dried – but not so dry that it might crumble away. He quickly walks back into the cabin and pulls out one of his feathers, he notches the end with one of his talons and splits the tip. He then walks to the inkwell… and spits inside of it.

The Vartan spits into the inkwell a second time and gently swirls a talon around inside… mixing the contents.

The results are not perhaps ideal for calligraphy, but it looks like the resourceful Vartan has managed to come up with a passable set of writing utensils.

After fetching a few more leaves, the Vartan begins sketching the model. He tries to copy it from all sides on separate leaves, and notes the location of all the pins marking it. ( Perhaps Kryago will know what to make of this… )

A bit of work, and Zoltan has a decent map of the island. After all, he's had plenty of experience with playing with at least a virtual model of the island before, so he knows the subject.

The Vartan looks over his handiwork after the ink dries. He tries to make some sense of the location of the pushpins. Do they mark the vanes? Or the areas where the computer said there was magic activity or one of those strange 'errors'?

Actually, all of the pins seem to be stuck in various points on the bottom of the island … an area where the computer didn't really offer much in the way of useful information about.

Zoltan rolls up the leaves and places them away in his belt. He walks over and peers into one of the tanks.

The tanks are completely enclosed. They are made of some unidentifiable material … the sort of thing Zoltan has seen on occasion in the Temple. Some have tubes attached to them, while others just have some connectors where the tubes would probably fit. The tubes run to some sort of strange contraption that involves some more tanks, but many of the parts lie scattered about, some of the components having decayed. The tubes are greatly deteriorated as well, cracked and open in places.

The enclosed tanks have a couple of turn-wheels on them, sort of like that on the lamp, only bigger for more leverage.

Zoltan scratches his head. Curiouser and curiouser, apparently not all of Paradys' mysteries have been solved yet. He kneels over to the pile of rotten books. The pages may be rotten… but perhaps a cover has survived. Something that might give a clue as to what on Sinai the person in here hoped to accomplish with all these strange contraptions.

A peculiar sigil appears a few times … and then it registers just what the sigil is. It's that used by an airship captain known as Shokar.

"If this is your work, Shokar," Zoltan squawks, "you could have at least found another one of those books with the shiny pages that don't rot away… or written titles on your books." It's obvious that the Vartan is just grumping; were Shokar actually here his words would probably be much different. Slowly, Zoltan pulls himself back to his feet and walks over to one of the hand cranks on the closest tub. He gives it an experimental turn.

A jet of air shoots out at the Vartan's face!

Zoltan gacks and turns the crank the other way.

The jet of air stops … but what was that? The Vartan's "gack" sounded all wrong. He sounded like a Skeek!

Zoltan scrawks angrily… and even more angrily at the sound of his voice. Whatever shot out of the vat made him sound like a chick!

Eventually, the effect wears off, and Zoltan's voice returns to its normal gruffness.

The Vartan examines the lamp more closely now. He looks to see if there is a hose attached to it… or a way where someone might have attached a hose to it for use in the experiments here.

There's something different about the lamp. The sphere is … gone.

As for any hoses … there are none. The "table" upon which the lamp sits apparently is actually attached to it … and there's another tank set within its base.

Zoltan blinks. His gaze shoots upwards, could it have floated away?

Above, the sphere is resting against the rafters … indeed, apparently having floated up to that position.

The Vartan turns the flame on the lamp down slowly… hoping to coax the sphere back to the ground.

Turning down the flame doesn't appear to have any bearing on the sphere, which has rolled along the roof quite some distance away from the lamp … and is precariously balanced near a hole that might allow it to escape to the sky above.

The room is too small for him to unfold one of his wings and try and fan the sphere back… so instead, Zoltan backs away until he's standing in the doorway. Once the sphere flies free, he can chase it.

Eventually … sure enough … the sphere pops out through the hole in the roof, and shoots upward!

The Vartan shoots upward after it. Fearing that it may be hot to the touch, he just flies below it. He waits to see if the ascent slows at all.

As the sphere continues going upward and upward, it seems at first like it will never stop … but, yes, it does begin to slow in its ascent … then stop … then begin to drift downward again.

The Vartan hovers in place below the sphere, he cups his hands to catch it.

The sphere feels slightly warm, but not hot to the touch.

Perhaps not surprisingly, it feels very light for its apparent mass.

The Vartan slowly flies back down to the fenced in cabin. He taps a talon against the sphere's surface.

The sphere feels very solid. It doesn't feel like any balloon, and doesn't give in the least. It has a waxy texture to it, but is solid like glass.

It is semi-translucent, though, and something fluid can be seen within, little eddies created with every shake of the sphere.

Once his hooves touch solid ground again, Zoltan walks back to the cabin. He shuts off the gas from the 'lamp'. There is probably a limited supply of gas… and until he can figure out what the purpose of all this was, it would probably be best not to waste it. After the lamp is turned off he takes the sphere outside and examines it more closely.

The sphere is not completely solid. There's a seam running along its equator. It might be possible to twist it open, though there's no telling what would happen to the contents if he did that, and it looks like it would take some effort, and possibly break some sort of seal to do so.

Zoltan walks back into the cabin and sets the sphere back in its place. It remained safe here for this long, it should remain safe for just a bit longer. He takes out one of the leaf-maps of the underside of the island and tries to locate one of the marked points on there that might be close enough for him to reach without too much effort.

There's one near the rim. In fact, it should be directly under the island, corresponding to Zoltan's current position on the top.

The Vartan pockets his maps again and takes to the skies, intent on finding this place below the island.

No longer do fierce winds hold the Vartan back. He is able to reach the edge, past the "singing trees", and then dip downward … and … for the first time … he can see those great conical "stalactites" that angle out from the center of the bottom of the island. They are most certainly not of natural origin by any means … and they glitter as if encrusted with diamonds!

The Vartan pauses in midair – hypnotized by the glittering objects. A memory of what happened the last time he grabbed at a gem jolts him back into reality. He slowly flies ahead, trying to locate the exact spot.

A few loud shrieks distract the Vartan … large winged shapes are bearing in at him. Gigantic birds – Raktors! They must have roosts on the underside of the island!

Past them, beyond two the cones and in front of the far third, a faint light can be seen … a column of energy that stretches down in a line from the center of the island, fading down below.

Zoltan quickly begins backpedaling as the birds approach. He notches his sling and launches a stone at the closest one.

*THOK!* *SQUAWK!* Right on target! The startled raktor can't have been wounded, but the shock is enough to send it scattering. The other raktors spread out, more cautious in their approach.

Zoltan *SQUAWKS* right back and puffs his feathers out. He launches yet another stone and sends it hurtling towards another bird.

That stone missed by a long shot … and Zoltan barely holds onto his sling.

The Vartan continues backing away in the direction from whence he came, launching stones to distract the large birds as he does so. He drops down a bit as he flies back… trying to get a better look at any other structures at the bottom of the island, especially at the point marked by the pin.

Now a pattern seems to be emerging … the pins seem to denote … raktor roosts.

( Spheres that fly and gasses that make your voice float. And now raktors? What were you up to, Shokar… a means of escape? ) Zoltan flips around and tears back toward the top of the island. Such a strange puzzle this is… and all the important pieces gave rotted away.

The black Vartan flies back to the upper reaches of the island and heads back to the Freedom's Dream to think over his discoveries. ( Hopefully Twilight-Wing has taught Pouncer enough handsign by now for me to tell her to stop picking the shinies out of my tail while I'm asleep and dressing herself up in them. Kids… )