Blacktail Deer Plateau burn the cars

*plays Adele's 'Hello'* scarab's timeline is kinda, uh, messy rn? i'mma just wing it. tags are for reference!

EDIT. there's some others (possibly?) jumping into this. please let @Rowan reply first.

with the crowning jewel of his collection — the petrified sandpiper — clutched tightly betwixt his jaws, rowan and a few others in tow — which is a bizarre thing for him — he is struck with a wave of deja vu as he splits from the remnants of blackfeather woods and heads north, towards the plateau that houses rusalka. deciding to part from @Maegi and her motley crew wasn't an easy decision for the plagued prince and it kept him awake the night prior. maegi meant a lot to him and he hoped that she didn't harbor any ill will towards him for his decision to try and rebuild bridges with his family. the illusionary spectre that seems to haunt him more often than not makes things ...difficult. he isn't sure how to explain it — if it even can be explained — but he'd cross that particular bridge if and when he came upon it.

finding his way to the plateau hadn't been too terribly difficult thanks to his recent trip with maegi though his process was slow-going thanks to the snows from the blizzard that had passed thru the other day. besides trekking thru the snow, there was the fog that hung thickly over the lands. khepri takes his time despite the seething impatience he feels. nevertheless, he tempers it as he tempers the omen who paces in and out of the corner of his eye. of all the days to suffer the omen's presence ...it had to be today.

his steps slow as the scent of the borders grows stronger and when he thinks — hopes! — that him and the small ragtag band of followers he's amassed is an amiable distance from them he tips his head back, after setting his crowing jewel at his paws, and lets out a howl announcing their presence to any rusalkan near enough to answer.