< A Well Earned Drink | Ex Pulplogs | The Temple of (Xar's) DOOM >
ST It's been a full day since the Circle was reunited in Forest's Edge, the little village where Manosque Rivers lives. Now that Xar'rex and Myrrh are trained in Sorcery and the other two Solars have returned from the Southern Underworld with more knowledge of Carmine's dark past and a new commitment to their mission...
ST ...things are going well. The only task remaining to the Circle is the Temple that the Red Coated Lady told them of, at the headwaters of the Meander River, only about another day's travel upstream by foot. It is impossible to pass up the river any further in their boat and flying may cause them to miss the temple if it is hidden.
ST But before they leave, Myrrh at least is aware of some of the dangers that lurk in the forest and warns his friends that they must be well-prepared. And they may want to settle any details of their life-plans.
Xar`Rex eyes the jungle with a bit of trepidation... where is the sun? Even on the seas so unlike the desert, and in the lesser forests, there is sun.
Corve loads up on ammunition, supplies, and otherwise prepares himself with his machete in hand and a small smile on his lips. He's patiently waiting for his friends to get ready.
Myrrh "Right, as we sure we don't want to just fly over it? I mean the cannibal plants might be a problem...
Myrrh "Of course i'm sure the rat queen knows better after the LAST time...I never went past my other manse though..."
Xar`Rex "We might miss the temple."
Carmine "Then we'll never find the temple. Anyway, they can't be worse than a behemoth that ate us."
Myrrh "I wouldn't be too sure Carmine...I'll just keep the wasp around just in case..."
Xar`Rex "Are there snakes? I do not like snakes."
Xar`Rex peers suspiciously at the leafy darkness.
Myrrh "Oh yes. Lots of snakes...and spiders...although I think I might have hallucinated the amazon tribe riding dinosaurs..."
Xar`Rex frowns, and turns himself to stone.
Myrrh "Anyway, i'm sure we'll be fine. I managed alright before with just me and Rivers."
Corve "Whatever's in there, we're going anyway. So... let's go."
ST Prepared and ready, the Circle starts their deadly trek into the Jungle. Myrrh does not mention that Rivers did a lot of the managing and seemed to be using some kind of Wood Magic most of the time. And that he's considerably more experienced in the forests then any of them are. But there are more important things to worry about!
Xar`Rex "mmph."
ST In the interests of finding the Temple as well as not getting lost in the tangled, horrible mess of jungle the Circle decides their best course of action is to follow the increasingly narrow banks of the Meander as it travels back toward the waters that birthed it.
Carmine walks along, unaffected by the sweltering heat, wrapped as she is in protective essence.
ST The trip is, in some ways, a wonderful experience. Carmine is enchanted by the profusion of colors in the tropical birds that sing their songs into the leafy darkness. They pass by small fuzzy creatures tending gardens of stunningly beautiful flowers, fertilized by the corpses of unwary animal...and human travelers. Spider Orchids and Siren Plants litter the landscape. Even the noxious-smelling Corpse Lily makes an appearance
Myrrh "You know maybe I should have studied elemental summoning instead...a few Sylphs would come in handy right about now..." Wipes the sweat from his brow.
ST With its massive scarlet-and-white petals, two of Xar's paces across. Insects buzz around the giant flower as it slumps lazily in the boughs of a huge tree.
Xar`Rex trudges through the jungle grumpily, breaking a messy path through the jungle.
Corve isn't as lucky as his lover, but he's managing fine, lightly clothed under his coat.
ST Despite his light clothing, Corve is sweating heavily and breathing hard. Carmine prances along as if she'd never heard of the word "tiredness" and Xar tromps through the Jungle, ignoring heat and insects and everything else. Myrrh languishes unhappily, having been bitten by several annoying insects and sweating enough that he looks as if a small cloud appeared to rain on him.
ST But none of the four is unable to continue on!
Xar`Rex keeps a wary eye out around them, although he has no illusions of stealth, what with all the crackling and crunching he's making.
Carmine "Corve, can you see those bubbles on the river...?" She asks of him quietly.
Corve flicks his machete around occasionally to cut down some random branch in his way, but otherwise simply follows Char. Carmine's comment draws his attention, and he takes a look.
ST Corve sees lots of bubbles in the river as it courses along, but none that look suspicious our out of place.
Corve "Any bubble in particular, love?"
Xar`Rex hangs back for a bit until Myrrh catches up to him, and mutters, "We are being watched."
Corve **
Carmine "It seems like there's something in the water..." she speaks back softly
Myrrh "Well of course we are. It's a wyld mutated jungle. I wouldn't be suprised if we were going to be set upon by flying frog raptors.
Corve "Where..?" He tries to get a better look. He should be able to see whatever it is; he has an eye for details, after all, and if anything is hiding there, he should be able to spot it.
Xar`Rex "Human sized." He rips up a few saplings, tossing them aside casually towards the last place he saw movement.
ST With Corve examining the water and Xar throwing around small trees, the watchers are disturbed. And, being so disturbed, they reveal themselves in a screeching roar of violent attack! From the river two beasts as large as Xar heave themselves up from the water, displaying vast maws of razor-teeth and mud-coated hides of scale and armor. Like vast crocodiles, they lumber forward.
Corve blinks. "Oh. There they are. How'd I miss that? Hmm." Then he flips Judging Thunder from over his head and takes aim.
ST In response to the trees thrown by Xar, a trio of long, sleek-necked creatures hurl themselves from the leafy darkness, baring long fangs and fanning brightly-colored feather crests in threat. Their long, dexterous claws look like they mean business. These creatures too bear armor, though theirs is made from heavy skins of other lizards, roughly cobbled together.
Xar`Rex "Ooh feathers.
Xar`Rex stares at the creatures for a moment, and shouts, "Wait, they are Dragon-Kings. Do not kill them - they only need to be taught"
Myrrh "Taught what? They don't look too friendly..."
Carmine "Really they don't..."
Xar`Rex moves defensively, trying to grasp the creatures as they hurl themselves at him, without harming them overmuch. He calls out in several languages, trying to spark a reaction from them "Peace, we are friends." he repeats over and over. "I am one of you."
Corve "I hope you can teach them before they eat our faces off," he says.
ST The five savage beasts are not placated by Xar's shouts. They take them as a challenge. Screaming in their mindless reptilian way, the Stalkers attack!
Xar`Rex "They must be taught enlightenment, to be raised up like me. It is difficult, in this Age."
Corve surrounds himself with Essence and shakes his head. "Sorry, Xar. I'll try, but no promises."
Myrrh "Well they're just reptiles although I wonder where they got the armor...I thought they only ate and mated at that stage..."
Xar`Rex "They are not just reptiles!" he says indignantly, waiting for the last second before whipping out his claws, grasping one long neck in each
Corve "Sure they are. They're just reptiles, and humans are just mammals."
Xar`Rex "You don't see me killing your children because they bite!"
Corve "My kids? No. Other humans? Plenty. I seem to recall serveral charred ones, in fact."
Xar`Rex "I did not!"
Myrrh "Enough, let's just be careful. There might be more of them about..." Switches the Rev to it's "stun" mode.
Carmine smiles at the lizard creatures before her, and then there is a sunlight blade in her hands, and then she is running, and then she is in the centre of the pack and then Eninence swings in a quick, unbroken arc singing as it flies through the air, knocking the lizards back with the flat of the blade.
ST The fury and graceful strength of Carmine's onslaught leaves the Stalker party gaping and howling. Two of the sleeker animals avoid her blows by the feathers of their colorful tales, but the third feathered creature is slammed into a heavy ironwood tree and falls, out cold.
ST The two hulking crocodile-beasts fare better, taking the blows on their heavy scales and lumbering forward to attack the glowing woman who has tried to injure them! With a coordinated roar of fury and pain, the massive beasts attack Carmine, one of them trying to wrap its huge jaws around her torso, another clawing viciously at her sword arm!
Carmine snaps Eminence up and around as the beasts leap on her, once more slamming the flat of the blade into their sides, keeping them back ignoring their claws and teeth as they try to bite skin hardening far tougher than mere mortal claws.
ST With her mighty powers, Carmine beats back the two wounded crocodile-creatures and sends them sprawling, unconscious, into the murky waters from which they originally emerged. Their claws and fangs leave not even a blemish on Carmine's skin.
Myrrh stands back and watches Carmine smack around the giant lizardmen, deciding that he might as well leave her to it, he maintains a defensive posture in case there are any other lizards about...
Corve watches his love toss Dragon Kings into the air without much difficulty, and then observes as Xar grabs one, leaving only one of the lanky, dexterous looking ones left. "Eh," he says, lifting his gun and taking a shot at the creature's leg, meaning to wound it, mostly, rather than really harm it. It reminds him of that one time in Hanushi...
Xar`Rex catches one of the raptoks around the neck, and puts it into a choke hold, til he passes out
ST The stalker that Corve shot at growls angrily as the bullet impacts its chest, knocking it back a few paces. Otherwise the beast seems unharmed.
Corve "Ah, crap." He shakes his rifle a bit. " 's wrong with you?!"
Xar`Rex "You shot him!"
Corve "Softly. Besides, he's fine. Don't accuse me of shooting him and leaving him standing when you're asphyxiating one."
Xar`Rex "Mine is not bleeding." he huffs.
Myrrh "Well I have a few rubber shells..."
Corve "Neither is the other one. He's barely bruised," he says, actually seeming to concentrate more on his weapon than the angry Dragon King he shot.
ST To be fair to Corve, this once his police brutality has failed to maim the savage, flesh-eating reptile beast in any way. It seems just fine as it leaps toward him, maw agape, hissing violently and salivating for a taste of his yummy insides!
Carmine almost lazily flicks her blade sideways at the one staggering back after her lover shot it, arcs of red and gold knocking it out of the air as it tries to retaliate sending it hurtling through the undergrowth, not to return
ST The Stalker flies off into the leafy darkness, vanishing amid a tangle of vines and tree stumps. There are scurrying noises as small scavengers and miniature predators hurry to investigate the sudden landing.
Corve "Also, you yell at me for shooting a bullet at it... but Carmine's basically -transformed- him into a bullet, and you're not complaining," he says, sitting down on a rock and inspecting his rifle. Man, that shot had sucked.
ST All is now quiet. Well, as quiet as it ever gets in a jungle. There are the sounds of the birds, the insects, the tiny scavengers feeding. But for the most part, there is peace as the Circle gets its breath back after the sudden attack by five savage Dragon-Kings
Myrrh "What do we do with them now?"
Xar`Rex "We need to restrain them until we can teach them enlightenment."
Corve "And how do you plan on going about doing that?"
Carmine seems considerably more relaxed after the fight
Xar`Rex frowns. "There is one in my old tribe who can. I do not know anyone here."
Xar`Rex **
Xar`Rex "Given time, I can do it."
Myrrh "Well then i'll just summon up some blood apes to carry them."
Myrrh "Lord knows i'm not lifting them all through the jungle!"
Myrrh "We'd have to wait til night fall though."
Carmine "...Blood Apes?"
Myrrh "Demons. Big horned apes that smell like blood. Very strong."
Xar`Rex "I can carry them. We must bind them until we can."
Myrrh "Well alright, Corve, you're good with knots. I'll get some vines."
Carmine "...Demons?!"
Myrrh "...yes?"
Carmine "...How can yo-...since when can you summon demons?"
Carmine "...Do you have them inside you?!" Carmine looks at the glows showing through their skin, the sesselje within them illuminated by Emience...
Xar`Rex leaves this one to Myrrh. It was his idea after all.
Myrrh "Since I became a sorcerer. Apparently the Primordial's signed some sort of agreement with the gods for being spared so we can...well yes...just one. It heals me when i'm injured...and Xar asked for one too!"
Myrrh "I got one for each of you...they are handy."
Xar`Rex studiously tends to the baby DKs
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