The Unknown: A Game of Fear, Ignorance, and Adventure

[Saskwach]

The quiet of the jungle was gone and there was now only the baying of birds. Ravenous birds, that now swooped and dived and pecked at Jonas' flesh. He drew his sword and lay about him. It was chaotic work following these small creatures' erratic movement; he was up to the task. Here one split in two, there another lost a wing. Another hovered in front of his face, waiting for an opening to peck at his eyes. It was cloven in twain for the dim wit that resided in its - now halved - brain.
Soon a half dozen birds lay on the floor. Their blood had splashed in pathetic drizzles over the ground. Theirs was complemented by equally small patches of Jonas' own, torn from slight wounds by these sharp beaked beasts. And still more of the creatures waited in the wings for their chance to strike. What could drive peaceable creatures to such a bestial rage?

 

[MeatSpace]

Garril wrestled with the tiger on the jungle floor, both axes wedged too deeply in its sides to be recovered at this point. The tiger was violent, angry, frenzied and breakable. The sudden impending nature of it's own mortality was slowly dawning on it, and it raged against the coming of that good night. The jungle had It's claws and his fists flew back and forth as the brawl continued until he grew tired of the repetition. With a final primal scream he hefted the great feline over his head, slashing and yowling in desperation. He then promptly split the beast over his knee with a horrendous crack followed in short order by a series of wet splashes. Slumping back covered in blood and twitching injuries he looked to the two frightened sailors. "Someone bag that up and salt it for me." Without so much as another word he collected his axes from the pile of raw meat and continued off into the jungle, still smiling like a madman. The wounds he sustained, which already seemed to be clotting, were paid no heed. His path of destruction continued unfettered into the forest.

 

[Saskwach]

These things posed little threat, but they were beginning to aggravate Jonas. Occasionally one would find an opening and tear at some exposed flesh. He would kill them all if he continued for a time, but that time seemed wasteful - and painful. Jonas waved his sword about and yelled out, hoping to put fear in the birds. When they dispersed momentarily he bolted for the tower, where he had seen Calgar enter just moments before.
A solid door stood fast in front of him. He struck it with his sword butt.
"Open up! Quickly, I have no time to be pecked to death!"

 

[Zemalac]

Down on the beach, all was chaos.

The sailors, finding oars to be unwieldy weapons to swat at swiftly-moving creatures, had taken the expedient route of snapping them in half to form impromptu staffs. Deslock, seeing this, had taken a moment to shout at them for breaking the oars, to which the sailors replied that there were spares in the longboat, which Deslock said was not the point, dammit, at which point the parrots tried to steal his hat again. The explorer pulled a pistol and shot one of them out of the air in a cloud of feathers, which frightened the rest of them off, at least temporarily.

"Right," said Deslock, adjusting his hat. "Anyone know what the hell is going on? No? Then let's get moving. Fuck these birds, we need to get some fresh water."

He paused for a moment, considering. "And we probably ought to find the rest of our crew, too. Fortunately enough, someone seems to have blazed a trail for us." He indicated the wreckage created by Garril Rasput's axes. "Let's go, get our water and our crew, and get out of here."

Meanwhile, deep in the jungle, Garril Rasput had missed the hill entirely and was happily carving his way down the other side of the island.

______________________​

Spoiler: OOC: Complete Tower Description

I'm not sure if my piecemeal descriptions of the tower have painted a clear enough picture for everyone, so I'm going to provide a better idea of how it's built and what remains.

The main outer door of the tower was made of wood, and has therefore long since rotted away. Inside that doorway is a cramped room with little furnishings, no roof and lots of rubble. The outer walls of this room are tattered in the extreme.

There is an inner room to the tower, however, sort of a tower-within-the-tower. This room has a stone door, some minor gold ornamentation, a trap door leading to a cellar and a stairway leading to higher levels, which has broken off about two-thirds up. This room also doesn't have much of a ceiling, though Rhee has built a ramshackle roof out of fallen timbers and other rubble. It is this inner room where the Expedition members are holed up. Jonas, presumably, is standing in the outer room, which at this point is more of a courtyard.

I'm giving this description because I don't think I made the inner vs outer rooms distinction clear earlier. Nothing thus far contradicts the picture I had in my mind, but I just wanted to point it out to you all anyway.

In the meantime: Deslock is searching for water and the rest of the Expedition, Nexaddo, Rasput and Derlan are lost in the jungle, and the animals are attacking everyone. Let's see how this works out.

EDIT: It has been pointed out to me that Rhee did not, in fact, construct a roof. Instead she built a very smoky fire, in the hopes that the smoke would keep the birds out (and possibly signal for help, I suspect). This makes a lot more sense than what I wrote.

 

[ThePuzzldPirate]

Rhee opened the door wide enough for whoever to get in but greeted with her pistol first. Seeing it was only Jonas, her pistol went back into her coat allowing the fighter a refuge. After she closed the door again, she collapsed where she stood, leaning against the door. All she could do was laugh, this whole scene was absurd and it reeked.

""

 

[Zemalac]

Down on the beach, Deslock was pacing in front of his meager crew, waving his pistol through the air, a thin line of smoke still trickling from the barrel.

"Right. We need to prioritize. Crew first, then water, then leaving. You!" he said, pointing at Royka. "Where did you say you left the rest of the Expedition? Lead us to 'em. You two!" indicating the sailors, "guard the boat. You!" and he paused, pointing at Keil. "Hmm. Crutches might not be so good for running through the jungle and getting attacked by wild animals."

The explorer spent a moment in thought. "Here," he said, tossing Keil the pistol. "There's powder and shot in the locker under the seat." To the sailors: "Slight change of plans, gents. You two are coming with us. We can't take Keil here through the forest, so he can stay and keep watch on our ticket out of here." To Keil: "Keep a sharp eye on everything. We just got attacked by damn parrots--the gods alone know what's going to happen next."

Deslock waved Royka forward. "Right then. Lead on."

___________________​

There was the tense atmosphere of a siege on the hilltop, if a siege were conducted by an army that twittered cheerfully while staking out the battlements. The act of holing up and defending a position seemed to enrage the creatures even further, for whatever reason. Bright feathered bodies hurled themselves through the broken roof, only to be driven back by the thick smoke. For those inside, it was extremely surreal.

There were things bellowing deep in the forest, harsh guttural sounds that sounded dimly in the air. An experienced outdoorsman no doubt could have identified all of the calls: here a boar, there a lone tiger, there a hunting hawk. They all spoke together in a mad whirl of sound, blurring the lines between one voice and the next until everything sounded like one cry. It sounded like the very forest was angry, bent on the destruction of the interlopers.

The Expedition slumped against the walls in the tower, resting and listening, waiting for a break they could exploit.

 

[MintyNinja]

"Right then. Lead on."

"Good luck, kid," said Rokya as he turned to follow the freshly blazed trail. Here and there branches and sticks were piled off to the side where the sailors had deposited them. Garril hadn't wasted time with cleanup, gods only knew if he was aware of the trees in his way. His path traveled in a loosely held line, winding around a rocky outcropping here and there, and driving through more than one large tree.

They had only been jogging for twenty minutes when the first flecks of orange fur became visible in the distance. Slowing his pace, Rokya drew his sword and held up his free hand to slow the others. "Just a sec, I'll check it out," he told Deslock and the others, who nodded eagerly. Rokya moved as cautiously as he could with his pack still strapped to his back, but the orange fur didn't move. As he recognized it as the lower half of one of the great tigers that inhabited the island. He waved the others over as he spotted the upper half.

"Guess we picked the right guy for the job," said Deslock with a slight grin.

"Just a small problem, Deslock," Rokya pointed out. "He's going the wrong way. The tower is at the top of the hill, from here he starts going downhill again."

"Then we should go to the tower, the orc can obviously take care of himself," one of the sailors added. This earned a glare from the Explorer but he didn't say anything.

"It's up to you, Deslock. Who do you want to find?" asked Rokya.

 

[Zemalac]

"Bloody hell," said Deslock. "All right, then. Snap decision time. There's, what, two sailors with Rasput? Both armed, and he's got those axes of his. Okay. And the tower's at the top of the hill, you say? Highest point on the island? Looks like it. Hmmm."

Deslock took off his hat and ran his fingers through his hair. "All right, all right...here's what we'll do. We'll go to the tower and use that as a base of operations to figure out where everything else is. We should be able to see the whole island from there, right? That would be the whole point of building a tower on this godsforsaken piece of dirt, I should think."

He turned to Royka and nodded. "The tower it is. I'd say 'lead on,' but I think we can find our way from here by following the smoke." He pointed at at the thick plume through the trees, rising from where Rhee had set her fire to keep the birds away. "Let's go."

 

[Caimekaze]

Keil sat on the boat.

Well... Blast. I guess there goes my chance to move around. Oh well, at least I am no longer aboard the ship, at least temporarily.

He peeled his eyes, on guard.

 

[ThePuzzldPirate]

Rhee's head bounced as someone's fist slammed against the door. By the time she got up someone was pulling the door open. Rhee's hand twitched ramming her pistol into her boss's chest, oops.

"Rhee, would you remove that before I remove your face," Deslock said. Rhee smiled muttering sorry as she let everyone in, Deslock was followed by Rokya and Jakob and a few others.
The smoky room was strangely silent as everyone found their own corner in the room. Deslock was the first to speak after the door closed.

"Well since someone decided to smoke everyone out," his eyes led to the roof where the birds were still screeching at the smoke. "I take it no one manage to go sightseeing?"

Rhee nodded and asked Rokya to translate for her, she went into detail of the surroundings before she was attacked.

"" She waited patiently for Rokya to repeat the mouthful before she started again.

""

 

[Zemalac]

"There's another ship?" To say Deslock was surprised would not do justice to his expression, but it'll do for the purposes of description. "Okay. Right. The place is called Smuggler's Isle, I guess it would make sense that smugglers would use it. And it would make sense that they wouldn't want anyone else to drop in, either. Right."

He squinted, trying to keep the smoke out of his eyes. "I didn't come here to fight a bunch of damn rabble who think they own the place. Not yet, anyway. But, if needs must..."

The explorer was quiet for a moment. "We need to find the rest of our crew, and we still need some fresh water," he said finally. "We're still missing, what, four people? Rasput, the two sailors with him, the Doctor, and Derlan. And where the hell has Jakob gotten off to?" He took a moment to do some addition in his head. "Six people. Lovely."

He looked around, at everyone expecting him to come to a decision, which only made him more irritable. "Any suggestions would be welcome," he said, only slightly sarcastic.

_________________________​

Down on the beach, there was a crab.

Of course, this wouldn't really be noteworthy if it weren't the size of a godsdamn dinner plate, with armor encrusted with the somber remains of ancient barnacles. It was a crab of the sort that makes you acutely aware that it is an arachnid, a giant spider with a hard shell, sharp claws and beady little eyes on stalks. It was one of those things that you devoutly hoped, if you ever thought of it, could never grow to this size.

It was watching Keil with an air of intense suspicion from within a little bunker it had constructed from the sand. Royka, on his way to follow Deslock, had almost stepped on the creature, which had woken it up. Once it had shaken the grit from its back and looked around it had discovered this new thing lying on the beach. Was it edible? Was it dangerous? The crab didn't know.

It scuttled forward, emerging from the sand like...well, like a large crustacean emerging from sand. It moved sideways, claws snapping reflexively at air, eying the longboat with a professionally paranoid air.

Eventually it decided that there might be something edible there, and closed in.

 

[Caimekaze]

Keil looked at the crab. The crab (plausibly) looked at Keil. And god damn but it was big.

"Oh. Hello there. You are a pretty big crab, are you not? Hungry?"

Keil looked through his pack until he found some beef jerky. He tore a piece off and threw it in front of the crab.

"There you go girl. Or boy. I am not exactly knowledgable on how to tell crab genders apart."

 

[MintyNinja]

"Any suggestions would be welcome,"

"Well, why don't we split up?" Rokya offered. "We're already scattered, and large groups are easier to detect in this wilderness. Everyone else knows to get to the Cepolada by nightfall, that leaves us with a few hours still."

He looked around the smoky room, mentally counting up their numbers. "If one group were able to catch up to the orc they could then investigate the other ship. Likewise, we could search the cellar below us for anything worth taking back. And, of course, the water supply is critically important."

 

[ThePuzzldPirate]

Rhee, finally annoyed with the silence(not the birds) jumped to her feet, grabbed a stick from the fire and headed towards the cellar. It was a minor annoyance that no one else had anything to say and decided to act. She shoved the stick into a crack in the wall and started pushing rocks out of the way. It wasn't really clearing and more of tossing rocks into places where no one was going to walk. Finally, she hit a rock that was to big for herself to move and did what was natural.

""

 

[Saskwach]

The situation was complicated, and as with all affairs of men, uncertain. Jonas was pondering the twists and turns of fate. He was not feeling up to the task. Rhee had grunted something in her harsh, angular tongue. Perhaps it was important.

"Our plan of action hinges on this ship and what we feel it means. If we are content to watch it - for now - then we should set camp here: it offers a defensible point of vantage. If we fear this ship outmatches us, and would be better served by prudence, we should remain at the beach - the better to flee at the first omen - or begin planning an attack at once. I would choose the first route and send a scouting party to inquire into the matter - once our missing fellows have been returned."

Jonas's face darkened.

"But nature has already conspired against us once today: I fear this ship is no ordinary smuggler. If we should stay at this tower we must make plans for its defence."

Spoiler: OOC

TBH, I might have botched the strategic assessment, so don't be ashamed to disagree. It was best to say something than nothing. The perfect is the enemy of the good.

 

[MintyNinja]

"But nature has already conspired against us once today: I fear this ship is no ordinary smuggler. If we should stay at this tower we must make plans for its defense."

Rokya had heard Rhee's request for help and eventually realized she had meant him; no one else had been shown to understand her language. But as Jonas spoke up from across the bonfire Rokya realized an important flaw. "This fire's not gonna last," he said aloud. As a few faces turned to him he continued. "It may last for another hour or two, but by then the birds will find their ways in and we'll once again be at their mercy." He thought it over for a few minutes more. "We may find some shelter in the cellar, maybe even a working door."

He continued helping Rhee clear debris off the stairs until another idea made him call out. "Deslock? Did we leave the empty barrels with Keil or on the ship?"

 

[Zemalac]

"Deslock? Did we leave the empty barrels with Keil or on the ship?"

"What?" Deslock looked up. "Barrels. Right. They're still in the longboat, aren't they? Wasn't about to carry them through the jungle when we didn't know where we were going. They're with Keil."

He noticed what Royka and Rhee were doing and nodded to the sailors who had followed him. "Come on, gents," he said. "We're supposed to be exploring, eh? So let's explore this place."

Admittedly, Royka and Rhee had already cleared away most of the rubble, but with Deslock and the sailors' help the rest was moved very quickly. Marneus and Jonas kept wary eyes on the door and the roof.

The door to the cellar was seasoned wood, old and battered and bound in rusted iron. To be honest, it was mostly supported by the various bits of rubbish that had lodged in the cracks over the years. The removal of a structurally key stone caused the whole thing to fall in with a dull thud that made everyone in the tower jump.

"Make a torch or something," Deslock said. Everyone assumed he was talking to someone else for a moment or two, and then one of the sailors snatched a burning branch from the fire.

The cellar was about ten degrees colder than the ground floor of the tower, and smelled of ozone and dust. There was a rack of broken-down shelves with scattered, ancient supplies--leaking cans of rancid lantern oil, food long-since turned to dust, and a cask of wine that smelled like vinegar. Above the shelves was a glyph, carved into the cellar wall, radiating cold and a feeling like ice sliding through your skin. There was no other door besides the one that the Expedition had removed in order to enter.

_________________________​

The Doctor was taking a quick bath, his clothes lying on the shore, replacing the grit, blood and sweat of the jungle with clean salt water. He dunked his head in the water and emerged from the sea to the shore--not so far, as he didn't have to go particularly deep to find water up to his neck.

He looked down at his clothes with an expression of disgust. The outfit was even more beat up than he had thought, complete taters, and there was blood on the sleeves and front. The animals had done a number on it before he was able to lose them. He turned to the tiger, which was sitting before a red mess that had once been a bird. He dressed, whistled and beckoned, and the tiger sat up, surly but obedient.

It really was odd, riding a tiger. They didn't move like horses, or any other creature, come to think of it. Nexaddo directed the beast back to the cove where the Cepolada's longboat had beached.

This time the ride was much more relaxing, though just as fast. The doctor could enjoy the sea breeze, and he was anticipating a new find in the trap he had set earlier. Rounding the peninsula (for the third time, now) he shot down the beach toward the beached longboat. Nexaddo saw Keil sitting on the edge of the boat, tossing jerky to a crab the size of a small cat. Good, the doctor thought, at least Deslock was smart enough not to let him venture far.

"Hecoona my friend!" he called as soon as he was in vocal range, "How are you feeling? At first I thought Deslock crazy for allowing you to come ashore, but I see he didn't let you get very far. Where has everybody gone off to?"

 

[ThePuzzldPirate]

Rhee rummaged through what was there and sobbed over the cask but found nothing of use. While the rune was a piece of work, it soon lost its luster when it wasn't loot able.
"" she reached into her pocket and pulled out her shiny compass. She took a second to think of a plan before hiding it back in it's corner.

"" She looked towards Rokya hoping he would translate without asking.



She went for the jerky in her pocket only to remember it was out on the log.

 

[MintyNinja]

Rokya translated Rhee's words absentmindedly, prodding the debris with his foot. He was hoping for something of value but in the dim torchlight he realized he had built his hopes up on old stories of lost treasure. Stupid stories about relics of an ancient empire. Even if they had left something of mechanical complexity, it wouldn't work worth a damn by now anyways!

As he translated her final phrase he bent down and picked up a book of matches, This will have to do. "She's right, if the birds are targeting only us then we're helpless without that mage here." He stood up but didn't leave the room, Rhee needed a translator and so he was stuck with her until they were on the Cepolada.

 

[Zemalac]

"Deslock, did we bring any spell-casters with us?"

"We've got Raven del Cid," said Deslock, "but he stayed on the ship. So if we're up against magic, well, we'll just have to be careful, is all. Let's hope it doesn't come to that."

He gave the shelves of decaying supplies a disgusted glance. "Come on," he said, "let's get out of here. Too much flammable material in this place for my liking, and you know, we built quite a large fire upstairs."

Deslock climbed the ladder back to the ground floor, not looking to see if anyone was following him. He stepped up on the pile of rubble they had moved out of the way to unveil the cellar and tried to peer through the smoke and out the roof. There didn't seem to be any birds there. Come to think of it, he couldn't hear any, either. Was that worrying? Were they lined up on branches surrounding the tower, completely silent, waiting for the door to open just a crack?

Well if they were, then fuck 'em.

"All right. Here's what we'll do," Deslock said. "Everyone agrees we need to know more, right? And we're not going to get any information by sitting on our asses, not unless something comes and attacks us, which is entirely possible because we've marked the hill with this giant pillar of smoke here. So we need to go to them, whoever 'they' may be, and figure out what the hell is going on."

He glanced down at his audience to make sure they were paying attention, and realized that they hadn't come up out of the cellar yet. "The hell are you waiting for, people? There's nothing down there unless you really have a need for vinegar or degraded lantern oil. Get a move on!"