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Post by seraaches on Feb 11, 2008 13:32:23 GMT -5
The raccon pushed carefully through the brush, giving a small sigh of frustration. He was dirty, sweaty, smelly, and covered in Marsh goo. How in the WORLD could Queen Rai have come out of this place?!
The Selkie Lakes raccoon turned his head to look at the woman slight ahead of him. They'd been traveling for a week and were now nearing the place on the map that supposedly they were heading. In fact... that's wot they were searching for right now. The Queen's map insinuated that there was a smattering of cabins in a small clearing and that's where their target was located.
Lawrence hugged his spear to his body. They'd had a few scares on the way over; feral creatures, swamp land, and even a bout of quicksand that had nearly gotten the tubby little 10. He wasn't sure he wanted to know who else lived here.
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Silently and certainly unbeknownst to the two Hearts.. someone was watching their movements; someone who knew the Marsh very well and knew all of its pitfalls and dangers. This someone knew why they had come and after another long moment of contemplation, the person disappeared back into the wilds of Josiggy, perhaps with a sinister plot in mind.
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Post by Tigeress on Feb 11, 2008 21:46:44 GMT -5
Sekhmet's teeth were gritted in concentration, snarling against the heat and the musk that had, actually, become almost like background noise over the weeks of travel thus far. It had been repulsing at first, but now she hardly even noticed it. The heat took much longer to get used to, however, especially when one was doing such strenuous work. She was in fantastic shape, so it was almost refreshing to be working her body so hard, but she was aware that Lawrence was not. However, out of want to keep a good time, she didn't slow her pace, after all, it wasn't her job to lessen her abilities for the sake of a lower card, he was good at keeping up thus far, and impressed her with his huge lack of whining and complaining for someone so not used to the excercise, or so she imagined.
Her thin sword was out in front of her, blade showing the dull edge to the brush and tall grasses. She would have been hacking her way though, but the idea behind taking an unmarked path was to be inconspicuous and unseen. Leaving a hacked path was far too risky, and just asking to be snuck up on. However, she'd been tangled a few times already by the underroots and had learned which of the thicker rooted plants were better to cut down than try to work through. Not to mention, the closer they were, the more she anticipated something happening.
She glanced back at the raccoon once for any sign that he knew they were getting closer, they'd been wandering in the general marked area of the map for a solid two hours now, and no clearing yet. Her eyes tried to scan between the trees, and still nothing popped out of place, just trees and brush and tangle for as far as she could see. Which was impressive considering the lack of light which broke the trees, but that was an ability she'd picked up from some... ah... curiosity. Holding her hand up, she advised the raccoon that she was about to stop, waiting for him to catch up the few steps she had ahead of him. Might as well take a few second break to get their bearings, less they were walking in circles.
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Post by Trebias on Feb 12, 2008 0:48:55 GMT -5
 ((OOC: Sera gave me permission to post because they'd need his help.)) The canine approached the mismatched pair, a raccoon that was a 10 and a deer - with wings? The deer was a Jack. Was she wearing leather armor? If it wasn't armor, he couldn't see any purpose for it out here. If it was armor. No, he'd leave that. It was too easy. The raccoon seemed more than a little winded, and El wasn't surprised that the pair were Hearts. Ignoring pain and ignoring fatigue were two very different things. "Having a bit of trouble, are we?" He said. "Here's a little bit of advice. Nasty patch of road up this way," he indicated with his nose the direction they had been heading, the most direct route to the cabins. "You'll want to go the other way," he pointed to a direction removed ninety degrees from the direction they seemed to need. "It's a good bit safer." |
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Post by seraaches on Feb 12, 2008 1:10:45 GMT -5
Lawrence stared in surprise when a man appeared from seemingly nowhere and issued a dire warning. He sent the doe a concerned glance, before looking back towards their would-be saviour as he seemed to melt back into the brush in the very direction he had warned them against. The raccoon gaped slightly in shock, then turned to look at the woman for direction.
"Wot should we do, your Excellence?" he asked softly. He didn't want to backtrack through the wilds of the Marsh, but if there was nastiness ahead? Maybe a retreat would be better. Though... who knew how Queen Rai would view such information, should it get back to him. It might have been easier to make a decision if one knew wot he was looking for in a King.
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Post by Tigeress on Feb 12, 2008 12:29:03 GMT -5
At the sudden sound of another presence, Sekhmet's sword came up instinctively, her other hand moving outwards to balance her, palm up. She didn't speak until the canine had finished, noting Lawrence's question and then taking a moment to herself. How in the hell did this canine know where they were going? And why in the hell would he want to help? The doe didn't like the feeling she was getting from this encounter. The canine had done nothing to introduce himself or seem friendly, something that was generally wise when approaching a pair of armed travellers unless you had ill intent yourself.
Instantly suspicious, she wondered if he had been sent out by this stranger to lead them into some sort of ambush? No, probably not. If they were going to be attacked, this stranger would probably want to do it himself from what she'd heard. So if this was some sort of trick, he was acting independantly and could have a group of friends up ahead. To be fair, she and Lawrence had successfully scared off and... accidentally injured (she honestly hadn't meant to, to the degree she had) a small group of like-minded individuals, assuming this canine had poor intentions.
She glanced at the raccoon and frowned, he was significantly more tired and winded, and stopping didn't seem to help the conditions. After a whole day's travel, he would be much weaker and she wouldn't be at her prime, either. Of course, that could also have an impact on their survival if they chose the route with 'bad things ahead'. It was a potential lose-lose situation, to be honest. What would Queen Rai want? If he had of wanted her to have a guided tour, he'd have sent her with someone from the marsh themselves, or written out a set of precise directions. This was supposed to be a test, was it not?
But then again, surely he wouldn't know which exact areas were just generally potentially fatal and best avoided from memory, would he? Accepting an offer of outside help seemed risky, but she wasn't willing to compromise or risk the raccoon's life because of her own stubborn paranoia, something else that she knew the Queen would NOT appreciate. Sighting, she glanced to the raccoon. "I'm not sure we can safely handle another 'nasty patch of road' today, not with us both so tired as we are. And this is a terrible area to camp in, so resting here is out of the question." She was thinking out loud, but it was helping her make up her mind.
It would be pitiful to get swallowed up by a patch of quicksand and never even make it to their destination, or be bitten by a venomous swamp-dwelling creature hidden under a patch of thick mud. "We'll go around." She said firmly, her voice sounding much more certain than she felt inside. How long had this canine been following them for, anyway? Her stomach flipped a warning at her, but she ignored it. No going back now. Nodding at Lawrence, she began to head in the direction the canine had indicated, her strained eyes straining ever the more and her nose trying to be filter through the scents of the marsh. At least going back around meant they'd be able to find a more secure area to camp, she remembered passing a few spots but it had been too early on in the day to even consider stopping.
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Post by seraaches on Feb 12, 2008 16:43:36 GMT -5
Lawrence nodded, keeping his own counsel about whether or not he agreed with the woman, though he -was- rather tired. He wasn't certain if he was relieved with her choice; he almost wanted to just push through wotever nastiness was head. Surely the woman knew better than he.
As they turned and began to make their way back in the direction indicated, abruptly it seemed as though the ground went out from beneath them. Lawrence gave a cry as they both fell down into a hole hidden in the ground of the Marsh.
Nothing dangerous was inside; it was only a hole that hid about mid-chest for a bipedal. Lawrence pushed himself up with a gasp, afraid he had squished the woman. He was indeed pinning her a bit, but he quickly scrambled off with apologies mixed with concern. "I-I'm sorry, your Excellence! Are you all right? Were you hurt? I'm sorry!"
A piece of paper was evident attached to the side of the wall. Closer inspection would show words written in small block letters.
It could have been a lot worse. Go away and leave me alone.
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Post by Tigeress on Feb 12, 2008 17:44:00 GMT -5
She was surprised when the ground gave way beneath her, and managed to brace herself against the wall when she hit so as not to stupidly and accidentally break anything. Son of a bitch... Well, bad area of the forest or not, she was pretty much ready to rip that canine limb from limb, he'd obviously led them to this as a scare tactic. Well, she certainly was not scared, just vigorously pissed off. It would be pretty dangerous to set up camp any farther ahead, but if they continued along the route the canine had presented them, who knew what other surprise traps would spring up where there should have been safe ground?
"I'm fine Lawrence, are you alright? I think we need to hunt down our little friend..." She snarled as she dusted herself off. She should have known better than to assume everything behind them would be as they remembered it, if this canine had been following them for as long as she now dreaded he had. They'd have to take a long route out, because everything behind then now was completely compromised. She ripped the paper off the wall, so as to avoid suspicion from anyone coming this way, though she didn't know why anyone else would chance sneaking through the bush unless they had a similar idea in mind.
The canine had only been out of their sight for a few minutes, if they were nimble enough they could probably catch up with him and smack him around until he told them what she wanted to know. Or maybe not with the smacking around, but she certainly felt like doing it. It was probably better not to use force on any of this stranger's goonies, just in case that counted in Queen Rai's strict orders. Getting her bearings again, she headed back towards this 'nasty area' ahead. She had enough adrenaline in her now that whatever was waiting, she'd damn well push through it. She was still concerned about Lawrence, though, just as she had been before...
"Stay a few steps behind me, about two metres should be good." That way, if any more surprise traps sprung up, she'd be trapped and not him. She had a few things going for her, like the ability to fly and just general impressive physical shape. She noticed with a sigh, that they'd have to push through the bad patch up ahead entirely before they could make camp, not only to see if they could catch that canine, but also because staying here left them in an open and dangerous spot, now that the canine knew what route they had supposedly taken. Hopefully the element of surprise was on their side, as the canine had probably assumed he'd scared them out of going the direct route.
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Post by seraaches on Feb 13, 2008 18:56:32 GMT -5
Larry nodded uneasily, tightening his grip unconsciously on his spear as they began their careful and steady press through the wilds of the Marsh. He really wasn't that great at anything, honestly. Not at his abilities, not even with his weapon, for all that he treasured the little he was able to do with it. He also realized that he was rather clumsy, but there had never been reason to regret or even contemplate it until now. He dearly hoped her Excellence Sekhmet wouldn't get into any trouble; he wasn't really the best one to be able to help heeerrr---!!!!
With a yelp and the sound of wot might be ropes tightening suddenly, the raccoonn was jerked up into the air where he gave a cry of pain. His spear came sailing back down to the ground to embed its head into the spongy marshland below. Should Sekhmet decide to walk back to her companion, she had an equally good chance of sharing his fate; a slipknot to the foot followed by a sudden rise through brush and trees decorated with small blades of varying lengths and size. A note was pinned to a tree near Larry and, should he calm down and look around, he would probably see it and be able to read the large block letters.
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Post by Tigeress on Feb 13, 2008 23:41:36 GMT -5
She spun in a complete circle when she heard his voice, ducking low as her blade came up protectively before her. Groaning with irritation, she wondered just how much this stranger stood to loose by going out of his way to make so many of these frustrating traps. No matter, if there was a safe way up, she'd find a safe way down. She was about to take an adrenaline-driven step forward, her heart racing, when she noticed the note. It was pinned to the tree just next to Lawrence, and she figured before she made any rash movements, she might as well get him to read it. It was probably just another 'rawr phear me and turn baaaack!' note, but just in case it held something useful...
"Lawrence! Are you alright? Listen to me, I need you to look towards that tree next to you. See the letter? Can you read it? If you can, read it out for me. I'll get you down in a second." She took a few moments to survey the area, checking herself to make sure she hadn't stopped in a snare of any kind. She checked her wrists, ankles, wings, a quick full body scan while she waited for him to respond. She couldn't get enough room to make any flight of any kind, the bush was too thick and risky and if she became tangled or disoriented, who knew what she might stumble into? No, she'd have to play it safe and find another more cautious route.
She couldn't see any traps from this angle, and it would be peculiar to have two entirely seperate traps so close to each other, as if someone predicted that she'd miss the first one, or that she'd taken the precaution to keep distance between herself and Lawrence. However... stranger things had happened already, and she simply could not risk trapping herself and completing the set. As long as she remained free, they had a good chance at getting out unharmed. "How close are those blades to you and the rope?" She called up, not being able to see well through the angle she was at, with the branches blocking off too much of her view to feel comfortable making her own estimate of the exact situation.
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Post by seraaches on Feb 14, 2008 12:46:07 GMT -5
Lawrence nodded in reply to her question of his condition, not realizing immediately that she likely couldn't see his nod. He wasn't too terribly high up, but those blades and leaves were obscuring much of his view back towards the ground. In actuality, his body was covered in superficial cuts and the blood was beginning to ooze out. At least, he thought in relief, it wasn't gushing out.
The blades, he noticed suddenly, were secured far enough away that he was only lightly cut; whoever had done this trap had purposefully made it injuring but non-lethal.
When Sekhmet asked about the paper, Larry twisted his head around until he finally spotted it. It was a little difficult to read upside down, but he called down the words as he figured them out."
"I... told you to go... the other way. Get out and... leave me... alone."
His ears flicked back uneasily at the words. There was an underlying tone of danger to them; as though the traps would just get worse from here if they did not heed the words. As the raccoon swayed on the rope, his eyes skimmed wot he could see. He was losing the circulation in his leg. Was that...?
"I think I see the cabins!" he called down excitedly. There was a small line of smoke not too far from where they were.
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