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Post by The Jenn on Aug 31, 2008 21:18:21 GMT -5
The pub was crowded and rowdy, with several round tables set up for card games and other games of chance that were fast and dirty and easy to play. Money was easier to lose if more people could understand and abide by the rules more quickly. Most people had a drink in their hands or nearby.
The bartender, of course, was sober, a heavyset Midori feline with a bob tail that was visible when he turned to get things on the back of the bar. Also looking slightly less sloshed was a bird with a half-plucked wing, a songbird of some sort, brooding over his barely-touched mug of beer.
Someone swept up behind her and grabbed a 'cheek' as he passed, someone else reaching out to fluff Zuberi's tail. Neither touch was particularly gentle, one a man and one a decidedly muscular woman, both drunk off their asses and laughing.
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Post by Nako on Aug 31, 2008 21:30:50 GMT -5
"Eee! No! Stop it!" Zuberi squeaked at the rough treatment, dropping on all fours to run through bipedal feet to get to the bar. Pinning herself against the table a moment before sliding up into a chair, she took a moment to catch her breath.
With her tush firmly planted in a chair, she was saved from at least a little bit of the abuse, tucking her tail around her protectively. This was a keen reminder as to why she rarely went into bars. Zuberi certainly didn't want to stay long with this group; suddenly wandering about in the darkness seemed not so daunting.
First though, she'd need instructions. Considering the relatively sober folks at the bar and the tender himself, she spoke to the lot of them. "E- Excuse me.. would any of you know where I could find a landmark that looks like... a crown?"
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Post by The Jenn on Sept 1, 2008 9:10:05 GMT -5
None of the people around the bar area had been paying attention to the squirrel before she sat and had missed her little grope, not that it would have concerned them either way. The barkeep looked up at her approach, anticipating an order, but rolled his eyes at the question and continued with his business. The songbird snorted and watched the tender, then turned to the girl. "Everybody 'round these parts knows about the Crown, girl. It's a nasty business of a lake surrounded by giant, jagged spires of rocks. Plenty of speculation on how it ended up that way. You can see 'em from here if you look to the nor'east during daylight hours."
He stared down at the liquid in his mug, then shook his head and looked back up. "Path to get there's easy enough. No trees blocking your way if you don't mind a bit of water. There's a swift little river what leads from here to there, clear water. Fast, though, and deeper than you'd think. Mind the current. It's easier to take half a day and get there on foot than to fight the water. Not much business up around those parts, though, nor people. Some say 's haunted. Don't know what you'd want to go up there for."
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Post by Kiki on Sept 1, 2008 10:49:06 GMT -5
Jenn and Nako receive 1 token each, to be redeemed in Ashwin's Shoppe.
This will automatically be added to your recorded totals in the shoppe.
Congratulations, and keep up the good RP!
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Post by Nako on Sept 1, 2008 22:32:17 GMT -5
In retrospect, Zuberi probably should have stuck around and asked more questions, but in her haste, she was out of that bar as soon as the man started speaking. She'd head to the northeast, and take the paths.. but where would she need to turn to take the longer route? Unsure, she decided to keep on going. She didn't want to go back into the pub for anything; her poor bottom was sore enough from the abuse it had taken for being in there only for a minute or so.
Turning toward the torchlit path, she breathed in deep to collect herself. Should she stay for the night, or should she go on? She was not so helpless as to not know how to take care of herself in the wilderness. She knew what fruits to eat and which were poisonous, and which barks were to be used as medicine. She'd be fine, and if she tired she would sleep on the trail.
((Sorry if I shoved her forward too much XD))
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Post by The Jenn on Sept 2, 2008 8:46:39 GMT -5
The rocks on the shore of the river were slippery, but there was solid ground just past them before the trees began to encroach on the river's path. The sound of the water was quite loud in some parts where it nearly turned to rapids and a quiet trickle in others, places where it ran dark and deep and dangerous. Lack of significant moonlight made the path sometimes hard to follow, especially after it passed the point in the path where torches were regularly provided. There was a split away from the main river that the torches followed early on, apparently the more often trail that led elsewhere.
The island didn't seem unreasonably 'populated' by creatures, at least in this area. It was a good bet that many of the more dangerous ones had been hunted by the inhabitants, at least closer to the town. It would take her a good nine hours of walking at a normal pace to reach the base of the crown, longer if she slept.
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Post by Nako on Sept 2, 2008 13:35:40 GMT -5
It was a treacherous journey, for sure. Zuberi found herself almost straying off the path more than once, and once she reached the river, she knew she was in trouble. It took her a good extra hour off her time tracing the slippery path of the river before she found a slower flowing part of it. Crossing it, she'd nearly slipped, banging her knee on the rocks. Though not seriously injured, the knee slowed her down, and after crossing the river and finding the path again she could do little more than lay down and sleep.
She'd only slept maybe two hours, but already the sun was rising. This would at least give her the light she needed. Sitting up and stretching out the soreness in her body, she found fruit from a tree and ate it before continuing on. She was tired... By Pinbeard's sword she was -exhausted-, but she couldn't sleep any more... not knowing she was so close to the end of her journey. Mincing because of her knee, she didn't reach the crown until the morning dew had since evaporated and the Midori's typical heat set in.
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Post by The Jenn on Sept 2, 2008 15:27:12 GMT -5
Haha, the fruit was poison!
...no, no, it was fine. The walk would become increasingly arduous as she approached her goal of the towering spires of rock, however, with the path slowly becoming more and more difficult as the terrain roughened. The jungle encroached more on the river initially, and then less as large stones and boulders began to dot the landscape. Right up to the base of the spires, where the river disappeared into a large hole in the middle of the rock, the trees tried to crowd the area. There was no way for Zuberi to enter the river's cavern without swimming in the fast, deep water.
Above her at great heights were the individual spires, even less symmetrical than they'd seemed from a distance. There were low spots between some of the spires but all of them would require some kind of climb at a moderate incline to reach. At least there would be plenty of purchase.
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Post by Nako on Sept 2, 2008 15:44:06 GMT -5
Zuberi looked at the waters, uneasy. Did she really have to swim through that? Moving backwards a bit, she looked up at the tall, ominous spires that stood high above her. What was she to do? Unsure, she pulled out the strip of paper she had received from the fighting coach and looked at it.
Between its second tines and down? She assumed this means she'd need to enter the crown between its second spires... and down? If the river was between the spires then that made sense. If it was one of the pairs that weren't by the river then she'd have to climb. Both options seemed treacherous and unsavory. Her expression went from the paper the crown, then back to the paper. What was she to do? Looking back up, she made a point to count the spires, trying to figure out which of them were the second tines...
(AUGH. Never have I had to fluff a post so much! Basically, which are the second tines?? XD))
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Post by The Jenn on Sept 2, 2008 16:07:11 GMT -5
Though varying in size and somewhat in shape, it would be impossible to form a logical 'order' of the tines unless she'd worked out a system with the person beforehand. As this was patently impossible, either she was boned... or it had to be something else.
Looking as closely as she was up at the spires, she could see that the second to the left of the river appeared to have something of a 'split' in its middle that made it in fact two towers of rock next to one another that were closer by far than all of the other spires. It would require a climb, possibly an hour's worth of edging up and between rocks until she could reach that split, but it was the closest thing to 'second spires' that she was likely to find. The day promised to be a hot and humid one with little cloud cover.
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