MOD PLOT ↠ SECRET STEEP'D ROOTS

[faderifting]

WHO: Open
WHAT: Trapped! Trapped in a jungle!
WHEN: Bloomingtide 9:46
WHERE: Unknown
NOTES: OOC post! The three starters in the comments can have multiple threads, and feel free to ask us on the OOC post if you have any "what will happen if I x" questions.

When the eluvian shatters, there's a stutter in the flow of the fight. The eight Venatori nearly all freeze in place for a moment when the glass cracks, watching their way out and their plan crumble, and afterwards they never quite manage to get their rhythm back. But they don't quit, either. In the end, they all go down fighting.

Riftwatch takes no casualties, and the four members of Riftwatch who were taken captive are all alive, accounted for, and mostly unharmed.

That's the end of the good news.

The massive, shattered eluvian was set within a ruin carved and built out of a steep embankment, now almost entirely reclaimed by the jungle. All that's left are the remains of walls—some full height, others crumbling where vines have pushed between the stones or spreading tree roots have disrupted the ground. But with daylight fading and several injuries that need attending to before anyone can move, the surviving walls and thick plant growth form the best shelter anyone can hope to find before nightfall.

When the sun rises and better stock can be taken of their position, the jungle in which everyone finds themselves is still not immediately recognizable. It's hot compared to Kirkwall at this time of year, with temperatures hovering around 75-80F and kept relatively consistent between day and night by the high humidity and non-existent breeze. It rains with some frequency—light showers that are little more than mist by the time they reach ground-level or torrential downpours that start with little warning and drop several inches of rain in an hour before disappearing as abruptly as they'd arrived.

Most of the ruins extending up or out from the embankment are little more than chunks of moss-covered stone buried in the undergrowth. Searching around them will find them a stream running through the remains of a carved stone channel, fast enough to be safe to drink, and they can follow that a short ways out of the ruins to where it joins a much larger river. They won't see any traffic along it except for a variety of river creatures that would be happy to eat them. Judging by the position of the sun and moons, the river leads south.

There is one half-sunken portion of the ruin complex that's more intact, but after exploring it confirms there is no back-up eluvian on offer, there's little choice but to set out into the dense growth of the jungle. Huge trees create a canopy far overhead, and the floor is soft and springy with dead matter. Giant ferns, vines of every variety, and flowers of every conceivable color crowd them at every turn, making travel slow and damp. Overhead, and all around, are the sounds of other creatures moving through the same space. Birdsong, monkey screeches, the constant buzz and chitter of insects. The fauna in the jungle is a mix of the usual sorts of beasts one would expect in such a climate: parrots, monkeys, snakes, absurdly large insects, the rare big cat, whatever other weird animals walk around a jungle.

The walk south along the river will be a long and difficult slog through dense jungle with no real respite from the environment along the way—and no real certainty about their destination. They'll have to make a new camp each night as best they can and push on the next morning, hiking through seemingly-endless forest. At first, they will have the benefit of a path, a trail south alongside the river that appears to have been cut less than a month ago. It will lead to a second set of ruins where signs of Venatori presence will be obvious. They will make camp here for a couple days while they explore more thoroughly for clues about where they are and what the Venatori were up to.

Beyond that point it will be necessary to cut their own trail, an exhausting process that means even slower going and tired arms for everyone who takes a shift at the front of the line. The only break will come when the jungle abruptly gives way to a deep gorge, the river taking a hard west-ward turn and dropping down a series of magnificent waterfalls to what looks like a very large lake at the bottom. They can either find a way down the falls and hike west around the lake, or cross the river via a narrow rock bridge over the falls and continue south back into the jungle. They'll stop here and make camp among the rocks for another couple days to try to identify the lake or the falls before they go any further and risk walking miles in the wrong direction.

The journey will take a few weeks in total, with plenty of time and opportunity for a few people scouting ahead or foraging for food to find trouble (or fun) on their own. But the entire group will also encounter a few hazards together, including, in chronological order:

• Shortly after leaving the elven ruins where they came through the eluvian, a flash flood will catch the camp one evening, despite its position on the best available high ground, sweeping away some supplies and ruining others. People outside of the camp, for whatever reason, will lack the high ground and might experience a more dangerous rush of water, and everyone will have to go to sleep damp and hungry.
  
  
• A day after the group leaves the dwarven ruins, a swarm of dragonlings and several drakes will emerge from a mountain cave when the group passes too close, breathing fire and intent on chasing them away. Their high dragon won't appear for the fight, but several days later she will fly overhead, barely visible through the canopy but obviously very, very large.
  
  
• A few days later, they'll come upon a hot spring that appears crystal-clear and fine for drinking and bathing, but will result in people developing minor, mostly auditory hallucinatory effects an hour or two after their exposure to it. The plants growing nearby will show to have an even stronger effect, if anyone is foolish enough to eat them to find out.
  
  
• In a few areas, the river will cut gorges through the mountainous terrain, and following it will require either walking along narrow traversable paths on the cliffsides or holding supplies overhead and fording through the water. Watch out for dickfish.

Comments

[staysail]

[He's still on alert, looking about the darkness of the trees around them--but grudgingly, he shifts back to sit beside her again, settling down. Still on alert, ears pricked for the next sound. But settling. Yeah.

Fortunately she next comes up with a topic interesting enough to divert some of his attention. He looks around at her again, one eye out on the jungle still, torn between alertness and the very pleasant distraction that is Yseult.]

That's what you've been thinking about? [--Somewhat bemused, but mostly amused.] No one would suspect it of you. If you're asking which I would vote for, it'd be the second.

[hassaran]

Even I can't think about work all of the time, [ she replies, a self-deprecating tilt to her smile. ] Especially here.

[ She flicks a look around the camp, confirming everyone is where she left them a moment ago, mostly sleeping or engrossed in their own quiet conversations, and then tips her head onto Darras's shoulder. ]

I knew you'd say that. I want to be there, but I don't fancy the journey, or the clean it will need after so long away, or hauling enough water in for the tub. But everything else.

[staysail]

You'd rather Riftwatch haul water in for your tub.

[Teasing. Obviously. And if he's teasing, he's relaxed by a measure more--at least enough to multitask, so to speak.]

I don't blame you. It's a thankless chore. And those that haul it in for you don't even get the bonus of seeing you lounging around in the tub once it's full.

[hassaran]

A free perk for you if the Gallows staff handles all the fetching and carrying for us.

[ She sighs, wistful at first but fading into dread. ]

I can only imagine how much there will be to do when we get back. I'm keeping informed of course, but there's only so much that can be done by crystal.

[staysail]

Ah, but you know me. I like to work for my perks.

[Having moved himself to sit beside her instead of in ankle-grabbing proximity, Darras leans his shoulder into hers, a friendly sort of pressure.]

If you'll be behind anyways, what'd be another few weeks. Let 'em fend for themselves.

[hassaran]

[ She hums her response, not quite approving but considering all the same, tempted despite her better judgment. She drops her head back onto his shoulder as he leans, and exhales a heavy breath. ]

It will be torture to drag ourselves away again if we do.

[staysail]

[Hmm is more an agreement than any sort of question. Darras lays his cheek against the top of her head, getting comfortable. His eyes flick back toward the surrounding forest, looking to see if any threats have made themselves plain in the meantime. They have not.]

We always managed it before.

[hassaran]

It's harder every time. [ She rubs his knee before giving a squeeze, and then nudges his head up so she can turn to look at him. ]

You know that, right? It was never easy.

[staysail]

[He complies with the nudge, and smiles down at her when she looks at him.]

Even that first time?

[hassaran]

[ Her brows draw a tick closer together, but after a moment of study she matches his smile and nods once. ] Even then.

I didn't want to go. I felt I had to.

[staysail]

I know. I didn't understand it then--or I wouldn't have, if you said it to me that way--but I do now. A bit better, at least.

'Course, I'm also more clever than I used to be back then, so perhaps that's why.

[hassaran]

I've rubbed off on you. [ Yseult flashes him a cheeky grin, and then settles back shoulder to shoulder, dropping her head onto his once again. ]

You've always been clever. You just know me better now.

[staysail]

Cleverer about you, let's say.

[He presses his cheek against the top of her head again once she settles down, the brightness of her grin hanging in his mind like a little talisman.]

What chance that marrying the prettiest girl in the tavern ended up the way it did. I'd call it blessed.

[hassaran]

So would I. [ Yseult's smile can be heard, and the hint of a laugh carried with it. ] We were very lucky.

Though, [ she adds ] the vows didn't mean much to you at first. If it hadn't worked out I suspect you'd just have left and forgotten me and them.