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Post by Aoi-Devvi on Jul 29, 2015 0:26:58 GMT
Premise
You feel someone watching you.
Looking around, you pinpoint an Akriri sitting in the shadows nearby. Though his face is covered by a mask, his body shrouded in a dark cloak, you somehow know he is staring directly into your eyes. He lifts a claw through his cloak, beckoning you closer. Curiously, or perhaps stupidly, you go to him. His voice creaks with age, and he tells you that he sees the need for adventure buried deep in your heart. That he can cure that particular ailment. You see movement under his cloak, and the Akriri pulls out an old scroll. Unfurling it, you see that it is in fact a map. He sees your confusion and chuckles, telling you of a treasure he was never able to acquire lying within the cave marked on the map.
"The worth of this treasure is immeasurable. You couldn't sell it for it's real worth if you found the richest inhabitant of this land and offered it them. It is both beautiful and magical, although I could never tell you it's true power as I was never able to find it... I feel you may have a chance, however."
You decide to take that chance, for whatever reason. As you begin to walk away, you look back to thank the stranger, only to find he's already gone. What kind of mysterious artifact was kept inside that cave? What could possibly be worth so much, and why wasn't the old Akriri able to find it? It seemed like it was time to find out.
Players
If you would like to join, please post on this thread so you don't interrupt the flow!
Anybody is free to join~
Eumelia
[Aoi-Devvi]
Vega
[Mail]
Cider
[Rabbittracks] |
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Post by Aoi-Devvi on Jul 29, 2015 1:08:02 GMT
Eumelia double checked her map. She'd gone left at the funky-looking tree, over the weird rock, and under the next weird rock. This had to be the cave. Ivy draped over its entrance, and pushing it aside she could see the inside lead to infinite darkness. Huffing, she walked away from the entrance to sit on a fallen log, cringing slightly when she felt it was still moist from the days earlier downpour. It didn't matter right now though, she was thoroughly exhausted. Only the thought of beautiful treasure had kept her going so long, but she ached to be in a warm village with actual food to eat, rather than her hastily put together provisions. On her lovers advice she'd reluctantly brought a large pack with all the things an "adventurin' beauty" might need, and she wasn't going to admit the damned heavy thing had been quite helpful. If she'd known it was going to be such an awful trek however, Eu would have dragged the stubborn bird with her, land-sickness or no.
Sighing heavily, Eu rummaged through the pack for her crackers, thinking she may as well eat and gather her strength before exploring the probably-dangerous cave lying ominously in the middle of a rainforest. Why she'd thought this was a good idea was beyond her - the creepy Akriri who gave her the map must have used some sort of mind magic to lead her here to her doom. Perhaps it was a trap and she'd become a captured beauty, needing her sea-bird to come rescue her from a mad-bird. Good job he'd insisted on copying the map before he left port, Eu thought absently as she ate. A raindrop falling on her head took her out of her daydream, and she grumbled. Finishing quickly, Eu sealed her pack up and stood - it was time to explore this damned cave and find her some gorgeous treasure was sure to make any pirate jealous!
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Post by rabbittracks on Jul 29, 2015 3:54:03 GMT
"Cider you bloody fool", he muttered bitterly as he pulled yet another painful thorn out of his left leg. "This," he grimaced tugging on the last one sticking awkwardly between the soft spot under his shoulder, "is why we don't take unreliable.." He closed his beak around the tip of the protruding intrusion and yanked hard, "information from strangers." The thorn unexpectedly freed itself causing the Akriri to stumble. Righting himself, he peered suspiciously at the map again, turning it around in circles.
It had to be a joke.
For one, the idea of immeasurable treasure seemed too good to be true. Everything had a price. Even the most secret of information, he thought to himself caught with the mixed feelings of smirking and heaving a good sigh. For another, he wasn't a particularly interesting Folk. With little magic powers, plain colors, and of average height, there was no reason for the creaky old bird to think he was worth more than a good look over. Lastly: The map was completely confusing. Faded, filled with holes and smelled unsettlingly like the rusty scent of stale blood, it was bad enough to hold it better yet make sense of it.
He had climbed down a raven, skirted around brier patch and teetered carefully across a fallen log to be faced with a solid rock wall. After a minute of angry retorts and trying to find a hidden entrance, he had flipped the map upside down (or right side up?) and tried that way... Only to stumble into a large bush of flowers. Beautiful, elegant and a favorable shade of pink, each stem was graciously equipped with long thorns ready to snag any passing creature. In this case, a very irritable Cider.
Looking at the decrepit scroll one more time, he tried to make sense of the pictures. The hell is that even supposed to be? The long tufts of feathers on his head lay flat. A rock? He tilted the paper. A bean? He squinted until his beak nearly touched the paper. A small wet spot appeared. And suddenly more and more circles randomly dotted the page before the cloud above him burst open and rain littered the ground. "Oh for Kel's sake" He swore loudly, flipping his black cloak over his head and hastily tucking the map under his wing. He wasn't sure why he was even keeping it at this point, but he always had a habit of saving things.
Looking around with his long tale swishing side to side in annoyance, Cider quickly spotted an ivy covered cave. It was a ominous, wide and gaping against the forest's green foliage. But it was shelter. Running, he hopped over a fallen log to enter the cave's entrance but, instead, collided solidly with someone that was already there.
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Post by Aoi-Devvi on Jul 29, 2015 5:02:10 GMT
Standing before the mouth of the cave, Eumelia found she couldn't actually work up the courage to move. She mentally kicked herself. Why are you backing out now, she thought, you're half way there! You didn't walk hours in the mud and rain to just go home now! But still Eu stood looking at the darkness lying beyond the ivy. A drop of water landed on her head once again, and Eu clenched her claws in anger. She'd had more than enough water for a lifetime.
There was a faint rustling in the forest behind her, and Eu turned to look for what it was, hoping that it was the old bird so she could punch him in his beak. Then the rain started. Again. Quickly it plastered her only-just-dry feathers down and Eu felt her blood boil through the sweeping cold. If one more bad thing happens--
Then it hit her. Or, something hit her. It jumped over the log she'd just been sat on and sent her crashing to the ground. Her claws sunk horribly into the mud and Eu shouted in frustration, trying to shake the dirt off before she looked for what had pushed her. Seeing a pale brown Akriri, Eu was struck with both confusion and deep, deep anger that it wasn't some forest creature but another Akriri. "What are you doing jumping at people in the middle of a forest!?" she yelled over the sound of the rain. Eu got up by herself, refraining from attempting to clean the mud from other areas of her body, she'd just smear it everywhere. Holding out her hands, she let the rain clean her claws for her. She'd rather they were wet than muddy. She looked up at the other bird again. "Well?" She asked, "What. Exactly. Are you doing here?"
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Mail
New Member
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Post by Mail on Jul 30, 2015 1:09:29 GMT
It was easy to say the sudden acquiring of a map had been the most exciting part of their day.
Vega had taken quick interest in looking it over, analyzing the markings and the older choice of parchment, so lost in this sudden "beauty" of a work that the word "treasure" had glossed over them initially. It took several repeated sentences by the mysterious Akriri to finally draw Vega's attention enough.
Though it only took a few moments after their interaction was done for Vega to push their beak back into the scroll. They spent several hours like this, head down, wandering about in vaguely the right direction. Every few minutes they glanced up to briefly correct their course, before their thoughts pushed back in demand.
The supposed worth of the treasure was enough for them to be curious, though not for the sell value. An artifact of such worth was, no doubt, of such rarity as well - and it was this mysterious rarity that was the most intriguing. The possibilities of what it might be was almost too numerous. Precious minerals, rare cultural artifacts, embedded magic....Vega rationalized that even if this item would prove somehow useless to them then someone else would at least take interest. With this interest would come coin or trade, and with that it would open up the possibility of Vega acquiring the items they really had their eyes on. A properly equipped observatory with all the materials they could dream; that certainly was the dream.
They tugged against some vines to dislodge the end of their cloak. It had gotten soggy from being dragged around, but this seemed to only muster a small frown as a reaction.
"I can add more cloaks to the list..."
Vega assured themself quietly as they picked up their pace again, eyes still on the map and rather ignorant of the growing rainfall.
With surprise they walked into a wall of vine covered rocks and fell backwards with a loud squawk. Slowly they gathered themself and stood up again, but something seemed to prevent them from going right back to the map.
They had heard something else besides their own sound. It had sounded like talking - and close talking as well. Vega tucked their map away in their cloak and held it close around them as they slowly walked towards where the noise had come from. Pushing some ferns aside lead them to the sight of two other Akriri, muddy and wet and standing at the entrance of a cave. |
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Post by rabbittracks on Jul 31, 2015 14:18:15 GMT
The ground smelled unpleasantly musky as Cider tried his best to smear the copious amounts of dirt, mud and other grime from his beak. The orange pattern on his cloak was invisible under the recent abuse, and his long tail was covered in twigs, leaves and looked dark brown instead of it's usual tan. Giving the other bird a surly look, it was a few moments before he could speak.
"What are you doing here anyway?" He asked sourly pointing with one mud-soaked wing, "that's awfuly suspic---" he stammered to a stop. The map that was tucked away moments before had fallen out of it's haphazard location with his sudden movements and rolled itself out right between them; all of it's contents painfully on display. There was no mistaking it was a map.
Oh.
The rain increased it's efforts to drench the entire ground causing a cool updraft to enter the cave. However, Cider felt the skin underneath his feathers grow hot. How childish, she's going to think I'm some moron now. He used one of his legs to deftly snatch it up and, avoiding eye contact, and hastily rolled it back knowing it was far too late; the other Folk had to have seen it. To make matters worse, there was a snapping of twigs and a shower of rainwater as another Akriri appeared.
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Post by Aoi-Devvi on Aug 2, 2015 7:39:58 GMT
Seeing the bird look down, Eu followed his eyes, landing on the map just before it was quickly snatched up. Eu shook her head quickly - it couldn't be... the old bird had given away more than one map? Who in their right mind makes multiple maps to the same place, she thought, then looked at the mud-soaked Akriri again. It wouldn't do to continue hiding her purpose, not when they were more than likely to be after the same thing. Worst case scenario she'd have to fight for her prize, but she didn't date a pirate for nothing. Not to mention the brown Akriri didn't seem like the fighting type. "I was here for the exact same reason you are, if you must know..." but Eu started irritably, but trailed off, seeing another Akriri approach. "You have to be kidding me..." Eu muttered. How many maps were there?
"Let me guess-" Eu called to the third bird. "You're here for this treasure also?"
Looking their new companion over, she figured she could take both of them. Feeling a shiver of cold run through her, Eu glanced towards the cave. "May I suggest we discuss this slight problem inside the cave? I think we'd all appreciate not being rained on any more."
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Mail
New Member
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Post by Mail on Aug 3, 2015 1:05:41 GMT
They perked up their head feathers when she called out to them, but otherwise Vega hadn't changed expression.
Instead they gave a quick drum of their claws before deciding to walk over. With their limbs hidden underneath their cloak it was eerie - their movements were smooth and it was almost like Vega was gliding across the undergrowth with just their tail and head poking out. Still, the entire movement would have looked much more fluid if mud hadn't clung to them.
"By "also" you mean that I should assume it to be your purpose as well? The both of you?" They commented, gladly going past both Akriri and into the mouth of the cave. "Odd that we picked the same day to treasure hunt. What are the chances."
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