Samwel Igwe
PRIDELANDERS
Human Prince of the Pridelands
Posts: 536
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Post by Samwel Igwe on Jul 23, 2021 4:52:29 GMT
Kabili continued to scan the diary when Bandit made his comments.
Did it sting? Big time, bye he also knew there was some truth to Bandit’s words at the same time. Was he really at liberty to overstep his own brother to boss around someone like Fuli? Or at least stop an argument from getting too heated? Sometimes he didn’t know, he hadn’t ever come from a position of power after all.
“Look, I’m still trying to figure this whole prince thing out. You were born a prince of your own “kingdom”. Where I came from I was practically slumming it like a hyena,” It wasn’t too far of a stretch. He had grown up in a rough neighborhood and with very little food and the like. “So I may not be the royalty you’re expecting. But I’m going to figure out the type of prince I am on my own terms. Whether it’s tough and authoritative like Kion or something else.”
The whole time he said it his voice didn’t raise, and he didn’t sound angry. Just the blunt, and honest truth of the matter - nothing more. Kabili wasn’t afraid of not being the royalty everyone was expecting. But at the end of the day, he had to forge his own path, rather than the one others made for him.
His eyes surveyed the passage carefully as he noticed the cave. His eyes looking over the passage he’d read, and another just before it as well. “I think we’re on the right track, actually,” he announced. “But I’m not going in there blind.”
Setting his pack down, he carefully produced an item he’d been saving in case of a moment like this; a flashlight. As he clicked it on and pointed it into the gaping mouth he was thankful to see it still had juice. “I’m right behind you, Fuli.” He nodded.
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NOBU
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Post by NOBU on Jul 28, 2021 1:50:31 GMT
Kabili reaches for his lantern, a very smart idea! His backpack is a bit beaten up but the power of modernity was to light up his way. (Rolls a 3)... Or not. The dang thing would just not turn on. In fact, just turning it on was a drag, as the switch seemed clogged up with dirty. Did it get wet when he got pushed into that lake? Or maybe when he rolled in the mud? Perhaps it got kicked by a rhynoceros somewhere? One was not to know why, but Kabili was to enter without any night.
And what a dark cave..! One couldn't see a palm in front of their eyes. They ought to go slow or hitting against a wall would be quite hard. They were lucky it didn't seem to get in a dead-end the further they went down... But that was not all, no. Some of them would be receiving a secret message with information!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2021 13:01:47 GMT
The golden jackal smiled, "Thatta girl, Fuli." he said, not really directed as encouragement but expressing himself. He scoffed at Tara. "Watch out for traps? I'm Prince of Thieves remember? Traps are as natural as lies." he chuckled. You got the right idea though." he praised.
He looked at Kabili, letting him speak all he wanted before he responded any. "Yeah we'll see. I'm on the path to be a king, and you a prince, ain't so different to earn it." before they went into darkness he did want to be a bit kinder with his words... and after those last few words, he followed Kabili on in!
And well it was darker than expected. "Uh, hey? Who turned off the dang moon?!" he said shortly after entering... had he not gone somewhere un-lit before? Quite possibly! He headed on in, moving nice and slow... he wasn't no fool. Yet, his ears started twitching, trying to decipher the echoes, between keeping his walk straight and slow and listening, his brain was used up... "Huh? What am I thinkin'...?" he asked himself. "I, I know what I'm doin' here..." he honestly had forgotten at this point what his goal was out of this thing.
"I... stay with other jackals, I'm prince of 'em. Those guys I'm not sure about yet..." he frowned, he had pondered it but maybe he needed to take what allies he could get. "I ain't feeding nobody to no hyenas, no way no how." he said, "Sheesh I guess it is true that you can lie so much, ya believe yourself."
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Fuli
PRIDELANDERS
The Wanderer
Posts: 131
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Post by Fuli on Jul 28, 2021 13:43:36 GMT
Fuli wasn't liking this one bit. Cheetah tear streaks were great for seeing through bright sun glare, but in the darkness she was totally blind. And it was uncomfortable. Luckily, Bandit was quite chatty, which could serve as a kind of sound marker to follow.
"Thanks, Bandit," she said. That could be referring to his words of encouragement, or him finally calling her by her name.
This cave is getting long, she thought with a shudder. She quickly shooed that thought out of her head, though. No time to be scared now. She was certain of her ability to walk in a straight line, and that her group wouldn't do anything stupid now.
Bandit's yapping gave her an idea. "Keep making noise," she told everyone. "We're blind but not deaf. If you get lost, follow the sound." That should help them stay together. Just stay calm, and don't do anything dumb.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2021 2:48:23 GMT
"Probably not the kinds of traps humans make", Tara muttered as Bandit said that as a liar he was used to traps.
Growing up on her farm in Kansas, things hadn't always been peachy (to use a farm term) and they felt the Depression of her early childhood same as it seemed everyone had, but she realized yet again, as Kabili alluded to growing up poor poor that maybe her family selling their last chicken eggs wasn't so bad in the scheme of things...and then of course the war had provided aviation and mechanic work for her father, something he'd often admitted to feeling guilty for.
Now both of her parents were gone, and thinking on her father again bolstered her determination. It would not be for nothing that he'd given his life to get their Expedition here, both the good and bad.
She glanced over to Kabili as he read his diary, curious about how much info he had but also not prying until he rummaged in his backpack and drew out a flashlight. "Hey, that will be handy!", she said with a grin...before it fell as the flashlight wouldn't turn on.
"Welp, so by feeling it is", she said, following along and glad to see that for once Bandit didn't do something foolish by insist she take the front and bump her nose into anything. She trusted Fuli's eyes more than her own in this darkness.
Almost as soon as they had started off, Tara heard voices that did not sound like anyone with them. No...wait...she wasn't hearing them exactly, there was no echo...
About the time she noticed this, Bandit started talking again, out loud, but to no one it seemed. Hearing both was a bit disorienting but she pressed on, though she did tap a bit at the side of her head as if to clear her head. "Yeah if I can hear it though the rest of the stuff I'm hearing, ya'll hearing it too?", she answered Fuli, or she thought that was the cheetah talking.
She didn't like the suggestion the voices gave her on the jackals, it made too much sense...
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Samwel Igwe
PRIDELANDERS
Human Prince of the Pridelands
Posts: 536
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Post by Samwel Igwe on Jul 31, 2021 5:04:16 GMT
Kabili turned to Bandit as he mentioned being adept with traps.
Of course, he had been studying his mom's texts so he knew better than anyone that any traps would probably be foreign to animals. He shook his head a little. "Not the kind of traps they'll use. Ancient humans went out of their way to take their secrets to the grave," He explained rather honestly. "Mom used to tell me that a lot of people who knew what they were doing still ended up dead. So just... Don't get too cocky."
Had he questioned why his mom had thought of - or researched that? Not yet. But one day, he would.
Either way, he simply nodded a little at Bandit. He might have taken the conversation further, if his mood hadn't deflated with the revelation that the flashlight didn't work. "Well, that sucks. But shit," Kabili replied as he put his flashlight back in. "Just stay close and together. If anything gives out under you, even a little shout out. They loved that sort of thing back in the day."
He was cautious in his movements. But rather than talk above the voices like the others, he listened. Closing his eyes a little, he ignored the rather crass final comment while holding on to what the voice had first said. A trap... One one way, one the other... He thought of Rafiki's words of wisdom. Stop overthinking it, Kabili. You're here for a reason. He told himself. They chose you for a reason...
"Just keep moving," Kabili replied, listening to his gut instinct. "Whatever it is is playing headgames... I think."
But he kept his ear out for something further - the voices he'd heard before. If there was any advice he needed. Now was the time to start talking... With a deep breath he continued to feel along and listen.
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NOBU
Administrator
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Post by NOBU on Aug 18, 2021 2:48:26 GMT
Hear? Hear what?
Well, it really did not matter, in the end. The ground was moving through the cavern, the dark, dark cavern! Eventually, they were to find some light- A good fifteen to twenty minutes of walking in this cold, echoey cave, with a somewhat wet flow, dirty walls, and smell of sulphur. Maybe it was the end of the cavern? But the smell was only increasing, until-
The corridor they were in opened to a large hall, with a somewhat high ceiling and flat ground. A couple of cave pillars here and there, but they could see all of that thanks to the river that went from one side of the hall to the other, blocking their path towards the only exit to this hall, don't the opposite side of the river. Ah, yes, they could only see anything at all because the river's water was glowing with a white but faint greenish colour. Some grains of blue, some grains of orange... This was like nothing most of them had ever seen before!
The water seemed to be about knee deep for the humans, but approaching it would bring two new pieces of information: First that it had a strong sulphur smell, and second perhaps the most important one- it was hot. It was extremely hot to be around. It was not burbling, but it ought to be unpleasant, if not outright burn exposed skin if in contact for more than a couple of instants.
OOC: We had a small break here, which I hope was a good resting place for everyone! We are at the tail end of this event. I hope everyoen is still up for the concentrated juice at the bottom of the bottle that is this adventure. Lets do it, people!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2021 12:47:27 GMT
Bandit would keep up his yapping, all the way until the glowing started. Wait. Glowing?
"Yeah, did anyone else hear some weird voices? Like thoughts but I'm not sure if they are mine." he questioned as he took a look around the cavern they had reached. "What did ya mean by headgames, Kabili?" he recalled the question. "Careful now in here..." he warned, though the danger was obvious. "It's hot and stinks. Hrm, reminds me of something." he noted, "Definitely ain't water." he noted, "Um... well we're somewhere, alright. What are we gonna do S-" he paused. "What are we gonna do Fuli?" he used her name to reflect the serious nature of things, and of his request. He was truly at a loss!
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Fuli
PRIDELANDERS
The Wanderer
Posts: 131
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Post by Fuli on Aug 20, 2021 15:52:10 GMT
A lost city, a suddenly killed off kind-of-acquaintance, a dangerous path, and now a glowing river? This was most definitely not in the job description.
Upon entering the clearing, the cheetah couldn't help but take a moment to let the view soak in. She was no expert in the supernatural, so this was quite a shocker to her. As Fuli cautiously padded towards the glowing water, she felt the fur on her back stand up when the heat hit her face. Her nose wrinkled up from the smell. And both kept intensifying, almost as if she were walking into a stinking fire, until she stood right at the riverbank.
Her head angled diagonally in confusion, and her tail twitched anxiously. Fuli could probably make the jump to the other side. But the others? Not so much.
"Stay here, and look for a way across," she commanded. "A bridge, a shallow bit of water, anything we can cross on. I'm gonna take a look around."
Stepping away from the river, the cheetah tensed up her back legs. She came to a stop at the cave mouth they'd come from, and confident there was enough space to get a running start, accelerated. In the blink of an eye, she was at a good fraction of her top speed, and at the very edge of the hot glowing water. Taking a bounding leap into the air, she felt the warmth of the glowing fluid on her paw pads and tail, then came softly down on the rocks, now having crossed.
Now, she took a few glances around, trotting to and fro, searching for something to assist in crossing the river. A loose rock to push into the river would do the trick. Or maybe it was one of these traps the humans seemed so knowledgeable about? Who knew? Fuli sure didn't.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2021 15:00:45 GMT
Tara nodded to what she had alluded to and Kabili backed up in terms of ancient traps. "And don't touch the walls if you can help it, there might be stuff there too; I'm afraid when humans try to think defense we can go overboard"[/b]. Tara would have thought it all just part of the exaggerated stories of old temples from either those serials in front of movies or even comics, but the stories themselves had to come from somewhere right?
And better safe than sorry.
She had already thought to herself that the voices were probably some trick of the temple, where she could think beyond it, but it was unnerving, especially in the dark. It was clearly from somewhere else, though, and had asked her a question about what Kabili had been toying with. The flashlight. She wasn't going to start talking to herself in any rate, and also wouldn't answer a mysterious voice until she knew what it was.
Either the voice got lower, as they went on, or her attention was just snagged next by the glowing water; or both. "Woah...I kind of want to put my hand in it though I know that's a bad idea", partly to herself and the group, and again, she knew ancient temples enough to know it was not advised. Unfamiliar Savannah too. Then...she felt the heat coming from it. Yep, bad idea.
The light did help with glancing about for a way over. Tara saw a jutting of rock. "Maybe...if that moves..." she said walking over to test, it wasn't easy but it budged. Slightly. "Maybe, if it's all we have, anyone found better?" she asked and glanced about.
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Samwel Igwe
PRIDELANDERS
Human Prince of the Pridelands
Posts: 536
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Post by Samwel Igwe on Aug 27, 2021 4:44:38 GMT
What did he mean by mind games?
Seriously, had someone never heard of mind games? Literally the so-called trick master was not sure what he meant. That was... Something else. But still, he was more than happy to oblige an explanation. "Something to throw us off. Trying to make you think one thing when you should be thinking another," He then added. "Like someone playing tricks on us."
He was hoping for a message, but he didn't exactly get what he was asking for. What the heck was that!? His eyes widened at the sight of the strange liquid. Swallowing hard, he attempted to even begin to process what the hell it was. Was it some sort of volcanic substance? Magma? He couldn't really tell. "No one should touch it," He warned Tara as she mentioned wanting to touch it. "I hate to say it but if we're dealing with magic or something... We don't know what touching it would do."
The jutting rock though gave him an idea. "Maybe, but we'd have to be careful. We don't know how deep it is. If it sinks we're toast."
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NOBU
Administrator
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Post by NOBU on Sept 1, 2021 1:48:00 GMT
Tara made a very important point: The water was glowing and it was quite hot! It ought to burn someone! However, this river was not a perfect straight line and, if she was to spend a couple of seconds walking around it, she wouldn’t take long to nice a patch or two near the shore that made small pools next to the ground. They seemed cool enough to touch without it being a painful experience.
She also managed to find a large rocky pillar, that seemed to be just a large rock that somehow ended up there. It did look quite big and was most certainly quite heavy, but it could offer some assistance in crossing, going by what she had in mind.
Fuli, on another note, was about to attempt an impressive feat. She pushed herself against the edges of this cavern, ad then zoomed forward, going for a long distance low jump, and [roll = 17] landing right at the edge, safe and sound!
Nor that far away, she would find something similar to the rock Take found on the other side. It was smaller and thinner, but it could be used for the same purpose. While one didn’t seem to perfectly connect to the other, it would certainly lower a possible jump my quite the marlin if done between the downed rocks instead of from shore to shore. Was bound to be much easier.
Kabli goes by the edge of the river and takes a look directly at the glowing water. No, it for sure wasn’t magma. He must have seen magma before or, at lease, heard stories about its colour. This one was transparent, just had a glow to it, while magma would be not transparent at all. He looks at the middle of this river and [roll = 9] doesn’t get a conclusive answer. Maybe a mixture of the refractory effects of lit tin water, the glow, or the never terrain underneath it, composed of bibles of all things, Kabili is unable to analyse the physical structure or structural rigidity of the river’s soil from where he was.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 5, 2021 9:15:16 GMT
Bandit's ears folded back, "Oh... well it certainly got to me." he admitted, his spirits lifted as Fuli made a leap!
"Great job, Spots!" Bandit called as the cheetah leapt the river, but he was more nervous given his weight, and went to the edge of the river, carefully inspecting it for a better way, as she had suggested, and a way that would work for the more fragile humans too.
"Magic? Now come on. Dad never said nothing about magic around here. Except the roar, I guess." He noticed the rocks on each side, but let the girls do their inspections of them. "Any leads?!" he asked calling loudly, to ensure Fuli also heard, as he kept looking. "The sand back home ain't nothing like this!"
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Fuli
PRIDELANDERS
The Wanderer
Posts: 131
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Post by Fuli on Sept 6, 2021 16:35:22 GMT
As Fuli walked around the clearing looking for anything that looked important, her gaze fell on a decently-sized loose rock. A good two tail-lengths of potential bridge material. The river was quite shallow. If she pushed it in, it wouldn't completely bridge the gap, but it would certainly make jumping across a bit easier. "Stay put! I have an idea!" she shouted across to the others. If she could just dislodge that rock from it's standing position, maybe it could be rolled into the river. Cheetahs weren't exactly the strongest, or heaviest, of creatures. But no harm in trying. She jogged up to the rock, braced her legs against the rocky ground, and pushed her left flank into the stone. Fuli grunted, straining herself with the effort. If only everyone else could just jump it. Then again, if everyone was cheetah fast, then cheetahs wouldn't be so special.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2021 12:36:50 GMT
Since she hadn't been serious and knew Kabili was right, Tara just nodded as to knowing that touching the odd substance was a bad idea. Yet, the reminder didn't go amiss. Sure Tara had been kidding but also just speaking out loud that odd feeling that made people want to jump from cliffs and such (or maybe that was just her and with a glider attached). Touching it was out; yet she did walk around it, still trying to gather what information she could.
Bandit of course did not believe in the Magic Kabili spoke of. Tara grimaced, "Hate to tell you, but...us being able to understand you at all is probably magic. Like I've at least told others, it doesn't happen back home". But...maybe she shouldn't break the jackals brain with such concepts as Magic.
She was just noticing the usefulness of the rocks, perhaps, when Fuli zoomed past her! By the time Tara could hope she would make it, the cheetah had made it to the other side. "Hey! Nice!", she commented to the feat and idea both. She looked at the rock with new interest now. "Maybe if we could somehow move one of these other ones...", she tested to see how hard that would be to accomplish, Fuli doing the same.
"Darn, just when I could use my glider...", she studied the distance and then the rocks again. She was just going to have to try to dislodge one of the lighter ones this side maybe. She tested until she felt like she had something, and one moved if slightly. "Hey! This one might tip", she told the others, though she could tell from the weight it probably wouldn't be easy.
But then when was a Magic Temple easy?
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