Race To The Ruins

[Abigail Meredydd]

LOCATION: Jungle - Near river
TIME: Morning
STATUS: Calm
OBJECTIVE: Reach the river


Screeches sounded throughout the jungle as yet another beast hastily fled, triggered by Abigail slashing her way through the bushes, trying to reach the sound of running water that had been teasing her for quite some time.

She had come here to find and acquire an ancient artifact, or at least that was what it was rumoured to be. What it exactly was, how it looked like, or even what this supposedly powerful artifact could do, she didn't know. The only reason she knew of its possible existence, was because she had intercepted an unknown commutation, mentioning this artifact. Unfortunately, this obviously meant she wasn't the only one looking. But hopefully she would be the first to arrive.

Abigail had done whatever research she could at home, trying to see whether there was any ancient folklore or legends that could have pointed towards the location of the treasure she was after. Unfortunately, she had found nearly nothing, neither in folklore, legends or really anything else. It wasn't until she was checking her gear while she was on board of a ship bringing her to her destination that she had discovered something interesting on the map she had brought. Through almost the entire part of the jungle where she was going to be searching, as that was the area where there had been reported to be strange, old and fallen structures, only one single river seemed to run. Logically, whatever was out there, it had to either be relatively close to the river, or it had to have been connected with the river in some other way, to ensure a steady water supply. That was the reason Abigail had chosen to find the river, and then to follow it downstream whilst keeping an eye out for anything not made by nature itself.

Unfortunately, because there had been no proper clearings surrounding the river for her ship to land, or for her to properly jump from the ship, she had been forced to land somewhere else, quite a bit away from the water. Because of this, the first thing she had to do in this vibrant jungle, teeming with wildlife, was to reach the river. Preferably unscathed as well.

As she moved through the forest, she played around with the transmitter in her hand for a bit before she safely stored it away in her backpack, which also held climbing gear, a knife, her map, and much more. Once the treasure had been acquired, she could use the transmitter to signal her ship to come pick her up again, so it was rather vital she didn't lose it.

After cutting through yet another section of thick vegetation, the noise of the water running significantly increased. She had to be close now.

[member="Jalek Meredydd"] [member="Alexandra Feanor"]

 

[Arekk]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJaCbDnaOhs​

​

Deep In The Jungle​

"You sure you know what you're doing? - I don't have the faintest idea!"
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[member="Abigail Meredydd"] ~ [member="Alexandra Feanor"] ​

"Like, you gotta pay me in advance for this little trip! This isn't charity, buddy." Jalek was too busy with acquiring payment for the trip into the forever relentless jungle to retrieve a hidden relic for his most influential client to date, bargaining to increase his pay and obtain it before actually delivering would take a little more convincing which was totally in his park given the hunter's fruity talking. "You'll get your treasure after you pay me half. I'm the only one who can retrieve it, send any of your goons and they'll die."

Once the terms were already settled and both parties were happy with the agreements arranged, Jalek was given the option to use a deluxe aircraft to drop from the sky like an eagle into the depths of the jungle. Arriving on a boat was too damn boring for the adrenaline junkie that he was and so parachuting into who-knows-what was the perfect idea for him, one foot set near the ship's door ready to drop into open land.

"How hard this could be, right?!" He tried to make small talk with the pilot who seemed to be hating his life right now, eyes rolling around like he had never heard of a crappy joke before. "Just pull the cord and that's it! Easy as c-- woah!"

And so he went down with practiced bravado, eyes covered by massive goggles while his backpack full of supplies (including a silverplated knife with his initials etched in the handle) was already strapped tight to avoid, of course, losing it during the descend. But like his luck always sucked, Jalek safely landed on top of a tree and almost hit his face with the branches, hanging from a very thin twig.

"Not again."

Thump.

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[Abigail Meredydd]

STATUS: Calm - Tense


Finally, after cutting through some more bushes, Abigail's eyes finally spotted the river. She had been moving towards it for longer than she had liked, as the forest was thicker than she had expected.

As she approached the river, she was suddenly startled by a primitive growl. Abby froze in place before she slowly turned her body in the direction from which the sound had come. On one of the trees, a rather mean teethed looking animal stood on its four legs, staring at her with green eyes.

With wide eyes and controlled breaths, Abigail's mind was racing with thoughts. Would she take her small blaster? No, no. Too much noise, wouldn't want to attract more of... those things. The bow strapped to her backpack perhaps? It would be silent enough, but she would need the time to grab it and an arrow. Last option, her spear. Would probably be the most useful for when the animal would come up close.

Abigail decided to slowly reach for her bow, as the creature was still quite a bit away. As her arms moved extremely slowly, she saw the beast observing her every move; it even showed it's teeth, no doubt a threat.

Then it let out a loud growl as it jumped to the ground, and then rushed towards Abigail.
"Oh no no no!", Abigail exclaimed as she quickly reached for her bow and an arrow. As she drew her bow, she let herself fall towards the ground with her back, to avoid the raging beast that jumped towards her.

As Abigail fell to the ground, she held the bow in front of her aimed at the beast, and as she saw its hungry mouth above her as the beast tried to jump at her, she let go. The arrow immediately pierced the beast flesh, and it made a loud squeak as it flew over Abby and landed on its side. Abigail quickly pushed herself back on her feet, grabbing another arrow, when she saw the beast get up again, only to quickly hurry away. After watching the bushes in which the creature had disappeared for a bit, she finally sighed and relaxed a bit. That was too close, and she had barely even started the day. Great.

It was then when she had caught her breath and turned towards the river that she heard an aircraft fly... somewhere.

"Oh no," she mumbled, "what are the chances of that being a normal tourist who is just flying low to admire the treetops..."

She sighed as she was very well aware that she wasn't the only one who knew about the artifact. She had just hoped she would've discovered it way earlier than any other people. Dangerous people.

"Better move fast", Abigail said to herself as she reattached her bow to her backpack before she started to follow the river, scanning the surroundings for anything that wasn't natural.

[member="Jalek Meredydd"] [member="Alexandra Feanor"]

 

[Arekk]

Deep In The Jungle​

"You sure you know what you're doing? - I don't have the faintest idea!"
——————————————————————​

[member="Abigail Meredydd"] ~ @Alexandra Feanor ​

"Ugh, I hate adventures."

The fall from the tree was a rather harsh one and it showed, Jalek looking all fuzzy while trying to collect his thoughts and inspect the sorroundings to become acquainted with the terrain. Thankfully, his backpack had landed right next to him so that was one less thing to worry about and most definitely would give him enough time to get things into motion. His initial overview of the area was nothing but tall trees and the thickest jungle looking place ever, filled with noises of local fauna.

"Seems quiet enough." Nothing like saying random jokes to reassure yourself that everything is okay, real clever. "Time to go."

Compared to Abigail, Jalek was a little further up ahead from her and the nearest to the temple's entrance though he still would have to deal with the many dangers that this jungle held for its unwanted visitors. There was a reason why ancient people decided to keep their secrets hidden from the common folk in a very dangerous place such as this one, both of them would have to be extra careful where they treaded.

"Treasure, here I come."

The walk to the temple had started and soon enough the relic would be in Jalek's hands. Or would it?

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[Abigail Meredydd]

LOCATION: Next to River



TIME: Morning



STATUS: Calm



OBJECTIVE: Follow the river. Find non natural structures.


Abigail kept moving at a relatively fast pace while scanning her surroundings in the process. She was hoping that whatever she was looking for was able to be seen quite easily, but if it turned out that wasn't the case, she would just go back and look around again, only more thoroughly.

Occasionally she noticed animals scurrying away. It was all good so far. As long as the animals ran away, as long as they were scared of her, she would be fine. It were the animals in this jungle that wouldn't run away that she would have to be careful with.

No matter how hard she tried, while she kept looking around, the thought of the aircraft kept going through her head. It had flown too low to be coincidence, and the fact that they had come her now off all the possible times an aircraft could have done a fly by...

She wasn't going to be alone here for long, she knew that for sure. All she could do was hope that the aircraft at least didn't drop anyone off and that it was just for recon of some sorts.

As she walked, Abigail suddenly heard a load roar coming from somewhere behind her. It appeared the beast from earlier had come back for revenge. It was still quite a bit behind her, so with a little luck it wouldn't decide to follow the river and then it wouldn't catch her. It was unlikely the beast could follow her trail all the way from back where she started... but Abigail quickened her pace nonetheless.

There didn't seem to be anything interesting here yet anyway. She hadn't seen any buildings, which she hadn't expected to, but she also hadn't seen anything else yet. No signs, murals, monoliths. Nothing. She still had a bit of walking to go, it seemed.

Abigail didn't know it, but she slowly started to approach the outer lines where she was about to start seeing bits of old murals, warnings and such. She was still a good distance away from the temple, but she grew closer to the first sign of an ancient people. And she also grew closer to another thing. Another person.

[member="Jalek Meredydd"] [member="Alexandra Feanor"]