soulping | OMETOTCHTLI

OMETOTCHTLI

[ Upon stepping through the archway, you find yourself deep within a green forest, surrounded by trees, undergrowth, and the chittering skittering noises of small animals and insects. Behind you and around you, the trees and other vegetation close in on themselves; before you, a narrow but clear path beckons strongly. ]

[ Your normal skills are off, but you gain Basic Outdoorsmanship. ]

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[ A wizened old crone waits at the side of the path with a dire warning. ]

Beware, travelers! This forest is haunted and alive with magic. I can send the spirits and spells away for you, but only if you choose another part of the forest to lay them on. Do you wish my aid?

[ You know instinctively what she means: you can make the challenges ahead of you less complicated and fraught with unpredictable curses if you pick another team to burden. ]

[... this kind of thing again. burden other teams]

How much outsourcing to other teams do you think we can get away with?

I do not know. But we do not seem to be required to burden other teams if we do not want to. But it will make our challenges harder if we choose not to.

[blows out a breath of air in an exhale like he's already too tired for this] Well then, we might as well start planning to "burden" other teams. I'm guessing they aren't going to be shy about returning the favor.

[sighs]

I do not like it, but I do not think they do either.

Some of them definitely don't... [he's thinking of his friends here now] but I don't know about the rest. Especially those new teams. Either way, I think we should we be playing to win this one and there's no strategy in letting everyone walk all over us while we're doing nothing.

... You are right. Hopefully it is nothing too bad.

This doesn't seem like that kind of game but you can never say here. So, what team?

We'll be sending that stuff away to Tiamat.

One of the new ones, perhaps. I do not exactly remember their names, but...

I remember one of their names, it's fine. That's all we need.

[he's just glad that he didn't have to argue with teammates to get this conclusion]

[... dude, I don't like it but I don't have to say it and I don't really want to argue either. nods]

[Cackling a bit and waving her hands.]

It's done, dearie!

[And she retreats altogether too quickly into the woods, leaving you all to move forward on the path...]

[ The path stops abruptly at the banks of a roaring, rushing river, dotted with slick treacherous rocks in the shallows and almost two meters deep in the middle. On the other side, about fifteen meters away, the path resumes. But there's no bridge, only a couple of rotting posts that might once have supported one. You're going to have to figure out how to get across yourself.

Why not have a look around? ]

[ The thick forest opens up quite a bit right next to the river, allowing you to travel easily a little ways up and down the bank, away from the path, before it grows too dense to travel through again. In some locations, the river is slightly slower, a bit narrower or shallower, or a little less plagued by sharp rocks, though there's no place that looks like it would be particularly pleasant to cross. In several places, the crumbling remains of a stone wall, at its tallest no more than a meter high by now and surrounded by stones that have fallen loose from the rest, can be seen on the riverbank. ]

[ Near the river, the forest thins out enough to explore for a time. It's still thick with undergrowth and fallen branches--some small and easy to snap, some almost as heavy as the tree trunks themselves--but it can be traversed. Here and there in small clearings are mysterious piles of stones stacked upon each other. Some of the trees are easily climbable thanks to the thick vines that wrap around their trunks; others tower impossibly. ]

Obviously, we have to get across. I think they want us to figure out how ourselves.

[ Between a couple of tall trees is a worn-down statue that might once have been a serpent or a mermaid. However, the inscription on its base is still very readable. ]

Wroth am I with my disorder,
In this alone do I seek quarter:
Bereft of it both gold and ash
Together fetch the same cold cash.

[looks around for a moment before he points towards the crumbling wall]

We could use the stones from there and try to make the shallow parts shallower.

That's a good idea. Maybe some of the bigger fallen branches too? It'll speed things up with something like this if we use everything we can find.

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OMETOTCHTLI

PROLOGUE

DISCUSSION

ANSWER

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FIRST CHALLENGE: THE RIVER

ON THE RIVERBANK

NEARBY IN THE FOREST

DISCUSSION

SUBMIT YOUR SOLUTION

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A MYSTERIOUS STATUE

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