soulping | TAKSHAKA

TAKSHAKA

[ 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. ]

... I want to say no.

Hmm... I don't want take the easy way through. We can handle a challenge, right?

Agreed. Takshaka doesn't run from a challenge!

So, let's take the challenge.

I support that as well. I would rather take our chances and win on merit than do so by sabotaging another.

So, I think that means we are all decided. And anyway, I do not mind a good challenge.

Should I tell the old lady we don't want her help?

Go for it, if that is what you want to do.

Thanks for the offer, but we don't need your help.

That was quite the easy decision to make, it seems.

I'm okay with that being a thing, myself, if the rest is going to be a challenge.

It will allow us to conserve our stamina instead of arguing, certainly.

We do not usually argue that much, anyway.

That is true. It's a good sign, that we are a team with generally unified goals.

[With a bit of a cackle:]

Very well then!

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

[ MOVING ONWARD, THEN ]

[ 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. ]

[ after checking the riverbank and forest- ]

If we can get some of the vines off the trees, we can braid them together and use them to help us across!

Edited 2014-01-26 01:14 (UTC)

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TAKSHAKA

PROLOGUE

DISCUSSION

ANSWER

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FIRST CHALLENGE: THE RIVER

ON THE RIVERBANK

NEARBY IN THE FOREST

DISCUSSION

SUBMIT YOUR SOLUTION

Re: DISCUSSION