City of IF

[Lebrenth]

Kalanna Rai wrote: I personally want to go down to the docks and look for the old man selling secrets...maybe I can trick him into revealing something. Also call me Fir people...or Jenn...or Stokesy.

For convenience, the old man's advice can be easily accessed at the FITH (Fabled Island Trading House) in the Market Bizarre. Just send the fables like before and pick three treasures you want clues to. If you want to try to trick him, I will put the option on the poll. That or I can write another chapter assuming you're on a fact finding mission, and well have a poll later. Just give me a general consensus.

Donkeys are available at the FITH (click the F at the top of the thread), if you decide to buy one D or Cren. Sorry you didn't like the eyes gag, D-Lotus. Thought it might help to reiterate that the map's features are mostly exaggerated to characterize certain areas, and I was just fooling around. I was more worried what Cren would think about being portrayed so accurately. ;)

Anything that costs Fables is going to be in FITH. I'm constantly updating the lists, so keep an eye on it if you want the new stuff.

Thanks for your speedy responses! You've helped the story truly launch.

[Jack_D.Mented]

I think that the best thing to do to start off with is to set up a base of operations.

The church is my personal vote for headquarters, but that's up to consensus.

A good solid place to coordinate from seems like a logical place to start, though.

[Smudger]

Great start Leb, I personally, as a scrounger, will buy a donkey and wander, while taking all my food and water off chia. We should do what china said, spread out.

[Lebrenth]

Smudger wrote: Great start Leb, I personally, as a scrounger, will buy a donkey and wander, while taking all my food and water off chia. We should do what china said, spread out.

My ears are open to suggestions for individual actions, but I must emphasize that this game must be run on a group level. An action as distinct as stealing (ok, extended borrowing) from another participant is going to start other individual actions, such as retaliation, and next thing you know, we're playing an RPG that can't be allowed in the SG section. There's two things you have direct control of: your character's conversation between story segments, and purchasing or selling at FITH.

Otherwise all actions need to be put to vote. I can't resist putting: "Let Lawrence take Chia's food and water" on the poll, but unless it gets a majority vote, it won't happen (and there's at least one person who won't like that idea, and might hold it against you). Realistically, if the group disagreed with Lawrence's action, they would put a stop to it anyway.

In fact, while we're waiting for suggestions, why don't we take a quick inbetween poll about your character, Smudger? If I ever get a forum dedicated to this story it should be easier to give everyone more control, but we'll have to make do for now.

Quote: I personally want to go down to the docks and look for the old man selling secrets...maybe I can trick him into revealing something. Also call me Fir people...or Jenn...or Stokesy.

I think you've made a good balance of group decision and individual decision with your message Rai, as long as you realize that the group still makes all decisions together. If the vote goes in favor of spreading out for information, there's no conflict if you go to find the old man with the secrets. However, if the group votes "Focus on making a headquarters first", then your character is compelled to go with the will of the majority.

One last word on "Spreading Out", it's cool if you do, and sensible. But if "spreading out" comes to "splitting up", I must stop you. It would be too confusing and time consuming to let the group go entirely different directions... say more than 2 miles from each other. Scooby Doo-ing sounds great though, so no worries yet.

I hope this isn't getting too complicated.... This is a new way of SGing that might take some adaptation. I'll make a really clear and simple set of rules soon, and if there's any questions, please ask.

[chiacutie]

voted, and winning!

-edit-I give rai and chinaren permission to use the dkney

[Lebrenth]

Sorry Smudger, at 6 to 0 when I closed the poll, it seems there isn't any tolerance for borrowing.

Ok, next poll! With either option I'll make sure you have more information to work with and I'll introduce the two new treasure hunters as well as a few hirelings. This poll is about what you're more worried about. Do you want to spend extra time on checking out the harbor city or more time on setting up the place you'll be sleeping and keeping your extra stuff?

The next chapter is going to sweep you off your feet! I consider that last one a sort of introduction. If we can get a quick majority (just 5) we can move to the next chapter faster. ... Ah, the advantage to know exactly how many voters there are.

[D-Lotus]

I think we have enough to move on and be dazzled :D . I wouldn't make promises like that, though. Taste is too subjective. ;)

[Lebrenth]

JINKIES

“All right then, we’ll break up and see what we can learn here,” Thomas says. “I’ll go to The Blue Swashbuckler and ‘mingle’.”

“Can you take me to the old man with the secrets for sale?” Jim asks Father Charles.

“Of course.”

“I’ll go with you,” Jenn says. “Maybe I can get a little extra out of him.”

“I need a donkey,” Lawrence says and bites into a biscuit.

“Hey where’d you get that?” Chia says.

“I just took it from your chest, you don’t mind do you?” he says.

“Larry, get over here!” Chia says point at a spot on the ground in front of her. Lawrence casually works over, a little confused. “Hold out your hand!” And he does and she smacks it.

“Ow! Why’d you do that?”

“You need to stay out of our stuff,” Thomas says. “You can get your own food like the rest of us.”

“Come on now,” Lawrence says.

“No!” Chia says, swiping her biscuit back, and throwing it in the trees. Lawrence sighs and stands there. “You deserved it.”

“What about the others?” Ross says with his even brass voice. Everyone looks at each other.

“Didn’t anyone remember to let them out?” Jim asks and everyone looks a little embarrassed, except Lawrence, who is too busy looking for the discarded biscuit.

“I’ll get them,” Jenn says in frustration but in truth happy for the opportunity to use her skills.

******************************************

Back in the lava dome, Father Charles, Jim, and Jenn reboard the ship. As expected, no one has the key to the brig so Jenn takes the lockpicks from her hair and goes below deck. Ethan Gerry, the hunter and the one who gave the sailors the most trouble when getting locked up, stands beside Aspi the spearwoman, whose voice has gone hoarse from yelling to try to get attention. The other two treasure hunters lay pallidly on the ground. Jenn unlocks the door quickly.

“You need to teach me that trick,” Ethan says in a low voice.

“What’s with them?” Jim asks.

“They’re dead,” Ethan says and passes them.

“Dear God,” Father Charles says in shock and begins praying over them.

“I wouldn’t get too close,” Ethan says. “The fever killed them. I guess this means the treasure goes 8 ways instead of 10.”

“Was it really the fever that killed them?” Jenn asks accusingly. Ethan turns long enough to smile, then collects his things and goes up top. “Are you all right?” she asks Aspi, whose face is flushed and nervous. She’s sweating and looking down as she hesitantly nods. She takes a firm grip of her spear, breathing deeply and occasionally coughing. The father’s prayers cease.

Father Charles takes it upon himself to arrange the funeral, telling the others where they can find the old man. Ethan leaves without pause or explanation.

~************************************~

Lawrence pats the neck of his donkey as he walks alongside him down the road.

“You’re supposed to ride them,” Chia says brusquely as she passes him on her donkey, riding sidesaddle.

“That’s ok, I want him to get used to me first,” he replies. “Did you find anything out?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Chia says smartly. In truth the islander who sold the donkey to her seemed to be immune to her charms, and besides upsetting her, she found out nothing from him except the donkey’s name is Koko. Lawrence didn’t get any information but he made a friend, Nasala, who gave him a nice harness for his donkey, lovingly named Slowpoke.

~*************~

Ross quickly makes a bed by a small alcove and tucks his things beside it before catching up with Thomas. Together they go to the Blue Swashbuckler. The somewhat small tavern is crowded but invitingly lively until Ross and Tom go inside. It quickly ices over, the patrons looking grim and challenging. Tom keeps walking, and knocks on the counter, though the bartender is clearly staring at him. Ross stays quiet and meets hostility with hostility, cracking his knuckles at his sides and daring anyone to come close enough to feel his iron fists.

“Two beers,” Thomas says, not yet feeling threatened enough to be nervous. “And another of whatever this man is having.” The lean man beside him accepts with the smallest of nods. Ross drinks quickly and spits on the floor. Thomas takes his time, as though he really only came to the tavern to drink and nothing more. Eventually the room gets bored of staring at them and they start muttering. The muttering grows to talking and the talking rises to the former ruckus.

“Another load of treasure hunters off the boat eh?” asks the lean man beside him, who wears an old military belt but has hair like Conan.

“It’s true,” Thomas says disinterestedly.

“They come and go. You’ll wish you never heard of Gadiri.”

“It doesn’t seem so bad. Nice little tavern you have here.”

“The tavern’s the good part of the island. You won’t get anywhere out there without help?”

“You know where I can find help?”

“I know a few things that will keep you alive, but I don’t give good advice for free.”

“I’m listening.”

“For 65 Fables I could show you myself what I mean.”

“Is this for information or services.”

“Services, and don’t offer me a cut of the treasure. If you don’t have the money, I don’t have any time to waste on you.”

“Are you worth it?”

“You can’t afford to not find out.”

“All right, deal.”

“Jeremy Fisher,” he says offering his hand and the deal is done.

“Now how about that information?” Tom asks. Jeremy stands and goes outside with the treasure hunters, careful to keep his secrets as best as he can. As they walk, Jeremy’s voice deepens.

“Have you heard of Bulletproof Juice?”

“Only that it’s on the island.”

“It’s a potion the natives used to make, made a man’s skin rock hard, even enough to stop a bullet. I’ve seen it with my own eyes, and had it in my own pack. I was with the crew when we found it in an old native village north of Akala. We knew what it was and we left right away to try to take it back… but there’s something not right about that bamboo forest.

“We didn’t believe it was haunted before, but we kept hearing voices… our compass kept changing direction. We could watch it spin back and forth as though following something beyond our sight. We kept trying to find our way… we looked for our tracks and tried to climb to see where we were, but nothing helped. We spent the entire day trying to find a way out, even though the bamboo forest is only a few square miles.

“When night came and the rocs came out, our matches and our flint wouldn’t work. We couldn’t light our torches or shoot a bullet. We kept going in the dark and every few minutes we stopped and counted off to make sure we didn’t lose anyone. Except we did. About every half hour someone was missing. We started with 12 men and eventually there were only three of us.

“I don’t know why, but suddenly we were let out. We found the Ogona trees and we knew we’d finally escaped. We lit a torch and tried to figure out where we were, and we found out all at once…. Do you know what a skiper mondey is?”

“No.”

“It’s about the size of an orangutan… do you know what that is?”

“Actually I do.”

“It’s strong enough to rip a man’s arm off, and it’s faster than a horse when it’s in the trees. They have three-foot-long claws that are barbed like harpoons. They use them to swing and to catch prey, and they aren’t below eating a man. Even a dead mondey can hold onto you if he gets his barbs on you.

“When the mondeys came after us we knew we were in their territory, but after everything that happened, we couldn’t think straight. We ran like children and they tore the others apart. One of them jumped down on me and caught my pack. I had to take it off or I’d be dead with them. In the end, I just got lucky getting back alive.

“I’ve thought about that night a lot and I’ve got a good idea where I was when I lost the juice. I haven’t been with a crew who wanted to go into skiper mondey territory, but if that’s what you want, I’ll show you where it is.”

“We’ll have to talk to the others,” Thomas says ponderously.

~*************~

Finding the old man turns out to be a lot more difficult than Jim expected, since the directions included “a large tree” and there are many large trees. Luckily they find a man named Juan Marcos to help them. Juan Marcos a young man with dark eyes, quiet but also patient and accommodating. Jenn’s caustic personality doesn’t upset him in the least, besides that he knows his way around. She’s convinced he’s worth keeping around and hires him with a two-month advance. He takes them straight to the old man.

“He should have said ‘Large DEAD tree,’” he says to himself. The tree isn’t really large as much as fat, and it is black and decaying. A bamboo ladder is propped up out of reach and requires the old man’s help in retrieving it. He comes out with sparse wispy hair on his dark head. Those that remain of his teeth are crocked and his eyes are blurry and askew from each other. His clothes are thread bare in many place, showing the wrinkled, blemished skin beneath. As they sit on an old hay-filled cushion inside the small tree hut, they notice he does not look at them or at anything. It is dark except for a single beam of light that shines on him.

“5 Fables,” he says unevenly. Jim holds it out, but the man does not react, so he sets it on the small table loudly. The man fumbles and till he feels it in his hand. “What do you want to know?”

Jim asks about the white skiper mondey, the cross of Malathaea, and Heart of Akala. The answers are brief and cryptic, but Jim commits them to memory by repeating them to himself, with Jenn’s help. Then they awkwardly leave the hut and return to see what the others learned.


Chia greets them and immediately offers Jenn a room at the Inn in town, along with Thomas and the reclusive Ethan Gerry, but very pointedly not to Lawrence. Lawrence is unconcerned, deciding the jungle looks nice enough. She also decided to buy a rowboat, which waits for her on the docks.

The group unites and exchanges information, including Lawrence who gives a brief explanation of the general features, starting in the northwest corner and looping back around:

“This was a city called Paradise. A few years ago, raiders from another island came and killed and burned everything and now the natives say it’s cursed. A little girl named Sylvie was lost, and her mother thinks she’s still alive and offering a reward.”

“Sylvie’s a cat,” Jeremy Fisher says. “You heard wrong.”

“Well, the lady said it was a girl.”

“Whoever told you is wrong,” Jeremy says strongly. “You want us to go around chasing a cat, if it’s even still alive?”

“… Er, this is the bamboo forest. It’s haunted, but I guess you knew that? This is the skipper monday territory, where the big evil eyes are.”

“Skiper mondey,” Jeremy corrects.

“Over here is Lake Winiup, down here is the lava field, this ring and these little gate looking things are called ‘Sky Stones’, this cave is the harbor, that’s the lighthouse, that waterfall is called Noburu’s Veil, and that ship in the water is actually still there on the rocks. It was called the ‘Spice Runner’ and it’s supposed to have stuff in it still. OH, and that spot’s a cemetery, just south of Paradise.”

“What’s this?” Thomas asks pointing to the fortress on Noburu’s shoulder. Jeremy jumps in.

“Connelly Keep. It’s been abandon for over 20 years. It’s where the rocs have built their aeries.”

“I see. Anything else?” Thomas asks. Ethan considers whether to speak. Aspi, still practically voiceless, watches him ponder, but no one else notices. He smirks at her and folds his arms determinedly, so the group begins the debate….

[Chinaren]

Well, I say we go to the city and try and find this girl/kitten. We need to explore anyway, and we may as well start where there is a possibility of a reward.

What say ye comrades? :D

Oh, and good chapter Lebs. You are really putting some work into this one!

[D-Lotus]

Hmmm, the introduction of the new characters is a bit choppy, but under the circumstances, its the best you could have done.

I'm still having an uneasy time figuring out who the characters are, perhaps there wasn't enough description or depth in the introduction for me to have personalities associated to them in my mind.

I think I have them all now, though. I can see that Lawrence, Ethan, Fisher, and Chia are developing personalities. The rest are somewhat ambigious.

I think the best part of this story is the Decision point. So many choices, fellow adventurers! Ah, the quest for the treasure. Excitement pulses in my veins.

Anyway, I think we should we should check out Noburu's veil. It might start us off in some clue, and anyway its in the direction of Paradise. If not, then we should search for the Heart of Akala in the "bloodlines", or what I think is the lava plains.

[Smudger]

Me & Lotus are agreed on the DP, waterfall and Spice Runners treasure. Great chapter Lebby, I like Lawrence and his loyal friend Slowpoke, quality name.

[Lebrenth]

D-Lotus wrote: I'm still having an uneasy time figuring out who the characters are, perhaps there wasn't enough description or depth in the introduction for me to have personalities associated to them in my mind.

I think I have them all now, though. I can see that Lawrence, Ethan, Fisher, and Chia are developing personalities. The rest are somewhat ambigious.

I think the best part of this story is the Decision point.

So I've been cornered at last. I must admit I've always been more wrapped up in the plot than the characters. I've realized the importance of their symbiosis and I continue to focus on improving my vignettes. This story is actually an excellent exercise for that with so many characters and limited space to describe them. I plan to continue developing the characters, as their characteristics become more apparent. I can't really go back and start over so I hope you'll bear with me.

And let this be a warning! Anyone else who criticizes my writing will be carefully considered and replied to politely. I'm very interested in improving my writing and making this SG as entertaining as I can. Feedback is the best way for me to learn, so I might even thank you. In D-Lotus's case, we've got a history of being snooty to each other, so I'm not going to thank him for it. ;)

Thanks for the favorable comments everyone (even D-Lotus), now how long do we think we should take suggestions before moving to the next poll? I would honestly write another chapter right now if I could, but I don't want to leave anyone behind. How about 4 days?

[chiacutie]

I must say, I really like your writing. I mean theyre's always room for improvement, for everyone, even *dare I say it* GARTH NIX could be a better writer (blasphemous as that sounds)

And about only some of he charactors being developed-Do you know everything about every charactor by the second chapter in books you read? I think it's GOOD to have to wait to figure them out. Of course, that doesnt mean you should keep us in the dark about the charactors. Just dont feel rushed to give them IMMEDIATE depth is all im saying.

I think this story is going to be really good!

Maybe it could be nominated for the golden bagel...

[D-Lotus]

Quote: Anyone else who criticizes my writing will be carefully considered and replied to politely.

You monster.

[LordoftheNight]

I thought the lava fields sounded interesting, but purely from a distance. Realistically speaking, searching for the catgirl sounds best. Plus, as someone mentioned, we need to explore more.

[chiacutie]

i think that we should go for the cat thing.

[Kalanna Rai]

I am developing a character...I'm a sneaky sarcastic person with a heart of gold...that I keep locked in a safe incase Lawrence tries to scrounge it.

Lets go fine Catgirl, I'm feeling up for an adventure.

Nice touch with the lockpicks Lebby. :D

[Lebrenth]

Guess what! It's time for the poll for the next segment! As before, I will keep the poll running for a few days or until we have a clear majority, which is easy since we know the number of voters.

IMPORTANT! If there's anything more you want to buy, better do it soon! When the treasure hunters leave Gadiri Harbor, the shop CLOSES. Purchases will not be accepted until the crew returns. Similarly! Treasures can only be sold in Gadiri Harbor, so there will be no payments until the shop opens again. The treasure doesn't just transform into Fables, it has to be sold.

Thanks for your support! Happy hunting!

[chiacutie]

looking foreward to it!

[Kalanna Rai]

I have the sneaking suspicion that 'Paradise' is going to be more like 'Purgatory'...Do I really have enought knives for this?

[Lebrenth]

Episode 3. Elusive Treasures

“The catgirl is at least a somewhat solid lead and we need to explore,” Thomas says. A few don’t entirely agree, but no one opposes. “All right then, we should get going.”


The crew breathes and checks their packs. Lawrence sighs at his pack which is empty of food except some sort of a beetle that climbed in. He crunches it in his mouth and swallows without relish. Ross collects his equipment as though the church was on fire and stands impatiently ready at the door.

“Wait, aren’t we going to stay at the tavern tonight?” Chia asks. She’s responded with shrugs. She spent money on rooms, but the treasure hunters have spent enough time sleeping on the voyage to the island. It’s time to see some of that fabled treasure.

“All right,” Thomas says when everyone is together. “We’re going to keep a head count to make sure we don’t lose anybody.”

“1,” he starts, pointing at himself with one hand and hold his rifle with the other. “2,” he points at Jenn, who wears a sly smile. “3,” he points at Lawrence, the only person to be ready before Ross because he had nothing to pack. “4,” he points at Ross, who looks like he’s staring down an opponent at all times, even when sleeping, and who has already begun curling his pack to build his biceps while he’s waiting for everyone. “5,” he points at Jim, spread out on a pew like a blanket with his feet kicked up on the pew ahead. “6,” he points to the lovely Chia, who is currently deciding which outfit would look best in the jungle. “7,” he points to the temporarily mute Aspi with a spear taller than she is and a determined face that shows how badly she wants to use it. “… Where’s Ethan?”

“He likes to disappear,” Jenn says indifferently. The doorway darkens as he returns. No one asks where he was.

“That’s 8. Then we’ve got Jeremy here, he’s a veteran skirmisher who’s been on the island for a while. Our other quiet friend, Juan Marcos, knows the jungle better than the rest of us and no doubt will prove himself valuable. And Father Charles, our liaison and the host who is letting us stay in his church, will join us. So that makes 11 in all, plus two donkeys. Are we ready?”

The crew finally assembles and ambles out of the door. An old road lined with lava rock shows the way. They pass the fields of sugarcane and flooded paddies of rice, all separated by flimsy bamboo fences, then the jungle swallows the treasure hunters and Gadiri Harbor’s scraps of civilization vanish. The sounds of the jungle buzz, click, murmur and howl all around. Juan takes the lead with a blade casually in hand. Every rustling leaf grabs the treasure hunters’ attention and the mystery of what lies just beyond the first row of trees tantalizes and frightens. The veterans know that it is only the beginning.

Fallen trees and wild leafy plants try to reclaim the road to Paradise, but footprints and slashed branches suggest there are still a few people who are interested in taking the dangerous route. After several miles, Jim breaks the silence,

“Shouldn’t we head west? We could see Noburu’s Veil on the way. We did say we wanted to explore, right?”

“There is a path that is faster and safer than cutting through the jungle,” Juan Marcos says. “It can take you there, but it will take us longer to get to Paradise.”

“We did say we wanted to explore,” Jim says. The adventurers generally agree with exploring, if not extensive searching, so they agree to take the long route.

Tumbled lava rocks spread out on the right, thinning the jungle and letting the adventurers look up at the peak of Noburu, which looks like a broken tooth from this angle. Around the north slope the edge of the fortress appears and slowly grows. The road climbs, then dips. The trees shorten with their roots more exposed. The ground around the road becomes soggy with innumerous squirming things accompanying a light but ubiquitous smell of decay. Ahead, the road becomes a platform a few inches above a thin layer of water. When it goes back to the ground, there is a diverging path to the west. The signpost lies vandalized on the ground, but Juan Marcos does not hesitate to go west, nor does he waste words explaining why.

The path is narrower and unlined. At some points it disappears altogether, then reappears for no apparent reason. Abruptly, you exit the jungle. The path has led you onto a shelf of solid lava rock. The cracked black rock has the patterns of a flowing river and only a few very thin grasses and flowers grow anywhere on it. You overlook a wide area from this vantage point. Below there is a lagoon, with many graceful and colorful birds gliding over its surface. Some of them dive suddenly into the water to catch fish, some of them swoop in tight circles catching insects, others only lazily drift from tree branch to tree branch eating nuts and fruits. You can hear Noburu’s Veil, but you can only see the river feeding it from here.

You follow Juan who follows the waypoints of stacked rocks till it reaches the edge. There the path dives in tight switchbacks to the bottom. Leaving the donkeys up top, the adventurers literally climb down the craggy path to a platform below. The platform is 5 feet over the calm water clogged with water lilies and lotus plants. It takes the adventures a hundred and fifty yards into the lagoon and gives them an inspiring view of the cascading waterfall, its white water dashes against the rocks and sprinkles onto the lagoon. It’s beautiful, but there doesn’t seem to be anything there. The most obvious feature to look for, a cave behind the falls, doesn’t look possible from this angle, but might justify a closer look.

“Pretty,” Chia says. “I knew I should have brought my boat.”

“There’s nothing here but alligators,” Jeremy says, and as though waiting for a cue, a large splash occurs and an alligator plunges a crowned heron under the water. Suddenly it becomes clear that a lot of the ‘logs’ floating around in the lagoon are actually alligators trolling the waters.

“There’s a boat out there,” Thomas says, seeing it as he gauges how likely it would be to shoot all of the alligators. The boat looks as though being held up by the water lilies around it.

“Be my guest,” Lawrence says with a grin, welcoming him to swim out to it.

“I’ll get it,” Ross says, stepping up to the edge.

“Whoa! Hold it, we don’t have time right now. We’re going to find that girl cat, remember?” Thomas says grabbing hold of Ross’s shoulder. Ross’s severe look tells Thomas he should remove his hand. He does and prepares himself to shoot alligators, but Ross was persuaded and Thomas lets down his guard. “All right, so unless someone has something to say, I think it’s time we moved on.”

“I think we should go see the Spice Runner instead,” Lawrence says. “We’re almost there!”

“I think we’re done here,” Jenn says as though Lawrence said nothing. The group acts similarly.

“Well I thought it was a good idea,” Lawrence says to himself.

Backtracking doesn’t take long. The jungle makes the day into night as they venture deeper, and the sounds they’ve heard all day seem more malevolent.

A few indulgent stops for resting and eating slow the pace somewhat, but make up for themselves with renewed energy. Lawrence stays ahead with Juan, constantly asking questions about the jungle, particularly about what’s edible, and every time the group stops, he borrows Juan’s attention for a minute to try to dig up something to feed his aching hunger. Surprisingly, the jungle darkens; surprising because it seemed too dark already. A few of the anxious hunters find the idea of sleeping in the jungle extremely unsettling, but they are relieved when they make it out again as dusk settles in.

The remaining light is enough to see Paradise in its shattered state, but only vaguely at this distance. To the left, and much nearer, a stone enclosure… a cemetery.

“We should camp,” Juan says at the brink of the jungle. He goes back into the trees and takes off his camp, with others following slowly, still taking in the view and feeling the warm breeze. So far, they’ve abided the temperature of the island fairly well, but with the shade of the jungle canopy they can’t claim to have seen the worst of it.

“Ethan, where are you going?” Thomas asks.

“There’s plenty of light. I’m going to see the cemetery.”

“Take someone with you,” Thomas says, but Ethan is not listening. Regardless, Ross goes out too, but for his own reasons. Jenn unpacks and hurries to catch up. It’s best to not leave the scariest of the treasure hunters alone, she reasons. She notices the distance they keep from each other as they enter the cemetery.

[Lebrenth]

Brace yourself, I have another one coming!

[Lebrenth]

Episode 3.5, Paradise Found

“I don’t need your help,” Ethan says at the open gate.

“I’m not offering it,” Ross says without pause. They go opposite directions amongst the extravagant tombstones, monuments, and crypts. It takes several minutes for Jenn to enter behind them. With so many statues and structures, she can’t see more than a few yards, except for down the two crossing center aisles. Neither Ross nor Ethan can be seen from the center, so she begins wandering.

The remaining light fails fast, so she lights one of her torches, which works better for looking inside the crypts anyway. Every single door in the cemetery was opened with rude force. She peers into the Wayne Family crypt and sees their coffins cracked open with their shriveled bodies cast upon the ground. They’re all like this, defiled without remorse, anything of value stripped away. There are a few open graves with broken coffins, but it seems the work of digging didn’t prove prosperous enough to be thorough. At least most of the graves are untouched.

“Ross! Ethan!” she calls out. There is a gasp and a rustling. “Ross?”

The rustling seems to be just a few yards away, but when she looks, there is nothing there… or is it farther up? She hurries to the next crypt. There is a blanket and a shovel just inside and she can hear someone running. Not knowing why, she chases after it, trying to get it within the sight of the torch. She dodges between the structures, keeping her ear turned to hear where it is going. It veers right when it reaches the wall. She’s falling behind.

Ethan climbs a crypt, then perches on the shoulder of the angel statue on top. He heard Jenn, but didn’t care to join her till it seemed she found something. He can see her torch and the direction she’s running. If she’s chasing, he can get ahead of it, if she’s running away, he can hide as they pass, so he jumps down and runs to intercept, relying on his adjusted eyes to see the dim obstructions in the dark.

A silhouette appears between Ethan and Jenn, and it is running frantically. Ethan draws his sword and waits like the statues around him. The silhouette seems to mistaken him as such, and Ethan easily kicks his leg out from under him, then steps down on his back to keep him from moving. Jenn soon catches up.

“Ethan! What is it?”

“It’s a man, I think. Hard to say since he was running from a woman.”

She smacks Ethan’s back with the flat of her blade. He’s annoyed but he acts as if it was nothing. The figure on the ground breathes hard but doesn’t struggle.

“Who are you?” Jenn says firmly.

“No one to worry about,” he says. “I haven’t got anythin’ on me!”

“Oh yeah?” Ethan says, deftly cutting the purse from the rope around the man’s waist. It has a few Fables in it, but nothing to get excited about so Jenn puts it back. “I’ll have that,” Ethan says seeing she has no interest. She ignores him.

“What are you doing here?” Jenn asks.

“What are you doing here?” the man answers. The meaning is understood.

“Let him up,” Jenn says. Confident he could catch the man again if he wanted to, Ethan snatches the purse and steps back. The unarmed man stands.

“If you don’t mind, I’ll be leavin’.”

“Where’s your stash?” Ethan says.

“Like I’d tell you, even if I had one. I haven’t found nothin’ worth keepin’, no rings or gold teeth or anythin’. The rich ones got fancy crypts, these daisy pushers got nothin’.”

“Leave him alone, you see how he’s dressed. If he had treasure he wouldn’t be in rags.”

“Thank you very much,” the man says indignantly.

“He’s got something,” Ethan insists.

“You’ve got all I have! You want my shoes too?”

“Maybe.”

“I’ve got nothin’ more to lose, so if you wants to keep me here, you’ll just have to tie me up, all right?” he says and walks away. Perhaps if Jenn wasn’t there, Ethan would literally do as suggested, but she stands between them defiantly.

“Fine,” Ethan says lightly. “I think I’ll be going back now.”

Jenn goes with him to make sure he does just as he says. The group is settled in with a few canvas sheets hanging over them in case it rains. Lawrence has taken Jenn’s things out and set up her bed and things carefully. She quickly checks to make sure nothing is missing, but every biscuit is accounted for.

“What?” Lawrence says as she glares at him. He finishes chewing up a leaf Juan found for him. The taste isn’t any good, but the worse part is that it isn’t very filling. Thomas and Jeremy borrow the torch to find Ross, but they see him coming back before getting far. It doesn’t seem he found anything, but he doesn’t say so. He does a few rapid pushups before finding hard ground to sleep on.

The roc’s shrill cries are especially loud on this side of the mountain, making it difficult to sleep, even with earplugs. One way or the other, the giant birds are above them, flying around looking for easy prey, and if you plug your ears, you won’t be able to hear other things that approach.

Just a few hours after the rocs quiet down, Juan wakes everyone up.


The city of Paradise, once an exotic getaway for the wealthy and influential, now only a treasure hunter’s paradise. The first year after it was burned and pillaged by island raiders, scavengers crawled through it like maggots. Many ships and soldiers were sent to deal with the raiders and to bring justice for the murder of many innocent lives, but no one was convinced the problem was taken care of. The nearby islands were burned and blood-soaked, but there was no sign of any of them having the means of causing the massacre. The ones who were truly to blame vanished, and with them every surviving citizen of Paradise. They didn’t care that they lost their homes and possessions; they never wanted to see the city, or even the island, ever again. And with nothing to defend, the Connelly Fortress was abandoned too, so every freebooter in the region tore through the place till it seemed only a few elusive prizes remained hidden. They gave up before finding them, but there are a few who know they still await discovery.

To begin, the party goes in together. The main street must have been a sight in its day, but now the fountains no longer run and the gardens have been consumed by the native plants of many kinds but mostly vines with large thorns. The craftsmanship of the facades at Main Street speaks of masters working many long hours. The foundations stand proudly, though the buildings they represent have been gutted and fire licked. Off of Main Street, however, the buildings are a poorer stock for the working class. Farther in, right up to the beach to the north, the mansions and their massive estates spread the roads far apart. They too, it would appear, have been looted.


“It looks like we’re a little late,” Thomas says, “but let’s spread out and see what we can, but make sure you take a partner.” He turns the comment towards Ethan and Ross, who are not listening. “Let’s meet back here at noon to check in.”

Everyone wonders off in different directions. Lawrence is only concerned about food at this point and spends his time on the beach, shaking a coconut trees and throwing his net in the water to try to catch a fish. In passing, Jim gives Lawrence some tips, but they don’t quite catch. Jim continues down the beachfront with Father Charles, searching stores and such on his way to the tip of Gadiri. The rest pick different directions and investigate the mansions.

An hour and a half after noon, with some waiting longer than others, the group reassemblies to report.

“I didn’t catch anything,” Lawrence admits, “but I got a few coconuts!” He shares his load, which lightens the annoyance that he didn’t even try to find treasure.

“I told you, you’ve got to bait the water,” Jim says.

“I got nothing to bait it with!”

“Use an urchin.”

“A what now?”

“I’ll show you later…. Oh, and we didn’t find any treasure, but we saw a sailboat on the docks.”

“I know who it belongs to,” Ethan says. “They’re freebooters. Five of them. They were searching the west bank, one of them carried a box. They had muskets.”

“I don’t know if we should cause trouble so soon,” Thomas says. No response just yet.

“Well I found a secret door!” Chia says cheekily, Aspi gives her a cold look. “Oh, and Aspi helped.”

“Which mansion?” Jeremy asks.

“It said ‘Hampton’ at the gate.”

“Was there anything in it?” Jim asks.

“I don’t know. It’s locked and it has a little keyhole.”

“Let’s go check it out,” Thomas says.

The mansion looks like the rest: broken up, burned and looted. But for such an empty mansion, there are a lot of new tracks. Following them takes the treasure hunters through the cellar, to a pitted stone wall. There were once racks blocking it, but they have been torn down and now it is plain to see a keyhole and seams to a door. The small pits in the wall come from pickaxes, but the stone was unrelenting.

“Let me handle this,” Jenn says, pulling out her lockpicks. The others watch as she works, but not quite as patiently as she. She does not get frustrated, but she’s having a very hard time understanding the mechanisms within as she feels around inside. After a half hour, the crew gets restless. At the turning of an hour, they start wandering the mansion. Aspi finds a torn portrait with a plaque that reads ‘Edgar Hampton’. The painter mercilessly painted hundreds of wrinkles on the old man, but the interesting parts of the painting are the strange metal amulet he wears and the cat with the silver collar in his arms. The amulet bears just enough resemblance to a key that it couldn't be a coincidence, though the angles are strange. The group takes turns looking at it. Thomas, with his keen eyes, seems to think he sees a faint inscription painted on the collar.

“Sylvie,” he says to himself. No one else makes it out with as much certainty. “Keep looking around,” he says.

The crew spreads out, except Jenn who continues with new hope, knowing what shape the key takes. In a few places, paw prints and dead rodents are found, but no one sees the cat itself after hours of searching. To break the tedium, and to get Lawrence to shut up about food, Jim takes Lawrence to go fishing. Father Charles goes with them, saying as he goes,

“Perhaps on our way back we can see the church that once held the Cross of Malathaea.”

“Good idea. You should have said something earlier.”


Jenn gives her hands a rest. Though the painting gives her an idea what the key should look like, it doesn’t seem to make sense. Either it was painted wrong, or this is the wrong door… or it isn’t a key at all, just a strange ornament. In any case, she concludes that she doesn’t have the right tools for such an irregular lock and for that matter she doesn’t have as much practice with complicated locks.


The end of the day comes with treasure hunters coming and going. Ethan continues to keep a close eye on the treasure hunters. Jim, Father Charles, and Lawrence come back with fish, but also speak of the church. The retable that used to hold the cross now only has an old and ruined painting in its place. The placement of the painting was deliberate, but isn’t very illuminating. It shows the scene of Malathaea carrying the cross at the head of the line of crusaders as they’re about to cross the Scera River to save the city of Gallanth. It’s in terrible condition and hardly a masterwork to boot so they left it in its place.


“We might as well sleep here,” Thomas says, “but we should talk about what we should do tomorrow.”

[D-Lotus]

Pretty good chapter. I liked it. I think we should find the freebooters and take whatever they found, or obtain info from them. Then steal their boat and sail over to the sunken ship.

[Kalanna Rai]

Right well that door is frustrating but I'd like to see if someone can't bash it down instead of trying to pick the locks while another group trys to hunt down the cat girl...who it seems might have the key if the painting is correct.

[Chinaren]

I agree with both of those comments. The door obviously still holds something. Let Jenn keep working on it and the rest of is should ambush those others, both to get anything they have found and to stop them doing the same to us later. :D

[Jack_D.Mented]

I want to ambush the freebooters. They may have something worth taking and they may not be there long. Chances are, if what's behind that door has waited this long, it can wait a few more hours.

[Smudger]

I did have something to pack I'll let you know!!!! I bought a net!! Find the girl by the way, or cat, and find what's behined the door.

[LordoftheNight]

A bit of violence never hurt anyone, so I'd attack the freebooters. Or possibly try to hire them, and then attack them.

[Lebrenth]

lordofthenight wrote: A bit of violence never hurt anyone, so I'd attack the freebooters. Or possibly try to hire them, and then attack them.

Just for clarification, when you say "attack" do you mean kill or just subdue? More or less I'm asking if you want to murder them. Also a few details on the "how" aspect would be good for any of these propositions. There's so many ways you could go about attacking the freebooters, for instance. Lordy just suggested deceiving them before ambushing them, and I appreciate it. If you want me to just figure it out, I can do that too, but specific suggestions will at least save your characters time.

[Jack_D.Mented]

I want to hide in the bushes with my pistol and take shots at them from a distance.

Shoot and move until all are dead.

[D-Lotus]

I was thinking of using Lawrence's net to trap them by entangling them in it, so that we can easily surround and disarm them. Then, we take anything they have and leave them tied up somewhere where there is some chance some one will come by.

[LordoftheNight]

For instance, sending in some of the less aggressive party members - Lawrence, Chia - to engage in conversation. Quite possibly with an offer of hiring them as well. Worm some information out of them if they're good enough.

Other party members - Ethan, Ross, Thomas ect circle round, and attack them. Probably killing a few, while leaving the leader alive to extract more information.

And don't forget to take their gold/weapons as well.

[chiacutie]

if my charactors supposed to be so beautiful then that could be helpful :cool:

And lawrence could manage to steal some food from them and stop having to eat leaves :big:

[Lebrenth]

The new Poll is up!

[chiacutie]

I chose to send Lawrence and I to the boats because t would be the most fun to write/read.

Not because it has my name in it, because of the.. situation? You know what Im trying to say?

[LordoftheNight]

Just wondering - is the '&q' at the end of the title deliberate?

[chiacutie]

i was kinda thinking that as well.

[Lebrenth]

lordofthenight wrote: Just wondering - is the '&q' at the end of the title deliberate?

Nope, it's some sort of glitch with the second """. I can't get rid of it for some reason. But then I thought it might get extra attention so I stopped worrying about it.

[chiacutie]

hey when can we expect a new chappy? BTW I pmd you money for my sister's entry just so she can vote cuz she kept whining about it