Once is Happenstance [Team Walkabout] [The Silver Apples of the Moon, the Golden Apples o]

Melissa


"Uh..." Melissa smiles a little at Magpie's questions, in a bemused way. "It's just something I can do as a Lunar. Turn parts of myself into bees. It was just an idea, I had, when the Elders told me some of hat I could do. It's a bit tricky, though... I knew how to turn into one bee already. I don't know if I could teach it."


She turns to look at the messy leftovers of the creature again.


"A straggler... Hm. I think someone put too much effort into this to let it run around."
 
Worthy to Be Beloved


Worthy hisses slightly in response to Fury and her caste mark flashes to life again upon her brow as her body dwindles in size. Her ivory armor and weapons fade from sight as the hands at her wing-joints vanish. The last traces of a human face disappear...


(Is it still raining?)
 
It's pouring, so flying will be difficult. Good thing swans are water birds!


The path along the ravine is full of mud and detritus, and the stream at the bottom is rising several feet past its normal bed. The ground rumbles at the Exalts feet, a sound that, strangely enough, seems to be coming from downstream, where the ravine meets the river.


Suddenly, the rumbling grows into a shuddering roar that drowns out all sound, and an enormous wall of water appears around the bend of the ravine. A tangle of thick bamboo tosses in its wake, and it churns up the ground, tossing boulders around as if they were pebbles in the grip of the flood. The wave bears down on the Exalts too quickly for a mortal to escape - fortunately, the little group at the ravine bottom has other resources.


Bonus points for creativity. :) Use what rolls you feel appropriate; I'll let you know if they don't work.
 
Midnight's Fury


Hearing - and then seeing - the wall of water bearing down on him, Fury's legs pump with frenzied furor. He runs up the side of the ravine and, with a deft flick of his wrist, he hurls Fury's Fang into a tree overhanging said ravine. With a heave of his legs, he leaps toward the edge of the ravine, at the same time retracting the chain around his wrist. In such a way, Fury makes his way to the edge of the ravine, avoiding the crushing torrent of water cascading down the ravine. Once at the top, he continues his race up the ravine's edge....


Dexterity (4) + Athletics (3): Results for 7 dice: 6 successes [ 2 7 8 0 2 8 8 ] (TN: 7)


Plus any stunt dice that may be appropriate.
 
Worthy to Be Beloved


The large white swan standing where the swan-woman was breaks into a waddling run and then jumps, giving herself an extra kick with her wings, just as a high jumper swings his arms.


The ground sinks beneath her, like water in a draining tub. She lets her wings waver slightly, just enough to keep her at flying speed, and the earth rights itself below, pouring steadily past...No, she thinks, that's water!


Water above, water, below, water all around...Worthy wheels round, climbing rapidly, squawking "Fly, you fools!"
 
Grinning Magpie


"Hey, where's everybody goi - holy shit!" Magpie almost froze at the sight of a wall of water coming up the ravine, but trained reflexes and Solar magic came to her rescue. She spun on one heel and dashed, moving faster than any mortal sprinter, reached the wall and leaped upwards, catching the lip of the ravine and hauling herself out before sprinting away from the edge.


------


Forgot to note: all my move-faster charms should still be active! Though probably they will be coming to an end soon. Jump 14 yards vertically, and 28 horizontally, move 10 yards a tick, etc.
 
Melissa


The spear-bearing Lunar goggled a split second at the volume of water rushing towards her - she had grown up in the desert - but at least had the wit to get moving. The demon weapon in her hand quivered a moment, but she dismissed it; she was glowing now, and stepping into the dark would be a bad idea. There was a thought, actually...


The air around her body burst into bright, flaming moonlight as she tapped into the grace of Luna, and raced to follow Magpie up and out of the ravine.


-------


Melissa spends 5m to activate her Full Moon anima power, then runs and jumps out of harm's way.
 
The flood rushes down the canyon with frightening speed, boulders churning in its wake. As the little group of Exalts scatters, most make it out of the ditch safely, except two: Lin-Rei and Dis must both suffer under an inauspicious star, and their reactions are not quick enough. The huge wall of water swallows them up instantly as they stand by the pile of skins, sweeping them downstream with a roar...


...which fades away into the sound of the pouring rain. The bamboo shivers once in a sudden wind, and then grows still. The ditch itself, scoured clean of all vegetation, is a fresh scar across the bamboo forest, bare clay pockmarked with the newly-deposited boulders.
 
Grinning Magpie


"Woo!" crowed Magpie, doing a brief dance to commemorate her victory over the onrushing waters. "Who's awesome? I am!" She spun with a grin. "Dis, did you see...


"Where's Dis?"
 
Worthy to Be Beloved


The large white swan glides down beside Magpie before cupping its wings and landing with a somewhat awkward thump.


"Water took him," Worthy grunts. "The red-haired woman too. They didn't get out of the way quick enough." She pauses. "I'm sorry," she adds in a softer tone.
 
Grinning Magpie


Magpie looked at the river and then back at Worthy. "But...he's a Lunar, right? He could totally turn into a fish or something and he'll be back, right?" Her voice was almost desperate, an unusual tone for the normally exuberant girl.
 
Worthy to Be Beloved


"Maybe," says Worthy. "And of course, he's Exalted. We can survive anything. Well, almost anything. Well, a lot of things."
 
Grinning Magpie


Magpie let out a breath she didn't know she was holding before shaking herself and grinning up at Worthy. "You're not very good at being comforting, are you?" she said with a smile. She punched Worthy in the arm - a light, joking punch, of course - and looked around. "Well...what should we do now? Should we go looking for Dis, or follow the others, or go back to the village and make sure everyone's OK there?"
 
Midnight's Fury


Fury scowls and looks around. For Lin Rei. When at first he doesn't see her, his head swivels faster. "Luna's bloody rag! Looks like Lin Rei is missing. Looks like the water got her, too. Can't just leave her out there. No telling where that...thing...might be. Finding our companions seems more important. That thing is fast. Perhaps faster than I am. Has a head start, too. So I'm going after Lin Rei. Welcome to join me. But I'm going."
 
Grinning Magpie


Magpie nodded quickly. "Yeah, I'll go with you! Dis might be with her." She looked over to Worthy, and made her best attempt at a Puppy Dog Expression. "Come with me, please?"
 
Worthy to Be Beloved


"Of course," Worthy assures her. "I'll take point -- see what I can see from above."
 
Grinning Magpie


"Good! Great!" Magpie switched to full-on frenetic activity mode, almost vibrating in place out of sheer eagerness to get moving. She lunged forward and hugged Worthy before setting off, jogging after the wave that had swept her Mate away.
 
Midnight's Fury


Fury leaps into action, his long stride carrying him effortlessly down the lip of the chasm. As he runs, he keeps his eyes open, looking for any sign - a scrap of clothing or a lock of hair - of either Lin Rei or Dis. After running on the ground for a bit, the Full Moon leaps into the air, trying to get a higher vantage point, realizing the falling rain may make tracking difficult. His gaze leaves nothing unscathed - the ground, the trees, the rocks, anything that might hold a clue. Determination is etched in his features. He'll not lose Lin Rei to a wall of water....


As my post says, I'm looking for clues of the missing characters' passing. If a roll is needed, let me know what you want me to roll. I figure either Investigation or Awareness. Your call.
 
Worthy to Be Beloved


Worthy, who is still in swan form, is nearly bowled off her webbed feet by Grinning Magpie's hug. :wink:


Shaking herself and re-arranging her ruffled feathers, she takes to the air again, making slow circles over the area, looking for any trace of the missing Exalted.
 
While the rain pouring down makes tracking difficult, Worthy's aerial view shows that the wave clearly scoured the ravine clean for a long way into the forest, following the same path that the white fawn took. The bamboo on either side is flattened back and broken, and as the forest climbs into the foothills, the wave seems to have swept away huge chunks of the canopy.


The swath of devastation ends abruptly in a narrow valley surrounded by steep cliffs. It's a place named on the village maps as "the Cradle," and marked by a crude sketch of the evil eye.
 
Worthy to Be Beloved


Worthy lands and waits for Magpie and Fury to reach her.


"This was no ordinary flash flood!" she rasps, and tells them what she has seen.
 
Midnight's Fury


"Seems like that's the place to start. Might want to keep to the air. In case something surprises us. Let's go." Fury starts trotting in the direction Worthy indicated.
 
The rain turns to a drizzle as the Exalts travel toward the valley, and as the ravine walls dry out, the clean-scoured clay sides begin to sprout with green life. While there are a few shoots of the ever-predominant bamboo pushing their way up like arrows from bows, the canyon walls are covered with flowers and rare hardwood saplings. Soon the sun peeks out, transforming the muddy canyon into an oddly-shaped, radiant garden, full of somewhat surprised bees.


As the ravine climbs upward, it spreads out, branching off into alleys and rocky-walled natural quarries. When Fury and Magpie near one particularly dramatic split, a spate of imaginative cursing suddenly blisters the air, loud enough even for Worthy to hear it from the air, ending in a string of personal descriptions that would make Raksi herself blush.


The accent is similar to that of the village, and it sounds very obviously like an old man, but neither old man nor the alleged Buggerer of Pickled Corpses are visible. There is, however, a deep hole in the ravine floor, along with a waterlogged tarp caught on a rapidly-sprouting tree root.
 
Grinning Magpie


"Oooooh," announced Magpie, wide-eyed at the skill displayed in the invisible speaker's choice of invective. "I'm impressed. We should find whoever is saying that, 'cos if we're polite he could teach us a lot." She paused a beat. "About cusses," she clarified.


With a grin and a wave, she hopped to the ravine floor to examine the hole, and the yelling man.
 
Midnight's Fury


A growl escapes Fury's lips, frustration evident in said rumbling. "Magpie! We have a mission. To find our companions. Investigating a cursing man will only delay us further. We need to go!" The Full Moon is bristling, clearly chafing at the delay, but waiting to see what Magpie does....
 
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