Quest for Water

The expedition to the new world has been fraught with danger. Giant ape attacks, a low amount of food and not even fresh water to make coffee with. So today Rizadoman has decided he was tired of feeling like a prisoner in camp and more importantly tired of saltwater coffee. Today was a day for exploration. So having gathered those who were willing to brave this new land at the entrance to camp he sets down the plan.
     " Ok so today we are venturing out to the unknown in hopes of finding a clean source of water. Given the dangers of the apes and who knows what else I understand if people choose to stay behind, however I just can't sit here anymore and wait for the world to tell us it's secrets. More importantly I want some fresh water, so I am venturing forth from this camp and don't aim to return till we find some clean water. " With that said and not even looking back to see who follows him Rizadoman begins to hike into the woods.

OOC Rules: Just like a duty each room will have a list of concepts you can roll and a challenge rating. You can use 3 cards total in the duty. Failing challenges may leave your character with flavorful status effects. Please enjoy and have fun.

    Merek will follow along, it is important that the people will be able to get clean water. He wears dark attire and keeps that weapon with him, taking the time to nod to Rizadoman. "Alright, well I think that water might be the most important thing."

"Considering we can't drink salt water without long arcane and alchemical processes to purify it, finding inland clean water is a better alternative," Shiruba replies as she is right on the lizardman's proverbial heels. Her magic bow and arrows are at the ready, but for the moment she has a parchment and quill in hand so she can map their progress... and find the way back to camp. Last thing they need is getting lost in the new wilderness.

Yeowang will step up to follow Rizadoman. Fresh water -is- a problem, there's only so much you can filter even with Water, and we need supplies badly as well as a better idea of the lay of the land. "Hunting's been poor around the landing also," she adds, "so if we can add some game to our stocks, it will be good."

Ever since arriving in this new part of the world, Mikage has been one of those to volunteer for nearly every expedition out into the wilds. In part, it is to help her work on her mapping sklls, which she is still training under Shiruba and Jazuhanzu. But also because seeing everything that Elder Tale has to offer has been one of her goals since the first time she had stepped into the game.

Rama trails on her heels, though he seems a little subdued. Perhaps because he's had a hard time finding small game to hunt. Afterall, they are likely quite far from a city which means higher level animals and monsters. If there even /are/ cities here.

"With all the woodland, there has to be some kind of water source beyond just rain. We just have to find it." She nods to Yeowang's comment about the hunting prospects as well.

    'Long and arcane alchemical process'. Well, that's one way to describe boiling the water and capturing the steam. Still, it -is- annoying to have to go through that much work. "You don't have to convince us," Miyako says, "We're in." She waves to Kotono, beckoning her over to the group.

A whole new world o/~

That is what the elf was dealing with here and she was excited when Rizadoman was ready to get a group to go out to find water? Erufu was there with bells on, heck she was almost bouniung in place at the moment. She listend to her ling time friend for a moment.

She looks over to Shiruba for a moment after that and she thinks.

"We should still boil it until we know how safe any water source is."

She looks to Yeowang for a moment

"Tell me about it, it has been hard going with what scraps even one like me can track down."

There has been trouble within this new world, but Kotono has been eager to help out as much as she can. Miyako has too, but that's pretty natural, and even then it's another story entirely.

Or rather, Miyako is beckoning Kotono to join them. "I'm always ready to help out!" The Spriggan acrobat says while spinning her blades. "I agree that boiling the water is the best thing to do. We can't take any chances."

Being one of the real world trained 'alchemists' of the team, Cyrus has been providing filtrated water for quite a while now to the group. One of the first things he set up were multiple devices to turn salt water into clean water, and has been offering the salt that remained for the cooks.

However, such filtration methods are incredibly slow and tedious, and they've been having to ration it. "Finding some source of fresh water will make sure I get some more sleep." The youth remarks, rubbing his palm under one of his eyes.

He continues to follow behind the Lizardman and grins at him, "Though I bet this one is hoping we find some sheep, so we can produce some cheese." The Cait Sith points out.

"There have to be some caves at least where water has gathered." He then offers to Mikage. "Though still water can be trouble."

"Why not just wait for it to rain and then stick your face up and open your mouth?" Kaydon is being as helpful as ever, as he follows along with the group proper, "No seriously though, couldn't we set up a distillery or something to purify saltwater? Or has nobody invented one of those yet?"

    Hello, yes, this is dire-shire. She is here, not far behind Shiruba, coming to help everyone find some fresh water cause, seriously? Trying to evaporate salt water for regular water takes -forever- and she hasn't quite figured out how to do it in game cause she never did it IN REAL LIFE so... yeah. Just doing what's on TV doesn't work so well.
    A sidelong glance is given Kaydon, and if you blink you'll miss the light thwap he's given. You've been Gibbs'd.

    Rizadoman is happy to have so many with him, truth be told he was not as confident in his abilities to survive alone as he let on. " At the rate the food is going, I would be happy for sheep just so that we could have fresh meat. " The lizardman grins as he walks trying to keep his eyes out for the ape that got away , he was feeling a little better about the odds in regards to him today.

    The forest is thick, with little to no obvious path and while a few minutes walking through the forest is not going to tire anyone out, after an hour or two, people will begin to feel that exhaustion debuff setting in. If someone was able to find signs of a path or divine which way to go, it would absolutely ease the level of physical exertion needed for this part of the expedition.

[Concepts : Physical vs 10 OR Hunting, Tracking, Searching, Divination vs 9]

    Merek will look about the place, he doesn't know a lot about pathfinding at the moment, though he seems to be able to manage well enough, and nods to people, "We should be able to find what we can," he will note to the party.

"Rama would be happy to find a few mice, but the only ones we've found are the last few that stowed away on the ship." And the Lynx has made short work of those. "I'd settle for anything remotely tasty. I'm starting to really miss Sassaral's cooking." Normally, Mikage, Cyrus, and Sassaral traveled together, but with the present danger, the wolf Cait Sith had been left behind in Yamato. Much to the disdain of Miki's stomach.

Crouching near Rama, Miki lightly channels some of her magic into her companion, causing him to spark a little at the ears, "See if you can't find anything, bud. Your nose is better than mine." The cat then proceeds to dart off ahead of the group, sniffing around and occasionally indicating one direction or another as he paws at trees and seems to be tracking something.

Yeowang smiles to Erufu and Mikage, moving along and keeping a wary eye on our path. Mainly looking for the signs of game having passed through, though she's had trouble with the Hunter thing her entire time in this game. It's frustrating. But as the trudging through trackless forest continues, she realizes another thing: We're all getting tired.

Low on food and water's not the best time to physically exert yourself, that's something she understands clearly from her background in sports medicine. But what can she do? This place is pretty much trackless, as far as she can see, and she's a city girl. Traipsing around in the woods is, it seems, not her thing.

    As they go, Arashi shows that they've been at the map-making business for a while. Why? Sketches, marks on a paper, land marks, that kind of deal. The hasty scrawl is a sort of private symbolism she can turn into a decent map -later-. It doesn't help much for the issue NOW, as to where they're going. She can feel the fatigue trying to seep in but, well, that's what a canteen is for. At least it still has SOME water in it. Still. Alas, though, no help for on the way. Maybe on the way back...

"Did you not just hear the comments about how long alchemically distilling salt water would take?", Shiruba comments over her shoulder. "Not to mention purifying enough for the entire camp, and for the sailors to take on their return trip to Yamato. Boiling fresh water to make sure it's not contaminated would be faster and greater quanities.. and ready to cook with already being boiling besides."

Shiruba jots a few markers on her map in the making, then rolls and tucks it away for the time being as the forest gets thicker. "Hold a moment people. Let the wilderness experts take a look around so we don't meander." With that the wolven cait sith disappears into some of the denser brush for a few minutes. Then reappears, waving. "I found tracks! Animals are likely to congrigate at water sources!"

    Miyako - fortunately for her - has plenty of experience traipsing around the woods and hills of Yamato by this point. It isn't too hard to find an easier path, most likely a game trail - "Which almost always leads to water, after all, animals need to drink too," she points out.

    Chitchatting quietly as she walks along, she asks, "So, what kind of animals have people seen besides those giant apes? I haven't been out hunting much, never was much good at it myself."

Sometimes, desperate times call for desperate measures. She may be hungry and also thirsty, but Kotono knows that sometimes you have to 'suck it up' and push on.

"Not gonna give up..." She mutters as she forces her way through the area. "Can't let up now!" She also follows Miyako slightly, knowing that she's onto something.

Kaydon's no good at tracking or hunting so he's just doing his best to tough it out. But despite being able to do this for days in the real world, even he will occasionally fall victim to the game mechanics and it shows.

"I have been." Cyrus offer to Kaydon. "But it's a slow progress. How do you think we are keeping the water barrels stocked up? But there's just too many of us, especially as more and more of us make the trip over here." He explains to them - with Shiruba reminding Kaydon of what he said earlier.

As they get closer to the thick foilage, Cyrus tries to get a read on where to go. But his instincts are not speaking to him that well, no matter how well he's trying. Glancing about left and right, but not picking anything out.

Thing are getting going at this point as the green haired hunter get to work. She'll fan out with her. The elf grins at Shiruba and will get to work looking it take some time and shortly after Shiruba finds Track the Pooka finds another set calling out taking a look at them "Looks like some sort of grazxing animal heard went through so this should be the right way."

    Rizadoman's high spirit takes a hit as he can feel himself tiring near the end. It is really only to the thanks of those that managed to keep pace and even better find a path for them all that he manages to keep himself going. Talking through it all doesn't hurt anything either, " I haven't seen much in terms of animals. A few signs of Peko's around the camp is really all I have seen and if the apes moved in to this territory they may have drove off any pekos. " He says trying to keep his voice in high spirits, but the heavy breathing between the words, he really needs to find a lower calorie cheese to enjoy.

    Finally the group has escaped the thick forest and come to a nice clearing. This is one of those picture perfect clearings , with pretty white flowers and nice soft grass. Even a few rocks as if placed specifically to sit on and rest. It is in fact the sight of these rocks were Rizadoman looks back at the group, " Lets take a small break. I think after all that hiking a moment to rest before we get back at it wouldn't be the worse idea. "

[Concepts : Cooking, Brew, Herbology, Alchemy, Pharmacy, vs 8]

Cyrus has been seen getting tired a lot lately, but it isn't for a lack of physical prowess. The youth actually keeps up a morning routine, and has been inviting people to do calisthenics exercises alongside him. It's when he runs out of mana that he runs into issues.

"It'd be good to find some Pekos, but with some of the overgrowth here, I am not sure how much faster they'd be." Cyrus offers to Rizadoman. "Some grunties might do us better in the forest lands until we make it out of here." He points out, as they come to the clearing.

Noticing some of the flowers, he raises his hand and notes; "You folk take a break, I've still got quite some energy left. I'm going to gather some of those flowers for my stamina potions."

Yeowang follows along with the group, making it to the clearing with everyone, then giving a puzzled look at the mention of taking a break. Well, she can pause, but she's not tired, herself, and it's not like she can do anything for those who are. Of course not everyone's used to the degree of athletic endeavor she went through in real life, if this little jaunt has tired them out. She will simply wait around until people are ready to go again.

    Merek will begin to assist with alchemy and makes a few things for the party. It looks like the man will be working with that, and will nod a little bit when he brings the things to the people.

"Normally, I wouldn't really consider Pekos a food source, but if we get desperate enough, it's an option. Luckily there's at least fish in the ocean." As the group stops to rest, Mikage seems to be keeping an eye on their surroundings.

Rama, however, follows behind Cyrus. Unfortunately for her, the cat isn't quite so knowledgable about plants and ends up walking right into a patch of something unpleasant.

Miki looks over then, "Uh... Cy, what did my fool cat just walk into?"

Shiruba sits down on one of the rocks. A few moments pass. ".. Don't look at me, I'm a hunter. I skin and clean game, not cook it." Followed by muttering under her breath about the uncooperative Cooking system "... And I ate all my packets of Hifumi's instant noodles on the trip," she adds a little more meekly.

Erufu thinks the Apes may be why game is hard to find they may have spooked most of it off, but there's not much they can do about that at the moment. She will be in a good mood as she goes though keeping focused on her job. She does not sing as it might spook things after all then again an diea passes into her head. For now though she'll pull out some of her rations and starts a small fire to get some stuff cooking together.

"Oh Riza! I have some of the cheese from Cowgirl if you want some..."

Looks about as Mikage asks for aid and notices that Rama has gotten into some thorny vines. The Cait Sith wanders up to the Lynx and leans down. "Okay, stop moving, or you will develop mats." He remarks. "It's nothing bad. Just a thorned plant. But it tends to snag in long fur like a Lynx's. I'll need a bit to extract your feline." The youth remarks, dutifully kneeling behind the cat and painstakingly setting to releasing the Lynx - using a small set of gardening scissors to slowly cut the cat free. His tail slowly swaying as he finds something to focus on.

    Oh hey. Clearing. NICE. It gives Arashi a chance to sit and study those map-scrawls for later, add a few things she realizes she forgot, put the clearing on there -in detail-, and check Starshadow. ... nope no glow. Damn. Eventually she takes a seat not all that far from Shiruba, offering the canteen over. Just in case. Never hurts to check. "Same with me. I tend to go out solo a lot but I also try to buy supplies before I do... can't really do that here."

Time to take a break... and find something to eat.

Unfortunately, coming up with something edible is next to impossible for someone who hasn't learned how to cook yet. "Looks like I'm gonna be taking some culinary classes when we return to the mainland," Kotono comments sarcastically.

    Working alongside Kotono, Miyako tries to remember exactly how things went back in her old life. She sighs at the first batch of ruined ingredients. "Okay, Ko-chan, heck with this," she decides. "Anyone bring any of Hifumi's bento? Or did we go through them all already?"

    Better, she decides, to find a seat out of the way, and get out her guitar to provide some entertainment for the people who actually know what they're doing. And keep the minds of the rest of us off of the troubles.

Now Kaydon doesn't really have any cooking skills to speak of, so when the group stops, none the less he figures at least he can try to help out around the campfire by gathering wood and helping to set up. Maybe cutting firewood will be something he can do without botching it entirely.

    Rizadoman sits and lets out a sigh as he rubs his feet for a moment, " Who knew that hiking in search of water would make one so thirsty. " Taking a moment he just closes his eyes and tries to absorb the sunlight trying to gather energy. With a deep breath he retrieves a canteen of water from his inventory and tries to add some tea leaves to it and tries to brew himself some tea over the campfire. The look on his face is all one has to see to know he doesn't succeed. Then even worse he hears the call of Erufu and cheese. As if he was of the ranger class specializing in rescuing people he is summoned to the cheese that calls out for him.

    The break is not as relaxing and helpful as the party may have hoped, with some recovering much easier than others. It is inevitable that this will be felt throughout the rest of the expedition.

    Near the clearing is a hill, and on this hill besides rolling green grass and pretty flowers there is a large tree. This tree is thick and sturdy, however it is missing a lot of branches on it's lower half. If one wanted to climb it , it would provide a great spot to scout from. Whether they used air or earth magic to help get up to the higher branches, or just bear climbed it. Perhaps one channels their inner Yuuki and just runs straight up it. On the other hand it would likely also add to the exhaustion, there is the risk of injury, and who knows if there is anything even worth seeing.

[OOC Note: You can choose to pass this challenge without penalty ,if you choose to pass you don't get to roll. However who knows what you may miss out on.
Concepts : Air, Evasion, Earth, Physical, Transformation vs 9]

    Merek will lift up hands while he takes the time to begin working magic to make it climbable with actual vines that begin to work along towards the top. When he climbs, the man takes a look about the place, "That look like a tiger?" he asks.

Mikage winces as Cyrus works to get Rama free. There is a blip on her healthbar and she curses as the effect makes her feel more than a bit itchy along her neck. "Thanks for the help." She offers to Cyrus. "Even after a year, he still gets into everything like a kitten."

Trying to soothe the now anxious cat, Mikage doesn't seem all that interested in trying to scout from the large tree. Instead, she lingers down at the bottom, looking up after those who have chosen to make their way up. "Anything interesting?"

    Scrawling. Still at it, is Arashi, and given the chance to get a nice vantage point, the dire-shire heads off to see what else can be seen, sort of following along with everyone else. Spotting the tree, Arashi doesn't even really hesitate to head up into the boughs. This was a pretty common thing for her to do whilst going solo back in Yamato. Might be the first time her closer aquaintences have seen it at all. More scrawling.

    After a few minutes up there, she rembmers that: Hey, there are actually people around too. "Hey folks, I can see a few things up here. First," she motions in a direction, "I can see signs of some marsh lands, and .. maybe a dried out river bed?" Squint. "I -think- something is blocking it but I can't tell from here. Too far.."

Yeowang says to Rizadoman, "You're exerting yourself, of course you'll get thirsty." There's a weariness to her voice, though she's not tired from the trek. This game is very hard for her. Coming to the clearing, though, she looks up a the tree's majestic height, and says, "I think I'll take a look." So, take a look she does, scaling the tree without too much difficulty, pulling herself easily up past the spaces where brances are absent. She seems to have gotten higher than most for a commanding view of the countryside, but what she sees has her dropping out of the tree quite quickly.

"There's something large in the brush over there," she points out in the direction Merek called. "Yes, it could be a tiger. We should be careful, but I think we may be able to safely approach it if we are quiet."

"I think I got this," Kotono says as she starts climbing up. It's like training for acrobatics, since you have to have good arm strength, right?

Unfortunately, Kotono misses a spot and nearly loses her grip! It's only by a stroke of luck that she manages to get back up there. "How did I ever do this without becoming acrophobic?!"

Rest comes easy to some, not so easy to others. Shiruba, use to being out in the wilderness, but also super stoked about the whole expedition in new lands, just can't sit still for very long. There's just too much to see, too much to do, to much to... Hey, look a big tree. High places are always good for a lookout.

Shiruba bounds over and leans back to look up. It's a really tall tree, but most of it's lower branches have long since succumbed to the lack of sunlight and age beneath it's own canopy. Not much to hold onto there and climb. So instead she crouches briefly and puts a hand to the ground, uttering under her breath. Not -all- her magic is done through shoot magic arrows at things. The ground rumbles faintly, followed by an upward undulation of the rock and soil to launch her into the air. Up to where branches still flourish, which she grabs onto one and hoists herself onto it. Makes sure it's stable, grabs onto another with one hand to support herself, while using the other to shield her eyes as she scans the horizon. "Hey! Over there!" She lowers her hand to point northwest. "There's mountains... and a structure of some kind. Tall like a building, or tower!" Her tail can be heard thumping against the truck behind her as it wags. This is the first sign of civilization over here they've seen!

She does her best to memorize the direction and location, once they've got water and such that could be a valid direction to begin exploring in.

Cyrus takes a while to get Rama untangled, and by the time he does, the others are looking at how to get up on the hill. "Well, at least this means there's some hills and mountains around." He proposes. "Do we have any spyglasses in our inventories?" He puts a hand to his eyes while looking up as Shiruba climbs and calls out of a structure in the distance. "A tower? So there is civilization!"

Erufu gives her long-time friend a look for a moment and just stares at Riza for a moment. She does not comment however as she seems to be rationing her water a bit more than he is. Still, he gets the cheese without any issue at all. "Well, you live and learn if you ever want survival training I'd be happy to teach you and I'm certain Shiruba would as well."

The elf will finish up make sure the fire's out and head out. The Elf Archer is pretty fast on her feet and will just go full bore parkour to get up to the vantage point bounding, springing and leaping as she goes.

Once he crests the top of the mountain, Kaydon, having used his sword to help himself climb, takes a moment to catch his breath, as he looks at the marshlands pointed out by Arashi, "I see movement down there." He says, as he makes a motion to point with one hand.

"Looks like a tiger. Which means if that's there, there may be water there as well. They're one of the only big cats that actually likes to swim."

    Miyako shades her eyes with one hand as she peers up towards the top of the tree. "Okay, that's pretty high," she muses, considering how best to get up there. After a few moments, she starts scribing a spell, calling up a burst of wind to help her rise, taking a running leap and flicking her wings as best she can to give her some lift. It gets her part-way up, but she manages to call up another wind-gust that carries her higher still... and finally can get in amongst the branches and climb properly.

    "Be careful," she calls down to Kotono. "You can do it."

    Finally she reaches somewhere near the top and peers outwards. "Hey! I can see my house from here!" she jokes.

    Her wings flicker again as she climbs a little higher, close to Shiruba. "Definitely a tower," she agrees, spotting the same structure. "Might be a town... might be a dungeon. But definitely worth checking out!"

    Rizadoman looks up at the tree but shakes his head , " No if lizardmen were meant to climb we would be birdmen." Taking a moment though he does manage to piece together the information given and looks towards the direction of the tower for a moment before more importantly towards the marshlands that Arashi mentioned. " Marshlands mean water and predators only encourage that. We should head that way but be careful."

    With the signs of water sighted the group has as destination and with the help of others they know of the danger that is ahead of them. Unfortunately this expedition has taken hours and a toll of the party, so in a time when mistakes can be costly, it is a time when one must be extra careful. The group grows ever closer to where the tiger was when they hear a howl. In the distance they can see it. A large beast, yellow and striped, obviously the 'tiger' seen earlier. However now the smaller details can be made out, the canine features. Inspecting the creature reveals it's true heritage, 'Tiger Wolf', appropriately yellow verging on an orangish tint. In the distant more howls can be heard, answering the call. The group must move quickly to avoid being caught, or they could choose to go with a flash and aww style in hopes to distract it or scare it. Maybe even a quick tiger trap to stop it from pursuing, so many options but the clock is ticking till it finds you and lets you meet its' friends.

Concepts : Sneak Evasion Fire Ranged Earth Dark Capture Monster vs 9

Kotono's an agile Spriggan girl. Surely she can avoid this monster, right?

Unfortunately, she's a little too late with her evasion attempt.

The monster gets her at the last second, and she finds herself stumbling forwards instead of dodging, crying out in pain.

There seems to be a good amount of intel offered by those who scaled the tree, and it gives Miki time to deal with some of the minor injuries from her feline companion wandering into the thorns. "Mmm. Let's check it out."

As they head towards the direction the others had spotted water and the creature, Miki seems to linger back, not taking point in a situation where there may be a very powerful predator to deal with.  "Let's stay to the trees, Rama. Best to avoid attracting notice." Using some of her own magic, she manages to summon a small bit of fog that offers a bit of a boon to her stealth, allowing her a view of the creature without it seeing her in return.

"I've... never seen a hybrid creature like that before."

Cyrus quickly joins with Mikage, following the path that Rama creates before him, and when the monster starts getting closer, he starts applying some of his special potions. His control over fire magic is good enough at this point to Shape it.

As the flames burst onto the ground, they turn from red to green, flickering and burning, but refusing to devour the greenery around it.

Looking down, he remarks; "Hmm, you are right. I guess it's only natural for different areas in the world to have different fauna. But this is interesting."

    Merek will try to use flame to begin shifting away, though he's used up his mana and it doesn't look like anything will notice it as well.

Shiruba makes her way down the tree cautiously, climbing lower until there's no branches beneath her and drops from there, using a little wind magic to slow herself to reach the ground. "Rizadoman is right, we should be cautious and not linger in one place any longer than we need to." The group moves on, only for the howl to rise from nearby. And the 'tiger' making itself more visible. "That looks more like.... Oh, is this why Tigers are called Tigers even though the looked more like wolves?!" She gets off on a monster video game tangent for a moment, but then quickly snaps back to the immeadiate matter. "That howl was probably calling it's pack. We need a division between it and us, now!"

Shiruba draws one of her arrows, knocks it in her bow, and takes aim just behind Cyrus' flame projectile to fire it. Where it hits the ground said ground collapses, forming a fairly deep ditch behind the flaming barrier. This 1) creates a second obstacle in case the monster does leap through the flames, as it will likely not see and fall into the pit, and 2) A firebreak to help keep any stray flames from spreading to the environment around them.

It's not that she doesn't trust you guys, it's a precaution simply because there is a lot of fire being thrown around even if under control, and anything can happen out here.

One of these days, Kaydon is going to get his new gauntlet built up with the piece of gear he wants. But for the moment he doesn't have it, so instead he has to opt to do things the old fashioned way.

Deciding to throw one of his knives at one of the tiger wolves, he doesn't opt to use one of the good, well balanced ones. After all they're in some strange land and he has no idea if he'll be able to find a forge to make new ones, so he throws one of the less high quality blades, and it sticks in a tree. At least he might be able to recover it.

    Miyako pads on through the jungle, spotting the Tiger-Wolf (Tolf? Wiger?) just in time to dodge to the side. "Look out, Ko-chan! This way!" she calls, hurrying on through the woods and away from the creature.

Yeowang listens up as the Tiger-Wolf howls can be heard. Time to hustle, and hustle she does, hurrying along with fleet steps, dashing through the undergrowth with rapid steps, zipping through to avoid the snapping jaws. She's fast, at least, and agile, remaining several meters ahead of the teeth and then cutting to the side, avoiding tooth and fang without trouble. If only she were as skilled at hunting or woodsy skills.

Erufu gets to the top and spies something of interest as she makes it up to the perch she goes into a couch. One hand just above her eyes to shield them from the sun. She looks out on the world before her. She does spy something interesting. A Dry river bed and she can just make out something is blocking it. She'll call this discovery out as she scrambles back down to rejoin the party. She seems excited about this discovery.

The elf makes grin at Riza for a moment

"It was the will of Tyrannosaurus Rex wasn't it?"

She asks for a moment then will head out. She knows she can't outrun this monster so she's going to work to scare the heck out of it she takes a stance and will then slam one foot into the earth causing the very ground to shake and she bellows.

"BEGONE! WE ARE NOT YOUR PRY!"
She takes another step which causes another notable vibration in the ground to make the very earth, quake at this elf!

    All kinds of information! Lands seen! Maps need drawing people! "Hold on, hold on!" Just a few more scrawlings, please! Where's everyone going?! BAH. Big circles are put around the nice tree. Arashi will just have to come back and do a more detailed survey from up there. There's critters that need dealing with. Apparently.

    Even as the group marches onward, the warhorse is still scrawling when she can. As daylight fades, however, she does the best she can but, well, details will be lacking until a return trip can be made. She still has enough to get everyone home if it comes to that. It's only the howls of these 'tiger wolves' that finally get her to put away the maps and draw out her signature blade, ready to slash at a moments notice. And slice she so will do. "Not today!"

    Rizadoman looks on at the creature as they finally have to confront it. Rizadoman is preparing to make a long circle around the creature to avoid giving away the group but then there is a lot of fire and earth and yelling and before the lizardman knows it he too is tossing a fireball to try and get the creature to leave. Watching it run and the fire magically disappear Rizadoman shakes his head, " That trick won't work again we should move quick."

    The group gets away from the tiger wolf, while it may have been moving in to catch one of the stragglers, all hell is being raised around it and for a lone tiger wolf scout it is just not worth it. The alpha would smack him upside his head for pursuing so it backs off and disappears back into the underbrush.

    The group is able to move into the marshlands and eventually finds a dried riverbed. As they travel up the riverbed they find a very large damn. This damn looks like a beaver damn, if the beavers were the size of bears. In fact you can see a beaver right there on top , dragging another log big enough for a log cabin. It is as big as a bear, and has large paws like a bear, and large sharp teeth like a bear and even called in it's inspect beaver bear. Rizadoman feels conflicted as he looks at the bear, " We should try to remove the dam, try to get the water flowing again. " He doesn't say it but personally he wishes the bear wasn't around, would feel less guilty.

[Concepts : water, fire, earth, air, magic, melee, ranged, construction, handle monster, diving vs 11]

"Alright. Let's just hope they don't dam it up again anytime soon." Cyrus answers Rizadoman as he gives the command. He steps up at a distance, not wanting to get close to those... Beaver bears?! "Tiger wolf, Beaver Bear... you've got to be kidding me." His ears flick a bit at this discovery.

"This has got to be a fluke right? This is worse than a palette swap." He throws out his potions into the distance, which suddenly come to life with air magic. But rather than slamming into the beaver-bear-dam, they slam into the water behind it... before turning into eddies of wind power behind the wood, starting to tear at the enormous trunks from behind and increasing the water pressure!

    Merek will try to take care of that dam with the fire magic, though it doesn't look like he's making a lot of progress with that.

"It might be something worth looking into." Mikage notes, reaching out to rub Rama between the ears. He is a native creature from Yamato, having been born in the mountains of the Fourland Dukedom. Still, there could be even more interesting animals out there.

They are soon to stumble upon yet another of them, this one causing Rama to look a bit confused. It's likely his predator instinct puzzling about something that seems one part predator, one part prey. "You can't eat it." Miki whispers.

As for the prospect of breaking the dam, she draws an arrow, extending her mechanical bow, Dawnbreaker. Channeling magic into the weapon, she fires towards it, depending on her storm magic to help break up some of the blockage and get water moving again.

Shiruba looks up at the bear sized beaver carrying a log. "... That's a big beaver. That's like the Gwen of beavers."

Then she gazes lowers back to the construct of wood and mud, and she tightens the grip on her bow. "We don't need to break the whole damn, just break a big enough hole in it." She aims for a spot that looks best to hit, and draws back the bowstring of Thundersnow Howl. It lives up to the howl part of the name as the whisping wail of winds can be heard as she does so, forming a projectile out of the very air itself.

"TYPHOON SHOT"

And then it does indeed become a howling wind as she releases the charged shot, wailing across the dried up bed to slam into the dam with the force of it's namesake storm.

Yeowang is probably so shocked by the sight of the beaver bears that she's not really got her head in the game as far as clearing the dam to get the water flowing. "Is fighting them a good idea?" she wonders. "Grappling hooks on ropes could pull the logjam clear without us getting too close?" she suggests. She'll look through her pack, but it turns out she doesn't have a grappling hook anyhow, so she's pretty much useless.

Erufu looks at the Gwen of Beavers that thing is huge, very big. She'll take a moment and then get an idea there's a glow through her clothing from a strange mark that has long been on her flesh and she starts to sing she tries to resonate with the world it self focusing the song upon the damn. A song of storms, floods and landslides. She keeps singing attempting to resonate and make the very dam start to collapse. To let the water flow as it should and bring life back to this land.

Even after being hurt, Kotono is motivated by her own self-esteem and Miyako's encouragement to keep going. "Just a flesh wound, I'll be fine!" Kotono says.

She rushes in to try to assist in any way she can, proving just how strong she truly is. "I never give up!"

    Yup. That's a beaver dam. ... And that's a REALLY big beaver. ... and today? Yeah. This is not in Arashi's wheelhouse. "I'll um.. watch the beaver. bear. thing. " She's really scrawling more on her notes while she can, but rest assured she'll lunge if the beaver gets mad about it's dam getting busted.

    Miyako sighs softly. "Yeah. It really is a big 'un," she agrees. "It surely doesn't need to stop the -entire- flow, though, does it?" She shrugs and sets herself down at the edge of the lake the beaver-bears have created, scribing runes in the earth there with one of her knives.

    "With the damage done so far, I think a water hammer to the base of the dam should do the trick," she says, and ripples in the surface of the lake show the movement of water deeper below the surface. It seems to draw back away from the dam, and then... released suddenly, slams into it with incredible force.

Breaking the dam is going to be something that they'll need to work on together. Kaydon has to work with the others, and when they do they'll be able to finally free the water, "Well this doesn't look man made at least." Kaydon says, as he takes a few moments to study the dam, and then uses his hidden blade in his gauntlet to puncture several holes in the dam, quickly scrambling to get out of the way before it bursts.

    As the dam is attacked, the beaver bear lets out a roar and only seems to be threatening for a moment before it runs off into the forest, it didn't want to be standing on the dam for what happens next. As logs are blown away and strong winds push at the back of the damn. Even the water it self is hammering against it to be free. The fact that it is still standing is a testament to it, obviously in a world with giant apes though being able to withstanding strong attacks is important. Finally though it is the song of the elf that causes several of the logs to actually shatter and the water begins to flow. First a little trickle, and then sprays before the damn is finally being washed away.

    At first the sediment and such of the damn leave the water cloudy and such but in moments the water turns into a crystal blue color. Even some fish and fresh water shrimp can be seen. It truly is a beautiful sight. The river begins to break up and flow down different paths, revealing small streams and overflow that leads into the marshlands. Soon where the adventurers stand will be fresh mud. The lizardman feeling at home suddenly on the river bank edge and without thinking he takes a hand full for himself to drink. "Oh that's good." Looking at the others he says, " Maybe we can take a few hours here before we head back? We will need to figure out how to get the water back there, or move camp here. "

Shiruba kneels down to scoop some of the now flowing water into her hands, and lets it run between her fingers. "Yeah, this will be much easier than trying to purify salt water... That said, I don't think we should move the camp from Seeker's Landing until we've explored more of the area." She takes out her own travel waterskin and fills it while the oppritunity is there.

    Glorious H20! HUZZAH! When the Beaver-bear roars, and just takes off, Arashi just smirks from what turned out to be the river bed. "Nice." And then she starts peering back, jotting down where the river is going, referencing the tree, and makes a note to double check for where it may be running. Also TOWER. Giant T on a corner of her scrawlings. That will BE LOOKED INTO. Yup.

Rama is more than happy to take the opportunity for a drink of fresh water, where Mikage takes the time to refill a water skin. "Now that we know where water is, it shouldn't be too hard to move it where we need to." That, and perhaps they would be able to find something closer. Even with only a few days behind them, she seems at least a little averse to giving up Seeker's Landing anytime soon.

"If nothing else, we can load up Cyrus' cart." She suggests, volunteering him for that purpose.

    Miyako stoops to gather some water itself, dumping it over her head to cool herself a bit. "Yeah, we need to stay by the place our ships know to come to. Maybe we should get some Earth-magic specialists in to dig a canal to there? Make water-gathering easier." She looks over at Kotono, then out at the slowly-draining lake. "Want to go for a swim before all the water flows away?"

Yeowang nods to Shiruba. "Much as access to fresh water is important, this area is a bit too dangerous to move our camp here, I think." She will fill her flask with river water, then channel it clear, which is many times easier than desalinating it. "A canal sounds like a plan," she agrees with Miyako.

Cyrus nods his head and reaches into his pocket, and takes out what looks like a model cart, which he throws on the ground... and immediately turns into a bigger cart. "Probably this size, otherwise we can't make our way back through the foilage." He remarks, as he casually talks about his Pocket Cart. "Just start storing some things in the cart." He proposes to people, nodding to Mikage, as he proceeds to pull out some waterskins and begins to fill them and throw them into the cart.

Cooling herself off as well, Kotono also takes the time to drink some water. "If there's any water left when we're free, then I guess so?" She looks at Miyako and winks a little in a way only the two of them could see it...

The combined effort was successful she was beaking as the song had halepd everyone with else out with the damn as the 2wate rfinally gets moving it should be able to bring life back to here and for them? WAter so they can explore she looks at the place and grins a bit not caring about the mess. "Well there we go! We got water again!"