SEPTEMBER EVENT: SKULLY'S ANGELS

[sailmods]

[around 10:30PM, after Friday has returned from bringing all the other guests back to the ship, she parks the tender just off the shore, idling. she sticks her head out of the door.]

Good luck! Just come get me if you need anything! [beat] But, only if it’s something I can do without stepping outside! [beat] Have fun!

[she then pops back inside. they’re on their own, for now.

the salamander villagers have returned to their homes for the night, it seems… all but one, a smaller one, bedecked in leather armor and carrying a spear. they watch the group as they leave the beach, eyes fixed… and then, slowly but distinctly, they toss their head in the direction of inland, and turn away from them to begin a sort of watch.

perhaps that was salamander for good luck. you’ll need it.]

Comments

START: GOLDEN END?

[stormpirate]

[Jenny’s estimation was correct: the journey to the temple isn’t much of a hike, and doesn’t take more than ten or twenty minutes at a decent pace. when they arrive, they walk into a large clearing. in front of them, a massive golden pyramid rises from the jungle floor, gleaming in the moonlight.

Jenny gestures vaguely.]

See? Stairs.

[light_mischief]

[...okay that is a considerable staircase. Good thing he's spry for 450 years old!!!]

Alright, anyone who isn't coming in is staying here. The rest of us are about to enjoy some proper calisthenics. Try not to fall, it'll be a long way down.

[He re-conjures some fire to see by so he doesn't trip going up the stairs himself.]

[decohere]

Oooh...

[with all that hype the stairs honestly don't look that bad

and oh no it looks so much fun... and she's sidelined herself.

just going to continue invisibly sulking in the back.]

[makesomedeals]

[That small sound is enough to let them (or well at least Max) know that Ava is still with them. And more than he needs to get a general idea of where she is. He doesn't look her way, shouldering his rifle and keeping his eyes on the stairs.

Dropping back to adjust the bag on his back he starts to head for the stairs and...

Walks right into her.]

My apologies.

[He's not sorry. At all. Guess she's on the first step now huh? Might as well go the rest of the way. ]

[decohere]

[well of course, she's not about to abandon the group just because she can't get along. she might not be as personally invested in the recovery of this lost object, has nothing to gain from it even as a bargaining chip... but she does care about the success for Skulduggery's sake. for his relationship with the Captain. for the Captain's overall goals. and if Jenny can possibly use it to negotiate for the return of her brothers, it all seems as if somebody has something to win. except her.

but if she fucks it up, she has a lot to lose.

besides, going back to Friday alone is humiliating, after she insisted she'd be fine and ready and totally not emotionally compromised. (which she completely avoided informing Skulduggery or Max of, because it's clearly all irrelevant.) what else is she meant to do, wander around and hope they forget to bring her back? roast up and eat Jenny's boar? no, she's planning on fulfilling the role of look out as intended, even if it's not an overly valued contribution in the scheme of things. it at least keeps her out of the way and from strangling anyone.

until Max quite deliberately bumps into her.]

hey...! [her protest is hushed, not at all buying the apology as he nearly bulldozes her into the stairs and she takes a couples steps up, and a few more, and dammit, fine, she'll just wait for them at the top instead of the bottom. it's a better vantage point.]

[fonomena]

[Wow these really are a decent number of stairs huh...he actually could see these being a daunting experience when near death....as Skulduggery very aptly puts it himself.]

True, no need to get injured by a set of steps before we even have a chance to get properly brutalized inside! We'd best keep within our available light sources as we go, here.

[Even in saying this, Jade isn't necessarily the very first person to start up the stairs, in lieu of letting a few of the others on ahead first--because he's still not a front-liner at the end of the day, and they still don't know just what exactly they're going to find the moment they step through that entrance up there. While Skulduggery's also adjusting illumination of the way, and Max is Totally Accidentally bumping Ava's invisible form onto the steps, and Jenny and Izzy and Darcy are also likely either already moving up or getting themselves sorted, Jade's taking the moment's pause to transfer his own flame from his right hand to his left--free up his spear arm--and peer pensively up at the structure for an extra beat or two.

...Probably a blindingly shining thing during the day. Must have been the source of that distant gleam on the horizon in the earlier sunshine, while they were restricted to the beach. But, otherwise, it's not like any temple he's ever seen before...constructed in honor of some higher being, he wonders? Or fundamentally a proudly-established storage of numerous treasures, as the rumors had apparently indicated to Jenny? Either way, the native salamander people surely do seem supremely confident that no one's getting anything out of here, between the utter lack of local resistance on the path to this place and the apparent smiling they'd done when asked about exiting.

Jade wonders just how many have tried before them already...

Ah well. Not exactly his first time staring down an ominous structure with unknowns within at this point, now is it? Jade's starting up the steps soon enough himself; he's personally active enough in daily life that he's still hardly out of breath by the time he reaches the top, at least. Gotta appreciate all the small silver linings one can get, in these sorts of situations...!]

[stormpirate]

[up the seemingly endless steps, through the opening archway, into a darkened room…

the inside of the pyramid is… possibly underwhelming. it’s mostly empty space, overrun with jungle plants, a lone lizard or two skittering around their feet. in the center of it all is SOMEHOW EVEN MORE STAIRS, leading up to a platform illuminated with a strange, sourceless light. a vaguely tomb-like stone container sits at the top.

Jenny is already ascending to it without another word.]

[makesomedeals]

[ Not even a single puzzle huh? That's not just diappointing its a little suspicious. Pulling his gun off his shoulder into his hands he does a slow circle around the base of pyramid part 2, his red eyes visible in the gloom.

Shockingly he does not shoot any lizards. Be impressed.]

[light_mischief]

[Despite the light illuminating the dais, Skulduggery keeps his own flame lit and raised just above eye-level. Sorry, spooky tomb, but he doesn't have darkvision.

The majority of the group follows directly behind Jenny with varying degrees of caution and trepidation. Nothing seems to be leaping out at them, no stones depress under their feet... It's almost disappointing. But who knows what's going to happen once Jenny removes whatever's in that container? ...And who the hell put it here in the first place?]

[stormpirate]

[upon reaching the top, Jenny makes to remove the top of the tomb, pushing the entire weight of her body against it.

it budges, but barely.]

-- Ay, fuck. If only those kids had found some cassava... [tosses her head back to look at the others] Lend a girl a hand?

[saltwaterlungs]

[ Great. Grave desecration. Love it, living for it, clearly no objections whatsoever. As one of the muscles of the party, she gets into place beside Jenny with her hands braced on the top of the tomb, waiting for Jenny's signal. ]

[ninetoes]

[Traitor.

We still can't see all that well but lights and shadows are coming back, now. Jenny if he was blind forever now he would be so fucking pissed at you and never ever tell you about your brother's souls.

He's hanging back now without his seeing eye Darcy, but a call to shove something heavy... like yeah he could help but he's also little. He's jacked, but he's little. And opening whatever it is they're opening sure sounds like a bad idea. Hm. Decisions.]

You're a goddess twice our size and you think we're going to be able to move it?

[stormpirate]

You're not that tiny, mijito! [shit-eating grin] And I do not think it's muscle this stone wants before it lets us move it.

[light_mischief]

Then what does it want? [Like FUCK he's touching a stone after THAT]

[stormpirate]

The blood of a virgin, so thank the skies we brought el perrito along.

[beat]

It wants us to work together. It will move when it feels more than four hands.

[saltwaterlungs]

[ Darcy really really deeply wishes she didn't know that dig wasn't true and keeps her hands braced on the lid. ]

Stop bitching and fucking help, alright?

[stormpirate]

[together, the lid slides off with a heavy groan.

>investigate?]

[light_mischief]

[Well, he did just get a box full of bones, so if he loses any...

>investigates]

[stormpirate]

[resting on a bed of uncountable golden coins and gems are several objects, laid out in a row down the tomb. they include:

a black-handled knife, inlaid with runes
a large silver denarius
an unrecognizable type of stone, with a blue spiral engraved on it
a sealed aluminum can
a silver wrist cuff, partially melted
a red gemstone, kite-shaped
the preserved paw of a gorilla]

[ninetoes]

Blood, probably. [At the same time. lmao]

[light_mischief]

[pirates, man.

Fiiiine okay he'll help. He got them into this mess after all, if anything's going to go wrong, he ought to be a part of it.]

[makesomedeals]

Any time now.

[ninetoes]

Ngh, fine.

[Such a look to u, Max.] After you.

[fonomena]

[Well hey that was kind of!! An ominous remark there!!! Look Jenny there's big trap energies and they may all be slightly paranoid here, have you ever tried to do a menacing temple run before??

Anyway, at Jenny's initial prompting, Jade had drifted over to stand beside the tomb-like thing as well at Jenny's other side, though there's hesitation to actually touch it himself until Jenny actually answers Skulduggery's Very Prescient question there. Still, the answer is...surprising, in its oddness. He is placing his hands on the lid as well, but.]

Is this something you were told by the locals? Or more of an intuition, by your nature? [A question directed Jenny's way, this. HANG IN THERE MAX THEY'RE WORKING ON IT]

[stormpirate]

[with just the deepest irony her voice can muster:] Vibes.