xp_logs | Worlds on Fire - Haunted Valley (Reply)

The group goes wandering around a forest. It's all fun and games until their local tour guide decides he's done, thank you. I want Remy's cell service provider.

Amanda winced, slapping at a mosquito that was bigger than her werelight and currently feeding on her arm. A few more of those and she'd be anaemic. Shifting the straps of her pack (she'd scored first aid duty again) and grimacing at the way the back of her shirt was soaked through with sweat, she watched Strange talking animatedly with their guide, who seemed quite stubborn about something. Amanda didn't understand the dialect they were speaking, but it was pretty obvious the guide was refusing to go on.

"Looks like we've done our dash with the locals," she remarked to no-one in particular.

"Something 'bout de valley being haunted." Remy said absently. He was watching the jungle, allowing his spatial sense to deal with the constant overstimulation of the dense vegetation. To the compliants of the others, he'd forgone anything heavier than a single sachet pack, although the anger had been mostly stilled as they'd seen him range out into the jungle and move over the canopy like a monkey.

"Which makes me think dat we're getting close. You started missing you shoes yet, Sofia?"

Wanda snorted softly behind him, shaking the mud off her own boots. She was not a jungle type of woman, she decided, reaching up to retie the head band that was forcing her hair into a semblance of normality.

"I miss nonjungle land, myself," she said, eyeing the area above them with caution.

She really didn't like most animals and anything that could throw things--like monkeys--became evil.

"Missing the place that had shoes, but more because it had a door I could close in your face," Sofia finally got to answer, examining the large spider that was crawling over the back-front-back of her hand, around and around. With a satisfied hum, she leaned over to place it on the trunk of a nearby tree.

"Does the local, or, by some miracle, one of us, have a general map of this area? Or shall LeBeau and I start battling it out as to which of us gets to lead us around in circles first?"

"Dat's Strange's department. I hope dat he's able to negotiate something, or de next step is to take 'manda's cigarettes, teleport dem to dese ruins, and follow her." Remy took a sip from his canteen, having been in the jungle before. He knew how important it was to stay hydrated.

"Hah." Amanda snorted, keeping very far away from Sofia and her eight-legged friend. The witch had never thought of herself as squeamish about bugs before, but in this place... they were huge and there were so many of them. She'd gotten used to shaking out her clothing periodically to get rid of any hitchhikers, and she didn't even want to think about the leeches... She was groping for her own canteen as Strange returned, face grim.

"I did my best, but I'm afraid we're on our own from here on in. The reputation this place has, the fact people who enter are never seen again... No amount of money or persuasion was able to move him, and to tell the truth, I didn't want to force him," he said, pushing back the broad-brimmed hat he wore.

Pushing herself away from the tree she'd been scraping her boot against, Wanda joined him. "Any luck on a map?" she asked, looking hopeful. "A map, a general direction...hell, I'd take 'Follow this river, do not die' at this point. My sense of direction is better suited to other parts of the world, I've got no clue as to where we are."

Strange shook his head. "Beyond 'somewhere in the valley'? Not much. And like I said, there's something blocking me, so I can't pinpoint anything."

"Dis is fucking ridiculous. Strange, dis place is a ruin, right? If dis is de start of de valley, we're looking somewhere on de east horizon?" Strange nodded, and Remy pulled out his phone. He ignored all questions, turning his back to the party as he spoke. After about five minutes, he finally stashed the phone away.

"Approximately twenty or so klicks to de east. We can't pinpoint it, but if I get above de canopy going in de right direction, Remy be able to spot it once we get close." He looked at the puzzled expressions. "I've got contacts in more den a couple of satellite imaging places. Dis place is too buried in de jungle to get more den a rough shadow, but a rough shadow is all dat we need at dis point."

"And once again, modern technology wins over magic," Amanda muttered sourly, recapping her water bottle and wondering why she was there at all. "Twenty klinks... that's twenty ks for us who don't do military stuff, right?" At Wanda's nod she grimaced. "Well, won't get anywhere standing around jawing."

Reaching down, Wanda squeezed Stephen's hand as she smiled a little bit, not voicing her thought that if they pushed they might just manage to avoid any oddities in the area. Best not to jinx them right when they needed it. "Lead on, then, yes?"

Sofia seemed to brighten a little, heading off in, oddly, the correct direction. "Seems I might get to use this machete yet."