Greenery pt 8

There wasn't much left ofg the village you were on youyr way to.

Fresh jungle had consumed it, buried it, destroyed it. Nothing left.

Your guide is horrified. HYou can tell because of the noises he is making that sound a lot like a series of choked sobs.

And with that, time to get the hell out of here, right?

Selia is nervous like a long tailed cat at a rocking chair convention. "Liking dis place less an' less. Didn't like it much ta start wit. Lets git outta 'ere, git sumplace wit a nice heavy snow ta kill off da plants, iffen only for a season or two."

Bors will follow along. He says nothing, but he nods in vehement agreement about getting out of here. He likes cities. And oceans. Forests, not so much. Jungles, he's decided, not at all.

Kisaiya moves away from the mud after finding the coin before heading back over and then it's a matter of following the rest of the group. She's not quite as happy as usual because... well this was a whole town. It's gone.

Back to go, then. This time at a faster pace. Much faster. You and your swiftclaws are on your way and the jungle is zipping by.

Kisaiya rides while trying not to get lost and - more importantly - tries not to get bitten by the swiftclaw. "What was that exactly? I mean... the ground was heaving about."

Bors is pleased with the faster pace. He is not so pleased with the swiftclaw going faster. If they had wooden seats instead of these saddles, maybe that would help? He gives Kisaiya a puzzled look in between pained expressions of sore buttocks.

"I don't know," yells the Sith-Makar as he urges his Swiftclaw on. "I've never seen anything like it before, but we have to get back to the portal! They're the only hope we have now if there's more of those things out there! They can send word to the villages! I will not let any more of my people be destroyed!"

"Wait... what?!" Kisa calls out after the Sith-Makar who's been hoofing it. She furrow her brow and keeps trying to stay up near the front. It's not really easy for her since she's not confident at riding around on any animal, let alone a swift claw, but she tries all the same.

Bors is hustling toward the portal as fast as he can. There's no way to go faster like putting on more canvas. He can kick the swiftclaw, but that just seems to make it more ornery. As if it wasn't ordery enough. "Back to the portsal," he agrees in an accented mutter.

It's a long trip. You had to spend days out in the junlge to get to the various locations you've been so far, but this time you're going without sleep. Good thing SWifts are fast and there's not exactly a shortage of water to drink. The oinly breaks you're taking now are just to water the damn swifts.

"We don't have time for anything else," says the grey-scaled Sith-Makar. He seems frustrated. Andw orried.

Eventually, the fortress comes into view and it is, thank the gods, still standing and still has the traditional lines of merchants ready to come in and out from the Amn'shere portal.

"What do you mean?" Kisa says to the Sith-makar, she's shaking her head with a measure of confusion. "What's got you so worried? I don't know what exactly has got you all rough under the collar?" She urges the swift on, but after days and nights, with little sleep, she's starting to feel it and by the time that fortress is in view - she's looking much the worse for wear.

Bors is about wrung out from the ride back. His backside aches something awful, and his thighs have been clenched on this saddle for too, too long. When we get back inside, he's gonna kick twelve kinds of crap out of this swiftclaw. If he can stand, anyhow. "What?" he grunts, picking up on half the conversation.

"It's still here. Good. You saw the way the merchants and then the village were gone," he says, glancing back at Kisa. "There may be too much power here for that to be done. The druids here, they could know more. Let's talk to them."

...and wit hthat, he's moving up to tyhe fortress entryway, gesticulating animatedly at the Sith-Makar guards.

Well of course Kisa will move up with, and promptly get off the swiftclaw. Any chance to get off the creature would be well worth it. "I get that but... I mean, what's-" She pauses, then shakes her head. "I guess I'll find out." She murmurs, "I'm still a bit lost why we've come here." A frown.

Garak follows along. He's been silent for most of the journey here, lost in hus thoughts and in prayer. But after dismounting he murmurs something grateful-sounding to his swiftclaw before turning to look for a place to return it.

It isn't long befor3e the Sith gesture you inside after the guide is done speaking.

Before long, you're being greeted by a Sith who is't wearing anything but a necklace, wielding a staff.

He's studying you lot intently.

"Tell me your tale. In your human words."

Bors flops off the swiftclaw and just lays there for a few moments. He doesn't get up til one of the swiftclaws almost steps on him. When he does get up, he doesn't have enough strength left to be cruel to the swiftclaw, and lets a handler come and collect it. Led in and to the naked Sith, he grunts. Words are not a thing he's good with. Kisa, he feels, is a words person, so he looks at her.

Kisaiya stares at the Sith-makar for a moment, tilting her head to the side, "We were attacked by these big bugs, then we were attacked by a mass of bugs, after that we stayed up in the trees and watched the ground get... Reset? It's hard to explain. The we continued on to a village, and there we found the ground was living and tried to attack us in a wave." A nod of her head, "And then here! Our guide was really insistent on coming here, but that's the part I'm not too clear on."

Bors prompts Kisaiya, "He thought here might be gone, too."

Garak reaches into his satchel and produces a coin, then another, showing both sides. "I don't think its safe to leave them here," he warns. "Inspect them as you like, and then we will take them out of this structure. We found one st the site kf each incidident - I don't know if they're cursed and somehiw caused nature to go wild, or they are just a marker...but we can't chance it."

Listening, the druid seems intent for a moment.

"This is bad," he finally manages to say in his not-so-great trade.

"The jungle consumes all but not like this, like that. The people have been struck. We must cease movement until we can figure out what this is."

Kisa cants her head to the side, "Struck?" She furrows her brows again and looks between the others here. Something about this whole thing seems to have her at a bit of a loss, "I don't think I'm following what you mean. Do you mean since the ground wipes out that village? And what do you mean cease movement? What about us? I'm so flippin' lost." A sigh and she plants her hands on hips.

"I believe he means the Sith," Garam asides to Kisaiya. "The people is what they call themselves - he's saying these acts are an assault on their civilization." Garak may be reading a lot into the simple statement, but he himself has come to that conclusion and so it's natural he fits the words of others to it...

Bors mumbles to Kisaiya, "The jungle swallows villages all the time. But not villages with people in them." That's what's got them upset, he seems to believe. Of course it could be something else. That's just him guessing. He doesn't even hazard a guess about cease movement. Unless he means to sit down and think about it.

"...yes, something is wrong. You say the earth swallowed the villages up. That should not happen. We can not risk more lives being lost."

There is... concern in the Sith's voice, if not his hard to read lizardface.

"Well, I mean, what do you want us to do?" Kisa asks, her brows starting to furrow as she looks between the others in their small party. "It's not like we just just go around poking the ground in case it's alive."

Bors nods at what Kisaiya says. If they want us to do things, they should ask. He always gets in trouble when he guesses what others want him to do. He guesses wrong.

"Trying to understand right now," says the Druid Sith.

"This is troubling news. You should go home. Tell the officials on the other side of the portal what you have seen and heard. We must stop traffic across the portal. Am'shere is dangerous, but if entire villages of people ar being vanished, so too can travelers."

"We're seeing it on the other side of the portal already." Kisaiaya says, frowning but glancing toward the entrance they came through. "But of course we'll tell who we can on the other side." A look back toward the Druid a raise of her eyebrows. "What now?"

Things are moving fast, now. The portal passage is being nixed, it serems. Oh, sure, the great rip is st ill there, but people are being told that there won't be any further crossing at the moment, to a lot of yelling and complaints. Hell, a near riot, actually, by the peddlers who just want to get home.

You're ushered across, and they will be too in time. YOu're searched again, but not as thoroughly. It's the only reason Kisa's spiders make it across.

They're not supposed to go there! Unfortuantely for the rest of you, they do.

Still, this has been a problematic trip.