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This wasn't terribly difficult, Raiden thought as his fingers gripped onto the bark of the tree he'd just landed on. As long as you got your feet onto the roots, and got a good grip around the tree... and got enough of a push-off... He made the next two trees without incident, managing to get a good grip on the trunk and keep himself out of the water. It wasn't until he'd reached that tree that he realised... Ah. That one... that might be a bit too far to just jump. He tightened his hold on the tree he was standing on, eyes set on his goal as he tried to think about how... how did he do this. He was fairly sure he wouldn't be able to jump far enough. As long as his legs were, and as much strength as he could put behind the push-off... that distance was just too far. "Damnit..." He glanced behind him, considering just going back and trying for the opposite shore. But he'd probably be met with the same issue on his way in that direction, too. Which meant he would either get wet, or he'd have to figure out how to jump farther. Climbing might have been an option, were the tree able to support his weight in such a manner. He might have explored this idea, had he not set his eyes on the lily pad between him and the tree. ...the one near shore hadn't gone under immediately when he'd stepped on it. Looking unsurely at the fireseed branch he had managed to hold onto since the beginning of the task, he wondered... should he chance it? If that glow was something he could carry, that he could use... then he wouldn't need the fireseed branch anymore. If he... he'd have only a moment to reach for the tree. And there was no telling how much of a push he could get off of the thing... but it was worth a try. He jumped for the lily pad. If he fell under the surface, maybe he'd manage to keep his right arm above the surface enough that not all of the seeds would be extinguished. If not... well then. Fireseeds be damned. |
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He practically tripped as he stubbed his toe on something and found a rock. YES. Things were starting to look up...just so long as this worked of course.... Reaching one of the umbrella flower things he brought the rough edged knife to the plant and, reaching up as high as he could and leaving enough room that he could hold on to it he started sawing off the umbrella part. PleaseworkPleaseworkPleaseworkPleasework. |
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As he came around the next bend in the cave, Fletcher's eyes widened to adjust to the size of the huge cavern ahead of him. Whoaaa.... first a firebush, then a buncha plants, then a mandrake, a barrier, and now..... a fairy-egg encrusted, plant-infested cavern. Whoaaa whoa whoaaaa. Fletcher's eyes didn't know what to take in first. He leaned in toward the wood-lice trees and then quickly leaned back. Ughhhhh. Next were some creepy-crawly looking rat-tail like bundles. HEYYYYYY hey hey heyyyy, Fletcher knew what that was! Gillyweed! The boy grinned and quickly scooped up about four bundles of the squishy plant, carefully tucking them into his pocket without the rock. Awesome. He spotted some scary-looking mushrooms there too but decided to avoid those. Fletcher never was fond of those things to begin with. Finally done inspecting the plant life, Fletcher turned his gaze on the lake before him. Hmm. So it seemed that the only way to continue onward... was to continue across. Across the lake. "But where's the boat?" the boy voiced out loud. Yeah, still loudly. He had forgotten all about his earplugs that were still forcefully shoved into his eardrums. He could swim, of course, but he'd prefer not to get wet just yet. There was no telling how much longer he would be in this cave.... and he had to think of the fire branch. Fletcher eyed the lily pads floating serenely enough on the lake. Maybe he could... act like a frog and hop from one to the other? The boy tiptoed to the edge of the lake and eyed the first pad. It looked... close enough to jump to, maybe if he had a running start.... Clutching his branch tightly, Fletcher backed up a bit and then bent down, in a sprinter's position. On three.... ....one.... .............two......... ............................THREE! He took off and ran ran rannnn to the edge of the lake, jumping just before his toes skimmed the water, and prayed that he had aimed correctly to land on the first lily pad. |
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You're closer to the glow, now, and the trees all look close enough together to make it there! Quote:
The tunnel is eerily silent after the cave in, the blackness of the dropoff and unknown landing below aid an air of emptiness in an otherwise confined space. Quote:
The echo is interrupted, however, by the tremendous splash made by the quickly sinking lilypad that could not take the force of the impact. It's a good thing you're close to shore, as the bottom of the water is only as high as your mid-shin. But it's still wet. |
The water seeping into his sneaker didn't surprise him, but it was a bit cold around his toes. Raiden barely hesitated a moment on the lilypad before throwing himself at the tree he wanted to be on; his feet kinda missed where they wanted to be, sneakers dangling just between the water and the roots. "Ah, ah, ah," he breathed, pulling as hard as he could to get himself up. Noooooo falling into the water, please and thank you! His feet were already kinda wet from the lilypad escapade, no need to make it worse! The fireseed branch slipped from his hand during these efforts and hung there limply, secured to his wrist by the sweatshirt string. That had been a good idea. Even though a few of the seeds might have fallen off from shore to here, there were still some left to give off light, which... he'd need, if this shiny thing was just a distraction to eat up his time and energy. The boy stayed on that tree for a minute or two, feet finally on the roots and water dripping from his sneakers as he held onto the trunk and just breathed. Needed a minute, after that. He'd been afraid it would sink too fast for him to get off it. Even as he stood still, breathing, his eyes flicked from tree to tree, measuring distances and deciding if they could be safely jumped to. He tugged the string, pulling the fireseed branch back into his palm, and gave his feet a gentle shake to get a bit more water out of his socks before he jumped to the next tree. And the next. And the next. Thankfully, he didn't have to repeat the lilypad escapade before he reached where he wanted to be. Arms wrapped tightly around the last tree, he squinted at the glowy thing. What was it, exactly? |
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The silence of the tunnel made a shiver go down his back and he shook his head. At least he couldn't be attacked from behind. As he gathered a few of the different umbrella flowers he pursed his lip and looking at the tendril things along the wall wondered if they could tie around the stems. Grabbing a long vine he sighed, "Sorry buddy...gotta borrow this. Would've been easier if you could've just lowered me down." Taking his rock he sawed through the vine and wrapped it around the stems tying it tightly together. "There...now let's see if this works..." Looking down into the hole he swallowed hard. All or nothing now Vorkosigan... Squeezing his eyes tightly he gripped the makeshift parachute and with one last glance down into the hole and to his fireseed torch that was still attached to himself he took a deep breath. Yelled "GERONIMOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" as he dropped down into the hole with his eyes closed tightly hoping that this would work and he wouldn't break anything. |
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His initial instinct was to start paddling, as if he could get the lily pad to move. His arms flailed wildly around the pad, dipping in and out of the water, which (unbeknown to Fletcher) was still very shallow. His head turned left and right, looking for something to aid him out of this tight spot. Up, above him, were the floating trees. THE TREEEEES! Fletcher's arms reached above him now, stretching out to grasp one of the roots over his head. Stretchhhh....stretch...the tips of his fingers were so close. He knew he had enough upper body strength to hold on to them... if he could just a get a grasp..... |
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Now that you're closer, if you look at it, you'll realize that the faint glow you’ve been seeing this whole time is extremely familiar—it’s your wand! It’s nestled safely in a tree, but don't celebrate yet! A number of sticks seem to be standing guard within the branches of the tree. The sticks are moving around and look like tiny little stick figures with very long fingers…they’re clearly Bowtruckles. It’s very obvious that the only way you’re going to get your wand back is to make it past this little army of tree men…but how? Quote:
As you descend, the fireseeds illuminate the ground below you. Rock. Smooth, for the most part, and the one vine that had fallen down before you. When you hit, it will be hard, the cushioning of only one vine providing minimal softness. It's too bad there wasn't anything more substantial down there to break the fall. But, while you may bruise, you certainly won't break. The umbrella flowers have seen to that. Well, you're still alive and if you've still got fireseed for light, the next turn in the cave should be visible. The passage narrows somewhat, the light bouncing off what look like fairy eggs nestled in the crevices. But as soon as they're noticed, the passage opens into a huge cavern, the light reflecting upward, if not outward. The gentle sounds of water lapping at the shore can be heard, but not yet seen. Along the back wall of the cavern, near where you stand, plant life of all sorts presses up against the stone. Nascent trees crawling with wood lice. Alihotsy plants mingling with angel's trumpet. Slimy bundles of what look like green rat tails nestle against gurdyroots. Deathcaps press up against their muggle counterparts. All ignorable, so long as you aren't anxious for a snack. When you finally come to the shore, you can see what appears to be a lake - though the far side if obscured from view by the dark. What is apparent, however, is that the other two sides have no shores - just sheer rock faces. There is nowhere to go but across the lake. Giant lilypads float on the surface, some appearing close enough to leap one to the other. Gravity resistant trees hover above the surface, again appearing to, at least at the start, be close enough to travel one to the other. As for the water, it seems calm if one simply wanted to swim. There's no telling what lies beyond the limit of your sight, but you have to start somewhere. Quote:
The other trees float idly nearby, all just a dramatic arm-stretch apart. |
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Snaking up the roots, Fletcher's face was smushed against the tree and he used one arm to cuddle the fire branch so it wouldn't burn the rest of him and he could shimmy on up. Before he knew it, he was happily up the roots and clinging to the tree trunk. Pant, pant, pant. Fletcher securely wrapped his legs around the trunk to hold on. Now how was he going to get to the next tree? And what was he going to do about his only source of light? Belt! His belt! He could hook it to his belt, ya! The boy examined his cardigan-branch holster and determined that he had enough fabric there to wrap it around the branch into a knot, and then tie that knot to one of the loops on his pants. Sweet! Assured that the branch was not going anywhere, and was not going to bounce against his leg and burn him, Fletcher started stretching toward the next tree trunk, fingers twitching to grab it or its roots. Strettttttttch stretch stretch.......... he leaned off the tree and was now connected to it just by his legs and his one hand.... almost....there........ |
SWEET MERLIN YES. Raiden's jaw dropped immediately, and he had to physically restrain himself from simply jumping at his wand upon sight. HIS WAND. RIGHT THERE. However, the... ugh. Fracking bowtruckles?! What were they doing down here in the caves?! Fingers twitching at his sides, Raiden didn't move from where he was. Bowtruckles... Merlin, they'd studied them. Vicious when you tried to get what they had, weren't they? Stick fingers to gouge at eyes and everything. And he wasn't sure if he could grab his wand fast enough to cast a shield to protect himself... Oh Merlin, Morgana and Mordred. He wanted his wand. Right then. He just wanted to reach out and snatch it. "No," he murmured firmly to himself. "There's gotta be... There's got to be a way to do this without..." Without getting his face attacked by angry stick people. What did bowtruckles... ugh. It was there. In his head. How wandmakers got past bowtruckles to harvest wood for wands. They offered something. He hadn't studied bowtruckles in a while. The boy swore in Japanese under his breath. He remembered what it was, after a few minutes of frantic thinking. But it was something that probably wasn't exactly in high supply down here in a fracking ca- ... OH. OH OH OH! Raiden stared at his wand for a moment more, expression clearly laced with unhappiness about what he now had to do. "Don't... don't do anything to it, okay?" He murmured, eyeing the bowtruckles, tone almost pleading. "Just... stay there, please?" Surely they wouldn't do anything to his wand, right? They hadn't yet, and it had been there for Merlin knew how long... Raiden squirmed on the tree, turning himself around, and readied himself. He had to go back the way he came. |
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Beyond it, another easily reachable tree. And beyond that another. Beyond that, however, the gap is significant, with a single lilypad between the two trees. Quote:
The way back is much the same as when you first traveled it. The lilypad you sank is once more floating on the surface of the water, and the trees float to and fro. If it's too far to jump, just a moment's patience is all that's needed before the move closer together once more. |
The way back was a little more difficult in some ways; while he knew where he was going, and exactly how to get there, his hands were no more appreciative of the rough bark. His sneakers once again flooded with water as he pushed himself across the lily pad. He was thankful that it seemed resilient enough to have returned to the surface. He held onto each tree, waiting for them to sway in a way that favoured his movements. Going back was a bit slower than going out had been, but it wasn't as bad. He knew where his wand was. That underlying horror, that churning in the pit of his stomach at the idea that it was hidden somewhere under some rock, never to be seen again, was gone. It was in a tree, surrounded by bowtruckles. His wand probably wouldn't be safer even if it were in his possession. He stopped a few times, clinging onto trees and letting himself breathe. The tips of his fingers were sore, and they were not going to be at all happy about the return trip, nor would they be pleased if he had to keep moving from tree to tree to get all the way across the lake. But he'd deal with that later, when he had his wand away from the little creatures... Feet settled back onto the shore, and he drew several deep breaths. The fireseeds were dwindling... It was a good thing he'd be able to conjure light soon. He moved back to where he'd come from, back toward where he'd dug the gillyweed from. His offering would come from that same area. ...it was just a matter of figuring out how to carry it. The champion's feet carried him until he reached one of the trees. Stopping in front of it, he scratched the back of his head. There was a lot... but... how much would be enough? He squinted at the leaves of the tree; were they big enough to carry a decent amount? |
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Sweet. Another tree was close too. Fletcher hung on to his third tree for a moment, and then waited for the next one. And... there he went, swinging successfully on to that one as well. It looked like there was a fourth one he could easily get to too, but... then what? Fletcher waited a few seconds and found he could easily leap onto the next tree if he just swung a little closer. So he did, and bada-boom bada bing, he was onto another tree. Feeling a bit like a monkey, Fletcher tried to estimate the distance between his current tree and the next closest one. Mmm yeahhhh that was going to be a problem. He would have to like... jump to a lily pad or something..... he was going to have to do the same thing he started off doing. Taking a breath, Fletcher started moving his hips to get his current tree to swing. Once he had it in motion, he waited for it to hover over the lily pad and then he let go, falling toward the plant.... which hopefully wouldn't sink.... that much........ |
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Back on the shore, the waves lap softly, almost peacefully. At least, they might sound peaceful if you weren't trapped in a cave. The trees were little, themselves. Young. And, as is appropriate to tiny, young trees, their leaves were significantly smaller than their grown tree counterparts. Quote:
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...these would not work. HMMM. Raiden flicked one of the leaves absently; far too small for so many bowtruckles. "I need... something that's not..." Something bigger. He paced a bit, back and forth, eyes searching the ground for anything large and preferably fold-up-able that he could use. Nothing caught his eye. Fail. The prefect untied the string from around his wrist and stuck his fireseed branch between two rocks so that it wouldn't touch the ground and cool the seeds. He had one thing that he could use, not that he was particularly keen on doing so... With a sigh, Raiden unzipped and stripped off his sweatshirt; it was a sacrifice he'd have to make. He pulled the tee-shirt he'd worn underneath over his head and off, shivering at the sudden feeling of coldness that one felt at taking off two layers in quick succession. Stupid... fracking... bowtruckles and their picky diets. "You better let me have my wand after this!" he shouted over at the creatures, not caring if they heard or understood. Dropping the tee-shirt on the ground, he pulled the sweatshirt back on awkwardly, zipping it almost all the way up; it felt weird, wearing just that. The metal of the zipper was cold when it touched his stomach and chest. "I swear to Merlin... bowtruckles and their weird... why even..." Now it was just a matter of getting the lice off the wood and onto the teeshirt. Trying to not... be disgusted about what he was doing, he wrapped the shirt around the tree, sliding it up the thin trunk to catch the little bugs in the cloth. Ew. Just... Ew. He used his hand to brush some off a few other small trees around, until there was a wriggling mass of gross bugs in the shirt. "This is vile." Though not worse than being inside the Devil's Snare, and there would probably be worse coming his way... he shuddered at the thought as he tied the string from the sweatshirt around his shirt, turning it into a little kinda... hobo pouch full of squirmy bug things. Swatting one off his arm, Raiden collected the fireseed branch, removed the rock from his pocket and stuffed the stupid pouch in there instead (and felt a few of the bugs squish in the process), and turned back toward the shore. Time to climb the trees again. |
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Tucking his head to his chin he braced himself for the impact, pulling his arm to his chest so that he didn't land on the fireseed bush. The impact made the air escape from his lungs and he found himself opening his eyes that he hadn't known he'd closed to see the flowers landing on top of him. Grunting he rolled over with a moan and pushed the flowers off of him. "Well that was fun," he said sarcastically as he rubbed his back that felt like he had a massive bruise back there and standing up he winced. Yup that'll hurt in the morning. "Now where are my blasted shoes..." he said more to himself as he moved the light around and spotted one near the wall. Walking over he grabbed the both once he found the other and waved his light around to figure out where to go next. His eyes caught sight of a turn and pulling on his socks and then shoes he smirked at how snug they still were even without the shoestrings, maybe he needed new shoes later. Standing up again he started walking around the curve slowly, looking around at the walls just in case something wanted to surprise him. He stopped as he saw what looked like fairy eggs along the wall and his eyes widened as he spotted a gigantic cavern and looking around at all the walls he spotted things of all sorts two things he knew were for bowtruckles and another looked like gillyweed. Straining his ears he heard the distant sound of waves. "Looks like we get to turn into a fish today," he muttered to himself as he headed toward the wall. Reaching out he grabbed the slimy gillyweed stuff and made a face as he stuck it in his pocket. Dry cleaning was definitely going to be needed. Looking at the other stuff he reached for the fairy eggs and grabbed a few of those sticking them in his other pocket along with a few woodlice as he tried to focus all his energy on NOT feeling them crawl around in his pocket and hoping he would actually use them. Swallowing he continued to walk forward toward the sounds of water. |
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Again, the way you returned to the shore looks much the same, with the lilypads again at the surface, and the trees continuing their lazy floating. The question is, do you have the strength to make it back? And the coordination to not squish all of your lice? Quote:
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Whew. Fletcher wiped a bit of sweat off his forehead and crouched, frog-like, on the center of the floating plant. He checked his fire branch again, which was hanging sort of at his side like an awkward appendage, and eyed up the next tree. It was closer!!! But soft, what was that? That shiny, distinctive, light-light bulb floating near it... could it be? Was it possibly..... A LIGHTSOURCE?! The end of the tunnel? Was it time for him to go near the light?! Fletcher quickly shook his head and that thought went out like a snuffed candle. No no, not yet. He was too young to die. And there was no way that was actually a light. Had to be a mirage. Had to be. He chuckled loudly to himself and prepared to pounce on the next tree. It was just a strettttch away, so Fletcher scooted to the edge of his lily pad, sincerely hoping it wouldn't tip and capsize, and reached for the roots of the next tree. Reaccccch for the roooots! |
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Take some time and focus on that light, though. It is in a tree, near the rock wall that borders the lake. The far shore, however, is in another direction, though it remains clouded in darkness. There are more trees - easily reachable trees - headed toward the light. Five, at least, tangle their branches together, spanning a good distance. |
Ew. EW. Kindly bugger off, creepy crawlies. Raiden flicked the bugs crawling across his skin, trying to dislodge them. It would suck for them if they ended up getting squashed between his palm and the tree, but either way they were the ones that were going to end up all gross and dead, not him. ...well hopefully. This was going to be more of a trial now than it had been before. His arms weren't really terribly tired, as he'd worked them rather hard for the last two summers and continued to do so this term, but his fingers were sore from the rough bark, and he had no string to tie the fireseed to his wrist. He'd almost managed to make it the whole way before without dropping it... but he wasn't sure he could trust himself to do the same this time, especially with making sure he didn't crush the bugs he needed to offer to the bowtruckles. He'd just have to risk it. He wasn't taking one of his shoelaces out to secure that, because he was fairly sure he'd lose the shoe, and that would be horrible for the rest of the task. ...hmmm. He'd figure it out when he came to the point where he either dropped it, or was going to risk dropping it. Clambering back onto the tree that he'd started at before, he began the journey back out. Juuuump. Cling. Cling. Cling. Breathe. Jump. Ugh. His fingers hurt. He tightened his grip around the fireseed branch, then slipped his sleeve from between his hand and the torch. Even if it was still hot enough to burn his palm, it was better to do that than risk dropping it by not having a good grip on it. |
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As for your fireseed branch, it has cooled considerably since you first grabbed it. The light is still strong, but who knows for how much longer? The trees sway as you move from one to the other, returning to your wand. Just the lilypad and a few more before you're back to where you were before. |
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Shaking his head, the boy used his branch to illuminate the row of trees ahead. Ooh. He could reach those. And so he began again the process of leaping from tree to tree, hugging wood and scraping his hands. Merlin. This was a lengthy ways to go... but with each leap, he closed the gap between himself and the source of the light.... |
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You're just a tree or two away as you float there in your perch. |
Raiden stayed on the tree before the lily pad for far longer than he'd stayed on any of the others. He was debating with himself. His wand was very, very close, and he hadn't squashed the bugs in his pocket - he'd been very careful to meet the tree with his opposite hip, to avoid reducing his offering to bug paste. If he dropped the branch... he'd have to do the last few trees in the dark. Which wouldn't be any kind of fun. Either way, he had to move. He wasn't doing anything by just standing here. Taking a deep breath, the boy readied himself, body tensing as all muscles prepared to jump. Last time, he'd not quite managed to get up onto the tree, and had had to struggle to pull himself up. This time... this time he couldn't do that. He had to get on the tree right away, and he had to do it without dropping the branch of light and without squashing his bag of wood lice. Jump. His foot made a splash as it connected with the lily pad and the water rippled around it; without hesitation, he pushed, feeling the thing give way as it had before. Left hand scrambled against the bark, and his left foot found purchase against a root. He wobbled off-balance for a moment, as his closed right fist scraped against the trunk, unwilling to extend fingers to gain a better grip. His balance was precarious for a very, very terrifying moment. And finally, his right foot found a root and slammed down on it, and his left side smashed against the tree almost painfully as he forcibly leaned into it. NOT. FALLING. NOW. Far too close for that. He held onto the tree, drawing ragged breaths to ease the panic that had gripped him for the few seconds he teetered on the brink of tumbling into the water. It took him a few minutes to recover his calm, but eventually, he loosened his grip on the tree, straightened himself up, and carried on. So, so close. He reached the tree he'd been at before. |
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"MY WAND!" he yelped excitedly, nearly falling off the tree he was straddling as he tried to reach for it. Grabby!hands! He snatched and he snatched at the empty air and knew full well that there was no way this was over so soon. Of course not. There had to be tree wand guardians. Magical creatures. Great. Bowtruckles were about as bad as dugbogs in Fletcher's most educated opinion. Sighing to himself, the boy shook his head and knew what he must do. Turn around. Yep. He had to go back and get something to distract the bowtruckles with. They didn't happen to eat gillyweed, did they? Halfheartedly, the boy pulled a great big lump of the rat-tail lookin plant out of his pocket and leaned toward his wand, offering it up to the bowtruckles. It was worth a shot. "Pleeeeeeeeease?" he pleaded with the little stick-like creatures. "Be niiiiiiiice?" |
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