MAIN SAGA ENTERPRISE | The Road to Woki-Tal

[Doctor Jax]

Amada Dy Ortiga
​

Feeling that the cart had come to a complete stop, Amada frowned lightly. She knew of the rift that separated Persia from the wild lands beyond the empire's purview, and she had thought they would be on the road for far longer. Climbing down out of the cart, the rider realized they had arrived far earlier than she had initially anticipated. Her constant riding on griffinback had evidently distorted her perception of road-travel.

"That's... new," Amada said at the back of the cart. "There wasn't a tower before. I've passed this area on patrol, and I don't recall it."

She looked back to the others in the cart, and she shrugged her shoulders, noncommittal.

"I suppose we wanted adventure and novelty, and we're getting it now. Anyone wanting to see that tower, I'm headed there."

Amada at first debated retrieving her griffin, Raya, but ultimately she decided against it. Should she scout ahead, she'd have no reinforcements on the other side. Best they move as a group, rather than split up. Already, she could see that Sokkari was on the bridge, Mobeen hanging back as he typically did.

"What sort of woman do you take me for, Mobeen?" Amada jabbed, a wrist resting on a short sword strapped to her waist. She had a short dagger on her other hip, more for utility than for fighting, but still useful nonetheless.

She began across the bridge behind Sokkari, seemingly fearless of the drop beneath her. She removed a spyglass from a pouch at her side. It wasn't a long-distance glass -- too large to fit in a bag at her side, too bulky to use while flying -- but this would give a better view of what was on the other side. She offered it to Sokkari.

"You look, I'll stab," she suggested. "And it will make Mobeen feel better. He might try to flee from his own shadow before too long."

@Kuno @unanun @Nemopedia @MiharuAya

 

[Nemopedia]

"Water is always kind," Pyre responded with enthusiasm, ignoring the wary eyes from the companions with Karim as he eagerly took the canteen and emptied its contents. He was parsed, travelworn to the bone and the heat of the weather wasn't helping.

A sneeze followed, triggered by the tickle in his nose at the waft of perfume that Pyre got all over him from the deft hands of Sareen, a genteel smile on the merchant's face as he revealed the bottle to the rest of the travellers, like it was a demonstration of the product itself rather than masking the stink that suggested Pyre hadn't showered in days, if not weeks.

Sareen in turn was all too grateful for the carriage to come to a halt. Fate had led them to the towers before more could anticipate and weigh in. Eager to get out of the cramped space in which their vagabond traveller stank up the air the merchant, joining Amada who already devised a strategy.

The tower looked simple enough to navigate from the outside. Straightforward as well, but from Amada's statement Sareen knew not to take the tower lightly, wondering who would put a tower here when towers were meant to watch and guard. "I have chalk, to mark our path, if needed," the man mentioned, patting the pouch of minerals he had before offering Mobeen a plain looking stone.

"If you bathe it in the sun now you will profit in the dark later," the male explains, not offering anything to the strategy of going front or back, but determined to stand somewhere in the middle and preferably far away from their guest. Not that he needed to, as the booming voice of a revived Pyre joined from the cart;

"I take the back!" Speaking of the devil, the man himself had peeled himself outside, hands resting on his hips while taking in the sight of the tower. "Looks shady enough," was his conclusion, the red blotches of his face grateful for the promise of reprieve from the wrathful sun before joining the main group that had been at the front.

"Heard you needed hands, Pyre is the name, ready to burn!" the man spoke in excitement, pretending not to notice the way the merchant Sareen stepped away from him.

 

[unanun]

The inside of the cart remained stuffy even after Baobao's companions left the carriage, the heat and musk somehow more oppressive without the bodies that put it there. The accountant tried her best to breath slowly, carefully, instead of throwing open the shades and sticking her head out into what would've been the equally hot desert air to gasp. As slowly as possible, she brought a kerchief to her hairline where dew of sweat threatened to coalesce into a bead, and dabbed it away before it could interfere with her makeup. Ahead the tower loomed. It almost reminded her of something in a locked away past, and before she knew it, she was standing outside and squinting up at its height, shying back into the shade when the sun reasserted itself on her skin.

 

[MiharuAya]

Karim Bahman​

As Karim watched the malodorous man empty his canteen, he blinked as if doubting what he saw. "You really must have been thirsty," he responded, forcing a light chuckle as he took the canteen back. Even though he was slightly disturbed to be left without water, he reminded himself that his first priority was others' well-being. Pyre certainly looked like he could use it, along with a long rest and a refreshing bath.

When the cart came to a stop, Karim eagerly exited the cart. The hot desert air hit him like a wall. It filled his lungs as if he sucked down a lung full of fire while the sun beat down on his skin. It was a shock, but he quickly became distracted as he gawked at his surroundings.

Karim had read about the Sagunz but never thought he would see it in person. It was as impressive and daunting as he had imagined. "Amazing," He remarked, stepping closer to the edge as he peered over the side. He could feel his heart racing, and he was reinvigorated with the excitement of this adventure.

After some discussion that Karim was only half listening to, it was decided that the group was heading towards the tower. Karim was happy to come along, wanting to take any chance he had to explore. But, instead of being honest, he piped up, "If there is potential for danger, I should come along in case someone gets hurt," as he quickly followed behind, looking all too pleased.


@Nemopedia

 

[Kuno]

Twisted Spire

The wide expanse of green lands beyond the gorge bent to and fro in the playful pushes of wind coursing from the west. The grass waved here and twisted there, rolling under their gaze like waves of the ocean. Things waited there, living, breathing things hidden entirely by undulating folds of nature. There was a sense of a thousand gazes upon them leering from the vibrant blades. And beneath, Sagunz awaited. Still as the bones that lined her belly. Mobeen did not dare take a look "overboard", so to speak; the swaying of the bridge, encouraged both by the wind and their leader's fearless charge, showed no sign of stabilizing. One by one, each man and woman crossed. Mobeen waited until the last man, Pyre the interloper, stepped foot on land before finally peering off the cliff's edge and bringing pencil to paper for his sketch. And most notably, his notation next to the stony gash: Sagunz - the grave of a thousand souls.

The border of Woki-Tal made it's distinction known from Persia in subtleties. The grass was only oh so taller here, the dirt ever so more soft. There was a touch less trees dotting the landscape, and the fearsome mountains that had crowned the horizon of Northern Persia were gone, replaced by the cooling blue sky and a thin layer of fog far in the distance, settling over what was presumably the swamplands of Greater Woki-Tal. Sokkari seemed to be telling this excitedly to her arm-side companion Amada, her arm sweeping wide across the landscape as she identified the tiny yet formidable shapes of giant fungi amongst the skyline. Mobeen brought up the rear, presumably lost in his notes, but a careful glance would reveal only one hand held the notebook; the other arm hung alongside him near his hip at an odd angle, as if resting on a sword that was not there. A seasoned Persian warrior or noble would notice something familiar about the pose. He said nothing save for the party to be careful; the grass rose as tall as his midsection. Anything could lurk within.

It took a half hour of walking to reach their destination, and it seemed to give all of them pause.

Well. Almost all.

"It's not that impressive up close," Sokkari mused.

The Plain lands lay everything above the tall, dancing grass bare. Naked in its isolation, the guard tower resembled less of a manmade construction and more of a white stony protrusion jutting from the silken earth, jagged, rocky outcroppings encircling its narrow, round body. It was taller than it was wide; Sokkari estimated that it was no wider than two small homes side by side - with Mobeen interjecting that she please use real measurements - and perhaps three houses long.

The bigger issue, however, was the door.

"I dont see one, Mobeen. Do you?"

"I-"

"No windows either. Isn't that strange?"

"Well-"

"And the grass is totally undisturbed here. No pathways, no signs of human interference. Odd. What should we do? Should we scale it, maybe? Or-"

Mobeen left her hunched down in front of the strange doorless tower muttering to himself, and he glanced at the assembled party. There was no getting through to her once she'd found something of interest.

"The tower looks abandoned to me, and I've done my work for this area. There's no use in me lingering; I'm headed down to the mud pits to make sure they're still there…in case I need to update my map."

He turned to leave, then stopped himself, hesitating.

"I suppose a few of you can join me," He added with obvious reluctance. "If you'd like."

Another pause. He had turned to stare at Sokkari, who now held up a piece of the tower wall and stared at it with great interest.

Whatever he was going to say, he thought better of it. He turned to leave, his head bent as he began to draw the path leading away from the tower. The grass opened before him and closed after like curtains drawing together, only the top of his body visible beyond the endless prairie. Any man or woman who followed after would soon see why his walk was so confident; there was a rough dirt path underfoot, clearly of human design and well worn enough to have been traveled extensively. Many men had walked through over the years. But the things that lined the path were…odd. Snake skins, bits of fur, and soon, the protrusion of something from the earth. It resembled bones, but they were far too large to be an animal's, and far too clean to have been there long.

 

[MiharuAya]

Karim Bahman​

With each gentle step along the decrepit bridge, the creaking of the wooden slates echoed through the cavern below. Karim did not dare to look down into the endless abyss below., Instead, he forced his gaze to remain on the horizon. His heart threatened to burst from his chest, yet he kept even, deep breaths.

Even though the doctor was scared, he reminded himself that this was merely a natural bodily reaction. To fear heights was part of the human condition and was a tale as old as time. It simply meant that his mind was still operating correctly. His thoughts told him to run back to the nearest solid ground, but he knew he would be fine as long as he remained calm. Karim just had to keep moving, refusing to turn back and give up his dreams of exploration and adventure.

Within moments, his feet landed on Woki-Tal. His nerves erased and bubbled into excitement as he began scanning the area. It was as if he had entered an entirely different world, one where even the air smelled sweeter and the sky more vibrant. As they approached the tower, he could hardly hold himself back. If he could run towards the object, he would have. But even in his excitement, he understood how childish he was being.

When they reached the white stony tower, Karim quietly listened to Mobeen and Sokkari speak—or rather, to Mobeen state his departure while Sokkari was distracted by the odd protrusion. Karim watched as Mobeen left towards the Mudpits, feeling uneasy about splitting up. However, surely their leaders had everything handled.

Karim turned his attention to the tower and walked towards it. He touched its surface, feeling the cool rocks under his skin. As he pondered the lack of a door, he wondered if the tower was actually a tower or simply a rock jetting out of the earth.

With that thought, Karim knocked on the stone. Although he didn't know what he was expecting, the resounding echo that radiated from the stone surely wasn't it. "Well, that is strange…" He commented. "It's hollow, but it sounds much larger than what's on the surface."

 

[unanun]

Every step reminded her of all the things that weren't rigidly fastened to spine. Bao-bao felt like one of those Woki-Tal balances, the ones that a village had used to weigh her coin: a stick with a measuring plate at one end and a series of little weights at the other, jiggling with the tinniest adjustment of the vendor's wrinkly and sun-dried fingers. Her braids tried to throw her off balance. Her satchel betrayed her. Even the rope rails flexed under her grasp. She wobbled and collapsed at the other end, her shaking hands driving into the dirt to anchor herself until she found her stability again.

You're not ready for this.

But there's no choice! Where are you going to go?!

"There's—" she swallowed, "there's no reason to go up that tower." The taste of danger on the bridge made all of her experiences before the Guild seem shallow, papering over any standard of fear she thought she once held. "It is unnecessary for the trip and our expenditures. Master Mobeen has already marked it. Can't we move on?"

 

[Doctor Jax]

Amada Dy Ortiga​

Moth, meet flame.

Amada practically walked entranced across the bridge, seemingly unaware of the great height beneath her feet. There, on the other side, she would have gone further east than she ever had in her mortal life. Her eyes were purely on the tower in the distance, the first odd thing that jutted from the landscape like a thorn from the ground. Her skin prickled with anticipation, that there was something new to discover, something strange and uncanny. She had heard tales of Woki-Tal, of the in-between place separating them from bounty and fortune. Ah, she could not give a single rat's shit about fortune, favor, possession.

Let that be the realm of kings and shahs and merchants. Hers was the world of open eyes, laid upon rare things no one else had ever seen.

She ignored Mobeen's prattling, herself circling the strange tower with eyes cast upwards. Sokkari was already on the same track of thought, but she lacked the means to scale the tower. Karim discovered it seemed far more extensive downward with a knock of the hand. Amada brought her fingers up to her mouth, and she whistled, loud. It was a strong, trilling, musical tune that cut across the landscape, ear-piercing.

[FONT=Port Lligat Slab, serif]Her eyes stayed on the sky, patient, anticipatory. A massive grin split her face, perhaps the most overtly joyous expression the group had yet seen of her. In the distance, across the chasm, there was a figure flying towards them after throwing off his restraints, coming to the call of his mistress. Raya was a stunning creature, tawny and gold feathers across his wings and avian front, sun-kissed golden flanks on his leonine backend. A cry from him alerted Amada that he was inbound, and she stood back as he came to a careening stop ahead of her, just barely slowing enough not to skid across the ground.

"Easy! You always take the landing too fast, you ridiculous thing," Amada chuckled as she took his curved beak in hand and shook his whole head with it, the gryphon chuffing and gnawing gently on her fingers. "Well? Anyone want to see if we can find something at the top? I can take another passenger. Raya won't complain - much."[/FONT]

 

[Nemopedia]

The sway of the bridge had something akin to the tidings on a ship. That if one ignored the green abyss and imagined the sea to be the great height at which they found themselves. Pyre fought the urge to bend his legs and heighten the sway, enjoying the adrenaline and adventure. Sareen breathed the air, the wind, in with great heaps, as if he could fly off at any moment. Both opposites that enjoyed the same thrill.

"I don't see a fee collector," Pyre told Bao. New as he was and still unaware of the dynamics of the group the traveller questioned what expenses there would be at climbing a simple tower, other than the expense of their legs. "If anything, it would give him a better view of the area," the vagabond continued, nodding towards the wandering Mobeen that was in search of the mud pools.

The shrill whistle that summoned the massive avian magicked a glitter in the eyes of both Pyre and the merchant, Sareen. A spike of interest and a sudden tension as the body language of both screamed; me.

"Now that helps with the search," Pyre whistled in approval, shamelessly adding; "you can drop me in the mud pits straight from the gryphon."

Furrowing his brows Sareen's plans hadn't been so exciting. He had been busy enough wiping the dust off his glasses without diving into mud as well. Though the idea of examining the minerals in said pools did excite him, akin to finding out why the tower was abandoned.

A task he could delegate.

"You don't have to stay here," Sareen told Bao, "but will you fill this bottle with some mud from the mud pits instead?" Realising that even Mobeen hadn't been confident on the pits still being there the man added, "soil is fine as well."

With that Sareen thought himself secured with a sample from both areas.

 

[unanun]

"M-mud? Soil?"

Her bag of accounting tools felt twice as heavy, cutting into her shoulder.

"Are you going to have us collect jars of dirt from here all the way to Woki-Tal, and back?"

She looked at Amada first. The warrior, she did not expect to have an opinion, but they had shared a brief sisterhood in the wagon, and maybe that counted for something. She then swept her gaze to Mobeen and Sokkari, suddenly worried that she had signed on to something different. She had paid close attention to the budgets, the numbers, the daily disbursement, trusting that her recommendation would save her otherwise, but did not account for the naivete of explorers.

"Surely, this can't be in the the contract?"

 

[Itari]

Something about stepping onto his home soil made Zi Rui feel at ease, even if it was just a few steps. He could feel himself relax, which allowed him to let his curiosity about the mysterious tower come out in full force. He took his time inspecting it with the others, marveling at the lack of a door, and rapping on the stones along with Karim.

"This was not here when I arrived at city yesterday. How did it appear?" He inspected the ground, but it was undisturbed, as if the tower had been there for years, rather than sprouted from the ground overnight. Even stranger was the the grasses around it remained undisturbed, despite their presence and the fact they had been walking around it. "It's magic," he marveled.

When the gryphon appeared and Amada made her offer, he jumped at the opportunity.

"Me! I will go with you!" He cleared his throat and took a step back, embarrassed, "If it's okay, and no one else want to go, I would like to see. I can make a drawing! So others can see, too."

 

[Doctor Jax]

Amada Dy Ortiga
​

The rider seemed to float into the saddle, Raya turning twice in a circle as she shushed the flighty beast. Her eyes twinkled with amusement as she looked over to Baobao, fretting that Sareen was having her chase dirt.

"I am sure there will be some payout to carting back literal land from Woki-Tal. Sareen, I'm excited to see the method in your madness," Amada said, "a little bit of dirt never hurt anybody. Well - so long as you're not falling towards it."

She gave a waggle of her eyebrows at that, Raya's wings spreading wide and flapping once in a great whoosh. The young silk merchant -- Zi? -- practically tripped over himself to offer up his courage and ride up to the top, and Amada steered Raya to stand beside him in three strides.

"Oh, no, no, first come, first serve. If they had wanted to ride a griffin so badly, they should have ran," Amada said, offering down a hand for him to hop up behind her. "Put your foot there in the stirrup - there you are, hijito, good job. Hang on to my shoulders, and let me know if you get sick to your stomach. I would hate to clean your breakfast out of the neck of my armor."

Without warning, she gave a sharp command in Persian, heels tapping Raya's flanks twice. The proud beast reared back on its leonine hind legs, wings beating the air before taking off at a running start and taking to the sky. The ground disappeared from under them rapidly, Raya banking around the tower at Amada's behest, patting the beast fondly that he had performed well.

"Unfortunately, I cannot have him hold still in one place, so we will fly in circles around the tower," Amada warned over the rush of air, leaning back to see how her charge was doing.

 

[unanun]

It was not Baobao's first time seeing a griffin. The royal couriers would criss-crossed the sky in the city all the time, but although they flew low, they were always no bigger than an eagle. So she could not help but be mesmerized, even as the gale from its wings hiked her dress up past her ankles and almost showing her kneecaps, staring up until her neck began to cramp and her eyes were sore from the sun. Perhaps at this point was when she realized how far she was from home, and the worries of her family, the guild, and the brawling patrons in that restaurant were small in the shadow of the legacy of whomever left that tower behind. She almost regretted not going up, and she was surely going to be mean to Zi Rui about it later.