The first night for the group of explorers was easy. All five men had extensive familiarity with a tropical environment; they carried long, sharp knives for the underbrush and whatever large animal might try and surprise them. At night, after the men were tired and the first watch began, they slept in hammocks to avoid any creepy crawlies from disturbing them too much while trying to rest. However, one man did wake up to find a squirrel staring him in the face. His screams woke everyone up an hour or so before dawn and the damn animal bit him square on the nose. He also fell out the hammock, though they weren't far off of the ground. The rest of the crew would never let him forget it and everyone, even he, was excited to tell the tale to the guys on shore.
Not long after noon and an adventurer's lunch of dried meats, water, and nuts, the tropical bush grew sparse and eventually gave way to the massive pines Alduin had seen from the shore. Everyone could not help but stop and stare at the hundreds feet tall trees; it seemed down right impossible. Alduin convinced one of his men to stand beside one, Squirrely they called him now, while he made a sketch of the height and girth and theories on calculations. They couldn't spare a lot of time, though, and he reminded himself that he would come back with an expedition later. One of the guys quipped that they might mark the trees along their path, to save from getting lost, which everyone agreed. So, as they headed up the hill, cursing the incline, they left long, diagonal slashes on the bark. [Hazard defeated: Getting lost (in theory)]
However... the more slashes they added to the eerie silence, the more seemed to come alive. At first it was no thing that moved, but then the winds came. Birds began to chirp and they could hear rustlings on the floor of pine needles and cones. None of it seemed friendly. When they stopped at night, Alduin checked on Squirrely. He noticed over the hours that the man was developing the symptoms of fever. He feared an infection and he wasn't wrong; the nasty bite was already oozing puss and healing poorly. He called their man with the most experience at patching them up and offered to take the first watch for ole Squirrely. Alduin didn't like the way the forest was stirring and his intuition told him something foul was about.
That night, Alduin donned the Transspecularis once again. He felt his practice with it on the ship was good enough cause for more on land. He sat on a stump and closed his eyes, bathing his senses in the ambiance of the forest. The fire behind him cracking and popping and its flames singing when the wind blew through, the crickets and hoot of the owl, the snores of one of the men or noises when they moved about in the canvas. Still, that ever present shuffling in the distance. That is what worried him. He opened his eyes again, feeling properly acclimated to the baseline. He then extended his consciousness to the Pools, one of fire, which developed in to a green flame in his right hand, and one of lightning, which formed in to a quietly cracking halo of high energy in his left.
This experiment was dangerous. Very, very dangerous. Traditionally, different elements of spells could not be combined, for their energies stemmed from separate Pools, or planes, and mixed like oil and water when one tried to weave them together. Alduin, rational as he was, had been reckless in the past when it came to experiments and he knew just what those dangers were and continued anyways.
His theory was that the Transspecularis care nothing for what type of energy it got, as the spell used to wind it up, so to speak, was simply converted in to some sort of universal energy that all spells could harness. Therefore, he wanted to test two things tonight: would two fires light the engine faster, and if they were made of two different things, would the energy be the same? You see, perhaps the 'essence' of each spell could be used universally, but what if those 'essences' were different at such a base level? He was sure to find out today.
The machine began to humm in minutes after he sustained the halo and the sputtering fire (sputtering because it was ebbing and flowing from Pool to device, a process that was fascinating to see). His first theory was right; doubling up in the beginning, which was only marginally more difficult, activated it to capacity much faster. More than double the amount of time it took normally, in fact. He had only a moment to consider a theory about the efficiency of combining elements, however, because the lens across his eye flared up at last. With its clear vision, he forced himself to remain very, very calm. That was hard. First, he stood. Then, he looked around and sighed. For, in the distance all around, just out of the reach of the fire light, he could see all manner of ethereal creatures.
There were rotting bears, gargantuan wasps, a snake the wound of the entire length of a tree; there were monstrous ants and a tiny animal that some might call a griffon but was simply an avian and feline soul fused together. All stared with blazing red eyes. It was disturbing. Terrifying, even. More spirits that he could begin to describe surrounded his party. Perhaps, he thought, there was a very good reason none had settled this place.
One by one, he roused the men. When all were awake save for Squirrely, who was racked with fever, Alduin looked out again at the mass of spirits. "Boys, you've seen this thing I'm wearing on the boat. Not one of you are idiots and I know it. That's why I trust you and pay you as well as I do. However, you also know I wouldn't have woken anyone up so early if there wasn't good cause to do so, as every man loves and deserves his beauty sleep. Thus you know this is a serious matter." The grins and low chuckles faded quickly, then. "Along our way up here, I have not been the only one getting that funny feeling or hearing strange things, and now I've confirmed what they are: the guardians of this island. Alas, they're not physical. They are the spirits of this place and we are surrounded." The men all looked around, some more calm than others. "I believe it is a warning. We have scarred their trees. While it may be for us to secure our way back, I advise we respect this place. My intuition tells me this is our one and only warning, and not a loud one at that. From here on out, we will rely on other methods to track our way. We have the stars, after all, and hell I'm sure within less than a day's journey away as it is. Let's get some sleep. No point in watching, as I think if they want to kill us they will." [Hazard, Angry Forest Spirits: Avoided]
Everyone stood watch that night save for Squirrely. Come morning, his fever overtook him and he was dead. It was a hard blow to an exhausted party. By a unanimous vote, it was decided they would rest for the day and honor their lost crewman, who died to scaring a squirrel. They were all aware dangers were present on these expeditions, but damn... This day resting and mourning, burying and eating and composing a song for his memory was also to avoid any more deaths that might be caused from the lack of sleep or energy. The next night, the watch was back on, even if they couldn't see anything. Alduin elected to not use the Transspecularis again until they reached the ossuary, which they did the day after Squirrely died.
[Days remaining: 4]
[4/5 crew remaining]
[Ending location: ossuary proper]
[Hazards defeated: Getting lost, Angry Squirrel, Heeded the spirits angry attitude]
[Expedition Post 6: concluded]
