VRDET Op: The Marraketh Connection Segment #10: "Please fasten your seat belts" By: nexxus kline ============================================ The Rangers had been walking for nearly 4 hours when they stumbled upon what appeared to be the remains of a trail. It was a logical enough assumption considering the broken line of stones on either side. It was grown over, and completely missing in some places but it headed up the mountain and seemed, for the most part, to be leading them straight forward. They followed it, grateful for not having as many boulders to climb. Nexxus estimated they were almost 3/4 up the mountain, not quite to the point where she'd stumbled onto the trail many years ago, but couldn't be certain until she spotted something more familiar. At the rate they were going, they'd hit the summit very late tonight, if they were lucky. "I need a break." she said, stopping in the middle of the trail and throwing her pack down. "We're not going to get there any faster by walking ourselves to death." She pulled out her canteen and took a long drink, then sat down. Shadur had spotted a patch of sunlight and in an effort to show his agreement, had stretched himself out in it. Everyone else, except for Selvane, had stopped as well. The air was getting thinner as they progressed, leaving them more out of breath than usual. "I'm not tired. I'll scout up ahead while you take your break." Selvane replied. "I'll yell if I spot anything." Five minutes later, the group's break was interrupted by Selvane's reappearance, "Nexx, last time your were up here, you didn't, by any chance, run across a ghost town, did you?" he looked excited. "Because the trail leads into one about 30 ft. ahead." Nexx thought back for a moment before answering, "No, there was nothing but trail last time I was here. This could be a different trail I suppose though." she got up and dusted off her uniform. "I guess we might as well check it out. We should get going anyways." Everyone else got up as well, and together they followed Selv to the town. The Rangers stood just outside a large, man-made clearing, in the middle of which stood an extremely rustic village of sorts. The clearing had been made in a dip in the land, similar to a valley only not nearly as big as you'd expect a valley to be. From their vantage point they could clearly see two narrow roads which intersected in the middle at right angles, dividing the town into four sections, there was a well in the center at some point probably. In each quarter of the village there were two or three shacks or small buildings, most of which looked on the verge of collapse. At some point and time, it had probably been home to a few families but now it looked as if even the animals had abandoned it. Nexx's thoughts were interrupted by Shad asking a question. "... Nexx, were Marraketh and Chi-lin ever at war?" "Not really..." she began, explaining how Chi-Lin and Marraketh had come to part ways so many years ago. She was brought back to reality by a loud series of 'Meow's' coming from her backpack. "What in the world do you have in there Nexx?" asked Aris. A puzzled look washed over her face as she reached in to pull out her Jihad Linker. "Just my 'Linker, but it's supposed to be broken." she frowned and opened it. "You programmed your 'Linker to "meow"?" Phoe asked amusedly. "Oh Hell!" she shouted a few seconds later, a look of surprise on her face. "It's from Mal, or at least it's his initial at the bottom. Look." she said, turning the 'linker so that the group could see the message which read: From:
To: nexxus@jlink.vrdet.net SITUATION IN RHYE DETERIORATING RAPIDLY HOLDING THINGS TOGETHER BEST AS I CAN GET YOUR ASS HERE *ASAP* --M Everyone began to talk at once, but they were all drowned out by Shadur who had begun a long string of curses in a tone much louder than any of them could talk in. A look of surprise washed over their faces as they heard him shout "Hang On!" and felt themselves being pulled onto his back. Without warning or pause he began a mad dash up the mountain side. His passengers scrambled for something to hold onto as he darted around trees, over rocks and a few slow thinking animals. Nexx closed her eyes and fought off an urge to disappear and re-materialize elsewhere. Instead, as she felt Shad's pace accelerate, she opened her eyes in time to see him take a flying leap of the edge of the mountain. The ride which followed was something akin to a theme park major attraction. Nexx refrained from screaming and simply closed her eyes. "Mental note: Don't fly Shad Airlines." she thought to herself, feeling the air get thinner as Shad began climbing and leveled off a bit too high up. She heard the others making noise of protest at the lack of oxygen and opened her eyes again, just in time to witness Shad's daring plummet into a canyon below. "Shad! Have you been smoking crack?!" She screamed inside her head, knowing full well it would do no good to scream out loud. "Star Wars." she thought to herself. "This is like Star Wars..." as Shad flew like a mad dwagon through the canyon, wings barely fitting through in spots. At last, they reached the end of the canyon and flying out into the open, they were in Rhye. TBC in "It's shooting fire!"