Over the Mountains
******
Hotel room
Early morning, the next day
******

	Shadur shrugged once to settle the straps of his pack 
better into his wingridges and looked over to the rest of the 
group. Everyone was in a state of packed-up-and-ready. Selvane 
was discussing some last-moment itinerary details with Nexxus in 
the back of the room while Aris, clad only in a unitard that 
incidentally radiated so much energy into the shadowplane that 
his head hurt just looking at it, checked her weapon and Phoenix 
fidgeted by the doors, impatient to leave. Finally he called out 
to Nexx, who replied with "I'll be right there!" and hurried up 
with her gear across her back.
	"Everyone ready to go? I thought we'd let Aris and 
Selvane lead the way to the mountains, since I haven't been there 
in years," Nexx explained.
	Phoenix looked puzzled "No maps?"
	"Nope, at least none that I'll have a chance in hell of 
getting my hands on." Nexx replied.
        Aris sighed. "Oh, terrific.. what would really make the 
day is some nice secret little trail that'll lead straight into 
Marraketh without running into another ape-thing...." she 
grumbled.
        Shadur looked up. "What ape-things?"
        "It's not likely--" Selvane butted in. Both Shadur and 
Aris ignored him.
	"I'm not sure. All I know is that it was warded and it 
really messed up my senses..."
	Nexx interrupted them. "The mountains have plenty of 
surprises worse than that, Aris... The good news, though, is that 
there /is/ a trail leading to Marraketh...."
	Everyone in the room looked at her.
	"I ran across it on a training mission about 10 years 
ago. It's been a long time, though, and it was already overgrown 
when I found it so don't get your hopes up."
	"We'd better leave, it's 7 AM already." Selvane said, 
gesturing at everyone.
	"He's right"
        "Let's get going."
	"Marraketh, here we come!"

******
Halfway up the mountains
Evening, same day
******

	{ o/~ It's a long way / to Tipperary..... o/~ }
	* o/~ It's a long way / to go.... o/~ *
	It was a lengthy trek, but Shad found himself actually 
enjoying it. The area reminded him a lot of his lair in the 
Schwarzwald.
	*... on the other hand, maybe I feel that way about every 
forest* Nexxus and Selvane walked point, followed by Phoenix and 
Aris in the middle and himself in the rear.
	No apes had attempted to attack them so far. For that 
matter, no one had spotted any animal larger than a bird in the 
bushes.
	{Odd. You'd expect more in the way of predators 
around...}
	*Probably nocturnal. This is going to be a busy night...*
	{Yippee. On that matter.....}
	"This looks like a good place to camp for the night. I 
vote we stop here, have a bite to eat and get some rest."
	"Da."
	"Good idea."
	"Why not?"
	"Alright."
	Shad grinned and unhooked his backpack, letting it fall 
to the forest floor. "Cool, I'll be right back....." With that, 
he stalked off between the trees.

****

	"SQUEEEEEE!" *THUD* *DAMNIT!*
	Dinner was giving Shad a hard time in the getting. What 
passed for boar in this dimension looked a lot like earth pigs, 
but had six legs, *very* fast senses and an astounding turn of 
speed. The usual stalk-and-pounce routine had resulted in nothing 
more than frustration and a clawful of snow and dirt.
	{How the fuck did these pigs get this fast?}
	*Evolution's a wonderful thing....*
	{Har har har. One thing that worries me about that, 
though...}
	*... That being?*
	{If they evolved into something *this* fast that usually 
means that there's something even faster that eats these.}
	*I think you're right.... wonder what it is.*
	In fact, 'It' had been silently observing for quite some 
time, unsure what to make of this strange new creature. Some odd 
instinct told 'it' this meat might be dangerous, but hunger and 
being accustomed to having no predators urged 'it' on.
	'It' jumped, jaws open and ready for the killing bite. 
Landing perfectly on target, 'it' closed its maw over its 
victim's neck. Its first hint that something was not right was 
the fierce agony when its fangs simply snapped instead of sinking 
in. Oblivion followed a split second later when a claw twice 
again its size grabbed it and snapped its neck.

****

	Shadur eyed the corpse of the (furry snake with legs? 
Stretched-out panther?)
	{Guess we found 'it'.. Think it's edible?}
	*Dunno. Let's ask Nexx*
	The dragon picked the corpse up with his maw and walked 
back to the camp.

****

 	By the time he got back to camp, Selvane was just 
erecting the second shelter. Shad looked around for the others, 
but succeeded only in spotting the small black cat chasing a bug 
on the other side of the clearing.

	"The pigs here are awfully fast. Couldn't catch 'em, and 
then this bugger here jumped me. Nexx, how's the eating on one of 
these?"
	Nexx yelped, tail twitching. "Shad! Those are *THE* most 
poisonous things on the planet! If it'd bitten you you'd be.."
	Shad picked the corpse up in a claw and shook it until 
the broken fangs fell out. "It tried that. Good thing I got thick 
skin.... But is it edible?"
	"Oh, they're edible as long as you avoid the head."
	"Gotcha."
	With that, he extended a talon and swiped the head off. 
Selvane, who had looked up at the first comment, said "Better 
take that somewhere far away from camp...."
	"Right, or we'll be up all night fighting off 
scavengers." Shad picked it up and carried it off, returning just 
as Phoenix and Aris appeared, arms full of firewood. With a 
thought, Shad stacked the firewood into a circular pile in the 
centre of the clearing, then set it ablaze with a minor puff of 
flame. Pretty soon, 'It' was roasting nicely.
	'It' tasted surprisingly good. After dinner, lots were 
drawn and Shad got first watch, Nexxus second.

TBC in " o/~ Down in the valley... o/~  "