The South Woods

[The Chronicler]

The Blue team was given one directive, they were to head to the northern part of the woods and set their flag. At noon, the team trekked into the forest, and managed to set their flag. Hopefully it would be protected well enough to prevent the red team from finding it. 

 

[TJ Gardner]

TJ was still getting used to this whole gods and powers and all the rest. This war games stuff though, he could get used to, he had his BB gun and had enough foliage to lie in. He knew enough to be quiet and look out for folks sneaking in. His pa hadn't let him do more than hunt hares back home but he could take some shots and alert the others to folks getting too close.

He had got to play with a sword but wasn't that comfortable, he was pretty sure with the weight of the thing he would drop it on his head. It lay at his side as he looked at the tree lines going around. He was ready for them to come through and keeping a super low profile as he took some jerky out of his pocket and started to slowly chew at it.

He was lying flat to the ground a bit back from the flags visible point, he had neutral colors, camouflaged and ready. TJ was ready to go full sniper when they came through, the silent forest around him, nothing giving him away..

[Emberlynn Knight Rare]

Emberlynn was hiding in a bush near the flag, preparing to jump out at a moment's notice. Well, hiding may have been too strong a word. Sticking out like a rainbow thumb was more like it. While she'd been groomed, eager, and ready to go at the start of their journey, the long trek through the forest had done quite a number on the small girl's appearance. As it was, a mass of tangled hair stuck conspicuously out in several strands from her "hiding place". The fact that it was a variety of bright colors made it all the more suspicious. If left to her own devices, she'd be more likely to get the flag spotted than help defend it. Though with her teammates surrounding her she would hopefully not be left for long.

[TJ Gardner]

From his vantage point TJ took the time to scan across trees, he decided it was time for some candy, he took a chew bar and tried to chomp on it quietly.

As he went back to his looking he got confused by the view down the scope, the glass seemed to be catching a bit of light, spreading across so many colors. He pulled it back and took the sleeve of his long sleeve to rub at the end but as he did he could still see a couple of bushes away a sprout of multi colored hair. He swore under his breath having missed the newcomer sneaking into place a couple of bushes over.

He slowly got it his knees and headed mostly quietly towards the rainbow hair. through a frustrated whisper he started "I picked this bush for hiding in first.. !" he wasn't actually sure who had got there first but he wasn't going to lose his spot to a girl.. he had given up on hiding and started "plus all that hair is going to give you away.. don't you have like a hat or something?" pointing up to his own headgear..

She was going to put such a cramp on all his cool elite sniper plans.. why do girls always ruin the fun things?

[Emberlynn Knight Rare]

"Ahh!" Ember exclaimed in surprise at the boy's sudden approach. She quickly realized her error, putting a hand to her mouth. "S-sorry," she whispered. She hadn't seen anyone else hiding here, but perhaps she had been mistaken. Looking the boy up and down, he did seem better camouflaged than she was. Though that may have been helped by the fact that he was shorter than her. And it did strike her that no matter how well he was dressed, his increasing loud  reprimand was bound to draw attention anyway.

"Look," she gave him a friendly smile. She didn't appreciate being yelled at, but had found it was better to make friends than enemies. This was especially rue, she assumed, with her own teammates in a game involving weapons and monsters. "I get your point, but if you don't quiet down, we're both going to lead the red team right to us. And also maybe avoid leaving shiny candy wrappers lying about. You seem like a smart guy, and there's plenty of bush to go around. Perhaps we could share?" She hoped by complimenting him, the boy's ire might calm a bit. "You're right about my hair though..." she rummaged through her pack as quietly as she could, searching for something with which to cover herself. Unfortunately, there were no helmets there waiting for her. There was, however, a roll of white bandages. Ever the resourceful type, she unrolled them and knelt further toward the ground, staining them with mud.

"Wanna help?" she whispered, her warm smile shifting to more of a clever smirk. "Trust I'm not eager to put dirt on my head, but they won't work well as camouflage when they're bright white like that."

[TJ Gardner]

TJ took the time to get a hold of himself as he realized he had raised his voice and looked around to see the wrappers he hadn't realized he had left behind him.  "You should probably keep the bandages encase anyone gets hurt" 

He pouted a bit but realized his dark hair would be less distracting than the full rainbows and reluctantly pulled off his hat and shoved it out in her direction. "You can use this - should keep the worst of the rainbows hidden" he said realizing that he was supposed to be on the same team as her, he realized that he didn't really know what else they were doing for this game and he wasn't going to be an elite sniper sharing a bush with her.

He remembered to whisper this time..  "So what do we do with this flag next then?"

[Emberlynn Knight Rare]

"Ah... thanks." She took the helmet and stuffed the remainder of the clean bandages back into her bag. As for the already soiled ones, she used hem to tie back and conceal the rest of the uncovered hair. "I suppose you're right. Do you think it'll happen though?" She glanced down at the sword hanging clumsily at her side. They'd all been given weapons in this game, supposedly to fight off any dangers in the wilderness. But the weight of the blade felt far too real for her liking. It'd be one thing to run around a park swinging foam weapons, but this thing could really kill somebody. Or, according to the councilors, something. "You think someone might get really hurt?"

She shuddered to think of the possibility. But she knew full well that in a place like this, anything was more than possible. "Well, I don't know how good a shot you are with that gun, but I sure as heck don't know how to use this thing." She motioned to her own weapon. "But maybe..." she scanned the area around the hidden flag. Plenty of trees and bushes... plenty of opportunities. "Maybe we could set some traps? That's not against the rules, right?"

[TJ Gardner]

"I mean, it's only a game, right?" but it slowly dawned on him they had given him an actual sword, and it was super heavy and metal and everything.

TJs eyes lit up at the mention of traps, all worries of injury vanishing as thoughts came to him "I think I saw some big vines back there, we could make tripwire and those ones where a boulder comes hurtling down and bouff" he said smacking his fist into an open palm.

He quickly went to retrieve the metal weapon, half dragging it along the ground in search of natural materials he could cut down for the plan.

[Emberlynn Knight Rare]

It was almost reassuring to be working with someone just as inexperienced as she was. She couldn't help but share the boy's excitement as they set about making the tripwire. It seemed a relationship that had started in instant turmoil had resulted in, at the very least, teamwork. Perhaps this young man could even become her friend. She started to wonder if this was a product of her blood. She'd heard in the Iris cabin that her siblings were known for unnaturally good communication skills. She wondered if she really could "make a friend of anyone." If she was going to have superpowers, that would indeed be the best one. After all, everyone needed friends.

Though, she suddenly realized, it wasn't like she knew much bout this kid. She hadn't seen him around any of the cabins... nor did she even know his name. If friendships were to be made, surely introductions should be made first. "I'm Emberlynn, by the way," she whispered, tying the end of a vine to a large, sturdy tree trunk. "And you are?"

[TJ Gardner]

((Feels like the home base lot are looking for RP Challenge Number: 10 - create an elaborate plan - mousetrap style))

TJ finally felt part of the team after having been left at the flag by the rest of Blue team. He hadn't minded it, keeping out of the worst of the fighting and planning to show the old dude who had been at the big house on the way in how good his BB gun could be.

But this way they were coming up with plans and using ropes and weights and things, they would make sure the Blue team won. "Right, names. I'm TeeJay, unclaimed and don't need one" he said indignantly offering out a hand. He had been at the campfire a few times but James had explained that everyone would be claimed by their thirteenth birthday, he still had a few years till then and was making sure it didn't bother him one way or another. Even if it did bother him, the cabin he had been assigned to seemed pretty okay and no one had made fun of him like he was expecting..

He realized he had been distracted and looked back to at the girl to see what the latest step of the plan was "ooh can we do one of those ones with the weight where they go upside down and into a tree" he said remembering some of the home alone films.. pity they didn't have any paint pots to drop on them..

[Dustin Graves Rare]

(Hope you all don't mind a little fun.)

Capture the flag! A game in which Dustin had loved since he first started getting here. Of course, he knew that their were others that enjoyed the game as well But he couldn't help himself with going right for the flag. He needed to get a win for his team. As he had heard that his team had already lost a flag. Which wasn't going to fly for him very well. 

After some running and fighting he finally was coming threw the woods when he noticed the blue teams flag. He hit the ground pretty fast as he watched and listened to what was going on over there. He knew right away that he could cause problems for the two of them, but he wanted to have a little fun. He brought his hand out over the ground and thought really hard for a moment before the ground started to move. 

When the ground started to move, you could see dirt moving around until you seen a hand sticking out of the ground, but not just any hand no this hand was bone. Skeleton hand were popping up all over the place and pulling themselves out of the ground. Slowly, the hands turned into arms and then heads and before you knew it a whole skeleton had arrived out of the ground. Some had swords and some had shields. Others just a hat one that had red hairs on them. 

He waited to see what they would think of those before he showed himself. If he could busy them with skeletons then the flag would be no big issue at all. 

[TJ Gardner]

TJ was just finishing the last knots on the corner tree he was just thinking about getting back into a super sniper position when he remembered the candy in his backpack. He was just unwrapping another piece when the undergrowth started moving a distance out. He glanced around muttering a cuss under his breath and just pulled at the BB gun over his shoulder. It wasn't until he had it down and started to look more in the direction of the noise that he saw the rotten white of bones. A small part of him remembered the traps, thought about drawing them into the trap but the rest of him was screaming to run.

All subtlety gone he turned and dodged into the undergrowth behind the flag yelling "Zombies are trying to eat our flag.. defend the base! Help!!!"

Fortunately the dead had started into the first wave of traps.. swinging logs pendulum-ed down and snares catapulted the first few into the air. They hadn't planned for many of the others, how long could their traps hold out. He looked out from under the bottom of the foliage, seeing the chaos and keeping an eye out for reinforcements from the Blue team..

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After a good long while, TJ slowly looked out from under the bushes, the last of his quiet tears having mostly been dried away with the cuff of his long sleeved top. He was very skittish and quiet as he pulled aside the bushes he had hidden in, taking a bit too long to get his legs steady.

He looked over the scattering of broken and strung up bones, visibly keeping his distance from any of them in fear of them jumping back together. In a slightly too high pitched voice he said "Are they all gone?" The traps had worked but everything seemed to have been sprung, triggered or dropped. He slowly dug around in the shrubbery for the pack and sword he had dropped in panic tactically left behind.

Maybe being near this flag thing isn't the safe plan I thought it was..

Looking over for the telltale rainbow colors he tried to settle his voice, definitively not shook from the dead rising against them "Your traps all worked super well... but I think I might try.. that scouting thing.. for a bit." 

He slinks off towards the edge of the woods, for some cautious and well hidden scouting..

Edited September 26, 2022 by TJ Gardner

[Emberlynn Knight Rare]

"TJ. Nice to meet -" Their introductions were interrupted by what felt like a sudden earthquake. The ground began to shake, and as she ducked for cover she saw a skeletal hand rising from the ground. "EEEEEEKKK!!!" she stomped at it with her foot, not even thinking to use her weapon. It was the most horrifying thing she had ever seen in her life. They'd told her there were monsters in the forest, but nobody told her about the freaking zombies! Following TJ's lead, she scrambled inward toward the bushes. She hid away and watched as one by one the zombies fell to their various preparations. But she knew as well as the boy did that they could not hold out forever. Then she finally remembered her weapon. Unsure what else to do, she stepped forward (just behind the edge of a pit trap they'd laid) and swung at a few outstretched bony arms. Three skeletons turned to lunge at her, but ended up back where the belonged - in the ground. 

She saw another weapon lying on the ground. Was that - it must be TJ's. Gods, tell me he's okay. He had to be right? She'd just heard him yelling a moment before. The girl grabbed for the second sword. Her feet scrambled beneath her in an insane dance, trying her best to avoid the disgusting undead reaching up from the ground. Suddenly she felt her back up against a tree. She cowered into it, crouching to make herself as small as possible. The two weapons were held crossed in front of her in a X as if to rebuke the nasty creatures. "G-go away! Leave us alone!" It was a desperate plea of someone who could no longer get away. Yet oddly... it seemed to work.

The zombies were gone... this wave of them anyway. But where was it that they came from? Were these the monsters of the forest? Or did the red team have some very gross reinforcements? And more importantly, she'd been separated from her teammate. She ran back toward the foliage, searching for their hiding spot. It felt an eternity before she heard a small, sniffling voice. "Are they all gone?"

Emberlynn followed the noise in time to find him preparing to leave from camp. "TJ! Thank the gods you're alright!" She understood his plight. She too was utterly terrified, and none to eager to stick around this place. Maybe it would be best for her to go exploring herself. "Y-yeah. We did it!" She said shakily, indicating the mass of triggered traps before them. Thinking of those three she'd led into the pit, she couldn't help but have a new sense of pride - even if she'd spent the rest of the time cowering. "Thank you. Oh, and you're probably gonna want to take this." She offered him his sword. Well, it was probably his. They al looked the same to her.

[TJ Gardner]

He took the sword; his hands and his voice still a bit shaky.. "Thanks Embers.. you did super good... Especially for a girl.." he waved towards some of the other bigger campers, not so much trying to give a message as a desperate gesture to be allowed to escape the horror movie scene behind him. His hands were white gripping at his sword in one hand and his BB gun in the other..

He was numb and not wanting to think of where they came from what they had been doing and why, before it had been a big beast but actually seeing dead things rise up.. it all brought the reality of the situation the camp and the predicament he found himself in and just that being near the flag was enough to risk the next night of the living dead. I am going to find a tall tree, safe from ground exploding dead things!

[Dustin Graves Rare]

Dustin was amused with what he saw. The kids had spunk, that he would give them that. He had allowed the skeletons to go in first as he had saw that they had trapped the flag and the surrounding areas. He knew that he needed to get those out of the way before he ended up getting caught in one him self, which he would have never allowed himself to do. He watched the girl smash on of the skeleton's hands and he smirked as she ran off to hide in the bushes. That was a good thing for him. It felt the flag wide open. This time he knew where the other traps were and he would make sure that he avoided them all together. He jumped up from his hiding placed and jumped out from behind the trees. When his feet hit the ground near the flag, it started shaking once again. This time more skeletons came from the ground faster. Dustin stood there for a moment with a smirk on his face as he was surrounded by the skeletons. He looked like a super villain. He was in his environment right now. He was going to take over 100 percent. 

[Delaney Vance]

Dustin had ran up a head already and she knew that he would get the flag for them. He had been boosting about getting the flag since the game started. He wanted that Flag and he knew it. Laney liked that about the older boy. It was strange but she knew and that was all that she could say about that. She had a smile on her face as she cut threw some of the blue teams defenses and raced the way that Dustin had ran. It was like that boy had a major tracking skill on him. She shook her head thinking about it and sighed as she got herself into another fight with some of the blue team before she arrived to where the blue flag was. He of course was already there and surrounded by skeletons. She blinked for a moment knowing that there were some campers that had abilities but she didn't know he had any. She stopped for a second and just watched.  

[Luca Cassano]

Dustin was leading this time so Luca wanted to tag along with Laney to help her break through the blue team's defenses. You can say the boy is quite the pacifist by using the plants around him to render the enemies he'd encounter immobile for at least a while. He needed to make sure that the Ares boy had everything under control so he can rest easy and move to another position if either flag has been taken, preferably blue's. Laney could hear nearby footsteps as he began to approach her but the sight of a small platoon of skeletons made him tremble. He never knew that he has such an ability but it gave him reassurance that the flag was theirs to take. 

[The Chronicler]

Dustin was able to grab the flag and make a break for the Red Team's base. It was a long and arduous journey, with Emberlynn hot on his heels. But eventually he was able to take it back to the Red Team's base, claiming 1 point for her team. 

Red has successfully captured the Blue Team's flag, Blue Team your flag will be placed in a new location (check your PMs). 

[TJ Gardner]

Start of RP challenge 15) Hide from the monsters!

Finding a tall out of the way tree, a long way from the remains of the dead, TJ started to climb branch after branch. Each foot above the ground he got the sheer panic started to wane.

He had seen things but nothing like that and nothing that close, the satyr LeVar had been there to fight the hell hound when it had came to the farm and the rainbow haired girl had stood and fought the enemy when he had high tailed it away. He struggled to hold in another sob.

There had been actual dead bodies coming to kill them all, like from right under them with all the grizzly flesh and bones. he shuddered and pulled himself up another branch to get further from the ground they had burst from. He hadn't really listened when all the god and monsters had been explained, they were all just stories and lessons until now.. now they were real and they wanted to get him... he pulled up another branch and was getting near the highest part of the bough of the tree.

He took the time to fish out another candy from inside his jacket, unwrapped the chew and shoved the wrapper away in a pocket. He then gripped his BB gun in his hands as much for comfort as any kind of protection and tried not to attract any more monsters...

Edited September 27, 2022 by TJ Gardner

[Killian O'Connor]

Killian had just killed a beastie or two in the woods which made him want another drink. This was not the strongest of monsters he was fighting but again he still had to keep the things from hurting his precious flask. Walking through the woods he found himself in the south woods away from the flag as he did not want to be near it. Unscrewing the cap to the flask that he pulled from his side. Killian took a swig when he noticed someone in a tree. "Heyyyyy you, boy" he said in his Irish accent. The boy (TJ) had what seemed like a type of gun. This made him chuckle as he walked up to the tree. "You okay up there?" 

[TJ Gardner]

TJ was still pretty shaky but at least he wasn't on the ground anymore. He heard shouts coming from underneath him but it took a little while for them to just about sink in.  He sniffed a couple of times to clear the snot that was there from his less than quiet crying. "Muh.. muh.. meee?" sniff

It took him a moment of looking around to spot who was doing the talking and then seeing the big guy walking around under his tree he realized he probably didn't know what kind of danger he was in..

"You.. you gotta watch out.. the zombies.. they come out from the ground and try to getcha", he said waving an arm in emphasis then pointing downwards "They pull you down and then your dead and that Hades person keeps you there forever!" he didn't realize how much he didn't want to see anyone get hurt until now that they had real weapons and there were real monsters and real everythings. He looked down from his tree branch perch, a little wide eyed "You gotta get away from the ground!"

[Tristan Damaris Rare]

Tristan was using his magic conservatively so that he would not be super worn out by the end of the game. Then again, if the game ever took place during the evening, the entire Hecate Cabin would be advantageous and no one would want that. Yet he still found the thought amusing with a light chuckle. Earlier he was just scouting and used a spell to point that Dustin was nearby and was going to take the flag at any moment but it was too late. He had been interrupted by several other red team campers and had just arrived near where the blue flag was. A bearded young man stood near a tree with his head tilted upwards - he seemed to be looking up long enough- Oh. There's TJ. He grew curious as to what could scare a child enough for him to even climb a tree and perch himself there.

"Hey Killian." He gave him a wave before looking up with him. "Zombies? I don't remember facing them last year... Wait, are you talking about Dustin's new ability?" He did not know about this either but word spreads around camp faster than wildfire. "My guy... that's undead magic. Some Ares and Hecate kids can do it other than Hades kids but only to an extent." He paused, taking the moment to glance at his BB gun. He was actually impressed he brought that to the game. If he could cast a charm on it, the bullets could even pierce through monsters. "Come down. We have to defend our flag. We'll do it together."

[TJ Gardner]

All the long journey over to the camp TJ had been given warnings of the gods and monsters and how he had to take them all seriously. He had heard the howl of one of those creatures that had attacked the farm cut through the woods and brought it all back to him, he had pretty much been saved by the satyr when they had attacked before and he didn't have LeVar with him now.

"Nah uh, I heard one of those hell doggos howling as well" he said, still a wavering tone to his voice but resolute in his want not to come down "it's the dead people place comin to gets us" his hands still white with the strong grip on the gun.

[Killian O'Connor]

Killian watched as the boy spoke back to him, a smirk growing on Killian's face as he watched him. "Zombies....you don't say?" he said laughing a bit cause he couldn't help it. So there must be a Ares camper with a certain ability he thought to himself. But looking around the camper seemed to be gone for sure. "I think I can fight the dead son, I have done it before plus my soul is pretty much already dead so I have no fear of ye dead." He laughed a bit when another from their team showed up.  

"Ohhhhh young Tristan, how are ya?" he finished saying when Tristan said it was Dustin's new ability. Laughing he shook his head "So Wee little Dustin has his daddies ability does he....oh this should make things interesting." But it wasn't too long when Tristan tried to coax the boy down out of the tree. I mean the wee little boy had himself up in the tree pretty well. Shaking his head he had a feeling they were going to have to pry the boy out of the tree to get him down. Reaching into his side he pulled the flask out he always had. Taking a swig of the goodness that his father brought to this world. Placing it back he cracked his neck. Hearing a howl somewhere close by, his head turned. "Boy get that gun ready" he called to him.  

[TJ Gardner]

He seemed to be calming, slightly confused by the talk of the soulless ginger giant, he seemed to be beginning to calm as the two talked up to him.. that was until a monsters screech rang through the little grove.

"Nope, nope, nope..." the boy began muttering as he tried to crawl and shuffle further around the bough, putting the willowy upper branches of the center of the tree between himself and the sound of that distant howl, edging out along the branch he had pulled himself up to. He had gotten lucky once, but that had been mostly the satyr and all. He looked over at the sword, abandoned in a nearby branch beneath him. What if these monster things could climb? He seemed to go another shade whiter up in his tree.

He pulled the rifle up to his eye, using the scope to look out and around waving it erratically around trying to spot anything moving through the bush or the tree foliage nearby. He continued to mutter "nope.. no thanks... do not want..."