Some of the trees have the right texture to be scalable, rough bark with a slant to the trunk that could be helpful if someone wanted to shimmy up. Unfortunately, while the bark provides enough friction to cling on and cracks to dig fingers and toes into, it seems there would still be some skill required to successfully navigate a way up.

The garlands, on the other hand, are much sturdier than they appear. They are soft to the touch, covered in some sort of fuzz. When you tug on one experimentally, it is elastic but not too much, and can resist your pull. Looking up, you notice that the ends of the garlands end in clumps that tangle around branches above, up higher than the lowest branches you were planning to obtain. When you tug on the garland again, the branches above sway gently.

You avoid the humming by staying on the path. The trail begins to twist, turning to the side and almost completely doubling back as you go around the bend. At the corner, you find a gnarled tree with a moss-covered boulder by it, the moss dotted with small, yellow, star-shaped flowers. If you climbed the boulder, you would be able to reach the lower branches.

In the background, the music continues, but it has moved. Now it's a little fainter, as if it had gone further from you.

You have succeeded the skill check

You manage to grab the rope firmly. It's well-made, braided cord that has bits sticking out from it like wood splinters, but that only helps to strengthen your hold on it despite the prickliness. With one hand on it, you can pull yourself toward it and grab on with your other hand. The branch beneath you lurches. You freeze, and it steadies.

Next would be to get your whole weight on the rope. That would require for you to somehow get your feet on the branch and shift your body forward - a terrifying task. You bring your knees under you. The branch creaks, tips down. You move your weight onto your feet. The branch groans, shedding more pieces of loose bark.

You jump!

The branch breaks apart with a great crack, the sound ripping through the canyon like an explosion, and the next moment underneath you is nothing but air, a log of wood tumbling down into the depths, ricocheting off the wall every now and then. Beneath you is a dizzying drop that seems to taunt you, emptiness against your dangling legs. Defying the call of the abyss, you successfully hang onto the rope.

"Cool!" The girl calls from above. "Now don't let go!" And she disappears once more. The whirring sound increases in volume and pitch, until it's accompanied by a loud buzzing that once again shakes the very canyon itself, dislodging another rain of dust and stones. You hang on for dear life as the rope jerks upward, catching you off guard. The motion is sudden at first, then peters out to a smooth ride upward.

As you near the lip of the canyon, you get pulled closer and closer to the wall. The rope wasn't cast down to you using a pulley so the lip of the canyon itself is the fulcrum. You need to do something, stick your legs out and brace yourself or be dragged against the wall for the last stretch. You don't know if you can manage getting dragged - your grip on the rope is fine, but your arms are starting to hurt and you probably don't have the strength to overcome that much friction.

Link: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=99346&page=5#41 Author: Aphelion Time Posted: 8/19/2021 at 2:32 PM Some of the trees have the right texture to be scalable, rough bark with a slant to the trunk that could be helpful if someone wanted to shimmy up. Unfortunately, while the bark provides enough friction to cling on and cracks to dig fingers and toes into, it seems there would still be some skill required to successfully navigate a way up. The garlands, on the other hand, are much sturdier than they appear. They are soft to the touch, covered in some sort of fuzz. When you tug on one experimentally, it is elastic but not too much, and can resist your pull. Looking up, you notice that the ends of the garlands end in clumps that tangle around branches above, up higher than the lowest branches you were planning to obtain. When you tug on the garland again, the branches above sway gently. You avoid the humming by staying on the path. The trail begins to twist, turning to the side and almost completely doubling back as you go around the bend. At the corner, you find a gnarled tree with a moss-covered boulder by it, the moss dotted with small, yellow, star-shaped flowers. If you climbed the boulder, you would be able to reach the lower branches. In the background, the music continues, but it has moved. Now it's a little fainter, as if it had gone further from you.

He curses his ineptitude. He should be better than this - not even able to climb a simple tree. That's the first thing he's going to work on when he has the opportunity to improve his skills.

On the one hand, good news - he hopes the quieter singing isn't a trap to lull him into a false sense of security.

On the other hand, he's not sure he likes this path any more.

Feeling impatient and irked at his inadequate skillset, he heads straight for the boulder. He can't go wrong with that, surely? If he can't climb a tree, and he can't climb a garland, climbing up a rock is his last bet before he'll just carry on along the path, trying not to accept that he's given up on trying to get a stick.

(Falcon really, really wants a stick)

The boulder is actually a bunch of rocks piled together. When you circle around the whole formation, you find that from behind, the stones form a step-like formation, although all covered in moss. Whatever, who cares about moss. You can step on moss. no problem. You clamber up the side of the boulder with no problem. The moss and flowers give way under you, squishing slightly like a pillow and giving you a spring to bounce up even higher with each step. At the top of the boulder, you find yourself right near the crook of the tree, where the trunk starts to split into branches.

The smaller branches are what you're looking for - long, tough, and thick. You can fit your hand around it in a comfortable grip if you ignore the whorls and lumps along the rest of it. Pulling at it, you find that you can't break it off the tree. Bummer. Well, you weren't going to give up that easily. You throw your entire body weight at it instead, hanging on to it until your feet lift from the boulder. The branch, as well as its parent branch, begins to curve down.

With a snap, it comes free. The rest of the tree rebounds from the sudden separation, showering you with a rain of leaves that cover your hair and shoulders. Nearby birds startle into the air. You fall back onto the boulder, landing on your behind, but thankfully the moss is there to cushion an otherwise painful impact. The stick is intact, swishing a little as you swing it experimentally. It will make for a good walking staff, although neither of the ends are sharp enough to do any real damage.

Something is different, you notice when the tree finally stops shaking and the leaves stop rustling like crazy. The humming has stopped.

Obtained walking stick

((He got the stick! :D))

Link: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=99346&page=4#38 Author: Aphelion Time Posted: 8/19/2021 at 1:14 PM She laughs, a loud, boisterous guffaw. "Who am I kidding, of course you need help!" She pulls back and disappears from view. "Hang in there - hehe!" Her footsteps move away, fading, and you are left in silence once more. There's a few moments of tense silence, the air around you filling with fear of the unknown. More bits of the branch flake off with little crackling noises. The river below gushes and burbles. Your breaths are loud, each inhale and exhale echoing from wall to wall until it's like a whole host of others are trapped in here too, all hearts bounding and breaths quickening. Then, a loud whoosh blows the echoes away. From above there is a rumbling, followed by crunching and grinding. Something large is approaching. The sound grows louder and louder, accompanied by an incessant whirring. Loose pebbles and thin sand fall from above, dislodged by the vibrations through the ground. Your branch wobbles too; it's difficult to avoid the incoming rocks while clinging onto the wood for life but somehow you manage it. Something else falls, a long object unfurling from over the edge of the canyon. It nearly hits you, but you manage to avoid it. It jerks to a stop in front of you and you find that it is a thick length of rope, dangling and ending just a little below your branch. "You come up, or I go down there and bring you up?" The girl from before appears again, peering down at you. She has to shout above the whirring sound.

After the serie of event that had occure, Oris was preaty sure he would not go near any kind of clifs any time soon, the senary may be nice but the near death experience was not worth repeating. It hadn't been that long in real time but it still felt like he had spent years holding on that branch, it was more then enough for him to want a change from it.

He didnt realy had the time to admire the sky and contemplate what was too come, he had to figure somthing out about the dragging part and fast. He remembered that he had seen small ridges and footholds earlier, they may not have been enough to climb back then but maby he could use those to scale with his feets while holding the rope and avoid being shredded by the friction ? He quickly checked the upcoming section of the cliff to see if it was possible.

Link: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=99346&page=4#34 Author: Aphelion Time Posted: 8/19/2021 at 12:20 PM Tailing them is not easy. The procession moves fast compared to you. They are on horses, after all, while you are on foot, and the terrain rises and falls constantly, requiring you to put in more effort to scale hills while controlling your momentum not to fall over as you descend. It's no surprise when you feel your legs grow stiff with exertion and your chest grow constricted with each breath. Fatigue gnaws at your bones and your body shakes as you ascend the next hill. At this point, you've travelled quite a distance. The shape in the sky has long gone past, floating away in whatever direction it had went. You've passed multiple groves and bush clusters. So far, there's been no sign of any bodies of water so while you feel the beginnings of thirst tickle at the back of your throat, you know you will have to find other ways of quenching it when it becomes a problem. The riders are now far enough that they have become dots on the landscape, spots of colour prancing along the curves of the hills. Your efforts don't go unrewarded - what you had thought was smoke earlier is indeed smoke, a thin, dark strand of it floating up to the sky, where the clouds, darker now, race toward you. The smoke originates from a group of small, pointed structures on the horizon which the riders are heading toward. Health status update: Fatigued

Crystal pants quietly wondering what the structures were and who they belonged to. While curious she was also quiet cautious knowing how fatigued she was. Unsure if the berries were poisoned she didn't want to chance eating one and becoming sick. On the other hand she knew she had to at least find water soon.

She wondered if the people who owned the structures were good and the soldiers if that's what they truely were meant them harm or the other way around. Crystal carefully makes her way towards the structures trying to stay out of sight as much as possible. One never knew what dangers lay ahead or what the strangers were like.

Link: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=99346&page=5#44 Author: Aphelion Time Posted: 8/19/2021 at 3:14 PM The boulder is actually a bunch of rocks piled together. When you circle around the whole formation, you find that from behind, the stones form a step-like formation, although all covered in moss. Whatever, who cares about moss. You can step on moss. no problem. You clamber up the side of the boulder with no problem. The moss and flowers give way under you, squishing slightly like a pillow and giving you a spring to bounce up even higher with each step. At the top of the boulder, you find yourself right near the crook of the tree, where the trunk starts to split into branches. The smaller branches are what you're looking for - long, tough, and thick. You can fit your hand around it in a comfortable grip if you ignore the whorls and lumps along the rest of it. Pulling at it, you find that you can't break it off the tree. Bummer. Well, you weren't going to give up that easily. You throw your entire body weight at it instead, hanging on to it until your feet lift from the boulder. The branch, as well as its parent branch, begins to curve down. With a snap, it comes free. The rest of the tree rebounds from the sudden separation, showering you with a rain of leaves that cover your hair and shoulders. Nearby birds startle into the air. You fall back onto the boulder, landing on your behind, but thankfully the moss is there to cushion an otherwise painful impact. The stick is intact, swishing a little as you swing it experimentally. It will make for a good walking staff, although neither of the ends are sharp enough to do any real damage. Something is different, you notice when the tree finally stops shaking and the leaves stop rustling like crazy. The humming has stopped. Obtained walking stick ((He got the stick! :D))

(Woo! Achievement unlocked! ( ovo)9 Now, the Lorax is coming for him - he's gotta run)

A blunt weapon is good enough, and if he really needs to he can always sharpen it himself.

...hopefully no-one saw his graceless landing though. He's had to trade his dignity for the stick, and a surge of fear at... falling... he abruptly shakes his head to clear his mind. He hefts the makeshift weapon with a smirk - who needs to climb trees anyway?

He stops dead, slowly scanning the forest around him. Not good. He looks up at the broken tree as he brushes the leaves from his head, a feeling of guilt washing over him. He considers what he could do to mend the damage.

Falcon snorts - discarding the notion - raising the stick and carrying on down the path. Forests didn't have feelings. He just had to get a move on and pick up the pace - he'd made a lot of noise and beaconed his position to the creatures around, that was all. Not ideal, but nothing ridiculous he can't protect himself from with his new, multi-purpose tool.

...on that note, he tries not to leave a trail as he goes, stepping over branches and the like to make it as if he was never there.

As you near the top of the canyon lip, the layers of sediment begin to grow rougher. That means there are more ridges and places you could stand on if you were climbing up. However, since you are being tugged up by a rope and trying not to get dragged against the stone and sand, you will have to plant your feet on the walls perpendicularly.

Dust and falling debris plume through the air, partially obscuring your view of the specific shape of the rocks before you. The rope chafes into your hands as you grab on right. It is definitely possible to do what you want to do, though it will require some skill. Would you like to try?

Link: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=99346&page=5#48 Author: Aphelion Time Posted: 8/21/2021 at 7:51 AM As you near the top of the canyon lip, the layers of sediment begin to grow rougher. That means there are more ridges and places you could stand on if you were climbing up. However, since you are being tugged up by a rope and trying not to get dragged against the stone and sand, you will have to plant your feet on the walls perpendicularly. Dust and falling debris plume through the air, partially obscuring your view of the specific shape of the rocks before you. The rope chafes into your hands as you grab on right. It is definitely possible to do what you want to do, though it will require some skill. Would you like to try?

Well, that option seemed better then being dragged across those rocks for sure. In the situation he was in there was not too mutch too lose for the moment anyway, doing nothing was a sure way to slip back down and this time there was nothing to catch him from that fall before hitting the water.

As he was being pulled up, Oris did his best to ignore the dust, sand and smaller debris who were an inconvenience but not a major danger to him at the moment while making sure nothing too big would catch him off guard.

At the same time, the young man started to try to set his feets on the nearest ridge, it was time to test his idea.

You push yourself onward despite your tired body. Eventually, you make out the shapes to be tents and pavilions erected in a dip of land relatively flat compared to the rest of the rolling hills that made up the grassy plains. The smoke twists up from a blazing fire at the center which is surrounded by figures mingling and horses clopping around. You do your best hopping from shrub bush to shrub bush, hiding between trunks of trees when you come to clusters of trees, and staying behind the crests of hills while the riders before you were still ascending themselves.

They aren't looking behind them, so it's not difficult for you to keep up while remaining out of their sight. The closer you get to the camp, however, you find that your task becomes difficult. Sentries are posted around the perimeter, some on foot and some riding on horses and a few other types of animals you don't recognise. When the horseriders come into sight, they stand alert and make a few gestures which the leader of the procession returns. With some ceremony, many of the camp members draw forth to welcome the riders.

The way things are positioned, you can't find a way to get close without someone seeing you.