How is there a Jungle in the middle of the forest!

[GM]

Gorvynn - you have been on the run for the past few weeks, your supplies are low, and you have a feeling the posse on your tail is gaining ground. It seems the last job the Assassins Guild handed to you was intended to be your last.  Luckly for you, you have some quick witts and reflexes and managed to escape before the guards came for you.  The city you fled is known as Vedenbok.  It is the largest land locked city you know of and uses aqueducts to pipe the water to the city from a lake a good 4 days travel away.  You have intimate knowledge of these aqueducts as that is how you managed to slip past the tight security of the city and dispose of the local Governor   He was as crooked as they come, and you had no qualms about this job.  However your escape route given to you by the guild seemed to have fallen through, as you approached the safe house you found it crawling with militia!  Deciding it best to cut bait and run, you decided to make your own way out.  It was a mad dash but you manged to flee the city and have been on the run for days.  Your food supplies are basically gone, and being a dwarf without a horse, you don't stand a chance of outrunning the posse on your tail.  Deciding to even the odds a bit you head of the southern mountains, they are steep and ominous, and to your knowledge no one has ever crossed them before.  However you are a dwarf, and mountains have never bothered the likes of you!  Half way up one of the larger mountains, exhausted you find a plateau   It seems like a good place to rest so you sit for a bit. As you rest you notice from the corner of your eye that there seems to be something behind some of the shrubbery growing on the side of the mountain.  Upon further inspection you find a small cavern.  It's only about 5 feet high, which is perfect for a dwarf like yourself, and you smile a bit imagining the Human's following you trying to find this cave, let alone follow you down it. Proceeding with caution you enter into the cave and start making your way through.  Your keen dwarven eyesight helps you navigate the narrow passage, but soon all the light seems to dwindle away, except for the faint light off in the distance of the cave.  You proceed towards the light and notice that the air seems to be getting more humid.  Strange, but nothing else seems out of the ordinary.  Soon enough you find the end of the cave and it opens up upon the other side of the mountain.  And what you see simply makes your mouth drop open!  Descending below you 100ft or so down the mountain is what can only be described as a Rain Forest Jungle.  Strange trees and large vines drape the landscape across the entire valley.  The entire valley seems to be surrounded by monstrous mountains like the one you just emerged from, simply shutting this part of the world off from the rest of civilization.  In the center of the valley you see what can only be described as a giant tree city suspending among large trees.  You can see movement of some sort of people among the city but it is easily 3 miles away from where you stand so making out what they are isn't possible.  What does catch your eye in that city however is a large golden rock that is glowing in the center of a platform in the middle of the city!  As you lick your lips and edge a tiny step forward, the ground below you collapses!  And you go tumbling down the mountain side towards the jungle below! (Agility Roll 4,2).  Fortunately your reflexes haven't left you and you manage to tumble with as much grace as possible and although the ground is hard when you hit it, nothing seems hurt other than your pride!  A quick check shows that you still have all of your belongings, and a dense jungle lies in front of you.

Everyone else:   After a hearty meal of roasted giant frogs legs, you exit the cavern and look down across the valley. Descending below you 100ft or so down the mountain is what can only be described as a Rain Forest Jungle.  Strange trees and large vines drape the landscape across the entire valley.  The entire valley seems to be surrounded by monstrous mountains like the one you just emerged from, simply shutting this part of the world off from the rest of civilization.  In the center of the valley you see what can only be described as a giant tree city suspending among large trees.  You can see more Rakashin among the city but it is easily 3 miles away from where you stand so making exact numbers isn't possible, but there are alot!  What does catch your eye in that city however is the magic stone that is glowing in the center of a platform in the middle of the city!  You have found what you are looking for!  Now just to get there!

Suddenly Everyone but Mutt notices what looks like a dwarf go tumbling down from one of the mountains next to you.  It's a good 100ft down, and it couldn't have been fun, but you seem to notice he is controlling his fall fairly well, managing to avoid any of the trees and large boulders jutting out that would splat him like a pancake!  He lands a good 1/2 mile away from where you would manage to get down from.  And as he falls he seems to disappear into the jungle once near the bottom.

Actions?

[Kirin]

Emerging from the cavern with his friends, Kirin barely has time to take in the jungle, city and, most importantly, the location of the glowing stone when he spies a dwarf tumbling down a nearby mountainside. “Well, that explains this jungle...I mean if it rains dwarfs here I bet anything would grow like mad.”

Checking his pack, and marking the direction of the city in his mind, the half elf mage takes a moment to look for the safest path downward. If the newcomer can be convinced to join the group another sword would probably be quite helpful given the previous run in with the cat like creatures in the cavern.

“Well, lets make sure that the tumbling dwarf is fine and doesn’t  draw any unwanted attention to our little slice of paradise.” That said, Kirin begins down his chosen path, working his way toward the area he saw the dwarf enter the jungle.  

[GM]

Well there is no way the Mule is going to make it down.  It is just too steep.  Anyone attempting to make it down themselves will need to make a climbing check.  Basically it is like downhill bouldering.  You could attempt to use a rope and go down 2 at a time using anchor points, that will give you a +2 to your climb checks.  Or you could think of something out of the box :)

[GM]

Just a quick note to go over powers. You can cast burrow on up to 5 targets adding Ann additional power point for each extra. In theory 4 including the mule, would make it 7 pp or -3 to your roll. If you succeed you can all move double your 20 squares which is 40 yards or 120 feet. So essentially toy can move the entire party and the mule if you risk the negative 3 instead of neg 1. Your call, just trying to help you understand your powers

[GM]

And don't forget you can spend a round preparing the spell to negate to from the casting taking you back to your negative one to move everyone!

[Gorvynn]

What a racket! Gorvynn hates making noise in any circumstance, and tumbling noisily down a slope into unknown territory has him cursing under his breath. He went in that cave to find escape. Alone. Now what appear to be nosy locals seem to have spotted him, pointing and motioning from higher up a nearby slope.

He is really sure now that taking that last job was a big mistake. Should have listened to his instincts. Then again, there was that big shiny thing in the tree city nearby.... Maybe this won't be so bad after all. But first to shake these intruders.

Just as he start casting around for the best route to escape or hide from the interplopers, one of them starts waving his hands and casting a spell. Wizards, he groaned. Hard to hide from.

Better just see if I can talk my way out of this, he thought, loosening his sword in its scabbard just in case.

[Kirin]

(ooc: thx for the heads up, didn't know I could burrow with others.)

Realizing how steep the mountain side is, Kirin decides that their best chance of catching up with the stranger might be to use his magic. "Everyone stand still...and you might want to keep your mouth closed when I begin to chant, celestial powers of creation and all." he mutters.

Grasping his staff with both hands, the half elf takes several deep cleansing breathes and spends a few extra seconds clearing his mind of everything but the spell at hand. As he focuses his mind on the spell, Kirin is momentarily lost in the magic. Beginning a gentle chant he gathers his energies, and calmly says  "Talparis". 

In his mind, Kirin imagines every member of the party, and himself, slipping through the earth in the most direct path toward the point where the young mage last saw the dwarf tumble into the jungle.

[GM]

Kirin deep in concentration summons his will and chants the spell as the entire party slips down into the rocks including the Mule!  Moving with the speed of a mongoose the party rumbles down the mountainside and rises out of the ground at the base of the jungle.  The Mule as well as the rest of the party are a bit out of sorts as it wasn't something that happens to you every day, but non the less the entire group is standing about 50 yards (25 squares) away from the dwarf that just tumbled down the hill.  He is a typical dwarf, short, thick, strong looking, basically someone you would want to be on your side in any bar brawl.  He has a short sword at his hip, and a nasty scar down the side of his face mostly covered by an eye patch.  He seems no worse for wear after taking a 100 foot fall, and he is standing looking right at you.  He doesn't seem to be hostile in his stance, but he does seem on guard....

Gorvynn - as the wizard finishes his goofy chants the entire group, mule included seem to sink into the earth and burrow down the mountain with blinding speed!  In the time it would take you to walk around a cart, they have emerged from the ground at the bottom of the mountain standing 50 yards away (25 squares). They don't have any weapons drawn, but you see a huge half Orc that is carrying an axe that is easily twice as big as you are, a young human girl who is carrying only a knife on her hip, but it has a very intricately carved ivory handle. (thief skills die hard,  it's awfully nice!), The wizard  is exactly what you would expect.  A young half elf with all the goofy robes and cockiness that seems to come along with them, and then there is the dwarf.  He isn't as muscled as a typical dwarf and from first inspection you would assume him to just be a minor.  He has the large pick axe, the mining helmet (although it seems to have some interesting levers and such added to it), Some strange looking googles pulled up on the helmet, and then there is the crossbow.  It's like nothing you have ever seen.  It looks like a dwarven pump action crossbow ( you have only heard stories of them as they are very rare), but this one seems to have a huge cross bar that is split into three separate "bows", with individual strings.  An intricate plate of silver is bolted on the side with weird writing, and the most obvious thing that stands out is he doesn't have a quiver of bolts.  The mule is nothing but a pack mule, you see some standard camping and hunting supplies.  From first inspection these folk look like your standard adventurers....

Actions?  (Note that was round 1 for the burrow you can in theory continue to use it for 2 more rounds before you start taking negatives to future castings.)

[Lisa Schnurr]

Elia, glad to see something other than crazy anthropomorphic felines, decides to be genial as she address the strange dwarf. "Hello, I'm Elia. What brings you down here? You know, other than gravity..." 

[Kirin]

Looking the newcomer over, Kirin becomes a little concerned when he notices the eye patch. "You wouldn't by chance be a pirate would you? I mean this is the middle of a jungle and all, in the center of a mountain range and the odds of you being a pirate are rather slim, but there have pirates about lately." as his rambling comes to a halt, the young half elf notices the sun and decides introductions are in order and then the group needs to be moving forward again as quickly as possible. 

With a slight inclination of his head as he indicates the appropriate party member, Kirin introduces the rest of the group. "Well then in an effort to keep things moving, I am Kirin, this is Mutt and Master TeWigg. We are all on business for the town of Grifdale, just south of these mountains." Hoping he had not overstepped, the mage tilts his head and awaits the dwarf's response. 

[Gorvynn]

"Pirate?" Gorvynn replies, a bit confused. "Er, no, of course not. Seasickness and all that, it isn't for me."

This is a turn of events he did not expect, and one that looks perfectly advantageous. They aren't from Vedenbok, and they aren't locals either. He eases his hand away from his sword-hilt, casually, as if he hadn't been ready to draw.

"You wouldn't have noticed a very peculiar city in the middle of this place, would you? I thought I might have a look, and if you're going to same way, we might as well have a look together."