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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pacdidj" data-source="post: 5173672" data-attributes="member: 86793">The next morning you awake to find Botj already awake and offering you a small repast of unleavened bread made from some type of slightly sweet yet bitter flour. After you are breakfasted and ready, you descend from the tree canopy to find Matjala already waiting for you below with several spears strapped to his back. "If you ready we go now," says the Djaapana law man.As Matjala begins to turn away and start leading you southward along the rivier, Verloc pipes up, "You know, maybe it's better if we, uh... split up. Yeah that's it. I'll stay here and, um, ask around to see if anybody knows about these 'charunga' or whatever they're called," says the rogue, badly butchering the native tongue.Garry eyes him suspiciously, "Not thinking of deserting already are ya? Just cause of a few bugs and some hot weather? Well, if he's staying here I'd better stay behind also just to keep him honest. We'll see what leads we can turn up by asking around these parts."Botj's brow furrows slightly, and he says with a sigh, "Alright I look after these two. You mob go with Matjala. Go have a look at that mulka where they keeping the lost tjurunga."And with that the four of you set out following closely behind Matjala. The early morning passes pleasantly enough as you head back toward the shore where Berekis dropped you off, a light breeze whispering through the trees. But, as you pass the branch in the river closer to midday a thick, damp heat sets in and biting flies begin to harass you. Still, the trek down to the shore passes uneventfully enough save for one moment when Matjala signals you to freeze, then points out a snake you hadn't seen moving silently across the riverbank only a few feet in front of you. "Careful, eh? Them poison."When you reach the shore Matjala leads you around the rocky outcropping that shelters the bay in which you initially landed. Rounding the corner, you can clearly see a good-sized barrier island less than a quarter mile distant across the water. Matjala briefly scouts around, locating a pile of brush near the mangroves which he pushes aside to reveal a large dugout canoe. You all pitch in to launch the small water craft, and with several hands at the oars you swiftly cover the narrow span of calm seawater.The Djaapana HomelandYou reach the barrier island about an hour after midday. After pulling the canoe up onto the beach and overturning it, Matjala leads you through a camp somewhat similar to the one you spent the night in on the Rripangu homeland, though rather than tree platforms, these people cluster around partially underground grass huts which must serve as their shelters. Like the tribespeople you saw further to the north, the Djaapana people also watch your party pass through their camp with impassive, uncurious faces. A couple of them wave, or call out a friendly-sounding greeting to Matjala, but most simply stare as he passes. "My people angry with me," he says by way of explanation, "Let them down by losing tjurjunga."You pass through the clan's camp to the other side of the barrier island, where the shore faces outward from Kythira toward the great expanse of the open see, and there you are met with an imposing site: the largest piece of driftwood you have ever seen.<img src="http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc199/treethump/driftwood.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />It's broken roots tower over your heads, reaching skyward to about five times your height, while the trunk of this broken giant is at least two armspans in diameter, and reaches all the way from the water's edge well back into the mangrove canopy.[sblock=Nature 15]You are fairly confident that there are no trees that grow this tall native to the Shifting Seas.[/sblock]Matjala moves over to the root ball of the fallen giant motioning you to gather round. He moves his hand over where the taproot would be had it not broken off seemingly long ago. Whispering a few words in his own language, Matjala removes his hand and you see a hollow in the center of the roots that wasn't there a moment ago. "See. Gone. We don't find any tracks. Shaman sees nothing in the dream. Must be magic, or someone sneaky enough to avoid gaze of ancestors."Examining the hollow you find that there is indeed nothing inside the dark, woody cavity.[sblock=Investigation]Let me know what you would like to do, ask, or look at, and what skills or rituals, if any, you'd like to use. Feel free to discuss plans or ask questions in ooc text.[/sblock]</blockquote>

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