Chapter 652 - Reaching The Tournament Grounds
Chapter 652 – Reaching The Tournament Grounds
Up ahead Kat could just barely make out a big arrow sign. It wasn't the distance but the fact it was somewhat obscured by trees that made identifying it hard before now. She could see the words, 'Tournament Teleporter Here' written in frankly horrible hand writing and the sign looked to be falling apart.
"I see the destination up ahead!" said Kat pointing towards the sign.
Nixilei squinted and looked towards the area but couldn't really make out the sign like Kat could. "I'll take your word for it. What's actually there though?"
"It looks like a really run down sign with some writing on it. It looks like it's been around for a while… which is strange because I mean… surely it can't be from an old tournament right?" asked Kat.
Nixilei nodded and said, "Yes, they are quite good with cleaning up after everything is said and done. I really doubt that they would have missed such an obvious sign, not to mention Thyme specifically said our teleporter was down this road. If they managed to somehow miss this arrow with it so relatively close to our destination I'll eat my robes."
With that established, Nixilei banged heavily on the side of the carriage, likely to wake Green up and get the others' attention. If it worked or not… Kat didn't really know. The cabin had to be soundproofed because she realised that she hadn't heard a single thing from them at all, which was somewhat strange now she thought about it. Before she could really dwell on it too long though, the arrow was coming into vision for those with more normal eyesight and Kat needed to make a difficult decision.
Did she just let Lily sleep, or wake her up for the teleportation? Knowing how horrible it felt to use Thyme's teleporters Kat knew it would be better for Lily to sleep through the experience, but waking up BECAUSE of the teleport would be much worse and potentially a freak out waiting to happen. In the end, Kat didn't really make up her mind because Nixilei drove the carriage straight onto the circle and the damned thing activated.
Kat pulled Lily from her lap and into her arms, she could feel the smaller 'girl' twitching and sent a wave of calm through the link as best she could while slowly running her fingers through Lily's fur. Truth be told, it wasn't actually as bad as the first time. Kat wasn't sure if this was because of her increased Rank, or the fact that Thyme had somehow improved their teleportation. Kat watched Lily somewhat anxiously as she pushed down her growing nausea. Lily didn't seem to be enjoying the experience, but it also didn't seem to be enough to wake her, so Kat counted that as a win.
When the teleportation ended Kat looked around sharply at the scenery. It looked like some kind of overgrown ruins. The nearby area specifically looked like a collapsed building of some kind that once had a much higher roof. The walls had collapsed inward and were now using each other as supports. The 'front' and 'rear' 'walls' were completely gone, just rubble piled high with vines growing through everything. The thing was though… if Kat looked closely she saw that it was indeed the case that vines were everywhere, especially in places that needed extra support.
Kat lightly hopped off the carriage with Lily in hand before transferring the Memphis to one hand to help Nixilei down as well. While that was happening the rest of the group exited the carriage. Green cheerily jumped from the door even though based on the state of her hair it was clear she had just been sleeping. Gareth followed behind with a slightly pinched expression, and pointedly didn't look at Kress who exited behind with a scowl.
Before anyone could really get their bearings, a crashing sound echoed out and all heads turned to the shaking rubble. A few more bangs sounded out before the rocks exploded outwards. Kat flared her wings to cover her front while tilting Lily behind her slightly. In the end it was a slight over reaction as only a few loose stones pattered against her wings with barely any force. "Crikey that wasn't quite as planned"
Kat looked over towards the voice to see Thyme looking like an old timey explorer. They had one of those crème coloured hats, a jacket with a bunch of pockets, shorts that went just past the knees and a pickaxe over their shoulder. Oh and no shoes. For some reason… *Why does Thyme have a thick Australian accent though!? Wait. I'm translating everything so EVERYONE has an accent… so why only Thyme getting such an over the top one? Does this actually say more about me then it does about Thyme? No they must be hamming it up.*
"What the heck Thyme?" grouched Kress, with slight fear as he glanced around at the 'caved in' area around them looking for any signs of instability.
"I'm not currently Thyme, I am Ted the intrepid explorer and you five will be needing to make your way to base camp to meet your fellow explorers. This hear ancient ruins aren't going to explore themselves you know!" said 'Ted' with a grin.
Nixilei gained a serious look before saying, "I just wish to confirm, but the Tournament has already started this round and we need to follow you to a campsite?"
'Ted' frowned before splitting off into another Thyme making it very clear that despite naming themselves 'Ted' it was a familiar dryad. This knew Thyme had a suit and a monocle on. "As you have requested confirmation I have formed this more serious form to inform you that the form of this Tournament round is indeed based on a ruin exploration. Further rules may be imposed as you journey forward, but for now your goal is to follow and protect the version of myself dubbed, 'Ted' so that he may lead you to the camp," said Monocle Thyme.
"I see," said Nixilei. As soon as the words left her mouth Monocle Thyme popped out of existence. Nixilei stared at the spot Thyme had disappeared from… "I was going to ask if we're on a time limit or judged based on time at all?"
Nixilei glanced around, and 'Ted' seeing this glanced around as well. "What are you looking for mate?" asked 'Ted'
Nixilei turned her glare towards 'Ted'. "Fine I suppose it's going to be like that. Lead on then," said Nixilei with a sigh.
"That's not nearly enough SPIRIT. Where's your spirit of adventure? No good explorer can go without it!" said 'Ted'.
"Ooo!" said Green dashing forward. "I have it. I have the SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE. Nixilei's a bit of a stick in the mud, and Kress is angry all the time these days but I still have the Spirit! Let's GO FORTH" Green continued on passed 'Ted' down the path he'd just come from. Gareth grumbled a little under his breath and started to jog after her. Kress sighed, seeing how this was going and joined in the train. With 'Ted' following suit.
Kat glanced at Nixilei who was just staring at the whole in the wall now. "I feel… I feel… nothing." Said Nixilei before sighing and joining the line as well. Kat, seeing Nixilei was… 'fine' for a given definition of the word following behind her taking up the rear. She knew she probably should have been in front for safety reasons, but it wasn't like Green was untrained.
The open tunnel was rather rough looking with uneven flooring that required some careful footwork to avoid simply falling over. It really looked like 'Ted' had carved the path out using dynamite or something similar. There didn't seem to be any on 'Ted', but that didn't really mean anything consider that as Kat watched 'his' back she saw that the pickaxe had vanished somewhere. They continued down the path for maybe ten minutes before Kat noticed everyone had stopped in front of her. Kat and Nixilei sped up a bit to catch up and saw a large gorge.
"Curses. The bridge seems to have collapsed after I got through. I wonder what caused that?" said 'Ted' as 'he' 'carefully' kicked a handsaw into the ravine. "Yup, no idea what coulda caused the bridge to collapse like that. We'll need to find some other way across.
Green started eyeing the walls, intently, perhaps debating if she could run across them, either by herself or with passengers. Gareth looked down at the rope and picked up the frayed ends to examine the cut. Kress looked pointedly at 'Ted' as if trying to decide if knocking the dryad out would be an acceptable way to deal with the problem. Nixilei looked thoughtful. Kat looked at them all like they were idiots.
"You guys do know I can fly right?" asked Kat.. Everyone paused and slowly turned towards Kat slowly focusing on her wings.