*GRUMPH* comes a guttural noise from somewhere in the nearby underbrush.

Envoy pushes through the brush, oblivious to scrapes and scratches. "I heard something over here… "

*GRUMPH!* comes the sound again, this time more emphatic, followed by the sound of scuffling in the dirt. *GRUMPH-SNORT*

Zoltan attempts to catch up with Envoy. He's a bit slower since he ISN'T oblivious to scrapes and scratches.

Zoltan squawks, "Hrr… careful. Not want to become bug dinner."

*crunchcrunchCRASH* Something starts ripping through the bushes, running right past Envoy, sending bits of dirt and leaves flying.

Envoy blinks, and spins around. "It went that way!" she points!

There is a flash of reddish leather hide and a brighter flash of off-white as the "it" breaks out of the bushes and then right into another cluster of dense foliage on the other side of a very small clearing.

Zoltan glances after the flying bits of shrubbery, then turns to look at the spot it came from.

*GRUMPH!* comes the sound again, accompanied by more scraping and rustling. *SNORTSNOCK*

Envoy follows along after the critter, using the path it conveniently broke through the underbrush.

*REE REEE!* squeals the beast, as it comes charging out of its hiding place, beady eyes gleaming, huge tusks bearing toward Envoy! It looks like an oversized, thick-footed boar, with even more oversized tusks.

The Vartan looks back around and sees Envoy already heading off. He chases after her.

Envoy kneels down to get a better look at the charging animal. "It looks like a gig, sort of… "

*thumpathumpathumpa* the big boar runs at full tilt toward Envoy.

Zoltan acks and grabs Envoy around the waist, trying to haul her out of the way!

The hippogryph looks madly for a place to climb.

*REEE!* the boar squeals as, just inches away from its tusks, Envoy is yanked out of the way. The creature barrels right on through, smashing into another thicket and plowing its way along.

Envoy turns her head to Zoltan, "Do you think it saw me? What do you suppose it is?"

There is no lack for places to climb. Trees, vines and the like are in abundance in the jungle. It's just that one must be careful, for some types of foliage are not to be safely touched … and even with instruction, it's so hard to tell which type is which.

Several Creen scatter as more foliage is torn asunder by the great hog's passage. It circuits around, coming back to bear on the hippogryph and alien.

Zoltan squawks, "Is saw you alrights. Almost was last thing you ever see. Think it was Forest Hog, is maybe our dinner if it no kill us first."

*GROWMPH!* the boar grunts, as it brings its huge tusks to bear once more. *thumpathumpathumpa*

Zoltan quickly loads a rock into his sling and tries to launch a stone at the beast's head.

Envoy says, "Dinner? I don't have a bow… "

Envoy runs off a few paces from Zoltan, and makes grunt-grunt noises.

*BONK!* The stone bounces off the hog's thick skull. It charges on, un- fazed.

Zoltan aieees and dodges sideways again.

Envoy goes *REE REEE!* at the hog.

*thumpathumpathu – * *CRASH!*

The hog's nose abruptly digs into the dirt. Its hind legs kick up in the air.

Envoy blinks.

Envoy says, "Did your stone confuse it?"

Zoltan thinks, . o O ( Maybe the rock had a delayed reaction… or maybe I hit it with one of those rock/bug things by mistake. )

Zoltan carefully backs away from the hog.

The hog's eyes snap open. *GRUMPH!*

Envoy eyes the hog. "Maybe it stepped into a hole."

With more snorting and grunting, the hog begins to pull itself back … but it can't. The boar begins to shriek. *REEE REEEE!*

Some of the vines nearby begin to rustle and move.

Envoy approaches the hog from behind. "I think it's stuck… "

A vine slowly rises from the jungle floor, gently slipping around Envoy's ankle.

Envoy pauses, and looks down at the affectionate vine.

*REEE REEEE!* The boar is pulled forward and down, its back bending painfully, as there are some muffled grinding noises from underneath.

Zoltan nervously glances at the stick forest hog, and rushes over to Envoy.

Envoy squats down so she can touch the vine with her fingers. "Maybe it's part of a living building… "

Several tiny thorns extrude from the vine … as it suddenly snaps up against Envoy's ankle and whipwhipwhips around her leg!

"Maybe it try and eat you!" Zoltan snaps. He acks as the vine grabs her and tries to cut it loose with his talons.

More vines rise from the floor, quickly encircling the hog, which is starting to vanish into the thick layer of vegetation on the ground here. *REE REE REEE – CRACK*

Envoy pulls back, "OW! It's sharp."

The vine cuts free, oozing green. The part touching Envoy's leg still clings stubbornly, but the remainder snaps back like a broken rubber band, leaving a trail of ooze as it recoils into the ground.

The earth beneath Envoy and Zoltan – if, indeed, there IS any earth underneath this vegetation – begins to tremble.

Envoy frowns, "Maybe we should leave. I'll take the vine off later… "

Zoltan grabs Envoy by the wrist and hauls her backwards.

Some of the "ground" underneath begins to shift, as more vines sprout out.

Zoltan squawks, "Hope thorns not poisonous. ACK!"

Envoy drags her vine-wrapped leg, and tries to keep up with Zoltan using her good one.

The boar soon disappears entirely, and the animated vines are soon left behind. Thankfully, none of the other foliage in this vicinity seems to be quite so inclined to move.

The Vartan notices Envoy's limp. He kneels down in front of her with his back turned towards her. "If it hurt to walk… maybe ride on Zoltan's back? You not look too heavy."

However, now that the sounds of the vines have faded, there's another sound in the air – a louder buzzing drone of insects. Getting louder. And closer.

Envoy wraps her arms around Zoltan's shoulders. "I hear something else… "

The birds and Creen have stopped trilling. Several spook and flutter away.

Zoltan jerks back up to his feet. "More bugs?"

Envoy says, "Sounds like bees… "

A big, fat black fly buzzes up, and circles around Zoltan and Envoy. It zips down to Envoy's vine-wrapped leg.

Zoltan glances upwards at the canopy… too thick to fly out directly.

Envoy turns her head to look down at the fly. "It's a fly," she tells Zoltan.

Zoltan squawks, "Ack! Is blood fly! Where one is… lots follow!"

Several flies are swarming over the area that Zoltan and Envoy have fled – over the bushes that they were plowing through earlier.

Envoy blinks three times, and asks, "Why are they following us?"

Slowly, the black cloud of flies buzzes around … and starts moving toward Zoltan and Envoy.

Zoltan starts tearing off as fast as the thick foliage will allow. "They wants… *pff* drink all you blood!"

Envoy blinks. "I think I need my blood." She uses one hand to try and pull the clinging vine from her leg, holding onto Zoltan with the other.

The black cloud buzzes along … What with the meandering, they do not gain any ground on the Vartan, but one can be sure that if he halts, they will not take long to close the gap.

Zoltan squawks, "We need find something to block bloodsmell. You know if water anywhere near heres?"

The vine tears and gouges as it is pulled free, bits of glistening green dripping off the exposed thorns. The lone black fly immediately zips in, causing a sharp pain (provided that Envoy can feel such things) where it lands on the wounds, before they can heal.

The Vartan's path is taking him far into the jungle, off course of his original planned scouting route. This is uncharted territory.

Envoy winces, and tosses the vine away. "Water is all around us, in the plants." Her wounds do close rather quickly.

The black fly remains on Envoy's leg, greedily gorging itself, biting to reopen the wound and to dig in deeper.

Zoltan growls as he realizes that he's becoming lost. "We need find RIVER!" he screeches angrily. "Or thing that covers smell."

Envoy keeps one eye on the fly, to see what happens to it. She's rather disappointed that her 'blood' just sits where it is smeared, instead of crawling back into a clump.

Envoy says, "I think my blood has gone stupid." She tries to brush away the fly with a wingtip.

*SPLAT* The fly proves to be fragile.

Envoy shakes her wingtip, trying to get rid of the fly goop now.

Through the trees, the Vartan can see more light – a clearing? A genuine clearing wide enough to provide a gap in the canopy…

Zoltan glances back at Envoy… refraining from comment. His eyes start scanning around, looking for a river or some familiar plant or… ah! A clearing!

Water! Rushing water! It's a river and – The ground abruptly drops out from underneath the Vartan as he steps through the next tangle of underbrush.

"You alri-" The Vartan begins to ask Envoy. His voice diminishes into a mass of angry screeches in his own language as he tumbles down.

Envoy tries to push away from Zoltan and open her own wings.

The abrupt drop is a steep bank, where the earth has been eroded by the rushing river, though thick roots and tangles have kept the "walls" of dirt in place.

Zoltan *SPLOOSHES* into the water. His angry squawks become gurgling noises.

The raging waters quickly bear the hippogryph downstream, whipping past the trees and vines.

Envoy *SPLOOSHES* immediately after Zoltan, but a little further out from the Vartan.

The twosome are borne at what seems like a quickening pace downstream, past several boulders that turn the water white, occasionally dropping over short jumps and bobbing up again.

Envoy calls out, "I found some water!" as she bobs along in the current.

Ahead, there's a rumbling noise.

The sky visible above the canopy is darkened, as if a storm is building and moving in quickly.

Zoltan tries to paddle towards Envoy, sprays of water blind him as he flounders.

Envoy calls again, "Zoltan? Can you hear me?" She can't see the hippogryph as the river spins her around and up and down…

A broken log circles slowly as it is tossed along, then does a flip as it drops over another one of those "jumps". While Envoy and Zoltan are caught in a momentary circulating current, the log passes them up.

The Vartan chokes on a mouthfull of water as he tries to respond.

Ahead is a large flat block of stone that juts up out of the water at a sloping angle, like a ramp. The edges where it touches the water are greatly eroded, though the exposed edge is fairly smooth.

"Try to grab onto rock! *gurgle*" Zoltan squawks to Envoy.

The log strikes the stone, and for a moment slides sideways, rolling up the ramp, just to the top of the water, the force of water passing both sides of the rock holding it in place.

Envoy looks around and spies the sloped surface, so she starts to move towards it by paddling with her wings.

Envoy, further ahead in the current now, approaches the stone, and starts to get swept to one side, but she intercepts the edge of the log dangling outward, blocking her motion for a moment and almost knocking the breath out of her.

Zoltan swims towards the rock, his pace quickens as he finally catches sight of Envoy. He also makes a grab for the stone.

The hippogryph careens into the stone and log. The log moves, beginning to flip as the weight is too much on one side of this "lever".

Envoy pauses to recover, then find herself clinging to the log with both arms.

Zoltan growls. His wings are too soaked to fly with. He clutches at the log, trying with all his might to keep it from flipping its passengers underwater.

As the hippogryph maneuvers his body weight to counter that of Envoy's, he manages to maintain a delicate balancing act, as the log wobbles against the current and the stone.

There's a soft *crack* from somewhere toward the middle of the log…

Zoltan squawks, "Can you fly, Envoy? Quick!"

Envoy tries to raise her wings, but the feathers are soaked. "My wings are too heavy… "

Zoltan stretches out his hand, "Grab on!"

Envoy reaches for Zoltan's hand…

Zoltan snags Envoy's wrist and tries to pull the both of them off of the log before it snaps.

*CRACK!* The log protests even more, but the hippogryph's plan is successful. Within a few tense moments, they manage to climb to the relative safety of the jutting ledge of rock. Shortly thereafter, the waterlogged wood fragments in the middle, and both halves sweep around on opposite sides of the stone…

… and tumble over the edge of a steep waterfall, disappearing into the mists below.

Envoy pulls her knees up to her chest, and wraps her arms around them. She shivers.

Zoltan's ears droop and his eyes do wide as he watches the log plummet.

The jutting ledge offers a marvelous view of the canyon beyond the waterfall … and vine-tangled, vegetation-covered ruins that lie within its rocky walls.

Zoltan nudges Envoy. "Here… watch how I gets water off."

Flashes of lightning dance across the sky, and dark clouds swirl above the canyon … but there is no sound of thunder. Even with the dark clouds, somehow the sun is still reaching the river and the rock on which the hippogryph and alien rest.

Envoy turns to watch Zoltan.

With a sudden *shakeshakeshakeshake!*, the Vartan sends water flying in all directions. When he finishes, every hair and feather is sticking on end. He smiles at Envoy with a goofy-pleased expression on his face.

Zoltan squawks, "Now you try! Not shake too hard tho… you fall off rock."

Envoy nods, and shakes out her wings first, then the rest of her.

( Hopefully it'll help warm her up as well. ) O o . The Vartan thinks to himself.

Envoy looks out over the ancient city, but shows none of her customary excitement.

Zoltan glances at the ruins and then back to Envoy. "You alrights? Would think you be happy to find this place."

Envoy frowns. "My blood is stupid now. Do you think there are really living buildings down there?"

Zoltan holds his wings out a bit to let the rest of the water dry off a bit faster.

Zoltan shrugs. "Never see living building before. Not believe it until I see. Just as long as there lots of shinies at end of trip like poodle promised."

Envoy turns to look at Zoltan again, "Shinies?"

Zoltan squawks, "Yark! Shinies is pretty things that catch light. Sometimes glass, sometimes metal, sometimes chitin. If Zoltan REALLY lucky, he gets gems, those nicenice shinies!"

Envoy says, "Oh, not like the bug you chased?" She seems to be cheering up again.

Zoltan frowns, "Bug was fake shiny. Thought it was pretty rock." He glances around nervously for a moment as if someone important might be watching. "Want to see Zoltan's favorite shiny?"

There's a trilling sound, and something rainbow-colored flits downward from the trees toward the rocky ledge.

Envoy smiles and trills back to the Creen.

A Creen flutters down and alights on Envoy's shoulder, happily trilling again.

Envoy smiles to the flying lizard, "You don't care if my blood is stupid, do you little flyer?"

Zoltan squawks, "Hrr… how you mean, 'You blood is stupid'?"

The lizard flapflaps its rainbow-feathered wings, then shuffles a bit on Envoy's shoulder, bobbing its head up and down.

Envoy turns to Zoltan again, "When the lizards tried to eat me during my transformation, the bits they ate ate them instead. My blood didn't eat the fly or vine though. It's just blood now."

Envoy turns back to the Creen on her shoulder, "Can you show us the way back to the village?"

Zoltan nods to Envoy… although what she just said made absolutely no sense to him. He was always taught to just nod when you don't understand something.

The Creen just trills happily to Envoy.

Envoy tries making the same trilling patterns the first Creen she met used.

Zoltan glances upwards, "Village not be hard to spot from air. Vartan eyes see anything."

The Creen's head bobs side to side. It trills almost in a questioning tone.

Envoy says, "The airships you mean?"

Zoltan squawks, "Airships… or smoke from camp. Easy to spot from air."

Zoltan shakes his wings gently. Almost dry!

Several more flashes of silent lightning dance across the sky over the canyon.

Envoy says, "That storm just sits there. Is that normal?"

The Vartan glances nervously at the peculiar weather.

Zoltan squawks, "Never see anything like before. Hrr… "

Envoy says, "We probably shouldn't try to fly into the city then."

Envoy says, "Should we go back now, or do you want to continue to hunt for dinner?"

The Creen starts preening Envoy's head-hair.

"Hrr. I not likes jungle." Zoltan grumbles. "Only tasty looking thing had thick skull. Would rather go back to village and eat harmless fruit you teacher found."

Envoy smiles to her little friend. "At least these colorful ones don't try to eat us."

( Yet. ) O o . The Vartan adds to himself.

Zoltan squawks, "You remember way back to here from village? Maybe help lead others."

Envoy says, "I will remember the path we take."

There's a loud howl-roar from the jungle, deep within the trees. Several frightened birds and Creens shoot out. A couple birds veer upward as soon as they get over the river, while the others keep low.

*ZOT* *ZOT*

Zoltan blinks! He looks at where the birds… were?

A well-cooked bird lands on the rock between Envoy and Zoltan. The other lands in the water with a *plunk* and soon disappears over the falls.

The Creen's neck cranes down toward the bird. *cree?*

Envoy looks at the bird. "Well, you don't have to have fruit now."

Zoltan's feathers stick out on end! "Gah! Was killed by magic!" He quickly swats the bird into the water.

Envoy pets the Creen. "The Creen didn't get cooked."

The Creen closes its eyes and trills quietly, almost sounding like a purr, as it leans into the petting.

Zoltan hmmms. "It not fly above treetops. Birds that did got zapped."

Envoy says, "How far back do you think the effect extends?"

Zoltan looks out over the trees. It's hard to tell how high they go when you're looking at them from below. He scans around for any sign of movement above the trees.

From here, there's no sign of anything fluttering above the trees. However, while the sky is darkened above the river here, in the distance sunlight can be seen.

Zoltan glances nervously at the sky and begins the flight back to the village.

Envoy spreads her wings. "We'll have to keep below the treetops until we're clear of the overcast at least."

Envoy follows.

The little Creen trills and shoots off after Envoy, *cree cree cree* all the way.