h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

*Jumps up decisively.*

Okay, we can probably start forging a trail. Red and Odra should be able to follow it and since there is two of them, they should be OK.

*Walks over to spot at edge of clearing that looked slightly less dense. Pushes nose on the wolf head knob on his cane. A long bayonette blade flips out of the end of the cane. Starts hacking at the undergrowth.*

I'll hack for a while then someone else can take over.

*Grins, and decides not to mention the light saber he brought*

*something stirs in the underbrush*

*the Something begins to curse audibly*

Odra! When did you make it? Good to see you!
Now Red just has to find us on his own.
*Hikes along drinking a cup of coffee, content to follow GL's hacking, and deciding not to offer the services of his pocket knife for the job, and trying to ignore the cursing*

~Walks up from a ways in front of the group~

There you are. I got in through the portal while no one was looking and wandered off on my own. There's a river down that way and it's absolutely magnificent.


In this thread, Red is not necissarily evil, nor should he be blamed for any problems the group encounters without neccisarry evidence. While it would be out of character for him to be actually "Good", adventuring is one of his hobbys, and as long as you don't expect heroics or anything of the sort, bravery and ingenuity are two of his strong points.

*bares his teeth and begins to stalk the underbrush*
Smells like that human with the piercings.

Hi, Red! Glad you made it. Should have figured you'd have jumped ahead. Now if that really is Odra in the underbrush, we've got the whole group.

Styx, leave her alone. She's just trying to catch up with us.

"Trying" is a very appropriate way of putting it, Redbeard...
*staggers out from underscrub, trying to unsnag the various bits of fern and bracken she has been trailing from her wanderings. Removes a small tree branch from one of her cartilage piercings*

So where are we?

*a small beetle falls out of her hair and onto her shoulder; she brushes it aside and exhaustedly throws down her pack, trying not to be very obvious about nearly dropping it on Styx. Pulls out her ottoman and sits down, tightening the laces on her combat boots*

*muffled disembodied voice drifts out of Odra's pack*

haalllooooo. Don't know if this is async or full-dup but, here goes anyway.
Couldn't figure out how to get open and keep open escape portal @Aroma Cafe. But, was talking w/ Larry and he(?) said he(?) would try to do something. Don't know if it will always work nor where you might end up but, out of the pan and into the fire I always say.

Good luck, anyway. Odra, keep good track of your pack.

With you in spirit. *snicker*

*sticks head inside pack*

jr? That you?

Waaugh!
*removes head from pack. lt is stuck in a large glass fishbowl*

So that's where this thingummy got to.
*removes fishbowl and tucks it carefully back into knapsack, deciding to release the fish into the nearby stream -- when we get there*

What will we do when we get to the river? *Ferrari continues to sample undergrowth* And why did we decide to cut a path through the thickest stuff?

And what is that rhythmic thumping noise?

*muffled*
sawright? sawright.

*Odra, who can read lips, watches the face of Lil*

Rhythmic thumping noise?

*looks slightly sheepish, turns down volume of her headphones*
Sorry...is that any better? Was that it?

You'll get a Darwin Award if you wander through the jungle with headphones on...

That she may, but if you listen, Odra's headphones weren't the only rhythmic tumping going on. I thought I spied an encampment of natives on the other side of the river. They seem to worship some sort of man/ wolf creatrure...

You're amazingly observant, Red. In that case, it's fortunate that we've got GL on our side. Not that it wouldn't be fortunate otherwise...

Who knows? At some time we might need to... Hey Mr. Lupus! Ever fancied pretending to be a god?

You know, I agree with you, Lil. The only reason the growth is so thick here is that the canopy is broken from some trees falling down and the sun has gotten through to encourage ground growth. Just about anywhere else you can walk between the trees without much hindrance. But as long as GL is enjoying himself...

I suppose there's a method in GL's madness. We can't exactly be ambushed in the middle of a thicket, can we?

I knew I heard a rhythmic thumping noise.

*Watches GL; begins to look bored, bends and rummages in pack*
Ooop. 'Scuze me, jr...
*rummages further, withdrawing a very large, folded over piece of plastic, looking something like an enormous deflated pool raft,but with lengths of mesh-like webbing attached to it*

Ah. Here we are.
Saw one of these on a National Geographic special, once. They're quite neat, and it should serve our purpose well...
*withdraws a pair of climbing spikes, like the ones telephone-pole-repairpeople use. Straps them on her feet and begins to shinny up the tree, dragging the large deflated raft*

*reaches the crown of the tree; hoists raft above her head, resting it on the topmost branch. Flips a switch at the side of the raft, and the whole of it inflates: a triangular shape, the sides made up of two-foot-in-diameter inflated rubber tubes, and the base of the raft out of the mesh material. A dirgible connected by ropes hovers above the raft, with a propeller at its back. The ship is able to drift over the canopy, hovering just above the trees. Gear can be stowed in the centre of the raft, and entities can sit or stand at the edges. A clear view of the entire forest canopy is afforded*

Ta-da!

*Claps his hands, and looks back at GL*

You know, Garius, that might be too thick. We've moved about five feet since you started that. Those vines . . . those are vines, aren't they?

*Pulls out the bio-scanner*

Well, they're a *kind* of vine, I suppose. But I wouldn't recommend trying to cut through them. How about . . . that way?

*Points at a similar looking area that has fewer vines*