LARP: 15

With Fook taking the lead, we began to make our way into the jungle. I gulped a little as I could feel a bit of sweat along my brow--and even worse, a few droplets sliding down between my breasts! I really wanted to rub them down, but thought that would look really weird with everyone else around. It didn't help that in my heels I felt like I was constantly the slowest one going. But there was no way I was taking them off--they may have heels, but they were still boots, and this was a jungle! We hadn't seen any snakes yet, but I wasn't looking forward to stepping on an unfamiliar critter.

As it was, it didn't take long before we noticed a sign of civilization--a small rowboat that had drifted to the edge of a river.

"Looks like it's from the mining expedition," Kalim said at once. "Fook and Eimi, keep a lookout, Moon, check it out."

I looked at Kalim in a bit of surprise--it felt like she had just naturally fallen into a leadership role. Fook glanced at her for a moment, then shrugged and walked down near the boat, looking around the shoreline for anything or anyone watching.

Moon crossed his arms for a moment, then shrugged and went down to the ship as well. He paused a moment, picking something up, then returned.

"It's a note to Ashe," he said.

Ashe I thought to myself.

Then, suddenly, his face flashed in my memory.

He was a shadow-touched man, although he mostly looked like a human--a rich aristocratic banker type. I could roughly remember seeing him at the party last week when we all agreed to do this mission.

Objectively, I knew that this was backstory that Zoe had to be 'describing' to us about the setup, and yet what was jarring was that I felt like I now could remember this conversation with this man named Ashe. Moreover, I could remember the reward of gold he'd promised for reclaiming the mine.

As I looked around, I could see that momentary flash of memory drifting over Fook's face as well.

"That was crazy!" Fook said. "Did you just remember getting hired by Ashe?"

"Good 'ole Ashe, always good for a payday, am I right?" Kalim asked. "Now come on, read the note," she said.

Moon shrugged and read the note:

Ashe,

As you no doubt can tell from this lucrative amount of iron, the mine is going strong. Since we're on the subject of success, I'd like to talk about the bonus system. I think that I did a fine job here--it would be a pain for you to hire a replacement in the weeks to come. How about an extra thousand gold?

--Re-Rian

"Re-Rian was the name of the expedition leader," Kalim said, pausing. "He mentioned that when I was talking with him." Suddenly, I could remember talking to Ashe and hearing him mention the slightly greedy expedition leader Re-Rian.

"Sounds like things were going well," Moon said, looking over the note. He glanced back at the ship. "It wasn't loaded down with iron, and I don't see footprints anywhere around here. The letter was in a little mail bag at the head of the ship. Maybe this guy, Re-Rian was in the process of loading up the ship when things went south?"

"I agree," Kalim said. "I don't see any signs that the little dinghy was deliberately docked here; I think it was cut loose and just drifted down stream." She paused. "This doesn't sound like a letter that Re-Rian would just idly forget about."

"The letter bag had some rainwater soaked on top of it," Kalim said. "It's definitely been just sitting here for at least a week."

"Sounds like we got some heads to crack!" Fook said, slamming a fist into his open palm.

"Agreed," Kalim said. "Oh, supposing we're under an hour to the mine, I should try to cast my spell."

She reached into her belt pocket, and held up a blue slip of paper. Waving it in a circle in front of her face, a small blue circle appeared in the air where the paper followed. As she finished, I could feel a sudden little gush of cool air flowing around her.

"Cool!" I said, smiling at her. "Kalim, you just cast magic!"

She nodded. "Just a minor protection spell. Hopefully not a waste this early, but I suspect it will be needed soon enough."

With that, knowing this little dinghy was on the same river as the mine, we began to head further into the jungle. It wasn't long until we found a grisly sight.

The skeleton was completely stripped; it looked ancient, although from the context, I had to imagine it was more recent than it seemed.

"Probably the little jungle ants," Fook said.

I looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"They eat skin real fast!" he said, nodding confidently.

Well... he could be right.

"Think that was Re-Rian?" I asked.

"No way to tell in that state," Moon said. "Looks like whoever it was, they propped it up here as some kind of warning."

"Good," Kalim said. "That means we're going the right way." Then she raised a finger to her lips, and waved us forward.

We began to move more quietly through the woods as, soon enough, saw a small settlement of wooden structures along the river.

There were more skeletal corpses along the base of the buildings, but scurrying along the top of one rooftop, we saw a small green-scaled lizard-like creature.

No sooner did we spot it, though, than clearly it spotted us! With a hiss, it jumped up in the air, and then began to scurry away.

 "LET'S CRACK SOME SKULLS!" Fook called, and began to charge in.

Shaking his head, Moon slid behind a tree. Then, to my surprise, I saw him slide a pistol out from a pouch he'd been keeping at his side.

"There's guns in this setting?" I asked.

For just a moment, he pointed it toward me, as though to demonstrate the point--then, realizing what he was doing, he quickly turned it away, a sharp pang of red embarrassment washing over his face. As I realized what he'd just done, I felt a sudden surge of adrenaline. We needed to stop acting like we were in a game--he'd just pointed a gun straight at me by accident!

"Moon, give Fook cover!" Kalim cried. "Eimi--do your thing!"

Kalim was following Fook in. And after all that--in the middle of a fight--I was supposed to play a song?!