The Runaway Cart
Log Info
- Title: The Runaway Cart
- Emitter: Everyone
- Place: Mountain Road
- Summary: Three birds try and stop a cart barreling down the Mountain Road.
Mountain Road, Morning.
Morning casts a massive shade from the mountains to the east, keeping the Mountain Road cool from the slowly building grey mugginess that the summer brings. During this time, many goods are carted from the noble estates above to the rabble below.
One cart, filled to the brim with various leafy vegetables, is just about reaching the top of the road and turning a bend, just as an Egalrin woman in many ribbons has climbed up upon a high fence that keeps people from toppling off the cliff side. Slixvah looks over at the cart, quirking her head to the side.
And a few birds nearby suddenly squawk and flee. Horses spooked, they kick and buck, knocking the cart off the hitch as it starts to slowly. Slowly. Roll down the hill.
Slixvah blinks. "... oh dear."
... and a dark feathered head peeks out from a nearby bush. Mouth open, the figure either looks in on with bit of panic - or in some egalrin's case, perhaps anticipating great amusement - but the culprit for the scare most likely was in the bush.
Straightening up, the dark hooded figure starts hopping on after the cart, with an odd looking double hop slash running step slash disjointed double hop. Black tail bops up and down.
Reithak was just taking a morning stroll through the mountainside for no reason save for the nice day, which was excuse enough to get some fresh air and exercise.
Unfortunately, the large egalrin was at risk of getting more of a workout than they bargained for as a cart began rolling down in their general direction. Reithak leaped to one side, stopping to watch it for a moment before blinking and taking off after it.
"HEADS UP DOWN BELOW! THERE'S A LOOSE CART COMING DOWN THE ROAD!" They shout in warning, turning a moment to catch Crik chasing after it as well.
Slixvah scrabbles to her feet and hops off the fence, half gliding before her taloned feet hit the ground running. And soon enough, she's running with the flock. "EY YO WATCH OUT!" she calls out with Reithak. "Crik! Reirei! Hi! Fancy meeting you here!"
The cart starts to pick up speed. Barreling over bags and supplies that were thrown aside from Reithak's warning. The way the road winds slowly down, this cart has a long, long way to go before it stops.
Slixvah groans. "Frickin'... city wards!" she complains, the feathers on her wings starting to elongate and unfurl in long strands. "Yo, I think if we try, we can all glide onto the cart!" she suggests, giving a little hop as she sails in the air briefly to show that they could probably glide above it and dive down.
There's a sudden loud caw as the other two egalrin appear. It was almost enough to make the corvid disappear.
"... snap off the rear axle!" He suggests, as he himself starts to unfurl his wings. It was tricky. With a sudden whoomf, his layers of cloak snap open with his wings, revealing all the junk strapped onto him.
Meanwhile, as Crik attempts to learn how to properly glide on the fly, the cart veers off towards the side as its contents start to go off balance. More yelling from the crowd as people try to warn those down below.
GAME: Reithak rolls athletics: (10)+3: 13
"Always happy to see ya Slix, you too, Crik! Gonna shut up for now though!" The large egalrin greets back as she turns her attention to the more important matter of dealing with the runaway cart. Reithak has to stop and jump onto the fence near the road as she takes a running start, and another leap off the railing to dive down to the cart.
Unfortunately, it was one of the many situations where being much larger and not having nearly as well developed of a wingspan led to the inquisitor barely managing to grab the back of the cart, while dangling off the back with their claws dragging on the ground behind them. "Need to lay off the pastries a bit." Reithak grumbles to herself while attempting to drag herself up.
"Snap off the rear axle?! With /what/?" Slixvah yells back, shaking her head. There's a happy grin to Reithak, but she didn't have the time to retort anything in her usual manner.
Watching Reithak get up to a glide has her unfurling her large wings, the downward slope making it easy to get enough air to lift her.
She dives at an angle towards the cart, but as it dives off to the side, several of the cart's contents smash into the ground and spray cabbage everywhere!
Which means it gets all in Slix's wings as she all but haphazardly crashes onto the top of the cart. "Buh...!" she groans, sitting up in the cabbage patch of goods. Slix perks and reaches out of the cart with both hands and seemingly alive feathers towards Crik and Reithak. "C'mon into the ride!" she cackles.
GAME: Crik rolls fly: (8)+8: 16
Crik holds up his beak open - then makes a belt of small orbs disappear from around his torso. "Obviously bombs!" He replies to Slixvah as the cart starts to veer off on track, as if guided by invisible rider called Gravity.
His wings furl up further as he tries to get some momentum - but very much like Reithak, he barely manages to hang onto the cart when his glide finishes. Feet quickly run along with the rapidly accelerating cart. "Cloak, cloak!" He croaks, "Don't get it stuck on anything!"
Reithak grabs onto some of the feathers to help herself up, with the magically enhanced strength making it possible for the large egalrin to flop into the cart. There's no time to rest however, as she scrambles to her feet, grabs the corvid by one arm and bodily hoists Crik above her head, tossing him on to some of the softer looking sacks. "What, you're planning on blowing this thing up? I appreciate the suggestion, but lets keep that as a plan b, alright?"
"Bombs?!" Slixvah incredulously sputters. "Yo there's people still here can't /bomb/ it!" There's a beat of a grunt as she reaches down with hands and feathers, the latter having a surprising amount of strength in them as they lift Reithak into the cart with them. She about to assist with getting Crik in, but Reithak seems like she's got that handled.
And now they're all in a runaway cart hurtling down a cliff side road. "Uhh, We may have to go to plan b?" she nervously chuckles, pointing ahead. The road, while straight, has a slight rise and drop to it. Nothing really at walking speed. A metaphorical ramp though at this pace. "Unless ya'll got a better idea??"
Crik lets out another loud sound as he is hoisted up and tossed like that. Quickly he gets back on his feet, shaking his head and giving his tail feathers a firm shake - as he suddenly looks like any other sack at a quick glance.
"_Tiny_ bombs. Wrap the belt around the axle, prime it -" Black hands make a gesture of explosion. "No wheels, no momentum."
Unless the cart, that was aggressively now bouncing off its contents with the uneven road, just decides to fly off.
A small cart slowly comes into view, its rider obviously not having heard the warnings as they get into the way of the larger card.
Reithak peers down the road, squints, and the large egalrin lets out a noise of alarm. "HEY! GET OUT OF THE WAY ON THE ROAD!THERE'S A RUNAWAY CART!" They shout again, before peering down the side of the vehicle. "Alright, plan b is upgraded to a. Can you reach it Crik, or do you need us to hold you down to get them? I don't know enough about bombs to do it myself, I don't think." She asks of the corvid.
Slixvah looks incredibly alarmed at the rider being unawares. "Yes yes yes it's plan a now, do it!" she rapidly says. "Blow it up, I'll heal boo boos, just-- I'll try and keep th' cart on th' road!"
She crawls to the front of the cart, her bouncing against the floor as the cart suddenly hits that mild ramp as they get some air briefly before slamming onto the ground. "Ow!" Standing up, she grabs at something in the air and points at the rider. "Be swift!" she incants before letting go and flexing her wings. Followed by another, louder, incantation. "Etl em rosa!"
Her wings tremble before suddenly growing an extra yard in each direction, a chaff of feathers getting loose in a cloud before she grips the front of the cart with her prehensile feathers and digs in, using her wings to steer against the wind.
GAME: Slixvah casts Strong Wings. Caster Level: 7 DC: 16
The cart careens, careens - and then starts to slowly be in control of Slix' powerful wings, to some extent. The rider finally raises his eyes, but he quickly falls off his seat when his horse panics and drags him along. The small cart is then unceremoniously knocked aside by the larger one.
Crik peers over the edge of the card, oblivious to his surroundings. Then he looks towards Reithak. Looks back over the edge. Then looks over towards Slixvah. Finally, he looks towards Reithak. "No. It's a fast moving cart." Beak opening. "She is tall." He holds out the strap of bombs at her. "I can set the fuse on timer."
"Sorry, I'll be back to check on you later! Also, not our cart, just trying to stop it." Reithak calls back apologetically. she turns to Crik, sighs, and tilts her head. "Alright, I'll figure out a way to do it." They agree, leaning over the back of the cart. "How are you planning on setting the fuse, anyways?"
Slix's large wings strain as she now has some iota of control over the cart, but they're still barely able to keep a straightaway, and every uneven part of the road is making them bounce and skip down the ever increasing speed. "Just-- Just set us up the bomb!" she says over her shoulder. "Because if we don't soon--"
Ahead of them about half a thousand feet away is the main turn into the city proper. And at their speed, they'd be paste. "-- we won't have enough air ta glide off this thing!"
Crik quickly pulls out the small fuse from the first bomb. Then listens onto Reithak and Slixvah with a curious looking gaze.
"... it is lit." He tells her, handing the small belt of palm sized bombs. "Let the axle wrap it around itself, the belt sticks to walls." He crouches down and holds out his hands, apparently to hold onto Reithak.
"It'll be fine. If we go for a bit of a tumble, I'll keep you both safe." The large egalrin reassures, though she does give Crik a quizzical look for a moment. "I don't have time to wonder why you've got self adhering bombs on you to destroy things. Glad you do for this at least." Reithak grumbles to herself as she leans over the back of the cart with Crik's assistance. The inquisitor swings the belt back and forth a few times until it manages to stick in place and rapidly wind over and over itself. "Alright, it's on! Is it safe at the front, or are we bailing?" She asks of Crik while pulling back into the cart.
Slixvah's wings flare out more and more to get more resistance to try and slow them down to buy more time. But its clear that she's training hard. At hearing the successful sabotage preparation, the egalrin flaps her wings a few times, releasing the cart. "NAW WE BAILIN' GIRL!" she caws suddenly. "GLIDE GLIDE GLIDE!"
Her wings twist slightly, and the sudden current of the wind rips her out of the cart to sail up and off. "GET OUTTA THE WAY!" she yells ahead of them.
Crik looks towards Reithak, tilting his head. "... safe?" He asks, then looks up towards the sky. "I'll make a note of th-aaaH!" The corvid suddenly lets out, as Slix just flaps out like that. Quickly, he runs off and follows suit - his wings catch onto the wind and he flutters in place for a second, before he manages to make a rolling land.
The cart continues to careen out. After few long moments, there is a sound like gunfire, before the back wheels fold into the cart, slowing it down.
"We're bailing!" Reithak repeats as the other two are already gone. The large egalrin balances on the speeding cart as best she can, Taking a stumbling leap with several frantic flaps just barely getting them into the air for a brief moment, enough to clear the wagon and tumble down the hill rolling after it for a few feet.
Slixvah manages to straighten herself out in the air after doing a few flips and barrels from the speed. And down she flutters next to the two Egalrin that have rolled out onto the floor.
The cart folds, the tail of it grinding into the stone and causing it to sway from side to side. And it slows... slows... slows...
Until it just barely taps the stone wall at the bend bend, instead of crashing into a thousand splinters.
The rainbow egalrin pants, hands on her knees. "... good... *huff*... good job... guys..." she wheezes before opting to tip over and flop on the ground.
Crik should have landed somewhere near the others - but when the two egalrin come to, the corvid is already gone and done his typical disappearing act. Probably to avoid awkward questions about why he was sitting in a bush scaring birds and carts alike.
Reithak exhales loudly as the large egalrin rolls onto her back, wiping at her face and pulling the crumpled hat that was tied around their neck from underneath, before unceremoniously dropping it right onto their face. "Pretty good job, judging by the lack of crashing sounds." Reithak agrees. "Not the mountainside picnic I was expecting but still, never a dull moment with you, is there?"
Slixvah rolls over on her back towards Reithak, her panting turning into breathless snickers. "Yeah... yeah, that was... phew...!" There's a heartier laugh. "Oh that picnic is... is still on! But I'm glad we could... could have a fun little.. little outing...!"
Having caught her breath, she sits upright. "Well... I guess I better fly back up there ta... ta tell the owner 'bout they cart-- wait..."
She looks around. "... where's Crik?"
-End Scene-