Starring:
Date: November 24, 2015
Summary:
On a misguided search for a bird to befriend, Shinta sneaks from within Sunagakure and into the nearby caverns only to discover that he soon placed both himself and the Genin that followed after him in grave danger.
"The Fog Mouth's Den"
Within the Shiren Caverns beyond Sunagakure
Shinta was and quite possibly always will be a quiet child but there was one secret that all desert dwellers couldn't help celebrating over, and that was rain. As it poured down so wildly that the land of water itself would be jealous, Shinta was happily walking around the streets. He'd not managed to find someone to give the report of the mugging attempt to but he'd seen a very interesting looking bird and did what any other child would do in his situation. He wanted one. Suna was the village of sand, swords, and thieves however, it wasn't much of a place for trying to get a pet bird. Not without the owner of the messenger hawks getting angry anyway, which lead Shinta to his only alternative. He knew there were burrowing owls in the sands, and he knew there were the Shiren caverns not far from the village.
With everyone working to gather rain and ensuring the basins were filled, Shinta had finished his paper studies in a hurry and was quietly making his way beyond the village walls for those very caverns. Surely there was a bird of some sort in those cavernous tunnels that he could befriend and teach to land on his arm like the other person did. With his poncho soaked in the downpour, Shinta was moving a bit slower than usual but enjoying the slight chill of the wet and rain that drenched his form. He wouldn't go unprepared however, only a fool would do that! Shinta had brought his medicine jar in case he got a scratch, and a small basket with a cloth inside to carry the bird in safely.
Jiro /had/ been helping with collecting some of the rain water but that got boring pretty fast and, since it wasn't an actual mission or anything, he eventually just…snuck off. He didn't mind the rain though now that he had a cloak to help keep it off he really didn't mind it. Besides that the cloak could be a bit stuffy. As it was he was walking along some rooftops, watching others collect water, before spotting a certain figure heading out the gates. How odd. Well, only one thing to do then and that was follow. So Jiro did, trying to keep hidden as he went behind the other boy to see where he was going.
Shinta had yet to learn about trying to sense when others are around, he was still being taught how to properly hold a kunai and it seemed to be a bit different from a senbon. Off into the wet sands and making tracks, Shinta would look around for a few moments and then head in the direction of the caverns with a bit of a smile on his lips. There was little hesitation in the boy's movements as he neared one of the entrances but it was far too small to be entered by a person. He'd have to keep looking it seemed and indeed the boy would look until he found one large enough that he could get down onto his hands and knees and start crawling into the tunnel.. It was dark but the boy was prepared for that and pulled out a fire tool as well as a dish for his oil lantern. Soon enough the boy was shuffling deeper into the tunnel with his lantern to help light the way as he tried to look about for a bird, sniffing a bit at the strange smell of tunnels. It was a bit of a mossy scent which was strange for the desert.
Jiro continues to follow the other boy, a bit curious really by his actions and intentions. When he starts climbing through a small cave entrance Jiro just rolls his eyes before moving a little ways and around the corner to an /actual/ cave entrance that meets up with with the other one that the kid had been going through, waiting around the corner for the light to get closer. Once it does he jumps around the corner and shouts "BOO!"
It was completely normal to jump when frightened, which was why Shinta heard a firm thud before he saw stars. The problem with being in a tiny tunnel was that it put little to no room between his head and the ceiling. "Ow ow ow…" The pale haired boy muttered as he held his head with his free hand before looking up and starting to scuttle back as well as he could when he saw Jiro. "You live here?" Shinta managed to grumble out as he rubbed at his aching head and tried keeping an eye on Jiro while his hand holding the lantern instinctively went toward the pouch on his hip to try making sure it wouldn't be easily opened.
Jiro snorts at the accusation…or whatever it was. "No I dun live 'ere, I w's followin' you cause you were leavin' the village withou' some'un ta watch over ya. Wha' if sum bandi's got'cha?" He asks, folding his arms over his chest. A small smile appears when he sees the other boy check his pouches but he doesn't say anything, he just stares at Shinta as he waits for an answer!
Shinta squinted a bit as he listened to Jiro's logic for a moment. "You are a bandit who tried to get me." Shinta explained while starting to shuffle a bit forward to try getting past Jiro. "I won't let you get my bird first though." Shinta stated in a bit of a determined tone that still sounded full of uncertainty as he moved ahead into the tunnels. It wasn't the best of things but the scroll was still in the pouch on his hip, a little something his parents had given him so he could more safely move about even while he was on his own at nights. They hadn't taken well to the story their son had to tell them about being mugged.
Hey hey no one was 'mugged' perse, they were just offered a trade. Forcefully. Jiro steps aside to let the other boy by before raising his hands to flop on top of his head in a lazy move. "Yer try'n'a fin' a bird in a cave. Wha' do ya know 'bout birds, an' why're ya tryin' ta ge' one anyways? 's'not like they're tha' special'r anythin'."
RP: Shinta joins the roleplay.
COMBAT: It is now Shinta's turn.
[NPC System]: ? roll(s) Stealth from 25 to 45 and get(s) a 37. - Rolled by: Shinta
[NPC System]: ? roll(s) Stealth from 25 to 45 and get(s) a 45. - Rolled by: Shinta
[NPC System]: ? roll(s) Stealth from 25 to 45 and get(s) a 29. - Rolled by: Shinta
RP: Jiro joins the roleplay.
Oh, how little the other boy knew. "I know there are burrowing owls that live in tunnels and path ways underground." Shinta explained while he used the lantern to scan the ground carefully, a bit of a smile on his face as he looked around. Still, Jiro's question did have Shinta looking around and raising a brow slightly. "But this is a little big for one of those… I wonder what lives in here." With the attention of a young child, Shinta had continued moving deeper into the caverns as he scanned the area for what might be living inside the cavern.
As observant as the boy might be, which wasn't very at all, he would have overlooked the shifting shadows on the edge of his lantern's light while proceeding deeper into the cavern Something almost slithering while the slight clicking of nails or claws touching the ground barely sounded out as they moved. With all of the water it would easily be lost in the sound of fresh droplets of water making small drinking pools in the darkness.
COMBAT: Shinta finishes his turn.
COMBAT: It is now Jiro's turn.
RPCOMBAT: Jiro defends against with a PERCEPTION…28
Jiro rolls his eyes a bit at the other boy. "I dun thin' burrowin' owls'r'n the caves. They jus' do smaller thin's, like prairie holes'n stuff." Still, Jiro won't stop the other boy from his wandering if that's what he's gonna do. He does, however, follow after him to make sure Shinta doesn't get into any trouble.
COMBAT: Jiro finishes his turn.
COMBAT: It is now Shinta's turn.
RPCOMBAT: Shinta defends against with a PERCEPTION…10
Shinta would nod a little bit at what Jiro said. "Well I found one around their size but I didn't see any way to get into it so I tried going in one that was just a little bigger. I didn't expect it to be so much bigger on the inside." Shinta explained in a bit of a quieted tone of voice while looking around the cavern a little bit. While the darkness hid what lurked in the darkness, the lantern didn't allow such a saving grace and as the boy shifted his light around from location to location, he would cause a bit of a dull reflections to glimmer at the ground nearby.. Like little gems on the ground that shifted just a bit. "I have never been inside a cave before.. its really different from the hospital." The boy explained, it was the only location besides his home that he could really compare to this cave besides his home, and his home was much better than some hole in the ground.
Those shifting forms were making themselves a bit more known the further the boys moved into the cavern. Now that they were getting deep enough that the tunnels they came in through were darkened in the low light there was the slight throaty hissing from their right and left sides, like that of some massive serpents warning them that they did not belong in these tunnels, and that they were too late to simply turn back now. Only the shifting of the light would reveal the creature's presence to the boys.
COMBAT: Shinta finishes his turn.
COMBAT: It is now Jiro's turn.
Jiro rolls his eyes at the younger kid, his hands remaining flopped as he goes along and looks around the walls. "Yea', this place's really bi' actually," he responds. As they walk further in he gets a bad feeling and he frowns slightly, his hands eventually dropping to his side as he focused some chakra. Something was off, but what was it? "Stop," he says finally, his normal kidding voice gone and sounding more forceful now as he looks around at the walls, squinting a bit, then reaching for the lamp to turn it to the closest noise maker carefully.
COMBAT: Jiro focuses 4178 stamina to turn it into 5000 usable chakra!
COMBAT: Jiro finishes his turn.
COMBAT: It is now Shinta's turn.
Shinta was about to wander deeper when he looked over his shoulder at Jiro and, subtly, checked his pouches to ensure they'd not been looted.. So focused on the pockets was he, that when Jiro commanded he stop, the boy froze up on instinct. It was a similar tone to what his father used when Shinta was about to pick the wrong herb or oil for a medicine and it had a similar effect on the boy. As Jiro reached for the lantern, Shinta let him take it and then began moving around behind the older boy carefully. As that light was moved toward the wall, the wall itself would shift, hiss, and reveal the monster that wasn't what it seemed it would have been…
Rather than some monstrous snake wrapped around their portion of the cave, the monsters were only about two or three feet in size with beaded like scales along their reptilian quadruped forms.. They were like Gila monsters but with much more vibrant colorations to their scales. With at least one in each direction that light was turned to. While they were slow moving and usually chose smaller prey, Shinta and Jiro had stepped into their home and as such, made themselves fair game.. The largest of the lizards would raise its head as its throat bloated and it revealed that some legends were true. As its mouth swung open, a poisonous cloud would be breathed toward the two boys.
[NPC System]: Girra Monsta roll(s) Poison Breath(Jiro) from 10 to 45 and get(s) a 14. - Rolled by: Shinta
[NPC System]: Girra Monsta roll(s) Poison Breath(Shinta) from 10 to 45 and get(s) a 30. - Rolled by: Shinta
COMBAT: Shinta finishes his turn.
COMBAT: It is now Jiro's turn.
COMBAT: Jiro attacks target 1 with INTERRUPT with a roll of: 63
RPCOMBAT: Jiro defends against with a BREVITY…50
RPCOMBAT: Jiro defends against with a BREVITY…40
Jiro blinks as he sees the creature there and stares at it for a moment. That is, until it breathes out a noxious gas. Then he vanishes in a burst of speed, grunting softly as he lifts the other boy up in a bit of a bear hug just to move him away, then sets him down again. "We nee' ta get outta 'ere. We're in their 'ome." Jiro may not have an overabundance of school smarts, but his street smarts makes up for it. "Go, 'ere, take this," he gives the lantern back. "Remember 'ow ta ge' out?"
COMBAT: Jiro finishes his turn.
COMBAT: It is now Shinta's turn.
Shinta was going to be thankful when he noticed he was actually being protected and not mugged. Which was after he tried squirming free and when he was dropped to the ground in a safe spot. At the question, Shinta would nod his head a bit but then his brow would knit as he looked at Jiro. "I know how to get out, it is right over that way but why are you asking me? Do you plan on trying to stay and fight them or something of the sort?" Shinta would question as he began stepping slowly toward the direction he'd pointed out, holding the lantern in Jiro's direction so that the light wasn't far from the older boy. And so that Jiro could see the lizards beginning to march through the poison cloud.
The lizards seemed unaffected by their own toxins as they hissed once again and began marching toward Jiro once more though the largest one seemed to be trying more than the others to close the gap between themselves and the young boys. They wouldn't pass up the chance to get a good meal in them, not when the season was what it was and the rains ensured they would have plenty of water to enjoy with their meal!
[NPC System]: Girra Monsta roll(s) Poisoned Bite(Jiro) from 15 to 50 and get(s) a 38. - Rolled by: Shinta
[NPC System]: Girra Monsta roll(s) Poison Breath(Jiro) from 10 to 45 and get(s) a 17. - Rolled by: Shinta
COMBAT: Shinta finishes his turn.
COMBAT: It is now Jiro's turn.
RPCOMBAT: Jiro defends against with a STEEL-CLOTH-BLOCK…44
RPCOMBAT: Jiro defends against with a STEEL-CLOTH-SHELL…48
The bright red cloth around Jiro's waist comes free easily with a single calculated pull, the cloth lashing out and hardening at the last moment for the creature to bite into the unexpectedly hard fabric. When it breathes more gas he flicks the cloth so that it flairs in front of him and the tip slams into the ground, keeping it's spot and preventing the gas from reaching him for the moment. "'m jus' gonna keep 'em busy until yer ou', now go!" He jumps back, pulling on the cloth before lashing out quickly to snap at the closest creatures, the tip of the cloth hardening and cutting like steel should it hit.
COMBAT: Jiro attacks target 1 with STEEL-CLOTH-FANG with a roll of: 39
COMBAT: Jiro attacks target 1 with STEEL-CLOTH-FANG with a roll of: 43
COMBAT: Jiro attacks target 1 with STEEL-CLOTH-FANG with a roll of: 35
COMBAT: Jiro finishes his turn.
COMBAT: It is now Shinta's turn.
[NPC System]: Girra Monsta roll(s) Beaded hide(Jiro) from 15 to 40 and get(s) a 33. - Rolled by: Shinta
[NPC System]: Girra Monsta roll(s) Beaded hide(Jiro) from 15 to 40 and get(s) a 15. - Rolled by: Shinta
[NPC System]: Girra Monsta roll(s) Beaded hide(Jiro) from 15 to 40 and get(s) a 38. - Rolled by: Shinta
Shinta was a bit scared, this was true, but not scared enough that he'd overlook the obvious. It was because of the obvious that Shinta didn't move very much further then he already had. "If I go out you'll be left in the dark and not be able to see them." Shinta warned while looking at the slightly older boy, maybe he wasn't just some evil mugging bandit of a criminal after all. "I'll head for the exit but you need to move do, if what they are spitting out is a neurotoxin it could paralyze you and then you'd be in danger." The younger boy explained while looking at Jiro.
Two of the lizards were badly wounded and yet only one of them would be felled and drop to the sands of cave. The one that was unscathed by that slash of the cloth however was the largest one that began letting its throat swell once more with the chemical reaction of two chemicals being mixed together and violently forming a thick fog. Unlike before however, this creature was letting it build up more which spoke of how dangerous and wide spread this cloud would be if the large lizard finished building it up.
COMBAT: Shinta finishes his turn.
COMBAT: It is now Jiro's turn.
"Time ta go!" Jiro says when he sees the creature preparing a big gasp. He draws the cloth around behind his neck to rest over his shoulders then turns to grab Shinta again. "Hol' on!" He says before he moves in a few quick bursts of speed, covering rather large distances in flashes until they reach the exit that he'd come in. Only then does he set down Shinta and turn to look behind them to see if the creatures tried to follow.
RPCOMBAT: Jiro defends against with a BREVITY…33
COMBAT: Jiro finishes his turn.
COMBAT: It is now Shinta's turn.
[NPC System]: Girra Monsta roll(s) Deadly Pursuit(Jiro) from 15 to 40 and get(s) a 27. - Rolled by: Shinta
The young medic was examining something near Jiro's form, reaching for it while the boy fended off those lizards. At the least, Shinta could help with something like this to prove he wasn't worthless. Shinta would blink a bit as he was scooped up and carried by Jiro all over again. The boy wasn't that much bigger than him so how was he so strong?! Watching over Jiro's shoulder as the large lizard exhaled, the little medic would stare in slight awe as the massive cloud that it billowed flooded the cavern behind them so rapidly it actually seemed to be chasing them as Jiro rushed from in the cavern so swiftly. When he was told to hold on, he indeed would until he was set down and they could watch the cavern. The large lizard wouldn't leave from in the cave, a slight haze of its poison drifting beyond the entrance followed by a load hissing of the beast, but it seemed to have been satisfied with them leaving… for the time being..
"You're really fast.." Shinta stated once it was clear that the lizard wasn't coming out to chase them. "And you're strong too, how can you lift me up like that?" He questioned while thinking back to the night of the mugging; he really was in a lot of danger trying to grab Jiro like that. No wonder the red haired boy wasn't threatened at all.
COMBAT: Shinta finishes his turn.
COMBAT: It is now Jiro's turn.
Jiro watches the cave entrance and the gas that dribbles out. Luckily it doesn't get far, otherwise they'd have a whole other problem on their hands. "Yea', 's'called trainin'," he mutters to the other boy, waiting for the noxious gas to vanish before finally turning to look back at him with a faint frown. "I dun thin' you shoul' try that 'gain," he says. Then he holds up his hand with that scroll in it. "So you gonna tell me 'bout this or do I 'ave ta rea' it?" And that's when that mischievous grin returns.
COMBAT: Jiro finishes his turn.
COMBAT: It is now Shinta's turn.
Shinta nodded slowly, training was still new for him when it came to anything but medicine.. He'd get better at it though! The comment of not going back made Shinta frown a bit and look down, almost releasing the firm grip that held his right hand closed. Seeing that stolen -again- scroll however made Shinta's sandy toned eyes widen in surprise. "Hey, that's mine!" Shinto shouted out as he started climbing to his feet and reaching for his scoll all over again. "Stop stealing my scrolls!" the boy would call out while his hood fell back and the lantern fell to the sands and started to burn through its paper covering. The dark skinned boy didn't show much care however, entirely focused on the thief-hero-bandit-tough guy before him.
Jiro picks up the lamp and sets it aside to burn itself out now before vanishing and reappearing a short distance away with another burst of speed, waving the scroll in the air. "Tha's no' wha' I asked. I know who's i' is." The large, toothy smile remains and while he doesn't open the scroll yet he's obviously not going to be quite so willing to give it back as easily as last time.
Shinta would frown and tuck whatever was in his grasp into his basket before standing up and looking at Jiro with a bit of an angry expression on his face. "It is a list of instructions from my Mother and Father, why do you want to know what they gave me?" Shinta questioned while reaching into his pouches to see what it was that Jiro had planted on him this time in exchange for that scroll. The only thing about it was that seal had a twin striped pattern along the edges of the scroll rather than the single striped pattern that had been stolen from Shinta last time. All that was within that scroll was a simple message from the young boy that read as follows: 'Swiper, no swiping!'Jiro would need to try a lot harder than that to find out the family secrets of the Akakawa family now that he'd proven himself a threat to those secrets.
