Cha. 1.2 - Sadur's and Kimbek Down and... up?

Sadur grabs few lianas to tie both Silver and Pepper to him. He believes he is strong enough to hold the animals should they slip, should he be able to catch any tree (and I assume there are enough of them on the way down).
OK, let's go, no time to waist. Sadur start descending looking for easier path but certainly moving from one tree to another, when possible holding to lianas while moving.
He orders animals to follow him.

Kimbek follows at what he hopes is a safe distance (in case he should slip, he does not want to fall into Sadur or the animals). "Should we try to zig-zag our way down, if that makes it less steep?"

Tying Silver to himself was an easy task for Sadur - as they have trained walking on the leash many times, and now the dog is so obedient or intelligent that the leash is not necessary at all. But Pepper... that's another story... a happy going, energetic animal that she is... at first she thought it's some kind of play... a new person, but old game: laso throwing. She started to run away from him, thinking she was to be a live target.

Strategically thinking Kimbek - as always - he stood on the edge of the slope and began to look for the most optimal descent route for all four of them.

Sadur tried every trick he knew, which usually worked perfectly... with canines. But Pepper was truly a unique creature. It wasn’t just that she was a dinosaur (Sadur had handled those many times before), but her personality and previous training methods seemed completely different from anything Sadur had encountered so far. He made a mental note to ask Belladonna about it when they met again.

Sadur had lost many precious minutes [20m] and even more of his patience. Neither threats, encouragement, nor the tricks he knew seemed to work. Clearly, the cheerful Pepper had decided that, no matter what, she was not going to be "on a leash" that day. Irritated, Sadur finally waved his hand at her dismissively, turned on his heel, and returned to Kimbek.

It turned out that Kimbek had mapped out a descent route for them down the slope. Perhaps not as direct as Sadur would have liked, but using a few stone ledges and clearings visible among the jungle trees below seemed quite reasonable. And in the end of the day, should allow them to descent faster and more secure then other way.

The friends began their cautious descent. Sadur, who had spent the last few minutes pretending not to care about Pepper at all, was actually glancing at her surreptitiously. This time, it worked. The animal seemed clearly disappointed that their "game" was apparently over and began to follow them, sometimes trotting up quickly to Sadur and nudging him playfully with her snout. This continued to slightly irritate the royal kennel master, accustomed as he was to his charges' obedience, but the most important thing was: it worked. And Pepper was following them, always staying within sight.

---

The lower they descended, the more they felt engulfed by the jungle. Inside the ravine, which always seemed to be shrouded in a bit of shadow, the jungle became even darker and, one might say, more somber. They also began to encounter strange vegetation that even Kimbek—knowledgeable in various plant species—couldn’t identify. Even Pepper seemed to stay closer to them than before, no longer disappearing behind the nearby trees.

More and more frequently, they began to notice thick clusters of hairy growths on the trees, resembling parasitic mistletoe known to them from the kingdom, but much larger and denser. They even thought that some of these "leafy fuzzballs" appeared to be in different places, following them, each time they looked, but they quickly agreed it must be an illusion, the result of eyes unused to so much Green.


When they reached the bottom of the ravine, the ground flattened out abruptly, and they felt an even greater humidity in the air than before. As Kimbek had predicted, they found a sluggishly flowing stream at the ravine’s base, which they had to cross to continue their journey. The stream was roughly 3 meters (10 feet) wide, with a visibly lazy current, which had caused the water to become heavily silted, making it appear black and impenetrable. On its banks, many smaller and larger stones had gathered, over which towered the thickest and sturdiest trees they had yet encountered.

What do you do? You can act upon everything described.

Kimbek points to the "leafy fuzzballs" as they pass near them. "I don't trust these things. Stay away from them." He is surprised by how small and insignificant his voice feels but then realizes that the dense foliage was probably swallowing up much of the sound. He was almost surprised that he could hear the stream so far above when there was such greenery around them.

He begins looking around at the trees near them, trying to see if any of them had large enough branches (or perhaps a fallen trunk) that extended over the stream. "I also wouldn't go in the water. If it were clear, that would be one thing, but who knows what creatures or parasites reside in that murk." He belatedly thinks of the animals. "Unless we have to."

Kimbek, you sound like a cosmopolitan mother teaching her first child. It is just a small river dwarf simply jump over the river with a decent start and calls silver to come to him Animals are not children, if they can't survive this place, then I'm really sorry for them. he ads sadly.

Kimbek nods. "You know me. I have a tendency to overthink things."

He makes sure the animals have gotten across before he makes a similar leap of confidence.

Once the animals are safely across, if there is no fallen tree or anything else to act as a bridge across the water, Kimbek will also try to jump over.

Was it a different personality, methods or some collected fruits on their way, but Kimbek seemed to have much better connection with Pepper than Sadur. He invented some moves and behaviors that attracted the energetic dinosaur and even managed to encourage Pepper to play a new game: jumping up and trying to catch one of the branches of the bigger three growing on the other side of the river, extending to the their side. After few tries Pepper caught one of the trunks with her jaws, swung a few times and by great luck and her weight, made the bigger part of a three broke and fell over the river.

Meantime, Sadur - apparently bored with Kimbek cautious approach or having enough of dealing with Pepper for a day - decided to simply jump over the black river. He spent some time looking for a suitable place to have some run-up, what was really hard with all the stones and threes on each side of the river. Finally he decided to make a leap over the stream. He didn't manage to get to the other side, missing the branch he intended to catch on the other side by mere inches. When he landed near the other bank of the river he felt that his right leg fallen on something squishy making him fall over only to realize that the stream is only like 1 mater(3,3ft) deep. When he turned back to see what his leg encountered he saw similar picture:

A bigger, very green, bug-like creature was pulling out a smaller one, very similar to its helper creature. When they both reached the shore, the larger creature began to shake what appeared to be a crest on its head, which in turn caused a loud, ear-piercing sound, seaming to penetrate Sadur's, Kimbek's and their animal companion's skulls, making them feel dizzy and overwhelmed for a moment. When they got used to the sound a little or the creature changed it's frequencies they could refocus again and saw a strange tiger-like creature on the nearby three, apparently called by the Crest Bug to it's aid. Visibly preparing for an attack.

What do you do?

Kimbek draws out the club as he hears the strange creatures and turns around, ready to defend himself and the nearby animals if necessary.

That's a failure on the acrobatics check

Pepper also seeing two new enemies stands still and tense in the middle of the fallen trunk that they used as for a makeshift bridge. This sudden stop of dino makes Kimbek who was running over the trunk and trying to bypass animals loose his balance for a moment. Unfortunately it was enough to make him fall in the black waters near the bridge making him holding his breath before resurfacing and being completely soaked with water - just as Sadur is.

Silver is sitting on the other side of the river waiting for Sadur to give him a command. Now as a threat approach he is barking, but still wait for his master's command. Sadur rise "Back"! Get damn Pepper back"