|
Post by makori on Nov 5, 2007 18:50:18 GMT -5
OOC: Got it, Stout. Thanks again!
Whitestone Quarries
Smash. Groan. Repeat. It never seemed to end. And that's all that happened here. Smashing and groaning, then hauling the rocks away to do it again. Makori shook his head, which did nothing for his headache, and turned back to the task of hauling the cart currently strapped to his back up the ramp. He hadn't eaten in a while, again, and it was starting to get to him, as usual. The cart behind him was loaded up with five tons of marble, which eventually would be used to construct fountains, dams or beautiful buildings all over Dinotopia.
However, he couldn't get over the fact that he was the one pulling the cart for someone else's benefit without none of his own. There was no currency on Dinotopia, save for in the darker parts, so he wasn't getting paid. He could find food anywhere, and it was holding back his desire, no, need to travel and explore. In fact, this seemed a lot like the farmwork he'd given up years ago at Diploville. Had he left his home simply to work in a quarry? Why was he here anyway?
Suddenly, his headache stabbed his mind again, and he groaned in pain, shaking his head. His usual poor eyesight, typical of sauropods, just made the migraine worse. Suddenly, pulling the cart seemed a lot harder than it had a few minutes ago.
And then, his legs gave out, and he fell to the ramp. Fortunately for him, the wood was strong enough that it held with only a laoud groaning and a few cracks. Unfortunately for the workers below, the cart fell, snapping the harness and bringing a massive crushing weight down at them. Once again, fortunately everyone got out of the way in time, but the rock and wood came down and smashed about sixty percent of the equipment used by the humans. Mass chaos reverberated all around.
Makori lay on the ramp, head reeling and hanging over the side, and sighed, closing his eyes. Another screw-up, another job lost.
|
|
Stouthorn
Junior Scholar
"POWER! UNLIMITED POWER!!"
Posts: 341
|
Post by Stouthorn on Nov 5, 2007 18:54:58 GMT -5
OOC: 1) I didn't place your character, but okay, I'll allow it... 2) I'm pretty sure a wall from any height would injure a sauropod that large. How does he plan to stand back up? How is he not being crushed by his own weight?
|
|
|
Post by makori on Nov 5, 2007 19:00:01 GMT -5
(OOC: Modified. I'm not very good at estimates. Sorry. Also, Sorry about not waiting to be placed. I'm also not very patient when I get excited, sorry.)
|
|
Stouthorn
Junior Scholar
"POWER! UNLIMITED POWER!!"
Posts: 341
|
Post by Stouthorn on Nov 5, 2007 19:17:53 GMT -5
OOC: Well, I'm glad you're excited. Also, my problem wasn't so much with the height of the fall, but the fact of the fall. Given a sauropod's body mass, a fall even from standing would crush the animal's organs and bones. If it managed to survive the fall, it likely wouldn't ever be able to stand back up. As such, perhaps Makori himself does not fall, but loses control of the cart, achieving the same result without killing him.
|
|
|
Post by makori on Nov 5, 2007 19:23:59 GMT -5
(OOC: Didn't think of it that way. I'm not making a very good first impression, am I? Modified again.)
|
|
|
Post by thundertail on Nov 5, 2007 19:44:47 GMT -5
IC: Clubber, the road to Rhumsburg
"Not to worry. We can talk along the way!", Clubber replied to his friend. "Besides, I can pull this rig through anything, even with a full load! Heck, I ain't even tired yet!"
As Korkoa nodded and got back aboard, Clubber continued. "Yeah, another rule for hauling cargo is to keep it moving. The customer on the other end don't like it when it's late!", after Clubber made sure Korkoa was seated, he got the Copro cart moving again...
TAG: Korkoa
|
|
Korkoa
Dolphinback
I'm a Christian Dinotopia lover. So?
Posts: 43
|
Post by Korkoa on Nov 6, 2007 9:19:47 GMT -5
IC: I nodded, taking mental notes of everything. "If we get the job, do you want to be paired together? I've been all over the island, and can get anywhere."
|
|
|
Post by thundertail on Nov 6, 2007 18:14:58 GMT -5
IC: Clubber, the road to Rhumsburg"I guess that all depends on what our boss says - provided we both get the job, that is!", Clubber told him. "But if so, I wouldn't mind that!", Clubber turned his head forward and concentrated on the road ahead. Onward the pair traveled, bipedal carnivore up in the driver's seat and quadropedal herbivore up front pulling the cart. Clubber soon continued whistling his tune for a while, but it soon turned into a monotone hum or grunt as he pulled the cart over an errant root or stick in the road. The Copro cart jostled in accordance to this, making Korkoa's head bob and shake slightly. Nothing much was said for a good many hours as the foliage drifted by; and not so much as a bird ever crossed the path ahead. Growing bored with the tedium of pulling the cart, Clubber began to think up ways to make the trip seem to go by quicker. he began to hum a tune once again, having his footfalls be the precussion of the tune; and then he paused to have a listen behind him. Korkoa seemed to be content in his silence, or so it seemed; and when he took a look behind him, he saw his toothy friend just looking around into the forest as they passed. "Say, Korkoa. Know any songs?", Clubber asked, receiving no reply at all. "I know many songs! Want to hear one?", not waiting, he continued. "Nearly everyone on Dinotopia knows 'On our way we go!'. I'll sing that, see if you know it...", so he began to sing! OCC: Sung like 'I've been working on the railroad'. "I am going on a journey! I will go away... I am going on a journey! To where, I can not say!
Care to join me where I'm going? The road is better when there's two! it feels so good that you are with me! All right, my friend, let's go!
On our way we'll go! On our way we'll go! On our way we'll go, you know, oh-oh! On our way we'll go! On our way we'll go! On our way we'll go, you know!..." When nothing but carniverous rumblings were heard, Clubber continued with another round of the song; all because he didn't know whether the noise was carniverous laughter or angry growling, but he knew he had to do it to drown out that unnerving sound! At the end of this round, he noticed the growling was at the same tempo as the song he had sung; so he tried it again. After two more times singing it, he noticed that Korkoa was indeed singing the song; but he was singing it in his own carnivore dialect - no wonder it sounded so irritating! Clubber shrugged and bellowed out another round, Korkoa wailing out in his own version of the song as both began to sing the song again. The forest around them paused to listen as the Copro cart trundled down the road to Rhumsburg and the pair sang thier way all the way into evening... TAG: Korkoa, anyone...
|
|
|
Post by makori on Nov 6, 2007 19:18:38 GMT -5
Makori sighed, making a deep, rumbling groan through his belly. Once more, he'd lost his job. Well, actually, he'd quit the first two, and tried his hand at another one before this one. Now, however, it seemed like he had a cursed streak going.
His headache cut in once more, and he stopped in the middle of the road, leaning his head down to the bags strapped around his neck, pulling out a large amount of large cycad leaves and munching on them as he walked. True, he wasn't actually chewing them, but tearing them into strips with his pencil like teeth to make it easier to swallow them whole, where the rocks in his stomach would crush them up into digestible material.
As he walked, Makori considred his options. There were only three places he had not seen any location of, and the rest of Dinotopia had only been seen from roads and in towns. So far, he hadn't visited the Rainy Basin, and most likely wouldn't ever, hadn't seen the Forbidden Mountains, which he might not either unless he had a way to keep warm, and he had not yet seen the eastern part of Dinotopia either, which was more possible to do.
He almost trod over a signpost, which, when he backed up and leaned down to inspect, told him of different towns he could go to. He gazed at the eastern cities. Jupe, Honely Hall, and Rhumsburg. Jupe seemed, in Makori's opinion, too close to the mountains for his liking, while Rhumsburg was just a little out of the way for his liking. That only left Honely Hall.
And so, the diplodocus turned toward the town, eagerly awaiting his journey east into the desert.
|
|
Stouthorn
Junior Scholar
"POWER! UNLIMITED POWER!!"
Posts: 341
|
Post by Stouthorn on Nov 6, 2007 21:23:37 GMT -5
OOC: Makori, while you're a great writer and your character is a nice addition, you're beginning to frustrate me. We talked about this in PMs, but since the message didn't appear to sink in, I'll address it here, too: 1) The GM (me) is supposed to place you and facilitate your entrance into the story. 2) The plan was to introduce your character later on, after we leave Ruhmsburg, so as to deal with the initial hiring and a bit of the adventure before adding yet another party member, particularly one of your striking magnitude. Remember? We discussed this? We agreed it was a good idea? Huh?
Please, please, st have a bit of patience and we'll get to you, okay? Please edit your posts for now and wait a bit before continuing your story here. Okay?
Also, I'm just gonna Godmod Aric, for now.
IC: Isaiah Achebe, Backbone Shipping Company, Ruhmsburg
"Well, that's a lot of bags to carry..." Applejack said, surveying his luggage.
Isaiah pursed his lips and nodded. Shrugging, he said, "Well, I didn't pack them. If you turn right at the top of the stairs, the first room on the left is open, I think. You may want to get started with them, now. That's a lot of unpacking to do."
Grumbling, Applejack stood, slung one bag over his shoulder, took one in each hand, and headed up the stairs. Bolo and Isaiah watched him go, waiting until he disappeared around a corner to start discussing the proposal.
"I'm not going into the Basin," Isaiah said.
"It sounds potentially lucrative," said Bolo.
"What good does that do us if we're eaten?"
"Plenty of caravans go in all the time."
"Well, they've got protection."
"We can get armor..."
"From where?"
"Don't you have friends?"
"Well...yes, but..."
Bolo clacked his beak and looked over Isaiah's shoulder. The human stopped talking as Applejack descended the stairs again for another bag-carrying trip. He paused on the stairs.
"What were you talking about?" DJ asked.
Bolo and Isaiah responded in unison. "Nothing."
Applejack was clearly not satisfied, but nonetheless picked up two more bags and headed back upstairs. When he turned the corner at the top landing, Bolo and Isaiah continued in whispers.
"Well, yes, but...we're busy."
"It's on the way."
"So just you and me? Into the Basin?"
"Well, no, we're supposed to get other hires, soon."
"No one's here yet."
"And Applejack will probably have to come with us, to point out exactly what we're looking for."
Isaiah paused. Applejack always payed well, and it was more than likely he was well aware of how much it would take to compensate for the risk inherent in such a venture. Mountains of goods and barter credits, no doubt. "Well..." he said, "it is on the way."
TAG: Aric
|
|
|
Post by thundertail on Nov 7, 2007 7:10:03 GMT -5
IC: Clubber, The road to RhumsburgThe forest seemed to disapear many miles later, and Clubber was profoundly glad of that! The ruddy rays of evening had crept over the trees, making each one they passed look like evil spectres ready to reach down and lay both them and thier cart waste! At a ragged field that spread down to a rocky rivulet in the distance, they stopped by a gnarled tree at its' bank for the night. Clubber was unhitched to drink and browse the sedges by the bank while Korkoa made a campfire after gathering sufficient rocks to make it in; and soon the area was aglow with amber radience. "You know, we should be in Rhumsburg by sometime tomorrow morning.", Clubber told his friend as he squatted down between the cart and the fire. Korkoa listened to his clubtailed friend talk while he intermittently tended the fire and the rather large catfish he caught in the river with his bare claws. "If I remember correctly, the Blackfish tavern was only seven or eight miles south of there." They chatted quietly about topics other than thier current circumstances and about themselves until the fire began to die out and the stars overhead began thier celestial dance across the night sky. Presently they decided to turn in for the night; Clubber falling asleep where he squatted while Korkoa, finding a blanket, did the same, and woke up several times at nocturnal sounds all through the night. In the morning, Quite refreshed, the pair got ready and set off towards thier destination. The stream they had spent the night by wound its' way away from the road and on into the far side of the clearing it shared the road with. Pretty soon the road decided to leave the clearing for the woods from time to time as the fields they passed became fenced in, and rickety farmsteads could be seen through the trees in the distance. Another signpost came up to greet them as they climbed a rise in the road that was becoming increasingly dotted with farms, houses and sheds; and this one was much better taken care of than the one at the Blackfish tavern! This one said (clearly) that Rhumsburg was two miles straight ahead; and looking that way down the road, Clubber saw that it was right. In the distance the buildings gradually turned from the rustic wooden ones behind him to ones of mortar, stone and brick; and they seemed to crowd around one another for attention as the center of town aproached. Laid out as a trading post originally, Rhumsburg was centralized around one of the main crossroads in the area, and built up over the years to include a series of side streets and apartment blocks with businesses in thier ground floors. Spreading out from this nexxus the town sprawled on for quite a few square miles, ending in the farmsteads that fed its' people at the outskirts. At the center of this town, where the original crossroads still stood, the town fathers had decided to keep the traffic flowing, and hired many Safety Officers; men and women of tall stature for humans, dressed in green, red and white togas in a diamond plaid design with matching pointy hats and wielding red and green paddles used to control traffic. Clubber nearly balked when, at that intersection, he was suddenly staring at a red paddle in his face; so he stopped with a jerk and saw a massive Bracheosaur bus go by. "Excuse me, officer...", Clubber said as soon as the suprise wore off. "Could you please direct me to the Backbone Shipping Company?" After letting a few pedestrians scamper past, she spoke. "Go straight through, then a right at the second street.", she then held her green paddle in his face. "You're not going there, are you..." "We got a job interview!", Clubber informed as he began to pull the cart through the intersection. "Thank you, officer!" "Move along!", she said in monotone. Clubber got the Copro cart sped up and passed through the busy intersection, and after quite a few moments came to the indicated turn. many human and saurian citizens walked by as they went along the street; carrying supplies or pulling carts and other contrivances. Children of all species played in the streets, and Clubber had to pause more than once to let these energetic llittle hatchlings go by. As he made his turn, a pair of gold and green Archaeopterex flew past his head, singing the praises of thier flower cart on the corner. The buildings down this street quickly began taking on a dingy look: bland storefronts and run down tenaments mingled with the refuse of overcrowding and lack of sanitation. the people and dinosaurs of this area were in just about the same condition as they listlessly shambled about on duties of thier own. At last, nearly a tenth of a mile down this street, a drab green awning jutted off a smaller yellowish brick townhouse-style building with two rather large storehouses on either side. As Clubber got near, he could read the saurian script across it. "BACKBONE SHIPPING COMPANY" "Well Korkoa, looks like we're here!", said Clubber as he parked the cart by the curb. His friend got down and began to unhitch him. "Want to go over and knock?" TAG: Korkoa, Isiah Achebe, Bolo, anyone else...
|
|
Korkoa
Dolphinback
I'm a Christian Dinotopia lover. So?
Posts: 43
|
Post by Korkoa on Nov 7, 2007 9:50:06 GMT -5
IC: I nearly fell off the cart trying to reach the door. "You bet!" I finished unhitching Clubb, then ran to the door, jumping around some kids, and knocked...
TAG: Clubber, Isiah, Bolo.
|
|
Stouthorn
Junior Scholar
"POWER! UNLIMITED POWER!!"
Posts: 341
|
Post by Stouthorn on Nov 7, 2007 10:46:25 GMT -5
OOC: As mentioned by Aric, we have an awning, not a plain wooden sign. Awnings are cool. Otherwise, friggin' excellent post, Clubber. IC: Isaiah Achebe, Backbone Shipping Company, RuhmsburgBolo yawned big, then shook his head in an approximation of the human gesture. "I don't know why you read that play." Isaiah was sitting in his chair, again, now on the second act of WorldBasin, sipping coffee. He was feeling unusually well rested, considering the magnitude of the mission they'd just been handed. Perhaps it was the comfort of all the money they'd make completing it that lulled him to sweet dreams of barter credits and nights at the Blackfish Tavern, a certain bar wench on his arm... Nonetheless, WorldBasin may not have been the best play to be reading when one was about to embark on a long road to the Basin. Of course, they hadn't yet told Applejack they were considering accepting his proposal - he was still snoring upstairs - but they were, in fact, considering it. Besides, Isaiah knew that wasn't the reason Bolo disapproved of the play. "You just don't like it because it opens with a protoceratops being eaten." "Senseless carnage." "I think it's a wonderful opening image." Bolo huffed. "Wonderful?" "We've discussed this a billion times." "I still don't understand you." "It sets up the theme of the play." "Yes: senseless carnage." "The ceratosaurus is probably the largest carnosaur found in civilized society, which means it's basically on the border, anyway. The protoceratops with its multilingual abilities, is a symbol of Dinotopian civilization." "But the protoceratops in the play would have to be an older form, not P. multilinguos..." "Even better. The play takes place in primordial times. Anyhow, in eating the protoceratops, they have killed and eaten Dinotopian society. It's symbolic. It's raw. It shows the audience we're not under Sauropolis, anymore." Bolo was silent, preferring not to talk than to disagree on this issue, again. He looked away, for a moment, then looked back. "What do you think about the theory that the disaster the seer prophecies at the end of the play is not the meteor, but the coming of man?" Isaiah shrugged. "I've thought about it. There's support for it in the text, but..." There was a sharp knock at the door. After an exchanged confused look and a mutual shrug, Isaiah stood, straightened out his robe, and went to the door. Upon opening it, he yelled and fell backwards, as he was met with a growl and a mouthful of angry, sharp teeth. It was too early in the morning for this, he thought. Bolo chuffed his amusement and headed towards the door, greeting the earnest looking, blue vested Achillobator with a short bow. "How may we help you?" he asked, in raptor. Isaiah stood, trying to maintain some level of dignity. Behind the saurian, he saw an Ankylosaurus standing in the street, hitched to a massive, converted copro cart. The other saurian's armored head looked around suspiciously. Isaiah smiled at the raptor: "Yes. How?" TAG: Clubber and Korkoa
|
|
Korkoa
Dolphinback
I'm a Christian Dinotopia lover. So?
Posts: 43
|
Post by Korkoa on Nov 7, 2007 20:15:12 GMT -5
IC: I nodded apolegeticly at the human who, I assumed, was Isaiah. "I'm terribly sorry if I startled you." I explained, stepping inside. "Me and my friend have come to inquire about the job. We saw aa postor for it at the Blackfish."
|
|
|
Post by thundertail on Nov 7, 2007 20:42:06 GMT -5
IC: Clubber, Backbone shipping Company, Rhumsburg
Clubber stepped onto the sidewalk and made it to Korkoa's side. He looked at the squat Protoceratops and the taller human at his side and smiled; then he cleared his throat before saying anything.
"Greetings, Mr. Achebe and sir Bolo! My name is Clubber.", he said.
Clubber peeked beyond this pair and saw your typical shipping dispatch office inside. There was a mansize counter at the far end with mounds of papers and scrolls littering it, a large blackboard that would show shipping schedules and receiving/departure times, a waiting room and other rooms partially hidden from his view. He saw Mr. Achebe and Bolo looking at him and smiled nervousely once again!
"Lovely place you have here!", Clubber blurted; but seeing that wasn't working, he licked his lips and changed tack!
"Um,... I have several letters of recommendation with me, and own my own cart.", Clubber continued. "I have letters from the Dinotopia Agricultural Guild, the town of Baz Shipping and Supply consortium, the shipping organizations of Mollusk Town and Treetown, the Archaeological Guild of Waterfall City, the Canyon City Transportation Authority and letters of reccomendation from many other towns."
TAG: Isiah, Bolo
|
|