Adventurers of the Lost Cities: Curse of the Huallepen!

Pallas

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Amelia inspected what looked to be a wedding band. It was... a pretty ring and certainly valuable in its own right. The question is however was if such an offering would be enough to satisfy the builders of this temple. Well only one way to know for certain.

"Might be. But be sure to switch them out quickly. And... be ready to dive out at moment's notice as you will probably only have a second or two to react before the cage falls on top of you." warned Amelia, looking at the moon stone so teasingly close. She looks back to Liam with some due concern.

"But... are you sure? I mean... you were saving that ring for someone special weren't you."
 

Kada

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Liam gave Amelia a small, saddened smile as he clutched the ring in his fist. He gave a small shrug and headed towards the pedestal that held the moon stone. "I mean..." he started, and stopped with a sigh. "It's doing me no good sitting in my pocket. And who knows if I'll ever find someone I connect with well enough to want to make that leap."

He stood in front of the pedestal, ring in one hand and the other open and ready to grab the stone. He spoke, mostly to himself, uncertain if his voice would carry through the chamber. "Truth be told, sometimes I don't know if I'm worth anybody's time... I know what everybody says. Orsick and all of them. And maybe I'm not old enough to be worrying about it. But it still hurts, the idea that I might..."

Liam took a deep breath to cut himself off. Now was not the time to mope. He had to be ready to move at a moment's notice. Hands steady and legs tensed, ready to leap at any second, he quickly swapped the stone for the ring. Did it work? Was the ring enough? Or did he have to take the leap and get out of the cage's way? He was too focused in the moment, working on muscle memory and instinct to really notice until it was over.
 

Pallas

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"... hey... right now your worth my time. I hope you know that Dalia." spoke Amelia, half forgetting the whole character thing they were going for as they stood in a dangerous stone temple for they were concerned for their sister's- err... brother's well being. She gives them a reassuring pat on the back and finishes off with "Lets be mopey together another time okey? Lets just have fun adventure together... Sir Brandsworth~"

Amelia watched in anticipation as Liam walk up to the pedestal. As he made the switch, it would seemed that nothing happen. Before she could let out a sigh, there was a loud click and the cage came crashing down! As she opened to mouth to warn Liam, he had already leaped out to safety as the cage fell down to the spot he once stood. All she could do was stand there stunned by Liam's quick reflexes but happy to see that once again her companion managed to avoid danger.

"Oh wow... okey well I guess-" before she let out quip about how worthless the ring must have been... she thought it best to just keep to herself so that they could just enjoy their adventure and not distract themselves with real world insecurities. "- I guess... we go off to the find the sun stone! Lets just get out of here while there is still daylight."

The way out of the moon temple was surprisingly uneventful. Though the Sun Temple was straight across, they still needed to navigate the jungle a bit in order to reach it. As they made their way however there was a great chasm between and their destination.

"Oh fudgicles! How are we going to get across this?"
cursed Amelia, staring deep into that dark, bottomless abyss until she notices the vines dangling just above "Oh hey! Liam look! We could use those vines to get accross, you like in Tarzan or something! Just follow my lead okey~"

Without a moment's hesitation, she lines up her jump and aims for the thickest and sturdiest vine that she could make out. She then leaps with no abandon, grabbing hold on the vine and laughing all the way. As she uses her momentum to swing herself across, she could feel the vine wrap itself on her waist. As she looks down she could see what she thought was vine was a scaly serpent's tail now coiling around her. It was only then she realizes that what she just grasped was not a vine a but a massive anaconda! Just as she realizes her predicament, the creatures head meets her face eye level, opening with its wide gaping jaws and a snarling hiss.

"AHHHhhhh! LIAM! HELP!" shrieked Amelia, looking for Liam as she tries to struggle her way out of snake's clutches.
 

Kada

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Liam stood up from where he'd nearly gotten trapped by the cage, frowning a little bit that his ring hadn't been considered worth enough. But he couldn't dwell on that for to long. They had the moon stone and that was what mattered.

"Yeah, let's go." Liam followed almost quietly behind Amelia, putting the moon stone in his rucksack.

Everything seemed to be going fine until they reached the gulch. He had figured that the vines were a good idea to swing across with, and was glad that Amelia had the same idea. But the vine Amelia grabbed onto was not a vine but a snake! "Shit!" he exclaimed as he, without taking a second thought, he ran and leapt off the cliff to grab onto a vine near Amelia and the anaconda.

He couldn't risk using his machete to hurt the snake without possibly hurting Amelia too, so he just started hitting it in the head hoping that it would let her go. "Grab onto me, Amie! Grab on and don't fuckin' let go!"
 

Pallas

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As the anaconda flickering forked tongue licked just in front of her face, her hero came in with a surprising blow against the snake's skull. The hit was enough for the serpent to loosen its grip, just enough to let Amelia slip away in Liam's arms! As Liam swung them to safety, she clung tightly onto her savior until the two had made to the other side. The rolled into one another upon making hard landing and after a few somersaults Amelia finds Liam laying on top of her. Coming out of her daze she stares straight into Liam's eyes until she recalls what had just transpired. Liam had just saved her from becoming either snake food or falling endlessly into a bottomless pit. Though they were dirty and Amelia ha lost her hat, they were still alive.

"Whooaaa! Ohh man... thanks Liam, my hero~" teased Amelia after catching her breath. She gives him tight squeeze and pat on the back even though the two where still laying on top of one another. After taking in deep breath she lightly pulls Liam off her and tries to dust herself off even if was hopeless marred by mud. After wiping off the most serious of muddy clumps off her body and clothes, she looks to the filth clinging onto Liam and goes full on mothering mode.

"Wait wait wait... let me get some of this off of you first." commanded Amelia, taking a handkerchief to dab away the globs of mud off Liam bust she could. Though try as she might, rather than cleaning her partner she just got mud smeared all over his clothes. Seeing the effort fruitless, she stuffs away the muddy handkerchief into her back.

"Well... the best that can do. Ready to get a move on Liam?" asked Amelia, giving Liam a smile.
 

Kada

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Liam didn't breathe until the two of them were safely on the other side of the gulch. His first breath wasn't voluntary as he hit the ground rather hard and gasped loudly from the impact. He braced the hug as tightly as Amelia offered it, laughing more out of the sudden rush of emotion than actually finding anything about the situation funny.

"N-no problem," he said as the two of them untangled from each other. Standing up slowly, Liam rolled his shoulder and noticed that it was sore. He'd landed on it badly, it seemed.

His face hit with a small blush as Amelia started fussing over the dirt on him. Liam took her hand to stop her from smearing the mud any further and kind of glanced get way with a smile. "I'm okay, Amie. It's just a little dirt. I'm just glad you're safe."

He nodded along when she asked if he was ready to keep going, keeping to himself the last bit of what he had intended to say. That he wouldn't know what to do if he'd lost her. "Yeah, let's keep moving. We don't wanna be exposed in the jungle for too long."

Taking his machete from its sheath, Liam once again took to following from the front. Clearing a path through the wilderness towards the sun pyramid. Somewhere off to the side, unseen by our two heroes, another predator watched their progress as it stalked them through the trees. It was a patient one, willing to wait as long as it needed to ensure a meal.
 

Pallas

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Oblivious to any danger, Amelia directs their partner though the jungle until they stand together in front of the Sun Temple now looming over them. The entrance inside the temple however, is sealed off by massive stone slab. The slab itself seems to depict a mesoamerican calendar of sorts with five concentric circles. The outermost depicts 20 ancient numerical symbols along its ring, followed a set with 13 depicting various craved faces, 7 showing motifs of animals, 5 represent human organs and the innermost circle an stone relief of the sun similar to the angry mad sun in the Super Mario Bros. games.

"Hrmmm..." hummed Amelia, staring at the stone trying to find meaning "... I think is a calender but... let me look through my notes."

Amelia pulls out her handy-dandy notebook and flips through few pages until she comes across sketch near identical to the imagery of stone slab.

"Ahh ha! Okey yes! So here it reads that on the sun's holiest day... the gods favored... begin the cycle anew... huh okey." Amelia then closes the book and looks to the door. "Okey its a puzzle. I think we can... spin those rings into the correct order and it will let us in inside! I think the sun's holiest day refers the summer solstice. The outside ring are numbers, 20 days in month. The one with the faces are the 13 gods whom... each have an associated month. Each of the animals represent a year... sort of like Chinese zodiac. The 5 organs... those... those are 5 unlucky days. Err... more or less the 5 extra days that don't belong to month in order to get a complete solar calendar. The favored animal is the eagle because they are traditionally seen as the messengers of the gods. That just leaves... uhhh... the 5 unlucky days."

Amelia then looks to the 5 organs represent the 5 days: the brain, the eye, the heart, the lungs, and the stomach. She looks uneasily at each symbol.

"Ughh... I don't know what they mean by the cycle anew though. Which one of these are the right one?" grumbled Amelia, feeling so dumb for not knowing which one it was. She basically just narrowed 9100 possible combinations to just 5 but that still left them with just a 20% change of getting it on the first try!

"Ohhh... Liam? What do you think? Maybe I am just overthinking this? I could use some input."
 
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