Romi

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Angelo was pretty much done with whatever the hell had been happening on the island. The problem was that he didn't know what exactly it was that he was done with. Mind control? Clones? Evil twins? His investigations had found nothing conclusive, so when he'd heard that a small group of scouts were doing an unofficial investigation following a lead, he'd jumped at the chance.

Was he worried about going into the forbidden forest?

No, not really. Angelo had been in a lot of dangerous situations before, and his danger-o-meter was pretty firmly broken. He had his suit under his clothes, he'd grabbed an iron charm to wear around his neck, he had an actual gun (rather than just one he could speed-pull with his powers, because you never knew when your powers would stop working)... and more survival gear than most people could imagine.

He also had his compass tucked safely away, trusting the magic of the twelve to point him home more than he'd trust a magnetic compass to work on Manta Carlos.

They were gathering at the end of one of the trails through the forest. It was a nice little midway point for people hiking the trail, but there was also a fork in the path - one that lead deeper into the woods towards the forbidden forest itself.

KEEP OUT, the sign read, which was probably very good advice.

@Kait @Bloos @Keen / No post order!​
 
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Keen

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Konpeitō admittedly felt a bit out of place within the group. He wasn't an actual scout, he simply had the passion to be one. What kept him feeling optimistic was that he might finally gain questions about what's going on with these rumors. If not, this would be good insight into how scouts did their work. To figure out if the job was for him.

For today, Kon dampened and modified the colors of himself so he wouldn't stick out so blatantly in the forest. He actually modified quite a bit of his body. His hair was significantly shorter, his legs buffer in case he needed to run, and the vast majority of his fur was replaced with scales as a form of armor. In fact, from his neck down, he was mostly scales. Just like Aranea had ordered, he wore an iron charm around his neck.

Without any specialized training, he had to go by his gut feeling, the internet, and Aranea's advice on what modifications and equipment would be the most important. A knife, compass, and some other small things that shouldn't slow him down. He hoped he could get tips from the rest if he missed something.

Within the group, he tried to be as peppy as usual, but with a more serious overtone. Something between "We can do this!" and "I'll try not to be loud and flashy." At least Angelo looked prepared and calm.
 

Bloos

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Riley was mostly calm. They were venturining into the forbidden forest to follow a lead up on whatever was going on with these rumors and sure, it could be a trap. Riley just didn't seem all too panic andy. This was just another trip into the forbidden forest to him.

The reason why he felt comfortable going into the forest was because it was something he done since he arrived on the island. He just brought along the stuff he usually bring and the stuff he figured that would help and the iron charm Aranea informed him to get. It was pretty clear that this wasn't Riley's first rodeo going into the forbidden forest to look for a bug person.

This was a perfect chance to apply some of the stuff he learned in scout training to Aranea. So he was going to go about this all very carefully. Riley made his way to the gathering spot at the familiar KEEP OUT sign and waved at the others. Riley was also..... kinda dressed as a park ranger. "Heya guys! Y'all ready for some investigation?"
 

Kait

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"Always." Aranea appreciated Riley's enthusiasm. She admired each of them, really. They were good kids. Not that she should be thinking of them as kids, but it was hard for her not to. She had to remind herself that Jude and Riley had been in more dangerous situations and handled themselves well. And Kon was so tough he could donate organs and grow them back for extra cash. This would be fine.

"Before we go in too far, I want to make sure we're all on the same page." Time for a lecture. "We're here to observe and report, so we can figure out what we're dealing with and come back better prepared, when or if we have to. Keep heroics and risk-taking to a bare minimum. Try not to mess with any weird magic stuff that you don't have to. Not even if it looks like Alma or a second Kon. Whatever's responsible for this seems to care a lot about staying secret, and we're here to spill their beans, so they're probably not going to like us if they figure out what we're up to, so we have to be careful. And, obviously, there's some scary creatures out here. Watch out for those too. Getting out safe is our top priority; we're no use to anyone if we don't. Got it?"

This was, in ideal conditions, how to do an initial scout investigation by the book. Aranea preferred taking more risks on her first look, but not this time. Not with this group.

Soon, Aranea would be leading them in. She had a paper map of the forbidden forest, with several spots marked on it. These were her best guesses as to where Ronnie may have entered another realm.
 

Romi

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Angelo was expecting a lecture, and hearing it? Not a big deal. Observe, report, don't do anything stupid. He'd heard the speech before.

Hell, he'd given the speech before.

"Got it," Angelo said. "And I've got a password with Alma, so running into them would actually be nice." He was relatively confident in his safeguards being able to sniff out the fake Alma, but that was assuming it was a fake Alma. He hadn't entirely ruled out the possibility of it being mind control, and he preferred to keep an open mind as he started in after Aranea, taking a position on the left side as they went after them.

"Do we have any solid hints it's the fae, by the way?" He hadn't heard that part, but wear iron certainly led him to that conclusion.
 

Keen

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Riley's energetic greeting got a similar one from Konpeitō. "I am! I hope to be a great help to you guys. I'm very excited to be here. "

Aranea's lecture was also appreciated. Kon knew this was a serious situation, but being refreshed on what to do doubly reminded him to treat this expedition with care. When she began walking, Kon tried to be silent. He kept his cat paws, both because he was more used to them and because they were generally more silent.

Noticing Angelo changing his position, Kon decided to take the right, walking slightly behind Aranea. He figured that being the most inexperienced meant he should stay in the sight of the most experienced.

Angelo's question got a tilt of the head from Konpeitō as he reviewed the information he had. "Fae are known to be nature-related and have hidden other-worlds in forests. Changelings are also a thing. But that's all guesswork from me. I assumed Aranea wanted us to be safe than sorry, with several aspects of these rumors matching up with fae lore."
 
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Kait

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Between that password and Angelo's abilities, perhaps it would be lucky if they ran into Alma. Or one of several possible Almas. As long as Angelo didn't go out of his way to strike up a conversation with an Alma out here.

As she walked deeper into the forest, she kept her eyes peeled: not only for copies of other people, but also for a sign that one of the scarier creatures out here might cause trouble. One couldn't be too careful.

"Kon is on the right track, there," Aranea said. "We have some evidence. Especially the stuff Ronnie went through out here, that story just screamed 'fae' to me. It's circumstantial evidence, though - nothing about this directly links our problems to fae magic. But it's likely enough that it would be malpractice not to prepare for it."
 

Bloos

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Riley followed along with the group into the forest as he kept his wits about him. So far everything was alright, well as alright as the forbidden forest can be.
"Fae or not it is always better to be prepared for it just in case. Just going off the info we have it's safe to assume fae might be involved and also safe to assume the mothman or whatever might also have things we need to look out for aswell."

"Assuming said mothperson is indeed a moth, we can assume they will be more active at night compared to during the day. We can also assume they might be attracted to light." Riley readjusted his backpack so that he was wearing it infront of him. He unzipped the packpack to pull out some flashlights to pass around to anyone who didn't have any.
"Which is why I got these and some other stuff to use for light. If...we needed to bait them out."

Riley zipped it back up and re-adjusted the backpack so he was wearing it normal again. "My only real concern is how do we tell when we enter the right spot and what's our plan when we realized we are stuck here?"
 

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In the beginning, the groups foray into the forbidden forest was relatively peaceful. The only sounds they heard outside their conversation were the sound of wind and bugs and the occasional small critter scurrying away from their path. The larger, more threatening creatures that could be found within were keeping their distance. For the moment, at least.

The first few spots marked on Aranea's map don't turn up anything, even with the advanced senses of people within the group they don't find anything particularly unusual.

However, as they approach the forth spot on her map, something changed. A barely noticeable, thin layer of mist started to permeate through the trees as they walked. None of them felt any different once they notice it, it didn't smell or seem to carry any supernatural effect that they could notice.

Though it seemed to get thicker the further they walked forward, and with how dark the forbidden forest usually was, visibility would likely get poorer.
 

Romi

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So there wasn't any confirmation, just speculation. That was fine, and Angelo still had his iron pendant anyway. The more he knew, the better things were hopefully going to go.

He didn't need to take a flashlight from Riley, but did take it as an excuse to draw his own out. He reached forward, his hand vanishing into the air, and a moment later he withdrew a high powered flashlight, clicking it on even though it wasn't quite necessary. The test done, he clicked it back off, keeping his attention about him.

But it wasn't too long before things started to get harder to see, and Angelo frowned as he surveyed the area as they headed towards the fourth spot. It was... misty. Mist could probably have been just a totally normal part of the island's weather, but on an island like Manta Carlos it was hard to really believe that it was totally natural. Things on Manta Carlos tended to get weird in a hurry, after all.

Angelo clicked his flashlight on, pulling in closer.

"Probably not necessary yet," he said quietly, "but lets all stay within arm's reach, alright?" He did not want anyone getting separated. "In fact, passwords. If you get separated at all and come back to the group, as 'is everything alright?', and we'll know it's you. Anything else and we'll know it's an impostor."
 
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