Looking up from his half-finished spear, Andrew nodded.

"Yeah, first thing you need to do though is knock over some trees. Then you lean them against a tree that is still standing, and lay all sorts of stuff across the top to fill in holes. It ends up looking like a wooden teepee or something, but it's actually pretty good. Once I finish sharpening this knife I'll help. We don't exactly need a spear yet after all."

Hareton smiled when Andrew explained how to make a shelter. "Hey, Thomas already got us started on that. We could go grab the tree he was yelling about while he knocks down some more." Harry looked at Thomas in a way that said "Whadda ya think?" and asked Lena to help him drag the tree back to where they were currently congregated. He walked off toward the water hole, glad that he could help without thinking too hard.

Patrick manages to find his way to the spring with little incident, he took longer than he thought he would but then he did stop to examine some of the plants - he thought he recognized a few - one might of been yams. But he still wished he'd payed more attention to botony,
Ah well, can't be helped now I suppose.
Crouching down on the springy clover-like plants that surround the water, he pears into the flow.
Good, its clear and running - a minimal chance of death from drinking. he thought as he gently scooped water into his mouth - before clenching his head in his hands against the pain. It was cold - icily cold. He guessed that the heat of this place was articial- natural heat from a volcano etc would permeate and he'd been down enough caves to know that the underground was rarely warm otherwise. Still, it seemed to be supporting life and he began to peer through the water - his eyes adjusting to the distortions of the fluid's movement.

There appear to be a few small fish - nothing really worth catching except perhaps in the hundreds. Of far more interest to his mind are the moluscs - a few small species of snail that are scattered sparsely and a single large slug - he knew that these where an excellent source of protien and easy to catch. Also from his experience with a 'bush tucker' course at school they were salty - they'd have to watch their salt intake if they wanted to stay healthy and heal properly if they got wounded. Then he wondered about leeches and begin to follow the streams course - mentally documenting what he found.

OOC: In accord with general opinion, I'm moving the RP forward to the next day.

Alex muzzily thinks over the events of the last day as he sits outside the shelter and keeps watch. As it turned out, this place did have nights, or at least a good imitiation of them. After a few hours the light had dulled, giving the impressions of twilight before fading to full night. The lights in the cavern roof almost look like stars now, keeping the place from being pitch black. He'd been wrong about the nights being cold but fortunately it isn't very humid. The light seems to be growing stronger again, presumably meaning that dawn is coming.

They'd managed to build a shelter, despite not really having that much of an idea of how to go about it. With some long branches and a tree with the right kind of shape, they'd managed to cobble a basic framtwork together, using mainly palm fronds to cover it. It was very low to the ground, and fairly sprawling but at least they could all (just) fit into it. From outside it bore quite a resemblance to a compost heap. With the fairly mild weather though, perhaps they didn't have to bother.

Well, at least they'd managed to stop that Thomas guy trying to knock over any more trees. Alex had his doubts about that one being quite right in the head. What kind of idiot tries to knock down a tree just to get a few coconuts?

His stomach grumbles at that little reminder. There seemed to be very little food near here so they'd have to search further. They'd managed to get some coconuts but that was about it. The person who'd eaten those berries, John, had gotten some stomach cramps but nothing too bad. Everyone seemed to be physically fine but he did feel concerned about Cathy - she was still asleep. Every muscle in his body feels sore - he'd felt sore after sleeping on the ground for camping or after doing a lot of strenous activity but never this bad. It's probably the strain of all this he tells himself.

For a moment a breeze picks up and there's a hint of... something. Before he can be sure something's there, the wind dies again. If there was something out there, surely he'd hear it or see it long before smelling it. Besides, would a place like this even have large predators? He's about to find out.

The only other warning he has is a sudden motion before something huge leaps out of the darkness at him. He clumsily throws himself to the side and a furred mass blunders into the side of the shelter, triggering off it's partial collapse. Alex gives a cry of of alarm as the beast turns around, and bares long teeth before attacking again.

OOC: Well, it's pretty dark so it'll be very chaotic but the creature is essentially wolf-like. Oh, and about the size of a pony with quite sharp claws too.

Andrew awoke with a start. At first he thought that the shelter was collapsing, but then he realized that something was outside.

He grabbed the knife he had finished off as well as a long stick he had sharpened and darted outside.

"Catch!" He shouted as he tossed the stick over towards Alex.

He shouted back into the lodge "We have some sort of creature out here!" And then tried to stab the beast in it's flank to distract it long enough for Alex to pick up the stick. If he did stab it, he would leap away quickly. After all, there was no way it would be happy about being stabbed.

OOC: starting tomorrow, someone is going to have to take over for me. Not sure what I was thinking when I signed up, but I'm fairly certain that I was not remembering that I've got three consecutive weeks of the strong possibility of not being online.

Lena screamed as part of their shelter was destroyed by a huge, snarling mass of fur and claws. Automatically her limbs forced her into a strange, hurried crabwalk away from the falling wall.

So much for their "shelter." And a lot of good it did them. What the... What the heck was she thinking about? There was a wolf the size of a shetland pony trying to eat Alex, and probably the rest of them too, and she was thinking about the stupid shleter?!

She forced her mind to take control. What should they do now? Should they try to outrun it? Where would they go? Did the creature have buddies waiting outside? She grit her teeth. She didn't have time for thinking!

Her hand found a missplaced rock on the floor and she threw it with all her strength at the beast. It wasn't a big rock, and she wasn't very strong to begin with, but maybe it would distract the wolf from Alex for a minute.

Cathy's eyes blinked open in an instant she heard and smelled the stench of the creature. She lay unmoving, thinking, before she stopped herself in surprise.
Thought? she tentatively thought. A smile crept up over her features in the darkness. Something happened. her mind was no longer clouded in fear of the voices. Her mind was clear for the first time in... she forgot how long, but it must've been VERY long.

As the creature blundered through and destroyed the shelter that had been constructed around her, panic seized her for a mere moment, and her arms flailed helplessly, before something darker gripped her within. Her ears pounded with noise. With sounds, and the skin around the frame of her cheeks and elbows itched. A thousand smells bombarded her senses. She was disoriented, and put her hands to her ears to block out the uncomfortable noise.

Her fingers touched something furry around her ears. She screamed, thinking it was another monster from the depths of her mind. Her head ducked automatically, but nothing was behind her. Gritting her teeth against the loud noises outside, she scrambled to her feet and stumbled out into what seemed like daylight in this place.

She stopped, blinking. Everything seemed sharper. More in focus. Her clear mind noted this as she watched a monstrous beast chase after Alex. It was roaring with defined anger and lust.

Without blinking in hesitation, she scooped up a few other stones and bits of sticks she found nearby and joined in attempting to distract the creature from rending Alex to pieces.

OOC: sorry, i might be absent for a while. got a bit of internet trouble.

"Yaaaaah!" Trevor awoke with a start as the shelter shook. He sat up, and as his eyes adjusted, he noticed two of the girls attacking a large creature in the darkness. It seemed to be chasing someone, but Trevor couldn't tell who; it was too dark and he didn't know these people well enough to identify them in the darkness.

Thinking quickly, Trevor sprang into action. Ignoring how much he was sweating, he yanked a branch out of the damaged side of the shelter and, with a running start, threw it like a javelin at the creature.

Flora crawled out from under the ruins of the shelter, her eyes half open. "Geez, guys, what happened? An earthquake or-holy shit!"
Flora was on her feet immediately as she beheld the monster. It had to be a monster. She simply didn't recognize it for what else it could be. It looked like a wolf, but she couldn't recall wolves getting that big. "Christ, what the hell is that thing?!"
Flora tried to make out some kind of way how she might keep it distracted. It probably wouldn't be good at making sharp turns so she could probably keep it from getting at her if she ran around a tree. Anyways, get its attention, get its attention...and her eyes fell upon some of the excess firewood. She took up a few pieces and decided that she would probably be most accurate flinging the sticks at it. Trying to pick out an open trajectory between her friends...
Allies, she promptly reminded herself. I haven't even known these guys for a whole day.
...and readied herself to fling the first branch.

"Thomas!" yelled Lena. "I'm sorry about what I said earlier about the stick! NOW WOULD BE THE TIME TO USE IT!!"

She was running out of rocks, and they weren't very effective anyway. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Flora run for some excess firewood.

That's it! She her half-frantic mind tried to remember if they had managed to make a campfire and whether they had kept it burning all night. If they had, well, a flaming stick was better than a rock.

She bolted outside, hoping the monster wouldn't notice her.

Thomas grumbled as he was woken up.

"This better be good, or else someone's gonna..."

He then noticed the strange creature jumping around. He gave out a small smile.

"Maybe we'll get lucky, and we can have some meat for breakfast."

As he got up, he heard Lena yell about how she was wrong about the stick. Thomas had to agree with her. These guys were dancing around, throwing rocks and poking it. He was going to go do some damage. He reached down to his side and took his stick. When he thought that he was close enough to the creature, he swung down hard and fast.

The beast hesitates in its attack on Alex when the fusialde of rocks and branches from Lena, Cathy, Trevor and Flora hit it. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be doing much harm to the creature and it shakes its head in irritation. Andrew circles around and stabs at the creature's flank with his crude knife in the hopes of distracting. The creature snarls, more in rage that pain, and whirls around, its bulk knocking him knocking him off his feet.

Then Thomas leaps into the fray, his stick smacking soundly on the beast's ribs. The creature turns on him, distracted form its earlier target. Jaws clamp down on the stick and narrowly miss Thomas' hand. With a jerk of it's head the beast wrenches the stick out of Thomas' grasp and breaks into splinters. As the others continue to pelt the creature with anything that comes to hand, it rushes at Thomas. After swating him aside with a claw that gouges three long gashes in his chest, it bounds off into the darkness again as quickly as it appeared.

Alex stays on the ground. He just can't stop shaking. It looks like the others have driven the creature off, but he just doesn't feel up to much right now. His chest feels crushed but aside from that it he doesn't seem to be too badly injured. Slowly standing up and felling pain with each breath, he weakly gasps out, "What was that?"

*

Some distance away, two observers reflect on the events of the past day. "Well, it seems they've all managed to survive their first battle."

A second voice replies, "Yes, it would have been truely disappointing if they had not. Further struggles will be necessary if we are to get the results we desire however."

"True. We knew this would be likely. I do have my concerns about some of them though. We will have to keep a careful watch for retarded development."

"Indeed."

OOC: Sorry for the delay. As for injuries, Andrew's probably a bit bruised at most, Alex will have badly bruised ribs and probably somes scratches and Thomas is the worst off with the cuts on his chest. Infection's probably the biggest concern.

Thomas dropped to a knee, the cuts in his chest making it hurt to breathe.

"Son of a bitch!" He took his fist and pounded the ground.

It wasn't the pain that was making him furious. It was that the creature got away. The cuts on his chest drooled out some blood. He would have to wrap it up in some kind of bandage soon. Sadly, with the resources they had, he might end up having to clean his shirt and use that.

THEN, out of nowere a half monky half toad jumped out of nowhere and ATE OFF ONE OF HIS FINGERS, and slowly hobled away, no one attacked it because THEY did not want to be its next victim.

Chipmonkey, you've spammed enough on these forums. None of your posts has ever been productive or intelligent in any way. Thus, the ban hammer descends.

(OC- Meister is my hero.)

Lena fell to her knees, shaking, as the creature bounded off into the night. The beast melted into the shadows before her eyes.

"Oh my God," she whispered hoarsely. Her throat felt like it was made of sandpaper. "What the hell is this horrible place?" She could feel the adrenaline still rushing through her and her heart pounding in her chest like it was trying to escape.

Struggling to regain composure, she pushed herself to her feet. She stumbled slightly but her legs seemed willing to obey her now.

Alex, Andrew and Thomas were all on the ground; the former two seemed bruised and stunned, but Thomas was bleeding. She had to at least make herself useful.

"Are you guys alright?" she asked lamely, stumbling over to them. Of course they weren't alright; they'd been attacked by wolfzilla! "Oh man," she muttered, looking at Thomas. "It really swatted you one, huh?" Without thinking, she took off her jacket and stuck two fingers into a hole in its inside lining. The fabric tore easily, and soon she had a jacket sans lining holding a pile of bandages.

"These'll work," she said with a shrug, offering him some. She looked over her shoulder at Alex, shivering on the ground. She frowned. That wasn't good.

"Hey," she said. "Are you okay? You break anything?"

Hareton turned over in his sleep and rolled onto a particularly pointy rock. It jabbed into his ribs, causing him to bounce his side off the ground a little. This, in turn, caused his side to fall on the rock in addition to rolling on it, waking him from his slumber.

Harry rolled off of the rock and onto his back. He stifled a yawn and discovered that his face, that had been clean-shaven the day before, had atleast a week's worth of stubble. It was almost a beard. Only slightly disturbed, Harry decided that he'd watch the "sunrise" in hopes of understanding the lights in the cavern. This plan was abandoned when he heard Tom exclaim, "Son of a bitch!" Standing up and hitting his head on what remained of the lean-too, Harry mumbled, "That can't be good." Stumbling from the shelter and wondering why it had collapsed (Probably because these guys can't build), Harry joined the group with a "Anything happen while I was asleep?"

Patrick lies still beneath the collapsed structure his heart palpatating wildly. He had awoken early into the attack - had heard the shouts and savage growls but he hadn't moved hadn't tried to help, it was safest if the creature didn't notice him. He couldn't fight it - he knew that. The others had but that wasn't his concern - he didn't know them and they didn't know him. One of the branches that had gone into the construction crushed painfully on his leg, though not heavy enough to truelly entrap him he pounced on the excuse, and called out weakly, "Help!, I'm trapped"

"...Thanks."

Thomas grudgingly took the wrapping, and slowly covered his wound with it. She had torn up her jacket, and used it to help him heal. And now, if it got cold later, she wouldn't be as warm. And now, he'd start to feel bad.

"I have no idea what that thing was, but whatever else it was, good was not a quality it had. How badly is everyone hurt? I've got some bruises and stuff, but that's about it, You've got some cuts I can see" He said, indicating Thomas, "But it looks like that's well under control, anybody else?"

He looked over at their ruined structure

"Uh oh, was anybody in there when it collapsed?"

He ran over and started hauling logs away from the pile.

Flora wondered what the heck was wrong with her. She stood up against that monstrosity of fur and claws and nasty teeth, knowing full well that it could easily pounce on her and tear her limb from limb, yet she still did her best to fight it off in some way. Why was she brave? She certainly felt fear, but she fought regardless.
Maybe you just knew that not fighting or running or hiding would get you killed anyways.
Then, that feeling and noise again, like something moving around inside her. It wasn't painful or anything, but just disturbing, like something was swimming around inside her stomach. She placed her hands gently on her torso, but the liquid sound and feelings were already gone.

Harry turned as Andrew walked past him. "Yeah, I was in there," he griped. "What happened? Why that thing fall down?" Harry noticed Thomas's condition. "And how'd you all get beat up? Did someone go crazy? Was it Patrick? He's the only guy missing."

"If he's missing, he's probably still in there. Some sort of creature that I didn't recognize attacked us." He said, still dragging away pieces.

Thomas gave out a small chuckle.

"Yeah. I smacked up it's ribs pretty nicely. It ran away with its tail between its legs. Too bad. If we had killed it, we might be cooking up some meat right now. Speaking of which, I'm hungry. And I don't intend to eat coconuts again."

Harry thought of saying, "Maybe you'll get to eat Patrick, Tom. He ain't a coconut." However he decided against it. Gotta look good. Maybe I can turn this trip into a vacation if I keep from alienating everyone.

He thought to check for Lena and realized that it was for the same reason that he had stuttered yesterday. He called himself an idiot and continued looking. He saw her trying to help Alex and jealousy surged from his toes to his eyebrows, followed by embarassment, then amusement. Yep, total idiot. He decided that he'd try to help her--help Alex. Hareton jogged the few feet to Alex and offered his shoulder. "Looks like you've been hit by a sledgehammer," he joked. "You want some help getting your balance back?"

"Nobody went crazy," Lena told Harry. The memories of the creature began to wash over her. She shuddered. "Okay, maybe we all went a little crazy, but that's not what caused all of this. This... huge wolf... thing attacked the shelter while we were sleeping. Somehow we drove it off, but it really had the upper hand in the fight." She raised an eyebrow. "I guess you're a pretty heavy sleeper, huh?"

She stared at him for a moment, stunned. He... Wasn't his face clean-shaven before? Now it looked like he was growing a beard! But it wasn't possible for something like that to happen overnight, was it? Maybe the stress was beginning to take its toll on her... Was she seeing things?

Then she realized something more strange. She could see everything around the campsite in perfect detail. In the dark. Without her glasses on. It suddenly occurred to her that even when the creature had attacked, she was able to see it until it dissappeared into the deepest shadows of the trees. She touched her face to be absolutely certain that she was using only her own two eyes. That was... weird.

No. It wasn't happening. It was all in her mind. She wasn't going crazy, but... this still couldn't be happening.

"Patrick!" she called, forcing herself to focus on their missing member instead. She clenched her fists and walked stiffly to the remains of their shelter. Her nails seemed sharper than usual as they bit into her palms. It's nothing. Nothing! She grimaced and started pulling away branches. "Patrick, are you in there?"

As this one's hit post limit, I've started a new thread. It can be found here.