Okotan Adventures run by the Man Himself? What could possible go wrong?
Okoto is as it was and always is: Teetering on the brink of destruction. As always, there were masks to be found, villains to be punched, fires to be started, and a good mix of existential dread. The Sun was shining over the island, except for where it wasn’t, the sky instead sending a torrent of snow in the general direction of the Erebros hunting party. Other adventurers were seeking a different quarry altogether: The Spider Queen Skyll, leader of the Skull Spiders. Further out still rode the wings of a ancient forest entity, joined by a motley pair of scoundrels as they soared over the ocean blue in search of a mask lost to time. For those with the gumption and the will to seek it out, this island’s certainly has no shortage of adventure.
The endless expanse of grey with white lines running across it, constantly rushing to a fate which was equal parts inevitable and enticing, gave no visible reflection to its audience above, but echoed the ominous claps of the roaring deep below, egged on by wind and ceaseless tides.
And one ancient forest entity felt like he was going to pass out from weariness and absolute boredom.
It wouldn’t be the best situation given that the pair of skulking scallywags with which he chose to do business were both reliant on his ability to not collapse and plummet out of the sky into the watery canvas below, but a solution must be found at some point in the future - at a lighter size, without the despicable duo he was ferrying, and within clear sunlight, he would have no difficulty maintaining enough energy to soar endlessly. But one cloud had managed to be directly in front of the sun for at least an hour now, and the monotony of the whole adventure was mind-numbing.
For almost that entire hour he had been staring down, trying to do so in a way which would not provoke eye contact with one of the passengers… Specifically, the one directly below him. But it was really getting intolerable to keep up.
“Any idea when this rotted thing will appear?” Morrus, the Lord of the Skies finally mumbled, breaking the silence and potentially inviting unwanted conversation. “I feel my wings may fall off at some point with all this travel.”
“Well, it’s an island, and it has a maze on it, Shouldn’t be that hard to spot,” Murmured the twisted canine, huffing slightly,“Are you sure you’re going the right w-wait, I think I see it!” continued Forty Four, squinting at something off in the distance.
Gradually growing in the distance was what looked to be the island in question, surrounded by a chain of smaller islands, but what could even been seen from afar was quite impressive: The Labyrinth of control, a massive, ancient fortress filled with more than enough secrets to last a lifetime. Strangely though, it seemed as though the labyrinth wasn’t the only island of note. One landmass that was particularly close to the maze seemed to have an odd haze about it, a large portion of the satellite island distorted as though the light was being refracted by water. Something was clearly wrong with it, but weather or not it involved the mask had yet to be seen.
Hoari twirled the gold chain attached to his ear around his finger. why would he be interested in The shadow realm- wait didn’t mother have a book about that? the adventurer spun back around weaving in between two Okotan’s deep in conversation before something clicked in his mind. “Hold on, did you say it was the skull spiders that attacked your village?”
The Weather only worsened with each step the adventures took, the frigid cold biting through their layers of armor and jackets, whilst they were battered by wind and snow on what seemed to be all sides. They soon noticed that sun had began to set, not because they could see it through the storm, but rather because of how the turbulent void around them seemed to darken, further impeding any progress they made. The only solace the group had was knowing that their target was in the same predicament as they were, it fact, it looked like they were finally catching up to him. Or maybe it was because of the fact that he had finally stopped…
“How 'bout I find the highground?” Tarkur proposes hinting with his eyes to his bow, trying to be heard over the heavy winds. While he waited for a response he tried to search the area for an incline.
“I dunno, maybe Ekimu has a plan, he’s very smart!” She suggested, before squinting at the somewhat distant figure,“Does it look like to you guys that he’s got something in his hands?”
Erebos looked to have been clutching his replacement mask, tossing it to the side as he reached for something embedded within a tall pedestal made of ice.
Tarkur eventually spoted an incline a bit to the right of the group, he hesitated to go over there just yet. “I definately have a plan and it involves that incline over there” Tarkur called out to the group,