A place only // open+scavenger hunt // we can find

[Verdigris]

  [font=trebuchet ms]Next was a place for cheaters who loved to play games. As a member of the Blackjack Rats, Paper knew full well that was referring to his guild- they were known for social interactions and sneaky manipulation, after all. And where else would the Blackjack Rats hang out than their very own tavern?

  Pushing open the doors to Capricorn Tavern, Paper glanced around. The tavern seemed busy today, with crowds of people hustling about with drinks and chatting each other up. Narrowing his eyes, he examined each corner of the tavern, sniffing about for the smell of the cowrie shell baskets. One of them had to be around here somewhere...

[ROSEMARY]

ROSEMARY ROUX

Though Rosemary usually stayed away from the Capricorn Tavern due to the cramped and crowdedness of the space, she knew that they played card games - and, with the reputations of pirates and cheating, she knew that was probably her best bet. Heading in shortly after Papercutter, who seemed to have the same idea she did, the ocelot made her way to the bar area as she kept an eye out for a basket full of yellow-painted cowrie shells.

But she smelled them before she spotted them; changing her course, she headed for the basket and plucked out one of them to put in her satchel to join the other two. Blue, pink, and yellow. She already had an idea for where she might find the fourth place - the one with the green shell if she remembered correctly from Jacob's explanation. Thinking on the last riddle, she adjusted the strap on her leather bag. Well, she could think about that while she headed to the fourth one.

© MADI

[Verdigris]

  [font=trebuchet ms]And indeed, there was Rosemary, standing by a basket full of yellow shells. How had she found it before him? Never mind. Hurrying over to the basket, he took one yellow shell and stuck it in his bag, and then headed out. Next was the place where bells rung- he was pretty sure he knew where that was.

  /ickpost

[ROSEMARY]

ROSEMARY ROUX

With her shell firmly secured in her bag, the ocelot took another winding path to another section of the territory - this one on the outskirts, by its very nature. She only knew one location in the territory to have a bell of any sort: the railroad gait. She remembered how some joiners she saw would ring the bell here to get the attention of others, though she honestly didn't remember if she had been one of them. Still, as she came closer, her pawsteps quickened as her excitement got the best of her.

Her forked tail flicked happily behind her as she saw the basket slip into view, nestled next to the train and full of painted shells. Plucking one from the pile, she tucked it into her bag with the three others - blue, pink, yellow, and green. Purple was at the next and final destination; she could feel her paws ache with all this walking, and she silently wished she mastered her flight with her air elemental abilities by now. Surely it'd go by much faster and save her muscles some aches!

© MADI

[Verdigris]

  [font=trebuchet ms]Paper actually did recall meeting a joiner at the bells once. The joiner in question had deliberately been messing around with the snakes, resulting in them being bitten- it had taken some work and quick thinking to get them to the medic in time. They had survived from what he could recall, but he remembered very little after that.

  Heading up to the bells by the railroad tracks, Paper came up to the basket of green shells after Rosemary, and took a shell from the basket. He’d gotten four for four, but he’d lost the lead- it was going to take an all-out sprint for him to get to the last shell before she did, most likely. Shoving the shell in his bag, he bolted back towards the final location, internally mapping the quickest route there in his head.

  It was odd, how of all things, a hunt for shells was what managed to awaken a sense of competitiveness in him.

[ROSEMARY]

ROSEMARY ROUX

Now, to find "where everything glittered, even gold" - well, Rosemary knew the territory contained a lot of gold. From The Tempest, Capricorn Tavern, and Treasure Bay they certainly had a lot of the stuff on the island. But she already visited The Tempest and Capricorn Tavern for two other shells, and didn't see an additional basket anywhere near the gold. She also doubted that Jacob put the last one next to the most dangerous area on the island, especially given how much he disliked violence and said this wasn't to be a sparring match.

Her forked tail flicked as she started going in the direction of the jungle, her speed steadily increasing as she grew more certain of the last location: the glowing crystal mines. Rosemary actually never visited the place before, but she heard stories about it from the rest of the pirate crew; naturally, she felt a bit uncertain about pinning the last location on rumors, but she didn't really have much choice.

Brow furrowing as she approached the mouth of the mines, she hesitated a bit before she went in, not too fond of going underground just to retreive a shell and win the competition. But head in she did, her forked tail high in the air and her four eyes on alert. Cautiously walking through the mine, she headed to where she heard the glowy-est bits were supposed to be and, sure enough, as she entered the tunnel she saw a basket of purple shells waiting in the middle. Grabbing one, she tucked it into her satchel with the other four and supposed that was it.

[ i forfeit the 40k gems for first place (since i helped donate gems to the contest anyway and don't need it lol) !! ]

© MADI

[Verdigris]

  [font=trebuchet ms]Everything glittering, even gold, could only mean the crystal caves. He had been there several times- first for the blood division ceremony, then to find the ruby for a second time, then to get the chips for his game of roulette that had never actually gotten off the ground. With the caves' gleaming walls and piles of gems, there was no way the riddle could refer to anything else.

  The fortunate thing was that, as a jackal, he was built to run at high speeds for long periods of time. It wasn't quite enough for him to clear the whole island, from the entrance bells to the caves, without stopping, but he thought he was making decent time, and he still had enough energy left when he reached the mouth of the cavern to bolt in. The shells threatened to spill out of his bag as he descended into the darkness, eyes sweeping the stone for signs of a basket as he ran.

  Finally, he skidded to a stop in front of the purple basket- with Rosemary standing right next to it, clearly having gotten there before him. "How'd... you get here... so fast?" he panted, taking a purple shell out of the basket and shoving it into his bag. After taking a moment to catch his breath, he added, "Congratulations... on first place."

[PINCHER]

[ ooc: because axi does not want the gems / the reward of 40k will be given to the second place & the 20k for second place is now for third place for anyone to take ]