Jungle Ruin 2
2.02: There Ain’t No Bugs On Me
“We’ve made it to the jungles of Selvadorada. I’m looking forward to what new adventures await us.
“Since we will not be sleeping in a lodging unit like the last expedition, this gives my new expedition team more time to explore. We’ll also be doing a lot more digging. Our last day out here, I’ll spend the whole day revealing our finds at the museum. The crew will be able to keep or sell their findings right away. That is if they are not fake.
“Let’s get our journey started.”
Here we are at the Belomisia Trailhead. I’m familiar with this from my last expedition out here. I point out the sign to the team that has instructions for preparations and readiness. It also tells about the poisonous creatures we may encounter. I tell them I’ve encountered a lot of bug related creatures out here in the past, so make sure they keep the supplies I’ve handed out earlier on hand at all times.
I could hear some muttering behind me with Randy’s name in them. I don’t bother to turn around yet as I’m giving out instructions.
I take out my machete and begin cutting away at vines at an arch where we will venture further into the jungle. Kali thinks Carlyle is too close to me and suggests he stand back a little. It’s good to know this woman claiming to be a goddess is looking out for my team.
As I step through the clearing, I notice a shiny statue on a pedestal. It’s very beautiful and captivating. But why is it placed here all alone? Although it would be a great treasure to take with me, my suspicions get the better of me and I best leave it where it’s at. I have a feeling I’ll be triggering something if I take it.
As I step back still admiring the statue, I feel my foot tug on a wire. Oh crud, I think I just set off a trap.
I see a totem on the other side of the statue open its mouth and fire spews from it. I quickly duck and dodge the fire that almost set me afire. My back is a little heated, but I managed to save myself.
The team comes through the arch immediately asking what happened. Thankfully the fire breathing totem was done when they trekked in. I told them not to touch the statue and watch where they step. I’ve encountered our first booby trap out here.
We arrive at another vine covered archway. More cutting to do. I wanted to take a different path than I did on my last expedition to see what else is out here.
As I am chopping away, I hear Kali tell the team she thinks this is a magical place. She can sense the spirits of the Omiscan Tribes of the past. She thinks maybe they were giving me a warning. I think maybe I should watch where I step out here.
All of a sudden, a bunch of bats descend upon us heading towards Carlyle, Octavius, and Kali. Carlyle quickly pulls out his plasma bat bait. The sound from this instantly kills the bats. Great job, Carlyle.
I finally cut an opening and call the team through. Finally, new territory. Immediately to my right I spot an area waiting to be excavated, so I begin to establish a dig site around it.
I called the three woman explorers over to help me dig this site. Kali said she doesn’t disturb the area. She is here to protect it. And she warns us to be careful. I ask if there’s one of the gentlemen who want to help and Digger is the first to volunteer. Destiny thought Digger was good at this kind of stuff. What about me, Destiny?
While I was teaching my first excavating team the right way to dig, I caught Randy swatting bees with the Guzmania Pollenis Flower I handed out earlier. The pollen in these flowers are dangerous to bees. I got stung last expedition from these buggers. Glad Randy didn’t this. They can hurt.
I saw another area that could be excavated, so I left this group to their digging as I set an establishment at the other.
I could hear Carlyle talking to Randy how hot it is getting out here. Welcome to the jungle, my friends. I glance up to where they were talking to see Octavius staring out the arch we came through. He looks like he heard something out there.
I finish up the establishing and invite the other three over to excavate this site. Carlyle seems to be really excited about digging up some possible treasures.
This is only our first day and my team is getting distracted by all the insects out here. It’s Carlyle’s turn with the bees and a spider decides to hang out with Octavius. I only bought a limited amount of supplies too for helping rid these critters. If we use them all up so soon, we’ll be stuck with dealing with the consequences of these buggers actions.
It’s close to three o’clock in the afternoon and some of my team are getting hungry. As they continue to excavate, I have Digger and Destiny help find loose logs of wood from fallen trees as well as rocks laying around. We start to build a campfire.
Carlyle makes it known that he has to tinkle…
I tell him if he has to go, then go. We’re out in the jungle. There’s plenty of private areas he can find. Carlyle finds a bush and happily relieves his bodily fluids.
Others followed suit of Carlyle to find places in the surrounding area to go the bathroom.
Those who were still excavating found something that could be analyzed towards the end of the week. I went ahead and lit the campfire that Digger and Destiny helped me put together. As I tossed the match into the campfire, Destiny shrugged her shoulders and said that was not a smart way to start a fire and suggested we back up from it.
I’ve done this plenty of times, Destiny. I know what I am doing. I give her a smirk as the logs begin to slowly burn. Sage gives Destiny a look of “yeah, he knows what he’s doing”.
I brought along a new cooler this time around. It’s called a Mega Cooler. It allows you to control the temperature inside the cooler. That way I could bring frozen hot dogs, hamburgers, and other foods and drinks that need to be frozen or cooled.
The sun was slowly starting to set and my team was getting hungry. I had made grilled cheese in the shape of round balls. Breaded on the outside and cheese on the inside. They just needed to be heated up. I had put them in tinfoil so we could roast them over the campfire first.
We gathered around the campfire, heated our grilled cheese and ate our dinner together. I even think Kali enjoyed this type of food. I’m not sure exactly what goddesses eat.
After we ate, I told stories of my last adventure. There was a lot of reactions when I told the part of the temple. I explained how there were traps throughout and that there was a skeleton that was alive that was guarding it.
Kali responds with that the temples within the jungle are sacred. I look over on Destiny’s face and she looks a little stunned. That’s right, Destiny. This isn’t a movie and all the props are the real thing.
During my storytelling, we are visited by a swarm of bees. Randy says he’s got it and takes out his Guzmania Pollenis Flower. As this is poisonous to bees but attracts them to it, they drop dead. Good work, Randy. Destiny was thankful too.
As it’s getting late, I extinguish the fire…
And I have my team help pitch the tents for the night. The women would sleep in one tent, the men in the other.
Around two o’clock in the morning, my bladder is telling me it needs to be emptied. I find the nearest bush close to camp. Since no one else is awake, I stand outside and pee in the bush itself.
As I am heading back to the tents, I notice a glowing light coming from acrate made out of rock. This is similar in looks to what I saw in one of the temples in my last expedition.
With all my strength, I push the top of the crate more so the opening glows even brighter of a gold.
It seems to be a chest full of artifacts, trinkets, and gold pieces.
I gather up what I can and head back to camp and empty my findings into my pack.
Author’s Note: There were a few cheating moments in this chapter for it being an I.S.B.I. First, I have to force them to excavate as they will not do so autonomously. I wanted to stay true to how the creator of Kali wanted to portray her, so I didn’t have her do any digging. She is meant to be a goddess, so as you see she does not have a backpack as well (as stated in the last chapter). This extremely helped when I had two excavation sites in one area. I could have four dig in one and three dig in another. Then Kali could just watch and have her speech or thought bubbles show up to add to the story. Secondly in regards to cheating out of the I.S.B.I. moments, I wanted the team to have their first meal together. Before the expedition started, I also put food in their inventory as well as supplies. I’m not sure if they’ll eat the food from their inventory autonomously or not, but for this chapter, I wanted to make sure they all ate at the same time and the same meal.