2.04: Under Pressure

Jungle Ruin 2
2.04: Under Pressure

“It was a stormy evening all last night. I don’t think many of us got some sleep with all the thunder and lightning going on outside the tents.

However, this morning seems to have turned into a nice day. It’s a little after five o’clock in the morning and it’s already warm and sunny.”


The team took turns using the available bushes as their toilets. Carlyle had to pee so bad that he didn’t hesitate to unzip himself and tinkle from outside the bush rather than go into the bush fully like everyone else was doing.

Randy was not happy by it and didn’t want to see another man’s private parts. Everyone else got a good chuckle at the expense of Randy. Carlyle knew well enough others were around and didn’t “flash” his private parts around.

I have to admit I have been intrigued by Sage’s outfits as of the last two day and today is no exception. The first day, she decided to go in a dress and heals. Yesterday, she finally dressed for the occasion. Today she is dressed like she is going out on a hot date. She definitely looks good in red and black. If the weather stays this way or gets more humid, she is going to get uncomfortable in all that leather.

If we were at the Flirty Falls, I think she would have been the center of attention today. Honestly, I think she still will be.

It is breakfast time after potty time. Luckily this mega cooler can store fresh milk. Everyone grabs a paper bowl and spoon. There were different small boxes of cereal, so the team could pick and choose what type they wanted.

I could overhear some of the team talking about pets, dogs in particular. I’m thinking some may have pets at home that are missing them. Or they are missing their pets. I could sure use a dog companion. I would want one I could take with me on my travels. When this weekly expedition is over, I’ll have to go to Brindleton Bay’s animal shelter and see if they have any dogs that are capable of hanging out here with me.

After breakfast, the behind-the-scenes crew help take down the tents and pack everything up.  We’re going to head back into the temple we found yesterday. I was distracted by two members of my last expedition that I had to catch up on how they were doing.

I lead the team back inside where we first encountered the green mist separating an entryway into another area. I tell my team that in my last expedition, there were many traps within the temple and am sure there will be here as well. We need to find something that will trigger the green mist to disappear.

I tell my team to be careful, but to look for something that is out of the ordinary.

It didn’t take Randy long to point something out. It was actually close to us. Randy approached three skeletons with spears and asks which one should he pull. I shout out to him not to touch anything. I run over to where he is and examine the three skeletons. These look very similar to the ones in my last expedition. In my last expedition, I found three skeletons with spears as well. I tried pulling one of the spears and got the feel of what one of the traps was. It was not fun.

I take out my notepad and flip through the pages to find my last expedition findings. I ended up only pulling one spear and it was the wrong one last expedition. My notes say we found some marked bowls that ended up getting us past the green mist.

I call out to the team and ask if anyone has found any areas where there are bowls with special markings on them. Sage calls out there’s nothing where her and Destiny are. She yells just some grass and flowers.

Digger shouts he found a pool. This brings back memories of the last expedition where a quarter of my team went swimming naked.

I hear music again and thought perhaps Mindy and Misty were back. Perhaps they would like to join us on this tour through the temple. But they were not here. It was just Carlyle. Mindy must have left the stereo behind for them to pick up later or perhaps she was going to return here. Carlyle was dancing to the music. And here I thought he wanted to help explore.

I really didn’t feel comfortable pulling one of these spears. Nothing good can come from it. I have this gut feeling the same thing will happen as my last expedition. I’d rather not eat dirt figuratively or literally. So I tell my team to keep looking.

This is when Octavius pipes up and says that he has found something behind the stairwell we came in from just moments ago. I didn’t see one of these in my last expedition into a temple. It is a large apparatus with a lever next to it. There’s markings on it too as if pieces need to be arranged like a puzzle. There are four different types of glyphs: arrowheads, tree, leaves, and sun.

I ask Octavius what he thinks. He looks at me and shrugs. I go back through my notes from the last expedition. The arrowheads on the bowls were a trap. So I won’t try those here. Anything with spears and arrowheads we should stay away from. Pouring sand into the bowl with the leaves on it worked. I wonder if configuring them will be the key.

I assemble the leaves glyphs and pull the lever.


Author’s Note: I had wanted to get Fox Fever a dog at the end of the first expedition. I even picked one out, but didn’t have time to write a short story for it. There will be a one chapter short after this expedition which will include a cross-over already done where Fox’s dog gets trained at the Good Dog Lodge. Only click the link if you want a spoiler. When Randy approached the three skeletons, I had Fox examine them completely and got a notification that none of the triggers would unlock the gate. For story purposes, I could have had Fox pull one, but thought otherwise at this point. If only the others would autonomously do these, there would be more story action, but sadly they will not. I did the same for the glyphs that Octavius had found and the notification wouldn’t give me a direct answer. So when I made my choice, I didn’t know what would happen. Find out in the next chapter how it all goes down.

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