Play@YSDC

Ted hands Ferret the 5, sounds good, we will be ready to go when you are.

Proby (the Ferret) grins as he takes the five spot, "Like I said, give me an hour to sort out me truck and I'll meet you back here"
Disapearing the five dollar note into a shirt pocket, he fastens the button and leaves the room.

Axelby, coffee pot in hand, watches him leave, "Strange bloke, story is he was shifting illegal arms when his boat sank and he washed up here. Still he's always been good to his word, if he says he will show you the forrest, he will"
He eyes the fire blackened coffee pot, "Now is there anything I can get you before I begin the daily grind of running the hotel?"

"Well, I could sure do with some breakfast," says Tony. "Coffee would hit the spot too, thanks."

Paul orders another coffe whoile waiting on everyone to gather again to discuss the plan going foward.

Ted Nelson
.
Ted orders some breakfast, chokes down his coffee and gets another cup.
'Well, I guess we are going into that God forsaken forest."

"Do you think we will be gone more than just the day?" ask Paul. "That will help us know what we need to get packed up, at a minimum I would advise everyone to dress comfortably with good hiking footware and make sure you bring some water with you."

Professor Krugman: "Well, we seem to be making progress Gentlemen... er and Lady. We should get out things together and be ready to leave as soon as the fellow brings his truck. Perhaps the hotel could pack us a hamper, we may be gone for some time."

-Maybe we should take some extra food? In case we got lost?- says Francis

Paul laughs "If we get lost we need to get a refund from the guide"

Ted laughs, "Yea, but bringing a snack and some water sounds like a good plan."

Ted finishes off his coffee and breakfast and gathers his gear ready to go.

No sooner had you got everything sorted, but a car horn toots outside the hotel.

Outside, engine misfiring slightly, is a Russian military truck. From the rough looking bodywork and a pattern of small evenly paced holes in the passenger door you would imgine that it probably saw service in the Russian Civil War. The front windscreen looks paterned by multiple spiderweb crack. All in all it looks, if not dangerous, likely to give up the ghost at any time. But at least it's running, though for how long is anyones guess.
Proby leans out of the drivers side window, cigarette gripped between his teeth, "Okay all aboard. Chuck your stuff in the back. Theres room up front for teo of you, the rest will have to find a box to sit on in the rear" He smiles and ducks back into the cab. The truck revs up and black smoke spews from the exhaust.

Once everyone is aboard Proby shifts into first, with a crunch of misaligned gears, and the truck heads off down the dirt road towards the forest.

You come around a bend in the road and for a brief moment you the Aokigahara forest stretching before you.
The road, heavilly rutted, leads into shadow. A few feet into the forest is a large hand-painted sign lashed to a copse of trees, with three rows of characters in Japanese.
Proby, cigarette still gripped tightly between his lips, slows the truck to a crawl and grins, "Sign says,Please reconsider your actions. Think of your families!"

Paul, sitting in the back of the truck but close enough to the cab to be able to communicate with those in the front reads the sign to himself to validate what Proby is telling them

After a short distance of the road becoming a potholed track little better than a path, Proby brings the truck to a halt,
"Well this is as far as the old lady goes, from here on its a walk I'm afraid. That's if you want to go any further". He shuts off the engine with a few moments of preignition, "This is as far in as I brought the sheila. Whether she came back by herself is anyones guess. She'd be stupid if she did, but then..." he leans out the window and throws his cigarette butt amongst the thick undergrowth.

Paul jumps out of the back of the truck and stretches his legs and says "But then what?" and turns and looks at Proby.

Tony climbs out of the back of the truck too. "You said Veronica was staring at something," he says to Proby. "Do you remember which way she was looking?"

Ted climbs out of the back and looks around seeing if he can spot any tracks leading away from their spot and into the woods.

Francis try to find something unusual.

Professor Krugman: "But Mr. Proly... surely if we were to increase your remuneration?"

Previously Paul Wellington said:   "But then what?"

Proby looks back at you and shrugs, "Then nothing, I simply meant you know what young girls are like always searching after adventure. Whether she came back later of her own accord, I don't know - she might have. If she did and she went in there without a guide, well" he leaves the sentence unfinished but one look at the tangled mass of trees, bushes and undergrowth is enough.

Previously Tony said:   "You said Veronica was staring at something. Do you remember which way she was looking?"

Proby takes the stained hat from his head and wipes his forehead with the back of his hand, "I dont know that she was staring at anything in particular simply looking into the forest" With the hat he points towards the forest, staight ahead where you can see the path disapearing into the shadows, "She was looking that way, down the path"

Previously Professor Krugman said:   "But Mr. Proby... surely if we were to increase your remuneration?"

Proby replaces the hat and kicks dust from the path, "Its not a question of price. I mean that this is as far as the truck will take us, from here on its a hike. Your five dollars a day will still buy you a guide. You tell me where you want to go and I will take you there and back"

He watches as Ted checks for any tracks.
There are lots both human and animal, criss-crossing up and down the path some going in, some coming out. But more going.

OOC:   The story continues here viewtopic.php?f=306&t=5267