"You know," Your long-time friend yawns and stretches out as he slowly wakes up, "the Himalayas have really soured my opinion on snow days. Do you think we convince the boss to send us to Fiji next time? Maybe Hawaii?"
"Dude, have you heard what's going on in Fiji?" You grunt as you slowly push yourself upwards.
"No?" My partner-in-crime mutters, a confused look on his face.
"I heard that K'nuckles pirate guy sent one of his minion, Captain Skunkbeard to raid Fiji, and every other nearby island and country, to..." You prepare yourself for the stupidity about to leave your mouth, "... 'Steal parts to build a time machine to go back in time to before Candied Island was destroyed'."
Not only do your words cause your fellow Henchmen to stare at you blankly, everyone else who's woken up near you are doing the same thing. Finally, after what seems like an eternity, he mutters, "That can't be real."
"Oh trust me, it is." You laugh. "Not as crazy as what's going on in Hawaii. That place is a literal warzone!"
"... I'm afraid to ask..."
......................................................................................................................................................................
John Simms still couldn't believe what was happening. He'd managed to just barely keep his pearl poaching ring from being discovered, only to, in the end, be found out. Now his "abandoned ancient Hawaiian village" was filled by refugees fleeing from threats that, in their opinion, were far more intimidating than a Witch Doctor and a "living" statue. Though he couldn't blame them when some of the threats were a living lava monster, a horde of Nazi robots, and a fire-ball spitting Tiki who commanded an army of smaller Tikis...
... Of course, just to add to the insanity, he had an actual pair of real ghosts hanging around trying to "help" him.
"I still find it stupid you called yourself a 'Witch Doctor'." The spirit of the ancient Hawaiin leader grunted, "You really should have called yourself a Kahuna ʻAnāʻanā, a priest who -"
"You really can stop reminding me, 'King' Manamoa," John grumbled back. "I haven't heard of any legends about you or your queen, but you don't hear me grumbling about your existence. Besides, I didn't choose to call myself the Witch Doctor, I just hopped onto the bandwagon after people started calling me that."
"Perhaps, but -" Before the phantom could finish, a young teenager darted into the room.
"Finally! Mr. Witch Doctor, King Manamoa, I'm from the Ghost Chasers magazine, and I'm here to interview you both!"
Simms and Manamoa stared at the young man with a dumbfounded look, before Manamoa turned his head to the side and yelled, "Mahoney, sweetie, the Ghost Chasers are back!"
......................................................................................................................................................................
After gathering up everything and saying goodbye to the happy couple living in the shack, your expedition started their trek back up the mountain. Your resident, crazy, short French hunter tries his best to butt heads with your actual guide, bickering about which ways they're supposed to go. Thankfully, nothing really eventful happens for the longest time, and the most that happens is a bit of complaining and arguing.
"What I wouldn't give for a LAATIe right now." One of the clones sighs.
"Tell me about it." Dawn sighs. "Ugh, I think my boots are filled up with snow again." She adds, shaking her leg. "You know, we could have asked the Del guy if we could have borrowed his massive snowplow."
"Pip-Piplup!" The tiny, adorable Pokemon she's carrying whines in its strange language that you still can't understand.
"I mean, it's probably that thing can only hold, like, three people at max." Jaune tries to reason. "Plus, I'm pretty sure that's his only safe way up and down the mountain."
"I guess... but, I still wish we had something that could get up there faster. It's times like this I regret not being a Flying-type focused training."
"Piiiiip, Piplup!" Piplup indignantly defended itself.
"I didn't mean you." Dawn chuckles and gently pats her Pokemon's head.
"So, uh," As the rest of the group breaks up into their own separate conversations once again, your old buddy 24 slides up next to you, "Did either of those two guy tell you how much longer we're going to be going almost straight up? Because I don't want to be stuck in Tibet for the next few weeks. We don't exactly have an unlimited amount of food."
You open your mouth to speak-
(??? Occult Roll: ???+???+???=???)
- and nearly crash face-first into the stone flooring when you realize that you're no longer walking on a seemingly endless amount of snow.
"I must extend my apologies, my friend." An elderly, almost frail voice sorrowly says. "But you and your allies were going just a bit too high up to be helpful."
"What just happened?" You mutter, before catching sight of an old man, sitting down on the ground, his eyes closed in contemplation.
"I am not a sorcerer my friend... though, the Warlock your froup slew did carry a few trinkets that I managed to understand." The man answers slowly. "I still must apologize for the quick and sudden arrival. I merely did what was necessary to protect the temple from those who would misuse it, and prevent any from experiencing the beauty of Shambala again."
"... Okay. I knew crazy shit was going to happen when our plane crashed." 24 mutters from right beside you. "But this is getting a bit ridiculous."
(Expedition Navigation Roll: 46+36= 82)
{Who Else Got Dragged Along - Choose Three}
[][Dragged] Who Else Got Brought Along? (You automatically begin with Agent 21 and 24 having been transported to this location)
-[] Write-in three Expedition members, besides Pemba, Van Ghoul, or the Genies (baring Babu), as they're the ones leading the rest of the Expedition towards your location.
