Activity Rolls: Dutch, Seaspray, and Moxie scavenging

Dutch hooted, much like an owl, as he pulled a massive chest out of the Rhakos-sized pit he'd dug not ten minutes earlier. Seaspray, who'd been mostly pulling small gems out of the surrounding area, and Moxie, a Rhakos the two had invited to go looting with them, trotted over to see what the Mad King had found. Dutch chittered as he moved the chest to a more convenient spot, surrounded by Seaspray's smaller pits. 

 

"Eh, what's in it?" Seaspray asked, scowling. Dutch grinned wickedly as he set his spotted leg firmly atop it. He had not picked the best position to have his other leg in, and now looked like he was about to start stretching before an intense workout. 

 

"This is a big score," the orange rhakos preened. His pale blue eyes darted across the other two. "Now, we need a way to open it. Any suggestions?" 

 

Seaspray mused for a second as Moxie investigated a suspiciously colored rock nearby. The black rhakos kept an ear tuft aimed towards the other two.

 

"Have you tried using your fat head to open it?" The blue rhakos asked. Her already messy feathers became more wild looking when Dutch snapped at her, growling. 

 

"You best shut yer mouth," he snarled, long neck feathers bristling. "I'll throw you in the pit I got this from and Bury you. You'll be left for the crabs to pick apart bit by bit." Seaspray cackled as she inched back a bit. 

 

"You wouldn't dare," she taunted. Dutch growled again before composing himself. 

 

"Moxie, have you got any better suggestions?" Moxie ignored him for the moment, engrossed in observing this very strange rock. Dutch returned to arguing with Seaspray, content to ignore whatever she was doing in favor of watching Seaspray attempt to pick the two locks. 

 

Moxie hummed quietly to herself as she gently ran her front claws across the rock. She churred as her talon caught on a near invisible seam. Her tail waved gently behind her as she gingerly followed the crack, eventually hearing a small click from the rock. The seam opened, revealing the rock to have a hidden compartment. Inside, Moxie could see two very old looking iron keys. She tipped the rock, dumping the keys onto the sand and picking them up with her wing talons. Turning back to the two other Rhakos, she sighed.

“I’m just saying!” Seaspray protested. “You’ve got horns like a goat! Ram the chest so we can leave!” Dutch looked like he was about to tear out someone’s feathers in rage and despair.

“These horns are not at all like a goat! They’re meant for goring, like a bull!” Dutch snapped back. “And that kind of action just to open a chest is beneath me!” Seaspray howled, lunging at her partner as Moxie held the keys up.

“Guys… I found the keys.” She sighed as the two violent rhakos clashed. “Guess I’ll look around some more while those two get it out of their system.” Moxie turned to explore her surroundings more. The island was long and narrow. Seaspray had riddled it with foot sized holes. Dutch had dug a pit big enough to probably kill an unsuspecting explorer of any size. She could see where he’d had to make a ramp to lug the chest back out. Moxie mentally shrugged, descending into the hole to explore for herself. After all, where there was a chest, there might be more treasure.

Sure enough, moments later, Moxie stepped on something she couldn’t resist digging up. A pearl the size of her torso was her reward. She picked it up and started hauling it out of the hole. Even if Seaspray stole it, the pile of gems would have to be left behind, so she’d have some sort of excellent reward. Briefly, Moxie wondered if the chest was empty. There was so much miscellaneous treasure scattered around the beach, she couldn’t imagine what kind of reward the chest actually held. Was it even a treasure there, if anything? She made a few more trips down to search and haul out valuable gems while the sounds of Dutch swearing and Seaspray cussing him out right back still rang out. Once the dust settled, she returned to the pair, holding up the keys again.

“Are we done acting like hatchlings?” she growled. Dutch raised his head indignantly while Seaspray chortled.

“Never!” the blue rhakos said, lifting her ear tufts in a jaunty pose. Dutch’s tail swept across the sand as his temper clearly rose. Moxie interrupted the pair.

“Ah! None of that,” she snapped. Seaspray snorted and lowered her ear tufts slightly. Dutch’s tail stilled, but not because he was calming down. Rather, the volatile orange beast was now slowly rising to his feet, eyes darkening with rage. Moxie raised her own ear tufts in a display of dominance, glaring back at the Mad King.

 

She held up the keys, baring her teeth at the temperamental pair. “I have had the keys since before your little squabble. Let’s open the chest and haul these valuables back to land so I don’t have to interact with you for a long time. Preferably forever.” Dutch snorted, but moved aside to let Moxie approach the chest. She slowly fit the first key into its lock. The ancient lock opened with a loud click. Dutch’s head was right over Moxie’s shoulder, and she could feel Seaspray moving to her other side to peek as well.

Moxie opened the second lock. The resulting click was just as loud as the first, but the tension had made the trio fall as silent as they could. In the quiet, the click sounded like a gunshot. The trio opened the chest slowly. Inside, they could see a dark colored egg with orange streaks and spots. Dutch sneered.

“An egg. You can have it,” he said, already lumbering off to find something else he deemed worthy of taking home. He started pawing at the sand in the hopes of finding another chest, perhaps. One with actual treasure. Seaspray snorted and walked off as well.

“Not for me,” she said. She moved to where she had last seen her gems. The earlier fight had knocked them around, so she began digging around in the rising water and general arena area. Bit by bit, she uncovered her former treasures. Seaspray made a small stack again before moving toward a patch of kelp that had washed ashore. She began weaving the fibers into a basket of sorts. Really, it was more of a satchel, or a bag. Either way, it would hold her gems and serve as a useful tool in the future. Dutch soon stole the one she had been working on to load it with… coconuts. Moxie wasn’t going to ask. There weren’t even coconut palms on the island. Where had the Mad King found so many??

Moxie herself sighed, grabbed the chest, and slipped the locks back into their spot, locking them again. She grabbed her own clawfulls of kelp to secure the wooden box on her back firmly before wading into the ocean to begin the long swim and float back to the continent. Seaspray soon followed with her pile of gems secured in a second bag. The aquatic colored Rhakos easily outpaced Moxie and Dutch, who was able to catch up with the females.

The swim was relatively calm. Dutch did add more random loot to his bag as he began diving to the ocean floor every time he saw a shipwreck, and Seaspray often had to drag him back to the surface every time he nearly drowned. The two silken coated rhakos were struggling more than Seaspray as their feathers soaked and their long, fluffy tails gained more weight than they were used to dragging behind them. Moxie had it worse with her windy tail, as it was solidly feathers, much like a Maine Coon cat’s tail. Dutch faired slightly better with his simple silken tail, but the long feathers at the base and the fan caused a lot of drag, and he wasn’t used to using his webbed feet membranes to swim.

Seaspray seemed perfectly at home in the water, only diving down to rescue Dutch and to snag a cool bone or two for her “collection at home”. Moxie didn’t want to know. She just wanted to get back to the main continent so she could go deposit this egg with a caretaker and hopefully never see the pair again. And sure enough, once the trio reached land, they split into two groups. Moxie started the shorter walk to Sol while Dutch and Seaspray meandered off towards what she could only presume to be their den site.

She shook her head. Seeing them ever again would be too soon.