Virtual Survivor: A Game
began 6/11/01 and ended 7/29/01

Here are the rules for virtual survivor:

All Virtual Survivor posts will have "VS" in the subject line.

1. Everyone must post an installment to the ongoing story of life on the
island at least once a week to stay on the island. Youmay post as many
times as you like but If you don't make at least one story post a week,
you're outta there. These don't have to be elaborate or long, just tell
something about what your net persona did this week on the island.
(exceptions made for extenuating circumstances, see a game moderator with
your circumstances and we'll be as fair as we can.)

2. We're not voting each other off the island, (that pits one survivor
against another creating disharmony instead of teamwork and we're not
going there <G>) The game moderators will select a secret word each week
and everyone who uses that word in their virtual story post for that
week, is off the island and out of the game. We will not pick obvious
things like "Iolaus or Iolausian or Hercules". Tribal Counsel (to reveal
what the secret word was and who said it) will be held on Sunday
afternoons. Posts made on Sunday (midnight sat to midnight sun CST) will 
have immunity from the secret word. Which means that any posts made on
Sundays do not count toward your weekly post.

3. Moderators will occasionally post descriptions of current events to
keep life on the island from getting boring. These will be our version of
reward challenges and may involve the survivors getting food or rewards
for overcoming an obstical. You may not write your way off the island.
The moderators reserve the right to redirect the story as necessary to
keep the events on track. Your story lines will have to reflect events
the moderators introduce into the story. This will be sort of like a
Dungeons and Dragons game. The moderators will respond to events in the
continuing story to guide the story along. 

4. Each week an immunity challenge will be issued. Winners of the
immunity challenge can not be taken from the island for the next week for
using the secret word. However, players will be taken from the island for
not posting. Participating in the challenge is mandatory. Immunity
challenges will be things like, "write a description of Iolaus, the
description with the most adjectives wins immunity." It will be something
that everyone can do. Talent will not be judged. If  you wish to share
your challenge response only with the moderators, you may send it
privately to one of the moderators who have taken an oath to keep their
hysterical laughter at your attempt in the strictest confidence. Immunity
challenge answers will be exempt from the secret word and they will be
something that anyone can write, they will not be an intimidating task
for the new or non writers wishing to play along. They will be short and
should not take up huge amounts of your time. Immunity challenges will be
issued on Sunday during the Tribal Council and responses are due by
midnight the following Friday CST. You may post your challenge response
anytime during the week either to the entire list or to the moderators
privately. the moderators reserve the right to select more than one
immunity winner or  none at all. 

5. Of course, Iolaus and Hercules and some of the gang will be marooned
on the island with you and may be used in the virtual story. However, the
moderators retain the right to use those characters in the story setups
and those characters may be removed from the island at the whim of the
moderators. These characters may not be used to help you escape the
island. You may not introduce new characters to the island. You will be
told who is with you.

6. Game is over when there is one (or a few) survivor(s) left to be
determined by the moderators.

Your game moderators will be 
Ceryndip 
Bwell 

If you decide later on that you want to play along in the middle of the
game. You may write yourself in by shipwrecking yourself or having one of
the gods "pop" you there that's fine, you're welcome to come play in the
story part of the game but you may not bring anything with you and you
will not be eligible for the grand prize even if you participate in the
challenges and the story itself. 

Good Luck!

The Game Goddesses
Ceryndip and Bwell
------------------------------------
....and so it begins

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip,
It started from this Grecian port aboard this sailing ship

The mate was a mighty demigod, the captain brave and sure
many listsibs set sail that day on a three hour tour, a three hour tour

The weather started getting rough, the sailing ship was tossed
If not for the courage of the fearless crew the Argo would be lost, the
Argo would be lost

The ship's aground on the shore of this uncharted desert isle
the drenched and stranded castaways survived their first trial, survived
their first trial

Lush vegetation and palm trees grew all around
Bananas, coconuts and figs, Falafel figured could be found, could easily
be found

Wreckage from the ship continued to wash ashore
Along with a few supplies and tools and more, supplies and tools and more

Each survivor found two personal items and a blanket or a tarp
Iolaus has  his fishing gear, we'll hope he can catch more than carp,
catch more than carp

After gathering all the things they could, Jason led them all inland,
Hercules, Iolaus and Autolycus were happy to lend a helping hand, to lend
a helping hand.

the survivors will have to make the best of things, they are sure to be
here awhile
Many stranded castaways here on a deserted isle.

Survivors, your first priorities are shelter and food, take stock of your
supplies and begin exploring the island. Remember a campsite on high
ground with some natural protection is preferred. Once the storm ended,
it became a beautiful, sunny, warm tropical day. You must first survive
Falafel's cooking......

A map of the island can be found at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GoldApple/ 
it's under the files section or email Ceryndip or Bwell and they can
email it to you.

Characters on the island
Iolaus
Hercules
Jason
Autolycus
Falafel
Owlharp, Arianna, Pythia, Kat, Allie, Caro, Bev, MaryE, Athena, Skylark,
Quietwolf, Llyra, Drakkar, Elaine, Kleandra, Margui, CJ, (Ahary and Sovka
playing as one), Ziggy

Things scavenged from ship:
10 ft. pole
50 ft rope
bag of marbles
canvas from the sails
1 barrel of dry, uncooked rice
Jason: Sword
Iolaus: sword, fishing line and hook, bow with a few arrows
Falafel: cooking pot
Autolycus: lockpick with extension, rope with grappling hook
Hercules: himself
Each survivor may choose two personal items

The Game Goddesses
-----------------------------------------------------------
Margui was one of the first to swim to shore.  She walked onto the sandy
beach with the help of Autolycus and Iolaus.  Each supporting her by an
arm and sputtering and spitting the salty sea from their mouth as the
three collapsed on the crystalline sand.

"So much for smooth sailing ahead.  Where did Jason get his sailing
licence anyway?  Charon's (I'll meet you in Tartarus) Academy."

Autolycus coughed up more water.  Margui hit him on the back. "Well, I'm
going to demand a refund."

"Ah come one Autolcyus. It wasn't Jason's fault.  That storm caught us by
surprise.  At least you're alive.  We need to go back and help the
others."

"Yeah, yeah sure."  he intoned.

"Margui, are you going to be all right?"  Iolaus said as he looked at the
water soaked waif.   She nodded her head in affirmation.

"Come on Autolycus."

Margui watched them go back into the sea to rescue others that were
shipwrecked on the island with her.  Cargo from the ship had already
lapped onto the shore and Margui began rifling through it trying to find
her things.  "Ah darn!" she exclaimed, "what happened to my harmonica!" 
All she could find was her umbrella and cat o nine tails whip.

"Dang I'm hungry,"  she said to herself, "and the only cook we have on
the island is Falafel...er I mean Falawful"  she looked around the sand. 
"Oohh, dried seaweed."  Margui grabbed some of the salty sun dried snack
and began chopping on it, thankful she developed a taste for the delicacy
when she had traveled to the east.

"I guess it's too much to hope for a Holidaius Inn on the other side of
this island..." she mused, knowing that she was much more at home at an
in than on a camping trip.

To Be Continued.....I hope <G>

Margui
---------------------------------
"Hey!  What do you think you're doing?"

"What does it look like?" Autolycus demanded.  "I'm getting some 
firewood."  The king of thieves raised the stick high and prepared to 
break it in half over his knee.

"Not with my snake hook you're not," Quiet Wolf told him, yanking the 
object from his hands.

"Your what?"

"My snake hook," she explained.  "For manipulating snakes."  

"Whatever," Autolycus muttered with a roll of the eyes.

"It has many uses," Quiet Wolf protested.  "It doubles as my walking 
stick and...  Oh, never mind.  Just don't  come crying to me when 
some big, venomous serpent comes cuddling up to the fire with you 
tonight."  

She turned and surveyed her fellow castaways, busy trying to salvage 
what supplies they could as the waves carried the Argo's remains to 
shore.  Everyone was wet, tired, less than thrilled to be stranded, 
but at least no one had been hurt.

"Quiet Wolf, is this yours?"

"Yes.  Thanks, Iolaus," she replied, taking the small cloth bag with 
the image of a howling wolf from him.  "I was actually just wishing I 
had this."

"What is it?"

"Something that Jester Iolaus made."  Quiet Wolf pulled a small 
object from the bag.  It was a cylindrical piece of carved wood, 
fitted with glass at both ends.  "See, you look through it and it 
makes things that are far away seem close up."

"Cool," the hunter enthused, trying it out.  "I can look right up 
Herc's nose."

"Yeah, well give it back to me and I'll go do some scouting and see 
if I can't find us a good place to set up camp."

"You can't go alone," Iolaus protested.

"We're on a deserted island," Quiet Wolf reminded him.  "What could 
happen?"

"I'm coming with you," he insisted.

"All right," she agreed.  "We might as well get a couple more people 
and make it a regular party."

So who's coming with us on the scouting party?

Quiet Wolf
---------------------------------
'Well,' I thought, relieved after counting noses, 'looks like everyone
made it to shore...Jason worked miracles holding that ship together and
getting us past the reefs, so that we wouldn't all be mushed against the
rocks.'   From where I was standing on the beach, helping several others
scavenge what we could from the flotsom washing in with the tide, I
could see we looked a bedraggled, soppy wet, sorry lot...but, that would
change once the sun dried us out.  No one had more than minor cuts and
bruises...and that was all to the good.  Falafel had rescued some of his
stuff (which, frankly, I'm not sure is a good thing...having survived
the wreck of the Argo, we're likely to die of something mundane like his
clam soup!  Sigh.)

Suddenly, my eye was caught by something I recognised...the linen I had
just bought...a whole bolt of it, to make up new shifts for everyone at
home!  And, bobbing right next to it, was the wineskin of good Nemean
wine I had bought for my brother...well, at least I could salvage
something of my own, along with the rope, cauldron and grappling hook
and other treasures we had garnered from the sea.

Turning, I saw Quiet Wolf and Iolaus waving folks over.

"We're going to do a bit of scouting," Quiet Wolf invited, "Anyone want
to come along?"

Looking around the beach, I thought, let's see...Choices. Choices.  Stay
here and help Falafal prepare something for our meal...or get out and
see more of the world...scavenge for root vegetables, gather fruit,
listen to Falafal...or have a bit of an adventure, get our
bearings...with Iolaus.  Decisions.  Decisions.  What's a girl to do???
Not cooking, that's for sure!

"Hey, Quiet Wolf, I'd like to come along!"  I volunteered...hey,
exploring can be dirty work, but someone's got to do it!

Arianna
-----------------------------

"Iolaus..get the others to safety..I.."

"Hercules look..it's Skylark..I don't think she can swim.."

"Alright..I'll go get Skylark..meet you with the others on the 
beach.."

"Skylark..hold on..don't sink..that's it..now swim towards me..don't 
be afraid.."

"I can't swim.."

Hercules sees the panic stricken look in Skylark's eyes. "Trust 
me..you can do this..believe in yourself..just doggy paddle..that's 
it..you can do this.."

Skylark doggy paddles towards Hercules. He holds her in his strong 
arms as he swims Skylark to shore.

"Oh Hercules..I am so scared..I've never swum in deep water before..I 
don't know the first thing about camping.."

"Don't worry SKylark..you stick by Iolaus and I and you'll be 
safe..we'll take care of you..I promise.."

SKylark and Hercules swim to the beach. Hercules lays Skylark down on 
the beach. "Can you walk?"

"Yes, I'm just fine." Skylark wipes the sea water out of her eyes.

"Come on...let's see if we can salvage anything from the ship.." 
Hercules and Skylark watch as the floating debris from the shipwreck 
float to shore.

"..Ah..my medical pouch..I'm glad that's safe..I'm always getting 
sick..so I always bring herbs and medicines with me wherever I go.." 
Skylark explains as she grabs the floating medical pouch from the 
water and wipes the salty ocean water off the pouch...and my 
glasses..I guess I can use these glasses to light fire..."

"We can use your glasses or we can use my gauntlets..either 
way..we'll have fire.." Hercules covers his eyes from the sun as he 
spots Iolaus in the distance gathering the others together.

"It seems Iolaus is gathering a scouting party..I can see 
Quietwolf..and many others..let's go join the scouting party"

"Scouting party?" Skylark asks, her eyebrows arched in bewilderment.

"You don't know what a scouting party is?" Hercules asks in 
disbelief..his eyebrows arched even further than Skylark's.

"No..I guess I have a lot to learn about island survival huh?" 
Skylark exclaims as she follows Hercules to join the others in the 
scouting party.

"Oh yeah..Skylark..you have ALOT to learn.." Hercules gives Iolaus a 
firm warrior handshake as the scouting party continues on its way.

Skylark
--------------------------
She'd been below decks when it happened.  Nervous about her first trip out
to sea, Drakkar had busied herself with rearranging the supply crates and
doing her best to stay out of the way.

She'd spent at least an hour in the stern hold alone, shoving crates back
and forth, sweeping and organizing.  Not that anything would stay where she
put it anyway, with that band of marauding men above.  Far easier to teach a
goat to yodel than to keep the hold tidy once one of the guys decided they
needed something.  It made her feel she was contributing, however, and
helped to ease her jitters.

She'd just finished stacking some of the smaller crates when she'd heard a
loud cracking sound, and had thought perhaps on the rear stacks had toppled;
upon inspection, however, she'd been greeted with a massive rush of
seawater.  One moment she was toiling within the bowels of the ship, the
next, struggling against the sucking pull of sinking debris.  Somehow, she'd
managed to break the surface, and was at a total loss as to how she'd made
it shore.

Exhausted from the swim, she lay sprawled on the wet sand, mentally taking
inventory of herself.  Although sore and somewhat stiff, nothing burned with
the sharp, biting pain that would indicate a break...

*...or an amputation...* she thought with a shudder.

She pushed against the ground and rolled onto her back, spitting sand and
trying to gain her bearings.  She might not know where she *was*, but she
sure as Tartarus knew where she *wasn't*...she wasn't on the ship anymore.

As she lay there, she listened to the sounds around her, still trying to
comprehend what had happened.  She could hear the sound of the waves
breaking on the sand, birds squawking in the distance, the incessant buzzing
of that damnable fly that insisted on seating itself square in the middle of
her forehead...what she didn't hear were the sounds of any other survivors.
Despite her stiffening muscles, this realization sent her scurrying to her
knees in near-panic.

*By the Gods,* she thought, *don't let me be here all alone!*

She staggered to her feet, and scoped out the landscape, searching for the
others in her party, only to see nothing more than trees, sand, and water.
For a moment, she allowed desperation and panic to get the better of her,
and she dropped once more to her knees, shaking and sobbing.

It only took a moment or two for her rational mind to regain control,
however, and she silently berated herself for the breakdown.  If she'd
survived, then it's possible that others had as well, and she'd have no way
of knowing if she didn't get up off her sorry behind and at least look. At
any rate, there certainly wasn't any benefit to be had by staying *here* and
feeling sorry for herself.

She hauled herself to her feet once more, and started walking down the
beach, her legs feeling as if they'd been encased in lead.  Until she'd
walked this whole damn island, she wouldn't allow herself to believe she was
the only one who'd survived.  And she wouldn't give up hope that she'd get
home again, where she knew her little boys were waiting for her.

~Drakkar
------------------------------
Pythia's journal: Day one.

Note to self.  The galley is not a good place to be when a ship runs 
aground.  Falafel and I were trapped when the door jammed and were nearly 
cooked when the oil leaking from broken amphoras ran into the embers of 
the fire.  Fortunately, someone had had the foresight to leave a workman's 
hatchet by the wood pile (presumably to make chopping the wood easier) and 
we were able to hack our way to safety.  Water poured in as we scrambled 
out, which extinguished the oil blaze; Falafel grabbed the nearest cooking 
pot and I snatched up the kitchen shears (they were the closest tool to 
hand).  Some grain of common sense must have lingered under my panic; I 
hung onto the hatchet, which I suspect will come in useful now we're 
stranded.

Once we'd made it to the deck we were able to tip a couple of barrels into 
the sea and jump after them.  I'm a hopeless swimmer, but I made it to 
shore clinging to my barrel and Jason pulled me out of the surf.  He'd 
been last off the ship, of course, like any good captain should.

We made a sorry looking lot as we straggled up the beach.  Everybody was 
soaked, and in various states of shock.  Quietwolf and Iolaus immediately 
organised a scouting party, which Hercules and a few others joined.  
Autolycus started collecting firewood and Jason started checking through 
the flotsam for anything useful that might have come ashore.  I left 
Falafel scouring his salt stained pan with a handful of sand and went to 
help our Captain.  He'd found one of the broken masts, still complete with 
sail, so we untangled it and Margui I spread the canvas out on the sand to 
dry while Jason coiled up the rope.  There must have been fifty feet or 
more of it; enough to make a good sized net, or tie up a dozen or so 
warlords.  Hopefully there aren't any of *them* on this island ...

Pythia
-----------------------------------------------
   Owlharp was just grateful that nobody had drowned. Where had that
storm come from, anyway? Who pissed off Poseidon? 
   She shrugged at her own question and hauled herself to her feet. She
was glad to see that everyone seemed to be in good spirits, already
making plans to deal with the realities that they all faced, stranded on
what looked to be a deserted island. 
   Brushing the sand from her already-drying shorts, she was relieved to
feel that her Swiss Army knife was still secure in her zippered pocket.
"Oh good" she thought, "Scissors, awl, tweezers, and a couple different
knife blades - that'll come in handy!" 
   A wave broke over her feet and something brushed her ankles. She
jumped back, and then realized that it was one of the ship's large
leather waterskins. 
   Water. 
   Her eyes widened in consternation, and she swiftly grabbed the skin
before the sea could take it back. It was empty, but as far as she could
tell, it was whole.
   They were going to need to find a source of fresh water. If they
didn't, then everything else meant nothing - they'd all be dead in a week
or so. She shivered as she remembered Hercules telling about being
stranded with a captured mercenary on an island where all the water was
salt, and she breathed a brief prayer to all the gods that this wasn't
such an island.  
    Water was their number one priority.
   Dragging the waterbag behind her, Owlharp headed down the beach to
where Quiet Wolf was organizing a scouting party. "Count me in", she
said.

TBC.   

Owlharp
------------------------------------------------------
Llyra struggled to shore, soaking wet, bruised, battered and intensely 
grateful to be alive.  She had never been a strong swimmer, and had 
thought herself lost until she had caught hold of a broken piece of 
hull floating by.  That had given her enough encouragement to start 
kicking her feet to propell her impromptu boat towards the island.  
There wasn't much room on her few planks, so she held onto it with one 
arm and cut slowly through the water with the other.  It was slow, but 
she had made steady progress and had kept at it with a determination 
that surprised her.

Having gained a measure of safety, Llyra sat herself down in the sand 
to assess her own situation before joining some of the others as they 
gathered together.  She wasn't hurt, at least not seriously, she was 
fully clothed, although she would have to wash the salt water out of 
everthing and soon, and she had managed to come through with a few 
treasures.

With some difficulty because both her shirt and the pouch were wet, 
she pulled out her sewing kit.  A brief inspection told her that her 
little scissors, the needle packet and the spools of linen thread had 
come through the ordeal safe and dry in their water proof pouch.

"One for the good guys," she breathed and got up to join the others.

So far, it looked like everyone had survived the wreck.  Quiet Wolf, 
always the most adventurous of the crowd, was organizing a search 
party while others were searching the surf for whatever useful flotsam 
came ashore.  Llyra joined them and had to smile when Margui 
triumphantly held up a bag of marbles.

"At least we won't be bored," Llyra thought.  She looked down as 
something bumped gently against her legs in the water.

It was another water proof pouch, much bigger than her sewing pouch, 
but one that she recognized and pounced on with a gleeful cry.

"Yes!" she shouted and began to open the pouch.  Sure enough, it was 
the baking soda she had gone to great lengths to secure in the hold.  
"Score one more for the good guys!"

But the thought of the hold made her think of Drakkar, and she 
immediately looked around for her friend.  With a rising sense of 
panic, Llyra failed to locate Drakkar and hurried over to where the 
search party was almost ready to go.

"Quiet Wolf!" she shouted, "is Drakkar with you guys?  Have you seen 
her?"

Quiet Wolf and the others looked around them, but no one had seen 
Drakkar.  Everyone looked a little striken at the thought that anyone 
might not have survived the wreck.

"Wait a second," Iolaus said before anyone could start to panic.  "Was 
she even on board?  I didn't see her."

"Yes she was," said Llyra.  "but she was nervous about sailing and 
spent almost the entire trip in the hold arranging the packing crates. 
 It's no wonder that you didn't see her."

"Look, don't panic," Iolaus soothed her as best he could while hiding 
his own fear that the young bard may not have made it.  "We'll keep an 
eye out for her while we search.  The island probably isn't that big, 
so she won't be far.  Why don't you come with us?  It'll give you 
something to do."

Llyra was tempted, but too many people in a search party could be more 
problem than a help, and there were too many people still to be 
accounted for and helped and organized.  She bit her lip as she 
weighed the pros and cons of searching for her friend or staying and 
helping everyone else to get their acts together and stay alive.  When 
all was said and done, there was really only one decision.

"I'd -- I'd better stay here," she said reluctantly.  "There are more 
people than Drakkar who need help, and I know that you guys will find 
her if she is to be found.  Just find her, okay?"

Iolaus hugged her tight for a few moments.

"You know we will, Llyra," he told her.  "Don't worry."  He smiled at 
her as he released her and turned to the rest of the search party.  
"Right.  Let's go."  With that, the search party moved out.

Llyra
---------------------------------------------------------
I felt sick when I thought about what Llyra had told us...Drakkar was
missing!  I hadn't even realized she'd been on the boat!  Oh gods...she
had to be alright!  All of a sudden, it really hit me.  This wasn't just
an afternoon excursion, wasn't just another 'adventure'... wasn't
necessarily just a temporary diversion in life....when, I'd thought
everyone was okay, I'd just figured the worst was that we would all lose
some stuff...and stuff is just stuff...and that we'd soon be rescued, so
why worry....but, now, I knew...our situation was dangerous...people
could be really hurt....and, no one knew when we'd get rescued.  Who
knew how far off the original route that storm had blown us....no one
would even know where to start looking.  'Drakkar...' I thought, 'Oh!
You just have to be alright!'

Now, I was really glad I'd joined the scouting party....and not just for
the silly reason of being with Iolaus rather than Falafel....we had to
find Drakkar...we just had to!  Seeing how many had volunteered for the
scouting mission, Herc and Iolaus decided to split the group...one
heading along the shore to follow the perimetre of the island, the other
heading inland.  I decided to go with the shore group....Drakkar was
most likely not far off, somewhere along this shore.....

Arianna
---------------------------------------------------
Blow, wave overflows through the deck, I catch hold on the rope, wet from head 
to toe. The ship stubbornly tries to lie down one board on the water. Bunch of 
well-organized crapes is sliding fast on the wet deck in my direction, some 
packages are flying at me, and _oh, yes_ Iolaus together with that. But the rope 
can`t bear it anymore and with loud splash and scrap of rope in the hand I`m 
overboard. _Hope the surface is where it seems to be._ I remember something 
about the necessity to go from sinking ship as far as possible and do my best. I 
can see only the junk hopping on the waves around and hear someone`s hoarse 
voice ( Jason`s? ): "There! The shore is there!" _Okay, it`s there_. Calming 
down a little and remembering that there is no threat for me to be drowned ( 
_just hope, nobody will pull me under the water by my feet_ ), I swim in the 
indicated direction. After a few meters I start feeling the difference between 
swimming and shaking in the furious sea. _Essential difference, I could say_. 
Fortunately, the shore is not far away.
Some time lately on the sand beach the work is in full swing. The reminds of the 
Argo`s luggage ( and of Argo itself ) are fished out and I see a spade lying on 
the bottom not far from me. _I`ll not ask how it made to the shore; it`s a plot 
for the show "Obvious and Inconceivable"_. The water is up the knee only, I take 
the spade ( _something pulls my shirt down_ ) and hurry to the group gathering 
around Quiet Wolf and Iolaus ( _something definetily pulls my shirt down_ ). 
When my mind at last registers this information, I grope for source. This is a 
small bottle with superglue which Salmoneus sold me last time we`ve met. 
According to him, it glues everything and forever. I was going to try it on the 
breaking jug right before the wreck and apparently I falled on it during the 
first blows. Tore the thing off me _sometimes Salmoneus can be believable_, I 
catch up with scouting party.   
         
Note: by "I" is meant the simbios of Ahary and Sovka. It have to be some strange 
being, double-headed and with defects of speech. <g>
 
Ahary
-------------------------------------------
Drakkar stopped and took a deep breath.  She felt as though she'd been
walking for hours, though in reality, it was probably little more than about
twenty minutes.  Of course, she hadn't really been walking the entire time
either.  She'd discovered that she'd apparently bruised her knee during the
adventure, and although it wasn't bad enough to prevent her from walking, or
even really cause her to limp, it did make walking a bit uncomfortable and
she found herself needing frequent rest periods.

Plopping down to sit on the sand, she took in her surroundings.  Had it not
been for the circumstances that brought her to this place, she might have
thought it a beautiful vacation spot.  Of course, if it was a vaction, she
most certainly would not have chosen it to be solitary.  Still, if she had
made it, someone else *had* to have survived as well.  The Gods couldn't be
*that* cruel, could they?

*Okay, you're doing it again,* she scolded herself.  *Until you KNOW no one
else survived, stop freaking yourself out.*

With a sigh of determination, she stood once more and headed down the beach,
figuring she'd continue this route for awhile longer, then head inland to
look for food.  She was only mildly hungry, but she would need to find
something eventually.  Better to search for food now than to be hunting for
it while ravenous.

Her forehead itched, and she reached up to scratch it.  Suddenly, the fly's
intense interest in this part of her anatomy became apparent.  She'd cut it
in the wreck, or in the struglle for survival immediately following, and now
sported a crusty, swollen gash right along the hairline.

*How nice.  That will certainly improve on my looks.*

She rubbed her fingers lightly over it, noting that it still felt numb, and
surmised that it was probably the reason she was feeling slightly
light-headed.  It had stopped bleeding, the sand assisting to form a scab
along its borders.  While certainly not the most sanitary, it did make an
effective tamponade, but she would have to wash the wound out thoroughly
later to prevent an infection.  At any rate, it wasn't what she felt was the
most important thing right now; she needed to find her friends.

The breeze carried with it the faint scent of flowers from further inland, a
good sign.  Flowering plant usually meant some sort of fruit.  At least she
wouldn't starve.  She made a mental note to investigate the source of the
fragrance later.

*Of course,* she thought, halting her pace, *if others had survived, they
too may be heading inland to look ofr food.*  Maybe she should try walking
that way.

*No, no....I'd just get lost in there, and if there ARE other survivors, I
could walk right past them and not even see them.*  No, she decided it would
be better to keep to the shore for now.  At least then, even if the others
HAD headed inland, she could still see their prints in the sand.

~Drakkar
--------------------------------------------
Caro coughed again, sea water and her lungs did not get along - not at
all. Not being able to swim she had managed to swallow half the ocean
before Hercules and Jason had found her clinging to some driftwood. Now
she was mercifully back on solid ground and casting her eye across the
flotsam that was strewn over the beach.

Absently she rubbed the back of her neck, cursing as she realised that
the reason it itched was the salt encrusted there and rubbing had just
made the skin even more sore. Fresh water would have to be a priority
and not just for drinking, although that was the imperative, she was
going to go mad if she didn't get her skin and her clothes free of this
salt. That's were having sensitive skin got you she moaned, feeling the
beginnings of a feel sorry for herself bout. 

Trying to stem the feeling before it caught hold she watched Falafel as
he scoured his pans with sand. Some of the survivors had banded together
and were organising scouting parties, Caro didn't feel up to going with
them just yet, her legs still felt like rubber. Instead she decided to
stick with Falafel, it would be all very well finding water and some
high ground where they could create a shelter but if they had to eat
Falafel's food there might not be any point. 

As she crossed the sand to the industrious cook Caro spotted a familair
shape in the sand, she pounced. It was the glass she had bought before
the trip, and amazingly enough it was still intact. It was a fair sized
vase with a narrow neck and if she could find something to stopper it
with it could hold water. Carefully wiping it free of sand she attatched
the blue glass to her belt. The belt was a wonderful thing, she was glad
she'd been wearing it when the ship had gone down, it wound round her
waist several times, was made of strong leather and had little loops and
hooks to which she could attatch various things. Silently she hoped
someone had managed to rescue a knife or two. 

Reaching Falafel Caro offered to help him rescue and clean as many
cooking utensils as possible, they both hoped that there would soon be
some food for them to cook.

Caro
-------------------------------------------------
"Oh, drat."  Every time Allie tried to stand up the surf knocked her
down again.  She surfaced sputtering, clutching the big wooden bucket
she had found floating in the water.  Her little hatchet was tucked
securely in the waistband of her shorts.

She felt herself being scooped up in two strong arms.  "Need some help?"

She looked up into two handsome azure eyes. "Er...yeah, sure."

Hercules waded ashore with a blushing Allie in his arms and set her down
on the sand.

Still pink to the roots of her hair, Allie thanked him prettily and
turned to survey the scene.  Most of the Iolausians were on the beach
already salvaging the flotsam from the Argo that kept washing up on the
shore.  Falaful was sorting through the stuff looking for cooking
utensils and some the gang was hauling up a huge tarp.

There was a group gathered around Quiet Wolf. Allie hurried over to see
what was up, and was told they were organizing scouting parties.
"Drakkar and some of the others haven't shown up yet, so be on the
lookout,." she was told.

Allie decided to join them.  Her bucket would come in handy if they
found anything edible; food was a big priority for her.

tbc, Allie hopes.

Allie
----------------------------------------------------
Bev slowly squinted her eyes open to the bright sunlight that shown in
them.  Her head ached and her limbs felt like lead weights.  And her
realization was that something just didn't seem right.  She suddenly
became very aware that she wasn't lying on her bed but rather on a wet
sandy beach with waves lapping at her feet and legs.  
Now it all came back to her.  She had been on the deck of the Argo busy
hand washing some delicates out with the bar of soap she'd brought along
and enjoying the beautiful  day. There were busy activities going on all
about the ship.  The sun glowed brightly in the cloudless sky and
suddenly the bow of the Argo fiercely pitched upwards.  Without warning
they were all suddenly in the fight of their lives.  Argo must have
struck some large rock formation under water because she began to crack
and moan.  She broke apart in seconds.  Melee quickly broke out as
everyone struggled to stay afloat and swim toward something, anything
that would save their life.  Screams and confusion was everywhere.  The
last thing she remembered was managing to grab hold of a piece of debris
floating passed her.  Bev was a lousy swimmer and until that debris came
within fingers reach her state of panic told her this was how she was
going to die.  And that was it!
Now she was here on this island shore.  
Every muscle in her body screamed in agony as she sat up to assess any
damages and was relieved to find that her only injuries were a small cut
on her upper arm that had already clotted and a bump on her head which
accounted for the headache she had.  Well, she didn't feel all too
steady in the stomach either but that must be from her salt water
intake.
She stood up on unsteady legs continuing her assessment.  She found she
had actually maintained that second bar of soap she'd brought along in
her vest pocket and her small survival knife on her belt was still
attached.  At least she had means of defense if needed and it would come
in handy for a number of other things as well.  Especially food
preparation if necessary.  
Obruptly she was pulled up straight by strong arms.  
"Bev, are you alright?  Are you hurt?"

"Huh?  Oh yes, I seem to be".

She'd been so muddled in her thoughts over what had taken place that she
hadn't even heard the other voices of her friends further up the beach
or Jason's approach.
Now she took in the surroundings and the true meaning of their
predicament.
She assured Jason she was ok and asked about everyone else. 

"So far, only minor injuries like that", he said nodding at her arm,
"but Drakkar is missing.  Iolaus and some of the others have formed a
search party for her and food while the rest of us are going through
what's washing up on shore.  We need to get some kind of shelter up
before nightfall."  He smiled at her, "Feel up to helping?  It'll help
to keep your mind busy".
Bev was still  taking in the scene around her but managed a nod of
agreement with Jason's assuring grin and squeeze of her shoulder.
They slowly walked along the beach picking up small items that might
come in handy for anything at all.  They were fortunate in finding
another sail that had a large tear in it.  Jason was elated.  He
explained he's nearly thrown  it away when it tore in some huge storm
but was glad now that he hadn't.  It would come in real handy for
shelter.  But the best find of all was the barrel of rice that had
somehow miraculously gotten only partially wet.  That which was still
dry could be salvaged.  At least they werent' going to starve.  At least
not right away.  It appeared to be a lush island so Bev figured there
had to be fruit trees inland.  And there had  to be good fishing in
these parts.  One thing remained though that they would all need  if
they were to survive....water.  Fresh water for drinking.  Jason saw her
look of worry and assured her they would figure that one out too.
Together they drug the sail up next to the previous one so it could also
dry and carted the rice barrel over to where Falafel and Caro were

ssessing and getting together a manageable cooksite.
Caro and Bev exchanged hugs of relief for one another and even managed a
giggle when Bev was able to joke that, "at least I know now that fat
people *don't* sink like rocks" as her brother has always teased her. 
They all looked in the direction the search group had taken and wondered
if they had found any sign of Drakkar.....

tbc

Bev
-------------------------------------------------
Iolaus quickly offered to lead the search party for Drakkar.  As he 
was unarguably the best hunter and tracker in the group, everyone 
agreed he was the perfect choice to head the mission.  After a quick 
conference, the hunter began leading his group along the shore in a 
desperate search to find their lost companion.  The scouting group 
watched them go, silently praying that they would be able to find 
Drakkar, safe and sound.

"Ok," Hercules announced.  "We need to find a place to set up a camp."

"Preferably somewhere near a good water source, and we need to keep a 
lookout for anything edible along the way," Quiet Wolf chimed in.

"Looks like Quiet Wolf's in charge," the demigod teased.

"Was there ever a doubt?" the bard replied with a grin.  "Let's go."

They began moving inland, and despite the gravity of their situation, 
everyone seemed in relatively good spirits.  There was much talking 
and laughing and joking, until suddenly Hercules stopped walking and 
held up his hand.  The group instantly fell silent.

"Do you hear that?" the demigod whispered.

Quiet Wolf
----------------------------------------
It had all happened so fast.  One moment Kat had been up on deck
watching the horizon and thinking about how sorry she was that Young
Iolaus had missed the boat and the next she had found herself in the
middle of the ocean with all the others.  Once she had oriented herself,
Kat had begun the long swim to shore.  She stumbled onto the beach,
winded from the long swim.  Her sword was amazingly still in it's
scabbard on her back, she almost forgot it was there since it was just
another piece of her Amazon outfit.  She walked over to where Margui and
a few others were standing.  Her sister was holding a bag.

"Looks like someone lost their marbles," Kat said.

The others all groaned and gave her a dirty look.

"Oh come on, I know all of you were thinking it.  Hey Margui, nice whip,
can I borrow it sometime?" The young Amazon asked.

The green eyed brunette spotted a mass of green lying beneath the sail
canvas.  She tugged on it and unearthed a familiar emerald green bag.
"Oh boy, my hoolie kit.  I hope everything is still intact," Kat said
with a wicked grin.

She looked at the group and said to no one in particular, "So what
should we do next?"

<<<  Ok I have a question.  Since I said that Kat's sword is part of her
normal dress does that mean I still have one other object to find?  If
not, oh well, it's a good thing my hoolie kit is full of many different
things... >>>

Kat
--------------------------------------------------------------
"Come on, wake up." said the voice. 

"Open your eyes Athena, I know your there." said another voice.

" 'Cough, cough', um where am I." Athena said as she blinked her eyes.  The 
salt water making them irritated.

"Take it easy, you took in a lot of water."

Athena finally opened her eyes and looked at the 2 people speaking to her.  
"Iolaus, Jason, what happened. Last thing I remember was that I was trying to 
tie things down."

"Last thing we saw of you was falling over board." Iolaus said.  "You scared 
us all to death."

"Sorry" Athena said weakly.  "Is everyone else ok?"  

"We are still taking head count, but I think everyone made it safely. We 
better get you back to camp and around the fire to warm up with everyone 
else." Jason said as he helped Athena stand and get her land legs again.

"You know next time someone recommends a 3 hour tour of some islands remind 
me to say no."  Athena states.

"No problem" Iolaus says with a giggle. "All that matters right now is that 
you and everyone else are safe."

With Iolaus on one side and Jason on the other they help Athena to the camp.  
"You know if I wasn't so scared this place would really be nice.  Its 
beautiful."  Athena says.

"Ya it is, but don't be scared we will look out for you."  Iolaus says.

"Um, I have a confession guys.  I am not much of a wilderness person.  I 
don't think I know how to survive out here."  Athena tells them.

"Don't worry you will be fine."  Jason says.

"Hey wait a minute."  Athena says as she looks down.  "Hey that's my back 
pack, I hope my things are still in it."  

Athena picks it up and opens it and all that's in it is a large roll of 
dental floss. "Great" she says, "I don't believe this, at least I'll be able 
to floss." 

"Lets get going" Jason says as he shakes his head and laughs.

TBC.....

Athena
---------------------------------------------
Iolaus took charge of our little party, leading us off along the
shore...I think he picked the direction by watching the direction of the
wind and waves, figuring where it was most likely that Drakkar would be
washed ashore after the wreck...I guess, but I'm not sure.  I didn't
really notice who else was with us at first, and who had gone with
Quietwolf and Hercules to find water and food.  I was too concerned
about Drakkar...what if, what if she had never gotten out of the hold of
the ship?  What if the current had torn her further to sea?  What
if....  Iolaus must have noticed my abstraction.  'You're really
worried, Arianna, aren't you? " he asked... and I nodded, not really
looking at him as I explained, "I don't know Drakkar all that well, but
we had begun to be friends..or at least, I had hoped we had."  I was
caught between present and past tenses...and I wanted to bite my
tongue.  She was fine...I knew she was fine!

Not one to borrow trouble, Iolaus looked for some kind of distraction to
take my mind off my worries.  His eyes lighted on the wineskin I had
absently tossed over my shoulder and still carried.  "Are you always
prepared for a party...or are shipwrecks a special occasion?" he teased.

I looked at him confused for a moment, until, with a tilt of his head
and a meaningful look, I realized he was talking about the wineskin.
"Oh, this...I bought it for my brother.  It's not as useful as some of
the flotsom, but, I thought...maybe, the wine might be useful for
medicinal purposes...and," I hesitated...I didn't want to really think
about being here too long, but...might as well face the situation,
"well, it will make another waterskin...and we might need it."

"Might be needed to toast our recovery of Drakkar, too... finding the
lost is always worth a celebration," he said with a smile.

I smiled back, nodding, grateful for his gentle teasing...his effort to
focus my emotions on hope rather than dread.  He was a good man...we
were lucky Iolaus, Jason and Hercules were with us...they'd make all the
difference in our survival, I was sure of it!  We weren't all capable
like Quietwolf and Owlharp...sometimes, it was scary to think of how
incapable most of us really were.  Ah well, I sighed, one challenge at a
time.  Focusing on the shoreline, looking ahead to where it curved from
sight, I concentrated on hoping we'd find Drakkar ahead....safe and
sound.

Arianna
----------------------------------------
>>> They began moving inland, and despite the gravity of their situation,
> everyone seemed in relatively good spirits.  There was much talking
> and laughing and joking, until suddenly Hercules stopped walking and
> held up his hand.  The group instantly fell silent.
>
> "Do you hear that?" the demigod whispered.<<<

Drakkar hesitated a moment, not sure whether the voices she'd thought she
heard were wishful thinking or reality.  She tilted her head slightly,
straining to hear, but heard nothing more.  Perhaps she'd only imagined it.

She sighed heavily and looked up at the sky.  The light was beginning to
fade, the shadows created by the afternoon sun steadily lengthening.  It
would be dark in a few hours, and she certainly didn't relish the thought of
spending the night hours alone.  Though she'd never admit it to anyone, the
truth was, she was scared to be alone in the dark.  Not afraid of the dark
itself, just of being alone. She hated being alone.

She turned a circle, looking around her, then flopped down on the sand.  She
was so tired, and her muscles were literally quivering with fatigue.  A
little nap on the sand couldn't hurt anything, could it?  It wasn't like she
was going to be late for anything...

Sprawled out on her back, she yawned and closed her eyes, stretching her
arms out on either side of herself.  The sand was so warm and soft, and the
sound of the ocean waves so peaceful...she tried to focus on the serenity of
her surroundings instead of the situation she was in, and imagined that she
had *chosen* to land here, that her friends were surrounding her, all safe
and accounted for.  For a moment, the illusion seemed to be working,  but
the fear and despair refused to retreat for long.

~Drakkar
------------------------------------------------
Cold water, why is there cold water dripping on my head? Awareness returns
slowly and I remember the vicious winds, pounding rain and Autolycus flying
pass me on a large wave of sea water.  Sitting up I look around.  There's
only me, the sounds of pounding surf, strange bird cries and miles and miles
of forest.

I stand moving my hand over stiff and bruised body parts, delighted that all
of them seem to be working properly.  Underneath a sky of brilliant blue I
move further up on the beach into the shade.  Thoughts of searching for the
others come and go.  My home training comes to mind, my gram use to say, 'if
you're ever lost, stay put and let them find you.  If you go wandering off,
something will have you for dinner."  So I sat there in the heating sand.

The sounds of the tide and heat of the morning sun and hunger make it
difficult for me to keep my eyes open as sleep beacons.  Finding a place
relatively clear of crawling things I lay down.

I don't know how long I slept but upon waking I looked out at the sea, at
clouds of pink-violet laying heavily over the sea holding for a brief time
the setting sun.  I stand dusting sand from my face, hair and clothing.  I
shake my head, angry with myself for sleeping so long.  "It's going to be
dark soon and if you don't find the others you're going to be that animal
fodder gram talked about."  I say out loud.  Talking to myself is a long
time habit.  It was the answering back that had me sometimes wondering about
my sanity.  But so far I'm holding it together.

I walk down the beach and inland as far as I could before darkness make
traveling unsafe.  Too scared to sleep on the ground in the dark, I found a
tree I could climb.  After a lot of huffing and puffing and scuffed knees, I
reached a branch I felt would hold my weight.  Sitting there I watch every
trembling leaf, jump at every strange birdcall.  The joke I heard Iolaus
telling a group of the sailors the night before come to mind.  Something
about....

An old healer went wayyyyyyy out in the country to deliver a baby.  When the
doctor arrived, no one was home except for the mother and her 5 year old
child.  The doctor told the child to hold the lantern so he could see.  Told
the mother to push and after a while the healer lifted the newborn by the
feet and spanked him on the bottom to get thim to take his first breath.
The healer asked the 5 year old what he thought of the baby.  "Hit him
again," the child said.  "He shouldn't have crawled up there in the first
place!"

Sitting there cold and hungry, I empathized with the 5 year old...I had no
business being here in the first place.

Elaine
------------------------------------------------
CJ had been fishing off the port stern when the ship wrecked.  She was flung 
overboard into the roiling sea and grabbed the nearest floating piece of wood to 
hang on to.  The blonde saw her pole floating next to her and managed to snag it 
before she got caught in a cross current carrying her away from the island.  "Oh 
crap, this isn't good" she muttered and used the wood for a kickboard.  The 
riptide was too strong and the more she attempted to swim against it, the 
further away she got.  "Ok, don't panic" she told herself and turned to swim 
parallel to the island.  

She managed to stay abreast, not getting any closer, but at least not getting 
further away but knew her strength wouldn't last if she kept up her current 
pace.  She drifted for awhile, letting the waves carry her where they would.  
Finally, she felt herself going in a different direction and heaved a sigh of 
relief when she found herself in another current, this time taking her closer.  
She had no idea which part of the island she was heading for, but it wasn't 
anywhere close to where the ship went down.  She kicked with the last of her 
remaining strength and felt her feet hit a sandbar.  

CJ let her piece of wood go and staggered through the crashing waves until she 
reached the dry sand and collapsed.  Her first thought was she needed to try and 
find the others, knowing that Kat and Margui would be getting worried soon.  The 
blonde flipped over onto her back, then winced when she realized her sword was 
still strapped there and was digging into her spine.  The fingers of her left 
hand were cramped and she looked over in surprise to find the fishing pole was 
still gripped in her hand.  She forced her fingers to relax, allowing the pole 
to settle in the sand next to her.  The sun was mercilessly beating down on her 
face and body, giving the exhausted amazon some impetus to at least move into 
the shade that was nearby.  

She tried to stand, but her legs were like jelly so she wrapped the fishing line 
around her wrist, taking care not to hook herself and crawled for the treeline, 
dragging the pole behind her. "Ok, just a few minutes and I'll go find everyone 
else" she whispered.  Her eyes closed and she dozed off, giving her body the 
much needed rest before she continued the unplanned adventure. 

CJ
----------------------------------------------
Coughing, eyes burning with salt, Kleandra sat up. It took her a while to
regain her senses but soon enough realized just where Poseidon in his
obvious though unexplainable rage has put her.

"Great! Just great! And here I was, sinking...no...thinking that this tour
would be a good idea to finally get some well-deserved fun. This should have
been easy - why is it never easy?"

Knowing that this train of thought would lead her to nowhere she picked
herself up from the ground, tried to brush the sand off her clothes and to
come up with a solution of what to do next.
First she had to find the others, they had to be somewhere. She just hoped
that everyone would be okay. Then they had to figure out how to get off of
this Gods-forsaken place. Not that she wouldnīt enjoy a long stay on a
deserted island, she just  preferred to be able to leave whenever she felt
like it.
On turning around she noticed a small object reflecting the sun light.

"Fantastic! My luckīs changing for the better already!", she thought with a
smile. "My knife. And my Bolo! I donīt believe it! How did they get here?
Doesnīt matter."

She put the knife into its sheath and fixed the Bolo at her belt before she
took off to search for the others. It didnīt take her long  to stumble right
into Autolycus....literally!

Kleandra
-----------------------------------
Before the storm slammed into us full force, I had been up on deck 
with Jason.  He had been  showing me some of the new equipment he had 
the Argo fitted with just prior to our voyage.   The wicked weather 
hit us so fast there was no time to prepare for it or batten anything 
down . 

I stayed with Jason and followed his orders as best I could...but when 
the Argo began to break apart...the saddest order I had to follow was 
to abandon ship.  My last vision of the majestic ship was of a very 
heroic Jason still manning the wheel...keeping it as steady as he could 
until he saw us all get off the vessel safely.

Whipping the wet tendrils of hair out of my face and dusting the sand 
off of as much of my body as possible (oh, gods...how I hate sand)...I 
could finally take stock of my surroundings.  My right knee was 
throbbing but I realized it was nothing too serious as I moved it 
back and forth.  Jason and Hercules were helping pull a couple of my 
friends from the surf.  Iolaus was further up on the beach with 
Quietwolf.  They were looking inland, no doubt discussing the need to 
find a safe campground for us.  I saw Auto and Falafal, and made a 
quick head-count for my own peace of mind.  Only a couple of friends 
seemed to be missing but I was still a bit dizzy from the whole 
experience and didn't trust that I had counted correctly.

I stood in the wet sand, swayed slightly and felt a steadying hand on 
my shoulder.  "You've made it in one piece, my friend?" Jason asked 
with a quick smile.

I assured him that I was okay and asked if there were anything I 
could do to help.  Jason looked about to make certain that Hercules 
and Iolaus had enough help, then he asked me to stay with him and 
salvage as much of the wreckage as we could before the tides changed.  
We grabbed a barrel that was floating near the shore and rolled it up 
to the beach.  The markings showed that it was rice from the Argo's 
galley.  I worked side-by-side with Jason, rescuing things from the 
surf and watched as the two scouting parties departed on their 
separate missions.  I watched as Caro made her way over to Falafal 
and offered a silent prayer of thanks.  There would be someone 
watching our backs in the food department.  There's nothing quite 
like having your dinner come and bite you back several hours 
later...and Falafal's meals were notorious for doing just that!

I felt something soft wash against my ankles with the next wave and 
was happy to see it was one of the fishnet hammocks that had been 
strung up on the deck.  Several of us had been lounging in them when 
we first embarked on the cruise, gently rocking back and forth, 
listening to the lulling sound of waves slapping against the hull, 
mixed with the true, soft notes of music from a  harmonica.  So 
peaceful...the calm before the story.  

I pulled the  hammock out of the water, slung it over my right 
shoulder and tied it at my left hip.  It was bound to come in handy 
for something.  

Jason and I pulled a few more items onto the beach but there didn't 
seem to be much more we could salvage.  On our last trip back into 
the water, I came across something shining amid the waves.  Swimming 
just a little bit away from Jason I reached for the glittering square 
and pulled up the small, framed mirror that had been hanging over the 
wash barrel on the Argo's deck.  I tossed it up into the pile on the 
beach and went to help Jason sort through the items we had managed to 
save from his beautiful ship.

When we got to the last of the salvage, my eye caught again on the 
shining mirror.   It was a pretty thing, not practical and I was 
getting ready to toss it aside when something inside told me to hold 
on to it...call it a hunch....

TBC (MaryE.)
----------------------------------------------
Pythia's journal: 

A few more people had stumbled ashore by the time the search party took 
off into the interior; those of us left could only hope that they would be 
successful in finding both the missing members of our group and the much 
needed water supply before night fell.  Jason organised the rest of us, 
packing the salvaged supplies into the sails so that they would be 
protected from the elements and easy to carry once we'd identified a safe 
camping place.

Autolycus - being Autolycus - vanished as soon as hard work loomed in his 
direction.  I watched him sneak away down the beach and nearly ratted on 
him - then I thought better of it and held my tongue.  We were going to 
need his skills in the days ahead and I knew it wouldn't do to upset him 
this early in the adventure.

Adventure?  Hah!  Survival is demanding work and we found that out the 
hard way.  By the time we'd sorted through all the flotsam, rolled up the 
sails, lashed the barrel of rice and assorted packages to the sturdy pole 
Jason found in the surf and gathered as much driftwood and broken planks 
as we could find there were aching backs, blistered hands and groaning 
workers littered all over the beach.  Falafel came to our rescue; he'd 
borrowed my hatchet, climbed a nearby palm tree and hacked down a half 
dozen green coconuts.  Jason's sword made short work of the husks and we 
were soon sharing out the sweetest nectar any of us could imagine; coconut 
milk straight from the shell!

I packed the discarded husks into one of the bundles; the fibres were 
tough and would undoubtedly come in useful later.  I'd just finished that 
and happily accepted another swig from the nut that Llyra handed me when 
we saw Autolycus coming along the beach towards us.

Much to our amusement - and relief - Kleandra was dragging him back, her 
fingers firmly clenched on one ear...

Pythia
-------------------------------------------------------
Kat looked around.  Everyone seemed to be busy doing something---
searching through the wreckage for what they could salvage, searching
the island, or looking for a good campsite.  The Amazon felt useless and
in the way.  She walked over to her sister Margui.

"Hey Margui.  It looks like everything is under control.  I'm going to
walk along the beach, maybe see if anything or anyone else has washed
ashore," Kat said as she pushed her short hair off of her face.

"Want company?" Margui asked.  She could see that Jason and the others
had the task under control.

"Sure," the younger woman said with a smile.

The siblings walked along the shore.  They found various bits of the
ship on the sand, but nothing big enough to be useful.  After a while
Kat spotted something in the distance.

"Hey Margui, do you see that?"

"Yeah.  What do you think it is?"

"Not sure, but we should investigate."  Kat's hand rested on the handle
of the sword strapped to her back.  She didn't expect trouble, but had
been taught to expect the unexpected.

As the Amazon drew closer, they could tell that what had once been an
unrecognizable shape was a body.  They approached quickly now, hoping
that the person didn't need more help than they could give.

"That's CJ," Margui said as the blond came into view.

The sisters rushed to their sibling's side.

"Is she?"

"She's just sleeping."

"Hey sis wake up.  Herc's not with us, so they'll be no mouth to mouth,
and I do know how much you'd enjoy that."

TAG?

Kat
--------------------------------------------------
*****Where forlorn sunsets flare and fade on desolate sea and lonely 
sand.  It calls you night and day beyond the dark into the dream, 
over the hills and far away - W.E. Henley*****


Yes, they were shipwrecked.  Yes, they were largely without 
supplies.  Yes, the situation was grave.  But Quiet Wolf was in her 
element.  She practically grew up outside in the woods, and her 
father had endowed her with her own collection of "Old Fisherman's 
Tricks".  The bard was completely at home immersed in nature, and in 
fact, she often preferred it that way.  And she always did love a 
good adventure.  Quiet Wolf's mind and heart went out to Drakkar, but 
she had complete confidence in Iolaus' abilities to find their 
missing friend.  Always the optimist, Quiet Wolf was not even worried 
when Hercules tensed, hearing something that had apparently disturbed 
him.

"I don't hear anything," she whispered to the demigod, after several 
moments of ear straining.  The rest of the group concurred with the 
bard.

"I have a feeling..." Hercules said slowly.

Everyone exchanged a glance.  When the son of Zeus had a feeling, it 
usually spelled trouble.  Quiet Wolf pulled out the spyglass that 
Iolaus2 had given her and scanned the horizon, not seeing anything 
out of the ordinary.  

"Well," she said practically.  "We can't stand around here all day.  
It's going to start getting dark soon, and the others are counting on 
us to find water and food and somewhere to camp."

"Everybody stay behind me," the demigod commanded slowly.  "And be 
careful."

Quiet Wolf
---------------------------------------
The shore party moved along the beach, on the look-out for the missing
members of the group.  Not far ahead Allie saw a pile of seaweed-covered
boulders.

'All right. Crabs.' she thought and broke away from the party to forage.
She was busily moving aside clumps of seaweed and seizing the crabs as
they scuttled away when a familiar voice said in her ear.  "Need some
help?"

Allie looked up into Iolaus' blue eyes. "Uh, yeah, sure,"  she gulped.

Iolaus gave her his most dazzling smile and between the two of them they
soon had the bucket full.

"I'll just take these back to Falafel and then catch up to the scouting
part."  Allie told him.

"Okay."  Iolaus trotted back to the group and Allie ran back to the
beach where Falalfel and Caro were gathering cooking equipment and food.
She held the bucket up under the chef's nose.

"Um," he said, peering in, "crabcakes."

They emptied the bucket into a cooking pot and Allie set off in pursuit
of the scouting party.

She skipped happily down the beach, swinging the bucket at her side.  It
had been a memorial day.  She had survived a shipwreck, been carried
ashore by a demigod and gone crabbing with Iolaus.  And someone else was
cooking dinner. (She trusted Caro would make sure Falalfel didn't ruin
the crabcakes.)  Uh-huh, life didn't get any better than this.

She spotted the scouting party ahead and broke into a run to catch up.

Allie
--------------------------------------------------
"I'm glad I have this bag" Athena said to herself as she strolled the coconut 
and banana trees collecting coconuts and bananas.  

"I hope the others having good luck."

"You know talking to yorself is the first sign of heat stroke or your just 
cracking up." said a familar voice with a giggle

Athena jumped, dropped the bag and screamed all at the same time. 
"Iolaus...." trying to catch her breath, " don't do that.  I'm scared enough 
on this island.""

"Hey, I'm sorry.  I didn't mean to scare you.  I saw you way over here and 
wanted to tell you we were heading back." Iolaus said as he put a comforting 
arm on Athena's shoulder.

"We...We are going to be ok aren't we." Athena asked

"Sure we will, lets head back.  Let me see your bag I'll carry it for you.  
Pretty good stuff here, with the crabs Allie caught, your coconut juice and 
bananas and the other things we have we wont starve."  Iolaus said with a 
smile.

As they walked back to camp they noticed others already there.  

Athena
--------------------------------------
"Do you need some help to get down from there?" The question was followed by the 
crunching sound of dry leaves being walked on and the rustling of bushes. I 
opened my eyes hoping that I was back home on my usual bed of dry hay. No such 
luck. I sat up and looked down to find a crowd looking up.

"Morning."

"Morning." Chorused the group. 

"I'm coming up." Iolaus said to the group, his hand already searching for a 
steady grip on the branch. 

"No. No. Don't do that." I said hurriedly.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." I must have looked pretty anxious for the two men and the woman with them 
backed away.

"We're going further up the beach, there are still a couple of people to gather 
before heading back to where we have set up camp. We expect you to catch up in a 
few minutes." Hercules commanded.

"Thanks." I said watching them move away.  The help offered would have been nice 
but, as I climbed the tree last night, I had torn my undergarment and with my 
luck I'd somehow end up suspended above the ground with my hinny hanging out for 
everyone to see. So until I found the pack with my extra, I'd just as soon get 
down on my own.   Safely back on the ground and clothing rearranged in a more 
dignified manner I was ready to join the group. 

Elaine
-----------------------------------------
"ow.. ow.. OWW!"  Bev shook her hand vigorously in a frantic effort to
be rid of the horrid little creature that had attached itself to her
left forefinger. With one more strong shake and grace from above it
finally fell away.  Bev was left holding her finger and doing a jig none
of the others watching had ever seen performed anywhere.  A number of
snickers followed by some "are you ok's" and a well deserving look from
Falafel that said. 'well, you should have known better'.  But he offered
to check for the seriousness of her injury and when once it had been
determined that there was no real damage they were able to get back to
the task at hand.
Allie and Iolaus had collected a good number of crabs while on their way
back from the search and so dinner for their first day lost at sea was
to be a good one.  That along with the amount of fruit that had been
collected meant that it was quite apparent that nobody was going to go
hungry.
While the search group had been away Falafel, Caro, Athena, Pythia, Mary
and Bev had put together a very believable and workable campfire. With
larger stones collected from the shore's edge they had formed a good
sized perimeter and used driftwood that made for a very fine cook fire. 
Now however, Bev was at a loss for how they were to cook the little
devils Allie and Iolaus had brought back to camp.  Since they couldn't
drink the salt water they couldn't cook in it either.  Right?  She
thought not!
Then she remember back to when she was a small girl and hearing her
father talk of the survival skills he had learned while serving in the
military.  Fresh water could often be found in the most unlikely places.
Yes, it was coming back to her now.
They were all going to have to watch for things like bees, and ants and
certain kinds of birds.  Bees were never found far from water.  But they
could collect rain water, if they got rain again and could find
something to collect it in.
And they could absolutely use the salt water for collecting fresh water.
But they would have to boil the salt water with rocks and collect the
condensation in some rags and clean cloths. And that would take time.
But at least these were doable ideas they could put to work right away..
A more immediate way to finding water was however right under their
feet.
Bev started to giggle and shouted, "anyone up to digging?", and
excitedly took off for the beach.  Caro, Mary and Pythia followed Bev
and asked if maybe she'd been in the sun too long already. 
She laughed and explained, "no, really I haven't.  I'm ok.  But there
may be water in the sand.  They're called sand wells and if we can find
some the water should be drinkable.  At least what's on the surface
should be."
Then, just when everyone watching thought it impossible, Bev became even
more excited.  Even Jason was watching now with peaked interest.  She
reached into her vest pocket and pulled out the bar of soap.  Caro and
Pythia backed away shaking their heads in denial and Kleandra said, "no
way am I drinking soap bubbles".
"Nooo, this silly!"  Bev removed the plastic from around the bar of soap
she'd wrapped it in.
"If we can get real lucky now and find some more of this", shaking the
plastic to make her point, "we can build a workable condensation
collector."  Bev stared from one shipped wrecked friend to the next
waiting for some understanding.  And one by one recognition appeared on
their faces.  
All smiles now----"Let's get to work guys".

tbc
Bev
-------------------------------------------------
Pythia's journal:

End of Day one.

Our first night under the stars. In most adventure tales this is a 
breathtakingly romantic experience - to lie under the infinite expanse of 
the sky, gazing up at the sprinkling of diamonds that pattern it's velvet 
depths, to hear the soft sound of the surf breaking on the beach and 
feel the leaping warmth of the firelight as it plays across your skin ...

Well, I guess there's a little of that.  Or maybe a *lot* of that - 
providing you add the restless muttering of shipwrecked souls, working on 
ways to survive the days ahead, the hissing crackle of yet another crab, 
baking in the hot embers at the edge of the fire, the comforting laughter 
of true heroes as they organise the watches for the night (Autolycus 
insisted they draw straws for the midnight shift) - along with the dry, 
rough feel of salt stained cloth as you wrap it around yourself and settle 
down in the sand to sleep.

I will dream of sand tonight.  Sand under my feet, in my clothes, in my 
hair, sand in every mouthful of hot steaming crabmeat, even sand in the 
bananas because, by the time we came to eat them, I was too tired to 
bother brushing the stains of the beach from my hands.  But we are fed, 
and watered for tonight at least - and tomorrow we will head inland, 
looking for a better campsite; one close to fresh water and with a flat 
sheltered prospect where we can build sturdier shelter.  Jason didn't 
think that it would rain tonight, but rain it will, sooner or later.  I 
want to be under a thick roof of canvas and woven palm leaves by then - or 
 be able to crawl into a tepee at least!
 
It had been too late to move inland by the time the scouting parties had 
returned - although Hercules and his party had brought back news of 
sighting a river mouth further long the bay.  That means there'll plenty 
of water on the island, and we won't need to rely on Bev's ingenious 
condenser - although it's more than proved it's worth tonight!

Not all is rosy - there are still some people unaccounted for, and we 
can't live on crabs and bananas for the rest of our lives.  But Iolaus has 
promised he'll do a little fishing tomorrow, and Hercules and I have 
discussed ways of making nets and fish traps using plaits of coconut 
fibres and the tough sea grass that grows along the shore.  Several people 
have volunteered to help with that and I know the Amazons among us are 
eager to  go hunting in the interior.  I'm sure we won't starve.
 
At least we've survived the first day.

And tomorrow?  Who knows what adventure awaits us ...
Pythia
------------------------------------------------
By the time we stumbled into camp, it was dark...the flickering of the
fire was the only thing which had continued to draw us on.  Not wanting
to disturb anyone, we crept to the end of the group, too tired for
explanations anyway, and dropped to the sand.  As I stared up at the
stars, I thought about all that had happened...the terrifying shipwreck,
the hauling in of debris...Quietwolf's idea of
heading out to scout the island...the realization that Drakkar was
missing.

Iolaus and I, along with a couple of others, had split off from the main

scouting group to head along the beach, in the direction of the
prevailing currents, to try to find Drakkar.  We had walked for about an
hour, when it became evident that those who had come with us were
flagging...the peculiar 'high' which seems to come with unexpected and
terrifying danger, the energy which allows people to fight desperately,
persevere against incredible odds, or flee with unbelievable speed from
an enemy too terrible to face, had worn off.  Iolaus watched them with
increasing concern as their paces slowed and they began to stumble.
Speaking quietly to me, he observed, "We can't go much farther
today...we'll have to turn back."

Torn, I looked ahead, where the island's shore curved away, hiding what
lay beyond.  Drakkar was somewhere up ahead, I just knew it...she had to

be.  I couldn't just turn around.  I could see Iolaus was torn...he had
to be concerned with the greater good.  Nodding, I whispered back, "I'll
just go a little further...then I'll turn around, I promise...I'll be
right behind you."

I knew he wanted to object, but he knew how stubborn I could be, and
arguing would only waste time.  So, he finally nodded, turned to the
others, and began to support them back to the place where we'd come
ashore.  By the time they got back, the others would have cobbled
together a meal.

I watched them head back around the headland, then continued on along
the
shore.  A little further became a little more...then just a little
more.  It was dusk by the time I spotted a dark bundle on the sand about
a hundred feet ahead.

It was Drakkar!  And, thank the gods, she was alive!  Poor thing, she'd
taken quite a blow to the head, causing a nasty gash.  It had made her
drowsy and confused...she'd laid down to rest for just a few minutes and

had fallen asleep.  I roused her, made sure there were no other
injuries.  Tearing a strip from my skirt, I drenched it with the good
Nemean wine, and cleaned out the gash, all the while listening to her
terrifying experience of having been sucked out of the belly of the
ship, cast adrift far from where Jason had managed to steer it, closer
into the island.  The incoming tide had helped him bring the ship
in...and had brought Drakkar to land.

There was no way we wanted to stay in the isolated area of the beach
where we were then, so we turned and headed back to the others.  As we
stumbled through the sand, both of us exhausted, we were glad of the
moonlight on the water...the reflective light was enough for us to find
our way.  Still, we were wondering if we would make it...when the
flicker of
light ahead drew us like a beacon....funny, the things that can seem
like home.  That flicker of light meant warmth, and friendship and
safety.  It was all we needed to galvanize our last bit of energy.

Letting my muscles relax, I was about to doze off, when a shadow
appeared beside me.  "You made it back," Iolaus murmured... "I was
beginning to get worried about you!"

I suppressed a grateful, slightly hysterical giggle, "Well," I whispered

back, "it wasn't that hard to follow the beach back to all of you...not
like we could have gotten lost or anything!"

I could see the hint of a smile reflected in the moonlight.  He touched
my shoulder once, then moved quietly away.  Sighing, I rolled onto my
side to sleep.  What would tomorrow bring?

Arianna
-------------------------------------------------------
Despite the exhaustion that the day's activities had caused (gods, 
had it only been a day since the Argo had gone down?) Quiet Wolf was 
having trouble sleeping.  With a sigh, she sat up and poked at the 
fire, stirring up the embers and adding another piece of wood.  There 
was a peace to the balmy night, as the moon shone down over the 
glistening sand and the waves slid easily along the shore.  Drakkar 
had been found by the intrepid Arianna, and she thankfully had not 
been seriously hurt.  With everyone accounted for, the group was 
breathing a little easier.  Bev had ingeniously secured them water, 
and all had gotten their fill of crabcakes supplied by Allie and 
Iolaus, which were masterfully saved from Falafel's clutches by 
Caro.  All in all, the situation could be a lot worse, and Quiet Wolf 
was very glad that, if she had to be shipwrecked, it was with such a 
clever and capable group of people.

She was just about to lay back down and try to sleep when she spied 
two shadowy figures huddled together on the beach.  Rising and 
stretching, Quiet Wolf identified the silhouettes as Hercules and 
Iolaus.  Padding quietly over the soft sand, she approached behind 
them.

"What are you guys doing?"

Both heroes whirled around in alarm, but relaxed as they saw who it 
was sneaking up on them.

"What are you doing up?" Iolaus asked, taking his hand away from his 
sword hilt.

"I couldn't sleep," the bard confessed, looking at the two warriors 
that were suddenly very silent.  "What's going on?  Hercules, are you 
still worried about whatever you heard this afternoon?"

"I can't explain it," the demigod said hesitantly.  He was reluctant 
to discuss it, not wanting to upset the group unnecessarily, but he 
knew that Quiet Wolf didn't scare easily.  "It's just a feeling I 
have.  We're not alone on this island.  Someone, or something, is 
here with us.  And it was watching us today."

Despite the fact that she didn't scare easily, a chill ran up Quiet 
Wolf's spine at the ominous words of the demigod.  It didn't go 
unnoticed by Iolaus, who put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry," he said lightly.  "You know Herc and I aren't going to 
let anything happen to you, or anyone else in the group."

"I'm not afraid," she protested quickly.  But all the same, she 
decided to keep her snake hook close at hand for the remainder of 
their stay.  

"Why don't you go back up to the fire and get some sleep?" Hercules 
suggested.  

Quiet Wolf nodded.  They had a lot of work ahead of them tomorrow.  
Setting up a camp in the area they had scouted along the river mouth, 
rigging up a shelter, moving the supplies they had scavenged, and 
gathering in more food.  They would have to begin at dawn, and as 
much as Quiet Wolf loved an adventure, she never claimed to be a 
morning person.  Leaving the warriors and returning to where the rest 
of the group was slumbering peacefully, she lay down in her spot in 
the sand.  Although the potential danger that Hercules sensed on the 
island worried her a bit, it didn't keep her awake.  Quiet Wolf knew 
she and the rest of the group were safe under the watch of Greece's 
two finest heroes.  

------------------------------------------------
Caro turned over and started scratching her head. "Stop it!" she
exclaimed quietly so as not to wake any of the others. Her head itched,
her neck itched, her whole body itched. It was the salt water, it had
always had that affect on her especially when combined with sand. Sand
and salt an eczema sufferers nightmare. She sighed, what she wouldn't
give for a nice long shower and a really strong emollient cream. 

Sitting up Caro looked around her, if you were going to be shipwrecked
then you couldn't ask to be with a better bunch of people. You had to
feel confident with the presence of Hercules, Iolaus and Jason, but
there were also some pretty capeable people here too. Look at the way
Allie had found those crabs, and Bev and her water trap that had been
brilliant and a possible life saver. She smiled as she noticed the
sleeping Drakkar, what a relief that Arianna had been so determined and
had found their missing companion. 

Falafel was muttering to himself in his sleep and jealously guarding his
cooking pot, hugging it tight to his stomach. How she could keep
everyone safe from his cooking she didn't know. They all seeemed to
think she had been responsible for making the crabs palatable, but it
had been more to do with Bev and good fortune. Caro was no cook, but she
liked her food and she supposed that and a bit of common sense was
enough to keep their resident cook on the straight and narrow. At least
he didn't seem to mind 'showing her the ropes' as he had put it.

A little distance from the group Caro spied the large form of Hercules,
he was sitting with two others, and watching for a moment she decided
that they were Iolaus and Quiet Wolf. Wondering if there was something
wrong, the itchy survivor almost went to join them but decided that if
Hercules thought that she needed to know something he would tell her.
'Ignorance is bliss' she sighed to herself as she lay back down and
tried to get some sleep. 

Dawn wasn't far off now and it would be nice to get through the next day
without turning into a zombie. Dreaming of a nice gentle river running
with pure mountain water Caro finally drifted off to sleep.

Caro
--------------------------------
It had been an eventful day.  Llyra had put aside her concerns for 
Drakkar in order to help organize the rest of the survivors to take 
care of their immediate needs.  For the most part, the list sisters 
had joined in with a will, putting everything together with amazing 
speed and enthusiasm.  However, some of the younger sisters were 
having real trouble adjusting to their current state of affairs.

Early in the afternoon, before the search parties had returned, Llyra 
was finding it increasingly difficult to keep her mind on her tasks.  
She was worried about Drakkar, and the others who had yet to show up 
(where was Ziggy, anyway?  Had she made it ashore?  Was Chaos with 
her?) and thinking more and more that she should have joined the 
others to search the island.  She found herself watching the horizon, 
hoping to catch a glimpse of the search parties, the missing sisters 
or both.  All in all, Llyra could no longer hide her anxiety.

It was Jason who found the perfect solution for both those who were 
not adjusting and she who was slowly going mad with worry.  He 
approached the older bard and asked for her help.

"Llyra, could you go and talk to Skylark?" he asked.

"Skylark?  Why, is she ill?"  Llyra was immediately concerned. Skylark 
reminded her sharply of her own girl, Astride, and they were about the 
same age.  It was all the older woman could do to keep from racing to 
the youngster's side and mothering her.

"No, no, she's fine physically," Jason assured her.  `It's just that 
she's having a little trouble dealing with this whole situation."

"She ain't the only one," Llyra said ruefully.  "This was definitely 
not on my `Life- Experiences- that- I- Had- to- Achieve- to- be- 
Happy' list.  Okay, okay, I'll talk to her.  Where is she?"

It didn't take long to find Skylark - she was sitting on a big rock, 
her arms wrapped around her knees, staring out at the sea. Llyra 
climbed up beside her and sat down.

They sat together in silence for a few minutes, both lost in their own 
thoughts.  Finally Llyra broke the silence.

"The sea looks really calm now, doesn't it?" she said casually.  
Skylark shrugged her shoulders, but did not answer.  Llyra laid a 
gentle hand on the girl's back and began to massage between her 
shoulder blades.  After a few moments, she leaned into the caress and 
began to relax.  It was a short step from there to letting the older 
woman slide a comforting arm around her and pull her into a hug.

"I'm just so - so - " Skylark began, but could not voice her true 
feelings.

"Scared?" Llyra supplied helpfully.  "I only know how you feel because 
I feel the same way.  Scared."

Skylark looked up.  "You do?"

"Sure I do.  I think most of us feel the same way, just some of us are 
better at hiding it than others.  Then again, some of us are braver 
than others."

"Like Hercules and Iolaus?  And Jason?"

"Sorta, but also like Quiet Wolf and Kleandra.  Herc and Iolaus and 
Jason are old hands at being brave because they're heroes.  But it's 
like they say: being brave is just a matter of doing what you have to 
do when you have to do it.  Anybody can do that, even me.  Certainly 
you can."

"Everybody must think I'm such a wimpy little kid," Skylark said 
miserably.

"No, Honey, we don't," Llyra assured her with a squeeze of her 
shoulders.  "We think you're part of the team, and we think we need 
you, especially if you know something about that medkit you're carting 
around."

"Oh, yeah!" Skylark was finally more animated.  "I studied healing 
herbs and medicines because I'm always getting sick."

"That's good because if it was left up to me, I'd probably prescribe 
rubbing poison ivy on sun burn."

"Not good," Skylark grinned.  "But at least you'd forget about the sun 
burn."

"You got that right," Llyra agreed.  "Speaking of sunburn, you think 
you could devise some kind of sun screen for those of us not sporting 
a deep tan?  The last thing we need is everybody coming down with a 
severe burn from all this lovely sunshine."

Skylark considered for a moment, going over everything she knew about 
skin care.  "Maybe I could mix up something with coconut oil, if we 
can find a way of extracting the oil in the first place."

"We'll put our heads together on that one.  We'll all smell like pina 
coladas, but at least we won't turn into crispy critters. I saw 
Arianna walking around with a bolt of cloth, so maybe we could devise 
some kind of head covering.  Sun stroke isn't any fun, either."

With her mind focussed on something concrete to do to help everyone 
else, the young girl forgot her earlier melancholy and started to plan 
her next task.  Llyra had forgotten, for a little while, her worries 
over Drakkar and the others.  When she thought about the whole thing 
later, she thought, "One smart cookie, that Jason."

As the two continued down the beach back to the others, they saw Kat 
and Margui race toward a still figure, fallen on the sand.  

"It's CJ," Skylark cried in alarm.  She and Llyra ran to join their 
friends to help the fallen Amazon.  They heard Margui inform the 
sleeping CJ that Herc was not with them, so there would be no mouth to 
mouth.  

Llyra, always willing to be helpful, smiled wickedly and said, "Don't 
worry, Margui.  Falafel is in camp.  I'm sure he'd be more than 
willing to -"

But nobody ever found out what Falafel would be willing to do, because 
CJ had already leapt to her feet and was running away screaming about 
how healthy she was.

Llyra
-----------------------------------
Ziggy dragged herself to shore. It was already getting dark and she could
see fires along the shore as most of the others were settling down for the
night. "Whew!" she said as she pulled herself away from the flowing tide. "I
didn't think that piece of timber would ever come to shore!"

Quickly, she got to her feet and looked out at the splashing waves. She was
sad. She had been unable to locate Chaos before the Argo had gone down
completely. She feared her little companion was lost to Posidein's raging
temper. Unable to think of anything else to do, she started towards the
campfires set up.

"Ziggy!" called a voice and soon she was surrounded by many of her ListSibs.
A blanket was tossed over her shoulder as she was led to one of the blazing
fires. Iolaus, Hercules and Jason all welcomed her. A waterskin was thrust
into her hands and she drank deeply, her throat still parched from the sun
and salt water she had battled the past few hours.

Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her Swiss army knife. With its
sharp blades, she would be able to skin rabbits (if there were any on this
island), gut fish and sharpen sticks to catch said game. The other tools
would come in handy, too. But all the help she could provide paled when she
thought of her lost companion.

"I lost Chaos," she sniffed.

"As chaotic as the situation seems," came Autolycus' voice, "there is only
one creature that can still be with us!"

Ziggy looked up at the King of Thieves. "What?"

"It takes a thief to find a thief," Auto stated. He held out the furry
little critter.

"Chaos!" Ziggy grabbed the ferret and hugged him. Chaos, however, didn't
appreciate the gesture and quickly squirmed out of her grasp. He started
dancing across the cooling sands, ellicting chuckles from her fellow
outcasts. Ziggy jumped to her feet and gave Auto a hug. "Where did you find
him?!"

"He just washed up on shore, shook himself off and, well, here we are," he
told her. "I think he'll come in handy with the hunting. I don't trust Curly
to find enough for all of us, you know."

"I heard that!" came Iolaus' indignant voice from over the beach.

"No need for you to find food for all of us, Iolaus," Ziggy soothed, "we've
got a great bunch of hunter/gatherers with us. Chaos can flush the game,
though."

Suddenly realizing she was very tired, Ziggy found a fire with some of her
ListSibs and laid down. They'd have to search for decent shelter tomorrow,
though she heard some of the others talking about a search party already
checking out the island. 'Hmmmm,' she thought, 'Chaos is pretty good at
searching, too.'

NOTE: To the Game Goddesses: Any problem with Chaos being one of my
possessions? If so, let me know and I'll send the Little Guy off on his own.
Ziggy
-------------------------------------------
Hey all!

Excellent job to all the Survivors! Well done on the first week.

Just to bring everyone up to date on what supplies you now have:

10 ft. pole
50 ft rope
bag of marbles
canvas from the sails
1 barrel of dry, uncooked rice
Jason: Sword
Iolaus: sword, fishing line and hook, bow with a few arrows
Falafel: cooking pot
Autolycus: lockpick with extension, rope with grappling hook
Hercules: himself
Owlharp: Swiss Army knife and waterskin
Arianna: Bolt of Linen (very good!), skin of Nemean wine
Pythia: Kitchen shears and hatchet
Kat: Sword and Hoolie kit (I'm thinking Kat's in charge of comic relief,
huh?)
Allie: Big water bucket and hatchet
Caro: Large blue glass and belt with many loops
Bev: Soap and small knife
MaryE: Fishnet hammock and small mirror
Athena: backpack and dental floss
Skylark: Medicine pouch and glasses
Quietwolf: snake stick and Iolaus2's telescope
Llyra: sewing kit (that'll be handy) and pouch of baking soda
Drakkar: unknown
Elaine: unknown
Kleandra: knife and bolo
Margui: umbrella and cat of nine tails
CJ: fishing pole and sword
Ahary: Spade and Superglue (excellent)

If I missed anything please email me and let me know.

The secret word was "Corinth" and no one, not one of you,  mentioned
wanting to get back there, so there will be no one removed from the
island for using the secret word this week. 

As for who won the immunity challenge, sorry you didn't need it.
Congradulations go to Elaine for going above and beyond and incorporating
her challenge into the story and to Llyra for the truely awful pun.
Nobody comes up with worse puns than Spider....<G>

OK, that unplesant duty handled we're on to more plesant tasks. 

This weeks Immunity challenge will be again due on the list by midnight
Friday:

Iolaus is trapped in a 15 foot deep, dirt pit and the sides are too
crumbly to climb out, he has no rope. How could he get out without anyone
else's help?

judging will be handled same as last week. The judge will select the 5
most inventive methods of escape and we will draw at random from those 5
names. 

Good luck

Love
The Game Goddesses
---------------------------------------
The dawn came to find all the survivors weary after a night on the beach
and a rough day behind them. Seeing the state of the castaways over
breakfast of bananas and coconuts Hercules determined to make today a
better experience. Hercules ordered everyone to gather up their things
and whatever they could carry and they'd go set up a permanent camp.

Hercules hefted the large barrel of rice onto his shoulder and led the
way down the beach. Iolaus and Autolycus shared the burden of carrying
the 10 foot pole fussing at each other all the way. It took most of the
morning to follow the small stream up to the top of the tree covered
plateau to it's source, cascading from a small rock outcropping at the
edge of the plateau.

Hercules sat the rice down next to a large tree and declared it a good
spot. 

"This is the center of the island, it's high ground, lots of shade."

Iolaus agreed, "We can tie the canvas between the trees for a roof and
tie   palm fronds for walls."

Autolycus kicked around the grass, "I suppose it's soft enough to sleep
on. At least there's water over there, that fresh spring will do nicely."

Jason had wandered to the edge of the small forest, "Hey, check out the
view off this ridge, very nice. We can see passing ships from here and
maybe try to hail them if we can build a big enough fire. We should
gather wood for that once we get ourselves settled."

Everyone pitched in and a makeshift shelter was soon erected. Wood was
gathered and a fire built in a pit to provide warmth. Supplies were
stowed and a makeshift kitchen assembled. Falafel set to work on some
coconut cream pies.

A bath in the spring was the perfect ending for the day, rid of the salt
and sand, they bedded down for a good night's rest. 

Hercules remained on watch at the edge of camp and the edge of the woods.
After the last two days, even a demigod was exceedingly wearily and his
eyes drooped. 

The snapping of a twig brought him suddenly back to wakefulness but all
was silent. Quietly, Hercules got up to investigate. Taking a torch, he
made his way to the edge of Ruffle's ridge. He peered over the side as he
felt a hand shoving him forward. He desperately tried to regain his
balance catching only a glimpse of black leather and hearing the low
chuckle of amusement before he slipped over the edge. 

The survivors in the camp were oblivious. Hercules was on guard they had
no need to worry, they could sleep in peace and they did. Only Iolaus
rolled restlessly, his sleep disturbed by something but his exhaustion
preventing him from being woken.

Hercules came to in darkness. The ground beneath him was unbelievably
hard. He shifted to try and get more comfortable only to feel agonizing
pains shooting up his leg from his ankle. Groaning, he sat up discovering
many more bruises, scrapes and cuts in the process and felt his foot. 

"Broken, damn."

With a sigh, he laid back down on the hard rock ledge. He felt better
laying down, probably had a concussion as well. the demigod took stock of
his predicament. He couldn't get himself down. He was too far from camp
to be heard by yelling, he'd have to wait until the camp woke up at dawn
and came looking for him. He felt sure Iolaus could track his movements
in the night and find where he went over the cliff. 

He rolled to his side to look at the cliff face in the moonlight. No
handholds he could reach but just down the ledge appeared to be a small
cave. Hercules pulled himself to the opening and peered in. What he saw
brought a smile to his face. There were baskets of fruit inside and a
container of flour. Just what they needed. Then, he frowned, someone had
to have put this stuff in here.....they were not alone.....That had to
have been Ares at the top of the cliff, so they had at least one god to
deal with and who else? Hercules decided not to look a gift horse in the
mouth and keep his concerns to himself for awhile. 

(note, more on the island's inhabitants with our next post....for the
moment they do not appear to be in the vicinity. <G>)

Your game goddesses
-----------------------------------------------------------------
  Owlharp rolled over for what seemed  like the 85th time in the last
half hour and finally admitted to herself that there was no point in
trying to get back to sleep. Those $%^&! birds in the trees above had
started to make a racket, which meant that dawn was not far away. Plus,
she could hear Jason snoring all the way across the camp. 
   She sat up, wiped her sand-encrusted eyes and pushed her
sand-encrusted hair back out of her face. The eastern sky was just
beginning to lighten. Quietly she got to her feet and looked around.
Everyone else seemed to still be asleep. 
She headed off to the spring to wash her face and get a drink. The water,
gushing up from a hole in the rock, was cold and sweet. Finding it had
been a major relief , at least in her own private opinion - at least they
knew where the water was coming from, and that there was nothing to
pollute it. She had carefully washed the salt from the waterskin and
filled it - it now sat under the tree that they had dubbed "the Kitchen",
next to the rice barrel and Falafel's precious pot. 
   The sky was getting pinker and she wandered over to the edge of the
ridge. The view was breathtaking - she could see the beach far below,
with the foam of the breaking waves now rose-colored in the dawn. The
faint noise of the sea was just audible, way up here. The cool morning
breeze ruffled her hair. 
   If it wasn't for the fact that they were shipwrecked, she would have
been completely blissful. And even with that still in mind, for the
moment she felt happy. They had water, food and fire, and they'd be okay
until they figured out some way of getting back home. 
   With a quick look back at camp to make sure she was far enough away
not to awaken anyone, Owlharp stood on the edge of the cliff and started
to sing. 

"i thank you god
for most this amazing day
for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and the blue true dream of sky
and for everything which is natural
which is infinite which is yes - "

   She broke off suddenly. Was there a noise coming from below her? She
held her breath and listened. For a few heartbeats there was only the
noise of the sea and then she heard

"Hey!"

Owlharp recognized the voice. "Hercules?" she shouted, kneeling carefully
as close to the edge of the cliff as she dared and peering over.
"Hercules, is that you down there?" 

"No, it's Widow Twanky! "

"Very funny. What are you doing down there?"

 "I need some help. Get Iolaus and Jason and bring a rope!" 
 
 Okay, there was no time to waste. Owlharp bellowed "On my way!" and
scurried back to the campsite.  Looked like it was going to be an
interesting morning!  
     
Owlharp
--------------------------------
Caro woke to the urgent whisper of Owlie. It wasn't aimed at her but it
woke her anyway. Turning over she blearily opened her eyes, "What's up?"

Quietly so as not to wake anyone else Owlharp explained Hercules'
predicament. "He thinks his foot is broken so we need to get him back to
camp as soon as possible."

Caro was instantly wide awake and standing beside Iolaus and Owlharp,
"What can I do?"

Iolaus smiled at her eagerness and with a grin replied, "Stay with the
camp. If you can get a fire started and some water on the boil, then
Herc will have something good to welcome him back." Iolaus' tone was
light but he couldn't hide his concern for Hercules from his companions.

Caro smiled back at the hunter, "Sure. I'll take care of it. I expect
the others will be awake and wanting breakfast soon anyway."

She watched with concern as Iolaus, Jason and Owlharp quickly made their
way from the encampment. 

'I do hope he's all right.'

Caro
---------------------------------------
Dawn had barely begun to paint the eastern sky when Iolaus stirred
restlessly, decided he was awake and sat up to greet the new day.  Well,
at least they had a permanent camp, well situated and reasonably
secure.  Stretching, he stood to leave the shelter quietly, so as not to
disturb the others who were still fast asleep.  No wonder...the last two
days had been both physically and mentally exhausting!  And, though no
one had mentioned it yet, continuing anxiety about the wellbeing of
Ziggy was playing on everyone's minds...and hope that she would be found
was beginning to dwindle.  Standing outside of their canvas and palm
frond shelter, Iolaus looked out through the trees, far to the horizon
across the sea.  There were plenty of other small islands out
there...maybe she'd landed somewhere else.  Ziggy was resilient...she'd
survive.  He wouldn't count her dead until there was no other hope.

Letting his eyes scan the camp, he realized he didn't see Hercules
anywhere.  Frowning, he moved around the back of the shelter...maybe
Herc was just out of immediate sight...he wouldn't have just gone off
when he was standing watch.  Iolaus circled the camp, found traces of
Herc's footprints...but, it took time to sort them all out...the camp
was full of everyone's footprints...they'd left countless signs of their
efforts yesterday on the ground, plain for anyone to see.

Not a little anxious, Iolaus bent to the task at hand, moving further
from the area around the camp, to its perimetre...where Herc would have
been walking while keeping watch during the night.  Finally, he found
the tracks he was sure were those he sought...recent, no other tracks
crossing them.  He found the spot where Herc had sat...and from the
scuffed sign, Iolaus wondered if Herc might have dozed off a bit.  Then,
the tracks led off, toward the ridge...and ended there.

Iolaus just stared at the trail's end, not wanting to comprehend.  He
looked around to see where Herc had walked away from the edge.
Nothing.  Oh gods...what had happened!  A sick feeling in the pit of his
stomach, Iolaus stepped to the edge, grabbed hold of the trunk of a tree
for support and looked down.

"By the gods!  HERC!" he shouted when he spotted his friend lying some
distance below on a shelf which jutted out over the rocks and sea
below.  Profound relief washed over him when Hercules waved from below
to signal he was alive and alert.

"My ankle...broken," Iolaus heard Herc shout at him from far
below....his voice sounding weak, painfilled.

"Hold on, Herc!  I'll be right there!"  Iolaus called.  'A broken
ankle...' he sighed, as he examined the side of the ridge between him
and his friend, and the area to either side and below.  It wouldn't be
easy getting Hercules back up the cliff face...and there was no other
visible route that would be less daunting.

Iolaus turned and raced back to camp.  He'd need supplies...and help.

When he arrived back, many of the others had begun to stir.  Quietwolf,
Wildkat, Pythia and Arianna were all up, beginning to scavenge for
breakfast.  They looked up at his arrival, alarm crossing their faces
when they took in his face.

"What's happened?" Quietwolf asked, Arianna demanding simultaneously,
"What's wrong?"

"It's Herc...he's been hurt...his ankle's broken and he's trapped on a
ledge about forty feet below the ridge,"  Iolaus pointed back the way he
had come.  "I need to get down to help him...I need supplies and a way
to get him back up."

The women looked at each other for a moment.  "Rope!" Quietwolf said, as
she turned to find their 50 foot length of rope.  Pythia pulled out her
hatchet, "This will help cut splints."  Iolaus nodded gratefully.

"We need a hoist...."  Arianna frowned thoughtfully, then rummaged for
the bolt of linen she'd rescued from the sea.  "We can fashion a kind of
seat for him...pull him up the side of the ridge...."

"Great idea!"  exclaimed Iolaus with a smile...this would make it a lot
easier!  "We'll need something to cut it with..." pulling out his knife,
"I guess this would do..."

Pythia interrupted as she pulled out her kitchen shears, "I think these
might work better."

By now, Skylark had emerged from the shelter, wondering what was going
on.  Quickly taking in the urgency, realizing Hercules must be in pain,
she held out her medicine pouch, "I have herbs here, for pain....."
Young, she was a bit hesitant, but was reassured when Iolaus threw her a
grateful smile.

Wildkat had run ahead and was waiting for them at the cliff's edge when
they arrived with the supplies.  Iolaus quickly cut the splints he would
need with the hatchet, while Pythia and Arianna cut a good length from
the bolt of cloth.  Quietwolf rapped the cloth around her, as Wildcat
tied off the rope.  Skylark entrusted her with the medicine pouch.
Quietwolf and Wildkat would climb down with Iolaus to help him treat
Herc's injury and manoevre him into the linen hoist.  They would also
climb back up alongside Herc, to help keep him from banging into the
cliff walls, while Iolaus would climb ahead to work with Pythia, Skylark
and Arianna in hauling Herc back to the top of the cliff.

They were ready and, one after another, the three headed down.  Iolaus
was the first to reach his friend.  Kneeling, he checked Herc out, as he
said, "So, sleepwalking again, were we?" trying to lighten the
situation.  He couldn't figure out how Herc had managed to fall over the
edge.

Herc, responding to the unspoken question, murmured quickly, before the
others could hear and be alarmed, "Ares dropped in...gave me a shove."
He winced as Iolaus gripped his ankle a little hard at this news.
Shooting Herc a look of surprise and alarm, Iolaus mouthed, "Ares?"
Herc nodded then greeted the other two castaways who had just arrived.

"Quietwolf, Kat...thanks for helping," he said, gracious even in pain.
Iolaus had started to bind his ankle, Quietwolf helping to straighten
the limb.  Herc hissed a bit in pain but made no other sound.  Kat
reached into the bag Skylark had entrusted to her, pulled out some
feverfew and stooped by Herc's head.  "Sorry, I don't have any water for
an infusion...but, if you chew on this, it should help a bit with the
pain."  Herc smiled weakly in gratitude as he took the herbs from her
hand.   "Thanks."  Nodding toward the cavern in the cliff wall, he
continued, "Kat, you might want to check that out before we leave...."
Curious, Kat followed his glance, saw the cavern, and stood to
investigate.

Arianna
-----------------------------------------------
(Aside to all readers and fellow castaways...seems a few of us were
writing simultaneously...as a means to pull us back together at the
cliff...could we just imagine that Owlie and Caro are with the others at
the top of the ridge, and that Jason has remained there as well, to help
haul Herc to the top?)  
Arianna

-----------------------------------
Pythia's Journal: Day Three.

There is no worse patient in the world than an injured demi-god!  I know 
he keeps claiming that Iolaus is far harder to deal with when he's hurt, 
but I seriously doubt it ...

Once we'd managed to get Hercules back to the top of the cliff, Iolaus and 
Jason carried him back to camp between them, leaving the rest of us to 
bring the barrels of fruit and sacks of flour that had been hidden in the 
tiny cave.  Falafel's eyes went wide when Arianna and I staggered into the 
clearing at either end of a barrel of dried apricots - and even wider 
still as Quietwolf and Kat followed us with a sack of flour over each 
shoulder.  Some of the others hastened off to relieve Skylark from her 
anxious vigil over the rest of the supplies, while we dumped our burdens 
at the cook's feet and went to make sure Hercules was okay.

Jason had slung MaryE's hammock between two trees and the son of Zeus had 
been settled into it like some cannibal king, his leg strapped up with 
green wood splints and a few more strips of Arianna's linen.  Iolaus was 
holding him down - literally - since he kept insisting he was okay, and 
could walk, and he had to find out what Ares was up to.  It took 
practically the entire camp to convince him otherwise (along with a few 
furious frowns from his partner and threats from Jason to knock him out 
with a coconut if he didn't see sense) and he finally agreed to stay put 
for a day or two.  Just while his bones knitted and providing nothing dire 
occurred in the meantime.

Iolaus asked Arianna and me to keep an eye on him and make sure he did 
what he'd promised.  He was worried as Hercules about the accident and 
wanted to go back to take another look at the cliff.  Quietwolf and Kat 
were organising hunting and gathering parties; Autolycus 'volunteered' to 
go back to the beach and build a signal fire so that we could signal to 
any passing ships, and Jason wanted a few folk to help him walk the beach 
in case any more salvage had washed ashore from the Argo.

Which is why I'm currently sat under a palm tree, cutting palm leaves into 
strips, weaving twenty plus sunhats and a sunshade for an anxious 
demi-god.  Iolaus has been gone for over three hours now; Jason and his 
crew have just got back from the beach with a cargo of broken planks, 
another sail and several armfuls of edible seaweed, and the only sign 
we've had of the hunting party has been a flash from MaryE's mirror down 
in the interior of the island.  At least, we hope that's what it was.

Falafel's soaking apricots and baking biscuits.  Hercules is busy using my 
hatchet to whittle a crutch - and me?  Once I've finished this sunhat, I'm 
going to start on plaiting grass and coconut fibre.  Lots of it.  I've an 
idea as to how I can fashion a bolas or two using some of the marbles for 
weights.  If Ares is lurking on this island, we're likely to need a few 
more weapons to hand ...

Pythia
--------------------------------
Now that Herc was safely installed back in the hammock in camp, with
Jason to keep watch there, Iolaus decided he needed to do some hunting,
after he had taken another look at the cliff.  Coconuts and bananas were
fine, and they had lots of other stuff now, dried apricots and flour,
for example, but he liked something more substantial...something called
meat!  Hoisting his ever present sack over his shoulder, he gathered his
bow and arrows, stopping only long enough to let Herc and Jason know he
was on his way.

"Sure you don't want me to come along?"  Jason enquired.

Iolaus shook his head, "No, I think it's best if you stay closer to the
camp...I don't plan to be gone for long!"  Iolaus gave them a cheeky
grin, to underscore his confidence in himself.

Herc grinned back, then sobered, "Just be careful, Iolaus...we're not as
alone as we thought on this island...and Ares is around here somewhere."

Iolaus nodded.  He knew Herc hated to see him go off alone, but there
was no way, right now, that Herc could come along.  "Right, I promise
Mom, I'll be careful!"

Herc and Jason snorted at his irreverence, and waved as he headed off.

Heading down island, into an area they had not yet explored, Iolaus had
travelled for a couple of miles, and over the course of two hours had
caught two pheasant and a peacock, three grouse and four rabbits.  Not a
bad haul.  Satisfied, he had tied vines around the feet of the birds and
rabbits, stringing them together to carry over his shoulder.  He'd just
turned to head back, when he heard a low chuckle behind him.  Dropping
the game on the ground, Iolaus whirled and took two steps away, pulling
out his sword as he turned.

Ares was standing not ten feet away, arms crossed, a smirk on his face.
"Ah, the Mighty Hunter....looks like you did good, Curly."

Iolaus stayed in his ready stance, knees bent, sword held by both hands
in front of his body, pointed at Ares.  "What do you want, Ares?"

Ares shrugged, "Oh, nothing too serious...just thought I see if I could
find a little amusement to pass the time."  Frowning a little, Ares
cocked an eye at the sword in Iolaus' hands.  Shaking his head, he
muttered, "Iolaus, just exactly what do you think you're going to do
with that toothpick?  You know you can't hurt me."

Iolaus looked at the sword, then back at Ares, "Yeah, well, it's kinda a
reflex."  Shrugging, Iolaus decided Ares was right...if the god had
wanted to hurt him, Ares would have done so by now.  Iolaus put up the
sword, put in back into the scabbard on his belt.  Standing with his
hands on hips, he confronted the god, "So, what now, Ares?  Did you want
to help me hunt, play some cards, wrestle?"

Ares chuckled again, a speculative look in his eyes.  "As much fun as
all that sounds, I had something else in mind."

"Yeah, and what would that be?" Iolaus countered, trying for a bored,
'I'm busy' tone.

"This," smirked Ares as he snapped his fingers.  Suddenly, the ground
simply disappeared from below Iolaus' feet and he dropped straight down
into the space below.

"Oommmphhhh!" grunted Iolaus as he hit bottom, fifteen feet below.
Looking up, he saw Ares standing on the lip of the hole above him,
grinning with supreme satisfaction.

"Alright, oh Mighty Hunter...let's see you get out of this!"  Ares
laughed richly, then disappeared in his usual puff of smoke.

Iolaus stood, and, unconsciously brushing the dirt off his clothes, he
examined his predicament.  "You coulda left a rope!" he shouted after
the departed god.

"Great, just great," Iolaus muttered as he began to try to climb out of
the narrow but deep pit he found himself in...narrow, but too wide to
brace shoulders on one side and feet on the other to 'walk' himself
out.  Digging into the dirt, he tried to get a secure handhold, to climb
his way back to the top.  But, the earth just crumbled in his hands.  A
mixture of very dry earth and broken shale, it gave no grip, provided no
resistance.  He moved around the hole, testing it all before he gave up
the idea of climbing to freedom.

Sighing, he stood back and looked again up at the light above him.  Too
high to jump.  "Damn," he muttered under his breath, "how am I supposed
to get out of here!"

Reaching over to scratch one shoulder while he thought, he touched the
string of his bow, realized he still carried it over his shoulder.  One
eyebrow raised in thoughtful consideration, he pulled it from his
shoulder, along with the pack he had slung over the same shoulder.
Whistling off key, he rummaged through his sack to see if there was
anything there he could use.  He threw a banana over his shoulder,
thought better of that, picked it up, peeled it, and holding it in one
hand, he continued to rummage with the other.  Some medicinal herbs,
rags, spare arrow heads, fish hooks and line, more rags...not much
else.  He'd left the blanket he usually carried back at the main camp.
Frowning, his mouth twisted, he examined the few supplies he had.

Nodding once to himself, he muttered, "It's worth a try...don't seem to
have any other options...."

Iolaus pulled a thirty foot length of fishing line from the roll he
carried.  First, he tied one end to a hook, then scrunched the hook into
a rough circle.  Reaching for an arrow in the quiver on his belt, he
slipped the rounded hook over the tip of the arrow, then wound fishing
line around it to hold the hook securely in place.  Bending to pick up
his bow, Iolaus notched the arrow, and sighted up along the wall of his
earthen prison to the trunk of a large, sturdy tree.  Iolaus pulled the
arrow back as far as the tension in the bowstring would allow.  He
needed to make sure the arrow hit the tree with as much force as
possible, burying the arrowhead, along with the hook and fishing line,
securely into its' trunk.  Breathing out, he let the arrow fly...and
smiled when he heard the solid 'thunk' as it hit it's target.

The line now stretched from the arrowhead to Iolaus' feet.  He wrapped
one hand around it and pulled, to test how firmly it was anchored.  Felt
solid enough.  "Okay," he muttered, "that was step one of The Great
Escape."  Climbing the line would pose it's own risks...such a thin,
strong line would cut his hands, and he'd have to loop it over his hands
and wrists as he climbed, so that if his grip slipped, he wouldn't slide
all the way back down.

Iolaus bent to pick up a rag, wrapped it around one hand and
wrist...wrapped two more, then started on the other hand.  Cursing he
fumbled with the material...it was much harder with one hand wrapped in
a linen mitt.  Finally, he had used all the rags...it was the best he
could do.  He slung the bag and the bow back over his shoulder, grapped
the line looping it loosely around both hands and wrists, then started
to haul himself up, one hand over the other, feet scrabbling for some
hold on the walls of the pit.  The earth didn't give much support, but
it helped him balance as he climbed.

The fishing line bit into the cloth with each grip.  He was about three
quarters of the way up, when one grip slipped a little, causing the line
to bite through the cloth and score both his palm and the wrist the line
was looped around.  "Damn," he hissed, as he regained a solid grip.
That had stung badly...and blood smearing the line would only make it
harder to grip.  "Better hurry, Iolaus," he encouraged himself as he
reached up for the next hand hold.

By the time he had managed to scramble over the top, the thin line had
cut through the rags on both hands, slicing both palms badly.  He laid
there for a moment, catching his breath, then rolled away from the edge,
up onto his knees, to examine the damage.  Ackwardly readjusting the
rags on his hands, he thought they at least made reasonable bandages
until he could get back to camp.

Fortunately, the game he had caught had not fallen into the pit with
him, nor had some scavenger come to claim it.  Gingerly, Iolaus picked
up the stringed line of game, slipped it over his shoulder, and looped
the end of the vine through his belt so he wouldn't have to hold it all
the way back to camp.

Straightening, Iolaus started back up the forested hill toward the
camp...hoping as he climbed the steep slopes, that Ares had had enough
amusement for the day and would leave him alone.


Arianna
----------------------------------
Allie woke groggily from her first good night's sleep on the island to
find dawn breaking and the camp astir.
She had slept fitfully on the beach the night before.  Each time she had
drifted into wakefulness, somebody was up and around.  Hercules and
Iolaus had spent the night on watch and Allie had the uneasy sense that
they were worried.  And yesterday had been a very busy one setting up
their permanent shelter.  Last night Allie had curled up under her
blanket gratefully and fell immendiately to sleep.

Wide awake now, she realized that this was not just the hustle-bustle of
a camp waking up. Something was wrong.

"What's going on?" she asked Owlie who was running by with a rope in her
hand.

"Hercules is at the bottom of the ridge and he's hurt!"

"Oh gods."  Allie scrambled out of her blankets and followed Owlie to
the ridge where several of their party and a grim-faced Iolaus were
waiting for the rope. Hercules was brought up on the rope with little
trouble, but his foot was definitely broken.  'It's a good thing he's a
demigod and heals quickly'.Allie thought to herself.

Back at the camp with the food Hercules had found and the demigod's foot
splinted and bound and he under strict orders from Iolaus to stay put,
the castaways began their second morning on the island.  Falalfel was
cooking breakfast, so Allie used her hatchet to chop up some more
firewood for him and went to the spring to fill her bucket with fresh
water

After breakfast, Allie looked for a useful way to spend the day.
Quietwolf and Kat were organizing a hunting party, but Allie was no
hunter, beachcombing with Jason was more her style.  Maybe she could
find some more crabs.  If Ahary would loan her the spade she could dig
some clams.  And then, of course, there were all the exciting things
that could be found along a beach after a storm.

Allie
--------------------------------
While Pythia weaved, I found myself the designated handmaiden to a very
grumpy demigod....Pythia's right...I can't imagine Iolaus being worse to
deal with than this.  I guess Hercules just isn't all that used to being
out of action...and the ankle has got to hurt!

So, first, I grabbed the bucket Allie had rescued, got water from the
stream and tore off yet another strip of linen.  Marching over to the
demigod, I put the bucket on the ground, dipped the linen into it,
grabbed an arm, and started to wash that gorgeous body!

Astounded, Herc pulled his arm away.  "What do you think you're doing?"
he snapped.

"You're filthy and covered with scratches and bruises...if we don't get
you cleaned up, then some of them will fester.  So...do I wash you or do
you want to wash yourself?"

He glared at me for a moment, frustrated with his semihelpless
situation, then a blush crept over his face.  I hid my smirk behind a
very stern face.  'Poor guy...he's embarrassed at the idea of me washing
him!' I thought to myself.

Relenting, I held out the wet rag, and Hercules finally grinned good
naturedly as he took it from me.  "Alright, you win," he allowed, as he
began to wipe down his arms and chest...I stood by to rinse the rag from
time to time.  He held the cloth out, thinking he was finished, but I
shook my head, "Your face," I reminded him.  Chuckling, he scrubbed his
face with the newly moistened rag, then handed it back to me.  "Good
enough now...mother?" he smirked.

Smiling back at him, I nodded...at least he was in a little better
humour.  Between us, we checked out the scratches and cuts, deciding
they were alright to be left to the open air to heal.  Then, I brought
water in a mug formed of coconut halves, to quench his thirst...the
shock of the injury and lying out there on the ledge had left him
dehydrated...and then I made a herbal tea from water boiling in the
cauldron over the fire and some of Skylark's herbs.  Sweetening it with
coconut milk, I carried this back to our hero.  "Here, drink this
Hercules...I know you don't want to admit it, being all strong and semi
divine and all...but the mortal part of that ankle must be aching pretty
bad."

Snorting, he took the improvised mug, sniffed it, took a sip, made a
face, then seeing that this was not going to satisfy me, he drank it.
Smiling, he handed it back, "Not bad...and thanks."

"No problem...now, just try to relax, would ya?  Everything is under
control."

Sighing, he put his hands behind his head, resigned to the fact that he
wasn't going anywhere for the next few minutes at least.

Having him settled, at least momentarily, I gratefully collected my new
sunhat from Pythia, brought Herc his and then installed the sunshade
Pythia had woven over the hammock.  Climbing up one of the trees, I
wedged it into the boughs above Hercules...and used a few loops of the
dental floss Athena had brought to secure it to the branches, so that it
didn't slip or blow away.

Of course, the supervision and oh so helpful, and very detailed,
suggestions Hercules kept giving me throughout this operation helped
pass the time too...and kept him marginally distracted.  Teasing, I
threatened to fall out of the tree on top of him if he didn't shut up.
Laughing, he subsided.

Once I had climbed down from the tree, he was already restless again,
fuming at his immobility.  "Look," I suggested, "it's going to be awhile
before you can put all your weight on that ankle...you're going to need
a crutch."

Hercules looked at me with faint but clear disgust...this having been a
fairly obvious observation.  Undaunted, I continued, "So, I think you
should make one."

So saying, I went to pick up a long, likely piece of wood I had spotted
from my perch up in the tree, borrowed Pythia's hatchet, and returned to
hand both objects to him.  Lifting one eyebrow, and quirking his lip,
Hercules muttered, "You're just trying to keep me busy."

"Yup!"  I agreed, "So, get whittling!"

I was headed back toward the fire to scrounge a couple of fresh baked
biscuits for my charge, when Jason and his party returned with more
bounty scavenged from the sea's reach.  Jason scanned the camp as he
entered, then sauntered over to me.  "Iolaus and the others not back
yet?"

"Not yet," I responded, casting a glance up at the sky.  "But, it's
early yet...they'll all hunt as long as they can before coming back."

Jason nodded, but frowned a bit.  He knew they each needed to take on
different tasks, but he was uncomfortable when anyone was out of sight
for too long.   He was ambling over to Pythia, to claim one of the
sunhats, when his eye was caught by a flash from down in the thickly
treed interior of the island.  'What was that?' he wondered, his level
of anxiety cranking up one more notch.

Arianna
----------------------------------
I'm so glad that I got to help Hercules out and that I'm doing all 
this organizing - lol!  However, I'm not posting any VS today because 
that darned Ares bit my hand (the boa, not the god - it was a tough 
day at the zoo)  For some odd reason, he mistook my hand for a rat - 
do we see parallels of intelligence level between god and snake?  
Anyway, since I'm "injured" I'm restricting my typing for the 
evening, but I am enjoying reading!  And just for future reference, 
I'm more of a fisherwoman than a huntress, so if we bag any birds, 
save me some feathers and I'll tie some flies... :)
Cheers,
QW
----------------------------------------------
Gee guys I guess ya were excited to move things along a bit... sorry to
back track...

"Quietwolf, Kat...thanks for helping," he said, gracious even in pain.
Iolaus had started to bind his ankle, Quietwolf helping to straighten
the limb.  Herc hissed a bit in pain but made no other sound.  Kat
reached into the bag Skylark had entrusted to her, pulled out some
feverfew and stooped by Herc's head.  "Sorry, I don't have any water for

an infusion...but, if you chew on this, it should help a bit with the
pain."  Herc smiled weakly in gratitude as he took the herbs from her
hand.   "Thanks."  Nodding toward the cavern in the cliff wall, he
continued, "Kat, you might want to check that out before we leave...."
Curious, Kat followed his glance, saw the cavern, and stood to
investigate.

Kat being as curious as her name suggested, approached the opening in
the rocks.  She was extremely careful about her footing, knowing that
the group did not need another injuried party, especially part of the
rescue squad.  She blinked and rubbed her eyes as she walked inside the
cavern and found the baskets of fruit and the sacks of flour.

"Alright," she whooped.

Iolaus and Quiet Wolf looked over to see if something was wrong.  The
hunter could tell from the smile on Kat's face and the twinkle in her
green eyes that things were ok