Finding The Treasure

The group searched through the boxes. As a gift for helping out an older fellow, he allowed them to have the boxes of artefacts and heirlooms, now they were searching through them. "I think I found a map," Sakari said, Aiolia peaking over her shoulder as the old piece of paper, "or at least half of a map." she noticed the tear and quite a bit of the area was missing, as well as the 'X', but she did see the dotted line that would lead to an 'X'. "Hey, guys, has anyone found another piece of map by chance?" she asked. "Nope, got nothing over here." Kalysta called over. "None over here either." Isabelle replied, sounding disappointed as she continued to rummage. Sargon didn't say anything, continuing to go through a box. "I found something that mentions a map, but I have not found a piece of map." Adela walked over to Sakari and showed her the thin book, Eros following the handler over and looking over their shoulders. Sakari skimmed the page, reading over what it said about the map. "Sounds like the second piece is hidden." she said as she got the idea of what the page was saying. "Then let's go find it." Sargon said, looking up from his box. "Is there some sort of clue or something?" he walked over, Sirtir staying where she was and watching the handlers gather around the piece of map. "I'm still looking, it says something about looking at the current piece we have, but there are no words on the current piece." Sakari replied. "What about invisible ink?" Isabelle suggested. "I doubt they had invisible ink back then." Kalysta said, standing up and stretching her arms over her head. "They probably did or used something far trickier then that to create the hint." Sakari continued to skim the page, trying to find anything about the clue they could use, but nothing was specific enough, just kept referring to the first piece of the map. She sighed, and handed the book to Kalysta to look at, hoping the other handler might be able to find something while she looked over the map piece. "Let me see that!" Sargon grabbed the piece and looked it over, turning it and holding it up. Sirtir walked over and sniffed the piece of paper, tilting her head. And she licked the page, wondering if maybe it was a burger wrapper. "You dumb mutt!" Sargon glared at his tokota, but the others saw what it revealed. Sakari took the map from the other handler and looked at the map. "Look, words, the words are revealed by water!" she looked at the others. "Let's go get some water and dampen this map piece then, shall we?" Kalysta walked back over, closed the boxes she was going through, walked over to Lorelei and hopped into the saddle, waiting for the others to follow her. The others quickly followed, getting the boxes back onto the sled they had with them and heading out to Isabelle's place since it was close.

"Where the beast's nose touches the sky, the map will be gripped in his jaw." Adela read outloud, Arulia looking over their shoulders to take a look while the other tokotas sat back and just watched. "Beast's nose?" Isabelle tried to think of anything like that in the area. "Isn't there something like that north of here? That ridge that resembles a tokota's head?" Sakari asked, sure Isabelle had taken her somewhere like that before. "Ya, but I am pretty sure it looked like the mouth is shut." she replied, trying to remember exactly what it looked like. "Maybe there is a crack somewhere along the mouth line it was hidden in?" Adela suggested. "I don't know, but unless you guys are sure, I am not going out that far for a silly piece of paper." Sargon said. "It's the only place like that anywhere near here, so we are going. If you want to get anything out of the treasure then you're coming." Sakari said, giving him a look that said she was serious. "His family has been in these lands for generations, so the treasure is most likely in the area, though we may have to do some travelling." Kalysta added. "Let's get going then." Isabelle grabbed Arulia's reins and led her outside, wanting to get going. Sakari was the first to follow with Aiolia right behind her. The other three followed. Isabelle and Arulia took the lead, Kalysta and Lorelei right behind her with Sakari and Aiolia. Adela and Eros were right behind those two and in the back was Sargon and Sirtir, the handler grumbling at having to travel so far for a piece of paper.

"There is the ridge." Isabelle pointed, making the group lift their heads to the mountain before them. On the side of the mountain was a ridge shaped like the head of a tokota, it's nose up and touching the sky. It fit the clue perfectly. "Alright, let's head on up and search around. Though be careful. If it's way out there then we may have to use the equipment we brought to search the steeper sections of the ridge." Kalysta took the lead, getting Lorelei to head up the path leading up to the ridge. Sakari was quick to follow, Aiolia getting ahead of Arulia. Adela and Eros followed behind, the curly van gogh not enjoying being in the back, but his handler kept holding him back from taking the lead. Sargon and Sirtir stayed in the back and weren't in much of a hurry to get up the slope and onto the platform above. They stopped on the platform above and dismounted, looking up at the large canine shaped stone. The nose portion of the ridge hung off the path, but they could look around the larger section of the stone more safely. They searched for any cracks and crevices they could that the map piece may have been hidden in. Even Sargon searched, or at least made it look like it, staying in a little area and pretending to inspect the wall.

"Anything yet?" Isabelle asked, unable to find anything where she was searching. "Nothing over here." Adela replied. "Same over here." Kalysta crossed her arms as she took a step away from the stone. Sakari just shook her head and walked back over to Aiolia. Eros nudged Adela's hands, trying to get her attention. "Give us a moment boy." She said, brushing him off. Then Arulia grabbed the sleeve of Isabelle's coat and pulled her closer to the edge. "What are you doing?" She was surprised and pulled free to give the sphinx a glare. She pointed with her nose towards the edge, pointing out a crevice out over the cliff. Sirtir let out a bark, believing she saw another hamburger wrapper where Arulia pointed. "Is that possible the map?" Adela said in surprise as Eros sat down next to her, glad she finally noticed. "Looks like we will need the equipment." Kalysta said, walking over to Lorelei and getting out the supplies they needed to get out to the piece of map. "Why don't I just fly over?" Sakari asked, making Kalysta turn around to look at her, raising an eyebrow. "Fly over?" she looked at the other as if she was insane. "Yes, fly." she exposed her wings, making everyone's eyes go wide with shock, except for Isabelle and Aiolia. "If you could just fly then why in hell did we drag up all this equipment with us?" Sargon glared. "You never know what's going to happen." Sakari replied, walking off the cliff. Sirtir, Lorelei, Eros and Arulia rushed to the cliff and looked over the edge, ending up receiving a bunch of feathers to the face as Sakari flew up past them and then over to the crevice, pulling the paper from the crevice and flying back over to the platform. She handed it to Adela who grabbed the first piece of map and opened them up, holding them next to each other.

"Hey guys, I think we have a problem." Adela said as she looked at the map. "What now?" Sargon huffed. Kalysta and Isabelle walked over, looking over Adela's shoulders. "We are still missing a piece of the map. This is only a third of the whole map." she said, looking at the two thirds she held, one corner still missing, as well as the 'X' that marked the place of the treasure. "We need to find the last piece of the map." she said, rolling up the two pieces and putting them away in the saddle bag on Lorelei's saddle. "Alright, let's head back and regroup as well as figure out the second hint." Sakari said, getting back in the saddle. The others followed, and they headed back to town, hoping there was a second hint ready and waiting for them to find.