As the group travels through the vortex of light, they can feel a strange sensation which was not present on the other occasions they traveled through the portals.  There is a feeling of being light headed, and of the colours dancing in enigmatic patterns that are almost hypnotic.  So dazzlingly bright do the lights become that they eclipse everything else, enveloping each in a scintillating cocoon. Moments seem to slow into infinity, as if each person was somehow in their own private universe, travelling for eternity...no one else, just you and the endless continuum spread before you in all its glorious and profound silence...

Luke...

Malcolm...

Rhic...

Moon Child...

   Everyone awakens to the scent of fresh leaves, and the feel of dampness on their skin.  Above you is a canopy of ancient grey beech trees...the sun filters through the green ceiling in a few places, pales rays of light where dust motes dance and sparkle.  The sounds of a multitude of birds can be heard piping merrily, squawking noisily, or whistling curiously, the sounds echoing through the branches.  Nearby something scurries into the foliage, rustling the thick undergrowth for a moment before it disappears once more.  It would appear to be early morning, perhaps an hour after sunrise...

   Shakes his head and blinks, pressing his palms to his temples as he sits up.  Scanning the area around him, he he guesses he is in some sort of forest, somewhere.  Still trying to get the strange vision out of his mind, he turns left and right to see if his companions are nearby.
   "Everyone okay?  Did we all make it out?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:17, Mon 02 Apr 2012.

 She woke to a familiar smell, and when she opened her eyes, the woods seemed quite familiar. She wasn't sure where she was, but she knew forests. She'd almost bet there were squirrels looking down on them from the trees. She sat up and dusted off damp leaf litter and broken stems of small forest plants from her hands. With a sigh of relief, she saw none of those she could see had landed in poison ivy, oak or sumac. That was a boon!
 "I'm ok, just shaken up. Is everyone else ok?"

  "Yeah, I'm in one piece." Rhic sounded off as he got up and dusted off his knees. "There's no one firing at us and no one trying to spoon our brain out with a melon-baller, so we're good."
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:01, Mon 02 Apr 2012.

"Me too," Malcolm said checking himself out. 'Didn't pee on myself, so that's better than usual' he thought to himself.

He looked around with his Sight and his eyes using his considerable training as skills looking for danger.

He also pulled his iPhone from his pocket to see if it worked, and if it worked, would it tell him where they were?

 "Did any of you...dream or anything on that trip? Let me tell you, that was a longer and different kind of trip than when I went through the gate the first time. I wonder why? Anybody got any ideas?"

 She bent down to retrieve the gate device, to make sure it wasn't damaged. Then she looked around while scratching a mosquito bite on her arm. She could almost swear they were home, but with the gates, who knew? They could be anywhere. Still...it was at least warm, so hopefully they didn't need to worry about cold weather. Rain might be a different issue.

 "So, lets take stock, ok? What do you all have in the way of food, items that might be of use in case we're lost out in the middle of the woods? Pocket knives? Compasses? Radios or phones? Flashlights? GPS?"

  " Penlight, inkpen, chewing gum, wrist watch, half pack of Malborros, my zippo, one goo gun, and a rifle." Rhic said as he patted his pockets tucking the pistiol into his belt and held the rifle with an easy readiness."" looks pretty normal around her, so we should be able to find food and water. Once we can see the sky, we can find our bearings."

  Yeah, I had some odd...dreams but nothing too wierd. Just some guy shaking down the owner of the store I was nabbed in."

Luke lay in the potpourri of the forest floor; a soft blanket of moss, decaying leaves and such. Except for a few rude twigs, the bed was quite welcoming.

He stuck his hands under his head, as he looked up towards the unreachable canopy and yonder sky.  Waifs of cloud drifted through the friendly sky.

He had lost his duffle bag along the way, he realized ... somewhere between the university and the forest.  Probably when he'd tackled those guys.  He sighed, more out of respect for a fallen comrade than for his loss.

When the woman spoke of dreams, he lolled his head towards his companions and smirked, "Yeah.  I was reminded that it sucks to be Loki".
He then returned his attention to the skies, and watched a hawk saw by lazily on an unseen current.

"Name's Luke, by the way.  Fool to the Gods".

   Malcolm's iPhone registers 'NO SIGNAL' apparently unable to establish a connection for some reason.  Looking around the woods with his Dimensional Sight, the FBI agent does not discern anything immediately dangerous to the group, but he does notice something; the group is not entirely alone.  For Malcolm notices, perhaps thirty or so yards distant, amid the gnarled trunks of several old rowans, a young deer, with fur as light as a new snowfall, silently watching the group, almost motionless on its tall graceful legs.

"Hello everyone. I'm Moon. I think the one over there is Malcolm. Hello Luke. Does anyone recognize anything? I suggest we all walk a few yards in different directions to see if anything looks familiar, and see if there's a path or road. How about we all form a circle, turn so we face outward and take exactly 200 steps straight forward if we can, and see what we can see? Call out if you see anything. Then turn back the way you went and return here. That way we won't lose anyone, ok? If we don't see anything promising, we can make plans then on what to do next. Hows that sound to you?"
 She suggested a course of action because anything was better than people feeling lost or out of control of their situation. If they had to make camp next, then they could pool resources and assign or take volunteers for the business of setting up camp. Meanwhile she went through her own pockets. She always tried to carry useful items but she hadn't planned on getting swept away into a gate either. Still, she had a knife and a compass she knew for sure.

"Well, we're out of AT&T cell range," Malcolm said to no one in particular.

Always amazed at the wonders of the world, he stared at the motionless fawn and felt its beauty. But, as it always does, necessity drove him back to the present...

"Holster, two magazines of nine millimeter ammunition, no pistol," he started as he patted himself down, "phone with good battery but no signal, credit cards and ID, half a pack of Dentyne Arctic Ice gum, sugar-free, and this alien-tech firearm, unknown how many rounds are available should it come to that."

"Introductions are in order. Malcolm Laurence, American, originally from California, now live in northern Virginia."

He walked up to Luke, the only person here he hadn't interacted with up 'til now, and put his hand out, "Nice to meet you, Luke,"

   Alex looked around and nodded to Malcolm and stuck out a hand, a bit awkwardly.  "Alex De Marest.  I'm an I.T. and have been doing some work for the university in Seattle.  Luke I know...thanks for saving my life dude.  I ah...sort of met the others, except for the prisoner types, well, former prisoners I mean, no offense, but where are they?  I thought there were two more?"

Luke, still lying lazily on his back, looked up at Malcolm and offered his hand up, "And you, sir".

He then returned his attention to woman, and with a smirk said, "Moon? Are you shitting us? I'm guessing your parents wore a lot of tie-dyed, eh!".

He scrambled up from his place among the sweet smelling foliage and forest decay, dusting himself off as he did so.

"So, I need some private time, if you know what I mean.  So I'm gunna go and explore what's behind these trees over here," gesturing in some random direction, "while you guys play Square Dance Exploration".

And with a smile, he wandered off.

  " John Rhictor." Rhic Nodded to everyone and lit a cigarette. Lookign about the forest as he listened to Moon's Idea." Not a bad Idea. take a little walk and turn straight around and come back."

   "Hey buddy ever watch one of those horror movies, the guy who goes off on his own to goof off ends up nailed to a teee by some machette wielding nut job." Rhic added with a hint of a smile as he gave the guy a bit of a hard time." So be sure to scream real loud so we know you're not coming back."

Luke shot the old guy an amused smile, and chuckled as he gave the man a little salute as he headed for the woods.
" Don't you worry about me, old man, I got a bigger weapon than them" he called back, as he made a big show of grabbing his groin.
"Besides, I think it's important that we find out if bears really do shit in these woods, eh".

" Well, I warned him." rhic turned back to the rest of the group." Look I have some experience in handling myself in a fight, I've never had aliens with blasters coming after me but I can improvise pretty well."

  "It'd be great if one of you good folk might happen to have a fist full of merit badges."

"Nice to meet you, Mr Rhictor," Malcolm said as he watched, with Rhic, as Luke went for his exploratory hike. "I don't know about Merit Badges, but the Guidebook for Marines is pretty clear that once we're secured our initial area, the next thing we need to do is secure water... then shelter, then food. After that we can worry about where we are and how to get help and home."

"That is... if you don't hate the Corps too."

   Luke goes off to 'explore in the trees, finding a seemingly private spot, behind a gnarled old elm, while the rest of the group discuss the best course of action.  While is...admiring the scenery, he notes that he is not quite as alone as he surmised.  Thrushes, finches, blue jays, sparrows, and several rather large crows crowd the surrounding tree limbs, their numbers bending the branches and making them sway in the very slight wind.  Oddly enough they are not piping or singing or cawing, or making any other noise at all.  They just seem to be watching...

   Alex shrugs and nods.  "You all seem to be saying, more or less the same thing, so I believe we have an agreement.  In order to obtain water, shelter, and food we will have to explore our immediate surroundings, which I believe was mentioned.  If we can figure out roughly where we are, geographically speaking, we may have a better idea which way to go.  In all probability there should be a city, town, or street within walking distance.  And the odds are we will find signs of other people, campers, hikers, a park ranger even who knows, maybe even a shelt..."  Alex does not complete his last sentence, his train of thought quite thoroughly for the trees above the group.  They are now filled with squirrels of all sizes, red, grey, black, even a few white ones, silently watching.
  "Is it just me, or is does that seem like uncharacteristic behavior to anyone else?"

 She laughed and held up her hand, calling softly to see if any of the creatures would come to her. It all seemed rather familiar to her, since she had spent a lot of times in the woods. Still, it was rather unnerving to have so many creatures come like this. Maybe they were all like her, and the animals sensed it.
"I don't think they will hurt you if you don't mess with them. If you try to catch them though, they might bite. Now, I'm going to walk this way, and see what I see. You can do it, or not, but if you do, pick up firewood on your way back in case we decide to stay here overnight.
 So saying, she turned directly away from them all, sighted along a route with a large oak tree in the distance then headed for it, counting her steps. Once she reached the oak, she picked up a stick and placed it in the ground on the side of the tree she came from, then went around the tree and sighted a straight line toward a fallen tree and kept walking until she reached the tree. She repeated the steps of marking her line of travel, then continued along until she'd counted the correct amount of steps, then marked that spot as well before she looked around to see if anything looked familiar.
 When she started back, she gathered wood at the fallen tree before heading back to their meeting area.

The whole scene unnerved Luke.  Suddenly, John's words seemed somehow much more real.   He wondered if he really should scream good and loud right now, letting the others know that he wouldn't make it back.

It was like that freaky scene from the Hitchcock movie ... where all those Birds gathered and attacked everyone.  He looked around at all these Birds.  Like the movie, they just sat there silently watching him ... like that freaky movie.  With all the Birds.  What was it called?  Yeah, right; The Birds.

As he zipped himself back up, he nodded to one particularly big black crow sitting on a nearby branch, and said "Hey, how you doing?!?".
And looking at that big sucker, he was struck by the impression that it looked particularly hungry. This thought was quickly followed by a recent vision of an immense, bloodthirsty bird, like an emmaciated black hawk, swooping down and raking a giant's chest, ripping out his innards and carrying them away in its cruel talons.

Luke slowly backed up, and started back towards the others.

   Luke makes it back to the rest of the group in one piece, the birds watching him until the trees obscure them from his sight.  He finds Malcolm and Rhictor in discussion, while Alex looks up into the trees, an expression of concern on his face.  He doesn't seem to think the squirrels are trustworthy, and Moon Child's warning remains in his mind.  "Do they really bite?" he asks himself and takes a few steps away from the joined ash trees he was leaning against.  The squirrels make no movement, however, content to observe from their lofty branches.
   Suddenly there seeming to come from somewhere in the trees.  A young male voice that calls out a warning.  "You shouldn't go that way, not if you know what's best.  Trust me you won't like what lives there."  Says the unseen commentator, his jovial underscored by an edge of seriousness.  Shortly thereafter two young boys, the elder perhaps fifteen years of age, the other slightly younger, step from behind a thick stand of silver birches and walk nonchalantly into the clearing where the group now stands.  They seem extraordinarily quiet as they move, though they don't appear to put any effort into being stealthy.
   The oldest wears an oversize grey shirt with black sleeves emblazoned with teh smirking face of some anime character named Naruto.  A pair of ragged looking blue jeans and dirty reeboks complete his attire.  His hair is a bright red pulled back into a loose pony tail that falls down his back.  His features are sharp and he takes in the group with intense blue eyes. The younger boy has a mop of shaggy dark hair that looks as if its never seen a brush and large brown eyes that dart nervously about.  His grey hoodie is dirty from wandering in the woods (probably providing decent camouflage) and his hands are thrust in the side pockets of his black jeans.  He peeks out from behind the older boy, biting his lip...

   Meanwhile Moon Child, coming back from her brief foray, hears the sound of trees rustling behind her, followed by a familiar sound.  She turns around to see the face of her beloved horse, poking from the trees, ears cocked forwards, lips curled back in what can only be a smile.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:04, Sun 08 Apr 2012.

  Rhic moved out on his own arc keeping his rifle to his shoulder the muzzle of the weapon followed his eyes as he scanned the surrounding forest. The woods seemed quiet and peaceful, and for some reason he always got an itch on the back of his neck when things got quiet.
  Moving out several hundred steps he paused lighting a smoke and enjoying the view before he turned back once again into his low cautious heel to toe tactical shuffle as he moved to join the others back tat the clearing.