Scavenger hunt! (private)

"Heroes!" Chiron called. "Welcome to the first intercamp scavenger hunt. In a moment I will announce the teams, but first, a few rules." He scanned the assembled demigods with a sharp eye. "No killing, no mutilating, no gutting, regardless how 'accidental'," he said, slipping a glance towards the Ares campers, who mumbled disappointedly. "Team members have to stay together at all times. No dividing of tasks. The first team to make it to the end wins the prize. Ah, and might I add, cheating and sabotaging of any kind will result in immediate disqualification." The Hermes kids shifted on their feet and exchanged a few glances. "And now, to the teams!"

Since it was only the very beginning of the summer session, the number of demigods was rather low but still enough for the hunt to become a full-out competition. Sasha looked around at her fellow legionaries, scratching the side of her head under her helmet whilst Chiron read out the names.

"Clovis, with Dakota. Julia, with Logan. Prisha, with Sasha. Chiara..." Sasha's eyes snapped up. Prisha! Who was Prisha? She glanced around quickly, trying to make eye contact with someone. She had been at the Greek camp twice already but had a horrible memory when it came to names.

OOC: She's wearing a panda hoodie with leggings, running shoes and shin guards. (Should they be wearing full armour? I don't know. All she has are greaves, a helmet, and her gladius.)

Prisha listened attentively as Chiron spoke, but she was in a pretty low mood. A scavenger hunt might've been fun, say if she'd been allowed to work with her cabin, but with some random Roman? She had more than a few doubts as to the point of this task; then again, there was nothing like stabbing a few monsters to liven up your morning.

Her armour was as usual in excellent condition; she just had a helmet, shinguards and a leather chestplate over her orange camp t-shirt as opposed to full armour. The spear and shield she fought with were both still in bracelet form, and as dearly as she'd like to freak out a few Romans by suddenly starting to glow, she wanted to save her power for the fighting. The less she used it, the less exhausted she'd be afterwards.

"Prisha, with Sasha," Chiron read out. That was the daughter of the bee goddess, if she wasn't very much mistaken. Gods, it just had to be a pretty girl, didn't it? As if her morning wasn't hard enough. The aforementioned Sasha looked bewildered - probably had forgotten who was who in the midst of things - and Prisha walked up. "You're Sasha, aren't you? I'm Prisha."

The girl had bronze skin, gleaming armour and razor gray eyes. She looks fierce, Sasha thought and gave a smile even though, frankly, she was a bit intimidated.

"Hi! Yep, I'm Sasha, nice to meet you."

Chiron ordered them all to go to their assigned starting marks. For Prisha and Sasha, team number four, it was a green flag a few meters from the forest, right behind a rocky outcrop. There were about ten teams and all of them were positioned in such a way that they could not be seen by the others, to avoid copying and cheating.
Sasha, on her side, was nervous. She had heard stories about the woods of Camp Half-Blood and how you maybe didn't want to take an evening stroll in them. Last time she was here, she hadn't really gotten the time to explore and fact-check.
A paper was pinned onto their flag, which Sasha pulled off and opened.

"You have two minutes to familiarize yourself with your tasks. Once you complete a task, a mark will appear on your paper," Chiron called from the edge of the field. "When you hear the conch, go!"

Sasha's eyebrows jumped up as her gaze swept down the list of challenges. The directions were cryptic and complicated, and most of them were followed by the same sentence: 'Once there, follow instructions'.

"Um, I don't know about you, but all this here sounds shady as hell," she stated, showing Prisha the paper.  

That was the moment when the conch rang. "Oh sh#t! Okay, okay, the first instruction is, Go to the most complex building in Camp Half-Blood. Once there, follow instructions. You're Greek, what is the most complex building in Camp Half-Blood? Is it the arena? The magic climbing wall of death?"

Prisha followed her up to the starting flag, as she did so scanning the other teams for likely competitors. Chiara, for example, was always one to look after, and no matter the rules the Hermes cabin was going to at least try something... It was a fruitless task, however, as the Romans were an unknown factor. She cursed herself for not familiarising herself with at least a few names of the best fighters.

She waited, a little impatiently, as Sasha went through the clues. "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood's challenges," she said. "They're always like this."

The conch blew, and Prisha's mind raced wildly when the clue was read out. Complex? She went through a mental checklist of all the camp buildings, none of them striking her as complex. It was strange and annoying, really, she thought simultaneously, that they had to go all the way out of the woods on the very first challenge - unless there was a building in the woods...

"Aha!" she said out loud, and then felt like an idiot. "It's the myrmeke nest - these giant ants - come on!" She took off running straight into the heart of the woods.

OOC: Prisha is the kind of person who'll say that this is stupid to start with and then get really competitive.

"Giant ants?"

But Prisha had already bounded off. Sasha had no choice but to hastily stuff the paper into her pocket and leap after her teammate through the unruly undergrowth.
Prisha was a damn fast runner. They were not even three minutes in and Sasha was already breaking a sweat, heaving and panting as quietly as she could whilst trying to keep an eye on the fluid silhouette in front of her. Jesus Christ, whose child was she even, Victoria's? (Well, Nike's if anything.)

Sasha was so focused on not losing sight of Prisha that she kept no track of time. She could've been running for ten minutes or twenty-five, she had no clue, all she knew was that she could not afford to get lost in this environment. Speeding up, she started gaining on Prisha until she almost slammed into her.

"Ouch!" she whispered. "Why did you stop? Is there...?"

But then she fell quiet, her eyes happening upon the gigantic hive a few bushes in front of them.

"Is... is that the nest?" she asked.

She hoped not. It was absolutely terrifying. As high as the walls of Camp Jupiter, it was teeming with sleek armoured insect bodies the size of cars. Holy Bacchus, there were barbs on their legs. They were carrying all sorts of shiny stuff into the anthill, bronze and silver and jewels, enough to make Croesus cringe with jealousy.

Sasha breathed out slowly. She had only seen myrmeke in books, and the actual things were far more horrible than the illustrations. Kneeling back behind a tree, she slid the paper from her pocket and took a look at it. "Find the most complex building in Camp Half-Blood," she read out loud, "once there, follow..." But just as she was saying that, the words of the last sentence faded away, replaced by new ones: "Retrieve one golden apple."
Her eyes snapped back up to the hive. "Are they kidding?"

Ah. Prisha had not quite remembered accurately the size of the nest, or the ants, for that matter. She actively tried to avoid this part of the woods, and she'd tried not to think about it on the way here. Gods, it was bugs. Why did it have to be bugs? Sure, they weren't spiders, but they were far too close for her liking. "Unfortunately, yes."

As she heard the rest of the instructions, she sighed. "No, they are not. Again, welcome to Camp Half-Blood." She didn't even know why she'd expected not to have to directly go in. Briefly, she wondered about the mortality rate for this camp, as she did so turning on her weapons.

One bracelet had a large celestial bronze bead, and she twisted it, the thing multiplying impossibly until it was the size of a shield and the bracelet itself enlarging to hold it. She snapped the other off and it lengthened until it was a spear taller than her.

"You any good at fighting?" she asked the other girl conversationally, like that was completely normal. Then she remembered who she was talking to. "Tell me you have some secret bee ability that'll get all insects to leave us alone."

Sasha unsheathed her gladius and tried thinking as hard as possible. What advantage could bees possibly have over truck-sized ants? There was no venom, no poison, no chemical...
As usual, the answer was right under her nose. "Honey!" She slapped her head. "Ants love honey. I could create a trail of honey leading away from the hive. They're gonna leave their posts, and we can go in incognito!" She jumped up. "Right. I'm gonna do that." Sliding her gladius back into its sheath, she bolted off to the side. And stopped dead in her tracks.
Two myrmeke had spotted them and were crawling over to them excitedly, clicking their mandibles like hungry scissors. She had a vague feeling that they were not as much concerned by them as by the shining metal on their bodies.

"Uhh... Prisha? What's plan B?"

"Huh," she said, re-evaluating her opinion of Sasha. She hadn't actually expected her to have anything. Maybe there was more to her than at first appeared.

She froze as she spotted the two myrmeke, a second later than Sasha did. That armoured hide would be difficult for even celestial bronze to cut through. Could they be distracted? What were after? Shiny things. "I can make a distraction. Don't freak out. Do the honey thing!"

She tried to bring up a strong feeling, and came up with disgust. Purposefully looking at the grotesque clacking mouth, she felt her power turning on and her skin beginning to glow a radiant silver. The ants turned on her and she backed away slowly, spear and shield raised.

Sasha would probably have carried out the plan magnificently if she was not wasting her time gaping at Prisha. The girl's amber skin turned bright like a full moon, silver light rippling down her body like thin silk. It shone through her clothes and made the shiny bits of her armour gleam up vividly, which was likely to attract more myrmeke. But Sasha didn't care. She was somewhere in the middle between shock, awe and disbelief.

"Sasha!" she said in exasperation as the ants came towards her. No, Prisha did not mind pretty girls looking at her like that, and yes, she may have been blushing madly behind her glow, but there was a time and a place for such things and right now was the time and place for being murdered by ants if they didn't move quickly. "There's not much point in a distraction if you don't do the thing! Trail of honey, remember?" she prompted.

The ants were faster than she'd expected, but not faster than her when she was using the power. As one lunged for her, she neatly sidestepped with superhuman agility.

"Trail of... trail of honey! Right!"

Bolting around, she sprinted through the undergrowth whilst rubbing her hands together. Soon, her palms were coated with the viscous yellow sweetness, which she slapped onto trees and bushes. A few dryads complained beneath the bark. One tried to trip her up with a root. "Sorry, in the middle of trying not to get killed," she grumbled whilst wiping a big blob of honey on a rock. When she had done this for a few minutes, she found a big oak tree and put both hands against its bark, focusing as hard as she could while holding her breath. After a few seconds, honey bubbled and oozed from the point of contact, running down the lines of the bark like sluggish amber tendrils.

"Should be... should be enough," Sasha panted, wiping her face with her arm. A few bees appeared, obviously very interested, but Sasha had other plans. You two, get me back to the anthill. Rest of you, message your pals and meet me there. The bees immediately split up and Sasha ran behind the first pair, jumping through bushes and ducking underneath low branches. They may have killer formation marches and a plethora of military drills back in Camp Jupiter, but she had rarely been on an uneven terrain like this with such low visibility. If not for the two bees, she'd be hopelessly lost.

Prisha sincerely hoped Sasha was doing something and hadn't just fled the ants, because even with her power she was having difficulties keeping the pair after her busy. What was more, there wasn't too much longer before her power would have to be shut off or the effects could knock her out cold.

Battering one away with her shield, she took a moment to realise they'd stopped, long antennae directed towards the forest as of they could scent something distant, before they returned to fighting her more half-heartedly, turning every so often to the woods. Gods of Olympus, she prayed quickly, please let that be Sasha. For all she knew, it was another of the monsters that thickly populated the forest, but with any luck Sasha's plan was beginning to work.

Sasha could start seeing the telltale silver glow through the undergrowth and rolled behind a rock just as a group of myrmeke burst through the bushes, their mandibles clicking thirstily. Please don't notice me, please don't notice me, please don't notice me. But the sweet smell of honey was apparently far more attractive to the monster ants than that of a Roman demigod, and they quickly disappeared in the thickets. Thank the gods. Wondering what happened to her teammate, the daughter of Mellona risked an eye out of her hiding place and, ducking, half-crawled half-sprinted to the place she had last seen the glow at. She hoped Prisha was alright. From what she had seen she was more than able to take care of herself -- with her skin literally shining silver and her incredible speed, she almost looked like the goddess Diana -- but she had also been dangerously close to a hive of bloodthirsty creatures who just happened to love shiny stuff.

Ants were beginning to pour out of the nest in search of what she assumed was the honey. Did friendly bees gather the honey for her, she wondered, or could she actually create it herself? She hadn't exactly had time to ask - and she didn't exactly have time to be thinking it now she was directly exchanging blows with the myrmeke. One had gone to follow the scent, but the other seemed to think her silvery shine was more appealing.

She really needed to shut her power off now, before it got dangerous. She tried to tone down the glow, but that required a level of control over the power she didn't have. Thanks, mum, she thought. Why couldn't I have the power of honey instead of a more deadly version of Rapunzel from Tangled?

Finally, the myrmeke scuttled away from her into the woods, and she quickly shut off the power. She wasn't prepared, however, for the wave of nausea and exhaustion that had her stumble and quickly lean against a tree, barely able to keep upright. She scanned the undergrowth for her teammate.

A few moments later, Sasha scuttled forth from underneath low shrubs. She was covered in scratches and little bits of honey, but otherwise looked fine. Her eyes rounded at once.

"My gods, are you alright?" Prisha looked like she was about to throw up. Sasha hurried over and wrapped an arm around her back, supporting her up. "Apollo almighty. Here, have some ambrosia, you look like you really need it." She pulled her pack from her pocket and broke off a square. "By the way, you looked totally awesome. And scary. But mainly awesome. What was all that glow about?"

"Thanks," she said, removing her helmet to take a bite of ambrosia and instantly feeling better, still exhausted but more sleepy than the normal aching tiredness. She wished she had the helmet back on once Sasha said you looked totally awesome because she could feel herself blushing. "Thanks," she repeated stupidly. "I mean - it's a power I have. From my mum, Athena. Like communicating with bees," she added pointedly, gesturing towards the pair buzzing around the other girl.

"Your mom's Athena?" she asked before mentally slapping herself in the face. Of course it was Athena. Her colour was gray. Prisha kicked @ss. Those details should've come together in her mind already.

"Speaking of powers, how are you feeling? I'm pretty tired out by mine, but if we don't go in now we lose our chance of making it back out alive."

"Yep, cabin six," she said by way of agreement, and then realised how little this would mean to a Roman, mentally punching herself in the face. "Sorry, I forgot - we're separated by parent here, into cabins one through thirty three." Now you're doing the condescending over-explaining thing, she berated herself. Gods, can't you speak without messing up, can you?

She waved off concerns, although she still felt unsteady even with the ambrosia. "We can't wait - we need to get that apple before they come back."

Sneaking in was the easy part. Since a good pack of myrmekes had abandoned that entrance of the hive, Sasha and Prisha got in with no difficulty.
The tunnels were dark and smelly and were winding around like a giant plate of hollow spaghetti. Danger just seemed to ooze from the walls, making Sasha both nervous and determined.

It wasn't long though before they discovered one of the treasure rooms of the hive. Sasha almost dropped her sword as she saw the insane pile of riches, from drachmas to weapons to actual tiaras, everything sparkled and glittered preciously. "How the hell are we supposed to find one golden apple in that?"

"Ugh," she said, both at the disgusting tunnels and the impossible task. It seemed to sum up her feelings towards them pretty well. She suspected neither of them had a power for this. "I guess we pull it apart?" Brilliant plan from the daughter of Athena right there. "Where's a Demeter kid when you need one?" Most of them could've had the apple come out to them doing an Irish jig if they so wished, but she doubted her power would be of any use, even if she could use it right now.

Sasha set her face to determination and sheathed her sword. "Time's running out. Let's get diggin'." She climbed on top of the pile of riches and started overturning cups and swords and plates. Her bees were helping the search too, but not with much success. Sasha was continuing her search, discretely slipping stuff she liked into her pocket, humming under her breath: "I ain't sayin' she a gold digger, but she ain't messing with the broke..."

"How's it going?"

She jumped around. Another team had snuck their way into the hive, two boys, one of which was someone from the second Cohort. The other had upturned eyebrows and the look of someone you should never trust in your life.

"Having much luck there?" He smirked, flipping a golden apple in his hand. Obviously looking very proud of himself. "Well, hate to break it off here, but we've got a scavenger hunt to win. Later losers!" And the two bolted off with a little chuckling that almost sounded mocking. Sasha's eyes fell to the Greek's backpack, which was oddly swollen and whose half-closed zip shimmered light gold. Her eyes widened.

"OI! Come back here, you!"

OOC: Sorry, it's slightly unclear - when you say the Greek who do you mean?

OOC: The Hermes kid. The one with the upturned eyebrows and the backpack full of stolen golden apples. Sorry for the lack of clarity xD