So, yeah. This is my journal, yo. I'll probably keep up with this journal this time around, instead of abandoning it on the second day. :ninja:

Day 0

Eli, carrying his flamboyantly-colored travel bag, left his home in Menewsha Central bound for the train station. This travel bag contained: Five pairs of underwear (Including his favorite pair, blue undies with yellow stars on them), seven dark colored shirts, four pairs of pants, a little cake wrapped in paper, some business cards, and lots of socks. He knew the way to the opulent train station well, as Eli traveled all over Menewsha for his job as a travelling underwear salesman; He usually brought business cards with him in order to get his business more revenue. But, this journey to the elegant old train station was for a different occasion; Eli was going on vacation. On a train. It was a 12 day ride all around Menewsha, visiting each of the major cities.

Excited for his journey, Eli practically frolicked down the road in order to be fashionably early for the train. It took him no time at all to arrive, since he lived right near the train station. He walked up the large stone steps to the entrance of the train station. Eli stopped to admire the train station around him. Menewsha Central Station was beautiful, to say the least. The floors were a dark marble, that shined bright when the sun streamed in from the huge windows. The walls were a mild shade of crimson, and ever ten feet or so a tall golden pillar stood. The In the middle of Menewsha Central Station was a huge expanse of open space, where people usually stood and conversed with others while waiting for their trains. Eli didn't really like human interaction, so sometimes he stood and watched people interact, although he usually went to his train gate and waited by himself.

Holding on to his bag with one hand and the other in his pocket, Eli made his way to the gate for The Spirit of Calesco, the train he was taking during his vacation. When he arrived at the gate, he sat down on a bench and put his bag down next to him. Eli had a slight case of the sniffles, so he pulled a tissue out of his pocket and blew his nose, tossing it to the floor. The many people around him took no notice, which was good. He admitted to himself that he was a litter bug at times. He was too lazy to get up and go to the trashcan nearby.

He didn't have to wait long, as, five minutes after he sat down, the dark locomotive of the Spirit of Calesco pulled into the station. He gathered his bags, made sure he had his ticket, and waited for the train to stop. He briefly admired the bright red-gold train cars as the slowed down. It reminded him of fire, which made sense, since Calesco is commonly associated with fire. Since he was one of the first people on line to enter the train, Eli got to pick whatever cabin he wanted in the passenger car. He picked the cabin closest to the entrance of the train, put his travel bag on the rack above his head, and sat down on the red plush bench on one side of the cabin. The other side had two bunk beds pushed together. He waited for some people to come in and sit with him before he left to get food, that way he would know who we was riding with, and to make sure he knew who stole his bag in case it went missing.

Within minutes, three passengers had piled into his cabin and he had gotten to know them better. The first was a blonde woman named Anna who a cast on her arm, which she had broke when she fell out of a horse carriage. The second was her husband Kevin, a pale man with dark hair and glasses. The last was their pet giraffe, Cicero. It wasn't an ordinary giraffe, as it was bred to be incredibly tiny. It sat comfortably in Anna's lap as she stroked it gently. After the conductor had come by and checked their tickets, Eli got up and left Anna, Kevin, and Cicero in the car while he went to the dining car to get food. After eating his meal (A taco), Eli got lost on the way back to his train car, as he hadn't counted how many cars he had passed through on his way to the blue-black dining car. After an hour or so of going back and forth through the train, he finally found Anna, Kevin, and Cicero in their cabin.

Tired from his meal, Eli bid his new friends a good night, and climbed into bed.

Stop 1: The Riddle House

"Eli, wake up! We're in Garland!" He heard Anna bark at him.

He climbed down from the top bunk to see Anna had brought him a plate of food from the dining car for breakfast. "Well, this is a pleasant surprise," he said, smiling and taking the plate from Anna. "Thank you."

"It was no trouble at all, I thought that maybe you'd be hungry. Kevin is finishing his food and then meeting us outside so we can have some fun today, so hurry up and eat and get ready," Anna seemed incredibly exhilarated to be somewhere new. Eli had been to Garland before to sell his designer undies.

Eli ate all of his breakfast and asked Anna to leave the room, so he could have some privacy while getting changed. Anna indulged him, and went outside to wait with Cicero and Kevin. Eli got his bag down from the rack above the plush bench, and dropped it on the floor. He got naked, tossing his clothes down next to the bag. Then, he pulled out his star covered undies and put them on. He then pulled out a dark crimson shirt and a pair of dark blue pants, then slipped them on. He put on his favorite pair of shoes and slid them on, tying a knot into the laces. He took some money out of his bag and rushed outside to his new friends.

When Eli joined them, Kevin and Anna were discussing what to do while Cicero was wandering off to go eat a poinsettia bush. "Cicero, no! Those are poisonous!" Shouted Eli, picking him up and bringing him back to Kevin and Anna. "So guys, what do you want to do today?"

"Anna wants to go see the bride and groom's tomb on the island, but I want to go to the Riddle House," Said Kevin, looking at a map of Garland.

"What's the Riddle House?" asked Eli, because he had never been there before. But before Kevin could answer, a rival underwear salesman accosted Kevin and handed him a business card. "NO KEVIN NO" Shouted Eli, taking the business card and tearing it to shreds. "If you want to buy underwear, buy it from me. The underwear business is very competitive, you know."

"Um, okay. Well, the Riddle House is a house with three rooms with impossible riddles, and if you solve all of them you win a prize. I heard that it's a pair of dice that always come out the way you want them to," Kevin was lost in thought about how he could use those die to his advantage.

"Kevin is an avid gambler," explained Anna. "It's how we won this vacation."

"I see," said Eli, rubbing his chin. "Well, my vote is for the Riddle House, since I've been to the tomb before. Majority rules!"

Anna pouted, angry. "Fine, let's go."

They all piled into a carriage waiting outside the Garland train station, and headed for the riddle house next to the town graveyard.

Curious, Eli inquired why the Riddle House was next to the graveyard.

Kevin responded, "probably because those who failed at solving riddles spent to much time pondering and starved to death, and were put into their graves."

They all laughed as the carriage stopped in front of the Riddle House. Eli paid the driver and they all hopped out, examining the small house. It was kind of dilapidated, with holes in the roof and vines creeping up the walls and into the roof holes. When they opened the door, it fell back inside the house. The four of them walked inside and noticed the plants growing out of the floor. The room itself was rather small, and on the opposite end was a door that looked brand new, and never opened. The four walked over and noticed the piece of paper stuck to the door.

It read, "What has a bark that's worse than its bite?"

Eli thought to himself, That's really easy. He looked over at Kevin and Anna, who looked deep in thought. Was it really that hard?

Eli said, "A tree," and the door unlocked into a stairway that led downwards.

Anna and Kevin gasped in amazement. "Wow Eli, how did you know that? We probably would have spent hours thinking about that," said Anna, who carried Cicero down the stairs.

"...It wasn't that hard."

The next room looked clean, never accessed by humans. It also was a small room, with another door with a riddle taped to it. The paper read, "What is a girl's best friend?"

"Without a doubt in his mind, Eli said, "Diamonds."

Again, the door opened and led downwards. Anna and Kevin followed Eli down.

The last piece of paper read, "What is this shit?"

Eli laughed, "Bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S."

Stop 2: Ow

After having to listen to Kevin fiddle with the dice all night since he retrieved them from the Riddle House, Eli was glad to get off the train. Anna and Cicero quickly followed, but they had to wait for Kevin to put his dice away before they could go anywhere. Anna had dressed Cicero up in a cute little scarf and tiny giraffe earmuffs. Anna put Cicero down in the powdery Reinsend snow and they all watched him trot around, which was quite hilarious. After his tiny giraffe legs tired out, Anna picked him back up and they all went to wander through the town.

"I heard that there is this great farm with invisible cows here," said Kevin, pulling out a pocket map of Reinsend.

"But I want to see the reindeer," complained Anna, petting Cicero's tiny horns.

"Well, the invisible cow farm is right over there, so why don't we just stop to look?"

"Fine," whined Anna, readjusting Cicero's earmuffs before following Kevin.

"You know guys, my grandma owns a bakery up here. Maybe we should see her later, she could give us some free baked goods," Eli said, following behind them. As he passed people, he was handing out his underwear business cards, since his company was promoting new fur-lined underwear.

When they arrived at the invisible cow farm, they were not impressed, to say the least. There was guy raking the snow off of the pasture where the "cows" were grazing, but otherwise there was nothing else on the field.

"There are no invisible cows here, just regular cows," cried Anna, pointing at one closest to her.

Kevin looked surprised. "What are you talking about? I don't see anything, just that guy over there raking the snow like an idiot."

"There are cows here! I see them! Eli, can you snap a picture of Cicero and I with the cows? I love cows!"

"Fine Anna," Eli smiled, going along with Anna's delusion. Anna handed him a polaroid camera, and Eli took a picture of Anna, Cicero, and Kevin standing by the fence to the pasture. When the polaroid picture came into focus, there were hundreds of cows standing behind them. "Wow, there ARE cows there! Look, Kevin." Eli handed him the polaroid picture.

"Well what do you know," said Kevin, admiring the picture. He took out a pencil and wrote REINSEND, INVISIBLE COW FARM on the back of the picture, then put the picture in his pocket. "We'll put that in Cicero's scrap book."

"Your giraffe has a scrap book?..." Inquired Eli, curious.

"Yes, but anyways, lets get moving to your grandma's bakery. I'm hungry," said Anna, retying Cicero's tiny scarf. "Then we can see the reindeer!"

"Well, she does live right next door to one of the reindeer farms," Eli said, leading the way.

When they got to the bakery, it was as hot as the inside of a volcano. "Grandma, I'm here," cried Eli, looking around the tiny bakery.

"Eli darling, what are you doing here?" Asked his grandmother, coming out from behind the counter and giving him a hug.

"Oh, we're on vacation. This is Anna, Kevin, and the giraffe is Cicero," Eli said, pointing at each of them.

"Cicero is just such an adorable little giraffe," cooed his grandma, petting the tiny giraffe on his horns. Cicero made a noise relative to happiness. "Well, I'm just gluing some business letters closed, if you want to stick around and bake something for your friends." She then turned to Anna, Cicero and Kevin. "Eli is such a wonderful baker; he makes the best cakes. When he's here, his cakes sell for more than mine do!"

Eli blushed, "Oh stop it, grandma. Anyways guys, just sit around, I'll make the cake for you."

Anna and Kevin took a seat at a table next to the window of the bakery, while Anna let Cicero down to wander the bakery.

An hour and a half later, Eli emerged from the kitchen carrying a tall, magnificent seven-layer cake. "This is one of my specialties," said Eli, putting the cake down on the counter. Eli cut them both a slice and gave them paper plates. "Enjoy! I'll be back, I want to go see what's going on next door. I heard a ruckus while I was baking."

"Okay," said Anna, drooling over her cake. Kevin was already eating it.

As soon as Eli walked out the door, a herd of reindeer stampeded by, trampling Eli into the snow.

Stop 3: Misfortunes Abound

After getting trampled by reindeer, Anna and Kevin brought Eli to the Reinsend doctor, where he was diagnosed with a broken leg; surprisingly, that was his only injury. So, they wrapped Eli's leg in a cast and gave him a crutch. But on the way back to the train, Eli's crutch broke and Kevin was forced to duct tape it to fix it. As solatium for fixing his crutch, Kevin demanded that Eli give him two free pairs of underwear.

On the way to Icy Peaks, Eli was forced to sit near the cliff side of the train. Eli sighed, "Well, this is incredibly banal; I have to sit near the cliff, and I'm deathly scared of heights."

Anna giggled. "I'm sorry, but I think the unoriginal aspect of this is hilarious."

"I hate you, Anna."

Just then, Lance, who was overseeing vacationer activities, burst into their cabin. "I'm looking for Eli," he said, with a very serious expression on his face.

Eli waved his crutch in the air. "I'm Eli!"

"Well, I'm here to yell at you for getting trampled by reindeer. It seems that at least a quarter of our guests managed to get injured in reindeer-related activity, so I'm making rounds to give you all a warning. Be more careful, or we're going to kick you off the train." Lance said, then stormed off.

Eli made a silly face at Lance's back, then turned to Anna. "Well, that was whack."

"I know." Anna looked down at Cicero, who was looking through Eli's laundry, but froze in fear when Lance stormed into the room. "Hehe, look at Cicero. He's frozen, like a sculpture." Anna picked him up and rubbed his tiny giraffe horns.

"That's adorable. I'd pet him, but I'm sort of confined to this seat." Eli waved his crutch around again. "Does he usually do that when he gets scared? Freeze up, I mean?"

"Yeah, it's his fear reflex."


Kevin returned from gambling in the dining car just before the train pulled into the Icy Peaks station carrying a bunch of gold coins. "Hey guys, I'm back. I won all this gold. I heard Lance say that we're going on a hike up the mountain, despite the fact that a quarter of the train got injured in Reinsend."

Eli gave Kevin a look of disbelief. "Really? I don't want to hike up a goddamn mountain with a broken leg. That's no fun."

"Oh well, you're going to have to deal with it. Lance refuses to change his mind about this."

Sure enough, passing through the small marketplace in Icy Peaks, Eli's crutch suddenly went haywire, swinging around violently. He called out for help from Kevin and Anna, who were not far ahead of him. "Guys, I need help! My crutch has a mind of its own!" But before they could help, the crutch flew across the marketplace. Crunch! Eli's crutch was run over by a speeding horse carriage (Eli learned later that the horse carriage had hit a patch of ice) and broken into three pieces.

"How does that even happen?" Inquired Anna.

"I'll go get the duct tape," sighed Kevin, running back to the train station. He returned a few minutes later; many of their fellow hikers were angry with them for holding up the group, and they hadn't even left town yet. Within minutes, Eli's crutch was fixed, and the group was moving again (Though incredibly slow, due to all the injured hikers).

A couple hours later, the group had stopped in a clearing on the side of the mountain to have dinner before they made their way back down the mountain. Cicero was running around in the snow, stealing snacks from other hikers (Who were happy to share their food, since Cicero was so adorable). After making his rounds for food, Cicero ran to Eli and sat on his lap. Eli held Cicero, who then proceeded to vomit all over Eli's shirt. Eli shrieked in horror, while Anna took Cicero from Eli and cleaned up Eli's shirt. "I think some jerk fed him some moldy food," Eli complained, noticing a person nearby snickering at his predicament.

"Some people are real jerks," sighed Anna, throwing away the vomit covered towel.

Just then, a massive shadow blocked out the setting sun. Everyone watched as a dragon flew by. Lance took immediate notice, shouting to everybody. " Remain calm. Get back to the train! It shouldn't attack us, but why take the chance?"

Everyone hastily packed their things and rushed back down the mountain to the safe confines of the Spirit of Calesco.

Hello, Elirona. :)

It seems that for Stop 2, the required task "take a picture of small animal" was not made clear enough (cows do not count as small animals) and it was decided between Seito and I that you would be receiving a penalty for it.

As such, these are the requirements you need to add to your entry for Stop 4: Saint's Pole.

Words: - Drown, waft
Tasks: - Brain death