Unchosen Champion

Coop was 150 miles north of the Corozal Outpost, deep within the relatively dry interior of the Yucatan Peninsula. Knowing that a settlement event was coming had lit a fire beneath him. Windchaser was immediately returning to Ghost Reef, relaying messages with Jones so they could decide how to proceed. In the meantime, Coop would push himself to accomplish his goals step-by-step, with the help of the dawning Jaguar Sun, before any deadlines reached them. Still, Coop was laser-focused on speeding up Tzultacaj’s resistance movement, and he had been given a clear mission for how to best help: eliminate priority targets.

Compared to the jungles and coastal mangrove habitats where he had spent most of his time in Central America, the humidity was markedly decreased in the interior of the Yucatan. It seemed like he had acclimated to the higher humidity because he found the dry air stifling, reminding him a bit too much of the Avatar of Huracan and his heat-based abilities. It seemed like the wildlife agreed, with fewer examples of birds and mammals appearing as he went. He was mostly finding snakes and lizards that were quick to retreat when they detected his presence.

The Northern Maya Lowlands stretched in all directions around him, bordered by the coasts of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico on three sides. The tropical forest had gradually given way to lower shrubs and grasses while retaining small groupings of trees better adapted for extended dry periods. The Lowlands weren’t quite like the Savannah, as they were still more forested, but there were similarities present within the groundcover. Without the thick jungle canopy crowding out shorter species of vegetation, both of the other ecosystems could sustain healthy layers of underbrush and grasses. On the other hand, the jungle’s groundlayer was a bed of damp leaves, loamy dirt, and splayed out roots. Walking beneath the jungle canopy felt more like being in the interior of a cave, but the Lowlands and the Savannah never let him forget about the clear sky above.

Coop was sitting on a branch in the crown of one of the taller trees, assessing his opponent’s base with his ethereal spear resting in the crook of his arm and up over his shoulder. His other arm braced against the dry bark of the trunk next to an abandoned woodpecker hole. After his brief respite in Ghost Reef, he was already on the hunt. This time, it was another Priest located by Amanda and Mikey B.

Back in Corozal, Juliana, the local leaders, and his own scouts all agreed on selecting this one for his first individual outing because of the massive landmarks identifying the cultist’s base. It was something Coop couldn’t miss, as long as he was in the correct general area. None of them had complete faith in his pathfinding abilities just yet, but what he lacked in navigational skills could be made up with the speed granted by his mistjumps.

Furthermore, the other potential locations they suspected of being Cult strongholds were yet to be confirmed and were often determined to be vacant upon further investigation. It was rare enough to find a cultist openly advertising itself the same way that Huracan had, but this one was similarly conspicuous. Other locations had been strangely empty when they checked, necessitating a recalibration of their search strategies. To Coop it sounded like the lesser Priests might actually be abandoning their hideouts, but it would take time for the Jaguar Sun to confirm anything in the wild territory of the Yucatan.

Dan was coordinating with Amanda to create proper maps that displayed the points of interest in the region. They had a big board posted in the middle of the Outpost that Amanda had used to draw an updated map. Dan was adding pins in the directions that he felt unusual mana fluctuations, establishing what was essentially an overlay of suspicious slices on Amanda’s accurately depicted geography. Juliana’s warriors were scouting everything out in order to confirm exact locations while they established a holding pattern to wait for word from Tzultacaj that would trigger their campaign, but their hunts hadn’t yielded results just yet. Naturally, they collectively agreed to send Coop on the easiest to find confirmed target for his solo trip.

The fact that the Priest was dominating the Lowlands so openly had the locals anticipating another High Priest. The lesser Priests and even the Acolytes tended to come and go, gathering what they wanted before retreating to seclusion where they consolidated their power. Most of the Priests had already learned that they needed to be confident in their security before eschewing subtlety, or else the Jaguar Sun might come for them. The local warriors may have been diminished, but their previous exploits hadn’t been forgotten by either side.

However, High Priests appeared to be confident in their strength, living openly without fear of the Jaguar Sun. Juliana predicted that they would be strong enough to individually crush their uprising, and that meant she and the other Jaguar Elites would need to deal with them first. Coop wasn’t sure if he could argue the opposite. The Avatar of Huracan would have certainly presented a problem and even the Envoy had been confident enough to challenge all of Ghost Reef by himself.

Juliana seemed surprised and concerned that so many of the cultists were reaching another echelon of strength, where they openly flaunted their positions without fear of reprisal, but for Coop it was all the same. If anything, he preferred they advertise themselves in such a manner. It would be easier for him to find and confront them.

A few dozen mistjumps away from Corozal and he spotted his target from high in the air. The scouts had been right about the prominence of the base. He squinted at the singular dark cloud in the otherwise completely clear sky and frowned. The chain of lightning bolts that streamed down did nothing to make the place inviting. He shrugged to himself. At least, it was easy to find.

Compared to the other Priests, this one was closer to Cancun than Corozal, in an area famous for the presence of Chichen Itza. As far as they could tell, it was the last major cult stronghold so close to the rapidly growing Outpost. Any other Priests nearby would be hidden away like the one that had formed her enclave deep within the Butterfly Cave. The Jaguar Warriors were scouring the area, slowly stretching outwards from Corozal as they planned their own momentum-based hunt. Regular Priests would already be no match for them, even if they were caught in their strongholds. Once the Jaguar Sun’s leader arrived, they would be raiding on their own, driving deeper toward the heart of Chakyum’s territory.