The upside of using older technology was that it was simple to repair, and often cheaper than buying brand now. The downside… well, the downside was that it had a tendency to break down more often than newer equipment, as Bloodstone, Noodle, and Splash had just discovered the hard way. The flyer, on its way from Rekes to Mireh to do some trading, had jolted suddenly mid-flight, alarms blaring. The trio had wasted no time donning the emergency parachutes and abandoning ship, even though the flyer ostensibly had emergency systems that would land it.

Or attempt to.

Hence the choice of the parachutes. While Bloodstone was glad of the choice, given that while the emergency landing system had deployed, it hadn't looked like the flyer had landed particularly softly. From what she could see anyways. As the flyer was on one side of the ravine… and they were on the other.

The side they were on had desert stretching behind them as far as the eye could see, heat causing the air to waver above the sands even in summer. The red-gold of the rolling dunes, punctured by outcroppings of stone like the backs of some giant beasts were suddenly cut away by the ravine that plunged thousands of feet down. It looked like someone had gashed the ground again and again with a giant knife, the edges worn down by centuries of wind and rain.

"So this is a pickle, huh," Noodle commented, peering over the edge of the ravine.

"What gave that away," Splash said unhappily from where they were sweating profusely, trying to use one of the parachutes as shade.

Bloodstone winced at how warm the aquatic must be, layers of blubber useful in the winter, but not so useful here, in the desert.

"Well, we got to get across to fix that flyer and get home," she said, joining Noodle at peering over the edge.

The blue, sparkling river wound along the bed at the bottom of the ravine… but it was a very long way down, and a very long way up.

"I don't suppose any of you've got a pair of wings you haven't told me about," Noodle asked, not sounding hopeful.

"Would if I could."

Noodle tapped zir claws, and Splash spoke up from behind them.

"We could tie the parachutes together."

Bloodstone and Noodle turned, tilting their heads, and Splash shrugged, looking miserable. "We're not going to cross that with tightropes. But I bet if we can get down to the water, we can find a path that leads up to the other side. And we'd be by water."

Bloodstone knew that much of Splash' opinion was informed by the heat up here on the plateau, but she exchanged a look with Noodle, who shrugged. It seemed their only option for the moment. And so they began to tie the parachutes and their cords together, cutting off cables with claws where they were redundant to add to the length.

Noodle proved a good hand at knots, and tied one end around a tree a little ways back from the edge of the ravine. There seemed a navigable path down to the bottom, though there were little in the ways of markers, and having a rope to hold would give them all something to hold on to. For extra security, the three of them moved the heaviest rock they could find onto the cord, further anchoring it.

Splash took a deep breath, gripped the makeshift rope and sighed. "No time like the present, huh?"

They began the descent. Noodle and then Bloodstone waited until the other was a good ways down before starting after, so that anything they dislodged wouldn't hit the other on the head. The climb down was quite arduous - requiring them to call back and forth about what paths they saw, and any hazards.

Noodle tried to examine the far wall for any potential pathways, but seeing as most of zir attention was taken up with the descent - ze didn't have much thought left for that. They would deal with that problem when they got to it.

But eventually, after a period of time that felt like days but was probably only a few hours, there was no more down.

Splash made a beeline for the river and jumped in with a relieved sigh, and both Noodle and Bloodstone also hurried over to drink.

"Don't drink too much," Splash warned, sticking their head up above the surface, "you'll get sick."

Despite the urge to do so, the two paused after a reasonable amount, and all three turned to examine the climb up. Noodle brought up what had looked to be a path a bit to the left, and the three scouted for it, eventually finding a makeshift pathway that wanderers seemed to use to get down to the water.

The climb up was just as bad as the climb down, with them having to remember how the far wall had looked from their climb down, and explore different paths. Often, all three of them would be on different parts of the wall, calling back to each other about the path they had found. But, eventually, they made it to the top.

But as Bloodstone saw the flyer, she sighed, remembering their predicament. More work to be done…

"If we get through this," Noodle commented, riffling around in a compartment for a wrench, "I'll never speak ill of winter again."

"Agreed," Splash said vehemently, and the three began work.