Just to remind everyone, here's what's been done so far all joined on - and I've added a new sentence - feel free to add another or even a new paragraph, page or chapter to move the story along to new and unknown forks in the road for Indy...
Indiana Jones & The Curse of the Chinese Whisperer
(A Raven Forum Collaboration Story)
The sculpted mud tower stood tall on the tabletop as its maker, a wizened Chinese trinket seller stunned the gathered crowd with his pottery skills. His brown, wet hands smoothed out the clay for another minute until he finally stop peddling his table wheel and picked up a small brass cup, shaking it for the crowd to show their appreciation.
Some people threw in their pocket change but others quickly walked away, rejoining the path along the Great Wall which sprawled out to the left and right for miles. As the old potter was left shaking his head at his measly takings, a shadow of a much larger figure towered above him and his scultpure.
The shadow's owner began to speak in broken Mandarin but it was obvious from his lack of a local accent that he was American.
"I speak English, stranger" whispered the old Chinaman. "You can stop trying to impress me with your phrasebook language."
Indiana Jones took off his battered fedora and stepped closer to the potter's table. He leant close to the old man and whispered what he'd come all this way to say so that no-one else could hear him...
"I...um.....er..." He took a step back and looked around for a moment. Nobody was really paying any attention but Indy felt that checking anyway was a habit he'd picked up on his adventures.
"Have you heard of the Chinese Lung- Kou? That WAS what you were about to ask me, wasn't it?" The potter grinned, revealing three white teeth from less than a full set that also included several that were black and green. He cackled slightly.
"But... how...?" Indiana Jones gasped.
"I know a many great things, Dr Jones. Including why you're so interested in the late Emperor's Dragon Dog statues. And I can assure you, they may be considered a myth nowadays but when I was a boy servant at the palace, I saw them with my own eyes."
Before Indy had a chance to ask any more questions, there was the sound of police whistles in every direction. Gunshots were fired in the air and the crowded pathways of the Great Wall were suddenly cleared as tourists and locals alike ran for cover.
The old man rose quickly from his cushion on the ground and turned his back on the dust-ridden archaeologist.
"Hey, old-timer, do you know...?" Was all Indy could say before the withered potter stepped up onto the turretted stone of the Great Wall and jumped off.
A woman to Indy's left screamed and at least a dozen Chinese policemen crowded around Indy, brandishing handcuffs and shouting in a dialect he didn't understand...