That thin trail of smoke proved a four hour hike away, including a treacherous descent of the mesa's slope.  There were curious insights to be found even on the climb down.  What appeared as tumbled stone and scree from the pyramid's heights was revealed at close quarters to be mostly masonry in the same style as the plaza and temple above, just worn to near anonymity by wind-borne erosion.  Faint outlines of ledges hinted that what now appeared as a fairly steep-sided mesa was once terraced and encrusted with stone structures, all caved in and crumbled now.  Not a single sign of recent human influence showed, not even the modest demolition of common folk stripping ruined masonry for their own dwellings.  It seemed no one ever bothered to scavenge the empty city.<br/><br/>The jaguars clambered down the slope with appropriately feline ease, one before Jasmine and one trotting after, in effect showing her the path of least resistance to the desert floor.  It was only when the small party reached the mesa's foot that they showed any chagrin, muzzles wrinkling and tails twitching as their paws met sun-warmed sand.  The beasts' only grew more cantankerous as they set off with Jasmine over the dusty flats, with the sun's brazen disk climbing higher and higher above the eastern mountains.  Jaguars were forest beasts, and their discomfort at such open, arid surroundings showed in their every movement, from the way they hunched their shoulders and crouched to lower their silhouettes as much possible to the incongruously dainty way the beasts would sometimes shake their paws the fling stray grains of hot sand from between their paws.<br/><br/>Jasmine's undress proved a blessing and a curse on the hike.  Her skin was bared to both the breeze, when it flowed, and the sun's rays.  The latter's heat drew sweat to bead on her skin--which plastered windblown sand to her figure with the next gust.  Her limbs and bared torso soon crusted with grit; profoundly uncomfortable, certainly, but at least it blended her own bronzed hue with the desert.  Hours later, with the sun rising ever nearer its zenith, the distant flash of water and the thread of smoke on the horizon resolved themselves into more recognizable sights.  The water proved a small river, no great waterway but far more than a stream, fringed with palm trees and grass that grew greener the nearer it marched to the river's banks.  The smoke's source was in easy view as well: it rose from an aperture in the roof of a huge dome-shaped tent of stitched, tanned hides.  Smaller tents around it, distant human figures milling between them, hinted that the smoking tent was at least three times the height of the people using it.  Between two and three dozen people were visible in that distant campsite, on the riverbank and around cooking fires, with smaller tents enough for perhaps two-dozen more.  They were too far off, about a half-mile's distance, for sound to travel clearly, but the regular thump of a drum carried faintly to Jasmine.  There was no indication that anyone in the camp had yet noticed her.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">OOC</div><div class="spoiler_body">Lots of rolls you could make now.  Wits+Survival to try to gather useful supplies from the riverbank, Perception+Awareness to assess the bank and/or the camp at a distance (only one roll needed, just specify what that scan is trying to encompass in your OOC spoiler), Wits+Control to direct the jaguars towards some task, Dex+Stealth to do any or all of these things with a minimum of visibility.  And of course, Charisma or Manipulation + one of the Social abilities to approach the distant camp and make your presence felt.  You're under no dice penalties, but it's getting towards noonish--marching any great distance before afternoon will require a successful Stamina+Resistance roll to avoid acquiring dice penalties from heat exhaustion.</div></div>