The Mwangi mumbles to himself before Iolana resurfaces, ansiously looking at the sea.
...ssshhhh!...
...she fine...
...she fine Anton...
...ya will see...
...any moment naw...
...any moment...
Iolana swims back to the party,a distraught expression on her face:"I did it,it wasn't that difficult,but have to warn you once we'll have dragged the body here,it isn't a nice sight.And it was undoubtedly Averin."
Gatherine was steadily digging a hole,tossing a mound of dirt up with each swing of her shovel.She was already three feet into the loamy soil,dark skin gleaming with sweat from her furious activity.
It takes a few minutes to pull Averin's body ashore. Sword and backpack still strapped to him - he hadn't even the time to draw his sword before he was dropped.
His expression is peaceful, but an angry wound is on his shoulder ... presumably from where the creature fed. It had apparently torn through the shoulder of his armor ... the breastplate would need minor repairs before it could be used again.
Mugambi kneels down besides the corpse. Stubbornly he checks for life signs. After a couple of seconds a great saddeness take over him. He starts to chant a prayer in polyglot for his fallen comrade.
"It says something about you all that you go to such lengths for someone you had only known for a short while," Syndlara says. She walks over to the edge of the grave Gatherine is digging and squats down, resting her arms on her thighs. "Let me know if you need help, Shorty," she says, winking at the dwarven woman.
After finishing his prayer Mugambi retrives the elf's sword, bow and backpack. He then puts Averin's body inside the freshly dug hole and cover him with banana leafs.
They all help covering the grave with earth. The tribesman say some last words before they resume their hunt for the captain.
Here he lies where he long ta be;
Home is da sailor, home from da sea.
We still stranded in dis cursed island. Its good to have weapons at hand. Mugambi have in mind ta give our good captain an arrow or two for our troubla.
After they bury the unfortunate half-elf, Syndlara injects herself into Iolana and Mugambi's conversation. "Were we in Eleder, we could afford your late friend proper burial rites. Remember where we buried him. If we find our way off of this thrice-blasted rock, we can come back for him. And when we do, we will hopefully not need his arms any longer."
Iolana marks the spot Averin was buried by drawing a circle with some rocks.
"Now we have to catch up with captain and Ieana,and we have lost quite sometime,better move on."
Dwarf Beast Rider Honor Guard (Cavalier) 3; AC 18/11/17; CMD 17; Saves +5/+2/+1 (+2 vs. pois., sp, sla); hp 28/31
Tol looks on grimly as Mugambi retrieves Averin's gear, but he doesn't say anything as he helps to pile the sand into the grave.
He nods at Iolana's words, and gazes into the interior of the island. "Aye, let us be on our way. We shouldn't waste our time on the lizard, it was just a dumb animal. There could be hundreds like it, and we'd never know if we'd found the right one. No, Captain Kovack is the one that stranded us on this gods-forsaken island, it is he who bears the blame for Mr. Grey's death, and First Mate Devers, and all the rest. It is against him we must wreak our vengeance."
Thump ... faintly in the distance. ...Thump ... drums from the west. A slow but steady beat. No louder than the now gentle surf. As if this cursed island had given you just these few quiet moments to grieve before reminding you ... You are not alone on this island.
Syndlara's ears twitch, and she frowns. "Well, seems I got lucky that I ran into you before I ran into any more...hostile natives." She turns toward the sound, facing west, and adds, "Perhaps we will find someone with a ship--and thus a way off the island--there. Or perhaps we will find this Captain Kovack there. Either way, it beats standing around here. Shall we go?"
Dwarf Beast Rider Honor Guard (Cavalier) 3; AC 18/11/17; CMD 17; Saves +5/+2/+1 (+2 vs. pois., sp, sla); hp 28/31
Tol thinks. "We had planned to continue following Captain Kovack and Miss Ieana's tracks. I have no love for the cannibals, but we must not lose sight of our goals. There were no survivors from the attack on us, so word of our presence may not have reached the village, and these drums might have nothing to do with us. I say we return to the scene of the battle and have our new tracker," he indicates Syndlara, "try to pick the trail up again."
Did everyone hear the last words of the enemy leader, or was Tol the only one close enough? It's the sort of thing Tol would likely ignore as an idle, superstitious threat, but I don't want it to go completely unnoticed.
are we keeping the same walking order substituting Syndlara for Averin?
"I would like to avoid unnecessary fights,and looking for revenge will only make it harder to attain out goal.I'm afrsid we'll find enough opposition where those drums are beating,no need to add other threats."
Gatherine frowned as she strapped her shovel back to her backpack.Her brow furrowed before her eyes went large.
Guys,I just remembered something from the battle!Tol,right after you and Gorra trampled that shaman..I think he said something in Common! Something about us losing and his spirit flying faster?
She gasped with growing dread.Bolka's teats! Maybe those drums ARE for us! The shaman's spirit might have told the rest of his degenerative tribe! Shaman's do that,don't they?!
The dwarf maid ran about in a circle,working herself into a panic.Who knows how many of those freaks are out there? They'll try to eat me first because I'm so pleasantly plump!
Seeing Gatherine panicking,Iolana tries to reassure her.
"Try to get a hold on yourself Gatherine.You are in a party,we'll protect each other,just never split from one another and we'll be fine."
Then,in an attempt to lighten the tension:
"And you never know,they may like more hot looking girls,so the first targets would be Syndlara or myself"
Dwarf Beast Rider Honor Guard (Cavalier) 3; AC 18/11/17; CMD 17; Saves +5/+2/+1 (+2 vs. pois., sp, sla); hp 28/31
Tol sarcastically mutters under his breath, "Hmmph. 'Hot looking girls,' indeed. Hmmph." He then addresses the group more loudly, "Even if the shaman's words were more than superstition, and the entire tribe knows of our presence, I don't think that changes our plan. We need to find our quarry before they do... If they haven't already."
The sun starts to bake you on the beach until you head out north, and the baking turns to an oppressive damp heat. You walk back through the jungle area from which you just came, and to the trail that led to the scene of your last battle.
The corpses of the pale feral savages appear as they were, except for the one whose entire leg is currently being consumed by a blanket of miniscule red crawling insects.
"This is the place, huh?" Syndlara says with a grimace. Careful to avoid the carpet of insects eating one corpse's leg, she looks to the others. "Which way were you following these tracks?"
Syndlara shrugs at the dwarf, kneeling down to observe the tracks in front of her. After a few minutes and muttered words in Elven, she stands, dusts the dirt from the knees of her pants, and moves over to another set of tracks nearby. She repeats this several times, then declares, "I think I have the trail. This way."
"In other occasions i'ld have said to bury them;but i prefer to chase the captain and Ieana now,and they didn't really struggle to become friends to us"
Bah! Let em rot,do some sort of good by feeding the bugs.They were evil and deserved to die for the good of anyone else unfortunate enough to get stuck here. Eating other people just because you can is sick and wrong.
Gatherine sneered at the ant-covered corpses,pointedly gesturing with Sneezy Dragon.
Dwarf Beast Rider Honor Guard (Cavalier) 3; AC 18/11/17; CMD 17; Saves +5/+2/+1 (+2 vs. pois., sp, sla); hp 28/31
"Aye, aye, I feel no remorse for their deaths. I just meant it might be good to... ah... conceal the evidence? In case the rest of the tribe comes by?"
"The quickest way to dispose of them i can think of is throwing the corpses in the sea,but we have moved a lot from it.Down a cliff would be the same as here if some other of them finds the bodies"
Why don't just leave 'em? Like a warning. We ain't scared of them and we shouldn't be trifled with. We took out their shaman--and he looks like a right gory mess. And the wounds my bullets made should boggle them. Besides,they already know we're here.
The dwarf maid scowled thoughtfully.Barbarians like them are no better than Orcs and gobs.All they understand is blood and strength along with might makes right.We passed on all accounts.Together,the Survivors of Smuggler's Shiv,are mighty!!
Iolana giggles
"A bit exagerated,but you got the point Gatherine.I don't know what brought those men to act like this and quite frankly i don't care.But let's just not give them further reasons to increase their appetite shall we?"
Dwarf Beast Rider Honor Guard (Cavalier) 3; AC 18/11/17; CMD 17; Saves +5/+2/+1 (+2 vs. pois., sp, sla); hp 28/31
Tol snorts a little at Gatherine's diatribe, tugs at his beard a little, then shrugs. "Alright, then. Let's be off. I'm eager to leave this place behind me."
Syndlara picks up the trail after having been shown your last location. When noting the nature of the tracks, you recall and inform her that Averin had determined the were carrying something between them.
You travel west and northwest through thick tall grasses surrounded by stumpy, flat topped palms. Visibility is good, but the trail is difficult to follow at times ... Enough weather and time has passed that trampled grasses have recovered. Syndlara therefore needs to part the grasses as she goes to follow the footprints.
As you pass the edge of the cliff and woods that have been flanking you to the north, the edge of the horizon opens to blue water ... you appear to be a few miles from a beach.
"Looks like they made for another beach, it seems," Syndlara says. "We may be getting closer to a campsite. We should try to be circumspect here." She looks at Gatherine's dragon pistol and adds, smiling wryly, "At least til after we ascertain that they're all implacably hostile."
You advance a little further northwest ... just enough for Iolana to be able to see the lower elevation beach. Syndlara determines the tracks start to veer west - while the beach is north.
Iolana+any with percept DC15+:
On the beach to the north (a little on the right of where you have been facing) you see a similar camp as before, but this one looks nearly leveled. The appears to be someone standing at the waters edge. You see no signs of hostility, and little cover for any hidden threats.
