Looking worriedly at the vultures, particularly the giant vultures . "So do you think they'll let us rest through the night?"
"Good question. If they're going to attack us, I wish they'd just do it already. I guess I could shoot at them with my bow and see if that'll drive them off." Lorenz has had his bow in his hands since Alton's kill had been snatched from him.
"It might not be a bad idea," Shokambe says. "I get the impression they're trying to gather the courage to attack. If we seem ferocious enough, we might--" Before he can finish the sentence, the giant vultures dive at the group.
Order: Urza, Shokambe, Pezock, Ishirou, Lorenz, Sasha, Makoa, Douena, Jask, Mahjik, Giant Vultures.
First Up:
Urza will ready an action to blast the first vulture to get within 30' of him.
Scorching Ray: RTouch
to hit damage
"Never mind," Shokambe finishes off as the vultures dive. He pulls out his mace and waits.
Pezock already has his sword out, so simply waits. Ishirou pulls out his katana and does likewise.
Next Up: Sasha, Makoa, Douena, Jask, Mahjik, Giant Vultures, Urza (subject to readied action), Shokambe (subject to readied action), Pezock (subject to readied action), Ishirou (subject to readied action).
"Damn it," Lorenz says as he pivots and aims at the bird that seems closest to him. He wastes no time in firing two arrows, aiming for the breast.
Lorenz's first arrow lodges into the vulture's wing, causing it to screech in agony, but not stop its approach. The second arrow is at too much of an angle and passes well to the side of the bird.
"I hate fighting flying creatures," Sasha mutters, pulling out her weapons. Then she waits.
Next Up: Douena, Jask, Mahjik, Giant Vultures, Urza (subject to readied action), Shokambe (subject to readied action), Pezock (subject to readied action), Ishirou (subject to readied action), Lorenz, Sasha (subject to readied action).
Makoa pulls out an axe and prepares for the vultures to come close.
Next Up: Jask, Mahjik, Giant Vultures, Urza , Shokambe , Pezock , Ishirou , Lorenz, Sasha , Makoa .
Douena draws her starknife and moves about equidistant between Sasha and Pezock, the two most likely, in her experience, to get themselves almost killed; Jask will have to take care of Ishirou, she decides, glancing down to the other end of the group.
Jask steps up to Ishirou and places his hand on the Tien man's shoulder. "Nethys protect you," he says.
Next Up: Giant Vultures, Urza , Shokambe , Pezock , Ishirou , Lorenz, Sasha , Makoa , Douena, Jask.
Mahjik moves next to Pezock and crouches a bit, the tendons in his legs become taut as he prepares a debilitating kick on the first vulture to come into his range.
The vultures swoop down at the party members, who unleash a flurry of attacks in return.
-- hit
-- miss
-- fail
A blast of flame shoots from Urza's fingertips as the vulture barrels towards him. The flames engulf the bird, burning away feathers. The vulture screams as it continues its dive. Nearby the other vultures finish their descents. Ishirou's katana cuts deeply into the chest of #1. Makoa swings at #2, but the bird is still a bit too high. Mahjik's foot connects with the side of #4's neck, knocking it sideways. The stunned bird drops out the rest of the way to the ground (which is only a further 5 feet) and is prone.
-- miss
-- hit
-- hit
#1's beak is repelled by the mystical shield now surrounding Ishirou. #2 and #3, however, each land a bite on their targets, puncturing skin and drawing blood.
Shokambe quickly moves to the stunned one flopping on the ground .
-- hit
He brings his mace down hard on its head. It clearly hurts the vulture but is not yet enough to knock it out. Pezock moves up .
-- hit
The tengu swipes his sword along the vulture's neck and back, cutting open a wide gash. The stunned bird is still conscious, barely clinging to life.
Next Up: Sasha, Douena, Jask, Urza, Ishirou, Makoa, Mahjik, Giant Vultures, Shokambe, Pezock.
Lorenz steps a little closer to the bird he's already injured and focuses his shots on it.
Urza scrambles away from [ooc]5' step to I46 the giant bird while spewing forth more flame.
Scorching Ray: RTouch
to hit damage
In rapid succession, Lorenz fires off two arrows. The first tears across the side of #1's neck. The second land right in the middle of the forehead. While the vulture might have survived either one by itself, the two shots together finish it off.
Cautioning Alton to stay put, Sasha heads over to assist Urza with #3
-- hit
She stabs at the vulture with her rapier, getting a grazing cut along the wing.
Next Up: Jask, Urza, Ishirou, Makoa, Mahjik, Giant Vultures, Shokambe, Pezock, Lorenz, Sasha.
Douena steps closer to Mahjik and pats him on the leg. "Desna guide your fists," she urges him. "Punch it like you did the beetle!"
As Mahjik feels divine luck fill his form, Jask pulls out his dagger and holds it out. "Nethys, guide this blade."
-- hit, critical threat
-- confirmed
The dagger shoots out and slices across the top of #2's head. It then returns to Jask's outstretched hand.
Urza steps away from #3 and sends another blast of flame at it. With a screech, the bird falls to the ground, burnt feathers billowing out like a cloud of dust.
Ishirou carefully circles around #2 and attacks.
-- miss
He swings too low and vulture easily avoids.
Next Up: Mahjik, Giant Vultures, Shokambe, Pezock, Lorenz, Sasha, Douena, Jask, Urza, Ishirou.
"Nice! Try to focus on few creatures at a time - they appear to be really tough for birds."
-- hit
Makoa raises his axe and slashes it along #2's chest and wing.
Next Up: Giant Vultures, Shokambe, Pezock, Lorenz, Sasha, Douena, Jask, Urza, Ishirou, Makoa.
Mahjik hammers the vulture before him.
Just as #4 is recovering from the stunning blow Mahjik hit it with previously, Mahjik drives his foot into its neck. The sound of cracking bones accompanies the attack. The bird lies still. Mahjik hurries over to the remaining vulture.
The final vulture squawks in a terrified manner, loops around in the air, and heads back upwards into the sky and away.
Lorenz raises his bow and pauses. "Should I shoot or should we let him go?"
"Conserve your arrows. We may yet have need of them. Besides, in its weakened state, it is vulnerable to the opportunistic predations of its brethren."
Lorenz nods. "Good point." He keeps his bow out in case more stupid birds try to attack them but otherwise does not attempt another strike at the one in retreat.
"Big Flappy tried to fly away," Douena points out darkly under her breath. She looks around at the carcasses and sighs. "We need to start fighting things that like treasure, not birds and gorilla-bears. All they leave behind is meat. And we're going to have to move again, or these vultures will just attract more vultures and we'll have to start all over again."
"We'd have to find the time to look inside places. Very few creatures travel about with their treasures at hand."
"We do," Douena says pointedly, patting her backpack.
"True, but you wouldn't want us to be attacked, killed and have our stuff taken."
"But if we were attacking us, we'd deserve it. We'd be forced to stop ourselves for the good of everyone before we harmed innocent passersby not as well-prepared as ourselves. And we'd be justified in taking our stuff so we could use it to stop bad people like ourselves. Ooh! And then I'd have two monkey heads!"
"No, you'd have taken one of yourself, so you'd end up with one," Mahjik says, a slight twitch in his one eyebrow. Then he turns away and a whole avalanche of huh gallops across his face.
Like many of conversations between Douena and Mahjik, this one was beginning to hurt Lorenz's head. He wanders over to one of the birds, curious as to whether they had any meat on them for the cookfire. He was in the mood for some chicken that night.
Pezock stares after the retreating vulture for a moment. "We should have killed it," he mutters. Then, he's distracted by Mahjik and Douena's conversation.
"Why would we ever attack and kill ourselves?" he says. "That makes no sense. I might attack you, or you might attack me, but I can't attack myself! Well, not if I have any sense I wouldn't." Shaking his head, he turns and starts out across the plain again.
Like many of conversations between Douena and Mahjik, this one was beginning to hurt Lorenz's head. He wanders over to one of the birds, curious as to whether they had any meat on them for the cookfire. He was in the mood for some chicken that night.
The giant vultures certainly have quite a bit of meat on them. They could easily feed the party that night. If you wish to take one along for food, Shokambe and Ishirou will help.
Once you're out of the way, the remaining scavenger birds that were circling above you dive down to feast on the remains of the giant vultures you've left behind. That keeps you clear of vultures while you find yourself a place to camp a sizable distance away.
Once camp is set up, Jask begins the task of cooking dinner and you settle down to relax for the night.
As Lorenz lifts a bite of steaming bird flesh, he stares at it for a moment before shaking his head.
"If vultures are carrion birds for eating carrion...what does it makes us if we eat vultures? Carrion carrion eaters?" He takes a bite and then shrugs. "Well, it's better than rat, anyway."
Sasha frowns as she bites into her piece. "Better than rat, maybe," she says, "but still leaves a lot to be desired." She takes another bite and grimaces.
She breaks off a large chunk and tosses it to Alton, who gobbles it up greedily. The flappybite then looks expectantly at Sasha, a bit of grease dripping from his beak. "Well, Alton likes it at least." Sasha tosses him another piece.
"I've never been a fan of bird," Pezock says in the middle of eating his share. "Fish is better! Or antelope. But it'll do." Despite his words, he finishes off every last bit of his share very quickly.
After a couple of mouthfuls, Urza comments. "Well I like it better than flappy-bite. Though it could use some tobasco."
"Do you think they thought of us as carrion?"
"They certainly tried to make us carrion," Shokambe replies. "Somewhat unusual behaviour, but not unheard of in the bigger ones. Now that they are carrion themselves, their bodies should satisfy the smaller ones for a little while. It seems the small ones were wise to follow us. We provided them with their meal as they'd hoped." He smiles and goes back to whittling at his latest work, very carefully chipping away at a thin, delicate part of the wood that seems to be emerging as a wing of some sort.
After dinner, you settle down for a peaceful night. The starry sky and large, approaching-full moon keep the night bright. As Douena settles down to meditate and prepare her spells, she's fairly certain she notices a shooting star zip across the sky to the north. The night otherwise passes uneventfully. There's even a hint of a cool breeze to help everyone sleep more soundly.
"Did you see the shooting star?" she asks excitedly. "That means good luck!"
"Good luck is good indeed. Perhaps it was meant to show us the way to go? Does Desna do that?"
"Desna does everything," she assures him breezily. "Shokambe, are we going that way?" She points to the sky in the general direction she saw the star fall.
Lorenz frowns in the direction Douena's pointing to. He didn't have much a head for history, but even he knew that things falling from the heavens weren't exactly heralds of good times. He wondered if someone else had once made a similar announcement in the moments before the earthfall forever destroyed the world as it had been known.
He knew enough to keep such musings to himself, however.
Shokambe gazes in the direction Douena is pointing. "Rougly," he says with a nod. "Although not immediately. We have to circle around because of the mountains."
"We wouldn't have to circle if we could fly," she sighs disconsolately, watching the guide whittle.
You set out across the M'Neri Plains again, heading east once more, rather than the northeast indicated by the shooting star. The day is hot and muggy, as usual, but not the worst it's been. A few vultures circle lazily overhead most of the day, but no giant ones join them, and none of them attempt to attack you. There's a brief moment of excitement when Alton decides to attack the vultures, but it's over quickly as the vultures scatter and don't return for several hours. Alton does not manage to acquire a meal from the vultures, so instead returns to his usual hunting of small ground game.
You camp that evening on a small hillock. It's a surprisingly cool evening, making sleep come easily and more comfortably.
The next morning, Shokambe presents Douena with his latest carving: a small, delicate butterfly. "It seems the wood finally wanted to be something other than a monkey," he says. "Be careful with the wings. They're delicate."
Douena squeals with delight as she carefully takes the butterfly from Shokambe. "It's the traveling," she confides in the guide. "When it stays in one place too long, the wood loses its sense of imagination. That's why as long as it's rooted in the ground, it just keeps growing into a tree; it's not until you take it away from the tree that it even starts thinking about being a monkey! It's like Sir Ralph: If he just sat on the grass day after day, he'd stay grass-colored all the time and get bored; he has to keep moving around to stay interesting."
Shokambe smirks. "I have never thought of it that way before," he confesses. "It is a very interesting idea." He pulls out another chunk of wood from his pack. "This is the last of my wood until we reach Kalabuto, where I can acquire more. I wonder what it wishes to be." He tosses the wood up and catches it with his other hand, then wanders off, a thoughtful look on his face.