The aarakora seems convinced. "You!" it says to Arakan. "Bring spear here!"
I nod.
Arakan gets down from his crodlu, spear in hand. He moves forward with it presented across his open palms, hoping to convey that he is not bearing it toward the bird-man. As he gets close he holds it up, while bowing his head respectively.
The aarakora takes to the air in a swirl of feathers. It swoops down and with a clawed foot snags the spear, yanking it from Arakan's grasp. It then soars upwards, shrieking in triumph, and out of sight.
Jareen grunts in surprise. "Let's get moving before they decide to test that spear on us."
"Good idea."
Th'Kal clicks in surprise too -- he wasn't too sure that would work.
He nudges his crodlu back into the lead and sets off on their original course, assuming everyone will follow.
We'll move out I reckon.
perception
The party hurry on from the encounter with the birdman, hoping it won't realise it was duped too soon.
Furio remembers back, to a time he was in trouble; he doesn't even remember what he did. Maybe nothing.
But he was put in the box for three days,......in the sweltering heat....to learn the error of his ways.
He's pleasantly surprised, to find that (so far, anyway,) the desert's punishment has nothing on the box.
endurance:
"Hey, guys;" he says, almost cheerfully; "remember to drink enough water;"
he continues scanning the sky, wondering when the aaracockra will be back.
"I wonder if they think we're weak now. I wonder if they'll be back, to take more from us......"
Th'Kal tries to keep the group moving through the canyon. He dismounts every so often to try and help clear the path of loose rocks, hefting them off to the side or rolling them when they are too big... whatever it takes to make the passage a bit easier for the less experienced riders (and honestly to get himself out of the saddle periodically -- he's not travel-sore... he just finds it a bit odd to be on the crodlu).
<brrlk> "Come this way... the path is more clear."
Jareen keeps an eye on the Thri-Kreen, happily letting it do the heavy work. He does though keep an eye on the way the valley twists and turns, and infers from his knowledge of such geological formations some optimal routes, pointing out the best routes to Th-Kal.
Arakan questions the mul's concerns, "What does it matter if they consider us weak? We avoided possible loss of life or slavery by being the smarter of the two groups. If he learns of our deception, it just may be after he tries fight for or demand more authority. With the nugget I planted about the spear making him more powerful to rule, they may just fight one another. So, if they do come at us, it is with less numbers. All we lost was a spear I wasn't likely to even pick up, and it only added weight to my mount. We avoided a possibly ruthless fight, by letting them haul away my garbage."
Arakan is fine sitting back and letting the others do the work, as is his wont, all he needs to do is suffer the saddle and sun.
Furio helps with the heavy lifting. He feels like doing some pushups.
Ruscer lets his mind wander as the canyon slides by. Those bird things reminded him of fleeing through the jungle. An unknown monster chasing him through the tree tops. Ruscer nimbly hops from the ground and swings from the low branches for a short distance to avoid obstacles in his path. He doesn't know what is chasing him but it sounds mean and hungry. Furio's voice brings him back to the present.
Gart is accustomed to the harsh demands of desert travel. Gart will help the 'kreen move obstacles out of the path as necessary.
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Ruscer lets his mind wander as the canyon slides by. Those bird things reminded him of fleeing through the jungle. An unknown monster chasing him through the tree tops. Ruscer nimbly hops from the ground and swings from the low branches for a short distance to avoid obstacles in his path. He doesn't know what is chasing him but it sounds mean and hungry. Furio's voice brings him back to the present.
The party shrug off the desert environment, heading onward with determination.
perception:
Furio sallys forth, oblivious as usual.
Th'Kal calmly draws his greataxe (fast movement might cause the thing to spring). But his antenna stand straight up to betray his calmness. This thing is a predator, no amount of talking from the almostelf will get them past it this time. Th'Kal fights his kreen nature to shout when excited, and delivers the following as calmly as possible:
"Spider. Very large. It has a hunting pack... I would assume there are many spider, hiding, waiting. Prepare for attack, but no fast movement."
Furio draws his gouge.
"Can you point to where they are?"
Looks around;
"Any of you guys....uh....good with spiders?"
Gart readies his carrikal as calmly as possible.
Ruscer smoothly slides an arrow onto his bow. "Does anyone see any more? Specifically above us? Last thing I want is one of these things jumping on my head. If one of those things land on my head this stupid lizard better run fast."
Perception :
Jareen indicates his Crodlu to stop, and moves slowly to retrieve a dagger.
Arakan was letting the day's warmth lull him into a sleep, while the others worked at the front. He almost didn't even hear the warning about the spiders, if it wasn't for everyone stopping and drawing weapons, he probably would have just dozed off in the saddle.
Initiative
I'll take HI 25-26. Me and my crodlu.
[ooc]GM said 25 was the closest to the spider any of us were. I will take jk-27/28
Ruscer checks the area around him and tries to figure out his next move. The brush next to him looks like a good spot for cover.