Helga is able to mend the weapons restoring them to some measure of functionality
The camp settles in for the night.
Natalyah becomes abit less dour as she sees Atzi return, but only for a moment. The ranger reverts back into her earlier demeanour as the druid gives her report. Natalyah bites her lip but keeps silent and helps to ready the camp as best she can, barking short and precise orders when necessary all the while cursing herself for her recklessness.
She had put too much prestige into moving the camp here, and now it looks like they've wandered into a more dangerous territory. How could she be so proud and stupid? She should have sent the others back to camp and gone with Atzi to explore further. Not set off to move the camp here.
As the camp nears completion she seek out the druid. "We should set up traps around the camp. In case something comes." Natalyah's voice is somber but without the edge she so often carries.
"The freak is right", Natalyah says with a strained voice which hints on how much she resents to admit it. "We can't venture further to set up camp. We need to go east and find a safe spot, and after that we need to find the savages camp. We need to know where they live so we know where we can set up a safe camp closer to the lighthouse."
Caithan takes the time to get to know people in the camp, names, professions, he attempts to make himself as sociable and approachable as a loud man with a big sword adn a scary dog can be.
diplomacy to gather information
@Natalyah:
@Anyone with survival as a skill
Atzi considers Setebo's words before replying. "There is good and bad to moving our camp or staying where we are. If we fortify ourselves, the savages will find us and try to overrun us with their superior numbers. Like we witnessed at the end of the trail, a stationary camp is a doomed camp. If we try to remain mobile and find a place within their territory where they will not tread, we may place ourselves in danger but we will avoid being pinned down to one spot. Perhaps we should look for some caves, something that gets us out of the open and will restrict their numbers in case they find us."
Atzi nods in agreement to Natalyah's suggestion to set up traps. "I am not skilled at settin' traps but I will try, lets move up the road a fair distance and set them as well. Lets confuse them and try and make our location less obvious."
As they prepared to leave Atzi looked to Helga, her look serious. "Tomorrow I would like us all to see the camp at the end of the trail, only because I don't think we can take the savages in a fight. Even with surprise on our side we will suffer losses... Let us discuss that tomorrow, the day has been long and we will have to explore the jungle across the river as well. Perhaps we will find a place undisturbed by the savages somewhere within..."
Ishirou is already engaged in setting up traps and welcomes your assistance.He is helpful in suggesting ways of using the terrain to amplify the effect of the traps..such as deadfalls that will sweep the enemy off the side of the cliff.
@Natalyah:
** spoiler omitted **
Atzi considers Setebo's words before replying. "There is good and bad to moving our camp or staying where we are. If we fortify ourselves, the savages will find us and try to overrun us with their superior numbers. Like we witnessed at the end of the trail, a stationary camp is a doomed camp. If we try to remain mobile and find a place within their territory where they will not tread, we may place ourselves in danger but we will avoid being pinned down to one spot. Perhaps we should look for some caves, something that gets us out of the open and will restrict their numbers in case they find us."
Night falls with it's usual suddenness but it once again passes peacefully.Nothing falls from the sky
Natalyah.
Atzi looks to Natalyah, raising one eyebrow critically after hearing her comment about the sick. "I may be a fool to be so persistent, but if we settle where the savages can find and surround us. The sick will die, because we won't be able to carry them when we run. This is why we need to set traps at random, not just near our camp. Across any trail we find evidence of their passing, leave them guessing and make them nervous." As she fumbled with a particularly nasty foot trap she added. "We will find our final camp soon enough, then we will just have to explore further and camp in the jungle instead of returning home each time."
Can everyone check the OOC thread please.
"There is another way of fighting these savages," Helga remarks. "Raid their village, watch it, pick off their hunting parties when they emerge to hunt. We whittle at their numbers, until they can fight us no more."
Atzi looks to Natalyah, raising one eyebrow critically after hearing her comment about the sick. "I may be a fool to be so persistent, but if we settle where the savages can find and surround us. The sick will die, because we won't be able to carry them when we run. This is why we need to set traps at random, not just near our camp. Across any trail we find evidence of their passing, leave them guessing and make them nervous." As she fumbled with a particularly nasty foot trap she added. "We will find our final camp soon enough, then we will just have to explore further and camp in the jungle instead of returning home each time."
"I'm not debating that", Natalyah says irritable. "The further south and into the island we've tread the more abandoned camps we've find. The sick are a burden and we can't carry them around anymore. We need to find a camp for them and it should not be closer to the savages, it should be further away! Once we've settled the others we can mount a smaller expedition to explore the island, one that doesn't have to return every night. We need to head east!" the ranger insists but then adds "or try the other side of this river. The jungle there looks untouched."
"We need to find a more permanet camp before we do anything with the savages. Am i the only one that has noticed the sick lying in the middle of the camp?!", Natalyah says to Helga with abit more heat than she intended. Her patience has run thin with everyone pretending Inkathru and Uchendu doesn't exist.
Theres a muttering from the other members of the party as Natalyah states her case.
"East..didn't we just come from there..."
"Aye..and she wants us to go back there."
"Who does she think she is..ordering us about like some Chelaxian Noblewoman..go here, go there, does she think we are her slaves?"
"No wonder she was on a long sea voyage she probably got stoned out of her village"
"Well she can go hang I'm not listening to her anymore, she's gone totally crazy"
And other such Comments...Jask however remains silent as he sees to the sick
"Friends, please, we are all in the same situation," Helga speaks up to calm the crowd. "Natalya is less than diplomatic, but her arguments are good - we have come from the east, yes, but to seek greater safety. If the savages who destroyed the camp Atzi found are here, then it's a more unsafe place to be, not a better one," Helga points out reasonably.
"Give her credit for her skills - she knows the woods and the wild, even if they do leave her manners a little unpolished - and for her heart to be concerned with the sick and injured."
Diplomacy:
Natalyah stands dumbstruck for a moment, at first not believing what she was hearing. But why should she be surprised. She knew that they would turn out to be ungrateful and ignorant, people always do. After all that she'd done they were all against her. Some of the comments brushed off but some really hurt.
"If you showed some initiative then i wouldn't have to tell you what to do! You want to go west? Fine, we'll go west. Why not march directly into the savages camp? I can go ahead of you and tell them you're on your way. I might even stay there, they're probably more reasonable than you! Or perhaps you've got some other bright plan? Maybe we could jump into the blabberbox's big mouth and sail home. The only flaw in that plan is that the drunkard would probably steer us back to the island and crash on the shore!", Natalyah lashes out and storms off illustrating Helga's point perfectly.
"No wonder she was on a long sea voyage she probably got stoned out of her village"
Aerys steps up to Helga.."Then tell her to stop leading us in circles..she was the one who insisted we come here now she's insisting we go back..none of us have any confidence in her decisions because she doesn't explain things she just issues orders like a Hellknight and expects us to follow without question ... We don't see why we should follow her lead anymore even if she has the rest of you cowed.
"If we knew where everything was on this island, we wouldn't have to go exploring it," Helga retorts. "I don't see YOU volunteering to go into this 'jungle' to fight savages, zombie-plants or the like. We're trying to find a safe place for you all so we can get to that lighthouse and find out if we can use it to signal for help from a passing ship, and that could mean a trip of several days. Want to take that chance where the savages might find you? Atzi found the remains of a camp of another band of the shipwrecked not far from here, and they are all dead and gone. How badly do you want to stay?"
"No we don't go into the jungle..we just tend to your sick all day and make sure you have food in your bellies and a safe place to sleep at night. We were safe where we were, she moved us here and now she wants us to go back to where we were..so why did we move in the first place?..."
Aerys stalks off and the others generally turn their backs on you
NPC's attitude apart from Jask reset to indifferent.You'll have to get them back up to friendly to get them to help in anything but their camp roles.
Upon hearing about Chelaxian Noblewomen and Hellknights Caithan materializes looking for trouble and is is disappointed only to find the mundane kind.
"Huh." Caithan says. "And I thought I was masterful at making people angry."
"I would say you were outclassed by the competition," Helga sighs.
Atzi sighs sadly at the sudden enmity that spring up, it distracted her from trying to see the coming weather. When she rejoined the camp she sighed again as the damage was done, and words once said could not be unspoken. As the rest of their comrades turned there backs on Atzi and the other explorers, she decided to start with Sasha as the most likely to rebuild relations with first. "How is your little one? growing larger by the day yes? Once he is able to fly let me know, I can try and have Quetza teach him if you wish." After a moment she placed a hand on Sasha's shoulder. "I know we have asked much of you these last several days but we cannot stop here, I promise that the next camp move will be our last and then we can focus on just taking care of ourselves until we leave this island. In the mean time, please continue what you have been doing. Your skills are greatly needed Sasha." She gives Sasha a light squeeze on the shoulder as she listens to her response. Once they are done speaking she moves back to the routine of the day...
Atzi gathers up the intrepid explorers and sits them down on the edge of the camp, she draws out her plan in the loose oil of the camp. First she indicates there camp and then the river they need to cross and the westward course they were going to take. "Pack heavy my friends, tonight we will not be returning to our camp. Not unless we need to, we are going to explore for a couple days until we find a suitable camp and assess the area around it before our final move. Because this time will be our last move and from there we will comb this island and find where the light house is. does anyone have any suggestions? We do have a map so we are not moving blindly but we do ot know what lies in the jungle either..."
"That makes sense, Atzi," Helga nods, clearly still stinging. "You are the wisest of us, you know what we should do."
Atzi shakes her head at Helga. "We all have a part to play and different wisdom to provide. Mine is only useful at the moment. Once we have our camp situated and are moving against the savages fully, then we will have to rely on you Helga and others. I know nothing of raiding, only moving unseen and setting traps in the Mwangi. I am a survivor not a soldier as Natalyah has shown me." Atzi gives Natalyah a wink with that comment.
"Anyone else have anything to add? Or shall we be get moving?"
"Ah well, we Ulfen know all about raiding," Helga grins. "We have a name for these pirates down south ... we call them amataurs."
|
Amisi - who has been a little bit in the background since her fateful charge ahead overhears Atzi and tries to help.
"I know that tempers have been high and frustration has gnawed at you. Everyone here tries his best. Just look at me Sasha - just a moment of not paying attention and I feel I'm handled like a school girl.
Is this fair - surely not. But the worst is - simple mistakes like mine can be deadly next time. So I better just ignore any insults thrown my way and try even harder. In the end - I did wrong.
So please - just try to understand and realize - everyone - even Natalyah just tries her best. As abrasive as she is - we can be glad that we have her with us. So let's try and work together."
Diplomacy Assist for Atzi
Caithan overhears these notions and goes over to the women visibly upset. "You lot of women think you can go into the jungle by yourselves? Setebo would be moping for weeks!
Captain why did you let them go alone!
Captain why did you not do the gentlemanly thing and give them an escort!
Captain if we find their bodies will you give them a proper burial!
No, no, no, that will not do at all. I insist that me ans Setebo escort you on your insane venture."
Natalyah sits silently through the gathering, obviously upset with the other part of the camp. When she does break her silence it's only to mutter "Wiser than those ingrates" at Helga's comment. She responds to Atzi's joke with a somber "We don't need soldiers. We need shadows."
"Anywhere is better then here", Natalyah mutters and casts a resentful gaze back to the camp as Atzi finishes her plan.
"What's it to us if he does? Why should we care?" Natalyah fires back at Caithan before catching herself. He did choose a side and he choose theirs. "Follow if you wish, just don't slow us down or get in our way", she tells the cavalier. One could guess that it is as close as she can get to a "I would love to have you accompany us. We would be glad to have you!"
Staying out of the argument Setebo has been helping around camp. He mahy not have many relevant skills but he is strong, willing and pathetically happy to follow orders. I expect Gelik will have some fun at Setebo's expense. Setebo will not even notice.
At the words 'Insane venture' Setebo's ears perk up. "Am I needed captain?"
Sasha has been working on her bow as Atzi and Amisi speak to her..she squints down the length of the wood tsks and rubs some oil into it.."I's getting harder to keep our spirits up ..we've been what nearly two weeks here and we seem no closer to our goal...and Natalyah for all I respect her skill doesn't seem to have any respect for ours.She's rude, short tempered and arrogant..in a lot off ways she reminds me of my Mother."
"What annoys us most is she seems to think that noone but her is competent to make a decision..we are as skilled as she is..and to suggest that we would be unable to protect ourselves or the sick is an insult.But I will let it pass..I know she is trying hard to get us off this rock.Only she has to trust us to carry out the tasks we have taken on for ourselves. The five off us can look after the camp, you lot concentrate on finding our way off this island."
Sasha's attitude adjusted to cooperative again.
Sasha's attitude adjusted to cooperative again.
"Ah, good man." Caithan says as Setebo lopes up. "It appears we are escorting this group of women into the jungle for some sort of scouting mission. Personally I'd prefer a group of strong lads with strong horses but now's hardly the time to be picky."
"Ah, good man." Caithan says as Setebo lopes up. "It appears we are escorting this group of women into the jungle for some sort of scouting mission. Personally I'd prefer a group of strong lads with strong horses but now's hardly the time to be picky."
"Aye sir, we take what help we can find, when we can find it."
In moments Setebo is geared up and ready to go. He has 5 man days of rations in his pack and three full water-skins.
Dawn Day 18 on the island
Food 10 man days(16 man days/day collected)
Sasha and Jask Helpful
Other NPC's indifferent.
Routes from the camp..North: To the wide beach where you found abandoned camp 1 then west along it
Northwest:Along the northern edge of the ridge you are on
West:Crossing the river and following the southern edge of the ridge which is mainly cliffs
"Ah, good man. It appears we are escorting this group of women into the jungle for some sort of scouting mission. Personally I'd prefer a group of strong lads with strong horses but now's hardly the time to be picky."
"Aye sir, we take what help we can find, when we can find it."
"We'll try to go easy for you both to keep up," Helga grins at the two warriors as she places herself firmly with the scouting party.
"We would prefer something else than spider bait", Natalyah fires back at the captain. She avoids eye contact as she moves through the camp to gather her belongings for the trek. Do they think i want to lead them? If they showed some initiative i wouldn't have to. The ranger returns with her backpack and an uneasy expression, like something is disturbing her.
"We should go north west up the ridge and try to find the savages camp. If we know where they are they'll be easier to avoid." Natalyah looks critically at Setebo and Caithan. "But i doubt these two will make it possible for us to sneak up on them unnoticed", she grunts.
"Maybe - we can scout ahead, and if we don't go unnoticed, we have two warriors on call to help us out," Helga points out.
"Thank you," the skald accepts the spell graciously, "I need to learn that spell myself, I think."
She turns to Natalyah.
"North west you say? Lead on!"
You head out off camp northwest but after a mile or so the ridge takes a radical shift in direction just beyond the Creeper Clearing and you find yourselves travelling in a south westerly direction. This takes you an hour as you know the terrain already
There's not really much to see apart from the usual dense jungle and there are no real trails up here on the ridge which slows your progress dramatically. Indeed after an hours march you have made no more thnan half a mile along the ridge.Looking North you can see the bay and the long curving promontory you were originally wrecked on. The trees hide the long sandy beaches of the central bay.
A further hour of hacking through the undergrowth and you have gone perhaps two miles from camp.The insects sting, the branches seem to have a mind of their own as if intent on impeding your progress in the most annoying off ways.
One thing is certain..the trail runs right along the bottom of the ridge and it cuts through a lot of areas of clearer ground.
"Wouldn't it be a lot easier to follow that trail?" Helga asks, using her cantrip to try and put an edge back on a dulled sabre that's being used as a machete.
"If you don't mind being tracked." Caithan says as he hacks through a thick clump of vines ahead of him. "Hunted, harried, and likely killed. Then yes it is easier."
Atzi narrowed her eyes at the bottom of the ridge and spat, most likely something was lying in wait but they had come to far to stop. She looked over her shoulder to Helga and the others. "Caithan is right, besides whatever trails we find we should place traps. I want to weaken the savages and remove some if we can. For now though keep your eyes open and be ready, I don't trust the bottom of this ridge..."
She pulled out her shortspear and slowly made her way forward into the ravine, she kept her eyes peeled for movement as they crossed the clearer ground.
Natalyah recoils as Helga asks her to lead north west. Now they want me to lead as well. How long before they start to complain and turn on me. She looks to Atzi for nod of approval before setting off. Once on the trail north Natalyah tries her best to sneak through the underbrush and avoid cutting through the branches and plants to leave as little trace of her passing as possible. However it soon proves to be an exercise in futility and the ranger must use her short sword to cut her way through.
It is with her senses in full alert and her blades in her hands that she follows Atzi into the ravine. Natalyah moves like a shadow behind the druid, silent save for the soft rustle of leaves every other step.
What ravine..I never mentioned a ravine..There's the ridge..and a wide swath of jungle to the beach and between those is an area of grassland with the trail in it..hmm I think I'll have to do another map