Even before Mugambi hear the cannibal's words the tribesman feels a cold hand resting on his left shoulder. A chill spreads through his hole body.
By da spirits!
Turning to the two women. Lets go back to Ma Gatherine.
While he starts to move away the tribesman takes a moment to look at the contents of the spilled woven lidded basket.
A thick oily smoke starts to stream from the fire to the top of the cliff. You hear the savages cough and choke, and two singed vines swing down without riders.
If the fire was on the ground maybe, but I don't think you would see the wrapped gunpowder as being likely to work.
Should we run? Or make a stand? I plan to run to R9.Man,if only I had a thunderstone!
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Hearing Gatherine's shout, the explosion on the cliff face, and Mugambi's warning, Tol turns around to look. Seeing Gatherine all alone, in relatively close proximity to the explosions and savages, he turns Gorra around. With an apologetic glance to Iolana and Syndlara, he says, "Ahem. I believe you ladies can deal with this lout. I must protect Miss Gatherine," and gallops away.
"Don't worry about me," Syndlara calls back to Tol as he gallops away. "This other gent, though..." Still smiling a bit creepily, Syndlara turns on the remaining savage, hustling to engage him with a few probing strikes.
The second savage succumbs to his wounds and falls. You cannot see the savages on the cliff at all now through the leaves and smoke. The flames, however, are already starting to recede... it will not hold them back for long.
As Tol stops Gorra near Gatherine, he says, "Climb on, Miss Gatherine, we've got to get out of here."
Tol,we can win! If we run now,they'll only hunt us like fleeing rabbits.If we stand our ground,take them down,we show them we are not prey--we're predators! Who knows how many are out there? If we defeat this bunch,we thin whatever numbers we have to face later on.
Gatherine made sure Sneezy was loaded,and aimed along an arm with her buckler raised towards the cliff. Smoke and silhouettes jumbled together through a heat distortion from the flames.
"Only fools accept fights at the enemies conditions,let's at least shift to a more favorable terrain"
I am with Iolana. Run now, come bck later.
Moving for cover behind a nearby tree, Syndlara calls back in Taldane, "Back to the south, then? Or push on through to the north?"
Da cannibals said dis is their hunting grounds. They may have traps up north.
Gatherine sucked her teeth to voice her displeasure.Begrudgedly,she reached out with her free hand to Tol and allowed him to haul her in the the saddle behind him.
Oi,I still say we could take em right here and now.But I'll follow you all's lead if you think fleeing is a better idea.
She hooked an arm around Tol's armored torso.Besides,I can see in the dark and I can shoot in the dark,too.
Iolana follows the two dwarves.
"I think i saw them releasing a basket full of tiny snakes around here,be careful.And don't worry Gatherine,i want to strike back at them as much as you."
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Glancing up at the cliff, where the smoke is starting to clear, Tol beats a hasty retreat on Gorra to where the rest of the party is gathered. "Let's get under cover before that smoke clears! They can't climb down any faster than we can climb up, so we should get a head start; they're probably faster than us on the ground. If only we had more horses. Gorra can't carry us all." He peers in both directions along the cliff face. "We might as well keep heading south. There's no safety to run back to the other way, and we still need to catch up to Captain Kovack."
edit: "Also, ahem, we should all be armed for a ranged fight. Gatherine, that pistol of your father's is quite an impressive piece of ironwork, and it's fearsome in close quarters, but a bow shoots much straighter, and I know you were taught to use one. Now might be the time." He points at the fallen savage's bow.
Gatherine took up the short bow and crude feather-fletched bone tipped arrows Mugambi handed her,letting Sneezy Dragon dangle from her wrist.
[B]Hmmph.Never cared all that much for bows.Me sister's a crack shot with sling or crossbow.
Iolana recovers her bow and readies it.
"Ready to go"
You move south as quickly as you can. The path soon winds back west into the trees, giving even more cover. You hear the yelling and taunts behind you, but it is difficult to tell if the are gaining on you or not - or even following... then you start to hear drums above and behind you... the same steady beat.
Syndlara stops for a moment, tilting her head as she listens to the drumbeat. She presses her free hand against the dark red stain on her stomach and winces. With a few softly chanted words, the wound begins to heal.
"Does that sound like it's getting closer to anyone else? Perhaps we should attempt to set up an ambush."
Iolana too tries to focus on the drums,in the attempt to determine range and direction.
"I hope we aren't just running straight into one"
Filtering out the sounds of Gorra's hoofbeats,the jangle of armor,and the harsh breathing of those on foot,Gatherine focused on the drumming.
Perception:
She stowed Sneezy into her sash,checking her cleavage for something.Mugambi saw her with her free hand shoved down her bosom and stumbled,catching himself and hurrying on.
She found the war razor she kept hidden away just in case she found herself 'disarmed'.Satisfied it was still there,she readjusted her corset.
She strapped the quiver of arrows to her side,the bouncing trot Gorra was in jostling the dwarf maid painfully in the saddle.
"Aye, an ambush would be fine, if it was just those handful that were after us before. Those drums, though... Sounds like there might be a lot of 'em. If we were the ones up on the cliffs, that'd be one thing, but here in the forest... We're more like to get surrounded than do the surrounding."
After traveling a little further, you see the path come to a north/south T intersection ahead. It is also the corner of the bluff/cliff face to your left. North is a clear shot to the beach (maybe 1.5miles), the southern direction goes in between the bluff you have been traveling beside and another one on the other side of the path. The resulting valley in which the path continues is about 3-400 feet wide.
Straight ahead is a few feet of soft earth and sparse groundcover before it becomes thick jungle with no immediately visible path.
"On a beach we'll have a clear view of the surroundings and more important, we cannot be surrounded,but it is quite far away."
Oi,what if othey're herdingus?!
"If they're herding us, then we are better off doing something unexpected, like turning around to charge straight back into them. I like the idea of heading for the beach better, though," Syndlara replies, looking over her shoulder at the sound of the drums.
"Hmm. Any idea which way the Captain went?"
"Sorry mr.Cherthand,lost the trail when i began fleeing.We are heading for the beach then?"
"The trail was leading that way, if I recall," Syndlara says, pointing toward where she last remembered seeing the trail leading.
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Closing the line Mugambi tries not to peak as Gatherine thoughtfully searches through her bra and comes close to enter a tree head first. As they come to the intersection.
Maybe Captain was take prisioner by dem. the tribesman said pointing to the way back and breathing heavily from the exercise.
Can ya make our tracks hard to follow? he asks looking at the women. We could lose some of dem here on da crossroads...
You notice the ground on the east side of the north/south path would leave tracks far more difficult to detect.
You catch sight of the familiar 3' spaced tracks leading to the south, through the valley between the bluffs.
You pause in the clearing - the intersection of paths... The light from the sun is filtered through the deepening red, orange, and pinks as it nears the horizon. You have less than two hours of light. You can see the top of the cliff from where you are 90 feet away.
"Stick to the east side of the path," Syndlara responds to Mugambi, making sure to do the same as the group continues its retreat. As the group pauses, she glances at the jungle canopy and remarks, "We should probably look for a defensible place to set up camp--the light's fading fast."
"Aye, what I wouldn't give for a solid cave about now."
Mugambi follow the elf's instructions.
"Then what do you want to do? Keep going to the beach while there is still light or look for a defensible camp here? I think it is too early to stop"
Beach.Definitely beach.
Tol looks impatiently between the two trails, and back in the direction of the drums. "I can't see that the beach is likely to be defensible, not if they're already after us. Wide open, water at our backs... But the jungle hardly seems better, it being their home, and full of dangerous beasts too. We need to give them the slip, or find something really defensible. A cave, a building... Even just a wall to take cover behind." He looks back and forth between the north and south roads again and mutters to himself, "Blasted island."
Finally, he shrugs. "Alright, beach it is."
As you are ready to turn toward the beach, a few of catch sight of a few figures, including one with a torch, running atop the edge of cliff - turning south. You did not see any sign of being spotted. With a quick look behind you, you see a flicker of light through the trees maybe 2-300 feet away. The drumming has quieted... down to a slow beat from a single drum.
You turn right toward the beach, traveling on the hard earth alongside the path. After about a mile, you reach a wide beach with sand almost too coarse to call sand. Just as you set foot on the beach, you notice a large "lump" on your left... on top of an elevated area a little more than 100 feet away. As you move closer to the water you see more of it. It looks like an enormous unmoving crab facing the water - the size of a small house.
To your right you see remains of yet another abandoned camp. This one looks more recent, but more primitive structures. There is a pile of junk in between two of the semi-collapsed huts with jagged metal bits visible.
"Looks like the place is inhabited;who wants to go scouting ? Better we stay far from that crab however,it isn't moving but this doesn't mean it isn't dangerous."
Oi,I dunno who they were,but someone just hurried off along that edge of the cliff--looks they lost sight of us in the dark.Fortune for us.
The dwarf maid shoved herself backward,sliding out of the saddle and off Gorra's rump.She started to edge toward the giant crab,raising the Shortbow and notching an arrow as she peered closely at its shell for any sign of vulnerable face parts.
Perception:
Gatherine wondered if crabs slept?