Sandman2 charges out at Tomas!
His swing of the claws goes wide!
Rose slices the Sandman that was on top of him in two with a swish swish of the sword!
Sandman7 Charges up on Rose to try to gut him!
Claws go a bit wide!
Round 2
Xoknus - 17
Navarre - 16
sandwoman - 14 (On Navarre)
sandman1 - 11 (On Xoknus)
sandman4 - 11 (On Tomas) [DEAD]
Tomas - 10
sandman2 - 10 (On Tomas)
Rose - 9
sandman3 - 7 (On Rose)
###################
Xoknus swings the giant weapon again on one of those on Tomas trying to save his little budy!
The big guy takes down Sandman4!
'Blasted clawed cannibal.' Bleeding from the claw wound, Navarre steps back, loading the cocked crossbow, firing it at point blank range at his attacker, he then starts frantically recocking the crossbow again.
Navarre's arrow strikes into the Sandwoman but she doesn't drop. She retaliates with her claws drool foaming from her mouth!
She misses horribly!
Sandman1 strikes out at the big guy again!
The creature stumbles and falls to the ground!
Tomas scuttles back and shoots again.
Rose sidesteps the Sandman on him and slices down at their neck with a brutal cut of his blade.
Sandman2 slices out at Tomas again with his claws!
Rose is able to finish off the one that was on him with ease!
#####
Round 3
Xoknus - 17
Navarre - 16
sandwoman - 14 (On Navarre)
sandman1 - 11 (On Xoknus)
Tomas - 10
sandman2 - 10 (On Tomas) [DEAD]
Rose - 9
Xoknus aims for the one on Tomas again not to concerned with the one slashing at his midrift!
And another one hits the ground!
'well at least the others are having success, maybe one of the swordsmen will chop this thing up for me.' Relieved to see that the swordsmen were more successful than himself, Navarre steps back again loading the crossbow and fires at the already wounded cannibal. He then hurries to reload.
The arrow strikes the creature again but it's now down yet!
The Sandwoman strikes out again at Navarre.
She misses!
The last sandman strikes out at Xoknus!
It draws blood again on Xoknus!
Rose jumps forward his feet crossing the distance as his blade makes a circular sweep at the leg of the one on Navarre, trying to cut her off at the knee and let her bleed out helplessly.
The only woman is now down bleeding out!
Rose follows up his crippling strike with a thematic slice of the woman's screaming throat, silencing her in a gurgle of blood.
As the last of them fall you see 2 children in the distance where they ran from. They look extremely frighted by your presence and the death of their elders.
There is a deep chasm tat splits the cavern, and plummets deep down into the earth, its nearly sheer walls jagged and rough. No sound can be heard from within, and no measure of its depth is available, only a disturbing pitch darkness.
To cross the chasm there is a rickety bridge made of old junk and sinew rope, most of it probably having its origins in the sentient beings of the upper world. Loud shouts and screams of defiance echo from the other side. Obviously the rest of the tribe is gathering somewhere beyond the limits of your vision.
Rose looks around for any more tunnels or passages on their side of the bridge not wanting to risk the bridge and be attacked while trying to navigate it.
There are 3 other passages similar to the ones you came through.
"Let us search this side of the chasm for a way out, that bridge looks like a deathtrap."
Shooting the woman again, Navarre started to nervously cock the crossbow, when 'the Cutter' took her leg off, then nearly took her head off. 'How very Well done, perchance I should have him show me how to use a weapon like that.'
Giving a deep bow of gratitude to the swordsman, Navarre stoops long enough to pull his crossbow quarrels out of the carcass, wiping the blood off as best as he could, he returns them to his quiver.
His natural glow illuminating the cavern he sees the chasm and the rickety bridge, pondering thier options. 'We could wait here for them, then cut the bridge when they get on it. Afterwards I could fly down and retrieve it. Or we could find another opening and I could fly a rope out. Rose is right, I wouldn't want to be on that bridge when they come.' Eventually he nods in agreement with Rose, pointing to the three other tunnels, ready to search for a different way out.
Rose wipes his blade of blood off on the dead then keeping it in hand he takes the furtherest corridor from the one they came in from hoping it would lead them to the surface or at least make it easy to retrace their steps. He checks his comrades nodding to each of them once before proceeding.
Xoknus chugs one of his Juju Potions before heading down one of the other tunnels.
Your group moves down one of the other tunnels and it's very similar to the one you came through and leads to a dead end. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th all pose the same problem if you choose to check each one. The only possible route appears to be the bridge...
Rose is not happy at all with dead end tunnels to nowhere. Having no options left he looks at Navarre. "If this is our only choice we should do this smart, snipe any enemies on far side, then you fly over and secure the bridge edge while we send our biggest guy across, Xoknus. I do not like this plan but there are no other options placed before us so we must move forward."
Xoknus grunts. "Seems to be our only way out of this tight spot my friends." He eyes everyones wounds looking at his medkit. "Anyone need some bandaging before we go on?"
Xoknus begins to wrap his wounds as he speaks.
Rose will accept the minor bandaging while keeping his bow in hand. If more sandpeople come visible on far side he will start shooting them.
'The big one is right seems like the only way, Rose's idea is good, I can cover the big guy.' Pulling out his slate, Navarre starts to write, turning the board over when done.
I
will
Cover
He then hands takes off his poncho and places it in his bag, which he then in turn hands to Xoknus. Taking off he flies across the chasm, hovering near where the bridge ends, watching for cannibals.
Rose the Cutter stands with his bow ready as he looks for sand people. He knows they will return eventually and in perhaps greater numbers.
The sandmen do not appear to approach the bridge. You can see just past where the bridge ends from the edge of the chasm but they could still be heard in the distance. They sound like they are on possible the far end of this big open area.
Xoknus grunts. "Perhaps we should cross cautiously seems they don't want to come to us?"
"Lead the way whebn ready Xoknus...we need to be sure the bridge will hold your weight."
Xoknus starts leading the way. He takes one weary step on the rope bridge to test it's stability and then another and another. He bounces a bit and looks back.
"This thing is a lot more study than it looks!"
He starts making his way across all the way.
Rose waits until Xok is across as Navarre covers him. He waits a few rounds as Xok guards the bridge as he puts away his bow and gets his katana out once more and crosses the bridge to face whatever lies on the other side.
landing on the other side of the bridge, Navarre looks down the tunnel, sending a telepathic message to Rose. "It looks like Xoknus is right the bridge does appear to be sturdy."
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Once it's clear that the bridge is safe Tomas scuttles across.
When you make it across you see a large poster on a wooden backboard dominates this chamber. Thick rusty nails secure it in place, and this piece of “art” dominates the chamber. Small bowls and indentations in the rock hold rotting meat and small bits of bone, primitive offerings before this icon holy to the sandmen.
Upon closer inspection, the poster offers a look into the past, before the fall. The picture depicts a family of four; father, mother, son, and daughter, all sharing a sumptuous meal at a stout table in a well-furnished room. The rest of the poster effectively portrays an underground shelter, which seems to reassure the family as explosions and symbols of death, disease, and radiation indicate the surface.
Four sandmen stand before the posters and charge at you as soon as you notice them!
Round 1
sandman1: 25 (Dead)
sandman2: 23
sandman4: 23
sandman3: 22
Navarre: 16
xoknus: 12
Rose: 7
Tomas: 7
Sandman1 Charges Xoknus!
Sandman2 Charges Rose!
Miss!
Sandman4 Charges Navarre!
Miss!
Sandman3 Charges Tomas!
Miss!
Xoknus rages as he gets struck and swings his giant weapon!
Your all up!
Rose does something strange. He continues sword fighting and parrying the claws of the one on him but his eyes slip to the one beside Tomas and seem to glow for a second. A small trickle of blood appears in his left nostril as the sandman3 feels an invisible force attempt to grab and send him into the chasm.
The creature is flung into the chasm by an invisible force and you hear it scream as it plummets to wherever it may lead!
Watching the creature 'pushed' in to the chasm, Navarre nods his head in approval, sending a telepathic message to Rose, "Nice move Rose, I didn't know you had psychic powers." He then steps back and levels the crossbow at the cannibal that attacked him, squeezing the trigger, he starts to recock the weapon.
Tomas blinks in confusion as it looks like his enemy jumped into the chasm? Remembering there are more he aims at the Sandman fighting Navarre.
"He can't have seen me fight if he was that scared of me?"
Navarre's arrow strikes true stepping away from the one on him and drops it!
Tomas shot goes a bit wide.
Round 1
sandman2: 23
sandman4: 23
Navarre: 16
xoknus: 12
Rose: 7
Tomas: 7
Sandman2 attacks Rose!
Miss!
The big guy finishes off the last one!
There is nothing else in this area except the portraits. 2 exists are seen one to the east and one to the west.
"East would be in the direction of Dry Fort I believe, let us seek an exit that way." Rose doesn't mention his act of telekinesis though he is a bit surprised Navarre recognized it so easily as coming from him. He turns to look down the eastern exit and wipes the small bit of blood away from under his nose making sure it was not seen.
Gathering his quarrel from the body Navarre Nods his head in agreement with Rose. Crossbow in hand, he begins to move toward the eastern hallway.
The passage way forks into two different directions. Which do you choose (left or right?)
Rose suggests they take the left path for now as that roughly would be NE. He leads the way with Xok trying to get himself back under control...his psychic abilities never having manifested so strongly before now.
This grim room is decorated with corpses in varying degrees of decomposition. All hang from stone hooks, carved from the walls to hold the sandmen’s meat until consumption. The most recent victim is hideously mangled, his limbs all twisted and snapped. He is long dead, but the look of pain on his face indicates he died slowly and deliberately at the hands of his captors.
There is no other exit from this room besides the one you came in. Do you wish to search the bodies?
Seeing the bodies, and needing ammunition, Navarre starts carefully searching the corpses that still have items.
Rose searches as well but keeps alert.
Swallowing his nausea Tomas joins in the search for anything salvageable.
"Glad those punks are all dead now!"
The corpse’s clothing earns you 65 corium pieces from various pockets, and a Swiss-army knife (feature include a knife blade, spoon/fork, nail clippers, nail file, and corkscrew; worth perhaps 50 cp back at Bazaar) tucked into a torn and gnawed boot.
After scavenging the corpses you move out to the other path that was laid before you.
This chamber is curiously bare and devoid of all trace of the sandmen. No garbage litters the floor, no food is store; nothing at all indicates the use for this cave.
There are no other exits so you8 must return to the portrait room from which you came and head out the only other direction available to you...