It is not a language any of you are familiar with, and he just looks at you and smiles as you try to greet him. He babbles a bit more and makes some odd hand gestures.
Eventually, Aki and Echo believe he is trying to get you to follow him, and may be offering you food.
"He wants us to follow him. And... I think he's offering us food." She smiles and moves to follow.
Suddenly one of her dreamer's rears its head. The warchief.
You're too trusting... The war chief yells. Foolish girl!
Echo pauses. "Should one of us go and tell the others...? What if it's... dangerous to follow him?"
"We need to be wary, but I doubt snubbing their hospitality will make them friendlier to us," Aki replies. "Better to accept a friendly invitation than a war party. But one of us might be able to get away and tell the others without insulting them."
"I think we can take care of ourselves. There's only one of him. If it looks like we're getting into something dangerous, we bail. "
He leads you along the beach, clearly back from where he came as there are other lines of his footprints. He starts yammering away, but it is pretty much nonsense to you. Those of you with strong linguistics can tell enough to know this kid is apparently mostly concerned with food. You believe you have now learned the words for "dinner" and something akin to "tasty".
Eventually you come across a small river, and he turns inland. It becomes less sandy, but he is clearly on a worn path now.
Echo relents, following her companions after the child.
You're a fool! her Warchief scolds.
Nonsense! Remarks a new dreamer--her chef. Accepting the poor boy's hospitality is the right thing to do! And listen to him! He's bringing us to dinner!
To eat her. replies the Warchief.
Don't listen to her! Dinner is going to be delicious! Think of all the wonderful new recipes we'll learn! the Chef retorts.
It's little wonder you're dead. spits the Warchief.
Echo holds a hand to her head. Stop it! STOP IT! She thinks at her Dreamers. I can't concentrate with all your bickering!
Distracted by the voices of her past lives fighting in her head, Echo pays little attention to her surroundings or her host.
Soon, the Dreamers fall silent. Echo watches the boy and smiles, trying to learn his strange language.
As Echo steps upon the hard packed path her Warchief speaks to her again.
Goodbye.
Left with an ominous silence, Echo frowns. She shakes her head, and follows after the others. Worried from her beloved Dreamers suspicions, she watches the surrounding area closely.
As they travel, she focuses on her body's defences, imagining an impenetrable forcefield around her body--magical armour to keep her safe. She can feel it manifest invisibly around her.
Just in case. she tells her worried Dreamer. But the Warchief does not reply.
Noting the beaten path "With this much traffic, he's probably not alone, so keep your eyes open. "
Malothor stayed back a bit not wanting to scare the child off, so he follows the rest of the group from a short distance (100 feet of so).
He is alert and looking for trouble.
As you follow the path, the jungle grows more dense. Malathor misses the signs, but Echo sees adults of the same color and decoration peering from the trees. At first they look concerned, then the boy shouts some phrases at them, and they smile and nod. You are able to proceed unhindered.
"You have plenty of friends, I see." Echo remarks aloud to the boy, more to alert her friends to their presence than anything else. She waves at the people hiding in the trees and smiles nervously.
One man waves back, looking a little confused by his actions. The boy smiles and nods, as if he understands... but you suspect he has no clue what you have said.
The path opens into a clearing, which opens to a small village of a few huts and a huge fire pit in the center. Many villagers come out to surround you, most with a spear or blowgun, but the weapons are relaxed at their sides.
On a spit over the big fire pit is a large, charred something. It looks like a giant frog, perhaps.
The boy smiles, and grabs Echo's hand, leading her toward the firepit. He chatters away at you.
"Wow," Echo remarks loudly so the others can hear her. "What a nice, roasting, intelligent humanoid you have there. Who knew grippli smelt like... burnt chicken."
Told you. her Warchief remarks.
It's.. exotic! her Chef defends. They're working with what they have.
Shut up! Echo thinks, shushing her dreamers.
"They might not realize that's horrible... and... horrible..." she says loudly. "But I have a really bad feeling about this."
She smiles politely at the tribe of terrifying, happy people.
Aki sighs at Echo's words. "Well, I suppose that explains why they're so happy to see us. Did everyone pay attention to the way back? I believe running is going to be our only way out here."
She steps forwards and spreads her hands, as if making a grand speech to the tribe. But instead of Common, she speaks the words of magic, waving her arms as she casts a defensive enchantment on herself.
"So that's something they shouldn't be eating?" and he activates his ice armor.
"Eating a grippli's like eating a kobold, or a ratfolk. It's illegal in most places to eat things that can speak back... " She replies loudly to Nathan. "That they do not consider that taboo I find deeply worrying!"
After a moment of hesitation Echo lets the boy lead her towards the fire pit. She smiles at him and says loudly in common, "If they attack me, be sure to run for it. Don't wait for me to catch up."
As you activate your armors, weapons go up and smiles disappear. Apparently they know what a spell is.
"Yabba hue gonzo falla!" an old man shouts. The people part ways to reveal what is probably the local witch doctor. "Tsk tsk!" he says with a quick arm motion, and you are surrounded with spears pointing at you from every direction.
Deciding that the odds are a bit excessive, Nathan tries to blow a hole out the back so they can exit. He moves up to Malothor and sends a cold blast at the native in S6.
point blank shot
touch attack (hopefully vs. flat footed)
Malothor reacts to the sudden change from friendly tribesmen to violent cannibals, and follows Nathan’s cold blast with an Obscuring Mist. He then runs past the warrior hit by Nathan.
Nathan drops one, which is quickly covered by Malothor's mist.
The boy grabs at Echo, but she easily twists away.
Many spears go flying into the fog, aimed at both Nathan and Malothor... or at least where Malothor was.
The others close in on Echo and Aki.
Aki struggles as many hands grab her, though realistically she doesn't expect to escape.
Echo flails feebly against the hordes of grabbing hands, kicking and struggling with all her might.
Aki breaks free, but is quickly grabbed again. Echo is firmly held.
The witch doctor grabs a scarred and horrifying mask from the staff he carries and puts it on as he shouts "Oo, ee, oo, ah ah, ting tang, walla walla bing bang!" Then he starts to lift off the ground in flight.
Nathan will run for the gap he's made. It will provoke from 2, but the concealment might help.
The witch doctor grabs a scarred and horrifying mask from the staff he carries and puts it on as he shouts "Oo, ee, oo, ah ah, ting tang, walla walla bing bang!"
Malothor will take off running into the jungle. He does not leave a trail (Druid ability).
Nathan uses the fog to aid his escape, trying to avoid the closest natives.
Malathor and Nathan take off into the jungle.
The warriors all look at the witch doctor, who makes a motion with his hand and utters "Tsk! Tsk!"
Many of the warriors give chase.
Aki continues to struggle, but she doesn't make an honest attempt to escape. Not yet, not when Echo was also captured. With any luck they'd leave them tied up overnight with only a light guard... and that would be when she would have a chance to free them both.
Echo keeps struggling, hoping to provide as much of a distraction as she can for her fleeing companions.
A character who wants to attempt to move three cards during his turn can do so by taking a full-round action. That character must overcome both obstacles on the card he is leaving. In this case, if a character fails either obstacle check by 5 or less, he only moves one card forward and his turn ends. If a character fails either obstacle check by more than 5, he cannot move at all that turn. A character unfortunate enough to fail two obstacle checks in a turn becomes mired in his current square (he might have fallen from a ledge, gotten a foot stuck amid roots, or got caught in a crowd, for example). A character who is mired must spend another full-round action becoming unmired and effectively loses his next turn in the chase. In some cases, becoming mired might impart additional penalties (such as falling damage).
A character can also choose to make a ranged attack or cast a spell during his turn in a chase. If the action is a full-round action, he can’t move at all. Use the number of cards and their established distances to determine ranges as necessary. The terrain where the chase takes place might provide the target partial or even full cover or concealment, as you wish. A character can only choose to make melee attacks against targets that are on the same card.
You dive into the jungle, into unfamiliar terrain. You must either find an escape route (DC 14 Escape Artist) or figure out how to navigate the terrain (DC 16 Knowledge, nature).
Nathan takes a look at the jungle and tries to decide which types of plants will make for the easiest path to run.
Malothor looks for a way to navigate through the jungle and escape.
Nathan quickly finds a path through dense brush, but as he looks up, Malothor is swinging from a vine over a creek and diving through a bunch of bamboo trees.
Nathan must either jump in and swim (DC 13), or cross via a fallen log nearby (Acrobatics DC 15).
Malothor, while far ahead, is not out of the jungle yet! He can push his way through the dense foliage (Strength DC 13) or find a path (Perception DC 17).
Aki thinks a silent prayer as she struggles.
Desna, Milani, I don't know which one of you's been keeping an eye on us, but there's no way we all washed ashore safe while none of the slavers did without at least one of you getting involved. All I need is for them to tie us up and stick us in a hut or something where they're not watching us directly, and I can do the rest. Just let them take their eyes off of me...
Nathan will try the speed up trick.
but it doesn't work
Malothor continues to flee from the village, pushing his way through the dense jungle and taking advantage of invisible trails that cut through the foliage.
He plans to head towards camp as soon as he escapes pursuit, and get the rest of the team. He does try and look back every so often to see if Nathan is following behind him.
Malothor far outpaces the others, and is free and clear to continue back to your camp.
Nathan still struggles to escape, but has managed to elude his pursuers so far... until spears and darts start shooting from every direction!
Nathan makes a dive into a rolling tumble as he hurls himself behind cover. Then he regains his feet and continues to run. .
Malothor will run at full speed towards the camp, making sure he is not being followed.
As soon as he gets to the camp will start yelling for Phari and Celebeth to grab any weapons they can and follow him, panting he says, ”The... others... have... been... captured... by... cannibals... we must rescue!”
|
Pharithstilis at this point is half baked from playing in the sun and surf. He’s staring dreamily at Celebeth, watching her fletching skills at work. Well, not really at her, more like through her... it’s hard to say what he’s daydreaming about.
It takes him a while to notice, but eventually he’s brought back to reality from the sight of Malothor running full speed down the beach. He perks his head up and points it out to Celebeth, ”I think something’s wrong...”
When Malothor makes his report, Pharithstilis is fully grounded once again. He looks about for his weapons, and remembers he doesn’t have any. But he has his magic, and he knows how to use it.
”Right let’s go!”
Malothor will gather his two companions and head back carefully towards the village. He will explain to Phari and Celebeth what occurred and will keep an eye out for Nathan and the cannibals that were right behind him.
Celebeth tosses the half-turned pole aside and jumps to her feet.
As Malathor gets the others gathered, Nathan continues to dodge his way through the jungle, finally eluding the last few warriors that are giving chase.
Meanwhile, back at the camp, Aki and Echo are stripped of their items and placed in a cage just behind the witch doctor's tent.
Nathan heads back to the camp with all speed. Hoping to meet up with his compatriots for the rescue attempt.
When the villager come to steal her equipment, Echo keeps fighting, twisting her body, kicking her feet and even biting if they get too close to her face.
Unfortunately, her goods are all in plain sight--except for her aegis of recovery which is worn underneath the hand-mar necklace Pharithstilis gave her.
As she's being dragged over to a cage she tries to get a good view of the surrounding camp, turning and wriggling around in her captors hands.
Once she's tossed into the cage. She kicks the bars a few times then sits down and crosses her arms.
After a few minutes Echo turns to watch the camp, sitting with her knees curled up to her chest as if she were very scared and afraid.
Echo stares at a nearby rock and concentrates on it. She imagines it hurling itself at the head of the guard. Happily, it obliges, launching itself at the guard of its own accord.
They take everything but clothes and jewelry.
How thoroughly do they search us? Very. However, sleight of hand was the correct thing to try!
Aki manages to keep a dagger hidden!
Is that the witch doctor back in camp? Yes - he did not give chase.
Are we bound, or just thrown in the cage? Just thrown in the cage.
How tightly spaced are the cage's bars? You can get your arms through, but not your head.
How closely are they watching us? 2 guards are posted, occasionally looking back at you but not constant.
How far to some vegetation from the cage? Not far - 3 feet at most.
Cage is made of what appears to be human femur bones, lashed together with some sort of tough vine.
You believe the rest of your items were taken into the witch doctor's hut.