Hmm, if he hasn't lost them, he will head for the surf so he can get rid of his trail before he heads back to the base camp.
Aki looks away from the camp, standing mostly behind Echo.
"I just need them to look away from us for a little while, and I might be able to do something about all this," she whispers to her fellow captive without looking at her. "I should be able to slip out of these bars while they're not looking, but I promise I'll try to break you out, too. Just tell me when they're distracted."
"Got it." she whispers.
Echo keeps an eye on the camp, especially the guard she just lobbed a rock at with her mind, looking for an opening for Aki to slip away.
Malothor seems very agitated and wants to try an escape attempt right away. However he realizes that the odds of a frontal attack being successful are low. So he stops when Phari shouts out and waits.
”We need to sneak in and free our friends.”
|
”Yes, right...” he huffs and puffs as he stops to catch his breath, ”And what I can do is distract them. I know I may be small, but I can make a whole lot of noise!” Pharithstilis tries to smile proudly as he pants and wheezes. ”And then Wham! Bam!” he gestures with his hands as if casting a spell, ”Knock ‘em out when they aren’t lookin’.”
"Worth a shot. My rapier will certainly sting them, but I can't fight forty at once!" says Celebeth. "Can we get them split up somehow? They'll know the island better than we do... maybe if we can put down a lot of them quickly with your magic, we can scare the rest off?"
Echo tosses a few rocks from the other side of the guards, and while they are trying to sort it out, Aki is able to do her thing and easily escape.
As soon as the guards are distracted, Aki turns into a fox and slips out of the bars. She darts out into the underbrush, and then slowly starts making her way around the edge of the village.
Echo tries to remain discreet for a while to buy Aki some time.
Aki slowly slips towards the bottom-right hut.
Echo tries to cause the guard to look the opposite direction as Aki's headed. She concentrates on a nearby branch and imagines it bludgeon the guard in the head. She pictures it in great detail--the way the shadows falls over the leaves and bark as it flies, the way it strikes him hardest part first, right on the temple. The sound it makes at is whirls through the air.
Suddenly the branch shudders and launches itself at the guard.
Echo smacks a guard hard in the head, who now suspects the prisoners are causing it. When he turns and sees only one, he shouts a cry of alarm in the strange language they use. Then he and his buddy start towards her cage, looking very angry.
Echo hurls another rock with her mind at the guard again before the guards reach her.
Nathan is able to join the others by running back to camp.
Aki does believe the hut will burn.
Aki shifts forms again--this time, she takes the appearance of the village's witch doctor. The fact that she's still wearing her own threadbare clothing will probably give away who she is, but if someone spots her, at least her appearance might make the cannibals pause for a moment before attacking.
She carefully creeps towards her target, doing her best to keep the hut between her and anyone watching.
Once she's 10' away she spreads her hands in front of her, chants as quietly as possible, and summons a fan of flames to wash over the hut.
A hut is burning, and Aki resembles the witch doctor. While she doesn't speak the language, with the chaos of the escape, a burning hut, and guards ready to wail on Echo, you don't seem to be drawing any attention. However, you do see the real witch doctor come out of his hut (near the cage), and head for the burning hut.
Aki darts back into the jungle and turns into a fox again once out of sight. She starts working her way back around the edge of the village towards the witch doctor's hut.
You successfully reach the hut. While you are doing so, the 2 guards open Echo's cage and point spears at her. One of them is bleeding from his head wounds.
Seeing Echo in danger, Aki hides behind the hut and shifts to her true form. Then she jumps out and shouts "Duck!"
Assuming Echo ducks, she then casts burning hands over her head so as to catch the two guards in the fan of flames.
Nathan will loop back to the camp and hook up with his fellows for the rescue operation.
Echo ducks!
As soon as the fire engulfs the warriors, Echo tries to scurry out of the open cage and run off into the jungle.
Even though the one that had been previously hit with rocks dodged the flames, it was still enough from him to drop from his wounds. The other guard starts to burn as well, and falls before he can utter but a short cry.
Echo is able to escape the cage and run into the jungle.
In fact, now that those two have fallen, there is no one near the witch doctor's hut.
Echo moves into the woods, then hesitates.
Echo rushes into the Witch Doctor's hut and looks around, intent on getting back her gear and anything else of use.
You enter the hut, and it is a treasure trove of weirdness.
Hanging from the rafters are all sorts of dead animals and shrunken heads of a variety of races. Strange bottles of "ingredients" line the shelves, and in the center of the room is a small fire put and cauldron.
Scattered about the room are a variety of items as well. You immediately see the belongings for Aki and yourself, sitting in a pile. But a quick glimpse shows other weapons and equipment around the room - some of it on display, hanging on the walls. Others are just piled in corners or one of a few chests.
Aki follows close behind.
"No questions about the new look?" she asks quietly, with a wry grin on her vulpine face, as she quickly helps look for their things.
Seeing her blades, Aki quickly moves to reclaim them.
"I'd say this is a bad sign..." she whispers as she glances over the piles.
"We can't linger. It's clear this fellow is trouble."
Round 1: Aki finds a couple of spellbooks, one looks very familiar.
Echo found your recently taken gear.
Round 2?
Echo replies quietly. "I've lived a few lives, and been different in every one. Looks mean little to me." With a small smile she adds, "But, for what it's worth, I love the fur."
---
Echo grabs her gear as quick as she can. Then she glances at the piles of equipment and remarks, "...Wow. Definitely a bad sign. Let's go."
Aki flashes a grin at Echo's compliment of her fur, but she remains focused on her task. She suppresses a cry of joy as she finds her spellbook... and another. Celebeth's, perhaps?
"One other thing we're going to need--a pack. No way I'm running with these in my hands and not ending up dropping them," she whispers, lifting the books. "If we can't find one quickly we need to go anyway, but it'll be better if we can find a pack."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
You find a sack and a backpack (neither is empty), toss the books in, and run.
It is not much after that when you hear a cry followed by a number of replies. The hunt is definitely on!
Aki takes the backpack and slings it over her back. "You go first! I'll follow behind."
She shifts into fox form after they get into the jungle and does her best to stay between Echo and their pursuers. They're probably not looking for a fox... and in fox form she's quicker on her feet and can probably outdistance them if she must.
As she runs through the jungle, Echo fades away. There's only sounds... Feelings.... Her heart beating like a drum in her chest, the pounding of her feet on the earth, the brush of the leaves, the panicked birds taking flight, her heavy breathing... And the sounds of her pursuers.
She'd been chased before. Hunted.
No, I haven't. Who am I?
It doesn't matter. A few more footfalls and the Dreamer's in control again. It's an old one. So ancient it doesn't recall its name. The Survivor.
Aki gets turned around many times, but Echo manages to lead the way out of the jungle and back to the beach. As you both run over a small hill, you practically run into the others coming to save you.
Echo runs right past the others without a word, not even seeming to recognize them.
Aki was kind of embarrassed to admit that, for all her intentions to help Echo, it was really Echo who'd kept them on track while escaping. She bursts out of the jungle behind the woman, a bedraggled-looking fox with bits of mud and leaves stuck to her fur.
She shifts back into her human form, remembering this time which one they'd seen her in. "Wrong way!" she shouts. "We appreciate the concern, but we need to lose them!"
She keeps jogging after Echo, assuming that the others will catch on and follow.
Nathan follows the escapees. "Ok, but I think we need to work on ambushing them to whittle down their numbers. "
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Already having a picture in his mind of how he was going to rescue his friends, Pharithstilis is first shocked, then overjoyed at seeing them crest the hill in front of him.
"Hey!" he jumps and throws in arms up, laughing in excitement.
You can imagine his confusion as they simply run past. And who's this fox? Aki? What's going on?
Well he's not about to just stand around and find out.
Pharithstilis hustles to catch up with everyone.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |