No, no, there's no need to kill you. You didn't kill me, did you?
"She dadgum nearly did kill you." Joe mutters under his breath just before he clears his throat rather loudly. "Sorry." He puts a hand up to show he's alright.
Jivaji, ever the skeptic, trains his keen eyes on the girl.
"If what she says is true, she may not be able to control her urges. If any of us were starving we would attack our prey just as viciously. It it perhaps wise to keep her bound for now? For her own safety, of course."
I realize that may be true, but I figure the next urge won't be for a while, and in the meantime, we can talk in a civilized manner without bindings or whatnot.
She waits quietly for your decision.
"Very well, my elven friend, you certainly have cause to be the most offended. I'm sure no one will object, of course, if we remain cautious." He asserts this matter-of-factly and retrieves his bow, knocks an arrow, and sits so that he may still draw if necessary.
"What can you tell us about these other vampires? There must be some sort of order or leadership. What do they do when not feeding on innocent young women?"
Silent watches the exchange, but his eyes never stray far from the girl.
:: I think it's foolish to let her out. Javi's right. She nearly killed Eltumal. And we don't know what she's truly capable of. Maybe she's in control, but there's no harm in being careful. I say keep her bound until she's proven that she's more than a blood-thirsty monster. ::
"Well I ain't unbindin' her. I don't want her to be eatin' on me." He turns to the girl. "You know, you shor' don't seem all that dangerous. I bet you're a pretty okay lady, honestly. Well, if it weren't for all the tryin' to eat us and such. I'm sorry you're one of them vampire people who does have to eat people. I wish there was somethin' we could do to fix that for ya." He scratches the back of his head as he turns away, feeling a bit sorry for the girl.
Eltumal looks to the girls, shrugging. "I tried. Maybe if you prove that you can control yourself, they'll let me untie you? In any case, we may be able to find a substitute meal after all. You haven't eaten from anything out here, have you? Most of the small wildlife would be rather unappealing to you, and you're afraid of the megafauna, correct? Maybe, if we find some reasonable food, you can sustain yourself on the blood of animals, instead of human."
Silent continues to think on all the revelations. So we have one daughter. A second one at large, and we don't know where the father is. Also don't know about these other vampires.
He looks around the group, hands flashing.
:: So have you seen your sister or father recently? And how about these other vampires? Is any of the townsfolk aware of their presence and roll with the village? ::
I'll translate for you, Amy.
At the mention of control Amy weeps. "I have only been a vampire a few days. I don't know how it works or how to get in to see the others or even to find my sister. I honestly can't promise myself if I can keep control."
At the questions regarding food. "I don't know. I was unable to catch anything and was not willing to return home because I knew I'd give into this hunger and hurt people, like I did you."
She sigh. "Last time I saw my sister she killed me. I later woke up as this. I last saw my father at the village. I am pretty sure Ofal knows about these vampires. They are a family I don't know how big though. I only got a few answers out of my sister before she did this. I only know that the family and my sister are on the other side of this wall. I have been looking for a way in for days but have been unable to find one." She sighs once more. [B]"That is all I know. You should not untie me. I don't know what I will do. The hunger is gone for now but it could come back. When I saw you all sleeping I was actually trying to sneak up on you to......f....feed." She looks sick as she says that. "Plus I bit your friend. I can't control it. It is all so new to me. You should just kill me. " She starts crying again
Silent stands, wiping his hands off.
:: Whatever we do, we should rest up some more. Eltumal will need to recover a bit before we risk anything more dangerous than a round of drinks. ::
He motions over to Javaji.
:: You up for some hunting? Try to get some live game for the girl. Probably be safest for all of us if she had some blood in her system that wasn't ours. ::
The demon ape wanders over to the conversation. Making huffing noises it climbs up the wall, , then mimes pulling a rope while grunting, then dropping something on the other side. It then climbs down and pokes at the ropes binding the vampire, stopping to tilt its head at the group quizzically.
"There is no need to kill you. As long as you maintain a desire for self-control, I think we will be ok. Since you believe yourself incapable of control at this point, I think it best we heed your warning."
Jivaji inhales deeply, puffing out his feathered neck for a moment, then sighs slowly.
"Now, with that out of the way, you say you've been searching around this wall here. What can you tell us about it? How large are the grouns?"
Joe stares at the ape, trying to determine what he's trying to say. "Hey fellas, I think our little ape buddy has an idea. I think he's sayin', that, we ought to climb the rope up, and drop something on the other side." As he continues to study the ape's movements, "Wait a minute--Y'all think he wants us to drop the girl on the other side? Y'all think that's what he's talkin' 'bout?"
Wall is a DC 25 to climb
"I have not found a way past the wall. I don't know how to get in."
"Well, we can continue to attempt this climb in the dark, or we could wait until morning." With that, Jivaji pauses, turns to the girl, and asks, "Wait, you were hunting at night. Are you and the rest of these vampires nocturnal? If so, we would benefit from waiting until light, however what would we do with the girl?" The last statement and question seem almost rhetorical.
"Well, if we choose to wait until morning, we can attempt to hunt live game for Amy, otherwise we should be on our way over this wall. Between Tam and our copious amount of rope, we should make short work of it."
:: I say we wait til morning. Jivaji, we go hunting? ::
::Morning it is. If you guys go hunting, I'll stay back here with Joe and Amy.::
In the morning Tam will reluctantly let the Demon Ape go, keeping a close eye on the vampiress.
"I'm with morning too." Joe then turns to the girl, remembering some of the folklore he'd heard about the walking dead. "Hey fellas, don't the sun hurt all these dead folk that ain't dead?"
I dunno. I'm not too familiar with them.
Joe shrugs. "I guess those were just stories then," he says as he prepares to camp for the night.
Most stories begin with a grain of truth, so you may be correct. Amy, do you have any idea how the sun affects you?
Joe stops what he's doing and turns back to the conversation. "You know, I don't know why I didn't think o' just askin' her. Dumb me." He smiles with a shake of his head at his own silliness. "Yeah, does the sun hurt all you dead folk who ain't dead?"
"The sun burns yes. I don't know if it will kill me, never stood out long enough to know. Thankfully the jungle lets little sunlight in so it is easy to get around without being burned."
I think you forgot you had already made camp. This stuff happened on Silent's watch.
The rest of the night goes on without incident and the next day rolls around. Sure enough little sunlight show through the trees.
Jivaji throws his cloak over the girl, then sets out for the hunt.
"Let's see if we can find her something quickly, then attempt this wall?"
Alright then. I'll stay here with her. I've got some brewing to do anyway.
Eltumal, in the morning, brews a Strength Mutagen, and instead of Reduce Person, he brews Enlarge Person.
Silent -- in wolf form -- accompanies Jivaji in a quest for something more suitable than one of the party members for the poor starving vampire to eat. He'll do his best to bring it back as undamaged and close to alive as possible.
"You fellas go on. I'll hang on back here with Eltumal." Joe finds a seat as he keeps an eye on the vampire girl.
Okay Silent and Jivaji head out for food.
As you guys wander looking for food the ruckus you make alerts something big. A roar and you are able to spot it. An Allosaurus. Not a big one but still. He looks hungery and appears to have spotted you. He moves in for the kill. He movs within fifteen feet of you. Your turn.
:: Back to camp. Run. No straight route. I'll draw him away! ::
Then Silent's form shifts, and four paws rest on the soil. The wolf stands defensively, teeth flashing and fur standing. Every muscle in his body is poised to dodge as he snarls and barks viciously at the much larger animal.
Jivaji splits rank from Silent, hauling tail-feathers in the opposite direction. He weaves in and out of denser trees to put tight quarters between him and the giant beast.
** spoiler omitted **
The Dino is moving quickly and manages to keep up with with silent. Being only a large size creature, it is just small enough to navigate the foliage and keep close on Silents tail. What now dog wonder?
Jivaji gets away just incase you were curious.
It's big. It's fast. And it's after me. What to do? What to do? Think! His frenzied mind throws one thought back at him, Make the chase more trouble than the prize is worth!
The wolf flies through the night, smashing through foliage, jumping over fallen logs, and splashing through puddles. His lungs burn with the familiar burn of fatigue as his legs swallow dark ground.
He searches desperately for a cave, hole, or clump of fallen logs small enough to admit himself but restrict his large pursuer as he runs.
They're the reason the village isn't attacked, he thinks hopefully.
You can run for a number of rounds equal to your Constitution score, but after that you must make a DC 10 Constitution check to continue running. You must check again each round in which you continue to run, and the DC of this check increases by 1 for each check you have made. When you fail this check, you must stop running. A character who has run to his limit must rest for 1 minute (10 rounds) before running again. During a rest period, a character can move no faster than a normal move action.
You can run for a number of rounds equal to your Constitution score, but after that you must make a DC 10 Constitution check to continue running. You must check again each round in which you continue to run, and the DC of this check increases by 1 for each check you have made. When you fail this check, you must stop running. A character who has run to his limit must rest for 1 minute (10 rounds) before running again. During a rest period, a character can move no faster than a normal move action.
You are unable to find a good place to hide but you are able to, after racing around, you will just barely be able to out run the dino. However, you are spent on rounds in which you can run as a result.
Silent returns to camp a couple of minutes later. You can still hear the roaring sounds of dinosaurs in the jungle.
Silent drags his furry butt back into the firelight, completing his transformation to human as he gulps huge breaths of air. He looks like a horse run half to death. His hands are a bit shaky as he tries to sign.
:: BIG. BIG. DINOSAUR! ::
He continues gasping as his yellow eyes roll around the group.
:: Jivaji make it back?! ::
When he sees the bird man, Silent gives him a rare rueful grin as he sinks to his knees.
:: New rule. We stick together. Also, dinosaurs suck! ::
"Dinosaurs?! What the heck?! You fellas need to be more careful! I'm with you on that new rule there, quiet fella. No more goin' out by our-dang-selves." Joe says adamantly. Well, as adamant as Joe can possibly get, anyway.
More dinosaurs? This isn't good. If I felt better, I'd help you around them, but Idon't want to risk it, frankly.
Silent shakes his head at Eltumal.
:: Don't worry about it. You need to recover before you get into any more dangerous situations. Speaking of which, we should try to get as much sleep as the night still offers. We can plan our next steps in the morning. ::
Jivaji breaks through the foliage around the camp, greatly relieved to find Silent in one piece, making his hand signals.
Breathing heavily, and clearly a bit shaken, Jivaji blanks away his surprise and conveys his relief
"Silent, my friend, your speed is quite the virtue. I am not sure if I should be ashamed or amazed that you outran that beast and still arrived back at camp before me. Either way, I am grateful."