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Andras squares up to the older man.
Leave him alone? He’s just a child. He needs people to protect him. I could cut you down where you stand, how do you think you could protect him? I am strong, stronger than most, and I can use that strength to protect him. You call me a monster yet I have not harmed a hair on any of these people’s heads, despite the fact that they attacked me. I have contacts, our family has money. There are many safe places he could go.
Andras looks outraged.
I should never have brought him here.
He puts the bow down, takes a dagger out of his pack, takes out the trumpet, and puts three silver coins and some rations down.
Jet, you will regret this, and I hope you do live to regret this. But seeing as you don’t want my protection or help... Take this and go. Maybe I haven’t been the best uncle, and I admit that. I didn’t really know what to do with you. I am barely an adult myself. But if you ever want to find me again, you just need to find Jimmy. I’m sure he has his methods. I’m going to check if Hokey is alright.
He turns and makes as if he’s about to walk away.
"I completely lost track of Jet and Andras. You guys find a boat or any way off? I don't like my chances of swimming with those eels in the water." Hokey says as she reloads her pistol and tucks it away for later. She takes a quick stock of her equipment and tools on her belt and in her bag.
"S~$+. I better not see that stupid thug again. I swear..."
What the hells was Jet thinking? He better have a good explanation for this. Hokey thinks crossly as she wraps up her check.
"Awful, can you climb up to a vantage point and see if you can spot that ham? If you can't, I guess we should go back to the tower, since that's probably the only common landmark we all know on this gods forsaken shard of malice. Unless one of you has a better plan."
The middle-aged man visibly shakes in his shoes as Andras' outrage bursts forth, but he stands his ground, holding the line between Andras and Jet. He keeps on hand on the boy, ensuring the boy stays behind him. If this monster were to strike out, he'd die first before he let the child die.
This is probably the bravest thing he's ever done in his long life - standing firm as a monster screams and yells and threatens him. The fear and blood racing through his body doesn't allow him to fully understand what the monster is screaming at him, but at least his bladder holds firm.
When the monster finally turns away, he breathes a audible sigh of relief. He turns and guides Jet away from Andras, quietly saying, "Come on, son. Let's get away while we can. I don't know if that monster was telling the truth, but if he really is your uncle, then you don't need to be around people like him."
As you look around for Andras and Jet, you see Andras arguing with some man, Jet hiding behind the second man. Andras reaches into his pack and drops several items on the ground, and then turns to walk away. At the same moment, the other man walks away as well, Jet going with him.
The island is starting to clear out. Most people have fled for cover in the buildings or are trying to make it across the water to the shore on the other side. The waters do not seem particularly turbulent. No one in screaming for help. The skies are relatively clear, minus the gigantic bird flying away.
Awful narrows his eyes at the disembodied voice trying to tell him what to do.
"Yeah, cause that worked out so well for you didn't it?.. He was chasing some guy who had Jet over that way. I'm sure it didn't take him long to catch 'em"
He picks up his bolt thrower as the magic fades from its parts and it falls to pieces back into his bag.
"Besides, we have bigger things to worry about. Like our way off this island, and all those people who are probably ripping apart the boat, I made for us."
Glancing at Hydrand, Awful nods his head in the direction of the building, and begins walking. He brandishes the pearly white Savage Ornament and partially conceals it under his cloak.
Hydrand nods back, unlimbers his mace, readies his mind, and follows.
Nobody will stand between my allies and our way to safety.
He steels himself for the brutality to come.
Seeing the man begin to walk away without even picking up the coins or the food, Andras turns around and grabs him, roughly, stopping him from going further.
You bloody arrogant fool. I can forgive Jet, as he is just a child. You refuse food? Coin? Your hatred makes you blind. How long have you been trapped in that nightmare? Can you even tell me what the coinage of the land is? Who the current emperor is? I can’t entrust my nephew to someone who cannot even afford a room for the night.
Andras rushes back and forcibly grabs the man, whirling him back to be face to face as he yells and lectures. The man just stands there, frozen in fear as a wet spot expands in his pants. An involuntary high pitched whine emerges from his mouth, words unable to form.
His brain finally catches up with him, and he starts screaming, "HELP! HELP ME! HEEEELLLLPPPPP!!"
You can see Andras not too far over there, grabbing and yelling at a man while the man screams for help.
Spotting Jet slip away, Andras drops the man to the floor.
Pathetic. You would never have been able to look after him.
He follows Jet into the building, making sure he’s in human form.
Jet, please come back. We need to get back to the others. If you really don’t want to be with me any more, at least wait until we are safe, and we can find someone to look after you, and teach you properly. I’m sure Jimmy has an opening for an assistant, you liked it there. Or I could speak to my father… though he wouldn’t be my first choice, he might know a good tutor.
"I see them. I knew he'd be causing a commotion. You guys go back to the tower and secure it. I'll back-up Andras and come back."
Hokey runs up to where Andras was yelling at the presumed kidnapper. She stops and glances at Andras's trumpet and some supplies on the ground and stows them all in her bag. She sneers over at the sniveling mess left in Andras's wake.
"What was your plan for after, if you somehow got away? Moron. Get out of here, before I decide I'm not too tired from fighting off a Roc to wipe some dust off this Urth I just saved."
Hokey continues to move past the gibbering idiot and enters the building while drawing her repossessed saber.
Let's have another will challenge roll.
Boons: Presence of Hokey to assist.
Banes: Jet was abandoned in the dreamscape by the entire party (x2), Jet lost his name (x1), Jet's special bond was cut by Andras (x2), Andras has revealed himself to be a monster (x1), Andras used his scary monster form to chase a child (x1).
Bane Reduction: Hokey argued Jet's name back (-1), Middle Aged father figure has been removed from the scene (-1), Andras is not in monster form (-1).
Total: 3 banes.
"NOOO! Go AWAY! You're not my uncle! You're a monster! You stole his face! Leave me alone!
Before making contact with anyone in or around the building, Awful makes a point of doing some reconnaissance.
As best he can, he tries to:
-Get an estimate of how many people there are.
-See how many of them look like fighters. (dressed in armor/has a weapon).
-Tell if there are any obvious groupings and if those groups have leaders.
-Figure out what is happening to the wood he had placed around their fire.
"sigh...Jet, I know you're confused right now, and nothing is making any sense, but you have to come with us. We're getting off this godsforsaken rock and we're going back home. Do you remember the Tower and going to Hyacinth's farm for some honey milk? Let's get away from this nightmare and go get another mug of that honey milk. Extra honey, just the way you like it."
Hokey kneels and gets to eye level with Jet. She goes through her pockets for some of the candy she bought whenever she was on her way to see Jet, back at the Tower. She pulls some out and grabs Jet's hand to give him some.
"Here, take it. It's from that sweet meats place you like so much back home. I know you feel like I've left you behind, and I have, but I promise I won't leave you behind, again. C'mon, I got your name back for you, didn't I? And I got you out of that wasting soulsucker's realm and saved the world while I was at it, right? I'll get you back home, too. Remember? I'm a guide!"
Hokey hugs Jet and picks him up.
"Alright, let's go back. Here, Jet, why don't you hold on to the shield for me?"
Hokey lets Jet take her shield and turns around to see Andras dumbfounded. She raises a judgmental eyebrow.
"What, you think everyone is as graceless and boar-ish as you? Hehe I'm generally well-regarded around the Tower, where there are civilized people. If only because those dementia patients keep forgetting where they put their books. Anyway, hurry up and clear my way; I've got Jet. I think I saw Hydrand and Awful heading back to the tower."
Hokey's voice turns ice cold.
"And, Andras, we'll walk through the next obstacle, not talk around it."
Jet falls into Hokey's arms, eyes pouring tears as he cries into her shoulder. He tries to say he's sorry, but the words won't come out from behind the wracking sobs.
Eventually, after long moments, he finally stops and agrees to come along.
Awful skirts around the building where the raft was previously being cobbled together. It's full of random people, most look like they don't know each other or are, at most, standing in groups of two or three. Few look like warriors.
It looks as if most of the materials you had left are still there, but building a raft in this crowd (or even trying to take the materials out) may prove difficult.
Andras spots some of the crowd manage to make it across the sea to the village.
Attempting to make himself heard, he yells across to them.
Ahoy! There should be plenty of boats over there, it’s a fishing village. I’m sure whoever could set up a ferry could make a pretty penny from all the fares.
Thoroughly annoyed, Awful goes after the girl at a brisk walk, as to not draw any unwanted attention.
"Hopefully, Awful will have something for us at his place: I'm all tapped out of money. Awful said he made a boat, so it must be at least a raft big enough for us all."
Hokey sighs as she lingers and squints to see what the response might be from the other side.
"Well, I'll go let them know. Don't do anything dumb." Hokey says as she walks off towards the hut Awful went behind.
Hokey almost collides into Awful as he storms his way back out.
"Whoa, almost ran into you. What's up? Where's the boat?"
Awful makes a beeline straight to the girl, but Hokey almost collides with him, allowing the girl to get a heads up that he's on his way. She looks back and sees him coming for her.
"Oh, s+~+! she declares. Her choice has been fo fed upon her, and she starts running into the water. A yelp escapes her lips once she dives in, but she starts swimming as soon as she is deep enough, hanging onto the board she "stole" from Awful.
Meanwhile, Andras calls over to the men on the other side of the water, but they either don't hear him or blatantly ignore him. Or perhaps, they just don't realize he's talking to them.
Hokey stops Awful from chasing after the girl and puts Jet down.
"Awful, wait. I know you want to go chase that girl, but we need to focus on keeping what we still have."
She grabs a large square of fine oiled canvas and spreads it on the ground.
"All of you, quickly take out your tents and gather the wood on them. In the worst case, we'll just tie them off and use that as makeshift rafts. Hurry up! We don't want to lose more than we already have." she says as she starts gathering pieces of wood with similar length into a neat square on her canvas. After stacking 2 layers, she ties off the canvas with her rope.
"Make sure Hydrand gets the thickest pieces. And the longest pieces you should grab for oars. Always grab two."
Erik would've been perfect for chopping these up to size.
"Andras, did you take the potion I gave you? If you haven't, hurry up and drink it. I want the bottle back. Awful, do you want a dose of salt draught? You never know what's been rotting in these waters."
Hokey glances over at Bertram. "What about you?" she asks gruffly
Andras downs the bottle, and pulls out his tent to comply with Hokey’s strange request.
Awful stopped abruptly, sighed, and turned to Hokey. The frustrations of the last hour were clear on his face and in his voice.
"All we had was in that building, and with that little t$~#, but it's swarming with people now and they've undone all my work. If you want to float across the channel on a bundle of twigs, be my guest. I'm not gonna risk getting dragged out to sea, and since Hydrand and Andras are capable enough to get across and get the actual boat by themselves, I'd rather just let them. It may not be how we wanted to do this, but then no one really expected a f!&&ing Roc to pick this s+%!ty barren island as its hunting ground."
He puts his knife away and looks between Hydrand and Andras expectantly.
"Of course, I'm sure I can hit that girl from here. So that's also an option."
"I'm sure even she knows that, Awful, if it's the girl who looked back to you on the beach. Are you guys going to help or at least do something?"
Hokey leans in to whisper to the group.
"The water's calm now, but we've had a taste of what the environment has to offer. We need to cut our losses and get out of here, before the commotion draws out more predators."
With Hydrand and Andras helping, Hokey was able to bundle together some wood in her canvas. Bertram tried to help, but tripped and scattered the neatly layered wood, causing him to receive a cold hmph from Hokey. The group eventually succeed in cobbling together a rather sturdy raft.
"Wow, that actually turned out better than I expected. Now, we should expect to see some morons try to take this from us. I'd recommend all of you have your weapons out while we carry this out of here and onto the beach."
Hokey gives a stern look and nods at Awful before muttering to the group: "Be aggressive with the first few that approach and make examples of them. We don't want anything to happen to our escape route."
Hokey softens her face and puts on a more cheerful expression.
"Come on, Jet! Why don't you help me carry this down to the shore?"
You make your way from behind a small outcropping of rocks and bring the makeshift raft to the waters. People immediately start seeing what you're doing, but fortunately are too far away at the moment to interfere. Dally too much longer, and you'll have a crowd trying to jump on the raft with you.
The raft can comfortably hold people (the +1 bonus was added for 20+ result). Anyone else must hang on to the sides, swimming in the water.
Who will ride on the raft and who will swim?
"Alright, let's move. It was my idea, so I should get a spot. I want Jet to take it. Andras and Hydrand, decide who gets on next while we go down to the shore." Hokey swiftly orders everyone. She carries the raft with Jet, surrounded by her allies, armed to the teeth.
"If we keep a good pace, we might avoid the crowd altogether!"
Andras nods.
I agree. Best get a move on. I’m happy to swim. Perhaps Hydrand is a good choice to go with Jet - he isn’t particularly aquadynamic.
He glances round at the crowd on the island.
They will be on us soon. Awful, can you swim?
"What? Of course I can swim!"
Awful snaps at Andras' ridiculous question.
"And it has to be Hydrand. He can't swim, and since that 'raft' is maybe the size of... Debris from an exceptionally large and ill-fated ship, it's only going to fit one, maaaybe two people... If you position them carefully."
Awful secures himself to the raft with a moderate length of rope and begins pushing the raft into the water.
"Let's get a f&+!ing move on please..."
He eyeballs the other people on the island as the party makes its way to the shore. He watches carefully to see who would need maiming to leave them in peace.
Fortunately, no one.
Arriving at shore, Hydrand climbs into the boat and seats Jet, in his lap and grabs the oars that Hokey had collected previously. He uses them to assist Awful with launching the boat.
It's been a while since I sat down with Jet...
Hydrand was briefly stunned at the idea that Jet had just weathered through all of that with them. He uses one hand to secure his balance and places the other on Jet's shoulder as a gesture of security and reassurance while the others got situated in the water around the boat for the swim over.
Once situated, Hydrand begins paddling to assist with the crossing.
The waters were not rough. They weren't calm, but they weren't rough. While some people were making their way across, you're still amongst the early crowd to risk the journey.
Your delay in cross the waters has resulted in the loss of your boat and an easy journey across, but you all came together to find a new solution.
When the ground finally touches your foot on the other shore, you breathe a sigh of relief. You had thought for certain something would grab you while you swam. You'd probably be right if you had waited too much longer.
You are all soaking wet as you exit the waters to the safety of land. Your clothes hang heavy from your body, and you're starting to shiver in the cold. The cold daylight air with the sun near the horizon seems to sap every last morsel of heat from you. It's going to be a long walk back to town in this condition. Only Jet and [whoever was on the boat] seem even slightly dry, although they too got a splash here and there from the lapping waves.
The journey was perilous, but blessedly unremarkable besides. Hydrand wasn't necessarily afraid of the water, but he knew it wouldn't be kind to him if he fell in without floatation.
Glad we've put that place behind us, at last!
Hydrand wasn't immune to the cold, but he didn't feel it the same as his companions did, either. He didn't even really take notice of it until the young man in his lap started his teeth chattering. And that was just from a few splashes and a few inches of water in the bottom of the boat; he knew those swimming would have it much worse.
"Well, unless someone feels as though we've left something undone, I'm all for returning to Jimmy. After some well-deserved rest in some out-of-the-way place..."
He spoke as he felt relief and sensed relief come upon the party with the approaching shore, trailing off in an attempt to make an opening for conversation to help distract from the cold he knew everyone would be feeling.
Any colder and it might honestly hurt, some rest by a nice fire away from islands that steal dreams would not go amiss.
Hokey's hooves blessedly scrape the rough shore and she follows everyone as they crawl out of the water. Her body shivers uncontrollably due to the still frigid air.
That'll fix itself soon. The Maw is hopefully gone for good, now. Hokey thinks with some satisfaction at the results of her desperate struggle. She gets up and listens to Hydrand, nodding in agreement after he's said his piece.
"Yeah, I think that'll be for the best. I think we need to find a safe place to dry and rest before we head back to the Tower. I know I could use some after what I went through, back on that hateful little rock."
Hokey screws her face into a nasty look and spits on the shore. She doesn't look at or so much as acknowledge Bertram, even with a snide remark, as her companions half-expected her to.
"So, the plan is: get to a safe place, dry off and rest up and head back to the Tower. I'm not going anywhere near that godsforsaken hovel, either. Who knows what will happen at night, given what we've already encountered in their warehouse?"
Andras looks around.
I said I’d bring something interesting back. I guess my electrified swords might count.
He shrugs.
I was thinking of helping the others get back from the island. But honestly the way they treated us; I don’t think we should…
"F#!+'em!"
Awful nearly shouted. The look of disdain was apparent on his face, even with his entire body shaking from the cold.
Still, he moved with a renewed vigor fueled by his hatred.