Light of Dawn (Part 3)
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+14: (13)+14: 27 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+7: (6)+7: 13 GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+7: (3)+7: 10 GAME: Elyanna rolls weapon6+finesse: (13)+7+5: 25 GAME: Aftershock rolls 3d6+7: (9)+7: 16
The slavers aren't about to give up, one tries to bash Elyanna over her head, but misses widely. A second throws a javelin at Gregor, but he also misses. The only one that doesn't miss is their leader whom slashes Delilah once again, bleeding her out onto the deck of the ship. "You have the brats, just go; or I'll see you all dead." Emerind grins flatly.
GAME: Elyanna rolls weapon6+finesse: (2)+7+5: 14
After Emerind's sword slashes her across her chest, staining her (already sopping wet) white shift with the dark crimson of her blood, Delilah staggers backwards, and collapses on her butt. She's bleeding, still manacled and bitted, and in short, not having a great time; and there's a bad man with a sword. "MmmmMmph," she gasps around the bit, and just kind of shuffles away from Emerind. She is not a threat; and she's not even going to try to be anymore, right this minute. Nope. Not at all.
Iuitl has no reason to remain engaged in a fight on this boat. She isn't equipped to fight for that long, either. So she turns and makes her way for the edge of the vessel to leap off, moving with gusto and focusing on getting back to the shore. If necessary she'll swim underwater, holding her breath, to prevent potshots with bows. Bless the Sith-Makar lung capacity, she could stay under there for a long time.
Gregor has ridden upstream to pull the cage of young ones away from the gators, and he's hauling in on the line to bring it in from the river. He's using his saddlehorn as a pulley to pull it in more easily, for the small mechanical advantage that gives.
Burai realizes he is being left behind as the bizarre - but deadly - combat moves downstream. Heavily armored as he is, he has to break into a run to reach Gregor to help with the cage.
GAME: Donna rolls strength: (4)+2+2: 8 GAME: Elyanna rolls strength: (14)+2: 16
Panting and wheezing from the strain of hauling a cage one-handed through the river, Donna finally makes it to shore... And not even her bottomless fury is enough to force her muscles to haul the cage out of the water, but gamely she tries.
She does, however, have enough strength for one more bellow; "GET MY SISTER AN' OFF THAT BOAT!"
The raven-cloaked figure glares at the shipmen and their master, sidling along the deck toward the bound woman. While not particularly gentle, as this situation is likely to go sideways if it goes on any longer, Elyanna's grip is only so tight for her blood loss. Chin raised, she growls a bitter, "Sloppy business." and starts to get them into the drink with the handle of her whip between her fangs. <goblin-talk>
Delilah doesn't offer any resistance to being picked up and manhandled off the side of the boat. Afterall, this situation she's in has left her without too much fight in her at the moment; and hey, it's not like she wants to stay. So, she learns a few things, in short order; one, hitting the water after jumping off a ship actually stings, quite a lot. Two, it's really hard to swim with your arms stuck behind your back. And three, it's really, really hard to hold your breath with a bit in your mouth; so every time Elyanna comes up for air with her, Delilah is sputtering and gasping like she's being ruthlessly drowned.
Emerind laughs as the last of you roll off his boat and into the river water. He waits for the ship to be nearly out of sight before mockingly holding up Delilah's gear and shouting back at you something that's so distant that you almost don't hear it. "I GOT WHAT I CAME FOR YOU IDIOTS!" What /had/ he come for? If he let the children go so quickly?
The ship disappears, and you're left dragging a cage full of sith-makar children to the shore amid a few too-interested alligators. It's not too hard to disway them, they're out of their hunting territory and not /that/ hungry to face so many of you. So they swim off and leave you to deal with the situation at hand.
Gregor will finish hauling the kids ashore with help from his allies and his horse, which helps with the pulling when Gregor wraps the rope around the saddle horn. Once the cage is ashore, he will look to see how it's held shut. Just a lock to pick or break, or something more complicated?
Finally hauling the cage up to shore, Donna flops back on the sand, chest heaving. The dark-hared twin seems so exhausted, she can't even summon up the strength to help her sister onto shore. "Get'm.... out..." she croaks.
Iuitl gets onto shore, and pulls off the robes she's often seen wearing to drape them aside on a branch. That's just drippy, eugh. She's wearing fairly standard tribal clothing and... she does not look as feeble as she makes herself out to be. Anyone with a good eye would know that, but she can't be that old or weak. "What did he take...?" she wonders, as she can't think of anything that isn't a person. With Delilah's stuff held up in the air, she watches the boat drift off and squints. "... I hate that man." <draconic>
Burai strains to help pull the chain when directed. But he also watches the ship until it disappears from sight, trying to commit the vessel's appearance to his memory. "Once I have recovered my strength I will search the river for it," he promises. "And set it afire." Then something seems to occur to him. "He said he had what he came for, but we rescued the hatchlings...perhaps he was more than just a slaver?"
The swim is gruelling, and Elyanna is not an accomplished swimmer, but she tries to keep them as above water as she can manage. Her wound screams with every stroke, and it's only the creaking handle between her fangs that's keeping her from drowning herself by screaming. As she nears the shore she drags the woman up onto the bank ahead of her before slumping to her knees. The mockery from the slaver gets only a weak, breathless growl from the red woman, who lets the whip fall to her lap before she considers her rescuee, perhaps trying to ascertain her condition.
By the time Delilah is up on shore, she's flat out exhausted. She collapses on the sand, laying on her stomach; and it's a bit of a tough landing, with her hands still manacled behind her. Awkward. She lies there, bleeding, bedraggled, and trying to spit out river water around the bit. Still, she manages to find the energy to turn her head the other way, so she can look at her sister. 'Well', she thinks to herself. 'That could certainly have been worse.'
Burai scowls. Looking between Donna and Delilah he notes the family resemblance. Which makes him hesitate. Then he finally goes to remove the gag, almost wincing as he does so.
Gregor isn't getting any sense from the others that they've got a plan, so he will hop off his horse and choke up on his lance, grabbing it just below the tip, and he uses the adamantine lance tip to cut through the lock mechanism. It's a bit awkward, the back end of the lance sticks out behind him and there's not a lot of leverage. But eventually he's able to cut through the locking mechanism and he breathes out a weary sigh.
Iuitl breathes a sigh to herself and scratches at the wet feathers on her head. "I think I'll kill that man if I ever see him again," she announces to everyone. She steps up to observe the lock-breaking process, curious about what he's doing. She's visibly impressed by how sturdy the lance is... "Now we head back to the village. I think my swiftclaw got eaten by gators..." She looks around the shoreline for grumpy raptors with saddles, on the off chance she's wrong.
Even freed the children don't exactly rush out of their cage. Most of them eye you warily, but watch Iuitl even more carefully. There's a sort of longing in how they watch her, as if they want to rush to her all at once but they don't. Instead one of the littlest makes a move in the direction of leaving the cage and is stopped by the oldest picking them up. "Peassssssce." The oldest youngster offers in a heavily accented voice.
There is no sign of your swiftclaws.
Gregor doesn't speak Sith, so he will so what he can; with the children out of the cage, he'll backtrack to the village we started from. "Perhaps we'll find your swiftclaws on the backtrail," he suggests, and he'll keep an eye out for their tracks.
Burai sways slightly. His side is covered in blood. With the last of the excitement of battle fading, he must be feeling its effects. "Hold," he says weakly. Very nearly a plea. He reaches into a pouch at his waist and withdraws a wand. "I must tend to my injuries first." He runs his eye over others in the party who were wounded even more severely. "We all must."
Donna's head turns to Delilah's direction, and her hand reaches out for a moment. "S'okay, D," she pants. "We gotcha. S'all right."
Once she has enough of her strength back, she rolls over, shoving herself to her feet and staggering over to help her sister up. The bit is the first thing to be got rid of, and the rest...
"Hey, any o' y'all can get these cuffs off?" She looks over her shoulder, and blinks as the children seem to stay trapped in the cage. Clearing her throat, she stamps one booted foot into the dirt, in an effort to simulate a Sith tail. "Peace on y'all's nests," she says gently. "We're here t'take you back t'your families."
Elyanna gets her breath and, taking up the weapon between her hands, gathers her feet and moves away from the cage. She'll let the others handle this part. Meanwhile, she whistles an intricate chord with a few intricate gestures and spends the following moment cleaning and drying herself with the invocation. She may have had to run from an untenable situation, but she has her pride, damnit.
Iuitl curses under her breath about the swiftclaws. Then she looks between all of the young lizards that seem unwilling to seem excited about their rescue. She steps up to the cage and holds out a hand to the oldest, and offers to lead him and the other children out of the wet, muddy cage. She doesn't force the issue, though. The older children would know about her... the crabby healer shamaness that left one day.
"Come. To safety. There are beasts here," she insists in a gentle voice. <draconic>
Gregor looks up, but can at least cut Donna's chains with his lancehead. Cutting the manacles themselves might be a little -too- awkward. "I can try," he says, and he will try.
GAME: Iuitl rolls diplomacy: (5)+6: 11
Delilah sits up, and coughs once the bit is taken out of her mouth, with the combined efforts of Burai and her sister, Donna. (Hey, the thing was tricky.) She turns her head sideways and spits, and then again, finally clearing out some of the river water. "Thank you," she gasps. "Thank you. That... those people... are revolting. Especially the captain." She rolls her neck, and is plainly trying to find a way to sit with her arms behind her back that's comfortable, which is really, really hard. "Anyone got a bandage?" she inquires. "And maybe something else to wear? I'd rather not walk through the jungle naked, but I'd also rather not smell like blood, and naked sounds better overall. ...And that jerk has all my stuff."
The sorceress uhms softly. "Speaking of Emerind, he's got something called an 'Amoxtli'. ...Anyone know what that is?"
The oldest of the children takes Iuitl's hand uncertainly, but its enough to get them out of the cage. None of the children react to Donna's words. It seems likely that they don't speak much of the common language if any. The oldest though holds onto Iuitl's hand. "They have Amoxtli. Our protection." The oldest flickers eyes toward Donna, and beats her tail down on the ground, backs away shyly from Iuitl.
Breaking manticles with the lance is much harder than breaking the lock, but eventually you persevere. <draconic>
GAME: Elyanna rolls 1d20+1+1: (4)+1+1: 6
"Sounds Sith," Donna croaks, lifting a shoulder, then turning the motion into a detaching of her cloak, sweeping it around the blond's shoulders. "Best I got for now, D... Sorry I couldn't get you free sooner."
Iuitl stares toward the child, gears turning in her head. She closes her eyes briefly, and then opens them again. She stands and looks down the river. "We must pursue that boat. They hold something precious to my tribe. Something that man should not have." She gives the child's hand a comforting squeeze. "He would corrupt its purpose. I would die before I allow such a loss."
She looks to the others, and says, "It's an egg. A precious egg. There's an old prophecy about a child that would be born with shining scales, like Father Dragon or something like this. We believe that the child would grow to protect the tribe..."
"So it is vital we retrieve it. I cannot force you to, but..."
Elyanna considers the question a moment, but shrugs, "I have not heard of such a thing." With the blonde's other requests, the halfbreed makes her way over, whistling the chord she cleaned herself up with previously, and lightly touches one of the woman's afflicted sleeves, drying her off and removing the blood stains. Her eyes flit to the elder sith and, as the matter is not even a question; "I will help you." Still too deep in the red... Quickly she turns from the sisters to collapse in a fit of wet, tearing coughs which, while she tries to veil with her cloak, she's spitting out something into the sand.
"To face him again, and sooner than expected?" Burai's features set in determination. "I would relish it." He raises his wand. "But let us prepare this time. He's no simple pirate, and if we treat him as such we'll fare no better than the last time."
Gregor eyes Iuitl, but says, "I will assist you. But will the children make it home OK? Or would you have them follow us?" He looks to his other companions. "Are any of you fit for another fight? Perhaps we should track this fellow to his lair, then rest, regroup, and ambush him when he does not expect?"
Iuitl shakes her head. "No. I would need to convene with my familiar again. He would have a day or more of travel on us, and knows we will be looking for him, however. It will be difficult to catch up without a boat, and without knowing where he's headed."
"We're all pretty banged up," Donna agrees, "But there's a lot we could do on the way. Just... yeah, the kids. I'm all in, Shaman... but I gotta know what we'd be even doin'."
"Kill the slaver. Retrieve the egg." Iuitl seems to think the objective really is that simple. She's showing her Sith-Makar heritage there.
GAME: Elyanna rolls knowledge/nobility+1: (18)+6+1: 25
"B-Blue-" Elyanna starts before gagging, spitting, then, lifting a hand to wipe at her mouth, "Blue Door Inn... there is a port an easy ride from here..." She clears her throat, spits again, then, "They do not frown on slavers, there.... he will likely lick his wounds there at this inn, then resupply before heading back to Charn."
Gregor asks, "A day or more of travel doesn't matter if he's simply returning to his lair. I would be more able to help if we fought him on land in any event." He looks to Elyanna, and asks, "Well, that sounds useful. Let us head there, then." He looks around at the others, though, and says, "Are we all fit to travel?"
Delilah lets the cloak rest on her shoulders. With her arms still manacled, there isn't much else she can do with it, other than give her sister a grateful look. "Thank you," she replies, "And don't apologize for nothin', Donna. You came and got me. I /knew/ you would." She gives a similar look to Elyanna, before she nods to Iuitl. "Kill slavers? Help the Sith? Count me in, even underdressed and unequipped. If someone can get these manacles off my wrists, I'll be able to cast my spells again, and then I'm going to magic that Captain into submission, take his sword, and stick it right up his bollocks."
"Again," Donna points out. "We gonna leave like a dozen kids to get home on they own?"
"Of course not." Iuitl looks at Donna like she's crazy. "After we get back to the tribe home, we'll rest there, and then we travel to kill a slaver."
Elyanna reacts badly to the healing, taking to whole new wracking fits as the magic affects her, causing her to spit up more of... whatever icky black crud she's trying to clear out of her lungs. As the fit subsides, she gives a weak nod, then drags herself again to her feet.
-End