A few days had passed since the attack and everyone was recovering slowly. Erleothir had had a small discussion with the two dwarves and was now sharing his room with Gustavius while Griselda was now with Mulchanor. It was his idea and while Mulchanor seemed not overly angry about it, Gustavius simply shrugged. "As long as no one disturbs me too much, everything is just fine..."
"just fine" were not actually the words running in his mind when thinking about the last fight. one morning he summoned all the crew on the deck of the ship "gentlemen. and lady. we need to learn to coordinate a little bit more when facing enemies..." he asked one of the dwarves to bring a few of the figurines he saw them using during some boardgame he had watched them playing and started elaborating a standard battle plan for the attacks. Bored and confident in her skills, Griselda stayed aside, barely listening. There was some discussion about the role of each team member in a fight and everyone reluctantly agreed that the plan was not bad though still not perfect. Everyone wanted to play a role more important than the one destiny had given them. But there was still room for improvisation...
"how many days till we reach our destination?"
"around five or six."
"do you happen to have a forge?"
Together with Alast, Yesnarel and Erleothir, Gustavius had managed to make a deal with the dwarves. He would be able top use the forge and their resources to craft two new special weapons in exchange for the blueprints and two additional crafted items.
Together with Alast, Yesnarel and Erleothir, Gustavius had managed to make a deal with the dwarves. He would be able top use the forge and their resources to craft two new special weapons in exchange for the blueprints and two additional crafted items.
On the flying ship, our company had plenty of time to think about their situation, whether it was their general quest, their own personal one, or simply their general personal situation.
And one of them seemed pretty unaware of his difficulties. To any one standing on the side, it was obvious that Mulchanor got it worse than any other. Or is it only because his secrets were known ?
Everybody knew he was a pennyless dwarf who was even dispossessed from his most valuable good: his gun. Instead of the powerful dwarven gun of Bor, he was discreetly carrying a pistol and would more surely show his axe than this ersatz of a gun. Touched in his pride, he negotiated with the crew to get a new gun, which would probably prove to be useful in the coming days, once they would be walking around in the wild. The captain agreed to provide him a gun. Minding a few conditions ... Mulchanor would only own the gun after bringing him a few items. Nothing big, a few raccoons being probably the most difficult to get. The third "issue" would be Griselda. (Though that person probably wouldn't see how this could be a problem ). To his fellow dwarves, Mulchanor was a victim, they knew the reputation of the Telchos' tribe and the newly acquired scar at his ear certainly confirmed their possessiveness. What puzzled them however was the apparent satisfaction Mulchanor was showing. Judging by his smiling face, the relation didn't seem to be the curse the rumors would have it to be. They would have looked at Griselda's face to read her expression but there wasn't much clues to be found. She was confident and the romance hadn't softened her expression in the least. But she definitely was high on energy, and so was he.
even his bitten-off ear did not clouded his mood. Upon asking what happened the company received the explanation from Griselda herself. "It's the way we mark our men. we always leave something visible. So everyone - and especially themselves - knows who they belong to"
After several uneventful days, the ship finally arrived. From high above the trees, the river could be seen. Padoka called his guests on the deck to show them his discovery. The adventurers took turn to look at the river using a long view. Griselda used her good sight to check for a landing spot. Slightly north of their position, a column of dark smoke was tainting the blue sky. Padoka informed them that it probably was the fort burning. The company decided to land as soon as possible and as close as possible in order to assist the survivors of the arson (or was it an attack ?). There was a little clearing a few miles away, depending on the jungle fauna and flora it would take them between 3 and 5 days to reach what would then be ruins.
It was around 8 in the evening when they finally touched the ground. Enthusiastic, the company was ready to disembark and start the trek. Griselda reminded them of the time and offered to go for a reconnaissance round : they needed to know how thick and dense the foliage would be, how big and dangerous the local fauna was, how clear and deep the water was, at Mulchanor's request, she added "raccoon check" to her list. She took Alast's rope to prepare traps they would be able to collect in the morning.
Curious and willing to check the trees and see if they could possibly be used for ambush, Alast decided to accompany her. Erleothir was added to the group and the three of them left the ship to go for a walk. Alast seemed satisfied by the location, the tall and rich trees would be easy to climb and would offer plenty of ways to hide and jump to surprise the enemy.
As for Griselda, her talent didn't disappoint the knight who was impressed by the way she could look at a plant and decide if it was edible or not, to look at the water and measure its depth and potential dangers. She even spotted raccoons steps and set two traps after cutting Alast's ropes in two. A frown appeared on her face however and she studied slightly longer than previously some traces apparently left by nothing less than a tiger.
Deciding she had all the information they needed : walking by the river was relatively safe and the flora shouldn't bother them so much there, they would be able to find food if needed, fresh water in abundance. All in all, they should be able to reach the ruins in a day. Seeing as the captain promised to wait for a week, there was nothing to worry about.
That was what they all thought when they eagerly left the aircraft after breakfast the following morning, each carrying their ration. The atmosphere was good and one could have thought they were leaving for a picnic. That was until Mulchanor spotted one of the precious raccoons. Griselda immediately switched to hunting mode and left the group walk further, thinking she would catch up with them after capturing the raccoon. It proved to be more difficult than expected though and she came empty handed, shooting a dark glare at Alast, who asked innocently, knowing full well the answer : " so, how did it go ?"
But before he could get any response to his insolent question a low growl was heard... and before anyone could react, a large tiger was already on them. Most specifically, on Erleothir. The large beast knocked him down on the floor. Mulchanor grinned and pulled out his rented rifle with a wide and impressive movement, aimed, shot and... cursed as the weapon exploded in a large smoke of cloud. The tiger was unimpressed and tried to reach for Erleothir hidden below his shield and, as Alast jumped on the back of the beast trying to find a weak point to stab, Gustavius sighed, pulled his newly crafted hand gun out, calmly walked to the mass of bodies and unloaded the gun in the right ear of the beast.
As Erleothir was removing chunks of tiger brain from his face, Griselda turned to him, shrugging:
"so... welcome to the jungle."