Run!, Stormy Waters IC Sub Thread Options

[Beta]

Addie, day 11, after dusk

After a quick discussion to find out where Gem had already checked, the three girls went looking for Maya -- if the group had managed to agree on one thing over the past few days it was not to have people running off on their own.

Addie wasn't eager to go back and talk to Maya right now, so she subtly maneuvered Gem to the fore while she lagged a few steps behind. After all, Gem was the one who had noticed and who had looked in the caves. It wouldn't have been right to push forward and take charge, anyone could see that.

As they approached the fire the elf apparently realized what was going on because she looked back at Addie and gave a snort and a shake of her head. Then she stopped, staring at something briefly. She swore "Maria's tits on a tugboat!" before stepping aside so that Addie could see, and adding "Looks like we have more problems than just Niyaf."

There was a few moments of confusion as Paul and Sim explained about the hunters while Gem added in Niyaf's absence, but eventually all were up to speed, and facing the deadly facts of more dead kids.

As the voices died down, Addie finally added "When we were settling in here, I remember hearing Niyaf talking to some of the hunters, asking where they were going, when they were going out, things like that. It struck me, because a lot of the hunters were orcs and mostly she'd been avoiding them, because .... you know." She falls silent for a moment, then forces herself to carry on "Was she just being curious? Was she worried about food? Was she planning on following them for some reason? Or ... had she made contact with someone outside our group, and wanted to tell them where to expect the hunting party; it was mostly orcs ... "

[Mercy]

Maya's look is grim. She looks over at Klarisa. "How many were in the hunting party? It looks like someone is hunting us and we need to come up with a plan. Right now, I want all hunting to stop. Who besides me can sneak through the woods and track whoever is after us? Dana, can you do some scouting as a bird while we gather some people together. I am not sure that just leaving is the best option, but what do the rest of you think?"

[Beta]

Addie, day 11, after dusk

The words of Erik, her combat instructor before all of this happened, come to Addie “Out in the real world fights are not between carefully matched weights and skill levels on neatly defined mat areas. Information is critical. Who are you fighting, and what advantages do each of you have? What escape routes do you have? Are they realistic? How can you learn more about your opponent before you commit yourself to escape or combat, to attack or defense – or to outright surrender?”

Part of her finds it a bit depressing how fast she can go through this assessment for their situation, but most of her seems to be carrying on mechanically, perhaps too much in shock at the news to feel emotion yet?. The checklist does bring one useful thing to mind, activating her link she sends messages to the others with matrix connection "Just a reminder: please make sure someone is watching the entrance to your cave, and that people are well back from the entrance. Just because we have caves for tonight doesn't mean that we shouldn't be careful." The last thing they needed was to have more of the kids killed while they talked.

“We don’t know who we are fighting, other than they have modern arrows and can pull off an ambush or sneak attack. They may not know how much magic we have, but on the other hand they might, and we should assume that they have scouted the larger group at least a little. Which isn’t a good position for us.”

“Should we move from here? Down here in the valley we can only really go forward or back, and back isn’t much of an option. Getting up out of the valley would be really difficult and slow right now, probably almost totally based on our magicians, and would spread us out. They’d probably expect us to either stay here or move farther down the valley. We might be able to cross the river, but there is a good chance that they could do so as well, or they could even be based on the other side. Pierre and Widget were talking about rafts, but we haven't tested the idea to see if it would work. So I don’t see us being in a very good position to escape them by running away.”

“So I think we desperately need to find out more about them. How many, do they have magic, and if possible what they want. For that matter, they killed some of us, but they are people -- if they aren’t toxic shamans or something like that maybe we can communicate with them? Find out more about where we are, what is going on? If they are, I don’t know, defending this valley as hunting grounds or something insane like that, maybe all they want is for us to move on, and if we go quickly they leave us alone. But if they a bunch of insane criminals or something, then maybe they just want to kill all of us, and our best bet is to focus on getting the fight on the best terms that we can.”

“For getting that information, I think most of our best hunters are dead. Jamal was out there today, he was the only one I think was close to you. Some of the stories he had about the games he and his sister used to do in the forests ... Drek, did you know that he’d still been hoping to get home for her birthday?” Her voice cracked on that last word, and tears start sliding down her face. She shouldn’t have thought about the personal yet. Caustic thoughts cascaded through her mindt: This is why she shouldn’t lead, too weak, too emotional, too attached to people.

[adamu]

"I think they're people. Well organized, well supplied, with transport. Any limitations on their force levels likely self-imposed, and as such temporary."

Raf spoke quietly.

His phone had not been where he'd left it, so he'd come back to see if anyone had borrowed it, caught the conversation. It could be heard from some distance in the still night air. As the resident fletcher, someone had immediately handed him the arrow. And it had all made sense. Maybe.

"Obviously just one theory. But if they clearly didn't make this arrow out here out here. And if they were stranded out here with a limited supply, they'd use it for food, not killing other people. En masse. For display. So they are well supplied, which means connected by transport to the outside world. They also took out our most effective fighting element. That means they could have, and still could, take us out at any time. That they have not done so implies some artificiality to their purpose. Translation: sport."

He handed the arrow to someone else. "So I think Maya's first guess is right on. I'm just taking it to its logical conclusion. It all fits. All the murder would help explain the background count. And, this is our first real evidence as to which, of all the crazy theories why someone went to so much trouble to put us out here, might be the right guess. There has to have been a motive, right, and one backed by extravagant wealth. The hunt has a long literary tradition going back to Connell's The Most Dangerous Game, through numerous Hollywood iterations such as the Predator series, and right up to Aztechnology's long-running Fittest franchise."

He sat down. "Doesn't matter. My father will be here soon. And Holloway, our head of security, with his people. They won't be limiting themselves to fancy bows, I can assure you of that. Best just to wait."

[Mercy]

Maya listens to the others, alternatively nodding and shaking her head. "They got some of our best hunters, not all of them. That is why we have three hunting teams and two of them are in the camp. We do need more information and I think we should send Dana out as a bird or something while a couple of our remaining hunters come with me. The moon is quite visible tonight, which means that I will be able to see fairly well. Klarisa will detail two or three people to join me here."

"I think it's reasonable to assume that these people hunting us are aware that we are here. Do any of the mages have the ability to conceal three or four of us for a short time, until we can get away from the caves? And it is very good advice to make sure that everyone stays back from the entrances to the caves. Jim, you are good at wilderness survival, would you like to come with me? Cailin and Raferty? I am not sure of your skills, but do you think that you are good enough to come? Dana, I don't like the idea of you flitting about on your own. Would you please take Addie if she is willing or find another person if she is not?"

[adamu]

Rafferty got back up. There was really no point, with his father coming, but this could be a way to be kind to Maya after...well...if that had actually happened...his memory was just so hazy. "I've been a bit busy making bows, but my father didn't teach to make - and use - them to shoot at paper targets. I'm actually much better at hunting than most of the other designated hunters. I won't slow you down."

[Mercy]

Maya nods at Raferty and gives him a big smile. "Thank you, Raferty, I appreciate that very much." Then she looks at the others in the group.

[adamu]

A big smile from Maya.

Rafferty was surprised at how much that meant to him.

Maybe the other thing had never happened at all.

Maybe after his father came, she'd come and live with him instead of spend life in the wilderness.

Maybe they'd get married.

He hoped his father would come soon.

He sat back down to rest while waiting for the next orders.

[Beta]

Addie, day 11, after dusk

Addie bites her lip, shoots an apologetic glance at Dana, then shakes her head and says "I'm not really the best choice for accompanying Dana, I'm sorry. Maybe Leslie? He seems to like animals and he has a pretty level head -- I think he might adapt well to the change. And he wants to help, he'd be happy to give it a try I think."

Her next words are directly to Dana. "Just ... watch out. If they've kept an eye on us, they might know about this magic and be looking for birds? You have mostly stepped away from everyone else for changing, so I don't know that they'd know, but it is possible for sure. Please don't push it, don't go and try to fight them. Nets and arrows and numbers could make things pretty hard, even for you." She knows it isn't fair, but she doesn't want to ever have another experience like waiting to see if Dana would survive the dogs. "Please ... for me?"

Addressing the broader group she continues "I'm not good like Maya or Dana, but I can be pretty light footed -- but it is getting dark enough that I'm going to be mostly blind. Maybe take Gem? Should be enough light for her to see fairly well, and if you haven't noticed, none of us ever hear her approach. And she's a survivor." Seeing the dirty look that the elf is shooting her Addie adds more passionately "Oh you know its true. You don't talk about what you've been through, but it is clear enough, I bet you could hide so that even Maya would have a hard time finding you! And I know you can turn off those tattoos, so don't try to say you are too obvious in the dark."

Once Gem has mumbled something like acceptance of this assessment Addie continues "Depends if you need another body, or night eyes, up to you, Maya."

"As for me, I'll talk to some of the others, make sure people are ready to move out quickly if we need to. Hopefully not in the dark, but possibly as soon as the sky is brightening? They probably wouldn't expect us to move out before dawn, and if Dana or the spirits can scout for a way up out of the valley then we wont be as easy to predict or trap." She wonders if trying to escape this trap will trigger the others to attack more strongly? But she keeps that speculation to herself.

"If we keep the fire burning low here, once that is done I'll climb a tree and watch for anyone approaching here, it only needs a bit of light for me to see quite well, I can warn the caves by link and maybe do something about it, depending on how many and stuff. I wish I could reach you lot by link, but nobody else who has one would be that good at sneaking through the dark. I'll need a bit of sleep, so will get someone else to keep watch from hiding if you lot aren't back by the deep of the night. And if you don't come back by dawn, look for us downstream."

[Gilga]

Dana said "No magic, every passing day spellcasting gets harder and harder and may very well be impossible where we are going. This headache stays with me for quite some time now after every spell I cast and I need to be sharp.

We are going toward a city - but it is not like anything we encountered. The magic sphere there is even worse than here. If we do not hone our mundane skills we are all going to die. I suggest, we only use magic as a last resort. I am a capable combatant and can see in the dark, with or without magic. I will follow you - but if I have to cast spells to solve this problem then I see it as a failure. We CAN do that, on our own - we do not need magic to be strong - we need to be smart.

Clearly, her near death experience have changed something about Dana, more tactics and less muscle. For the last several days Dana did her best to hone her mundane skills - as she did ever since she arrived in this god forsaken place. Athletics, survival, and fighting skills. Mana was too bad to seriously considering practicing the magical arts. She feels like she needs to forget about these to survive to focus on being strong.


She tells Addie "The day I start being afraid of dying is the day I stop being a warrior and focus my life around you. Perhaps sometime I will do that for you, but right now, warriors is what we need to survive." She says and then thinks about kissing Addie, but there are too many people a side. She blushes - "I do not want to lose you it is good that you are staying at camp." . Freaking emotions, want what they want. Why can't I just kiss her and let everyone in camp know that we are together. They are already suspecting it, it is difficult to keep secrets in such a small group and we sleep together every night.

Dana looks at Maya "So how do we find the missing hunters without excessive use of magic? A week ago we had no tools, but we have spears and bows now and we have fire. You even seem to have gained the trust of these puppies. We better learn how to do this now, before we have these problems where magic is completely impossible - closer to the city."

[Mercy]

Maya nods. "OK. No magic unless you have to. Raferty, Gem, Nim, Klarisa, and Tarok with me. Addie, you are in charge in my absence, with Cailin second and Lindsey third. Dana will follow us as our secret weapon. Bows and spears for the hunting group. Any questions?"

[adamu]

Rafferty hefted his bow, enraptured. How could he have...? She was tall and bold and all a boy could want. Soon his father would be here...no! He would take her from him...He picked out his best arrow. He wouldn't let that happen.

[Aria]

Day 11, Just After Dusk, Far side of the river

Scrabbling up the side of the valley after wading through the shallow but fast flowing river it doesn’t take long for you to find your missing hunters. Although the light has pretty much failed the details are all too graphic and even a cursory examination reveals that whatever happened it didn’t happen here, which means the bodies have been moved from wherever they were ambushed… without anyone apparently seeing anything! Except bodies isn’t quite right, as Fish still has a glimmer of life…perhaps if he can be revived he might be able to tell you what really happened?

[Mercy]

Maya goes up to Fish and kneels at his side while spreading the rest of her people out to cover her. She gives her best shot at giving first aid.


OOC: Can someone please do my roll? I don't have access to my dice roller. Thanks.

[adamu]

Rafferty knelt on the other side of Fish, helping Maya with trained hands.

"Don't worry," he whispered to Fish, "my dad will be here soon."

[Gilga]

Dana is tempted to use the heal spell, but then again perhaps she has grown soft and spoiled by magic.
She looks at Maya and asks... "is there anything you can do for him?"

[Mercy]

Maya is a bit surprised to see Dana, but quite glad. "Raferty and I are going to try some first aid, but some magic after that would be great."

[adamu]

Maya was binding Fish's wounds expertly as Raf handed her necessities from what was left of the meager medical supplies, but he was fading fast. It was clear that the worst of his bleeding was internal, and there was absolutely nothing they could do about that.

Unless...Raf looked up at Dana, still standing nearby....

[Mercy]

Maya looks at Dana and says, "I know magic is weaker here, but my skill is not going to save him. Can you please try some mojo?"

[Gilga]

Dana feels a bit frustrated - how can they survive without her? If they cannot even bring people back from the brink of death.
She approaches Fish and places her hand on his chest. Whispering a few Hebrew words, something she picked up in her religious training, Fish's wounds diminish. It was not the miraculous recovery that Caillin pulled off to take Dana from the brink of death - but the boy was no longer in danger of bleeding out. Whatever was bleeding was now patched up.

She said softly "Fish... can you hear me?"

[Beta]

After the others head off, Addie stands in the dark for a few long moments, arms wrapped tight around herself, wondering how badly she is going to screw this up. Getting people to pull together behind a plan, getting people organized, climbing a tree, and watching, these are all things she knows she can do, things she has done before – but everything here seems to turn out wrong. Is she going to get everyone moving right into an ambush? Is she going to somehow miss attackers and fail to give warning?

Why did she even say that she would do these things? Why would anyone trust her to do them with all that she’s screwed up? They should have gotten … Oh, yah, that would be the problem -- who else was there for these roles?

With that she squares her shoulders and strides to the first cave.

[Aria]

Day 11, Just After Dusk, Far side of the river

Fish stirs and then cracks his eyes, spitting blood out past his tusks

“Mother fucker that hurts…!” peering around he takes in the other bodies and the kids clustered around him “fuckers appeared out of nowhere…no warning, they just started killing us! Didn’t get a clear look at any of ‘em. All dressed up to look like animals or some shit, fucking good camouflage to get close without any of us spotting ‘em…shit! What now? We step on some holy fucking ground or something? Why’d they just start on us like that? They didn’t even take our kills so it weren’t food they were after…”

[adamu]

Listening to Fish's story, Raf's mind raced, comparing the ork's story alongside his theory of this being an elaborately planned hunt, with he and his companions as prey. The camouflage fit, but why as animals. It could fit - maybe some sort of totemic adulation among the hunters? Who knew what went on in the minds of the sorts of people that would think this up and participate in it...And yet, to be fair, it was a wrinkle, suggesting some new element that needed adding to his theory...animal costumes or not, with an arrow like the one they'd found these were no isolated primitives....

[Mercy]

Maya listens to Fish and shakes her head. "No, this is not something like that. The arrows that were used to kill the team are modern. I think that they are hunting us and this may be part of an explanation of why we are here; to be sport for them to hunt. I wonder how many other groups of people have been dumped out here for their enjoyment? Just because we have found no sign of them does not mean this has not happened before. Perhaps other groups have been kidnapped and dumped in other places to give these sickos a different sort of challenge."

She looks around at the others of her small group. "At least one of us needs to get Fish back to the camp. Klarisa, may I use Tarok for that? The sad bit about this whole scenario is that it is obvious that those hunting us know where we are and can ambush any of our hunting parties and then those of us who are even less capable. Maybe they have not had anyone try to defend themselves before and we might be able to gain an advantage by continuing on. Everyone, please look about carefully. Moving our people here must have left tracks that can be followed. And be careful. While it is easy to believe that these guys are overconfident, it would be wrong to believe that they are careless. They might leave traps or warning devices on the trail. Fish, how many did you see?"

[Gilga]

Dana listened to Fish's story with racination. Animal clothes... that is appealing. "I wonder if someone could make me such clothes" she said loudly. Dana wanted to meet these people and pethaps to aquire such a bow.

"Finally civilization... If we hunt these people we will have modern weapons and armors. " She added.