To New Horizons(2nd ed game, game thread)

[Armen]

Tamora

The young ranger looked thoughtfully at the animal, her head tilted to one side in a mirror of the position it had adopted. Tamora’s eyes creased in thought. This was obviously no instinctive predator and both its behaviour and the presence of the satchel suggested a trained or at least tamed animal. This, and the presence of the tooled leather satchel, suggested that there were others on this world more sophisticated than the lizardmen hunters. And if that were true then she and her companions needed to know more about them.

Apparently reaching a decision she relaxed her defensive posture, returned the arrow and slung the shortbow over her shoulder. Gesturing to Anne to be wary she turned her full attention to the creature and adopted a posture of openness and absolute confidence. She stepped forward to calmly place a hand on the creature’s neck.

(OOC: If the creature seems calm and friendly Tamora will open the satchel and have a look and if she’s still alive at that point maybe remove it if possible)

[Man Who Fights Like Woman]

Lorath tentatively lifted a hand to his forehead and felt around for anything that was different. That was certainly an... odd experience, he had to admit. It was like he had heard someone talking, but didn't see them, nor did he remember actually hearing it. Something was definitely awry, though he wasn't sure what.

Not wanting to worry the others or sound crazy, he didn't speak of it. Instead he made it look like he was rubbing the front of his head in thought, and keeping a watch for anything blatantly out of the ordinary.

[PurpleXVI]

(OOC: Apologies to dplax, Encard and Calaethis, but the show must go on.)

Bas

The darkness of the approaching night, illuminated only by sparse torches and the stars above, slowly faded into the brilliant colours of Bas' elven infravision. Above him, in the heights of the thick vegetation, he saw birds at rest, and coiled in a tree just a few feet from him, at nearly the same height as his head, was a lazy serpentine form, only barely visible as a slight deviation from the temperature of the plant. It was almost as big as he was, but only seemed to watch him cautiously for the moment.

There was probably more life in the area, but the trees and vines of the thick jungle were in the way. Occasionally small, squirrel-like creatures would skitter along on the ground or leap from tree to tree, and not far away the druid could hear the growls of some large feline.


Anne, Tamora

At first the animal tensed under Tamora's touch, but it swiftly relaxed and allowed her to put her hands on it's slender neck.

Now close to the satchel, the ranger could see that it seemed very light. If it wasn't empty, whatever was inside didn't weigh much. Definitely not gold or heavy metal objects.


Evon, Lorath, Gan

No crazed ventriloquists or bizarre creatures came charging out of the night to scream "Gotcha!" at Lorath or Gan. The only odd thing around was Bas who, some distance from the group, was standing at the edge of the forest staring into the impenetrable darkness only broken by the occasional firefly or a bit of starlight catching a shiny scale.


Everyone

Above the western horizon, a white crescent moon began to rise. It seemed unremarkable, but it added a bit of light to the dark night.

[Calaethis Dragonsbane]

Gan Vahnsen

Gan chooses to take the oppertunity to rest - sleep is often a luxury denied him when he is on the move and since they must wait for this lizard anyway, there's no point staying up when he can be resting instead. He is uncomfortable with the short lizard's voice in his head, but what can he do about it? Nothing. So he ignores it outwardly and bids the other two 'good night'. He will offer to take a watch, if they are agreeable, and if not, well, sod them then.

Whatever is worked out, he'll go along with - and get his much needed sleep.

[ 01-25-2007, 05:57 PM: Message edited by: Calaethis Dragonsbane ]

[Man Who Fights Like Woman]

Lorath glanced around a couple more times for anything out of the ordinary. Nothing seemed to be going on, and he wasn't tired enough to sleep. If he tried, it'd feel like he was wasting time. Most of the others seemed to be doing reconnaissance, so he figured he should probably do some too.

He stood up and looked around. Everyone seemed to be going about their normal business, so he approached the lake. For a few seconds he gazed at the moon's reflection on the surface, and tried to see past it to what was under the waves. Then he switched to Infravision, looking for any anomalies near the surface and hopefully find the trail of the tentacle monster.

[Armen]

Tamora

Reassured by the big bird’s apparently friendly demeanour, but not so relaxed that she didn’t keep half an eye on it for signs it was about to bite her head off, Tamora opened the fastenings of the satchel and looked inside but could see little in the darkness. Closing it back up she dextrously undid the belt and removed it from the creatures neck. Still watching the bird she whispered to Anne "I think we should head straight back to camp the way we came. It's too dark to see much out here any more and we'll need light to see what's in this bag."

(OOC: If Anne agrees, Tamora will head back to the camp the way they came)

[ 01-25-2007, 07:36 PM: Message edited by: Armen ]

[dplax]

Anne

Anne examined the birdlike creature. It seemed quite peaceful and Tamora had it almost completely calmed. She had heard of the ways of a ranger that calmed beasts of the wilderness, but had never before seen it done right before her.

"I guess you're right. Who knows what could await us in the darkness. Will the bird follow us?" she asked, not sure which answer she would prefer.

[Encard]

"Yes, we all do..." Evon replied, looking wistful at Gan's mention of dreams.

When the lizardman made its motions to him, Evon looked back intently for a fair while, looking perplexed. After a time, he gave the lizardman a small nod.

[Armen]

Tamora

Tamora considered Anne’s question. She knew nothing about trained animals and if it did follow them she certainly didn’t know how to keep one on this world even if she wished to. She stroked the big bird’s neck as she replied not looking round to Anne. She sounded thoughtful and distant, almost as if thinking aloud. “I don’t know,” she admitted, “I doubt it would follow us to the huts and fires of the lizardmen in any case but truly I don’t know. Maybe if it does follow us close enough the Learned One may be able to discover something.” Tamora looked at the woman just behind her and felt a moment’s discomfort. She was not used to being unsure of herself in the wilderness. It was her duty to know, to protect and to guide and here she was admitting doubts and to a human – practically a stranger.

She took hold of her spear and settled the satchel over her shoulder. “Come,” she said, “we should move quickly”. So saying, she turned and strode back towards the camp.

[ 01-26-2007, 04:51 AM: Message edited by: Armen ]

[Kazilan]

Bas closed his eyes as he turned to the fire, allowing his vision to change to normal. He returned to his seat near the fire, just beyond his seated companions.

The druid took a deep breath and closed his eyes, hoping that meditation on the situation at hand might provide some insight.