Part 14: Untitled
The party rests to regain their strength after the battle. The sounds of horns rumble in the distance, somewhere between the party and the boat. Alena awaits the party to rest and knows that this is another journey home before she can begin the next part of her journey.
Once they wake, they begin to move towards the south. Along their track their discover a dilapidated road. Alena leads the way, hesitant to take such an obvious path however with their inability to see in the dark this is an easier path for the party. The road suddenly breaks into a fork, one road leads to a hill in the distance, the other the south. The party chooses the left fork and continues south.
The horn sounds. Alena raises her head, the sound is closer, much closer. And directly between them and the ship.
"Shit" she mutters "Stay quiet, stay alert".
They decide to wait for dawn to break across the horizon, letting the others in the party without the gift of sight a chance to see much clearer. Finally, the sun breaks over the hills and they begin to travel again. Avoiding the road but staying close enough to see the path in front of them, this choice slows them down. They see the path veer off to the east, to where the beastman horn sounds through the jungle.
"I want more than cheese, let us continue" Mahin says loudly.
After a discussion, they kept pushing south. Suddenly the horn sounds behind them. Alena holds up a hand to draw the party to a halt.
"They are out our camp" Alena states "It is time to move".
"Let us lay a false path" Ezra says. Mahin shakes her head.
By the time they spend ten minutes covering the ball bearings they have laid in wait for the chasing beastmen. The reach the end of the path to the start of the jungle. A dense thick jungle. The party asks of Candur to allow Owlier to view the jungle and see what lies before them. The owl sees much with it's great vision. The owl can see the river, lying three miles ahead of them. The party enters another jungle, heading south.
The horn blows again, closer this time. The party has no idea if there trap will work. They keep travelling south, knowing that the beastmen follow to kill them. The horn sounds again, the party races forward to the end of the jungle. Candur races forward in the hopes to ready the boat for dismemberment before the collision with the beastmen.
The wind blows to the south, Ezra takes a bottle of oil from Mahin. Alena turns to see him lighting the oil on fire and the jungle begins to burn. The flames mark where they were. Alena is not impressed with this strange man. He does not think beyond himself. Ahead of the party Candur uses Owlier to lead his way south. Owlier sends a pang of alert to Candur, showing him a road lying ahead. Owlier heads toward the road, and sees a fallen tree laying across the way. Owlier sees shapes lying in wait at the fallen tree. Candur turns around as Owlier shows him the vision of the smoke billowing from the trees.
Horns sound. Horns from the north. Horns from the south. Time is running short for the party. Candur views the world through Owlier and begins to make decisions about what he can do to assist the party moving beyond this moment and living to see the next.
