Hmph! The little Miss did it. Impressive. Putting away his arrow and shouldering his bow, Korinth begins to climb down. Something about the situation reminds him... of... someone. He can't... see their face. Damn.
Branches scrape and scratch as he comes down, but he hardly notices, focused on this lapse in memory that eludes him.
Pale-faced and tense as a rock, Euphemia walks in silent footsteps beside her saurian companion as the raptor expresses her anger, first at Atax, and then passing him to focus on the others. But, to the halfling's great relief, Nanra doesn't touch them. She takes a deep breath. I'd be right furious myself if someone had just killed my children. She's got some remarkable self-control. Of course, she trusts me too. I'd better live up to it. Oi, Rannik, I ain't the one cut out for this!
"This is Nanra," Euphemia speaks up to the others, once it's clear that the raptor isn't going to dismember anyone. "I've got a few more minutes I can speak with her, if there's anything you'd like to communicate."
Looking up at Nanra, the halfling says, in what probably sounds like an odd series of clicks and screeches to the others, "Thank you, Nanra. You've saved my life twice today now. They're wanting to help us, and I'm real glad for that." She smiles at the raptor. "You've still got that great cut on your back, it's looking well now, but I'm thinking we ought to find you a safe place to rest at some point today, so it can finish up healing. And maybe hunt up something to eat... are you hungry?"
When Euphemia says she only has a few more minutes to communicate, Atax thinks of his implant. The raptor probably wouldn’t know, but it never hurts to ask.
”Euphemia, could you ask your new raptor friend what these are?” He shows the implant on his arm to her rather than the one from the dead raptor.
Korinth approaches from behind Atax to "meet" this new ally, softly tapping the lizardman on the arm as he passes so as not to startle him. He speaks to Euphemia in a low, even voice, careful not to draw the beast's ire as he approaches the halfling.
"You did well, lass. Color me surprised this didn't end in blood."
After Euphemia translates Atax's inquiry, Nanra shakes her head. "I don't know what they are, but everything has them. They don't taste very good, and they make my tummy hurt when I eat them."
A sudden cacophony of bird calls and bestial shrieks erupt in the far distance, drawing Nanra's attention for a bit, but she turns her attention back to the humanoids around her after coming to the conclusion that whatever just happened was too far away to be of any worry to them.
Shin considers. "We will require potable water soon enough. I am not certain that what Nanra considers safe to drink is the same as what we might. Yet is it worth asking her if there is a location, perhaps a fresh stream, cleaner and safer from other predators than the river, which we could use?"
Pinky-toe remains well above in the branches, looking skeptical. Or she could remain hydrated by drinking your blood after slaying you.
Shin considers. "We will require potable water soon enough. I am not certain that what Nanra considers safe to drink is the same as what we might. Yet is it worth asking her if there is a location, perhaps a fresh stream, cleaner and safer from other predators than the river, which we could use?"
Korinth considers this for a moment.
"I have a thought about that, actually. Once we've found a short-term source of water, remind me to tell you my brilliant plan."
Silvana watches all this go on with stunned amazement. She looks over at Euphemia and wonders what the little halfling had in mind with her new found friend.
"Yes, fresh water would be a great idea. Brilliant eh? Maybe we could start with your name? Mine's Silvana."
Silvana watches all this go on with stunned amazement. She looks over at Euphemia and wonders what the little halfling had in mind with her new found friend.
"Yes, fresh water would be a great idea. Brilliant eh? Maybe we could start with your name? Mine's Silvana."
"Korinthos Sparda Saipryss," replies the Genasi, eyeing Silvana up and down.
"...Buuut I hate that name, so I'd rather you called me Korinth."
ing up at Nanra, the halfling says, in what probably sounds like an odd series of clicks and screeches to the others, "Thank you, Nanra. You've saved my life twice today now. They're wanting to help us, and I'm real glad for that." She smiles at the raptor. "You've still got that great cut on your back, it's looking well now, but I'm thinking we ought to find you a safe place to rest at some point today, so it can finish up healing. And maybe hunt up something to eat... are you hungry?"
Nanra nods absentmindedly at Euphemia's words. "I'm always hungry," she says, eyeing the others in the clearing. Hopefully, she's not hungry enough to make a snack out of the others.
Euphemia translates and relays questions and answers back and forth between the group and the raptor, wringing at her sleeves a little nervously as she does. "It still could," she says in reply to Korinth, "there's still a heap o' trust to build... on both sides. Nice to meet you, though." The halfling glances back towards the sudden cacophony of bird calls as Nanra does. There's threats a plenty out here. Too many.
"I've got an idea," she says to the others. "I know we're all in a flutter about water, and these implants, and for my part, a safe place to sleep for the night... but I think there's one thing we can do right now that'll serve us all best. I think we ought to find the trail of some likely prey critter, and hunt it out together. Us, and the raptor. She's hungry, and I'm hungry, and I figure y'all must be too. If she weren't a great toothy beast and all, I'd hunt around for some plants. I like plants well enough, and they're right useful for a lot more than just food. But that won't do for Nanra, and maybe some of the rest of you." She says this last bit with an eye to Atax and Silvana. "What do y'all think? It'll be a good, ah, pack exercise. Build trust, work together, provide for each other."
Euphemia translates and relays questions and answers back and forth between the group and the raptor, wringing at her sleeves a little nervously as she does. "It still could," she says in reply to Korinth, "there's still a heap o' trust to build... on both sides. Nice to meet you, though." The halfling glances back towards the sudden cacophony of bird calls as Nanra does. There's threats a plenty out here. Too many.
"I've got an idea," she says to the others. "I know we're all in a flutter about water, and these implants, and for my part, a safe place to sleep for the night... but I think there's one thing we can do right now that'll serve us all best. I think we ought to find the trail of some likely prey critter, and hunt it out together. Us, and the raptor. She's hungry, and I'm hungry, and I figure y'all must be too. If she weren't a great toothy beast and all, I'd hunt around for some plants. I like plants well enough, and they're right useful for a lot more than just food. But that won't do for Nanra, and maybe some of the rest of you." She says this last bit with an eye to Atax and Silvana. "What do y'all think? It'll be a good, ah, pack exercise. Build trust, work together, provide for each other."
"Aye, that could work" replies the Genasi, stroking a bit of fuzz growing on his chin. "Bit o' advice, however. Avoid the nearest beaches. Aside from the various scavengers of the many-legged variety, the earlier carnage seems to have scared most of the prey in that area off. If ye persist, I'd recommend pushing north."
Silvana gives Korlinth a sly smile as he responds, "Korlinth. Got it."
"A pack exercise eh? So you plan on keeping this beast around? When it is hungry in the middle of the night, and decides one of us looks like the perfect snack? I don't know... I'm all for the rest of us figuring out how we all work together and what we need to do to survive and maybe get out of this place? But Nanra is it? She gives me the shivers."
"I don't know," the Genasi folds his arms across his bare chest. "Something about her seems... familiar. Big, aye. And a little more hostile, too. But... I don't know."
Sidling up to Atax, he leans against the wall of scales as one would lean against a wall of bricks. With a wry grin, he asks, "And what say you, big guy? They actually sank their teeth in you. You up for passing the sentiment along to something bigger 'n' tastier?"
“At the moment, I would like to find a place that is reasonably defendable with fresh water, or at least anyplace better than here,” he says answering Korinth’s question.
Then with a grin he says “ But after we find that I would welcome the challenge of hunting down a bigger and tastier meal.”
"Shot in the dark, but we could always split up. I go with the sweet lass and her new friend, and we track something to eat."
He waves a hand towards the others, "...Meanwhile, you lot can find us a place to live. The little guy's owl can keep an eye out for us, and I can track your movements from this spot."
Silvana considers this proposal for a bit then shrugs, "I'm good with that. Atax, Shin, shall we find a spot?" Then turning to Euphemia, "Unless your friend here knows of something? Or at least pointing us in a direction that would be best? That would definitely help."
Euphemia wipes her forehead with her sleeve. It comes off damp. As the sun continues to rise in the sky, it's getting hot and steamy, but she feels cold and clammy. Seems certain I'll be spending a lot of my time here feeling ready to run for my life, she muses. Reaching out a hand to pat Nanra's knee (which is all she can reach) the halfling smiles at the others. "I think that sounds like a right bonnie plan," she says. "Killing two birds with one stone, as they say, and I'd say even if we only killed one, with the size of the critters in this place, we'll all eat well."
Then, just before her Speak With Animals wears off, she turns to Nanra and says to her, "This one here, Korinth, is going to help us hunt up a meal. We'll help you track and kill something, warn each other of prey or of danger. The others are going to look for a safe place to sleep that has fresh water. Silvana asks if you know of any spots nearby like that."
If Nanra assents, (and after translating any reply she makes to the others), Euphemia nods to the raptor and to Korinth. "Let's make a go of it, then. Let's find us a meal." Suspecting that either of them would be a better tracker than she herself is, she follows their lead, Helping them in whatever way she can to find or pursue a trail.
Shin waits to hear from Pinky-toe (Perception 22, see post 193) as to whether the cacophony of bird calls and shrieks might represent something "hunt-able" by Nanra, Korinth and Euphemia.
He wonders too whether his Tenser's Floating Disk might be of use carrying any prey back after a hunt, but does not want to presume.
The goblin turns to join Silvana and Atax in finding a shelter spot, but then looks back to ask Euphemia. "While it seems incongruous to suggest this, might you ask our sauro-avian comrade whether she would like one of us (me no doubt, given my luck), to apply our Healer's Kit to treat her wounds?"
Hmph! The little Miss did it. Impressive. Putting away his arrow and shouldering his bow, Korinth begins to climb down. Something about the situation reminds him... of... someone. He can't... see their face. Damn.
Branches scrape and scratch as he comes down, but he hardly notices, focused on this lapse in memory that eludes him.
Pale-faced and tense as a rock, Euphemia walks in silent footsteps beside her saurian companion as the raptor expresses her anger, first at Atax, and then passing him to focus on the others. But, to the halfling's great relief, Nanra doesn't touch them. She takes a deep breath. I'd be right furious myself if someone had just killed my children. She's got some remarkable self-control. Of course, she trusts me too. I'd better live up to it. Oi, Rannik, I ain't the one cut out for this!
"This is Nanra," Euphemia speaks up to the others, once it's clear that the raptor isn't going to dismember anyone. "I've got a few more minutes I can speak with her, if there's anything you'd like to communicate."
Looking up at Nanra, the halfling says, in what probably sounds like an odd series of clicks and screeches to the others, "Thank you, Nanra. You've saved my life twice today now. They're wanting to help us, and I'm real glad for that." She smiles at the raptor. "You've still got that great cut on your back, it's looking well now, but I'm thinking we ought to find you a safe place to rest at some point today, so it can finish up healing. And maybe hunt up something to eat... are you hungry?"
When Euphemia says she only has a few more minutes to communicate, Atax thinks of his implant. The raptor probably wouldn’t know, but it never hurts to ask.
”Euphemia, could you ask your new raptor friend what these are?” He shows the implant on his arm to her rather than the one from the dead raptor.
Korinth approaches from behind Atax to "meet" this new ally, softly tapping the lizardman on the arm as he passes so as not to startle him. He speaks to Euphemia in a low, even voice, careful not to draw the beast's ire as he approaches the halfling.
"You did well, lass. Color me surprised this didn't end in blood."
ALL
After Euphemia translates Atax's inquiry, Nanra shakes her head. "I don't know what they are, but everything has them. They don't taste very good, and they make my tummy hurt when I eat them."
A sudden cacophony of bird calls and bestial shrieks erupt in the far distance, drawing Nanra's attention for a bit, but she turns her attention back to the humanoids around her after coming to the conclusion that whatever just happened was too far away to be of any worry to them.
Shin considers. "We will require potable water soon enough. I am not certain that what Nanra considers safe to drink is the same as what we might. Yet is it worth asking her if there is a location, perhaps a fresh stream, cleaner and safer from other predators than the river, which we could use?"
Pinky-toe remains well above in the branches, looking skeptical. Or she could remain hydrated by drinking your blood after slaying you.
Mud(Paladin2):Frandal's Scourge/Inge(Barbarian1):Krayveneer's After the Fall/Seri(Cleric1/Sorcerer1):Uhtred's Windward Isles/Shin(Wizard2):Dimir_MTG's Surviving
Dyson/Eleo(Cleric3):Vos' Beyond the Veil/Soren(Druid4):Bartjeebus' Ravenloft/Nivi(Rogue3):Raiketsu's CoS/Lyra(Warlock2/Bard2):BlameItOnWinter's Will of the Ancients
Joren(Fighter5):NotDrizzt's Simple Request/Quyen(Adept1):Constance's Nentir Vale/Rel(Warlock2):Uhtred's Phandelver/Xarian(Fighter1/Wizard1):ShieldHero's Drakkenheim
Korinth considers this for a moment.
"I have a thought about that, actually. Once we've found a short-term source of water, remind me to tell you my brilliant plan."
Silvana watches all this go on with stunned amazement. She looks over at Euphemia and wonders what the little halfling had in mind with her new found friend.
"Yes, fresh water would be a great idea. Brilliant eh? Maybe we could start with your name? Mine's Silvana."
"Korinthos Sparda Saipryss," replies the Genasi, eyeing Silvana up and down.
"...Buuut I hate that name, so I'd rather you called me Korinth."
Nanra nods absentmindedly at Euphemia's words. "I'm always hungry," she says, eyeing the others in the clearing. Hopefully, she's not hungry enough to make a snack out of the others.
Euphemia translates and relays questions and answers back and forth between the group and the raptor, wringing at her sleeves a little nervously as she does. "It still could," she says in reply to Korinth, "there's still a heap o' trust to build... on both sides. Nice to meet you, though." The halfling glances back towards the sudden cacophony of bird calls as Nanra does. There's threats a plenty out here. Too many.
"I've got an idea," she says to the others. "I know we're all in a flutter about water, and these implants, and for my part, a safe place to sleep for the night... but I think there's one thing we can do right now that'll serve us all best. I think we ought to find the trail of some likely prey critter, and hunt it out together. Us, and the raptor. She's hungry, and I'm hungry, and I figure y'all must be too. If she weren't a great toothy beast and all, I'd hunt around for some plants. I like plants well enough, and they're right useful for a lot more than just food. But that won't do for Nanra, and maybe some of the rest of you." She says this last bit with an eye to Atax and Silvana. "What do y'all think? It'll be a good, ah, pack exercise. Build trust, work together, provide for each other."
Shin's smile is crooked, as with most goblins. Yet his expression is sincere.
"I am all for building trust. Between us and Nanra. Between us full stop, for that matter."
Oh yes, trust, very nice. Pinky-toe looks on with wry amusement from the branches.
Next will you take turns closing your eyes trust-falling into the raptor so she can catch you with her claws?
Hearing the cacophony of shrieks and bird calls, the owl scans around to see if she can spot the source, or at least hear the direction it comes from.
Pinky-toe's Perception with owls' Keen Hearing and Sight: 22
(If she spots danger, she warns Shin telepathically and flies down to his shoulder. Or if she thinks the beasts involved might be good to hunt).
Mud(Paladin2):Frandal's Scourge/Inge(Barbarian1):Krayveneer's After the Fall/Seri(Cleric1/Sorcerer1):Uhtred's Windward Isles/Shin(Wizard2):Dimir_MTG's Surviving
Dyson/Eleo(Cleric3):Vos' Beyond the Veil/Soren(Druid4):Bartjeebus' Ravenloft/Nivi(Rogue3):Raiketsu's CoS/Lyra(Warlock2/Bard2):BlameItOnWinter's Will of the Ancients
Joren(Fighter5):NotDrizzt's Simple Request/Quyen(Adept1):Constance's Nentir Vale/Rel(Warlock2):Uhtred's Phandelver/Xarian(Fighter1/Wizard1):ShieldHero's Drakkenheim
"Aye, that could work" replies the Genasi, stroking a bit of fuzz growing on his chin. "Bit o' advice, however. Avoid the nearest beaches. Aside from the various scavengers of the many-legged variety, the earlier carnage seems to have scared most of the prey in that area off. If ye persist, I'd recommend pushing north."
Silvana gives Korlinth a sly smile as he responds, "Korlinth. Got it."
"A pack exercise eh? So you plan on keeping this beast around? When it is hungry in the middle of the night, and decides one of us looks like the perfect snack? I don't know... I'm all for the rest of us figuring out how we all work together and what we need to do to survive and maybe get out of this place? But Nanra is it? She gives me the shivers."
"I don't know," the Genasi folds his arms across his bare chest. "Something about her seems... familiar. Big, aye. And a little more hostile, too. But... I don't know."
Sidling up to Atax, he leans against the wall of scales as one would lean against a wall of bricks. With a wry grin, he asks, "And what say you, big guy? They actually sank their teeth in you. You up for passing the sentiment along to something bigger 'n' tastier?"
“At the moment, I would like to find a place that is reasonably defendable with fresh water, or at least anyplace better than here,” he says answering Korinth’s question.
Then with a grin he says “ But after we find that I would welcome the challenge of hunting down a bigger and tastier meal.”
The Genasi takes a moment to think.
"Shot in the dark, but we could always split up. I go with the sweet lass and her new friend, and we track something to eat."
He waves a hand towards the others, "...Meanwhile, you lot can find us a place to live. The little guy's owl can keep an eye out for us, and I can track your movements from this spot."
Silvana considers this proposal for a bit then shrugs, "I'm good with that. Atax, Shin, shall we find a spot?" Then turning to Euphemia, "Unless your friend here knows of something? Or at least pointing us in a direction that would be best? That would definitely help."
Euphemia wipes her forehead with her sleeve. It comes off damp. As the sun continues to rise in the sky, it's getting hot and steamy, but she feels cold and clammy. Seems certain I'll be spending a lot of my time here feeling ready to run for my life, she muses. Reaching out a hand to pat Nanra's knee (which is all she can reach) the halfling smiles at the others. "I think that sounds like a right bonnie plan," she says. "Killing two birds with one stone, as they say, and I'd say even if we only killed one, with the size of the critters in this place, we'll all eat well."
Then, just before her Speak With Animals wears off, she turns to Nanra and says to her, "This one here, Korinth, is going to help us hunt up a meal. We'll help you track and kill something, warn each other of prey or of danger. The others are going to look for a safe place to sleep that has fresh water. Silvana asks if you know of any spots nearby like that."
If Nanra assents, (and after translating any reply she makes to the others), Euphemia nods to the raptor and to Korinth. "Let's make a go of it, then. Let's find us a meal." Suspecting that either of them would be a better tracker than she herself is, she follows their lead, Helping them in whatever way she can to find or pursue a trail.
Shin waits to hear from Pinky-toe (Perception 22, see post 193) as to whether the cacophony of bird calls and shrieks might represent something "hunt-able" by Nanra, Korinth and Euphemia.
He wonders too whether his Tenser's Floating Disk might be of use carrying any prey back after a hunt, but does not want to presume.
The goblin turns to join Silvana and Atax in finding a shelter spot, but then looks back to ask Euphemia. "While it seems incongruous to suggest this, might you ask our sauro-avian comrade whether she would like one of us (me no doubt, given my luck), to apply our Healer's Kit to treat her wounds?"
Mud(Paladin2):Frandal's Scourge/Inge(Barbarian1):Krayveneer's After the Fall/Seri(Cleric1/Sorcerer1):Uhtred's Windward Isles/Shin(Wizard2):Dimir_MTG's Surviving
Dyson/Eleo(Cleric3):Vos' Beyond the Veil/Soren(Druid4):Bartjeebus' Ravenloft/Nivi(Rogue3):Raiketsu's CoS/Lyra(Warlock2/Bard2):BlameItOnWinter's Will of the Ancients
Joren(Fighter5):NotDrizzt's Simple Request/Quyen(Adept1):Constance's Nentir Vale/Rel(Warlock2):Uhtred's Phandelver/Xarian(Fighter1/Wizard1):ShieldHero's Drakkenheim