Balliol listens to the various arguments and then watches as Aros goes flying over the edge. He wasn't sure what stunned him more, her fall or Stalker's amazing catch. Once everyone was back up on the causeway he listened to the talk some more.
"Well, it seems we can't go more than 60 to 80 feet along the causeway anyway (DM noted that it is broken and travel up here is not possible. We must go down.) so I'd vote for going down. Carrying Sammy is Stalker's choice, but I can say Sir., that I hope you will do so. I may be tall, but I am sure you are stronger than I."
(Assuming the party gets ready to descend.) As they get ready to go down he finds a moment to say to Aros, "Sorry if my questions offended you. I was just looking for information and I don't know the Misters. Hopefully we can just leave that behind us. Friends?" He held out his hand to her.
Resmae warms to Wildreds approach and her ears pop up at his kind words. She comes out from under Sammy and opens her pack, she buries her little head in and then pop! it comes back up with a concerned look on her face. "Aros created that cool little, did you call it a baby carrier?" she queries to Aros, "Nevermind, that could work to hold my puppy, but does anyone have any pitons or anything that could help if we tried lowering him down through a rope and piton type system? I unfortunately do not have any, but I do have 50' of rope!" she pulls it out and lays it on the wet floor, looking at the others with hope in her eyes.
Aros shakes Balliol's hand and nods. "Don't sweat it. Friends. And let's not sweat the Sammy problem either, gang. I'LL carry her. Balliol, will you just do me a favor and take a few things from my pack so I can shoulder the load?"
(If Balliol takes Aros's 20 lbs of rations, she won't be overencumbered even with Sammy on her back)
Aros removes her rations from her pack and places them on the ground, then she asks Resmae "Think you can fit the harness around Sammy so I can put her on my back?"
Resmae gives Aros a big smile, "You got it!! Sammy, you hear that? We're getting off this wet slippery trap of a platform!"She approaches the blink dog with the makeshift sling, "Now, just hold still as I get this around you.."
Some back and forth between our adventurers, and they are about to take the plunge, with Sammy in the makeshift baby carrier on Aros's back.
Sammy whimpers, shaking with fear at this proposal. "These humanoids are insane!" he thinks to himself as the many different ways he can plunge to his death flash through his mind. "What do they think I am, a cat?" he thinks, then cowers over to Aros and the makeshift dog carrier.
Balliol scouts the causeway with his eyes. He spies on the opposite ledge some broken stone that could make potential anchor points.
"It's alright buddy," Aros coos to Sammy as she lifts him carefully and wraps the bjorn around herself. "You took care of Resmae today, now I'm gonna take care of you."
Aros doesn't know much about mountain climbing and would probably be happy to just free-solo it like everyone else, but trusts to the others that they know how to do it more safely. She waits for the others to ready the ropes.
Balliol gets ropes tied off to the rocks on the far side of the causeway. Luckily there are heavy stones that make for easy tiedowns. He needs 4 of their ropes combined to get it done. When finished he brings it over to the edge. Looking at the others he grins. "I'd say something about this being easy but the world might take that as a challenge, so I won't. Just stay safe. My thought was that I would toss the rope down now so that it dangles next to the ladder. All of us not names Aros won't hold onto it, but it will be there in case we need it. Aros, I don't know mountain climbing any better than the rest of you, but I think the best choice would be to just go down like a normal ladder, but maybe have the rope between your arm and the ladder. That way if anything should happen there is a good chance that you could grab onto it. I don't think you'll need it, but it is there as a safety net. But, if things seem dicey - if you get a few rungs down and your not sure about it, come back up. It is possible that some of us could go down and run the rope through some of the rungs so that it is somewhat anchored to the columns. That would give you a more secure hold and we might even be able to rig some sort of tie on to keep you linked to it. So you don't seem to think you need that and I don't think it is needed, but, well, I'm not sure about it, so if it doesn't feel good - come back and we will do the slower version. "
He sighs and looks over the edge. "Ok, as discussed, I'll go first followed by Resmae. She can keep Sammy calm and be there when he is down and I can be on the ground first for guard. Wildred and Halei - if you are comfortable coming down without the rope you could wait until the rest of us are down and then untie it and bring it down with you. That is almost all of our rope and I'd rather not just leave it all here. But that is your call. If the rope makes you more comfortable, then use it. Ok, lets see if we can do this thing."
If nobody objects to the plan as outlined, Bugs drops 200' of rope (tied together, of course) over the edge while trying to keep it close to the ladder - it is tied off on some large stones. He then takes one last look up at the sky to make sure nothing was swooping down on them and one more look down towards the ground to make sure nothing was swooping up at them and starts to make his way down.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
"Aye aye, cap'n!" Aros says enthusiastically to Balliol's instruction, waving a lazy salute.
Echoing Balliol, Aros scans the sky and the horizon for flying dangers. This place could surprise you, and this wasn't the time for surprises.
Perception: 10
As collected as she's playing, she doesn't relish the thought of carrying a squirming dog almost as big as she was on her back down a vertical 100' cliffside. But she takes a deep breath to calm herself, and when it was her turn, she grasps the rope and stepped over the edge.
Balliol ties together the remaining three lengths of rope and securely ties off one end to the opposite side of the causeway, tossing the other end over the edge next to the descending pillar. The end of the rope falls beneath the fog below.
Balliol is first to descend. He steps over the lip of the causeway. The rope in hand provides a sense of security. The exposure here is the most challenging part of the descent, and wrapping your heads around it and trusting your coordination and strength is a mind mash. With Balliol over, Resmae follows, beginning her descent as well.
With Sammy securely strapped onto her back, Aros takes hold of the rope. She scouts the sky above for any threats, takes a deep breath and tackles the climb over the lip. The secured rope makes the climb over much easier than expected. Sammy shakes uncontrollably as he looks down, and the whimpering begins. Resmae looks up and tries to calm the petrified blink dog, but he is paralysed with fear, and the only thing to do now is to find the ground.
Wildred and Halei wait up top to retrieve the rope before descending.
Slow and steady, the three of you make your way down. It is an easy climb for you, Balliol and Resmae, but for you, Aros, it is hard going. With Sammy shaking on your back, you take it carefully. Step by step. Handhold by handhold, with the rope tracking under your armpit as you descend.
Balliol, you are first to reach the fog. Its obstruction of the view slightly dissipates as you descend into it. The constant darkness and moisture caking moss on the hand and footholds, which are much more slippery here. You carefully continue down into the fog, which has obscured your view of the bridge above. The pungent smell of swamp fills your nostrils. You look down to see what you estimate is about 20' or so below the fog, the muddy ground below. You give your friends a heads up on the slipperiness of the holds and place your feet securely in the mud below. Squelch, Squelch go your feet as they sink about a foot down into the mud.
Resmae follows into the fog below and also finally reaches the base. Almost slipping at the bottom, but Balliol was at the ready to spot her if she fell.
Next are Aros and Sammy. Sammy's tail starts to whip back and forth with joy once he spots the ground. His tail inadvertently flicks Aros in the eye, and she loses grip with one of her hands. Fortunately, the descending rope saves them from a faceplant in the mud below.
Whew!
You tug on the rope to indicate that you are safely at the bottom, and Halei and Wildred untie the ropes from their anchors, coil them and start their descent until the six of you are safely planted feet first in the muddy swamp.
Aros, you untie Sammy, who is ecstatic to have his paws in the ground and, as all dogs do, when there is a muddy puddle. He throws himself in and covers himself in mud, occasionally standing up to shake it all over the rest of you.
You are surrounded by the muddy and wet swamp in all directions. It is going to be hard going, and you can only see about 20' or 30' feet in any direction, including up. Balliol and Resmae, You think you have a general idea of which way you are facing and which way the descended balloon entered the fog.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
"Ugh Sammy!! This is mud, we don't want to be wearing mud!" She tries brushing it off as best as she can, points out into the open and turns to Balliol, "Is that the direction you saw the balloon head down? That's what I remember as we face the column and then turn counterclockwise from it."She looks up at him hoping they are on the same page. With this fog it is really hard to make things out.
Once that is determined, she hops up on Sammy "I'd be happy to go first as we head out, Sammy here is really good at detecting things with his nose and ears." then as the rest get in a sort of order, she starts heading out in the direction agreed upon, realizing too late she is sitting upon a muddy dog.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
After she's let Sammy down from the Bjorn, Aros rolls her rope back up and places her cloak back over her shoulders, making sure to pin it short so it doesn't drag in the mud. As she plunges into the mud following Resmae and Sammy, she sighs theatrically and says "The gods all got together and decided Aros is going to be having a BIG laundry day this weekend... At least mud is easier to scrub out than rabbit blood!"
She does her best to keep her eyes peeled as she walks, though focus has never exactly been Aros's strong suit.
Balliol breaths easier when his feet were finally on the ground, even if that ground is actually about a foot under what looked like the ground. Ugh, the mud! He had been worried that something would be waiting for them at the bottom of the climb hidden by all of the fog. He looked around. Something still might be waiting for them in the fog, but it had at least done them the courtesy of allowing them all to reach the ground. That was a relief.
Clearly Sammy felt the relief as well as he practically jumped out of the climbing harness and rolled in the mud. Bugs was tempted to grimace at the mess, but it was hard to get upset with something so clearly happy and he did feel for the pup. That climb wasn't fun when you were in control of your own fate. Bugs had half expected him to just blink down the moment he could see the ground. But then he didn't really know how blink dogs worked. Apparently they were pretty good with mud. That was something.
When Resmae asked about the balloon he nodded. He'd done his best to track it's direction relative to the pillar they climbed down. "Yeah, that is where I put it also. It gives us something to aim for anyway." He'd taken the lead going down the ladder but now relinquished that position to the small, dog-riding, cleric. He would take up the rear position. He patted Wildred on the shoulder as the started to move out. "Ready for this Willy? You indicated that you always wanted to see the feywild. And now you can. Did you know you'd barely be able to see past the tip of your nose? I don't suppose those specs of yours let you see through the fog, do they? That'd be handy." Despite the fact that he couldn't see very far, he did his best to keep his eyes and ears open.
Halei breathes a sigh of relief at finally being on the move again. As the group moves forward she throws an arm around Wildred's shoulder. "Guess you're gonna be with me in the middle buddy!" She marches on through the mud mostly unbothered. She's quite used to living in the woods, and she never wears shoes much, so the feeling of mud encasing her bare feet isn't foreign, but it does take a bit of effort with her little legs. She loves to be outdoors and amongst nature.
She looks around observing her surroundings eagerly, excited to explore such a new environment.
Wildred smiles at Halei....the descent was somewhat traumatising to wildred he just hopes that that's the last time he has to deal with heights...but Haleis comfort really helps him shake of the trembling feeling and jelly legs.
Sticky mud squelches beneath your feet. Tangled mangroves grow out of pools of rippling water, half-hidden by the thick fog, and purple mushrooms cling to rotting logs and stumps scattered throughout the marsh. Crickets that glow like fireflies chirp serenely before they’re snatched out of the air by the tongues of hungry frogs, and insects the size of small birds buzz around you from every direction.
From front to back, I have your marching order as Resmae riding Sammy, Aros, Halei, Wildred, and Balliol. Correct me if I am wrong.
You have been travelling for some time toward the only thing you know. The fallen balloon. It is hard going (this is difficult terrain). The squelch, squelch, squelch of the six of you trudging through the swamp will be hard to hide. You are hardly travelling quietly as you crunch over rotting logs, panting and grunting as you go. Snapping twigs and the chorus of your muddy footsteps as you press your feet into the mud and squelch your feet out again. Step after step.
Suddenly, you are startled by a nearby giant crane that is disturbed by you. Frightened, the huge avian creature takes off in flight. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh goes its enormous wings as it disappears into the fog.
Sammy instinctually chases after the big bird, blinking from under Resmae and rematerialising slightly short of the flying crane some ten feet or so in the air as he plunges back down into the mud below. Before wagging his way back to Resmae, who is now also sitting in the mud.
As your attention refocuses on the swampy sounds, you hear far off, an ensemble of several voices joined in marching song.
At the back of the group Balliol was the last to see the giant crane take off. His first thought was that having a crane be their first significant encounter in the wild was not too bad. Then Sammy took off. He couldn't decide if he was more amused by the dog splashing 10' down into the mud or Resmae suddenly plopping down butt-first into the muck. But watching Resmae's face at discovering herself floating in midair with no dog under her and then becoming cozy with the mud was too much. He had to put a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing out loud. Sammy returning with a wagging tail only made it worse. After the stress and muck a good belly laugh, even one stifled by his hand to keep from insulting his fellow rabbit, was worth it.
And that was when he heard the song. Something else was in this mud. He glanced around looking for a good place to hide. There were mangroves all over the place, sot here should be something. He listened carefully to see if he could identify the direction from which the singing came or the language. (A bad perception roll of 7.) He quickly indicated to the others that they should find a spot of concealment amongst the mangroves to hide. Lets see what was singing and then they could decide if it was wise to be seen.
Halei's first reaction to the marching song was not to hide. She first started across the mud towards the voices to see if she could get a better look. It wasn't until Balliol suggested otherwise that she made to turn around.
Aros joins Balliol in his laughter at Resmae's predicament. Nearly doubled over, she is about to say something speak when Balliol tells them to hide. All the levity disappearing from her face, she rushes to help Resmae to her feet so they can find a bush to disappear into.
(Any chance Resmae or Aros might recognize the singing?)
"Sammy? Sammy!" Resmae exclaims as she lands on her bunny butt in the mud. She shakes her head as she works on getting her cottontail unstuck from the mud, "One of his favorite tricks. Honestly I don't know why I ride him half the time, probably to keep myself out of his mouth!"When Sammy runs back all happy and she hears Aros and maybe? Balliol laugh at her expense, she can't help but crack a smile. Mud doesn't hurt anyone and man, they've had a day.
But then her ears perk up at the sound far off, she looks to the others to see their reaction. She isn't quite sure what to think and goes to join Halei until the suggestion is mentioned to hide and she also joins the rest. Unsure what to expect in this foreign place.
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Balliol listens to the various arguments and then watches as Aros goes flying over the edge. He wasn't sure what stunned him more, her fall or Stalker's amazing catch. Once everyone was back up on the causeway he listened to the talk some more.
"Well, it seems we can't go more than 60 to 80 feet along the causeway anyway (DM noted that it is broken and travel up here is not possible. We must go down.) so I'd vote for going down. Carrying Sammy is Stalker's choice, but I can say Sir., that I hope you will do so. I may be tall, but I am sure you are stronger than I."
(Assuming the party gets ready to descend.) As they get ready to go down he finds a moment to say to Aros, "Sorry if my questions offended you. I was just looking for information and I don't know the Misters. Hopefully we can just leave that behind us. Friends?" He held out his hand to her.
Resmae warms to Wildreds approach and her ears pop up at his kind words. She comes out from under Sammy and opens her pack, she buries her little head in and then pop! it comes back up with a concerned look on her face. "Aros created that cool little, did you call it a baby carrier?" she queries to Aros, "Nevermind, that could work to hold my puppy, but does anyone have any pitons or anything that could help if we tried lowering him down through a rope and piton type system? I unfortunately do not have any, but I do have 50' of rope!" she pulls it out and lays it on the wet floor, looking at the others with hope in her eyes.
Aros shakes Balliol's hand and nods. "Don't sweat it. Friends. And let's not sweat the Sammy problem either, gang. I'LL carry her. Balliol, will you just do me a favor and take a few things from my pack so I can shoulder the load?"
(If Balliol takes Aros's 20 lbs of rations, she won't be overencumbered even with Sammy on her back)
Aros removes her rations from her pack and places them on the ground, then she asks Resmae "Think you can fit the harness around Sammy so I can put her on my back?"
Balliol will happily carry an extra 20 pounds of his new friends gear.
Resmae gives Aros a big smile, "You got it!! Sammy, you hear that? We're getting off this wet slippery trap of a platform!" She approaches the blink dog with the makeshift sling, "Now, just hold still as I get this around you.."
Some back and forth between our adventurers, and they are about to take the plunge, with Sammy in the makeshift baby carrier on Aros's back.
Sammy whimpers, shaking with fear at this proposal. "These humanoids are insane!" he thinks to himself as the many different ways he can plunge to his death flash through his mind. "What do they think I am, a cat?" he thinks, then cowers over to Aros and the makeshift dog carrier.
Balliol scouts the causeway with his eyes. He spies on the opposite ledge some broken stone that could make potential anchor points.
"It's alright buddy," Aros coos to Sammy as she lifts him carefully and wraps the bjorn around herself. "You took care of Resmae today, now I'm gonna take care of you."
Aros doesn't know much about mountain climbing and would probably be happy to just free-solo it like everyone else, but trusts to the others that they know how to do it more safely. She waits for the others to ready the ropes.
Balliol gets ropes tied off to the rocks on the far side of the causeway. Luckily there are heavy stones that make for easy tiedowns. He needs 4 of their ropes combined to get it done. When finished he brings it over to the edge. Looking at the others he grins. "I'd say something about this being easy but the world might take that as a challenge, so I won't. Just stay safe. My thought was that I would toss the rope down now so that it dangles next to the ladder. All of us not names Aros won't hold onto it, but it will be there in case we need it. Aros, I don't know mountain climbing any better than the rest of you, but I think the best choice would be to just go down like a normal ladder, but maybe have the rope between your arm and the ladder. That way if anything should happen there is a good chance that you could grab onto it. I don't think you'll need it, but it is there as a safety net. But, if things seem dicey - if you get a few rungs down and your not sure about it, come back up. It is possible that some of us could go down and run the rope through some of the rungs so that it is somewhat anchored to the columns. That would give you a more secure hold and we might even be able to rig some sort of tie on to keep you linked to it. So you don't seem to think you need that and I don't think it is needed, but, well, I'm not sure about it, so if it doesn't feel good - come back and we will do the slower version. "
He sighs and looks over the edge. "Ok, as discussed, I'll go first followed by Resmae. She can keep Sammy calm and be there when he is down and I can be on the ground first for guard. Wildred and Halei - if you are comfortable coming down without the rope you could wait until the rest of us are down and then untie it and bring it down with you. That is almost all of our rope and I'd rather not just leave it all here. But that is your call. If the rope makes you more comfortable, then use it. Ok, lets see if we can do this thing."
If nobody objects to the plan as outlined, Bugs drops 200' of rope (tied together, of course) over the edge while trying to keep it close to the ladder - it is tied off on some large stones. He then takes one last look up at the sky to make sure nothing was swooping down on them and one more look down towards the ground to make sure nothing was swooping up at them and starts to make his way down.
"Aye aye, cap'n!" Aros says enthusiastically to Balliol's instruction, waving a lazy salute.
Echoing Balliol, Aros scans the sky and the horizon for flying dangers. This place could surprise you, and this wasn't the time for surprises.
Perception: 10
As collected as she's playing, she doesn't relish the thought of carrying a squirming dog almost as big as she was on her back down a vertical 100' cliffside. But she takes a deep breath to calm herself, and when it was her turn, she grasps the rope and stepped over the edge.
Balliol ties together the remaining three lengths of rope and securely ties off one end to the opposite side of the causeway, tossing the other end over the edge next to the descending pillar. The end of the rope falls beneath the fog below.
Balliol is first to descend. He steps over the lip of the causeway. The rope in hand provides a sense of security. The exposure here is the most challenging part of the descent, and wrapping your heads around it and trusting your coordination and strength is a mind mash. With Balliol over, Resmae follows, beginning her descent as well.
With Sammy securely strapped onto her back, Aros takes hold of the rope. She scouts the sky above for any threats, takes a deep breath and tackles the climb over the lip. The secured rope makes the climb over much easier than expected. Sammy shakes uncontrollably as he looks down, and the whimpering begins. Resmae looks up and tries to calm the petrified blink dog, but he is paralysed with fear, and the only thing to do now is to find the ground.
Wildred and Halei wait up top to retrieve the rope before descending.
Slow and steady, the three of you make your way down. It is an easy climb for you, Balliol and Resmae, but for you, Aros, it is hard going. With Sammy shaking on your back, you take it carefully. Step by step. Handhold by handhold, with the rope tracking under your armpit as you descend.
Balliol, you are first to reach the fog. Its obstruction of the view slightly dissipates as you descend into it. The constant darkness and moisture caking moss on the hand and footholds, which are much more slippery here. You carefully continue down into the fog, which has obscured your view of the bridge above. The pungent smell of swamp fills your nostrils. You look down to see what you estimate is about 20' or so below the fog, the muddy ground below. You give your friends a heads up on the slipperiness of the holds and place your feet securely in the mud below. Squelch, Squelch go your feet as they sink about a foot down into the mud.
Resmae follows into the fog below and also finally reaches the base. Almost slipping at the bottom, but Balliol was at the ready to spot her if she fell.
Next are Aros and Sammy. Sammy's tail starts to whip back and forth with joy once he spots the ground. His tail inadvertently flicks Aros in the eye, and she loses grip with one of her hands. Fortunately, the descending rope saves them from a faceplant in the mud below.
Whew!
You tug on the rope to indicate that you are safely at the bottom, and Halei and Wildred untie the ropes from their anchors, coil them and start their descent until the six of you are safely planted feet first in the muddy swamp.
Aros, you untie Sammy, who is ecstatic to have his paws in the ground and, as all dogs do, when there is a muddy puddle. He throws himself in and covers himself in mud, occasionally standing up to shake it all over the rest of you.
You are surrounded by the muddy and wet swamp in all directions. It is going to be hard going, and you can only see about 20' or 30' feet in any direction, including up. Balliol and Resmae, You think you have a general idea of which way you are facing and which way the descended balloon entered the fog.
"Ugh Sammy!! This is mud, we don't want to be wearing mud!" She tries brushing it off as best as she can, points out into the open and turns to Balliol, "Is that the direction you saw the balloon head down? That's what I remember as we face the column and then turn counterclockwise from it." She looks up at him hoping they are on the same page. With this fog it is really hard to make things out.
Once that is determined, she hops up on Sammy "I'd be happy to go first as we head out, Sammy here is really good at detecting things with his nose and ears." then as the rest get in a sort of order, she starts heading out in the direction agreed upon, realizing too late she is sitting upon a muddy dog.
Sammy's perception 17
Resmae's perception 15
(I hope its ok that I rolled for both of them?)
After she's let Sammy down from the Bjorn, Aros rolls her rope back up and places her cloak back over her shoulders, making sure to pin it short so it doesn't drag in the mud. As she plunges into the mud following Resmae and Sammy, she sighs theatrically and says "The gods all got together and decided Aros is going to be having a BIG laundry day this weekend... At least mud is easier to scrub out than rabbit blood!"
She does her best to keep her eyes peeled as she walks, though focus has never exactly been Aros's strong suit.
Perception: 19
Balliol breaths easier when his feet were finally on the ground, even if that ground is actually about a foot under what looked like the ground. Ugh, the mud! He had been worried that something would be waiting for them at the bottom of the climb hidden by all of the fog. He looked around. Something still might be waiting for them in the fog, but it had at least done them the courtesy of allowing them all to reach the ground. That was a relief.
Clearly Sammy felt the relief as well as he practically jumped out of the climbing harness and rolled in the mud. Bugs was tempted to grimace at the mess, but it was hard to get upset with something so clearly happy and he did feel for the pup. That climb wasn't fun when you were in control of your own fate. Bugs had half expected him to just blink down the moment he could see the ground. But then he didn't really know how blink dogs worked. Apparently they were pretty good with mud. That was something.
When Resmae asked about the balloon he nodded. He'd done his best to track it's direction relative to the pillar they climbed down. "Yeah, that is where I put it also. It gives us something to aim for anyway." He'd taken the lead going down the ladder but now relinquished that position to the small, dog-riding, cleric. He would take up the rear position. He patted Wildred on the shoulder as the started to move out. "Ready for this Willy? You indicated that you always wanted to see the feywild. And now you can. Did you know you'd barely be able to see past the tip of your nose? I don't suppose those specs of yours let you see through the fog, do they? That'd be handy." Despite the fact that he couldn't see very far, he did his best to keep his eyes and ears open.
Halei breathes a sigh of relief at finally being on the move again. As the group moves forward she throws an arm around Wildred's shoulder. "Guess you're gonna be with me in the middle buddy!" She marches on through the mud mostly unbothered. She's quite used to living in the woods, and she never wears shoes much, so the feeling of mud encasing her bare feet isn't foreign, but it does take a bit of effort with her little legs. She loves to be outdoors and amongst nature.
She looks around observing her surroundings eagerly, excited to explore such a new environment.
Perception: 22
Wildred smiles at Halei....the descent was somewhat traumatising to wildred he just hopes that that's the last time he has to deal with heights...but Haleis comfort really helps him shake of the trembling feeling and jelly legs.
She's a good egg he thinks to himself
Sticky mud squelches beneath your feet. Tangled mangroves grow out of pools of rippling water, half-hidden by the thick fog, and purple mushrooms cling to rotting logs and stumps scattered throughout the marsh. Crickets that glow like fireflies chirp serenely before they’re snatched out of the air by the tongues of hungry frogs, and insects the size of small birds buzz around you from every direction.
From front to back, I have your marching order as Resmae riding Sammy, Aros, Halei, Wildred, and Balliol. Correct me if I am wrong.
You have been travelling for some time toward the only thing you know. The fallen balloon. It is hard going (this is difficult terrain). The squelch, squelch, squelch of the six of you trudging through the swamp will be hard to hide. You are hardly travelling quietly as you crunch over rotting logs, panting and grunting as you go. Snapping twigs and the chorus of your muddy footsteps as you press your feet into the mud and squelch your feet out again. Step after step.
Suddenly, you are startled by a nearby giant crane that is disturbed by you. Frightened, the huge avian creature takes off in flight. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh goes its enormous wings as it disappears into the fog.
Sammy instinctually chases after the big bird, blinking from under Resmae and rematerialising slightly short of the flying crane some ten feet or so in the air as he plunges back down into the mud below. Before wagging his way back to Resmae, who is now also sitting in the mud.
As your attention refocuses on the swampy sounds, you hear far off, an ensemble of several voices joined in marching song.
At the back of the group Balliol was the last to see the giant crane take off. His first thought was that having a crane be their first significant encounter in the wild was not too bad. Then Sammy took off. He couldn't decide if he was more amused by the dog splashing 10' down into the mud or Resmae suddenly plopping down butt-first into the muck. But watching Resmae's face at discovering herself floating in midair with no dog under her and then becoming cozy with the mud was too much. He had to put a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing out loud. Sammy returning with a wagging tail only made it worse. After the stress and muck a good belly laugh, even one stifled by his hand to keep from insulting his fellow rabbit, was worth it.
And that was when he heard the song. Something else was in this mud. He glanced around looking for a good place to hide. There were mangroves all over the place, sot here should be something. He listened carefully to see if he could identify the direction from which the singing came or the language. (A bad perception roll of 7.) He quickly indicated to the others that they should find a spot of concealment amongst the mangroves to hide. Lets see what was singing and then they could decide if it was wise to be seen.
Halei's first reaction to the marching song was not to hide. She first started across the mud towards the voices to see if she could get a better look. It wasn't until Balliol suggested otherwise that she made to turn around.
Aros joins Balliol in his laughter at Resmae's predicament. Nearly doubled over, she is about to say something speak when Balliol tells them to hide. All the levity disappearing from her face, she rushes to help Resmae to her feet so they can find a bush to disappear into.
(Any chance Resmae or Aros might recognize the singing?)
"Sammy? Sammy!" Resmae exclaims as she lands on her bunny butt in the mud. She shakes her head as she works on getting her cottontail unstuck from the mud, "One of his favorite tricks. Honestly I don't know why I ride him half the time, probably to keep myself out of his mouth!" When Sammy runs back all happy and she hears Aros and maybe? Balliol laugh at her expense, she can't help but crack a smile. Mud doesn't hurt anyone and man, they've had a day.
But then her ears perk up at the sound far off, she looks to the others to see their reaction. She isn't quite sure what to think and goes to join Halei until the suggestion is mentioned to hide and she also joins the rest. Unsure what to expect in this foreign place.