Red Dead Annihilation: Campaign Thread

"We are not safe yet." To be precise, the group was quite in danger - as well as Harmony - madly paddling (at least Meili gave all she had to paddle) upstream on the river full of dinos, undead and what's not. Meili dared to waste a moment to look back at the gates, expecting a rain of arrows. "Looks like the apes did it, indeed." She exhaled in relief but did not stop paddling.

"Well, she had been traveling with me," Harmony calls as her boat moves further and further from you.  "Now... she may be completely alone."  And with that, the half elf passes out of our story.

"Aye," Hew agrees with Meili.  "Let's put as much distance between us and the camp as possible.  Once they sort out things with those apes, they will put two and two together, get four, and then get real mad at us, heh."  He leans into his unique one arm + chin paddling style.  In between strokes, he grunts out some more information, easing back into tour-quide mode.  "Those apes back there... Su-Monsters... real nasty pieces of work...  You will bump into small family groups from time to time... but there are a couple of large tribes of them as well...  They aren't like the other monkeys and primates of the jungle... they are wicked... I mean honest to goodness evil... but they are cowardly too... They like to 'punch down', if you get my meaning... If you ever run into a big group... Hit a few of them hard and put them in the dirt... There's a good chance the others.......".

Hew trails off, his face growing hard as his eyes lock on the shore.  Following his gaze, your hearts catch in your throats.

Standing at the edge of the rainforest, peering out between the trees at you, stands a dinosaur.  It is huge, perhaps 25' feet long.  It is on four legs, and its face is adorned with three horns, one on its nose and one above each eye... the eye horns longer than an adult human stands tall.  And it is dead.  Its eyes are opaque and glassy, and flesh hangs down from massive bite wounds on its back, exposing spine and rib bones.  Riding the zombified dinosaur are six humanoid skeletons, their bones bleaches from ages exposed to the southern sun.  Each holds a longbow, though they do not draw upon you as continue to slowly move upstream, your paddles momentarily frozen in horror.  They merely watch you pass with their empty eye sockets... and then the zombiesaurus turns to follow the river shore downstream, in the direction of Camp Vengeance.

Minutes later, you hear war horns blasting from somewhere near the camp.

Once Meili shook off the horror she resumed paddling, rowing the boat even fiercer, but her face hardened. "There might be no one to get mad at us. As strong as they are... We left them to die."

Ran watches the zombiesaur and its riders quietly until they're out of sight.

"We might not need to worry about the anyone following us," Ran muses. "But I don't think I'll be getting much sleep tonight."

Ran paddles along, taking the advice to put distance between them and the camp.

Mica leans into his paddle and pulls hard to speed away from the camp. “That was a cluster.  I am glad you heard word of your sister, Ran, but we got precious little else out of that stop but trouble.. But they will not follow us, they don’t patrol far from the camp and stay out of the basin.” 

His voice catches in his throat as he spies the undead on the shore “Spirits protect me, even the dinosaurs rise from the dead!”  He looks over at Meili “They can remove the staff and close the gate, but you saw the camp.  They were barely holding on, we would have made little difference if we stayed.” Still, he paddled in silence the rest of the way, second guessing his own thoughts.

He was breathless when he reached the boats and started helping putting them into the water before he could speak again. And gods, he did want to speak. He wanted to give the bad news. About the prisoner disappearing, about Ran still being on his way back. Fortunately, the last part would not be necessary for the warrior returned before the wizard had given the bad news. After the scape he focused on calling his familiar, keeping her eyes focused around the Seekers, open to any dangers prone to attack them. 

Talk on the boats turned to the fate of the soldiers left behind with Mica mentioning the whole of the escape. Velan had to admit it was an incredible strike of luck for them all to escape and unhurt. It is good to have some once in a while, he decided catching his breath.

“Considering the thing we just saw, Meili, I think we are all left to die. At least until the curse is broken.” The idea sounded so grim that he didn’t even feel excited by the reanimated dinosaur – a undeniable feat of magic. “Any more specific lead on your sister?” He asked the fighter while considering if they would even cross paths with the prisoner again. The more likely scenario was that she would die in the jungle.

Ran nods at Velan.

"She was alive at least a couple of weeks ago, and she was headed for M'bala," Ran says. "So not much changes there. At least we're not stuck in camp gloom back there."

Shaking of the ill omen of the night so far, Hew guides you on for 1/2 an hour more, then steers the canoes toward the far shore.  There is an outcropping of high ground here.  You stash the canoes in the bushes and then climb up in the dark… tonight Hew insists on no torches or campfire.  

You set camp, and either go right to sleep or have quiet conversations about what happened tonight.

I need 3 volunteers for watch.  Decide which watch (1st, 2nd, 3rd) and make a perception check.  If you don’t have dark vision, make the check at disadvantage.

Ran will volunteer to join whomever's taking the 1st watch but he doesn't have dark vision so he'd be relying on hearing to notice anything unusual.

Perception for his share of the watch: 17  

Nodding at Meili, the elf kept craning her neck as she paddled before calling out so that both canoes could hear, "Anyone else feel like we got away easier than expected?" She's looking over at Hew between paddles as he speaks and it's his silence and expression that draws her eyes to what he was staring at and feels cold despite the sweltering jungle. It feels as if time has frozen as they simply drift past. She can't move, can't turn her head, can't blink. She could only stare up into where their eyes were supposed to be. There was a saying, "The eyes were the windows to the soul." In this instance it felt very telling. 

It wasn't until they heard the horn from Camp Vengeance that it stirred her into motion, namely pressing a fist to her mouth as a wave of nausea rolled through the sailor as she realized what was happening now and the fact that it was going to be made all the worse due to their actions, before she swallowed it down and paddled harder with a determined expression. 

"Why didn't they attack us? They...They just ignored us...Why?" She asks nobody in particular. 

Danica will take second watch.  Perception: 13

((Anyone else forget that Hew only has one arm? xD ))

Ran smiles at the thought they got away easier than expected.

"Might ask whoever's left back in that camp what they think," Ran says. "They wanted to keep us locked up in that munted dunny of a fort. Best case we last a couple of days with those punters before we're all diseased and dying. Nah. We did that lot a favor."

He mulls it over for a moment.

"We got lucky. If they hadn't locked up those evil monkeys they'd have been on us for sure."

“Considering we would have to run from there anyway, the risks of doing so barely changed and we escaped without major trouble, I would say knowing for sure when she was last seen is an improvement if a slight one.” The wizard said to the fighter out of courtesy more than anything else. Velan only truly felt relief when they finally came ashore. He considered Danica’s question and nodded to Ran answer. There was also the surprise factor and the Order’s condition on that camp. They were tired soldiers with low morale and fighting a lost battle. In those circumstances it was hard to imagine they would be half as effective as they should.

“We’ll take the first watch on the skies.” The Chronurgist said pointing to the air and calling Ninlil with the voice of his mind. “And I agree with the no fire idea, by the way. It would be a loud scream about our location to any pursuer and ulikely as it may be for anyone from the camp to have followed us this far, well, there is no such thing was no such think as too much caution.”

With that said, Velan took a seat halfway all the tents and ordered his familiar to scout from the skies and warn him of anything she noticed approaching. All the he kept keen eyes from the ground, hoping nothing interrupted their rest.

Notes: Velan commands Ninlil to stay guard flying during his watch.

Velan's Perception Check: 11
Ninlil's Perception Check: 10

Ran volunteers to join Velan and his familiar on the first watch.  Danica takes the second watch and Hew and Inete agree to take the third watch together.

The humidity rises through the night and soon there is a light fog that rides up the sides of the rocky outcropping where you have made camp.  The heat, as always, is unbearable and the density of insectlife - though held at bay by your repellant - has increased.  The night is a cacophony of buzzing, whining, chirping and clicking sounds from the abundant insectoid denizens of the Chultan jungle.

Perhaps the stress of the escape from Camp Vengeance was too much for Ran.  The bounty hunter finds himself jumping at every noise, and calling out imagined threats that seem to loom from the darkness.  It is enough to drive Velan to distraction, but not enough to cause him to miss the real threat.  Shortly before first watch is to end, both Velan and Ninlil spot 5 shapes gliding silently against the night sky.  Shaped roughly like the pterosaurs you have spotted before, these creatures have arms and legs like a man, and some carry long javelins strapped to their backs.  Though they fly nearly overtop of your camp, they show no signs of having spotted you.  The creatures soar quietly past, heading on a West/Southwest path.

2nd and 3rd watches pass without incident.  Though the campsite provides an overlook of the Soshenstar River below, you see no torchlights or other sign that anyone passes on the water throughout the night.  In the morning, the fog that gathered overnight does not dissipate.  It is thin, and does little to obstruct visibility, but it does dampen sound and suppresses the usual morning jungle bird calls. 

Hew announces, as you strike camp and head back down to the boats, that you should reach the north end of the Aldani Basin today.  This will necessitate some decision-making.  If the group plans to make for the village of M'bala, they can either continue into the basin on the canoes, or stash them and march through the jungle.  He points out roughly where the edges of the basin lie on Danica's map, and shows the two routes you could take.  Both options present different challenges.

Keeping the canoes and paddling through the basin would keep you out of the jungles, but the basin is not a contiguous waterway.  There are many disconnected pools and ponds and an unknown number of portages would be required through swampland to get closer to the plateau where M'bala sits.

A trek through the jungle would be straightforward, but you have also seen a glimpse of the dangers the jungles hold.  Also, leaving the canoes closer to the river increases the (admittedly remote) chance that someone could stumble upon them and either pick up your trail, or steal them.

Ran listens as Hew describes their options.

"So hike through this clammy, grotty jungle but don't carry canoes," Ran says then adds, "or paddle, but still hike only this time carry canoes too?"

He looks around at the others and shrugs.

"I'd vote for dragging the canoes as far in as possible, covering them with vines and leaves and going for a walkabout."

Meili - fresh from the morning routines - nodded to Ran's suggestion. "I agree. It seems we will go on foot from M'bala anyway. And there is some climbing down the road as well. We can as well start now. Besides," she glanced at Ran, "your sister is also walking, not sailing. If we are to catch up with her, it will most likely happen in the jungle."

Mica grunts in agreement as he stands and stretches, working the kinks out of his back and shoulders.  “I am all for going over land.  Get out of these damnable boats for awhile. Get to M’bala and find out what we can of the basin and the wizards” he looks over at Ran “and with any luck, word of your sister.”  He slathers on a fresh coat of insect repellent and helps to strike camp and load the canoes for what may be their last paddle for some time.

The watch passed mostly uneventful and he was thankful for that. For a moment the wizard could even find fascination on the flying dinosaurs. By the time he went to sleep his mind drifted to Inete’s divination and hags. He woke early and well rested, and study his spellbook, making sure to not forget any detail of the spells he usually deployed. Invisibility had been everything he expected and then some more.

At the morning the group started discussion about how to move. Out of everyone it was with Mica that Velan agreed the most. Fighting on the boats had proven more risky to them and the hexblood was none too eager for it.

“Unless Hew believes the water would be safer…” The dwarf was, after all, the specialist on the jungle. Far more experienced of an explorer than any of then, at least on that area. “…I am with you guys – walking all the way.” He considered Meili words for a moment. “If we have luck we can find information about the precise location of where we need to go and I don’t want to get your hopes up, Ran, but your sister can also be there.”

It would be too good, too easy if she was. But Velan thought it better to not disregard the best-case scenario just because it was unlikely.

Hew is comfortable with the decision to hide the canoes and walk.  "Just so you understand, there is no 'safer option'.  You've seen what dangers the river holds... that is only magnified inside the Aldani Basin, where you can add giant frogs, snakes and worse to the list of threats.  And the jungle... I think by now you have some idea of what she holds as well."

Getting back to the boats and heading further upstream, it is not long before you reach the edge of the basin.  The Soshenstar begins to split into many smaller rivers and then the jungle retreats from the shore, opening up a vast, fog-shrouded swampy plain.

Steering as far to the west as possible, you come ashore again and drag the canoes deep into the jungle foliage and cover them with debris from the rainforest floor.

With the boats hidden as well as you can manage, you pack up your gear and set out on foot into the jungles of Chult.

• What is the marching order?
• What, if anything, are your PCs doing while they march?
  • You have seen enough of Hew to expect he can handle the navigating, but does anyone assist him?
  • Anything else the PC's will be doing, working on, or watching for ?

During the first hour of moving through the jungle, Meili silently followed Hew, learning how to walk through the dense forest and what to pay attention to. Hew led, of course, but she was light on her feet, at least tried to be observant, and did her best to help out with watching and listening for the danger. (Perception: 18 , Survival: 6)

Once she felt comfortable enough (a very loose term when one is moving through the jungle full of undead, dinosaurs and undead dinosaurs) she allowed herself to pay attention to the plants. The book and the brief conversation with the seller of herbs in the bazaar gave some knowledge of the useful flora of Chult. Now it was time to get some practical experience. (Nature: 6)

Meili tried to communicate mostly by gestures - the green walls around and looming danger in the thickets hinted heavily at the necessity to stay quiet, but once in a while she would ask Hew's opinion on a particularly interesting specimen of the plants or about suspicious sound.