As they travel Taman continues to speak of options, more to get the others to try to come up with things as well, as to put ideas of his own out there...

"We could work on making snares and pit-traps as we go, so that those following us would be caught in them." He mentions. "Probably wouldn't do a lot, but would make them more cautious in their pursuit."

"We could lead them through areas we have found that are dangerous, such as assassin vines, or other natural areas." Taman continues. "The problem there is to find a way to keep from being caught in those dangers ourselves."

"It would be really useful if we could find a strong force, that could protect our back trail." He says after a bit. "If we could make some deal with some other group out here, who would then watch and deal with these others that follow us, then that would be very very good indeed." He would turn to Azaka at this. "Is there any place we could go in one side, and out another, that those after us would have to follow us through? Someplace where we could work out an arrangement with those who live there?"

Bryn would follow along silently, simply because she couldn't really think of much at the moment as they've already made mention that she can mold earth. Eventually some thoughts would bubble up to the surface. "Lure wild animals?" She'd pause to think of more. "Poison. Disease. To enhance traps?" Glancing over at Taman she'd remember the Alchemy Jug and point to it excitedly. "What else? What else?" What else could be in there that they might be able to use?

Fulcra tosses out zany and crazy ideas as they, "Remember, we don't need to kill them necessarily, just make it difficult for them to pursue us with speed.  Slow them down.  Hmm, we could pour honey all over the ground along our path, and make their feet sticky.  Ok, ok, I'm just warming up here." 

"You know, if this is our path, then maybe we should not just go straight south. Maybe we should go to the ship, see what's there, something might help us.  Or the heart.  Something there might trigger something. Plus a couple zigs or zags would help make them have to be more careful." 

"I think otherwise, poisoned pit traps with poison from the vase and the like, especially around camps.  Decoy camps are good. But we really should just find natural things along the way we can turn on them."

"Do they have boats? Do they cross water easily?  Otherwise the more swamp we stay in, the harder their pursuit..."

Cimeri interrupted Fulcra's endless stream of ideas suddenly even for herself: "I still think it would be better to fight them." That was also quite uncharacteristic for the little monk, but idea to live with a constant expectation of an ambush (and that single encounter with their pursuers she still remembered too vividly) weighed heavily on her mind. "I do not think we can wear them out, or truly outrun. They live in the jungle their whole life. But if we are to find a position which we can fortify, where we could get some advantage - and then in relative safety find the way to defeat... Otherwise we will have to run forever even if they do not know for now where we are going." She looked around as if waking up: "But may be the swamp or the hag sisters will give them pause as well, of course."

Resting a hand gently on Cimeri's shoulder, "No, to find and fortify a single spot would be our death.  They would lay us under siege and we would die without them even needing to fight us," Celtra says.

"I think Purple One meant an ambush of some kind.  Not that we hole up in a cave, but that we trap a fake camp site.  These are all good ideas.  We could wittle away at them over time, but we must remember to be guerrilla about our attacks.  Without silvered weapons for you, we would lose a straight fight."

"Pterafolk will not help us, nor would I trust them anyway."  She looks to the swamp, that Aldani Basin.  "It is said that Ubtao grew angry with a tribe in the Basin, and transformed them into monsters... I have never had dealings, nor even seen one, but i've heard stories of explorers who have met them and lived.  That would be an option, if... they could hide or help us in some way.  They are called the Aldani."  She scratches an itch on her forearm.  "We will travel through the swamp in any case, for the tribe will track us slower there; they do not enjoy water overmuch."

She looks to the horizon, scrunches her brow.  A low hillock can be seen at the far end of the basin.  "Musharrib… you remember?  In the Thundering Lizard, a fellow guide.  The insane albino Dwarf?"

"Hrakhamar…" she nods at the tiny hillock in the far, far south of the lake running down the swamp, "…is a silver mine.  With a running forge… 100 miles by canoe... Friends, what is our strategy?"

A tiger roars in the distance.

"We need to get silvered weapons." Taman says.  "We should head towards the silver mine, trying to set up surprises as often as possible on the way."  He considers a moment.  "If there is a place, that we know those following us must travel, then can we try to use the call for the undead, or use the flask of various fluids, to create something that will draw other creatures to that place?  If we do so after we are already past the area, then it would, at the very least, slow down those coming behind..."

Fulcra, "And let us leave behind spikes in the ground, covered in poison.  Just to slow them down.  I've heard the purple worm extrudes a most potent and deadly poison. Azaka, would a non-silvered spike in the ground covered in poison hurt them?  Or does even the spike need to be silver? Either way, I agree with Taman, let us make for the silver mine." 

Cimeri gratefully nodded - Azaka did not need much explanations to understand. She contemplated a question about catnip, but remembered the jar can not produce just anything, and dropped it. Silver mines awaited!

Following more jungle travel and discussion, you get within 300 feet of where the canoe has been hidden at the north of the swamp.  There's no way you're not looking over your shoulder, so go ahead and make a perception check everyone, and keep the maximum of that check and your passive perception please.

CImeri  Perception: 3  (passive perception 12)  (perception is not her thing)

During the walk Bryn would fall silent and allow the others to chat. She'd take interest into watching Azaka. The druid noticed her scratching her arms earlier and would keep an eye on it to see if it was just a nervous tick, or something for her to be medically conscious of.

Perception as per DMs request for scouting and 'looking over her shoulder': 8 (passive 15)

Perception : 5 passive is 12. 

Taman perception: 13 passiv eis 14.

Sabastian perception: 9  passive is 19

"All looks clear." Taman says, feeling pretty confident in that check of the situation.  "Let's get going."

Fulcra nods confidently, "I also am sure the coast is clear. I'm a very observant person and haven't noticed any signs of the were tigers."  He climbs into the canoe.  "Let's go find this silver mine.  In my imagination there's just big bars and chunks of silver laying everywhere both inside and outside of the mine. There's probably also a convenient smelt and forge or something so that we can forge weapons on the spot.  I imagine us getting the silver, and making the weapons, in just a few simple steps, maybe with a bard playing some rousing music in the background.  Then, inexplicably with the passage of very little time we'll be kitted out with silver weapons.  I have a great feeling about this."

Azaka shakes her head with a chuckle.  "I will coat your tongue with silver, Silvertongue."  For all her threats, you can tell she's joking.

It's the day after a blissfully silent evening; you wonder if something were protecting the canoe and the site where you camped.  Two days of shoulder-burning paddling later, and this damn lake, shrouded on both sides with swamp, continues on.  The hillock at the far end grows in size slightly, but not fast enough in your opinion.  Everyone experiences a feeling of observation.  Not threatening, just observation.  Dark, shiny things slide about at the corners of your vision, but when you turn, they disappear under the water with a ripple, or glide under a fallen log; the ripples in the water indicate a larger object under the surface.  Tracking the things yields nothing.  A new jungle melody has arisen in the background; a clickety-clack not unlike a cricket's chirp, but from something far larger.  You wonder what could be making such a noise.

Now forty-odd miles into the trip, Azaka directs the canoe to the east bank; struggling through the swamp has been dreadful.  The canoe winds through thickets of cat-tails and jungle vines, bottoming out on rocks.  The bugs.  Pelor, the bugs.  Even with the repellent, they insist on flying in your eyes and nostrils.  Bryn, Azaka and Celtra forge ahead stoically, having experienced the like before.  Cimeri, Taman, Fulcra... it's not pleasant for you.

The canoe squelches to a halt on a mossy bank, and you're led further in to where Azaka finds a suitable campsite.  As preparation for dinner gets underway, an obvious humanoid form appears from the jungle foliage roughly 50 feet from your position.  It is headed straight for your camp at a leisurely pace; it is not stalking or attempting stealth.  You approximate its height at 7 feet.

Cimeri's dark purple skin become a bit lighter but she stepped forward and narrows her eyes, trying to recognize familiar traits. If it was one of "them" at least he decided to talk first. Even if only to frighten the group into doing something stupid.

Fulcra looks up, then stands and smiles, "Oh, a friend. Hello there friend, my name is Fulcra. Who do we have the pleasure of meeting?"  

As Fulcra speaks, Celtra snaps to attention.  She focus on the creature for a moment and then turns and looks around.  She's not sure if this is some ploy or attempted distraction for others to ambush.  Her hand rests on the sheathed blade but has not drawn it yet.

Perception: 14