Elemaer: On Two Fronts

[Molokidan]

Avry'l glided back into the boat happily, making sure to look back behind him and smile before continuing. He paddled as far inshore as he could, really overdoing it, and stepped out of the boat daintily.

Smirking mischeviously, he took a wide look at his surroundings.

[bunnygirle78]

(oc: are the rest of us still on the boat?)

[Spleen]

(OOC: Actually, yes. We're all still on the boat. About to launch, though, and I'll have that happen when I find the time.)

[Seethe347]

Arenda watched the battle play out, then scowled when it was over.

"Well," she said, approaching Jagen, "since he's already on his way to the island, I guess we'll have to hurry up about getting over there too."

[darkknight61189]

Tur relaxed her arms, and let the arrow go, putting it back into the quiver. She was releived that no one was hurt, and furious that Avery'l was such an idiot. I swear to Laetha, if he jeopardizes this mission, I'll kill him before anyone else does!

She finished with packing up the few things she'd taken with her, and hastened below deck.

[Spleen]

Jagen turned to Arenda. "Yeah. You're ready, right? I am, Vas is, Avry'l's already gone, I think Wisp is ready, and...there goes Tur, with the last of her stuff. Alright, let's get down there, it's time to launch."

Several minutes later, three convertible rowboats (they could be broken down to make camp equipment) were let down, filled with everything the expedition would need. The expedition members and the sailors in the boats hastened to get to the island before Avry'l decided to do something.

Speaking of Avry'l, he was looking at rather dense forest in front of him, beach on two sides, and water behind. It would have been beautiful, but the sky was a dull gray and the waves were choppy. Within view was a decent path into the forest.

[Molokidan]

"Hmmm. . ." Avry'l stepped forward, as if to enter the forest path, but simply took a wide look around. He didn't step too deep into the forest, but walked slowly around its perimeter, as if searching for something.

Eventually, he returned to his original spot, and stopped. He took a pear out of his cloak and began munching on it, staring back at the sea and apparently waiting for the others to arrive.

[Spleen]

And arrive they did!

The three boats were dragged on shore and unloaded of all gear. Latches were undone and screws unscrewed and three boats became many interesting-looking peices of shaped wood that, according to the instructions, could be put together to make, for instance, a few usable tables or perhaps small crates. All told, the provisions for the camp would take a single Laethan of average strength approximately fifteen trips to get it all to the site - assuming a suitable one could be found.

As the sailors were patching up the rowboat that Avry'l had taken, Jagen called his group to him. "Okay...we need to find a place to camp out, and we need to bring this stuff to it. There's a lot to bring, and if we all carry as much as we can we'll make it in about three trips, I'd say. But the problem is that we could be attacked, and it'd be bad for us if this happened when we were all fully loaded. So what does everyone think? How will we find a place to camp, and how will we get all the stuff there without being too vulnerable?"

(OOC: Another one of them gol-darn decision things. Ah well.)

[Molokidan]

Avry'l smiled, and moved over to Jagen. "I have taken the opportunity to scout out the surrounding area. . ." he said. "I shall clear a path for everyone, if it's not a problem."

[darkknight61189]

"I would like to also volunteer for guard duty, especially with my nature of weapons being so cumbersome," Tur said, "Also, I suggest we go in a convoy movement. Have Avery'l in the front, and me, along with maybe someone else with a large and cumbersome weapon, in the back. Avery'l should be able to handle anything coming straight at us, and if not, I can provide some cover fire. Also, I should be able to make sure nothing sneaks up behind us."

[Spleen]

Jagen nodded. "Noted. Wispuna? Vas? Arenda?"

[Seethe347]

"I'd like to volunteer too," Arenda said. "My sword really isn't cumbersome, but I should think there needs to be at least one light weapon in the group just to balance things out. After all, even a cumbersome weapon won't make a Laethan as tough as a Kradite."

[Molokidan]

"Hm...." Avry'l raised his eyebrows and closed his eyes to dark slits, frowning slightly and staring at the rest. He said nor did nothing more, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to tell he was not exactly pleased with the new arrangements.

After a few moments, however, his mouth curved back up into a long, slender smile, his eyebrows returning to their original positions, his eyes continuing as slitted voids. "Interesting." he said, his voice completely without bounce or vibe. "Let us be off, then."

[darkknight61189]

Tur watched Avery'l with much scrutiny. after his last stunt with the boat, she wanted to keep a close eye on him herself, lest he do something else to jeopardize the mission. She wondered what it was that had gotten Avery'l so worked up over the new arrangements, but then felt rather accomplished, having thwarted another plan Avery'l had to screw them up soem more.

[bunnygirle78]

Wispuna smiled and steped forward.

"What should I do?"

[Spleen]

(OOC: Yup. There's still no "e" in Avry'l. Sorry, Darkknight. Or maybe Darkeknight.)

"Okay. Me, Vas, and Wispuna will shlep. You other three make sure we don't get eaten or anything. I figure with three people carrying the stuff, we'll be able to make it in, like, five shots. Sound good? Avry'l, lead the way."

Jagen grabbed a peice of a rowboat and a big canvas bag filled with cans of non-perishable and preserved food. Grunting, he threw the bag over his shoulder and prepared to move.

[Molokidan]

Avry'l nodded, this time smiling happily, because although he wasn't able to escape to the woods alone, he still managed to avoid doing any sort of physical labor for the time being.

With that, he smoothly glided straight into the forest, not bothering to wait for the other two to catch up.

[Spleen]

(OOC: Yeah, except scything the vegetation. Although that sounds like fun.)

Jagen hastened to catch up to Avry'l, despite his heavy load. "How far in do you think we should go?" he asked.

[bunnygirle78]

Wispuna took a look around the camp and then turned to the others.

"So," She said leaning on her staf. "Prehaps we should prepare a fire."

[Spleen]

(OOC: We're not in the campsite yet, Bunny.)

[Molokidan]

"We should not head too deep in," Avry'l began. "or some other may lose their way. On top of that, we are at the disadvantage from every other living creature on the island. They live in this forest. . .it is their home. They are familiar with it, we are not. If we are attacked deep in the forest, we shall surely be hunted down and killed. I suggest we stick close to the clearing, so that we can escape to the beach if necessary. We can put together seperate groups for exploration, but our main "base" should be somewhere that we feel safe."

[bunnygirle78]

(oc: Sorry My bad)

"I think your right, and I thinnk it would be best if we stay together as best we can. You know small groups of two or so."

[Spleen]

Jagen nodded. "Agreed. Maybe there'll be at least a sparse spot in a bit. Otherwise, well, Avry'l's got a scythe and there's a couple hatchets with the supplies, so we can try and make our own as best as we can."

[darkknight61189]

(OOC: Right, i've been adding adding an "e" there for a while now, haven't I?)

Tur watched as everyone grabbed some stuff, and made sure no one was left behind. She then took up a spot behind the group, with her bow strung, and an arrow nocked, ready to fly at the slightest impression of danger.

[Molokidan]

Avry'l nodded to Jagen and stepped forward. He moved his scythe from its resting position to his shoulders, stepped into the brush a little bit, and then swung his weapon in a wide arc that sliced most of the undergrowth in half.

He moved ahead again and repeated this, doing a pretty good job of clearing a path for them.

[Seethe347]

Arenda followed Avry'l through the foliage, sword drawn and shield ready. She kept her eyes peeled for any sign of danger, as well as for any decent area of sparse vegetation for the camp.

Edited by: [url=http://p068.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=seethe347>Seethe347</A] at: 1/5/05 18:15

[Spleen]

The forest was about as dense as it got, and no one could see anywhere to camp.

However, if Arenda looked in just the right spot between trees far on the left, she might see something dark, moving in stealthy bursts of speed, watching them from the foliage...

[bunnygirle78]

"I wonder what types of things live in a forest that is so thick with trees," Wispuna said not really wanting an answer. She was looking up at the trees when she tripped over a root, falling to the ground.

"This is so embarrassing."

[darkknight61189]

Tur just couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched. She looked about frantically to make sure thatthere really wasn't anything around when she saw Wisp fall over on the floor. She went over adhelped her up. That's when somethign caught the cornerof her eye. She whipped around quicklyy, but saw nothing but a bird fly up. Man, this place is killing my paranoia... she thought.

As they continued on, she flew herself up into one of the higher branches of a tree to get a good look around. She didn't see anything, but were she to have looked down, she may have spotted the thing who's eyes were boring into Tur's back.

[Molokidan]

Avry'l continued pressing forward, showing little signs of fatigue from swinging the bulky scythe back and forth through the undergrowth.

He was peering around ahead of him, a complacent expression on his face, as if he was a robot following a set path with no thoughts in his head at the moment.

[Spleen]

The thing regarded them from the foliage for a while, then made a judgement and ran off, unbeknownst to the expedition.

About that time, Avry'l broke into a sparse spot with only a few small trees in it, trees which had dropped several of their branches and thus providing dried wood.

"This'll do, I think," Jagen said. "What's your opinion, everybody?"

[Seethe347]

Apparently, Arenda had some wretched luck as a lookout, for her eyes never fell upon the "right spot" until just moments after the creature had left.

Continueing on into the sparse area, Arenda looked the place over.

"Looks good enough," she replied to Jagen. "I wouldn't want to go too much farther into this forest right now."

She looked back out into the trees for a moment.

"But... I would like to scout around here some before we head back to the boats," she said. "I'd like to make sure we haven't set ourselves down right next to a demon's cave or anything."

(OOC: Internet providers never pick convenient times to cut me off.)

[Molokidan]

Avry'l looked about the camp, saying nothing, his eyes flickering about the forest. He was simply in his own little world.

[Spleen]

Jagen nodded and eased his bundle to the ground. "Split up into groups of two, then?"

He looked around the group. "I figure...me and Arenda, Vas and Avry'l, and Tur'nasus and Wispuna? Sound good?"

[bunnygirle78]

"Sounds ok to me. . .Uh. . .should we call out or send a signal if we see anything?"

[Spleen]

Jagen nodded. "A nice Lightning Strike makes a good signal. Take out the bit in the middle of the spell where it goes 'sithis asreno taliz korothe' and you can hear it for miles. Just make sure everybody's covering their ears when you cast it."

(OOC: It's fairly common to mess around with spells like that when you have some skill at it. For example, all members of the Order of Air know at least five different ways to cast a spell of Flight; one for speed, one for height, one for distance, one for maneuverability, and one for emergencies when you need to cast it fast. There are theoretically thousands of ways to cast a given spell - every long-distance sky racer in the Order of Air has his or her own special and elaborately secretive Flight spell, designed to give them every mere milimeter's advantage they over the next guy. Many of these spells take over twenty minutes to cast, and require the drawing of runes, the waving of feathers, and the boiling of silver crucibles of water.)

[darkknight61189]

Just my luck, thought Tur, I get stuck with the dimwitted one. She then looked about the group and reminded herself that there weren't that many keen ones to begin with.

She watched as Wispuna put down her pack, then trudged over to her. She was still on edge, though, knowing there was something wrong. Suddenly, her instinct flared up, and she turned quickly to the left eighty-five degrees and fire off an arrow at something that had been nagging at the corner of her peripheral vision.

Edited by: [url=http://p068.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=darkknight61189>darkknight61189</A]&nbsp; at: 1/12/05 23:24

[Spleen]

Jagen regarded the arrow, which had inserted itself firmly in the foliage. "Paranoid much, Tur?"

[Seethe347]

Upon the firing of the arrow, Arenda spun around and prepared to face its target. Upon seeing that it had been nothing, though, she lowered her sword and relaxed.

"I'll make sure not to sneak up behind you," she said.

She then looked back to Jagen.

"But, anyway, the arrangement seems fine to me," she said.

(OOC: But in a related note, Popo seems a little bit on the non-existent side lately.)

[Spleen]

(OOC: He was on AIM a bit yesterday, so he's probably just busy. I'll see if he comes on tonight.)