Gentlemanvaultboy

Slave ship wrecked

Gregor started to run, then when everyone had overtaken him he slowed to a stop. He watched the others run off without him for a moment, then ducked off the path into the shadow of the treeline and hunkered down behind one of the larger trees, cross-legged.

They had been running all day. They were malnourished from the trip. They hadn't had anything to drink since last night and his throat burned. The sweet breath of freedom could only sustain a man for so long. Truth was, Gregor was exhausted. They were outrunning thew slavers so far, but he knew that was only because of the golden headstart they had on them. That didn't exist here. They wouldn't e able to outrun these native. That was one reason he had ducked down here.

The other is that they had injured the boy. That, he decided, was unacceptable.

He held up the length of chain that had been pulled off of Brinley's ankle. He hadn't had any time to construct a proper fetish out of it, but the exhaustion and the terror were putting him into a semi-altered state and he knew now that there were snakes on the island. He closed his eyes, lowed his breathing, and tried to clear his mind even as he heard the pounding of feet on the wooden bridge.

He forced every outgoing breath out through his teeth and began to gently sway back and forth. He shook the chain gently, a rattling coming from it. He focused on that, and the sound of his breathing. He alternated the sounds, breathing then shaking then breathing than shaking.

Ssssss, rattle, Sssssss, rattle, Ssssss, rattle....

The sound seemed louder than what was natural. They echoed far away, carried across the island on a fetid, rotten wind. All around heads perked up, then slithered as one out of trees, bushes, and dens deep under the ground. Gregor felt something cold and smooth slide against his leg, and smiled.

Snakes began streaming out of the jungle, right into the path of the oncoming native warriors.

Slave ship wrecked

"They're pussy cats so long as you don't get too close to the water." Gregor said, bringing up the rear of the group. "Shovkingly lazy creature, except when they're suddenly not. They're not goning to run us down." He looked down at his feet. "Probably better not to walk near the bank in any case. Footprints and some such."

---

"The boy." Dinah said. "No clue why anyone'd want him. Waste a' my skills. Didn't even have ta' use the hook."

Slave ship wrecked

"Yep." Gregor said, "Can't even stop to eat. Snake!" He called over to their guide. "Where is that river we should so desperately avoid?" He put his arms out and waved them in the fluid motions of a babbling brook, the pointed at Water Snake, then pointed at the jungle. "No time to lose now. Ulric even now must be hot on our trail.

---

"I'll be damned if that's not a human face." Dinah said looking down at the perfect imprint of Brinly's face from where she'd fallen in the mud. "It's weird. Perfect. Look at that. That!" She said, pointing to the eyes and lips of the person. "I swear you can read the fear. This is frikin' art's what this is. This belongs in a museum."

"Either a' you recognize this one?" she asked. "She one of the special stock or what?"

Multiverse Rising: Reborn

@supertinyking@Wraithblade6

"Interesting." Firebrand said as the strange red light seemed to go out of its way to avoid him even as horrid, ratlike squeals began erupting from the city. He looked at the bag where the broken remains of the swords were held approvingly. "Looks like it's working already." He wasn't the sort of demon that made talismans of power like this, and was unsure of how they were constructed. He'd never really thought of where his own drew their power, although he suspected the concept was similar to that of Devil Arms. "What are yo a part of, I wonder?"

Masked

"Yo, what's up?" Danny replied before following Sammy, car bouncing on his shoulder. "Nice landing."

Slave ship wrecked

"Ahhh, yes." Gregor said conspiratorially. "Wouldn't want us getting turned around in this confusing jungle, who could say what trouble would come from that? Thank you so very much for the hospitality, fleeting as it was. You have a lovely village. If opportunity permits I would love to return under more favorable circumstances, but for now we bid you goodbye."

He helped Oliver back up to his feet, murmuring in his ear, "Don't worry, no one is taking us to Ghurkon."

Slave ship wrecked

Gregor cleared his throat and stepped forward, giving a deep bow to the village elder. "It's as my friend here says, I'm afraid. Greeting, honorable sir, my name is Gregor Heartway. It pains me to say, but I'm here to confirm all your worst fears."

Gregor straightened up, trying to make himself look as trustworthy and respectable as possible. It didn't really take, but he was undaunted. "There is, at this very moment, two very real problems that you face. The first is that we are undoubtedly already being tracked by the most frightful man I have ever met, and I have met some frightful men in my time. These slavers will stop at nothing to recapture us, and if any of the cargo died in that shipwreck they're going to be looking to fill some spots in the hold. So that's problem number one."

"Problem number two," he said nervously, "is the cargo itself. You see, most of it was acquired by purchasing prisoners with some" his eyes shift over to Willow for a moment. "Extra-legal acquisitions on the side. Now in this bunch you have your harmless sorts; debtors, political dissidents, fringe religious groups, but a good chunk of that is made up of pirates, gangsters, thieves, and murderers. Not a pretty picture for anyone if they get loose on the island, especially if you're already dealing with problem number one, the slavers. It's fortunate for all of us that the ship is still mostly intact."

Slave ship wrecked

Weird thing for a fantasy RP: so far, just humans. Kind of cool.

At some point, however, there will be snakes.

Skeleton Quest: The Ballad of BIG BONE

D) Tell Horsey he's a big wuss.

@LHG100

Slave ship wrecked

"Whatever the case may be, we're better off with them." Gregor says quietly.

---

"I'm more worried about the stock we're not getting back." Said a young women with short black hair coming up behind them. She wore a short brown vest over a low cut white shirt, showing off a patchwork of old scars over tense and wiry muscle. Her nose had obviously been been broken at some point, one of her ears had a chunk missing from it, and her weapon jangled as she walked. It was a long iron chain laid in coils across her back, the ends swinging like pendulums within grabbing distance. Attached to one was a large iron ball. Attached to the other was an even large, viciously curved hook. Pairs of shackles hanging from her pants leg matched the rhythm of the chain.

Dockside Dinah, professional kidnapper, scowled a crooked scowl at the jungle. "The only thing the Ghurkon hate more than foreigners is oathbreakers, and we'll be both if we show up with even one less wretch than we set out with. Then there's the chain."

She thought back to the hole in the ship, the chain snapped off from the rest in the middle of the line. Each manacle torn apart individually except the last, which was just gone. "I inspected those chains myself fore we set out. Storm wouldn't have broken 'em like that. They'd a' torn out a' the wall before breaking like that. One a' these four's more trouble then they're worth."