Underfed (part 6)

K'nap lets out a sigh. "Mantis men in this area. Dead, at least, but bad sign for us. Come, let us be away..." He nods his head."

K'nap lets out a sigh. "Mantis men in this area. Dead, at least, but bad sign for us. Come, let us be away..." He nods his head. "We have lost much time."

The small Knight nudges his mount forward. The Corgi pauses to stretch it's neck out and take a Mantis Man leg in it's jaws, then slinks along after K'nap. "Mal." Soup hisses, the dog turning it's head to look at him as it tries to quietly chew on the crunchy limb.

Seldan looks down at the dead and ashen creatures, then up at the road ahead, and nods. Here in the desert, he wears the full robes of the nomads, face covering and all, against the sun and the dust, and no, the ash. "Yes, we should go," he agrees, turning to join K'nap.

"..That doesn't look very fun. Or cvery sporting," Nasrin notes, frowning as she looks down at the scorched bodies. SHe lifts her left foot to prod one with a crimson steel solleret. She pauses here for about a second and hten sighs."Well. Back the way we came, I guess? Better sooner than later, I bet."

Victor moves along. He glances at K'nap questioningly. "How much further to the intercept point? Should we push ourselves? A 'forced march' as it is known...?"

The pygmuy bulette on Nasrin's shoulder attempts to climb down to eat the dead mantis men.

It's hungry, okay?!

Nasrin will allow it.

CRUNCH CRUNCH CHOMP.

Who's a good little murderous tiny landshark?!

In any event, K'nap sighs and and then pushes ahead, moving as quickly as stealth will allow. Who knows how good the dragon's hearing is?

-munch-munch-munch-. Hopefully that hearing isn't too good as the Corgi slinks along chewing on Mantis arm as Soup stays low on it's back. "Mal." He hisses again. Then lowers the visor of his helmet, settling the dog-like mask into place. His hand reaching for the lance along the Dire Corgi's side.

Seldan is reasonably sure that the dragon's hearing is too good for his comfort, and so he will move away as quickly as quietness allows. 'Stealth' is perhaps a stretch for the paladin, but at least it isn't full plate? "Victor asks good questions," he says to K'nap a few minutes later. "Will a forced march be needed to reach the intercept point?"

"There we go. Good bulette..." Thebulette is allowed a hand to carry triumphantly as the creature consumes its catch. Nasrincoos and follows along, rattling andclanking like an entire company of less oblivious redheads. "Forced march sounds like a definite possibility," the woman calls as the subject is broached. "We're not too far out now."

"It might be necessary. Let us focus on escaping these canyons first and then hope that the creature does not seek to pursue us on the open desert. Should it do so, we will have nowhere to hide."

"Here," he gestures down towards an approaching climb, "We must go up here. There is no route around that would not add considerable hours to our journey."

More climbing. Fantastic! This isn't the first time they have had to climb to cut their time down. Seldan sighs inwardly and firmly reminds himself that they yet live, and that much is a blessing. "Very well. We have no time to lose."

"This is awfully un-heroic, all this sneaking around." Soup states, continuing to follow along atop his mount. The at the climb the Gnome purses his lips, then knudges the Dire Corgi forward, trusting to it's claws and strength.

"It seems perfectly heroic. Like... You know... Jacob. That guy who climbed a beanstalk and murdered a bunch of well-meaning innocent giants?" Nasrin gestures emphatically as she speaks. Sheals oturns her gaze to the climb nad shrugs, beginning to remove her amrour. At least magical armour is easy to remove. She can't climb with it on, after all. "Up we go."

"How much did heroism avail you against Gobdalac?" Seldan looks over at the corgi rider. "One need not always be obvious, or loud, to be heroic."

GAME: Seldan rolls athletics: (10)+3: 13

GAME: Nasrin rolls athletics: (1)+3: 4 (EPIC FAIL)

GAME: Soup rolls athletics: (2)+1: 3

GAME: Victor rolls athletics: (9)+9: 18

Good news, everyone! You're climbing up a steep incline! It's not the worst work you've done on this trip -- it's less steep than the outright hand-climbing you had to do at an earlier point, but it's still tiresome and hard work and with the danger of rolling down the slope being high were it not for your ropes and climbing gear to protect you. At least a couple times, Nasrin would have gone down were it not for your support, the same being true of Soup, who's Corgi more or less winds up pushing him up the steepest parts of it.

What it isn't, however, is fast. It's adding time you're going to need to endure that forced march to catch up to where you SHOULD be.

The thought is not exactly a fun one.

Still, K'nap seems relieved. "There," he whispers, down towards a ravine in the distance, "that is our path out. We need but take shelte there and we will be hard to see, but sitting ducks for, say, dragon fire. So let us hope it is done with it and us. I remain concerned by its presence here..."

And then you're on your way, scaling down, crossing craggy, sandy earth until you are able to scale simialry down into the ravine, beginning your passage topwards the exit from the desert canyons you've spent the better part of a day and a half in.

After his comment to Soup on the other side, Seldan has saved his breath and his energy for the climb, climbing largely in silence unless communcation is needed. Armor or not, he seems to manage well enough. "Yes," he finally agrees when K'nap speaks of the dragon. "I did not think dragons often worked in the employs of others. Could that one be a free agent?"

Nasrin climbs. Slowly.She curses up a storm as she makesh er way up the hill, led on by a contented pygmy bulette. It's hard to tell if it elping or taunting. On the far side Nasrin again has to stop and don her armour once more, scanning the way ahead while she does. "Well," the woman puffs as she isdressing. "We can hope it had nothing to do with this at all but either way the first thing we need to do is get to our destination. ...How much longer do we have to pull it off?"

Finally, you break out into the open desert once more and K'nap looks relieved.

"Okay," he says, "We need to get a move on. Echo's magics," the golem's spells of enduring elemnts, "will make it easier for us to move on but if you have anything that will help us on the move, we need to trake advantage of it as quickly as possible. We have much ground to cover if we're still going to intercept the caravan."

Seldan nods, but pauses a moment and turns aside. He speaks a few arcane words in an authoritative tone, then spreads his hands out palm down and away from each other, the gesture describing a flat plane with a small concavity to it. At his gesture, a plane of shimmering blue-silvery-white force forms, and as the spell completes, it hovers there, waiting. He tosses his pack and armor onto it, then looks at the others. "Do not overload it, but it should be able to carry our gear and armor. I will need to renew the spell every so often."

GAME: Seldan casts Floating Disk. Caster Level: 2 DC: 14

Victor shakes his head. "None of my spells will last more than a few minutes," he replies.

So, into the desert you go.

The good news is that you're way through with a guide. This means you're going to make good time, knowhere to go to shave off time, and move quickly through the night.

The bad news is that you're going to have to march into the day to catch up with the caravn. The rising sun immediately starts to scorch you before long, and in fact, you're all dragging after a while. The chasm took a lot out of you...

GAME: Seldan rolls fortitude: (10)+9: 19

GAME: Victor rolls fort: (17)+6: 23

GAME: Nasrin rolls fortitude: (3)+7: 10

Even a seemingly tireless War Golem is dragging after so many days of climbing and walking and marching through inhospitable terrain. He tries to keep close to K'nap since their guide has proven a bit fragile. Still he's clearly their only hope of navigating.

Silently, Seldan blesses the choice to adopt the robes of the desert nomad, even though they cling to him and he is out of spells by now, necessitating that he carry his gear and armor. Without them, he would be facing sun poisoning. As it is, the bright daylight over the desert is hard on pale eyes, and he shades them with a hand just to be able to see. It's a grueling pace, but he is well enough - for the moment.