Episode 14
"Kidnapped!"
(c) Matt Grossman and J. Sage Schreiner

Tron Malkaszar, an irreverant elf -- Matt Grossman
Norel Bolderdash, hulking woodsman of the Adri forest -- Tom Morin
Nigil Palom, noble from a far-distant land -- Kevin Osborn
Aran, a beefy (ex-)Paladin from Tenh -- AJ Drexel
Vuz, an engimatic druid -- Corey Paganucci
Tika, a tiny gnome -- Corey Paganucci
Rhahid, a mysterious spell-crafter -- Eric Kruller 
All others -- Sage Schreiner


Now rested and healthy the party decides to leave their camp and
explore the beach they find themselves on.

Tron: I saw some footprints on the sand to the left.
Nigil: Ok, let's go that way.

They head along the beach for several hours.  Tron is scouting ahead
while the rest of the party advances in a group with lit torches.

Tron: There's something up ahead...s omething lying near the
water... something big... it looks like... a boat.

They have found a coracle, a small boat made from hide stretched over
a bone framework.  There is room inside for one person.  One side of
the boat has been crushed.  In a pouch inside the boat they find two
bronze fishooks and a coil of spider-silk thread.

Norel: This boat seems too well made to have been made by the
troglodytes.
Aran: Perhaps the different groups down here trade among each other.
Vuz: Maybe a really stupid fishman made it. Heh.
Tella: Fishmen needs boats like women need... fish? No...

They leave the boat and continue down the beach.  After a couple more
hours they come to the end of the beach.  A river cuts across the
beach and flows into the ocean.  It is too wide to see the opposite
shore.

Vuz: Probably this is the same river that the fishmen are on.

There is a crudely made rope strung across the river into the darkness.

Aran: We could try to cross... or we could head back and see what's at
the other end of the beach.
Nigil: Let's explore this area thoroughly.

They turn around and trek back down the beach.  After several hours of
walking, they find the bottom half of a goblin.

Aran: What happened to it? It appears to have been bitten in half.
Tron: I'll take a closer look. (He raises it a bit with his sword and
peers closer). It appears to have been cut in half, almost like a
giant pair of scissors.
Tella: This place really gives me the creeps. I just want to see the sun
again.
Vuz: I miss the sun and the wind.
Nigil: I wouldn't mind some Keoish brandy and a bath.
Norel: Let's move on.

Soon after that...

Tron: There are three creatures up ahead, coming towards us!

Three monsters shamble out of the darkness towards the party.  They
are built like great apes, but with hooked beaks instead of a face and
long hooks where their hands should be.  They are silent, but advance
deliberately towards the party, with obvious ill intent.

Tron: [twang twang]  Hey, these are the same as the other thing I killed!
Aran: [cleave]
Norel: [hack]
Tella: [bash]
Nigil: [chop]
Vuz: [chop]
Rhahid: I'll, err...guard the rear.

The monsters are quickly dispatched.  Tron cuts one open to see if it
has any treasure in its gizzard.

Tron: (turns from the corpse, dripping with body fluids) Nope.
Party: (move away from Tron)
Tella: Tron, take a bath. Please.

Tron washes his clothes and himself somewhat in the ocean.

Tron: I was almost expecting something to attack me.

They continue down the beach, and find that a short while later the
cliffs come down to the water's edge.  They decide to make camp
against the cliff face, about 200 feet from the water.  Tron takes the
first watch.  After about an hour, he hears movement.

Tron: Wake up!  I think it's those things again!

As the party struggles awake, five hook horrors rush the campsite.

Hook Horror: (claws Rhahid)
Rhahid: Yaaaaawn...urk!
Hook Horror: (grabs Tella with its hooks and pulls her to its mouth) [chomp]
Tella: Ow.

As the party forms a line to fight these monsters, three more climb
down the wall and attack the party from the rear.

Hook Horror: (scuttles nimbly along the wall using its hooks)
Vuz: There's movement all over the place!
Tron: That's it, man. Game over, man!  Game over!
Aran: Ow! [hack] Take that!
Hook Horror: [splorch]

The battle is desperate.  Finally all but one of the hook horrors has
been killed.  However, many of the party are seriously wounded, Aran
is unconscious, and Vuz and Skanda have used up all of their healing
magic.  Suddenly nine more hook horrors appear on the edge of the
torchlight.

Nigil: We can't beat this many. Run away!
Rhahid: (Dissapears)
Skanda: Pholtus save us! (flees)

Vuz runs up to Aran and casts his last healing spell on him.
Unfortunately the magic is not powerful enough to revive the badly
wounded warrior.  Nigil tries to drag Aran's unconscious body away,
but the massive form of the paladin is too heavy for him to move
quickly.

Nigil: Someone help!

Norel is fighting with the last hook horror from the first wave.

Norel: Someone kill this one! [clang hack]
Tron: Always glad to oblige. [backstab]
Hook Horror: [gibbed]
Norel: Thanks. (the huge ranger grabs Aran, and the two warriors
drag him away)  Hurry up!

Tella: I don't want to die!
Vuz: (stares at the advancing monsters and sees that there is no time
to run) I wish I could have seen the forest again...

Hook Horrors: (charge the three remaining party members)
Vuz: (attacked by four hook horrors, killed instantly)
Tella: Noooo! (attacked by four hook horrors, she falls to the ground
mortally wounded)
Tron: Uh oh. (attacked by one and badly wounded, he flees)

The monsters do not pursue. They have food...

The party runs through the darkness for about half a mile before
collapsing. Tron sets up some warning snares around the camp, and
then they go to sleep.

After resting, Skanda uses her magic to heal the party. Aran regains
consciousness.

Aran: What?  You left Tella and Vuz to die?  We should all have died
with them!
Nigil: There was no hope.  I fear none of us will get out of here
alive.
Tron: All I can say is, those hook things are on the list!  I say we
go back there and kick some!  We can take them by surprise!
Norel: [sigh] Why don't you go and do that, Tron?
Tron: Yeah, well, they're on the list.  That's all I wanna say.
Skanda: (prays silently for the souls of Tella and Vuz)

The mourning party decides to head to the wall and find a cave to hide
and rest up in, since they are exposed just sitting in the beach, with
hook horrors possibly crawling on the ceiling overhead.  They find a cave
and go into it a short distance.

Norel: I don't like this... I think that this connects to the big maze
where those umber hulks are.
Rhahid: (tosses a torch stub aside) Well, that was our last torch.
Aran: WHAT?!
Rhahid: Don't worry, we have oil.  About ten hours left.

Norel: Umm, there was tar on the wall near where we entered the
cavern.  We still have that piece of driftwood.  We can make more
torches.

They leave the cave and head along the wall until they find a place
where tar seeps from it.  There are some human-like footprints nearby.

Norel: These aren't recent.
Nigil: Anyway, we need the tar.

They spend the rest of the "day" scraping tar off the walls and
forming it into balls which they can stick on the end of wooden sticks
to make torches.  After several hours of this activity they have
sixteen new torches.

Tron: Wait!  Something's coming...

Three figures approach the party.  They look like a man, a woman, and
a small boy.  All of them are stunted, none standing more than five
feet tall.  They have extremely pale skin and show signs of
inbreeding.

Man: (talks in a strange language)
Rhahid: It sounds almost like... ancient Flan?
Skanda: Hmm... this is strangely similar to Artan, the language spoken in
my village. I think I can translate.

The party is able to communicate with these people, using Skanda as a
translator.

Man: Where you from?
Tron: We come from the surface. Do you know where the surface is?
Man: Huh?
Nigil: (slaps his forehead) Of course.

They gather that these people come from a tribe led by a guy named
Savadas.  After some negotiation, it is decided that Skanda will
accompany the man and woman back to their tribe.  The boy will remain
as a hostage.

Norel: I don't think that's much of a guarantee of Skanda's safety.
Skanda: Tron can come with me.
Tron: Why me?
Skanda: You won't frighten them.  You're short.
Tron: ...

Eventually Tron and Skanda set out with the man and woman.  The boy,
whose name is Desh, stays behind as a hostage.  He has already learned
the Aerdi for "goblin" and "kill".  The elf and the priestess are led
down to the water, where they see two coracles.  The man and Skanda get in
one, Tron and the woman get in the other, and they paddle into the
darkness.

For the rest of the party, time passes slowly.  Several hours later...

Rhahid: Someone's coming!

From out of the shadows steps a small figure, clad in plate mail.
It is a gnome warrior.

Nigil: A gnome!  We're saved!  I bet he knows the way to the surface!
Gnome: (Speaking heavily accented, book-learned Aerdy) Ummm... sorry
to disappoint you, but I'm Svirfnebvlin -- a gnome from the deep. To us,
the surface is only a legend.  And I'm a she, not a he.  My name is
Tika.  It means "Sapphire" in your language.
Aran: How come you speak Aerdi?
Tika: I've always been fascinated by the legends of the surface.  I
was with an expedition that was heading to the surface, but we were
ambushed by goblins. I think the others were all captured.

Tika stands about three feet tall, with light gray skin, white hair,
and blue eyes.

Norel: Well, we're trying to get to the surface, so you're welcome to
tag along with us.
Rhahid: Fascinating.  Even among gnomes, the names of women end in "a".
Nigil:  That reminds me of Tella.
Skanda: Wipes away a tear.

Meanwhile, Tron and Skanda have arrived at a small island, far out in
the water.  Soon the chief of the primitives, Savadas, arrives with
his henchmen and a number of assorted hangers-on.  He seemed to be an
indecisive leader, and even through Skanda's translation he is
clearly uncertain about what to do.

Tron: (bored, he glares at a small child)
Small Child: (picks his nose)
Tron: (shakes his head)
Skanda: Savadas has agreed to take us all to his village.  He will
send the, umm, "great ship".  But he can't send it right now, because
the tide is not right, and umm... something about a monster that comes
out at high tide.  With tentacles four feet long... umm, make that
fourteen feet long. Or maybe it was forty. I'm not sure
Tron: Great. We'll just sit here and pick our noses then.

Many hours later...

Aran: Those pygmies must have betrayed us!
Nigil: Ummm... I'm not going to kill the kid.
Desh: Gahblen. (points at Tika)
Tika: No, I'm a gnome. Get that through your skull, human whelp.
Desh: (Says something unintelligble and then makes a universally rude
gesture)

Eventually Tron and Skanda reappear, with a bunch of primitives.  Soon
the rest of the party are on board various boats and heading into the
water.

Aran: I guess this is the "great ship".
Norel: Well, if you're a degenerate pygmy, it's probably pretty big.

After a while they arrive on a larger island, where the primitives
have their village.  A feast is prepared to celebrate the arrival of
the strangers.  Skanda heals a small child with her magic.

Aran: Hmm... these people are obviously very malnourished.  The tallest
of them is smaller than Tron.  Yet they are having a feast.  Let us
not eat more than absolutely necessary.
Tron: Yeah, Skanda can always summon that tofu from heaven for us
later.
Skanda: Pholtus will provide.

The food is fungus, fish, and the highlight of the feast, roast
goblin.

Nigil: Umm, I'll just have some fish here...
Primitives: (whooping with joy, they tuck into the goblin)
Norel: Probably the only red meat down here.
Desh: Gahblen. Mmmmmmmmmmm.

Tika watches two primitives arguing. Suddenly one of them pulls a
knife and stabs the other. The wounded man staggers off.  Nobody else
pays any attention.

Tika: Are all humans like this?
Skanda: Hmmph.
Nigil: These people seem unusually callous and uncivilized.

After the feast there is storytelling.  An old blind woman, Atoji, is
brought out.

Atoji:
So. There was a time, Three brothers were born to a great king, Gajom,
Domeb and Chonvan; each received a gift from 'other-men', in the time
before darkness, to help them rule. The gifts were lost in betrayal, and
scattered. This is why  children now play the game of finding things in
darkness.

What were the gifts? The nature of two of which is long since lost as they
were lost; the third was a throne carved of dark stone where an uncouth lord
sat himself to rule. The brothers, in sorrow for their lost gifts, died and
were entombed close by salty waters in the Above. This is why we give gifts to
our dead.

The eldest brother, Domeb, did not die in sorrow, but fought the uncouth tribes.
He was a great hero. He died to bronze.

(Here the primitives begin chanting and beating rocks together. This continues
for a long time. They also have primitive drums, but they are quieter and higher
pitched then the drums the party has been hearing for so long. Atoji begins
another story. Skanda translates furiously).

So. There was a time, before even ancient times, when our people came over a
great salty water from a land that was destroyed by fire. They came to this new
place, the Above, following the motion of points of the light in the great
ceiling. In time there was a great flood and the people were seperated into many
tribes. This is the beginning, and where the stories begin. After the stories: Sea
is sky; Above is Below; A time long past; The evil spirits of an uncouth tribe did
cause the earth to close above us.

Atoji also tells many stories of heroic deeds, great battles, betrayals of
blood oats and friendships, lovers lost, and plenty of begating. She also
tells stories of their gods, "Hoo-wee-gas" and "Skahlern".

Aran: I think that there god Skahlern corresponds to the Oeridian god
Nerull.
Tron: Hey... that Gajom guy that she mentioned... I think she was
talking about the cup.  And that throne, that's the Malachite Throne
of the Great Kingdom.
Skanda: These stories are similar to many that I know... Hoo-wee-gas is the
name my people give to Wee-Jas. No wonder these people are the way they are.
Rhaid: These people must be descendants of the Flan.  They fled
underground thousands of years ago when the Oeridians overran their
lands, and they've been down here ever since...
Aran: ... worshipping their gods of death.

The party rests for a day on the island of the primitives, regaining
their health.  They talk to Desh and the clever boy is able to give
them a rough idea of the layout of the cavern. Skanda translates.

Desh: Here, here, and here are goblins.  Here is the village where the
rest of the humans live.  We left there, because a demon had taken it
over.
Aran: A demon?
Desh: A dark-clad, hooded figure. My father led us away, but he was
eaten by the water demon.  Now Savadas is our leader. [spits] On
this island, here, there is a wise demon.
Skanda: I don't think that he means an actual supernatural demon.
It's just a word for a monster.
Nigil: Why do you say this demon is wise?
Desh: Demon is very clever.
Nigil: Does it eat people?
Desh: It tries. [giggles] I run fast.
Norel: I think we should try and talk to this "wise demon".
Aran: And I want to find out more about this "dark clad demon" that's
taken over the main human settlement.  I sense that the hand of
Hieroneous has led me to this place to purge it of evil.
Tika: If the goblins are still holding the rest of my expedition
alive, I feel that I should try to rescue them.

They decide to go to Savadas and get permission to use his "great
ship".

Savadas: You no can use great ship.  It mine.  Me chief.
Desh: No, my father chief, ship mine.
Savadas: Bah.
Aran: We'll bring back food.
Savadas: Ummm... ok.

Now the party just has to figure out how to operate a boat.

Norel: I think the flat ends of these things go in the water, and then
you sort of push...
Nigil: Don't gnomes have boats?
Tika: What does that word "boats" mean?
Desh: (rolls his eyes)
Tron: We could tie this other boat next to that one, and it would stop
it from tipping over.
Rhahid: Ah, an "outrigger".  Now, we just need two poles to hold it to
the main hull...
Nigil: Oh, you can use my spare two-handed sword for one.
Norel: And you can use my bronze two-handed sword for the other.
Rhahid: [gapes]
Norel: Well, you never know when you may need one...

Eventually they rig up an outrigger and set out for the island of the
"wise demon".  Desh leads the way in his coracle.  After paddling for
what seems like several hours, they come to a rocky shore.

Desh: Here is island where demon lives. (pulls out half a fish and
tosses it on the beach)  Now we wait.

The party waits.  And waits...

Tron: I don't think this demon thing is gonna show.
Rhahid: And that's a bad thing?!

Troll: (wades ashore and grabs the half of a fish)
Aran: Aha!  There it is!  Speak to it, Skanda!
Skanda: (hails the monster haltingly in the language of the
primitives)
Troll: ...
Aran: Maybe it speaks Aerdi?
Troll: Galuup speaks Aerdi! I'm a he. Not an it. I'm a poet, too. 
Rhahid: Thank the merciful gods!  Civilization at last!
Tron: Get real, it's a talking troll.  We've dealt with them before.
Troll: I know what you are too, elf.  And I could drown you in water
and there would be nothing you could do to stop me.
Tron: Ulp.
Nigil: Why are you here? How do you speak Aerdy?
Troll: The other trolls exiled me to this cavern because I was too
smart for them.
Tron: How did you learn Aerdi?
Galuup: From listening to sailors talk.
Nigil: Do you know the way to the surface?
Galuup: I know many ways to the surface... talk to the fishmen.
Aran: Besides the fishmen.
Galuup: There is a beast that lives in the water here.  I think
it is a giant octopus. It has eight arms and a big beak.  I
think that there is a way to the surface through its cave.  I think a
party of powerful adventurers like yourselves might have a chance of
killing it.
Aran: What do you get out of that?
Galuup: If the octopus were out of the way, I could fish all day
long.
Aran: You would be the biggest fish in the pond... so to speak.
Norel: Do you know anything about this hooded figure that's taken over
the main human village?
Galuup: Nope.
Aran: Approximately how many humans do you think are there?  Just a
rough guess...
Tron: (whispers) One, two, many! [snicker]
Galuup: Three hundred and fifty two.  I ate one yesterday. Tastes like
chicken. Or elf.
Aran: Well, um, thanks Galuup, I guess we'll head over there now.
Galuup: No. Now it is high tide.  The octopus is out.  Wait until the
tide drops.
Nigil: Ok, I guess we'll stay here. The octopus must kind of lair
that it does not leave at low tide.
Aran: That sounds like its vulnerability to me.
Tika: What's an octopus?
Desh: What is wrong with small one?
Galuup: And while you wait, I'll recite my poetry!  I've never had an
audience before, and I'm dying to know what you think of it!
Tron: No, that's ok, we'll pass thanks.

Galoop throws a tantrum until the party agrees to listen to his
poetry.

Tron: All right, all right, we'll listen to your frickin' poetry.
Galoop: Frickin' poetry?  Or poetry. [snif]
Nigil: Ok, ok, just recite it.

For what seems like days the party is forced to listen to Galoop
recite his poetry.

The Galoopiad:

"I sing of food and a sad troll, who,
pursued by the wrath of the other trolls,
and constantly hungry,
came to an underground sea."

Ode to Food Eaten in a Cave:

"Goblins are stringy, fishmen mushy.
That is all ye know, and all ye need know."

The Second Meal:

"Swimming and swimming in a widening circle,
The fishman cannot hear me coming.
Then I eat him."

Galuup continues for a long, long time, eventually falling
into adlibing. It becomes clear why the other trolls exiled
him.

Nigil: (whispers) What have we done to deserve this?
Desh: Tide low now.  We go.
Aran: Yes!  I mean, your poetry is great Galuup, but we have to go
now.  Bye!

They make a rush for the boats and get away.

Galuup: Wait!  Wait!  Listen to this one:

"In the middle of my life, I found myself
Very hungry, in a dark cave..."

The party paddles out of reach of the troll's voice.

Tika: That was horrible.
Nigil: Hey, he could have eaten us.
Tika: After the first few hours, I started to wish he would.
Aran: I must make sure that my appearance is sufficiently
impressive. (dons his surcoat emblazoned with the symbol of
Hieroneous, and sits in contemplation for a while) You know... since
Tella died... well... there's something I just have to say... it's
embarrassing, but... well...
Norel: What?
Aran: My armor isn't shiny.  I don't understand it. It's almost as if
it wasn't being polished anymore, but I never polished it. It's very
strange. I think heironeous no longer favors me.
Skanda: (shakes her head)
Norel: Yeah Aran, that's weird. (whispers to Nigil) He must have had
women polishing his armor where ever he went. It's hard to feel
sorry for him. And he's celibate. What a waste.

After a relatively short journey, they arrive at a shore.  A number of
boats are beached here.  One boat is made of wood, the others are all
crude coracles of a familiar type, some larger, some smaller.  In front
of the party is a cliff, with a cave in the middle.

Desh: We go in cave or around.
Aran: Hmm... I was hoping to sneak up on these people, but I guess we
have to go in.  We'll go around.

The party heads around the cliff.  As they advance, stones come flying
out of the darkness.

Desh: [bonk] Ooogh.
Tron: [bonk] Ow!  Come out and fight, you cowards!
Aran: Skanda, tell them that we come in peace.

Skanda attempts to communicate with the unknown attackers, but to no
effect.  However, the party presses on, and soon arrives at two cave
mouths.  One one side of the larger cave mouth are a bunch of impaled
goblins, on the other side are four flayed human carcasses.

Rhahid: Nice people.
Desh: (heads towards larger cave) They are in here.

The party advances into the larger cave.  This cave is dimly lit
inside with torches.  As they go down the passage, three guards leap
out at them.

Guard#1: (swings at Tron with his club)
Aran: Don't kill them!
Tron: [misses] Huh?  Look what you made me do.
Norel: No problem! (decks guard#2 with the flat of his sword)
Nigil: [smack] And stay down!
Aran: We come to lead you to the true faith! [wham] That was for your
own good.

Skanda translates as they attempt to talk to the guards.

Aran: We come in peace.  Take us to your leader.
Guard#1: Follow. This way.

The guards lead the party down the corridor.  It widens out, and ends
in a pair of large bronze doors.  Two of the guards stop and cower
against the doors, looking up at the ceiling.

Norel: What are those guys looking at? (looks up) Oh shit!

From murder holes in the ceiling a rain of rocks and burning pitch
falls on the party.  The two guards at the door are killed instantly.
Desh is KO'd by a rock, and Rhahid is set on fire by pitch.

Rhahid: Aaaah!  It burns! (falls unconscious)
Norel: (drags Rhahid away and tries to put out the fire)

They flee out of this deathtrap and try to regroup.  Suddenly savages
appear behind them, entering the corridor through a secret door.

Savage: (swings at Tika)
Aran: Remember, no killing!
Tika: Tika-Tikachuuu! (headbutts savage in the nads)
Savage: Urk.  Ooooooh....
Skanda: (casts Heat Metal on the bronze door, with no effect)  I guess
bronze isn't a ferrous metal.

More savages pour into the cave from outside, and the bronze doors now
open to admit a mob of savages.  The party is soon surrounded, and
faces off tensely with many times their number of savages.

Aran: Ok, let's stay calm.  I'm sure we can reason with these people.
Tron: Yeah, they've been so reasonable lately.
Aran: I don't know why they attacked us on sight...
Tron: Perhaps because you're wearing the symbol of an Oeridian war god
on your chest?
Aran: Oops.

A group of unusually large savages (one almost five feet tall) approaches
the party.  Skanda translates:

Savage: What you want?
Aran: Ummm... we have come from a distant land to speak to your leader,
the hooded figure who leads you.  The one you call Skallern, god of
Death.
Savage: I am king.
Aran: I gathered that.  But we want to talk to this hooded guy.
King: I am king.  Stop talking in circles and tell me what you want.
Tron: We heard of the power of your god and came to see the truth for
ourselves.  We brought the cup of Gajom mentioned in your legends.
Nigil: (whispers) Good one, Tron.

King: I am *king*. Speak the truth.

Aran: (sighs) I am on a crusade to convert you from your evil,
cowardly gods to the worship of Hieroneous.  I wouldn't be doing this
if I didn't care for you all deeply.  I don't want to see you walk the
path of an evil faith.

King: Heh.  Why don't you go somewhere private with me and we can
discuss it?
Aran: What guarantee to I have that you won't kill me?
King: I probably will.
Aran: ...
King: On second thoughts, bring the woman with you as well. We need
women.
Skanda: Ulp.
Aran: I think we'll just be going now.
King: Why should I let you?
Nigil: Because will kill you all if you don't?
King: I don't think it would be that easy. How do I profit?
Norel: Maybe if we come back with the ones from the island?
Skanda: Hey!
Norel: (whispers) Shhh... just translate.
King: Fine. Return with them, and perhaps I will allow you to speak
with the hooded figure.


The party leaves, watched by the savages.  They make it down to the
beach, with frequent glances over their shoulders.

Tika: That was close.
Nigil: It's not over yet.  We need to reassemble our outrigger boat.
Norel: Or we could just take this nice wooden one.

The party hesitates for about five seconds...

Aran: Let's go!

They board the wooden boat and cast off.  Desh leads the way in his
coracle.  They also string the "great ship" behind them.  Soon they
hear the sounds of pursuit behind them.

Norel: It sounds like the whole tribe is after us.
Tron: No, I think there's only about thirty of them. Paddle faster!
Aran: Desh!  Take us to Galoop's island.

They reach Galoop's island barely ahead of the savages, and carry the
boats up the beach.  They make their stand.

Savages: (sit offshore in their coracles and pepper the party with
slingstones, aiming for the torchlight that the humans need)

Norel: Screw this!

The humans take cover behind a pile of rock, while Tron and Tika
crouch near the boats and ready their missile weapons.  Desh crawls
underneath the wooden boat.

Savages: (beach their coracles and charge)
Tron: [twang twang]
Tika: [twang]
Norel: [twang twang]

Four savages are shot down as they charge.  Then it is hand to hand
combat in the flickering torchlight.  There are several savages to
each adventurer, and some of the savages are skilled fighters.  They
are even able to locate and attack Tron and Tika, even though the
demihumans are in darkness. Although almost blind in the darkness,
they seem to have uncannny perceptions.

Tron: (cuts down a savage) Take that!
Tika: Tika-Tikachuu! [hack]
Savage: Aaagh!
Norel: [cleave]
Aran: I tried to be nice, but you're asking for this! [hack]
Savage: Urk!
Skanda: By the power of Pholtus, hold! (four savages are frozen in
place)

Two savages grab Rhahid's unconscious form and start dragging him into
the water.

Savage: [hack]
Tika: Urgh! (falls, unconscious)
Tron: Uh-oh, gotta run! (flees into the darkness)
Skanda: (rushes over and heals Tika)
Aran: Die! [hack]
Norel: Stop those guys with Rhahid! [slay]
Nigil: (runs up and kills one of the savages dragging Rhahid)
Savage: (drags Rhahid's unconscious body into the darkness and
disappears)

Norel: (targets the leader of the savages and cuts him down with a
mighty blow)

Seeing their mightiest warrior fall, the surviving savages flee in
terror.  All of them are cut down before they can reach their coracles.

Tron: (wanders in out of the darkness) Hey, we kicked their ass!
Nigil: But... they got Rhahid.
Tron: We'll just have to get him back... if he's still alive.
Aran: I wonder what they wanted him for?
Desh: Trade with fish people. Or food.

Galoop comes ashore and starts eating the bodies.

Tron: Hey, we want to loot the corpses first!

The party recovers a small number of silver coins from the savages.
Then they sit down to debate their next action.

TO BE CONTINUED...