Cormorant readies his hammers and obscures his existence, as he moves directly toward the headhunters. Britta moves to the left of her heartmate to take a flanking position and readies an arrow. She causes her image to blur as she continues forward. Before moving to preparation, Britta says, “We have fought these monsters before. There is no hope for reason.”
Sprthnt responds, “No reason to not to go in unprepared, especially since we are expecting that they will be trouble.” Sprthnt and Kuwaia both move directly toward the impending conflict. Once he is close he will drop his second javelin, only needing the one to fight. He will mystically obscure his existence, while Kuwaia will camouflage her image with the surroundings.
Cina says, “I will move around to our right and take a hidden position. I hope to be able to ambush if they go for violence.” She will not only camouflage herself, she will attempt to completely conceal her presence as she moves to the party’s right flank. If he comes to conflict, she hopes to be able to ambush the enemy.
Seeing that the party is moving to tactical positions, the Headhunters increase their approach to a run. A mild ripple courses over their skin as they run. Two of them divert slightly to run at Britta, likely because she is seen with a bow. A single enemy diverts to run at Cina but seems to lose sight of her. The remaining three stay their course to close with Cormorante, Sprthnt, and Kuwaia. As the party members ready themselves, each becomes more difficult for others to see, with Cormorante being the most difficult to focus upon. Fortunately, unlike the previously encountered Katalians, these headhunters are not known to have a mystical talent.
Cormorante: full wellness
Tunic: 57
Britta: full wellness
Tunic: 58
Arrows: 18: ularin
Sprthnt: full wellness.
Tunic: 59
Kuwaia: full wellness
Tunic: 51
Cina: full wellness
Tunic: 58
Arrows: 20 - 2 = 18: ularin
Coins: 3113 clams
wallaby hide: 40 cover: 32 value
berserker: 2: 10 per measure
bliss: 1: ??
deadly seeds: 1: {Impede x3}: 10 per measure
helplessness: 1: {Impede x3}: 10 per measure
serenity: 1: {Impede x3}: 10 per measure
soothe: 7: {Identity x2}: 1 per measure
tranquility: 10: 2 per measure
Seeing that she is going to be outnumbered, Britta stops moving and fires at the the closes enemy to her, making the arrow appear as a bolt of lightning. When the enemies increase their speed, Cormorante runs to meet them, enhancing hi strength as he moves to swing his hammer. Sprthnt drops his extra javelin as the headhunters start to run. He intends to weaken his opponent as he stabs him. Kuwaia enahnces her athleticism and runs to meet the conflict. She aims for the right arm of her opponent. Seeing that one of the Headhunters is trying to find her, Cina stops moving, enhances her athleticism, and waits to fire from short range at the greatest.
Kuwaia reaches the enemy first and slashes her right sword across the headhunter’s body. The cut is mostly deflected by the light leather mantle, but the blade does get through. The Medderin retaliates with an overhand swing of his right axe. It makes contact but does not cut through the quilted tunic. Britta takes her position and fires her bow at, basically, the same instant, which is rather fast for a bow. The arrow, which looks like a bolt of lightning, buries into the gut of her target. The electric shock that accompanies the arrow adds insult to injury, and that headhunter is incapacitated. The second Medderin reaches her almost as soon as the arrow is released, as both enemies were within arm’s reach. He slashes across the back of her left shoulder, making an injurious cut, even through the thin leather tunic.
All of the remaining headhunters reach the party and swing one of their axes before the defenders can act but not react, except for the one chasing Cina, who is unable to find her. Cormorante manages to block the axe with his left hammer. Sprthnt blocks the axe with the butt end of his javelin. The headhunter looking for Cina stops moving forward and begins scanning the area for a clue, at which point he is shot with an arrow from his hidden opponent. The arrow penetrates well into the gut, dropping the Medderin to the ground.
Sprthnt and Cormorante retaliate at almost the same instant. Sprthnt thrusts his javelin forward but the headhunter blocks. This, however, is not his only means of response. The headhunter is marginally weakened. Cormorante hits his opponent in the ribs, possibly breaking some, causing moderate damage. Two of the headhunters are down, the other four continue to fight.
Kuwaia works her swords in a pattern, walking her body around her opponent without breaking the pattern, hoping that her movement will allow her to prevail by hitting his arms or legs rather than his torso. Trying to keep away from the axes of her remaining opponent, Britta draws another arrow to, once again, release as an electric discharge. Having removed her first enemy as a threat, Cina moves closer to the main conflict to fire at the next nearest headhunter. As Sprthnt withdraws his javelin from its thrust, he spins the butt end to strike his opponent like it is a club, moving air as he swings. Cormorant crowds his opponent, hoping to further pummel the enemy.
Kuwaia strikes first, again, slicing the outside of her opponent’s right arm, rendering it useless, as that axe falls to the ground. When he attempts to respond by swinging his left axe, Kuwaia counters by blocking the blow and cutting into his mantle, but the mantle protects the chest. At that same instant, Britta gains a step of distance away from her remaining aggressor and releases another arrow that looks like an electric discharge. With the constant movement of both opponents, the arrow and the shock injure the headhunter, but he continues to fight. Britta dodges his swing.
He though he had been slowed, the opponent of Sprthnt swings his axe before Sprthnt can act; but by reflexive response, the axe is blocked. Sprthnt rolls the but end of his weapon around the arm of his enemy and swings it forward. The headhunter also blocks the javelin, but a freak gust of air throws the Medderin to the ground. Cina who has stealthy moved closer to Kuwaia, her nearest friends, fires an arrow at her opponent. Making sure that she does not shoot her friend, the arrow strikes the headhunter but does not do enough damage to take him down.
Cormorante then swings his other hammer, striking his opponent in the chest for a second time. This blow likely cracks more ribs and drives all of the air from the lungs causing the headhunter to fall to the ground before he can swing. The two headhunters that are still standing and the one that Sprthnt knocked to the ground, then attempt to extricate themselves from the losing conflict. Britta and Cina almost immediately drop the two injured ones and Sprthnt launches his javelin into the third before he can even completely rise to his feet. Only Britta has been hurt.
Cormorant and Sprthnt will assist Britta with her wounds while Kuwaia and Cina make sure that the headhunters are dead. Sprthnt calls over to Cormorant. “Let me help you with Britta so we can increase her rate of healing even more.”
Cormorant nods. Cina says, “We will dispatch these headhunters and begin searching the bodies.” The bodies will then be searched for anything of use or interest. After analyzing any finds, the party will continue into the cluster of palms in order to explore them for a couple of days.
The two girls only find a skull fetish and a curious stone. The cluster of palms is not fed by a source of water coming from the mountains, unlike the other places in the Pass that the party had explored. Being on the edge of the desert and near the coast, occasional rains reach this area, though they are always light. Also due to being on the southern tip of the land, there is almost no seasonal change in temperature, and the palms produce their fruits and nuts all through the Cycle.
Cormorante: full wellness
Tunic: 57
Britta: full wellness
Tunic: 58 - 1 = 57
Arrows: 18: ularin
Sprthnt: full wellness.
Tunic: 59
Kuwaia: full wellness
Tunic: 51 - 1 = 50
Cina: full wellness
Tunic: 58
Arrows: 20 - 2 = 18: ularin
Coins: 3113 clams
wallaby hide: 40 cover: 32 value
berserker: 2: 10 per measure
bliss: 1: ??
deadly seeds: 1: {Impede x3}: 10 per measure
helplessness: 1: {Impede x3}: 10 per measure
serenity: 1: {Impede x3}: 10 per measure
soothe: 7: {Identity x2}: 1 per measure
tranquility: 10: 2 per measure
Since the skull fetish turns out to have belonged to a magpie, Cormorant keeps it and discards his wolverine teeth. “I am glad you two recovered this fetish. It is more powerful than those teeth I was wearing, even if I do need to hang it from my belt.”
The twilightstone, even though it is not needed for its proclivity, is kept for its monetary value. Sprthnt says, “I am going to set out some snares and then scout around for some game. I will not wander too far.”
Cina looks over at Kuwaia. “I think we can climb these trees. Do you want see if we can collect some of whatever is growing up there to see if it is edible.” Kuwaia agrees and removes her boots because her bare feet would be better suited to climbing these types of trees.
Britta sits down to recover. “Sprthnt, It should not take too long for me to heal. Cormorant and I will keep camp until I do. Give a holler if you run into any trouble. I am down not out.”
In the first snare that Sprthnt sets, he eventually catches a hyrax. Whatever got caught in the other was too large or too strong to be held, and the snare was broken. Nothing else is discovered while hunting. There are plenty of birds, but there seems to be nothing worth collecting for food. He returns, disappointed. The two girls have little difficulty climbing some of the palms and drop coconuts and dates to the ground, collecting them when they climb back down.
Fortunately the party still has quite a supply of trail food remaining and the fresh fruit and coconut milk are a welcome addition. The two days of rest are comforting, and the second day is spent mostly lounging with one another. The third morning the party feels refreshed and ready to travel again.
Cormorante: full wellness
Tunic: 57
Britta: full wellness
Tunic: 58 - 1 = 57
Arrows: 18: ularin
Sprthnt: full wellness.
Tunic: 59
Kuwaia: full wellness
Tunic: 51 - 1 = 50
Cina: full wellness
Tunic: 58
Arrows: 20 - 2 = 18: ularin
Coins: 3113 clams
wallaby hide: 40 cover: 32 value
berserker: 2: 10 per measure
bliss: 1: ??
deadly seeds: 1: {Impede x3}: 10 per measure
helplessness: 1: {Impede x3}: 10 per measure
serenity: 1: {Impede x3}: 10 per measure
soothe: 7: {Identity x2}: 1 per measure
tranquility: 10: 2 per measure
