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Solomoriah wrote:...As he moved away, Michael Lloyd appeared and took a seat. "Doctor," he said, "I meant to tell you earlier, I found that last pictogram in the book. It was 'blood.'"

"I say," said the archaeologist. "So the verse reads 'with blood the door opens?'"

"I'd make it more like 'by blood the gate is opened.'"

"Fascinating," said Burton. "Mister Lloyd, if you please, let me get the totem from my room, and you the book from yours, and let's see if we can translate the rest of it."

Will looks up, "That would be 'sacrafice' kind of blood, no Doctor Burton? Who are these people?"

Solo wrote:Just then, Will heard the sound of gunfire, a bit distant, but gunfire nonetheless. As he sprang to his feet, David Graham called out, "Look, below, in that clearing!"

Crap, Will thinks. He scans the forest, then looking where David indicated. [I may be getting ahead of myself here...] As soon as he sees enough info he's heading straight back for either Tommy or the Captain, whoever he finds first, as fast as he can to ensure that they know what's going on.

OOC: Do I have a gun. Not sure if I still did.

rredmond wrote:OOC: Do I have a gun. Not sure if I still did.

Yup, never gave it back.

OOC Do we have an idea about what is happening on the ground? The outcome of the fight?

Rosisha wrote:OOC Do we have an idea about what is happening on the ground? The outcome of the fight?

Um... Simon Lars IS on the ground. Please re-read my last post regarding that fight (previous page), then tell me how you want to proceed from there.

OOC: My bad! i totally missed it!

Simon scans the woods, trying to identify any more targets. If things have quieted down he will reload. But keep an eye out. Moving into the forest cover, he ducks from cover to cover, darting forward carefully moving no more then a few meters at a time. Once he proceeds forward about 30 meters, he will examine the woods and look for attackers, then fall back to the clearing.

Rosisha wrote:Moving into the forest cover, he ducks from cover to cover, darting forward carefully moving no more then a few meters at a time. Once he proceeds forward about 30 meters, he will examine the woods and look for attackers, then fall back to the clearing.

If another "party" member follows Simon, Art begins checking the others by going through a slow roll-call. If Simon is alone, Artie will move parallel to Simon, and a bit behind so as not to make himself an inadvertent target of his ally.

As Simon moved toward the trees, Artie noticed that the native guards looked stunned, due, he surmised, to the roar of the gunfire. Kordal seemed shaken too, but then he shook himself. "Get up, you cowards," he said sharply to the guards. "You knew as well as I that the sky gods carry lightning in their hands! Why are you surprised there is thunder also? Do not show fear before the sky gods!"

"Artie," said Monday, half walking, half crawling back to him, "what are they saying?"

One of the guards steeled himself and followed Simon into the woods. They didn't have to go far to find a fallen native warrior, shot through the heart; Simon couldn't be sure if it was his shot or Catherine's that laid him low. His trappings were different than those worn by Kordal's men. "Suran," said the native guard, followed by a string of other words Simon couldn't make out.

...

From the lounge, the passengers could see the landing party crouching in the clearing; two natives could be seen lying down with spears jutting from their bodies. As they watched, they saw Simon and the native enter the woods.

...

On B deck, the Captain was still questioning Mansel when the gunfire was heard. "Bloody hell," he said, hurrying forward, "what now?"

Chapman said, "Gunfire below, looks like a fight with someone hidden in the trees. I see two natives down with spears in them."

"I see that," said the Captain. "Damn. I shouldn't have let them go. Can we anchor here?"

"Probably, sir, but in that tangle of trees, we'd probably have to cut loose the anchor to leave."

Solomoriah wrote:...
From the lounge, the passengers could see the landing party crouching in the clearing; two natives could be seen lying down with spears jutting from their bodies. As they watched, they saw Simon and the native enter the woods.

...

Will presses as close to the glass (plastic?) as possible. "All our guys are okay," he'll say quietly, "you saw that they were all okay, right?" He'll turn to ask the closest passengers to them. Whether he get's clarification or not, he'll back to find the captain and find out what the next steps are.

Solomoriah wrote:As Simon moved toward the trees, Artie noticed that the native guards looked stunned, due, he surmised, to the roar of the gunfire. Kordal seemed shaken too, but then he shook himself. "Get up, you cowards," he said sharply to the guards. "You knew as well as I that the sky gods carry lightning in their hands! Why are you surprised there is thunder also? Do not show fear before the sky gods!"

"Artie," said Monday, half walking, half crawling back to him, "what are they saying?"

Artie looks down, awkwardly ashamed of his percieved power. "They are surprised by the gunfire, and Kordal is scolding them for being stunned by our quote-and-quote lightning. Apparently they are not supposed to show any fear in front of us, you know, eh... gods. I'll ask him what he knows of our attackers..." His words are quiet. He glances at Kordal, trying to reassure him that his men have done nothing wrong, but his glance could be taken any different way. He then makes sure that everyone else in the party is okay.

He then addresses the chief in the native language. His words are quick, and lack the pauses he inserted before to appear insecure about the language. If Simon indicates that it is safe, he advances with Kordal to where the fallen enemy lies. "Chief Kordal, are you able to tell us who these men were? Why they attacked us?" Artie's nerves seem gone, and his expression now is only somber.

Simon crouches by the body and examines the woods, looking for signs of a hasty departure. He looks at the guard for a bit and smiles encouragingly, but stays focused on making sure he doesn't end up with a piece of pointy wood in his gut. Once he is sure that it is safe, he will do a close examination. He wants to see what he can find: any kind of symbols, jewelry, or other information that might seem to indicate a tribe or allegiance. He is looking for something obvious: a tattoo of a bear, which might mean "bear tribe" or that his name was "Strength of Bears" or some such. He also wants to see what weapon the warrior was going to use after chucking his spear. Did he have a knife? An axe?

In Simon's mind, any data is better then no data at all!