Chapter 7: In The Village

[Hywaywolf]

Since they have seen us, Simon doesn't feel the need to stay silent. He calls out, "Mr. Mansel, where do you think they got the raft? You suppose its from the Morgana (I have looked but I haven't seen any mention of missing life rafts) or perhaps the ship that retrieved Sullivan and Lusk is still with us?"

(if the action is happening to fast for shouts back and forth, ignore this post)

[crazycrypt]

Tommy will attempt his best to run to the trees and take cover behind the nearest tree that is big enough for him to hide behind. He will attempt to peak out around the trees and take a shot at the raft instead of shooting at the people at first. If he can recognize any of the intruders as being the missing crew members, he will attempt to shout it to his comrades.

If Tommy can hear Simon yelling at him, then he will yell back, "Do not worry about that, stay alive and take fire. Worry about that if we manage to get out of this."

[Hywaywolf]

(OOC, we aren't that far apart since I think we were all pretty much together when the shot rang out. I fell in right behind and slightly to your left. So until we saw the boat and split up to hunt cover, we were probably less than 10' apart. We wouldn't even need to shout to communicate)

[Solomoriah]

OOC: Tommy is evidently the only one of you who intends to return fire; I'll proceed on that basis.

Three things happened very quickly: One of the natives clustered around the riverbank threw his spear at the boat, the gunman on the boat fired his rifle, and Tommy Mansel fired on the boat. It was difficult to tell in the gloom of dusk, but Tommy didn't believe his shot hit the boat. The spear arced smoothly overhead and struck the gunman in the shoulder, glancing off but apparently doing some harm to him.

Catherine called out, "Steve's hit!" even as she dropped to one knee and leveled her rifle at the boat. She fired, and the gunman reeled, obviously hit. Four more native warriors threw spears, but only one reached the boat, narrowly missing the boatman.

The gunman fell back in the boat, though it was not possible to see whether from his injuries or just seeking cover. The boatman pulled hard on his oars, and the boat moved smoothly downstream; in the gloom it would surely be out of range soon.

...

In the village, the women, children, and elders quickly found shelter inside their huts. As Artie aided the girl leading Kamaria to a hut, the old woman turned toward him. "You care for us, you speak our language. I know you, sky god... you are Bey!"

[Hywaywolf]

Simon will race along the river bank chasing after the raft. He won't waste ammunition, but if he gets in range he will shoot at the raft hoping to slow it down. He will not be so bold as to run into the trees, but by the map it looks like there is some distance before the trees come near the river. Of course, if anyone in the raft raises a weapon he will shoot at them rather than the boat.

What Simon is thinking:
Now that Simon has seen the situation, he is not sure that the men in the raft are the escaped saboteurs. The natives called them Sea Devils, which means they may have recent knowledge of them (rather than from fables told by the fire). The saboteurs would be something new to the island. Simon wants answers, not corpses.

[Hywaywolf]

(I don't know if you want us editing posts so i'll post this in a new post, but I wanted to add something obvious)

If the man who was knocked out of the boat is close enough for Simon to attempt a rescue, he will forget about the raft and attempt a rescue (hoping that he isn't just saving a corpse)

[rredmond]

Will marks where Tommy is, just in case we have to go looking for him, then heads back. His intention is to let Artie and Monday know what's going on, but if there's no one tending to Vance, and it looks bad, he'll stop there first to help him (and resist the urge to rifle through his pockets.)

[Nazim]

In the village, the women, children, and elders quickly found shelter inside their huts. As Artie aided the girl leading Kamaria to a hut, the old woman turned toward him. "You care for us, you speak our language. I know you, sky god... you are Bey!"

Artie hesitates to answer. "I... I care for everyone." He then addresses the woman formally in her tongue, to reinforce the need for some answers. "But, the spirits, where are they?"

[crazycrypt]

Tommy will attempt to do the same as Simon, run after the boat just outside the line of trees and attempt to stop them. Since he is not so worried about ammunition, he will empty his clip at the boat attempting to sink it so they cannot get away.

If he misses altogether, then after he empties his clip he will start walking back to camp, changing to a spare clip on the way. Once changed, he will put the safety back on, holster the gun, and then attempt to reload the empty clip.

If he manages to hit the boat, he will quickly dodge back into the trees and change his clip. He will then start firing at the two people.

If at any point they raise a gun to attempt to fire at Tommy, he will quickly dodge back into the trees.

[Solomoriah]

Tommy pursued the boat as far as he could, firing three times before he ran out of room where the trees and scrub became too close to the river to allow him to continue running. He was certain that all three shots hit the raft, and he watched as the boatman rowed it into the cover of the reeds at the far side of the river.

I'm making some assumptions here, Hyway, since you're new.

Simon dropped his gun beside his shoes before jumping into the river to rescue the speared gunman. He reached him easily, as the river was not all that fast where he entered it, and had no difficulty retrieving the body; but unfortunately, interrogating the gunman would be impossible, as he was evidently dead.

Will moved quickly to Steve's side. Several native warriors were standing around him, but all appeared unwilling to touch the person of a sky god. Steve was unconscious, and wounded in his left shoulder; Will applied pressure to the wound to stop the bleeding.

...

"This is a test, isn't it?" replied the old woman. "The spirits live in the lands between the gates. This is the land of the lion and the bull, and they are never far away from us. So it is said."

As Artie followed the girl and the old woman into a hut, he saw the wooden totem standing just outside the entrance.