Rhune pauses to think about the mention of Kalanos' ship. "I wonder about that as well. I was so caught up in what we were trying to do just now that I had completely forgotten about his boat," she says as she looks up and towards the river.
"Boat? What boat? What are you talking about?" asks Forte.
"He is the captain of a boat that we had taken at one point. If he is here, then his boat should be around on the river some place near," Rhune explains quickly.
Jacobus turns to Forte, "Sorry my friend, some of us have met this man before. He is, or rather was, a riverboat captain, last time we saw him he was a lot more coherent, I was wondering what happened to his riverboat."
Xania grins, "I don't remember it much, I was unconscious most of the trip, as I don't recall."
After answering Forte's question about the boat, "I found this over there," Rhune says holding a brooch out for everyone to see. It is finely crafted, delicate in appearance, shaped something like either a small mirror or a pool of water. "I thought I saw something move just as this man went down. I can't find any trace of anything or anyone having been here, but this was near the spot where I thought I saw a shadow. The really odd thing about it is that it appears to have been left there not dropped. It is the second thing that I have found where it should not be," she says holding out the pendant that she is wearing. "I found this back at the village." The amulet is shaped like a ruined tower, apparently made of silver, with the top corner collapsed. It is crudely crafted, but more valuable than the brooch.
Jacobus draws a dagger and moves off silently into the woods trying to see if he can find the person who dropped the brooch.
Rhune calls out to Jacobus, "Wait before you go off. I found the pendant at Susyakanya not here," she tells him. "I thought I had shown everyone last night," she murmurs to no one in particular.
However, Jacobus ignores the statement and continues into the woods. After some time searching, he finds not the slightest trace of a footprint anywhere near the area that Rhune mentioned. Not a broken branch or anything. He returns with some disappointment.
"Hmmm, curiouser and curiouser," muses Leslie as he moves in for a closer look. " I wonder if they were left by the same person... Tell me Rhune, are there any similarities between the two items?"
"Not that I can tell off hand. The brooch looks like a little mirror and the pendant has a broken tower on it. I found the pendant at the village near some wolf tracks. Just after I found it is when I met up with that elf we met. This I found over there." Rhune says pointing to where she found the brooch.
Leslie helps Xania bind the man, keeping weary should he come to suddenly. "This is weird," he comments, "I've seen plenty of guys get knocked out before, but usually there was someone doing the knocking." He gives her a sidelong look, and smiles impishly. "Not uncommonly, me" he adds. He turns his eyes back to the prone form. "This one, however, just dropped. Hardly a mark on him... strange, that. Think some kind of magic was involved? That is your field, is it not?"
"All I know is that I wish *I* could do that," grins Xania. "Truly, I have no idea what caused this, though I will think about it for a few and see."
Being fairly knowledgeable about such things, Xania discusses Kalanos' physical condition with Augustus and concludes that some magic must have resulted in his fall. Judging by his present condition, it is easy enough to estimate that some sort of sleep enchantment might have been laid on him. Knowing that Marika is more experienced at this type of magic, Xania turns to where she last saw her.
Rhune is looking around her after she hands them the rope. "I am certain that I saw a shadow around here just before he fell but I can't find anything except that brooch I showed you."
Augustus quickly checks the man as Xania binds him in some rather uncomfortable knots. He sleeps all the while. Checking the man's injuries, Augustus notes that the arrow he took in the shoulder was merely a flesh wound and the very slight abrasions he has from the fall are centered around his knees and chest. There is no hint of any injury that might have caused him to be unconscious.
When Xania is finished tying up the man, "He is alright?" Rhune asks them. Assured by Augustus that he is physically sound, she speaks up to the group, "I don't know about you but I could have sworn I saw something move in the shadows just as he went down. However I can't find any hint that something was here. There are no footprints, no broken leaves, nothing. The only odd thing I found was this." She holds out the brooch she already showed the group
Augustus quickly tends to the unconscious man's wounds, and assists in moving him to a 'safer' position if one so exists. "So, you have had dealings with this man before?" he asks Xania as she completes her series of complex hitches and turns to secure the man in case he is intent on harming himself or any of the party.
Having overheard some of the conversation between Jacobus and Asif regarding bats, when they arrive, Augustus finds a pointy stick and draws a picture in the dirt representing a flying rodent. "But, I have never one so large that it might carry a man away."
"Bats are like rats with wings...or is that pigeons?" Xania muses.
Asif looks to the mage. "Flying rats you say? Most strange. How big are they and are many found in this land?"
"Well, they vary from quite small to the giant variety, like many other mammals," replies Xania. "I'm certainly no expert though. I'm just a humble mage." Her eyes twinkle at Asif, likely making him wonder if she's pulling his leg.
"RATS!" Kalanos comes to with a roar. "Demons from hell! While their spawn ran about us chittering their evil chants, they flew above!" He is screaming with such intensity that the veins in his temple bulge and his voice is tinged with a harsh scrape. "ESCAPE! Escape!" He begins to pull against the ropes with all his strength. Augustus sees the cords digging into his flesh as he struggles, and begins to worry that the man might damage himself severely. It is also clear that rational thought has been driven from his mind. He begins to gibber meaninglessly and roll around on the ashen earth.
"Wow!" gasps Forte, as he watches the madman writhe on the ground. "I haven't seen anything this weird since the baker's daughter back home started having fits after she hit her head on a log. They couldn't do anything for her, so they just had to put her out of her misery. Of course, if they hadn't, some of the other villagers were set to kill her anyway. Superstitious fools thought she was possessed by Asmodeus himself..."
He turns to Augustus. "Can you help him? Fix his mind, I mean?"
Augustus watches the man writhe against the ropes and winces as the begin to dig into his flesh. "It would take some time, but I believe that I might be able to help him, at least temporarily...what we need now is to calm him down so he does not harm himself...perhaps I have something that might serve as a sedative, until I can do something else for him." Augustus rummages about in his healer's bag for the proper ingredients for the sedative, but is distracted when he hears someone shout that Marika was missing...
Augustus finds that he has the ingredients present for something that might calm the man, at least temporarily, and he begins to put something crude together to do just that.
Jacobus turns when he hears the ravings of the riverboat captain "Ok, I stand corrected it wasn't bats but demons....are we all sure just what were getting into here??" he looks to the others. "I'm going to the river to see if I can locate their boat." With that, dagger still in hand, he moves as quietly as possible towards the river's edge.
At this point Xania looks around "Any of you all have any idea where Marika might be?"
"She was right over......" Rhune's voice drops as she begins to point to the last place she had seen Marika. The young half-elf is not there. "I don't know. She was just here a little while ago." Rhune begins to run over to the spot where Marika should be. Once she gets to within a few feet of it she stops and walks more slowly, looking for her horse, and any other sign of her.
"Marika is missing!" Xania exclaims, all thoughts of her banter with Jacobus gone. "Hell."
"We need to start looking for her, immediately," she orders peremptorily, moving away from the captain she had just bound and heading toward her own horse.
Rhune calls over her shoulder, "Ullar, come with me. Marika seems to be missing. We need to search for her."
Leslie looks up in alarm from the bound madman, his face frowning. "She couldn't have gone far, I'll ride around and look for her." With that, he bounds atop Zephyr, urging him trotting towards the woods. "Someone check by the river!" he calls over his shoulder at the rest.
Augustus looks in the direction that Xania called from, and looks back at the mad ferry captain as he strains at his bonds babbling about bats and demons. "There is no real easy way to deliver this sedative," He says to Leslie, "You have to hold his head still, and pinch his nose, if you can..." Suddenly, Leslie sprints off in the direction of his mount when a search for Marika is called for.
Xania shakes her head. "Let's not all split up. That's likely how Marika disappeared. Keep at least 2 together." With that, she follows Leslie on Noir.
"I'll stay here with Augustus," Forte says, after helping him administer the sedative. He prepares his bow and patrols the clearing, occasionally checking the skies for bats.
"Asif, you come with me then." Rhune calls out. "Ullar, maybe you should stay with Augustus till he gets the captain settled." she says to the big man. "Let's not get to far out either, Xania." she calls.
Asif replies, "Let us go with speed then Efendi. We must find our friend, before harm comes to her."
"Yes we must," she replies as she hurries back to the last spot she remembers seeing Marika. When she is within a few feet she slows down and begins to look around for any sign of what might have happened to the young priestess.
Unfortunately, tracks of horse, goblin, or man look much the same to Rhune, and though it is easy to see where the group emerged from the woods (the last time that anyone saw Marika), anything more definitive than that is impossible for her to determine.
Asif dismounts and joins Rhune near the fading tracks. His hawk like eyes scan the horizon, before he turns to face Rhune.
"Tell me efendi, what path of fate do you think she took? We would have heard something if she has been taken. She is quite determined, and doubt I that she would have fallen without a sound. The other option is that she went voluntarily. She could not have gone far, in the short time since we last remember seeing her. We should try and retrace out steps"
"I wish I knew Asif. But you are right that she would not have gone without a fight. So maybe she did go willing. But with whom and where is the question?" she replies as she continues to search around for any sign of Marika.
As Rhune and Asif look around the village for Marika, "Asif, do you remember seeing Marika at all?" she has dismounted and is looking around carefully. "I can't remember seeing her after we spotted the captain."
"It is as you described it Efendi, I not see her for some time. I search ruins of settlement just prior to Captain's discovery. Jacobus and I look for signs of enemy and speak of possible threat from air. He say enemy tracks most strange, as they just disappear. He say enemy may be born through sky. He speak of creature you call Bat?? If true this be it explain why no tracks we see of Marika or her horse. Heka may have lured her away from us, then she taken."
"Hmmmm.....bats.......the bats we fought at settlement might have been large enough to take her way. But bats don't usually come out in the day time," she replies still seeming lost in thought.
Thinking about it, though, Rhune realizes that the bats were almost certainly not large enough to have taken a person of Marika's size. They were little more than human sized themselves, and surely would not have been able to carry so much more weight. Also, the horse (surely impossible for the bats to lift) is also gone.
Rhune is deep in thought, "I wonder if that shadow has anything to do with it? I thought I saw something just before the captain went down. In fact, someone said that he looked like a sleep spell got him and Marika is the only that I know who can cast that." She is looking for Marika's horse or anything that she might have dropped or signs of scuffle.
"Shadow most obvious sign that flying creature may be ally of greenskins. Shadow come from above. We distracted by flight of Captain, enemy with power of heka and flight, then take our friend. Key now be to discover where such large creature may land.. It must be big to take man or women into air. What you say of this?"
"You know that might be the case. She could have been taken by air. I found this about where I saw the shadow. It looks like it was dropped there and there was no sign of a scuffle. It could have been dropped from the air." Rhune says holding out the brooch for Asif to look at. "I can't remember if it is Marika's or not though," she says as she looks up in the air.
"Sadly can speak not of her ownership of that piece of jewelry. My wounds have too often been the motivation for our communication. Bleed I and groan.... She pray and bandage." Asif chuckles attempting to disguise his nervousness with some black humor. "I wish more time spent in conversation. Those well versed in the craft of heka well regarded in my homeland. They most rare, but like Inmans have power to speak to the Djinn. Djinn being most powerful messengers of the gods."
"Jinn? Have never heard of those. Yes Marika does tend to us a great deal, even when she is exhausted. I truly hope that we can find her. And that she is alright," Rhune replies curiosity about both Marika and jinn evident both in her voice and her face.
Asif looks to Rhune with some surprise upon his face.
"Efendi you have not Djinn in Italy? How gods speak to man then if they have no messengers? Your land is most strange to me. Let us go and see if we can see any sign of flight from this place. Where say you did you find that pendant. Maybe it was dropped by Marika as a silent sign that all was not well!"
"I do not know how the gods speak to the humans. The gods of my people, though, use dreams and omens to speak to us," she says to him. When they find nothing around the village that can tell them what might have happened to Marika, Rhune shows Asif where she found the brooch. "I found it over here," she says leading him to the spot where she found it. "This is where I saw the shadow. I came over here to see if I could find out what happened to it, but as you can see I could find no tracks only this," she explains to Asif as she looks around some more. This time, however she looks up in the sky as well. "I think the shadow went that way when it moved," she says pointing in the direction she remembers.
Asif studies this area with keen intent, looking in particular at the tree line. He looks for any signs of disturbance of the tree tops - ie shattered vegetation etc - sign that a creature may have landed there. He dismounts and attempts to climb one of the trees to take a closer look.
"Efendi, tree I shall climb to see if any creature may have taken flight from one of the branches up there. Signs may be left there such as that of marks from claws, or rendered cloth from any victims of its attacks. We have little to go on, in this we may be smiled upon by fate."
Rhune watches as Asif climbs the tree. She smiles to herself, she probably should have been the one to climb the tree as she was forever climbing them back home, but the young warrior was already half up the tree so she says nothing to him at the moment.
Asif upon reaching the halfway point of the tree, is struck with sudden realization as to what he is doing. What by the prophets beard convinced him to attempt such a thing. Climbing a garden wall, or over a palace balcony is one thing, but this? Hell no such things as these massive trees are found upon the banks of the Nile. No Palms within the gardens of the palace compare to the size and girth of this monster of nature... Mad must he be to attempt such a thing as this. He shuts his eyes firmly to throw off the vertigo he is experiencing. With great power of will he opens his eyes and resumes his climb to the top. Once there holding the trunk in a bear hug born of repressed fear. He then looks around him for signs of any creature which may have taken rest there while waiting for a victim.
She just watches to make sure that he is fine. When he gets to the top, "Can you see anything, Asif? If you find anything of interest drop it down, I will get it," she calls up to him.
Asif replies "It shall be done Efendi."
Seeing that the rest of the group is returning to the campsite, Rhune leaves Asif dangerously perched in the tree to see if any of them has any further information.
Asif finds the needles of the tree poke him incessantly and the tree itself is covered in bark which seems to slip off at the most inconvenient time. Asif finds it a truly monumental task to inch upward around the tree without losing his grip and falling to the ground. After several minutes of this, he manages to find a space where two fairly strong branches can hold his weight, and he rests for a moment. He begins peering about to see if there are any signs of the tree being disturbed. There are, plenty of them, but all appear to have been caused by Asif himself. Looking about, he sees no such signs in the neighboring trees. Resigning himself to climbing down with nothing to report, his hawk like eyes catch sight of something moving in the forest several yards away. A slight figure is bending down near a tree and appears to be placing something there. The figure quickly but silently lays the item down, then turns and rushes back into the forest.
Asif memorizes where the figure dropped the item then attempts to follow the path of the departing figure with his eyes. Losing sight of the figure he climbs ever so slowly to the forest floor. Once below he whispers a quiet prayer to Aten and goes forth in search of the area where he saw the strange figure. All his sense heightened to possible danger.
Asif sees with some perturbance that Rhune has left her post at the bottom of the tree, but having no time to contemplate that, he moves quickly into the forest where he saw the figure. Immediately, he sees what was left there. It appears to be some sort of book, with a piece of paper hanging loosely between the front cover and the main body. There is fine, flowing writing upon the paper, but it means absolutely nothing to Asif. Searching about for signs of the mysterious figure, he sees nary a footprint or fallen leaf to indicate the passing.
Meanwhile, back at the site of the burned out logging camp....
"I'm sorry my friend," Augustus says to the ferry captain, "But, we cannot have you running about causing all sorts of havoc while we search for our lost friend, and I cannot allow you to hurt yourself any further than you have, I hope you understand."
With that, Augustus quickly reaches out and grabs hold of the ferry captains nose, pinching it closed, hoping he will open his mouth long enough for him to pour the sedative down his throat.
Held securely by Forte's massive arms, the captain is unable to object. The effects are almost immediate, and the captain's face settles into a smile as he passes out and goes limp in Forte's grasp.