Quickly gathering her bow and limping to her horse, "We need to get out of here and quickly. I just hope that we can find a place to hide and also find someone to talk to. If we can't I have a feeling that our mission will end here. And we need to find out who that voice belongs to." Rhune says as she mounts her horse reaching over to rub her ankle. Those who are close enough see that she definitely does not look good.
Antonia looks over the companions to see if her healing is in need. She looks to see if they are able to go on or if there is an immediate need. She grimaces at the thought of not giving healing but she fears that her ability will be needed even more later on in the day.. And such a long day it seems to be becoming.
Only the warriors took any injuries of note in the combat, and they all seem more than ready to continue on, in Antonia's judgment. Hopefully she will not wait too long, but she knows that her healing will only become more precious as time goes by.
Pietro is still standing next to his horse. "Man, I do have to get some more battle sense. When I am finally of my horse, you guys did all the work." Quickly he mounts again. "And so the chase continues! Feel the adrenaline Rhune, let it guide you in these times of trouble."
She smiles at you but you get the impression that she already is running on adrenaline and that is rapidly running out.
Seeing the combat resolve and hearing the approaching pursuers, Rhees tries to urge the mounts towards the combatants, "Sounds like that giant is getting closer. I don't know if he understands Italian, but I shudder at the consequences if he chooses not to listen. Do you think leaving the shaman's corpse behind will slow them down?" Knowing he will be slow to mount anyway, Rhees begins to get back on his horse before his comments are answered. As the others mount up, Rhees takes a look at their surrounding. He remembers that Arkady mentioned Golthar's presence - it wouldn't be surprising if the mage hadn't hired Gactis to trail the party to the ancients' treasures.
"We don't have a chance. We'll have to leave her body her and get the hell out of here!" says Ullar, while quickly glancing at the gnoll their bodies to see if there is anything distinctive which could give the party a clue.
There does not seem to be anything particularly significant about the bodies apparent to Ullar's quick glance.
"Thanks for watching the horses, Rhees," Forte says. He helps Rhune mount her horse and quickly re-mounts his own steed. He urges the others on with a worried tone in his voice, "Let's get out of here before that giant catches up with us."
"Thank you Forte." Rhune replies as pulls herself onto her horse wincing just a bit as her ankle hits the stirrup.
In a voice rough from howls and screams Arkady grunts. "They're behind us. I'll slow them.........." Turning his horse he rides slowly back preparing to engage the pursuers. Filled with gore fueled power, Arkady has become one with the voices.
Looking over at him, "Somebody try to stop him." she cries out.
Already sitting on his horse, Pietro cuts of the . "Oh no you don't, Arkady. You are going with us, we are not leaving a single person here."
"None of us will leave with out a delay........"Arkady's voice is a hissing vent of rage.
Caboto look moved to slow or stop Arkady. "Think man! If the giant slays you, all is lost. We must ride ahead, not back!"
Suddenly, the Pietro's eyes are blazing with an almost unnatural light. "Arkady Arkadovich Ogrumnov, remember who you are! You are Arkady Arkadovich Ogrumnov, scientist and adventurer. Do not give in, I repeat, do not give in to the voices in your head. Come with us, you are our friend and a key component in this, Arkady Arkadovich Ogrumnov!"
The Slav halts suddenly, the division within him written all over his face. Alternately weeping and cackling, he struggles to climb from the abyss of his own mind. A tiny whisper. "Pietro.........."
Pietro rides up next to the Slav and gets hold of a hand. "You can do it, my friend. We are all here to help you. We will ride now, it is time again. When we have got the time, I will come to you, and we will talk if you want." After leading Arkady's horse in the right direction, the elf motions to Daegwyn. "Ok, let's move like the wind!"
Arkady clasps to Pietro's hand like a drowning man. He nearly crushes the elf's fingers in his grasp. Tears rolling down he nods and allows himself to be led.
Caboto pulls on his horse's reigns. "Ahead, I say. They might not expect such foolishness or daring, whatever it may be."
Pietro's command seems to have the desired effect on Arkady, enabling the party to continue traveling with him. However, from his continual looking back, you judge that he is just barely under control, quite possibly to rush off at any moment, as Taglio did.
For miles you rush on, many miles and many hours. The sun has risen and is well into the sky, and still you flee headlong into the valley. Daegwyn absently notes traces of the ancient road along the river, but you have no time to research it closely. The pursuers do not seem fazed by the rising of the sun. In fact, squads of them seem to keep appearing from all over. Several times you see them coming out of caves alongside the canyon and joining the pursuit, but you seem to have outdistanced the main party of them.
Rhune glances around briefly noting the road and the pursing gnolls. She is tired and hungry and her stomach seems to be having conniption fits.
You realize that you will not have time to rest and recoup your spells any time soon, as any rest stop seems to close the distance alarmingly. These gnolls are extremely quick on their feet. Looking back, they have doused their torches for the most part with the advent of day, even though it is only dimly lit inside the steep canyon. What is most disturbing is the size of the pursuit party. It now must number something close to two hundred gnolls! Among them are four of the giant humanoids, who do not seem able to move at the accelerated pace, but yet always appear as heads amongst the teeming crowd. The disturbing sound of war-drums echoes through the canyon, and have for some hours. What an army!
Arkady doesn't leave, he master's himself enough to follow the pack. He says nothing however, afraid to loose his tongue in this mood.
And it only seems to get worse! Up ahead of you, you see the canyon coming to a close. Huge spumes of white spray rise into the air where the river thunders down a mighty waterfall. The air is very damp and water runs in rivulets down every available surface. At the foot of the falls, a mass of wild white water thunders and churns. On the west side of the river, the ancient road can be seen winding it's way up to a dark tunnel opening. At the top of the falls, a squat stone structure can just be seen.
"Oh this is just great. We seem to be nearly cut off." Rhune utters as she very briefly pulls her horse up, leaning over to pat his lathered neck.
Arkady looks up at the road, the cave and the structure. He nods and tries to calculate the climb. "Up seems the only way..........Plus we can defend a small opening far better than we could this road."
"Yeah.. up into their territory. I bet they know all the ins and outs of that stone structure, but you are right, it's the only possibility we have to get ourselves in some sort of defensive position." says Ullar, who urges Zephyr to ride up.
"So, we dismount and leave our animals to the gnolls?" Forte asks, a bit astonished. "What about crossing the river and trying the tunnel? Or maybe there's a cave behind the waterfall?"
"I thought Arkady meant that; crossing the river and following the road which winds up towards the tunnel and that building" replies Ullar. "I'm certainly not going to leave Zephyr behind for those creeps" he continues, patting the horse on the neck.
"That's what I was thinking.........cross over, defend from the tunnel." Arkady is trying to pull his knowledge from the voices interference. "It should be ok that way. Let's cross......"
'That might work, Forte. But whatever we do we need to do it now as they are getting closer." Rhune replies as she glances over her shoulder. "We might be able to get our horses up, doesn't that road go to the tunnel?" she looks around for traces of the road.
Indeed it does go directly up to the tunnel entrance.
The mass of your pursuers have fallen back nearly a mile, though still visible, but an advance party seems to be gaining. Among them are two score gnolls and three of the giant humanoids. How they are maintaining this pace you do not know, but they seem to be closing fast. As the canyon has rapidly thinned the further north you go, you see that there is no way to retreat past the army, as they now cover the entire open area between river and rock wall.
Looking over at her companions, "There seems to be a cave or something just ahead. Maybe if we can reach it we can loose our pursuers in it. It is obvious that we can't take on that army behind us. And our horses are gonna give out if we don't find a place to rest soon." Rhune says as she points to the cave entrance.
Moving closer to the waterfall, the group sees that there is a walkway behind it leading to the tunnel entrance, though not another cave as Forte surmised. The cave itself seems to lead on an ascent upward into the canyon wall. You note in passing that the gnolls have also covered this side of the river with their pursuit, and there is no escape by heading down the west side either. No, it's into the tunnel, which you hope leads away from these damn dog-men.
Looking around as they ascend to the tunnel, her horse behind her, Rhune tries to examine the walls. She is trying to see if the walls are natural or man made.
As you climb, Rhune looks closely at the tunnel. Crude work, but certainly man-made. No natural force made such a spiral, or hewed such steps. Remarkable work, considering the depth of the stone walls. Crude, but still remarkable. The road itself led up to the tunnel entrance, but does not continue up the staircase, nor does it continue across the bridge, though a road there would be somewhat superfluous, as there is little in the way of choices.
The thunderous roar of the falls follows you into the tunnel, and echoes around its damp and dripping walls. A short way ahead, the tunnel bends to the right, and begins to ascend in broad steps. The undisturbed mud on the floor tells you that no-one has been here for many years, which surprises you, as the gnolls are very close even now. To have never gone this way?
Seeing the steps hewn into the floor, "I wonder who made this?" Rhune whispers to her companions.
The steps prove rough going for the horses, but you are able to bring them along. Interestingly, the pursuit stops at the tunnel entrance. Though you hear howling, and more of the bellowing, there are no footsteps and the sound gets further away, not closer. What lies in this tunnel that the bloodthirsty gnolls will not advance?
Glancing back over her shoulder, "Well it seems we have seem to lost our pursuers. I just hope that they don't know a quicker way to the top and are waiting for us." Rhune murmurs in a tired voice.
Forte turns and looks back at the gnolls and giants in the distance. He says nothing, but shudders a bit before turning back to the front.
Rhees notices the shudder from a man he'd assumed would face anything without flinching. "I'm guessing we've found the 'ancients'," as he mentions their possible destination, Rhees casts an eye to Stephan - to see if he can guess at the man's state of mind. "The shaman seemed to revere them, I would not be surprised if the gnollish war-party was forbidden from entering. I suspect they will be might upset if we come by this way again." Rhees forces an impish grin though the fatigue.
Stephan looks rather bewildered, an odd look on a fellow with such a muscular frame. Either he thought this trip was going to be a lot easier, or he has not faced an army of dog-men out to put him on a pike before! He stays very quiet, obviously almost paranoid with worry about what will happen next. Nonetheless, he has stayed with you doggedly, in spite of the dangers.
Coming from behind, a dry laugh escapes Pietro's lips. He coughs for a moment, his mouth full of dust from the long horse ride. "The gnolls upset with us? I think they are mightily upset by now. We traveled for hours and hours directly into their territory, and entered some ancient tunnel where they do not enter themselves. I guess the chance of survival would be better if we jumped of this cliff right now, then to go back the same way. Still, against all odds, we made it this far. That must count for something. There are powers at work here we do not understand, though we are definitely important players in this." Somehow, even all this misery and fleeing, the elf looks intrigued at thinking about the possibilities of his last statement.
With great caution, you head up what turns into a spiral staircase, up and up and up it goes. You consider resting here, but it is a poor place for the horses to rest, and so you continue. At last, after what must have been several hours, you emerge. At the top, the tunnel stairway opens out directly above the raging torrent, mere yards from where it falls into the valley below. Spanning the river between the tunnel mouth and the far side is a wide stone bridge which is straddled, half-way across, but a squat, crumbling stone tower. Between you and the tower, three moldering skeletons lie, face-downwards, on the flagstones. A road, cut into the cliff-like side of the pass, runs from the far side of the bridge, climbing sharply to your left.
Forte grabs his mace tightly, "Well, Life Stealer, be ready. Just in case," he whispers to the weapon, eyeing the skeletons suspiciously.
Arkady draws his blades and moves up next to Forte. "Ullar come behind us, but perhaps it is time to give the lightly armored nimble ones the fore, eh??"
"Forte, let's rest here. It seems the gnolls don't follow us into this cave and we're unsure what to expect once we push through. I think that most of us are too tired to continue and be as alert as necessary when we travel deeper into this cave." Ullar says, trying to conceal the exhaustion in his voice.
Rhees puts his hand on the warrior's weapon arm, "I may be a little too literal minded, but the shaman urged us to come here in peace. Having to draw our weapons may cost us time, but it might save us a fight. At this point, it is, of course, pure conjecture." With a questioning look to the others, Rhees begins to bind his spears together again.
"Perhaps you are right," muses Forte. He takes his hand off his mace, but keeps his hand close to the weapon anyway.
Arkady takes the lead, once within range he prods the dead with the sylmar blade.
The prodding does not rouse the skeletons. They are well and truly dead.
"Arkady, no. I think we should rest here. This place seems secure and rather safe and we're not prepared to handle whatever is presented by that tower" says Ullar with a nod towards the tower with the bronze door.
"I really think we should rest before going any further. We have been going nonstop for nearly 24 hours if not longer." Rhune says as she sees Arkady starting forward.
The skeletons look to be those of the dog-men. They do not appear to have been searched, but interestingly enough all the metal on them is gone. Belt-buckles, clasps, but nothing else. Very strange.