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[currymaniac]

As the group re-entered the eerieness of outside they were met by the sound of stone scraping. Turning around they could see that the cave's mouth had disappeared, and not a trace of it was left. The rock face was a light blue colour, reflecting the light that shone upon it. Up above them the turtle head carved into the mountain shone an orange yellow glow into the night as the torches inisde it remained lit. There were no sounds other than the groups ragged breathing from the running they had just done, no animals, no birds, and most importantly, no pursuit. It would appear that they had been let go, at least for now.

[quizzical]

"Oh what a brave band of warriors we be..." said Quarion, attempting some humor when he could finally get his breath... "scared of turtles and lizards!"

After more long deep breaths that gradually grew less labored, Quarion added,"I think I'd like to sleep down in the hidey hole cellar. Seems a lot cozier than the open beach..."

[Ghost]

When it became clear that no one were following them, Eldrid stopped almost dead in his tracks, and barely manged to stay on his feet. He ended up standing stooped over, heaving for breath, the mangled corpse jiggling in chorus with his movement from where it hung, still strapped to his back. (Anyone who paid close attention to the crew while onboard the Ascension might now identify the corpse as one of the crewmembers whom Eldrid associated with.)

He was resting his hands on his knees, coughing and occationally spiting, although there was little to spit. Gods, he was thirsty. While he was 'down there', bent double as he was, he inspected the gash in his leg. It stung and had bled quite a bit, but despite the rigorous moving, it looked better than it felt. His nose, on the other hand, hurt like the Devil when he touched it; it was no doubt broken. Blasted natives. Still, he had given as well as he got. He was certain he had killed three of them, although there had been ten times that in there. He wanted to tell the Elf; to tell him that they had good reason to be "scared of turtles and lizards", and that Eldrid D'Jean didn't run from just anything.

But he couldn't be bothered; they looked upon him as some bloodthirsty coward who just fought when he had the upper hand; like they had whined when he killed the damned fool of a Captain. Well, to Hell with them all.

Once he had regained some breath, some composure and a minimum of strength, he took a couple of more breaths, then carefully raised himself up, not wanting to collaps due to blood rushing too his head.

"The village sounds good. If we're everyone... let's get going. It'll be dark before we get there."

[Tyrion]

[color=#6666CC;]"Kinda hate to burst your bubble."[/color] panted Scurvy, as he bent forward resting his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath, [color=#6666CC;]"But I don't think we're going anywhere..."[/color] nodding at the rock which now filled the former entranceway to the cave, [color=#6666CC;]"In fact I think we're royally screwed. Why chase us any further when they know we've got nowhere to go?"[/color]

[currymaniac]

Anyone paying close attention to the corpse might also note that its right shin was nothing more than a bone, the flesh had been seemingly cut or gnawed away. As well as this, seemingly unnoticed by the corpse's brother, its face held a perturbed look of sheer horror, as if its last breathing moments had been exceedingly awful. The question was, how did the natives get hold of it? This was one of the crew members who had fallen overboard, not one who had washed ashore.

[Dehoffren]

“Exercise is a barbaric thing” exclaimed Arty as his heart stopped threatening to explode. He had been bent over with his hands resting on his knees hoping that this position would hasten his recovery. After five minutes of chest heaving breaths he manage to stand upright and as he did he caught sight of what Eldrid had been carrying “Good grief Eldrid where on earth did you find that poor critter” There was not a glimmer of recognition in Arty’s gaze “The poor fellow looks as if he was scared to death, literally. You know if we did head back to the village I could perform a rudimentary autopsy on him with the tools that are lying about. Nothing like a little slicing and dicing to unearth secrets, you know.” Peering closly at the corpse's lower legs Arty observed “Very strange wound on his shin, very strange indeed”

[Gryffydd65]

Steffan looked around unsure about the corpse and what it all meant, surely someone dead, couldn't talk, from some knife wounds that Artie was to perform. "To the village its safe, let's hope."

[Ghost]

Lookimg down at Jonah's leg, Eldrid sneered as he saw the wound on his brother's leg; the damned savages had eaten of him?! Well, that couldn't be undone. But it'd give him reason to be extra cruel to the next little devil he got his hands on. Hmm; if they were such fans of eating flesh... maybe they'd like to taste their own?

Shaking out of it, but with his blood still boiling, Eldrid snapped at Arty: "This is my brother, ye swine; he's no critter, nor anyone's damned meal, and most certainly not yer blasted plaything to carve into! Ye come near him with any of yer 'various tools', and me and Brutal Jack here will do a little slicing and dicing of our own, to see what secrets we can unearth in you, is that clear!?"

As he spoke, he held up the nasty cleaver he picked up in the village, and it was currently coated with blood. He stood facing Arty, obviously expecting a reply, but whether he would prefer an obliging answer or an objection was hard to discern.

[quizzical]

"Eldrid, I'm so sorry about your loss. I wouldn't have been joking if I'd realized you were carrying ... some one you cared about," said Quarion hesitantly with a solemn face. "Of course no one will dishonor your brother and I will help you lay him to rest if you like. But Arturo does bring our attention to something important - this is not the facial expression or wounds we would expect of someone who died underwater. It seems likely he was tortured, I'm sorry to say. Those lizards and turtles are greatly to be feared after all. I wish we were able to get word to the survivors on the beach,if they are still there. They won't stand a chance unarmed and unprepared..."

Quarion shivered slightly and crossed his arms over himself as if to ward off a chill.

"Whatever we do, we must hurry."

[Dehoffren]

“My dear Eldrid I did not mean to be so flippant” Arty said wholeheartedly as he held his hands in a placating manner “I can assure you that your brother would certainly not be used as a play thing more as a tool to enlighten us. It would mean that some good would have come out of his untimely death but” and he looked earnestly in to Eldrid’s now savage eyes “If that is not your wish then it will most certainly not happen”

[Ghost]

"No, that most certainly is not my wish," Eldrid said in reply to Arty, in a steely voice.

Turning to the Elf, he added: "Jonah was most likely hit by a cannon that broke loose in the storm; he certainly went out the hole made by the cannon. Seein' that cannon come towards ye, and knowin' yer done for might put such a look in yer eyes, too." He didn't want it to be anything else; didn't want to think that Jonah had suffered more than that instant when the cannon struck him. Thinking back, he realized that he had heard his brother's scream, even seen him as he went out into the water. If he had recognized him in the dark, he'd have jumped in after him, and what might that have led to? Might they both be alive? Or would they both still lie in that meatlocker those savages had in there?

"They're cannibals," he said in a disgusted voice. "They're made up to look like snakes or lizards or turtles or whatever, but they're human, all four dozen or so of them. And they have not trouble dying, trust that," he added, with a wry grin, staring off into vacant space. After a pause, he said: "Dunno how, but they had other corpses from the ship in there. Tygo, 'Louse' the cabin boy, that tall Northlander who cut loose the boats... and other corpses, older maybe. Didn't recognize them. They eat them, for certain. It's a small island, and these are savages; they don't know to keep cattle or livestock. They live off of the land, fish... Meat is rare. A body floats ashore, not too badly decayed, they eat it. When strangers come, we're most likely nothing but fresh meat to them; a nice treat, when compared to the usual fare. They grabbed me, might be in hope they could keep me alive for a while. Keep the meat fresh. Would have had me eat off of my mates... my brother, even... whoever spoilt first, they'd feed me. Until there was nothing left of the dead ones... Then it'd be my turn..."

He could see it in his mind, so clearly. Could see how they'd tie him to that alter of their, and then just start cutting. The extremeties first, so that he'd live longer. The blood would pour out and placate their god, and they'd have their fresh meat. And he'd scream, and scream, and scream...

He came back to reality with a jerk, and his fingers closed hard around the handle of 'Brutal Jack'. His lifesaver.

"Yes, let's get out of here, to the village. Maybe to the beach, get the others and prepare. We're a decent number all in all; we arm up much as we can, we might be able to kill them all. They probably don't have much competition here on the island, no enemies, no reason to know how to fight much, so chances are they aren't that good at it. Whereas most of our boys have had at least some training. I'm not saying the odds are great, but we are stuck here on the island for the nonce; sooner we kill off these madmen, the sooner we can try to start looking at the actual situation, focus on what our chances are of getting off this place. Or thing. Or whatever it is."

He began walking, slowly. As he did, he said: "'Elf's right; we need our boys from the beach."

[Dehoffren]

Arty shoved his hands into his trouser pockets and with hung his head low, followed behind Eldrid. Something was bothering the archaeologist and he couldn’t quite put his finger on what was disturbing him. As he lumbered along he re-run Eldrid’s epistle in his mind adding one fact to another. “Eldrid?” he called after the man still lost in his own thoughts “Did you say that there were a lot of the crew in that chamber. Surely any of the victims of the shipwreck would have been washed ashore by the same currents as bought us to the beach. How on earth did the natives find them?”

[currymaniac]

And so the group set off to the village, following the road that had frst brought them to the cave. It wasn't a long road, and soon they could see the shadowy shapes of buildings looming ahead of them. There was no sign of persuit, though figures could be seen in the mouth of the turtle head that was carved into the mountain. Just what exactly were they waiting for up there?

[Ghost]

"How should I know; the turtle swallowed them or something... All I know is, they were there." said Eldrid before he started walking in silence.

As the village got closer, Eldrid asked out loud: "So, how do we do this? Who starts preparing the houses, and who goes off to get the others? I'd go, but I don't think I'm everyone's favorite at this point; if I came out of the jungle alone and told everyone to come with me, they'd probably think I killed you all, like I did the mad captain, and no one would come with me."

[quizzical]

"I don't think anyone should go off alone - too easy a target. I think 2 or 3 of us who can run swiftly and silently should go; I am willing to be one... Finn,will you come with me?" asked Quarion