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The World of Georic 1989-Present

Friday, March 17, 2017

(Savage Lost) #2.4 - For Once I Was a Hero...

After another decent "night's" sleep and a cobbled together breakfast of provisions and some starchy legumes Lord Jon-Smythe Cuppenbrush dug up, the party regained their composure and organize a plan. 

Their new dinosaur-infested environs were still quite confusing, but a thorough search of an extended perimeter around the camp was needed before they began further exploration. 

And it was not a second too soon, as multiple things were making noise in the jungle.

Maja Millie takes the lead, followed by Kacey Barbara, and finally Lord Jon-Smythe.

The British aristocrat spied a strange site, thousands of ants (normal-sized ones) going crazy over some substance in the air.  Upon further investigation, and an agility check to avoid tripping into the voracious fire ants, he discovered one of the expedition's supply crates, far from the river.  The fresh food was missing, and the provisions in jars smashed (hence the frenetic ants on the spilled molasses).  However, the tins of food were dented but intact, plus unspent cartridges are strewn across the ground.  Someone, rather than something had found the box, but was only civilized enough to pillage to easy plunder.
Lord Jon-Smythe finds ransacked provisions!

For the sake of the dear reader, those strange raiders were the Akala, a blue-skinned race of intelligent primates that inhabited this jungle.  With their strange spoils from the day prior, the Akala scouts were sent back out to find any other exotics treats.

Instead, they found a stegosaurus, lazily grazing on a low hanging willow. 

The team tried to scare it off, as they were trained to do, but failed miserably (all 1's).  The dinosaur let out an uncharacteristic roar and used its spiked tail to topple a nearby tree.
"We really could've snuck around him, boss..."

Our heroes heard the roar off in the distance, but were concentrated on getting the supplies back to the camp, with no fire ants, if possible. 

For the Akala, the unfamiliar roar terrorized two of the already skittish creatures.  One bolted away, while another kept exactly 50 paces from the Stegosaurus, panicking in shrieks if the animal ventured an inch closer.

Kacey Barbara caught a glimpse on him as they headed further into the jungle, but said nothing.

As Lord Jon-Smythe got to the second objective, he was surprised to see the carcass of some sort of small wild boar laying in the underbrush upon further investigation, it had been recently killed, and its predator leaped up on a rock.
A sabre-tooth tiger??? By Jove!!
Not expecting such a beast, the adventurer stood flat-footed (a two on the next initiative). 

Fortunately for him, Maja Millie might eschew firearms, but she wielded a mean machete.  She also drew a Joker, giving her +2 to hit and damage.  She ran up to the big cat and seriously wounded it.   The cat still had plenty of fight it in, but Kacey Barbara handled it bravely, snapping an picture of it.  The act itself wouldn't scare or damage the beast, but as luck would have it, the contacts of her flashbulb must have finally dried as blinding *voosh* frightened the it further.

That's one good flashbulb!

The beast fell off it's perch, and just then, a lone blue skinned looking monkey man burst out of the swamp, swinging its spear and screaming at the top of its lungs. 

The sabre-tooth tiger ran off in one direction, and blue creature in another, followed by the clueless lumbering walk of a stegosaurus. 

Encountering the dinosaur, and sensing the tiger somewhere near, the Akala had (tried to) scramble up trees, as they instinctively were wont to do. Blauen, the scout with the newfound phobia of dinosaurs with 50 paces, was alarmed when the monster turn towards them.  Blauen fled through the swamp in a psychotic fit, until he reached the clearing with the sabre-tooth tiger and three strange visitors.   The dinosaur still within 50 paces, he dashed off again, finally reaching his compatriots. 

But while our heroes finished their reconnaissance for the day, someone was watching them from up above....

This is the only game the family got in during the horrid "Blizzard of 2017."  Dad spent waaay too much time keeping the two feet of snow at bay.  I had Maja run the lost expedition and Millie ran the "blue monkey men"   The four possible objectives were randomly rolled (two good, two bad) and all had a check to make to avoid immediate danger. 

The girls kept Dad on his feet, especially when Millie kept failing rolls for the Stegosaurus.  The fight with the (freshly painted) sabre-tooth tiger climaxed when Kacey Barbara, photojournalist, aced her photography roll, not once, not twice, but three times, for a 25 (8+8+8+1).  I figured her water-logged equipment must have miraculously recovered.  Between her and Blauen the Akala scaring off the cat, Lord Jon-Smythe was probably a little red faced from the encounter.

Next:  Episode #2.5  It Was Dreadful in the Swamp

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