(Savage Lost) #2.8 - Rescue From the Pit!

Deep within the Lost Valley of Dinosaurs, our heroes have not only befriended the blue monkey men known as the Akala, but they have discovered their lost friend Nils Lingonberry is probably under the control of the arch-enemy Ahdo "BeastMen"

... and the Ahdo are planning a human sacrifice.

Our Heroes (All Wild Cards)

Maja Millie - crack archeologist 

Kacey Barbara - newspaper photographer on assignment a LONG way from home.  Running low on patience and film.

Lord Jon-Smythe Cuppenbrush - ex-British adventurer, full-time British gentleman whose ammo was running thin. 

The Akala (Blue Monkey Men)
Mettiaus (Wild Card) 
Akala tribesmen (Mooks) x8 

Versus...

The Ahdo in Ritual
Kaja (Wild Card) - High Priestess
Ahdo Cultists (Mooks) x8

Ahdo Reinforcements
Klug (Wild Card) - War Chief
Ahdo Reinforcements (Mooks) x8

The Set-up
The Ahdo participating in the ritual are circling the pit.

The ritual has just begun....

There are three minor objectives, marked by white chips: a gem of unusual size, an apparently mute and impervious Witch Doctor, and a strange stone marker.   The one major objective is Nils Lingonberry, currently tied up to the sacrificial post.

Nils Lingonberry, Swedish Adventurer, is the Guest of Honor... or Horror.

After safely travelling across the valley, Mettiaus, the Akala elder, finally allowed his tribesmen to let loose a war cry, which they let out... and promptly let out a louder one as they uncovered the gem of unusual size without any opposition!

The Akala discover the giant gem!

The Ahdo on the near side of the pit took notice and tried to scare the monkey men with their size and decorative grass skirts...  One of the other Ahdo moved closer to protect the Priestess, who had just started her nefarious ritual.

The Ahdo try to repel the attack...

Armed only with knives, Lord Jon-Smythe's shotgun, and Kacey Barbara's magical camera flash, our heroes moved stealthily towards their captured friend.

Our heroes look for an opening to rescue Nils...

The sheer volume of the Akala's bows proved enough to fell most of the Ahdo.  Strange magical bolts of jungle energy from Mettiaus certainly helped

The Ahdo are withered by Akala bows

But Ahdo War Chief Klug and his warband rushed through the jungle to meet the Akala in vicious hand-to-hand.  The weaker monkey men barely stood a chance.

But Ahdo reinforcements slaughter the Akala

Mettiaus, the most competent fighter in the entire battle, despite his advanced age, was simply overwhelmed by three Ahdo Warriors, a grievous spear wound in the gut finally dropping him.

Mettiaus takes one Ahdo with him.

With most of the Ahdo now pre-occupied with mopping up the fleeing Akala, our heroes jumped at the chance to rescue Nils.   Maja Millie chucked a knife at one of the remaining Ahdo warriors, sending him to a silent death.

Lord Jon-Smythe jumped out of the brushed and fired his shotgun at the other nearby tribesman, only to be met with a quiet *click*.  His last two shotgun shells finally succumbed to the elements.  Oh Bloody Hell!   The Ahdo was alarmed by the light-skinned man with the clicking stick and charged him, only for him to take three steps before Lord Jon-Smythe dropped the shotgun, pulled out his trusty pistol and shot him through the heart.

Maja Millie raced towards Nils, and with another knife, sliced through his bonds.  Nils was relieved to see his dear friend.  "Pi Yimminy! Dees fellahs are oop to no gud!  But they didn't take my gun, " as he whipped out his revolver and took out a tribesman returning from the fight with the Akala.

Nils is freed... and still armed!

With the war-cries of the Akala no longer filling the air, and Klug arriving at the ritual pit, things seemed a bit ominous, yet no one tried to make the first move.  When the lone bodyguard of the Priestess finally tried to move forward menacingly, the Priestess put her hand on his shoulder to hold him back, then proceeded to plunge her sacrificial dagger into his back.   Their dark god would be appeased today, one way or the other.

Things looked bleak, then the Priestess literally stabbed her bodyguard in the back to complete the ritual

With the the Priestess and Mug standing their in stoic defiance, our heroes took their cue and retreated back into the jungle.

But where the heck has Kacey Barbara been this whole time?

She was nearing the Akala when the counter-attack slaughtered them, in fact she took one picture of the last retreating monkey man was run down by two Ahdo.  They searched the Akala and discarded the gem deeper into the jungle.  The Ahdo, it seemed, only valued death,

The Ahdo hunt down the last of the Akala with the gem.

The camera flash surprised, but did not scare the Ahdo, and they began to pursue her in proper Pulp style.

Kacey Barbara attracts a bit too much attention....

Soon enough, she managed to elude the war party and reunite with friends.

Although they had yet to procure any treasures or artifacts, Nils was a fount of knowledge on his captors.  Unlike the Akala, who appear to have evolved into their primitive culture, the Ahdo were certainly humans who devolved into pure savagery and cannibalism.  Their language was primitive and archaic, but Nils scholarship in linguistics allowed him to quickly pick up essential info.  Despite them calling the Swede essentially a "well-fattened pig... or dinosaur" for a great feast the Priestess Kaja wanted to use him to summon Attil-a-Kong, their dark god of jungle.  He wasn't sure if it was a symbolic sacrifice, or the Ahdo were placating another entity, perhaps a Tyrannosaurus Rex?

Back at the pit, the Priestess Kaja looked out at her savage warriors, cutting out the hearts of the Akala and eating them on the spot, with grim satisfaction.  The pale strangers had nearly interrupted the ritual to a ruinous end.  Sacrificing her own bodyguard was acceptable to her god, but it did not grant her the favor sacrificing a non-Ahdo would.   Her people must now be vigilant at all times.

Kaja, like her warriors, were already failing in their vigilance, for among the fallen Akala that were being devoured, there was a missing one body, of an elder.  If they weren't pre-occupied they might have noticed the trail of blood leading into the forest...

But someone else did notice...

Attil-a-Kong has awoken!

GM Notes:  A triumphant return to miniatures after two role-playing dominated stretches!   Nils has finally been rescued, the Akala actually fared pretty well against superior numbers, but a new threat has been unleashed upon the valley... and our heroes are no closer to getting home than when they arrived....

This scenario was heavily inspired by Hook Island Gaming

Next:  Episode #2.9 - "Who Could Have Foreseen It?"