Sentinel Island Day 4

JP with Jaxx, Lucian, Alexis, Omni and Strangetides

Voah was tired, not too tired to move through the jungle, but her eyes hurt from not blinking and not getting much sleep due to all the unfamiliar nightly noises. She seemed to be permanently swarmed by biting insects and heard a chuckle here and there from the group who seemed to have a bit more luck with the bugs. It was no laughing matter. She was already on edge and this made matters worse by irritating her.

“Alright!” she made a mad swat at the swarm. “By the Pillars! Find something else to eat!”

Alexis did feel bad for the Arbiter, whose blood apparently had been communicated amongst the bug populace as especially delicious.

“Let us catch up with Tarmen and Hunter. Tarmen might know something to get those bugs to back off a bit.”

“Yes, that would be most agreeable.” she said with a more frustrated tone than she meant to give the mercenary. “I shall be happy to see the ocean again… if that is possible.” she laughed to herself.

Tarmen made sure to keep Hunter in his sight. Not out of distrust by any means, but to reassure that the groups ghost was still there.
The pillars they had passed awoke a giddy feeling in him, more so than even the ship. Sketching one onto his map, he had to tear himself away from their temptation to focus on the current task. One made more complicated by the trails that had appeared from the undergrowth. They looked decently used, perhaps only used by patrols? Shaking his head at this development, he decided to take the risk of continuing since it was already a suicide mission.
On a slightly better note, his ears picked up a faint sound of crashing waves. Signaling to Hunter, he made a quick note on his map before pushing on towards what he hoped was the cove.

Hunter was a few feet behind Tarmen as they blazed a trail for the rest of the team. As usual he was using all his senses to monitor his surroundings. It was a skill drilled into his since the beginning of his training. Of course the insects were annoying, but Hunter had the good sense to let the smoke from the campfire engulf him. He learned at an early age that bugs don’t like smoke so it helps as a repellent. He also had his body covered except for his fingers and eyes. So he was just mildly annoyed with the bugs. Since the wild life already knew of their presence, it was pointless to lay traps or hide their trail. However Hunter still used his stealth mode to follow Tarmen and noticed any gestures from Tarmen.

Tucked away on the rugged coast below you is a wide bay, much larger than the one you landed on a few days ago. The beaches are neither broad nor sandy, more shingley, full of pebbles and rocks.

Tarmen and Hunter are careful to lay on their bellies as they approach the edge of the cliff as to not be seen from below against the skyline.

They can tell the bay is well sheltered from the rest of the island, isolated almost, being surrounded by high cliffs and dense jungle. You can also see a few caves. To the centre of the bay you see a small village in the distance, around 200 steps away from a small area of sandy beach and nestled against the jungle edge.

You see around 10 to 20 stone huts. A few small cannoes are out at sea and you can see some men casting their nets.
At first glance it looks like a small fishing hamlet bustling with daily activity. You count around 30 people counting women and children.

As Hunter looks for military strength as he looks at the village. He is looking at the build of the men, women and children, if they wear odd clothing and trinkets, what type of tools and weapons they use and if they use magic. He also looks for signs of similar trinkets they found on the wrecked ship.

Unfortunately Hunter is too far away to note most of those details. You do note that most people have tanned skins and wear simple clothes. It looks like a fishing village would look from this distance.

Tarmen cursed at the sight of the village, though he couldn’t really tell why. It was good that they had found the natives, it gave them something to work with and better yet they had not been spotted as far as he was aware.
Maybe it was how close they truly were to the camp; all he could tell was this had given him a bad gut feeling. Moving to return the way they had come, he signaled Hunter to follow.
“Alexis needs to know this, let’s go.”

Hunter slowly moves back to not give away his location as Tarmen took off before him.

As Hunter make your way to find the others once again diving into the luscious jungle, Hunter realizes too late he triggered something and hears a snapping noise. Fast as he may be, the assassin cannot move away in time and two spikes embed themselves into his right calf with a sickening thud.

The horizontal thrust of the spring spear trap is at a level that will impale the body of smaller sized animal and might not necessarily be a defensive trap.

A groan of pain escapes the young stoic man lips as he feels the two sharpened spikes rip through his clothing, flesh and muscle. Blood gushes from the wound as Tarmen moves to help his wounded comrade.

Hunter braces himself for the pain as he treats his wound as best as he can with his first aid kit. Because of his past job he was used to pain so he managed to keep his voice down as he treated his wound with charcoal and herbs in case of poison and to numb the wound. Then he wrapped his wound tightly to keep the blood from leaking. He knew he was screwed and as wounded assassin was just dead weight. He honestly didn't expect a rescue from the others and planned on being left for dead. Then he dragged himself into the brush to hide as he endured the pain. He need to avoid any enemies while he figured out his next move. While trying to ignore the pain he focused on slowing his breathing down.

Tarmen should have expected it, he should have made a sweep of the area. When he heard the sickeningly familiar sound of a trap working just as intended, he was quick to try and help cover the blood as Hunter dragged himself into the brush.
He brought out his emergency aid kit, slightly miffed that he had to use it so soon.
“Hold still, it won’t be the best work, but you’ll stop bleedin’.”

Hunter's face was mostly hidden by his cloth mask, but he winced as Tarmen began adding more bandages to his bleeding calf. He looked at Tarmen with a puzzled expression as he quietly asked, "Why are you doing this? I am no good to you now. You are better off leaving me behind to save yourselves."

“Shut up, it’s your leg, not your balls.”
It wasn’t Tarmen’s best work, but Hunter staying still and rarely flinching made it easy to stop most of the blood flow.
“Should hold till we reach Alexis, so let’s go.”
He hoisted Hunter to help him stand before starting the slow trek back.

Hunter was confused by Tarmen's need to help him. Why would the savage man named Tarmen help him? What did he hope to gain by this? He didn't understand why this stranger would aid him. The only person who cared about him was his dead lover. No one ever gave a crap about him before. All the others cared about was if he could compete his missions. If he died they would curse his name and send another expendable replacement. Hunter remembered all the other Hunters who failed before him and he replaced them on their failed missions. Death was just a normal thing for him to see. Of course he had no desire to die so he pushed himself hard to survive with as few wounds as possible. However sometimes he got unlucky and was wounded. So he would go into hiding and lick his wounds till he could recover. He had a few close calls in the past but this time he truly wondered if this would be it. He was trapped on an unknown island with dangerous wild life and a nasty leg wound.

As Tarmen helped him walk he struggled to bottle up the pain as he was hopping on one leg while leaning on Tarmen. As they continued their way back to the others, Hunter was concerned his blood would attract any predators. Unfortunately Tarman's grip was to strong to let him go and Hunter was in bad shape if they had to fight. Then he spoke quietly to Tarman, "I don't understand! What could you gain by helping me? Or are you planning on using me as bait?"

Tarmen gave a weary glare to Hunter. If he had known the man would sing like a canary now, he might have left him. At this point, he just hoped there wasn’t a blood trail.
“Jus’ shut it. You’re already bleedin’ all over the place, don’t need them hearin’ us too.”

Hunter was still confused since Tarmen seemed in a foul mood, he held his tongue as they made their way to the others. He did his best to walk considering his leg was practically useless. If they got into a scuffle he would have to fight sitting down. Of course each step sent series of painful cramps through his body. All he could do was to try to keep up with Tarman's speed.

It was cold but Gods she was sweaty and uncomfortable. She had suffered through much worse, of course, but she was glad to leave those days behind though she knew it was good for her. Days and nights of training with the Abbot and her peers. She was teased and bullied a lot but it only made her strive to be stronger, better. She had become the Arbiter and the naysayers were left in her wake.

Finally, the jungle started thinning and more paths, not those of Tarmen and Hunter, became visible to Alexis and Voah.
“What have we here?” she sang quietly.
When they reached the pillars that appeared to mark some form of boundary, Voah noticed that the carvings looked to be some form of warding runes. She had never seen the like but the style reminded her of the runes they found on the boat.
“After we catch up with the other, if there is time, could you copy these down as well, Miss Greyriver?”

“Absolutely.”

She frowned a bit.

“You can cut the ‘Miss’, if you please, Arbiter. Just Alexis is fine.”

“Likewise, Alexis. You may address me as Voah, if you like.” she said politely, ignoring the itch on the back of her neck.

Tarmen didn’t notice the paths they had passed over before and payed little mind to staying off of them. He didn’t even see the pillars in his determination, constantly waiting for an attack or another trap.
What he did notice with a breath of relief was the sight of Voah standing near a pillar, though turned away from it.
“Arbiter! Is there anythin’ you can do for Hunter? His leg met a well placed trap and is bleedin’.”

Alexis came into view hearing Tarmen call out and rushed over to help with a curse on her lips.

“Nikolaus, get over here!”

she barked out.

The sight was an unwelcome one. Voah had hoped no one else would be injured before running into the natives. This looked pretty bad but Hunter showed great care to hide the pain. Voah had a little training in medicine and could dress and treat a wound but surgery was not an option, someone else with more practical skill would have to do that unless there was no other choice. It would risk injuring the man further.

“Cagliostro we need help here!”

Letting Hunter down to rest, Tarmen looked to Alexis for the rest of the news.
“About 200 meters from here we reached the bay. There is a village there.”

“I see. For the better or the worse, that is something.”

Nikolaus quickly pulled his satchel into easy reaching distance and looked over the wounded man. He poured a clear liquid over his hands and using a clean length of cloth began to gently apply pressure while firmly ordering the man to remain still. Once the flow had stopped completely he rinsed the wound with clean water from a flask, making sure it was clear of dirt and debris. After careful inspection he gently scrubbed some dirt the blood and water had not removed. Taking a further small container of cream from his satchel, he lathered it over the wound. "This will sting in a moment, but should keep away fever."

"For the next few days keep a close eye on it. Keep it covered and clean. I will wrap it in clean cloth, but you will need to change it if it gets wet or filthy. Let me know if it isn't healing or if it gets increasingly painful, filled with pus, swollen or you begin to feel feverish. Try to keep your weight of it until the healing has had time to close the wound."

Alexis watched as Nikolaus treated the wounded Hunter, contemplating the next steps.

“Then I’d say we have ample reason to find ourselves a camp. Both for Hunter to rest and for us to base our next operations.”

She looked back to Tarmen.

“Probably a bit away from where they lay their traps. We could either trail back or look further south of the bay, closer to the water as you originally suggested. Whatcha think?”

With what had happened, Tarmen didn’t need much to think over.
“Trail back. Don’t know if they are with the imp and we are not in the position to find out. Plus we know that THAT part of the jungle isn’t a death trap.”

Alexis nodded her agreement.

“Alright. I recon I can carry Hunter for a bit. Oughta be faster than walking him, at least to start with. You take point.”

Once Hunter was treated as best as possible, she went to hoist him over her shoulders.

“I know it’s not very dignified, but you’ll have to grin and bear it, alright? Voah, Till, Nikolaus, be on your guard. Counting on y’all.”

Hunter was surprised as he replied, "Huh?" Hunter was very confused why the others were helping him. In his past only one person cared for him and no one ever saved him nor have they tended to his wounds. He was didn't know what to say anymore and he was not sure how to act. It was weird having others tend him like this. Back in his old life he would have been left for dead in his condition. He kept trying to understand the reason behind the actions of the others as he was being carried by Alexis like a sack of potatoes. They were moving to find a campsite to use. It was ironic she thought he was worried about his honor, when he was trying to figure out why they even cared about him in the first place. So between the pain in his leg, being jostled on the shoulders of Alexis and his stressful questions, poor Hunter was in bad shape.

“Do any of you have suggestions on how I can be rid of these biting blighters?” Voah asked as she guarded her face with an extra scarf and swung her hand around her head.

As Hunter was being jostled up and down on Alexis's armored shoulders he was actually starting to feel sea sick for the first time. It was the combination of intense pain and being shaken like a maraca that made his head spin. In hopes to regain his focus he blurted out an answer to Voah, "Smoke...........bugs hate smoke."

“That’s a good point… but it doesn’t seem to matter to them. I’ve been in the same campfire smoke and incense smoke as all of you. May as well cover myself with ashes.” she started to quietly hum a tune and maintained a lookout around the jungle to keep her mind off of the itching as the group moved to find a camping spot.

Tarmen couldn’t hold back a light laugh.
“Well, your incense would most likely be the problem. Dependin’ on what you burn, stuff can draw biters in instead of deterin’.”
Reaching into a side pocket, he pulled out a few leaves and handed them over to the grieving Arbiter.
“Here, the camp had some of this growin’, just like at home. I’ll try and find more, but for now rubbing these on you should give some peace.”
After giving them over, he took out another leaf and popped it into his mouth.
“Has a strong taste to them too, if you wanted the sweat and shit out of your senses for a minute.”

She took the leaves with a smile and a then blew the some hair out of her face as she blew out a sigh. “Let’s see about this.” She copied Tarmen, trying out the leaf.

The gesture brought a smirk to his face, unsure if she had misheard him or was simply being cautious in trusting a mercenary.
“They won’t work for the bugs just from eatin’. Like this.”
Gently taking back one of the offered leaves, he balled it in his palms, making sure to release the oils, then made a motion of rubbing his arm before handing it back to Voah.

The Arbiter rubbed the leaf on the open spots of her skin, grinning at her stupid misunderstanding.

The team kept moving to their next campsite.

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