Chapter 5: What the Jungle Hides

Reaver comes down first toward the dire worg’s shoulder, only to skid along a ridge of iron-hard muscle and tangled vines within. The blade shears off clumps of reeking fur. The beast's answering snarl blasts hot breath straight past Regan's face as the worg bucks forward.

The creature twists to snap at someone on the ground, and that movement opens an opportunity for Reaver. Admiral's ferocious stabs and slashes with Reaver drive in painful wounds this time, parting fur and hide. Thick, dark blood spills over the beast’s flank and spatters the jungle floor in steaming drops.

The dire worg staggers a bit, claws gouging deep tracks through undergrowth. As it lurches, Admiral lands another blade in behind the creatures shoulder, crossing the first wound. Admiral's twin cuts tear wider under the beast’s own violent motion, and its ragged snarl breaks into a roar. Its legs still hold, but they shudder now with each breath, leaving a splashed, smoking trail of blood in the tangled undergrowth as the towering shape thrashes and refuses to fall. (Admiral deals the dire worg 28 damage...it currently only has 17 HP)

Regan hauls himself up with a snarl, stepping in alongside Cordey and hammering at the dire worg’s foreleg as Cordey’s cutlass hacks low at the same joint, driving the beast down onto one knee under a spray of dark blood. Regan's hammer crunches the mark (worg takes 13 damage and now has 4 HP), but the pained angry thrashing of the beast prevents Cordey's attacks from effectively doing the same.

Khyree, shaking and unable to force herself any closer, plants her feet where she is and snaps her staff out in a long, desperate thrust, which misses the creature.

In that opening, a streak of orange light spears down from the canopy as Taresh flies another firebolt that barely misses the creature.

Then...

The beast let's out a desperate, ferocious roar. Matted fur bunches up under Admiral’s grip as the dire worg’s muscles lock, and then the world around Admiral and the beast smears into streaks of shadow and sickly green, the jungle sound snapping into a muffled roar like someone slammed a door on the battlefield.

In the next instant Admiral is still on the beast’s back, but the ground, trees, and his companions now stand thirty feet away through a dark tangle of roots and hanging vines.

The worg crouches for a millisecond and then darts with all its remaining strength into the dark jungle. It darts between large trunks, hurling over tall bushes, and snapping branches and vines in its frenzied flight. Admiral is along for the ride!!
Stats
Admiral--Current HP: 42, Temp HP: 0, PP: 6/6, Pact Tally: 270/400. HD: (2d8, 1d8)

Dire Worg- HP: 4
Regan-HP: 60
Kyree-HP: 33, Frightened, Poisoned

Admiral yelps and clings onto the scruff of the worg’s neck as it suddenly dashes into the jungle. Judging from the beast’s laboured breathing and the blood foaming at its mouth, the worg is very near death. Better to finish it off now, rather than risk it hunting them down again later. Sheathing his off-hand blade, he lifts Reaver with both hands and attempts to plunge the old cutlass into the beast’s spine.

Admiral feels every stride and jarring leap through roots and hanging vines that the frenzied beast makes. Whipping branches and flickering shadow surround him as he brings Reaver up in both hands...

The dire worg crashes through a low hanging limb, the impact lurching its shoulders sideways. The jolt rips Admiral’s footing out from under him. He skids on blood slick fur, his weight pitching backward.

That fall drives Reaver down.

Reaver punches through matted fur and into the ridge of spine beneath. There’s a sickening crunch and a searing jolt as Reaver bites deep. The worg’s roar cuts off mid-snarl, turning into a choked gurgle as its front legs buckle. Its momentum carries it forward in a collapsing lunge.

Beast and rider hit the ground in a violent tangle. The dying worg plows through the undergrowth as its massive body skids and rolls, hurling Admiral from its back. Admiral slams into the jungle floor, tumbling through wet leaves and splintered branches, while the worg comes to rest nearby with a final exhale.

When Admiral's crashing and sliding grits to a halt, the only sound left is the distant echo of his companions' alarmed clamor and the slow drip of dark blood into the jungle soil beside the now motionless hulk of the dire worg.

Bruised and battered, Admiral groans and slowly picks himself up off the forest floor, brushing the leaves and twigs out of his dishevelled blood-streaked fur. He eyes the dead worg with a mixture of triumph and regret, sorry that he had to kill the creature when it was already fleeing. He thinks about calling out to his companions but thinks better of it — who knows what other creatures might be listening in this damned forest. The worg left a noticeable trail of broken branches and trampled ferns in its wake anyway so Admiral’s pretty sure his friends will be able to find him.

Regan first pushes into Admiral's sight through hanging vines, broken branches, and crushed ferns, shield still raised, hammer in hand. Cordey follows close behind, cutlass out. Taresh and Khyree brings up the rear, the later holding her bitten shoulder.

They slow as they see it:

It is certainly dark in this part of the forest, but no one could miss the hulking corpse of the dire worg, twisted where it fell, dark blood soaking into the soil.

They quickly notice Admiral with his bloody matted fur.

Relieved, at the sight of Admiral, Regan calls quietly, but sharply, "Admiral! You couldn’t wait five more seconds for my hammer to finish the beast?"

Cordey steps up beside the dead worg, eyeing its massive frame with a wariness, then glances at Admiral. "I know many sailors. You, captain, have some footing. I imagine you've braved the deck during a typhoon or two."

"Anything broken?" Khyree asks Admiral while she simultaneously rotates her own shoulder and grimaces doing so.


Stats
Admiral--Current HP: 28, Temp HP: 0, PP: 6/6, Pact Tally: 270/400. HD: (2d8, 1d8)

Dire Worg- HP: dead
Regan-HP: 60
Kyree-HP: 33, Frightened, Poisoned

Admiral stretches, wincing at the small aches and pains throughout his body. "Don’t think so. Just a few scrapes and bruises."

He walks up to the fallen worg and, with a small grunt of effort, yanks Reaver out of the creature’s back. He flicks the blood off the blade and sheathes it. "Let’s go find the others, aye?"

"Lead the way," Admiral says to Taresh. "Hopefully if we can wake the others, one of them might be able to tell us what happened to Jin."

Taresh nods in the stoic way Admiral has come to know of the monk.

...

Taresh leads the group along the path he took through thick jungle, weaving between tangled roots and drooping vines. The canopy above gets tighter, filtering sunlight into pale shafts only. The air grows cooler, heavier. Broken brush and crushed undergrowth mark where the dire worg had once rampaged.

Then Taresh stops them, beneath a heavy knot of trees. He closes his eyes and stands silent for a moment.

Suddenly the group can make out a small gloomy grove, the light barely touching the ground. Nestled in the dim are shapes, still, curled, undisturbed, resting as if in deep sleep. The veil of shadow Taresh left behind lifts away, like a dark mist parted by a gust of wind. Mischa, Tasya, Rowan, and the child are there. Alive, but unmoving.

Admiral crouches down by their sleeping friends to examine them closer. He assumes Taresh has already tried shaking them awake, but prods Rowan experimentally with one claw. "Regan, where’s that crystal I gave you?" he asks, glancing back over his shoulder at the armoured warrior. "I reckon it could help here too. …Or, at least, I hope so, anyway."

As Admiral suspects, Rowan doesn't budge and remains deep in dreamland.

"Oh this. Yes. Here." replies Regan as he pulls it from under his armor. The hum familiar to Admiral ensues as the crystal passes hands to Admiral. "It definitely helped clear my mind."

Admiral takes the crystal and presses it into Tasya’s palm. He closes her hand around it and studies her face, watching for any kind of reaction.

At first Admiral sees nothing. Then suddenly he notices the acrobat's eyes move under her closed lids. Her body shifts slightly. She mummers something. It's unintelligible to Admiral and the on-looking group. Despite her stir, Tasya's eyes remain closed.

Encouraged by the small movements, Admiral gently shakes her shoulder. "Tasya? Tasya, can you hear me? We need you to wake up."

Tasya shifts and mumbles at Admiral's words. "No Jin...no...stars...so many...rest...under...rest...beautiful..." she insists as each quiet word trails off into a incoherent murmur. "Yes...the routine...I know...no more practice."


After a little more shaking and prodding Tasya's sleepy words pick up an urgent tone, "The ship...fey...the ship...Oceana...Jin?...Jin!?...What?...no...no...Captain?...what?...Admiral?...Admiral?"

Her eyes open. "Admiral?...what...where?" she asks in a shaken and gentle tone as her awareness begins to overtake the enchanted haze.

A wave of relief crashes over Admiral as Tasya’s eyes flutter open. "Tasya! Good to have you back!" he says, with a broad smile. He helps her to her feet once she seems fully conscious and alert. "How much do you remember?" he asks her as he crouches down by Rowan to repeat the same process with the crystal. "Do you know what happened to Jin? He’s the only one we haven’t found yet…"

"Jin is not with us?" Worry covers Tasya's face as she looks around past Rowan, who begins to mumble something.

"I only remember calling to to him...saying that we should gather the brilliant lights for our ship. He was after them in another direction. So I help it...I continued myself...foolishly."

"Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll find him," Admiral reassures Tasya. After bringing the rest of their sleeping friends back to consciousness, he addresses the group, "Now that we’re all back on our feet, does anyone have any way to locate Jin? Magically, I mean. If not, I reckon we ought to return to the last place anyone saw him and try to track him from there."

Mischa thinks about Admiral's question.

"Tasya," she says. "The cloak Jin gave you. It is connected to him. When you use it, he knows. He feels you. Perhaps I could exploit that connection."

Tasya looks puzzled.

Mischa continues, "If you use the cloak to become invisible, I could attempt to search your mind for the link to his, and then potentially get some sort of picture of his thoughts or surroundings. This might work if you allow your mind to be open to me."

"Yes. yes of course! We must find Jin," replies Tasya without hesitation.

"I know you are eager to," Mischa cautions. "But there is one thing to consider. We have no idea where Jin is or what he is experiencing. If his mind is being influenced or tortured by any entity in this fey infested jungle your mind may be subject to the same experience as his."

"I am willing to take that risk, for Jin," assures Tasya.

Admiral nods in agreement with the plan. He would have taken the same risk for his own captain in a heartbeat. Anyway, if Jin is being tortured by some fey monstrosity somewhere, that’s all the more reason they need to find him as quickly as possible. "We should hurry," he says. "The longer we wait, the more chances Jin has to run into trouble."