Adventurer, Rescue Thyself
The party (Leon, Kriv, and Keshelm) had their former and now late jailer's clothing, his crossbow, and his broadsword divided between them. Beyond that, they stood on some strange beach, in a strange land, cold, wet, and without shelter. Decisions need to be made...so they started walking.
Plot points/Scenes
Cold, drenched to their skin, and wandering among the hills of this strange land, they heard the sounds of battle over the next rise. There, they found several large gorilla-like humanoids locked in combat with bizarre orc-sized creatures with goblin-like faces. Axes and javelins flew back and forth, combatants slipped in the mud to their peril as they were run through, and it was difficult to tell who was on the right of the situation. Still, behind the lines of the ape-like creatures, they saw a larger ape with a dark arrow in his chest, and a great amount of blood having spilled on his garments.
Structure
Exposition
Exposed to rain and freezing winds wherever they happened to be in the barge, neither deck nor torn-open holds provided much protection from the blasting rain and cold. So, gradually, they started to get colder and colder.
Ultimately, they realized they needed real shelter, and soon.
For the next hour or so, they made their way north along the beach, the rocky crags and their bare feet maked it brutally apparent not to try to climb anywhere along the way. The wind continued to buffet them as they walked and the rain from the storm wore them down. Eventually, the rocks gave way and they found a part wade enough to pass through.
The land they saw was very, very hilly, worse to the northeast than due east. The storm obscured distance vision but all they saw was hills rolling out into darkness and storm. Northward along the beach was more broken terrain while south and eastward the terrain seemed to flatten out a little bit just at the perimeter of their vision. The storm likewise cloaked the cliffs to the south (which they could not climb at the landfall) as they fade off to the east.
Nonetheless, they saw no signs of sign of shelter or civilization in any direction. In full light, the grasses might have been green, but pounded by rain, most everything was gray and and most likely turning to mud.
Conflict
Leon decided to push into the hills, hoping just the slopes around them would provide bit of a buffer from the wind. Perhaps a half an hour later...
You’re walking along in the depression between two large hills. After a few minutes of walking, you become aware of a noise -- a very faint noise, like grunting voices and steel clanging on steel, barely audible over the noise of the rain and the wind. It seems to be coming from your left, beyond the hill to your left.
Rising Action
Assuming the noises being something perhaps sentient beyond themselves which would then lead to shelter, they decided to investigate.
Below you, there’s a ravine separating this line of hills from the next ridge. And there’s a battle going on down there.
It looks like a dozen orcs are fighting fiercely with what appear to be apes. The apes stand more upright, fighting with spears and javelin; the orcs have axes and a few swords. Most of the orc line are wearing armor of some type, but the apes aren’t wearing much more than an open cloth coat of some material.
About 50 feet behind the line of orcs there’s someone lying in the ravine. It looks like another ape, larger than the others, and a dark arrow protrudes from his chest. He’s lying on his back, a single other ape standing by his side, seemingly as a guard.
Climax
Taking a few moments to figure out who was who and what was going on, the party decided to intercede on behalf of the ape-like creatures. Leon attempted to stealth behind the line of orcs. Kriv had Hafkris's crossbow, and tried to take aim, and Keshelm was about ready try to push one of the boulders down onto the orcs below.
As they did so, javelins and daggers pierced bodies, with losses trading back and forth on both sides. Axes in orc hands pierced ape shoulders, and gromman spears skewered through the piecemeal orc armor. Leon managed to stealth behind and take out an orc just before he tossed a javelin. Kriv's crosbow managed to take out a couple more. Just as the apes realized they had aid, a final push from Keshelm (with Kriv's help) rolled a boulder down onto the remaining orcs crushing the last of them.
In the end, only three apes were left. The wounded one, his guard (which turned out to be a female named Othya), and one last wounded, but fiercely fighting warrior who as the last orc fell, spun around.
"My Lord!", as he runs to the fallen ape.
The female hovering over the greater ape turns to fighter with a worried look on her face. “Rhayben, we need to get him back to the village. I can do no more here."
The male ape turns to you all, "You have helped us fight with the Scro” – he spits to the ground – "and may have saved Unesis. We will not find that out until we reach our village. Help us carry him."
Falling Action
The party then assisted Rhayben and Othya with carrying the heavily wounded body of the great ape they had called Unesis. He was a massive individual and it took all three of them and Othaya to lift him while Rhayben scouted ahead -- within eyesight -- and back again to make sure the area was clear.
As you heft the weight of the greater ape, the male ape guides your way. The storm has subsided only in that the thunder has stopped, but the rain still showers down.
The apes move swiftly, weaving back and forth between the hills you’d been climbing over throughout the storm blindly. You swerve back and forth so many times, you’ve completely lost track of where you from where you were. You round one last hill and suddenly the high cliffs come into view. The hills immediately flatten out for a few hundred feet until a pathway rises up the side of the cliff.
Resolution
The pathway is barely wide enough for you to carry Unesis on either side, but you know there wouldn't be much more room than that. Even with the weight distributed between you all, your muscles are growing weaker every few steps. As your arms are just about to give out, both of the Rhayben and Othya seem to get a burst of energy.
Grunting in his movements, the Rhayben announces head down the path, "Guardsmen! Help! Unesis has fallen!"
The shock of accelerating, the male ape’s shouting, and the view before you all catch you by surprise, but as two large apes land with a wet thud to the ground seemingly from nowhere, you nearly lose your grip. These "guardsmen" brush you aside, but then carefully place their arms under Unesis and carry him away.
Exhausted, your limbs shaking slightly both from the relieved weight and weakness, you now pay attention to the view ahead of you. You stand on at the lip of a large depression in a crater formed by the cliff walls. Before you is a sizable village. Huts are arrayed before you with several walkways weaving through the area. Even in the darkness, you can see a structure, larger than any of the others, jutting up like the axis of a wheel.
"Hairless ones, come with us!" Othaya shouts, as they follow the guardsmen and Unesis toward that long hut.
Parent Plot
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