Cha. 1.2 - Sadur's and Kimbek Down and... up?

Sadur quickly move in front of Pepper and turn to face the enemy, taking a pose Kimbek seen Sadur using in pit fights while waiting for enemy to make their turn first.

Kimbek stands, sputtering and spitting out as much of the water as possible.

"I'll get her. Stay safe."

He retrieves the club/tool he had dropped and turns toward the dinosaur.

With a swift roll Sadur managed to get out of the water onto the shore and stand back on his feet with one move! He immediately started to run towards the trunk and stands in front of Pepper in defensive pose.

In the same time Kimbek manage to steady his breath and takes out the crowbar he managed to "free" from one of their dreadful captors.The friends since fighting pits times notices that the Strange Tiger is in really good shape, well feed and ready for a good fight. In contrast to Crest Bug, that looks not so sturdy - but still very determined to protect its younglings that Sadur has attacked(at least in its mind) in such vicious way... of stomping over it.

While they were doing above the Crest Bug shoved its Young One into the nearby bushes and returned to water[move], swimming in it not worse than a fish towards Kimbek. Still making this awful, ears and almost brain hurting sound, apparently caused by Crest Bug's shake of its crest. With a fast jump out of the water - with surprising impact, considering how short distance it head to gain some speed - the Crest Bug lunged at Kimbek...

In the same time Strange Tiger made a swift jump towards Sadur and attempts to free the dwarf from the burden of carrying his head on his shoulders with a mighty swing of its paw...But apparently years of training and facing equally experienced foes had allowed Sadur to duck just under the powerful swing, and Kimbek taking a step to the side, causing the bug to fly past him rather than jump on him.

Kimbek does what he can to ready an attack against the bug swimming towards him.

The tiger realizing that his swing of the paw didn't work as intended lets out a mighty roar, angry and ready to step up his efforts of dismembering this new enemy that it haven't encountered before in the jungle. Changing its strategy he tries to attack Sadur with its claws and jump even further to bite him.

In the same time Crest Bug makes a swift u-turn in the water and repeats its attempt of jumping over Kimbek with its sharply pointed legs and hard beak.Sadur seeing tiger extending its claws in the preparation for immediate next attack, knows that they are not something that he would like to have stuck in his stomach or anything else. So he puts all the strength and experience to duck this fatal blow. He smiles when three sharp like nails claws hit the air on his right side. Only to realize that there is something off with the way tiger moves... and it don't seem to be putting an additional weight on the trunk they are now standing on. [Perc roll result]

Distracted by this sudden realization or not being ready for the tiger continuing his momentum and lunging with his whole body at him... Sadur doesn't mange to do another dodge and sees the tiger's jaws open and descending upon his head in a deadly grip.

But it is not his body that begins to hurt, but his mind that seems to be teared in two, as if the dizzying sound of the bug had finally managed to penetrate his scull! When he open - the instinctively closed eyes - again looking for help to ease the immense pain, he sees that the tiger is immersed in his body, which is otherwise intact.

Then he feels being pulled back. When he looks in that direction, he realizes that it's a completely disoriented Pepper trying to pull him off the fallen tree trunk, stepping back and holding his arm in her snout. But he is not able to do anything about it as the pain is almost unbearable.

Crest Bug's another attack at Kimbek was even less lucky than one before, as Kimbek managed to deflect it with a well-aimed blow with the crowbar, causing the bug to fall onto its back on the nearby shore. Rendering it helpless for a moment.Kimbek started to realize that the awful sound made by Crest Bug that seam to try to penetrate their mind's have to be something more then plain inconvenience or distraction... he realized that this sound is controlling this strange tiger or... maybe... even making it appear in their minds[Int roll GS] not being real at all.

Kimbek - not wanting to waste such opportunity - runs towards the shore and the fallen bug and makes a well considered swing from the bottom, hitting the bug in its crest that breaks immediately [Nat 19, d10 result of 9: "Crushed Larynx"] and severing the fallen animal very badly[3 damage].

The moment awful sound stops to be generated by the bug's crest Sadur stops to feel pain and... the tiger vanishes.

At main Sadur don't realized there is no more a tiger to protect pepper from. Besides he is angry at animal being still there though he asked Kimbek to call it off. Sadur try to release his arm from Pepper's mouth and push the damn animal back. BACK Papper, back he cries.

Kimbek does use his free attack.

"By the spirits, that screaming! It's killing us."

With a satisfying (and bone chilling in the same time ) sound of cracking chitinous crest and scull of the bug, that Kimbek's hit made with his crowbar: the combat is clearly over. The battered animal makes a few weak leg movements as the life ebbed from it, and then it froze forever. Kimbek was quite sure that in the same moment, the bug with psychic powers died he heard a low groan from the nearby bushes, as if someone had let out a single, prolonged sob.

Pepper being yelled at and completely confused by sudden disappearance of strange tiger that moment a go seemed to be eating Sadur raw flesh and for that her attempt to help Sadur was met with such a negative reaction... she began to quickly retreat, completely embarrassed and disoriented, back to the other side of makeshift bridge made out of fallen trunk.

What do you do?

Kimbek goes to check out what made the sound in the bushes, keeping his club at the ready.

Pepper not want to go down hills, then try to distract me in a middle of a fight. And that thing - that tiger? Was it a magic? I'm usually resistant to magic. Sadur keeps complaining until he reach his dog, that's when he smiles and note Everyone safe, at least for now

Sadur finds a vine to tie silver to himself. Silver, this is just in case. Now, follow! he orders his dog and start climbing up the ravine. That's something a dwarf spend his childhood in the mountains is well familiar with, so he don't believe it could be any hard, can it?

Kimbek slowly approches the nearby bushes where he heard the strange sound, holding firmly his crowbar. With a tip of the tool that for now was functioning more as weapon then enything else he shovels away bushes. Underneath of them he see the much smaller version of Crest Bug, the one that the bigger - adult - one was apparently trying to protect from sudden intruders. The young one is visiblly much less developed than its parent, seems harmless and completly lost - stepping from one side of the rock it is currently sitting on, to the other side and back again. Kimbek suspects that without its mother's or father's guiding sound it doesn't have a sense of direction or something similar. If it was true - Kimbek wanders - it would be very strange to have so dependent younglings on their parents for this particular spiecies. It doeas not feel as the best breeding strategy. But who knowks? Maybe there is something more to it?

What Kimbek does with his find?

Sadur with his head feeling like it was going to explode any moment [headache from the mind attack and -3 Will], finds some comfort in interaciton with his best friend: Silver. Gathering his strength and focus with effort that only dwarves can afford prepers for his way back. Up the ravine. In hope of joining others(?) or for his other reasons.

Kimbek attempts to gently pick up the bugling and see if it will stay still enough to carry on his shoulder.

Surprisingly the bugling seams so disoriented that it doesn't resist Kimbek picking it up. It even seams to appreciate closeness of his body, probably being quite used to be close to its parent. But it appears that Kimbek didn't notice[Noromal Failure] that the young one - same as its parent - has legs with rather sharp claws. Taking it in his arms he felt small pricks of the legs piercing through his skin, immediately followed by unpleasant tingling sensation. Kimbek is quite sure it wasn't the bugling intention to hurt him, but he had to learn the hard way, that in the future he has to pay a close attention to the claws on its legs and that they may contain some kind of substance at their tips.

Other than that, the confused animal seams to calm dawn on Kimbek's shoulder a little and in the few moments it seams to sit still and even its crest start to produce a nice, quiet, calming hum, resembling more of steady song of cicadas, rather than aggressive cacophony it's parent produced not so long ago. Kimbek also notice that it is munching with its beak, indicating that it may become hungry very soon.

What do you do next?

"Ouch.... Woah." Kimbek's dizziness as the insect's poison affected him was apparent. "Apparently the creature's poisonous."

Still, with the small creature quieted (except for the cicada-like sound it was making) on his shoulder, he made his way to where Sadur was.

Kimbek will continue to follow the animals to help guide them after Sadur. He also keeps an eye out for more of the plain fruits to see if they might be what the little insect can eat.