Episode 2

Holy shit, Hyp. Skin o' teeth is right, dice lined up by narrowest of margins.

Kray stopped for a moment and spoke to the group quietly after they had progressed into the Jara Hili for almost an hour, his mind in the present but always leaning toward the future.

The moment finally presenting itself, he lit a spliff and took a long drag.

"From here we head straight northwest, avoiding roads as the crow would fly, toward the mountains. Deep enough in them to avoid any detection, just inside the foot hills."

He cracked a smile, clearly pleased with their escape from Gelshemish, weighty bags in tow.

"We are not, however, going on a mountain climbing expedition. We'll keep it simple enough for the trek with a focus on deterring pursuit. In essence, the least expected path any would expect to be taken. The long way, so to speak."

He cast his eyes around the men, exhaling a cloud before continuing, voice still low.

"Through the mountains, we'll reach the Alornic Sea, then travel by seafaring vessel to Arkadd. I know the language and I assume none present have any ties to such a remote region; as such, I don't expect any would be pursuers to expect such a destination to be our intent."

Kray chewed the spliff as smoke curled from his mouth, inhaling through his nostrils.

"Besides, I've always wanted to see Arkadd... jungles, mountains, ruins... sounds exotic. What's not to like?"

Another consideration crossed his mind as a chuckle escaped him.

"To be clear, although I'm known in some locales as "Kray Lord Mercon", you men owe me no fealty or allegiance. However, those of you who would accompany me to the exotic lands of Arkadd..."

A sincere look of respect flourished onto Kray's face, his eyes shining admiration for the men present who had made it through the trials of years past or the literal hell of the Cursed Palace only hours ago, let alone their narrow escape from Gelshemish, fraught with pitfalls almost every step of the way.

"It would be, to say the least, an honor."

J, that escape was dope track and an amazing curtain for an Episode 2 that didn't quite go as planned. Despite the.mixed bag of success and failure, I loved it. Truly an expression of the freedom allowed in DT.

Fellas, we failed the mission as outlined by Palla Ba, but still found a win in our own way, despite the losses.

Wealthy and alive, well done.

Simush bides his time, watching his quarry as they track through the mud and the reeds. He checks his bowstring out of habit, though he knows everything is in readiness. On a nearby branch, the edimmu flyer head assigned to him, buzzes irritatingly, making his horse paw the ground nervously.

Simush knows this terrain intimately. Spent years honing his bushcraft here, when he was Simush, and then when he became Iasu. But that is all in the past. Now he is Simush, "shining horns," son of Na'ahma and Vine Incubus. And now, after the reckoning above the Pit in the Cursed Palace, Prince-elect among the powers and principalities in Gelshemish. In truth, he doesn't care for the honors and the riches. All he cares about is finally belonging, and finally having no need to hide his true self.

But first, he must do this thing. He must reclaim the gold from the thieving foreigners. There they are - the Jeresian, Mercon, and his armsman, Thorn. The Dannein bull. The Sarceran. Surprisingly, the Alijanian is among them, and Bryn is not. It changes nothing.

Simush nocks an arrow, selects his target, draws the bowstring to his cheek...

He hears the arrow impacting, then sees the big Dannein fall. Thorn drops his treasure and sloshes over to Maeriks, hunching over to create a smaller target of himself.

Upon reaching his friend he drops down beside him.

"Big man," he says, pulling the huge man around so he can see his face as well as the wound.

"Maeriks." A gentle wake-up slap to the face.

Initiative.

Also, how deep is the water, J? And I've got to say, hiding on horseback... sounds like disadvantage to me. Being on horseback is going to make that just a *little* more difficult, to say the least.

Kray picks up the pace as he advances toward the treeline, javelin at the ready, taking the first available cover to minimize the enemy's opportunity for shots.