Yeah, I'd say Jimmy's in for a very long haul indeed. Ben's not happy with him ;-)
The long haul [DWP, 15th December] The smell of smoke and the slither of the corpse that Jimmy dragged along behind are what I remember most from the tunnels in the mountain. They were both loud and strong at the start, and had faded away to almost insignificance by the the we came out on the other side. The hours in the near-darkness -- better now that we had lanterns and weren't so worried about running out of light, or getting lost, were tedious rather than anything else. We stopped now and then and listened hard for sounds of pursuit, but unless the creatures were being much more silent than they'd ever been so far we were alone. Still, it was a relief to step out of the caves onto the bank of the river again. Less of a relief to see that the shack that had been stood there had been torn apart. The roof was scattered around the trees; the walls had been pulled down nearly to the ground, and the contents -- not that there had been much -- had been thrown everywhere, though the general direction looked like it had been towards the river. Ben shook his head. "Not stopping here," he said. "We carry on, back up the mountain and find one of the docks again. This looks like some very angry people or creatures have been here." I agreed immediately, and Jimmy said nothing though he looked as though he wanted to argue. But he was dragging the corpse and had been, probably, most looking forward to a stop here for the night. Hauling that body up the slopes of the mountain wouldn't be much fun. "I'll give you a hand," I said to Jimmy. "Best, if we want to get that thing back in one piece." "He can carry it," said Ben quickly. "Easier if two of us do it," I said firmly, and waited. And waited a mite longer than I really liked, before Ben acquiesced. Clearly he was still hurting that Jimmy had ducked out of the gunfight. I reset my backpack, grabbed the creatures arms, and hefted. It was a dense, solid thing, cold now though, and I was mildly impressed that Jimmy hadn't complained about this anywhere along the route through the tunnels. It was slow going up the mountainside, not least because I was now at the back and Ben kept asking me if he was going the right way. I was tempted to offer to trade places with him, but I reckoned that Jimmy would get the worst of it if I did, so I kept peering round them both and trying to remember what things looked like when we were going in the opposite direction. The sun was nearly down before we found our way back inside the mountain. Ben lit up the lanterns again, and then it was fairly fast to find the docks and set ourselves a little cold camp against the ancient stone and stretch out aching muscles. Ben looked around. "Gotta say," he said, "I was sort of expecting more bodies here. I guess the creatures don't come much past the tunnels then." "Or they don't know about these caves," I said. "Or maybe they do, but it's too tight and narrow for them?" Jimmy turned pale, and I remembered that we'd had to come through some might tight squeezes to get to here last time. I looked at the corpse we had, and sighed. "Might have trouble getting that one through the gaps we've fit through," I said, gesturing. "Hah," said Ben, and that was the extent of the conversation for the evening.
Heh, I started writing this in Scrivener as my internet connection has been a bit unstable this morning and I didn't want to risk losing it. Sorry about copying over my note ({DWP, etc.]) as well!
Greg - the ruins of the shack is certainly an unsettling find. But glad they managed to continue on to safer (presumably) territory. Poor Jimmy though, even with Red's help.
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Yeah, I'd say Jimmy's in for a very long haul indeed. Ben's not happy with him ;-)
The long haul
[DWP, 15th December]
The smell of smoke and the slither of the corpse that Jimmy dragged along behind are what I remember most from the tunnels in the mountain. They were both loud and strong at the start, and had faded away to almost insignificance by the the we came out on the other side. The hours in the near-darkness -- better now that we had lanterns and weren't so worried about running out of light, or getting lost, were tedious rather than anything else. We stopped now and then and listened hard for sounds of pursuit, but unless the creatures were being much more silent than they'd ever been so far we were alone. Still, it was a relief to step out of the caves onto the bank of the river again. Less of a relief to see that the shack that had been stood there had been torn apart.
The roof was scattered around the trees; the walls had been pulled down nearly to the ground, and the contents -- not that there had been much -- had been thrown everywhere, though the general direction looked like it had been towards the river.
Ben shook his head. "Not stopping here," he said. "We carry on, back up the mountain and find one of the docks again. This looks like some very angry people or creatures have been here."
I agreed immediately, and Jimmy said nothing though he looked as though he wanted to argue. But he was dragging the corpse and had been, probably, most looking forward to a stop here for the night. Hauling that body up the slopes of the mountain wouldn't be much fun.
"I'll give you a hand," I said to Jimmy. "Best, if we want to get that thing back in one piece."
"He can carry it," said Ben quickly.
"Easier if two of us do it," I said firmly, and waited. And waited a mite longer than I really liked, before Ben acquiesced. Clearly he was still hurting that Jimmy had ducked out of the gunfight. I reset my backpack, grabbed the creatures arms, and hefted. It was a dense, solid thing, cold now though, and I was mildly impressed that Jimmy hadn't complained about this anywhere along the route through the tunnels.
It was slow going up the mountainside, not least because I was now at the back and Ben kept asking me if he was going the right way. I was tempted to offer to trade places with him, but I reckoned that Jimmy would get the worst of it if I did, so I kept peering round them both and trying to remember what things looked like when we were going in the opposite direction.
The sun was nearly down before we found our way back inside the mountain. Ben lit up the lanterns again, and then it was fairly fast to find the docks and set ourselves a little cold camp against the ancient stone and stretch out aching muscles.
Ben looked around. "Gotta say," he said, "I was sort of expecting more bodies here. I guess the creatures don't come much past the tunnels then."
"Or they don't know about these caves," I said. "Or maybe they do, but it's too tight and narrow for them?"
Jimmy turned pale, and I remembered that we'd had to come through some might tight squeezes to get to here last time. I looked at the corpse we had, and sighed. "Might have trouble getting that one through the gaps we've fit through," I said, gesturing.
"Hah," said Ben, and that was the extent of the conversation for the evening.
Heh, I started writing this in Scrivener as my internet connection has been a bit unstable this morning and I didn't want to risk losing it. Sorry about copying over my note ({DWP, etc.]) as well!
Greg - the ruins of the shack is certainly an unsettling find. But glad they managed to continue on to safer (presumably) territory. Poor Jimmy though, even with Red's help.
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