(IC) Lost In Dreams [Peter]

[ericthered]

Peter moves around as stealthily as he can, which necessitates staying mostly out of the corn. After a bit of wandering, he comes across the edge of the village (for its a village, not a lone house). His first sight is a number of children playing -- all with either small bandages or small pricks on their shoulders. In addition, they game they are playing is ring-around-the-rosie. The words are in a different language, but the tune and actions are the same. This is all under the care of a watchful mother on a loom, who has a small prick on her shoulder as well. The people are the local Native American ethnicity.

[the_matrix_walker]

"Crap." Peter says under his breath cursing his bad luck... He was really hoping to encounter the English speaking folks he saw in his dream, given the reaction the natives have displayed so far. Luckily he has some food in his pack and his belly.

He stays out of the village and goes around it in a large circle, trying pass unseen while he continues his journey looking for friendlier people, or at the very least ones he can talk to.

[ericthered]

The next few days pass in a similar manner. Peter wanders around the woods looking for signs of the English speakers and avoiding villages. He comes across those that seem on alert, those that seem gloomy, and even one town that's completely empty.

Please give a routine: what does he depend on for food sources and how important is covering a lot of ground.

On the third day, Peter is walking goliath bristles and starts growling. Looking in the appropriate direction, Peter sees a giant wolf coming towards them. its larger than goliath, completely wild, and heavy set. He's not entirely sure how big wolves are supposed to be, but he's fairly sure this one is too big. The wolf seems to mostly ignore goliath's warnings, and starts circling the two of them, sniffing curiously.

[the_matrix_walker]

Peter's routine: While traveling he's constantly trying to cover as much ground as possible. He stays on the lookout for food and water, he doesn't really ration the meat much, as he figures it will just go bad if he tries to save it for longer than a few days. He will pilfer crops from the fields around the villages as well as looking for berries and fruit, or grubs and worms if it get's that desperate again. He spends a little time familiarizing himself with the balance of the weapon he has been carrying, and hoping he doesn't need to use it.

As the wolf circles them, he will try speaking to it in gentle tones and hoping the creature isn't too hungry. If he is carrying any leftover meat or other food the wolf may be interested in, he will try and offer it and befriend the animal... And if just speaking quietly to it doesn't sway the creature, he will even try singing something with gentle tones to it. If it remains aggressive, he will evaluate it, and stand ready with his sword spear to defend himself.

(Note, His Animal Empathy and Animal Friend advantages and Animal handling skill may come in handy here.)

[ericthered]

Peter is able to get by, for the most part. He's fairly hungry some days, but other days he finds the food he needs, particularly meat. The crops aren't ripe yet, but several abandoned dwellings (and some villages are completely abandoned) have stores of food lying about. His dreams are

Peter steels himself, and presents himself as confident and cool to the animal. The wolf responds by becoming a little more cautious. Peter slowly and cautiously offers it some meat. Goliath growls lightly, but stays put. the wolf gulps down the offering in a single bite. When it comes close again, Peter stands the creature off, but continues speaking in his tones.

The animal approaches within 2 feet of Goliath and Peter, sniffs, and then turns and trots away.

twice time, he veers away from a hunting party of natives. If they saw him, they didn't react. He's quite aware they are stealthier than him, but he is quite observant, and Goliath has keen senses as well.

The third time, they get wind of him first, as he is gathering food in a field. He notices them before they are able to surround him, so they have to be content with just stepping out into the field and demanding something of him in their strange tongue. It seems to be some sort of question as well. The speaker has his large spear, but of the three men standing near him, two bear only bows and large hunting knives. They have a medium dog with them as well, much smaller than Goliath and of no breed Peter can identify.

OCC: wow -- he was actually well suited for the wolf.

[the_matrix_walker]

If Peter believes they are far enough out and he is close enough to the tree line to make an escape, he will flee into the woods. His previous encounters with the natives leaving him cautious.

If he thinks escape is not an option, he will summon Goliath to his side and call out to them... "I don't suppose anyone speaks English?"

[ericthered]

escape is just enough of an option to be tempting. The real question is how ready the bowmen are and how good they are at shots on the run. If they aren't that good, the best option is definitely to turn and run. If they are capable of hitting him like that -- bad idea. Peter thinks about his own skill with a bow -- he probably wouldn't hit himself. At least not with the first shot. Perhaps if he ran through the young corn on the way to the trees...

(Its close enough to go either way. do you have a preference?)

[the_matrix_walker]

Peter breaks for cover, hoping that his disguise will prevent them from shooting right away.

[ericthered]

Peter turns and runs. The men yell at him, but he doesn't understand what they're saying and doesn't slow down. He's almost made it to the trees when one of the arrows goes through his left hand. Its quite a shock, but he keeps running and enters the relative safety of the woods without dropping his weapon.

He'd probably have lost them almost immediately if it weren't for their dog. Goliath is just ahead of peter, but the local dog is about 10 feet behind him and howling loudly -- a nice beacon to let his master know exactly where peter is.

OCC: if you want to use luck to negate the shot, go ahead. As a note, it was a total fluke -- they had effective skill 7.

[the_matrix_walker]

((OOC: Yes, let's use luck to hopefully negate the hit... The dog's only 10 feet behind? That's a FAST dog! or the group is much closer than I was envisioning...))

Peter keep s moving and tries to see if there is a river or terrain feature that might let him escape the dog... He doesn't want to have to hurt it.