Lost in Dreams (Alexander)

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Poonbahbah

I want coffee, and my gold-digging girlfriend and my mansion and my cars and not to be alone.

Hah!

He's in the midst of the spire things, but he picks a direction that would appear to be out of the termite mound area, and goes with that. Its doesn't take too long to hit an empty wash, and he continues down that. Its very dry and sandy, but it should lead somewhere, right?

That night is uneventful enough -- his water is holding out, and when he wakes up, its all still there.

He's only gone a few miles when he sees two ants the size of rottweilers coming towards him. They're eerie in their glistening carapace and long jaws -- do ants normally have jaws that size?

[Poonbahbah]

He'll put the bucket(s) of water down and get his sword ready as he backs up. He hopes they'll be more interested in the water than him so he can hack at least one of them down easily.

OOC: he plans on getting behind the ants and evaluating them for the full three seconds I think it is before doing either a telegraphed attacks or an all out attacks for +4 to hit. Telegraphed if you allow it or all out if you don't.

[ericthered]

The ants are very much NOT interested in the water -- they're coming right for Alexander, looking right at him. They pass the water. Getting behind them will be hard -- he's currently in a sandy stream bed with five foot high banks.

[Poonbahbah]

How steep are the banks? He's 5'9" so getting up something only 5' tall shouldn't be to much of a problem; so long as the ants can't readily follow him.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Poonbahbah

How steep are the banks? He's 5'9" so getting up something only 5' tall shouldn't be to much of a problem; so long as the ants can't readily follow him.

They're at a 70+ degree angle -- pretty steep (I'm basing this off of my personal experience with washes in the deserts of east utah). More of an issue it they're fairly crumbly and will give way when you try to climb them. He can get up, but it will take a few seconds, and will require both hands.

I would guess the ants would have no problem following him, but if he's quick he may gain a tactical advantage from high ground.

[Poonbahbah]

Seeing the crumbly look of the banks he'll just do his best to fight off the giant ants with the sword while thinking, 'This can't be real. Giant ants, swords, glass beads... This can't be real. Surreal maybe but not real.'

[ericthered]

As the ants come closer, Alexander starts swinging at their jaws. His first few swings don't hit anything, but it does slow down the ant's progress. His next swing sails in towards the ants jaws, and impacts solidly -- but the glistening carpace holds. The ant grabs at Alexander, who backs up and out of the way.

This continues for some time -- him swinging and backing up, them lunging at him, neither side making any contact other than with their weapons. But it won't stay that way forever.

[Poonbahbah]

Unless he thinks he can outrun them he'll stay and fight. He saw how fast they came up on him and he could drop his pack so that he's probably not encumbered...

[ericthered]

He slips off his pack and starts running from the creatures.

1) does he run down the wash or up out of it and through the desert?
2) does he drop the sword as well as the pack?
3) does he try to outdistance the ants or to outfox the ants?

[Poonbahbah]

Down the wash. Not up and out.
He'll keep the sword.
Outdistance. We were/are endurance hunters for a reason after all. If he thinks he gets a good lead then he'll climb up out of the wash and follow it back to the pack and bucket. That way he'll hopefully have the advantage of high ground when he comes across the ants again.