(Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 3)

[DracoOmega]

>Given we've heard spiders squeal in pain and surprise, does this noise feel anything like that?
>Take a deliberate step to the side.
>Do keep ears open for other spiders.

>It doesn't sound obviously distressed, nor does it especially resemble any of the other cries you've heard the various spiders make.
>You take a deliberate step to the side. The spider turns to follow your movement, seemingly shifting about more quickly itself, but doesn't change its own position. It continues to make that sound.
>You don't hear any other spiders at the moment, but the sound this one is making might be able to cover more distant, quiet sounds of motion. You're still fairly confident you could hear if anything was moving close to you, though.

[Hello Purvis]

>"So, what do you what, little guy?"

[DracoOmega]

>"So, what do you what, little guy?"

>The spider simply continues to look at you, shifting back and forth a little. It makes another low-pitched creaking sound.

[Hello Purvis]

>Take a deliberate step toward it. Stay ready to counteract any surprises, but don't be overtly hostile.

[DracoOmega]

>Take a deliberate step toward it. Stay ready to counteract any surprises, but don't be overtly hostile.

>You take a deliberate step towards it, trying to seem casual and non-threatening. As soon as you move towards it, the spider lets out another high-pitched cry, turns, and skitters away.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Now you know how I felt the first time."
>Let it run away, and see where it goes.

[Oldmansour]

>Listen for any indication of spiders approaching us.

[DracoOmega]

>"Now you know how I felt the first time."
>Let it run away, and see where it goes.

>You let the spider flee and it continues to do so. It seems to be heading eastward, following a path somewhat to the south of the route you took to get here. It isn't actually going amazingly quickly, if you were inclined to catch up.

>Listen for any indication of spiders approaching us.

>You think you may hear some noises a moderate distance to your rear, although they're indistinct at the moment.

[Hello Purvis]

>Look back, do we see anything coming?
>If not: Leave it be, and turn to face the new noise.

[DracoOmega]

>Look back, do we see anything coming?
>If not: Leave it be, and turn to face the new noise.

>You look behind you. You don't see anything approaching, but the land rises fairly steeply in that direction and you can't see very far at all. It's quite possible something as short as those spiders could be as little as 5 feet away and not be visible, if they were standing in just the right spots.
>You turn and face the new noise, or rather, noises. It's becoming more distinct now, and there is clearly more than one creature moving out there. The sounds start to separate as they move in different directions - something moves left while something else moves right. It's difficult to tell if there are more than two- ...wait, the left noise seems to separate into two distinctly positioned sounds as they approach. They're perhaps 15 feet away now and spreading out. You can't yet see anything.

[Hello Purvis]

>Find a direction those sounds are not at, and dash that way. Preferably back the way we came; employ the memorization of the terrain we used beforehand.
>Keep ears peeled for movement, squishing noises, and the like.

[Kips McKipzerson]

This is why we dont talk to spiders. They call their friends.
>Keep weapons on standby.

[Narouge]

judgeing by the sounds. ethere we just stired something big and everything runing for its life from the thing. which i dought simpley cause i would asume that make a more distenctive sound.

Or the spiders are scattering. Off in random direction.

[DracoOmega]

>Find a direction those sounds are not at, and dash that way. Preferably back the way we came; employ the memorization of the terrain we used beforehand.
>Keep ears peeled for movement, squishing noises, and the like.

>There are perhaps a few gaps in the positions of the sounds ahead of you, and to the sides, but the way back seems the most clear at the moment. Well, aside from that one spider that's already fled a fair distance from you. You turn around and dash back the way you came, angling somewhat north of the fleeing spider. It nonetheless picks up its pace as you get closer to it.
>You keep your ears peeled for other sounds of movement. The sounds from behind still seem to be moving on your position, although you're outpacing them. You don't hear anything obvious from ahead of you.

>Keep weapons on standby.

>Your weapons are about as ready as they're going to get.

[Hello Purvis]

>Keep moving, stay wary for new noises.
>Can we distinguish whether our pursuers are smaller or larger spiders by the sounds they made make when moving, given we've heard both and larger ones are theoretically louder?

[DracoOmega]

>Keep moving, stay wary for new noises.
>Can we distinguish whether our pursuers are smaller or larger spiders by the sounds they made make when moving, given we've heard both and larger ones are theoretically louder?

>You keep on running, scurrying down and over hills and around trees. It's difficult to hear the pursing noises over the sound of your own much louder flight, but what snatches you catch seem to be becoming steadily more distant. No other sounds nearer to you grab your ear.
>You get the impression that they are smaller, although the spitters and fleeing spiders were of similar size; you don't know that you could distinguish them by listening.

>Eventually, you can no longer hear the sounds of anything following after you.

[Hello Purvis]

>Slow down to a proper walk, continue to listen.
>Estimate how far we came.

[DracoOmega]

>Slow down to a proper walk, continue to listen.
>Estimate how far we came.

>You slow down to a comfortable pace, while continuing to keep an ear out for spider activity.
>You've returned to a point some ways distant of the first suspicious noise you encountered on this path, and subsequently gave a width berth to. This is perhaps 600 or so feet from where you started to run.

[Hello Purvis]

>Take a moment to recover our breath, and make sure nothing is following.

[DracoOmega]

>Take a moment to recover our breath, and make sure nothing is following.

>You pause and rest a moment. You're not actually tremendously winded; you weren't being chased fast enough to have to break out top speed, but a rest is still welcome. You listen to your surroundings while you wait, but hear no sounds of pursuit or other unusual noises.

[Oldmansour]

>From where we, can we determine which direction takes us back towards Easthaven?

[DracoOmega]

>From where we, can we determine which direction takes us back towards Easthaven?

>Easthaven is definitely southward, and perhaps somewhat west; you aren't certain how far east you've traveled since following the original scent. Heading directly there from here would require trekking over the same hills that you fled from earlier, although you could give a wide berth to the specific area that you were in at the time (which is southwest of your current location).

[Oldmansour]

>Estimated travel time between here and Easthaven farms, assuming a wide circle around the area we just escaped.

[DracoOmega]

>Estimated travel time between here and Easthaven farms, assuming a wide circle around the area we just escaped.

>That would be difficult to estimate, given that you don't actually know how far away you are, nor how hilly and difficult to traverse the terrain to the south is. Maybe 30 minutes?

[Oldmansour]

Okay, so the point of this excercise was to try and find the lair, or at the least, get a bead on where it is. We've done that. I'm still not convinced there's an intelligence at work here, but I do believe, more than ever, that we're going to need more gear than what we have now to deal with what's ahead of us, one way or the other.

>Set off in a southerly direction, taking a wide circle around the spider's location.
>Keep an ear and nose open for any furthur signs of pursuit, or spiders ahead of us.

[Hello Purvis]

What we're really going to need is a way to not get acided up. Sadly, I don't think Easthaven has hazmat suits.

[Hanzo K.]

I don't think they even exist.
But at any rate, our next orders of business should be to get back to easthaven, possibly report what we found, and then get new gear and some backup.

[Hello Purvis]

I'm wary about backup. I think we're pretty much the only action youkai around, unless Minoriko or Ichirin moonlights as Batman. Bringing humans is a super bad idea, because they tends to die when they're killed.

 Not to mention we'd be obligated to split the take, and we're already obligated to work on the cheap since this is home and all.

Getting some more knifes would be a good idea. Chances are they won't throw as well, but if we can free up the kunai for throwing and then melee with butcher knives or some such, that alone is an improvement.

[Narouge]

even so much as adding a sting or something to the kunai help as well. we could swing it around and pull it back from a  throw. Also a pitch fork would be able to go deeper and do more damage then kunai if we see a bigger spider, as a more reasonable distance then kunai to (when we don't throw).

[Oldmansour]

As much as I like the idea of leading an angry mob, I think Purvis is right. None of the humans have our speed or skill. Heck, that first pounce that we dodged would probably have killed a man in our place. Granted, they might be willing to fight and die against this threat, but I'd prefer to keep the body count to a minimum.

I like the idea of having knives on hand to free up our kunai for throwing.
In fact, I'd like to take this opportunity to suggest that, once we get back to Braston, we do some weapon shopping. A Kusari-Gama would be a nice fit for Nazrin. At the very least, picking up a few extra kunai would be nice.
In any event, I think Nar has good points on both counts. Retreiving our kunai was a bit of an issue on that last fight, and a pitchfork would give us better range with which to attack. We could hit a big spider in the head without having to jump off a tree or rock, or throw a weapon at it. I was initially thinking scythe, but they're a bit ungainly in reality. A pitchfork would wokr much better