Chapter 5: Through the Moon Pass Gorge

"Damn right we should," the ranger nods. He puts the arrow back into the quiver on the hip and hangs the longbow across his torso, springing back on his feet and walking towards the bank. As he walks past the slain tiger, he shakes his head.

"Spirits take me to gods-damned oblivion. Last time I saw a beast like that, it took three hunters with boar spears to simply hold the fucker in place," he kneels at the orc's corpse, drags it onto the bank and starts searching it. "One fool tried to finish it off right away, the cocky idiot that he was. Got mauled to death on the spot. We were quite lucky. A shame the skin is fucked up now."

Kardalis sighs heavily, as their combatant breathes it's last breaths. He reaches out to it and wipes his blade clean on it's hide, even though his blade is already nearly identical in color to the blood that stains it.
The entangling goo that encased the creature slowly dissipates into nothing, leaving no trace of its existence.

"Seems you nearly shared a fate with that fool, eh?"

"Yeah, you tell me," the hunter drags, stripping the orc of his possessions. "When this thing leapt at me, for a moment there I thought I was done for."

He raises his head and looks straight at Kardalis.
"I must say you're a crafty one. Good job there, you'll be fine. Anybody cares for this junk?" Cyrus turns to the rest of the group. "Bracers seem rather decent."

Nerea merely sits on the bridge, her back against the rail. She pinches the bridge of her nose in frustration and disgust, willing the trembling her her hands to stop.

With a sigh, the tension releases from Avis's chest. She stows her crossbow and begins to walk towards the rest of the group.

As she passes Nerea, however, she stops. "Was that the work of the great Solonor in action?" she says with a sneer. "He'd better step up his game. There's going to be worse than that, where we're going."

Her expression thunderous, Nerea stands, her hand clenched tightly around her longbow. She draws closer to Avis, for once willing her to say something further. "I'm sure you'll be happy to know that all this was mortal error," she says, her tone as cold as winter. "I'm afraid of tigers. Does that satisfy you? Good. Now, for once in your life: be quiet."

Amra Braegen: "Now, now, you two... No need to argue. Let bygones be bygones, and let us move on with our objective. We're approaching the River Rauvin Towpath and the first of the Towing Stations. With luck, the people there will be kind enough to offer us some food and drink and a place to rest for a while..."

With that, Amra picks up her walking staff and begins to walk down the road towards the northeast.

"Tch." Avis ignores Amra's peacemaking. "Should have let your badgers do the fighting, then. They apparently have more bravery than you." With that, Avis turns from Nerea, following the priestess.

"Says the woman who ran," Nerea sneers, striding after her. "I missed my shots, but at least I held my ground. We all know that if a fight turned sour, you'd be the first to bolt and abandon the rest of us."

Kardalis nods at Cyrus in acknowledgement for his part finishing the creature off, "In my line of work, craftiness is high demand. Without it you die quick"

He turns his head slightly at the argument on the bridge, he helps Rhenwald carry the equipment from the body to the bank, sets it down, and watches the two women carry on their argument with fascination.

The beast slain Imarra hangs the crossbow back at her belt and moves around the bridge, past the arguing Avisis and Nerea. Nobody else seemed much interested in the Red Tiger once it is dead.
"Sleep now, mighty beast" Imarra says in rashemen, placing a hand upon the beasts head "The forest thanks you for your service.". After her short prayer the wizard took out a knife and stabbed once more into its neck to guarantee that it was gone before trying to cut some meat from its side.

"Strategic movement is wholly different from fleeing at the first sign of danger," she says without looking at the cleric. "If you recall, I was not the only one to keep distance. Some of us aren't as hardy as a cleric armed with shield and protected by armor." She then looks over to Nerea with a smirk. "Besides. How do I know you were standing bravely, and not simply too paralyzed by fear to move?"

"Cut the crap, both of ya," Rhenwald says calmly with a drag, approaching the two. "You could do just as bad, Avis, and you know that. And you better not point fingers without reason", he nodded looking at Nerea. "Ain't no need to squabble like a bunch of fucking children. If we're gonna bicker over petty shite like this, we are as good as dead."

Cyrus turns to Amra and extends his palm. "Hold on just a moment. Gotta stay close. This orc died less than an hour ago, might be others nearby. I'll be on the lookout for tracks, and if we find any, we better take a detour to bypass them." He walks closer to Nerea, looking her in the eye. "Doing alright? Better drink some water, gotta stay hydrated after the fight."

The moon elf priestess turns around to nod to the ranger.

Amra Braegen: "You are right Rhenwald. I shall wait..."

Nerea lets out a low laugh, the tension seeping from her shoulders. Her eyes, however, remain cold.

"With all due respect, Cyrus, while I recognize and appreciate your efforts to look after me, I do not like being spoken down to like a child. I also certainly do not appreciate your dismissiveness." Stepping past him, she continues, "If I have problems with Miss Strangelight, it is because she has been continuously unpleasant, disrespectful, and antagonistic since our first meeting. So do forgive me if I'm not inclined to put up with her bullshit on this fine morning. Perhaps I would be more tolerant of it were she not attempting to disguise her own numerous failings behind a facade of strategic brilliance."

"Right, figured as much," the ranger sighs, shaking his head as he follows Nerea with a disappointed look. He chuckles and mutters something under his breath, then walks up to Imarra, handing her the necklace found on the orc's body. "Care for this? Figured you'd be the one to know what to do with this stuff." He looks to the side, where the tiger is lying, and nods at his body. "Gorgeous beast, right?"

Avis laughs, her delight genuine. "'Failings'? This is all too much. I struck the beast twice, didn't miss once. You, what, gave it a little scratch? Tell me, which one of us has failed, in this scenario?"

Amra Braegen: "Please stop it already," Amra bids the two, with a calm but stern voice. "I am not paying you two to bicker about who outdid the other in a fight which might very well have cost one or more of us our lives. Rhenwald, if you do not intend to search for tracks, I would highly appreciate if we continued forth on our quest, and leave our grudges in the roadside with the beast..."

Ignoring Amra entirely, Nerea steps closer to Avis, her smile saccharine. "What low standards you must have, Avisis, hitting something twice and somehow feeling satisfied with yourself. Remind me, whose help will you need when you're trapped and can't run anywhere? Was it ours? I can't remember."

Nerea storms past Kardalis and Cyrus follows shortly after
"Good effort, Rhenwald" Kardalis says quietly as he walks past.
Lingering at the mouth of the bridge, Kard falls into step with Avis.
"Enjoying yourself I see"

He falls further back, both to take up the rear and to allow plenty of room for the sparks that are flying.

Avis chuckles at Kardalis's observation. "Indeed I am. She makes it entirely too easy."

She mirrors Nerea's smile, though it is crooked and smacks of arrogance. "How fortunate I am, miss Maendellyn, that you are a good and just cleric who would never let a person die on her watch, no matter how much they may smirk and sneer."

"'She' is also standing right here," Nerea says pleasantly. "Hello, Kardalis. But that's a very confident assessment you've made, Avisis, given how little we know each other. I would hate for you to be wrong. I know you must handle that as poorly as you do social graces."

Still smiling, Avis shrugs a shoulder. "At least I'll know which god to curse. If you need incentive, however, I promise that I will agonizingly, begrudgingly eat my foul words about you if you ever manage to save my life."

"It's that, or you'll be eating dirt," Nerea says cheerfully. "So you'd better hope I'm feeling generous."