The man raised an eyebrow at the amount of money Aloysius offered but after that he wasn't even dissuaded by the scary expression on the mage's face. "A'right. You got yourself a ride then."
Everybody and their horse got on the flat barge, and they were on their way back toward's Kuiper's before the sun had risen very far. The rain eventually started to fall, but other than that, the morning was peaceful....for a while anyway.
Etienne was the last to board the boat. He stopped and looked back toward the small village for something, shook his head, then got on board with the rest of the group.
About two hours into the trip, SPLASH, the riverman toppled overboard as he poled the boat along. A hand attached to a long spindly arm grabbed onto Kaileer's leg as well and nearly knocked the elf off the barge as well. Four more arms appeared on the opposite side of the barge as two hideous blue-green creatures started to climb aboard.
Jana smiled ferociously as she drew her mace and moved to attack one of the two boarding nasty-bads. "Anyone see that guy?" she called out. "I'll handle these two."
Aloysius, clearly taken completely offguard by this turn of events, stood and did nothing, an expression of dumbfoundedness upon his face.
Jyothki, clearly fascinated by the boat ride, settled in nicely once the barge was underway. She mostly preoccupied herself with dipping her hand into the river as they floated toward their destination.
"I have never been on a boat before," she told Kaileer, smiling. She lightly splashed anyone who spent more than a few seconds near her, laughing uproariously as she did so.
When the huge creatures appeared, she looked into the river for the boatman.
Spotting what she thought was his arm she dove in and swam for where she thought he might be.
Etienne jumped when all hell broke loose, "I knew this was going to happen," He muttered under his breath. Seeing Jyothki go in after the boatman and Jana going after the two new riders, Etienn dropped in low on the arm attacking Kaileer, sawing on the arm with both scimitars.
Etienne moved to attack the arm attempting to pull Kaileer overboard. Unfortunately, he miscalculated the lurch of the pilotless barge and nearly severed his own foot with his scimitar. The arm gave Kaileer a good yank and the elf toppled off the boat. Kaileer grabbed onto the side and fiercely tried to pull himself back up even as the monster tried to pull him underwater.
Jyothki dove into the water and swam toward the spot where the riverman had fallen. A short distance down, blood flowed to the surface of the river. A small splash behind her indicated that something was now after Jyothki as well, and she started to swim feverishly for the bank of the river somewhat downstream.
Meanwhile, back on the barge, Jana slammed her mace into one of the monsters attempting to board. He snapped at her with a maw full of teeth but missed. The second monster managed to climb aboard the flat boat. It was huge, over eight feet tall, although it slumped and staggered as it moved. It tried to rip into Horse with its claws but missed. Horse took that as a sign to go swimming and followed Jyothki into the water. The barge lurched again as the horse's weight left it and moved back downstream now that no one was moving it along.
Jana smashed her mace twice at the creature on board the barge.
Aloysius finally seemed to take heed of the situations developing around him. Focusing on the beast that had accosted Horse, he pointed a finger and muttered a quick phrase under his breath.
Etienne yelped as he cut his foot. He quickly put his blade back in its sheath as Kaileer went over board. He rushed to his side, grabbed hold of the elf's clothing and started to pull with all his might. He looked back as he heard the other splash for Jana.
Etienne and Kaileer both struggled to get him back on the boat. They won the tug-of-war with the monster, getting the elf back on board with only a long cut down his leg to show for his trouble.
Aloysius quickly incanted a spell and flung two magic missiles at the creature that ran the horse off the boat. Jana attacked with her mace, giving it one solid hit. The monster turned on Aloysius, clawing him with each of its hands. The second monster managed to board as well and attacked Jana. She fared much worse than the mage, taking two claw wounds as well as a bite wound that almost ripped out her throat. She collapsed to the floor of the boat, even though she remained conscious, blood flowing frighteningly fast from her neck.
Meanwhile, both Jyothki and Horse made it to the edge of the river and climbed out. The creature pursuing them got there as well, in time to claw Horse for a slight wound. Both elf and equine bolted from the river edge and the monster, slow moving out of the water, retreated back to the river.
As the monster closed in on him again, Aloysius attempted to encant another spell.
Etienne had just finished helping Kaileer back on the boat, when he turned and saw Jana go down. "NO!," he screamed and ran toward the beast pulling swords from his back. He let into the monster as hard as he could, tears streaming down his face as he fought the huge beast.
Jana fell heavily, making gurgling noises. She lay there for an instant, then started moving jerkily, trying to roll to her knees. Blood ran down her chest, soaking yet another set of clothes.
After a second of taking in the chaos on the boat, Kaileer drew his sword and knife and charged the creature attacking Aloysius to take it's attention away from the wizard.
Jyothki quickly moved back into the trees, disappearing from sight.
Jyothki and Horse disappeared into the woods along the riverbank, even as the monster disappeared back into the water. The riverman had yet to reappear in the water where he fell over.
Back on the boat, Aloysius cast another spell, this time generating a fan of flames from his hands. He screamed at the monster attacking him as Kaileer moved in with his weapons, giving the creature a wound with his sword. It retaliated with a strong blow to the ranger's abdomen, ripping through armor and into soft flesh. However, when it moved in for a second blow, the combination of Aloysius' spell, Kaileer's counterdefensive, and the unfamiliar feel of the boat threw the thing off the barge and back into the water. The sudden loss of its weight pushed the boat into a slight spin as it went with the current.
Etienne attacked the monster who had nearly killed Jana with his scimitars. He gave it at least one wound, although he took two claw wounds himself for the effort. Jana weakly got to her knees and swung with her mace. She made contact with the creature's legs, doing some damage. She continued to bleed, covering the bottom of the barge with sticky red liquid, her throat ripped to tatters. At the rate she was bleeding, it was pretty clear that she wouldn't last much longer.
Etienne pressed his attack even though he was hurt badly. "Aloysius! Wrap Jana's wounds. Jana, stay back. You're not dying on me now." His face was full of fear and rage, "Kaileer, I could use some help!"
Swaying slightly from the wound, the elf advanced on the creature. His steps were unsure as if he half expected his insides to come spilling out of the wound but came at the creature with both weapons swinging anyway.
Jana swayed on her knees, barely able to stay up. She held the mace in front of her in a defensive position, just not having the strength to press an attack, much less stand up. She brought one hand to her throat, starting as she began to realize just how badly she was hurt. She started to speak, but just gurgled, another wave of blood gushing from her neck.
The flames in front of Aloysius disappeared as he crawled towards Jana, doing his best to avoid the melee between Kaileer, Etienne, and the large nasty. At first unsure as to how best to address such an injury, the mage took off his hat and pressed it against the wound in Jana's neck, trying to slow the bleeding without choking her.
