24 Chirreb 4385: Staying to Help

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The caravan hadn't been attacked by the ghempoch yet but when they heard the story they stopped dithering about what to do and decided to flee.

Trust: "But those survivors need medical treatment! We can't run off and leave them to suffer and die."

Caravan members: "You stay if you want! We're leaving!"

Mirhandrax: "But there's a dangerous monster out there! We must stick together or it will pick us off individually."

One of the drovers: "Actually, if it's a ghempoch ... they're only driven to fury by large groups of primes, aren't they? So if we split up, we'll all be safer. As long as none of the groups are big enough to make it crazy. Right?"

Outcast: "Do you wish to wager your life on that?"

Drover: "... not really."

Caravan members: "If we just get out of here NOW we won't have to worry about the monster finding us at all!"

In the end, it was Trust who decided us because he absolutely refused to leave without treating the wounded villagers first. But Mirhandrax didn't want to leave the caravan because we all thought they were most likely to get the ghempoch's attention.

So we split up. Mirhandrax stayed with the caravan to help the caravan guards. Outcast and Nightbloom went off to scout for the ghempoch and to look for the village's Illusidor mage, since she'd been missing since she engineered the distraction. Don't ask me how we ended up with Outcast but not Mirhandrax because I DON'T KNOW. Apparently it made sense to them somehow. Anyway, Trust and I went to help the scattered villagers. The idea was that splitting up wouldn't be the horrible-certain-DOOM that it normally is because the ghempoch wouldn't go berserk over just a few of us.

That was the idea, anyway.

Trust couldn't get inside the beaver dam where the injured Orren were all hiding. Instead, I went in to escort one out. Trust stayed on the river bank, screened beneath the drooping blue and gold branches of a spiriow tree. I came out with a wounded Orren and Spirodance, one of the few villagers who'd been fishing when the ghempoch attacked and so was unscathed. Spirodance and I handed the badly burned girl up the bank to Trust's arms. While Trust treated her, Spirodance kept watch rollwards and I watched the roll'gainst side. There were Herethroy hosh farms on either side of the little river, but a stand of wild trees grew along either bank and gave us some cover. After the first Orren was treated as best Trust could, Spirodance and I carried her back inside (she was in a Healing Sleep). Then we fished another one out.

We were on the fourth one when Spirodance squealed "GHEMPOCH!" and dived into the river.

Trust triggered his bound Quiet Veil and the injured one triggered the one I'd given her. I tried to spont Quiet Veil and failed. The ghempoch flew straight at me.

He didn't have fiery bats streaming from his ears though, so I took that as a good sign.

Then he seized me in his right foreclaw, which was not nearly as good a sign.