Weighing their Options

As the four of them breakfasted, they tried to come up with a revised plan.They hadn't known what to expect on the Great Isle, but they hadn't anticipated running into anything quite so threatening quite so quickly.

"Where there is one of those creatures, there are almost certainly more," Chuc pointed out. "Its axe and its clothing means that they are intelligent. And did you notice that it didn't seem to be frightened of us, or even of the sudden mage-light that I produced?"

"At least its axe had a stone head," Val said. "So it seems that our iron weapons should give us an advantage. As will your mage-lore, of course."

"That may not help us much if they can overwhelm us through weight of numbers," Fredric put in. "And did you see the muscles on that beast? If it should come down to hand-to-hand combat we wouldn't have a chance, even ignoring its tusks."

"You don't want us to give up, do you?" Val asked. "Sail home with our tails between our legs?"

Fredric flushed. "No, of course not," he responded. "But I don't want to die either. And there's one factor that worries me more than anything else. Now they know where our boat is, can we safely leave it here? Suppose when we returned to it, we found that they'd destroyed it. We'd be stuck here then."

"But with only four of us, we can't afford to split our forces, and leave one or two to guard the boat," Chuc said. "If all four of us together are vulnerable, a smaller group would be even more so."

At last Elashi spoke. "They know we're anchored here now. Why not sail round to the other side of the Isle and anchor there? At least then there may be a chance of the boat not being detected in its new location. Perhaps these creatures are only found in this region, and we'd be outside their area. It will also avoid the risk of them ambushing us if we try to head back to the cairn from where we are now."

1. The others agree with Elashi's suggestion.
2. The others don't want to do as Elashi suggests. Sailing close inshore in uncharted waters has hazards of its own. Besides, it would mean further delay.
3. Before they can reach a decision, they are interrupted by the sound of...

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