Once on the beach he finds that the area appears deserted. About 100 yards inland the beach ends and a steep, rocky seawall blocks his path. Well, there doesn't seem to be any reason to hang around here, so he begins climbing. Landecker's DEX of 18 serves him well and he's able to clamber up the steep slope with little difficulty.
Once at the top of the seawall he can see that the hilly terrain ahead gradually changes from barren rocks to grassland. He also sees something else...
Some distance off he spies a large group of what appear to be primitive humans. There are about 50 of them and they haven't seen him yet, so he watches them for a bit. They're moving west to east, parallel to the seawall. Some carry spears. Landecker deduces that they must be a hunting party.
What to do? Well, Landecker is out of food and alone, so he makes a bold choice. He starts walking toward the humans, yelling "Hello!" and waving his arms. The startled humans turn and see him approaching, and their reaction is not exactly as expected.
The humans immediately charge at Landecker, yelling angrily with animal voices. Yikes! Landecker turns and runs back to the seawall cliff where he scrambles down (again, his exceptional DEX helped out).
On the beach he sees that the humans have stopped at the top of the cliff and are watching him. He heads back toward his lifeboat putting more distance between himself and the cliff. Looking back, he sees that the humans have not pursued and appear to have dispersed.
Landecker figures he should stick it out here for a while and let the humans get farther away before he presses on. He does a little foraging and finds some food... Some crabs creeping around the beach. It's better than nothing.
Exploring a bit more he finds a cave entrance at the base of the seawall. Checking iy out, it appears to be empty so he sets up a makeshift camp for the night, munches on some crab meat and goes to sleep.
The next morning Landecker awakes to find an unexpected development... The humans have come back and built a crude barricade across the cave entrance with boulders and timbers. He tries to muscle his way out, but the barricade is too strong for him to move. That, and the pair of spear armed humans outside the cave who poke at him when he gets too close, dissuade him from trying any harder.
Now, as the player in this game I have to ponder a bit. Remember, all these events are generated from Mythic questions and random events. So, I'm wondering, why are the humans doing this. Humanoids in Apes Victorious are described as generally non-aggressive. They would have no motive for capturing Landecker.
So I ask Mythic, "Are the humanoids being controlled by an outside force? "Yes"
Is it the Underdwellers? "Yes"
That explains alot. a few more Mythic answers reveal that the Underdwellers who live nearby are aware of the crash of Landeckers spacecraft and have used their psionic powers to get a local group of humanoids to locate and capture him. Landecker was right, it was a human hunting party... They were hunting for HIM!
Meanwhile, in the cave Landecker, searching for an alternate way out, finds what appears to be a natural fissure in the rock. He tries to muscle the fissure open, but fails. The Underdwellers solve that problem for him when the sun goes down, as they use telekinesis to open the fissure, allowing five of them to enter from the depths.
The Underdwellers start with the initiative and attack, using their illusion powers to make Landecker think he's being choked. Landekcker's no fool though, and he's able to shake off some of the psionic attacks by realising that the illusion isn't real. He gets in a few punches, but still, it's 5 to 1. The illusion of choking is just too great, and after a short struggle he falls into unconsciousness.
So, that ends this chapter. It certainly was an unusual turn of events to have our hero meet the Underworlders first, instead of Apes, but such is the magic of Mythic... Anything can happen.
Will Landecker escape his captors? What do they want with him? Are they friendly, seeking his help or enemies that want him dead? Stay tuned, for the next exciting episode of... Ape World!
