Cartington up the Swanee

Double pronged attack

Why "up the Swannee"? Well, "up the Mto Mweusi", doesn't have the same ring to it imo and nor does it reflect what follows.
What follows then is a continuation of Cartington leading the expedition to follow the river previously discovered, having already lost three out of the six Askari accompanying the expedition.
Once more then:


From the Journal of Frederick Cartington, in Jimland:

Snake attack!

 "After our scout Henry's inability to find a way to follow a river and after the now usual sighting of some unknown primate, he once more failed to spot some very unfriendly natives lying in wait for us in the long grasses bordering the river."  
I ordered the bearers forward into safety whilst we made for cover as the cowardly spear-armed malcontents attacked our rear,  whilst their rifles enfiladed our advance to cover.
Their shooting proved only effective enough to disturb a viper that had also been minding its own business in the grass"

Get in cover, get the bearers to safety and shoot!

Native and viper kill each other - seems fair.

The shooting attracts an Ant - but what a size!

The expedition's shooting proves very effective

,,,bur their melee ability less so and Bertie bites the dust.

"The two remaining spear-armed Natives closed with our chaps in the forest meaning our Askari had to concentrate their fire on their riflemen, with great effect, dropping to of them."
I could tell the natives were about to flee, but even as we were about to claim victory a spear thrust dropped poor Bertie where he stood, putting a bit of an air of despondency on the whole affair."  
"Later we came across a deserted village from which we assumed they had come."
"We followed the river for the next several days, encountering some ambivalent Natives , whom we assumed were the source of the nocturnal drumming that once more caused panic in one of our Askari, who fled into the night.  Evidence was found of some interesting geological feature and some fossilised bones."

The Tribals get the drop on the Expedition.

"Four days after the last ambush, still following the river South we were once more surprised by yet more hostile Natives which Henry failed to spot"
They closed on us from the front and rear, and with little chance of getting our bearers to safety we formed a firing line and awaited their assault."

Forming the line, awaiting the assault, bearers trying to get out of the way

Five fighters against nine natives - not good odds.

Henry, (centre of the line) first to drop and the Hippo joins in!

"Henry our Scout,  in the centre of the line,  I think was the first to drop, though he did manage to take down one of the savages with him whilst at about the same time I could hear the sound of a hippo the Natives must have disturbed with their rush through the jungle."

Just what the expedition probably didn't need, but Cartington has dropped a native

"I turned to see a crocodile was also in attendance, attracted by the smell of blood no doubt after the vicious hand to hand fighting  was now reaching its climax. " 

A bearer becomes croc food, but is wounded

"Having dealt with the blaggard to my front I had yet another to deal with"
"With the ferocious attacking natives and the wildlife  to deal with the fighting was very intense"

Aloysious and an Askari drop, whilst the Hippo munches on a native

The last Askari dies, another bearer becomes a croc-snack, whilst the natives suffer too

Natives trying to flee, whilst the expeditons breaks off

Natives fighting to escape the wildlife, killing the croc in the process.

Last of the Natives able to flee in peace whilst Cartington looks on

"When it seemed like the natives had had enough, I had the chance to call  a reform and re-appraise our situation"









" We may have bested the enemy but we were now a pretty much spent force as an expedition, having lost all of our explorers, all three of the remaining Askari and three or four of our bearers".
"By my reckoning I could last months out here on just the remaining rations let alone considering my own Hunting skills.but I guess it's more "Realistically though I'm about a week's travel from Jim's Landing and should I not make it back, I trust whomsoever finds this journal entrust it to future expeditions."

The expedition after the fight.

The tribal ambush at the end of the episode was a brutal affair and without the intervention of the Hippo, I doubt any of the expedition would have survived,.
As the Native player, I tend to let their set-up be determined by dice, but their objectives are fairly obvious, - "Kill the Explorers first !" When there are multiple choices then it's either the closest or a die roll decides.

So will Frederick get back to Jimland or was all this in vain?  I will, of course be posting the finale of this expedition's outing into the wilds of Jimland next week.

In the meantime thank you for taking the time to visit and as always your comments are both welcomed and appreciated.