"That's a good troubleshooter." Ebirah says while nodding in agreement.
"Great! I'll let you know when there is trouble to be shot."
After six long weeks, this morning the crew of the Peregrine sighted land to the west. A few hours later, the Peregrine sails into a natural bay with a sandy beach within rowing distance for the ship’s boats. As the crew begins to untie one of the smaller boats to lower it into the water, the sailors pass a spyglass among themselves and finally hand it back to the captain. Captain Jacob Markosi peers at the island for a moment
before grunting and handing the spyglass to Ramona Avandth. “You should see this,” he says quietly. Ramona accepts the spyglass and peers toward the shore. When she lowers the scope, she is clearly distressed but trying to hide her worry. She approaches and motions toward the far side of the deck, away from where most of the other colonists have congregated. She offers the spyglass to the group.
"Something is wrong. Nobody’s in sight. There’s no smoke from cook fires or the smithy. Some of the buildings look burned out.
Obviously this isn't the best way to start for the people's morale, so I'd like you to check out the colony and then rendezvous with us at this site." She indicates a nother beach on a rough sketch of the island.
"Should I scout ahead in the water first?"
"Just to be sure there's nothing lying in wait for the boat."
"That's probably a good idea."
At land sighting Ebirah had gathered all his things and brought them above deck.
Looking through the spyglass his mouth turns into a tense snarl. "I'll join you." he offers Bhookaaj while picking out his ranseur. "Are you armed?"
"We can go ahead and lower down a rowboat for us to take in. By the time we get it ready and moving you will likely be halfway to the island as long as nothing stops you and we can try to be close enough to you if you two need assistance."
"I suggest that you try to not be too overt when you carry your weapons down to the water. We don't want to panic any of the other passengers by making them think something is wrong when we don't really know anything yet."
Lorelei will gather up her own gear and see to getting the rowboat lowered down into the water for their expeditionary trip. She'll also try to load up some first aid supplies in case they find injured survivors of whatever happened.
"If they ask. We are fishing. For... tuna." Ebby flatly suggests.
When Ebirah and Bhookaj, the taste of salt water fills their mouths. The bay is quite calm, and the visiblity is good enough that on the sea floor they can see 4 disugusting creatures, which appear to be crosses between goblins, octopi, and sharks. Two gaze intently at the ship's boat, while the other two appear to be bickering. They each clutch spears, and are about 200 feet from the shore.
Looking over to a Bhookaaj, Ebirah draws a line across his neck, points at the assembled creatures, and then shrugs as if asking a question.
Bhookaaj gives Ebirah a thumbs up and nods
Elia had opted to perch in the boat's bow, looking for all the world like some foolish, colourful dilettante, far too enamoured of the island's mysteries to be properly wary of attackers... While being quite ready and willing to strike out in support of the swimmers with magic if a target presented itself.
You're about 50 ft. away.
Nodding back to the Rogue Ebirah surges forth at the closest creature with his Ranseur.
Ebirah runs the creature clean through. The remaining three look surprised, and then heft their spears menacingly.
Bhookaaj follows Ebirah's lead and charges the nearest (living) Grindilow
Bhookaj slays another one, and the two remaining grindylows each engage one of the attackers, but fail to connect with their weapons.
Ebby stabs back.
With the lack of any sign of life in the colony, Valdern can feel the anger rise up inside of him. He knows that it come from the other one, but he can't help but feel it also. As two members of the group dive in the water to swim ahead, Valdern tries to find a secluded spot, which is almost impossible on a crowded ship. The anger just gets too strong for him and he just grabs the closest railing, and start screaming. It's a long and powerful roar, like a mighty warrior charging into battle. For those that see this, they notice that the air around him hazy from some sort of disturbance. After a while, people can see that there is like the shape of a second dwarf standing in the same spot. The second dwarf figure looks like a formidable warrior made of white tangible energy. With a last roar, the second shape jumps into the water.
Not knowing what's going on below, Lorelei is still just heading the rowboat in the direction of the shoreline.
Ebirah and Bhookaj kill the remaining two grindylows.
As you begin to board the boat, Ramona hands everyone a vial of softly glowing liquid labeled "Basic Cure". "I hope you don't need these, but you can't be too careful."
"Thanks, Ramona. I'm sure this is something you can never have too much of.",
says Bhookaaj as he pockets the potion she gives him.
"Ebirah and I found four grindylows waiting to ambush the boat."
"They're dead now. They weren't expecting to be ambushed under water."
"Pathetic as individuals, but they are dangerous in large numbers"
"I wonder if a swarm of them came ashore before we got here?"
The ship's boat pulls into a small dock along a sandy beach. As you step out of the rowboat, the strangeness of being on solid ground for the first time in six weeks is swiftly overshadowed by the eerie quiet of the village. Looking around, you can see several basic, rudimentary buildings inside a simple, unfinished triangular palisade wall. Oustide are several tents, and other smaller buildings next to what look to be vegetable patches. A well worn path leads up to the colony, but strangely there are no tracks along the path. Several palm trees dot the landscape, growing out of cropped grass.
Lorelei steps out of the rowboat and then helps to push up past were the tide would drag it back out. Just because they could swim back to the boat if need be, doesn't me they want to lose the boat.
Scanning the beach for any sign of watercraft, Lorelei notices the canoe in the water and points over to it. "That's rather strange. Most people don't just sink their boats."
Lorelei will move over to the canoe, swimming if needed, in order to see if it was sunk on purpose in order to keep anyone from fleeing the settlement.
"Shall we thoroughly check out the beach area first and then head inland to the buildings?"
"It could be hiding something. Or someone."
"I'll have a quick look"
Bhookaaj enters the water again and to have a quick look at what's under the canoe, if anything.
Lorelei notices a large hole in the canoe. When Bhookaaj disturbs the canoe, a strange duo swims through the hole, clicking their pincers menacingly: a tiny wolf-headed man with crab claws for hands riding atop a strange hybrid between an eel and a lobster.
The lobster/eel snaps at Bhookaaj with its claws, but the nimble undine dodges the clumsy attacks. The rider appears to use some sort of magical ability and gestures at Bhookaaj, Lorelei, Valdern, and Gorglumch.
Bhookaaj shakes off a compulsion to fall asleep
Not wanting to get too close to the creature's pincers, he shoots at it with his underwater crossbow:
Ebirah happily thanked Ramona for the potion.
-----
Already on edge at the eerie silence and loneliness of the colony Ebby lunges at the hostile lobster eel the moment he can.
Kela stayed quiet for most of the meeting and trip, worrying about what dangers might await them. She had tried hard to avoid the life of violence she had been born into but it was starting to feel like she had failed. At least this violence would not be as senseless. She was determined to do everything she could for the people of this boat and the promise of a better life.
Kela watched as the strange creatures appear, cold trepidation running down her spine. She recognizes the strange wolf headed creature from her travels as particular brand of gremlin. How it got here she does not know, but she is determined to dispatch it quickly. She holds her hands in front of her and summons a ball of swirling water between them. The water builds and roils before she thrusts it forward towards the gremlin.
Lorelei throws an icicle at the mount.
"I wonder if this creature had anything to do with whatever happened here?"
Kela's water knocks the gremlin off the creature entirely, with a comical look of surprise on its face. It hits the water again and lies still, sinking.
When Lorelei's icicle pierces the mount, it begins to thrash and flail, lashing out with its claws in all directions, catching Ebirah twice, before it too sinks to the bottom.
"What were those … THINGS?"
Feeling the pain and burn spread through Ebby has to fight back his atavistic urges to thrash the corpse laying before him. "Alive." he answers Bhookaaj,
The swift application of violence had felled the pair before Elia had even had a chance to begin her own spellcasting. In all, it was reassuring to know she had such capable people at her side.
"Stragglers, scavengers or opportunists, perhaps," Elia suggested, making guesses about the creatures' roles in life, rather than their species. For all that they'd encountered trouble in the sea, the lack of tracks on the path suggested that whatever was responsible for the colony's apparent abandonment might have come inland, rather than beneath the waves.
Which wouldn't prevent scavengers from creeping forth from the sea to pick over the colony's remains, of course.
Seeing Ebirah take some hits from the lobster thing, she rushes over to help heal his wounds before anything else tries to jump out at them.
"Feeling any better now?"
"A little, thank you." he gratefully tells the Undine as his wounds close, no longer feeling the need to snarl. "Still feel a little... off though, it might have got me with something."
Happy that he didn't have to get into battle, Valdern looks at the corpse. "I'm not sure what the mount was, but the rider was a fuath gremlin. It's a weak creature, but it has a good defense against magic, cold and regular steel. A weapon made with cold iron are best to wound them. They can also induce magical sleep and manipulate water." He then walks over to his pale white companion. "If there is more of those around, you will need more protection." He concentrates for a moment and then touches the phantom. For a second, the shape of an armor appears and then fade out.
"Are these fuath scavengers, or are they aggressive?" Bhookaaj asks Valdren, as he looks to retrieve his crossbow bolt.
"Ugh, stupid lobster..." Ebirah grumbles lethargically.
"You are basically asking me if it was responsible for the missing people, or if it came here after." Valdern pauses for a moment, wondering about the same thing. "It's hard to say. By itself, that creature couldn't have made all the village disappeared. Though, a group of them would be a dangerous force, but I see no trace of a struggle anywhere." He starts walking toward the village. "Maybe we can find more information over there, like a clue of what happened."