"Why don't you have a look first, and see if it's feasible to bring it up," Kari replied. "I'll keep watch from here for hostiles; I'll dive in and help out if necessary. Do you want to tie a rope to the dock first?"
"Sure."
Fenna thinks about the rope for a moment, undecided, then agrees. "Why not, can't hurt. Better safe than sorry I guess."
With the rope tied, Fenna dives in and swims down to the canoe. She looks it over end to end to check its condition before trying to shift it.
Kari stood on the dock, keeping an eye out for marauding sea life.
Fenna dives into the dock and makes a short swim out to the canoe. The excellent craftmanship that went into the small vessal is clear, even in its sunken state. It's immediately clear how the canoe ended up here; a large hole in the bottom (now facing upward toward the surface).
You find a hitch on the end closest to the beach where you could tie a rope.
(It's been about 3/28 rounds underwater)
Kari kept watch, monitoring Fenna's progress.
Fenna ties the rope canoe's hitch and...
swims back to the dock. After climbing up, she tells Kari they should be able to pull the canoe in.
surfaces. She calls out to Kari. "I've tied the rope to the canoe, but it's going to need to be guided from here. Can you and Hrolf pull it in, and I'll keep it from getting caught on stuff."
"OK, let me attach the rope to Hrolf's harness," Kari replied. She untied the rope from the dock, and secured it to the back of the wolf's saddle.
She made sure Fenna was in position, then said, "OK, Hrolf, Pull!" She grabbed hold of the rope and added her strength to his.
Hrolf strained against his harness and pulled the rope forwards.
The canoe sits underwater just beyond a short shelf where the sandy beach drops off into a reef. Fenna swims back down to the canoe, were the end opposite the hitch has been stuck. A little motion is all it takes to free the canoe.
With the end pulled free, the canoe is pulled up and toward the dock, a creature tumbles out from underneath the upturned vessel.
The creature spits a glob of thick water at Fenna.
Fenna bats the glob away.
The strange crab lashes out at Fenna.
Round 1
Fey
Fenna (1 nonlethal damage)(2/28 breath) <- UP NEXT
Kari & Hrolf <- UP NEXT
Fenna has no idea what to make of the thing, but it's sure acting hostile. She draws her blades and pokes back at it.
Kari saw a commotion in the water; it looked like Fenna was fighting something! "Hrolf, stay!", she ordered. She dived off the end of the dock and swam towards the action.
The strange crab lashes out at Fenna. Her rapier strikes it, but the blade doesn’t pierce as deeply as she expected.
Hrolf continues to Pull the canoe up as Kari dives into the water.
The fey creature swipes again at Fenna.
Round 2
Fey (1 damage)
Fenna (1 damage, 1 NL damage) (4/28 breath) <- UP NEXT
Kari (2/32 breath) <- UP NEXT
Kari swan towards Fenna and launched a bolt of water at the crab.
Fenna finds her blades' inability to pierce the creature very worrisome.
This is very worrisome.
She considers trying to swim away to shore, but figures it swims much faster than her. So, for lack of better ideas, she persists.
Fenna strikes out again at the sea creature. Her rapier swings wide, but the dagger strikes true. Despite the successful strike, the dagger does not damage the strange creature.
Kari easily recognizes the fey creature, and knows Fenna's steel is far less effective than cold iron. Underwater, this would be difficult to get across to Fenna. She blasts a wave of water at the fey, and it barely whizzes by.
The lobster strikes back at Fenna. The canoe continues to move slowly toward the shore.
Round 3
Fey (1 damage)
Fenna (1 NL damage, 2 damage) (6/28 breath) <- UP NEXT
Kari (4/32 breath) <- UP NEXT
Kari could tell that she needed to get closer to have much chance of hitting the strange crab. She swam up next to the crustacean, looking for an opening to strike.
Now Fenna is really starting to worry. She doesn't have much doubt she's currently on the losing side of this exchange, and there are all kinds of constraints that limit her options, like not being able to breathe, or run.
She sees Kari in the water and decides maybe they can cover each other in a retreat. At the very least Fenna figures she's too far out from the shore or dock.
Fenna takes another jab at the thing with her thornblade, and then swims toward the canoe. It occurs to her that it's still moving toward shore, and she could hold on to it while guarding herself. As she starts away from the creature, she stows her leafblade so she has a free hand.
Fenna swims away from the creature as Kari moves in; it swipes a claw at the half-elf.
Kari moves in next to the fey, and it swings its claws at the gnome instead.
Round 4
Fey (1 damage)
Fenna (1 NL damage, 2 damage) (8/28 breath) <- UP NEXT
Kari (1 NL damage) (6/32 breath) <- UP NEXT
Fenna motions to Kari, indicating the canoe, then a "come here" motion. Then she swims to the canoe and grabs hold of it with her free hand.
Just as Kari made it out to the crab, Fenna started swimming back to the canoe. She decided to see if she could take on the creature, before heading back.
Fenna makes it safely to the canoe and waves at Kari. The canoe still moves slightly, being tugged at by Hrolf up on the dock.
Kari wills her Kinetic Blade into being, and slams it into the fuath, severely crunching its exoskeleton.
The fey withdraws, and swims off into the distance.
Fenna swims back to the dock and climbs up onto it. While she waits for Kari, she lends Hrolf a hand pulling in the canoe.
Kari looked around on the sea floor near where the canoe had been, before swimming back to the dock.
"That crab was a fey creature called a fuath; I hit it and it swam off. Being fey, it's probably hard to damage without a cold iron weapon."
Sitting on the ocean floor, a small tackle box and fishing pole sit, the likely contents of the canoe before being converted into the fuath’s home.
Back on the dock, you see Hrolf tugs furiously at his end of the rope. With the canoe stuck in the posts holding the dock, the wolf has abandoned using his harness to pull, and resorted to a direct tug of war with the canoe itself. With some effort, the three of you lift the canoe to the surface, and pull it back up the beach.
The skiff from The Peregrine bobs out in the distance.
Kari looked out towards the skiff. "That's a long way to swim. I think we'd be better to have the Peregrine pick it up, when they come to land the colonists."
She had a close look at the hole in the canoe, to see what might have been the cause. She also tried to assess if it was feasible to make some sort of temporary patch.
Fenna rests for a couple of minutes, sucking on a tooth while she stares at their skiff.
"Yeah, I'm not up for swimming around with the thing again. I couldn't do anything to it at all. Hopefully it doesn't drift off. Ramona might be pissed off about that."
After she's caught her breath and gotten her hair to stop dripping, Fenna looks at the canoe with two questions in mind: What put a hole in it? Can it be fixed?
The hole in the bottom hull is evident. The canoe’s construction is recent, evidently built by one of the missing colonists.
Kari and Fenna can clearly tell that the hole that was created from inside the canoe, not the bottom, and was punctured by a tool or weapon. The canoe could easily be repaired.
Kari used her powers over water to quickly dry herself off. After examining the hole in the bottom of the canoe, Kari declared, "This was sabotage! Luckily, I think we can fix it. We might be able to retrieve the skiff after all! I'm going to get some tools from the tool house."
She walked up the the tool shed and collected some carpentry tools; then she scrounged around for a suitable piece of wood for the patch.
Once she had everything she needed, she set about making the repair.
[ooc]Did we find a paddle? If not, Kari will take the time to make one, using the +10 competence bonus from Natural Divination if it proves difficult.
"Okay." Fenna shrugs and lets Kari do her thing. While Kari's fetching tools and such, Fenna sits on the dock. She eats a snack and consider the possibilities for what happened to the colonists so far.
They could be dead, but how? No bodies, no signs of fighting, and there were quite a few of them here. It would take numbers or a lot of strength to overcome them. And who would clean up so neatly afterward? What would be the point?"
Gone to somewhere else on the island. More likely, but why did they not take any of the tools, food, personal items, and so forth? They would need or want those things. If they left in a great hurry for some reason, what could have made them do it? Back to the problem with the first idea. They shouldn't have been very worried about much, so what threat could convince them to flee instead of fight?"
Gone to another island. Less likely then the second possibility. All the problems with the second, plus a boat missing and one sabotaged. Lots of trips back and forth the move that many people.
She couldn't imagine a passing ship picking them up either. It would almost have to come across them accidentally. And even the largest and most well-provisioned of ships would be pressed to take on so many extra people way out here.
Fenna is flummoxed, and she's not liking it.
Kari and Hrolf walk up the hill to the Tool House. Everything is neatly organized as before and in just a few minutes, they have all the tools and materials they need to repair the canoe. The pair make their way down to the dock, where Fenna at first seems to be relaxing. As they draw closer, she appears deep in thought.
Fenna sits on the dock to consider the fate of the first wave of colonists. There were more of them than on The Peregrine, about 100. Liberty’s Herald was a bigger ship carrying more people and supplies. In fact the colonists aboard The Peregrine carried more goods and sundries, counting on the tools that the first wave of colonists left behind here. After recounting the facts over and over, Fenna is confident that the answer must lie in some yet unfound clue.
It’s about two hours of fetching supplies and working on the canoe before Kari completes the repairs. It could be a prettier job, certainly. But the vessel could now be considered seaworthy.
"That should do it," Kari said, checking over her work one last time. "Do you trust my workmanship enough to go out and retrieve the Peregrine's boat, Fen? I think you're better with boats than I am; maybe you should do the paddling! I can help out by making a weak current."
Yeah, we should retrieve it now before it gets lost for good. That seems to happen to boats here" Fenna wryly notes.
She puts the canoe back into the water, then steadies it for Kari.
"It might be better if Hrolf waits here."
Kari talked to her companion, "Hrolf, the canoe is a bit tippy. Wait here while we go and retrieve the other boat."
She climbed into the canoe carefully and took a seat. "OK, ready!"
Hrolf watched with interest as Kari worked to repair the canoe. When he learned he wouldn't be going for a ride in it, he sat down and bowed his head in disappointment. He waited and watched with envy as they paddled away from the shore.
As she paddles Fenna explains her plan. "Once we've caught the skiff, we'll move over to it for coming back and tie the canoe on to tow."
Kari nodded her head in agreement. "That sounds like a good idea. We'll be more stable in the skiff, in case something attacks us — which seems to happen a lot here!"
It's also the skiff is heavier, and has two oars compared to one paddle. But yeah, this locale is turning out to be irritatingly dangerous."
Kari scanned the water around the canoe, looking for dangerous sea life.
The canoe ride into the bay is a wonderful respite from the dangers of Ancorato Island. The morning sun rises higher in the sky and a cool breeze blows in with the tide. The waters of the bay are clear, and Kari does spot what might be more grindylow in the northern parts of the bay. Whatever creatures they may be, they do not get close enough to discern any detail.
Kari spots the skiff knocking against the rocks where the cliffs of the southmost section of the bay lets out into the sea current between the islands of ruined Azlant. In the distance, the other islands of the Shattered Continent can be seen. Fenna is focused however, and sidles up to the skiff expertly, without getting caught in the stronger current beyond the bay.
The skiff itself is still in good condition. You transfer over to the skiff and paddle your way back into the calm waters of the bay. You return to the shores of Talmador’s Bounty without incident, Hrolf's tail wags with furious excitement, but he obeys and waits for the two of you to make landfall. The skiff and canoe are both intact, and you still have an hour before midday.
Kari climbed out of the canoe and rushed to great Hrolf, praising him for waiting patiently. She turned to consult with Fenna.
"I guess we should pull the boats out of the water, and move them away from the shore. How far inland do you think we should haul them?"
As she rows back in, Fenna decides to take the opportunity away from the wolf to ask a question she's been wondering about. Kari talks to the Hrolf so Fenna's not sure what he does and does not understand, and she doesn't want to possibly be rude in case he understands everything.
"So, how did you wind up with a wolf as a best friend? I mean Hrolf seems very pleasant, but I spent time in Darkmoon Vale and a couple of other places near forests. Nobody wants to run a across a wolf where there are any."
+++++++++++
Once they've made it back to shore, Fenna pulls the boats up onto land, one on either side of the dock, and ties them as well.
"Hopefully being both out of the water and tied will be enough. The skiff is too heavy to move far. As long as their above the tide level, it should be alright. Hopefully the lobster thing is gone. I wouldn't be surprised if he's the one who cut the line. Hopefully so, or there's yet another something around here to worry about."
"Shall we check out those outlying houses?"
Rows of small cottages line the crossroads of two streets formed by months of regular foot traffic. The scene is silent and still. The houses are recently built, but there is no sign of life or activity. Many of these simple homes have no proper shutters, and in some cases even lack doors. Nearby, once-cut grass has begun to regrow undisturbed. Gardens and plots of farmland behind some houses have begun to grow wild as weeds threaten to choke out the vegetables and herbs.
Kari replied to Fenna's question about Hrolf, "Well, I was travelling along the coast of the Varisian Gulf, near the Fogspear Mountains. One day I saw him; he was magnificent. When I continued on my way, he followed me. I left from food for him, which he ate gladly, but when I tried to approach him, he retreated into the underbrush and vanished. This went on for several days, until he allowed me to come closer. I don't know how to described it — we just seemed to develop this bond. He's really intelligent, much smarter than a normal wolf. After a while, he allowed me to ride him, and we've been together ever since."
++++++++++++
After they had brought the canoe and the skiff to shore, and moved them out of the water, they left the boats and explored the more recent houses. Kari went from one house to the next, looking inside and making sure nothing dangerous was making a home there.
Over the next two hours, the three of you carefully breach each home. Each home is simple sparsely decorated and excruciatingly identical. Not a single home has any blood marks, signs of struggle, or anything more than a messy bed. Indeed, there is very, VERY little that makes one home stand out from the last. Each of them have the familiar layer of dust from the last three to four weeks.
As you reach the intersection of the dirt roads, you rediscover a trail from yesterday: the strange sucker-marks astride the rolling barrel. The tracks lead trail due south, east at the end of the street, and up the low rise to the Levin Farm, the last unchecked structure in the colony.
"I don't understand why they would want to make all the houses look the same," Kari declared. How boring!
She spotted the sucker-mark trail, and started following it. "Here's the strange trail of the thing that took the barrels," she said. She approached the farm, and scouted around the outside of the farmhouse.
Atop a sloping hill stands a solitary cottage built apart from the rest of the colony. A stone well has been built not far from the house’s front door. A large stone near the entrance is painted with the words “Levin Farm.” Just south of the cottage is a tilled vegetable patch that grows wild from neglect.
Checking the crops, Kari notices some of the plants have been recently trampled by some Small or Medium humanoid. Unfortunately, the tracks are not distinct enough to be specifically identified.
Through the doorway, the house appears similar enough to the other homes down the hill, but as you cross the threshold, you spot one of the floorboards before you step on it. The floorboard is warped and off the ground at an odd angle.
Kari caught Fenna's attention and pointed at the unusual floorboard. She moved in for a closer look, being careful not to touch the area just yet.
"Huh, neat." Fenna replies to Kari's story concerning Hrolf. "I guess I expected something.... weirder."
++++++++++++++
"Yeah the houses are kind of depressing. A single carpenter I'd guess."
"Well, something made off with a barrel. I guess we should try to find out what."
Fenna walks with Kari toward the house. "You know, you have to kind of respect the stuff creeping in the shrubberies at the edges of this place. It's like they all said 'Look! the fools did all this work and brought all this stuff and then up and left without it. Time to party!'"
"Levin. I'll have to look the name up in the colony records. I wonder who Levin is to rate a special house."