A quick look around the colony in the morning reveals nothing new, most of your tracks from yesterday have been obscured by the light rain and you don't see any new ones in the soft earth.
Not finding anything new on a Once over Kragg looks to Kaldan for guidance. Do you want to take the lead and I will follow behind you. Should anything attack us on the way I can provide you with healing or aid as needed.
Lara yawns and stretches as the others around her wake up. Standing, she makes ready to head out. Making sure she still has possession of the wound-down clockwork sky, she shoulders her backpack and takes her bow in hand. "We should meet up with the ship," she suggests. "I'm sure they'll want to hear what we've discovered."
The sleep helped Trieste immensely. She hadn't realized how tired she was. The anxiety of whether or not they would even wake up took more of a toll than she expected. Her little friend, Jobert, seems to have had none of the same worries.
"I believe we should stick with the initial plan. We need to meet with the others, and discuss our findings. Perhaps one of them will have insight on something we missed."
Kaldan nods agreeably to Kragg. "Sounds good to me. Maybe have Lara at the back to keep an eye out?"
He checks his gear is all ready and stored properly, waiting for the others to sort out their order before setting off in the lead.
Thame nods agreeably at the suggestion to meet up with the others. Safety in numbers and all that. "Yes, I'm sure they'll be curious to hear of these strange developments."
Lara nods and takes up a position near the rear of their column as the party heads out.
The morning looks to be warm and humid, possible light rain over the course of the day.
Most of the plant life on the island consists of evergreens. Pines and live oaks make up the majority of trees in the inland forests, with palm trees appearing near the coast. Small evergreen shrubs cover the ground along with short palmettos. The plentiful number of pines and live oaks was crucial to the selection of this island as a colony, as palm wood can be used for constructing log cabins, but otherwise is not ideal for building. The pines and moss-covered oaks share space with magnolias and pecan trees, and mango and papaya trees provide fruit to many of the island’s inhabitants.
Despite the wilderness, the trip is not particularly arduous, as it skirts the coastline and the vegetation isn’t as dense as it becomes further inland. Saltmarshes keep you from directly following the coast and force them inland on their trip.
Here you find a stream of freshwater as you work your way up north to the landing site.
Suddenly the remains of a woman lurch up out of the mud and weeds of the river, her rotten sodden flesh peeling off of her frame. Dark pink tentacles wrap around her figure seeming to force the body as it jerks forward.
This appears to be an Incutilis. A strange sort of sea creature that appears to be little more than an over-sized cephalopod, an incutilis hides a significant intelligence behind its unassuming appearance. Though most incutilises live their entire lives amid the deepest trenches of the darkest seas, some venture to the border between water and land, revealing terrible control over land-dwelling flesh and an alien disregard for sentient life. Limited in their ability to cross this border and travel on land by their aquatic physiologies, these aberrations overcome this hurdle with a lethal solution, slaying land dwellers and commandeering their flesh to bear the incutilis on shore. To what ends these beings seek to explore the surface remains a mystery—perhaps they do so out of hunger, perhaps out of curiosity, or perhaps because they were sent.
A typical incutilis weighs approximately 25 pounds, 30 with its shell, and measures 4 feet from the tips of its longest tentacles to the top of its shell.
an incutilis can drive its lesser tendrils into any helpless Small or Medium creature occupying the same square and pump the victim full of poison and chemicals. The victim is killed instantly, and becomes a zombie-like creature under the incutilis’s control.
- The rotten limbs of the woman lurch at lunges at Trieste as it seems driven towards the living.
and the tentacles wrapped around it reach out to her as well!
Lara
Trieste -
Kaldan
Krag
Thame
Lara lets out a startled cry of alarm as a woman's corpse, previously unseen, lurches into view and flails at Trieste. Reacting quickly, she nocks an arrow and fires at the thing.
"Watch that thing's tentacles!" the archaeologist calls. "If it is what I think it is, if it manages to hold you down and stick a tentacle in you, it will poison you to death and then use you like a puppet."
Know dung
Kragg watches in horror as he sees Trieste attacked. As his mind reels from The sudden attack part of him realizes what just happened and what it was. Free her quickly! It is a incutilis. If she gets pinned it will put its tentacles in and kill her. Aim for the tentacles.
Kragg casts shield of faith on Trieste hoping the added defenses will keep it from staying attached to her.
Kaldan moves to put the thing between himself and Trieste.
Trieste screams at the horrible creature as it reaches out and grabs her. "First roaches, now, this... thing." She shivers as she manages to pull free of the tentacles.
Thame does his best to suppress a scream of horror at the arrival of the terrifying creature, breathing out a sigh of relief as Trieste manages to free herself from the foul thing. The wizard loads his crossbow, nervous as he touches at his empty neck, remembering the necklace is no more.
"Let her go!"
Creature-Hits and grabs Trieste
Lara -Warns what this thing can do to a helpless foe.
Trieste - Breaks free
Kaldan - Misses [occ]:([/ooc]
Krag - casts shield of faith on Trieste
Thame- Loads Crossbow
Creature-The arms of the zombie slams at Trieste. Who manages to evade them with the blessings. While the tentacles lash out behind it at Kaldan. It then lurches a little further downstream towards Kaldan.
Lara -
Trieste -
Kaldan -
Krag -
Thame -
Lara takes another shot at the creature, once again sending an arrow winging into the water as she tries not to hit her allies.
Kaldan will step to keep between the thing and Trieste. Then try to kill it again.
Now that he has effectively protected Trieste as best he can Kragg turns his attention to the creature itself. Divided between aiming at the tentacle thing or the undead body Kragg makes the decision to go after the inculitis. Moving slightly to get a flank Kragg jabs forward.
long spear jab for
Feeling better without that THING on her, Trieste whips out her blade and steps forward to attack the creature.
Thame fires his crossbow into the melee, apparently more interested in appearing useful than anything else. The wizard takes a quick step away from the disgusting creature, loading another bolt into the weapon.
Creature-The arms of the zombie slams at Trieste. Who manages to evade them with the blessings. While the tentacles lash out behind it at Kaldan. It then lurches a little further downstream towards Kaldan.
Lara - Miss
Trieste - Hits!
With her mighty blow, she cuts out the legs of the zombie leaving its body useless in the water.
Kaldan - Luck is not with him...
Krag - Hits! Stabbing at the tentacled thing that struggles to pull itself off of the literal dead weight ints now attached to.
Thame - Was that a squirrel?
Creature- Manages to extricate itself from the body and attempts to flee downstream!
Lara -
Trieste -
Kaldan -
Krag -
Thame -
"Oh no you don't!" Kaldan snarls. "You started this, we finish it!"
He tries his best to cut the thing in half.
AOO longspear jab for
"Ewww, it's even more disgusting outside the corpse!"
As his companions proceeded to make the creature rue the moment it decided to attack them, the wizard shrugged and pointed his crossbow at the ground. No sense wasting a bolt on the thing, at this point. He'd keep his weapon loaded for the next horror they came upon, though.
Based on her clothing she appears to have been a colonist. Nearby you find an old weathered ax leaning against a nearby tree. From the rust and the plant growth, you can be reasonably certain that it's been outside for nearly 2 months.
Trieste pulls out a few plums and eats them. As she consumes them, some of the marks left by the creature fade away. "I'm not sure how many more disgusting critters I can handle." She shivers. "Why can't we have to deal with angry badgers or trout, something less terrifying? By the way, I've got one more of these special plums if anyone needs it."
Kragg cleans off the tip of the spear in the water to remove any trace of the creature. Trieste are you okay? No residual effects from the attack by the inculitis? Mind if I give you a quick check to make sure?
Heal check
After those plums you should be all good to go. Thank goodness...it could have been much worse. If you are ready shall we press on?
She thanks Kragg and nods. "Let's keep going."
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Thame nods at Kragg's suggestion to move on, then realizes that the priest was probably referring to Trieste, considering she had just been ambushed by that creature. Oh well, it was unanimous, then. The wizard takes off with the others, keeping his crossbow loaded now. How he had been moved to creep out from the libraries and scriveners' to travel to this exotic island he would always wonder. No sense fretting about it now...Thame was sure there'd be plenty of time for fretting later.
Kaldan take the lead again, after checking the Trieste was recovered. His eyes watching everything with caution now.
The island shoreline arcs to the northwest until it hooks sharply south like a bird’s beak to form a small cape. Anchored offshore is the Peregrine. Pulled up on the shore is a ship’s boat, evidence of a landing party.
Ramona, accompanied by a few sailors and colonial soldiers, waits near the second ship’s boat. When you arrive on the beach, Ramona rises to her feet quickly.
“You’re here, that’s a relief. We had some... unexpected problems. I’ll tell you about it, but first I’d like to hear your report on the colony. What did you discover?”
Thame sighs in relief as the landing party comes in sight, his nerves frayed. While a larger group was no assurance of safety, it surely didn't hurt things to have some extra bodies around.
The wizard straightens himself up as they approach, giving his version of events. "The whole colony was abandoned, m'lady. It looked like everyone left in a hurry, as most of their effects were still in place. We did find some evidence that a coup had been forming against Raylund. We found the remains of three colonists, one in the chapel, one in an ankheg mound, and one slain by an inculitus. There is also decent evidence that Raylund or someone else was using mind control on the poor residents here. We found the wizard's spellbook in Raylund's home, a poor find indeed. And there is evidence that a second party formed and is perhaps going to meet this very night."
The wizard looks to his companions inquiringly, wanting to make sure their report is as thorough as possible.
"Don't forget that the chapel is haunted by the spectre of the slain colonist--and that spirit says that Rayland was the one who betrayed him and murdered him," Lara chimes in.
Ramona is clearly alarmed at the news of Raymond's possible betrayal and the deaths of multiple colonists. Trying to redirect the conversation to what is salvageable she asks “Are the buildings mostly intact? Did they plant crops? Were you able to chase off any dangerous creatures? Are there tools and equipment still there?”
She pauses long enough between each of her inquiries to allow you all to answer.
Kaldan nods as Ramona asks her questions. "The buildings are in good shape actually. No signs of any damage. They planted crops, which are overgrown now, the crops drew the Ankhegs. Which we have dealt with, we also removed a Cockroach swarm and dealt with a Choker raiding a building for alcohol. It looks as if they all just put down what they were doing and walked off, so the tools and stores are all still there."
He finishes and looks over the others to see if they have anymore to add?
A thought occurring to him, the wizard adds, "Except the smithing implements...they are missing, and the smithy was used much more recently than the rest of the area."
Trieste nods along with the various tales of what was found. Really, she's just glad they were able to re-unite with the group without any more complications. "Don't forget about Lara's little clockwork friend there. Someone, potentially, is still spying on the site."
KRagg nods along as the others give their accounts of the exploration. As Kaldan finishes Kragg picks up where he leaves off. The smithy is intact along with the anvil and some other items but it will take some work to make it fully operational. Luckily I have some basic tools for weapon and armor making along in my gear on the boat. With those items we should be able to make do for others items the colony needs until a true set of craftsman tools can be made. that would be the first order of business for the smithy I would think. The cockroach swarm was in the storage shed and looked like it was intentionally left there. Some of the food stuffs were rotten but still salvageable with some magic aid.
Pausing briefly as if trying to figure out how best to proceed Kragg decides to just put it our there bluntly. As for the chapel...I would consider it off limits for the time being. The spirit of the deceased is still there and we have reached an agreement with it. We find out why Raymond killed him and the spirit will leave in peace. As long as it is not disturbed it will not bother anyone outside. Taking his sack off of him he retrieves the holy items and the 2 burned books from the chapel. I have not had the opportunity to try to restore the books with more powerful magics but I am hoping that a make whole spell will suffice.
Other than the shrine being off limits and some little work as the others have stated the colony looks ready to be repopulated and continue on. There is even some adequate defenses as a wall is mostly finished around the majority of the communal buildings. With a strong push I would think the walls could be completed in 2 weeks to provide a proper defense if needed.
How is everyone here? Are the others doing ok with knowing that something happened to the previous colonists?
Ramona decides that although the situation is not ideal, the best course is to have the colonists disembark at Talmandor’s Bounty. “That is, if the ship can actually get there,” she says glumly.
At that, Ramona changes the subject to a strange phenomenon affecting the Peregrine. She explains that after you were dropped off, the Peregrine sailed almost all the way to where it is anchored now, quickly and without incident. When the ship approached the cape, however, its momentum dropped to a snail’s pace, despite the fact that its sails were full of wind. The anchor
wasn’t lowered, they weren’t dragging the keel through a sandbar, and no giant monster was sighted with the ship in its clutches. At least one sailor swam underneath the ship but didn’t report anything unusual.
Ramona indicates that both the ship’s crew and the passengers are on edge. She believes that if whatever curse has befallen the ship were to be lifted, the nervous colonists might relax. She asks if you would check out the underside of the ship’s hull and find the cause of the mysterious problem.
"If your group agrees to act as “troubleshooters” for the colony, I'll you all a house to move into immediately. Furthermore, you will be excused from daily farming tasks and some of the more menial jobs for the colony."
Thame's face screws up in distaste as Ramona speaks of the misfortunes that are plaguing the Peregrine. The wizard had only thought their troubles, well, their worst troubles, were over. Instead fate had thrown another swing at the small group.
The wizard's eyes light up as Ramona goes over the rewards for the group should they take on the task of inspecting the ship's hull and figuring out what is going on. Thame hates the idea of encountering anything down under the ship, but the potential for not having to disturb his important work to farm of all things has the illusionist feeling positively agreeable.
"I would be willing to assist with this task. If we can wait until the morrow, I can prepare some spells that can ease our jobs underneath the vessel." This last he speaks to his companions, his eagerness clear. Thame has always been willing to sacrifice now for greater gains later...a habit he picked up from his less scrupulous parents.
The reward from Ramona sounded nice but at the same time seemed empty to him. I don't want to speak of the others but the offer of the house while grand is the least of my concerns. Given time I am sure that all of us will have proper lodging in suitable housing. Besides I would not want it to seem as if we are given favoritism among the rest of the colonists.
He sees Thame's eyes light up though at the mention of the house and getting out of farming. I am sure that all of us appreciate the offer of limiting farm work. Instead of removing us from the menial work how about we are reassigned to specific duties as befitting individual talents. That shows that we are not seen as favorites and that we are still committed to the colony and its successes. I myself could work at the forge, Thame would be an excellent scribe, Kaldan a hunter, etc.
Turning to Thame as he indicates his willingness to provide magical aid tomorrow. That sounds great unless the waters are calm enough to explore right now. If so then the Sooners the better to solve this mystery.
Kaldan shrugs, he came prepared to work, but has found working with this group to be both satisfying and profitable. :)
He is more concerned with the problem of the Peregrine, thinking over things that would slow a ship in such a way? "I don't want to stir up more trouble, but has anyone checked the holds? I can only think of magic being the cause of the ships slowing. Perhaps someone aboard is working against us?"
He does disagree with Kragg though. "Once we have found and ended whatever afflicted the colony assigning us our work would be proper. I think we will be too busy hunting the hidden enemy until then."
Trieste tries to wrack her brain about what would cause a ship to flounder like that. "There must be some entity working against the ship, physically or magically. We'd be happy to go down and take a look."
She nods at the others' ideas. "I have a few spells that can aid us as well. And Jobert is a naturally good swimmer." She pats the little gator on the head. "If the water's calm enough, he can scout it out. He's an excellent spy in the water."
"Of course you would be welcome to aid the colony in other ways, but it would be very easy on everyone if your team could be counted on if there are any more problems like that that come up in the future, and honestly you all seem rather suited to the task." She smiles and then sighs heavily.
"I can understand your desire to put off searching under the ship and such for a different selection of spells but the colonists and the crew are on edge. To be frank, there aren't enough supplies for all of us to return, and the crew is becoming very concerned with whats going on. I fear if we try and take too long they may just abandon us."
Ramona's voice gets even lower as she leans in, "Or worse, whatever is disabling the ship might make an appearance before we can set up defenses..."
Thame gives Kragg an irritated look but says nothing to contradict him...yet. The wizard already agreed to the terms as given. If the dwarf wanted to work hard, he was welcome to it. At any rate, they had a problem to deal with, and sooner rather than later it seemed.
Thame shrugged. "It does seem like a bit of a buzzkill...and we certainly can't afford desertion. Alright, let's go check it out." Thankfully the wizard's crossbow would probably work fairly well under water, and the wizard didn't have any heavy armor to weigh him down.
"Understood. Let's head out there and take a look."
Lara nods in agreement with the others. "I do wonder whether someone could be working against us from within the ship itself--the holds, for example, as Kaldan suggested," the Taldan says. "But checking the keel is probably the next step. The rest of it can wait."