"It'll be something to do, at the very least." Makoa says as he roasts a piece of fruit over the fire.
"That does sound entertaining.
You finish dinner and evening settles in. It's the first night in some time that you haven't had a reading from Aerys's poem.
Douena drifts off to sleep happily, after an evening free, at long last, of Gelik's voice. The prospect of listening to him drone on again the following day, however, prevents her sleep from being entirely blissful.
You are awakened this morning by a cry of warning from Aakif. You open your eyes just in time to see a large, winged lizard fly low over the hilltop. It opens its mouth and roars angrily, then flies off. By the time any of you have a chance to stand up, it's already vanishing into the distance.
"Well, it's time to get up anyway," Aakif says with a shrug.
The first hints of sunlight are appearing to the east, shining between the breaks in the clouds.
As you gather for breakfast, Aycenia says, "That is the closest the winged chupacabra has ever come to my grove. I get the impression it doesn't like you much and wishes to frighten you off. However, it clearly fears you, too."
"Is that the thing you saw at the old camp, Makoa? Is that what you heard, Lorenz?" Douena asks excitedly, hopping up to watch it fly away. "Is that the thing that left the monkey for breakfast?"
"That is the closest the winged chupacabra has ever come to my grove. I get the impression it doesn't like you much and wishes to frighten you off. However, it clearly fears you, too."
"Why wouldn't it like us?" Douena pouts, a little hurt. "I think we're very likeable. And we haven't done anything to it."
Makoa watches the creature until well after it vanishes from sight.
"We're killing the people worshiping it, Douena. It doesn't like us because it knows if we kill all the natives it will either have to hunt for itself again or already be dead because we had to kill it too."
Lorenz stands and stretches. "Cayden's breath, I hope that's the same thing I heard. I'd hate for there to be more than one big flying creature that wants to kill us."
"Maybe it doesn't like us because there are so many of us. It's a lot harder to attack a large group than a small one."
"Of course it doesn't like us, Douena," Gelik says. With a quick wave of his hands, he smooths out the wrinkles in his clothes. "That thing has been nothing but threatening towards us since we arrived. Dropping dead animals on top of us is not its way of saying, 'Please be my friend.'" He turns to Lorenz. "I think you've got it right, my boy. We're a large group, and thus a threat to it."
Lorenz smiles at Gelik's support.
"Well hopefully that'll keep him from attacking for now. In the meantime, shall we take to your lessons, Gelik? I'm eager to learn what you have to teach."
"So we start our cannibal-ending quest today?" Mahjik looks eager and full of vigor, in spite of the slightly reddish hue to his skin.
"Are they all the same: the Red Mountain Devil, the chupacabra, and Big Flappy? I thought the Devil thing was bigger."
"So we start our cannibal-ending quest today?" Mahjik looks eager and full of vigor, in spite of the slightly reddish hue to his skin.
"The sooner we kill the cannibals, the sooner we can go dig for Ishirou's treasure without being attacked," Douena agrees.
"How is everyone feeling?" Douena asks brightly. "Are you all better now, Aerys, or still feeling poorly?"
"Almost perfect," Aerys replies. "Still a touch weak, but nothing to worry about. Don't let me hold up any plans to attack the cannibals."
"I thought I was going to do some teaching today," Gelik says with a frown. He looks quite disappointed.
"We can finalize our plans today and go to the cannibal village at first light." Offers Urza.
Lorenz looks crestfallen at the possibility of not training with Gelik as well.
"We should certainly give them one more day of sitting around waiting for us to attack. If they get tired of waiting, maybe they'll send out more scouts to look for us and there'll be fewer at the village when we get there."
"Lorenz's suggestion makes sense. Even if they don't send out scouts, if they know we can attack them at any time they will be tense, jumpy, and not very well rested. We, on the other hand, will be in near-perfect shape."
"But if a decision can't be agreed on, flip a coin." Makoa suggests from his spot under Aycenia's tree. "One side for the cannibals, the other for Gellik."
Lorenz smiles at Makoa's support but groans at the suggestion of a coin toss. "Desna hates me," he mutters.
Sasha pats Lorenz gently on the shoulder. "Don't worry. Like Makoa says, we'll only do the coin toss if we can't come to an agreement. So basically, if we can't come to an agreement, the attack the cannibals people win by default, which is a bit unfair, I suppose, but hey, that's life."
She turns to the rest of the group. "Personally, I don't mind waiting one more day, but I don't think we should wait longer than that. We don't want them to figure out where we are, and the longer we wait, the more chance they have of doing that."
"I am tired of waiting! Pezock declares. "Especially if I have to spend the time listening to more boring words from the one with the stupid hat!"
"Wise man would consider his possibilities. Gelik, do you feel suitably prepared to take on a class of all of us and lecture us for all of the day?"
"I am tired of waiting! Pezock declares. "Especially if I have to spend the time listening to more boring words from the one with the stupid hat!"
Douena smiles at Pezock. She knew she liked him for a reason. But she doesn't like it when the group is divided, either. "Oh, it's only one more day," she concedes. "Let Gelik talk. More."
Gelik adjusts his hat after Pezock's outburst. He turns to Mahjik. "I feel quite ready. We will use the same area that Jask used yesterday. All those who are interested may join me there after breakfast. I am sure you will find it very rewarding."
Lorenz eagerly eats his breakfast, excited about taking lessons from a Master Wordsmith.
"What are you going to do today?" Douena asks Pezock hopefully. "We could go hunting for fruit. Or we could go back to where the cannibals fish for oysters and cut the rope so they can't climb back up and throw things at them."
Pezock laughs. "That would be fun! Let's do it!" He draws his sabre and uses it to point to the northwest. "Onwards!"
"I'm not sure that would be a very good idea," Jask interjects. "It might attract undue attention."
"Bah!" Pezock responds and begins marching northwest.
Aerys moves to block his way. "I agree with Jask. We don't want to take any unnecessary risks. Besides, if you go off to do that, you might not get back in time for the real attack, and you wouldn't want to miss that, would you?"
Pezock sheaths his sword again and sits down on the ground. "Fine," he says. "Then I'm just going to sit here until we're ready. I'm not moving and I'm certainly not listening to Stupid Hat over there."
"That's fine," Gelik says, adjusting his hat. "I and my stupid hat will be over there. You don't need to listen to us." The gnome proceeds over to the area where Jask conducted his lessons yesterday and waits for whoever else is going to join him.
I'll spend time listening to the guy with the funny hat.
Makoa sits down to pass the time listening to Gelik talk about how he got his funny hat.
Lorenz is already at the spot when Gelik gets there, and is bouncing slightly in his seat. "I am ready to learn, teacher!"
Jask also joins the group with Gelik , and once everyone is ready, Gelik begins with a tale about his "stupid hat", a day when a gust of wind blew it away and it suffered all kinds of misfortune (falling in mud, getting stepped on, chewed on by a dog, getting caught in a tree, and so on) before finally, by pure chance, winding up back with Gelik again, at which point he repaired and cleaned it. He uses the story as an example of effective use of language. He then launches into a lecture on how to choose the right words for a given situation (choosing between synonyms, etc.). He colours the lecture with several additional funny stories.
After the break during the hot hours of the afternoon, he discusses methods of comedy, once again using numerous funny anecdotes as examples.
Alas, his comedy routines really seem to fall short today, much weaker than what he's generally capable of. By the end of the day, he's obviously frustrated and he slips off quietly to a secluded part of the grove.
"Well," Makoa says as Gelik storms off, "That was strangely entertaining."
Despite Gelik's difficulty with his jokes, Lorenz listens to the lesson with rapt attention, laughing at even the worst of the jokes and thoroughly enjoying himself. When Gelik walks away, his delight fades and he gets up to follow.
Approaching quietly, Lorenz says, "Thank you for the lesson, Gelik. I think this has been one of the best days I've had on the island thus far. When we finally get to Eleder I'll buy you a drink and maybe we can tell more stories in a nice clean tavern away from the distractions of this harsh climate and the brutal sun."
1d20-1
Douena is overjoyed when Pezock agrees to her thowing-things-at-cannibals plan and crestfallen when the others talk him out of it. Sulkily, she has no choice but to listen to Gelik's lecture, as there is nothing else going on on the hill today. She does enjoy envisioning Gelik chasing after his hat through the mud and dog teeth and such, though.
Approaching quietly, Lorenz says, "Thank you for the lesson, Gelik. I think this has been one of the best days I've had on the island thus far. When we finally get to Eleder I'll buy you a drink and maybe we can tell more stories in a nice clean tavern away from the distractions of this harsh climate and the brutal sun."
"Thank you for the vote of confidence, my boy," Gelik says. He takes off his hat and gazes at it forlornly, adjusting the tassel a little. "But there's no denying I was not at my best today. More things for Douena to mock me about. But don't worry. I'll get over it. And we'll definitely have that drink once we're finally off this island. Gods know, I'll need it."
Mahjik joins in, listening intently at the lecture. Nodding as he sees the examples split into concrete techniques and verbal tricks. In spite of Gelik's poor presentation in the end, Mahjik positively beams with hilarity as if there was something more to Gelik's words that wasn't immediately obvious - or because he's simple that way.
Mahjik follows up after Lorenz leaves Gelik, "Wise man knows that the difference between practice and reality are like night and day. I remember how you used your way with words to trip up our enemies when we were moving our main camp. Your lessons today showed me just how much forethought and effort goes into such performances. I very much appreciate you teaching us. Thank you."
With the gleeful release of a schoolchild at the end of the term, Douena rushes over to Pezock, curious to see if he was really able not to move all that time. "Throwing things at the cannibals would have been more fun," she intimates. "We should do that tomorrow. If we wait until after we kill them all at their village, we'll never get to do it." She thinks. "Of course, if we cut the rope, you might not be able to get back to your crab. Maybe we should just pull it up to the top of the cliff."
Pezock is still in the same spot at the end of the day. He actually seems to have managed to stay still. He jumps up now as Douena addresses him. "No!" he says. "There will be no time for dropping rocks. Tomorrow we kill the cannibals! No more delays! Tomorrow we shall bathe in blood!"
"Rest up everyone. Tomorrow's going to be a big day."
Tomorrow we shall bathe in blood!
"Good plan Urza - let's do this!" But to Jask Mahjik confides that he's a bit worried about the red swelling that has been creeping along his skin. Although he doesn't feel particularly weakened, he would still like Jask to have a look at it, and help if possible.
"I'd rather bathe in water. But if you want to look like a cardinal instead of a raven, go ahead." Makoa says as he lays down and watches the sky.
"I'd rather bathe in water. But if you want to look like a cardinal instead of a raven, go ahead." Makoa says as he lays down and watches the sky.
"Captain Zoventai had bright red plumage," Pezock says, "and she looked stunning! I would be honoured to be red!"
Lorenz turns a little pale from all the talk of bathing in blood and goes over to his bedroll to lie down for a while.
But to Jask Mahjik confides that he's a bit worried about the red swelling that has been creeping along his skin. Although he doesn't feel particularly weakened, he would still like Jask to have a look at it, and help if possible.
Jask is more than willing to provide what help he can, and comments that Mahjik seems to have proven particularly susceptible to ills of the island.
Douena pops awake in the morning with the announcement, "I had a dream.... I dreamed I had a Tiny bear I could carry around in my pocket. Do you think I could find a bear like that on this island, Aycenia?"
Douena pops awake in the morning with the announcement, "I had a dream.... I dreamed I had a Tiny bear I could carry around in my pocket. Do you think I could find a bear like that on this island, Aycenia?"
Aycenia looks at Douena with amusement and shakes her head. "I'm afraid not. There aren't any normal sized bears here, never mind tiny ones."
"Oh," Douena sighs, obviously disappointed. She's grown used to her dreams coming true since she's been on the Shiv. "I guess we'll just have to go fight the cannibals today, then."
"Yes, the cannibals!" Pezock proclaims loudly, waking those who are still not quite up yet. He draws his sword and waves it about dramatically. "Your dream is clearly predicting the future. The cannibals are like bears, preying on and eating the innocent and helpless. But your dream says that we will sweep them away beneath us as easily as one puts a toy bear in their pocket! We will destroy those bears before they feast on our flesh."
"I think you're being a little unfair to bears," Sasha interjects.
"Quiet, dimorphodon mother!" Pezock snaps, pointing his sword in Sasha's direction. "The cannibals will die! That is all that matters!"