Mahjik nods his head to some unheard gong, his eyes closed as he accompanies Aerys as far as the gong's reverberation carries.
Farewell.
Lorenz accompanies the others to see Aerys off, tears glistening in his eyes as he thinks of all that she'll never be able to accomplish.
When it's his turn to speak, he noisily clears his throat and attempts to put his feelings into words.
"I don't know that Aerys thought much of me. I hid the bottle of brandy so she couldn't drink it and I was a little afraid of looking at her, much less talking to her. But even though she didn't say much, she had a lot to say. It hurts..." his voice fails him for a moment and he has to clear his throat again, struggling to talk over the lump that had formed there.
"I hate to think that she'll never write another word. That's a tra-- hmph! It's a tragedy for all of us. But I'll carry her cantos in my heart for the rest of my life and maybe somehow that'll let her live on a little longer."
Gelik steps forward and adjusts his hat. "In the last few weeks, I only got to know Aerys a little bit even though we spent a lot of time together at the various camps. At first, she was distant as she battled her personal demons, and then she was generally handling guard duty. However, what I did get to know of her was good, especially what I learned of her through her writing. It was a great honour to perform her Cantos. I will always treasure the opportunity. The work deserves wide recognition, and once I have regained favour with the Pathfinders, I will use my contacts with them to ensure that this work is spread far and wide. Farewell, Aerys." He steps back again and wipes tears from his eyes.
Lorenz goes over to Gelik and gently pats his shoulder. "Well said, my friend. Anyone else? This is sad, let's get back to what we were doing."
"May Pharasma judge you well," Jask says softly, and Sasha mutters, "Farewell."
After that, Aakif and Ishirou wade into the water and pull the raft in after them. They then push it out well into the current and let it go. The raft carrying Aerys proceeds out into the bay, rocking about on the waves. Aakif and Ishirou return to shore, and you all watch as the raft continues into the distance.
After a long moment, Douena turns and heads somberly back up the path. "Hope Urza's all right; I wish he'd come with us." She wanders up next to Sasha and squeezes her hand comfortingly. "It's just the two of us girls left," she says sadly. "Well, and Aycenia."
"Let's return to Aycenia; for now I'll be glad to turn my back on this place. We can detail our plans for tomorrow when the time comes."
"I think we should go back to the hill, too, at least for the night," Douena nods at Mahjik. "If anyone can tell us about that lightning thing on the mountain, it would be Aycenia; and if we're going to move camp to the village to work on the lighthouse -- or to Ishirou's hill to dig for treasure, for that matter -- it'll take us all day so we might as well start fresh in the morning."
Urza goes along with the others back to the grove.
Lorenz looks reluctant. "Really? If Ieana is down in the tunnels beneath the town I don't think it's a good idea to leave this place yet. We should at least be sure of what's going on in there before we leave here. Even with the contraption blocking the pit, there's no guarantee that someone in there wouldn't have some sort of magical type of thing to move it out of the way."
He looks at the others, knowing they're not likely to agree but unable to keep from arguing the point. "I'm just saying that it's not a good idea to leave an unknown behind us, particularly when whatever might be down there might mean us harm."
Jask frowns slightly. "If something does come out of there, I don't think we are in a condition to face it. I have some limited healing left for the day, but otherwise my abilities are exhausted. We would be far safer tonight in Aycenia's grove. If anything down there comes out while we are away, it will get away, true. But if we were there, I think it would just kill several of us and then get away."
Sasha puts a hand on Lorenz's shoulder. "We'll come back first thing in the morning, and if anything has escaped, we'll track it down then and kill it."
"And with Mr. Frowny over the hole, it ought to be obvious if it's been moved when we come back," Douena tells Lorenz cheerily. "We'll know if it's been disturbed." She gathers up the red pearls Urza collected from the cannibals before they head out.
After gathering up belongings from the village, you begin the trek back to Aycenia's grove. The journey to the cliff face is uneventful, but during the climb up the cliff (when roughly half the group is at the top), there is a rumbling of thunder from the east again. It is raining lightly at the moment, so the presence of thunder isn't too bizarre. However, this thunder continues unabated for a couple minutes, and the more it continues, the more you start to feel that it's not thunder at all, but simply the rumbling of something very large. It does sound like the rumbling that came before, during, and after the lightning display earlier in the day. However, this time, there is no sign of any lightning to accompany it.
You are not able to see anything that might be the source of the rumbling. Even those with the better vantage at the top of the cliff can't see anything that would explain it.
"Let's hurry," Douena says in a worried tone when they get to the top. "I want to see what Aycenia knows about that thunder."
"Wise man would measure both sides of the coin," Mahjik suggests, "Aycenia may know several things that are as important for our future as what is down the tunnel." He ponders for a bit, then searches around for some flour, sand, or other material that he can distribute around the blocked pit in a subtle thin pattern. "Hopefully, if somebody does come out of here, they'll leave some tracks. Hard to spot if you don't know what to look for - but we'll be looking for it."
The remainder of the journey to Aycenia's grove is uneventful. Aycenia is waiting for you when you arrive. She smiles as you approach. From out of one of the trees, Ardon swoops down with a squawk and practically collides with Sasha, who grabs hold of the little flappybite and hugs it. Soulwind whinnies from nearby.
"This has been an eventful and ominous day," Aycenia says. "I trust you are all well?"
"Not all of us," Douena replies reluctantly. "Aerys ... didn't come back. I thought maybe the land would have told you."
Aycenia lowers her head. "I am sorry to hear that. What I have been able to learn from the land today has been...confused at best. The land reported many deaths, but I hoped those were only the cannibals and that you would all come back whole. I am sorry for your loss and wish there were something I could do to lessen it. But greater troubles are afoot."
She turns and looks to the east. "No doubt you saw and heard the lightning display in the early afternoon. The land was tormented by what happened. A portal...or door...or something long closed was opened again. An entire portion of the sea was redirected for nearly six hours. What was uncovered in that time, I do not know. But something that has been buried on this island longer than I have been here was brought to the surface, albeit only for a short while. Perhaps I will be able to learn more from the land tomorrow. I do not know."
She turns back to look at the party. "I fear that while you were dealing with the evil of the cannibals, someone else was doing something far worse than anything the cannibals ever managed."
"Ieana," Douena surmises with a baleful look at the rest of the group. "Maybe we should have listened to Pezock and attacked the village sooner. We might have caught her there."
"Ha!" Pezock says triumphantly. "You should always listen to me! I know what I'm talking about! But that is no matter now. We shall march after this Ee-ay-ee-an-ee--whatever her name is, tomorrow! A whole tribe of cannibals could not defeat us. One person will be no match at all!"
"I think we should remain with our plan to find out what's in the hole at the lighthouse. Ieana and Captain Kovacs were there. Maybe what they wanted was down there. Also, we have to move our camp there as soon as possible so that we can begin to get the lighthouse working. That is the only way we will ever be able to leave this island."
Lorenz nods in agreement with Urza. "I don't know anything about magic but that storm and what Aycenia says happened with the water positively stinks of it. We need to know more before we go chasing off in the general direction of the storms."
Douena agrees. "Ieana didn't go straight to the mountain, and she easily could have; she went to the cannibal village. Whatever happened on the mountain started there. Besides, we can't just wander all over the mountain and hope we just happen to run across the place that lightning hit. Desna may like me, but that would take an awful lot of luck." She brightens up a little. "Maybe there's a map or something down in that hole, or some kind of directions. Maybe Ieana had to go see the cannibals so she could find out where to go to find ... whatever she found."
She turns back to Aycenia. "You said a door was opened ... and something came to the surface and then went back ... and part of the sea was redirected? What does that mean? Some kind of underwater cavern that got unflooded maybe? Or something off the shore? Maybe a dry path opened up to one of those islands we can't get to!" she guesses.
Aycenia shrugs. "I'm not sure. What I learnt from the land was jumbled and confusing. I am hoping that when I commune with the land again tomorrow, I will learn something more precise. Until then, we can only speculate."
"Wise man would reconsider the portents. Little one," Mahjik addresses Douena, "can you recall your dreams? Maybe they become clearer now with what Aycenia tells us."
Douena looks at Mahjik wonderingly. "I think we've solved most of them, haven't we?" But she plops down on the hillside and begins reminiscing. "First, I dreamed about the shipwreck and the spoons. That's the one that told us the Captain and Ieana were behind what happened to the Jenivere. And then ... oh!" She shudders as she remembers. "Then I had that dream about being on the Jenivere with water flooding in and a snake in the soup bowl biting my tongue. That wasn't nice at all. And then I dreamed about poor Alton -- not you, little Alton," she tells the flappybite, "but your namesake. How he was the one who rescued us off the boat and brought us to the island, only it was covered with snakes. That was a sad dream. Then ... oh, I had the dream about the thing with red eyes watching us. That was the night we found the dead monkey in the tree the next morning."
She stretches out her legs in front of her. "Then I dreamed about the mold growing over all of us. We stopped that, but the thing with the red-eyes was in that dream, too. And then I dreamed about the people from the Thrune's Fang, only I didn't know it was them then: the people who were shipwrecked and the woman who was healing them and then started eating them. And then," she concludes, "I had the dream about the cave with the bloodstained floor and the door that turned into a snake and swallowed me up. That's back under the lighthouse. And then I dreamed I found my Tiny bear."
"So what is there that we haven't dealt with yet? The cave and the thing with the red eyes and my bear ... and the snakes. Always the snakes."
Lorenz frowns as Douena brings up the creature in the night. "Didn't you tell us, Aycenia, that the beast we've seen comes from that side of the mountain? Where the weird noise and light came from?"
He looks worriedly in that direction. "I hope that Devil thing isn't what caused all that."
Aycenia shakes her head. "The winged chupacabra has never demonstrated such abilities before. I doubt very much that it could have caused what happened."
"Oh, it's just a big flappybite kind of thing," Douena says dismissively. "Yes," she croons to Alton, "he's just a big old flappy. Do you want to go see your big Uncle Flappy? Pezock," she turns to the tengu, "you've been here a long time. Has the chalupa-thing ever bothered you?"
"The Red Mountain Devil?" Pezock waves his hand dismissively. "It tried a couple of times early on, but I scared it away with my crab. It's just a dumb brute."
"See?" Douena turns to Lorenz. "If it could call down lightning from the sky and ... redirect the sea, or whatever Aycenia said, Pezock would be all fried and drowned by now." She shakes her head. "Big Flappy has been here a long time, and neither Pezock nor Aycenia has ever seen that lightning thing before. It's new. And what else is new here? The Jenivere: us, and Ieana. We know we didn't do it, so it must have been her." She sighs. "I wish we knew what she came here for, but I'm guessing she's found it now."
"Well," Lorenz says hurriedly, "I didn't really think that Devil critter was the one who caused the lightning. I'm more concerned about whatever causing it being in the same place as the Devil thing. That means we'll have to watch out for both of them when we head out that way."
He sighs tiredly. "Well, we'll see what we can find out in the nasty tunnel under the village and decide from that."
"Maybe," Douena thinks out loud, "Ieana needed to get on the cannibals' good side so they'd distract Big Flappy and let her get to wherever she had to get to on the mountain without getting attacked." She shakes her head. "You're right; we'll just have to see what we can find out under the cannibal village and hope we get some answers instead of just more questions." She sighs. "If it hadn't been for the lightning thing, I'd say we could just dig up Ishirou's treasure, then sit around and wait to get rescued. One thing just leads to another here, doesn't it?"
"Maybe so, maybe no," Mahjik tells Douena, "the pit in the village... we didn't see any signs of snakes, and the pit probably held prisoners to be eaten. I'm not convinced that this is what you're dream was on about." He looks over to Ishirou, "Maybe it's the treasure. Pirates surely trap their treasures that they bury on islands, right?"
"Maybe so, maybe no," Mahjik tells Douena, "the pit in the village... we didn't see any signs of snakes, and the pit probably held prisoners to be eaten. I'm not convinced that this is what you're dream was on about." He looks over to Ishirou, "Maybe it's the treasure. Pirates surely trap their treasures that they bury on islands, right?"
Ishirou shrugs. "It would still be a good idea to check the pit in the village."
"There's snakes," Douena tells Mahjik firmly. "Desna's been warning me about snakes ever since we got on this island. In my dream, there was a cave with a bloodstained floor, and it led to snakes."
Douena sits in Makoa's swing to spend her time with Desna, pumping her little legs and humming under her breath as she gazes up into the sky.
After asking Aycenia and Jask to look after his remaining wounds, Mahjik turns in for a relatively early night's sleep. His slumber's particularly peaceful; catching the errant threads of a myriad of pleasant dreams.
After asking Aycenia and Jask to look after his remaining wounds, Mahjik turns in for a relatively early night's sleep. His slumber's particularly peaceful; catching the errant threads of a myriad of pleasant dreams.
As evening settles in, Jask prepares a simple dinner from remaining snake meat, and then you all gradually head to bed. After the eventful day, sleep comes easily.
The morning arrives along with the usual buzzing of insects and chattering of monkeys. A light rain is falling. Aycenia emerges from the central tree of the grove once everyone is awake.
"I have spoken to the land early today as I feel it is a pressing matter to learn what has happened," she announces. "At the foot of the mountain, an area long buried was reopened using powerful magic. Six hours later, it closed again. The land will not yield its secrets to me of exactly what is buried there, but while it was open, someone did enter there. That person did not come back out, so must still be inside. I fear for what may happen and ask that you perform another task for me and the island. Find out what has happened and stop any evil that may be transpiring within. Alas, I do not know how the sea was moved or how to reopen the way in."
"The one who entered the cave could be Ieana - though that leaves the question of the captain. We do not know how long the... one who entered that place needs to finish their task there. I think this should be our highest priority for now? The alternative, I think, is spending the day exploring that village pit. Or split into two groups, I guess..."
"Here's my question: Why did Ieana even bring the captain with her?" Douena asks solemnly. "Makoa and Urza said he was a nice man before he met her and not the kind to wreck his own ship and kill his crew, so we have to assume she was manipulating him with magic somehow. So why did she bring him all the way to the cannibal village with her once she'd used him to get to the island? She obviously didn't care how many people she killed. She must have still needed him for something." She shifts uncomfortably. "Maybe she needed a ... a sacrifice of some kind to open up whatever she's opened. Aycenia said only one person went inside."
"Wise men would not seek to delve too deep. Maybe she was just human, wanted some company and a tool to fight predators, prepare camp, menial things."
"Then where is he now?" Douena asks quietly. "I hope you're right: I hope she just left him behind to watch outside wherever she went in -- not least because it will make it easier to find the place, if he's sitting there with a tent and a campfire. But things haven't turned out too well for any of the captains of the ships we've found out about so far." She thinks about the ghost captain and his Aeshemara, the red-bird Captain Eraka, the captain of the fungus ship, the captain of the Thrune's Fang....
Potions from Cannibals
Dot 1 Spellcraft
Dot 2 Lesser Restoration
Line 1 Spellcraft
Line 2 Spellcraft
Line 3 Spellcraft
Line 4 Spellcraft
Line 5 Spellcraft
Line 6 Spellcraft
Sword Spellcraft
Wand Spellcraft
Urza awakens and begins working on figuring out the magical items acquired yesterday while listening to the conversation. "It would be my bet that he was left at the village in one form or another."
"Returning to the village is our best option," Jask says as he assists Urza with the potions. "It seems clear the Ieana needed to go to the cannibal village for some reason or other. Hopefully we can find that answer to that with a thorough search of the village and the pit. Hopefully, it will also give us a clue about what happened at the mountain."
He pauses a moment in thought. "We need to move the camp supplies there anyway. However, we either need to get them down the cliff or go further upriver to avoid the cliff. Both options will delay us. I suggest some of us--the usual camp team--concentrate on moving the supplies today while the rest of you go ahead to the village to check out the pit."
"Jask is right," Lorenz says with a nod. "We know that Ieana was at the village and if she's now at the place where the waters were moved then there must be something of significance at the village or she wouldn't have wasted her time there. We need to try and find what she was looking for, or we're just going to be wandering around that side of the island hoping the Red Devil creature doesn't get us."