Tygrah grins as she feels strong hands squeezing her bottom. "I appreciate your enthusiasm, husband, but perhaps now is not the time!" She swats at the spiders crawling over her, unfazed by their tiny bites.
Moving away from the arachnids, she grabs her acid flask and hurls it somewhere in the general vicinity of the spiders. Probably.
Bavick moves back and draws an acid flask.
Seeing very little that she can do to be of assistance, Pai moves back further and focuses on encouraging the others.
"His name is Lucas, he is a spider;
He wants to make you a wonderful meal!
If you see him, oh please squish him,
because the main course will be you."
Yolar grabs his forearm as he feels a burning sensation from the bite. He stabs at the spider, then backs away.
Bavick moves back, preparing a flask to throw while Rory readies his, but holds it waiting for the others to move.
Yolar stabs at the large spider but the creature easily avoids the clumsily wielded weapon.
Ashlion stomps away at the shifting swarm, spreading spider innards all over the parapet floor. His wife, on the other hand, moves back and lobs a flask of acid at the mess. Her aim is off, however, and the flask bounces back from Ashlion's shoulder to shatter at the ground almost at her feet, splashing acid over herself, Yolar and Rory.
Ignoring the perversity of fate, Pai begins an uplifting ditty.
The large spider moves a little closer and attempts to sink its fangs into Ashlion's leg, but fails.
The swarm, it seems, has had enough as the remaining spiders that Ashlion hasn't stomped into goo scatter over the edges of the parapet.
Pai keeps her song going as she readies and arrow and fires at the giant spider.
"His name is Lucas, he is a spider;
He thinks we are all pretty neat.
Quickly quickly, oh please squish him;
Before he makes us all his meat."
Irritated by the splashing acid that seems to be getting everywhere but in the spiders, Rory is relieved when the swarm dissipates. Putting away his unused flask of acid, he does a quick kata and “throws” his green shuriken at the large spider.
Irritated by her errant acid splash, Tygrah grabs her blades as she rushes up alongside her husband. She slashes the big spider with her scimitar!
The swarm having dissipated, Bavick stows his acid flask and draws his bow.
Yolar blasts the spider with another one of his icicles.
While Bavick switches out to a more precise weapon, Rory splatters the creature with one of his acidic 'shuriken'. Yolar misses with his projectiles of ice.
Despite the spider's agility, Ashlion's axe slices through the bulbous body. Tygrah adds her own contribution in the form of her scimatar, rendering the remains into twitching chunks - one of which is pinned to the wooden floor by one of Pai's arrows.
Looking through the room, there are scattered books all over the floor from the upended bookcase. The books here are primarily poetry and tales of adventure. Imported from Cheliax as entertainment for the militia members, they’re already moldering from the humidity and are of no particular value.
Pulling back the blanket on the bed reveals a desiccated body.
Pinned to the top of the body is a note written in crude common:
We no longer let humans ruin river! Leave Song'o lands, or we kill again! ~ Cahshil Tribe
After a few minutes of searching the room, you notice the sound of a voice calling out. It appears to be coming from the trapdoor with the bookcase tipped over on it.
"That ain't no Song'o spear point. Someone still tryin' ta frame 'em."
Undaunted by his last unpleasant surprise, Bavick starts trying to slide aside the bookcase and open the trapdoor.
"Ashlion, give me a hand with this? Everyone else cover us 'case there is anything to cover us from."
Rory keeps a watch, his green shuriken in hand in case there are further...issues.
With Ashlion's assistance, Bavick manages to move the fallen bookshelf. Opening the trapdoor reveals a storeroom. Boxes and barrels line the sides of this dark, wooden room. A ladder descends to the floor, fifteen feet below.
Standing in the shaft of light the open trapdoor provides is a single halfling holding a dagger in a shaking hand.
”Looks like this one could use a kind voice,” says Rory quietly to Pai. Aloud, he remarks to the halfling below, ”Fear not, the spiders are gone.”
The halfling doesn't give any indication that he understands Rory's reassurances.
Pai walks forward and looks reassuringly down the trap door.
Pai's sudden appearance in the trapdoor opening seems to startle the anxious halfling and he yells back in the same language.
And he continues to hold his small dagger in front of himself defensively.
Hearing that the halfling is still fearful even after his companions have tried to calm him, Yolar walks over to the trap door.
Bavick tries to assist Yolar's efforts.
The halfling isn't swayed by Yolar words either. Taking a closer look at him, it looks as if he's been down there for some time. Considering the state of the bodies you've found, you'd guess several days. He seems torn between trying to climb the ladder and fear at what you'll do.
Tygrah has no idea what any of her companions or the other halfling is saying. She idly digs a bit of lint out of her belly button and sniffs at it curiously.
”Good thought, Ashlion,” replies Rory. ”Who has the Haversack with all our supplies? Surely we can spare some food and water.”
Pai stamps down hard on Ashlion's instep. It is entirely ineffectual, but it gets his attention some what.
"He is scared and alone and has been here for days probably. Now is not the time to be threatening him...even in a round about silk over steel kind of way." She tries to wither Ashlion with a glare.
Removing her backpack she pulls out two sets of trail rations and a waterskin. Showing it to the halfling in the hole, she gingerly places the supplies at the edge, where he can reach up and grab them without putting himself in too much danger.
Just before Pai hands the trail rations down, Yolar takes a nibble of one of the rations and a sip from the waterskin.
The halfling shoves his dagger into his belt and slowly climbs the ladder, watching you all warily. Upon reaching the top, his hands immediately reach for the waterskin. He takes a long draw out of the bag before looking you all over again.
Avoiding looking at Ashlion and Tygrah, he focuses his attention on Pai and Bavick before speaking.
He relates the events that he knows.
He and six other hunters encountered a lizardfolk raiding party a little over a week ago and fled toward the coast, only to discover Fort Breakthrough. Setting aside their traditional isolationism, the Song’o asked the strangers for shelter from the lizardfolk. Sadly, none of the resident soldiers could understand the halflings, and their warnings went unheard until the raiding party attacked that night.
He concludes his story with a gesture towards the trapdoor.
He takes another long drink from the waterskin.
Looking at Pai after the translation, Rory asks, ”Can he tell us any more of the lizardmen—especially where they came from? I am concerned that, now they know the location of the Fort, they may be back with a larger force to occupy it...if they seek to expand their territory, as would seem likely given that they chased these hunters for a week...”
"Lizardmen!" Tygrah snarls angrily. "They had better not be lurking around here, or I will introduce them to the business end of my blades!"
After Rory's question is relayed to halfling, he shakes his head.
Looking at Pai after the translation, Rory asks, ”Can he tell us any more of the lizardmen—especially where they came from? I am concerned that, now they know the location of the Fort, they may be back with a larger force to occupy it...if they seek to expand their territory, as would seem likely given that they chased these hunters for a week...”
"Not quite - sounds like the lizards just 'chased' the Song'o for a day, but that happened a week ago. More likely, I think the Fort was the lizards' real goal, and the Song'o just was on the way. These lizards seem more clever than the usual. Wonder who is leading 'em."
He asks Muhdzuzi (translating both his question and the answers),
"Did the lizardfolk have a chief or shaman? Did they use magic? And I know you don't recognize their markings, but if you first saw them nearer Cahshil, maybe their base is near there. We can check in with the town and escort you home."
Bavick is not quite sure why he is so ready to go deep into the jungle after a lizardfolk raiding party, but it seems like the necessary thing to do.
”Sounds like a great idea, Bavick,” responds Rory about the plans to help the halfling once the questions are answered. ”After we check out the rest of the Fort for other survivors, evidence, and those weapons the smith had delivered here, of course.”
Muhdzuzi explains that lizardfolk raiding parties aren't common in this region and they were greatly outmatched so they didn't spend enough time studying them enough to pick out the leaders. They're not aware of any new lizardfolk camp near Cahshil. When you offer to escort him home, his demeanor lifts.
When Ashlion's question is relayed, the halfling looks grim as he explains that, yes, sometimes lizardfolk take prisoners. He doesn't elaborate.
Rory nods, glad that they have some answers about the assault. He moves back towards the north, saying, ”Perhaps we finish the corner towers and the rooms beneath them, then head down? Is anyone else injured?”
More quietly, to Pai, he says, ”Perhaps we should let the large ones lead this time, you think?”
Bavick looks at Ashlion, subtly rolls his eyes, and then whispers something to Muhdzuzi.
You move back through the north-eastern tower room where you concluded your altercation with Zooif and continue west.
Taking more time now, you look over the room above the north-western tower. A long wooden table covered in scattered paperwork fills much of this room. A decapitated human corpse is slumped across the mess. Doors exit the room to the south and east, while a ladder in the southwestern corner descends to the first floor of the fort.
Anyone examining the woman's body ...
The paperwork is all manner of mundane reports, describing local water sources, plants, animal migrations, and daily weather reports.
Tygrah scowls as she examines the body. "Spear killed her. The attacker was taller than her, thrust downward. I've got a bad feeling about this..."
Looking around, Rory concurs, "Yes, definitely a spear. It looks like they were caught unprepared...very sad. Anyone else see something useful?"
Bavick does not notice any hidden clues.
Once everyone has had a good chance to look, Rory looks southward and comments, "I guess that just leaves one tower to investigate."
He starts moving southwards, watching and listening as he goes, but he doesn't get too far ahead...
