Kelly steps back from the hag, trying to purchase some distance. Finding himself a step behind Frytz, he uses his height advantage and hurls one of his bombs toward the two assaulting his friends. So as to not hurt his own however, he aims behind the foul creatures, hoping to catch them in the blast.
Kelly draws and lobs one of his concoctions, which explodes with a fiery blast, just in front of Cieran and Frytz. The flames dance all over the ratty clothing of the undead women. They shriek as the fire consumes them and they crumple.
Holgur takes a shot at the one remaining, smacking her a pretty solid blow, the first she has recieved. Not long after, Frytz steps over and levels a decent blow at the whore. Belor and Cieran stand paralyzed by the bites of the whores.
She responds in kind, not an inkling of concern over the final death of the other two. She bites again at Holgur while clawing at Frytz. She has no luck in htting either of them.
Round 4:
Kelly - Hit and kill 1 and 2 with bomb splash damage
Ciera - Paralyzed
Holgur - Hits enemy 3
Frytz - Hits enemy 3
Belor - Paralyzed
Enemy 3 - 12 damage missed Holgur and Frytz
The smoke from Kelly's bomb and the smell of burned rotting flesh set Holgur to a fit of rasping coughs. Still, he circles the enemy in search of an advantageous angle of attack. He fails to notice the still forms of Ciera and Belor as he launches himself at the ghoul once again.
Attack
Damage
move: 5ft step to C3
Keek!
Between Holgur and Frytz, the third whore gets pummeled down in no time. She crumples, and in only about half a minute Belor and Cieran will be free.
"That was less than impressive, is everyone alright? Still in one piece, no major leaks that need plugged?" Kelly stands, shaken, but not injured by the monstrosities. He takes to examining his comrades, taking stock of any new injuries.
"Nah, I'm not in one piece. That skanky grave-stuffer took a piece out of me" Holgur replies to Kelly as he holds up his bleeding arm. "Can you do something about this? It burns like pissin' with the clap."
After mixing his metaphors, Holgur gestures towards the tent with a questioning expression on his face.
Frytz watches Kelly work with great interest.
"I have seen better days but I should be alright for the time being."
Frytz motions to Belor's wounds.
Heir Belor, if you like, I couldt take a look at zhat for you.
"Looks nasty but not life threatening, let me clean that up." Kelly pulls out some disinfectants and begins to clean the wound.
"Tis the best I can do in a few minutes, the bite is deep, I hope it's enough, keep an eye on it lest it gets infected. Anyone else need a wound cleaned?" Kelly looks to the festered wound on Cieran with a cocked eyebrow.
"I would not be opposed to it by any means. I just have this bite on my shoulder" Belor says pointing to his right side.
Please kneel down zo I can get a better look, yeah.
Frytz carefully prods the Belor's shoulder, to see examine the extent of the damage. Cupping is hands over the wound and whispering to himself, Frytz begins to concentrate.
Zhere! Gut as new, ya? In da future, I vould schtay avay from hags such as dem. Have a longer life, I should think.
After seeing to Belor, Frytz searches the tent attached to the tree.
Talking to himself...
I vonder vhat useful things zhey might hafve in zhere?
...As I thought. Nothink but junk.
Kelly, pulls a small oily skin from a pouch and hands it to Belor, "Rub this oil over the healing skin, it should help. Also, remind me later, I'll brew up some tea to help fight off any infection." As he dispenses his medical advise he tries to crane his neck and see what it is that their new companion is up to over at the tree.
"What else is around here? There must be something that they had when they were still alive."
Holgur looks around the tent for anything of interest, including fresh tracks.
Perception
Survival for tracking
Inside the tent are more rotting human remains, a huge pile of filthy clothes, and a vast bed of moldering cushions at the base of the tree. Clouds of flies dance above the decay.
Among the piles of revealing clothing inside the tent are a leather hip flask depicting a crocodile filled with liquid, three very sharp daggers, one of which is masterwork in quality. There is also a chest containing six flasks of alchemist’s fire, two barrels of very
cheap perfume, a wedding dress inlaid with pearls and set with three tiny rubies, a whalebone corset set with mother-of-pearl inlays, a dozen silver hatpins set with tiny obsidians, and scattered gems of varying quality and cut.
What Holgur doesn't find are any tracks beyond those of the three undead. It appears that they would come and go quite frequently, at least daily. They follow the old worn trail that passes by the tree, in both directions, as well as disregarding it completely to walk into the surrounding jungle.
"It looks like swag from a rich wedding party. Or maybe these dead broads were the bridesmaids who were washed ashore here. If so, maybe there is more of the same elsewhere on this island. The tracks are of the three of them corpse-bridesmaids. Let's see where they lead to on the path."
Kelly nods at the suggestion, "Unless we find another course of action, it seems this might be our only lead to find our friends. Anyone else have any other thoughts?"
Do you think it's vorth searchink da pile of clothes to see if perhaps zhere are items belongink to your friends?
"I suppose diligence is due, all the haste in the world is for naught unless it has a place to focus." At that Kelly begins to dig through the pile of possessions searching for anything that might provide a clue, he also turns an appraising eye on the goods.
After Frytz is finished Belor nods and thanks him. "I reckon we should press on and see what we come up with" He then turns toward Kelly "Do you need any assitance over there Kelly?"
Digging through the stuff turns up nothing recognizable as belonging to the two missing sailors.
"I say we pocket what is small enough to go unnoticed. The rest we leave until we return, when we bring it back to the ship, I find it likely that neither Scourge nor Plugg will let us keep the fruits of our find." With that said, Kelly snatches and grabs up the flask, the hat pins, and the gems. He leaves the coins for others to divvy up and the larger items for other to decide if they are worth hauling about during their search.
"Is any of that stuff in the bottles useful against Plugg and Scourge?"
After Kelly replies, Holgur says "Let's get back to looking for the water and the two missing crew."
Kelly unscrews the cap from the hip flask and inhales a whiff of the liquid inside, seeing if the scent provides any clue as to its origins. Then securing the cap and returning the flask to its holder, he ponders the scent of the liquid and tries to identify it.
As Kelly sloshes the contents around in the flask, he is able to recognize some of the ingredients and how they interact with one another. It has healing potential almost double what his own concoctions can produce.
As the group moves away from the makeshift boudoir, the trail wanders down through the jungle for about a half a mile as it begins to open up. The trees start to thin out and the sand beneath your feet becomes more prevalent. After a mile to a mile and a half of walking you come to towering palm trees stretching along a white sand beach for a mile or so, each around fifty feet high and crowned with a wide canopy of palms brimming with coconuts. A little further down the beach the trail splits, as one branch curves to the west to climb the heights of the lone ridge. The other looks as if it leads to an old farmstead of all places.
"The ridge would give us a better vantage for scouting the area but I bet they went to the farmhouse for shelter. That is assuming they were alive and making the decision on their own. I say we look at the farmhouse first. But be aware that, if we step onto the beach, anyone or anything on the ridge will see us clearly."
Holgur examines the ground for any tracks that have been recently left.
survival
Perhaps, vone of us shouldt take da crows nest on da ridge vhile da rest of us check out da haus, ya. Vee couldt vork out a varningk system so zhat our lookout can varn us, should da needt arise.
"We would be too far apart to do anything if we split up."
A quick examination of the beach reveals nothing, the soft sand and the very recent storm could have easily erased any minor traces that may or may not have been present beforehand.
"Regardless of whom was leading whom, I see no reason for our friends to have remained on the peak, if they were held captive, their captors would have taken them to some structure. If they were free to make their own decision, they would have sought shelter, either way, I find the farmstead to be a more likey place for them to be currently. As we have a time limit I say we check the farmstead in hope of putting an early end to our search, if we do not find them, we can instead check the peak of any other areas we may find in the intervening time."
What looked like a farmstead from afar, actually is a large and overgrown field of crops. The crops have gone wild, creating a high barrier wafting gently in the breeze. This provides the illusion of there being a farm, but there are no buildings present. The cornfield has grown up to eight feet in places, in several spots, makeshift scarecrows topped with human heads litter the fields. The heads are impaled on crude staves ranging from six to nine feet in height.
Effin' lovely, we found the local headhunters.
Holgur holds out his hand behind him in a "stop" gesture and then sweeps his arm in an arc suggesting that they circle the wall of corn rather than enter directly into it. Quickly, he turns to check for assent or understanding from the others.
Fryts nods his assent and begins to move to the left of the group.
The field is immense and overgrown not only in height. The face of it is easily a couple thousand feet wide, and will actually take quite some time to encircle.
The field looks like it had actually been planted in rows, but from a lack of tending the stalks have grown over. Looking along one side, it can be seen that the length of the cornfield is even more than the width, and if the thing is the same on the other sides then there is about one-hundred fifty acres of corn.
"Well, looks like in, or around. Around seems safer, but will take longer. In limits our sight, but also limits our visibility"
A low grumble of profanity leaks out of Holgur's mouth while the group considers the palisade of corn stalks. "Hate when it comes to chance like this" he adds. [/b]"But it would take us too much time to go around, so I guess this spot is as good as any."[/b]
After a single step, he halts and turns to the others with a sudden look of concern. "Fire would be a bad idea if we were in there."
Zhere are a number of thingks ve can do. Ve can vait until dark for better stealth. Ve can go aroundt da fieldt. Or, ve can set fire to da fieldt undt schpringk any ambush zhat may be avaiting us. Either vay, schtandingk aroundt here buys us nothingk, ya.
The group's indecision besting his god given patience, Frytz starts to head down to the edge of the field, making as little sound as possible.
Silently, Holgur agrees with Frytz and follows along as quietly as his armor allows. He also wants to keep an eye on the newcomer just in case.
Stealth
As his armor creaks and catches on loose fibers from the cornstalks, the ranger wonders if he would not be better served by tossing it into the sea.
With a grunt of frustration, Holgur presses into the wall of corn.