"About the only way to get those answers would be to find our crazy captain or Ieana, both seem to be missing at the moment." pulls firmly on his beard a couple of times "I agree would really like to ask the good captain a good number of questions."
A murmur of agreement goes through all of the other castaways. The 'good captain' will have quite a bit of explaining to do should he ever be spotted again.
In the meantime, Shadak finds a likely campsite, a bit away from the cliff (wouldn't want anyone falling over), and slowly camp begins to take shape. It isn't a smooth process, and takes longer than one would like, but eventually it gets done.
Majest casually walks up to Ilarian. Soooo... when are you going to get one of those flying lizard things?" she asks rocking on the balls of her feet and heels. She continues, this time with a burst of excitement, Because I can help you get it! Or... or I can help Sasha take care of it! I think it would be reeeeeeally fun! And we can teach it tricks and play with it! In a fast pace, she goes on rambling about the flying lizard to the point of her sentences becoming completely incoherent.
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Ilarian blinks at the tiny gnome's sudden outburst, and smiles widely as her infectious excitement begins to affect him. "Majest. Ma-Majest!" He shouts a bit to get her to stop, and holds her out at arms length by her shoulders. "It won't be for a while, I'm sure. But when the time comes I will let you know, and you will defenitely be coming along to help, okay?" He then tousles her hair and leans back agains the tree he turned into his makeshift lounge, closing his eyes. "For now relax my little friend. We aren't going anywhere anytime soon."
Glares at majest as she brings up the lizard topic again then giving his beard a tug he turns away with a gruff "Baaaa" He wanders over to where Aerys has dropped her pack and offers a flask to her. Glancing up at her "Things could be worse i guess.... could be out of drink..... and Ilarian might have actually had a spell he wanted to try out on those lizards" takes a small swig himself before slipping the flask back into a hidden pocket.
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Ilarian opens one eye as he hears his name, grins abit more, and settles down again. He then sits up, and looks around for Sarai. Spotting her, he stands and walks toward her. "So, listen, if you aren't too terribly busy, I was kind of hoping you could show me a bit of swordplay. It looks terribly difficult, and I'm sure I would be loads more help if I knew a bit. Whadda ya say?
Aerys gives the dwarf a wry grin as she accepts the drink. "You don't think that the gnome and the girl could bring it to heel?" she asks softly, with more than a hint of sarcasim.
As Ilarian reasures Majest, Sasha makes her way opver to her. "Would you really help me to tame one?" she asks, in a tone of genuine surprise.
Meanwhile, Shadak thumps over to Carys, towering over the woman. "Going to scout around camp last time. Come?"
Sarai is sitting not far from Ilarian inspecting her scant gear. As he comes up she stands gracefully to her feet. "I don't know..." she teases, "Your magic was pretty effective against those scorpion things on the beach." She makes a show of wieging the request then gives him a smile, taking up one of her scimitars, and offering the other to Ilarian. "I guess it couldn't hurt to have you a bit more useful."
Moving to a place where they'll have a bit more space she falls into an easy stance. "I should tell you though that the style of fighting I've been trained in is not typical. But let's see what you have. Show me a fighting stance."
Majest answers Sasha, "Of course, we're friends! And it'll be tons of fun!" She does a little happy dance as if she cannot contain her excitement.
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Ilarian puts his right foot out ahead of his left and tries to hold the scimitar with both hands. He looks at himself, and laughs a bit. "This looks awful. You're all relaxed, and here I am, tense as hell!" He shakes his head, and tries it differently, standing like a fencer, his right arm holding the sword out, left up for balance, and his right leg out in front. "How's this?"
Carys looks up with one eye at the towering Shadak and then nods. She adjusts a dagger in her boot before standing up and nodding. "Of course." The sickle attached to her bag is now strapped to her back and a spear is hefted in her hand. "After you big guy," she offers with a smile.
"Nope" shakes his head as he watches the start of the weapons lesson "Actually between the two of them they could probably 'bring it'.... it's the 'to heel' portion that I highly doubt" turns away from the practice and starts to help put up some shelter. "I gotta admire anyone that will practice after the day we just had." then as he finishes stretching some canvas and with a big grin as he sits down under the shade "But also wonder about their sanity!"
Sasha can't help but get excited right along with Majest. "Well... Thank you. It has been a long time since someone wanted to help me for no deeper reason than that." She laughs lightly, "Of course, first we have to get one."
Aerys glances from the two women that remind her more of giggly school girls, to the couple sparring, and gives the dwarf a shrug. "Everyone deals with things in their own way. At least they aren't thinking about what might jump out of the jungle and kill them tonight. Or tomorrow."
Gelik watches the spar idly from where he has set himself up to sleep, shaking his head and frowning grumpily. It seems not everyone can manage to so divert themselves.
Sarai laughs lightly and walks over to help Ilarian find a better position. "Relaxing is definitely important. My uncle trained me to fight without armor, by anticipating the attack, watching your opponent and knowing where he was going. The best defense, after all, is to never be hit in the first place. But you cannot do that if your body is rigid. It has to flow... Like water."
She pulls his arm down slightly, shifts a foot, bends a knee... Her corrections gentle but decisive. [b]"Of course, you should really train with the weapon you intend to use. The scimitar is all about sliding movement. Using the curve of the blade. While a... Rapier, for instance, is more about thrust and riposte. But we can work on footwork. Footwork is key no matter what."
She takes up a position in front of him once again, her stance relaxed and a wide smile on her face. [b]"Now... Try to mimic my movements. And try to empty your mind as you do it. Until there is only you and the sword."
She then begins a series of slow sword katas, Her feet shifting gracefully through wide almost dace-like movements.
Shadak gives a toothy version of what must be a grin for the half-orc and heads out into the woods hefting his enormous club easily. It's uncanny how graceful the hulking brute can be, and soon his own and Carys' sounds are lost amongst those of the night. He makes a straight line out through the jungle for a time, then turns and begins a long circuit of the site, pausing occasionally to gaze intently around him with squinty red eyes.
Without word, Carys seems content with just following Shadak around the camp area, her own gaze taking in the jungle slowly.
The trip around the camp goes fairly quickly, or at least as quickly as one can expect for moving stealthily through jungle, and it isn't until they are about halfway done, just coming out of the camp's southern perimeter heading east, that either Shadak or Carys spots anything unusual.
It's Carys that spots it first, and even then she almost passes it by, thinking it just another shadow in the trees. But something about this shadow makes her pause, squinting in the moonlight to get a better look. She risks a few steps in it's direction, and a shift in angle brings the shape more clearly into the light.
A monkey, hanging in the lower branches of a tree. But not as any monkey should be, especially not at this time of night. Something about it just seems... very wrong.
Sarai giggles a bit, a very childish sound that makes her sound much younger than she is. "I thought that wizards were skilled at focusing the mind," she comments as she flows into a turn, her sword slowly cutting through the air in front of her.
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Ilarian scoffs playfully. "There are two things wrong with that statement. First, I am no wizard. A wizard pores over musty old tomes hoping to grasp at arcane secrets he could not begin to comprehend. I master magic through innate talent. It is the wizard's jealousy of the sorcerer that drives him to learn magic. And second, emptying and focusing are completely different!" He laughs, but then trips slightly, which steals the mirth from his face as he recovers, cursing.
Sarai gives a soft "Ahhh.. and pretends not to see Ilarian stumble. "You must forgive me. I do not have much experiance with the arcane. Perhaps, then, it would be best to start by focussing your mind. And we can work on emptying it later."
Aerys leans down to whisper something in Kabur's ear.
Sasha can't help but get excited right along with Majest. "Well... Thank you. It has been a long time since someone wanted to help me for no deeper reason than that." She laughs lightly, "Of course, first we have to get one."
"You're welcome. It's no problem at all," Majest happily states, "I think having a pet will liven things up around here!"
Just scowls at the exuberant gnome and then the surrounding jungle. "Yup" and takes another swig from his flask before offering it again to Aerys. Speaking softly in reply "The surroundings would seem to call for a bit more sober character all in all"
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Ilarian closes his eyes, calling to mind the words he uses to focus on his spells each morning to prepare them. His eyes open, and he recites them over and over softly to himself. This time when he moves through the katas, he does so with fewer mistakes.
Ilarian is reciting lines from the Asmodean Monograph in Infernal.
With a slight movement of her head, Carys attempts to draw Shadak's attention to the creature. Her hand grips the spear tighter and her stance readies in case there are more "hanging" around.
"Do you really think Ilarian can get one?" Sasha asks, looking askance at the man rather scepticly.
Aerys shrugs. "Give them their time to escape. If there's one thing that working on a ship has taught me, it's the wisdom of letting the crew relax and enjoy themselves when they can. There will be time enough for wetting your pants latter."
Sarai falters in her kata a bit as Ilarian starts muttering to himself, but she recovers quickly and flows right back into the rythum. Her eyes close as she moves gracefully through the repetitive movements, her body turning in slow precise circles.
Seeing Carys' signal, Shadak makes his way slowly over towards her. It doesn't take long to see the object and as he does he stops, his eyes narrowing. He makes a brief motion with one hand, indicating that he will cover Carys as she goes to check it out, then pulls a wickedly shaped throwing weapon from his belt, readying to throw it.
Rather than poking at the dead monkey and perhaps startling whatever may have done this, Carys tries to discover more details about the monkey. Is it strewn over a branch, was it tied to the tree or does it seem to have been drained where it was found? She also tries to look for where the blood might have been drained from. Hopefully these answers might shed more light on what type of predator they are dealing with.
Looking more carefully at the creature, Carys can see that it looks as though the blood was drained from it. there is a bite wound, but it doesn't appear as though the flesh was eaten. Rather, several large teeth were inserted, with little bleeding visible around the holes. By the way it is laying, it looks as though it were simply dropped there from higher up.
Sarai doesn't miss a beat as she practices. "They were a gift," she answers simply, not elaborating any further on her own. She ends the kata practice with a graceful pirouette, her blade held steady in Ilarian's direction for a moment before she slides it smoothly into its sheath.
Smiles from his resting place in the shade and applauds Sarai's smooth finish "Quite beautiful in a dangerous sort of way. But what do you do if you lose or can't get to your pretty sword?" pulls on his beard "Would be quite willing to go over some hand to hand moves with either one of you if you would like.... that is once it cools down just a bit more!"laughs darkly "Then you really have to be dis-armed to be without a weapon and ya generally don't care much at that point!" breaks into a full laugh then repeats under his breath "Disarmed" and chuckles again.
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Ilarian looks from the blade in his hand to the blade pointed at him, and then to the woman holding the blade, and smiles. He flips the blade so that he extends the hilt out to Sarai, while still holding enough to not get cut. "A gift like this is not given lightly. Nor is it usually given to someone at random. May I ask who gave them to you?" He passes his free hand over his fore head, magically wiping the sweat from his brow. Ilarian looks at Kabur and laughs. "Fighting without a weapon is my speciality, but instead of throwing punches, I throw bolts of arcane energy."
Carys retraces her steps and heads back to Shadak. She relays her observations quietly while keeping one eye on the sky. This island just keeps getting better and better.
Shadak listens to Carys, his mouth pulled into a frown that makes him look even uglier, if that were possible. "We should tell others. You go. I finish." He doesn't even wait before scooting back off into the shadows.
Sarai gives a mischevious smile to Ilarian as she takes the sword and slips it smoothly make into it's own sheath. "You may indeed. And perhaps some day I will even tell you." She turns to Kabur, the remnants of that smile still present. "Actually, I have been taught a bit of that, though I admit that I am still learning. I would welcome the chance to practice. Though... I'm not sure that it is ever going to get much cooler."
She seems about to say more when the jungle parts, and Carys returns to the camp.
Looks up from his resting place as Carys returns to camp and when Shadak doesn't follow her in he stands and heads over to meet her. "What happened to the big guy? Perhaps some good news?"
"Well.. that depends on what you consider good news. On one hand we did not find any dangerous creatures. On the other hand we found evidence of a flying creature that apparently drains the blood from its victims." Carys smiles weakly and goes to drink some water. She looks up to the sky. "Shadak is fine.. he is continuing to scout the area. He felt I should tell everyone just in case the creature is still close by."
Gelik jumos to his feet at this news. "Flying, blood sucking, monsters?! Great. As if the undead and the cannibals wheren't enough!"
Aerys glares at the gnome but says nothing, not able to argue really with the sentiment.
"You don't think one of those cute little guys did it do you?" Sasha asks. She seems to be able to see her chances of getting her pet shrinking.
Sarai blinks a few times. "Are we talking about a bat or something?" she asks hopefully. Bats aren't so bat. A bit freaky, but not so bad.
Laughs gruffly while peering up into the sky, "Those lizards looking less cuddly all the time don't ya think!" Then turns his eyes to the jungle canopy "Then again we have no proof that they are the culprits in this we could have entirely new friends to deal with. Defiantly need to be extra alert tonight and don't forget to watch up as well. Pulls at his beard "Until then any idea whats for supper, something interesting or just ship biscuits and jerky?"
Carys raises her hands as though to calm those around her. "We have yet to encounter any undead or cannibals.. so there is no need to worry about it. And we have no evidence that the creature will go after large groups and with someone keeping watch we should be able to ward it off. Worrying about things that may or may not be is a waste of energy." Biting her lip a bit she shrugs, "There is always the drained monkey.. if it hasn't gone bad yet. Anyone a decent chef?
Majest's face lights up as she gets an idea, "How about monkey jerky! I mean, it's already dried out anyway. Half our work is cut out for us. Mmmmm... that sounds delicious!" She rubs her tummy with both hands in a circular motion.
frowns at the gnome "Might want to think about that again. Ya never know what is left in the meat of an animal killed by an unknown predator. I think I will stick with Ilarian's initial assessment and choke down the jerky i am fairly certain isn't poisoned. sighs "If ya can find a nice cow.... or possibly a deer.... would love to have a steak! a nice thick juice steak! with fresh bread to dip in the juices..." sighs again and goes over to open a sack, takes out a strip of jerky and starts chewing and chewing and chewing.
Shadak lumbers into the makeshift camp and as everyone turns expectantly towards him he shrugs his massive shoulders and shakes his head. Aparently he's found nothing. He does pull out three snakes, quite dead, and tosses them on the ground in front of the fire. Dropping his bulk to the ground with a thump, he proceeds to skin them.
Dinner!
The night goes about as well as the previous did. Only with even more odd sounds and far more rustling just out of sight of the watchers. In fact, the lack of any attack or threat is even more nerve wracking than the alternative. The imagination conjures all kinds of things when left to its own devices.
Eventually, the sun dawns, with some having managed more sleep than others, but no one as rested as they would like. Still, there is a camp to pack up and a lot more walking to do if there is to be any hope of getting off this island.