" i am just a halfling" replied william still looking at the vegetation
"Wouf, Wouf !"
"Ha yes Fred is a Wolf hound !" pating him fondly
Cole nods again in thanks to the halfling, but Portforged's last comment makes him pause in his work. "Not even when you were in training? You had no forge-brothers?"
"I did not, I was crafted alone."
Rehil crosses the streams of conversation to Wultram's branch. He frowns and pauses before he speaks, ".. Not much to say. You've seen me with a bow, but today was a bad day. I can use my sword or dagger, but I'll never be as fearsome as Cole. I'm quick and quiet and have sharp eyes. If you need a scout, I'm your man."
The Maiden continues surging up the middle of the river. The atmosphere gradually relaxes after the battle and the normal routine resumes. An hour later another lizardfolk village is passed, and again the boat is again coolly watched as it moves by.
"There's one of the lizardfolk holy places coming at the side of the river," calls Bokehn over the roar of the elemental. "We won't be stopping, since it'll violate our treaties, but it's still pretty impressive from a distance."
The Maiden turns another loop. Ahead the jungle seems to suddenly reach skyward. Then the shape of massive ruined buildings smothered with vines and sprouting trees and bushes can be made out, a huge series of broken towers, leaning empty shells with shattered tops that nevertheless still rear hundreds of feet into the air. There are several of them, covering a length on both banks perhaps half a mile long. With all the vegetation clinging to them and the effects of time a weather it is impossible to discern what they might have been originally - a city district, a temple complex, habitation or some other inscrutable ancient edifice.
Bokehn sighs and looks on wistfully. "No one has ever studied these, so we know virtually nothing about how old they are or who built them. The lizardfolk won't let us near."
The boat shoots between the ruins, the noise of the elemental engine echoing oddly off the walls. The towers cast long shadows on the river, making it suddenly chill, and the atmosphere on the boat becomes oddly oppressive as all chatter by the crew ceases. The same seems to happen to the jungle - there is no sign of the nomally teeming animal life, and the ancient buildings seem strangely lifeless and abandoned amidst the fecundity of the rainforest.
A few minutes later the ruins are left behind and the dark mood is lifted. "We'll won't hit the next camp until tomorrow. We'll haul up by the side of the river tonight," says Darien. He looks up at the cloud-filled sky. "Nightfall should be in about an hour."
The Maiden continues her course into the interior.
"Wouf, wouf, wouf !" goes Fred trying to bring william's attention to what he saw
Perception
Something catches Rehil's eye and he leans out over the gunwale to get a better look upstream. "Something in the river ahead! Looks like a body. "
"Huh?" Bokehn squints ahead as the boat approaches the floating corpse. Answering Wultram's question, he says, "Not that I'm aware but it's a big jungle and Tharashk don't own it."
Darien stops the elemental and the Maiden glides up next to the body. A crewman reaches over with a billhook to fetch the body of the of the water. The sodden corpse flops onto the deck. It is a gruesome sight, the eyes and face largely eaten away by river fish.
"looks like he has been dead for a bit"
"Any ideas what killed it?"
"My knowledge is insufficient to determine what sort of creature attacked this human."
Rehil looks at the body for signs of a violent death. He kneels beside it and begins going through any pockets or patches in the body's clotes and gear.
"Maybe we can find something to tell us who he is."
Heal, untrained:
Perception
There are two wounds on the back, small but deep - stab wounds of some kind, such as from a dagger or spear. Other than that the body doesn't seem overly damaged. It's probably been in the water a few days as there is no rigor mortis.
".. Looks like a uniform, but there's no insignia. -- Nothing in the pockets. " Rehil rolls the body until it flops onto its belly. "Ah, pair of stab wounds in his back. -- Somebody knew their business. -- The body's not stiff. This man's been dead a couple days."
"if there are stab wounds does it means a manufactured weapon?"
Know(nature)
"The wounds are deep and narrow. It could be any piercing blade or spear."
Cole looks on as the body is inspected, but seems to have nothing to add to the investigation. His thick fingers flex on the haft of his hammer as he tries to keep an eye out for any dangers while the group is distracted.
"well i have no more interest in this body" said william to no one in particular as he goes back to his previous activity
"You're not here to be interested, halfling, you are here to be useful," growls Bokehn. "Get some canvass, wrap the body and sew it up. We'll bury it when we stop - it isn't far."
Calculating that he should stay on the 'healer's' good side, Rehil stays with the body to give William a hand sewing the bag. Over the work he says quietly, "..Hard nut, Bokehn, but decent enough to give this guy a dry burial. "
I know many that would have just pushed him back in the river and never thought twice.
Portforged watched the discussion unfold, curious to see the interaction between William and the others.
In the moments following the battle with the river-monster, Grazzat had kept mostly to himself. The battle had jarred him, it was his first shared battle with the assorted races of the expedition and he hadn't made quite the impact that he had hoped for.
When the body was scooped out of the river, Grazzat kept a sharp eye to the horizon while the group discerned the origins of the body.
The river claims many, the how and why matter little in the long-view. the lizardman thought to himself as he went about his watch.
"sure thing Bokenh"
william will do exactly as told with a smile while whistling to a tune.
whispering back to the elf "it make little difference, the soul is already gone all that is left is the body who will feed either fish or bug."
Rehil nods. "..True enough."
But respect for the dead is something that distinguishes the civilized from the animal or the barbaric. Is that too much to say?
".. But it's not just about the body. It's about the living too...."
Shut up! You'll be preaching the Flame next. Just do the job.
"I think it's respectable that he wants to take care of the body," Cole says as he watches over the elf's shoulders. "Though this far up-river, I'm curious as to who in Khyber he is... or was."
"we won't know for the moment. but its what it could imply that could interested you. As this might mean that the camp upstream we are heading to might be taken by a possible hostile or that there was an ambush higher upstream" replied william still at his work
"An ambush? Do you think it was the lizardfolk?"
"Maybe," the bigger warforged responds. "Who knows. I'm not sure how much we can get from this body. He was killed. He might not have known it was coming. He may or may not have been military." He shrugs, "Seems like we're back to business as usual. Keep our eyes open and our weapons ready."
Unless asked otherwise, he goes back to repairing his shoulder, looking up every now and then to watch the slowly passing shorelines.
True that.
Rehil nods agreement and continues the stop, push, stop, pull, rhythm of sowing the cloth body bag around the body. The stitches are loose and widely spaced. It could be because the elf in not much of a tailor, or because he just wanted to get the unpleasant task done quickly.
Grazzat cocks his head to the side in a clear sign of confusion as the elf goes about his work wrapping the dead. He knew many of the common races revered the dead in different ways, and he didn't fully understand those ways despite his recent exposure.
"grazzar, since you are looking on how we do things, would you mind tell us how your cultures deals with the dead, the afterlife and burial rituals?" he said while continuing his work?
Cole listens with interest. The lizard man was certainly one of the more unique-looking among the crew.
The lizard-man shrugged at the halfling's inquiry. The dead were gone and the living were still living, still growing in power. Grazzat had heard tales of the dead still gaining power through the means of magic, but he knew that was currently out of his reach. Not to mention, he would miss the feeling of feeling. The golden scaled lizard-folk thought.
He let out a guttural sighing sound that bordered on a growl. "It's Grazzat, little man." He began, strongly emphasizing the 'T' sound of his name, sending a fleck of spit into air. With a nod towards the halfling, he went on speaking. " The dead are devoured, either by those who slayed them, or by the jungle itself. But all serve their purpose in the end. " He stated firmly.
Glancing at the death-shroud being loosely tied around the dead body on deck, Grazzat curled up his nose in a clear sign of disgust." But I've never had to eat a meal so rotten as the one we've fished out of the drink. The meat would better serve it's purpose feeding the fishes, perhaps then they might be too full to attack the young of my people who first take to the water in these snaking rivers..." His voice was deep enough to shake the planks they stood on it seemed, but his monologue on the views of 'his people' freely gave more questions than answers. It was hard to say if that incidentally occurred or if it was the lizard-man's true intentions.
Portforged listened to the discussion intently.
Well, it thought, at least he seems capable of discussing dead creatures in a way which does not entirely exclude living constructs.
Rehil continues stitching and listens.
Well that is a completely different way to do thing, i see. Lets just hope we don't become Lizard meat then. replied william resuming his work
"Grazzat...",
Portforged asked cautiously,
"what do lizardfolks do with the bodies of destroyed warforged?"
"My guess is the same as anyone else…" Cole responds in his own deep voice, "… scrap it or recycle it."
He cocks his metal head to one side in a curious manner, "Though in a way that seems very much like what Grazzat's people do to their own… use the body for the good of those still alive." It's obvious that this insight has put a positive spin on the lizard folk's words.
Grazzat chuckled slightly and nodded after Cole answered Portforged's question. "Cole's words are true enough...'scrap it or recycle it'" He repeated the last part several times to himself, stumbling over the words as if it were the first time he had used them."Ha..Yes."