Sorrin had his own beliefs, superstitions. The mere creation of a rift to bring this creature here... could alert the avatar of a dark god.
Lovely as the creature is, he knows when spellcasters are going into their special place. He'd hoped this would endear Chell to the crew. But, wasn't sure now that he's witnessed the ritual.
With everyone's attention on Chell and her little friend... He monkeyed up the mast to the crowsnest.
the little winged creature says ,
"Duas res non solum fecisti mi. tempus est ut explorator .... Etiam non potui, sed pretium est. D g of sparkly gemmas singulas horas et horas duas minimum sed non diutis amplius sex horis."
Chell thought it over, the pros and cons of each method. She really wanted to use Commune. To, even indirectly, speak to her god would have been wonderful but only six questions were allowed the answers were simple. So the questions had to be too. But considering the creatures size and mobility, just flying would answer more and potential answer ones they weren't aware of. "Quod est bysso. Superque ea esse duas horas cum gratia."
She leans over to Astrianna and whispers the little outsider's payment. "500 per hour to scout up to 6. 2 minimum. I'd go with minimum considering her speed. Maybe solve the riddles around the island and find us a good way in. She prefers jewels."
Astrianna sighs. "I can certainly see why you're not blessed by Abadar, Chell.... Hopefully they will not be doing anything dastardly while we wait. It's no secret we're here. For the record, I feel we could handle this."
She begrudgingly produces the required amount of diamonds, rubies, and pearls looted from the Weasel.
"If they know we are here best not to go in blind then. Best to do this right. We might have a fight after we come out. Considering what we saw on the way The Chosen might be in the area. And we need to save resources to check the ship too. I had a vision of clerics of my own faith, trapped and capsizing in a storm that looked like sharks. I think that wreck might be it and might have some valuable information. So I think this is worth it. She certainly makes the crew feel better." She looks around to see almost the entire crew trying to get a glimpse of the outsider. Probably the only time they will ever see one. Hopefully they thought it a good omen. She hands over the gems and prays for the Lyrakien's safety. If it died today it was truly dead like anyone of them.
Astriana raises an eyebrow. "Well you didn't tell us about the vision... but I heard the crew talking about how that shipwreck is Jacob's Razor, the ship of the Bethany Razor's late husband. Are you sure the vision wasn't being metaphorical? You know how the gods like to be vague and all symbolic about these things."
He sees
He relays that he can see five sharks of various sizes and types swimming around they look to be chasing schools of small fish. Predatory like but nothing unexpected or unusual about the sharks behavior. He does not see the black shark.
Beacon Island overview with the baron and fishing sloop placed
The lyrakien flies off towards the island.
The winged little girl decides to cross the island, near the lighthouse, for flyby before she dips down towards the serpent. She believes she is stealthy but to her great surprise two wyrerns notice her scent, and then the sight of the intruder. They immediately give chase down into the trees. Terrified to risk going further she hides out in the trees.
Chell after the first two hours you have not seen the planar ally.
Chell watches her flutter off and felt a pang of jealousy. Flight, that must be amazing. She could sort of fly with a combination of spells but it wasn't the same. Her imagination ran wild for a while as she waited but eventually she realized it had been more than a few hours and she started to become concerned. Maybe one more hour though.
The scout tries to slip out of the wood line but one of the wyrens chase it back into the woods for the next hour.
Petrified the godly messenger tries to creep out another way,
But the cagey cruel winged dragons toy with the goodly creature for the next hour.
the messenger gives the two evil creatures the slip, and she flies towards the serpent to explore. Twenty yards out from the sandy shore an enormous serpentine head, its huge maw gaping with foot long fangs, juts up from beneath the waves. The creature is completely still, its fearsome gaze fixed on the shore. Concerned for her safety and the nearby evil dragons she keeps her distance, she doesn't sense evil but there is a sense of magic. She does not stay to exam the details of the auras. As notices some dark shapes under the waves, but no fins.
She flies further out and sees the dark shape of sunken ship but it is deeper than her detect magic can discern.
Concerned for time she does a quick flyby the fishing sloop she sees two fisherman and she gets close enough to realize they are darkhearted, but they are pulling fish aboard. There are several dark shapes with fins in the water, and one is large sized. The fishermen look like they are trying to haul aboard their catch.
On the way back she does see a body with an evil aura near the beach in the treeline. He is tangled in the weedy growth that covers the island and lightly decomposed. The body's boots and scabbard radiate magic auras.
Feel free to read the spoilers.
Notices the Wyvern were chasing something. He then notices the ship on the West side of the island.
When the godly messenger arrives back she relays what was contained under the spoilers.
As the hours tick by Chell grows more and more concerned, pacing the ship back and forth. And then she appears, tired and nervous from her frantic flight. She rushes over and looks over her for wounds. "Oh Meum. Sunt vobis bene? Sunt saucius? Quid accidit?"
They talk quickly in Celestial before she turns to the others translate what was found out. "There are two wyverns, aggressive, evil and highly perceptive. The sea serpent seems to be real but not evil and is very intent on something on shore. Maybe if check it out we can curry its favor. And the fisherman are decidedly evil with several sharks nearby. From what Sorrin said and what our friend saw, I think those are the cultists both on the boat and in the water. They are probably herding the fish for the fisherman. And their is a body with magical gear on the beach near the treeline between us and the boat. It might undead since she said it detected evil and was decomposing. I believe that is it," she says confirming with the Lyrakien.
"Scary ... malum draco kin óne aliquoties per horas circum insulam, praesertim prope fari. Fuique maxime meum tempus vitando questus stimulabatur et comedi."
"Scary...evil dragon kin chased me for hours around the island, especially near the lighthouse. I spent most of my time avoiding getting stung and eaten."
She will go ahead and mention the serpent, the dark areas under water, the ship, and the two fishermen, then concludes with the body she discovered.
"Ego requiras solutione meum omne quod sex horae operantem."
"I require more payment for my full six hours of work." I wasn't sure if you paid for 2 hours or 6 hours of work.
Astrianna is absolutely faunching at the bit after the two hours is up, and is quite sick of waiting. She takes out her frustrations by practing her fiddle and writing in her journal, but it's quite clear at the end of six hours she's quite upset about the wasted time.
Hands on her hips, she listens to the information presented by Chell. "There are two wyverns? I only saw one, but I trust the Lyrakien. We'll have to be careful with our approach so they don't attack our jolly, but once we're on land we will end them. I'm very curious about the serpent... I have never seen anything like it before. I want to get close enough to get a good sketch, certainly. I'm not surprised they're all weresharks... Everyone should get their silver equipment ready. We could preemptively attack the sloop and take them out."
She brightens a bit at the mention of a body with equipment. "Oh? Magical items? A single undead is no challenge for the likes of us."
The planar ally flutters her wings waiting for payment, before she leaves.
She disappears after being paid her gems.
In the meantime, there a sound from the main mast. "Three...Three, not two."
+2 on a ship
Bri, Astri and Chell pick up the what looks like housecat-sized miniature dragon with fine scales, sharp horns, wicked little teeth, and a tail tipped with a barbed stinger sitting on the rope ladder hanging form the main mast.
Astrianna huffs at having the pay the creature. She is quite cross their recent gains just got tossed down the interplanar toilet.
Giving a start, the bard whips around and furrows her brow at the tiny dragon creature. "Who.. what?" She looks around... nothing was attacking. "How did you...? Wait three what, wyverns?"
Oh, its a adorable, Chell thinks looking up at the little dragon. But it said three in reference to wyverns. Which meant it was a wyvern too. But why would it appear before them right in their midst and announce its presence? Did it want something? She waves her hands in a placating gesture towards the men before they could raise their weapons. "Three then. But why has this one come to talk?"
"yes, yes three, not two nasty wyvrens. Only two gave chase, not three. Careful, careful you'll be bitten, they're always hungry. Gobbled up all the deer." He chuckles a bit but there is a sense of panic to it's voice. "I'm mightier than stupid wyvrens, and not so hungry."
Astrianna briefly forgets her annoyance, curious about the creature and why it is speaking to them. "Is that so? Well mighty dragonling, would you grace us with a name? What do we owe this visit?"
It spreads its wings and takes flight and dive bombs the water barrel. It flutters out of the water and hops onto the edge of the barrel. "Tao, I be. Help, Saegen, come back to me."
Oh. He...she...it was talking about another wyvern. "Who is Saegen?" the cleric asks curiously.
"Saegen is my companion, m..m...my friend, we've traveled the land an seas together in search of inner peace. He's is learned and talented monk, but he fell vi...vi..victim to the shark-men. those spreading the kiss to all they encounter, set on carrying out their plan." He blinks rapidly, a tear runs from his eye. "Their grand plan is to inflict everyone with Dajobas' Kiss. Imagine the power of such an affliction that it could even get by my friend's purity. Only divine power could do such wretched harm, but you can....you can...subdue him and cure him."
Yep, it’s true. Technically Saegen is completely immune to all diseases, including lycanthropy and fel lycanthropy. From a metagame perspective, sometimes the “power of cool” overrides the “power of rules,” and we think this is one of those moments. A lycanthrope with levels of monk? Too cool.
If a rules lawyer at your table insists this can’t possibly happen, you have at least two options. Point out that the Chosen of Dajobas and channels the power of a god. As such, if Dajobas wants a monk to be infected with lycanthropy, then it happens. Justify this with a Divine Salient Ability. Your second option is to simply pick up your book and smack the rules lawyer with it until he stops complaining.1 The first option is probably the best choice, but each GM needs to decide for him or herself.
1 Denotes humor
Bri gives a little squee at the sight of the mini-dragon thing. "Oh, so cute."
Bri you know pseudodragons are a tiny cousin to true dragons, and are playful but shy. They often only vocalize in chirps, hisses, growls, and purrs, but can communicate telepathically with any intelligent creature. the speech that you here is actually a telepathic link. Others in the crew here chirps. If approached peacefully and offered food, they are usually willing to share information about what they've seen in their territory, but threats or violence make them flee.
Sometimes they willing follow and bond with a companion, like monk but normally it is with some spellcaster. Emmy is hissing a bit, since the little dragon is eyeballing it.
Bri pets Emmy with one hand to calm her down. "Would you care for something to eat Tao? Perhaps we could retire to the galley for this discussion."
Bri glances around to see if any of the crew are disturbed by the pseudo-dragon.
Astrianna purses her lips. Three wyverns? That's a bit much.. we will have to take them on one at a time, or set a trap.
She listens to the creature's story and frowns. A wereshark monk? That... is very frightening. The Chosen is very, very powerful I see... We will have to properly prepare to take it on. She nods her head and gestures to the galley. "We're here to help, Tao. There won't be many, if any, wyverns or weresharks here once we're done... Our cleric here, Chell, may be a terrible accountant, but she is blessed and has the means to help Saegen."
Her head turns to Bri. "A sleep hex and then we pour a potion down his throat, right? Simple means to a potentially powerful ally."
The creature flaps a few times and lifts off the water barrel then comes to rest on Astri's head. It's talons flex into her hat, the sound of fabric being punctured sounds in Astri's ears. "Fishy's and cheese please." On his new perch he goes down to the officers' quarters with the group. After eating his share of small mackerel and a wedge of soft cheese, he chirps out, "Shark-men bad, they killed men in boat and gobbled them up like fishy's. They have friends in the water that go back and forth to caverns." He belches a bit. "wyrens big problem...first. They'll attack anything they can see and they've eaten shark."
Astrianna experiences a brief moment of panic as the pseudodragon comes flying towards her, but there isn't really anything she can do when it lands on her hat. The sound of tearing fabric cause her to grimace. This day... I'm sure it will only get better from here, right?
Sighing, she escorts the pseudodragon to the galley where they can speak. "So the wyverns and the shark-men are at odds? The shark-men don't use the island at all? ...and they go into caverns below? Do you know if the caverns are accessible from the top of the island?"
She also gets to the point of why the pseudodragon has come. "Where can we find Saegen, Tao? We will help him first if we can, but it sounds like we'll have to hunt some wyverns first."
It chirps back that he has not been in the lighthouse because the wyvrens live there. So Tao does not know if there is access below. "Saegen went swimming with the sharks, I assume in the caverns. I don't know how to swim, so I couldn't follow when he went by the serpent statue. They plan on blessing everyone in Port Shaw with Dajobas' Kiss, they do."
"I can certainly try my sleep hexes upon him, but monks are known for their strength of will so there is likely a fifty/fifty chance it won't work on him. We should have a good back-up plan for subduing him before we head on in. I suppose we can always try multiple web spells as needed too."
Time of day: it's about 4:00 pm in the day, or 4 bells past midday.
The skipper passes the deck, he orders the jolly deployed. He further ensures the ballista are ready in case there are any weresharks or the wyvrens decide to take a look a the new.
"Stay alert. Need the gunners ready, and by all means lets get a squad of vets on the deck with crossbows. get two up in the crows nest with silver tipped arrows and long bows...move it, move it."
Astrianna nods. "Yes... "Port Shaw will be awash with blood" they say. Wait, statue? So that serpent isn't real?" She is very curious. "Do you know what purpose this serpent statue serves? We have been told it's magical, but to enchant something of that size..."
----
Astrianna is ready to embark on the jolly. "I say we investigate and purge that undead first... the more magic items we have at our disposal the better. Then we deal with the wyverns, though they may attack us first. If we want to deal with the wyverns first, we could set some kind of trap for them. I can make an illusion of a tasty treat, and we jump them. Of course, I'd like ot be on land before any of this happens."
"We're here to help, Tao. There won't be many, if any, wyverns or weresharks here once we're done... Our cleric here, Chell, may be a terrible accountant, but she is blessed and has the means to help Saegen."
"Unfortunately it might not be that easy. Monks are supposed to be masters of their body, unable to be diseased or poisoned. I mean I will help but I don't know how much I can." She follows the others into the mates quarters to discuss further. "What was he before? Is he a shark now? The Lyrakien say one that was larger than the others."
"Yes, yes the Chosen One, Jalamar, kissed him and now he is man-shark, like the others, but you have to help." The little voice trails off.
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"Jalamar? Dalang Jalamar?"
Astrianna looks over to Chell and raises an eyebrow. "You... know the Chosen One of Dajobas?"
"I don't know the Chosen One, but I've been here for over a month since my companion was bitten. I've hidden, watched, and listened when I could. To the cleric he simply nods.
Chell has a seat and cradles her head in her hands. For a while she remains like this, shell shocked, muttering things like "It can't be true." When pushed she responds without looking up, her voice think with emotion. "Jalamar was supposed to take over as head of the chapterhouse after Noeliss, the one who's ring we found at the Barnacle. He is one of the most faithful, of the highest order. How sis this happen."
Astrianna watches Chell for a bit before shaking her shoulder. The explanation causes the bard to blanch. "Oh, wonderful. The Chosen of Dajobas is not only a giant wereshark, but an extremely powerful priest as well." She sighs and rubs the bridge of her nose. No one is paying us to deal with this... But I guess there won't be anyone to pay us if they're all crazy, violent weresharks.
"I mean... if they're calling them the Chosen of Dajobas.. Jalamar could have been corrupted by Dajobas. As in Jalamar actually communicated with the god itself."
"I mean... if they're calling them the Chosen of Dajobas.. Jalamar could have been corrupted by Dajobas. As in Jalamar actually communicated with the god itself."
Sorrin seems at patience ' end. With all due respect, my honey-do list is getting longer and longer.
Kill the wyvern, find Saegen, kill the were-sharks, kill the Chosen... Anyone else we gotta kill?
Chell comes out of the seat fast as an arrow and is in Astrianna's face. "He was not!" she yells. Her eyes are already cloudy as her power responds to her emotions. They are also close to spilling over with tears. She catches herself quickly though. Using divine power in such a way would no doubt cause her to lose it. That more than anything prevented any further action. She'd be next to useless against what was going on without them. She sniffles and wipes away the tears.
"Its not that simple. You can't fake the power that goes along with true faith. I think they are doing something here, or somewhere. A cleric of another faith becoming the Chosen one and monk infected with a disease. This shouldn't be possible. It needs to be stopped." She forgoes mentioning that she doesn't want to kill the Chosen if all this was true. It had to have been a transformation against his will. And maybe there was a cure. Or enough info here to make one. She doubted the potions the cleric of Belon gave them would be effective but it was worth a try.
This island... Beacon. Maybe not just the lighthouse. Something here, some artifact, calling outward.
The Wyvern have useful information, and might be willing to combine forces for a short while. Astrianna, can you negotiate a short term treaty, if they're powerful enough to challenge the sharks, even better. Enemy's enemy and all that.