Richard slithers here and there flicking his tongue until he finds a relatively fresh track near the far edge of the camp. Again the sign is long and clawed and Richard sends a feeling of familiarity to Dingus to note that the creature had some reptilian influence as well.
Jim continues to channel his inner Groom, carefully scanning the ground around the camp.
Survival:
Grim faced Dibbets hocks and spits, before making sure the skin drying operation is crashed down and ruined before thinking about seeing to tracking again. Head still hot though, he can't make hide nor hair of it... and half-guiltily sneaks a glance at Dingus' snakey to give him a pointer of where he should be looking.
He also casts his eyes through the interior of the huts to see if he could glean anything from them...
Perception:
Dibbets pokes around the huts a bit and gets the impression that nothing was stolen from paltry possessions stored within. He has a hunch that they were formerly occupied by the poachers mentioned at the plantation and some far worse inhabitant of the swamp transformed them into the horrible things nailed to the Warn Tree. Specifically, whatever made the scaled and clawed prints Dingus' familiar and Jim indicate.
The trace leads away from the poachers' camp and deeper into the wetlands. Your journey is further slowed by sucking mud and grabbing branches. Persistent mosquitoes add to the misery. Jim is on a roll though and keeps spotting the strange prints as they wend through murk and over muck.
In an hour or so, though it feels much longer, the mire eventually becomes little more than greenish bog the consistency of soup. All possibility of continuing on foot ends at a small rotting jetty. The remains of two coracles lie drowned at its side, whilst far away you can make out a clump of bent trees that appear to be strangling a building– you can just make out horribly fractured gables, a collapsed wall, peeling statues, and, nearby, a curiously strangled spire which rises from the waters.
Between you and this choked carcass of a structure lies a quarter mile of ooze; stagnation assaults your senses here. The surface of this mire is not still however, and you can make out small eddies and the sound of sucking coming from beneath the waters. Cypress and willow trees bend on the banks as if in worship of the awful place. A horde of a thousand insects buzz about you.
"Dingus, Dibbets--any magic you have to make those two coracles shipshape?"
Taking a critical eye on the vessels Dibbs is critical "Nei bloody likely... or at least nae wi'out spendin some sweat magics onnit. Nei like tha looks o' tha bog either... might be needin a piggy back ride frae Kauly iffin we keeps in that ways." casting his eyes around and taking in the sweat entangled sight.
A gestured pointed finger picks out one feature "Spire there... looks like could be worth a looksee."
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Kaul shrugs his no neck and beckons his wee mate to climb aboard as he kneels down...
... then pauses shooting the grubby oracle a hard look;
"You ain't gonna put your meat an' two anywhere's near me noggin right? Or let rip at any point?! Iffen you muck me about Dibbs yer on yer own in the sludge..."
The thug offers a hook stirrup and awaits the inevitable coy retort...
"Perhaps I could lift us all into the air, and you could use your wind mastery to propell us across"?
Gleefully taking the invitation Dibbets gives a half-assed nod of acceptance to Kaul's terms before settling in on high. To Dingus he grumbles "Save yer juice... float yer own boat iffin ye needs, but wouldnae want tae find orneries over yonder an be wonderin iffin ye run oot o' puff already like."
Kaul seems game to ferry his little buddy through the vile muck leaving Jim and Dingus to plot another way over.
"I'll take the magic, Dingus."
Squeezing somewhat moistened thighs together squelchily around Kaul's neck Dibbets gives him a light whacking between the shoulderblades with the butt end of his boomstick as he bleats "Gee up... on wiv it"
"I'm hoping we find a little bit better boat on the other side, hey?"
Squeezing somewhat moistened thighs together squelchily around Kaul's neck Dibbets gives him a light whacking between the shoulderblades with the butt end of his boomstick as he bleats "Gee up... on wiv it"
Kaul dutifully plows through the mire at his helmsman's behest.
"Yes! Brilliant! Let's go!
Dingus casts his spell and the sunken craft rises, water pouring out of the holes punched into he bottom. The hide covering the wicker frame is slimy and stinks from the noisome water, but the frame is sound enough to hold the sorcerer and swashbuckler. Dingus raises it a few feet above the soupy algae filled water, but low enough for Jim to easily push off the bottom with a long stout pole. With a shove, the flying coracle begins to slowly surge forward.
By the time they get situated, Kaul has already slid into the foul water with Dibbets perched on his shoulders. It isn't too deep for the most part and the thug can push off the mucky bottom or breaststroke where it gets too deep. Dibbets seems to be enjoying his ride and likewise doesn't seem put off by the thick green mucky water that washes over his legs.
Little eddies follow their progress and Dibbets notes with interest that they don't seem to be displaying any usual behavior for a tiny spout. In fact, several seem to be following the waterborne pair and even circling around. The water is too turbid to see if there's anything below making the mini maelstroms, but when Dibbets peers closely at a passing swirl he sees that it has a little green eye inside peering back at him! Another has tiny round teeth and seems to sigh as it passes and finally his alarm grows as a watery little hand as soft and cool as a child's reaches up to stroke his leg.
Dibbs stares into the water as the eddies and maelstroms form and pass... however the stroke of his leg and wee green eye draw a deadpanned utterance "Sh1t..."
Slapping his steed on the back of the head, the grimy halfling imparts some of his lord's indifferent protection before screaming and exhorting Kaul proceed with haste.
Kaul heeds his wee mates shouts, pumping his meaty legs through the grime and jungle slime at haste.
As he rumbles through the sludge the thug growls at his shipmate and helmsman;
"Gurrr. Ye better not be yankin' my anchor matey!"
Alarmed at Dibbets' shout and the smack to the head, Kaul lurches forward with greater haste.
Keelhaul Kaul-
Madman Jim-
Dingus-
Foe-
The little whirlpools follow right along and give a gurgling song as they follow.
Ignoring the big nugget's growl, Dibbs repositions himself on the half-orc's broad shoulders. Spinning to put his arse on Kaul's noggin and face backwards he cocks his musket ready to unleash...
Jim unlimbers his bow and draws a bead on one of the creatures, preparing to fire if they do anything threatening.
Mindful of his shipmate riding shotgun, Kaul gets a shift on whilst trying to maintain a steady platform for his tail gunner;
"Steady as she goes eh matey?! Hur-hur!"
:
Jim stops poling to draw his bow and the flying coracle ceases its forward motion though Dingus keeps it aloft. They fall behind the paddling thug as Kaul redoubles his effort to get to the ruins. Dibbets shifts around and draws a steady bead on the suspicious vortices which follow. Three encircle the swimming half-orc and rotate around creating cross currents that pull at him threatening to drag him under, but the powerful sailor breaks free.
Exhorting his craggy steed to greater heights Dibbs growls "Keep 'er goin matey... iffin any o' tha feckers pop up they'll eat some lead."
Dingus takes out his trusty anchor and uses it to row the coracle through the air...Moving it forward, anchoring it, then pulling the boat forward.
"Let me know if you need any heavy artillary".
"Hur - right ye are ye wee bastard" says Kaul as he continues to put his heavy limbs to purpose pushing water behind him in search of dry land.
Dry land may be hard to find as you reach the midpoint and Dingus recasts his spell and then tries to keep the flying coracle moving as Jim points his bow at the strange spinning eddies. Set-pull-release, set-pull-release; the anchoring rod works a bit, but the skinny sorcerer doesn't have the strength of the swashbuckler.
Meanwhile, Kaul scoots forward through the water trying to ignore the uncanny whirls. They continue to spiral around, but the small form on the half-orc's back seems to be their focus. Little white teeth appear in the watery hole again and the edges move like lips to burble a whispered warning. "Don't go to the ruins, little boy. They are dangerous. Stay with us. Mother will keep us safe..."
The water bulges up behind the spinning hole with small teeth inside it and takes the form of a young boy's head. It moves toward the halfling offering a pulpy green hand.
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Snorting Dibbets provides his answer... with thunder fire and smoke. Squeezing the trigger of the musket, the world goes dark and his ears start to ring as the unreliable weapon unleashes its cargo...
Musket (Touch): for
Crit?: for
The retort echoes over the marsh disturbing flocks of distant birds from their roosts in the moldering trees. The shot rips through the watery form sending up a spray that gives a final swirl as a fine mist before dispersing into the air. The other eddies quickly stop their spinning and collapse in on themselves when whatever weird spirits inhabited them move along in the face of muskety destruction.
*******
No longer followed by strange whirls, the crew reaches their destination soon after. Here the walls rise like fractured limbs from the dank waters at their feet. Chaos, collapse, and damp overpower your senses. Ivy and boughs above, weeds beneath, both strangle the building and its nearby spire. This is a building approaching the welcome embrace of collapse.
The front or the ruined structure resembles a gaping maw. A large broken doorway lies above the waters here. The lintel stone has split in two but vegetation still supports the opening, which is broad enough to allow a coracle or raft through.
"Good shooting, mate." Jim eyes the structure suspiciously.
Dibbets no-sells his shot by giving just a gap toothed snarly grin at the outcome and a mild nod to Jimmer's mention. He helps pull the grimy and muck laden Kaul from the waters - giving the lummox a wash down via conjured waters and making sure none of the wee greenies god a tooth or claw into him.
Kaul grins at the mayhem, then scowls when Jimmer's mouth moves and muffled groans reach his cauliflower ears.
The thug shakes his no-neck noggin and bellows a query to his shipmates:
There's no solid ground to be found sadly, but Kaul finds the water to be breast high around and apparently inside the sinking structure.
Still safely ensconced out of the way atop Kaul's noggin, Dibbets struggles through the reloading process while he squiggles around. Replying "Aye... wee bugger's gone now though... Dingus and Jimmer - why don't ye paddle on in there an see iffin she's worth havin a closer looksee?"
Jim nods and poles through the doorway.
Dingus re secures his anchor rod, and keeps an eye out as they enter.
The broken coracle continues to float in mid-air by means of Dingus' spell. Jim pushes it forward toward the giant half-sunken structure. The scale of the building is cyclopean and indeed looks to have been originally built by the one-eyed giants of prehistory. Beyond the broken lintel is a broad hall that recedes into darkness. It is some twenty feet across with a frightening crack running along one wall. It is filled with still water clogged with pond weed and algae though there is still room for the coracle to maneuver under the high roof.
Calling out to the snake-man and Jimmer from outside the building and still atop his half-orcen steed Dibbs queries "Does she look like much eh? - worth pokin through?"
Mildly disconcerted at Dibb's squirming uptop, Kaul stoically waits for the both the flying coracle corps to complete their sortie and the ringing in his ears to dull...