Ascertaining that the trap was made for killing, not capture, Dibbets resumes his place at the rear of the group. Jim's premonition comes true not too far down the trail when an open pit appears ahead.
Kaul scowls then nods to his axe, before whispering to the group;
"Lopps clocked the pit. Mind how ye go..."
He'll shift forward carefully attempting to discern if it contains anything or is the object of watchful eyes;
:
The fog has lessen a little, but the light is still dim beneath the thick jungle canopy. Kaul peers through the leaves, but sees no one or nothing in wait. The bottom of the pit is in darkness, but his orcish darksight makes out a crumpled female half-elf in tattered finery broken and pierced by spikes in the bottom of the pit, obviously dead.
Corliss marches along fairly quietly in the center of the group. He's unusually non-talkative, as if the foggy jungle has spooked him a bit.
"Crikey!" Corliss exclaims suddenly. "This vision ain't real--it be a haunt o' some sort!"
Keelhaul Kaul-
Madman Jim-
Corliss-
spook-
Kaul sees a translucent pale copy of the body below flying up from the bottom of the pit. Even as he begins to shift back, he feels a big push from behind by some unseen hand!
:
Kaul clocks the pale body, then feels the hairs bristle on his no-neck all too late!
He attempts to shift away from the malevolent pit but is slammed into the trap, ending up impaled...
;
Corliss shouts his warning just as Kaul is launched off the path and into the deep pit. A ghostly female half-elf in ruined finery pierced by spikes rises from the pit, her shattered face in an expression of grief. " I CANNOT DIE HERE!"
"I hate to break this to ye, but...methinks that ship has already sailed." Fingering his holy symbol, the Besmaran priest calls on his goddess to blast the ghostly elf into the great beyond.
Jim is uncertain how to handle an angry spirit. Corliss releases a blast of divine energy that passes through the living, but tears at the spirit for some minor damage. The spirit howls, but just before it falls upon Corliss, the helf-elf ghost notices Jacint. Her face contorts in rage. "JACINT! COWARD! You abandoned us to DIE!"
Taking in the vista Dibbs pauses to furrow his brow and looks to Corliss for some minor guidance "Feck is this thing now then?... I ken thy an blow away tha spirit like... but ain't sure iffin thas worth it."
Corliss looks at Dibbets hard (perhaps trying to figure out what the halfling oracle just said. Then he rubs the bump on his head, perhaps for luck, perhaps to massage some memories out of his slightly damaged brain.
Um...."
Corliss is guessing, but eh thinks this haunt is a full blown ghost!
Realising he's out of his depth in a pit with a spook, Kaul pulls himself free of the spikes and glowers up at the elf survivor, adding his own angry bellow to the ghosts;
"Feckin' coward! Lettin' me drop into this pit fer yer Lilly-livered ways! Outta the way ghostie - Kaul'll fix 'im!"
:
Kaul notes a fancy ring and full purse on the dead elf as his fingers fail to find purchase in the sides of the steep pit...
Dibbets holds to position and thought, waiting to see if Jimmer's pointed addition to proceedings weighs upon the wee ghosty...
Corliss draws his magical rapier while moving up to the really forlorn elf, stabbing at her to see if his enchanted blade can affect her incorporeal body.
for
Dibbets pauses to see how things play out. Corliss rounds about on the unhinged phantom and stabs with his minorly magical blade. The blade passes through, but catches a little ectoplasm with its arcane edge. Following Corliss' lead, Jim dances in and stabs with his buzzing rapier. The ectoplasm curdles back from the hole left by Jim's lightning sword.
The mournful spirit hisses at its assailants, forgetting Jacint for a moment. I cannot die here! I must return to my family in Freeport! the ghost declares and then lunges at Corliss. The Besmaran ducks aside narrowly avoiding the spirit's deathly touch. Jacint creeps away putting space between himself and the revenant.
"Gimme a name, ye spooky b!tch!" Corliss replies, curling around the phantom a bit before darting in to stab again (mostly just setting up a flank for the real swordsman in the fight, Jim).
for
Jim follows up with another pair of attacks, sending lightning coursing through the stubborn spirit.
Despite the chill of undeath permeating the air, Kaul's beady eyes glitter with greed at the bountiful corpse keeping him company in the pit.
"Hur... What 'as we 'ere..?"
The scarred scrapper grabs the purse with a habitual shake for weight and tell tale jingle. Then with a leer he uses Lopper's keen edge to liberate the corpse's fingers from hand.
He then scoops up digit bedecked with a shiny and chuckles to himself as up top the battle with the spook rages;
"Kaul's comin' lads! A mite slippery down 'ere... Hur-hur... Give's me a jiffy!"
To Corliss' query, the dead lady elf points an accusing finger at Jacint, He knows! The name is Melinaisse Holimon!
Dibbets keeps an eye on the frightened living elf while Corliss and Jim close on the ghostly one. The spirit floats over the pit preventing a flank, but Jim's blade darts out with a flurry of crackling slashes that shred the ectoplasm and a moment later with a sobbing wail, the ghost is gone.
Dibbets rounds on the one that knows and raises an eyebrow of query "Friend o' yers then? Anyone we needs be knowin wots what an tha like?"
"Holimon? As in the tailors of Freeport?"
Jacint is pale and shaken after the ghost's accusation. "Hat makers," the elf sniffles. "Yes, she was Jessapine Holimon's daughter and yes, her death is my fault. It was my idea to visit Kepre Dua and I talked my friends into going. Then after the red whale sank our ship and we were attacked on the beach... I took a potion of invisibility and hid until those creatures captured or chased off my friends like a coward, like a commoner... just like she said!"
Dibbets shrugs his shoulders at the elf's grief "Eh, sh1te happens like. Ain't nei way a lightweight like yersel were goan change aught anyhows"
"Can Jessamine afford to restore her daughter to life if we get the body back?"
As the others chit-chat about hats and such, a frustrated and increasingly black-mooded Kaul attempts to climb out from the pit once again;
:
The name the ghost elf means nothing to Corliss so he stands by quietly. Peeking down into the pit and seeing the corpse now missing a hand, he quietly asks Jim, "Do the corpse need be in one piece for that 'back-to-life' magic to work?"
Glancing into the pit again, Corliss says to Kaul in a louder voice, "We'll see iif'n there be some rope up here we can use to haul ye outta yon pit. Ye might wanna stay put a minute; we might be needin' to haul the dead elf lass's remains up with ye."
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Skeptical of tone and raised of eyebrow Dibbs quizzically cocks head t'wards Jimmer "Ye thinkin o' playin dead lass delivery service? - I know ye liked em weird and stuff but didnae think ye were intae that side o life..." shrugging and adding simply "Iffin ye wants, but I ain't carryin tha flopsie." waiting for a moment before adding "C'mon Kauly... times a wastin like."
Jacint looks shocked at Jim's assertion that resurrection is available for a price. "Afford to call her back from the dead? The only one I've ever heard of with power over death is the Ruby Pharoah of Osirion and I dont think he needs any more gold. It would only be right to see her interred in her family crypt though."
"So that's on you to deal with, Jacint. You were the one saw her there, you get to see her body home."
The tall elf stares at the edge of the pit, but makes no move toward it. 'I wonder what became of the others," he mutters.
Kaul drag himself out of the pit, then leers a grin at Corliss' canny spot;
"Hur... She a purse o' coin... an'..."
He pauses to retrive a the severed digit still wearing its bejewellry.
"This 'ere ring... Might be worth a pretty penny like? Hur. Leatways I made 'er lighter fir the longears..."
The thug lobs the dead girl's finger toward Jacint;
"'Ere! Catch!"
"Kaul, mate, I'm no priest, but I'm thinking that there's no reason yon spirit won't return twice as easily as once. I'd prefer her anger to be focused on Jacint, hey?"
Then he looks to the elf. "Others? Seems there may be more to your tale. Let's hear it."
Dibbets chuckles at Kaul's antics, shuffling to a shady spot to while away the moments as Jimmer attempts to garner further illumination from the elf.
"...It was my idea to visit Kepre Dua and I talked my friends into going. Then after the red whale sank our ship and we were attacked on the beach... I took a potion of invisibility and hid until those creatures captured or chased off my friends..."
"There is no more to tell. I did not deserve to survive," the elf mumbles. His long ears twitch and he frowns as he peers forward up the path beyond the pit. "I hear something. Drums and... and voices."
Shrugging Dibbs checks that his musket's loaded, ill-spawned winds are girding his form and a quick squeeze and jiggle to confirm that his tackle's in order before addressing Kaul "C'mon nugget... bushwhackin time." suggesting that the more stealthy among them get to shadowing the path in the trees while the longshanks lagger behind a mite.
"Who else was with you?"
"Who else was with you?"
"My friends and cousins: Lenoris, Tordell, Iadara, Genver..." He lists a few others, but they mean nothing to Jim.
Kaul grins and ambles o'er to Dibbs when the grubby oracle suggests some subterfugel savagery;
"Hur. Now yer talkin' matey... beats listens to Longears bleatin' about other dead longears..."
As he readies himself, the thug does a quick shufty at the purse and recovered ring;
:
He brandishes the jewellery at Dibbs with a shrug;
""Ere matey... Any idea iffen this is worth a coin or three?"
Dibbs doesn't take the jewels, instead making eye contact with Kaul "Play first eh? Worry bout the shiny laters."
Corliss decides he's one of the stealthy folk that Dibbets mentioned; the job description sounds slightly better than stumbling along the trail and waiting for the next pit trap to open up underfoot.
Kaul notes that the fancy ring has a gem and looks antiquey. In the pouch is a vial, an ivory comb, 5 gems, and 3 gold nobles and 28 silver skulls.
The crew then takes to the forest deciding the trail is far too treacherous. Jacint reluctantly follows having made no move to recover his dead friend's body. Although the efforts at stealth are variable, there is really no need for the drumming grows ever louder as the crew nears its source. A rhythmic chanted word pulses between the accented beats: "Hawana. Hawana. Hawana."
Squinty eyed, Dibbs tries to discern if the jungle breaks to clearing before the Hawana...
Dibbets makes out an opening and dancing or something beyond. He notes a strange scent from beyond that filters through the jungle as well.