Of the four cyphermages - besides Samaritha, herself - that were alive when you entered the tower, none appear to have survived the tower's fall. Inside the structure, Lefrik found the battered form of Samaritha's lover, Fentor, and the woman Marissa. Her head looked as if it had an unfortunate run-in with the stone walls of the tower...repeatedly. Of the two men on the observation platform, Konrad and Vitor, there was no sign.
Lefrik didn't really find anything to carry water in. Most of the cyphermages' gear had been in the blockhouse, and little was left in the watchtower itself when the original colonists abandoned it.
"See if there's somewhere we can stay in there. It seems as good a place as any to spend the night. We can get back up to the island in the morning."
When Lefrik returns to the surface with his dwarven ally behind him, he takes in more air and tells them the situation, "No survivors that I saw and not even a damn bowl to carry sea water in. Samaritha, I'm sorry about Fentor and Marissa. I saw no sign of Konrad or Vitor."
"I have a waterskin, if we think we can find good water to drink," Calla says.
"I don't want to rub your face in it, Samaritha, but would your friends have anything that could help us? I'd don't think they'd mind us taking it from them if it keep you alive," Calla asks, her voice actually softening a hair from its usual brusque tone.
"Maybe swap half our waterskins with salt, and keep the rest with fresh?" Anklebiter suggests. "If we ration water and luck out with rain, it might work out."
The Goblin turns to Samaritha, the corners of his mouth turned down. "... I must apologize to you. I flapped my lips too much, thinking we could save the situation at the tower, and now... Sorry."
"Rest would be optimal, my limbs are still sluggish from that centipede poison. If we can trick or trap those creatures into the sea water it would benefit us greatly, I think they have the advantage on land."
"Let's try," Anklebiter says, shrugging.
The little Goblin rises to his full height, waggles his ears at the notlions and blows a very loud, very rude raspberry.
"Uuuugly~!" he taunts them. "You all so ugly and stuuuuupid~! Blehblehblehblehbleh! Yo'mama was an alley cat who read a naughty Tien scroll and decided to try it! Bleeeeehhh~!"
Encouraged by Anklebiter's ability to offend, Kel hatches a plan. "Lefrik, swim with me to the shore's edge, Anklebiter keep taunting them, Calla, Bruendor, be ready to fish my limp body from the sea. Hopefully my moonlight bridge will be useful, I'll extend it from the shore straight out over the sea, then Lefrik and I will stand at the very end edge of the bridge waiting for the creatures to attack. When I step from the bridge it will wink out of existence and drop the creatures in the surf. I'm not much of a swimmer, I hope you can lug me around in the waves before the notLions get me Lefrik."
"That's clever.." Lefrik admits and swims with her as directed.
"Hey! Hey! Did you sniff each other's butts to get faces like that?" Anklebiter shrilly cackles at the notlions in a variety of languages. "Or just your own? Kihihihihihi~!"
Above you, there are a dozen or more of the dark skinned creatures outlined on the cliff some two hundred feet or more up. Anklebiter yelled at screamed at the things until he was hoarse, trying to get them to come down to the sea, but either they didn't understand his words or were far smarter than they originally appeared.
Samaritha looked up at Kelendra, shaking her head. "Most of our gear was either lost in the initial attacks, or was left in the blockhouse. All I have it what is on me. Maybe the others had an item or two, but...".
She stopped and choked for a moment. "You say you were poisoned? On the way up the mountain? Perhaps this will help. I purchased a few of these before we came out here, on the off chance that I might have need." She reached into a pouch and held out a few vials of cloudy white liquid. The labels on the vials read L. Resto.
"Bah, I wasted my breath," Anklebiter says with an unhappy little sigh. "Well. Do we camp on top of this tower? We'll need a hot fire wherever we go, to dry out. At least here, even if the uglies see us, they can't get to us without sizzling away in the sea water..."
"I think the tower makes the most sense. It may not be the warmest location, but at least those creatures shouldn't be able to get to us."
"Thank you, Samaritha, I owe you for this!" Kel gratefuly accepts the potion and drinks it.
"I agree we should camp on the tower, but I fear the notLions are just one predator here and we'll need to be extra careful of sea creatures this night."
"I'd like to find something less exposed to the elements, but, honestly, given those octolions, this is the safest place. If we can find some material to make a fire, we can at least get dry." When Samaritha pulls out the potions, Bruendor lifts his eyes skyward in thanks. "Sam, if you were a few feet shorter and had a beard, I'd kiss you right now. Up until those creatures, I thought the centipedes were the worst thing I'd encountered on the island." He gratefully accepts a potion and chugs it down. Almost instantly, his sure-footedness returns. "That's just what I needed!"
"Watches. Let's discuss."
When Watches are arranged, Lefrik nods and agrees, "I'm only a little wounded. I'll manage."
"I'll watch together with you, giant friend Lefrik Olegson," Anklebiter offers. "Now. Do we have anything to burn so we won't sleep cold? Because if we don't, we're better off using our clothes to make shelter, rather than keeping wet cloth stuck to our bodies in the night air."
"Yeah, I'm not letting all of you leer at me. I'll suffer possibly being cold," Calla says sourly.
Lefrik snorts at something.
"Gods, I had to wear that awful succubus costume around Saul's, so you've all seen about everything anyways." Kel strips off her wet clothes and sets them to dry while shivering on the partially submerged tower. "Please, Desna, let this night be uneventful, I need rest to heal that awful centipede's poison."
"Suit yourself, Calla," Bruendor says as he begins to shed his armor and clothes. "Enough crap has happened to us on this island, I'd like to at least avoid hypothermia if I can. If we can't find suitable stuff to make a fire, then we may have to rely on shared warmth." He lays out his clothes as well, hoping they'll be drier come morning.
Anklebiter squirms out of his raggedy-looking clothes, and starts propping them up with the help of his quarterstaff, wedged between the cracks between the tower's brickwork.
Goblins are really nothing much to look at when in their birthday suit, not to the taller races, at least. Especially not when shuddering with the cold.
"This is times when it's good to have a Goblin dog," the little Wizard mutters as he hugs Minky to his chest. "No fur to dry off, so better than a Warg to warm up next to."
"I think I'll keep my armor on. Lately I feel like if I relax my guard, THAT'S when something I've never seen before decides to attack."
Clothes were stripped and laid out to dry, as were any blankets that remained in the few packs you manged to escape the tower with. Samaritha showed Anklebiter how to use prestidigitation to remove most of the water from the cloth, though she certainly didn't recommend trying it while wearing the clothing. Within 10 minutes everyone was huddled under blankets, and the clothes were ready in another hour. They weren't warm, but at least they were mostly dry.
The night passes, and though it is chill and there are no immediate means for a fire, you manage to make it through with little more than irritability at the cold. Sometime in the night, Lefrik heard huge splashes in to the water around the tower, but nothing came too close that he could tell. The not-lions stayed at the top of the cliffs for hours, their silhouettes standing stark against the moonlit sky as the time passed. In the middle of the night, they left, but no one actually saw them go.
Morning dawned with a dull gray light seeping around the edges of the island. The sounds of seabirds drifted in over the water. The wan light of early morning drifted through gray clouds. It looked to be another gloomy day on the island.
"Okay, ugly monsters gone, we still alive," Anklebiter says after a stretch and a vigorous scratch, which is mimicked by Minky. "Where we go today?"
"Maybe towards the starmetal itself? Wherever that is. Perhaps it's the source of those things... but either way it seems to be the prize everyone is after." Lefrik stretches.
"Hmmm... Ugly monsters from Dark Tapestry," Anklebiter muses, and then pats Lefrik on the back as high as he can reach. "Nice! Creative thought, explains why these uglies don't seem familiar at all!"
Still sluggish from the poison, Kel tries to push the numbness from her limbs.
"Ahhh, much better!"
"Sure, let's just go toward the Starmetal. You've figured out where it is?"
Calla looks around, with a frown, trying to decide on their next step.
"Dark Tapestry? Oh, the sky..." Then Calla speaks up, "No. I was hoping Samaritha had a few clues at least though. Oh, when we swim out of here, best be careful. Something big enough to splash was moving around last night. It might still be around."
Bruendor also raises an eyebrow at Anklebiter's mention of the Dark Tapestry, unsure of the reference, or whether it's just the goblin being poetic. "Sam, before the notlions came after you, did you and the rest of the Cyphermages have any leads on where the skymetal may have ended up?" He keeps a wary eye on the water, unsure of what the depths may hold.
"Dark Tapestry is NOT just the sky," Anklebiter says, shaking his ears. He waves a claw at the aky. "Beyond sky. Beyond moon. Darkness between the stars. THAT is Dark Tapestry."
"Well, I don't think we're going to row the tower around the island, so first thing is getting back to shore. I can get us forty feet of that distance, but I don't relish the idea of swimming in the water with large beasts. Any other ideas?"
Samaritha, staring at the cliffside and the lightening sky said quietly, "That explanation is as good as any that I can think of. I have never seen or heard of these creatures before, though I have studied bestiaries in much of Varisia and beyond. The thought that they come from the Void Beyond - your Dark Tapestry - is not an unreasonable one."
"As for the skymetal, there was a huge crater on the eastern part of the island; you must have seen it while you weree climbing the path. There are also a number of smaller craters. Most of them are buried in the jungle, and not close to the few roads that still cross this place. We came upon one of the smaller ones, but it was empty. Either the skymetal was buried too deeply to dig out, or someone got to it first. I know there are at least two other groups on the island, though you said the dwarves have already gotten a ride off this misbegotten place." She said the last in a melancholy tone, as if she desired to be nowhere else in this world but on a ship off this island.
"I know Zincher's camp is on the easternmost part of the island, with easy access to the large crater. The western lighthouse is a crumbled ruin. I don't know about the eastern lighthouse. Perhaps you saw it on your way to the island?"
She turned to stare at the cliffs again. "I can maybe get some of us up those cliffs with a levitate spell or two. It's still be a climb, but the spell would ease the effort. Most of the cliffs around here end right at the sea, with little or no beach to speak of. We could try walking and swimming around - there are a few paths up from the water that we could see from the ship when we arrived, but they are pretty spread out."
"At some point, we're going to have to risk the water anyway. And we might as well save this 'lev a tate' thing for the cliff as she kindly offers."
"Think it better if we look for a beach," Anklebiter says. "I'm a poor climber, me."
The Goblin proudly presents his monkey familiar. "Minky is a great climber, though! See?"
The monkey promptly responds by wriggling out of Anklebiter's hands and scuttling up Samaritha's leg and back, ending on her shoulder, where the little mammal chitters at her in a serious tone.
"Actually, save your spells, Sam," Bruendor says, removing the slippers he wears. "The magic in these should be able to get us all up the cliff, assuming we can get to it. That's the easy part. The hard part is, where do we go once we get back on the island? Zincher's men are probably being harried by these notlions from beyond the stars as well, and unless they've figured out that they hate salt, they're probably in as dire straits as we are. There might be an alliance of convenience there, but I can guarantee you that if we figure out how to either kill off these things or can make off with the skymetal, they'll slit our throats as soon as you like." He stroked his bare chin, lost in thought for a moment. "The eastern lighthouse might at least give us a chance to reconnoiter, find out the lay of the land, but we'll have to head to Zincher's camp sooner or later. We need to check out the point of impact. The damned indigos went to a hell of a lot of trouble to bring this thing down from the firmament. I want to know why."
"I'd rather not work with Zinchers men at all. They've tried to kill us on several occasions and if they don't know the notLions weakness then we can use that to our advantage. It does seem clear that we need to reach the star metal as quick as possible. This island has more inhabitants than one would expect, and I don't want to meet any more of them than necessary. Water would be an easier way of travel than the overgrown island, does anyone have the craft to make us a raft?"
"I agree with you, Kel, but if his men control access to the skymetal, then we've only got two real options. We either work with them, or we take them out. I've no love for Zincher, but I also don't see any reason to draw his ire any more than we have. Still, we don't know what's going on at the crater. If these things were pulled down here during Skyfall, the center might be teeming with them. We really need to find out what's going on there."
"As for a raft...not I. I worked with stone back in Janderhoff, not wood. Best I can do is swim back to shore."
"He deserves to be squished like a bug. If we can do it out here and leave his body to rot, so much the better."
"I sailed a little, but never mastered shipbuilding, or raft building for that matter." Lefrik confesses. As for Zircher, he nods at Calla's words.
"Don't know how to build rafts or boats," Anklebiter says, shaking his ears.
The Goblin visibly struggles with the next thing he says, but say it he does: "We... might have no choice but to work with Zincher. There's the Drow. The not-lions. Who knows what else came with the starmetal. Let's... let's go and see what the situation is. I don't like Zincher, but he's a you-man, not a purple ears or a squid-thing from the Dark Tapestry. I don't mind the thought of him dying here, but if we have to use him to save the world from another Dark Time, then... we have to. Yes?"
"Enough. Obviously we don't have anyone here who can build a raft. Let's just get to shore and figure out where we're going from there. I say we head for the crater and figure out what to do about Zincher when and if we find that piece of trash."
She pulls her bow and nocks and arrow.
"We'll go one at a time. I'll cover whoever wants to swim first."
"Um. Can I ride on someone's back?" Anklebiter asks, clearly embarrassed. "I don't swim so good..."
Lefrik bends down, "Get on my back then, Anklebiter. Just don't struggle when we swim and I should be strong enough to get us both across easily enough."
"Ah, how cute. Let's hope it doesn't turn out like the scorpion and the frog..."
Calla scans the water for any threats.
Anklebiter's head swivels to Calla as he clambers onto Lefrik's back.
"I consider all of you friends, Calla," he says, "so I would not be the scorpion to any of your frogs. You do insist on making that difficult some times, however."
"Let us get a little closer to shore before we get in the water." Kel extends a bridge of moonlight from the tower towards shore and walks out on it slowly while looking at the water below.
Calla scans the water's surface, but does not see any immediate threats. The burgeoning light of dawn doesn't really penetrate into the turbulent water.
Lefrik shrugged massive shoulders and slid into the water. Anklebiter climbed down, and after a little jostling for position, managed to hang on well enough not to hamper Lefrik too much.
Lefrik nods, "I trust you with my life Anklebitter, something I never thought I would say of any goblin it is true, but then, I doubt you ever thought you would be getting a ride from an Ulfen warrior. heh." He takes the moonlight bridge as far is it will go before plunging into the water with the goblin on his back and swimming.