Kel keeps watch as well, both for threats from above as well as from the sea.
Calla continued to scan the area around the top of the cliff for signs of danger as the others made the climb. There was nothing overtly hostile in the area, but the noises of the surrounding forest were subdued. Her skin practically itched to climb back down the cliff without the rest of her as first Bruendor, then Anklebiter, and finally Kelendra made it to the top without incident. The only one left below was Lefrik, who was going to have to make the ascent the hard way.
Taking his time, Lefrik climbs the cliffside the hard way, grabbing handholds and toe holds with care. The climb is hard, but not too difficult, and he makes his way to the halfway point in about ten minutes. The others, at the top of the cliffs, alternate between watching Lefrik's laborious climb and watching the forest and ruins of Witchlight. The place still has an ominous feel about it, and you are all too aware of how many of those "not-lions " were on the cliffs, attacking the tower, last night.
At the midway point, Lefrik grabs onto the rope and the going becomes much easier. It takes only half the time to cover the remaining distance, and he soon arrived at the top of the cliff. He rolled over the edge and blew heavily, rubbing sore muscles that hadn't been used that way in a long time.
Lefrik rubbed at his muscles, "Maybe I'm relying on magic too much, there was a time I could have done that and felt it less. The dangers of city living, I suppose." He looks about at their options, "Maybe we should take a path not so far from the waters? If the not lions come for us in such numbers again, the sea maybe our best protector."
"Nothing wrong with a little magic help," Anklebiter says. He hefts his waterskin, which sloshes with salt water. "Nothing wrong with other help, either. Sticking close to the water sounds good to me."
Yes, lets stay closer to the salt water, the water offers protection from the notLions and there may be more than the cluster we observed on this cliff's edge."
"[b]No argument here. Our seawaterskins will help, but shoving them off into the drink's probably a faster way to kill them. Either way, let's get moving. We'll need to find some sort of shelter by nightfall.[/ooc]"
"The water seems awfully far down; if we wanted to stay close to it, why'd we bother to climb up here? We might as well explore the village while we're here. Then head toward the western watchtower?"
"I have the Grease spell, too," Anklebiter says. "It might not be so hard to make those icky things slip off the edge and into the ocean."
"Fine, Calla, we'll try that. Let's explore the village and keep water spells handy." Lefrik takes a cautious lead and starts to head that way.
Kel follows Lefrik, as concerned about giant centipedes as she is about notLions. "Beware other creatures than the blue skinned slugs, this island is deadly!"
"Hm," Anklebiter agrees as he scurries along in Lefrik's wake. "But unless those notlions don't eat, they probably killed off a lot of the stuff that might have attacked us. Stupid predator-beasts are convenient like that. Sort of."
"Even if they don't eat, they're damned territorial. They might have killed or chased away many of the creatures we might have run across before their arrival."
"We're probably safe during the day. Let's worry about night when we get there. With our luck, we'll be dead first."
Calla gives a bitter half-smile at the last comment, possibly her attempt at a joke.
Lefrik shrugs, "So far, we have survived them. Sharks and falling stars, fiends and cut throats. I am not so foolish as to think we are invincible, but by the gods, we'll not go down easily when it is our time."
'I would trade many things right now for one of those legendary decanters of endless water in a Salt variety." Kel does her best to hover in the middle of the party, like a gazelle seeking safety in the middle of the pack. "Lets not waste sunlight, should we start with the most intact buildings?"
"Might as well start with the closest one," Calla mutters. "Be ready for anything."
Offering a quick orison to Calistria , the half-elf woman walks forward, senses searches for any signs of danger.
Anklebiter scampers along in Calla's wake.
"I be ready," he promises. "Ready to save your bacon."
The first building you come to seems to be completely empty. A portion of th eslate-covered roof has collapsed into ruins, but the rest of the house appears stable. Judging from the rubble, the collapse likely happened when the meteorite slammed into the island. From the outside, it appears to have once been a house, with two rooms inside.
Calla looked up to see a number of carrion birds circling overhead, though none appear to be on the ground. Odd, because she can see some bodies in the distance (around K4 on the map).
"We could stay here if we have to, though I wouldn't want to try to defend it from Not Lions."
"Beware the undead that the dwarf told us about, their own men attacked them after falling. Some of the mages dropped from the tower before we rolled from the cliffs, I hope their corpses haven't been infected?"
"You know," Bruendor says reluctantly. "This is going to sound remarkably insensitive, but it needs to be said. We need to find and put down these poor souls, not just because they're undead, but because it might shed some insight into what these notlions are. Keep your eyes peeled." He leads the group on to the next building, this time the one likely previously attached to the Witchlight itself .
"None of this looks very defensible. Let's see if we can't quickly search and then get out of here."
This place is about as safe as 'home.' Probably less likely to die here, though.
"Might as well take a closer look," Calla mutters. "May be something of use in there."
Moving quietly and cautiously, she moves into the rubble.
Lefrik considers going after her, but his stomping around might disrupt her attempts to move silently, he asks the others softly "Should we wait out here and listen for any screams?"
"Wait in doorway. Ready to leap in and help when necessary," Anklebiter suggests.
Kel huddles near Lefrik while glancing around with fear in her eyes. "This whole place gives me the creeps, Calla's right, we should search quickly then flee this area."
Lefrik gives Calla a reassuring smile, "Don't worry, as long as Calla's tongue still wags, she's got a dangerous weapon handy"
Calla finds nothing in the house but crumbled roof tiles. It looks as if the previous inhabitants, or scavengers, took everything with them. She doesn't get very far, however, before she realized that the structure was far less stable than it looked from the outside. She hurriedly backed out of the house before the entire place came down on her head.
"Nothing there but another disaster," Calla says as she emerges. "Amazingly, we managed to avoid it for a change."
She starts moving to the next place.
"Huh, something new happens everyday it seems."
anklebiter
kelendra
bruendor
calla
lefrik
enemies
The ruins of the watchtower's attached structure are almost nothing but rubble. Even walking near them was dangerous, as the collapsed cliff side undermined the ground around the area. Suddenly, Calla threw out her hand, simultaneously hitting Lefrik on the arm and pointing ahead to where some of the bodies lay. Two were no longer laying in the rubble, but were squatting on their haunches.
The ravaged bodies looked like the men they once were, though multiple broken bones, and savage tears across the exposed areas of their bodies made it difficult to identify specific features. Great lolling tongues thrashed out of their mouths, wickedly barbed and slime-covered. The lolling tongues are so large that the lower jaws appear to be completely missing.
Glancing back to make sure her companions are ready, Calla quickly pulls out an arrow, nocking it and sending it flying toward the creatures in a single move.
Anklebiter's face twists and spasms, the brands burned into it lining up to almost make sense. A wave of power erupts from the little Goblin to grant all the party members a little extra security.
Lefrik nods, "I swear, it's like the island decided that its monsters would out ugly the rest of the world's."
Rather than rush forward, he follows Calla's lead and attacks from range, hurling a javelin at the same target she did.
"More like Dark Tapestry decides to out-ugly all of Golarion," Anklebiter mutters, trembling slightly with tension.
Round 1
Kel prays for a blessing on her companions as she draws her crossbow. "Desna save us from this ugly island!"
Bruendor is lost in thought about the Notlions, wondering at whether a create water spell could be modified to create seawater rather than regular water. He misses the jawless forms before him until the others react, and settles into a defensive stance a bit too late.
Calla moved forward. drawing and loosing an arrow in a smooth motion. The arrow slammed into the leading creature, blasting through the decaying flesh of its torso. The arrow didn't seem to phase the creature, however, and it sprinted for Calla, letting out an unearthly howl as it did.
Protective magics flared into being around the group, as Anklebiter and Kelendra cast their spells. The zombie's attack bounced from Calla's magically enhanced armor, and its long barbed tongue lolled in the air as it attacked. Aroused by the howls of their brethren, two more zombies came loping into view, one from the rubble of a destroyed building.