Tobar aims and takes his best shot from the window.
"This village is overrun with monsters!" Weyve gasps.
Weyve shoots his crossbow as well, but in his haste aims too high.
Gideon hits the choker in the arm with his arrow, while Gideon's bolt grazes its side! It shrieks in pain and thrashes around, causing Weyve's bolt to go over its head. Calvin jumps through the window and slashes at it, but his blade is turned aside by its thick, rubbery skin.
Caught off-guard, the drunk creature is slow to react!
Gideon waits until after Calvin can get a slash in and take a step backwards to not interfere with his own shot, and if the thing is still alive, looses another arrow at it.
Tobar reloads and fires again, hoping for a killing shot.
Calvin will take a swing and if the thing still stands, take a 5 foot step back away.
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Weyve frantically reloads his crossbow, nearly dropping it. He has never shot it at a living intelligent creature before today.
He manages to get the string cranked back and drops another bolt in the slot.
"Come on, Weyve, you can do it."
Calvin slashes at the choker again, but the attack goes over the creature's head. He steps back, letting the others get a clear shot on the monster. While Gideon misses, both Tovar and Weyve find their mark. The oracle's bolt in particular is well aimed, burying itself in the creature's chest. It groans as it slumps to the floor, dying.
"Good shot!"
Weyve looks down at his crossbow with surprise. Then he looks back up and smiles.
"What is this thing? Could it have anything to do with the disappearances?"
Weyve looks around the room to try and figure out what it was doing here. Or if there are any survivors hidden somewhere.
The interior of the house is comparable to the other private homes in Talmandor’s Bounty. It contains only simple wooden furniture and an assortment of common household and personal items, though most have been smashed or overturned. One of the barrels of ale is still mostly full.
Weyve finds the squeaky floorboard that Gideon stepped on earlier. Curious, he pulls it up to reveal a hollow beneath the floor. Concealed therein is a finely crafted longsword, with a grip wrapped in green leather and gold wire, glowing with a pale emerald light. The workmanship and engravings on the blade and hilt are not similar to any made in the Inner Sea region.
"It's called a choker... though from what I know they're almost always underground. As I'm sure you can guess, they have a fondness for strangling their prey." Gideon says, lightly nudging the corpse with his foot, as if not trusting it to stay dead. He kneels and, just to be sure, turns the creatures head to the side and plunges his dagger into its temple.
"I don't think this would be the reason for the disappearance of the first colonists... no more so than those ankhegs would be, anyway."
"Give me a few minutes before we move on. I'm going to sketch the colony's layout and mark where we've looked and what we've found. It may prove important intelligence down the road."
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Weyve looks at the glowing weapon with shock.
"A glowing sword... do you think the Choker was drawn here by it?"
Weyve examines the engravings, trying to decipher them.
He then murmurs something unintelligible and touches his eyes with his fingertips. His eyes start to glow a faint blue.
"Friends, have a look at this sword. What do you make of it?"
The symbols are in Azlanti, representing power and strength. Weyve is unable to determine the sword's magical properties at this time.
"It's probably magic. Can I see it?" Calvin asks.
If offered the sword, he will take it in hand and give a few practice swings with it a few steps away from anyone in case something happens.
Tobar shakes his head and says, "I dunno, but let's not get hung up here, in case there are other monsters still about."
Weyve is a little leery of the sword, unsure of what the green glow does. He doesn't want to touch it, but concentrates and reaches out with his thoughts...
And nothing happens.
"Oh! I have a spell for lifting things at a distance, but it doesn't work on things that are magical."
"The sword has the words 'Power' and 'Strength' on it. So it's probably safe to use."
Weyve jumps down and picks up the sword. He gingerly hands it to Calvin.
The sword is exceptionally well-balanced, and Calvin feels he would be able to attack with greater accuracy. Nothing else unusual seems to happen though.
"I am still hoping we might find a survivor... maybe someone who hid and escaped the notice of whoever did this. With no witnesses it is a real puzzle as to what happened."
"Clearly there are a lot of dangerous creatures in the region, but I think they must have moved in when they found this place abandoned."
"Let's have a look at the fort area. Then we'd better get back to the ship and report in."
"I would agree...if there were any witnesses to whatever caused this disappearance, surely they'd have been killed by these creatures we've seen. Another thing that's odd here...we haven't seen any animals. Both grindylows and chokers are abberations, while ankhegs are magical beasts. There have been no ordinary, normal animals. Not yet, at least." he remarks.
"That sword is indeed quite the find. Especially with the Azlanti engraving on it. You're welcome to use it as far as I'm concerned, Calvin. You seem much handier with melee weapons than I would be."
"The sword is nice. I'll keep using it if you don't mind." he says. Calvin likes the feel of it in his hand.
"It seems like everyone's gone, but lets check the interior buildings to be sure. We will need to clear out the chokers if there are more."
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Weyve tries to think if he has heard of a sword like this before.
"I hope there are no more of those chokers. But there's only one way to find out."
He begins heading towards the fort area.
The south side of the palisade fence is the only finished side. A large gate set in the fence can be barred from within. The gate is open, however, and the large wooden bar leans against the fence.
You enter the palisade and look around the heart of the colony. In the center is a public well. The water is clean and potable, and the rope and bucket are still intact. Just southwest of the well is a wooden scaffold with a set of steps. It looks suitable for use as a platform to address a large crowd. North of the scaffold is the remnant of a well-used community fire pit surrounded by stones, large enough for a reasonably sized bonfire. Most of the ashes in the central fire pit have been rained on repeatedly and are now mixed in with the soil. It is clear that no fire has been lit here for weeks.
Several buildings of various sizes are inside the palisade. The air is still and silent.
You look more closely at the buildings around. Starting clockwise from where you entered the palisade, they appear to be a large house; a chapel; a smithy; a tool house; provisions storage; barracks; a two-story governement building; and a log cabin with the name "Arkley" carved into a sign next to the doorframe. Rayland Arkley is the name of the leader of the first group of colonists to arrive.
After the group examines the large central fire pit, Gideon kneels to handle the ashes, just to further confirm their age. Huffing out a breath, he rises again, looking at all the buildings around them.
"Well...with no clear direction, I say we start at the house house over there, with Arkley's name carved by the door, then work our way around counter-clockwise until we get to that big house by the chapel."
The name “Arkley” is carved into a wooden sign nailed next to the doorframe of this log cabin. A single, closed door faces northwest, and the structure has two wooden-shuttered windows. The architecture is otherwise the same as many of the other buildings.
The inside of the house stands in contrast to most of the other buildings in the settlement in that it is relatively organized and tidy. It contains plain wooden furniture, with simple amenities such as wall racks for weapons and armor, a modest dining table and chairs, and a sitting chair with a makeshift cushion and footstool. A separate bedroom features a wooden bed frame and pallet mattress, a boot rack, and a large unlocked chest of folded clothes and other personal items. The entire house is a study in normalcy, though the dust coating most surfaces indicates that nobody has been here for several weeks.
As you search the house, Tobar glances upward and spots the corner of a folded parchment resting on top of a crossbeam, nine feet above the floor.
Weyve finds a silver pocket watch in the cushions of one of the chairs. Such timepieces are rare in the Inner Sea region, and this one also functions as a compass. Study of the symbols on the watch’s face indicates it is of original Azlanti design, and it is amazingly still in working order.
Additionally, Gideon finds a traveling spellbook tucked under the mattress in the bedroom. Twenty-nine pages have been used, with twenty-one blank pages remaining. Inside the front cover is an arcane mark that reads, “Hendrake.” A spell component pouch is tied to a brass ring bound into the spine of the book.
"Look, up there," says Tobar. He points to the paper up in the rafters. "Hang on, I'm gonna see if I can get that."
Tobar drops his buckler, moves the chair over to the crossbar, stands on the chair, jumps up and grabs the crossbeam, then hauls himself up onto it and crawls to where he can get the paper.
Having snagged the paper, he jumps back down and rolls as he hits the ground.
Finally, he picks his buckler back up, then passes the paper to Gideon. "You're a scholar - what've we got here?"
The parchment is actually four sheets that have been folded together and tightly creased. When unfolded, it proves to be the Talmandor’s Bounty colony charter. This legal document declares the island and the colony to be under the protection of the nation of Andoran, outlines the colony’s relationship to the Bountiful Venture Company, and enumerates the rights and responsibilities of all colonists. It bears the sealed signature of three members of the People’s Council, representatives of the Bountiful Venture Company, and every colonist that came aboard the Liberty’s Herald. The four of you signed a similar document before departing Almas.
Calvin will keep looking around while they examine the charter. He's worried there are more monsters about.
Coming into the main room with the others after having explored the small bedroom, he looks over to Weyve at hearing his name. "Hmm? What did you find?"
After getting the story, he nods and opens the folded parchment. After seeing the contents, he frowns slightly. "This looks very similar to the charter we all signed at the beginning of this journey. The colony is under Andoran protection, rights and duties of the colonists, things like that. I can't imagine why such... mundane legal document would be hidden nine feet off the floor. Maybe there's some hidden aspect of it we can't yet divine." he says aloud to the others.
"I would suspect that the occupant of this cabin was a wizard and therefore would have had the ability to cast, at least." hee adds, showing the spellbook he found to the others. In front of them, he opens the spell component pouch that was with the book, examining its contents to see if he can at least identify what spells their owner had last prepared.
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"This charter also shows all the people that came here on the first ship. So we know how many people are missing."
Weyve looks at the charter and counts the names.
"And look at this watch I found! I am almost certain it dates from the Azlanti period, but somehow it still works! Do you realize how old that makes it? It also has a compass! Perhaps it has some enchantment that allows it to resist corrosion."
Weyve's eyes begin to glow faintly blue as he examines the watch.
"Everything left behind... another sign pointing to an abduction."
"While abduction is always a possibility, it would certainly be one of unusual circumstances. No signs of struggle or anything. It's as if they all teleported away suddenly or just...collectively got up and walked into the jungle."
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The spell component pouch has a wide variety of ingredients. It's too difficult to tell what spells its owner might have prepared, though those in the book are all of relatively low potency.
The watch does not radiate magic.
"There are spells that charm the mind... perhaps something like that was used. It's hard to imaging the whole colony falling under such a spell though."
"Let's keep moving."
You head to the next building counterclockwise. This wooden-framed, mud brick structure is currently the colony’s only two-story building, as well as one of the largest structures. It has the appearance of a rural courthouse or city hall rather than that of a residence. The front features a small porch supported by rough log pillars, with double wooden doors facing west. Numerous window frames with shutters, some of them open, wrap around the building on both floors. The roof is not thatched, but has wooden shakes instead. The construction suggests this building was intended to be a source of community pride, but it still has a rough, unfinished appearance due to lack of paint and coarse materials. A few small shrubs have been planted around it.
Through the main doors is a foyer opening to a large chamber that occupies most of the main floor. This room is open to the second floor, and two flights of stairs lead to a gallery that overlooks this space, supported by columns on the main level. At the rear of the chamber against the east wall is a raised desk, like a podium. Tables and chairs are arrayed in front of it like a courtroom. The gallery above has simple wooden chairs so that citizens can observe whatever business is conducted here. Doors at the north and south ends of the main floor lead to what appears to be separate offices.
Before moving to the next building, Gideon safely tucks the charter document away into his backpack, within the pages of his journal, and quickly makes note of the building on the map he started drawing in the aforementioned record.
"Hmm..based on the construction it would seem that this building was one of the last to be put up, though of course that's only conjecture since we haven't seen the rest of the colony yet. I can only imagine a formal courthouse being fairly low on the list of buildings requiring construction, anyway. Certainly lower than residences. I would imagine even a jail of some sort would precede a courthouse." Gideon observes in a whispered voice, not from any sense of reverence, but from the mere fact that he would assume the structure contained enemies somewhere until it was confirmed otherwise.
Seeing the doors at opposite ends of the main room, Gideon gestures to them for the others. He approaches the door to the south, stepping carefully and quietly, and presses his ear to it.
Tobar stands about 10' back from Gideon and keeps him covered.
"Courthouse? Town Hall? A combination of purposes perhaps?"
Weyve begins searching the building but keeps his crossbow ready.
"There may be more documents here, if we need them. I'd love to find some kind of journal of events, even if it didn't have the final event that caused the disappearance."
As Gideon and Weyve carefully approach a door, they notice movement in the gallery above. A tiny steel creature peeks from behind the railing, one oversized eye set into its spherical body. Its spiderlike legs skitter softly as it shifts position, trying to keep you in sight while also trying to remain hidden.
Gideon catches sight of the thing out of the corner of his eye. He looks directly at it out of reflex, but immediately turns his attention to the others, as if about to speak to them, when he suddenly turns his shortbow against the creature!
"Kill it! It's a spy!"
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"Could it tell us what happened here?"
"No! Destroy it!"
Before the construct realizes what's going on, Gideon shoots an arrow right in its eye! It shrieks and convulses for a few seconds before exploding in a tiny fireball!
Gideon releases a long, slow breath of relief after the construct explodes, looking to the others. "Sorry for doing that with no warning, but I recognized it and didn't want to give it another moment of watching; it was a clockwork spy...a mindless construct. They can record sounds, things like conversations, and then report back to their creator to have it played back. Forgive me for not trying to capture the thing, but they're quick little buggers...best chance to keep it from getting away was surprising it."
"There's no way of knowing how long it's been here...it's a distinct possibility, though, that it spied on the original colonists. Only way to know for sure is to track down whoever made it...thankfully, though, that one will not be going home inform its master of a new presence here."
"I take it we can't get it to play back it's memories now then."
"Any of you know how to follow tracks?"
"Eh, a bit. What did you have in mind?" says Tobar. He hefts his crossbow back to a carrying position. "I've done some hunting in my time."
"Ah- We could see where that spy thing came from if we can follow its tracks."
"That's not a skill I ever picked up though."
"Ehh... just one problem." Calvin observes. "That thing's tiny, I doubt it left any tracks that we could see."