Antona giggles. "Oh, Cookies! I'd almost forgotten about that! It seems like so long ago now, doesn't it?"
Victrix feels a wave of relief wash over her and she kisses Antona passionately on the lips.
"Love, I'm going to come back to you. And when I come back, I'd love it if we could have a house of our own together."
"Nothing would make me happier. I love you with all of my heart, Victrix. You'd better come back to me or I'm going to be very pissed!"
"I will. Cayden willing, I will."
With that, she gives Antona one last squeeze before moving off to rejoin the party.
Before they left, Kip gathered up his friends and met with Ramona. "Before we leave, I can see if the spirits will let me see Carver. It might give us a hint about how they're being held, or... if they haven't made it. It could help if we have one of his belongings too, or anything else that has ties to him to make the connection stronger."
Once the materials were gathered, Kip conjured water into a wide bowl and sat down in front of it and stared in. The water seemed to ripple for a moment then calmed to glassy stillness and began to refract the light in strange rainbows of color.
The water in the bowl shimmers as an image appears of Carver Hastings! The man is clad in rags and looks tired and malnourished. Several other people are crammed into what looks like a small prison cell, the walls and floor of which are coated with foul slime.
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After retrieving Carver's Wayfinder for Kip to use in the spell, Simon is ecstatic to learn that he and others are alive.
"That is fantastic news! We may be able to save them yet!" He hugs Kip, lifting him off the ground and spinning him around.
Setting Kip down, he blushes with embarrassment. "Sorry. I just assumed they were all dead by now."
Holding on to the Wayfinder for now, Simon slips it into his Haversack before heading to the boat.
Several of the colonists wave farewell as you set out from Talmandor's Bounty aboard the Peregrine's ship's boat. You take turns rowing the ship out of the bay and into the open ocean. It takes nearly eight hours to make it across the waters to the western island, but aside from a few stray showers in the afternoon, the journey is fortunately uneventful. The sun is beginning to set as you draw near the shore at the spot where you saw the flashes of light.
An ancient, square, stone tower stands in the sand at the water's edge. The tower's battlements show few cracks and little wear despite the construction’s apparent age, but the tower's upper stories have crumbled away, and only a broken stump and piles of rubble remain.
Just outside the building, you can easily spot a boat similar to the ship's boat you're on. Closer examination reveals the name Liberty's Herald engraved on its prow.
After studying the tracks, you move to investigate the tower. The tower's wooden double door has long since rotten away. A steel ladder in the courtyard leads up to the tower's battlements at the height of 20 feet. Millennia of erosion have caused the tower’s upper floor to collapse, and now only the crumbling remains of the lower floor remain.
Inside the tower, a large copper plaque mounted on the wall has a map carved into the layers of thick verdigris encrusted upon it. The map seems to have originally depicted a hilly region, but it has been modified to reflect the fact that the area became an island, carving a coastline around the parts of the region that are still above water and scratching out the numerous points of interest that were destroyed or claimed by the sea.
The lower half of the plaque has crumbled away, and what remains of the map shows only four locations on the northern half of the island. They are labeled "Watchtower III" in Azlanti, "Shipwreck + ENEMIES" in Aquan, "Home" in Aquan, and "Wheels of Heaven" in Azlanti. Furthermore, the words “Hollow Forest” have been carved in large letters in Aquan over the center of the map. The map itself is labeled Zanas-Tahn, an Azlanti name that translates roughly to “sacred hills.”
A sturdy square stone table sits against one wall, with a backpack atop it. As you approach the table, though, it splits open to reveal a mouth full of sharp teeth! The table speaks in Aquan!
This appears to be a mimic! These strange but clever creatures have learned the ability to transform themselves into simulacra of man-made objects, lying in wait for prey to happen by. They exude an adhesive that holds fast anything it touches, automatically grappling prey, who are unable to escape while the mimic lives. Weapons that strike the mimic also run the risk of getting stuck to it. Strong alcohol or universal solvent can dissolve their adhesive.
Mimics are immune to acid.
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Trying to keep his eyes off the map and its treasure trove of archeological information, Simon first attempts to deal with the guardian.
Holding up a closed fist to signal everyone to stay back, he responds in Aquan, using as malicious of a tone as he is able to manage.
Dismissing the question with a wave of his hand, Simon continues.
Now, we were told you would have orders for us. What are they?"
The monster roars and grows several tentacles that lash the air!
It smashes Simon with the tentacles, crushing him in its grasp as it draws him towards its gaping maw!
Ema was relieved to know that the real Carver was still alive, granted she may never have actually met the, but it was good none the less. As they began to explore this latest island and the tracks were pointed out to her Ema looked at them carefully as she tried to figure out what they were from.
Ema shook her head and said, "Sorry Simon, I'm not sure what these are from. I guess we'll find out soon enough thought."
When they reached the old tower and found the writing Ema was intrigued, when they found the talking table with teeth Ema felt very worried. That was just wrong on so many levels. She didn't have a good spell ready to deal with this thing, and she thought a summon might be overkill, so instead she drew out the wand and dropped a ball of fire right onto the thing.
Victrix growls and unlimbers her axe, moving up to the mimic and swinging as hard as she can!
Oorka and Kip quickly move to Simon's aid. Between the two of them, they completely heal the half-orc's wounds!
Simon stabs the mimic, leaving it sickened. It manages to heave its bulk away from the flaming sphere and its thick hide protects it from Victrix's axe.
The monster crushes Simon in its amorphous body, slowly squeezing the life out of him!
Victrix's anger boils over and she starts hacking at the beast in a fury!
Ema rolled the ball of fire into the mimic once more in the hopes of harming it this time and then sent a trio of magic missiles lancing out at it.
Oorka and Kip continue to keep Simon alive with healing magics. The half-orc scores another good hit, and Victrix lands a blow too, but her weapon sticks to the mimic's adhesive hide. The thing dodges the flaming sphere again, but Ema's magic missiles strike home, further wounding it. The mimic continues to crush Simon, hoping to win the war against his friend's healing magics.
Victrix stamps her foot in frustration as her axe sticks to the mimic, before stepping back, swiftly unlimbering her glaive, and swinging twice at it!
Ema knew that she had to use something more effective on this thing than the fire orb as it hadn't done much good so far. She rolled the orb onto the thing once more in hopes of getting some use from it before it fizzled out.
Seeing the thing dodge the flames again as they fizzled out Ema began casting a spell. She didn't have much available tat would be of use at the moment so she made do with what she had available. She drew upon her reservoir as she finished the spell and a quintet of magic missiles lanced out and slammed into the mimic.
This time, the mimic fails to avoid the flaming sphere. Ema blasts it with magic missiles as Simon and Victrix stab and slice the monster, and at last, it groans and sags to the floor, its form reverting into a shapeless, sticky lump. Simon remains stuck to its corpse for a minute or so, until the adhesive breaks down enough to release him.
When you finally get the chance to examine the backpack, it turns out to contain only a collection of smooth rocks. Searching through the rubble does turn up something more valuable: a ring of swimming.
Victrix finally calms down once the mimic dies.
"Simon!" She hurries over to him and pulls a healing potion from her bag to offer him.
"How ya feeling?"
Ema watched what they had just dealt with and decided this was going to be a very messy exploration. She had left a few spells unprepared in case they needed something specific and said, "So you are know I have a few more spells I can prepare today. I thought it would be a good idea to have them in case we need something I don't have ready today. If you have any suggestions tell me as it will take fifteen minutes to get them ready."
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Simon gratefully accepts the potion, taking his prepared CLW extracts as well.
Lying prone, waiting for the adhesive to dissolve, he sighs. "Much better now, thank you. Mimics...."
He shudders with the natural fear of any explorer of ruins. "Glad I had all of you at my back. I really thought I was a goner there.
I wonder what gave us away. I thought I was pretty convincing. Maybe it was just too unbelievable that a stalker would stay in human form? Too bad we'll never know what orders the thing had."
Simon has no suggestions for Ema. "I can't even imagine what might be coming for us today. This is unchartered territory now. I'm still trying to decide whether we are still explorers or something else."
Standing up, he goes over to the map, drawing as much of it as he can.
"These locations were marked for some purpose. We'll likely need to investigate each of them in order to find information on where the captives are. I suggest going to this shipwreck first. An Enemy to the stalkers might be a Friend to us."
The upper floor has collapsed, leaving nothing to find at the top of the tower.
You set out from the watchtower in the light of the setting sun, making your way north in order to circle around the Hollow Forest. You've traveled for about an hour or so when a high-pitched cry gets your attention. Stumbling out of the swampy undergrowth is a disheveled halfling woman, being chased by a massive mosquito, easily six feet in length!
With no suggestions as to additional spells Ema kept decided to keep the spells available for later preparation as they continued their journey. Things had been going well until they heard the scream and saw the small halfling being chased by a mosquito bigger than Ema was. Without waiting to see whether the thing was trying to harm the halfling or not Ema began to work her magic.
She focused her thought and her eyes flared as she drew on her reservoir and tore open a gate in the air above the giant bug. Fiving from the gate was an air elelmental, larger than the ones she'd some before, in the shape of a man sized bird that stooped into a dive at the bug. As it did Ema's eyes flared as she devoured the energy of one spell to refill her reservoir with more energy.
The strange halfling fumbles with what looks to be playing cards, tripping over roots and running as fast as her little feet can carry her. Finally having put some space between her and the mosquito, she chucks a card at its shadow, and its shadow rises up, grabbing onto its six thick legs.
"Oh please leave me alone, bug, I'm nothing more than a snack for you!" she howls, the discarded card rebounding back to her and shuffling itself back into her deck. She does not seem to notice the new arrivals.
Victrix throws herself at the mosquito, swinging her axe at it!
The mosquito resists the halfling's spell, but Ema's summoned elemental still slams into it, and Victrix slices into its body with her axe! Buzzing angrily, the giant insect stabs its proboscis at the aasimar. Fortunately, Victrix easily sidesteps its attack.
Victrix swings again!
Victrix slices the mosquito apart with two chops of her axe! With the danger passed, you can turn your attention to the halfling.
The halfling yelps and ducks behind a tall tree. "Uhhhhhh, uhhhhhh, Lamity! Uh, no, Calamity! Calamity Burrows!" she squeaks, peeking out at the group and muttering under her breath. "The cards didn't tell me nothin about this, no ma'am. "
"Are y'all them, uh, them, them things?" she accuses, fumbling once more with her deck. "Cause I'm not, I'm not goin back. You can't make me."
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Simon lowers his sword a little and continues to look over Calamity, wondering how they can possibly be sure of her identity.
He attempts to query her with some false information. "Of course, Calamity, I remember you. I remember sharing the boat ride from Andoren with you.
I probably bored you and everyone else on the trip with my plans for writing the definitive book on Azlanti civilization. What was the name of that ship again?"
Simon attempts to look nonchalant, as if the question has little import.
With the threat of the mosquito dealt with and the halfling save Ema turned her glare on Simon as he confronted the small woman they had just saved. Simon, quit being so harsh, it's obvious she's terrified,"[/b] she left any comment of who was scaring her now off of her statement letting Simon read between the lines.
Ema looked to Calamity as her elemental flew over to swirl around her making Ema's hair and abbreviated clothing to billow in its passing. "I'm Ema," she said,"and you're safe. Well safe for now at least." She considered what the small woman had said and then asked curiously, "You said you won't go back to those 'things'? What did you mean? Are there others still trapped with them?"
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Simon sniffs at Ema. "Well, you certainly are the expert on sniffing out faceless stalkers, aren't you?
If you won't let me verify that she isn't a stalker herself, then you can be the one to share a room with her."
Simon slams his sword back into the scabbard and turns on his heel. My efforts never have been appreciated around here. Why do I even bother?
Ema paled at Simon's words as her eyes widened in shock. She knew he could be brusque and a jerk but she never expected what he just said to her. Her elemental hovered around her but ceased it's play as it picked up on her distress and looked like it was glaring Simon in a vengeful desire to attack what had hurt it's summoner.
Ema seemed to move automatically as she lashed the palm of her hand out at Simon's cheek in a slap before she turned and stormed off to get some distance back the way they came. The elemental gave the half-orc a glare and flew off in pursuit of Ema. She didn't go far but she did get just out of sight before she leaned back against a tree and began to cry again. The elemental, for it's part, swooped down and tried to get her to play with it. When she ignored it's attempts the elemental began to swoop around and entertain itself by chasing birds and rustling the silly plants and chasing animals that couldn't fly while Ema slid to the ground, sat, and cried.