"I suspect this bridge is losing its integrity," says Hana. "Do we have another length of rope that I can carry with me as I cross, so we can secure it on both ends, just in case?"
She steps carefully onto the bridge.
"Here," Lawdrak grunts, digging in his pack and producing a coil of rough, hempen rope. He hands one end to Hana, and looks for a site to tie off on this end.
"I'll send Sharpmaw over next," he adds.
"Oooh... it's a big one."
Estietre steps back and begins working her hands together.. conjuring and forming a ball of mud.
"We've faced greater threats before!" Dereje says as he moves into point-blank range of the over-sized lizard. He draws his pistol and fires his pre-loaded shot.
ShArpmaw advances along the bridge. Lawdrak holds.
A slight frown creases Hana's face as she turns and starts carefully making her way back across the bridge.
""
"Bit bigger than the last one..." Lawdrak adds, rather unnecessarily...
Adara is set to try and cross, but when she sees Hana beginning to retreat before Sharpmaw has successfully navigated the bridge, she calls out.
"Mizu no Hana, do you think we should retreat? What do you see that we cannot?"
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As the Shiv Dragon lumbers toward Dereje, Estietre lobs a ball of mud at the creature, coating its face in thick, sticky mud.
The dragon continues on, seemingly undeterred, before biting at the paladin. Fortunately for Dereje, Mum's glob of mud had done the trick as the dragon's teeth chomp down on nothing more than air.
Hana calls back to Adara, "Another one of those big hungry lizards! Bigger than the last one!"
Hana takes advantage of the momentary blindness of the big lizard to move into a position opposite Dereje.
(-2 if not flanking)
Sharpmaw gives a loud, hissing roar and runs forward, bouncing somewhat ominously on the rope bridge, and engages the lizard with her snapping jaws.
Lawdrak, seeing his companion tear off into battle, draws breath to call out to his scaly friend, but just shakes his head in resignation.
He ties off the rope Hana had been stretching across the bridge, and moves out onto it himself.
Estietre mutters a quick arcane phrase and points her finger at the beast - firing a thin ray of ice.
After missing, she readies her spear and moves up alongside Dereje.
Seeing that the giant lizard is almost entirely surrounded, Dereje decides against reloading his pistol and draws his cutlass instead. Nodding to Hana, he attempts to hack at the shiv dragon with his silver blade.
Adara tenses up waiting to spring into action once Lawdrak has cleared the bridge.
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The combined distractions of Hana at the dragon's opposite side and the mud still clinging to its face allows Dereje's strike to bite into the dragon's side.
The dragon shakes its head vigorously, dislodging the mud, before snapping at Estietre and latching viciously onto the the wizardess's leg.
Estietre grits her teeth and tries to pull free.
"Oof... painful.... Kainey! Attack!"
The tiny treant on her shoulder drops to the ground and lies flat to appear as a small mundane branch.
Trying to keep the lizard surrounded, Sharpmaw weaves to the side and bites
Not quite daring to run flat-out on teh bridge, Lawdrak advances toward the fight.
"Release her, you damned lizard!" Dereje demands as he swings his blade at the shiv dragon ineffectually.
Hana cuts hard at the lizard, scree shifting underfoot as she twists her hips to make an arcing draw cut in hopes of slicing it badly enough to get it to release Estietre.
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Seeing Lawdrak reaching land on the other side of the gorge, Adara hustles across the rickety rope bridge as quickly as she can.
Sharpmaw narrowly misses her bite and Dereje's strike goes wide, but provide enough of a distraction for Hana to land a significant strike - cutting deep into the shiv dragon's side.
The dragon releases Estietre from its grasp and turns its attention toward Hana, snapping at the samurai-ko, but missing.
Lawdrank continues to hurry forward.
Sharpmaw circles around to take advantage of the creature's attack on Hana.
Shapmaw shakes the inert creature once for good measure, then lets it drop. With a glance around at his human and his friends - Anyone else want a bite? No? - she tears our a large chunk and backs away, chewing messily, before raising her head almost straight up to take an enormous swallow.
Adara rushes to Mum's side and allows the power of fire to burn away the wizard's pain. The feel of the heat coursing over and within the body is one which often causes a feeling of panic in many that are unused to such experience. The oracle feels no concern for this as she goes about her work, confident that it is the will of the goddess to whom she has pledged her life. She imagines the recipient will discover a calm within their soul as they are touched by holy fire. The flame knits their bones and stitches closed their skin. What a miracle Adara is able to manifest on behalf of her faith!
Besides, one imagines Mum is probably very well versed in the strange sensations magic brings regardless of its source.
"This island certainly intends our stay to be anything but boring. Of that, I have no doubt," Adara states wryly as her gaze lands on Sharpmaw's current meal.
Hana flicks her sword to one side, then sheathes it.
"Quite so," she says in response to Adara's comment. "Is the bite poisoned? If not, are we all well enough to make our way across the bridge?"
Adara looks at the bridge then looks at the samurai and frowns.
"Are you sure you're alright, Mizu no Hana? We have crossed the bridge already with a purpose. There is no need to turn back."
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The castaways press on through the late afternoon and into the early evening eventually arriving at the Red Mountain.
This low mountain is the highest point on the entire island. Barren of vegetation, the jagged rise of rust-red stones juts from the earth like an immense scar, providing a vertiginous view of the surrounding blue of the seemingly endless ocean.
Looking around from your new vantage point, you can see the lighthouse near the Thrunefang village off in the far distance, the tell-tale sign of the pit where you found the treasure Ishirou had told you about, along with a number of other landmarks you have discovered during your exploration.
One thing that does catch your eye that you had not seen before is a series of four jagged stone monoliths, protruding from the edge of the bluff to the southwest.
Hana reaches the rise of the ridge and pauses at the top, hands on her hips, as she slowly turns and surveys the island. She shields her eyes with one hand and looks out over the ocean. Then, finally, she turns to point at the set of standing stones and says, "What is that?"
Estietre smiles, points, and responds in a mildly didactic tone... "Those, my dear, would be the menhir depicted in the carvings... we are in the right place." She tsks "It will be dark soon."
"Then we should make haste," the oracle suggests in her usual no-nonsense tone.
"Let's press on."
"Hm. We should approach with caution, then," Dereje suggests when Mum mentions the carvings.
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The castaways begin their slow descent off of the Red Mountain and proceed to trudge their way through the jungle to the stone monoliths seen from the mountain's peak.
Four stone monoliths appearing as jagged stalagmites of rock protrude from the grass at the edge of this bluff. A weathered, snakelike rune is carved into the inner face of each of these stones, all facing a three-foot-high pyramid-shaped block of stone at the center of the four surrounding spires. The vegetation and soil surrounding this pyramid has been trimmed back and excavated to expose the strange block fully to view. The peak of the central pyramid has a cup-shaped indentation—channels run down the four sides into empty basins at the base of the pyramid.