Winter speaks the truth Mercus. How far is it to the crash site? We dont want to show up there bruised, battered and bushed and find a horde of hungry alkatas. Keep practicing hitting that tree with your mace for now.
Caterine relaxes with her back to the earth and eyes outwards. If requested she takes a place in the watch order, if not she lets her thoughts slow and drift into slumber.
Anyone seen that damn Corvax?
... I'm gonna strangle that sorry excuse for a soldier if I ever see him again...
Kabal will insist on first watch and leave the darkest hours to those who can see better in them.
Ok sir, no rushing, be prepared, plant a tree, then hit the tree with a mace!
Mercus grins and rolls out his bedroll, he will take the same watch as Kabal.
Meanwhile Samaritha moves over to Bree, without saying anything she just looks at the bluff.
Once the watches are posted, Winter gets some sleep ahead of his midnight vigil. He awaits the mornings trip to the crash site with enthusiasm.
The typically dour mercenary couldnt help but chuckle as Mercus was learning a little something from all of them and adding it all together.
...should ask Bree to show him how to be all sneaky like as well...
His watch done; Kabal will grab some much needed rest. He was looking forward to the morrow and seeing where this huge rock hit down.
Bree looks up as Samaritha settles in next to her, she continues to eye her warily from the corner of her eye for a moment before accepting it as some odd gesture of friendship people are prone to expressing. Her eyes resume their roaming as they sit in silence.
Watching Samaritha cross camp to sit with Bree, Sebastian at least has the decency to wonder how worried Lara must be right now, and how mundane the activities at the Goblin seem in light of what they have found here.
will take the last watch, and admire the sunrise on the bay. So much water and yet the meteor landed here. I wonder if it truly is connected to what the Drow are up to?
You don't have to be paranoid to expect the worst when camping next to a cave inhabited by bloodthirsty drow - however, the morning dawns peacefully and Sebastian was right to take the last watch so he is able to see the rose sun rise over the waterline.
Mercus wakes up as Korax lands next to him and yawns audibly
Five minutes...only five minutes... he stammers drowsily.
Caterine awakes to stretching and contemplation and awaits the group to move off so she can follow.
Kabal awoke with a sore back...probably from lugging that damn crate of steel all the way here... and promptly spit the nights phlem from his mouth before washing his face with some spare water...I could really use a shave...He caught a whif of himself as well...and a bath...but it'll have to wait...
Let's not waste any time. I'm all for getting this messy business over and off of this god forsaken rock.
With some strange and unnerving misgivings you begin your short journey to the crater site. As you come slowly nearer fallen trees and loose soil make travelling really hard and you are reduced to half your speed. It's a ghastly landscape before you all black and grey and the air full of dust of the burnt trees. Even the sun is obscured here and the only animals that have not been reduced to charred remains are the purple vultures that circle at the sky above you.
Feeling a bit refreshed, with a least his arcane power restored, Sebastian follows along, an eye out for Akatas, an d anything that might relate to the earlier habitation of the island.
Kabal struggled on the uneven ground and this caused him no end of annoyance. The slower they went the longer they'd be on the island. Not that he had anything to rush back to it just seemed like certain death here. He adjusted the extra weight of the long sword on his back and kept his eyes peeled on the shattered land.
Perception -
Perception
Simultaneously Kabal and Winter stop as they spot a large pack of akatas about 500m away. There are about 50 of this creatures on a black hilltop and while they seem lazy and relaxed you know how well this creatures can explode into action.
Following Kabal's shocked gaze Mercus whistles and grabs his mace tighter
Ten for each of us, eh?
Once Bree sees what has drawn everyone's attention, she mumbles a quiet "Bloody hell" while silently drawing too blades.
"Move around them and stay out of sight, if any of them straggle off give them a quick and clean death before they alert the others"
Involuntarily feeling the wounds suffered during her last encounter with one of these beasts... Caterine clearly knows that there are too many there for conflict. She swallows the fear and follows Winter's lead.
Kabal didnt like the look of this pack at all...theres just too damn many of them...
Keep it down. Ten each is about nine each too many but I applaud your spirit. Any one see a way to skirt around them?
Winter notices a slope of grey ash leading into a hollow out of sight of the waiting akatas. Quickly you all descend into it and soon the monsters are blocked from your view and you from theirs.
As you march on you suddenly notice large portions of strange porose stone that glistens like ice lying in the ashen ground. There are small cavities all over its surface and you think that this could be a part of the meteor Sebastian spoke of.
"What is this rock? Is this the stuff people clamour for"
Caterine edgily scans the edges of the hollow above... the lack of ability to see far is making her anxious. She doesn't show overmuch interest in the rocks.
Sebastian goes to collect a sample, careful at first not to touch it with his bare hands, but anxious to see if the star metal has any obvious properties.
Sebastian is spellbound at once by the material - he remembers that the academic name of starmetal is noqual and that it is extremely light, protects vs magic and has lots of other positive abilities!
A sword made of this metal is worth at least 5k gp he recollects!
Meanwhile Caterine has checked the hollow surface and found two or three burnt akata larvae - the monsters must have reached Golarion in a state of prenatal slumber.
"Well a few of us could gather this material whilst others keep watch. I will maintain a vigil here with Kabal, perhaps Sable your companion could remain overhead to give us even better fair warning if anyone or anything approaches?"
Bree seems to be a bit confused by her current situation. Although she tends to find herself in plenty of it, she's not usually one to go looking for trouble. Not without a real good reason. Which brings her to feel quite confused as to why Winter would lead them on a hunt to find the blue beasts, creatures she thinks we would all be much better off avoiding...
She's not about to separate from the group though, so she holds her ground and waits for the inevitable attack.
Caterine continues her nervous fidgeting, murmuring under her breath in Elvish "Ce n'est pas bon" until she spies the fried akatas... Sidling up to Winter she gives the holy warrior a nudge and points them out "Looks like this meteor was the carriage the buggers rode in on..."
"Well that explains their arrival, and their confinement. I'm hoping there is enough of this material around for us to either build the weapons and armour we need to face our foes, or enough profit in it for us to be able to purchase those tools to aid us. I also appreciate that to date my comrades haven't exactly turned over too many coins whilst following me on some of my monor crusades and whilst they haven't quibbled about it, not one sylable, I feel it right to stand vigil so that this rock falling from the heavens above can be harvested by them. Perhaps there's some profit in this venture for them yet."
"It's a little hard to get them to sit still and hear about the path to redemption and salvation when the growling in the bellies drowns out my words eh?"
"Aye, money can be a sweet enough reward if you can get it... but an unbroken skin is also. This place does not sit well with me..." Caterine grows silent a few moments before continuing "You follow the Elkfather?" waiting for a sign of assent before following with "I had thought his flock to more often be stuck to their hearth with taproots deep rather than feet wandering in places such as this..."
"It doesn't sit well with me either, however I still have a preference for it over that cave. Whilst we now have better tools for the job we are sadly lacking in knowledge, at least if there is going to battle here it is one we well understand the workings of. As long as the creatures don't roam far we may remain well undetected"
"Anyhow it is true that His followers normally do stay close to hearth, home, and family, we must remember that our duty is also to be stewards and wardens of our gardens, our communities. If this is the wolfs lair that threatens my community, then it falls to me as a steward to remove the threat and restore the peaceful order. It appears that for this hunter there is a wide plain to roam."
"Ce n'est pas bon"
Once the star metal is pointed out to Bree, she feels a lot less confused and a lot more like a Riddleport native as she begins gathering the metal as quietly and as swiftly as she can.
Sebastian puts his sample into his pack. He puts a few more in there and then gathers some for those willing to carry some of the ore.
"It's surprisingly light. It's called noqual. It is said to offer protection against magic, something likely useful against these Dark Elves. It has other uses too, but I will need to read up. But oh yeah...this is what the greed is about. A sword made of this stuff is worth about 5,000 gold pieces."
The large lump of noqual has several cracks so that you can easily divide it into pieces with the following weight
10 pounds
7 pounds
5 pounds
3 pounds
3 pounds
2 pounds
As Sable commands Korax to check the lay of the land from above the raven stoically remains on his shoulder and sqawks
Not fly up to the purple vultures, too many of them.
Perception -
Kabal had been keeping a vigilant guard while the others harvested...harvested? im sounding like Winter now... the strange rocks. He could hardly believe that this stuff came from space. But he nearly choked when Sebastian made claims to its worth.
5000 gold Sebastian? I can carry quite a bit I suppose.
Nodding at Winter's words she replies "The good shepherds guard not just the flock but the fields beyond them."
Caterine lends her shoulders to carrying what burden the group sees fit...
When Bree sees that Kabal is not gathering the star metal as well, she begins stuffing it into his pack for him.
"Almost?!" There is a definite scowl on her face as she parrots back Sable's "almost".
As you move closer to the centre of the crater you suddenly hear curses in a harsh yet melodic tongue - a language you only know too good by now.
Behind a small lift you spot a group of five drow around a wagon with several akata cages and sacks of noqual on it. The caught aliens have some minor wounds but none of them is close to death. The five males seem to be soldiers or hunters of some sort armed with nets and spears. Their wagon got obviously stuck in the ashy ground and they can't push it any further with the heavy cages on it.
Mercus grins and loads his crossbow
So?