As Leah moves off towards the barracks, Zaszy turns to the others. "We should all stay in pairs," he orders.
"Tyran, Kogril, you two search zat way." He points towards the gate at the far end of the compound . "Specifically, check zose guard towers, as well as zat and zat building... and whatever zat road leads to." Aside from the towers , he indicates two structures and the path leading to a third ) as he speaks.
"Names Mean Little, we will search zis way." He points more to the right. With his piece spoken, Zaszy begins making his way around the internal palisade , ultimately towards the east fence, checking various buildings along the way .
roll + WIS + rank + class skill
Investigate A10
roll + WIS + rank + class skill
Investigate A14
roll + WIS + rank + class skill
Obfuscate the truth
roll + CHA + WIS + rank + class skill + favored class + racial (beguiling liar) + trait (fast-talker) + untyped (art of deception) + untyped (careful speaker) + untyped (skill focus) + untyped (deceitful) + competence (mask of stony demeanor)
Tyran descends from the tower and begins coiling his grappling hook rope back up, "Understood, sir. Didn't see any particular signs of violence from up there, and judging by the supplies left there, I don't think the guards fired a shot. It's like they just got up and left. There were some dead chickens around the well, looks like it might have been recent. I'll check it out on our way over, see if we can't find the source."
Tyran begins down the main avenue, towards the well, scanning constantly for any new threats. Assuming he makes it to the well without interruption, he inspects the carcasses to try and determine how they were killed. Afterwards he inspects the nearby ground for any signs of recent tracks.
But the creature's bloody meal provides other clues. There are tracks of dried blood on the ground in the shape of broad, five-toed feet. Likewise, there are bloody handprints on the well, far too many unless there was more than one killer. Or if the killer had more than the normal pair of hands.
In the past, Tyran has seen captive Girallons on display in traveling circuses, giant four-armed apes that were said to come from the heart of the jungle. It appears that their range is closer to home than Tyran thought.
After some more searching, Tyran sees that the tracks lead off towards the kitchen (A4). He also hears someone scream, and it doesn't sound like the angry roars of the girallon he remembers.
As Zaszy passes by the gate of the internal palisade, he checks inside. From what he can see out here, the vault where the crystals are kept is undisturbed. But "Danger- Keep away!" is painted on the palisade in large red letters, and perhaps it's best to heed that advice.
The next building (A17) is the captain's quarters. Like most of the other buildings, it is constructed of wood and stone. It is more opulent than the other buildings, which tend toward the drab and utilitarian. It was built along the same lines as the ranch houses of southern Cheliax, and a sign over the porch depicts a pair of white swords on a field of red and black.
The front room contains a couch, a dining table that seats eight, a stone fireplace, bookshelves full of military curios and a few books, and paintings of pastoral settings that might have been done by the captain himself.
The back of the building serves as the captain's sleeping chambers, with a washroom as well. Next to his bed, on a small table, is a half-finished letter to his daughter Temara describing rather routine events at the prison. There is nothing in the note that indicates any sort of trouble, although it ends in the middle of a sentence talking about the poor weather.
The two longhouses that make up the prisoners' quarters are built for containment, not comfort. The windows are small and barred, and the walls and the doors are sturdy hardwood.
Each longhouse is a central hallway with one exit and eight cells on each side, and therefore quick to search. The prisoners, of course, did not own anything of value, but Leah notices that there are clothes left on the cots and hanging on pegs. Bowls of half-eaten gruel lie on the ground, covered by three or four weeks' worth of mold. Some of them are cracked, as if they were dropped halfway through the meal.
It's as if everyone suddenly stopped what they were doing and walked away.
_HRF.jpg)
Leah turns around in a slow circle, sure she has missed something. Having served its purpose, she lets the mushy, used up piece of willow bark fall from her mouth, then stretches her hand out in front of her like she did upon meeting the golem.
”Nochtann draíocht...” she says once again as she sweeps the room for any lingering magic.
The room comes alive with an aura like nothing Leah has ever seen before. It is very faint, yes, but it is everywhere!
After a few moments of concentration, she realizes that the aura is coming from the clothes and the cots and everything the prisoners touched. The color of the aura tells her what she is looking at: residue of powdered sinmarrow crystal that must have clung to the miners. There is nothing else here.
The dwarf follows Zaszisar’s orders and trundles quietly after Tyran. He grimaces at the scattered chicken pulp over the grounds, and tries not to step in it as he glances over the buildings pointed out by the Inquisitor. He decides to start with the guard towers and northern gate before moving to the other buildings. As he approaches, Kogril checks the condition of the gate and pulls it slightly to check the lock. Afterwards he tries to find a way inside and up the guard towers, looking for anything unusual.
Tyran hesitates for a moment, then calls out to everyone, "I hear a survivor, west side! Sounds like there's trouble!"
He then moves to open the door on the north side of A4.
Leah and Marc rush back outside just in time to see Tyran before he disappears close to the building. They move to catch up to him.
Zaszy exits the building he's investigating , and moves to assist Tyran.
roll + WIS + rank + class skill
The dwarf is halfway up a guard tower when he hears the call. He turns and tramps down the stairs, reaching the bottom and making for the west side of the colony as quickly as possible. Kogril vaguely worries that whatever made the claw marks and reduced the chickens to mush might be the cause for the survivor's scream.
Previously on No Response From Deepmar:
Four heros answered the call to action. A Lizardman inquisitor and a scion of a Dwarven merchant family were summoned to Kintargo by a sleazy bureaucrat, while a Chellish soldier and a vagabond summoner were inspired by the sad tale of Captain Ashferth's daughter. Together, they all set off to investigate the strange disappearance of the garrison on the distant island of Deepmar.
A violent storm was weathered, and our adventurers were very nearly carried away on the wind. But they rallied and drove off the feral elementals. For their heroics, the crew became fast friends with their passengers, although they still avoided Inquisitor Zaszisar'ǃixakaǂaʔ and they had no more than wild rumors of Deepmar's disappearance to share with Kogril.
They arrived at the southern coast of Deepmar Island without further issue. Leah went ashore to summon her brother, while Tyran uncrated the Gul-Dottari sent by Durotas Palamer. The golem's reaction to the sight of a planar summoning was unexpectedly hostile for a Chelish construct, but Leah allayed its suspicions.
The party soon entered the Deepmar colony, and found it just as strange as Captain Molron foretold. Everything is as if the whole colony dropped what they were doing one evening and walked away.
But, as the party began to search the colony building-by-building, screams of terror were heard from the mess hall.
Leah and Marc
The door to the mess hall lies ajar beneath a sign depicting a frothy mug and a plate of food. From inside, you can hear crashing, clanging, screaming, and roaring.
It seems that the others are going through the back door. Do you wait for them, or go inside?
Kogril, Zaszisar'ǃixakaǂaʔ, and Tyran
Kogril is the first to reach the back door, with the others quick on his heels. Screams ring from inside the kitchen, but the door is stuck fast! It is not locked. Instead, it feels as if something heavy was shoved up against the door.
Unsure of where the others are, Marc and then Leah arrive at the open door. They look to one another as the sounds of chaos inside continue unabated. With the slightest nod from Leah, Marc pushes past the door and enters the building.
With his hand still glowing from Leah’s earlier spell and the dark vision that comes from his slightly otherworldly form, Marc looks to see what is causing such a commotion.
Leah remains just outside the door with her eyes closed, concentrating. By focusing on the link between herself and her brother, the Summoner is able to share his senses and can see everything he sees.
As Marc steps inside the mess hall, he and his sister see the dark shapes of tables and benches. It takes a moment for your eyes to adjust to what little light filters in through the shuttered windows, but you see shattered plates of moldy food and chairs tossed aside or crushed underfoot. And, at the end of the hallway, you see a beast with white shaggy fur bashing through a door.
PCs go first!
The beast turns. You see glowing blue eyes above terrible white fangs!
Zaszy presses his shoulder against the door and pushes.
roll + STR
Seeing the large, violent looking creature, Marc and Leah spare no hesitation.
Marc retreats back through the doorway then turns and prepares to engage the creature should it give chase.
Meanwhile, outside, Leah releases her strengthened mental bond and takes a few steps back to give herself room and begins to cast a summoning spell.
Following Zaszy's lead, Kogril rears back and plants a stout kick to open the door, leaving enough room for Tyran and the golem to make the final push.
Tyran slams the butt of his crossbow into the door right where he assumes the bolt is, "Names, charge this door and break it down!"
Tyran, Kogril, Zaszisar'ǃixakaǂaʔ
The door budges under the combined efforts of the Inquisitor, Kogril, and Tyran, but whatever is blocking it is big and heavy. Names Mean Little was standing back, uncertainly swinging its flail back and forth. But at Tyran's order, the golem's eyes flash yellow. It steps forward and slams its free hand against the door.
The door opens with a clatter of cast iron. The smell of spoiled food and wet fur assaults yours senses. The woman inside is now screaming for you to go away. You spot her cowering beneath the counter to your right; the stove that had been blocking the door barely misses her as it rolls over. And you hear feral snarls now, coming from a mass of shaggy fur that disappears around the corner.
Leah and Marc
You hear the crashing and banging of the beast moving through the mess hall. In a moment, the beast steps into the light that pours through the door, and you get your first good look at it.
It's an ape wit' horns sticking out of its head, but the horns are the least remarkable thing about it. It stands six and eight feet high at the shoulder, which is to say that it has two pairs of arms, and each of those arms ends in a hand that could cup a man's head. It could likely crush a man's head too. Under all that fur, you see coils of ropey muscle.
The girallon snarls at you two, but then the commotion in the kitchen catches its attention, and it retreats from the door.
Their exotic appearance and ferocious manner makes them popular creatures in the circuses and gladiatorial arenas of Infernal Cheliax. Sometimes they are starved and pitted against each other, sometimes they fight gladiators hungry for fame, but most often a purse is offered to anyone who can survive thirty seconds in the cage with one. One who kills a girallon is all but assured of fame, yet most battles against these ferocious beasts end poorly.
Marc hurries after the creature and manages to catch up to it before it reaches the kitchen. He reaches out to punch at the creature with one arm then another. Each time he swings, reality itself distorts slightly as his punches somehow travel a good bit further then it looks as if they should. Each of the Eidolon’s punches also chills the nearby area so completely that thin sheets of ice drop straight out of the air and ice crystals form on the nearby walls and floor of the eating area.
for
for
At the same time, Leah finishes her summons and a Small Earth Elemental burrows up through the floor of the kitchen. The rocky creature gives chase after the creature that Marc and Leah saw. It moves past Leah’s brother and attempts a slam of its own.
for
Once her spell is complete, Leah too moves forward and begins another summoning incantation.
Move: 20ft, Burrow 20ft
Attacks:
Slam: +8 for 1d6+6
Earth Mastery: +1 to attack and damage against creatures on the ground, -4 to creatures on water or in the air.
Zaszy considers his surroundings. "Tyran, stay wit her," he commands, pointing at the woman cowering under the counter. Stepping into the kitchen, he moves around the stove, making his way around the corner but stopping short of the beast.
roll + INT + rank + class skill + favored class
"I see..." He grasps his shortspear in both hands for a moment, concentrating, and then stands at the ready.
Full-Round Action: Tactical Movement; moving 40ft from N2 to M8
Free Action: Monster Lore to identify Girallon
Swift Action: Bane (reference); activating class ability on Shortspear; choosing type Magical Beast
Kogril tromps through the kitchen, close behind the lizardman. He wrinkles his nose at the smell of wet fur. Picking his way through the debris around the corner, he sees the source of all the commotion: Leah, her magical brother Marc, a small moving lump of dirt, and the horned tower of white fur and muscle!
Heavy pick already in hand, he reminds himself to loosen his grip on the handle. He will have to be quick, not strong, if he wants to avoid the four arms swinging about. The dwarf has half a moment to size up the beast for soft spots. Well, it's got twice as many armpits...
Tyran nods at Zaszy's order and moves into the kitchen behind him, staying near the girl. He lines up a shot around the corner at the beast and lets fly.
Crossbow shot with Deadly Aim and Point Blank Shot:
Lured by the woman's screams, the beast returns to its task of beating down the kitchen door. It is not pleased to be interrupted again.
Both the eidolon's attacks and the archer's bolt hit home. It shrieks in rage and lashes out at Marc.
It flails wildly, but only two of its claws make contact.
With a final gesture, Leah’s second summoning spell of the morning comes to completion and a small viper emerges from the debris behind the Girallon. It immediately strikes at the creature’s heel.
for
…Viper
16 AC, 5 Hp, Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +1.
Attacks:
Bite: +7 for 1d2 + poison
Poison: 9 Fort DC, Frequency 1/round for 6 rounds, Effect 1d2 Con, Cure 1 save
As the snake attempts to bite the monster, Leah’s summoned small earth elemental attacks as well.
for
Leah’s brother suffers each punch in silence. The Eidolon does not make so much as a grunt as the powerful claws tear into it. Instead, it steps forward and counter attacks, first with two return strikes of its own...
...and then, shockingly, Marc lunges for the gorilla-like creature with beared teeth! He latches on to one of the creature’s arms and violently, viciously tears at it with little regard for anything else.
Those that look closely spot a trickle of a sickly green unnatural fluid dribbling out of the male twin’s mouth.
Sensing that there is no more room for summoned allies, Leah draws her knife and moves forward. A quick flick of her hand sees her family dagger fly towards the enraged creature before somehow appearing back in the Summoner’s throwing hand.
for
The beast's back offers a pretty big target... if Kogril can get in while it is distracted. Debris on the ground slows his approach as Kogril comes in low, still wary of the flailing arms, to strike with his pick.
Zaszy doesn't waste any more time, lunging forward to drive his spear at the girallon.
roll + STR + BAB + enhancement (weapon) + enhancement (bane) + untyped (flanking)
base + STR + enhancement (bane) + untyped (bane)
base (flanking)
He drives the spear into the monster's lower back, biting deep.
Free Action: maintain Bane; 1 round expended
Move Action: Tactical Movement; moving 10ft from M8 to L8
Standard Action: Attack with Shortspear; attacking Girallon
No other actions taken this round. Swift abstained.
Tables shake. Plates shatter. Chairs are crushed underfoot and the pieces scatter. Having read some of Captain Ashferth's letters, Zaszy is confident that this is the most violence that the mess hall has seen since a prison riot erupted over "Meatless Mondays."
The Girallon is deeply wounded, but there is fight in it yet!
The Dwarf does indeed come in low, and the four-armed ape swings high.
Tyran braces himself and sends a flurry of crossbow bolts over Zaszy's head into the beasts torso.
3 attacks, Rapid Shot and Deadly Aim
The girallon's next room-shaking roar is interrupted when a crossbow bolt slices into its chest, and the next two cancel the roar permanently. The great ape stumbles, falls against the wall, and slumps to the floor. Its eyes still glow blue, but there is no sign of life behind them.
The only sound left in the mess hall is the heavy breathing of the combatants and the sobs of terror from the woman under the counter
Barring magic or really weird biology, eyes don't usually glow like that. What sense does that even make? How is something supposed to see anything but bright light when its eyes are glowing from the inside?
Upon closer inspection, you see that there is fungal growth on the girallon's scalp. It's the color of bread mold, and it has roots that dig down under the skin. Ew.
Damage:
Marc: 68
Tyran: 83
Kogril: 17
Zaszy: 23
Leah: 0
Leah's Other Summons: 0
Girallon: 16
Damage Taken:
Marc: 16HP
Girallon: 191HP
Loot: Nothing.
"Hah!" smiling Kogril says between breaths, gesturing to Tyran, "You turned that furball into a pincushion!"
The dwarf gives a half-hearted kick to a girallon foot. His grimace surveys the disaster of a mess hall. After an unsure look to the crying woman in the far corner, he turns to one that is closer. "Marc, is it? Looks like you took a beating. Are you alright?"
Leah relaxes slightly as the giant ape falls, but her brother does not. Marc ignores the dwarf’s question pivots to follow the Girallon and swings at it once more...
...and is about to do so again, but is stopped when Leah rushes forward and grabs his drawn back arm. Her wince as her bare hand touches her brother’s steamingly cold skin is enough to snap Marc out of his single minded attack. The steam rising off his fist dissipates and he drops his arms to his side with a look somewhere between shock and regret visible on his face.
”The first few hours of being back in our world are hard for him... for us both...” Leah explains to those standing before her and her brother. She walks round him to inspect the wounds Kogril mentioned. Blood, and some stranger blue colored fluid flow from Marc’s injuries and drip on the ground at his feet.
”Inquisitor, is there anything you can do for him or should I fetch a potion and some bandages?
roll + INT + rank + class skill + favored class + competence (letters)
"Zer is somesing strange about ze body..." Zaszy mumbles to himself.
"Ah! Leave ze body!" He steps forward, but Leah already has the situation under control. He waits patiently as she makes excuses for Marc.
"Does it experience pain? I would razer keep healing for an emergency." He pauses for a moment, then adds, "Zat includes potions."
Since no one answers him directly and Kogril himself is no healer, he slides away from the exchange between the Oakfounders and Zaszisar. Cleaning girallon blood off his pick, he hangs the weapon back onto his belt and steps over to the weeping woman. He pulls out his waterskin along the way. His dwarvish stature means he only needs to stoop a little to be eye level with the cowering woman. He uses a gentle tone, hoping to calm her.
"It's all right. That big beast is dead and isn't going to hurt you. Here," he opens the waterskin and takes a swig, to show that it is safe to drink. He holds the water out to her at an arms length away. "Take some water. What is your name?"
”Most of my brother is trapped in another world, another plane, so he senses things... differently...” Leah answers. ”Pain to him is mostly just another feeling of force or pressure without the debilitating shock. But me? I feel everything he can. Everything he should. And strong sensations like pain flow over our link very easily.”
Leah rubs one of her arms with her hand, wincing as she does so. ”I can feel the bruise on his arm...” she pulls her hand away then rubs her thumb and fingers together, saying, ”...and even feel the slickness of his blood if I concentrate. It would hurt quite a bit but for the bark I chewed on earlier. It dulls my senses slightly, but has a dramatic effect on the pain that flows between us.”
She looks to the Lizardfolk directly now and asks, ”Would it change your mind to learn he cannot heal on his own as you or I can? That he will stay in this state and that I will retain the ghost of his pain until something is done? Because that is the truth of it.”
Tyran sweeps back to the door he entered through and keeps an eye out for any additional threats approaching.
Zaszy hisses... or perhaps it was a sigh? "It cannot be..." He paused, seemingly reaching for a word. "...helped," he finally decided. He whispered something under his breath, moving his hands in a sort of pattern, and then reaches out towards Marc, index and middle finger outstretched and glowing a soft white. the glow intensifies slightly at the point of contact...
...and Marc's condition visibly improves; the steady drip of ichor ceases, the individual wounds perhaps half as bad as they had once appeared. Zaszy seems to glower at this, and then repeats the whispered chant and motion, touching Marc once more.
With this touch, the wounds close up all the way, seeming completely healed.
His task completed, Zaszy turns silently and makes his way to the kitchen to consider the survivor.
”Thank you. From both of us,” Leah says. Her brother manages to perform a slight bow in Zaszy’s direction.
Unaware as of yet that the others have found a survivor, Leah lets out a sigh of relief then moves to make a closer inspection of the Girallon. It’s glowing eyes do not bother her so much, she’s seen stranger and more frightening things, but the fungus attached to the creature’s head does draw her interest.
”Nochtann draíocht...” Leah whispers once more as she attempts to determine if the fungal growth is merely some outlandish freak of nature or if it has some sorts of magical properties.
Kogril: It is hard to tell what one way or the other, because her clothes are so filthy. Too, she has welts around her wrists, as if she has been bound with manacles for some time. But you recall that the Deepmar prisoners all worked in the mines, and you are fairly certain that this woman has never swung a pick in her life. Her hands are too soft, and a frail thing like her wouldn't last a quarter of a shift before passing out from exhaustion.
She takes the waterskin from Kogril, swishes a sip of water around her mouth, and swallows.
"I am Delbina Rask. I'm a cook," she says uncertainly. Her eyes widen at the sight of the Inquisitor. "Who are you people?"
Tyran: Compared to the frenzy and cacophony of the fight inside the mess hall, it is positively peaceful outside. The wind is whistling over the walls that circle the colony, the surviving chickens are clucking as they slowly retreat to the safety of the coop... Oh, and there is a seven-foot-tall mithril golem leaning against the kitchen.
Names Mean Little utters a tuneless moan at the sight of the soldier, and then its green eyes turn yellow and it starts talking. "The screaming has stopped. Do we continue searching?"
Zaszy pauses a moment, considering the woman before answering her question. He nods his head in what is probably meant to be a shallow bow. "We are heroes," he offers with a warm smile, or what might have passed for one on a more human face, "And we are here to free you. Tell us what happened here."
roll + WIS + rank + class skill + untyped (studied target) + untyped (art of deception)
Influence attitude (presumably DC 15+CHA, ±5 for attitude)
roll + CHA + WIS + rank + class skill
Request information about the situation (presumably DC 10+CHA, ±5 for attitude, +5 or even +10 if she wants to keep this a secret)
roll + CHA + WIS + rank + class skill
Obfuscate the truth
roll + CHA + WIS + rank + class skill + favored class + racial (beguiling liar) + trait (fast-talker) + untyped (studied target) + untyped (art of deception) + untyped (skill focus) + untyped (deceitful) + competence (mask of stony demeanor)
Zaszisar'ǃixakaǂaʔ has interviewed battered women in the past. Housemaids, sex slaves, war-widows and victims of more ordinary crime. Women in Delbina's state are generally not good at lying, but they don't make reliable witnesses either.
Delbina Rask's relief at the word "heroes" is almost palpable. After half a minute of mumbled thanks, she launches, unsteadily, into her account of the events.
"Last night, I was in the kitchen with Levin. We were making the second course, because the guards eat after the prisoners, and I was gutting a chicken when Levin heard a noise outside. Someone shouting. I went do the door to see what was the matter, and everything after that is fuzzy."
She sighs, and thinks for a long moment. "That was last night. When I woke up this morning, I was hiding in that apple barrel over there. I had all these scars and I don't know how I..."
She trails off as she stares at the welts on her wrists. Her face, somehow, turns even more pallid than it was before.
Zaszy brings his right arm back, letting the strap of his pack slide off so that the whole pack swings around his left side. He undoes the clasp on a pocket on the exposed side, and withdraws a small bundle of leather. Doing the clasp back up, he shifts his weight, swinging the pack onto his back and threading his right arm back through the strap to hold it in place. Unfolding the bundle of leather reveals several rolls of cloth bandage, as well as pouches and vials of what can only be crushed and ground herbs. He gingerly takes Delbina's right hand, inspecting the swollen bruises.
roll + WIS + rank + class skill
Provide first aid (DC 15)
roll + WIS + rank + class skill + competence (healer's kit)
"Zis will hurt a bit," he warns. He pops the stopper on a small vial and sticks a finger into the paste within, then lightly smears it on the bruises. "But it will help witt ze swelling." He takes her other hand, and repeats the process. Then he selects a roll of bandages, and some simple copper pins. "Hold your hands out straight," he commands more than asks, and then begins wrapping each wrist in turn. When one is wrapped, he tears the cloth and uses the needs to hold the wrapping securely, bending the soft metal into lopsided rings.
"Zere," he offers, patting the woman on the shoulder. "Now, good news and bad news. Ze good news is zat a ship will come. Ze bad news is we do not know when zis ship will come. Sree or so days, I suspect. Still zough... by all reports, zis island has been abandoned zis past montt. I sink zat zere are holes in your memory, and zat is quite disturbing. We will seek zis Lebin, and ze ozers. I know ze captain was called Elgin. How were ze ozers called?"
roll + CHA + WIS + rank + class skill
Feign concern/gentleness
roll + CHA + WIS + rank + class skill + favored class + racial (beguiling liar) + trait (fast-talker) + untyped (studied target) + untyped (art of deception) + untyped (skill focus) + untyped (deceitful) + competence (mask of stony demeanor)
Obfuscate the truth
roll + CHA + WIS + rank + class skill + favored class + racial (beguiling liar) + trait (fast-talker) untyped (studied target) + untyped (art of deception) + untyped (careful speaker) + untyped (skill focus) + untyped (deceitful) + competence (mask of stony demeanor)
Without so much as a word, the Oakfounders go their separate ways.
Marc, now seemingly in control of himself again, proceeds out the south door and begins a counterclockwise patrol of the building... until he comes upon Names Mean Little along the north face of the building. For half a beat, Marc pauses his patrol, but he then continues, intending to pass north of the armored construct.
Inside, Leah joins the others in the kitchen area.
”Nice shot...” she says to Tyran, the smile in her voice mimicking her words to him back on the ship. But then she turns to Delbina and her smile fades.
”The only way you have only been here one day is if you only arrived yesterday. I highly doubt that is the case. A rotation of guards came here before us several days ago. And you were here, weren’t you? How is it that they did not find you? Why didn’t you go to them for help?” Leah questions the woman.
Delbina goes rigid in fear when Zaszisar'ǃixakaǂaʔ opens the medical kit. This makes it easier to examine her and apply the medicine, but the moment that the Inquisitor releases her, she shies away from him.
"The others..." she says, slowly parsing the Inquisitor's accent. "Roald and Crem were watching the prisoners and... One month? One month? The ship was due in three days."
”The only way you have only been here one day is if you only arrived yesterday. I highly doubt that is the case. A rotation of guards came here before us several days ago. And you were here, weren’t you? How is it that they did not find you? Why didn’t you go to them for help?”
"One month?" Delbina Rask asks. "One month?"
She looks at the cobwebs under the counter. "One month?"
She looks up at the baskets of moldy food and the shriveled vegetables hanging from the opposite wall. "One month."
She is trembling and looking at something a thousand yards away as she quietly whispers to herself "One month."
-----
Lacking clear direction from Tyran, Names Mean Little falls in behind Marc. It makes no comment, aside from some long, drawn-out groans.
”Yes. A month. Or more. Now: What happened here?” Guessing at the woman’s behavior, Leah adds a little more softly, ”No one is going to arrest you. We just need to know what happened.”
Kogril remains silent as Zaszy leads the questions. Listening to Delbina's account, he shuffles over to the apple barrel she mentioned and glances inside, curious for any clues that might help with the explanation. Something tugs at his memory, a story of a distant uncle hiding in a barrel to escape a prison. But he pushes the thought away as he watches the lizardman administer salve and bandaging to the shaken woman.
When Delbina begins to repeat herself, he glances at Leah and Zaszy, who seem eager for the survivor to answer for herself. Sympathizing for her state, he grumbles to the others from where he stands near the barrel. "Give her some space, for pity's sake. She's had a frightening time here."
If Delbina looks at him, the dwarf spares a polite smile, but otherwise does not stare at her, concerned that too much attention would tip her mind over the edge.
Something about Kogril's words snap Delbina back from her fugue. She glances over at him, and nearly breaks into tears. "Uzikal Understave. Our blacksmith. He was a good Dwarf."
roll + WIS + rank + class skill + untyped (studied target) + untyped (art of deception)
Zaszy gently places a hand on Delby's shoulder, his grip firming to offer stability. "Shhh," he whispers. "It is alright. You are sape now."
roll + CHA + WIS + rank + class skill
Zaszy stands, and considers his two companions. "Leah, I sink we would be better witt you and Marc continuing ze search," he offers, his voice calm with a kindness that was absent when the group arrived on the island.
roll + CHA + WIS + rank + class skill + favored class + trait (fast-talker) + untyped (art of deception) + untyped (careful speaker) + untyped (skill focus) + untyped (deceitful) + untyped (mask of stony demeanor)
Feign concern/gentleness
roll + CHA + WIS + rank + class skill + favored class + racial (beguiling liar) + trait (fast-talker) + untyped (studied target) + untyped (art of deception) + untyped (skill focus) + untyped (deceitful) + competence (mask of stony demeanor)
Obfuscate the truth
roll + CHA + WIS + rank + class skill + favored class + racial (beguiling liar) + trait (fast-talker) untyped (studied target) + untyped (art of deception) + untyped (careful speaker) + untyped (skill focus) + untyped (deceitful) + competence (mask of stony demeanor)
Leah pauses for long moment then nods.
”Yeah... too many cooks and all that...” she says, getting the message. ”We’ll head east. Finish up over there.”
The young dwarf visibly relaxes when Zaszisar uses a compassionate tone. He gives Delbina a reassuring nod. "Safe indeed! Zaszisar will take good care of you."
After Leah's parting remark, the dwarf realizes that he is just standing there, not being particularly helpful. He follows after the summoner. Stepping around the upturned stove and destroyed cabinets, he says to the survivor as he passes, "Understave, you said? I cannot say I have had the pleasure. But I should like to see his workshop!"
Pausing at the door, he glances back to the woman and the lizardman. "Holler if you need anything."
Crossing the open ground, Kogril scans the buildings for any sign of where Understave might have worked.
Leah:
The first building you search is a plain building made of stone and wood. Though simple in design, it appears opulent compared to the other buildings in the compound. It has a porch. And over that porch is a sign depicting a pair of white swords over a field of red and black.
Once inside, you see that it's the captain's quarters. And judging from the footprints on the floor, the Inquisitor and Names Mean Little already searched the building. But that doesn't mean they didn't miss anything...
You find nothing of interest in the building. Just the normal accoutrements of living, and a bookshelf full of military curios that hint at a different life he lived before captain Elgin Ashferth came to the island.
Kogril
Your path and Leah's path stay close for a minute, and both Marc and Names Mean Little fall in behind you. Just before you two reach the captain's house, you see the smithy to the east, against the wall. There, your paths diverge.
Names Mean Little falls behind, looking from Leah to you and back. It reaches a decision when Marc follows Leah into the captain's home, and With a grunt and a clattering of metal, it shuffles to catch up with you.
You pass a building with the sign of a pickax over the ironbound door and a sturdy padlock on the doorlatch. Something to look into later.
The smithy is an open stone building next to a shack that might be living quarters. It has a stone forge at the center, surrounded on three sides by slab-topped worktables, as well as numerous hooks on the walls for tools. It's a very tidy working area.
You don't see any tools however. Perhaps they're kept at the other building? The prisoners at Deepmar colony are supposed to be violent criminals, so the tools would probably be stored securely when not in use.
The front door of the living quarters bears a simple woodcut image of a dwarf shoring up a fractured wooden beam in a collapsed mineshaft. The house inside is considerably less well-kept than the smithy. It's simply furnished with a bed, a table with two chairs, a washroom with a small tub, and a small stove. On the table and piled in the corners are half-finished side projects. It seems that Uzikal was a prodigious woodcarver. There's carvings of fish, horses, men, and... classically built dwarven women.
Uzikal was also a painter. There's a half-finished sign of an anvil and horseshoes, surrounded by bottles of long-dried paint. Maybe he did the other signs in the colony.
You find a mattock hidden under the bed. Looks like Uzikal was ready for a prison riot.
Zaszisar'ǃixakaǂaʔ
Your words seem to help Delbina. At least she doesn't get worse.
She curls up under the counter and continues to stare into the distance.
"I don't remember a month," she says. "I don't remember a month. I remember... running. And hiding."
"I remember white milky eyes watching from the dark."
"Milky white eyes" is annoyingly vague, but you don't think you can press her without losing her.