Kari looked at the creature, taken aback. "Oww!", she cried indignantly. She summoned a blade of pure water and tried to smash the thing in return.
"Hrolf, flank!", she barked.
Hrolf moved to flank with Fenna, and tried to bite the strange water creature.
She summoned up a blade of pure water and tried to smash the thing in return.
Hrolf moves around to flank, but can't land a hit himself. Kari summons a jet of water to thrust her into the air. With a spin, she SLAMS her water blade into the creature attached to the zombie's head. The tentacles tighten around the zombie as the creature reels from the attack.
The zombie kicks out at Kari, but she dances out of the way.
Round 2
Urram <- UP NEXT
Fenna <- UP NEXT
Lyra
Round 3
Kari (7 damage)
Hrolf
Shellhead/Zombie (8 damage/0 damage)
When her initial attack seems to have no effect, Fenna takes a more studied look at the thing and decides to go for the body instead. She slashes with her gladius, trying to work the blade through its flailing limbs to its body.
"The body is dead!" Urram calls. "Shell is controlling it!"
He levels his spear again and fires another missile of force at the Incutilis.
Urram's motes slam into the incutilis. He cries out to his friends, but Fenna has picked her spot. Fenna slashes the zombie across the stomach, entrails spill out onto the water, but its legs stand firm.
Lyra moves in closer, brandishing her sickle uselessly.
Round 3
Kari (7 damage) <- UP NEXT
Hrolf <- UP NEXT
Shellhead/Zombie (13 damage/7 damage)
Urram
Fenna
Lyra
Kari tried to swing for the creature attached to the zombie's head. "It's a little hard for me to reach!", she replied to Urram.
Hrolf tried to bite the zombie.
Kari summons a blade to strike the creature, but can't find an opening. Hrolf takes the zombie out at the knees, sending the man's corpse to the ground in a heap.
The creature's tentacles retract from the zombie, it raises them high and attempts to escape into the water.
Lyra strikes at the fleeing creature...
...but misses.
Kari punched at the fleeing abberation.
Hrolf snapped at the bizarre tentacle-thing, but got only air.
"Got it Urram!" Not that choice matters much now, the mollusk thing is the only part still moving.
Fenna decides it might be easier to punch through the shell than to try to slice it. She lunges at it with the tip of her gladius.
Urram watches, mildly satisfied as the body drops when the small abberation makes its escape.
Releasing his grasp on the corpse, the incutilis flails and flips about. Kari's blow gives the shell a *knock*, but instead of damaging it, sends it out to the shallows. Damaged, the creature speeds through the water and disappears over the edge of the falls.
"What was that?!" Lyra asks, out of breath.
The corpse of the man, logged down with water, sits stinking on the bank of the pool. His garb is pretty well destroyed, save for the boots. It's clear, however, he is dressed like an average colonist from Adoran. His lumberjack's axe, sitting in the water, looks to be of good make. On the handle initials have been carved: RL.
Other than the axe, the man has no belongings.
Almost midday, Lyra suggests you all take a break for lunch. She would like to work on her map of the island before you all move on.
"Beat's me!", Kari replied to Lyra. She said a quick prayer to heal herself, and then examined the boots.
"Lunch sounds good!", Kari agreed with Lyra. "We'll have to check the initials RL against the list of the initial colonists. I wonder if that thing killed him, or if it took control of his corpse afterwards?
"It sure would be nice to find some surviving people, not just dead ones."
"Incultilis killed him." Urram replies. "It controls body with..." He pauses and makes a gesture of a long floppy object. "lonkerot" He looks to Fenna for a translation before continuing. "Finds helpless person, fills them with body fluids. They die and it controls them like a nukke."
Urram retrieved the axe, although it hangs at his belt and he clearly has no intention of using it.
"He is not part of big group. This was un-luck, not magic."
nukke = puppet.
"Ibas caedebant ligna? Ut faciunt plures libros?" Lyra chuckles at Urram when he hitches the axe to his waist. She takes it from him and takes a closer look.
"It's well made," Lyra continues in common. "It looks brand new, but for the water damage. I'm sure we can get Luetin to clean up this rust, and we can let the woodcutters use it."
Thankfully Fenna parents are both half-elves, meaning the elven language did get used with regularity at home. The words Urram needs translated are pretty deep in the linguistic weeds.
"Um, eh, okay 'tentacles'". The second one is easier. "And 'puppet' is the other. Okay, so the incultilis, the shelled thing, uses it's tentacles to pierce the victim,... Through the skull? And injects a liquid that kills the victim but lets the incultilis control the body like a puppet. It makes a zombie to use as a mount. Is that the idea Urram?"
"You know, this might be Raila Lyonhart. RL on the axe, and the colony logbook shows him not returning from a work assignment."
She looks at the body with pity. "I hate to just leave him here, but honestly I just don't think I can handle a second badly decomposed body in two days."
"Libros bonum sunt." Urram replies, looking slightly confused at Lyra's mirth, although he makes no move to retrieve the axe once Lyra takes it.
Lyra drags Raila's body out of the water and behind the treeline before ploping down on a small boulder. She pulls out some dried trail food and her cartography tools, and begins working on her map.
Hrolf enjoys the break from the hike immensely, playing in the shallows.
------
"Oh, that's over here," Lyra muses to herself as she stretches. At the end of your break Lyra has wandered over to the drop-off. She stands off to the side of the falls, where the incutilis escaped, her arm extended to the sea below.
"I saw the cave as we sailed this way," she explains to the first person to approach. "Down at sea level there's a cave. The folks were really alarmed when someone said they saw a bunch of sea goblins. Like that one!"
A hundred or so feet below the waterfall, you can see something swimming in the water..Fenna and Kari recognize one of the creatures (link) who first greeted them when they arrived on the island.
"Some of them attacked our boat as we were rowing ashore the first time," Kari said, looking down to the bottom of the waterfall. "I don't know what language they speak, if any. They didn't seem interested in talking."
"Grindylows." Urram says, distaste in his voice. "They are goblins of the sea. No more. I speak - they might listen..." His voice trails off, leaving no doubt that he finds the prospect unlikely.
"Well whatever they are, they are certainly opportunists" Lyra answers. "They were following The Peregrine from afar as we sailed up this way. Like scavengers."
"We found the boots," Lyra changes the subject. "We COULD head back to camp, or maybe we find one of these boar. I've seen a number of their tracks, and we'd return to the colony as heroes if we bring fresh meat!"
Fenna watches the Grindylows for a couple of minutes and adds a "Hm, something to remember if there's any fishing done" to the conversation.
She looks at Kari and asks "Hey, do you think we could make it to that odd trail we found to have a better look and still make it back by nightfall?"
To Urram and Lyra she explains "It was unlike anything I've seen before. Like a trail made by something moving along, but not a single thing. More like a giant swam of insects I guess. You should see it."
"If there's not time today, definitely later. We can try to take a boar instead."
"Boar is good." Urram says, "I would like to see the tracks too - but another day. I need more magics."
Kari considered the options. "I'm not sure if we have time to explore the strange tracks and get back to the settlement. I'm good for hunting boar."
"No argument on that from me. Boar IS good. Let's do it!
Lyra packs up her things and takes the lead in tracking the boar. As you move further up the old path, its clear that the half-elf is a very talented tracker. She chooses a separate path than the one Fenna and Kari had found their first time here, but approaches the same area from a different direction.
Suddenly, Lyra puts up her hand, signaling a hault. You crouch in silence for a few minutes, before a large boar walks past the path in the distance. Lyra holds her hand up for another couple of minutes, before she turns to the rest of you.
"That was momma,"she whispers. "Let's go fetch the piglets."
------------
Map Link
Kari followed behind Lyra, moving quietly. "We have to be very quiet, Hrolf," she said on a low voice.
Hrolf followed behind Kari, padding along softly.
Fenna switches to her bow and follows Hrolf.
Lyra leads the group forward silently. When she reaches the log, she looks back to the group. She points up the log with the sickle held in her right hand, and with the left she points at the hog burrow. Then she lays down in the burrow, and slips through the little gap.
Fenna slides under.
Kari said a prayer, and touched Hrolf. Then she tried to go through the gap.
Hrolf tried to follow Kari, but got stuck.
As Kari breaks the silence with the Verbal component of Guidance, there is a *snort* from up ahead..then another. Then, you hear is stomping in the distance.
A pair of young boar appear from the path ahead. The lower their heads.
Round 1
Fenna <- UP NEXT
Kari & Hrolf <- UP NEXT
Urram <- UP NEXT
Lyra
Boar
Kari moved up and shot a water blast at one of the boars. "Hrolf, come!
Hrolf tried to wriggle through the tight space.
Urram doesn't need his knowledge of physics and engineering to see that Hrolf is going nowhere fast. Planting the point of his spear under the log, the elf pushes down on the butt of the spear - trusting his darkwood heirloom is strong enough to act as a lever. As he does so a small mechanical creature clamps onto his forearms and Urram grows with a mighty shout as he heaves the tree!
Fenna takes a step to the side and back to get a clear line of sight on one of the boars. She gives it a good look, the draws her arrow and lets it fly.
Fenna fires a shot at the creature and strikes true. She steps into the brush to avoid a charge as Kari sends a blast of water at the boar that fails to strike directly, showering the swine instead. Hrolf waddles uselessly, held down under the log as he tries to rush to his mistresses side.
As Urram swells in size, he works to aid the wolf.
Lyra draws her sickle, but follows Fenna's lead hopping into the jungle brush. As the boar approach Kari, she takes a swing to try and distract the beast.
The hungry boar advance on Kari, attempting to gore her.
Kari dances between the wild tusk swings.
Round 2
Fenna <- UP NEXT
Kari (+2 to attack if you strike at GREEN) <- UP NEXT
Hrolf <- UP NEXT
Urram <- UP NEXT
Lyra
GREEN Boar
RED Boar (3 damage)
Kari maneuvered slowly to give Fenna an opening, and then struck at the other boar. I think poor Hrolf is stuck!
Hrolf whined and struggled to get to Kari.
Urram takes a moment to size up the perfect place to place his spear, before heaving... although his changing size makes the whole operation difficult.
Fenna tosses her bow aside and slips up on the closer of the boars from behind by going around the far side of some bushes. She stabs the boar from behind with her gladius.
Fenna makes a side-step move, and the boar takes a swipe...
but fails to connect.
Her own strike cuts deeply.
Kari's strike again splashes uselessly against the swine's back.
Urram's lever placement allows the small amount of force he applies to free Hrolf. The wolf emerges from under the log. Lyra again attempts to aid Kari's accuracy.
The injured boar strikes back toward Fenna, while the uninjured boar continues striking at Fenna. Both baby swine are unable to get inside the ladies' defenses.
Round 3
Fenna <- UP NEXT
Kari (+2 to attack on GREEN) <- UP NEXT
Hrolf <- UP NEXT
Urram <- UP NEXT
Lyra
GREEN Boar
RED Boar (9 damage)
Kari continued her assault on the boar that Lyra was distracting.
Seeing Hrolf moving up beside her, she ordered, "Hrolf, attack!"