Kari slowly approaches the closest octopus. It backs away a little, but as she comes very close, it backs into the corner of the deep water.
Kari stayed as close as she could to the western wall, giving the octopus as much space as she could. She slowly swam around the corner to the shallower water, and looked to along the passageway.
Urram stays back, negotiating a floating chest and not worried about the threat that may be posed by a pair of octopii.
"We should go. No make life too hard."
Fenna waits with Urram, watching Kari and the octopi, ready to throw in if there's problem. Otherwise she rolls her eyes at the gnome's stubbornness.
"Yeah, really. We're not here to map the place."
A large empty room with stone pillars lies to the southwest, its only exit is to the north where you ran into the falling rocks trap. From the what you can see of the floor through the water, it appears the grindylow lived here, and are either hiding or have fled.
Kari swam back to the others and reported. "It looks like a large grindylow living area around the corner. I couldn't see any of them; maybe they fled. Do you want to check if they're still around, or go back to the colony?"
"Without chief, they will be no harm." Urram says with certainty in his voice. "Things like this, only dangerous when they are strong. We are stronger, chief is dead. They will not trouble us again."
He seems very sure of himself, especially for someone who nearly died fighting said chief!
"Besides, I have an experiment I need to do."
"Yeah, like he said" Fenna adds, not actually having any idea if Urram's right or not. "We've done what we need to, there's no point in looking for extra trouble."
Kari nodded. "Alright, lets go back to the canoe." She swam back though the water filled passageway to return to their waiting companion.
Dragging along the bag of coins, you come together to the mouth of the cave, where Jim is looking about nervously. The oar is gripped tightly in his hand. His panic fades only slightly when he sees you.
"You're alive!" he calls out. He continues to call out to you over the echoing waves, to excited to wait until you're close enough to hear him. He helps you all into the canoe and pushes off quick as he can.
"Those buggers swam right by me a few minutes ago," he stammers. "Thought they got the better of you, and were commin' ta' finish me off. But they just disappeared off into the deep."
The sun is much higher in the sky when you return to the dock of Talmandor's Bounty.
Urram heads straight home, still uncomfortable in Talmandor's Bounty after the incidents of the previous day. He settles down in his minature laboratory and begins crafting frantically.
If I reinforce the central matrix and use a little more copper to bind the crystal relays...
When he has finished his tinkering he ventures out long enough to find one of his companions, holding a small clockwork device in one hand.
"Hold this please!"
Kari replied, "I'm glad you're OK,Jim! We killed the leader, and the others fled. Hopefully they'll leave the colony alone now."
When they got back to the village, she greeted Hrolf, who almost knocked her down in his excitement at her return. "I know Hrolf — we need a bigger canoe so you can come too!"
She went to find Ramona, and told her of their combat with the grindylow chief. "When we slew him, the other grindylows fled — cleared out of the caves entirely!"
She spent some time playing with Hrolf (she was still feeling guilty for leaving him behind). When she returned to the farmhouse, she met Urram coming towards her, thrusting a small mechanical contraption at her. "Is it dangerous?," she asked uncertainly, holding it gingerly.
The contraption lands on Kari's hand and then, sprouting three articulated legs, scurries over her torso just as Urram aims a punch at her.
The creature blossoms into a metal shield, interposing itself between Kari and Urram's fist - leaving the elf shaking his hand in an attempt to restore feeling, although he is actually smiling!
"Excellent! It worked. Thank you Kari! I must test others - would you mind one across your mouth?"
When Fenna walks into the room and sees Kari and Urram, she almost drops the withered apple she's munching on.
"What is that"?
"Gaah! Get that thing away from me!" Kari cried, recoiling from the metal crawling thing. Urram's technological wonder had completely freaked her out. "Yes, I would mind!"
Hrolf snarled and moved in between Kari and Urram, about to bite the elf.
"Hrolf, down!", Kari commanded, recovering her composure. "I think Urram was about to explain what in the god's names he is doing!"
"I make gadgets, mechanisms, to use magic for me." Urram explains, keeping eye contact with Hrolf. "So far it has been impossible to use on someone else - I could not keep the magic stable. But new plan! New materials - now it works for Kari! I must continue to test. Maybe my swimming design work for you now!"
"Just ask me before you want to test another one of your devices, please," Kari requested.
Fenna laughs at the two of them.
"Or just ask me Urram. I'll volunteer. They're kind of interesting little gadgets. Or, ask Lyra" she adds with a wink and a sly smile.
Ramona is very appreciative upon your return, and is delighted to hear that the grindylow problem appears to be solved. At least for the time being. She mentions some major projects that she is hoping to complete in the short term, and mentions that opportunites to explore may be put on hold, at least for a while.
You spend the rest of the day at Levin Farm, socializing and tinkering, and as the sun begins to set, Lyra makes an appearance. She speaks to Urram privately and at length, and the future of the settlement as a whole finally feels like things might work out after all.
Lyra makes an appearance. She speaks to Urram privately and at length, and the future of the settlement as a whole finally feels like things might work out after all.
The next morning Fenna goes to see Ramona, delivering te first of her reports on Urram, to then be relayed on to Carver she supposes. There's not much to tell really. Urram spends his spare time tinkering, and never really goes anywhere by himself. If he is a spy of some sort, it would seem to Fenna that he would be less willing to risk his life, (he very nearly died in the grindylow cave after all) and would be more willing to let them fail at key moments (again, he could easily have seen to it that Kari and she didn't come back from the caves, it was a close thing).
As part of her attempt to learn aquan, Fenna suggests to Kari and Urram they make aquan the house language. Any communication in the house must be in that language. Fenna had been working on it with Kari for a while, but not having any idea what the exchange between the grindylow chief and Urram was all about before it erupted into violence is a new motivator.
In helping out with stuff around the colony, Fenna finds herself gravitating toward those tasks that cause her to brush up against Harcourt Carrolby more often than would be coincidental.
Two of Fenna's old ambitions are still lurking in the back of her head. One, to follow the odd "insect swarm"-type trail is probably off the table. Given the time that's passed it's likely too late to find it, and too far to travel to find out it's a hike for nothing. On the other hand, the little flying construct is out there somewhere, and she knows the general direction of its flight from the colony.... She's still convinced it is the best evidence of other people(?) on the island.
More pressing though, the sad little apple she ate has inspired Fenna to think about the colony's lack of fruit. Stuff shipped from Andoran isn't very good by the time it arrives. It seems like the island should have fruits of some sort growing, and it's not the sort of thing the colony can cultivate quickly.
If she can find anyone, maybe Lyra or Perrel, who would be interested in an easy walk about the close area, it would be nice to see if they have any options. She'd need someone along for sure. Fenna's no genius at plant identification. Unless the plant was conveniently fruit laden at the very moment of discovery, Fenna wouldn't know the difference.
Hm, maybe Harcourt knows his plants. It's worth asking!
After the brief conversation with the grindylow chief, where she couldn't understand what the chief and Urram were saying, Kari resolved to learn to speak aquan. She had known a few words and phrases before, but not enough to follow a conversation. She spent time with Urram learning the basics of the grammer and vocabulary, and practiced with Fenna, who was also studying the language. By the end of the week, her comprehension had improved to the point that she could follow simple conversation, if the speakers spoke slowly enough.
In addition to aquan, she also started learning Azlanti from Fenna and Urram; it seemed like a good idea given that they might come across more remains of that lost civilization at some point. Part of her language studies with Urram meant putting up with his 'experiments'. His devices were creepy, but she had to admit that a couple of them were useful.
Now that there was a break in the exploration and skirmishes with the natives, she decided it was time to get some leather armor made for Hrolf. Once a suit was made up, it took some time for him to get used to the idea of wearing a garment, but she assured him that it would give him useful protection against enemies' weapons.
When she wasn't studying laguages or training Hrolf to use armor, she went fishing with Jim, and swapped fishing stories. She also spent some time with the other colonists, working subtley to counter their fears about Urram, and guage the mood of the colony in general.
Lyra's normally vibrant personality is a bit subdued, but she explains that she feels embarrassed about the whole incident, especially the fact that she Carver Hastings words. She is not very practiced at expressing her deepest feelings, nor does she have a deep vocabulary. But she shares Urram's romantic feelings, and she deflects to the vulnerability of that emotion as the reason Carver was able to influence her. She has given the matter thought and would very much like to pursue a courtship, but while she has no desire to deny that fact to anyone, she is not eager to call the whole colony together to announce it.
When Lyra eventually gives up and simply kisses him, Urram is all too willing to give up talking and when the two elves emerge Urram looks happier than anyone has ever seen him - or at least his mask somehow gives the impression of happiness.
With his relationship repaired Urram seems more cheerful, although he still avoids going outside most of the time. This gives him all the more time to tinker, as well as tutor both ladies in Aquan and Azlanti. While Fenna speaks it well for a non-Spire-person, her accent is atrocious and Urram takes to over-exaggerating some of the key words and phrases to try and demonstrate how they should sound.
His tinkering, with Kari's somewhat reluctant help, goes well. Five is able to offer a lot of assistance and Urram soon discovers that he can, with a little work, pass on a contraption capable to lasting hours in someone else's care - which comes in handy when Fenna nearly slices off one of her own fingers when distracted during rebec practise.
All in all, despite Carver's continued mistrust, things are looking up for the Spire Elf.
Fenna's first couple of days working go by quickly. Colonists insist she recount the tale of her slaying the grindylow chieftan again and again. She spies Harcourt only occasionally, he seems to be tasked with lighter tasks, lighter even than Fenna, much to the chagrin of the larger workers. She finds a morning to inventory with him, but he is ever oblivious to her advances to the point of scolding her for her clumsiness.
Fenna also finds plenty variety of seeds in the storehouse. And after spends some long days with the other colonists with small plots. The green-thumbs among them should better understand of what sort of the flora the island will grow. Harcourt knows nothing of plants, sadly, but Lyra joins her on short walks within sight of the colony. She points out that the trees seems to be less tropical in variety inland, and would love to see what's out there. She does, however, take up a couple of dark spheres covered in husk, and shows Fenna how to get to the chalky-sweet edible insides.
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Kari visits Luetin Calwick about putting together armor for Hrolf. While he begins by insisting that he is busy and that he has only a little of the necessary materials, he is understandably charmed by Hrolf. Kari helps him for a day of fitting, and the armor is ready in only a few days.
Freedom Lagoon, Jim's name for the colony's bay, is a fisherman's dream. With no grindylow lurking in the depths, a full day of Kari and Jim produces enough fish to feed everyone and add to the stores, a talent Ramona praises publicly at every meal.
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Already much, much older than the rest of the colonist, Urram has only barely begun his true tasks in Talmandor's Bounty by the time an entire week has gone by. People greeting him each morning and bidding him good night wash away like so many waves. Lyra even jabs during their time together, as quiet moments often bring him back to the work left sitting on his table at the Levin Farm.
There is a morning where Lyra brings Alba for some breakfast, and she and Urram are able to compare formulae books. New Alchemist Spells
Now that the storm of the Carver-Urram incident seems to run its course, people begin to inquire with Fenna and Kari, on where Urram is during work hours.
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Expedition Day 61: 18 Arodus, 4717 AR; Fireday
You are all suddenly awakened by Hrolf stirring in the night: Kari first by his stirring, Urram by a low growl, even Fenna is awoken by the loud barking that starts.
"What is it, Hrolf?", Kari asked, suddenly alert, when the wolf began growling. She got out of bed and tried to figure out what was bothering him.
Kari barely catches sight of a dark figure running out the front doorway of the farmhouse, but is unable to make out its form. Hrolf's wrinkled nose and high agitation suggests the figure, whatever it was, it was too quiet to awaken anyone, and that Hrolf caught its scent instead of hearing it.
"Hrolf, track!", Kari commanded; she grabbed her brass knuckles from the bedside table and followed Hrolf after the intruder.
Hrolf moved out the door, trying to follow the creature's scent.
Urram jumps from his bed and peers into the darkness before whistling softly. Five rises from its stand and flies off into the darkness after the creature.
Urram meanwhile returns to his workshop and pulls on his outer robe, filling his pockets with gadgets as he does so.
Hair bristled and blood boiling, Hrolf bounds to the doorway. Five follows after, shining an eerie light down on the angry wolf in the darkness. Stopping short outside the door, the agitated canine takes in the scent for a few moments. He thrusts his nose at the ground, still growling as he loudly sniffles. Lifting his head to the north, toward the garden plot, he lets out another loud bark. Nose to the ground again, he walks short distance to the partially built well and lets out another loud bark.
Down the hill, you can see a couple nearby houses with lanterns being lit.
Kari cast a light spell on her brass knuckles and followed Hrolf to the well; she stood up on her tiptoes and looked into it.
Fenna shows up eventually, wearing a baggy shirt and holding her gladius in her hand. "What the hell?" she asks groggily and grumpily.
The little well, apparently dug by Farmer Levin from the colonists that arrived before, is quite deep, although the stone ring making up the top has been built up only partially. Luckily, as Kari rushes after Hrolf to investigate, she's able to spot a bit of the figure again before he seems to disappear through the somewhere at the well's bottom. The wolf continues to growl, low and angry.
Forty feet deep, the well would only be wide enough to fit one at a time. The rope from the bucket would make the climb rather trivial.
"The intruder went down the well!", Kari told the others. She cast a spell and said, "I'm going after it!"
She climbed onto the bucket. "Lower me down!"
Hrolf sighed. Am I being left behind again?
Fenna blinks a couple of times at Kari with a funny look on her face. Just like that? Seriously?
"Uh, maybe that's not the best idea? We can't all get down the well by bucket right at this moment."
Fenna sighs. "Urram can you keep her out of the well for a couple of minutes? I'll go get dressed."
"I don't suppose anyone would want a cup of tea first?" Fenna almost pleads.
Before Fenna goes back inside, she glances at the well again for a second. "There's somebody, loosely speaking, creeping down in the well? We drink from there, that's nasty."
Kari replied to Fenna, "I could climb down too; I just thought this would be easier!"
"Kari - stop." Urram says, speaking Aquan to force the gnome to concentrate. "If this thing hunts at night and has gone down the well then that is the way back to its home territory. Chasing it now will give it all the advantages. Put Hrolf on guard and we go in the morning. Prepared."
Kari looked back at the others and said, "We can wait until morning if you want, but I'm not seeing the advantage to us. We don't want some unknown creature hiding out down the well, do we? If we want to do something about it, we'll have to go down sooner or later."