The construct zips along the wall and out the door. It begins to take flight, but hangs about 5 feet above the ground.
Round
Kari & Hrolf <- UP NEXT
Fenna <- UP NEXT
Construct
Kari wanted to see where the flying metal device would go next, so she hurried down the stairs towards the door. "Hrolf, heel!"
Hrolf dutifully followed Kari down the stairs.
Fenna continues to follow the construct out the door, keeping her distance and wondering what it will do next.
She's turning the discovery over in her mind, trying to figure out what it's presence here might mean. A lot hinges on who, if anyone, it belongs to. She figures the best way to find out is to see if it will go home.
The tiny winged bulb zips off, north from the building and around the corner. It appears to be leaving the colony.
It maintains a level just above Fenna's height as it flies.
Kari got onto Hrolf's back and chased after the construct. As soon as she could tell the direction that it was heading, she stopped and turned back.
Even with Kari on his back, Hrolf will outpace the flying construct. It takes off through the gap in the buildings to the north and over the markings for setting up the wall. The creature continues tirelessly, in flight far to the north.
Yup, flying to the north.
Looking to the west, the sun is dipping low. Less than 2 hours of daylight remain.
"Not much time left before sunset," Kari remarked. She returned to the civic hall and resumed searching the 2nd floor offices.
Fenna continues to follow the flying construct for a few dozen yards beyond the settlement's palisade, but with Kari already turned back, seemingly uninterested in it, she decides she should do so as well.
Disappointed, she watches it for as long as she can, carefully marking its direction of travel before returning to the building.
"Do you think that thing could be left over from the Azlant civilization, Fen?", Kari asked. "It seemed in pretty good shape. I would've liked to have followed it, to see where it goes, but I didn't think it would be a good idea with how late it is."
Another pass through the government building doesn’t reveal much more information. The only one office off the main chamber seems to have been used, and not very often. It seems to have been built in anticipation of future use, rather than a place of everyday use to the fledgling colony. After the departure of the bizarre piece of machinery, the locked drawer of a desk of the main room seems boring.
Upon examination of the drawer, it appears a less difficult than the chest found earlier. Difficult perhaps, but within Fenna’s capabilities.
Fenna gives the drawer a look. The lock seems very simple to her, hardly a lock in the technical sense of the word.
She shrugs and tells Kari "I might be able to open this up. In any case it's crude enough that I don't think I can break it trying".
Fenna fishes out her tool set and works on it for a while.
"I got interested in this sort of stuff because of a water clock. The captain of the ship I was aboard has a beautiful one, old and very complicated mechanics. I used to tinker around with it when I had a bit of time and he wasn't around. Once I took it apart partially. I couldn't get it back together quite right and got busted."
"Whoa was he mad. He actually sent me to the brig overnight. Not as bad as it might sound really, for me at least. He has a couple of daughters at home that he doesn't get to see much, so I think he was glad to have me around as a sort of substitute. Anyway, it was more 'go to your room without dinner' than prison. He did make me either fix it or pay for it though. I fixed it eventually."
After about 20 minutes, Fenna pops the lock on the drawer.
Inside are multiple journals and logbooks. The logbooks record various types of events, such as the sea journey to Ancorato, daily work details for construction and farming, a master tool inventory, records of the daily weather, and so on. This information is mostly pedestrian in nature, but might serve as the basis of a future almanac. All of the books date back to approximately 1 month ago, whereupon the entries become sporadic and stop altogether a week later.
One logbook details daily events in the colony since landfall, and it’s the one book that contains something of particular interest. While carefully examining the colony logbook, you notice that it is missing three to four pages after the last entry, as evidenced by a razor-sharp incision along the binding where the pages were carefully cut out.
Kari looked though the logbooks. "Hmm, very interesting. Something happened about a month ago. The colonists also didn't all disappear right away." She thought back to what 'Coconut' had told her. Obviously she had missed the complexities of his counting system.
"Let's continue on to the next residence, while we still have light."
These two long, rectangular buildings are constructed entirely from planks on a wooden frame, with a pitched thatched roof. Each building has two doorframes on the side of the buildings opposite the palisade, but lacks doors. Four window frames open into either side of the long walls, a few of which have no cover and others only a canvas draped across the inside. A partial view of the interior is possible from the doorways. Inside, the floors are hard-packed earth, and along the walls are wooden bunk beds. Many of the pallet beds are covered with blankets that now gather dust. Those beds have sacks or tied bundles of clothes sitting at their feet.
Kari entered each building. She looked for tracks in the dust, and scanned around for magic auras. She also looked under the beds, in case anything was hidden under there.
Fenna stows all the books away in her pack. She'll give them a closer look once they've settled somewhere after dark. She goes along with Kari to the next building. Inside she starts looking through the sacks and bundles with the beds.
The pair of longhouses look to be simple overflow housing. Plenty of bunks contain small items; nothing of any value beyond sentiment. The general signs of dust and footprints match most of the information you've found: the colonists have been gone for three to four weeks.
As you move to the northernmost corner of the second barracks, you hear a bizarre chittering from the bunk.
"Psst! Over here!" Fenna hisses to Kari.
Fenna draws her swords and watches the location closely.
Kari moved over to the bunk for a closer look.
Pulling past the curtain of the last room, you spot a gathering of burrowing, bug-like monsters. The scuttle about on six legs, drooling noxious green ichor from their tiny clacking mandibles.
Initiative
(surprised, not acting)
Surprise Round
Fenna decides to act quickly when she realizes the insects are young ankhegs. She steps toward the closest of them (red) and tries to pin it to the ground with a couple of rapid sword jabs.
"Careful of their acid Kari!"
Kari wasn't sure what these insects were, but she didn't think the colonists would want them in their sleeping quarters. She moved over and shot a jet of high-pressure water at one of them, while commanding, "Hrolf, Attack!"
Hrolf bounded forward and tried to bite one of the vermin.
The first insect scuttles away from Fenna’s rapier;predicting the movement, Fenna jabs the creature’s thorax.
Hrolf and Kari burst into the room from behind, Kari blasting the insect closest to the back wall. The wolf bites at the little ankheg, tearing a leg clean off.
The ankhegs damaged by the two ladies each spit back a line of acid.
The ankheg near Hrolf bite back
Fenna and Kari both avoid the worst of the little streams of acid
The (yellow) ankheg nymph biting Hrolf attempts to take hold...
but fails.
Round 2
Kari (3 damage) <- UP NEXT
Hrolf (5 damage) <- UP NEXT
Fenna (4 damage) <- UP NEXT
Ankheg (red) (9 damage)
Ankheg (green) (9 damage)
Ankheg (blue) (5 damage)
Ankheg (yellow)
Concentrating briefly, Kari formed a blade of ice in her hand, stepped forward, and continued her assault.
Enraged by the burning acid, Hrolf tried to bite the bug as hard as he could.
"OW! Like I said, acid."
Fenna goes after the same bug with both her swords again.
Kari steps forward to the soaking nymph, her ice blade shattering as it destroys the small insect.
Hrolf bites to get another leg from the ankheg he bit before, but it snaps its mandibles at his snout and drives the sharp teeth away.
Fenna fumbles her blades, and the tiny ankheg scuttles in between.
The ankheg by Fenna has used all its acid.
The ankhegs near Hrolf bite at him again.
Round 3
Kari (3 damage) <- UP NEXT
Hrolf (15 damage, grappled) <- UP NEXT
Fenna (4 damage) <- UP NEXT
Ankheg (red) (9 damage)
Ankheg (green) DEAD
Ankheg (blue) (5 damage)
Ankheg (yellow)
"Let him go, you horrible things!"Kari cried. She moved over and swung her blade at one of the vermin grappling Hrolf.
Fighting for his life, Hrolf snapped at one of the bugs grasping him.
Fenna keeps after the Ankheg (red), it's nimble but it can't keep it up forever.
Kari spins gracefully closer to Hrolf. Gathering another blade of ice in her hand, she swings it down onto the ankheg nymph grappling with her faithful companion. A second injured nymph is destroyed by the blade.
Fenna misses again with the tip of her rapier, but her dagger strikes true, skewering the little insect.
Hrolf bites at the other ankheg harassing him, chomping off one of the front claws of the final bug
The last ankheg near Hrolf bite at him again.
Hrolf jumps back slightly, avoiding the dangerous pincer.
Round 4
Kari (3 damage) <- UP NEXT
Hrolf (15 damage) <- UP NEXT
Fenna (4 damage) <- UP NEXT
Ankheg (red) (dead)
Ankheg (blue) (dead)
Ankheg (yellow) (7 damage)
Once she's finished off her bug, Fenna moves around to skewer the last of them with her thorneblade.
"Hrolf, flee!" Kari shouted; she could tell he was badly wounded. She moved around to shoot the remaining crawly thing.
Fenna slices the last baby ankheg in two, and Kari blasts it against the wall. The strength of the water blast is surprisingly strong. The three of you catch your breath; the battle is won, but the little ones indicate that a full size egg-laying ankheg must be nearby.
The barracks have been thoroughly checked, 321 sp and 87 gp were recovered. The final room seems have been home to one of the more prominent colonists. The food sitting in her chamber seems to have attracted the little ankhegs. In addition, a small sliver in the mattress has a couple of hidden treasures: a talisman and a small stick. Carved onto the stick is. U. H.
"Oh Hrolf, I'm sorry you got so badly hurt!", Kari declared. She lovingly tended to his wounds and comforted him.
After a few minutes, she looked around the building and scanned for magic auras.
"We should rest soon — I'm out of healing spells."
The talisman and wand both give off magic auras: the talisman, a moderate enchantment, and the stick (or wand rather) gives off a faint aura of illusion.
"UH. I'd say it's a pretty solid guess these things belong to Una Hendrake along with the spell book. This must be her spot." says Fenna.
"I can still heal. Uh, can I touch your friend or do you need to discuss that with him first?"
"Go ahead. He knows you're friendly," Kari told Fen. "Fenna is nice, isn't she Hrolf?"
Fenna goes down on one knee beside the wolf. "Yes, you know I'm friendly, don't you Hrolf?" she says, perhaps a little nervously, as she touches him.
"You're right in any case though Kari. It will be dark soon and we should get settled for the night. I've got some reading to do now too."
Hrolf tensed slightly as Fenna knelt beside him, but relaxed when he felt her healing touch. He licked her hand.
"Now he really knows you're a friend!", Kari said to Fenna.
After making her way back to the Arkley cabin, she cleaned some of the dust away and made herself comfortable. When the light started to fade, she cast a light spell for Fenna to read by.
"I think we should post a watch tonight," she said. "I can take first watch. Hrolf can take 2nd, and you can third."
Before sleeping Fenna expends the remainder of her magic fixing up Kari and herself. The rest will allow her to do the same again tomorrow so there's no reason not to.
When it's her turn to get up, Fenna starts a little fire in the hearth and settles in to read the charter and logbooks. She looks for anything that seems out of place in them, or anything that might show an usual pattern in them that they didn't catch the first time through.
Kari’s watch is relatively uneventful, if perhaps a bit noisy. Hrolf frets for a while at the far off sounds of monkey goblins, but eventually rests. The talisman is revealed to be a Lesser Talisman of Good Fortune, and the wand bearing the initials of Una Hendrake is a wand of Comprehend Languages with 12 charges remaining.
Hrolf is easy to rouse in the middle of the night, and lets the two of you rest easily. He eventually nuzzles Fenna awake, and lays next to her while she reads.
On Government is a good read, but Fenna has read the seminal work of Darl Jubannich before. This copy is no different, and sadly contains no notes from the book’s former owner. The Parables of Erastil is much less interesting, and contains no notes either.
A thorough reading of the logbook is especially helpful in identifying the purpose of the uninvestigated buildings. Fenna puts together a quick map to reference. The provisions building should not only contain food, but a wand of Goodberry. The tool house also has an interesting inventory; in addition to a plethora of mundane tools, a couple vials of alchemist’s fire and a swarmsuit are listed in its contents.
One thing that stands out to Fenna, is the order to build a canoe as a second boat. She thinks back to the canoe underwater near the dock. It seems the colonists were given a rowboat from Liberty’s Herald, just like the one they used earlier in the day from the Peregrine. A second boat was needed by the first wave of colonists, but there have been no signs of a second boat. Only the sunken canoe.
As she finishes her reading, Fenna scans the books with a Detect Magic only to discover an Arcane Mark written on the back cover of the book. In plain Talane (common) it reads plum tree.
The sun rises on a new day:
Second Expedition Day 45: 2 Arodus, 4717 AR, Oathday