Daxius casts Detect Magic in the direction of the sinking witch, trying to get a magical aura from whatever she's clutching in her hand. He'll call out directions so Pontia can guide her Mage Hand, if need be. Actually, he'll call out directional advice whether she needs it or not; he's annoying that way.
Strangely, Pontia's spell is unable to grasp the sinking object.
As Daxius tracks the sinking thing with his spell Pontia recalls that the simple spell is disrupted by contact with other magics and cannot grasp magical items.
Angus moves up next to Pontia after checking his sword to make sure it's secure in the bottom of the boat.
"Having trouble?"
Looking down in the lightless water, Nicolai shakes his head. "What rotten luck."
"She's got something magic in her hand. Can you reach her body?"
Daxius concentrates his Detect Magic for as long as he can see the aura.
"Well, here goes."
Angus rolls out of the boat into the water diving for the witches corpse.
Angus slides into the water, bracingly cold after the heat of the day, and swims down into the depths.
Once there, Angus can see nothing and must feel along the riverbed for the corpse
Angus looks around until his lungs start complaining about the lack of breathing. He breaks the surface and takes a huge breath of the night air.
"Can't see a thing down there. Is there some way I can get a light?"
"I can call forth flashes of light up here, and try to illuminate what's below the surface."
"Could work. Or we could get Mister Light-sword over there to light up his sword."
Angus flashes a grin at Pontia before diving down again.
Having much more success this time, he hauls the body to the surface and swims for shore.
Angus hauls the body to shore among tall reeds as the rest of the gang land the boats.
As you gather together in the failing light the pale, dripping body seems strangely vulnerable and beautiful.
Her right hand remains clenched around something.
Around you dusk deepens toward night and the forest takes on a new tone, full of echoes and swishing in the darkness as the birdsong recedes.
"Don't touch her hand until I can get a better idea what she's holding."
Mr. Light-Sword casts Light on his sword. Daxius is a pretty literal-minded fellow.
Like a fallen angel, he murmurs, seeing the dead woman's luminous visage in the magical light.
When Angus sees Daxius casting light on his sword, he can't help himself. It started as a snigger, that ballooned into a chuckle, which quickly went through laughter and straight into guffawing.
"If we're done here, how about back to camp now?" Hyngrot brings the boat back around to head to shore. "And you, nice job retrieving the body."
The woman is carrying little: a few coins (2sp, 7cp) nestle in a flat, leather purse; a curved dagger is strapped to her belt and a series of small, wooden effigies hang from her sash, mostly owls.
Her fist, when un-clenched, contains a round, flat piece of black stone. The black is faultless and uniform in colour: the deep blackness of a fresh seam of coal. The stone disk contains a deeply incised image of grotesque bat-like creature.
It feels unexpectedly heavy and cold in your hand.
"Wondrous job Mr. Alehammer!"
Looking down on the woman that took so long in pursuing, Nicolai draws a spiral of Pharasma over his heart. Looking to the Hyngrot and the others, "While I doubt that any allies of these bandits will be seeking us out, that might be a good idea."
Gesturing to the body, and "What about her body? Perhaps we should bury her properly, lest what vile rite she performed causes her to rise as an undead."
"Necromancy and transmutation auras on that thing, whatever it is. Thank you, Master Angus. Hold still a moment, if you would?" Pontia casts prestidigitation to dry the rogue off.
Daxius ignores Angus' buffoonery.
He points at the black stone. This bit of deviltry should be destroyed. I will endeavor to do so, if there are no objections. He says, expecting objections.
He agrees with Hyngrot's plan, helping to carry the witch back to the camp. We can provide the Wiscrani authorities with the location of this camp on our return. They can at least be relied upon to properly dispose of the bodies and notify their next of kin, I would like to believe.
Daxius helps with the search of the camp, more interested in any clue as to the true intentions of the bandits than in loot, though he takes loot if he comes across any.
"I've heard cutting off the head keeps 'em from coming back. Not that I'm all for butchering bodies. I'll be answering to the Lady in the Boneyard one day too. Guess we take her with, find a spot in the morning and do it?
"As far as that thing she's holding, you won't hear any arguements from me on destroying that thing. I'll leave it up to you knowledgable types."
"I would like to find out what it is before you destroy it. They had at least one Wiscrani patron, after all, and one of them might have given her this."
Angus blinks in surprise. Whether it's at being called master, or suddenly being dray and smelling faintly of lavender is hard to guess.
"And thank you milady. Please just call me Angus."
He helps carry the dead witch back to the camp.
"I've heard that even that won't stop 'em. They say ol' Baba Yaga could come back from being beheaded, having her body burned to ash, and then having the ashes scattered out to the four corners of the world."
The gleam in his eye betray that this is a tall tale told over tankards of mead.
Maybe.
When they reach camp, Angus considers looking for some decent ale, or mead, but decides that was not going to be an option.
"So, besides the fair lady and Mr. Light-sword," he almost manages to get his nickname for Daxius out with a straight face, "I don't know what to call the rest of ya, and I am still not sure why you guys are way out here fighting bandits."
Daxius shrugs, not surprised that Pontia wants to spare the evil stone. It's the curiosity that leads the arcane types astray. Do as you like with it, then. I'll not touch the thing.
He grimaces when he hears the story of Baba Yaga. These tales often contained a kernel of truth. He then answers Angus' question by intoning by rote, The Acts of Iomedae tell us “Justice and honor are a heavy burden for the righteous. We carry this weight so that the weak may grow strong and the meek grow brave.”
"So how long did ya have ta practice that before you got just the right amount of subtle snoodiness in there?"
Angus holds up his hands defensively, and probably futilely, but continues on over any protestations or indignant outburst that Daxius may choose to shout at him.
"I'm not saying that justice and honor are bad things, its just that preaching it and living it are two different things. I grew up in Taldor and you'd see nobles going on about how much better they are than everyone else because they uphold justice and honor. Then you'd see them trying to drag a poor peasant girl off to their beds, or beating a poor old man because he didn't bow fast enough, or somethin'. Actions are more telling than words. And while I owe you my life, I have seen you nag and boos people around with the worst of them. That doesn't exactly sit well with me."
Daxius waits patiently for Angus to finish, then says, So you are comparing me, due to your dislike of my manner, to men who abuse their station to rape and assault innocents? I'd be offended, if that were not one of the more foolish false equivalencies I'd ever heard. I strive to live the values I espouse.
"Weeeeeeell, I was still a little pissed about him comparing my brews to rotgut, and I may have broken the guy's nose before he did anything more than grab the girl's arm... as well as his hand, a few teeth, and his knee."
The tall, lanky ulfen sighs, and seems to be a bit embarrassed about admitting that.
"Anyway, as I said before, actions tell more than words. I owe you my life, so it's only fair that I try and repay you. Even if I'm sticking a foot firmly in my mouth while doing so. As for disliking your manner, common sense says that if you ain't offering to help, shut up and try not to get in the way."
Despite the bickering behind him, Hyngrot easily finds the trail and leads the group back to the bandit camp.
Taking what you need to camp, you dispose of the body and make camp a short distance away.
In the morning you wake refreshed with the smell of damp soil, the chirrup of morning birds and the warmth of morning sun to greet you.
Pontia will volunteer for first watch, as long as she can get enough sleep after that to prepare spells.
Working your way through the camp you find.
Two broken sets of armour which, if repaired, show signs of high-quality workmanship: .
A small, glass mirror, obviously valuable but hard to assess worth .
A peculiar saddle with feather designs .
In the shack you also find a small, locked strongbox. The dead man with the silver sword has the key on a thong around his neck.
There are also two well-trodden paths from the camp, into the surrounding forest.
Pontia rouses herself from a dream-filled slumber and (as is her habit) uses prestidigitation to freshen up after her ablutions. Stray thoughts clamor for her attention during her meditations, but she puts them aside until she's done. Dreams of flight, owl fetishes, and she wasn't any kind of wizard I know. I'll have to do some research when we get back. At least I brought some useful notes with me.
Angus will check the box for traps before trying to open it.
Angus cannot find any traps.
Daxius replies to Angus. You owe me nothing.
In the morning, Daxius nods at Angus' words. He tries to keep an eye out for whoever is watchinf them, without being obvious about it.
Appraise
Nicolai yawns and stretches as the sounds of morning fills his ears. Feeling a bit more refreshed and less banged-up, he opens his formula-book and begins to go over his notes; he finally finds a missing computation and fills it in. After making his extracts for the day, he straps on his gear.
Nicolai estimates the mirror's worth at around 90gp.
The strongbox contains:
Zircon , Carnelian, Obsidian x2, Freshwater pearl, Tigereye
and
1pp
27gp
58sp
246cp
It takes a few minutes for Angus to count all of the money out.
"I would really like to get back to Westcrown, but I agree--the paths are worth following."
"Well, I'll be up front with, umm, Hunter, right?"
Angus looks at Hyngrot, obviously trying hard to get the moniker right.
"The paths sounds like our plan."
"While you all get things ready, I need to go relieve myself."
"Yup, we'll take point."