Calden continues his assault on the elemental, striking two times with his quarterstaff. His first attack misses, though, crashing against the watery body of the elemental, but the second one hits the creature and damages it, even though less than it would normally have done to a humanoid.
Right after, Korech tries to get in melee range with the elemental, but in doing so he allows the watery creature to attack him as he moves toward it. Thankfully, Korech manages to avoid the attack and lashes out with his axe, hitting the elemental and harming it.
“Put it down!” cries out Captain Walren to Garen and Grok. The two sailors quickly shoot their bows at the elemental again, but both of their arrows miss. “Blasted rain!”
The elemental unleashes its fury on the nearest opponents, Calden and Korech. Although Calden manages to avoid the attack with uncanny speed, Korech is caught by surprise and gets hit by a violent, watery slam.
Shirzon successfully activates her magic wand once again, and two bolts of light blue energy are fired from her wand. The force missiles fly to the elemental and hit it violently. The creature is now critically damaged.
Right after, Merephel casts a protective spell on herself and wades into the fray!
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• Calden
• Korech
• Garen & Gork
•
• Shirzon
• Merephel
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Steadying herself on the deck of the ship by lowering her stance. She draws her mace to feel the familiar weight in her hand, then wills her wand to activate. Perhaps it's the reassuring feel of her weapon, or perhaps just her own skill, but the wand proves responsive once again as it fires more missiles at the sentient water.
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Calden begins shivering, and he's not sure that it's due to the rain and cold. This must be the most dangerous foe we've ever faced. How do you deal with something like that. We're lucky that Shirzon is so good with that magic wand!
Calden is suddenly very conscious of the fact that he's pushing himself as far as he ever has. Also, he's keenly aware that his position on deck is precarious, and that any hit might send him over the edge. Feeling that he can't sustain this level of energy very long, Calden lashes out in a dazzling flurry of attacks. "Push hard, now!" he encourages his companions.
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Merephel climbs up onto the upper deck, reaching her hand out. She slaps Calden's left leg, while continuing her previous chant.
"Shelyn, guide this young hero to Safety and Glory!"
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Drenched in rain and probably with a few broken ribs, Korech ignores the pain and chops down again at the elemental.
Both Calden and Korech hit the elemental with their attacks, reducing the watery creature to a dripping mass of water on the edge of melting down into the water around it.
Garen and Gork keep firing arrows at the elemental, but the rain prevent their arrows to hit their target. The elemental, though, makes a display of intelligence and as soon as it can it withdraws, sliding back on the foredeck and then diving into the water, where it fuses together with the lake's waters.
"What did I tell you, Mabon! It's gone! They're true heroes!" rejoices Captain Walren. "For the holy bones of Besmara, you're right Gorur!" agrees Mabon the Destroyer as he nods to the captain and gives you an appreciative look. "They would have come in handy back when..." says the helmsman. Captain Walren shakes his head and erupts into a loud laughter. "Not again, Mabon!" The entire crew breaks into a laughter. Now that the danger is gone, it's time to lift your spirits!
---
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As soon as the Black Mist gains stability and resumes its journey, Merephel quickly tends to the wounded.
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Calden is overjoyed to find that the watery creature leaves them alone. Exhausted from the intensity of the battle, he slides down the railing to lie flat on deck, breathing heavy. "First fate, now karma... Someone must have thought we deserved this one, don't we?" He starts laughing uproariously.
Shirzon breathes a sigh of relief when the elemental retreats, a grin spreading over her face as the crew celebrates the victory. She fetches some drinks from the cabin, passing her bottles around to the crew and giving her friends a hearty clap on the back for leading the charge (once their wounds are healed).
Having taken a liking to Mabon, and grown a little more confident, Shirzon talks with the old sailor as he attends the helm. "Hey, Mabon, did I tell you about how we fought a skeleton with a major grudge against Kassen?..."
Merephel laughs along with her friends, glad to have survived another encounter with trouble.
"I agree Calden, someone has blessed us with good fortune. Like, say...the Goddess of Good Fortune?"
She winks.
After defeating the water elemental, your travel resumes immediately. When the Black Mist reaches the Druma border, Captain Walren urges the you to stay inside you cabin while he and Mabon guide the barge due north into the lake’s storm-whipped waves. This is by far the roughest part of the voyage and those among you that are not experienced with water travel may find themselves heaving up their meals into buckets or over the side of the barge as the Black Mist rides high on one wave only to crash far below into the valley of the next—this goes on for a full 24 hours before the barge reaches the southern cliffs of the Isle of Terror. From there, Captain Walren directs the barge along the island’s cliff-strewn coast and brings the you up to a small halfmoon bay of calm water known as Aroden’s Landing. A little over a week after you set out on the Black Mist, you arrive at the ruins of Fort Landing on the western side of the Isle of Terror.
---
Captain Walren and Mabon personally row you ashore in a small, barely seaworthy boat. Mabon spends the journey bailing water out of the boat and grumbling to himself about poor seamanship while Captain Walren calmly smiles and whistles as he rows. As the tiny vessel reaches the white sand beach at the ruins of Fort Landing, Captain Walren tells you that he’ll wait with the Black Mist just off the coast for 10 days. When the you wish to be picked up again, you must build two fires far enough apart for the captain to tell they are a signal from the you and not a fire belonging to the Razmiri cultists. He will not wait longer than 10 days—if he hasn’t seen the twin signal fires by the eleventh morning, he’ll leave without you. Once you are all ashore, Captain Walren wishes you all the luck on Golarion: “If I ever met someone that I would define as hero, that is you guys. You’re brave, bold and willing to risk your own life for something you’re not responsible of. Please, be wary!” Mabon greets you as well before he and Captain Walren row back out to the Black Mist.
---
Once Captain Walren has dropped you off, you find yourselves standing in the ruins of Fort Landing, an ancient stone fort, long ago lost to the many terrors of the island. The wind, sand, and storms have scoured away anything organic, such as wood or rope, leaving behind a sandblasted set of interconnected walls that now form a sort of ruined maze.
Huge, roiling, black clouds hover closer to the ground than ordinary clouds or thunderstorms. The clouds bear almost no form or definition and instead appear to be flat-planed swirls of various shades of black. In fact, it takes you a few moments of study to even see the negative energy storm as something more than a simple, flat, black ceiling above the island.
Its origins lost to time, the ruins on the west coast of the Isle of Terror have come to be called Fort Landing, as they resemble an ancient keep and happen to stand on the shore at the best landing site for explorers arriving on the island from the west. A complicated maze of tumbledown stone walls surrounds a partially collapsed tower covered in arm-thick branches of ivy. Beautiful white sand layers the nearby beaches, ceaselessly blowing against the western walls of the ruins and sometimes forming drifts as high as 30 feet.
Just inside the walls, you stumble across the remnants of the Razmiri cultists’ first firepit—as well as the first evidence that the Isle of Terror isn’t friendly: two graves, shallow and ringed with stones, have been dug near a wall, out of the elements.
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Merephel doesn't like the idea of digging up the graves; it is obvious on her face.
However, she keeps her peace, knowing that this could be the group's first clue.
"Um...I...I'll be over here, keeping watch."
She quickly scurries about ten feet away, and turns her back to the graves. She scans the beach, and generally just keeps watch.
Upset at being confined below-decks, Korech quietly speaks orcish to Shirzon, trying to help her with the guttural, tonal language. He falls silent as he spots the Isle of Terror, taking in the strangeness of the land.
Something is wrong here. Something is very wrong.
"I do not like this place."
That's the last he says as the group gets into the boat and makes their way to the land. He walks with his bow out and an arrow nocked, his eyes hunted and cautious. Spotting the cultist's campfire, he rushes over, kneeling down to investigate the area for an idea of how many cultists were here.
Korech also is unsure of what to do with the graves, remembering lines in the parables about respect for the dead.
Shirzon spends a lot of time struggling to keep her food in her stomach as the choppy waves rock their boat for a week, and is mostly successful. As Mabon and Walren row them out to the Isle of Terror, Shirzon is happy to be on dry land again, even if it's some corrupted island holding a terrible golden city. At least the solid land doesn't move. She says her goodbyes to the sailors as they row back out. "Don't worry! We'll be back before you know it!"
---
Shirzon surveys the area a bit, trying to comprehend the strange storm above. She starts to doubt what she said to the old sea dogs, but she recalls Walren's assurance that they're heroes. Finding that lacking in the face of this particular terror, she focuses on the others with her; her unlikely friends and comrades from Kassen would see her through this--would see all of them through this.
Setting her bag down by the firepit, Shirzon looks inland, daunted by the storm and the rising hills. "I guess we should start heading toward the center, try to find the entrance to this city. I don't see any gold, though. Korech, you're good with forests, right? Do you think that would work?" Noticing Merephel's awkwardness (as something different from scared apprehension), she follows her attention to the recent Razmiri graves. Good news for us, I guess. We know we're in the right place, and that's two fewer cultists to bother us. Shirzon follows Merephel's lead in ignoring the graves. They gave enough information just by showing the Razmiri presence. No need to dig them up--besides, the other cultists would almost definitely have taken anything of worth. All the more wealth for Razmir, and all that...
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— Fireday, Kuthona the 10th, 4609 AR
— Morning
— Fort Landing Ruins, Isle of Terror
— Negative Energy Storm
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Korech closely examines the tracks left behind by the Razmiri cultists. He has always been good at tracking, but it seems like his skills have been improving constantly as he faced many dangers and managed to survive. Korech is able to tell that the Razmiri group must have been composed of about 20 to 30 individuals when they reached Fort Landing. Although some of them died, as the graves testify, you’re still overwhelmingly outnumbered.
After deciding not to dig up the Razmiri faithful graves, you opt for tracking down the cultists by following their tracks. Korechs leads you, and once again proves himself as a gifted tracker. The others follow him closely, trying not to disturb him and keeping an eye out for danger as they press forward.
« | | | | »
As you move forward following the cultists’ tracks, both Calden and Shirzon spot something suspicious: they see four black wolves slinking through the nearby trees or peeking out from behind walls or fallen columns. The two heroes immediately recognize that there’s something wrong in these wolves: they are a little bigger than their ordinary cousins, are completely black, and often display some sort of mutation. Some have bulbous, weeping humps on their backs; some drool disgusting black ichor; some have two or more vestigial limbs sticking out from unlikely places such as their backs or bellies; a few simply appear to be larger than normal wolves.
In the meantime, Korech is distracted by his task and Merephel is simply looking elsewhere. Her sight has never been particularly keen anyway, especially if compared to that of the other members of the group. Even though he’s not aware of the wolves, Korech can feel a sensation of fear creeping down his spine.
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Merephel
Shirzon
Calden
Korech
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Calden looks at Merephel, not understanding at first. He then gives a wry smile. "Sorry Meph, I didn't mean we deserved the break that it fled. We probably deserved the attack itself, because of summuning a similar creature to fight the Razmirans for us. Magic always comes with a price, it's said. That seems to hold even when you're using magic items." He shivers, and it's probably not from the rain.
--
As they make their way to the Isle or Terror, Calden grows silent. Focused. Once they are back on solid ground, Calden lets Korech take the lead. He has his quarterstaff in his hands, if only to prevent himself from reaching to the sword on his back, again and again. "I feel like I'm stating the obvious here, but this place is giving me the creeps." He nods at Shirzon. "Centre of the Isle might be a good place to start. If nothing else, the mountains should give us a clear view. Otherwise, we'll just go by the tracks left by the Razmirans. With a group of 20-odd, they shouldn't be hard to follow."
--
"Wolves!" Calden warns at the first sight of the creatures. Noticing that they're surrounded, he steps up besides Shirzon and readies his quarterstaff for a mighty swing. "Watch out, Meph. They're got us surrounded. Feel back if you have to." they're hideous creatures. What would it take to let them survive here?
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Korech is completely taken by surprise, and a deep, horrible sensation of fear clutches at his chest. However, he manages to keep it under control and starts scrambling to react.
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"What's wrong with these things?" Shirzon wonders aloud as she holds her weapons tighter. "This island is seriously messed up."
Shirzon steels herself as Calden moves up beside her prepared to attack with him.
Merephel is deep in thought, pondering the nature of the island.
'Perhaps when this is all said and done, I can take a few plant clippings back to Kassen? I'm sure the temple would love it...'
Due to her introspective nature, and her staring off into the middle distance, she is taken unawares by the wolves' attack.
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Both Calden and Shirzon decide to move closer to one another in order to repel the strange wolves’ imminent attack. As soon as the wolves charge them, Calden swings accurately his quarterstaff, hitting the wolf’s head and almost cracking its skull, but somehow the wolf is still standing. Shirzon is quick to stab the creature before it could even attack, though, and the wolf falls to the ground, bleeding black blood.
There are three more wolves. Two of them move forward quickly, reaching Merephel and attempting to bite her. The Kassenite priestess is caught by surprise from the first attack, and the wolf manages to sink its razor-sharp teeth in her arm, piercing her armor. Thankfully, Merephel successfully parries the second attack using her shield.
The fourth wolf charges Korech, but even though the half-orc is distracted, his fear has somehow warned him of the approaching danger, allowing him to avoid the attack at the last time.
As the wolves get closer, everyone in the party starts to feel the same as Korech had before: a feeling of fear begins to creep down your spine as you stare at the horribly warped wolves and the ominous landscape.
« | | | | »
It’s now time for the party to retaliate against the warped wolves!
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Merephel
Shirzon
Calden
Korech
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Korech glares at the attacking wolf, and although he had used his own diplomatic skills to get rid of wolves in his past, this one doesn't seem particularly interested in parlay. Wary of being tripped, he steps back, firing two arrows at the wolf.
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Calden grits his teeth and takes steady breaths, succeeding only partially in staving off the oppressive feeling. The sight of Merephel beset by two of the wolves give him the will to keep fighting. "Hang on!" He sets off to Merephel at a dead run, pushes himself off with the quarterstaff for extra height and crashes into the wolf, foot first.
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Steeling herself against the vile aura, Merephel grits her teeth, and swings at the wolf in front of her.
"EULLLLALIA!" Merpehel shouts as she swings, her voice quavering.
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Shirzon shivers as she and Calden put down the ichor-bleeding wolf that lunged at them. Disturbing as they are, she stays focused and maneuvers through the ruins to stand by Merephel. Although the mutated beast in front of her sends shivers down her spine, Shirzon swings her mace at its malformed face.
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Merephel swings her mace with accuracy, hitting one of the two wolves attacking her. She can hear a sound of craking bones coming from the creature, but the wolf does not seem to be willing to give despite its wounds. Shirzon tries to finish the job started by Merephel as she did previously with the other wolf, but this time her swing fails to connect with the wolf.
In the meantime, Korech steps back and shoots his bow with deadly accuracy: both his arrows hit the target, piercing the wolf’s throat and heart. The wolf dies instantly. Calden arrives to help Merephel just in time, before the two wolf threatening her could attack again. The Kassenite crashes into the wolf with his feet, but the creature manages to absorb the hit and keeps fighting.
The two remaining wolves try to fight back, but one of them – the one hit by Calden – is stunned. Instead of attacking, the wolf just stays in place, without a clear idea of what to do. The other wolf tries to attack Calden, but his bite attempt is very slow, and even though he’s still breathless for his charge, the Kassenite lad manages to avoid the bite.
The feeling of fear and despair surrounding the wolves keeps wrapping around you.
« | | | | »
Only two wolves remain now, and one of them is stunned!
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Merephel
Shirzon
Calden
Korech
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Merephel swings again, trying to hit the wolf that is within range of her mace. She swings as hard as she can, trying to brain it.
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Keeping his fear under control, Korech calmly re-orients, and fires off two more arrows.
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Still unnerved by the wolves, Shirzon clenches her weapons tightly. She shifts a bit to get to the side of the beast, then unleashes a couple of quick swings.
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Calden focuses just on the enemy in front of him, a technique to stave off the fear gripping him. Shirzon and Meph will just have to deal with the other one. Shame, Shirzon would have made short work of this one, the way I dazed him with that kick. Calden pokes at the wolf's snout with one end of his quarterstaff, slaps his flank with the other one, and then brings the first end crashing over its skull with a clear shout of
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Merephel swings her mace at one of the wolves in front of her, almost putting down the already wounded creature. Korech keeps firing arrows, but this time his aim is not as precise as before and both of his ranged attacks miss their target. Shirzon misses the wolf as well with her first attack with her magic mace, but then lands a solid hit with her second mace, piercing through the beast’s heart and finally putting it down. There’s only one wolf left, but Calden quickly deals with it hitting the beast twice with his quarterstaff and putting down the last wolf.
After combat, the group resumes its chasing of the Razmiri cultists through the Isle of Terror. Korech keeps tracking the masked faithful of the Living God quite easily, and the rest of the group follows him close behind. The cultists, whose trail leads into the Lingerlost Swamp to the east, follow a relatively straight course over fairly dry ground and travel as though they aren’t expecting anyone to follow them—no doubling back, no false trails, and no attempts to cover their tracks. Their path leads due east into the swamp, heading into the interior on an unerring course toward the southern shores of the Whispering Lake.
You spend the whole day tracking down the cultists. As you proceed, Calden checks the Pathfinder Chronicle frequently, informing you about your whereabouts. The Whispering River, as he shares with the whole group, is unique on the Isle of Terror, as its waters are pure poison, flowing black and thick from headwaters deep in the Three Furies. It’s speculated that the spring from which the river flows sits close enough to the Wizard-King’s Pit that the Negative Energy Plane has polluted the water forever. Where it plummets over Baphon’s Fall, the river forms a giant pool called Whispering Lake. The waters here are equally poisonous. A tribe of evil lizardfolk known as the Whisperscales claims the lake as its territory. It is said these lizardfolk are as black as the lake itself and that the lake’s influence has changed them into a mockery of their former selves. Thankfully, you won’t reach the lake before tomorrow. And hopefully, the cultists had been careful enough to avoid the lake completely, preventing you from having to follow them there.
As it turns out, however, staying out in the open during a negative energy storm is quite dangerous. Bolts of pure negative energy are a frequent sight, and one of them almost hits Calden as you press forward, striking a near rock instead.
The whole day of travel is tense and ominous, with the dark clouds above and the black land below accompanying you in your journey. It’s cold here, and the land appears as if it died long ago due to a huge supernatural cataclysm. Everything around you is either dead or dying, and the only life forms you stumble across are cruel mockeries of usual plants and animals, changed forever by the constant exposure to the negative energies of this godforsaken land.
Fortunately, you manage to move quickly, tracking the cultist until you realize you’re too tired to press forward. Thanks to Korech’s expertise, you’re able to find a suitable place where to spend the night into, even though you alternate in taking guard shifts, well aware that this island is anything but safe.
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— Starday, Kuthona the 11th, 4609 AR
— Morning
— Lingerlost Swamp, Isle of Terror
— Negative Energy Storm
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Rather surprisingly, the night goes smoothly, without any dangerous creature of the night assaulting you as you rested you tired bodies. You’re now in the Lingerlost Swamp, and when you feel you’ve rested enough, you resume your journey. Korech has no difficulty in finding the lead again and starts to track down the cultists again.
After a few hours of march, however, you see something unexpected. Emerging from the nearby brush with his arms raised high and bearing no obvious weapons is a human man, about six feet tall, with a tangle of long, dirty red hair and a long red beard, wearing tattered, hole-ridden clothes soaked through with mud and stained black in many places. Even before he gets close, his stench precedes him—it’s not only as though he hasn’t bathed in years, but that he seems to have actually gone out of his way to cover himself in the most horrible smells the Isle of Terror has to offer: a blend of rotten eggs, human waste, and decaying organic matter. An arrow is lodged in the back of his right leg, but seems to cause him no pain as he sloshes through the waters of the swamp. Suddenly he stops. His eyes go wide and he loudly exclaims, “I found you!”
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"Hello, good sir! You most certainly have found us! My name is Merpephel; I'm a healer. Would you like me to look at that injury of yours?"
She pats a log next to her.
"Have a seat!"
She smiles warmly, but internally she is on her guard. As welcoming as she is trying to be, nevertheless this strange man has her guard up.
Korech seems deeply disturbed by the dead, corrupted land and although he attentively keeps to the trial, he says little if anything aside from muttering prayers to Erastil again and again, and swearing in orcish.
Korech's eyes go wide as the man suddenly charges out on the trial. He raises his bow, and then half-lowers it.
"Who you?!" he barks, not particularly friendly.
After defeating the wolves, Shirzon scours the horizon for approaching threats as they track down the Razmiri cultists. She grips her weapons tightly, clearly on edge on this hostile island. When the crack of negative energy strikes near them, she yelps in surprise and nearly falls over. Her slouch intensifies as they travel, partially in a defensive gesture and partially in embarrassment for her outburst.
---
Unable to get a good night's sleep, Shirzon's eye are red and sagging the next morning. When the man in rags emerges from the brush, she jolts up, spilling her breakfast on the ground. She sighs despondently as she splits her gaze between the man and her ruined food. Her hungry stomach, though, quickly loses interest when the horrible stench hits her nose.
"Ugh!" she can't help but let out as the man gets closer. Holding her nose shut with one hand and warily resting the other on her weapon, she adds, "Yeah, you found us. Who in the nine hells are you? And why do you smell like that?"
For a while, the man simply stares at you, dumbfounded, and then erupts into a loud, blubbering fit of equal part tears and rage. He tugs at his hair, pulling out fistfuls of it and shaking them at you as if the sudden loss of hair is your fault. He does not answer any of your questions. If you wish to calm him down, you'll need to work on it through wise words, threats or magic.
__________________________
Korech stares incredulously at the poor, insane man, and eventually lowers his bow entirely. He looks pleadingly to Merephel.
"Merephel you talk good. Can you talk good to this guy? I don't think there are any worse smells than him."
"Uhh..." Shirzon keeps a hand over her nose as the man rants at their group, eyeing him nervously. She relaxes her weapon hand, nodding to Merephel after Korech asks her to calm the man down. "How long do you think this guy has been here?" Addressing the man directly with a steady, slow voice (although it's still nasally, with Shirzon holding her nose closed), "Hey there... It's gonna be okay. Isn't that right, Merephel?"
Merephel steps forward, hands open. She is trying to be as non-threatening as possible.
"My good man, I realize you are upset. I understand that life has been hard. I can even tell that you are only trying to help us. But first, let me help you."
She takes her holy symbol in her hand, and slowly raises it up. She is not trying to appear dangerous. Moving in slow motions, she slowly begins to cast a spell. But it isn't like any spellcasting she has done before.
Merephel begins to sing.
She sings a song of hope, a song of love.
She sings of faith; she sings of light.
She sings to heal this man, and calm his fear.
She works the spell into her song, and as the melody ends, the spell completes.
The magic, only faintly visible, washes over the man. It is a comforting spell, like a warm blanket.
As Merephel sings her song, the man quickly calms down. He stops blubbering and tugging at his hairs instantly. As soon as he regains calm, he starts to speak: “Venture-Captain Tree Roots said we should come to… island to island and then we left the city and swam north, keeping abreast of each other to fend off fish and then we swam and swam and we swam for years and came here to the island and we went inside the island and saw its heart and it was black and we knew it was black and we came out and we were black and then the blackness consumed them, ate them alive, ate me alive, and then we were all dead all dead all dead and I was dead and they were dead, and they were dead and I wasn’t dead—do you see? I was alive! I was alive and they were dead and then I lived here and I lived in a tree and a cave and in the ruins and I saw, I saw, I saw things, and then the men in masks came and they fought the lizards and many died on both sides, many died, oh yes, many died and they did not get back up they were not dead like me and they headed to the doors, to the many doors by the river, the many doors where I slept once when the storms reached down and grabbed me. They are there now, they try to open the doors come with me, yes, come come come with me. I can show you where they are.”
Once he’s concluded his story, the man smiles, revealing several missing teeth. Then he points east and starts sloshing off in that direction, declaring that he’ll lead you to the men in the masks.
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Calden is quiet in the day following the wolves attack, dividing his time between reading the Pathfinder Chronicle, juggling around the scrolls of Augury, and stares listlessly at the blackness surrounding him. He's taken up a nasty cough as well.
At the approach of the man, he nearly sicks up and distances himself slightly. Merephel's song seems to lift his spirits, even if its magic wasn't intended for him. He then listens to the man's story, amazed at his revelations.
This was one of the Pathfinder team that was sent here! Reginar said they all died. How long ago was that? He is sad and alarmed at learning of the other Pathfinders. Dead and did not get up? More undead?
Korech blinks as he stares at the man.
"You live here? You are very strong. We follow."
This man lived here? The Fangwood is a paradise compared to here. Gentle and kind.
He takes off assertively after him, determined to complete the mission before any of them smell like the man.
Merephel breathes a sigh of relief.
'Thank Shekyn that worked....'
She follows her companions, both more and less on her guard.
Shirzon listens to the man's tale, brow creased in concentration as she tries to parse his rambling. She nods at Korech's comment, thinking, Yeah, it takes a lot for someone to nearly die and keep on alone in a place like this. It leaves some scars, though. I guess he was one of those lost Pathfinders... She is shaken from her thoughts as the man starts off to the east, more quickly than she expects for a man with an arrow in his leg. "Hey! Wait for us!" Shirzon calls out as he sloshes away through the muck. She draws her weapons as they set off again, trying her best to avoid the particularly deep patches of mud.
As they march on after the lost Pathfinder, she sidles up next to Merephel, hacking aside brush and plants aside. "Hey, good job with that spell. It's nice to have someone so uplifting in a rancid hole of a place like this. I've had enough of this island already, and we've been here for a day. I can't imagine what it's like for him." As the group continues, Shirzon calls out to the man ahead of them: "Hey, friend! Do you have a name?"
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— Starday, Kuthona the 11th, 4609 AR
— Morning
— Lingerlost Swamp, Isle of Terror
— Negative Energy Storm
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As Shirzon asks him about his name, the man turns to her proudly and declares “I’m Dusan Dremlock. Pathfinder and explorer.” He then cries and rages again for a while before abruptly stopping and resuming his march.
As you keep following Dusan, now approximately fourteen miles east of Fort Landing along Iramine’s trail, the you come across a campsite on the swampy southern shore of Whispering Lake that appears to have become a scene of battle. Here you find the bodies of nine Razmiri cultists left out in the open and clearly gnawed upon by scavengers.
Scattered about the cultists are the corpses of at least three dozen black-scaled, reptilian humanoids with morningstars and heavy wooden shields.
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Hisses and shrieks suddenly pierce the air as a group of black lizard-like humanoids bursts from the nearby trees, waving morningstars and javelins. Dusan quickly flees, leaving you to deal with these terrifying creatures. One of them, the most muscular of the four creatures assaulting you, immediately moves closer Morningstar in hand, as he yells insults in Draconic at you.
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Shirzon
Calden
Merephel
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Merephel is surprised at the appearance of the lizardfolk, and she gasps. It takes her a full four seconds to collect herself.
Korech pads unhappily through the island after stinky, stinky Dusan. He lets out a grunt as he spots the bodies of the cultists, and starts to move over to inspect them. However, not really knowing much about corpses, he shrugs and looks to the others. He is very interested in the lizardlike bodies though.
"Lizardfolk. Anarma tell me 'bout them. Not look like lizardfolk I know 'bout though. Bigger, blacker. Look sick and uh... changed."
He holds out a hand to keep the others back while he investigates the area.
"Razmiri go east. Lizards go west. I see trac--"
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Korech is cut off as the lizardfolk charge out at him! He blinks as he realizes he understands the raspy tongue, and he rasps back at them, speaking fluently thanks to his magical aid.
"You are fools to attack us, we mean no harm to your people but we will kill you if threatened!"
To punctuate his point, Korech aims, and fires an arrow straight at the chief.
Shirzon averts her eyes from the carnage, not really paying attention to the scene before them. Sensing that something stinks here (besides Dusan Dremlock), she keeps a lookout as Korech investigates more thoroughly. As the lizardfolk burst from the trees, she drops into a fighting stance.
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Another shiver runs down Shirzon's spine, but she settles the panic building in her stomach as she steps forward. She points a mace at the leader and challenges, "I don't know what you said, but you're better off letting us pass if you don't want to get thrashed."
She then levels her weapon, waiting for the lizards to make a move.
Calden stares numb at the carnage of the battlesite. Korech's hand keeps him at bay, and hi listens to the half-orc's words. "So they fought each other to a stalemate, then both retreated?"
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Ilimara taught Calden well, and the sight of the gruesome battlefield hasn't dulled Calden senses to his surroundings. He manages to not flinch under the leader's litenay of curses, but he can't help but feel intimidated. "They're beastly!" What else could we have expected, with the wolves we encountered earlier? And the bad part is that we are the invaders that time, but we can't really make that clear to them.
Hoping to take advantage of the fact that we was quick on his feet, Calden presses the attack against the most muscular of the lizardfolk. He scrambles up to the creature in short paces, lunges and aims a fist at its flank.
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The biggest among the lizardfolk easily dodges Calden’s unarmed attack. In the meantime, three more lizardfolk approach: two of them wave their morningstars, while the last one holds a javelin and appears to be ready to hurl it at you. As the lizardfolk moves closer, everyone in the party can feel a wash of fear and anguish around them.
Calden manages to hold his nerves, and resists to the fear caused by the lizardfolk’s mere presence. Unfortunately, Korech can’t do the same, and he’s overwhelmed by a sensation of blind fear, causing him to drop his bow and flee. He climbs the fallen tree branch and somehow manages to reach the other side. After resisting for a few seconds, even Merephel gives it up to the blind fear, dropping her morning star and fleeing. Knowing that she’s not a good climber, the girl chooses a risky path, hoping to pass between the enemies.
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The biggest lizardfolk, holding a morning star in each of his two hands, retaliates against Calden with stunning speed. The first strike is inaccurate and Calden easily dodges it, but the second one is far deadlier, hitting Calden in the chest and causing him an aching pain. Also, the morning star appears to be dipped in poison. Fortunately, Calden manages to dodge the last attack, a bite.
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Shirzon
Calden
Korech
Merephel
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Calden looks concerned as he finds Shirzon and Merephel fleeing before the lizardfolk. "Shirzon! Meph! We need you. We..." The look in Shirzon's eyes cut him short, and he has to confront the fact that he's on his own against the four creatures. Maybe they'll snap out of it, if they see that they're defeatable. If I turn to run as well, they'll just run us down with those javelins. And that means the others have lost their weapons...
Calden grits his teeth as his fights off the poison, then shifts position to the side of the path, assuming a defensive position while his whips his quarterstaff twice at one of the smaller lizardfolk.
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Shirzon prepares to take a swing at the lizardfolk that comes up to her, but something about them makes her stomach drop. Her arms shake and she can't hold on to her weapons, letting them drop in the mud. Her heart races, and as the reptilian creatures loom before her, a tribe of terrifying monsters ready to tear her apart, she bolts. Taking pains to dodge retaliation from the nearest creature, she runs toward the log behind her, attempting to vault over it toward safety. As she runs she calls over her shoulder, "Calden, get back! Look at them!"