The stalker's form takes on a semblance of life.
What have your people done with Soran and the other villagers?
Took them away.
Where were they taken?
To another island.
What can you tell me of Onthooth or any other aboleths in these isles?
Onthooth is the boss.
Purpose Creche clasps his iron medallion as he listens to the corpse's answer; a small wooden star is now affixed to the spiral's back.
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Silt blinks in the sunlight, and thinks about Chad the Squid's headgear. He sees the supply ship in the distance and rides Karl there. There's a long line but people seem eager to let them pass.
He comes out from the ship an hour later. His armor seems shinier, almost as if it's constantly glistening with fresh seawater. A crab dances on a pauldron's orange spire.
He is also wearing a large and round pair of shaded goggles; they allow his sensitive eyes see more comfortably in the light.
Silt finds Joli, ministering to the dead. Joli. I know, it is not nice to spy. But nice friends sometimes are sad or alone or hurt, and crying for help. Then, I think it is a good idea to spy them out. They would want their suffering to be seen, and known. I can do this tomorrow. Do you think it will help?
We need only find leftover pieces a friend, and a pool of the sea.
Once the dead stalker has finished speaking, Riku says:
”This is very unsettling. Not only watching the dead speak, but this news on another island. Does anyone have a map of the region?”
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Joli nods as the stalker speaks. "Riku, a spirit and song lies in every thing you see. No reason to be unsettled! But this confirms my suspicions. Let us see whether this other one has anything to share."
He prepares not-Sandra's body for the same, pumping its torso briefly that the air might travel through whatever it uses for a mouth.
He pauses as Silt walks in. "Those look amazing, Silt! You look ready to take on all the ocean's sharks!"
He listens, idly touching the damp coral as Silt shares his plan. "Yes, that sounds like a wonderful plan. Let me just see what Sandra's kidnapper has to say."
He sings a song, asking the body further questions.
"In what direction and how far away is the island where your people took our friends?"
"What other sorts of creatures does Onthooth have on the island, guarding them?"
"To the best of your knowledge, what are they doing with the them?"
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Toby follows Silt off the boat, his armor looking polished and a little denser. He clumsily bumps his hand against a stanchion as he walks down the gangplank and immediately looks to the the shiny new ring on his finger, to make sure he didn't break it. Seeing it unharmed he smiles, then looks around self-consciously to see if anyone noticed.
Purpose Creche scrutinizes Toby's new acquisitions, giving the armor and ring sharp taps with one finger. "Hm. Very good." Their hardness seems to satisfy him.
He briefly considers doing the same to Silt's, but settles on simply stating "Hello, crab," to the pauldron-dweller.
He then retrieves a map of the islands, steps beside Riku, and points out features of note and interest while they wait on Joli's "conversation" to finish.
"In what direction and how far away is the island where your people took our friends?"
Away. Not far.
"What other sorts of creatures does Onthooth have on the island, guarding them?"
Us. Beasts. Clockworks. Skum. Themselves.
"To the best of your knowledge, what are they doing with them?"
Experiments.
Purpose Creche freezes. "Clockworks." He resumes reviewing the map—"Not far. Hm. Where."—in search of islands that fit criteria revealed by what he's learned so far.
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”Spirit song or not, it is no comfort to me to watch the dead speak.”
He claps his hands twice at the center of his chest and then bows to the bodies.
Straightening up, he says to no one in particular, ”When Sun Wukong couldn’t learn the secret to immortality he snuck into Pharasma’s Boneyard and removed his name from her books. Not everyone can be so clever.”
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Purpose Creche does not look up from the map. ”I’m sure she knew and allowed it.”
Knowing that the faceless stalkers were passing through an area with two particular kinds of flowers, most likely along the western coast where the locathah camp is, with a clear view of one of the islands to the west, the group identifies a few locations to search for evidence of the stalkers.
I will find my friends. No need to put my ear to dead lips.
Silt rides Karl out to the beach and gracelessly dismounts.
Joli attempts to find the path between Silt’s spotting of razzberries and delectable tubers, keeping his friend focused on the task at hand.
”Look here.” Purpose Creche crouches in the sand. The hem of his black coat fans out, pushing sand into a miniature berm.
After identifying a few key places to search, it only takes the group an hour to find tracks that lead to a small peninsula located some 3 miles west of Talmandor’s Bounty. It's still light out when you arrive.
This is a nice place to land boats. One was tied to the rock not long back.
Silt will transform into a flying reptile and scouts the sea from the air (he doesn't want to stray too far, and is mostly going up). Does he see any landmarks where a boat might land? Any hidden coves on the island?
"Ah, so it is. Hm... If only we had a school of hippocampi that we could ride over to the other island... Perhaps the Rillsong has a song for that..."
Joli watches as Silt soars above, hoping there aren't any dragons flying above the island.
”Although the conditions could be fair, riding across would be preferable to swimming.”
Looking the area over, RIku tries to us his past experience to determine if the area is safe for swimming.
Joli and Riku notice flashes of light coming from an island directly west. Silt, flying, thinks he can make out a partially crumbled stone building.
”I see a light on that island!” He points to the west. ”Someone is trying to send a message!”
Joli looks to Purpose. "Can you make it out? The code?" He produces the mirror, and then his telescope. He aims it at the island expectantly.
As he gazes, he says, "It's not so very far. We could perhaps swim it. Ah, but I've forgotten Riku. If you like, I could help you breath underwater for hours on end, and provide a watery mount!"
Deciphering the code takes a Linguistics or Sense Motive check.
Joli can make out a couple of words (“status,” “go,” “Karnax,” and “instructions”), but not the entire message.
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”I can’t be sure what they are saying. Could be the lost villagers, signaling for help!”
He turns to Joli, ”That you for the kind offer. I come from a long line of pearl divers. We have ways to survive the depths, scary as they may be.”
With that he flexes and tenses his muscles. His eyes widen, his nose flattens, his toothy grin becomes more toothy. Gills appear on the sides of his neck and his skin gains mottled stripes, like a tiger shark!
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”Where.” Purpose Creche steps briskly to the Joli and presses his cheek to the grippli’s, directing his gaze along a pointed finger.
”Hm.”
Joli suddenly detects a faint odor of smoke.
Purpose Creche’s explanation of his reading stops when Riku transforms. ”You say a long line. Very interesting. Do you all adapt like this. Do you crave potatoes when you change.”
"Yes...the signal...." What in the world are they talking about?
The group is unable to decipher the entire message.
There doesn't seem to be any other evidence at this location.
Riku swells with pride when Purpose Creche asks about his family. ”Some of us adapt better than others. Potatoes? We crave raw fish!”
”Who has the signal mirror? Let’s send a reply.”
Silt grumbles. Nothing nicer than tubers, fresh from the ground and sprinkled with dirt.
Joli takes out the signal mirror and attempts to explain his understanding to Purpose. "Maybe we can craft a simple message back. Like, ‘All good. Right away.’” He sings softly in grippli, and Purpose hears another frog-like voice in his ear counciling him.
“I believe we should leave tomorrow, and let hippocampi carry us beneath the waves. I must ask Jalaitali for a different sort of help.”
Purpose Creche cocks his head at the sound of the voice. ”More insights from beyond.” A puff of cinder smell, and he lifts the mirror to try to relay Joli’s suggested message.
”We can stay here tonight. Maybe further from the beach.”
You see flashes of light in response to Purpose's message.
"Well done, Purpose! If only we knew what they were asking..."
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"Hippocampi? Are those the water-horses? I always wanted to ride one of those!"
Purpose Creche hands the mirror back to Joli. ”They say ‘received.’ I hope we successfully fooled them.”
Joli nods in agreement. “Purpose, perhaps you could use the telescope to keep watch on their coastline tonight. I’ll gladly do so while we still have light!”
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Silt sits looking at Karl for hours, meditating on “mag-niff-sense.” He watches Karl make threatening gestures at the moon in the sky, consume a small tree from belowground, and disgorge acidic bile into a puddle of muddy rainwater.
"A good idea." Purpose Creche sits with Joli in the treeline during his surveillance shift—which necessitates rolling out of the way of Karl's meal—then takes over for most of the night. He sits immobile beneath the boughs, crosslegged, one elbow braced against a knee while he peers through the spyglass for hours.
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A puzzled look comes over Toby's face, and he scratches his head. "Hey Joli, how many of those Hippocampi can your song make? There's only five of us but...aren't we hoping to find a bunch of our kidnapped friends when we get there? Won't we need a boat to bring them back?"
Once the group settles in around the camp, Riku pulls out a shamisen and a bachi, both made of tortoises shell, and begins to pluck, He doesn’t sing or hum, but occasionally he calls out a “Yope!” And spears his peg leg into the sand.
The next morning, as the group prepares to leave, Riku surveys the water, to make sure it’s safe.
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Silt stares silently at Riku while he waits for the translation; the nictitating membranes on his eyes snap open and shut.
Riku believes that there is an impending storm, and you'll have to move quickly to get to the other island before it arrives.
At first Riku is unsure of what Silt is waiting for, but then he says:
”I see red on the horizon, it is not good for us. A storm is coming . We must hurry if we want to cross before it hits!”
”I am okay to swim across. It’s the ocean depths that scare me these days.”
"Let me whistle for our steeds. Purpose and I can ride behind you big fellas. I think we should approach beneath the water's surface."
Assuming everyone agrees, Joli calls forth three hippocampi, Sthenios, Skylla, and Arion. "My first captain always said, it's never bad to travel in style."
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Silt asks Karl to burrow a hole in the hard earth beyond the beach. He fills it back in with fresh soil and packs it down tight, creating a shallow bowl. He pours in fresh seawater from the chilly waves, and observes the ripples glinting in the new sun. When the water is perfectly still, Joli hands him a carefully wrapped object. Silt grasps his chunk of coral and rumbles words in Aquan.
The water undulates, as if something monstrous has walked on the earth nearby; it's preternaturally still a moment later — a perfect mirror. Silt, sitting cross legged, peers in, seeing at first his own reflection in the water…