Corin nods to Corliss.
"Perhaps. Perhaps Ieana was able to bargain for her life somehow, or use her powers to control the cannibals. I'm afraid the captain might have come to a bad end."
At Corin's words, Corliss does a weird little bit of dancing and motioning symbolically with his hands to ward off evil. "You shouldn't say such things aloud--bad luck, ya know? But yer crew will fight to the last breath to keep our Cap'n from comin' to a bad end. Count on it."
"So a woman bewitched the captain of the vessel you were on and had it crash on this island? Seems a bit strange, this island is known but no one ever comes back from it, well so the rumors go in Sargava."
Hamual starts to gather some berries from around the new camp site.
"How long do you think we will be stuck at this camp site? I can start to make some scroll for myself so I don't feel naked and useless."
Corin considers Hamual's words and looks at the sky.
"At least until the storm passes. We should work on doing what we can to prepare for the storm. Make sure our food stores aren't contaminated. I'm certain that some of the creatures on the island will take advantage of the storm, so we would be ready. When it passes we need to move as soon as possible back to our other camp and retrieve the rest of our supplies."
Corin moves over and tends to Aerys.
Corliss craftily arranges to be near Karia as the survivors hastily set-up and reinforce the new campsite. He suggests setting up the tents as low to the ground as possible so they won't catch the wind gusts the storm almost certainly promises to bring; he also suggests rigging extra stakes to secure them to the ground.
"Seems to me we may have some time to kill while we wait out the storm," Corliss says casually to the bard. "I'm guessin' there be a story to yer white hair. I'd love to hear it...iff'n ye be willin' to tell the tale."
Sizara nods in agreement and begins to help look for traps and other not so nice surprises.
"What's more is that when we found the dead body of the ship's cook, it looked like he had been bitten by a snake...a very large snake. The only thing is there were no snakes onboard the ship. I believe that Ilena may be a juju shaman."
The elven barbarian shudders at the word juju.
"Masters of dark magics...they can corrupt the spirits with a thought. They are feared and despised by all spirits for their evil ways."
Juju shaman? Corliss thinks. Does that jog a lost memory inside his scrambled brain?
Maybe...a bit. There's a brief flash of zombies and painted faces and maybe fetishes...but then the ex-pirate's stomach growls and juju shaman somehow morphs into thoughts of a juicy sandwich.
@Hamnal "There are traces of Azlanti magic all over this island." Karia tells him. "Maybe this Ieana knows of something hidden here? She certainly made sure we landed on this hellhole."
She looks around the landscape with no fondness. "A steaming, poisonous jungle, with a cannibal population. There would have to be a very important reason to want to come here?"
At the mention of Azlant magic Hamual perks up. He looks closer at Karia.
"How do you know it is Azlant magic? Have you a tome or scroll to prove this? I would like to see it, Azlant magic is ancient history but if something was found I could be famous for knowing magic that was lost to history."
"Nothing definite." Karia responds. "Take a look at the island when you have a clear view. Use Detect magic and you'll see the touch of Azlanti magic hanging over it."
Hamual ponders Karia's statement, "I will have to do this once the sky is clear and I have no risk of being blown away. Right now I need to focus to make some scrolls."
Six hours later, the hurricane slams into the island like a fist. The sky darkens, the rain falls in sheets, and the wind howls over the jungle, stripping leaves from trees and filling the sky with debris. The very ground of the island thrums with the force of the storm. The sea receeds from the bay where the group are huddled at the base of the cliff, and is churned into a foam. Enormous breakers can be seen hurling themselves against the offshore reefs, exploding into spray that is subsumed into the rain.
The group can do very little except huddle at the base of the cliff of the bay, seeking shelter from the rain and wind. Keeping a campfire lit is impossible. In short, the group is tired and cold and miserable.
It takes a little while to hear the cries over the roar of the wind. It is only when the figure comes into view, around the rocks at the side of the bay, that the group notice. Unperturbed by the rain or wind, a terrible figure walks over the crests of the waves, as though they were solid ground. The figure is dressed in the velvet robes of a pirate officer, and bears a hook instead of one hand, but he rest of it is nothing more than a rotting skeleton. Blue fire flows from its eyes.
The figure turns its head this way and that, as though looking for something. "Aeshemara!" it calls over the fury of the storm. "Aeshemara my love! Come to me!"
Corin makes a sign to ward off evil as he spies the figure, and makes sure he has his magic weapon to hand in case it decides to attack.
Although he's never seen that particular one used, Corliss mimics Corin's sign against evil rather than stand and do his own personal, dancey version, fearing to attract the undead's attention.
"It claims to come out o' love," the ex-pirate whispers to Karia. "Iff'n it changes its mind, though...might I please borrow yer enchanted rapier for the battle?"
"Aeshemara!" calls the figure, walking onto the beach from the foaming sea. "Aeshemara! Come my flame-haired beauty, don't be coy."
The figure advances up the beach, and then stops, staring directly at Sizara. It pauses, shielding its eyes as if from the rain.
"Aeshemara? Ah, I'd know yer red tresses anywhere. Come to me, my love."
It stretches out a bony hand towards the elf woman.
Hamual looks up from his soaked borrowed blanket, frowning firmly at the figure "Long lost love Sizara?" He then looks around for some where to retreat from the undead creature.
"We might want to prepare for the worst. I have a few spells that will harm him, unless someone something better in mind."
Corin steps between the ghostly figure and Sizara. The wind and rain lash Corin's hair and cloak as he levels his magical cutlass at the thing's chest.
"Stay back! Her name is Sizara, not Aeshemara!"
Sizara was a bit shocked by the fact that a pirate, much less an undead one, would mistake her for someone else.
"No he isn't Hamual. I'm not sure who he is."
She sighed a bit when Corin yelled at the spirit.
"I'm not your beloved but I'll pray to the gods and animal spirits in the hopes that you two are reunited!"
Karia
The ghost looks from one to another as various people shout things at him. Finally, he turns his attention on Corin's levelled blade.
"Ah, mutiny!" he cries. "I knew it would come to this - ye want her for yerself. Ye shall not keep me from her, traitorous cur!"
The blue fire in his eyes flares, and the same blue fire begins to burn around his hook as he raises it to strike.
Rotation:
Corliss - Can Post
Corin - Can Post
Ghost
Karia
Sizara
Sasha
Hamual
"She isn't who you think she is! Her name is Sizara!"
Corliss brings a copycat mirror image of himself into being and then he and himself start toward the undead pirate, taking the long way around, hoping to flank next round .
Hamual will stand and begin to cast a spell on his turn he will unleash a dart of magical energy in the shape of a book page.
"Ye'll not take my Aeshemara from me! I just want to see her face again!" snarls the ghost as it lashes at Corin with its ghostly hook trailing blue fire.
The ghostly limb appears to pass straight through the ranger's body, but Corin feels his flesh tear as though the hook had ripped him.
-
Rotation:
Corliss
Corin
Ghost
Karia - Can Post
Sizara - Can Post
Sasha
Hamual
"Crap!" Karia mutters, lining up her shot carefully.
Karia's shot zooms straight at the ghost's heart - and zooms straight through the figure, without appearing to cause it any discomfort whatsoever. The bolt continues and is lost in the raging sea.
"Double crap!" Karia adds eloquently when she sees her bolt do nothing.
Corin shivers as the ghostly hook passes through his body, the chill of the grave infusing his flesh.
He shrugs it off and swings at the ghostly figure once again.
"Who are you? Why do you think that Sizara is Aeshemara?"
Corliss winces and ducks a bit as Karia's bolt flies straight through the undead pirate. He'd been aware that was a possibility--that had been why he'd asked to borrow the bard's magical rapier. Corliss presses his scrambled brain, trying not so much to recognize who the ghost pirate is but what he is.
The ex-pirate does have a Plan B, however...he's just not convinced that he's the best one to execute it. Thus, he makes eye contact with Sizara and starts singing (literally, and sort of like this), "I got magic weapon!"
Corliss doesn't know much, but it's obviously some kind of incorporeal undead. Magic weapons may hurt it, but positive energy definitely will.
Sizara swings her sword trying to hit the ghost.
"Maybe praying to the gods will send the ghost away," she suggests.
Sizara's blade swishes through the body of the ghost as if it were merely empty air. As the red-haired woman approaches, the ghost turns its skull to gaze at her. "Ah, my Aeshemara - t'is ye indeed" it sights, dropping its clawed hand to its side and making no [move to defend itself. "My love, let me gaze upon yer face".
Hamual finishes his spellcasting, and his arcane missile flies unerringly through the air, slamming into the ghost, who does not respond in any way, continuing to be fixed on Sizara.
Corin swings again, this time his magic blade slices into the ghost, ripping away ectoplasm which dissipates in the wind. On a living opponent, that would have been a felling blow, but against the incorporeal undead its effect is lessened.
Corliss - Can Post
Corin
Ghost - fascinated
Karia
Sizara - Can Post
Sasha
Hamual
After seeing Corin take a bite out of the ghost and his own spell affect it, Hamual will roll up the sleeves of his robes, cocking his fist back he chants a few short words.
His fist glow with white force, he thrusts his right fist at the creatures.
Watching the force fist sail well wide of the ghost captain.
"Hmm my aim was never very good."
The two Corlisses move around to Sizara and cast magic weapon on her sword. "Try now, Sizara!" The cleric(s) turn(s) toward the ghost as he emphasizes the elf's name.
Sizara swung her sword again, hoping to hit the undead specter.
Infused with the divine power of the Pirate Queen, Sizara's blade swings into the ghostly pirate, and she feels it catch on... something as it passes through the insubstantial form.
A look of shock and dismay comes over the ghost's skeletal visage. "Aeshemara!" it wails, "Why do ye betray me so? I shall return for ye, my love..."
The ghost's form turns to an ectoplasmic mist, which bleeds away in the howling wind.
Corin breathes hard as the wind and rain lash at his cloak and hair, staring out over the storm-tossed bay with an ashen face. After a few moments he returns to the relative shelter of the cliff to huddle with his companions and wait for the storm to pass.
Hamual adjusts his now soaking wet robe and hair, he returns with Corin to the shelter.
"This island is just full of surprises. Do you think that the ghost haunts this beach?"
Corin shrugs. "We've put him to rest now, so it doesn't much matter."
Corliss uses create water to clean Corin's ghost-inflicted wound. "Although it usually be good practice to kiss up to the cap'n, I'm gonna hold off healin' up your wound for now, just in case that loony ghost or some other threat shows up--I be a bit low on healin' magics. Iff'n there be no more threats, I'll fix ye up good as new afore bedtime."