Nox nods as he jogs after the undine. "You did see there was a sunken basket and fishing pole, didn't you? There could definitely be a clue in that basket. Might as well grab this while we gather our rope, wouldn't you say?"
The second the gnome speaks up, cracks appear in Aenons center of calm. He takes a deep breath before turning to face the wildhaired menace. "I hadn't noticed that, thank you." He replies while pulling his shirt over his head. "There should be a coil of rope strapped to the old pack in the back, get it out while I'm down there won't you?" And before the gnome can reply, he steps over to the edge and...
...elegantly dives into the water, leaving behind his main source of annoyance for a few blissful minutes. He swiftly dives down to the canoe before checking out the gear the gnome pointed out.
A waterlogged gremlin with lobster claws for hands and an almost canine face with webbed ears, attacks as you disturb the canoe. Aenons struggles with a strange urge to let his eyes drift closed but quickly shakes it off. Struggling to land a solid blow on the tiny creature, when he does hit, it appears unharmed. Rather than continue ineffectual attack he manages to grab, pin, and restrain the creature.
You've manged to catch a Fuath.
"What in the blue hells is going on over there, Aenon? Quit fiddling around," the gnome calls out as he collects the rope. Turning to face his teammate, he sees the undine with the small creature in his hands. "Aw, you made a friend. What languages does he speak?"
"Do. You. Understand. Me," the gnome calls loudly and slowly in both common and aquan before trying any of the other languages he speaks.
"Damn... I'm going to have to ask the gnome about this one" Aenon dejectedly thinks to himself as he looks at the strange creature. Not being one to waste time, he quickly breaches the surface and climbs onto the dock, hauling the Fuath after him. "Hey shrimpey, I found a..." Realizing he has no idea what to call it, Aenon stumbles for a moment, trying to find the right word for it"... a thing. Ever seen one of these before?"
It struggles more violently in your grasp as you bring it to the surface and it becomes exposed to the sun. "ብርሃኑ ያቃጥለን! ይውጥ! ያስወግዳናል!"
The fuath wears seaweed, shells, and coral like other creatures wear armor, clothes, and jewelry. Its body is protected by a hard, hunchbacked carapace. It stands less than 2 feet tall and weighs 12 to 15 pounds.
Momo hears the commotion from the dock and heads towards the noise.
Momo will share with her companions what she knows about the fuath.
"ወወግጥ" Aenon exclaims and shoves the fuath back under the surface, carefully maintaining a firm grip on it. "Nasty little bugger, eh?" He laughs merrily at Nox, before he quickly remembers who he's talking to causing the grin to fade away.
Momo determines that the forge was last lit about a week ago. This is noteworthy because the rest of the colony appears to have been abandoned for a month.
Tresure
Two masterwork machetes, a masterwork chain shirt, and a +1 darkwood buckler, which appears to have had a new arm strap affixed recently. You can also salvage 40 metal arrowheads from the debris.
Moving on... Looking at the other buildings you can see the following from the outsides.
This mud wall building has a door facing east and one shuttered window. Above the door is a plain wooden sign that reads, “Tool House.”
This rectangular building is constructed of mud brick walls. The building has a simple door facing east, but unlike all other buildings in the colony, it lacks any windows. A heady smell of dried plants, herbs, and dried meat lingers in the air.
"I say we check the tool shed first, then move on to the larder. Doubt there's any provisions still around if these buggers had anything to say about it, though.". As the group ventured on, the gnome prepared to cast Detect Magic to try to scan for anything usable in the shed.
Deth adds to Momo's description of Fuath once he rejoins them, but at Momo's remark of the Forge being recently used, he tries to find any recent tracks leading to or from the Forge.
"The Tool House is fine by me. I'll bet a silver piece we're going to find another variation of goblin. Does anyone mind if I use this shield, he says as he tries it on."
Momo is pleasantly surprised to learn Aenon Malas speaks the same language as the fuath. Well, I hadn't expected that...
~*~*~*~
Momo picks up the 40 metal arrowheads from the Smithy and stores the bundle in her backpack. I'll need shafts and fetching to make these usable. Momo also takes one of the masterwork machetes, thinking she might find a use for the tool later.
"I have no use for this other masterwork machete, the masterwork chain shirt, or this +1 darkwood buckler (which appears to have a new arm strap.) Do one of you guys have a use for any of these items?"
"The Tool House is fine by me. I'll bet a silver piece we're going to find another variation of goblin. Does anyone mind if I use this shield, he says as he tries it on."
"Yes, please take it Deth," Momo gives a curt nod in approval.
~*~*~*~
"Also, the Smithy was probably abandoned about a month ago, but it was used in the past seven days. Someone has been here since the village was abandoned." Momo shifts her weight to adjust the bow slung across her back. It was a comfortable, relaxed motion of a person who looked like they'd been using a bow all their life.
~*~*~*~
"I say we check the tool shed first, then move on to the larder. Doubt there's any provisions still around if these buggers had anything to say about it, though."
Momo nods at 14's words and goes with the group to look over the two supply sheds. "We should take a look at this building after the Tool House," Momo motions a hand over to building "It smells like food storage. If there's still a lot of food, I think we should assume the worst... If it's empty, then they probably had time to prepare and leave safely." Momo speaks aloud although she's partially reasoning inside her head.
Momo opens the latch on the "Tool House" then uses the blade of the machete to pull the door open. Momo side steps, following the swing of the door until the building is wide open. With her other free hand, Momo pulls out a round silver disk resembling a pocket watch She flips the lid open with her thumb and whispers "Lux." The device begins to glow with light and Momo holds it out as she looks inside.
Assuming there are no creatures, Momo repeats the same process with the neighboring building
As he sees the party move back up the hill and deeper into the settlement, Aenon realizes he probably shouldn't be wasting too much time with his new found friend. Dropping back into the water, he lets himself sink back down to the canoe, still with the gremlin at hand.
"ሎኦክ፣ ዒ ረኣልልይ ዶንእት ሃቨ ቲመ ቶ ደኣል ዊጥ ዮኡ" He states matter-of-factly as he examines the canoe "ዒእም ኡሱኣልልይ ኖት ኦነ ቶ ጥሮው ኣሮኡንድ ጥረኣጽ፣ ቡት ኢፍ ዒ ሃቨ ቶ፣ ዒ ዊልል ታከ ዮኡ ባችክ ኡፕ ኢንቶ ትሀ ሱን ኣንድ ጥሮው ዮኡ ኢን ትሀ ሞንከይቻገ። ጾ ውሃት ዶ ዮኡ ክኖው ኦፍ ትሀ ቾሎኝ ኣንድ ኢጽ ኢንሃቢታንጽ፧ Wሀረ ዲድ ትሀይ ጎ፧ ዓንድ ውሃት ቻኡሰድ ትሀም ቶ ለኣቨ፧"
He slowly makes his way to the other end of the docks, to grab whatever items Nox pointed out to him. Taking his time to let the gremlin answer the barrage of questions.
"I'm usually not one to throw around threats, but if I have to, I will take you back up into the sun and throw you in the monkeycage. So what do you know of the colony and its inhabitants? Where did they go? And what caused them to leave?"
he tries to find any recent tracks leading to or from the Forge.
There are a few old tracks from the goblin monkeys, mostly washed away by recent rain around the smithy but nothing from a larger humanoid.
@Aenon
The little creature angrily chitters back in its funny tongue. "እንደ እርስዎ ያሉ ትልልቅ ሰዎች አያዩም, ከመውሰድዎ በፊት ጥሩ ቤት ያገኛሉ. እኔ እዚሁ እዚህ ጥቂት ነበር."
The canoe has a hole in the bottom hull is evident. The canoe’s construction is recent and it was likely built on this island...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The contents of this building are useful but unremarkable. Hanging on the wall from hooks and nails are an assortment of tools, such as hammers, handsaws, hatchets, machetes, trowels, and the like. Various other implements, such as makeshift ladders, barrels of tar, and shovels are stacked or otherwise arrayed about the room.
Tresure
A wooden box with the words “Emergency Only” carved on the lid sits on a shelf. The box has a simple lock that requires a successful DC 15 Disable Device check to open.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The door lacks a means to bar it from within. Inside, the ground has been dug out to a depth of 3 feet so that the floor is lower than the ground outside. A short flight of steps set with flat stones leads into this darkened area, lit only by any ambient light coming through the door. The building lacks interior walls except for a few short partitions, and four stout posts support the roof. The temperature is cool and the smell of rotted vegetables and meat is strong. Strings of garlic hang suspended from ceiling crossbeams alongside chunks of salted meat and bone. Debris and refuse is strewn across the floor between stacks of crates, boxes, and barrels against the walls.
When Momo swings the door open, XIV peeks around her knees to see if anything jumps out at him. When nothing happened, he moved ahead and whistled, looking at all the useful items. "Plenty of neat tools here. We need to tell the ship. With these, there's no telling how much stuff we can build."
He followed the same suit for the next building. He looked around the brave Momo's legs and tried to take in everything in the building. The nasty smell almost overcame him as he looked around.
Perception .
He saw the movement in the corner and threw his hands up, heading for the door. "Run away! Cockroaches everywhere! Get out of my way..."
"What did it say, Aenon?" Momo looks from the water to her companion.
~*~*~
Momo, having at least 1 rank in Survival, examines the “Tool House” with disappointment. Gravely Momo states: ”There’s no way the colonists could have relocated without these tools.”
"Plenty of neat tools here. We need to tell the ship. With these, there's no telling how much stuff we can build."
"Yeah, maybe we can come back for them later." Momo bends down on one knee and pulls out her ”I don’t want to spend a lot of time on this, I just want to see if I can pick the lock.” Momo faces the wooden box labeled “Emergency Tools” and fiddles with the lock.
Momo briefly shares the contents of the box with the party then closes the box again, snapping shut the simple lock. "We'll take this with us?"
~*~*~
Momo wrinkles her nose and takes a step back. She wasn't accustomed to the smell of so much rotting vegetables and meat. Momo is about to gag when she hears 14 shout a warning about... "Cockroaches?" Momo retreats more, taking the light source of the with her. What is Nox planning? Momo raises her up slightly, not knowing what to expect.
Aenon takes one last look at the canoe to see if there's anything useful still lying in it.
"So someone didn't want anyone leaving with the canoe... strange" He thinks to himself.
"ዒፍ ዒ ሀኣር ኣ ዎርድ ኣቦኡት ዮኡ ቦትሀሪንግ ትሀ ቾሎኒስት፣ ዮኡእረ ጎኢንግ ኢን ትሀ ሞንከይቻገ።።። ዖህ፣ ኣንድ ሶመኦነ ኢስ ፕሮባብልይ ጎኢንግ ቶ ዋንት ቶ ረችላኢም ትሀ ቦኣት"Seeing no reason to waste any more time on the gremlin, Aenon gives it a stern look and a quick warning before letting it go. He then grabs the wicker basket and fishing pole and brings them to the surface.
As he surfaces, the panicked voice of Nox reaches the beach. Making a mental note of the gnomes apparent fear of insects, (but making no discernible effort to come to his aid) Aenon leisurely gathers up the backpacks from the boat. Not trusting the fuath with anything not nailed down, he brings the bags up to the smithy before rejoining his party.
Deth moves over to the panicked voice of Nox
"Where are the cockroaches?' he asks, not being able to make out anything in the gloom of the building. Nevertheless he believes Nox and is ready to run. "Momo, if its some sort of cockroach swarm I have neither the spells or the oil to deal with them. Was there anything in the storage shed that might be able to help?"
Tresure
Inside the box are two vials of alchemist’s fire and a neatly folded swarmsuit.
"Momo, if its some sort of cockroach swarm I have neither the spells or the oil to deal with them. Was there anything in the storage shed that might be able to help?"
"There are two vials of alchemist’s fire and a neatly folded swarmsuit in the Emergency Box." Momo stares at Deth, not making a move towards the box. "...You... think they would help? I think the cockroaches are the least of our problems. The food is already rotten - we should move on to another building."
Delia replaces her old machete with one of the newer ones. She takes a moment to admire the craftsmanship. "The balance on this blade is far better than my own. If you all do not mind, I would like to take this weapon." Baring any disagreements, she removes the old leather sheath on her belt with the newer blade and keeps the weapon in hand. "I could even utilize that fine suit of armor over this old leather shirt."
"I agree that the cockroaches can wait for now. Let us check the rest of the area first and return to them once the rest of the village has been searched."
"I think that masterwork chain shirt will look nice on you, Delia. And that Machete." Momo smiles, her average-looking face lighting up.
Determined to continue a steady progression, Momo makes a suggestion. "Should we look at those two long buildings next?" Momo points Northeast. "And is that a fire pit to the South?"
"What's all this yelling about? I could hear you all the way down by the docks" Aenon asks as he saunters back to the party. "Anyway, it seems the canoe was purposefully sunk from the inside. I found a ..thing.. in it" He quickly describes the fuath "...but it claimed not to know anything about what happened here. It was strangely resistant to my attacks, so if there are more of them we should probably be better prepared."
Spotting the pair of spare machetes, Aenon seems to remember something. "If you two don't need them, I'd like to borrow one of those machetes. I seem to have misplaced my own."
Delia hands Aenon her older machete. "Of course, we are in this together after all. That thing has seen many expeditions, but is sturdy and durable. She will not let you down."
Aenon gives a short bow as he is handed the machete. "Then I shall take good care of it"
"I agree that the cockroaches can wait for now. Let us check the rest of the area first and return to them once the rest of the village has been searched."
Deth agrees with Delia and Momo to save the cockroaches for later.
"I'm just glad the little buggers don't like sunlight. If we get absolutely desperate, I can purify the food, but I think that should be our last option." Deth says."Should we look at those two long buildings next?" Momo points Northeast. (A11) "And is that a fire pit to the South?"
"Absoutely" admiring her zeal. "And we should check the portion of wall that is built there." Deth adds as he heads over to the northernmost of the buildings.
"Lead away. It seems like this village has everything but settlers in it. There has to be some explanation for what happened here. We've got to keep looking!"
"Let's do it then" Aenon says and takes point on the walk towards the large buildings(A11). "I'm betting my first tankard of ale that this one has another swarm of 3ft creatures in it."
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.
Momo pulls out her bow, "Oh gross - an oversized bug!"
"What bug?" Deth asks from the doorway, annoyed that he cannot spot insects today. He trusts Momo however and readies to attack anything that comes out after she shoots.
Aenon takes a spot by the door and peeks in, preparing a solid kick should anything approach the door. "What is it with people and insects today" he thinks to himself while straining to spot Momo's giant bug. "How big is it?"
After his last run in with the roaches, Nox wasn't leading his way into any more buildings until they were cleared out. "Just yell at me if we have to fight something. There's too many creepy crawlies here for my taste. But look for clues, though," he not very helpfully adds.
Momo fires an arrow at the creature, injuring it. It bursts from the shadows spewing a stream of acid 15' through the door.
A second arrow and a blow from each the others is enough to bring it down.
Know. Arcana
At the sound of the crash, Nox comes running to help the others. Thankfully the creature was quickly dispatched. He looks at the corpse, trying to identify whatever species it might have been.
Grimicing slightly from her injury, Momo approaches the corpse of what she'd just killed. She admires her precise shooting: one in the belly of the insect and the second shot through the brain. Yeah... You're dead now. See all the good spraying me with acid did? Stupid bug. Momo's gaze lingers on the bug for some time while the others look around the building. "Ugh, look at it."
Eventually, Momo turns away from the corpse to patrol around the room. "Find anything?"
Momo pokes her head outside, "Nox, it's safe to come inside now." Does the gnome fear insects? Momo doesn't ask.
Aenon slams his back against the wall as the acid comes flying past, burning his arm. When he peeks back out, the bug lies dead. Seeing Momo looking proud of herself, he gives her a pat on the back. "Well done Momo, that thing's at least 3ft long." He moves further into the room, searching for more clues about what happened to the colonists.
You find a necklac of fireballs Type I along with 321 sp and 87 gp. You also locate a wand of color spray with 12 charges remaining,
hidden inside a small tear in one of the mattresses. It bears the initials “U. H.”
The stream of acid hits Deth head on and he grimaces in pain as some of it melts through his armor on his shoulder. As Momo kills it, he gratefully says. "Well done." He looks the beast over.
"I'm going to have to take some time to dress this wound before it festers and I should probably look at yours also." he says as he takes his healers out and starts to apply bandages.
Delia walks over to examine the large insect, taking a moment to appreciate its size. "It is no wonder this place is abandoned. The sheer amount of aggressive fauna around here would make life difficult. Although, I feel that the five of us are made of sterner stuff. Take care of you wounds, the rest of us will continue searching."
Aid another for Deth's Heal check
"See Deth, you are supppsed to avoid the acid from the creatures. It'll hurt you if you don't," Nox helpfully explains as he holds a cold compress to the burnt skin.
"Now I expect there to be a whole ahkheg family around here. More little ones like that one, and a big momma will be around somewhere. I say we turn and run if we see the mother beast. She'll be way too tough for us."
Nox stows the color Spray wand in his pack. "Two more things. First, someone needs to take that little fireball necklace. It'll blow up swarms and other nasties for us. And someone should toss all that gold in a bag. No telling what we will need that for. Second, who in the world is U.H.? His mattress is just over here. Or her mattress, that is. "
Deth laughs at Nox's comment. "No arguments there. And definitely run if this was just one of the young." He adds. "Thanks for the help."
”Thanks, Deth. It’s nice to have a skilled healer in the group,” Momo looks appreciatively at Deth’s handiwork with the First-Aid Kit.
"It is no wonder this place is abandoned. The sheer amount of aggressive fauna around here would make life difficult. Although, I feel that the five of us are made of sterner stuff. Take care of you wounds, the rest of us will continue searching."
Now I expect there to be a whole ahkheg family around here. More little ones like that one, and a big momma will be around somewhere."
Amidst the bandaging from Deth, Delia and Nox say what’s already on Momo’s mind. ”Perhaps we’ll need the and sooner than later.” Momo takes a look at the after Nox mentions the initials. ”U. H. …Why hide a wand in the mattress?”
Momo eyes Nox with some skepticism, ”Run if we see the Mother?” Momo scoffs: ”…I don’t know about the rest of you all, but I’m in the mood for a bug hunt. Let’s exterminate these creepy, crawly invaders – starting with the young.” Momo folds her arms over her chest, ”The longer we put it off, the more eggs this,” Momo uses air quotes, ”Mother is going to lay.” Momo lifts up one of the mattresses, "Maybe there are some more fire weapons laying around."
"If we're here to stay, we'll have to deal with them at some point." Aenon ponders "I agree with Momo, if the mother is here, we cannot avoid a fight for long."
With the two long buildings explored , Momo offers to be the party's scout and lead towards the next building.
Momo stops to walk a circle around the fire pit.
Momo kneels down to examine the ashes.
Momo stops to examine the water source on her way to the building. She peers into the water, wondering if it's clean enough to drink. "Look, water," Momo states the obvious. Momo makes a circle around the stone structure before leaving towards
As the party reaches the building Momo asks: "So after we finish exploring this camp, do you think the second wave of settlers should come here to continue building? I'm not sure what the emergency site looks like, but it can't be nicer then this place." Momo gestures around to the buildings and half-completed wall. "I mean, after we clear out the pests, this place could be pretty nice."
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Deth takes Momo's compliment in stride, but he looks annoyed that he fared so poorly against miniAnkheg. "Once we find out why the settlers fled or moved then we should definitely settle here. And I think I would like to build an infirmiry." Deth says as he helps Momo check for tracks.