Searching the campsite, Samhain has much better luck than the gnome. He finds among the wreckage; several sets of unusual prints belonging to humanoid-sized creatures with webbed feet. Also slopped amidst the bodies and debris lie the remains of broken and sundered weapons, including a splintered shaft of a primitively constructed trident.
Sam also finds a small, battered chest of personal items beneath one of the corpses. Inside, the party finds a journal.
Today we killed four savage natives who dared assault us on the river. We
fed their corpses to the crocodiles and chased their ignorant companions
back into the jungle, though Gharm, that clumsy oaf, fell into a pit.
That night in camp, we heard what sounded like a beautiful woman
somewhere in the jungle beckoning to us for help. I’m not stupid, so I
remained here but Dolmar, that foolish idiot, wandered out there to find
out what it was and never came back. Serves him right. Lichten says
we’ll be at the stones tomorrow.
—Lang
[dated one week ago]
Returned from the stones. If Lichten ever asks me to go there again,
I’ll gut him in his sleep. Lost two of the expedition down there-
Holtuin and clumsy Gharm- and heard that woman’s voice again before
we went in. Lichten was acting strange and told us that Wyrn was a
Pathfinder- not likely, but I’m not going to disagree with the crazy
bastard. We left Wyrn behind.
On the way back, we found a bloody mermaid in the middle of the
river- I don’t remember what she said but the things she made me
think would make Asmodeus blush. We fled from her as fast we could
but realized after returning to camp that two more of our expedition was
missing. Lichten is nervous, I can tell, and he holds the bag of stones
we recovered from the cave like they were his baby. Smart guy that
he is, he doesn’t know we all have some of the stones. The men are
grumbling about getting out of here faster than planned, but Lichten
insists we’re to stay here and “wait for orders.” I’m not so sure. I think
I’ll leave tonight. I’m starting to feel that Lichten doesn’t have my
best intentions in mind.
—Lang
On the edge of the campsite, the party finds a crude cage woven from jungle vines covers a 15-foot-deep hole in the ground, which serves as a makeshift prison cell. Within the pit is a man covered head to toe in mud and blood
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"If they took the stones, we should probably go after them. Whether there are more at the site or not, we cannot allow the Aspis to maintain their hold on any." With that, Samhain seems a little more at ease.
"They were weeks ahead of us, went there and back again, but we can catch their trail here. The chase is once more afoot, and we are gaining on our quarry."
He will aid in observing the man and offers to help him recover a little if asked.
The man looks up with haunted look in his eye. "M..my..name..is Lang. I..uh, don't know how I got here. He says bewilderedly. There..was..a mermaid and her skum companions....they attacked us..made everyone...hurt themselves...it..it's hard to remember."
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"If you can, please try. We're looking to repair the situation."
Amira has Remove Fear prepared, should it become helpful and necessary.
Sebastian studies the man and finds him to not be evil. The man thinks hard at Amira's suggestion and says. "I can't...remember any more. Can you help me out of here? Why are you here?"
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Not being one to stand by idly, Samhain helps move the cage. The sooner they administer to him, the sooner the hunt could continue.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Sebastian and Samhain drag the cage off and help the man out of the pit. Thank you ever so much! Like I said, I don't remember much about the attack or how I got into the pit. What is it that brought you here? As the man dusts himself off, you notice he is carrying a small leather satchel.
Lang shrugs and reaches into the satchel. After a moment of digging, his pulls out a small silver statuette of hawk. He upends the satchel, but nothing else is in the bag. "What type of objects?"
He does not appear to have a badge upon his person, though there are Apsis badges on the corpses and/or the ground.
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Amira forewarns the man. "I'm going to see if I can identify this statue, but that requires a spell. Just... don't want to alarm you."
Detect Magic and Knowledge bonanza at the statue.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Lang shakes his head. "I..I told you all that I can remember."
Lang looks at the gnome with a blank look, still rattled from his experiences. "I...remember....we were here looking for stones, Lichten was our leader..
The man shakes his head. "No...they don't have the stones..we didn't have them..yet." A glint of memory flashes in his eyes. "I..I know where the stone are! The last few miles are rough and hidden but I know the way, yes I do! I can show you!"
Lang scratches his head at Amira's question. "I..I..can't remember...maybe he did have the stones....I know where went though, let me show you."
The party eventually goes back to the raft and under Lang's directions, head upriver another five miles from the camp before the man points to tracks on the riverbank heading north into the jungle.
The group beaches the raft and follows the trail into the steaming, overgrown jungle. After a short time, Samhain spots an empty cloth sack torn and dangling from a spiny jungle vine. Lang points excitedly. "There! Wait..Lichten must have had some of the stone, because I remember that the bag he kept them in!" Samhain also finds a single black stone, about 3 inches across and polished smooth as glass, lying in the undergrowth beneath the bag....
The stone radiates faint enchantments magic, but neither Amira nor Glaurung can discern anything else about the stone.
Amira takes the stone(?) and the party continues down the jungle path. After about two and half miles of hiking, the sounds of a waterfall can be heard. Coming out into a clearing, the party spies a mermaid, sunning herself, upon a rock in the clearing. Seeing the party, she smiles warmly. "Well met travelers! Where are you heading to?" She eyes Sebastian and says. "My, that is a big sword you have!"