"Where are these skwideez? Where do you see Sandara's hat?"
Chumtooth looks around, then at the object in Alwen's hand.
Satinder guides Chumtooth to the object, and tries to explain how to peer through it. She demonstrates it a few times, so he gets used to it.
Satinder will sniff, and almost gag when the odour becomes apparent.
"Bangkha, you and master dwarf, check out the lodge. I can't be the only one smelling this, and it might be interesting to see what's in there. Be ready for anything! That goes for the lot of you."
She turns to Alwen, and asks him: "Can you guide us there? If so, break it off and bring it with us. Might be useful later on."
"Why are Chumtooth's friends the only fresh meat on this foul island?"
Chumtooth grumbles to no one in particular, as he rubs his nose.
"Ch..I..must find Sandara. Keeping her from death will end my debt to..her," he says, looking impatiently in towards the coast where the grindlows were spotted.
Dantes will approach the lodge, but won't get closer than 20' without Chumtooth (or other brawny PC) with him. He mumbles at he approaches "I hope we didn't just find her..."
Satinder, when ready giving orders, will step up to Dantes and open the door for him.
"What you waiting for, master Goldforge?"
Bangkha drinks his fill from the spring and then turns towards the lodge. He stops after a few steps though, and turns to Satinder, hand held out as if asking her to dance.
"Join us," he says. "Or will you just give orders, without taking your share of the risks?"
"Waiting for? Signs of impending doom, perhaps." When Satinder opens the door, Dantes will use his darkvision enhanced sight to scan the interior.
"..I..will go in the hut if none will. Sandara waits for rescue from the sea goblins. ..We.. waste time here," Chumtooth says with an impatient grumble.
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Inside is a single chamber, crowded with a large amount of furniture, including a comfortable bed, a small writing desk, cooking gear, and several barrels of rotting food. The stench of rot is overpowering and flies swarm within the room, particularly around the hooded corpse hanging from a chain off a beam in the middle of the room. A stool lies on the floor nearby where it was kicked. From here, it is possible to determine only that the corpse is that of a male human and that it has been here for some time.
Satinder ties up a piece of cloth in front of her nose that she made wet a bit, before entering the room.
"Anything dangerous ahead, Dantes?" she says while hesitating on the steps of the lodge.
Why don't we just torch it?
"Not that I can tell. It looks like he's been dead for quite some time."
Dantes will pull cast Presdigitation on left sleeve to make it smell powerfully of cinnamon. He'll hold the sleeve up over his nose and mouth to help mask the smell as he enters. He'll steer clear of the dangling corpse, and move over to the writing desk to check its contents.
"Why a writing desk?" he muses aloud. "I always thought the people settled here were more primative."
Alwen peeks inside, taking a look at the hanging corpse there. He gives the hanged man a keen look over, thinking to himself before notching two arrows and aiming. "Hey, Freefall, you know we've encountered undead on the island, right? Know how to tell when a corpse isn't a corpse?"
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As soon as they enter, Ayaki, Bangkha, Satinder, and Dantes are beset upon by thousands of vicious, biting flies. They do, however, notice a logbook on the table. The interior also has a number of outfits, including a suit of leather armor, and a bundle of spears in one corner. There is also a cabinet of some sort, currently closed.
Alwen puts two arrows into the corpse, but it does not flinch.
Ivy - 10
Dantes grabs the log book and flees the building.
Satinder screams, and chokes on some bugs.
"Get out!" she yells, and even as she thinks about the book, Dantes grabs it.
Quick thinking dwarf!
"Well, that's unfortunate," Alwen comments as people run out of the hut screaming. He'll wait until the last one has run out before closing the door, looking at the others. "I suggest we abandon any further treasures inside and burn it down - and I do hope those insects weren't carrying any horrible diseases, or else you'll really need Sandara's help if you want to make it through the week."
Bangkha grabs the armor and a spear and storms out of the hut.
"Burn it," he nods, brushing the last of the flies off.
"Are these ones done playing with flies and rotten meat?" Chumtooth grumbles. "Can we now go to find Sandara?"
He unconsciously rubs his bruised neck, and gives a hissing intake of breath at his own touch.
[B]"Chumtooth will have to ask Sandara for more healing, and Chumtooth will owe her another boon...fed to the Blood Queen!
Satinder hisses at the door, slightly.
Dantes tucks away the log book he found and stands ready to follow his allies away. All the while he tries hard not to scratch at the weeping and bleeding bites he endured.
"Boons are tangled vines. It is best to keep them straight and separate. JqOtherwise, the only way to deal with one is to break another. Sometimes one must slash and bubrn them all, but then, one no longer holds the trust of others in the tribe. One who cannot be trusted is good for little more than his meat."
Chumtooth pulls his harpoon down from the branches of the tree, and begins untangling the line attached to it.
Do you have a system where people are exempt from boons? Like friends, family, kinsmen?"
Satinder realises she has been talking too long, and looks at the others.
"Alwen, can you get us there?
Banhg, is your feline friend injured?
Dantes,anything in the book that can be of use?"
Since they are pausing for a moment following the swarm attack, Dantes will take a few moments to skim through the log book.
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The log book tells the story of Aaron Ivy, a Chelish nobleman and last survivor of the wreck of the Infernus. It explains how Ivy built the small stockade and planted the farms to the east, but was driven away by the ghoulish ship's whores. In the final entry, he explains how, having been attacked by the ghouls and infected with what he suspects is ghoul fever, he has decided to end his life.
As Chumtooth tugs and pulls his harpoon from the tree, he is rewarded by a shower of debris. Most of it is worthless twigs, branches, and detritus, but something solid hits him on the head. On further investigations, he finds that he has pulled down a nest of some sort. Among the debris, he finds a trio of silver shoe buckles, a rotted finger wearing a wedding ring, a silver hatpin, and a small glass bottle containing a blue-green liquid.
"Oww!" Chumtooth growls as the nest hits him on the head.
Looking down at the pile, he sees the shine of silver and the bottle.
"These tree-beasts were collecting treasure," he says to the group.
Dantes will cast Detect Magic on the items, and take a moment to appraise them.
Buckles
Ring
Hatpin
Assuming the bottle is a potion, Dantes will try to identify it. . If it is an alchemical item or a mundane item, his roll is one less to identify.
Satinder will look at the group, and continue to peer trough the spyglass in the direction where the grindylows are.
"For the record, I called dibs on the spyglass," Alwen points out, grinning at Satinder as he plots out the trip down to those caves. "Also, one other thing. We ought to get there during low tide - while I do fancy a swim every now and again, it makes things especially difficult to fight while treading water, don't you agree?"
When everyone's ready to proceed, Alwen will start trailblazing the way towards the grindylows, humming softly as he goes.
Bangkha does a quick calculation of the tides based on the cycles of the moon and decides it will be best to set out after a night's rest to recover spells.
"If we want to get there at low tide, that is," he growls.
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Ayaki digs through the clothing (Chelish in origin) until she finds a small brass ring in one of the pockets. The ring is set with a coral inlay. Ayaki examines the ring for a few moments (with the aid of her identify spell), then reports, "This seems to be a ring that permits one to swim more easily. It does not, as best I can tell, give the ability to breathe water or move more easily. It just seems to enhance swimming ability."
Dantes finds no evidence of magic among the baubles, but on tasting one of the liquids (which tastes like sea water), he announces, "Potions of water breathing. They should last for about six hours each."
"Chumtooth can swim, he...I..do not need magic to swim," he says, looking disdainfully at the ring.
He does look at the potions with interest.
"To breathe water like a shark!"
He makes a disturbing sound in his throat that might be a chuckle.
Dantes will get closer to the hut again and cast detect magic. It has a 60' range, and can detect through up to three feet of wood. He should be able to detect the location of any magic items, so if it was something sitting out or in the cabinet, he could likely tell.