After he hops down from the tree, Tavros nods to himself. "Didn't see any boats in the area. And if I remember correctly, the next nest was relatively close by, so we might as well check it out."
"That sounds good." Maks nods, leaving the plants be for now.
The group heads to the next nesting area which is really nearby. Upon arrival, they give it a good look over and it seems mostly undisturbed. One of the nests has been partially dug up and the gulls and crabs have started to scavenge, but for the most part you see no signs of any recent poaching.
You have one main nesting area you are aware of to visit. It is a bit further away up the coastline and you make for it, to complete your tour. It takes you a short while and when you arrive you find that it like the others is mostly in tact aside from what you might expect from natural predators and scavengers.
The question becomes how to keep an eye on them and keep them relatively safe. When will the poachers arrive, if they do?
Teniel idly kicks a map in the sand, with his foot. "There is a rocky ridge with its base near last night's camp," he points out. "Drag the shelter up a ways, and we spend time at the top of the ridge, in shifts as lookout. Should spot any ships that come to this island long before they arrive; but we'd still have no way of seeing things at night."
"I don't think we need to worry about night at first. The pirates will need light just as much as us. So I think that's a really good idea, honestly." Maks Bob's her head in agreement. "I should be able to make the moving a lot easier now, as well. We'll see. Shall we go?"
"All of these nests seem to have natural predators." She seemed to be thinking aloud more than to anyone but she didn't bother to continue the thought knowing the others didn't want to defend from them."Alright let's go."
"May as well head back to camp." Tavros nods. "Although we may not want to make it too permanent in case we want to move it closer to the other nests."
The group heads back to their makeshift tent and plans for their next phase of protecting the turtle hatching grounds. They wonder that out of all the places and all the things they could be doing, to be essentially stranded on a remote tropical island playing watchdog over turtle eggs seemed pretty far out there.
At the camp you spend time uprooting the remains of the masts which form the frame of your shelter. You spend a great deal of time getting these and other wood to the top of the ridge and erected there as the frame for your new home. Luckily plentiful rope and tools make the job mostly a matter of manual labor and time. Carting wood and barrels and crates up to the top along with the canvas for the shelter takes some time but eventually you get the camp set up although it takes you most of the day. You get your vantage point and as the sun dips toward the horizon, you prepare the camp, you keep fire in a lower depression to prevent it being visible from afar, and settle in for the evening.
Day 6
The group rises again and Lucina immediately checks her wound. It was a fitful night and somewhat feverish. She also had vivid dreams of drowning, and of an undersea city.
Everyone prepares for a morning meal as they begin to scan the horizon and ponder the day's activities. There is plenty to do around the new camp and probably quite a bit more supplies and raw materials from the shipwreck that could be dragged up to the ridge.
You mull over sitting here on the ridge dallying away the day or days or weeks dying of boredom before you see anything interesting, or of making another day of tedious carrying of materials from the beach up the steep ridge and back for more.
"We've got a somewhat safe space," Teniel proposes. "How does everyone feel about scavenging the wreck for sailcloth and cargo, and maybe spending a few days sewing together clothing, light armor, and shoes, while we watch the horizon?"
Lucina would spend most of her time tending to her wounds or helping to build up their small nest, she would tell the group of her Sea dream and any other dreams she had in an sad replacement for her journal.
"If we need it I'll try to gather what I can."
Figuring out the secondary source of Lucina's unease, Maks sets off to figure out where they've put the captain's log, and secure either some of her inks... or simply make some new ones from the surrounding area. Not perfect, but it should help!
Lucina's leg seems to get better and she manages to fight off the ghoul fever and not turn into a ghoul. Her dreams though are troubling. They eyeball that Lucina was given by the old crone, seems to throb and wriggle from time to time in a most disturbing manner.
Maks is able to recover plenty of ink and other papers for writing on from the ship.
Tavros shrugs. "It might also be good to explore the rest of the island at some point. See what else is here."
With the eye starting to act strange and main gross Lucina would tell the party and try to get Teniel to take it.
Tavros shrugs. "It might also be good to explore the rest of the island at some point. See what else is here."
Maks looks over the scene and the available rope. She likewise looks over the ship and double checks if it has a wench and pulley system for moving cargo into and out of the hold. If so... that would save quite a lot of time for most of the group. "We could see about rigging up an elevator for cargo, and maybe ourselves, if we can get the right pieces together and set up, up here. It would save a lot of time, I think."
Since the ship itself was cracked in half, the cargo holds are more or less exposed. Using a winch/pulley or block and tackle is feasible, but maybe not necessary.
"How much were you planning to haul up there? It might take more time to rig up something than it would to just carry it all up." He pauses to look around at what he can see of the ship. "What is it we want to work on first? Better shelter? Traps? Lookout post?"
"Whatever we needed, really. Moreso, being able to move a single person quickly would be really valuable, I'd think." Maks offers, before turning her attention to Lucina, "How's your leg now?"
"A pulley would not help us more a person quickly." Teniel shakes his head. "But we can all cast Ghost Sounds, or something similar, to signal to others across the island. I think there is nothing wrong with camping half a mile from the top of the ridge."
"Might not be faster but it will be easier on our arms." Lucina entertained herself by absent minded kicking small objects around while the group discussed the plan. "Legs feel better but still not quite right." She shrugs.
I wonder if this was even a real threat.
"How are we on food? We may need to gather more."
Maks offers Lucina a doggy grin, "And expand our nutrition." Maks adds. "Maybe today should be food day for some of us. I think shelter or lookout comes first after making sure we can survive. We'll need to hide our shelter from the sea, but it's okay to make the lookout really visible, I think."
"It really won't. We'd need to pull about a mile of rope to achieve the strength we can carry by foot, and we'd need to haul that much rope every time. And what do we even want to have at the lookout point? Yes, go ahead and find out what food we have here; I'll scavenge cloth and wood."
There is really no easy way to rig up a pulley system to carry stuff up the cliff. You might be able to help for a few short drops, but extending a giant cable system from the ridge to the beach would take more work and effort than probably just hauling the necessary items up. You would have to clear a lot of jungle and need support beams and all the fabricated pieces. This would represent a lot of time and sweat.
"I guess with Miyu's ability to hunt, my skills would probably be best used carrying stuff?" Tavros effortlessly lifts a few large pieces of wood to demonstrate, making a few body-builder poses as he does so. "Although if we're going to split up, you should give me a minute to make sure I've got that spell that amplifies my voice handy."
"And you'll want a way to send a message back." Teniel adds.
"I'll use the really nifty spell you used with applause. I'm gonna go with... Fox Screams if I'm in trouble, and Applause and Cheers if something good. Sound good? Also, we should split up at the beach. I'll give you a boost on what you can carry." she offers to Tavros.
Days 5, 6 & 7
The group works out their plan to coordinate activities. They keep a general watch on the sea as they slowly bring wood and supplies to the ridge and erect their shelter and watch tower. They take the time to craft what items they can. Principally the items are wood, and what little metal can be reworked into basic needs. Without a full forge and metal working tools, options are limited. At least the ship has nails and other iron fittings for various hardware.
The group works for several days and sees no sign of a ship or raiding parties, or really much of any interest. Most of day 6 rains hard and the group spends much time in the shelter or suffering in the rain at their choice.
Miyu fishes and hunts when able at the water's edge and beach while Makoto salvages from the ship nearby.
While Tavros plays pack mule, Teniel and Lucina keep watch and craft.
As Lucina's leg recovers and she overcomes the ghoul fever, she does however have bizarre dreams on the nights of 5 and 6. She dreams of an underwater place of vague nature. It isn't clear in her dream, which is semi-lucid, what the purpose of the place is. As she explores it in a mist like floating form, it seems to her to have no real purpose. It does not have any religious motifs, nor does it seem to be for research, habitation or as any sort of outpost. It is as if it was built simply to be built. It dawns on her that it may simply be a marker, a location that WAS built simply to exist in that spot at the deepest part of the sea. On the second night while exploring she feels a terrible presence and the dream turns into a nightmare. She turns and sees a wicked deathly-demonic like face bearing down on her, superimposed over the tunnels she has been roaming. Fleeing she runs toward a small light. As she approaches the light, her legs feeling like jelly as they often do when dreaming, she realizes it is an eye. When she reaches the eye she extends her hand towards it, clutching it and the dream ends. Lucina wakes with a scream and is sweating. The eyeball given by the crone is glowing and throbbing the group realizes in the darkness of their shelter.
As Day 7 arrives, Teniel works at his crafting table, while Pamburu stretches and rolls in the foliage nearby. He sees a speck on the horizon, which in time turns into a ship as is approaches, coming from the north.
Days 5/6
Teniel, being the smallest, oversees crafting of the smaller items, with help from Lucina and Makoto in gathering and cutting the necessary supplies.
Day 7
North is the far side of the island. He gathers the others, and sends up Minor Image sparks hovering high in the air and moving North, hoping to signal to anyone on lookout that the party should head to the northern beach.[/ooc]
Lucina would keep the others informed of her dreams and after waking up to it glowing she would try to wade near the water if her allies would watch over her she may risk going deeper as she held out the eye mostly just to see if the dream of her watery city was related to this eye and location.
As Lucina steps into the water, the eye held aloft in her hand, she immediately feels light headed. The eye starts out staring directly into her own, and then turns of its own volition, rotating out to gaze at the sea. It begins to glow again, pulsing with a sickly purplish hue. Lucina struggles to maintain focus on reality. Suddenly her form goes rigid.
As your senses lose touch with the physical world around you, you enter a dreamlike state, as you 'gaze' through the eye. It moves swiftly out into the ocean, dipping under the waves. Fish and other undersea creatures whisk past you in a blur as your vision plunges you deeper and deeper into the depths. In time the water is so deep and dark you cannot see. Strange bioluminescent creatures, deep sea squid and other bizarre life forms float at the fringes of your focus. The eye takes you to the sea floor, where half buried under sand, and eons of the cast offs of sea crustaceans, is a stone edifice. The eye plunges through the stone as if it was not there, its incorporeal sight taking you inside. Like in your dreams you find your view inside dark underwater tunnels. The purplish glow of the eye illuminates the tunnels barely. You are pulled along through a maze of tunnels so swift you lose all sense of direction. After a time, and a long descent down a deep deep shaft, you enter a small circular chamber. In the center of the chamber is a stone pedestal. Floating above the pedestal is a glowing rune. The entire pedestal is surrounded by a magical field of force, and the eye is unable to proceed. The rune seems to morph magically and defies your attempts to capture its form. In some way, on the edge of your sanity, you are able to understand this rune, but you resist and try to block it out, because you, or perhaps the eye, senses that it represents something terrible. The rune seems to glow brighter, burning into your mind, and the psychic pain builds, before you succumb and snap out of your vision, plunging to your hands and knees in the surf. Your heart racing, and breath coming in heaves your sight returns, and your concerned companions race to your side.
Lucina seems to have a vision, and wobbles back and forth briefly in the waves, a few minutes pass and she snaps out of it and seems to fall over. You race out to make sure she is ok, and moments later you see a large display of sparks illuminating the sky from your ridge top watch area. Teniel seems to be signaling something and you watch as the sparks trail north.
Lucina secures the eye but isn't ready to stand yet. "There's a city down there with tunnels and a symbol." She does her best to describe what she can of her vision. "It's so deep I don't think any of us could get to it or should."
Tavros frowns in confusion at the strange eyeball. "Now...what's the point of that?" he murmurs, mostly to himself. His ears flick back and forth as though to shoo away invisible flies. Finally he shrugs. "Well, it's not like any of us can breathe underwater anyway. Should we go join Teniel? It looks like he's found something."
"Maybe it wants us to warn the people who -can- go there. Like giant turtles and their genie friends. We should make sure they avoid the area."
She then looks towards the sparks, and sighs, "Of course." she says, as she slogs out of the water, and then begins heading in the direction of the sparks.
Lucina stays for a moment longer staring into the abyss of the sea before tearing her gaze away and following after Makoto.
As Makoto starts heading north around the shore, Miyu falls in step. Tavros and Lucina are close behind. Up on the ridge, Teniel repeats his sparks several times hoping his companions below get the message. He watches as the ship comes closer. Debating what to do, he ponders moving below to join his allies, or to stay up top and keep an eye on things...
After a few minutes of signaling, Teniel decides to move to meet his allies—but with Pamburu's faster speed, he should be able to catch up with them easily.
Once Lucina had caught up with the others and met with Teniel she'd question the signal. "who's coming?"
"Yes, did you see pirates? How best should we prepare for them?" Tavros looks around as though expecting to see them at any moment. "We should figure out where they're headed."
"I saw a ship," Teniel ponders. "Let's get closer and find out more."
Lucina shrugs and moves to get closer like Teniel said but she's clearly still distracted by her vision and doesn't want to get too close to the water again if possible.
Maks nods, and she and Pamburu head off around the island to intercept the ship.
You watch as the ship comes closer and then sinks its anchor off the shore a good quarter mile. It seems to sit there. At this distance you can see people on deck, moving about doing sailorly things. The ship is flying a flag, but nothing you are familiar with, and it isn't clear if its pirate-y or not. It is a green flag with an eye and a horn on it.
You watch them for an hour and other than the sailors moving about, nothing else is going on. No dinghies come forth. The sails are lowered and the ship just seems to sit in place.
(at this point the group can be together).