Makoto shakes her head slowly. "I... honestly do not know. This is certainly a difficult decision. After all, the primary goal was to protect the dragon turtles, but now here we are, with only the ordinary eggs to protect. Which means we will have failed in our duties whether we leave, or stay... but it seems safe to assume that this gnome has caused its fair share of problems... and that what it intends to do is worse than taking the eggs. Which creates a predicament." she says, shaking her head, still. "I think we should give chase and try to stop whatever atrocities he wishes to commit, we can return once we have kept our word. What does everyone else think?"
"We could say we failed," Teniel answers, brightening up a bit. "We couldn't fight that gnome, no. We can't breathe underwater. Maybe we come back to this island once we know more magic, but I think you're right, there's nothing we can do now."
"Too bad there isn't really a good way to get in contact with Mr. Turtle or leave him a message. I'm actually not sure he could read."
"Maybe we could leave something that tells him we went after the thief?"
The captain and the crew return to their preparation for leaving as the group stands there pondering their options and discussing whether to leave or go.
Before long you notice someone standing nearby on the beach that you hadn't before. Startled and immediately on guard as someone sort of appearing from no where, you ready for action.
The person, a woman, and seemingly an elf, waves her arms and says "No, no! I'm here for peace. I have an urgent mission!"
She seems tall, and her skin is much more darkly complected than normal elves, but not the coloration you might suspect with drow heritage. She stands cautiously in the sand. One hand holding some pointy slipper type shoes, that match her wispy outfit, and the other open. She wears a fair amount of jewelry. Her top is a pale lavender and comes to about midriff and her leggings the same color, baggy and stopping at the knee. She carries a hip satchel made from white leather.
Barely waiting for a reply, she calls out again, "Have you made contact with the oni, Notorosake? I have knowledge that he has made his way to this area. He is extremely dangerous."
"I... have no idea. Perhaps? We were brought here by a water spirit and a dragon turtle, followed by some normal people, at least I assume they were normal, and then we dealt with some ghouls, before finally being assailed by a flying, invisible, very evil gnome. So... I believe that fits.
"A water spirit? dragon turtle? Hmmm. I don't believe they are part of this." She frowns and ponders, approaching slowly again and giving up on the sand, putting her delicate shoes into her satchel and continues speaking in your tongue.
"A flying invisible gnome very much fits his methods and abilities. The gnome is just the shape he took at the time."
Makoto thinks back to her studies and lore, and recalls that the oni, or 'ogre mages' are evil outsiders with powerful magical abilities, and that flight, invisibility and shape changing are well within their documented powers.
"My name is Alree An. I am a priestess of the Void. We seek to prevent the world threatening plot that Notorosake and his masters seek to unleash. Please, tell me everything that this gnome said and did. I have been tracking him, although my divinations are crude and my abilities always put my one step behind him."
Makoto takes a moment, when she wonders if the woman might be the Oni, and though not fool-proof, scrutinizes the woman's aura, her eyes taking on the golden hue of her fur in her natural form.
Assuming she doesn't detect as evil, Makoto nods and fills her in. "Makoto Kasumi. Would that we were meeting under better curcumstances. There has been an increase in egg poaching on these islands in recent days, which was made more terrible when he arrived, and stole an entire beach of eggs. I... believe the eggs he took belonged to dragon turtles, and have recognized the possibilities that it may be a component of some kind. The ship and it's crew paused within the ocean for some time, along the way here. They believe whatever he is looking for was likely to be found at that location. We know he has taken time to write, but could not discern what, and likewise know that he left behind a sigil of some kind.. Perhaps by accident." she gives Lucina a short glance, as she leaves out the bit about the dream. It was not her secret to share, and perhaps her companion would share. Perhaps she wouldn't.
Alree An smiles at Makoto and holds her arms out wide as she inspects her aura. "A pleasure to meet you. Would that the times not be dire, we could become better acquainted." She rubs her chin between forefinger and thumb thoughtfully. "I suspect he means to sell the eggs to raise money, or perhaps it is part of a ritual. You say the ship and crew paused for a time? What do you mean? In the ocean?"
Her expression turns sour and she grows very pale, her eyes widening. No...it couldn't be...that would mean..."
Her voice cracking a bit, "You say he left a sigil behind? How so? How did that come to be?"
Lucina tugs on Makoto's arm."The sea." She reminded her of the vision, if anyone could help figure out what she was seeing she'd gladly offer whatever she had.
"Well, this has... gotten bigger than us," Teniel muses. "And here I thought we just had some rogue wizard who wanted to raise dragon turtles for war, in which case we'd have a generation to stop him. I'm all for stopping the apocalypse, but without flying and swimming skills, I'm not sure how we can help."
Makoto nods to Lucina, "Lucina also had a dream about a place far beneath the sea, with a dancing rune. Teniel found a sigil within the escritoire, if I'm not mistaken. A metal representation of one of the runes that Lucina saw. Which... also coincides with the gnome taking a break at sea with the captains for a short time. Most likely, wherever he stopped is wherever he's going."
"There was a storm not long after the gnome took the eggs. Perhaps natural, perhaps not. Either way, it's not clear to us if he's left the island or where he might be headed since we're not sure exactly how strong he was. We were also attacked earlier by some sea ghouls, but perhaps that's normal for this area." Tavros shrugs. "We're not exactly local."
She listens to each of you in turn as you comment on what has happened recently. With each revelation her expression grows more concerned.
"May I see this rune? I fear for the worst and pray that what I suspect is not true. I hope this undersea location is not what I think it is. And though you may take comfort in that we will not be going there, it will be no comfort to know what I know about what may be unfolding, but I will explain all if necessary. "
"I do not think he is capable of raising a storm or manipulating the weather, but he does have access to resources far stronger. The ghouls, I cannot explain, I doubt they were linked, but again, perhaps he has gained access to powerful allies, more than he already has."
She paces back and forth in the sand, kicking small tufts about as she mulls over the conversation.
"Right." Teniel pulls the sigil out. "This thing. And what do you think we can do about it?"
Alree An stares at the rune as Teniel presents it. She looks away briefly then back again whispering. "No....no....nooo..." She drops to her knees in the sand and tears well up in her eyes. "This cannot be. Please let this be a bad dream."
She composes herself somewhat. "You must be wondering what I am going on about. You hold a rune of the Destroyer. His symbol. The place you speak about under the sea must be a remnant of his time on this world. We occasionally find them. They are a mystery to us."
She looks back and forth as you don't register anything.
"The Destroyer..." She chokes on the words nearly, as new tears stream down her face. "How do you not know?"
"It's... a long story. Our father, a half-celestial named Goodwyn, raised us to not be monsters, though some of us have little control over our appearances. To the best of our knowledge, we were kept in stasis for a millenia after he vanished. Some of us assume he was taken.. but we have rather limited information. Our true quest is to find him, setting right those things that are wrong along the way. It's... something we simply haven't heard anything about. We've only been outside of our home for a little over a week." she says, giving a small, though not apathetic shrug. "We simply don't know who or what it is, or what it has done. I apologize."
"Oh my goodness. Now I understand why you do not know of the Dark Times."
"Well I will try to summarize what happened. The Dark Times as most refer to it happened so long ago now, that few truly know what happened. Perhaps three thousand years ago a being of immense power came from another realm. Much speculation, research and divination has been spent trying to determine what this entity was, but there is precious little to know. What information has been collected is accumulated by those with the mightiest of powers at the time, and by working with the very gods who are worshipped on this world. The being known as the Destroyer slipped into our reality, and began to well, destroy. He started with severing the bond between deities and their worshippers, effectively locking out the gods from assisting. How this was accomplished is not known, and the gods of course are reticent to answer, not wishing to admit that something was able to overcome their divine authority. After the gods were effectively banished, he closed all access from other worlds. Travel through the astral, ethereal, shadow, all cut off. Demons, angels, elementals, all trapped here or prevented from manifesting. Summons failed to work. Planar travel shut down. Within a very short time, people in power began to notice. Many ask, had the gods abandoned them? For your average peasant in the fields, life was fairly normal for a bit as they have no direct connection to the deities or their servants, nor the ability to traverse the planes. Powerful archmages, and the High Priests were very concerned. Powerful heroes and legendary mythic figures assembled to determine what was going on. At this point, the Destroyer had not yet revealed himself. Initially many thought it the work of Rovagug, or other evil gods, but that line of reason did not add up. Shortly thereafter, weather patterns changed, the sun darkened, and the world grew colder. The Destroyer appeared for the first time and began to lay waste to empires singlehandedly. No army, mythic hero, elder wyrm, or archlich could stand against him. For a thousand years nations were crushed. No one could understand why, the Destroyer never spoke, never communicated his desires other than to wantonly kill and destroy. Some speculate that it fed on fear and death, or chaos. Others thought that the souls of those vanquished fed the Destroyer and made him more powerful. To his day no one really knows. All that is known is that after a time, the Destroyer left. This wasn't a tale of heroes rising and defeating him. No, this time evil and darkness had won, and merely grew bored with us. The Destroyer left, the gods returned, and the world began to rebuild. In every nation there are signs of his destruction. Ancient ruins, the earth scarred from battles. Mass graveyards where the dead still walk. People suffered, freezing to death as they starved. The populations of the world dwindled and hung on by a sliver. After he left the skies slowly returned to normal, and people began to rebuild, fearful that the Destroyer may return some day."
"There are some of us who watch, vigilant, hoping that will never come true. But there are some of the darkest evil who revel in such destruction, and seek to see the Destroyer return. Our Oni nemesis is one such evil spirit. It takes a special kind of evil to wish for the destruction of the world again, for even the most hardened and dark hearted would think twice about what it means. We fear however that there are some actively seeking to bring about the return of the Destroyer."
"That's rather difficult to understand... a creature from another world comes and destroys. When he gets bored, for whatever reason, he leaves. His only goal seems to be to destroy without rhyme or reason... and a living being wishes to bring that back? That's... not even selfish. What is there to gain by everything being destroyed? Even demons are not so foolish." she adds, shaking her head.
"How do you know that the rune is tied to your Destroyer?"
"There are those who are insane, or think that sometimes it is best to start over from nothing. Then there are those truly evil who somehow benefit from the chaos and destruction and loss of life. Those who feed on the souls of the lost. What does an evil spirit have to lose? They don't need to eat or care about economies collapsing, they revel in the chaos. Who can understand such minds?"
"I know the rune because it has turned up before, and it is one that was documented historically as being associated with the Destroyer. It is probably more correct in that it is a symbol, and less a rune as it does not translate into any language."
"Well then. Giant evil god. Crazy demon worshippers. Ancient order of the just who fight them. A good, proper, heroic story," Teniel ponders, "But I'm only forty-five. And I don't think any of us have the armor, or the spellbooks, or the training to take on a shape-shifting demon and his armies of darkness. If you want to bring us along on an underwater cruise to swat ghouls off of you, we could probably help, but otherwise we might need to take a rain check on this one until we get to a proper town, and get a bit of practice fighting Oni above water."
"We won't be going to the undersea ruins, there is nothing there for us. It is a place of great danger, although we would like to know of its location. There are others that will assist in this endeavor."
"Notorosake is powerful and an dangerous foe, but he is simply but one minion of a larger darker shadowy group that is trying to bring about the Destroyer again. He does move swiftly, and his powers of invisibility, flight, shape change, and ability to charm and influence the minds of others make him a great threat. He also uses many magical items to mask his coming and going. It has been extremely challenging to keep track of his movement."
"No, my mission so far is to watch and keep track of what he has been doing. There are others, far more powerful who will take action when it is needed. Now that we have concrete evidence, I don't know what will happen, but many powerful people will be involved. "
She ponders for a moment. "You say your father, this Goodwin....would he help in the cause? What is we helped you find him?"
Tavros' face scrunches up slightly in confusion as he attempts to make sense of this dark group. "Perhaps at least some who wish to bring back the Destroyer don't really remember what happened last time; tales tend to get twisted and reshaped as time passes. Others may simply be arrogant enough to think things will go in their favor without foreseeing negativing consequences. After all, you can't build something from literally nothing."
He shrugs, brightening at mention of Goodwin. "Yes, he would undoubtedly want to help! When we first got here, one of our guardians, Jovar, told us to find a Master Kao Lor or someone of his line. His temple or monastery was supposed to be close to where we originally landed, which may be quite some distance from here, but we weren't sure where. Many of our brothers and sisters stayed in that area to continue looking, while we opted to try a different area."
Lucina nods when Tavros says Goodwin would help. "He was a creator natural enemy of destroyers."
"It is unlikely we'll find him here," Teniel said, shaking his head. "He could be anywhere in the world; but the first clues came nowhere near here. We've come from another continent. But there were too many of us, traipsing through the forests and scaring the locals. We thought it best to travel, learn of languages and geography and new, powerful magics and report back before the others get themselves into too many cultural misunderstandings."
"That said, we were brought to this island to protect dragon turtle eggs. We've failed. If there's something we can do now, and here, to help fight back at whoever took our charge, we'd be happy to assist, if your word is honorable."
Alree An ponders for a moment. "OK. Well Notorosake wasn't prevented from stealing the eggs, but he still has to sell them. He will do so on the black market, and while we cannot track him with divinations very easily, it may be possible for us to track down the eggs and find him, or at least recover the eggs. Also, once we are closer to civilization we can look into finding your man Goodwin. I will help in this, if he would aid in our cause. I know you probably cannot speak for him, but if you can assure me he is of good heart, he will, I imagine, aid us. We have people of much darker souls aiding our cause, as the risk is to great, even for many evil hearted people. What say you?"
"Never assume that someone is beyond redemption. All things that live, love beauty." Makoto says with a small smile. "Perhaps, like some of my family, Goodwin will have a positive influence on these darker folk, should we find him. I will go... at the very least, to attempt to recover the clutch... but I reserve a promise of my blade for tasks that I believe in."
"Right, then. Are we going to all be sharing a cabin on this boat we just helped fix, or do you have some fancy magics?"
"We should still try to leave a note of some sort. Chances are good Mr. Turtle as his friend will miss it since it's a big island, but a good-faith effort would at least be nice." Tavros searches around for something to write on and a writing utensil.
Once writing equipment is acquired, Tavros picks up the writing instrument and is about to begin when he pauses, frowning. "Didn't Mr. Turtle's friend say she didn't understand spoken words? Or was it just our spoken words? Maybe we should get one of our new friends to write the note in the local tongue?"
Teniel frowns, feigning upset that Tavros forgot he's spent four hours a day for the last week studying the local language.
Alree An ponders. "Well the ship may be crowded, but we can manage somehow. Shall we discuss with the captain? Lets find this Goodwin fellow for you and hopefully we can staunch this latest effort to bring about the end of times."
She hustles off across the beach towards the ship.
Lucina would help Tavros leave a message for the turtle before joining the others in the ship. She knew they'd at least let then travel with them to a nearby port do they had at least a little mobility.
Assuming they are willing, Lucina carries Teniel up a rocky outcropping from where he can instruct Tavros, from above, on how to (gently) use Makoto as a paintbrush, writing a message on the largest flat rock on the beach.
It takes half an hour, but after that, it reads, in Vudrani,
Tavros lets out a booming laugh, scaring off a nearby group of seagulls. With a grin, he pats the significantly smaller Alree on the head. "If they can fit me, one more small person shouldn't be too hard." How true that statement actually was had yet to be seen.
The group leaves their message for the dragon turtle or for his marid accomplice. The captain, crew and Alree An wait as the group makes their final preparations before the sail away in search of Goodwin (in a roundabout way) and attempt to assist Alree in her organization's efforts to stop Notorosake and his organization's plans to bring about the Apocalypse by way of the Destroyer.
Restocked with supplies as best as possible, and with some the wood of a few felled trees, and a renewed mast, the ship makes its way from the turtle island and heads back to port.
Alree An and the group meet and she asks, "Tell me more about Goodwin."
Teniel shakes his head. "I am the Dalang here; and so am obligated to answer calls for story. But I have talked of Goodwin too many times in the past week; the thing does not more grow more true by the re-telling. Perhaps one of the others will want to tell the story, later. But flowing water is the realm of the Muaroi, not the Kulit; it is the place for stories of water, and truths that wish to be washed away, and as this is the closest I may get to the land of my ancestors for some time, I would not disrespect that."
But, not quite willing to yield the room, Teniel continues, untying from his sword belt two of the shadow stencils that has finished carving. "Here is the story as suits our surroundings," he continues. In one hand, he holds the outline of a fox; in the other he holds a peacock, which his narrow fingers twist around, limbs swiveling on the center peg, until it resembles a fearsome insect of some sort. With a few seconds of light and image magic, shadow figures spring from his hands onto the walls. "I am no Dalang of Muaroi, but the Kulit I carved on the island should see use."
"Once, a scorpion asked a fox to carry it across a river. The monsoon had fallen heavy, and the ground was held captive by swollen water; the fox swam, from bank to bank, eating the fruit that felt. 'I cannot carry a scorpion,' the fox replied; 'you would sting me, and I would die.'
"'Nonsense!' the scorpion replied. 'If I stung you, we would both drown.' And so the fox carried the scorpion across the river, and halfway across, the scorpion stung the fox. As the fox lay dying, he cursed his own foolishness, as well as the scorpion and all its clan. With his last breath, though, the fox simply asked why the scorpion had stung him; and the scorpion replied, before disappearing under the water, 'It is in my nature to sting.'"
A shifting pattern of light fills the room, like the reflections off of waves high above a drowning man. "You have heard that story," Teniel explains. "It is not a Wayang story."
"But the other foxes of the forest learned to fear scorpions. This part you have not heard. They were wary, and they stayed alive, and the scorpions of the forest had no choice but to stay on the islands of their birth until the end of monsoon season.
"And then one day a pangolin swam by a different scorpion. Different, of course; the first scorpion had drowned. A pangolin is—you may call it a 'roll-cat' in Vudra, or something similar. A creature of claws, and scales, and a long tongue for snapping up ants. But the pangolin is an excellent swimmer, far better than even the fox. And so the scorpion sees the pangolin swimming about, effortlessly, gracefully and powerfully, and asks for a ride.
Teniel has no pangolin puppet, instead using his arm, with a particular sort of swimming motion imposed on its curve.
"The pangolin accepts, and swims the scorpion halfway across the river. But the scorpion is confused. 'Why have you not asked me to promise not to sting you,' he asked, 'As any fox would?'
"Now the pangolin is, almost, annoyed, but responds with patience. 'I did not ask,' he replied, 'Because I did not think that you should; but had I not trusted you, you would have less reason to act with that trust, knowing that I saw you as a killer.'
"And the scorpion pondered, asked, 'But this is quite a lot of trust in a dangerous creature. Are you not afraid I will sting you anyway?"
"The pangolin laughed and opened its toothless mouth. 'Do you not see where you stand?' he asked. 'My body is covered in armor. If you sting me again and again, I will not feel anything, while you will break your stinger. I am a pangolin; I fear no scorpion. But you should fear me,' and he snaps his tongue out, within inches of the scorpion. 'I prey on the crawlers. I have eaten many of your kind, and could kill you in a second; it is you who should be surprised at your safety, which I grant in passage only because you have not tried to betray me.'
"And the scorpion said nothing, for it was not in its nature to sting only itself.
"But the next day, the pangolin was gone. The foxes laughed, but the birds of the forest cried in their song, and the frogs croaked a lament. And the scorpion was unsettled, because he could no longer find the one creature who had refused to fear and suspect him. So he spoke to the catbird in its tears, and the most mournful of the tree frogs, and the surili where it hung in the branches, and to the pangolin's own shadow where it waited by the river, and they walked together down the riverbanks, searching for a way across water still too high to swim."
And Teniel falls quiet, finished with his story.
"That was very impressive. Your artistry and storytelling is quite thought provoking. I am not familiar with your people. Where did you learn such things?"
Miyu sat in rapt attention, head tilted as he listened to the story, one ear raised. "A similar tale could be told of celestials and man. Your barbs have limited effect, but we are kind to you, anyway. Mostly."
"It's great the first time you hear it." Maks says, with a small grin, having returned to her human form once more aboard the ship (since she didn't need her painting tails).
"Goodwyn was a half-celestial. One strong enough to have his own residence on a demiplane. It wasn't overly large, but it was large enough for a rather large selection of 'Monsters'," she says the last with air quotes, "Numbering in the hundreds. Each of us was rescued from a precarious situation." she said, motioning to herself, "Given a safe home," she says, motioning to Lucina, "Given a secure environment, with plenty of support," she adds, motioning to Tavros, "Or simply saved from the boredom of living in a hut in the woods for the rest of his life." she says, the grin widening as she motioned to Teniel. "Each of his children have a different story, and a different thing that he did for us. Amongst all of us, a loving home and a gift was shared." she holds her Totem Spear in front of her, the iron shifting colors as she moves it. "This one is mine. Each is... bound to us. If something should happen to it, we know how to replace it. He did a lot of things to unlock our true potential." she finished, looking distant for a moment.
"He also experimented with constructs. There are a great many golems who are similar to one another, that are effectively sentient constructs. Despite my interest in arts and crafts, I never looked very deeply into the process... or spent much time with any of them." she said, continuing with a slightly new topic.
"He had many friends throughout the world. And he took some of us to visit with them, when he went on trips. The more human of us were more able to travel with him, while the less human required special trips, to places that were more accepting. So, even though he kept us on a separate plane, we were hardly prisoners." she touches her lip, "Though, I suppose, I never did ask to simply leave."
"That's quite amazing. What was his overall goal with rescuing all of you? Perhaps the goodness of his heart?" she muses more to herself. "It appears he invested most of his time and energy into the project. It also seems as though he had significant resources available to him. This does make sense."
"Perhaps literally out of the goodness of his heart. I always thought that maybe it was to prove that his goodness wasn't just because of his blood." Maks says, with a small shrug. "If he can prove that hobgoblins and duergar don't have to subjugate or kill everything they see, maybe it will help him to understand he doesn't have to be good, and simply chooses to."
"Maybe he just wanted more interesting friends," Teniel suggests.
As Teniel begins to talk, Tavros pulls up his knees and listens in wide-eyed rapture to the tale. Because that is how you listen to stories.
Once the story is done, he adds, "Yes, Goodwin taught us many things. And he had many books to read. He is also very strong. I tried to kill him a few times in the early days when he took me away from my family. I never got very far though." He seems oblivious to how bad that could sound as he continues. "He gave me a new, better family though. Without as many sickly-sweet drinks. We learned a vast variety of things."
Without warning, he suddenly switches track, addressing his siblings. "How do you think our brothers and sisters are doing? I hope Jovar will have much to tell us when he comes."
Day 9 - Evening
After the trading of stories and artistry, the group decides to find themselves some rest. Some of you were given the room formerly assigned to Notorosake, although Tavros is far too large to sleep in it, and has been given some space in the hold where he can stretch out more easily. Alree An is given a small room below decks, that was used for storage and is temporarily cleaned out. It is barely larger then a closet, but enough for her to get some rest.
The sun sets on the horizon as the ship makes its way to the northwest.
Day 10 - Morning
The following day comes and the group rises to the sounds of diligent sailors doing what they do. Their voices echoing through the walls of the ship as it gently rocks through the waves pushed by the wind.
The group finds Alree An at the prow of the ship, peering out across the waves, in meditation or prayer and contemplation.
The Captain is near the helm as a sailor pilots the ship. The day appears to be sunny and tropical, which for the fur bearing among you is less than ideal.
The group partakes of their own food stores or is afforded some meager fare from the ships stores. Fresh fruit and some salted meats await from the island just left or older salted fish from a barrel and some other dried fruits and hard bread is offered. A healthy dose of watered down grog is available with every meal.