Aerys actually smiles briefly and hands Makoa the shield. "You're welcome," she says. "You have a point, I suppose. I'm just finding it so hard at the moment. I'll try harder though."
Makoa grins behind his tusks as Urza suggests(again) that they look for plantlife they can eat safely.
"My diet the first few years of my life would probably shock all of them. If Gelik thought people feared me before, then he should have seen them when I was running like a wolf with wolves." Now there was a memory that he loved...
"I look for some fruit Urza, don't worry."
As night falls, Makoa gets a strange sensation in.. his mind? No, that wasn't it...
Mahjik smiles at Ishirou. "Maybe I'm just overly optimistic after this uneventful day; but for the first time since we've been on this island you seem really at ease. As if you've resolved something for yourself. This is good."
As the conversation proceeds, Mahjik voices one point of concern: "Wise man would seek truth behind truth, and shadows within shadows. If Iouena really is on this island, then it is likely that there will be a number of other inhabitants as well. A whole community would have to exist. There are two thoughts that come from this: one troublesome, the other hopeful. What is the purpose of bringing us here and stranding us in the middle of nowhere? And if Iouena is originally from here, then it would seem probable that she has a reliable means of leaving here. Have you any thoughts on this?"
After the dinner of flappybite, Douena sidles up to Lorenz, a little shame-facedly. Opening the flap of her backpack, she pulls out a flask of oil and hands it to him without quite meeting his eyes. "Here, she says, "you can put this with the others. I just thought that ... well, if you were leaving it behind, there was a good chance we'd end up needing it."
Urza will spend some time with Gelik in getting the timing right for some effects to go along with his stories.
Lorenz took back the flask of oil and returned it to his pack with a shrug. "No matter. We've got plenty others that we found on the Jenivere. That's just one from my own personal stash. But thanks for giving it back to me."
"Soulwind is a trained combat mount. She and I can share a watch, if it would ease the load. You would be surprised how perceptive a horse can be, and I know her distress signals."
After a little while of silence, Ishirou speaks again. "You mention much of your master and wise men, and have asked me about who or what my master is. I tell you now that I have no master. I am a free man. But that has not always been so. Until very recently I was indebted to the Aspis Consortium. I spent many years working as a sailor, thug, messenger, soldier, and guard for the consortium. Only recently was I finally able to pay off my debt and leave them. I set sail on the Jenivere in search of a new life. I do not yet know what to make of what has happened and how that will impact things to come."
He falls silent again while he drinks a long swig of water from his waterskin. Mahjik gets the impression he's not used to so much talking. He goes on, "During my time with the Aspis Consortium, I collected several promising treasure maps, acquired on various jobs. One shows the location of an old pirate's stash her on Smuggler's Shiv. The notes on the map indicate that recovering the treasure will take several people. I did not mention this before as I was not yet sure I could trust you all. But now I think it is for the best. Perhaps there is something amongst this treasure that can aid our escape from this island. Even if there isn't, the treasure could provide us with great wealth for when we do escape."
He opens his back and pulls out a few scrolls. He unrolls a couple of them before he finds the one he's looking for. It shows an outline of Smuggler's Shiv and indicates that the treasure is on a plateau near the southern end of the long curved peninsula that makes up the northern part of the island, just north of the thin curving bay in the south.
You’re in a rowboat on the open ocean at night. Sitting across you, rowing the boat, is First Mate Alton. He’s obviously dead, with the wounds and stings his body displays on the wreck of the Jenivere, but still he rows. Eventually, the boat reaches an island covered with snakes. Alton waits as you exit the boat, standing ankle-deep in snakes, and then he turns and rows back out to sea, you assume off to look for more survivors to ferry to shore. But Alton never returns, and you wake up just as the snakes start to bite...
Lorenz, feeling a chill run down his spine, turns to Aakif. "What, by Cayden's bloody tankard, was that? It was like the tales I've heard told of a dragon, but surely not...well, there was no roar or fire but still..." He shivers.
He tried to think of a way to bring up conversation with the taciturn warrior but words failed him after the passage of that beast in the night and instead he just stood his watch with his sword drawn, hoping he wouldn't see whatever that beast was anytime soon.
Aakif shakes his head slowly. "I do not know what that was, and I do not think I want to know. I have never seen a dragon, or anything like one, and something tells me that is a good thing."
Douena spends her time looking up at the stars and communing with Desna at the beginning of Aakif and Lorenz's watch.
Mahjik's eyes grow big as Ishirou reveals more and more of his past. "I am humbled that you'd trust us, and me, this much. In return, allow me to say that I've got more than one master: apart from the many master's I study under, I am also subject to the Kusari Gama; maybe you have heard of this group? I've not had many dealings with the Consortium myself, our goals are too disparate - I suspect - for much exchange."
When Ishirou reveals the treasure map: "Don't you feel like coming with us tomorrow - or before we move camp - to try and find the treasure? A successful endeavor such as retrieving a hidden treasure will increase morale - maybe even Aerys will look forward to the future then. I imagine you'd also like the change of scenery for a day or so?"
When Lorenz goes to wake up the next pair for their watch, he kneels near Mahjik and whispers, "Be wary of the night skies. Aakif and I saw something extraordinary fly past. We couldn't see much other than a dark shadow. It blotted out the stars anyway, and it's wings...the thunder of its wings was a terror and a wonder both. It must not have noticed us, or cared but it must have been massive indeed."
When he finished, Lorenz's eyes were shining with a mixture of terror and wonder. He bid Mahjik good night and went to his blanket, lying awake for a time thinking about what manner of beast it might have been.
Mahjik is practically humming with repressed excitement, he's clearly in very high spirits and everybody can hear him when he asks: "Douena! What do pirates and islands have in common?"
When Mahjik and Ishirou are just about ready to wake up Douena and Makoa to take the last watch, they find the gnome once again twitching in her sleep, obviously in the throes of another dream. While they are debating whether they ought to wake her, she suddenly rolls over whimpering like a puppy and opens her eyes. "Oh!" she tells them, staring widely into the night. "It was the first mate." Her eyes fill with tears. "He was the one."
Mahjik is practically humming with repressed excitement, he's clearly in very high spirits and everybody can hear him when he asks: "Douena! What do pirates and islands have in common?"
She considers. "Wooden legs? No.... Oh, I know! Parrots!"
Ishirou is the one who has woken Douena up for her watch. He looks confusedly at her. "What of the first mate?" he asks.
She looks up at Ishirou. "He was the one," she insists. "He put us in the rowboat and brought us to shore. And then he went back ... to look for someone else, or to get supplies?" She shakes her head. "And he never came back. That's when the big scorpion got him. He saved all of us."
"I see," Ishirou says. "He was a brave man. I will honour him in my prayers." He gives Douena a pat on the shoulder and heads to his bed.
Deprived by the unusual watch schedule of the audience her dreams habitually enjoy, Douena gifts Makoa with a particularly thorough retelling of the vision Desna sent her during their watch together. "I was in a rowboat out on the ocean, and it was nighttime. I guess it must have been dark when the ship struck the rocks, since it was morning when we woke up on the beach, right? And the first mate was rowing the boat, only he was dead, just like when we found him on the Jenivere, poor thing, with all the wounds and stings. But he was rowing anyway. And he rowed the boat right up to an island, but it was covered with snakes. When I climbed out of the boat, I was standing in the snakes, up past my ankles, and they were all writhing around and slithering." She shudders. "Once I was out of the boat, he turned it around and rowed back out to sea, without a word. He was so quiet, and his eyes were so sad! And I was standing there all in the snakes and waiting for him to come back and bring someone else, only he never did. And then the sun started to rise over the ocean, and the snakes got all excited and started to bite my legs." She glances down toward her ankles, which look a little scraped. "I guess I rolled over onto a sharp rock," she admits, "and then I woke up." She pauses to consider her dream. "That's the second time I've dreamed about snakes. We've only seen the one so far on the island, and it wasn't very scary. I guess it was to Aakif, but Urza killed it so quickly I hardly had time to get excited. And then we ate it. Maybe eating snakemeat makes you dream about them?" she wonders. "Anyway, that has to be a clue from Desna of some kind: something to do with snakes, don't you think?"
"You may be on to something there. If you keep having these dreams, and we've only enocuntered the one snake, do you think we may find an area with a lot of snakes? The could all be in one place, but if they are, why?"
"Of course, we haven't strayed far in the jungle, so maybe we just haven't come across any serpents because there are more favorable places for them."
"I thought snakes mostly lived underground in holes or under rocks," Douena replies, "but that one that bit Aakif was hanging off a tree, wasn't it? When we build your swing, we'll have to watch out for snakes in the trees."
Mahjik grin gets broader as if he's privy to a joke nobody else knows yet. He leads Douena's thoughts: "Not parrots no, try again, dig deeper."
Mahjik grin gets broader as if he's privy to a joke nobody else knows yet. He leads Douena's thoughts: "Not parrots no, try again, dig deeper."
"Well," Douena replies logically, "if you dig into a pirate, you mostly just find blood and bones. If you dig into an island, you find sand or water or rocks or ... Oh, I know! Buried treasure!" she blurts excitedly.
"What's this about buried treasure?"
Sasha looks quite jovial this morning. There's a large smile on her face and a slight hop to her gait as she walks over to Douena.
"I am feeling one hundred percent better this morning," she says, "and there is nothing Jask can say or do to make me stay in bed all day. So if we're going in search of buried treasure, count me in!"
Mahjik laughs, "That's right! It's Ishirou's to know and tell, but if that isn't something to look forward to on this island, then nothing is! ...barring getting off of the island, of course."
"Really, Ishirou, eh?"" Sasha turns sidles over to Ishirou and says, "So?"
Ishirou looks momentarily flustered, but then repeats what he told Mahjik during the night .
"Wow," Sasha says afterward. "I don't think I've ever heard so many words out of Ishirou all in one go! I like this buried treasure idea, although I suppose we have to move the camp first, don't we?"
Lorenz, who had been stretching and getting ready to hopefully spar with Ishirou overheard the conversation about the treasure and walked closer.
"That's quite interesting! I think it might be worth looking into once we've moved the camp. I've never had the chance to search for buried treasure before..." His voice trailed off as he began to think of the possibilities.
"We should look out for snakes; there's probably lots of snakes guarding the treasure. Desna was trying to tell me." Douena goes on to detail her dream to the rest of the group.
Urza listens to the conversation and at first is amazed that these people could be concerned with material wealth at a time like this. None of them knew if they would ever get a chance to enjoy any of the money or even if they would find this so called buried treasure.Then he thought at least it's something to keep our minds off of our perilous situation. It's something to live for, even if it's a shallow reason.
Navior
Jask comes forward, rubbing his eyes. "The snake image definitely seems to be a prominent theme in these dreams of yours, Douena. I agree that we should watch out for snakes, both the literal and metaphorical kind. But first we should move the camp if we are to expand the search of this island. I seem to be doing all right holding off the worst of this illness, so I think I will be okay today. I've just checked Aerys, and while her mood could improve more, her physical condition is satisfactory as well." He looks to Sasha. "I think it is safe to assume that Sasha is fine. You said you had found a clearing or something to set the camp near?"
The first step to moving the camp is disassembling the current camp, so after breakfast, you set about doing that. You carefully take down the tents and gather up the supplies. With everyone working at it (even Aerys pitches in, although she's fairly slow about it), it takes about an hour to get everything packed. Some of the heavier material can be loaded up on Soulwind, and others carried by the stronger party members.
Once everything is ready, you set out into the jungle. The journey is both easier and more difficult than yesterday. You already have a good idea of where to go to avoid obstructions and can even follow the path you cleared yesterday; however, the large numbers and the supplies add to the difficulty. In the end, it pretty much evens out and you arrive back at the clearing a little before noon, just in time to relax and sit out the hot hours of the day. After that, you can begin work on resetting up the camp.
"Look, Sasha, look!" Douena calls insistently as they enter the clearing, grabbing the woman's hand and pulling her forward for a glimpse of the bay.
"Look, Sasha, look!" Douena calls insistently as they enter the clearing, grabbing the woman's hand and pulling her forward for a glimpse of the bay.
Sasha follows Douena to cliff edge and stares out in awe at the sight before her. "This is magnificent," she breathes. "It's just beautiful."
Douena creates enough water to fill up everyone's waterskins after the hard slog through the jungle and settles down to enjoy watching the flappybites hunt and play. "I had a dream," she remarks, "and Mahjik found a treasure map. Looks like Lorenz and Aakif were the only ones to have a boring watchtime last night. Sorry, Lorenz."
"We always try to find out the name of the ships we find. If you like, I'll be quiet about the matter until we find the Nightvoice. Regardless, you need not fear that I'll say anything about your difficulties. I'm honored to be your friend and confidant."
Lorenz sits down near where he'd sat the day before and sprayed some of the water from his bag onto his face before drinking deep. When Douena commented about the boring watch, he sat up abruptly.
"By the Gods! I can't believe I forgot! The treasure was so exciting and the work to move the camp...we did have an exciting watch! A dragon flew over the camp. Well, maybe not a dragon. It could have been! It was huge and it's wings flapped like a storm! But it didn't breathe any fire or anything like that. And it couldn't have noticed us because it just flew away without a word. Or a roar. But it was very interesting and a little scary."
That was when he looked at Aerys and remembered why he hadn't spoken of it first thing in the morning. "But I'm sure we're in no danger. There's a lot of more interesting things for it to concern itself with than the likes of us."
Douena sits up excitedly at the word "dragon," but as Lorenz qualifies his experience, she deflates. "Something flying over the camp? Are you sure it wasn't just a big flappybite?" she asks a bit condescendingly.
You settle down under some trees at the edge of the clearing, using their shade to help protect you from the heat. There you talk about buried treasure, dreams, and strange winged creatures in the night. Even Aerys seems a little brighter today, as she sits under a tree happily sipping her water. Overhead, occasional flappybites and other birds fly by. From the jungle, you hear the screeches of monkeys and the buzzing of insects.
After about an hour, however, the jungle sounds suddenly quiet a bit. To the north and south, it remains just as vibrant and noisy, but to the northeast, it seems eerily quite. Then numerous birds suddenly take to the air, like they're trying to escape something. At that moment, Makoa sees a figure step out of the jungle to the east of the party. At first, it looks human. It's wearing tattered rags and carrying a rusty scimitar. But then Makoa realizes the figure is mostly bones, nothing more than another walking skeleton. There is rustling in the underbrush behind it as more of them begin to appear. The rest of the party quickly becomes aware of them as well (although Mahjik has to give Lorenz, who is dozing, a little nudge to make him aware).
Order: Ishirou, Jask, Lorenz, Skeletons, Douena, Sasha, Mahjik, Aakif, Aerys, Gelik, Urza, Makoa.
ROUND 1
Ishirou jumps to his feet and draws his katana. "Company!" he calls.
Jask also stands up. He casts a spell on himself.
Next Up: Skeletons, Douena, Sasha, Mahjik, Aakif, Aerys, Gelik, Urza, Makoa, Ishirou, Jask.
Caught between Douena's derision and Aery's fragile state of mind, Lorenz wasn't sure what to do. "Well it was much, much bigger than a Lizardwing. The thing blotted out the stars completely and its wings sounded like a storm." He said, defensively.
Lorenz jumps drowsily to his feet. "Company? Where?" Then he finally sees the skeletons stepping out of the trees. "Oh, crap."
He reaches for his shield and pulls out his flail. "Where did they come from?"
The skeletons begin to lumber forward towards the group. The nearest one, already out in the open grass, is able to make it the farthest . The others have to traverse the more difficult terrain first and fall a bit behind.
Douena then jumps to her feet and moves forward, clambering quickly out of the undergrowth and then towards the skeletons . Sasha gets to her feet and follows Douena, drawing her rapier and kukri as she moves .
Next Up: Aakif, Aerys, Gelik, Urza, Makoa, Ishirou, Jask, Lorenz, Skeletons, Douena, Sasha.
"Well that depends, does it not?" Mahjik grins, "Wise man suggests to investigate deeper: did it look like this..."
"...or more like:"
Mahjik scrambles to intercept Douena, stopping in front of her to impose himself between her and the undead. His hands and posture emphasize defense.
Next Up: Aerys, Gelik, Urza, Makoa, Ishirou, Jask, Lorenz, Skeletons, Douena, Sasha, Mahjik.
Lorenz Pre Encounter:
Urza stands and casts Shield on himself.
Lorenz looks worriedly at the half-orc. "Is that why she's been drinking from her waterskin so much? Then I don't understand...if she's doing better with water that only tastes like rum, why would we want to give her more alcohol? It seems to me that it'd only set her back in getting weaned off."
Lorenz thinks about it for a moment, sipping from his own waterskin. "What about this? Later on tonight, we have a quiet talk with her and ask her if she really wants to have alcohol when she's doing so well with the fake stuff? Or maybe get Makoa involved. For some reason, she seems to like him more than the rest of us. If we point out how far she's come without it maybe that'll actually bolster her. And then if she wants real alcohol...well, we can see about getting it to her."
He glanced over at Makoa. "At this point, I kind of think it should be Makoa who makes the decision. He's been far more successful at talking to her than the rest of us. He obviously knows her better."
Lorenz pre encounter:
Caught between Douena's derision and Aery's fragile state of mind, Lorenz wasn't sure what to do. "Well it was much, much bigger than a Lizardwing. The thing blotted out the stars completely and its wings sounded like a storm." He said, defensively.
"Well, maybe it's a great, big flappybite. Like the great-great-grandmother of all the other ones," Douena suggests brightly. "We should try to find it. If it's that big, it could fly us all off of the island."
"Well that depends, does it not?" Mahjik grins, "Wise man suggests to investigate deeper: did it look like this..."
"...or more like:"
Douena watches Mahjik's performance with pursed lips. "Okay, the first one was a chicken, right? And the second one was ... some kind of monkey?"
Douena watches Mahjik's performance with pursed lips. "Okay, the first one was a chicken, right? And the second one was ... some kind of monkey?"
Mahjik shows a smiling face of mock indignation - "Sasha?! She's being mean to me! Make her stop!" Then proceeds with a laughing (and more plausible imitation of a monkey.
Makoa is silent while resting, preoccupied with something.. he does look up when Douena starts talking about last night, but soon goes back to thinking.
Then he spies the skeletal warriors.
Makoa stands up and, after a moment's indecision, pulls a javelin out and waits for the enemy to come to him.