Sasha's eyes brighten. "Oooh! I never thought of that! I was just wondering if we could hide the bodies under the rocks." She peers back under the rocks.
"I don't see any treasure, though."
Douena looks disappointed. "Why don't any of the animals on this island like shiny things? I do."
Sasha shrugs. "Well, they are animals. And crabs really aren't the brightest of animal kind. I guess they just don't have good taste, Douena."
She turns to the others. "I think if we move these rocks just a little and dig a small hole, we should be able to store the bodies here. There's a slight risk another predator might find them and figure out a way to get at them, but it's minimal. It won't take us long and then we can continue exploring and pick the bodies up on the way back. So, how about some of you big strong guys help move some rocks? Aakif? Lorenz? Makoa?"
Assuming there's no objection, she waits for someone to start moving rocks and then starts scooping up handfuls of sand and tossing them aside. With everyone working together, it takes about 15 minutes to dig a shallow hole to place the crabs in and then surround with the big rocks and cover with smaller rocks picked up from along the beach.
Once that's done, you can resume your trek along the coast. You estimate you have about an hour and a half before you need to stop for the hot hours of the day.
"Battle-blooded brethren indeed! I'll promise you one thing: I'll enjoy eating those hard-shelled buggers tonight!"
Later, Sarien helps to move the rocks and provide a safe place to leave the crabs, hoping that nothing messes with them while they're gone.
"Hopefully we'll be able to cover some good ground in the next hour or so. It's getting pretty hot already!"
"I'm not hot," Douena offers, from her seat in the shade where she watched the men move the rocks.
"Then how about you help? Surely you haven't ever moved a rock before? Perhaps there is treasure buried under it."
"Weren't you listening to Sasha?" Douena chides. "She specifically asked for 'big strong guys.' That's not me. Besides," she smiles, "I'm keeping watch."
You manage to cover a lot of ground in the next hour and are able to push on for about another half hour beyond that before you start thinking it's time to stop because it's getting too hot. Although you're not going as fast as you might if you had a proper trail or road to follow, you're going much faster than you were through the forest. You estimated that you cover about 2 miles in that hour and a half, which is about as much as you covered in the first two and half hours of journey this morning.
As the hot hours begin to settle in, you notice an extraordinary sight up ahead. What appear to be several wooden structures on the beach and a pole covered in greenish-brown vines standing in the midst of them. As you get closer, you see that the structures appear to be old shelters, all partially collapsed.
"Oh, look," Douena breathes. "I'll bet there was a shipwreck here and this is where all the survivors set up camp, hoping to be rescued. I wonder if they got off the island ... and who's the lady in the vines?"
Sasha nods along with Douena's words until the last statement, when she turns to look at the gnome. "What lady?" When Douena points, she turns and looks at the pole, squinting. "Hey yeah! You're right! It does look like a woman. Maybe we should go closer and find out if she's okay."
Aakif grins toothily at Mahjik. "I'll gladly eat your share, Wise Man. I'll even give you my share of lizard-chicken meat in return!"
"Deal! Though wise woman did say to eat what is on the table. I'll have a little bit of the crab. I'm sure that is enough for wisdom to forgive."
"Wise man would remember caution; up to now all encounters with other ship's crews involved the walking dead. Let us hope this will be a different sight for a change."
"Should we be sneaky?" Douena asks. She starts to approach the area slowly, keeping an eye out for anything unusual ... more unusual than the whole situation in the first place, anyway.
"Be careful," Sasha whispers as Douena starts forward.
Douena moves up about 30 ft closer, keeping low to the ground. The woman continues to stare straight out to sea, not appearing to notice Douena yet. Douena does notice to the east of the camp, there is a trail entering the jungle. Your group has encountered small game trails in the jungle before, but this trail is wider and flatter, the kind that would let you move at full speed through the jungle for as long as the trail lasts.
Mahjik readies himself to dash forward to help Douena, should it prove necessary. He keeps an eye trained on the woman looking out to sea.
Douena keeps moving forward to the nearest hut. Once the remains of the structure are between her and the kind of creepy woman, she will carefully peek into the shelter.
Douena makes it up beside the rackety hut. Several of the wooden planks making the outer walls have rotted and fallen away, providing several gaps for her to look inside. Inside, there are a few scattered wooden plates and bowls, a wooden bucket, and a couple of stone knives. Most notably, however, she notices several patches of dried blood on the walls and some of the items. There's no sign of any bodies that might have been the source of the blood.
Douena gives a trepidacious glance back at the rest of the group but decides to move on to the next hut.
The next hut is much like the first, but with fewer scattered items on the ground. There is also traces of blood here.
Douena compares the size of the hole in the hut she's looking through to herself. Can she climb in and then peer out to get a closer look at the woman in vines? If not, she will edge around the side of the hut and try to discern what the figure is up to.
There are gaps wide enough for Douena to squeeze through, so she does and then peers out the other side.
The rest of you see Douena climb into the hut and vanish from sight for a short while. Then she comes out the door and says something to the vine-covered woman.
Suddenly, the vines come to life, whipping about, and the woman turns, her mouth wide in a feral snarl.
Order: Makoa, Urza, Aakif, Lorenz, Sasha, Vine-covered Woman, Mahjik, Douena.
Up First: Sasha, Vine-Covered Woman, Douena.
Makoa and Sasha notice the vines start to move and react quickly. Sasha calls out, "Douena, look out!" She and Makoa begin rushing forward, drawing their weapons as they move.
The vine woman turns and charges at Douena, a vine whipping out at the gnome.
It's a very clumsy charge, though. It's more the vines dragging the woman along than her legs actually running, and so the attack goes well above Douena's head.
Up Next: Makoa, Urza, Aakif, Lorenz, Sasha, Vine-Covered Woman, Mahjik.
"I was trying to help you!" Douena shouts in an aggrieved tone as she backpedals through the hut.
Douena backs away from the woman.
Up Next: Urza, Aakif, Lorenz, Sasha, Vine-Covered Woman, Mahjik, Douena.
Urza moves to AR1 and readies his crossbow.
Aakif strides forward, yelling at the vine-creature and firing an arrow at it in an attempt to attract its attention away from Douena. "Hey you! Come over here if you're so hungry!"
Lorenz sighs and draws his rapier as he moves, wondering what kind of trouble they were in now.
Mahjik rushes towards the nearest hut, his footfalls growing more quiet once he is out of line of sight of the vined lady. He stops next to the hut motioning quietly for Douena to come to him.
Makoa moves quickly, running and roaring a challenge at the vine-covered woman.
Makoa continues moving forward quickly, yelling a challenge at the woman. Urza follows a bit more slowly and readies his crossbow. Aakif also moves forward, firing off an arrow the flies straight into the vines covering the woman's chest. He also yells a challenge, and the woman is already turning her attention away from Douena. Lorenz moves forward, drawing his rapier. Sasha continues forward, moving up beside Makoa.
The vine lady shifts direction and lumbers at Makoa.
One of the vines whips out and slaps Makoa across the face, stinging terribly.
Next Up: Douena, Makoa, Urza, Aakif, Lorenz, Sasha, Vine-Covered Woman.
Seeing the woman strike Makoa, Douena steps out from behind the hut and calls on Desna's positive energy to radiate from her.
1d20 + 4
Mahjik rushes towards the nearest hut, his footfalls growing more quiet once he is out of line of sight of the vined lady. He stops next to the hut motioning quietly for Douena to come to him.
Mahjik moves up and motions to Douena, who steps out a little bit, but does not go all the way to Mahjik. The distant song of the spheres can just be heard and Makoa and Sasha are healed . Unfortunately, the vine lady is also healed of the damage done by Aakif's arrow.
Up Next: Urza, Aakif, Lorenz, Sasha, Vine-Covered Woman, Mahjik, Douena.
Lorenz keeps moving across the sand. "How do I always end up so far away from the monster?" he mutters as he hurries closer to the others.
Urza continues to close. He moves to AV-3. He considers shooting with his crossbow, but then realizes he has no way to replenish his supplies of bolts. Instead he casts Shield.
Makoa growls as the vine smashes across his face, and growls fiercer as he forgets about the javelin and lungs forward to bite, intent on gnashing vines and slicing flesh...
Sadly, he is distracted by the radiance of healing Douena gives off.
Makoa tries to bite the vine lady, but is unsuccessful. Urza moves closer and casts his spell.
Next Up: Lorenz, Sasha, Vine-Covered Woman, Mahjik, Douena, Makoa, Urza.
Aakif drops his bow and advances up the beach, pulling out his sword as he goes.
Mahjik continues now, rushing towards the vined-lady his elbow smashing straight into the creature's body.
Aakif skirts around the vine lady, getting into a position to flank her with Makoa. Behind him, Lorenz trudges along in the rear, trying desperately to keep up. Sasha strikes at the vine lady with her two swords.
Her rapier stabs into the woman's body while her kukri slashes open a gash in one of the vines. The woman retaliates by lashing a vine at Sasha.
Sasha ducks aside.
Mahjik rushes in and attacks, landing a blow across the side of the woman's head.
Next Up: Makoa, Urza, Aakif, Lorenz, Sasha, Vine-Covered Woman, Mahjik.
Douena rushes up behind Makoa and touches him with a blessing. "Desna guide your ... teeth."
Douena rushes up behind Makoa and touches him with a blessing. "Desna guide your ... teeth."
As the luck of Desna flows through him, Makoa realizes something through the haze of rage and blood lust: this woman hasn't said anything, other than a snarl much like his own, but is still attacking. He makes his decision...
Douena rushes over by Makoa and touches him.
He feels the luck of Desna come over him and he bites at the vine-covered woman. His teeth sink into one of the vines, and he rips away a large chunk, causing the end of that vine to fall off. The other vines continue to thrash about.
Next Up: Aakif, Lorenz, Sasha, Vine-Covered Woman, Mahjik, Douena, Makoa.
Aakif slashes violently into the vine-creature's exposed flank as it turns on Sasha.
Urza moves closer to the vine-woman while activating his claws, charging the last several feet and ending at AZ-7
Claw: to hit includes charge
Claw: damage
-2 AC from charge
Lorenz raises his rapier as he rushes up to aid the others. "Now you'll learn what happens when you whip my friends!"
Mahjik steps to flank with an ally and attacks with rapid thrusts, his knuckles smashing into his target.
Urza moves up and swipes at the vine lady, but the momentum of his charge takes him half a step too far and his claw misses her. Aakif raises his falchion and brings it down, slicing away several more lengths of vine and cutting into the woman's body. The entire mess of woman and vines collapses to the ground. A couple of the vine stumps twitch a moment longer, then lie still.
Lorenz comes rushing in, almost bumping into Urza as he realizes the battle has just finished. Sasha pats Lorenz on the back sympathetically. "I'm afraid she already learned it."