Makoa moves to Mahjik's side, knowing the halfling had some sort of plan.
Next Up: Lorenz, Urza, Mahjik, Aakif, Giant Crabs, Makoa.
I'm most amused by Mahjik's sudden mutation into a halfling. :)
Douena follows Makoa, wanting to be where the action is.
Frowning at the distance still between himself and the crabs, Lorenz moves forward and draws his bowstring back, aiming and releasing.
Douena follows Makoa and Lorenz moves up to fire.
The arrow flies into the front of the crab, but only causes minor injuries.
Urza follows Douena's lead and moves up beside her.
Up Next: Aakif, Giant Crabs, Makoa, Douena, Lorenz, Urza.
Mahjik waits for the crabs to come closer, then unleashes a flurry of rock as he flings two stones at the nearest crab.
Up Next: Giant Crabs, Mahjik's less than stellar attack, Makoa, Douena, Lorenz, Urza.
Aakif fires another arrow at the nearest crab, then moves forward and draws his falchion. Unfortunately, the arrow is caught by a gust of wind and sails well over the pair of giant crabs.
Aakif fires another arrow at the nearest crab, then moves forward and draws his falchion. Unfortunately, the arrow is caught by a gust of wind and sails well over the pair of giant crabs.
1d20+4-2
As Aakif approaches closer, the crabs continue towards Mahjik's clacking. Mahjik then lets loose with his attack . Unfortunately, the shots are unsuccessful.
Up Next: Douena, Lorenz, Urza, Aakif, Giant Crabs, Mahjik.
Urza fires at the crabs.
Lt Crossbow: to hit
Lt Crossbow: damage
Makoa moves forward, lunging at the crab closest to Mahjik with fangs gleaming.
Douena slips up behind Mahjik and blesses him, "Desna guide your blows."
Makoa's attack tears through the crabs shell and pulls away a chunk of its innards. The crab looks in bad shape, but still up. Douena then grants Mahjik some luck.
Next Up: Urza, Aakif, Crabs, Mahjik, Makoa, Douena.
Lorenz steps back and slips an arrow into his bow before firing again. "You're nothing but seafood!"
A gust of wind suddenly rose up, sending sand into Lorenz's eyes and the shot went wild. "Cayden's balls!"
After Lorenz's shot goes wide, Urza fires a bolt at the same crab. He hits it, but does only minimal damage.
Up Next: Giant Crabs, Mahjik, Makoa, Douena, Lorenz, Urza
Mahjik feels Douena's hand on him and senses the flow of the universe favoring his actions. He takes a short step forward and hardens his hands around the remaining two stones - using them to make his hands better pummeling instruments - then smashes the shell of the crab before him.
As Aakif readies his sword for the attack, the wind kicks up a swirling shroud of sand around him. As he runs forward to battle, shapes begin to form in the veil of sand -- a hint of a face here, a clawed hand there -- but dissolve almost immediately. When his falchion crunches downwards into the shell of one of the crabs, however, the sudden sandstorm lurches forward with him and dozens of ephemeral claws scratch at the crabs. When Aakif settles back on his heels to regain his balance for another attack, the wind dies down and the shapes dissipate.
Aakif's blow shatters the top of the crab's shell. It twitches angrily and manages to avoid the strange otherworldly claws.
In retaliation, it snaps back at Aakif.
One of its claws snaps across Aakif's thigh, piercing his skin.
The other crab snaps at Makoa.
One of the two claws catches him in the side while the other scrapes his arm.
Mahjik moves up and pummels at the nearest crab, but despite its weakened state and Desna's luck, he is not able to penetrate its shell.
Next Up: Douena, Lorenz, Urza, Aakif, Giant Crabs, Mahjik.
Shaking his head with annoyance, Lorenz reaches for another arrow and attempts another strike. "Damn it," he mutters under his breath. "How hard is it to hit a bloody bug?"
He sighs as the arrow glances off the crab's shell, hardly scoring a mark.
Urza moves to CC71 then lobs an orb of acid at the crab Aakif is fighting.
Acid Splash: to hit R Touch, includes -4 pen for firing into melee
Acid Splash: damage
Makoa grimaces as the crabs pincers dig into him, and feels a sort of calm fury come over him as he snaps at the giant crustacean again.
Makoa bites into the front end of the crab by its eyes and tears it open. The crab wobbles for a moment and then topples over. Its legs continue to twitch slightly, but it is quite out.
Next Up: Lorenz, Urza, Aakif, Giant Crab, Mahjik, Makoa.
"Good bite, Makoa," Douena praises the half-orc as she dashes over to touch Aakif . "Desna guide your sword," she blesses him. "Now smush this one, too!"
As Douena goes to help Aakif, Lorenz lets loose his arrow. Although it doesn't cause a lot of damage, it does clearly hurt the crab. A blob of acid then flies from Urza into the crack already made by Aakif. The crab shakes and then collapses.
"Well, there's another couple of dead crabs. Should we try and bury them like we did before so we can bring back extra dinner later? Or is it not worth the trouble?"
Lorenz puts his bow away and rubs the remainder of the sand out of his eyes.
"I think this time we should make all due haste to our destination. I would rather not take the time to bury them. If Douena's and Mahjik's dreams are any indication, our mission today is too important to be put off even for a little while."
With the threat of the crabs dealt with, you move on, leaving the bodies to be picked clean by flappybites and anything else that might come by.
The beach continues west for a short distance before curving to the southwest for about a mile and then curving west again. About an hour after leaving the crabs behind, you notice several mounds up ahead. They look almost like large nests made out of palm fronds and driftwood. Altogether, you can see six of them.
There is also a trail leading south from the nests into the jungle. The beach curves to the northwest from here.
"I wonder if there's big eggs in there. I bet Sasha would want to try to hatch one of those." Douena moves forward quietly, hoping to sneak up and peek inside one of the nests.
As Douena gets closer, she notices a large number of broken sawtooth sabres and daggers lying about. She also realizes that the mounds are not nests at all, but rather the collapsed remains of very poorly constructed huts.
Douena waves the rest of the group forward. "It's what's left of another camp. And look -- another trail into the jungle. Did the people who were here make the trail, going farther in, or did someone in the jungle make the trail out here to them?"
Using her staff, she pokes through the collapsed remains of one of the huts, looking for clues about the people who lived here -- or for shiny things.
Lorenz hurries forward to examine one of the huts remains. "How odd. Given what we've seen before, I doubt the people who stayed here made the paths. There must be someone else, someone who set those traps."
There's no sign of life anywhere nearby, but both Douena and Lorenz discover bits of dried blood, much like at the other abandoned camps you've found.
Lorenz discovers a dagger under a pile of collapsed driftwood. Unlike the other daggers lying about, this one is still in its leather scabbard and is of much finer make (masterwork). When he pulls it out, he sees that the blade is etched with a pair of crossed praying mantis claws.
Mahjik looks at the remnants, his eyes brood on the remains of the camp - especially the sawtooth sabres and daggers. "Wise man would worry at details. The weapons that remain here are relatively specialized - with a more random collection of people you would expect a greater diversity of weapons. I think this might be the remains of a dedicated group of people, not just some average castaways."
"We've found three camps on the beach, and all of them have a trail leading into the jungle," Douena says thoughtfully. "What if they weren't just survivors of a shipwreck? What if these people came here on purpose, looking for something in there," she points into the jungle, "just like Ieana did?"
1d20 + 8
Mahjik finds no additional clues.
Mahjik laughs again, "Wise man can expect to find wisdom in the unlikeliest places;" he ruffles Douena's feathers, "that is a really good observation little one."
Douena beams for a moment, then frowns. "Wait. Why am I unlikely?"
Mahjik looks at Douena conspiratorially, "The question that will keep you up tonight is why are you a place?" He grins broadly, "so we go further west then?"
Lorenz holds up the dagger he found. "Well some of this group must have been from the Red Mantis. This dagger has been marked with their sign."
He looked around at the humps that were all that remains of the huts. "I don't know that I believe they came here on purpose though. If they had, would they have constructed such simple huts? We seem to have better supplies than these people did."
He shrugs. "But maybe they got tired of living in huts and went off into the jungle and left those traps. But that doesn't explain all the blood we found at the first camp, or that scary symbol on the wall. I still think something came out of the jungle and took them."
"Anyway, let's keep going west while we still have time." Lorenz drew his rapier, however, looking warily into the jungle. He intended to be ready if there were any sudden attacks.
You continue northwest along the beach, leaving the collapsed huts behind. The temperature is starting to rise, but you should have about another hour before the really hot time settles in. After about half an hour of travel, the beach twists to the west again. As you come around a group of large rocks, you spot a strange sight. Up ahead is an immense red and orange crab the size of a small house. It crouches on spiny legs.
Suddenly, it raises its pincers into the air menacingly and lowers them again. Its legs start to twitch and its stalked eyes wriggle. It begins making hideous moaning sounds. It snaps its pincers as it raises them again. However, it does not move forward.
Despite its movement, Douena notices that the crab is quite dead. Its movements are jerky, mechanical, and repetitive. There is definitely something else going on.
Douena smiles. "It's a scarecrow! I don't see how it works, though. But if someone put this up to scare things away, maybe there's finally something worth finding on this island!" She will approach the crab carefully, keeping an eye out for traps.
As Douena gets closer, the crab continues to shake its pincers about. While they don't seem to have much mobility, they are very clearly sharp, so she stays well back from them. Up closer, she make out ropes and branches at the crab's various joints. Clearly, there must be a whole system of ropes and pulleys running inside the shell. The moaning is also clearly coming from inside the main body of the crab, and amplified by what is presumably a hollow shell. The moaning (more like shrieks from up close) becomes more frantic as she gets closer.
As whoever is in the shell is seemingly distressed by her approach, Douena stops at a short distance and calls out politely, "Hello? Is there someone in there? Can we help you?" She shrugs back at the rest of the party. "We're not really very scary," she adds.