Mahjik steps back to his previous position - covering Douena from attacks by the vegepygmies . His strikes seem to have found a solid rhythm that pounds into the vegepygmies with steady efficiency. "I'm warming to Desna, the years of studies just seem to make sense right now. I wonder how Irori feels about her."
Makoa bites again at the pygmy in front of him.
He rips another large chunk out of the vegepymy's chest. The fungus man falls over backwards. Makao then steps up over the fallen body .
The last remaining pygmy, #5, lashes madly at Aakif.
In its panic, however, both attacks are poorly placed and Aakif easily avoids them.
Next Up: Mahjik, Aakif, Lorenz, Urza, Makoa, Vegepygmy #5.
Any mixed feelings Douena might have had about seeing the pygmy chieftan fall are more than balanced out by her alarm at the long, bleeding gashes in her arms. She quickly ducks behind Mahjik for protection. "Looks like I'm out of luck for today," she tells him, watching the blood soak into her sleeves as she reaches out to touch him. "Better make this count."
Douena confers her last bit of luck on Mahjik, who then steps up to the last remaining fungus man . With so many people surrounding it, the vegepygmy is clearly unsure where to guard itself and Mahjik's blows find their marks with ease. The vegepygmy reels and collapses.
Mahjik takes a deep breath. "That was intense. I'm glad we didn't have to last much longer - that chieftain was a nightmare" , he says while clutching his bleeding side.
He notices Lorenz on the other side and shouts to him: "You can come over again! We need somebody to protect us closer up, while we search the ship!"
Before continuing with searching the ship at large, Mahjik nods to Douena - "I don't know what the duties of a cleric of Desna are - but I'd say you did well today. I don't think I could have held them off much longer without your help. Next time, though, please don't go alone. I was scared for you."
Douena quickly examines the prone bodies of the vegepygmies. "This is a ship; there ought to be a brig somewhere or some kind of room with a lock where we can put them while we search the ship and find out why Desna sent us here. I find it hard to believe these little guys are behind an evil that threatens the whole island, don't you? They don't exactly seem to be evil masterminds. Ow," she adds, looking at her long scratches. "Everyone who's hurt head down to the other end of the ship, and I'll ask Desna to make us better."
She looks at Mahjik with a weary smile. "I wish I had been able to talk to them better. I'm usually pretty good at communicating with people and ... things. If I'd had more time, before everyone wanted to get mad and fighty...." She shakes her head.
Douena quickly examines the prone bodies of the vegepygmies.
Douena will stabilize #5 -- even though she thinks he's the one who ratted her out for putting the fungus down her sleeve.
Douena patches up vegepygmy #5 while Urza and Lorenz make it onto the ship. The group then moves to the front of the ship for some healing from Douena.
Below the aftcastle, you find the captain's quarters. It and the furniture seem intact, but just as covered in mold as the rest of the ship.
Mahjik spots a moldy ship's log. Its pages are heavily damaged, but it might be possible to decipher it with careful work.
There are steps down to the next deck from under the aftcastle. Descending them, you finding the crew quarters, the galley, and the brig. The galley contains a very large supply of fungus, presumably where they were getting the "food" from.
There doesn't appear to be anything else on this deck.
Finally, you make your way down to the hold, where you see a terrible sigh. Mounds of bones covered in mold--19 in all--sit amid a small circle of personal objects, teeth, coins, and bits of jewelry.
Each mound seems to be made up of the bones of one skeleton. They've been arranged almost like little shrines. Many of the objects laid out around them have long since rusted or rotted away, a few things are salvageable. There is a total of 432 cp, 284 sp, 123 gp, and some assorted jewelry (individually worth only small amounts, but altogether worth about 250 gp). There is also a pair of bracers and a slim metal rod.
"Oh," Douena cries in consternation upon seeing the skeletons. "What happened to them all?"
Aakif sighs. "They ate the fungus, I think. Tell me you didn't really eat any of it?"
"Oh," Douena cries in consternation upon seeing the skeletons. "What happened to them all?" 1d20+2
All the skeletons have had their rib bones broken. Many of them have several other broken bones as well. All of them seem to have burst from within. As best Douena can tell, these people died from something bursting out of them.
"I feel sick," says Douena, turning very white.
Lorenz hangs back, keeping on deck near one of the bridges, keeping quiet while the others search the ship. He fidgets as the time passes, unable to stay still, eyes constantly moving back to shore and about the ship's deck.
"I'll take that as a 'yes'. Right. We need to finish up here quickly and get you back to camp, Little One. We need to consult Jask and see if he can contrive some antidote or remedy. Mahjik, did you eat some too?"
Detect Magic (and noting loot in party treasure)
Spellcraft
Spellcraft
"Yea, I had some too - they didn't taste so bad. A bit like Jask's crab."
"Yea, I had some too - they didn't taste so bad. A bit like Jask's crab."
"But I don't want to die horribly," Douena wails. "It's all Lorenz's fault. I would never have eaten it if I hadn't been trying so hard to prove him wro-ong." She begins to cry.
Detect Magic (and noting loot in party treasure)
Spellcraft 1d20+5
Spellcraft 1d20+5
After a while, to distract himself from his own inner torment, Lorenz begins to examine the sides of the ship, looking for some sign of what it had been called. He hesitantly uses the tip of his rapier to try and brush away some of the fungus as he searches.
After a while, to distract himself from his own inner torment, Lorenz begins to examine the sides of the ship, looking for some sign of what it had been called. He hesitantly uses the tip of his rapier to try and brush away some of the fungus as he searches.
1d20 + 1
Unfortunately, the name of the ship is completely obscured by mold. It will take much more determined work to uncover it (and you'll need to find the correct spot first).
"Don't worry yet Douena; we don't even know if we're infected with anything. And even should we be, we still have Irori's berries and Jask and even a potion that can help us out. And if you really get sick, then you can order Lorenz around to help you."
"Speaking of Lorenz, why was he leaving you behind on the ship?"
"Speaking of Lorenz, why was he leaving you behind on the ship?"
Douena hiccups a little as she tries to talk through her tears. "He didn't want to come on the ship at all," she says bitterly, "and then he pokes his head in right after all the pygmies put down their weapons and makes them mad again. That's when they started fighting us -- because old Lorenz came over like a big wet blanket throwing rocks at a hornet's nest." She is mixing her metaphors dreadfully but in her present emotional state doesn't seem to notice. "I thought they were about to show us around the ship until Lorenz showed up -- and I guess they were. They were about to bring us down here to die-ie-ie." She breaks down in sobs again.
Having searched the ship, you now have only a few options. It's around 5:30. There is zero chance of getting back to camp before nightfall (something you'd already pretty much assumed). It's unlikely you could even make it back to the mechanical crab by nightfall (which Douena suggested as an alternative place to spend the night if you could convince the inhabitant to allow it). If you still wish to investigate the pillar of fungus, you might be able to make it across this small island by nightfall. Or you can start back and see how far you make it. Of course, you always have the option of traveling through the night as well.
I am not staying here with all this fungus. I suggest we try to get back to the crab. Even if we don't stay inside, it is at least a known landmark from which to go from.
"Little One, you did what you thought was right. Calm yourself, and worry no more about it."
He kneels down to place a hand on her shoulder, and as he does so he growls. It is not threatening or angry, but soothing, and as his hand comes to rest on Douena's shoulder, she feels a strange sensation on her injuries. Like being licked by a dog.. or a wolf.
Douena agrees with Urza; she doesn't want to spend any more time on fungus-covered ground. "Makoa," she tells him plaintively, draping herself in his arms, "I don't want to die down here in the dark all surrounded by mold."
"Wise man ponders death in time of death, and life in time of life. If fear paralyzes you, then you have lost - but if fear mobilizes you, you will win.", Mahjik picks up Douena onto his shoulders. "Will you go for a ride again? Much has happened and more may still come, we need to cover as much ground as we can now."
"What's done is as dust in the wind: you will never be able to catch it and change it back to what it was. If we are done here, I suggest we leave. I would suggest burning the ship behind us, but I'm worried about the fire spreading along the ropes to the shore and setting the whole island alight."
"That might be a good idea," Douena says gloomily from her Mahjik-perch. "Burn all the fungus away and let the island start over. I don't know how else to get rid of it all. Are we sure we can get off the island though?" she asks anxiously. "Has the water been going up or down while we've been here?" She looks to the trio with sailing experience for news about the tide.
Lorenz is unusually silent, staring moodily out toward the fungus covered landscape.
Mahjik looks out from the shore onto the lapping waters. "I think the water level is just about ... "
It is currently low tide and will be for a few more hours yet, so getting back to the main island won't be difficult.
You gather up the newly found items and carefully make your way back across the fungal bridges. From there, you head back through the mud to the south tip of the island, then wade across to the southern island. After a couple of hours total, you've made it all the way to the southern tip of the southern island. You then cross the rocks there to the main island. The last hint of the sun on the western horizon vanishes as you cross the rocks. You then set out along the beach.
"Let's see how far we can make it. Do you guys think we should push through - or camp-out in some appropriate spot? Maybe near the giant crab?"
"I need to commune with Desna," Douena insists. "It may be my last chance. When the stars come out tomorrow, I might be with her in person!" Tears start rolling down the sides of her nose again.
"I wasn't aware we brought just-stranded-on-an-island Aerys with us. If you die Douena, I'll go to the Starstone just to get you back, okay?"
You travel along the beach, back in the direction of the giant mechanical crab. The sky is overcast, blocking most light from the moon and stars. Most of you hear more than see the ocean as you travel along.
"As I understand it, Cayden was drunk for the entire test of the Starstone." Urza jokes.
"If a strong hangover the morning after is the cost for passing the Starstone, so be it! Divinity, what use is it if you can't rid yourself of hangovers?"
"Wise man at a monastery taught that Irori passed the test of the Starstone without magic or magic items."
After traveling along the beach for about half an hour, you notice a light in the distance, like the flickering of a camp fire, and you can just make out figures moving by it. It's still a long way off (a couple hundred yards or more), and you can't tell if the figures have noticed your light or not.
"Lorenz, put out the torch, but be ready to light it again. We need to be ready for anything." Makoa says as he straps his shield to his backpack. He then draws his axes.
"Do you want me to sneak up and see who it is?" asks Douena, her interest piqued in spite of herself. "I can sneak up." She wipes her wet face with the back of her hand and moves into the darkness toward the fire.
Lorenz sighs and extinguishes the torch. Returning the rapier to its scabbard, he then reaches into his pouch and withdraws the flint and steel, holding it near the torch's stub in preparation of re-lighting it.
"Do you want me to sneak up and see who it is?" asks Douena, her interest piqued in spite of herself. "I can sneak up." She wipes her wet face with the back of her hand and moves into the darkness toward the fire.
1d20+11
Douena moves carefully forward through the darkness towards the fire. As she gets closer, the shapes become more distinct. They would appear to be human, but they're definitely no one from your group. There are four of them altogether, all male. They are dressed in minimal clothing of animal skins. All of them have numerous decorative scars and tattoos, many in the shape of pentagrams.
All four are alert and armed with javelins and broken scimitars. They are peering into the darkness in the party's direction. It's possible they saw the light of the torch before it was extinguished. As Douena watches, one of them says something to the others. Douena can't quite make out what he said. The others shrug, and two of them move to some rags and furs they've laid out on the sand. They put their weapons down and lie down. The other two continue to peer into the darkness.