I'll cast Detect Magic on all of the amulets.
I'll take them, even if not magical, and offer them to Douena. I think I recall she liked the pearls.
Mahjik nods, "Wise man would leave no stone unturned. I haven't even considered the Captain and Ieana; nor any outstanding cannibals." He nods some more, "We cannot ignore the possibility that a patrol or two of them are still on the island as well, they could return here at any moment."
"I'd also like to know if the lighthouse works. Or if not, if it's fixable. I don't know anything about lighthouses, actually, but maybe one of you?"
Lorenz looks hopefully at the others.
"Oh! And there's this sword. I took it in the heat of battle, but would someone else like it? I don't want to be all grabby or anything."
I'll be sure to get Aerys' manuscript as well.
Once everything has been gathered, go back to the cannibal village.
When Urza returns with Aerys' body, Douena has a pleasant little nest prepared for it under the trees on the west side of the old woman's hut, well away from all the bones and dead cannibals. Seeing her dead for the first time brings home the finality of it, and several large tears roll down the sides of her nose and plop into the well-trodden dirt as Urza lies her down. She notices the sheaf of papers in Urza's hand and nods determinedly. "No matter what," she promises, "we'll make sure that gets off the island."
She snuffles a little and rubs her nose on her arm. "Urza," she asks apologetically, "when you get a chance, could you look at that piece of bone the old witch was carrying? It might be a wand of some kind. And there are some potions or something in the hut."
There is a firepit in the centre of the village. A large iron pot sits atop it. Northwest of the firepit, by the base of the lighthouse, is a flat board made of bamboo and driftwood. It would appear to be covering a hole in the ground.
Southeast of the firepit, there is a small hut. The entrance is covered by a tattered cloth.
To the north is a larger hut. There is a door providing entrance, but the southeast corner is missing and so is covered by another tattered cloth. On the north side of this hut, another smaller hut is attached. This hut is raised on stilts. The only way into that one would appear to be through the larger hut.
Southwest of the firepit is another large hut. There are a couple of doors providing entrance, as well as another missing section of wall covered by a cloth. On the southwest side of this building is a large, stinking refuse pit. The building is open to the refuse pit, but getting in from this side would require going through the refuse pit (or careful climbing from the roof).
The lighthouse stands on the northwest side of the village. There are no visible doors, so the entrance is probably through the large southwest building. However, there are large windows near ground level that one could climb through.
I'll cast Detect Magic on all of the amulets.
None of the amulets detect as magical. Back in the village, eight of the potions in the old woman's hut detect as magical (the six with a single horizontal line, and the two with a pair of dots), and Lorenz's new sword detects as magical.
None of the amulets detect as magical. Back in the village, eight of the potions in the old woman's hut detect as magical (the six with a single horizontal line, and the two with a pair of dots), and Lorenz's new sword detects as magical.
Makoa stands a little off from everyone else. Something about the way everyone feels to him... he wasn't used to it. It didn't help that, for a split second, he could have sworn he had seen.. someone else among the wolf pups.
But he'd blinked and that person was gone. To be with the pups though.. he knew what that meant for his pack.
None of the amulets detect as magical. Back in the village, eight of the potions in the old woman's hut detect as magical (the six with a single horizontal line, and the two with a pair of dots), and Lorenz's new sword detects as magical.
Noticing Urza's struggling with the magical identification, Mahjik slinks up to him and reassures him with: "Don't worry - your inability to identify these is a mark of what high-level magics we gained today!"
Seeing the way Makoa was holding himself apart from the others, Lorenz walked over to him.
"Are you well? I didn't think you were especially close to Aerys." He sighs and tries not to look to where the others had left her.
"You could say I was. She wanted me to read her poem before anyone else, but I had been going out of my way to be kind to her." Makoa replies. "I do not believe I grieve like your or the others do though. What is over there is not Aerys to me, but just an empty container. One I respect, but an empty container nonetheless."
"Besides, we're going to make her famous. How can we grieve a death when she'll live longer than any of us?"
Douena looks askance at the iron pot over the firepit. "I hate to think what might be in that," she murmurs. "We'll have to dump it out wherever we lay the skeletons to rest later. Well," she goes on more loudly, "where should we start? The smallest hut first?"
"Thank you, Mahjik. I will get better in time. Plus Makoa is right. Maybe her death will give her even more notoriety or some such." He passes the epick poem to Gelik. "Only you can do this justice, friend."
"Duoena, I got these off the cannibals. I don't know if you want them, but here." Urza offers her the pearls.
"Oh!" Douena exclaims in surprise as Urza hands over the pearls. "There's certainly a lot of them, aren't there?" She looks at her overflowing hands. "I'll put them over by Aerys for now. Maybe we'll find a sack or something to put them in and carry them back. I'll hold the wand too until we find out what it is. That old bat seemed to be some kind of priestess; it's probably something evil, though."
She eyes the tattered cloth covering the entrance to the smallest structure. "Do you suppose we could just rip that down real quick and see what's in there?"
She eyes the tattered cloth covering the entrance to the smallest structure. "Do you suppose we could just rip that down real quick and see what's in there?"
"Sounds good to me," Sasha says and reaches for the cloth. "Let's hope there's nothing waiting behind it to jump out at us." She grins and pulls the cloth away, revealing a storage room. There are several old barrels and crates in here, as well as piles of rough tools.
A search of the barrels and crates reveals drinking water and food. Most of the food is plants and berries collected from the jungle, but some is dried meat jerky. You're not sure what kind of meat it is, but you can probably come up with some nasty suspicions. :)
Lorenz turns away from the dried meat, looking a little green. "I think I'd rather have another cannibal jump out at us."
"Well," Douena says dubiously, "I suppose the plants and berries are all right. We'll put the ... uh ... 'meat' with the bones for a proper burial, just in case." She turns to the building to the north. "This one next? Should we try the door or pull down the curtain?"
"The lighthouse!" Blurts Urza. "We came here, spilled blood, and lost a companion to get to that lighthouse. And that is what I'm going to do." Urza looks for an entrance into the towering structure. After going around the perimeter twice (looking for another way in Perception ),he takes what looks to be the simplest way in (even through the refuse pit if that's it.)
"The lighthouse!" Blurts Urza. "We came here, spilled blood, and lost a companion to get to that lighthouse. And that is what I'm going to do." Urza looks for an entrance into the towering structure. After going around the perimeter twice (looking for another way in Perception 1d20+6),he takes what looks to be the simplest way in (even through the refuse pit if that's it.)
Urza opens the door and looks into the room beyond. It is a simple room with no adornment. A few bones and bits of dirt litter the floor, but the room is otherwise empty. The north wall of the room is the outer wall of the lighthouse. There is a door into the lighthouse. There is another door in the south wall.
"We should proceed cautiously," Jask calls after Urza.
"Urza, wait!" Douena calls after him. "Last we heard, Ieana was in that lighthouse. We can't afford to be reckless right now. Let's just look in this other hut first; maybe there's something that would help us against her. And then I'll check the door into the lighthouse. She might have it trapped, you know!"
Mahjik has had enough chance to rest, his vigorous spirit returning to him. He looks lively in the middle of camp, sprinting lightly between different activities as he tries to help disparate people with their preparations and efforts. "I agree with Douena, in some ways the lighthouse represents the climax of our efforts here - we shouldn't rush to it without making sure there aren't surprises down here first."
"I did not come here for Iena. Not to fight her nor shake her hand. I am here to get this lighthouse working so we can signal for a ship to come rescue us. So hurry about your tasks as my patience grows thin." Urza stands in the doorway in a state of anger and weariness.
Douena flicks her eyes toward the grove where Aerys lies, then toward the rest of the group meaningfully. It's clear that Urza has lost the most of any of them today, and she doesn't want to upset him more. "Go, Sasha," she tells the woman, motioning to her to pull down the curtain in the corner. "Let's check this out quickly."
Sasah pulls away the curtain to reveal a large room that is clearly a communal sleeping area. Numerous crude beds made of cloth and twigs lie about the room, as well as a couple of rickety chairs. A door in the north wall presumably provides entrance to the raised building to the north of this one.
"One more door, Urza," Douena promises him. She moves through the room, giving a quick glance into the corner on the east side of the front door, which had been concealed from the curtained entranceway. If she sees no one hiding there, she quickly checks the north door for traps.
There is nothing but another ratty bed in the southeast corner of the room. At the north door, Douena finds no sign of traps. Opening it reveals a short flight of bamboo stairs leading up to a landing with another door. This area is open to the sky and is off different construction to the other buildings. It was clearly added on at a later time.
Douena finds no traps on the next door as well. Behind this door is a room bare of anything except a thin curtain that can be pulled over an opening in the north wall. The opening provides an excellent view of the sea, and looking out to the right, provides an excellent view of the trail leading to the village (not the nearest 100 yards or so of the trail, but everything before that).
"So that's how they knew the Not-Sneakies were coming," Douena realizes. "No matter how sneaky you tried to be, you wouldn't have made it up the path without being seen. Mmmmm," she enjoys the breeze blowing off the sea. "This is the first nice place I've seen in this village. If we can get the lighthouse working, it ought to be a good place to watch for rescue ships, too."
"All right, Urza," she says, trotting back out of the lookout/sleeping hut. "I promised I'd check the lighthouse door for traps, and that's what I'm going to do." She gives the door to the hut over her shoulder a concerned look but doesn't try to put Urza off again.
Once Douena finally makes it there, Urza calms down considerably. He patiently waits for her to announce that the door is safe to open.
Douena touches the door and concentrates. After a minute, an image forms in her mind of the chamber beyond. It is a room, roughly one quarter of the ground floor of the lighthouse. Stairs lead up from the northeast side of the room. There are also two doors, one in the north wall and one in the west. Light enters the room from the window on the southeast.
The room looks otherwise empty.
Douena opens her eyes and nods to Urza. "Stairs are on that side," she tells him, pointing back toward the village. "We should be quiet, though; there's more rooms in there. Where is it you're wanting to go? Up to the top to see if it can be mended?"
Mahjik nods, "It would be a little surprising if Ieana and the captain just happen to wait for us up there - they will most certainly have noticed the fighting. Maybe they got eaten after all?"
Douena shakes her head. "She wanted to come here to this island, bad enough to wreck a ship and kill a bunch of people to do it, and she came here in particular. There's something in this lighthouse she wanted. The only question is, if she already got it and left or is still here somewhere." She hesitates. "Urza and Makoa, you knew Captain Kovack before Ieana got her hooks into him, didn't you? Was he ... a nice man? If he's still here, should we consider him someone enchanted that we ought to try to save, or an enemy just like the cannibals?"
Urza starts up the stairs to the light.
"He was a good man, at least he seemed so to me. How we treat him will be determined how he treats us."
Douena opens the door and you enter the room. Urza heads to the stairs and up them. The stairs wind around the outer wall of the lighthouse. Part way up, they level out at a landing where there is a door. The stairs then continue beyond that.
I'll open the door.
The door opens to reveal a large chamber decorated with old, rotted furniture. A heap of tattered cloths would seem to be a bed. An old tattered rug covers part of the floor. There is also a table that looks ready to topple over at any moment and a couple of chairs in similar condition. A dented footlocker sits against the southeast wall.
Douena gives a worried glance up the stairs where Urza has disappeared. "Let's just make sure he gets to where he's going safely," she suggests to the others, "then we'll check out what's across the way while he takes a look at whatever's left of the light to see if he can fix it." She'll trail behind Urza up the stairs. Her eyes light up when she sees the footlocker in the bedroom, but unless Urza stops here, she'll follow him as far as he wants to go before coming back and checking it out.
As long as there's no obvious danger here, Urza continues to the top.
The stairs continue to wind around the outside of the lighthouse for some time more before finally reaching another door that is already open. Beyond the door is a platform enclosed by large sheets of glass. The platform would appear to circle the lighthouse. Immediately to the left is another door, presumably providing entrance to the reflector chamber.
I'll open the door to the reflector chamber. If Douena would like to check to make sure it is safe first, I'll let her.
Mahjik follows along as well, keeping his eyes on the peripheries of the rooms they search through.
Douena finds no sign of traps on the door and you proceed inside. The room beyond contains a massive bronze reflector along with other machinery.
Nothing here looks damaged, just incomplete. It is old, and the passage of time has taken its toll, but you are fairly certain that the lighthouse can be brought into working order with several days work.
Douena looks around, satisfied that she has seen Urza safely to his destination. "Well, I'll leave you to it then. There's a footlocker downstairs that needs opening, and I need to check the other part of the building and make sure cannibals aren't boiling out of it at everybody else."
She returns to the old bedroom and quietly peeks behind the curtain to make sure no one is hiding there.
If there's nothing there but the outside, she'll flick the curtain open for some more light and air and examine the footlocker to see if it is locked or trapped.
The curtain looks out onto a rickety wooden balcony. It provides a good view of the entire village. Down below, Douena can see Jask, Ishirou, and Aakif gathering up the bodies of the cannibals, while Pezock paces around grumpily.
The footlocker does not appear to be trapped, and it is unlocked. Inside, she finds a pile of old parchments that would appear to be payroll lists from the Thrune's Fang. There are also several rotting bags. Silver and gold coins can be seen through the numerous holes in the bags. A few coins have already fallen out of the bags.
Mahjik asks Ishirou to guard at the curtained view that allows him an excellent view on the approach to the village. "There are likely still stragglers out there, and patrols."
Then he follows Douena around, looking and prying over her shoulder as she goes about her roguey business.
Douena takes the time while she's out on the balcony to wave down to the others. "Pezock! Hi! Look at me! I'm up here!" she laughs with delight.
She seems moderately disappointed when she opens the footlocker and finds only old paper and bags of coins. "Not very interesting," she murmurs to herself. She burrows through the rotting fabric and old furniture to make sure there isn't anything else hidden in this room , no doubt disturbing untold colonies of insect life and layers of mold.
If she finds nothing else, she will gather up the payroll papers and take them down to Jask. "There's a bunch of money up there, too," she tells the others before heading to the door opposite the one into the lighthouse and checking it to make sure it is safe to open.
Douena finds nothing else in the footlocker (other than insects and mold). Downstairs, Jask takes the papers from her and begins looking them over.
Sasha joins Douena as she approaches the door across from the lighthouse entrance. "How much is a bunch?" she asks.
The door does not appear to have any traps. Opening it reveals a large room divided into two sections. A fence divides the two sections. The northern section contains two long, horrifically bloodstained wooden tables. A gate at the southeast end of the fence open to a short flight of stairs that go down to the lower southern section. The southern section is open to the sky and has no floor, just muddy ground, into which numerous stakes have been driven.
Beyond the southern section, through the collapsed wall at the southwest, is the refuse pit.