"East!" Douena chirps triumphantly. "Isn't that the direction you said the mountain was, Pezock? Maybe Ieana went this way."
Pezock nods. "East, yes, but still a few miles away. This may not lead directly there, especially if it keeps going down. But it's worth a look!"
Douena lights up a new bone chip after dropping the previous one into the water. She tosses the glowing fragment, and it skitters down the eastward passage.
The bone chip rolls down the passage, around the corner and out of sight. Its light is still visible beyond the bend in the passage.
Douena briefly considers Makoa's track record at finding trouble with his face before slipping quietly into the passageway. As long as the light stays ahead of her, her shadow shouldn't give her away. She moves as far as the bend in the passage and peeks around.
Around the bend, Douena can see that the passage continues to curve around. The slope decreases as it curves though and seems to be levelling out.
Douena trots back to the others. "It keeps going down and around," she tells them. "Should we keep going? The further down we go, the farther we are from the way back to the surface."
"Let's try a little further." Urza says bravely from the back.
Mahjik, still a bit frail from the fight, keeps more with the main body of the group. Still, he too encourages Douena to explore just a bit more...
Douena moves back to where she left the bone chip and tosses it a little farther around the curve. After waiting a moment for any sign of movement or sound , she creeps slowly around the corner until she can see what lies ahead.
The bone rattles down the passage and around the corner. It seems to come to a stop after only a short distance. Peering ahead, Douena sees the the passage curves around into a small cave. The walls of the cave are covered with carvings of snakes and skeletons. A hideous mound of bones and dripping seaweed forms what can only be a nest in the middle of the room.
Douena quickly and quietly retreats, moving quickly through the rest of the party and back toward the top of the slope, even as she says, "Back to the surface. Snakes and undead and something in a big dripping nest. No way I'm going in there before talking to Desna again."
"A nest of snakes and undead!" Pezock exclaims. "Undead snakes! Vile abominations! They must be destroyed!" He draws his sabre and prepares to go down the passage.
"Pezock and I will have a look." Urza will allow Pezock to go first.
"It's probably poisonous," Douena warns them, "and undead, and it's probably where they were trying to take Makoa. Desna hasn't been warning me about snakes for no reason!"
Lorenz shudders at the thought of the snakes. "Douena's right. We should return to the surface."
Mahjik shrugs, then cautiously follows Urza and Pezock, his new potion to hand, should he need it quickly. "Not far too go, might as well try to finish it." He follows, but at a steady distance, able to perceive and intervene quickly, but otherwise as far off as possible.
"Keep back a bit." Urza begins to search through the nest. He hopes there are no snakes in it.
Perception:
Lorenz quickly drops his sunrod at his feet, exchanging scimitar for short bow and nocking an arrow, holding himself at the ready for an attack.
Douena shakes her head but waits at the back of the group, unable to avoid the temptation to stay and see what happens.
Urza and Pezock head forward, down the curving passage and into the small cave. Urza begins searching the nest, quickly joined by Pezock, who slashes at it with his sabre. Mahjik follows a short distance behind.
Neither Urza nor Pezock find anything in the nest, and nothing jumps out at them. "Nothing," Pezock says, looking almost disappointed. He turns and calls up the hall, "I thought you said there were undead snakes in here!"
Douena creeps forward cautiously. "But if there's nothing in the nest.... Uh-oh. That means it's in the water. And we're in between whatever it is and its home."
At Douena's words, Lorenz whips around and stares out into the darkness they'd come from, fearful of something horrendous following them to its lair.
You watch for a few moments, but nothing rises out of the water.
"Or perhaps we already killed it," Makoa says. "Perhaps this was the ghoul woman's lair and the nest was her bed."
"That works for me. For now. For certain there's more to investigate." Urza gazes into the pool. "But that will have to wait until another time."
"Wise man would count his blessings," Mahjik murmurs.
"Let's get out," Douena pleads, "and put Mr. Frowny back over the hole, just in case."
On the other hand, although Knowledge checks won't help, Survival checks might help determine what sort of creature(s) has/have come and gone from this cave.
Lorenz glances around but can't stop thinking about the possibility of something climbing from the water.
"Yes, let's put Mr. Frowny back in his place."
Mahjik lifts the lamp up above his head as he searches the ground for signs (while avoiding direct light to the eyes to interfere with his search); at length he points to a few tracks and signs. "Whoever roams this nest, it came and went frequently - as recent as an hour ago or so. It moves on two clawed feet, I'm pretty sure of that. That ghoul woman could certainly fit."
You make your way back through the caves to the entry cave and, one by one, climb back up the rope into the village. You then put "Mr. Frowny" back in his place.
It's approaching noon at this point, and the heat is settling oppressively. Jask and the others have not arrived yet. It's likely they'll break for the next few hours, so aren't likely to arrive now until evening. Makoa offers to keep watch for them in the lookout building at the north of the village.
Lorenz goes into the lighthouse and climbs the stairs to the top, hoping to catch a breeze up there and be a little cooler.
Mahjik hangs around the little settlement, doing small, non-strenuous tasks to generally make the place more friendly to non-cannibals: getting rid of remnants of bones, strange effigies, and so forth.
A little over an hour after the afternoon heat finally lets up, Makoa signals that he can see the others coming. They arrive only a few minutes after that, gratefully unloading the camping supplies. As you come out to greet them, they quickly notice the injured states of many of you.
Jask comes quickly over. "You look like you've had a rough time," he says, "but I am glad to see that you are all still alive. Did you learn anything useful?"
"We did," Douena tells him. "What do you know about Ydersius?"
Jask scratches his chin and thinks for a moment. "Ydersius, hmmm. If I remember correctly, Ydersius was the god of the serpentfolk. He had his head cut off, but he was powerful enough to survive in two pieces. It's said that his body now thrashes mindlessly, while his head was lost, presumably rotting away to just a skull. Some believe that the skull still thinks and retains some power, and if the skull and body were ever reunited, Ydersius would return to lead his people in conquest of the world."
Sasha puts down her pack and grimaces as she hears Jask's description of Ydersius. She comes over to Douena. Alton flaps down and lands on Sasha's back. "You know, I'd like to believe that you just ask that out of pure curiosity, but somehow I'm betting it's got something to do with what you found under the village."
"'Conquest of the world?' He wouldn't be satisfied with just an island?" Douena asks without much hope. She turns to Sasha. "We found what Ieana wrecked the ship for. Well, part of it, anyway. There's an inscription in a room down there about how to do whatever it was she did yesterday:
"To command the Very Tides to Rise Up and Eschew What Lies Below:
Empower the Four Sentinel Runes with the Blood of a thinking Creature tempered by the Kiss of a Serpent's Tongue.
Anoint the Tide Stone with Waters brought from the Sea in a Vessel of purest Metal.
Invoke the Lord's Sacred Name to wrap His Coils around the Sea itself that He might lay bare what lies below and cast down your Enemies on the Waves above.
"There was a snaky altar and carvings of snake-people doing awful things to people, and we met a ghoul priestess of Ydersius. Well, when I say 'met,' I mean fought and re-killed. Oh," she remembers. "And we found Captian Kovack. What was left of him. He left a note. Urza, do you still have the note?"
"We were glorious!" Pezock declares. "Even the mime fought well, making up for his previous cowardice."
"Yes I do. I thought we could burn it and spread the ashes out into the water or something." He offers the note for any who would read it. "Also, we suspect that the weird weather was from her using the inscription to help perform a ritual of some sort. The more I know about what Ieana is up to the more concerned I get."
Jask takes the note from Urza and reads it over. He then passes it on to Sasha with a frown. "I agree with you, Urza," he says. "I think there is a great deal to be concerned about."
Lorenz nods reluctantly. "I'm starting to think that our troubles aren't quite over now that we've taken the lighthouse. That creature we killed was horrible but it looks like Ieana came and went without any trouble from it. Her. Whatever. What does that say of Ieana?"
"Well, she's not a real human person, apparently," Douena reasons. "Maybe it's like Pezock with the cannibals: they didn't bother him because they don't like eating bird-people, only people-people. Maybe the ghouls don't like eating serpent-people." She thinks a moment. "Plus, they did worship Ydersius. Maybe they have some kind of religious taboo against attacking snake-people."
Lorenz frowns. "I forget, how do we know Ieana's a serpent-person? Do we know that she worships Ydersius? I heard she was supposed to be a scholar. Maybe she's just a, well, really evil terribly corrupt scholar who kills to study?"
He shakes his head. "Or not. I can't imagine anyone who wants to study that much."
Douena sighs. "It was in the letter, Lorenz, from Captain Kovack, the one Sasha's reading now. He said she was a serpentine demon in Varisian skin. Plus, Desna told me in my dream about the shipwreck: the lady turning into the snake."
"Oh. I thought we just considered him mad and unreliable by virtue of the horror of his fate. I didn't think he knew what he was talking about when he called her a demon, much less a demon one." Lorenz says, his expression growing more filled with horror as he considers the possibility that Kovack's words are true.
"He was in his right mind when he wrote that letter. It makes some sense too, the snake-woman being devoted to the snake god. Even if he was still crazed, it works metaphorically and that's good enough for me."
Jask nods. "It really doesn't matter if she is literally a snake person or she just worships snakes and is snake-like in personality or actions. She still needs to be stopped. I think we need to find where she did this ritual and get in after her. Hopefully we're not already too late."
He looks over the party. "But first, we need to get you healed up." He begins to channel energy to heal the party.
Mahjik grins as Jask's healing energies wash over him, "Ah thanks Jask, I feel a hundred times better." He contemplates the various ideas floating about, nodding encouragingly as everybody speaks. Finally he adds his own voice, "It's not that we don't want to risk life and limb to go after her, but it's late today - we may need to call upon reserves and resources we simply do not have right now. Unless there is a very compelling argument, I think we should wait until tomorrow to chase after her. Ayenia did mention that the giant flappy was also over there, where we suspect Ieana to have gone. Perhaps it is enough for today for us to find that place and if necessary defeat the big flappy, camp over night, then follow Ieana."