His things sorted, Kalathiel heads into the center of the settlement to check in with Ramona. His initial inclination is to help sort through the colony records, but realizes his talents could be useful in a number of different capacities. He goes to her to ask where she thinks his skills might be best put to use.
As the archivists begin digging into the tomes, Posh's eyes go wide. "OOOOO Lemme help! LEMME!"
With exuberance, the gnome dives into the research.
'Oh, so comforting to be surrounded by stories of the past...'
Kar will simply stay in full defense, standing in front of the whole group, ready to deflect objects thrown at him. His goal is to buy the priests time to do their .... priesty..... stuff.
Being that the colony needs so much work in order to get back up to proper conditions, the first day passes by at a frantic pace. You move in to your new homes, but have no time to make them feel as such, since your talents take you to where you're most needed.
Kar's sacrifice of his own body provides enough distraction for the two priests to force the creature out and into the fray. Alas, their attempts to find common ground with the undead spirit were all met with failure, so that had to eventually return it to its rest.
Afterwards, they search through the chapel with Kar and Anya's help. The interior of this building suggests a modest place of worship - not quite a temple but more than a mere shrine. A table near the center of the west wall appears to serve as an altar, draped in a white but dusty cloth. Behind it, a large wood carving of a humanoid figure with a stag's head leans against the wall. Two rows of benches face the altar, although some have been knocked over and two piles of ashes are visible in the aisle between them.
There are objects scattered about the room, where they were hurled by the unseen spirit. Most are ceremonial or decorative in nature. An ornately carved longbow hangs on the wall near the altar, as if on display.
Eamon immediately steps to a wood carving behind the altar and bows his head, offering a prayer to Erastil.
Posh is accompanied by Carver Hastings, a human bard and archaeologist, and the pair begin delving into the paperwork to unravel the mysteries of this lost colony.
Jader acts as Ramona's right hand for the majority of the day, passing orders, setting up crews, and performing some diplomatic miracles with all of the varying personalities present.
Tessara joins the salvage crews, guards mostly in case any creatures had hidden from their initial search. The group has to scare away quite a few rodents reptiles that have made their homes on the colony grounds, but nothing large of note is present.
Kalathiel is directed to join Alba, and the pair talk incessantly about their trade as they set up the alchemy workshop.
You continue on your work throughout the day and into night, enjoying the relative peace of the new colony now that many of the worst threats had been eliminated. You should have known it would not last...
The next morning, nearly with dawn, one by one you are summoned to the "square" in the middle of town for a meeting with Ramona. She seems worried, but nods in greeting. We had an attack last night. The victim was Daib Joiner, one of our carpenters. He took a house near the center of the outpost here. Daig claims that someone or something tried to choke him in the middle of the night.
She points to a recently (yesterday) repaired table with bench seating near the community fire pit, on which sits a shaken colonist, talking with two guards who stand over him.
Can I trust you to get to the bottom of this? I'm afraid this is something that our guards are not specifically suited to.
IN RELATION TO THE TEMPLE:
Kar would like to search it ALL. Every nook and cranny, check every floor board to see if it is loose, etc. Kar wouldn't break anything, but he would be as thorough as he can.
IN RELATION TO DAIG:
Kar will simply follow along in the back of the group and listen critically to the fellow's story and carefully watch his demeanor.
"Huh? Oh, sure. We can certainly take a look see. You know? Not that long ago we got a bit of a surprise with some buggers in that yonder field..." replies Posh, recalling the ankheg fight in great detail.
Finally, he turns to the shaking colonist. "Hey buddy. We've heard you had a bit of a fright...mind telling us about it?"
Kar seems to think that the longbow may be more than what it at first seems, so he removes it with the idea of later having it identified by someone with more arcane knowledge. Afterwards, he searches the entire chapel. Unfortunately, save for the longbow, the other items all seem to be of mundane nature. However, they are very well made - particularly a chalice, rod, and the candlesticks, which are all made of silver.
Daib pauses at the intimidating group before him, then clears his throat. I, well...um...was attacked in the middle of the night. The figure staggered out of my door and into the night after it was...well, hurt. A horrible little naked man, with gray skin and long rubbery arms..the thing took off, and I wasn't about to follow. Another man sits beside Daib, and nods throughout the story.
Kar can't seem to see anything of note from the man.
After listening to the story and hearing the description Jader states
That matches the description of a creature we saw earlier if I recall. Well I think this case is solved now we just need to find the culprit
With a slight nod, Posh agrees. "Jader is quite right. Did you happen to see which direction it headed?"
Tess's face frowns deeply when Daib describes the creature. "Think it's the same one? If so, then no good deed goes unpunished, it seems... How disappointing."
Daib leads you away to his home, which is one of the smaller houses near the center of the outpost. He points out that the creature exited through the front door, staggering.
Tess follows the trail, winding towards the Levin house, and finally the well in front of it.
"He's down here, I think." She sighs. "Should we finish him off this time?"
Jader follows after Tess and peers down the well
Well we did give this creature a chance obviously it decided to come back after our warnings. I suppose we could threaten it again but I fear we will have the same results
He is poised for combat however he is unsure how they’ll fetch the creature out of the well
The creature was drunk when last we saw it, and no one shared a language with it. It is probably scared and panicked, and did no lasting harm. I find killing it to be an over-reaction. The old cellar would possibly serve as a viable jail.
"Valid point Kar...alas we still have no viable way of communication. How would we explain it's actions are improper? How would we express our desire for it to not bother our kind?"
"Best case scenario we could convince the creature to join us and aid our goals."
Stroking his beard a bit, he frowns. "I fear it may come down to no choice here...but I am hopeful we may find a way to resolve this without slaying the poor soul."
"I managed to get some communication in last time... I like the idea of having him join our cause. Maybe I could give it a go! I'd prefer that over killing it, that's for sure."
The well is about 40 feet deep and 5 feet in diameter. The rock wall sides are uneven with a few cracks and crevices that could serve as usable foot and handholds.
If Tessamine wants to give it a go, Kar will back her up. Both literally and figuratively.
Tess will descend down the well first.
Tessamine gets into the well and begins her descent and....goes no where. After a few minutes of trying, she finally finds a foothold and gets ready to try again.
Kar will pull a rope out of his pack, tie it off around the base of the well and lower the other end down to Tessa.
With the assistance of the rope, Tessamine now takes her time and easily makes her way down to the bottom.
"There's no choker down here, but there's a narrow break down here, some sort of passage... If you want to back me up, Kal, you're free to, but it'll be single file."
Narrow dark hole in the ground eh? Sounds like a nice love nest for an orc tribe. Since I’m only half orc then I suppose it is tolerable to me. I am willing to descend down and investigate and my eyesight in the dark might prove useful.
Jader will descend to the bottom and investigate with whom ever is willing
Kar will also go. But first, he looks around at the others. Namely Grandfather Posh, Does anyone require assistance that wishes to go?
Kar will help anyone who wishes help and then descend himself.
Kar helps down whomever else wishes to come and, with the help of the rope, it's a fairly easy process. The group enters into the narrow cavern, squeezing and ducking to get through.
The walls are rough and uneven, while stalactites hang from the stone ceiling of the cave. The air is cool in contrast to the warmth of the island's surface. A natural tunnel meanders in a northerly direction, and then after approximately a hundred feet, the passage splits. the faint dripping of water into small pools echoes softly down both cave tunnels ahead.
Snapping out of his trance, Posh shouts "And that's how the wayangs joined the society."
Blinking a few times, a bit offput by the vacant stares, he smiles. "Perhaps it would have made more sense if I'd shared the whole story aloud...Anyway, I'll be ok Sir Kar. With the rope you've provided, I just need to take my time."
Slowly, but surely, the older gnome makes his way down the well. As the light dims more and more, he frowns. "I do have some torches we could light, unless someones got a better idea."
Jader will lead with his superior darkvision if no one objects. He carefully pulls out his shield and keeps a hand on his sword hilt that contains the magic green sword. Not wanting to draw to much attention to himself with it’s green light the sword stays sheathed for the moment
Posh's suggestion is the best that Kar has as well. If you would, please, Grandfather. Before Jader gets to far away.
Once they reach the fork, Tess suggests they go right. "To follow the path of righteousness."
Her terrible joke is mostly an attempt to hide her own unease at the length and complexity of the tunnel. "If this leads somewhere to the surface or someplace dangerous underground, this path would lead them straight to the edge of town... We might want to make sure the passage is properly sealed off, later."
"Certainly, young man." replies Posh as he tugs the torch free and begins to fiddle with the tinderbox. "Never could quite get the hang of these things..."
You veer to the right, and continue along a narrow tunnel for about sixty feet. About two thirds of the way up, an apparent cave-in has sealed a side passage that heads to the left, or west. It looks to be impassible. Just beyond this cave-in, the tunnel opens into a rounded cavern with rough and irregular walls. Occasional piles of fallen rock litter the passage, but not the degree that navigating is impossible. A fair number of bones litter the cave floor beyond, and you think you may see at least one that looks human.
Tess will proceed into the cavern.
Tess moves into the cavern, and nearly instantly, a ball of darkness seems to envelop her, stretching out in a twenty foot radius from her location.
"Darkness! A spell?!"
Reflexively, Tess dashes forward, hoping to escape the ball of darkness without making contact with any opponents.
Jader shakes his head at Tess’s poor decision to move into the room as she did. What is done is done however. Likely there are some nasties in that dark better stay alert
"Uh...what do you see Tessa?" calls out the older gnome. "Is it safe to pass?"
"Oh! Let's make sure it's magical in nature, hmm?"
Posh does indeed detect that this is a spell or spell-like ability, and seems to be centered upon Tessamine's location.
Hearing the commotion, Kar looks down at Posh before acting.
Stay clear, Grandfather. He then proceeds into the room, moving slowly with his left hand on the wall to feel his way. Kar moves with caution.
to move at full speed in the darkness.
Tess and Kar move through the darkness, though they follow different tactics. Tessamine rushes out quickly, and Kar attempts to skirt around the side wall, moving swiftly but cautiously.
Soon after they reach the other side of the dark circle, two shadows that had, until now, looked much like stalactites, fly down at them clumsily. As they come close, they open up like umbrellas, with slick, dark tentacles coming out, tipped with barbed hooks. One flies at Tess's head, and the other flies at Kar. Both aim to grab their heads in a wicked, tentacled embrace.
The one attacking Tessamine lands and successfully wraps itself around her head and neck, constricting around forcefully and quite painfully.
The other hits Kar with sweeping barbs, cutting deep gashes but not able to grab on.
From the other side of the dark circle, you hear Kar's grunt and curse of pain, and a pained, strangled shout from where Tessamine was.
Jader sees Tess and Kar get marauded and he rushes into action. Attacking the creature that has attached itself to Tess
Kar leaves his defensive stance, and tries a combo move of an uppercut followed by a down-thrust elbow.
Jader dashes in, using the eyes inherited with his lineage to see through the dark circle. He charges in and swipes at the creature on Tessamine, cleaving it through so cleanly that the bottom half, still attached to her, barely even wobbles as the top half goes flying.
Kar swings futilely at the creature, trying to pound it into nothing. However, its slippery tentacled form dashes about quickly on its many appendages.