Amar waits until the others are clear of the water. Then he leads his crab and a school of random fish calmly to dine on dead crab #1. At peace himself he wades to the sandy beach.
Watching Amar with a dumbfounded expression, Urdok mumbles under his breath something that sounds suspiciously like, "Tha jess ain't right." Urdok continues wading across the water until he reaches the far shore.
Fang glares at Amar, since he was dining on crab #1...
Cyrus straps his falchion over his shoulder and grabs a giant pincher from the crab he downed for a later meal.
Halga looks up the rocky path. He kneels down to ring some water from his clothes and check his gear. He glances over to Cyrus and grins. "Yer gonna eat that? It's as big as Abe!"
Finishing his inspection he braces himself for the climb.
With an almost evil grin, "And only if one of them tasted like cattle I'd be happier."
Once on land Cyrus makes sure his boots are dry before donning them once more. Then he pulls some rope from his pack and makes a makeshift bandolier for the crab claw to hang on as he draws his falchion once again. A few moments of testing he finally finds the best way to wear the claw with little to no complications to his fighting.
Abe waits on Mazie at the top of the cliff,the cat dripping wet and miserable, and Abe not too happy himself, wet from the thighs down. He also tries to dry his boots and wring out his slippers.
"I should have taken mine off like you."
Halga laughs at Cyrus' comment. "Aye there. Maybe we'll just have ta find'n kill somethin' more like beef then."
Settling his armor back on and shedding as much water as he can, he preps his axes for action. Taking a leather tie, he pulls his straggly wet hair back from his face.
Urdok continues to carry the bundle of clothing as he enjoys the warm sunshine and showing off is leaf strewn home made underwear to the party, completely oblivious to any looks of disgust they cast his way. He ambles up the steep path whistling a drinking song.
Though many in the party are happy to be out of the caves noone is more ecstatic about the ancient highway carved into the cliff face than Urol. "Anything to stand this long must be safe to travel. It is a good sign the dangers are past!" Amelia casts a glare at the chatter, but does seem much happier to at least be near the sea.
The road continues south mostly in good condition. Some areas are in need of repair, but nothing a little caution and forethought cannot overcome. The path meanders up and down the cliff, sometimes under high tide mark and others 150 feet above the bay, through coves and beaches, past waterfalls and tidepools.
If not for the announcements of everyone's belly's it would be hard to beleive that midday is now upon the party.
Fang is so happy to be back under the open sky that he breaks into song... It's impossible to be sure what the song is about and appears to be some weird creole combined with dim intelligence, but you can detect that it's a count down song (along the lines of 99 bottles of beer on the wall...)
"Tein kliene visjes ze gingen naar de zee. Dat's goed zie die moeder, maar ga neit mee. Ik blief liefer in de viese voule sluit voor in de zee eer zitten haaien en ze bitten je dood, dood, dood, dood..."
Urdok hum's along counterpoint to Fang's melody, not even attempting to make up words. "It's always a good time, when et's eatin' time."
...
"Tein kliene visjes ze gingen naar de zee. Dat's goed zie die moeder, maar ga neit mee. Ik blief liefer in de viese voule sluit voor in de zee eer zitten haaien en ze bitten je dood, dood, dood, dood..."
After a brief respite for lunch the party is anxious to continue south to the safety of Farshore. The once-majestic seaside byway suffers from hundreds of years of erosion. However, adventurous and industrious Olmans from the southern villages attempted to colonize this bay and signs of these attempts dot the landscape. Protected from the horrors of the mainland by the cliffs it makes sense this would be a natural place to live. However these settlements show up only as remnants. Empty outrigger canoes beached on the rocks, huts with no roof or doors, loud and angry gulls nesting in fire pits, and some repairs to the road are done with wood, much too recent to be from the ancient Olmans.
search check (if you want to check any of these dwellings/areas out.)
DC 10
DC 15
spot check DC 15
With a look of utter sadness on his face Urdok looks across the ruins. "We finally makes it ter some civvielizashun n' thar is nary a drop o' grog er a wench to pinch." Dejectedly Urdok walks through the ruins kicking junk in front of him oblivious to everything else."
"They fought a battle here. And lost, apparently."
Search:
Spot:
Fang points ahead to the edge of the cliff, "Bah! Gah?!? No pointy..."
With a look of utter sadness on his face Urdok looks across the ruins. "We finally makes it ter some civvielizashun n' thar is nary a drop o' grog er a wench to pinch." Dejectedly Urdok walks through the ruins kicking junk in front of him oblivious to everything else."
"There's always Amelia, " Amar observes.
Search
Spot
Fang points ahead to the edge of the cliff, "Bah! Gah?!? No pointy..."
"I see him, Fang! Wait -- what? " Amar starts to run ahead. "A man just stabbed himself and jumped off the cliff!" Amar will run to the spot where the man fell and look down for him.
Cyrus's stomach is full and his slight bloat distracts him from noticing anything other than people are not here.
Halga looks over the remains of the colony. "A battle? That would explain a bit Abe. Things here are in bad shape." His face turns grim as he looks over the remnants of canoes.
"Wot the blazes?" His head snaps up as he sees the native thrust the blade and fall forward. As Fang and Amar cry out, Halga rushes after Amar, following him as quickly as he can.
Abe follows after Halga on foot, while Mazie looks after them, pausing from her sniffing among the ruins.
Urdok runs along after the rest of the group, keeping a wary eye out.
As the party closes on the place of where the body should have impacted only empty space is found. The path is too wide here for it to have bounced into the surf.
survivor DC 10 or search DC 15
Search
Amar stares at the cliff face vacantly.
"Why are we staring at this spot?"
Urdok whispers to Cyrus, "I seen this afore, when a man's a sailor n' goes wiffout grog long enuff 'e starts ter see tings. Purty soon it will be bugs n' stuff."
Survival:
Fang follows the rest of the party when he reaches the place where the body should be, he looks confused. He gets down on all fours and sniffs around picks up a rock, licks it, takes a small bite, and looks even more perplexed than usual.
"Fang we just ate, and you really shouldn't eat rocks anyway."
"Fang we just ate, and you really shouldn't eat rocks anyway."
lol
"No it's all right. The rocks in his gizzard'll help him digest." AMar says distractedly. "I swear he jumped. He ought to be right there."
"Aye Amar. I saw him too I did." Halga glances around looking for some trace and finds nothing. Scratching his quickly growing beard he looks over to Urdok.
"Can't be missin' grog Urdok. Amar'n I saw the same thing. Unless maybe that guy goin' off the cliff went longer'n we without the sweet, sweet ale. Didn't ya see the man stab himself and fall off the cliff here Cyrus? He was standin' right about here."
"Well I hate ter be alway's worryin' abou' conspiracies but iffn a mage wanted a bunch o' dummies ter come a runnin' 'e could make an illusion lookin' like whatcha said."
"That's a disturbing thought." Abe whistles and his cat comes running over.
"I think you have all been in the sun to long. Nothing has been in this spot but us. And what the Abyss are you talking about falling men stabbing themselves? This place is old and I am sure not what we are looking for, move on shall we?"
Agreeing with Cyrus the rest of the survivors decide to move on. Fortunately the rest of the day goes by quickly. After hours of walking along the highway the party is ready to rest. As the sun nears the horizon, gulls and fish hunting dinosaurs with long heads start to search for food in the bay .
Search check 10
Seach check DC 0
"Heya all I found a place that's purty nice n' all. I kin take tha' firs' watch."
Fang has curled up into a contented, loudly snoring ball of scales as soon as the group stops...
Pointing to Fang, "That just doesn't seem right."
Cyrus goes looking for something more edible than rations.
"Nice spot Urdok. I kin take second watch." Halga settles in and lets his armor air out. Laying his clothes to air out, he swaps them for a fresh set. Sharpening his axes he glances over to Fang, jealous that he's able to sleep so easily.
Amar searches the camp perimeter by walking slowly bent over with his face at knee level. He clicks, and clucks and whirrrrs to himself.
Abe takes Mazie's saddlebags off, and removes any wet stuff setting our to dry. He also takes off most of his clothes and lays them out to dry as well.
"I'll take the first watch then," he says in his skivvies.
Abe takes Mazie's saddlebags off, and removes any wet stuff setting our to dry. He also takes off most of his clothes and lays them out to dry as well.
"I'll take the first watch then," he says in his skivvies.
The night passes quickly, though Avner finds sleeping with barely a blanket in the great outdoors reason to cuss all night. Everyone complains of lack of sleep in the morning. They complain about that probably to avoid looking at the ring of bloody gulls impaled on broken sticks. The morbid display circles the camp just out of firelight, and so everyone is content to ignore it until Urol trips over one returning with fresh water. He swears he did not see them on his way out, certainly he would not have tripped over one if he had.
those with a watch shift: Spot DC 15
Urdok walks over and pulls up one of the stick impaled gulls, "Thankee fer tha brekkifast!" He yells with a grin. Walking over to the fire he starts to cook the bird slowly. "Was startin' ter think thar wasn't a nice group anywhar on this place. To bad they is some shy ones."