Nymra attempts to pick some berries herself.
She hands Nimar one of the three handfuls she was able to pick and puts the rest in a pocket on her bag.
”Eat up mate.”
Nimar attempts to eat more berries, but promptly vomits them back up. "I haven't felt this bad since Mama caught me drinking Papa's whiskey with the neighbor girl. Different sort of bad, of course," he says with a weak grin. "Thank, though, Nym. It might be best for you to go on without me. Perhaps I can get back to camp, give you a chance to at least follow the tracks."
Maybe it's best if you stay here in the shade for a short while with Jask; Nymra and Inwill follow the tracks for another hour and meet you back here in two. Then we'll all head back to camp together.
”If ya'll wanna head back, feel free, I'm gonna follow these till I find out where they go, can't chance losing the tracks to more rain. 'ere, try some more berries.” She digs a handful out from her pack.
Jask says "if you two want to continue on, I can stay here with Nimar and watch over him while he gets some rest. I don't think we should stay here overnight though. It would be safer to return to the others. Safety in numbers and all that."
Eating more berries doesn't help with the stomach pain beyond the first handful. However, the heat has dissipated and the sun doesn't burn quite as hot.
Nymra and Neil make better time following the tracks down the river. It's fairly obvious that the Captain and company headed inland and are following the river to avoid the brush and expedite the journey. Without the jungle to slow you down, traveling is easier and faster. Its about an hour later when Nymra and Neil come upon the end of the river.
A new survival check is needed to pick up the tracks again.
Quick response:
As Nymra and Neil scour their surrounding for the tracks of those they pursue, they focus more on the ground than they do on the trees, so when the glob of webbing soars through the air and strikes Neil entangling him, they are both caught by surprise.
Nymra shifts five feet towards Neil and aids him in removing the webs.
Succeed or fail, She'll summon her sword and face where the spider web came from.
Nymra manages to clean enough of the web off to free Neil up.
Neil draws his knives ready to throw it at the unseen for as soon as it appears.
The spider drops out of the tree and lands 15 feet in front of you. Neil lets his knife fly and it bites deeply into the spider's body. If you didn't know better, you'd swear the spider furrowed its brow in disgust before it let another glob of webbing fly, hitting Neil squarely again.
Spider 10/16 (-12)
Jask does his best to make Nimar comfortable. While eating the berries didn't help his fever, it did fill his stomach. Jask also fetches water and fills the waterskins from the river and posts the umbrella up to keep Nimar in the shade.
Neil takes a full round action to escape from the web.
Nymra charges the spider and swings her greatsword in a vertical arc.
Light: Daylight
Nymra closes on the spider and separates it into halves, spilling ichor onto the jungle floor. Neil struggles to free himself from the webbing, but the sticky strands are quite a challenge to remove by himself. With the spider dispatched, the webs can be removed at your convenience, and much easier done with aid.
It is now about 4pm with an hour walk back to the grove. It takes a few minutes, but you can locate the Captain's tracks once again. They continue to lead southwest deeper into the jungle.
Nymra helps Neil get the webs off.
"That spider sure as hells didn't want ya goin' anywhere."
Taking 20, and assuming Neil is doing the same aiding, She locates the tracks and makes an arrow in the dirt marking the direction they go in, and again in a nearby tree.
Good idea. Let's head back to Nimar.
Light: Daylight
Time: 5pm
Traveling back to the grove is rather uneventful. You make good time without having to look for tracks and the terrain is much less overgrown near the river. It takes less than an hour to return to the grove. Nimar is still having stomach pains and Jask is happy to see you. "You made it back, fantastic. You don't seem any worse for wear, did you find what you were looking for? Are we heading back to rejoin the others soon?"
We lost the tracks at a river, but made some signs so we can easily find it again. We should head back to camp now. It's a shame we can't contact them and have them meet us in the middle. I'd like to move camp closer to hear so we don't have as far to travel in pursuing the captain.
Nimar, still feeling awful, smiles when his comrades returns, then frowns at the news of the trail being lost. "Too bad, but I'm sure we can pick them up again tomorrow.."
"Oh!" Nymra starts rummaging through her pack, suddenly remembering something. She pulls out the sack of potions that was recovered from the Jenivere. "Can any of ya identify these potions? If there's a few cure potions in there, I'd like to take a couple."
You can tell that it is definitely going to rain sometime within the next 24 hours, mostly because it rains almost every day. Though frequent, the showers rarely last very long and are usually measured in minutes.
Jask is able to identify all of the potions as follows:
Cure Light Wounds x4
Cure Moderate Wounds x1
Lesser Restoration x4
Remove Disease x1
Water Breathing x1
Water Walking x1
Skeptical of drinkin a liquid and being able to breathe water, Neil offers for the rest of you to take what ever you want. Um.. No thanks. You can have it all. Now, let's head back to the base camp.
"Should at least hold a couple of the healing potions, Neil. You never know when you might need something to stop bleeding or cure a sickness. Besides, if a fight breaks out and I'm wounded..." Nimar tilts his head back and mimics a pouring motion over his mouth before carefully placing one each of the same potions Nymra took.
Nymra shoves a Cure Light Wounds potion and a Lesser Restoration potion Into Neil's arms. "Take 'em. Trust us, they just may save yer life. Guess I'll carry the rest, pipe up if you want somethin'."
She gets her backpack back on her back and says,"Right, so we go the way we came, or we follow the inner coast, explore as much as we can while we're out?"
"Faster is better," Nimar answers, still clutching his stomach.
Light: Dim
Time: 8 pm (dusk)
The trek back to base camp is fairly uneventful compared to your journey so far, other than Nimar's moaning. You've learned to recognize most of the obvious threats on the island and avoiding them becomes easier. You're luck also seems to be shifting back to neutral somewhat as nothing new tries to eat you. Following the river a bit and backtracking along the beach allows for decent time and you arrive back at base camp shortly after night fall.
Base camp appears mostly as you left it. Aerys, Gelik, Ishirou, and Lesedi are all milling about the camp in some manner. Gelik appears to be sleeping under the shelter already and Lesedi sits quietly in front of the small fire. Aerys and Ishirou are standing guard on opposite sides of the campsite. Those awake wave and greet you upon your return.
Shortly after your arrival, Sasha walks into camp with a fish speared on a pole. "Hey, you're back, and in one piece. Good for you. We were starting to get worried. So, find anything interesting?"
Oh yes. We found the Captain's and that charlatan's tracks. We followed it as log as we could, but lost it at a river. It's quite a hike and we had to abandon the search to make it back to camp in time. I'd like to move the camp tomorrow morning so we can follow the tracks even further.
We also found some delicious berries with curative properties. Niel says as he hands them out to the others.
"The berries are supposed to be nice, but the thorns protecting them are-" Nimar slams his mouth shut and his eyes go wide. He rushes away from the camp with his hand clamped over his mouth.
After returning to the camp, dinner is prepared and water skins are refilled. It's not much more than hard bread, dried meat, berries and bugs, but at least the fish is fresh. Everyone is relatively quiet, but the idea of traveling together farther inland seems to bring mostly positive reactions. Everyone awake responds well to the idea of sticking together, rather than splitting off again. Sasha mentions that nothing really happened, it's just the constant feel that something is about to. Everyone mentions that they've felt like they're being watched at various times, so it'll be good to get away from this spot.
Aerys asks you about the berries. "Curative, you say? How so?' She continues to carry the bottle of brandy around, but its empty. She doesn't look too well. Her lips are cracked and blistered and her eyes are dark and sunken.
Aerys is suffering from withdraw symptoms.
The night watches are fairly uneventful. On your turn, you still feel like you're constantly under scrutiny, but nothing attacks the camp and the jungle noises are rather quiet tonight.
You're in a rowboat on the open ocean at night. Sitting across from you, rowing the boat, is First Mate Alton. He's obviously dead, with the wounds and stings his body displays on the wreck of the Jenivere, but still he rows. Alton waits as you exit the boat, standing ankle-deep in snakes, and then he turns and rows back out to sea, you assume off to look for more survivors to ferry to shore. But Alton never returns, and you wake up just as the snakes start to bite...
In the morning though, Gelik voices his concerns. "What happened to us trying to get off of this bloody island? Now you want to drag us deeper into the jungle trailing after the very people that likely tried to kill us. Are you mad? Am I the only one that see this as foolish?"
Ishirou looks at the gnome and simply responds "Ishirou watch" as if that explains everything. Gelik rolls his eyes and seems to become even more annoyed.
Aerys: Indifferent/Entertainer
Gelik: Unfriendly/None
Sasha: Helpful/Hunter
Ishirou: Unfriendly/None
Jask: Helpful/Medic
"Uh, they didn't work so well for me, Aerys, I'd ask Neil. Are you feeling alright? Covering up an illness is not going to help us survive or get off this steam-box of an island."
"Actually, Gelik, we're operating under the assumption that the Captain and his...whatever, are heading for a ship. It seems likely that they'd have some means of escape. None of the wrecks we've seen thus far are really repairable, so we've got few options to work with. Don't worry," Nimar, feeling far better this morning, puts on his best charming smile, "we're nervous about the dangers as well and aren't looking to be harmed. There is safety in numbers and more eyes means more chances to spot dangers."
"Thank you for your help, Ishirou. We all need to work together to stay alive." Nimar attempts another clumsy bow.
Yeah. Curative. Jask says that... Wait. Neil narrows his eyes and stares at her. I may have something better. Hey Jask, can I talk to you a moment over here?
The next day...
Neil awakes with a start, brow sweating. Holy s@!~... He whispers to himself.
As they pack up camp, he hears ol' Gelik complaining. With a half smile, he says You know, you could always go on your own. Nothing is stopping you. We have a couple of row boats right here; have at it! More seriously, he says, Meanwhile, I'm going to go that way and track down my captain.
Edit:
"Actually, Gelik, we're operating under the assumption that the Captain and his...whatever, are heading for a ship. It seems likely that they'd have some means of escape. None of the wrecks we've seen thus far are really repairable, so we've got few options to work with. Don't worry," Nimar, feeling far better this morning, puts on his best charming smile, "we're nervous about the dangers as well and aren't looking to be harmed. There is safety in numbers and more eyes means more chances to spot dangers."
"Plus, who knows, If there ain't 'nother boat 'round here, maybe we can take a rowboat to 'he other side of 'he island to get off. Waters might be a fair bit more kind to us over there. Believe me, no one here wants to be on this island anymore than you do. Well, maybe Sasha there."
"How is your lil' lizard anyway Sash'?"
"Sash! Sash? Do I look like a garment you overgrown overcoat?" Sasha replies to Nymra, obviously flustered by the nickname. "And Sandy is doing quiet well, thank you very much!" she continues with a coy wink before turning and walking away. "Come on Sandy. Pay her no mind, she's just jealous."
Gelik is somewhat emboldened by Nimar's response and mostly just hand waves away any other comments from the rest. He seems almost lost in thought before speaking up. "You really think there is a chance to find their ship and take it from them? I mean of course that's not MY specialty, but I imagine you are pretty skilled at taking from others...wait, that didn't come out right. I mean you seem more like a pirate than a sailor...hmm, no, still not quite what I meant. I think I'll stop now. I don't typically have this much trouble with words. Forget I said anything."
Jask announces "Nethys has blessed me with the power to shield three from the heat today, and as always, the ability to understand the written or spoken word."
Jask hands you the potion of Remove Disease. [b]"I believe you are correct. Perhaps she should try both the potion and the berries just to be sure. We're not likely to find whatever she is missing anytime soon.
Aerys: Friendly/Entertainer
Gelik: Indifferent/None
Sasha: Helpful/Hunter
Ishirou: Indifferent/None
Jask: Helpful/Medic
Nimar chuckles at Gelik's flustered response, "Already forgotten."
"Jask, a full night's sleep and plenty of water has helped me, but I believe I might need one of those blessings to protect me from the heat."
Nymra packs up her tent and other belongings and puts them in one of the available row boats. "Figure we may want at least a couple of these rowboats, use as shelter or as, you know, actual row boats."
Well, let's try some survival checks.