Entycer's powers were little good against the mound, she does though eat what she can of it.
At the mention of the LIzardfolk she too turns to look for it, after all, she hated losing good servants.
Looking around, you don't see any signs of the lizardfolk. He must have bolted while you were distracted.
Still, he *had* been leading you in a pretty consistent direction yesterday. If you can keep going the same direction you'll probably get where he was going.
Tomorbataar looks at Ziphora. I was trying my very most to avoid getting hit. Just got unlucky is all, he shrugs, pride clearly not at all damaged by being knocked out so easily.
He does his best to guide them back to where they were. It'd be useless to try to track the lizardfolk, they can swim faster than I can follow the trail. Besides, mud doesn't leave much of a trail.
"I think the lizard went that way!" Then she points her snoutin the direction the party came from.
"Nae, I do be thinkin' he was headed in that direction. Chase! I do be liking a good chase!
Grash points in the direction the lizardman had been going before, at least.
Entycer looks about the muck as if she had no idea where to go next, "I am not so good with directions but I'm thinking that Grash has the better idea between he and you Ziphora, no offense sister".
You're... *fairly* certain of your direction as you head out. You try to pick out landmarks and head towards them as you walk, wade, and swim, but it's a bit hard in the sometimes same-y swamp.
Grash gets distracted for a moment by irritating foliage, and loses track of his direction.
"Wait, were we headin' fer that tree, or the other one? Grrr, that lizardman be better at movin' in tae swamp than I expected. Still, forward!"
Neither tree, actually. See that bush?
"What bush? Does it have berries on it?" Ziphora asks Tomobataar, completely clueless.
Looks like it doesn't, unfortunately, I guess we'll just have to hurry on without further delay.
You travel for a few hours before stumbling on another small island in the swamp. This one has some odd stone blocks on it--maybe a ruined human nest? They're kind of in a pile now, though you can vaguely make out a circular shape in the center that might be more intact.
"Ok - at least the place is dry...we can take a snooze down in the centre."
Zip votes to go to the circular shape
Beachhead doesn't have anything better to do.
"Hmmm, we can take a look, but iffin' we stop the chasin', we'll forget which direction we were goin'! We need ter remember the important things here, so no nappin'!"
We needn't remember, we'll just put a gouge on a tree. Then, after waking, we continue on towards it. Tomorbataar peers closely at the stone ruins. What is that circle? Let's go closer.
Tomorbataar votes to go closer and wants to sleep.
As you approach the stones, a flock of bats bursts out of the trees around the area and, after a moment of confusion, flies away from you. You also notice some small monkeys swinging in the trees, fleeing away from you. You could maybe make a snack of a few of them if you were quick.
The stones don't look that much more interesting up-close, really.
"Oi, munchies! Lesse iffin' I can get one!"
THis said, Grash then lets loose a piercing roar, somehow barely audible save to one of the monkeys.
"Come here, Tomorbataar shouts angrily at another monkey in a commanding tone.
Barely spotting that thing in the middle of the tones, Ziphora hollers out, "I see something in the middle of the stones!"
"Hey,whatever you are, could you come out, showing your peaceful intentions?" She addresseses the thing in the stones.
"We won't harm you if you won't harm us, we just want to have a place to stay for the night."She pleads with the thing.
"The rest of you, stop resorting to violence for everything!" She chides her fellow Hydraheads.
Grash's roar easily kills one of the monkeys, while Tomorbataar's command frightens another so much it falls out of the tree, hits one of the roots, and looks like it's knocked itself out.
Nothing responds to Ziphora's pleas. Well, except for possibly her sibling heads, but whatever it is that's in the stones isn't moving at all.
"I only resort to violence with Pacem!"
"So do you feel good about bullying monkeys now?" Ziphora asks her brothers."Or bullying birds?" Ziphora asks Beachhead.
"Well I called out to that thing, it didn't come out. It could be No-Thing, or it could be a thing. Lets go in there and find out if it's a Thing or a No-Thing."
Vote to search the rocks
"Indeed I do! I showed that munchy who's the dinner here! And I dinnae be resortin' ter violence; I be instigatin'it. And I dinnae use it fer everything; sometimes I roar or play tae drums instead."
Grash votes to mark our directions, then collect the tasty monkeys, then search the rocks.
"I feel pretty bad about bullying Pacem, actually. It really tears me up inside. I imagine it will continue to do so!"
Beachhead votes along with Grash.
"Right, well, violent be our intentions or not, we should really take a closer look at whatever's in those stones."
"A closer look? Why not..."
Entycer casts a spell just in case that thing on the island is foolish enough to attack.
You don't have any trouble snapping up the two dead monkeys. They taste a bit... odd, and they're hardly more than mouthfuls, but hey, it's something.
When you get closer to the stones, you're finally able to make out that the whiteish spot you could see is the skeletal remains of a humanoid hand, with just enough dried tendons left on it to keep it in a fist. The bones of the arm it's attached to go into the rubble.
"Ewee...this is disgusting.I'm NOT touching it." Ziphora wrinkles her nose.
"None of these monkeys were curious enough to get whatever this decaying hand is holding? That looks pretty ominous, to be honest."
Beachhead gets his head as close as he can without touching the hand to try and peer between the remaining fingers to see what is being gripped.
Grash narrowed his eyes at the hand. "This do be lookin' like something ye'd see in a tale. I dinnae trust it, but it be possible it may be useful."
He worked a bit of magic to see if there was any magic already here, and thought through his stories to see if any were relevant.
There does, indeed, seem to be something powerfully magic gripped in the dead hand--possibly some kind of gem, from what Beachhead can see.
Concentrating fiercely, Beachhead tries to pick up the gem without the hand's owner noticing.
Grash concentrates and tries to figure out what kind of magic is on the gem... and tell if there is any magic on the hand, or on other things, as well.
Are you trying to lick it? Why on earth would you do that? Tomorbataar is very nervous, he doesn't like undead.
Beachhead easily grabs the gem from the unresisting hand, his delicate movements so clever they don't even disturb the bones. He grips the gem between his teeth, though he's not sure he can keep a grip on it with its slick, unyielding surface.
Grash detects no other sources of magic. The gem radiates an aura of strong Conjuration.
Ziphora shieds away from Beachhead. "Tell him he doesn't get to sleep next to me tonight."
She also looks to see if she can find any more lizard tracks.
"Hrm, Conjurin' magicks on that stone. Probably summons somethin' iffin you use it or smash it or something. Try not ter break it, cause I dinnae know what may happen then."
Grash maintains a cautious distance from Beachhead while eyeing the stone, half hoping it makes something fightable appear.
"This is exactly why we need more pets!"
Entycer shrugs, "I can hold it with magic, temporarily anyhow, if you want to take a closer look at it Beach".
Ziphora shied away from the stone, not trusting its origins.
Nothing seems inclined to disturb you at present, nor does Ziphora see any tracks here.
Entycer shrugs, "I can hold it with magic, temporarily anyhow, if you want to take a closer look at it Beach".
"Thanks, Tyce!" Beachhead exclaims once the sorcerer head casts his mage mouth spell. "Does anybody have a sack or a beltpouch that Ent can put the gem in before his spell wears off? Maybe a coin purse or a coin satchel? A coin duffel?"
Ziphora shieds away from Beachhead. "Tell him he doesn't get to sleep next to me tonight."
"You say that every night."
"You say that every night."
”That’s because you’re a bird bully.” Ziphora retorts. ”Even if you say you feel guilty, you still do it again the next day because you think it’s fun”
”That’s because you’re a bird bully.” Ziphora retorts. ”Even if you say you feel guilty, you still do it again the next day because you think it’s fun”
"That's not true! I did it the first time because I thought it was fun. I haven't actually done it any other time, but I keep talking about it because you... you... you hurt my feelings.
"BOTH of my feelings."
"And how about earlier?" Ziphora asks Beachhead.
"I didn't actually do anything to Pacem!"