That was easy.
Skaar looks to his companions unsure where they should go.
"If that guy is after as female vampire, we might be on the same side. Remember when they'd started taking Drago that bastard said something about his mother's people coming here and killing everyone at the monestary. Maybe she'd here with them." Aurelea says to the others.
Ok so you're still here, and for some strange reason that makes me feel better, but.....are you who I think you are?
"We should see how bad things are, then head back to where we fell. See if we can track down the mage, and I think I saw an equipment room we passed that could prove useful."
Skaar nods and mutters quietly, "Lead the way Cyna."
It's odd a follower of the goddess having released us would happen to be here. "Let's be more careful along the coast this time - we know what to watch for now."
The group exits the lighthouse to an unfamiliar scene. About forty paladins of Iomedae mill about the small island, including Hadrinn and Kierk with the glowing beard. You also see three others who do not seem to be associated with the paladins. Many of the shipwrecks in the bay have been cleared out, flotsam floating about where they once were.
Hadrinn notices you and approaches. "What in Iomedae's name are you doing here?"
"We couldn't stop 'im. The necromancer overpowered us and took Drago. We think he's still alive and wanna to try to..."
Skaar takes a breath and swallows.
"...try again."
"Well, you're going to need to a bit of luck to get back onto the mainland. There's a shark prowling in the water now since we blew up most of the shipwrecks. Well, it's more'n a shark, y'see. It's an undead shark," Hadrinn explains.
Skaar hesitates. Some part of him relished the idea of testing himself against such a beast but that part of him was wounded and easily silenced for now.
"Can you kill it?"
"It already ate five men. All we have are these rowboats, which it can overturn easily," Hadrinn grunts.
"What can we do?"
"Wonderful, an undead #!@3!%ing shark! Isn't that what Paladins are supposed to be experts at slaying?"
"Well, we can break down the rowboats and turn them into something more sturdy. We won't have it ready until tomorrow though," Hadrinn says. "If you're willing to swim out there, you can do that, but the water still carries that taint."
"Maybe it's for the best", the big orc mutters.
"I think we could use a rest."
"Another night is another chance for whatever killed the Sisters to finish the job. What do the rest of you think? Drago's life might depend on this decision." Aurelea says, her gaze intense.
Skaar grabs Aurelea's arm and leans into her.
"Why the rush? Do ya think we stand anymore of a chance now than we did last time we faced that wizard? I... I don't think I-we can beat 'im..."
Aurelea pauses, seeing the doubt in the massive orc's eyes.
"I think we can take him, but maybe it would be better for us to take the night to get our heads together. We've all just come back from the dead. We should talk...and probably eat something." she says, inviting her friend to share his obvious inner turmoil.
Cyna turns to her team and says. "If we can't beat him then how can we expect to take on everything else this place throws at us? Besides there are things worse than death. Another day might be good for us, i would rather not be shark bait anyway Drago will have to wait another day."
"Food. Ya, food would be good", Skaar says with a slow nod.
"I'd also rather fight the dead in the daylight. Given a choice." Aurelea quips sheathing her sword. She raised an eyebrow, realizing that she didn't even remember having drawn it.
Skaar finds a place to sit and plops down.
Opening his pack, the orc retrieves a piece of long stale hard tack and gnaws at it. After a while he stares at his own massive gnarled hands with a mix of confusion and disgust.
Alethiro stands by the shore and stare's out towards the mainland. Soon sister, very soon your death will be avenged. Pulling out locket, he clutches it tow his chest, then looks at the companions. Will they let me join them? The Elf wonders, as his gaze drifted back to the water.
"They look like big, good, strong hands. I always thought that's what they were. My friends. The Explorers. I couldn't save 'em. The deadmen pulled them right out of my hands. I failed", Skaar mutters to himself.
I fought hard. I did everything I could. I died for them.
"They look like big, good, strong hands..."
The paladins muster a fine meal of roast mutton and hardened biscuits. Much to Hadrinn and Kierk's delight, they also offload a keg or two of ale. The dwarves are soon drunk as the sun sets and they begin dancing around a large fire.
The three men who don't seem affiliated with the paladins approach Skaar. One, a scholarly looking human, decides to greet the orc.
"I don't believe we have met, though we do know of you and your companions," the man says. "You're...ah... a member of the Icathian Royal Army, no?"
His two companions set eyes upon Aurelea and Harakhty.
Skaar, his spirits raised a bit by a belly full of meat and ale, answers the strangers.
"Yeah, but that was a long time ago. What's it to ya?"
Aurelea sits down next to the Skaar and listens to his muttering. The big wrestler obviously had a large portion of his confidence wrapped up in his physical ability. Even more, he prided himself on the ability to protect those around him. She could definitely identify with that.
”I know what it’s like to fail to protect somebody. It makes you feel weak and useless.” She stared into the fire, listening to the wood pop for a moment.
”Thing is, that’s what your enemies want you to feel. I would give anything for a second chance to save the people I loved, but I can’t ‘cause they’re dead. You get a do over, you get a chance to save people’s lives all over again, stronger and wiser than the first time. When does that ever happen?”
She looks directly at the massive warrior, her eyes holding a fierce intensity and a bit of a wicked grin on her lips.”We get something no one ever gets, a second chance. Another chance to put those walking corpses back in the ground, and show that freak who he messed with. And the best part…they have no idea we’re coming.”
As she eats she hears the voice in her head again, instructing her, warning her. The more rational part of her mind was wary, and more than a little concerned, yet deep down she felt that the presence speaking to her was one she could trust, despite the nightmare that lingered at the back of her mind.
‘If we’re gonna continue like this we’ve got to sort out a few things. Do you have…I don’t know…a name? Are you just in my head??? Is this because I died or are you what I’ve been feeling for a while now?’
Skaar stops muttering when Aurelea finds a seat next to him but doesn’t make an effort to match her gaze.
After she’s done speaking, the big orc nods slowly.
”A second chance… it’s all I ever wanted. This whole trip - it’s all about second chances fer me”, he rumbles.
”What happened to your family?”
While mostly quiet in thought, the vanara helps the group prepare the meat. Such tasks were common for him in the grasslands, and it felt good to be doing something simply that reminded him of home. I guess we're undead now? The study of life energy wasn't a big part of his studies, so he didn't know what they entailed. Harakhty assumed whatever healing energy he would use would be able to help himself though ... and since the others suffered the same fate, it should work for them. It was a bit scary to be completely at a god's whim, but Harakhty didn't think overmuch on it; he had no plan on deviating from their mission, for his original motives still held true. The threat of divine wrath was a lovely reminder though.
A group of non-faithful approached Skaar. The Icathian Royal Army, hmm? Curious, both of Skaar's tacit secret and the outsiders, the vanara took a seat not too far from the greenskin and kept an ear on them.
"Oh, I wasn't referring to Blackwater, Skaar," the human responds, adjusting a pair of spectacles on his nose. "Though I do know much about that. I was referring to your alliance with the IRA just no more than a couple of weeks ago."
The man waves his hand dismissively. "I just had to make sure it was you. So, now I know, don't I? Let's see: we have Harakhty Suntooth and Aurelea Winterspire. Tch! Such a surprise that Vonder didn't contact us first. But we'll fix that in short order, won't we, boys?"
The two behind him nod their heads.
"Who the hell are you?" Skaar growls, not liking how much these strangers knew about him and his friends.
"How do you know so much?"
"Nothing good ever happens when the leader riles his goons, they'll probably jump us any minute now. I'm not in the mood do deal with some glory seekers." Cyna slowly makes her way behind the group as quietly as she can.
Cyna palms her blade leisurely and with a sweet smile and an icy tone she adds to Skaars questions. "And just what is it you plan to fix hm? I do hope your not going to do something dangerous now?"
Harakhty was easily recognizable by his stripes. The others? Not so much. And it's the three of us, not just each apart. He'd been sent to hunt them down. Why?
"Relax, Skaar." Harakhty stood. He did not have his crossbows nor his armor on him, left in a pile near the fire he assumed to be safe in a camp of paladins. Though his quarterstaff lay on the ground next to him (he used it to move the wood around from time to time), he chose to leave it there for now. "I envy your breadth of hearing. Why such an interest in us though? As the good lady, Cyna, says, there's enough danger in this place already. Let's not make any more."
"We are your replacements, since you have failed to do what was asked of you by Mr. Vonder," the man answers. "He has filled us in on you and your apparently missing companion, Drago Skorzeny."
"I know you well, Skaar, and it's such a shame that you have forgotten me. We worked together for a while, did we not?"
He grins as he watches Skaar. "I see you are beginning to recall me now."
"Miss Cyna Singer of the Green Circle, I presume," the man says, looking at the tiefling. He moves back a few steps with his companions. "We have matters to settle, Skaar and I. And also at the behest of Mr. Vonder, he has requested that we forcibly downsize his agents. We have no quarrel with you though, tiefling. Whether there is enough danger or not here is purely subjective."
Perhaps Vonder didn't want any loose ends. Harakhty didn't particularly care about being "replaced" though. It might make their task much easier. "News travels fast. I'm happy to hear you're able to relieve us of our burden though."
Skaar's growl rises in intensity.
"Back up lil 'Nara. I'd trust 'dis bastard about as far as I could throw 'im. He's a butcher. One of the worst."
The big orc looks to his companions and a memory of training with Drago drifts to the surface of his thoughts.
"I don't believe you. 'Dis is my job, Vonder wouldn't have sent replacements. I don't know how you fooled the holy types but I smell your b*~$*&!%."
Aurelea closes her eyes as Skaar asks about her family. Knowing the question was coming didn’t make it any easier.
”Would you believe I used to be a noble? A spoiled little rich kid. My father was a mid level aristocrat with plans of marrying me off to someone richer and more powerful to “promote the family’s position in the realm”.” she chuckles with false mirth.
“I guess the joke was on him that I like girls. I fell in love with my bodyguard Rhiann. He blamed my mother for choosing a woman to protect me in the first place, said that she corrupted me. He fired her and kicked her out, and I left with her.”
”She taught me how to fight, how to survive, more than I could ever describe…and in the end I let her down. We had a stupid fight and I stormed off…..she must’ve been upset, it’s the only way those bastards would have gotten the jump on her in an alley like that.” as she speaks her eyes begin to tear up, the pain obvious on her face.
”I found her a few hours later……”
Silence fills the conversation for a moment as Aurelea regains a bit of her composure.
“I bounced around a bit after that, taking merc work where I could find it, ‘till the war started. I figured I should come home y’know, showed up just in time to see my family’s mansion get overrun. I actually watched my father die, and when I found my mother’s body…..” A flash of rage flickers in her eyes.
”I killed my way out of there I guess, I don’t remember much else about the next few days.”
She trails off unable to speak for a while.
Harakhty stands his ground. "If he can get under your thick skin, this "butcher" must actually be one of the best." Downsize, indeed Harakhty smiled. "How did you know we needed replacing?"
"So what is all of 'dis to you?" Skaar asks with a gesture to toward the jungle island. "You tryin' to make up for yer past?"
Sefirous laughs. "And what do you plan to do, orc? Cry me a river, hold hands and paint pictures? You are weak. You don't have the balls to do anything about me or my companions. I will bathe in your blood and the blood of those fools you supposedly protect before sunrise and I will enjoy it."
He shrugs, eyeing Skaar intently. "I don't care if you believe me about Vonder, but this will prove my claim."
He draws a piece of parchment from his belt pouch and tosses it at Skaar. It reads:
Dear Mr. Legarros,
Thank you for your quick response in regards to my inquiry. I have not received any communication from the first exploration party I sent to Zahvroma since their departure. Please determine their whereabouts and why they have not sent me any updates on their progress. Unfortunately, their demeanor lead me to believe that they are unsuitable for the task of excavating and reclaiming those artifacts that I have mentioned before. Deal with them as you see fit.
MV
"You know my preferred method of dealing with loose ends, Skaar," Sefirous says with a vicious grin.
"Never again!" Skaar roars as he falls into a combat stance.