Ruins of Azlant (Inactive)

Game Master Nathan Goodrich

"Wow, that's amazing Tettia. Where did you learn to draw like that?" She takes a sit near the arcanist. "I hope it's fine that I looked. I...don't even think I could keep track of what the birds look like given how much they move around. Not enough to commit it to paper."

She pauses, mulling over her thoughts for a moment. "My tutors taught me to draw a bit: nowhere near as good as what you are doing. You wouldn't want to see my painting though." She barely manages to suppress sticking out a tongue at the thought.

Tettia shrugs. "It's just something that ... I've always enjoyed drawing. My room at home has shelves of sketchbooks that I've accumulated since I was little. It came in useful while I was at Uni."

She laughs a little. "Some of the drawings in those probably don't look any better than your painting."

She flips through the pages in the book she's currently drawing in.

"I'm hoping to use some of these in a paper that I'm writing on our discoveries here," she says wistfully.

Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (11) + 11 = 22

Sarine catches a glimpse of the picture flashing through the pages but doesn't elaborate on that point. "It helps when you like what you are doing, I imagine. Drawing and painting were just another thing my tutors tried to drill into me. One more thing that the Senator's Daughter Needs to Know. I hated it."

She pauses for a moment before continuing, "Or probably...if I'm honest, I was determined to hate it. That isn't the same thing as actually hating it. I think?"

Tettia shrugs. "Probably. Negatives associations can color our perceptions of experiences. Unfortunately, according to research I've read, it can take anywhere from eighteen to twenty nine positive experiences to offset the effects of a single negative one. And if you weren't really into painting in the first place it's probably not worth the effort."

She flips the pages back to where she was drawing the birds gathering around Zay.

"I really enjoy drawing because it helps me commit moments that I don't want to forget to memory. I would still remember it without the sketch, but the act of sketching the scene fixes it into my mind. After that, I can see that instant in time vividly just by closing my eyes."

Unaware they're the subject of an artistic masterpiece, and unable yet to relay what the birds have said due to still being in the process of reading all these tweets, Zay continues to impersonate a princess from the land of D'zney.

Aurelian and Primrose

It does not take long for you to find Colson. He is helping clean up at the burned down government building with some of the other townsfolk, and he seems to perk up a bit at the sight of Aurelian's approach. "Heard what you did," he says, reaching out a grimy hand for a handshake. "Thanks for keeping us safe. I know you and yours did the best you could against those monsters."

Sarine, Tettia and Zay

Zay is well aware of a simple fact about your typical avian creature: they are rather stupid. Thankfully, Zay manages to communicate their questions coherently to the incoherent mass of color and feathers. While their answers are hard to decipher both due to the sheer number of birds as well as their incompetency, Zay puts together that a particular shapeshifter was using a shiny object at a peninsula to the west. Additionally, they saw the melty-face people take normal-face people on boats from that same peninsula to an island not too far off.

Yay! It lives!

Zay finally stops chatting to the birds after some time spent teasing out details from their rather small birdbrains. They roll their head a little side to side, shaking it, and clearing their throat several times before speaking.

"Supposedly one of these.... skin changers... was off to the west, on a peninsula-- using something bright and shiny. Also, the skin changers took normal humanoids, by boat, to an island near that peninsula. That seems informative."

Zay wanders near Tettia, to see if she is writing all of this down-- what else would she be doing with the paper? On seeing the actual work in progress, Zay blinks. And then turns delicately pink.

"...we can still look for tracks. Corroboration is... is... always a good thing."

"Yes, it was what Aurelian Fache does," the swordsman agrees, voice harder than usual. "But Aurelian has heard that you may have been closer than you realized with one of these creatures. He wonders if there is anything -- no matter how small -- you might remember that might help us try to see if we can get our friends back."

Diplomacy (if needed): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14

Tettia looks up at Zay and then down at her drawing when it occurs to her that she's making them uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry. Was it ok that I was drawing you?" she asks. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable - it just helps me to remember things."

She makes a few quick additions to the drawing and then closes it up.

"Yes, let's go see if there are any tracks remaining and maybe there are other clues."

Sarine breathes a relieved sigh at the information that Zay provided. "That's good to hear, in a way. It means that we won't be finding our people anytime very soon, but they're still alive right now. If these creatures took the time to sail them away, they'll have plans for them. Maybe there's still time to hope."

She agrees with Tettia's plan to look for tracks, "Maybe we can get a look at this other island as well. We've focused on Ancorato so far. I didn't pay much attention to what was nearby."

Survival if needed: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (10) + 11 = 21

Diplomacy, of course it's needed: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (18) + 18 = 36

"Hello, Mr. Colson. My name is Primrose and I'm helping Mr. Fache get to the bottom of what's going on around here." Primrose says, stepping forward and offering her hand to Colson's to shake. "We would be most obliged any information you can provide to us."

"It's.... it's alright. It's fine," Zay demurs to Tettia, still somewhat pink in the cheeks. They look all too happy to start trying to find some tracks, and quickly pace away from Tettia and Sarine into the surrounding brush, bent near double to the ground as they scan around.

Survival: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (8) + 12 = 20

Aurelian and Primrose

“She was always such a sweet lady, but a few days ago she suddenly started asking me about meeting her alone in the strangest of places after sundown. I didn’t understand what was going on, and I had a lot of work to do, so I just said no each time. I didn’t want her to be cross with me, so I didn’t ask too many questions. I’m sorry. I should have known something was wrong.”

Tears start welling up in Colson's eyes. After a moment’s hesitation, Colson exclaims, “The scent! I remember she smelled different two nights ago—like sea lavender.” Having previously explored the island, Aurelian remembers a number of places where sea lavender grows on the beach.

Sarine, Tettia and Zay

The only additional tracks that Sarine and Zay find are ones that lead from the west towards the government building. In following them, the party is reunited outside the wreckage.

"Do not be sorry," Aurelian says. "Maybe women get excited by such things. Aurelian has lost track of the number he's met in strange places, who greeted him most warmly. Sometimes they simply do not wish their husbands to know, but sometimes it is merely being in a new place that they find exciting. Sometimes it is both. Sometimes, though, they prefer the risk that their husbands might find out. That does not always work out well..."

He trails off as Colson mentions the smell.

"Ah, this is most useful. Aurelian may know where she has gone and we can look there to see what we can find out."

He wants to tell Colson that she is probably gone and that he will avenge her, but doesn't want to upset Primrose again, so holds his tongue.

He's quite pleased to meet the others.

"We have found a clue, we think. One of the strange creatures smelled of sea lavender, so that might help us find where they came from!"

He's even happier when he hears the news about the boats.

"Then maybe they are still alive! Come, we must get a boat of our own, and we will find the sea lavender and then find our friends!"

His eyes gleam with excited zeal and his fingers twitch on his sword hilt.

"Sea lavender?" Tettia asks, her curiosity piqued. "Did you know that sea lavender isn't actually related to actual lavender? They're part of the leadwort family. It's real name is limonium. And it's usually found ..." The young woman fades off when it's clear the others aren't interested. "I thought it was interesting." she mutters to herself.

Prim thanks Colson for his information "Thank you for your help, we will find her! She is most likely with my brother, so we will bring them both back together. Alright?" she offers a warm smile and moves in to give the man a hug.

When they are done and have departed, she walks alongside Aurelian and says quietly "You didn't comfort him that we will find her.
Do you not believe it is so?"

Later when they arrive with their full group once more, she looks to the sea and asks "Are there other boats readily available? The supply vessel has departed already I believe."

Aurelian gives Prim a sad look.

"Aurelian Fache does not wish to cause you any pain, but no, they are most likely all dead, and he will not give false hope. He can fight back threats that cause death and protect people, but even he cannot fight Pharasma herself to get our loved ones back," he says mournfully.

He didn't learn about the boat until afterward, so at that point he definitely thought they were all dead.

"I think I saw a couple of small boats near the dock earlier. One would be classed as a jolly boat, but the other no more than a dingy," Tettia offers up and then waits expectantly for someone to ask her the difference. When no such question is forthcoming, she frowns slightly. "We should take the jolly boat - it's the bigger one," she says finally.

So, as a group, would you like to continue investigating matters in town or would you like to head out? If you're heading out, are you leaving on foot or by boat? Are you looking for the peninsula or trying to go straight for the island?

Did we ever decide what we're doing for magic item 'shopping' via the ship supply drops? You said at one point you might rethink how that goes. If it's still the same, we should decide on our order before we depart.

That question from the GM makes me think we should keep investigating a bit if someone wants to be the voice of reason; that's not Aurelian, however. That said, Sarine's question is a good one too. :)

How far away is the sea lavender?

I just sent someone a PM about something regarding the shopping thing, I will hopefully have a good answer for you later today! Apologies for the delay. As for the sea lavender, there are a few spots around the island. Think of it as a clue to help shorten the time you need to spend searching for this peninsula later :)

I was more wondering whether we could start on foot or should go for the boat right away. Aurelian's eager to take the boat to the peninsula immediately, though his player thinks we should finish investigating a little closer to him first.

Given that you're looking for a peninsula (and that you know that it's a peninsula) you're pretty sure a boat would likely be more appropriate anyways.

Zay blinks several times at Tettia. "...Yes. ...I'm a sailor," they offer eventually. Then, they crouch down and start sketching in the soil with a fingertip, a vague coastal outline appearing based on the highly incomplete ship's maps.

"Settlement... here? Peninsula.... it's this way? You all have been here much longer than me. Excepting Miss Primrose. Is this about the rough lay of the coast? And then there's this island? It's easier to take the boat along the coast and stop off at the peninsula to investigate. Then the island. That seems a straightforward course to chart. Excuse me. I need to get my things."

Zay wanders barefoot back to the harbor, but will rejoin the others shortly, now with a backpack slung over their back, and a stout walking stick in hand.

I think we should keep investigating before we head out. We're not finished here yet, I think.

Primrose smiles at Aurelian's response and shakes her head no. "You should think more positive, Aurelian. It does not suit you to frown so much. You look much better with a smile on your face than this constant negativity that I've seen this last day. Keep your head up, we'll find them all alive and well. Just you wait, you'll see."

She winks and regroups with the others. "Are we ready to depart already? Are there more people to talk to here before we should leave? "

Tettia looks over Zay's map in the sand and then produces one of her sketchbooks and compares her ongoing map of the island to what they've drawn.

"Yes, that's pretty close," she says after looking back and forth between the two for a moment. She swaps out the sketchbook for a notebook. "While you're getting your things, I think we should ask around to see if anyone else saw or heard anything unusual. We should plumb every avenue of information before we set out."

Aurelian ponders Tettia's words and finally nods decisively.

"Yes. Aurelian's teachers taught him to be prepared. Nothing more will likely happen to our friends while we make sure we are best able to free them," he agrees. "Perhaps Jacques Hughon can tell us more. He sounds like he too is originally Galtan, like Aurelian."

While Zay fetches what they need for sailing the rest of the party seeks out Jacques Hughton. When asked about seeing Carver Hastings the day before the attacks, he takes a second to think and responds.

“Aye, I saw him two days ago there. I thought he was lost because I couldn’t think of any other reason he would have wandered that far from the colony. I think he was holding something in his hand, maybe a scroll tube or something of similar size and shape. I followed him for a while but lost sight of him after a few minutes. Afterwards, I didn’t think much of it because Carver was a strange duck all along.”

"Can you point us to where you lost sight of him?" Sarine asks. "Given the attacks, we should follow up on anything that Carver might have been up to."

"I was a few miles north of Talmandor's Bounty, just checking up on some rabbit traps I had set," Jacques responds to Sarine. "I think he had a spyglass with him. It's all I can figure, given the size and such. Hope that was any help, but that's all I remember."

Aurelian thinks, to try to recall anything he can about a spyglass.

"Maybe we should go look here to see what he was doing before we go farther to the peninsula," Aurelian suggests, switching gears quickly. "This sounds like it will go faster, especially if Zay can help find where else Carver may have gone, and then we will be more ready to save our friends."

This AP seems to have a penchant for wanting us to go the not obvious direction.

"Let's see if we can still track down what Carver was up to, then. Jacques, can you give us directions to where your traps are at?"

Zay returns, whistling tunelessly, ears pricked up at the mention of 'traps'.

"Where now? Did I miss something?" they ask Prim and Tettia, with a glance at Aurelian and Sarine and Jacques' talk.

"Well, I was about two miles north when I saw him," Jacques says, holding his chin in thought. "And if I remember right he was heading west. Thought that was odd, considering far as I know there's nothing out that way."

You feel as if you have gathered as much as you could in terms of directions. There is a peninsula due west of Talmandor's Bounty that would require going north and west or taking a boat. Luckily for you, you have the option to take a boat ride. If you go on foot you think it will take you about an hour. If you would like to go by boat it will only take you half an hour including time to get set up.

If there are other matters that you would like to investigate in town, please go ahead and lead the way!

Prim shakes her head no to Zay. "We've decided to head up and see what Carver was doing. He's a couple of miles away and I think we're just about to set off."

What time of day is it? If we're setting off for a few hours it may be pertinent.

Looks to be maybe an hour or two past noon.

"Yup," Tettia says to Jay, making sure that all her books and materials are stowed in her bag and hefting it to her shoulder. "Time for a boat ride. And hopefully there aren't any giant crabs this time."

At the thought, she drops the backpack back down to the ground and waves her hand over it, speaking mystical words. The bag shimmers for just a moment. "Just in case," she says, lifting it up again to sling on her back.

Casting Tettia's Moisture Barrier on her backpack.

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

Primrose watches Tettia cast a spell on her backpack and arches a brow. She tries to identify the spell, but can't quite place it. "Tettia, what spell was that?"

Assuming she explains to the bard that she's now waterproofed her pack, Prim's eyes widen. "Oh, neat!" She sits her pack down and pulls out several scrolls, showing them to the arcanist. "Say, do you think you could stick these in your pack then? I have a scroll that does something similar but it seems silly to use it when you already have something waterproof."

Aurelian watches the women for a moment and then shrugs and begins to guide the boat toward the peninsula destination.

Tettia blushes a bit. "It's a spell of my own design," she says. "I wanted something that would protect something more than a single object. This spell protects everything that's in a container. Even if I add something wet to the bag, the items inside are safe and the wet item will dry out eventually."

When Prim hands her the scrolls her eyes light up. She pulls out her magical spectacles and leafs through them excitedly. "These are spells! Do you think that it would be possible for me to extract the contents into my spellbook? It would transform them from a single use resource to something that could be utilized countless times."

She looks up at the bard with huge puppy-dog eyes behind her glasses.

"Creating your own spells? That's quite impressive, Tettia." she says, admiring the woman's work with magic.

Primrose nods along with Tettia as she realizes what they are "Yes, these are spells. I bought them before I left in case I ran into trouble along the way."

She scratches her head at the request "You want to copy them into your book? I'm sure that'd be fine." she says, shrugging. "No big deal."

Not quite realizing the implications of allowing Tettia to "extract" them, she reaches out and pats Tettia on the shoulder twice "Have fun, in fact. I'm sure you will enjoy it."

She turns to Aurelian and asks "Are we there yet?"

"Not much farther now," the swordsman replies.

Tettia reddens even more at Prim's compliment. "Thank you," she says, her eyes dropping to her feet.

....are we already on the boat then? So we're not checking out the place where Carter was that's two miles away? (My impression was that that's inland and not the same direction as the peninsula and island. Of course, impression could be wrong. If we are on the boat:

Zay breathes deep of the sea air, perfectly willing to take either the rudder for steering or to attend to the propulsion, as needed.

From what I've read, we're heading to the location where Carter was last seen via the small boat - it being faster than walking.

I probably just misparsed then, I was misreading it as the boat-faster was the route to the peninsula. Never mind me.

I was assuming that you all would like to head to the peninsula, since after you gathered all of that information it seems like that would be where Carter was headed on all of his alleged trips out of the colony. If you would like to investigate where he was spotted in the woods first, though, that is where we will have our sailors set course.

I am fine with heading to the peninsula directly.

I think peninsula it is, then.