After sorting through their findings and patching each other up, the party moves further to the west in the direction that the tracks were leading in before they stopped. A crack in the hillside opens in a spacious natural cavern. Horrific screeches resembling those of a panicked animal echo within the cavern.
The screeches are those of a frenzied rat.
There is something horribly unnatural about the sounds.
Hurried humanoid tracks mar the dirt just outside the cavern.
As many as a dozen faceless stalkers have been in and out of this cavern recently.
"Uh ... there's something really wrong with that rat," Tettia says, pointing towards the cavern. "Should we go see?"
"...we should.... but be ready for trouble. These tracks. A lot of those... shifters, I think, relatively recently. I think it would be better if I..."
Zay trails off from speech and shoulders off their pack. "Could one of you carry this? Sarine, maybe? I won't need it right now and if anyone needs to get items from it that's about to be trickier. The stick I used to heal people is in there, for instance."
Zay steps behind a tree, takes a breath-- "...er, please don't look--"
...and a few seconds later a bipedal reptile the size of a person pops back out from behind the tree, its scales a mottled green and gold, the eyes the same ocean-color as Zay's usual.
"....I haven't been this in a while," the deinonychus mutters. "Let's see..."
"I'm ready. Is everyone else?"
The normally perceptive and knowledgeable Primrose apparently is still so distracted by her numerous bites and constant itching of her skin that she can't focus on the search or recognition of what's before them.
When Zay transforms into a dinosaur, Prim staggers back a half-step. "Whoa. That was... unexpected. Could you possibly give us a heads up when you're going to change? I'd hate for one of us to react poorly and attack you by accident!"
"Here, let me help you just a bit," Tettia says as she reaches out and touches Zay's leathery hide.
"That might keep vicious teeth at bay."
HP 57/57; Hero Points 2/2
AC 22, touch 15, flat-footed 18, CMD 21 (23 vs. disarm)
Fort +4, Ref +8, Will +2 (0/1 set mind; 0/4 charmed life; 0/1 defiant luck)
Panache: 4/5 (0/1 deed reroll); 0/1 inexplicable luck
Consumabled: 0/1 swordmaster's flair
Effects: Inspired (+4)
"Yes, Aurelian Fache is always ready," he says, admiring Zay's new form.
"You make a lovely crocodile," he notes, drawing his sword.
"Shall we go in and demand the creatures tell us what they have done with our friends. Should we plan some sort of code so we know which of us is which in case they try to do something to confuse us? Some sort of code?"
".....well... when I go off into some bushes or.... ask everyone not to look.... that's generally the heads up," says the... dinosaur. It side-eyes Aurelian. "This isn't a crocodile. They go on four legs."
At Tettia's spell, the dinoaur's eyes widen appreciatively, or at least, that is probably appreciation. It's hard to read expressions on dinosaurs, as a rule.
"....thank you," rasps the beast, and makes a wet noise which may only be realized after the sound to be a shy throat clearing. "Uh. Thank you. That's very. Kind. ....er. In the bag. There's a pearl. For restoring spells. If you want it."
Tail swinging experimentally through the brush, the dinosaur turns back to Aurelian. "That's not a bad idea. Hopefully I will be the only one of me there. But anything we use to signal our own natures will likely be quickly copied if they're all observant. Still. Maybe...." swish, swish goes the tail, and Zay sharpens their claws testingly on the bark of a tree, "...a mark? Subtle enough not to stand out immediately to them, but... I don't know. Thinking like this is harder when I'm reptilian."
"Oh. I thought you had to relieve yourself. My apologies. I understand better now." Prirmose says, embarrassed.
Prim recoils at the thought of the crocodile biting her to leave a mark. "Uhhm. How about ink? I could trace a shade of it under the wrist of each of us?"
"Yes, that is a good idea, so we know who is really who. As long as they don't actually take over our bodies," Aurelian says.
"Ink seems like a fine idea," Zay says, electing not to comment on the 'relieving self' notion.
Nodding, Primose reaches into her back and pulls out her ink. She rolls up everyone's sleeve except for Zay who has obviously has no sleeves.
"Good point Aurelian, a physical mark alone is insufficient." She takes his right hand and flips it over so the underside of his wrist is visible. Holding the ink in her right hand and his wrist in her left, she looks him in the eyes and says "Tell me something about you that no one knows."
"Jay's not a crocodile, they're a deinonychus," Tettia mutters under her breath. "They're a part of the dromaeosauridae family of dinosaurs. It means 'Running Lizard'. Sometimes they're called raptors, but that can be kind of confusing - mixing them up with birds. Although, they're not that far removed from birds - on a species level."
When Primrose takes her wrist, Tettia reddens just a little. When she's asked for her secret, the girl contemplates it for a bit. From the shifting expression on her face, she considers many different things before deciding on something. With her face turning a bright scarlet, she leans forward and whispers in Prim's ear.
Primrose somehow keeps a straight face and nods silently to Tettia. She takes her ink and draws out a W under her wrist. Looking to the arcanist when she's done she says, "Thank you, that will do perfectly."
"Yes. Thank you," Zay says to the correction of crocodilian vs not. "I mean crocodiles are not remotely close..."
When the question of secrets arises, the dinosaur looks taken aback. WEll, maybe. Again, dinosaur expressions....
There's a moment of inevitable awkwardness when the reptile must offer its rather short, scaled forearm into Primrose's light grasp.
"I... hate my mother, some. Is that sufficient?"
Primrose nods with a smile, "Perfect!" she announces with some enthusiam and draws the letter M on the dinosaur wrist. At least she hopes that was their wrist. It could have been their forehead when they transform, who knows? That would be awkward...
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Aurelian wracks his brain to try to think of a secret. He's always been, like his swordplay, very direct and to the point. The only reason to hide something is to set up another attack.
Finally, he speaks: "Aurelian Fache has loved many people, but he wonders, maybe he has never truly been in love?"
He does wonder whether these shared secrets will be enough if the body snatchers can take their memories, as it seemed like with Tobias and Marguerite. Will they not all just know the secrets too?
"Excellent. That will be an L for your, good sir." she says, finishing him up and turning to Sarine. [b]"And you Sarine, what would you share with us?"[/b
"Traditionally, these creatures only mimicked the physical form of whomever they were trying to replace. But with magical beings like this, you never know when you'll come across a variant of some sort or another. So precautions are never wasted."
"I ran away from my father's estate once, when I was thirteen. My father managed to keep the whole thing pretty quiet, so not many people know about it. The staff must have, but if these creatures can find out about us in that much detail, we have little hope of tricking them."
"I don't want to trick them, I just don't want them to trick us," murmurs the dinosaur. The reptilian head cocks briefly at each of the others at their said, or whispered and therefore unknown, secrets.
"Well? Should we go see what's hurting that rat?"
Tettia visibly swallows, but then nods her head firmly. "Yes. Let's investigate," she says in a voice that almost doesn't squeak.
"Yes, let us go," Aurelian agrees, taking the lead along with Sarine, as usual.
Entering the cave, the party sees the horrid source of the noise: a rat the size of a very large dog, its form twisted upon itself beyond all recognition. It inches slowly closer to the party, though in its mangled state it couldn't possibly do any harm. Were it not for the incredible senses of Zay and Narue, the party may have been set upon by whatever lurks deeper in the cave. However, the dinosaur and the feline hear sounds from within the waters deeper in the cavern.
The rats condition was most certainly caused by the corporeal instability effect of a chaos beast's claw attack.
Not realizing that they are noticed, creatures in the water in the back of the cavern begin to move about the cave, using the walls, stalactites and stalagmites as natural cover from line of sight. The rat continues to move toward the party, but its exertion seems to prove too much and it dies before even making it to the front line.
These enemies are chaos beasts—amorphous monsters that curse creatures raked with its claws with a degradation of their form.
HP 57/57; Hero Points 2/2
AC 22, touch 15, flat-footed 18, CMD 21 (23 vs. disarm)
Fort +4, Ref +8, Will +2 (0/1 set mind; 0/4 charmed life; 0/1 defiant luck)
Panache: 4/5 (0/1 deed reroll); 0/1 inexplicable luck
Consumabled: 0/1 swordmaster's flair
Effects: Inspired (+4)
Aurelian moves past Sarine and takes up a guard stance against the monsters.
"What are these things? Aurelian Fache wishes to know before he kills them if they come any closer!"
"They're chaos beasts!" Tettia calls out. "Their claws can twist you and change you like ... like that!" She points a shaking finger towards the corrupted rat.
With precise words and gestures, the young woman sends a pulse of energy through her companions that enhances their reflexes and speed.
"They.... look terrifying," Zay-the-dinosaur says. "Um. Here goes nothing."
Zay-the-dino curls into a corner and starts a weird sequence of tail lashing and claw gesticulating.
Primrose finishes with the inking of all of their party members and then volunteers her own secret. "I am deathly afraid of tightly confined spaces. Should we find ourselves in such a situation, I'm afraid I might just behave in an inappropriate manner." Her eyes flick back and forth between everyone before she draws a C on on the underside of her wrist.
"Do take care to avoid being struck by those claws! They'll unmake your body!" she calls out before she hoists the flag and starts singing to her companions.
"That sounds horrible" Sarine says as Tettia and Primrose describe the monsters before them.
Holding her sword in front of her, Sarine readies for the battle but doesn't launch into action yet.
As the party prepares, the chaos beasts seems to realize they must have been spotted. One charges straight for Sarine while the other makes its way around the rocks to position itself next to Aurelian. Aurelian and Sarine pummel the one that charges forward, though Aurelian notes that his attack doesn't seems as effective as it should be. The beasts, their anatomy impossible to discern, seem to have no weak points.
The beast that charged lashes out at Sarine with tentacle-claw, and while the damage is the least of the pains she had endured today there is a feeling of instability in her form—a feeling that she is just barely able to shrug off.
"Wow, you weren't kidding!" Sarine gasps through gritted teeth as she fights to maintain her form. "These things are nasty!"
There's a bellow as space ripples, and a full-formed rhinoceros suddenly materializes in the cavern, looking extremely confused. "HRNNNKK?"
"I'm really sorry about it!" calls the dinosaur fretfully. "It won't be for long, then you can go back to your river! Could you just-- um-- hit this ugly thing!?" Cue some wild dinosaur gesticulating with short stubby arms.
The rhino turns around, bellows again, and pelts for the nearest creature, picking up a little bit of steam before impact.
Zay considers, then decides to try and join Sarine in attacking...
Much claw and bite, wow. Much missing.
With careful diction and gestures, Tettia summons forth two bolt of flaming heat that jet towards the creature attacking Sarine.
HP 57/57; Hero Points 2/2
AC 22, touch 15, flat-footed 18, CMD 21 (23 vs. disarm)
Fort +4, Ref +8, Will +2 (0/1 set mind; 0/4 charmed life; 0/1 defiant luck)
Panache: 3/5 (0/1 deed reroll); 0/1 inexplicable luck
Consumables: 0/1 swordmaster's flair
Effects: Inspired (+4)
Aurelian continues his assault, forgoing his usual precision to stabany area of the horrific creatures he can reach.
Continuing to sing and hoist the banner aloft, Prim frowns when the creature lashes out at Sarine and nearly stutters her song when a rhinoceros! appears!
The groups concerted efforts make rather short work of the chaos beasts, leaving no room for recourse as they are torn to shreds from seemingly every angle.
Coming out of the scuffle mostly unscathed, the party is free to examine the cavern. Amid the filth, grime, and junk left behind here, there is a ring and a 1-foot-tall jade statue of a humanoid-serpent hybrid creature.
The statue is worth 1,000 gp.
The statue must have been in this cavern for over 10,000 years.
The statue is a depiction of Ydersius, the patron deity of the serpentfolk, who were one of Azlant's chief enemies.
"Ewww," is Tettia's response as she holds up the ring daintily between two fingers. "This ring lets you stink. I've read about it, but I never thought I would see one. Who would make something like this."
"I don't know who the statue is of, but it's worth some coin."
After the group cleans up, Sarine motions forward. "Let's keep moving."
Aurelian keeps guard as the others look around, also ready to move on. His people are not here, so he sees no reason to stay.
"It is probably whoever made that statue," he responds as Tettia explains what the ring does.