Sunyata proves her worth to this crew! But careful now. Who do you think might have done this? Someone from the village down below? Or does someone else live up here in the hills?
Jack, you speak boldly, even if the words are merely inquisitive. Why is that?
Something seems off about this whole thing. To much strangeness. Cap'n, might I suggest sending your little climbing friend up one of these trees periodically to see if anything can be noticed? Like smoke from a cook fire.
Taptap nods. Tacktack, go see what you can see, warn us if there are others about.
Sunyata looks down towards the village, but shakes her head. The net trap, while well placed, is made up of crude materials, not actual tools one would find in a goods store.
Tacktack heads up into the trees to have a look around, and conveys back empathic images of what he sees. Cool, wet, big, deep. Far, many swings away. No mans, no danger.
More or less clear it seems. Thank you Tacktack, my monkeyish friend.
This trap... It's made real basic, ain't nuthin' ye'd pay for in a good shop. Nay, methinks this maker is livin' out here, probly needs food. I don't see 'em critters all over like I used to... People here must be starvin'...
Sunyata shakes her head contemplating for a few minutes and searches her surroundings scanning for movement.
Seems this is the end of this clue, for now. Perhaps we should continue?
Tap nods in agreement, and continues on, more wary than before.
At least it'll be easy to find our path on the way back. The river helps. And how many other people are there on the island with a peg leg to track? Rush taps the wooden appendage with his spear butt and tries to lighten the mood. He hates being on an island again, but is bolstered by the fact that they aren't trapped here.
Aye, let's be done with it.
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Heya, I know that weed.
Jack pulls some, and bags it, then picks some more. He rolls it in a wad, and tucks it into his cheek. It burns slightly, but soon he is overcome with a feeling of calm patience.
You continue on your way, far more wary now than you were before. Tacktack keeps an eye out from above, and manages to catch sight of a few more traps, conveying "danger" with enough notice to make them manageable. The way ahead grows even thicker with undergrowth as you close upon the lake.
Up ahead, the sound of rushing water tells you of the area before you arrive. Tacktack's scouting gets you to a slightly higher vantage point from which you can view the area below. Below is you a modest lake, obviously fed from a muddy stream flowing into it from the north. Further to the north, the land rises much higher, leading up to a respectable cliff face perched over a thick tree canopy.
There's a haphazardly assembled dam at the southern edge, no doubt an effort to keep whatever food one could catch from the lake from flowing downstream, as well as greedily keeping the water therein. If the dam were built better, the river that leads down to the sea could be little more than a stream, eventually a trickle.
Near the dam, the area is even thicker with trees - tall things with thick canopies that hide whatever is beneath.
Jack looks at the dam, and the neighboring trees, trying to discern some dwelling or movement beneath the canopy.
Well, it may not have rained much, and it be a drought as they say. But if someone's dammed up the river, its no wonder the village is thirsty.
Sunyata, is this damn known to the people of the village? Do you build it or know who did? Or is it new?
Rush looks around and hopes that nothing is getting ready to jump out at them. He feels ill at ease.
Eh Rush, you have any pyrotechnics to burn that damn up?
No, Captain, I don't. But depending on what it's made out of, I may be able to call forth something that could set it abalze.
I have some experience with the construction of dams. Not wood, or anything flammable, usually. In any case, ordinary fire will not do. We have some alchemical fire, but .. I can think of no better way to call attention to our presence.
Jack thinks for a bit, and scratches behind his ear.
No, what we would need is a crew of workmen, I think. We can tell them when we return what has happened to their water. More important to us is who built it.
Jack, you seem like a new person to me. Everyday I learn something new...Did we buy alchemical fire? That makes anything burn
Jack shakes his head, wondering if Tap was making a jest. What kind of pirate are ya Tap, if you forget the loot ya got? We obtained four flasks of that fire from the ghoulish dames on that foul island. Jack pulls out from his bags a blue flask, tightly stopped. I confess, carrying these around like this is one step apart from crazy.
That's why you carry it Jack...from you own lips I heard it.
As long as the fire for the rum, I'll be fine.
Well, I can't summon anything that'll blow the damn up, but I can summon something that can drop those flasks on it. The question is, though, do we want to explore the damn first? Check it out for clues?
Let us go forth and destroy the giant beavers!
It could be that my eyes are deceiving me, but the village below may not thank us for sending all this water down upon them at once. In any case, we should send a scout to discover what is below. Tap, do you think that that little scoundrel would do it for us? I feel that I am missing Kerruk's feathered friend.
The dam, made of wood and rocks, is precariously built - it seems as if someone with little knowledge of such things just stacked a bunch of materials in the way of the river until they all stuck in place. Some of the stones are fairly large though, and couldn't have been easy to move about. The wood portions, though soaking wet at the time, would be flammable.
Jack notices that there is a small opening - no more than a tall crevice that leads down to the side of the dam, into darkness.
Tap, I think your jest about beavers may have hit closer to the mark than you may think.
I signed on to be a sailor for the wild wind. Small dark holes are not in my field of interest.
Aye, Rush, aye. But I'm also thinking that whatever is here just might have made that creature go mad. Can we spy it out, with stealth, secrecy and magic? or should we just try to blow it up, or burn it down, and see what comes out of that hole?
Sunyata tries to detect movement in the darkness hole the Jack refers to.
Not convinced she can focus well enough she shushes everyone and focuses her senses...
The Jack could be right... might be magic. Or tricks. She has a knack for this. It's weird to pick up so little, like it feels out of place with the way the dam is built. Something so precarious would need constant fixin'...
Not wanting to make noise she sneaks up to it and scans for traps.
Sunyata finds nothing odd about the crevice, save for the darkness within. The afternoon is providing little for direct sun, sheltered as the crevice is, and the thick vegetation about it conceals it mostly from view.
The woman creeps forward with ease, knowing the vegetation of this island well enough to keep to cover and maintain near silence with her footfalls. She creeps down the slope and through the trees, but stops when she senses a shadow out of the corner of her eye.
There's something in the trees above...
Rush waits patiently, unaware of any potential danger.
Tap has his bow out with an arrow notched, while he waits quietly as Sunyata creeps forward. Usually it was Tap that did the sneaking, but Sunyata managed not to make a mess of it.
Let's see what happens.
Watching Sunyata's stealthy descent down the slope, Jack suddenly remembers that he brought a bow. He sheaths his blade, and quietly pulls out his bow, and nocks an arrow.
what is that?
Sunyata readies herself...
Sunyata steadies herself, slows her breathing, and does her best to blend into the foliage. Even the wind seems to benefit her, as a slight breeze carries her scent up the slope toward her allies, and not toward the unknown.
After a few moments, she sees some movement in one of the trees above. A creature, seemingly simian, moves among the branches, silent as the very breeze itself. It sets in to wait and view the area below - around the dam and crevice, then lets out a soft trill that echoes that of an exotic bird. The sound is repeated from across the dam.
Sunyata recognizes this kind of behavior, it's an alarm system, and she mentally connects the dots, puts 2+2 together and thinks about the rudimentary traps, this may be who built them.
She gestures to the group pointing to the simian creature in the trees so they see it too.
She quietly moves to who's closest (Jack?) and points out the creature may be calling out to another or a whole group.
Jack scans the trees to the point in the trees Sunyata is indicating.
He whispers. Do we shoot it? Tap, can you hit it from here?
Hit what? What is she doing? Is there a problem? Rush WHISPERS to his companions.
Jack and the others catch Sunyata's gesture, but they don't have the same vantage point of being able to look under the leafy canopy. Instead, they just see thick leaves and branches and Sunyata attempting to stealthily but vehemently point into their depths.
Having a good knowledge of the areas about the Shackles, Jack may be able to tell what she's gesturing at, if he has an accurate description.
Sunyata tries to get back into the group unnoticed to tell them...
Sunyata is able to rush back to the group while still keeping low and hopefully unnoticed. When she gets back to the group, she describes the simian form that had been watching from the trees above.
Jack hoped it was just a monkey...wouldn't be unheard in thus part of the world, certainly. But, the dam spoke of a some sort of intelligence and purpose. Jack had heard of the Charau-ka of course - apemen devoted to the demon lord, Angazhan. But, they rarely strayed far from their capitol city.
Ah, now I understand the trap we discovered. I fear these are the Charau-ka. They.. don't like strangers on their land. If I wasn't certain that this is the root cause of the village's problems, I'd say we just go back and leave them be. But its obvious they're up to something. We'll have to drive them away or destroy them.
Charau-ka?
Tap knows a bit about these creatures - vicious ape-men who worship a demon god, they are very quick to attack and have no qualms about killing. They tend to go into a shrieking rage, are adept at throwing rocks and sticks, and have been known for placing deadly traps. Their society is tribal, and their chieftains often have quite a large tribe.
Tap, not usually wise, has been trying to learn it as he assumed the mantle of captain.
This could be quite dangerous, depending on their number. We can be stupid, and go in and do it ourselves. Tap frowns, not knowing their number.
The wise course would be to continue to observe from afar, gather intelligence, then report back. I have no doubt that these simians will raid the village soon enough, once established. We should urge the village to come here in number Tap says seriously.
Sunyata you know your village, how many fighting men...and women.. could they muster?
Rush interjects with a thoughtful face. Captain, not to gain say you, but I if the village gets involved..... Well, if these ape men are intelligent, as they obviously are by the trap they've built, then they probably have some other.... goods.... to be found. If we take care of the issue ourselves, we only have to split the loot 5 ways; the 4 of us and some for ship in general*.
*upkeep, repairs, future crewmen, supplies, etc.
Spoken like a pirate, mate...Well then, what is our approach?
Well, I suppose we find their nest and burn it. With alchemists fire. No need to bother with the dam. Once we clear this lot out, the villagers can do it themselves easily enough.
I do not want to discourage you, but these creatures are not great hoarders. We might not find anything but the odd instrument of their strange druidry. And it is that that worries me. Sticks and stones they'll sling to break our bones--and well too mind you--but they might have more mysterious means of assaulting us.
Let's see what we can sketch out of the area. Tap pulls out a bit of parchment and charcoal, and begins to sketch a crude map.