"I have to say," Sasha comments as she scoots past Lureene to hack at the pygmy before her, "these little guys are a lot tougher than you'd think, huh?"
"Don't knock someone for being little, my dear," Gelik chides, "It's not how big, it's how mean!"
As if to prove his point, he chops at the head of the pygmy he cut out of the air a moment ago as it regains its feet.
Lureene can only nod helplessly, but that does not stop her from slashing at the pygmy who tries to clamber up to the counter.
Lureene carves a chunk from the side of the pygmy assaulting the table and it gives an unnerving, high pitched cry of pain that raises goosebumps on her arms and neck.
From out in the main hold, the closest vegepygmy tears free of the webs and tries to rush past Grak, who tears a hunk out of it with a vicious chomp and hisses in warning.
Just outside the passthru window, the one knocked down by Grak regains its feet and quickly scurries up. Seeing the sprightly gnome in its way, it gives an angry squeak and leaps forward in an attempt to dodge past him. Gelik has none of it though and stands his ground sending his latest assailant tumbling down next to the other one which dodges its fall. It immediately leaps up, attempting to claw at Gelik's legs, but the gnome gives a little hop and its claws scratch only wood.
Lureene is not so fortunate. The pygmy before her shrieks in anger and slashes at her with its claws adding yet another nick to the assortment of cuts and scratches she's bee acquiring.
, Sasha, Gelik, Enemies
MAP: R-The Nightsong, (Round 26)
Lureene grits her teeth, biting back a feeling of frustration. Are we winning here? She again hacks at the one in front of her.
Grak works in tandem with his mistress to put down the pygmy...
"This is stupid!" Sasha grumbles in frustration as Grak and Lureene's attacks prove ineffectual and she herself is hard-pressed to inflict meaningful damage upon, or even land a hit on, the little green savages.
"If Darvie was here he'd have plowed thru all these guys twice by now. Don't you have any spells left El?"
Gelik swings at the head of the bugger in front of him as it attempts to scramble atop the table again. He lands a hit but it stubbornly refuses to fall, instead trying to pull his legs out from under him. With a cry of surprise, the gnome whacks at it again and this time finishes splitting its head open. The twitching thing drops dead atop its downed friend.
"I got one, I GOT ONE!"
However, before he can rejoice too much, the pygmy still on the floor growls like a little dog and then smashes the fungus ridden leg of the table to bits!
"WhooOOOoooa!"
Miraculously, Gelik manages to ride out the fall without diving into the midst of the pygmies or falling atop Lureene. Instead, he lands much on his feet, face-to-face with pygmy as it shrugs off its fallen companion. Jask simply flops into the middle of the floor, still unconscious.
Reflex DC 15
MAP: R-The Nightsong, (Round 26b)
Lureene bites back a vile curse aimed at Sasha, "Sash, the fact these plants are not affected by my spells is equally frustrating to me. Plus I am not wild about throwing fire in this ship either."
She slashes at the pygmy, hoping to work out her frustrations on it by doing some damage to it.
Lureene flails at the pygmy in front of Gelik but misses badly. She suddenly looks up as Grak cries out, black claws raking at him. She has barely any time to reach however before the pygmy in front of her shrieks loudly, and knocks her clear out of the way, slamming her into the back wall of the galley and rattling all the pots and pans in the process.
In spite of the slippery slime, and clutter covering the floor, the succubus manages to keep her feet. Shaking her head, she looks to see the pygmy drop to the groud atop Jask, black teeth bared in a feral grimace!
Acrobatics Checks
, Sasha, Gelik, Enemies
MAP: R-The Nightsong, (Round 27)
Lureene glares at the pygmy who dared to push her like that. Two can play at this game! I will summon something that also likes to push things!
She steps to the side so as to provide a flank for Sasha and then calls out a summoning phrase, whereas a small earthy figure appears on the other side of Gelik. It proceeds to slam the pygmy facing it.
Grak tears into the pygmy he is facing with a vengeance!
Even as Grak chews on the face of the pygmy assaulting him, Lureene keeps her wits about her. She looks over to the counter dividing the galley from the hold and in a moment of insight, conjures up a being made of rocky thews and coal-black eyes.
Gelik is taken aback at the 4-foot tall, stony visage looming over and above the pygmy's back. He gives a weak, "Eh-heh-heh..." as it reaches down and claps its hands over the vegepygmy's head sending a plume of dust, slime, and chunks everywhere.
"Uh," he swallows hard, turning pale as the headless body feels its neck stump before falling over atop the others, "please tell me that's yours Lureene!"
Lureene's eyes flash in amusement, "What is the problem, Gel? Afraid of some...competition?"
Gelik to face Lureene and finds himself looking at shapely, albeit scuffed up legs, leading up to hips just right for holding, to a full, perky rack, finally making it to an angelic face framed by brown and golden curls. He swallows hard, tugging on his collar as he turns back to the elemental. "Yeah? Well, I think you can do better. Alright tall, dark, and gravely... back of the line!"
"Whaaa?!"
Sasha aims a pointed blow at each side of the pygmy's neck before flinging it's head aside with a stroke of her kukri.
"Now you listen here, Gel," she says seriously, pointing her dagger at him and waving her kukri at her bosom buddy, "I saw her first so it's three-way or NO way!"
The gnome notes the head rolling across the floor and nods sagaciously looking from the leggy redhead to the stone-cold elemental, to the curvy blonde, and then back to Sasha. He sticks out his lower lip, stroking his goatee for a moment, ignoring the frustrated sounds from the enwebbed cargo hold, then steps forward and offers the tall ranger his hand. "Deal. Shake on it?"
MAP: R-The Nightsong, (Round 28)
Sasha nods emphatically, clearly pleased with her astute bargaining powers and transfers her kukri to her teeth to shake his hand. After a moment, she looks down and says, "OO FEY, VE FUUD WOOK AA GASK!"
Gelik stops biting his lip, and gazing at Sasha's thighs long enough to realize that she's talking about Jask. "OH! Right! Yes, I suppose we probably should. Terrible shame if he's dead already..."
With that, he shoves the dead pygmy off the old, ichor-drenched old man. Grimacing at the thought of touching the vile stuff covering him, he hesitantly reaches out, to touch him with a single finger, nose wrinkled, and casts a healing spell.
Clearing his throat, he calls out in a loud voice, "HELLOOO, JAAASK, IF YOU AREN'T DEAD, SAY SOMETHING!"
With a sudden, violent jerk, Jask awakens and promptly rolls over onto his hands and knees, scrambling away a few feet whereupon he violently looses the vile 'stew' that The Chef had been feeding him all over the floor. Still gasping with the dry heaves even after he has purged everything, he weakly stretches forth an hand trying to grab onto something he can use to brace himself with in order to rise back to his feet.
Yet when what he grabs hold of is soft, smooth, and warm to the touch, he looks up, eyes watering to find Lureene gaping down at him in horror at the rancid mess all over her shoes!
"Uugh..." is about all he can muster as he hangs his head in shame. Suddenly another convulsion strikes him and he slaps a hand over his mouth spraying Lureene and himself in the process. Apparently he wasn't quite finished after all...
"Eeuugh..." Sasha winces and points a thumb back out to the hold. "III... justwanttoseehowmanyarrowsthatthingcantakebeforeitstopsmoving. C'mon Gel!"
With that, she grabs the horrified gnome by the shoulder and drags him out of the kitchen. For the next minute, the only sounds punctuating the uncomfortable silence are the squeals of the last vegepygmy as Sasha thunks arrow after corrosive arrow into its body.
Lureene stares first at Gelik, then at Sasha while fighting off an uneasy feeling. She was not sure if it was trepidation or excitement. Probably a mixture of both.
As Jask regains consciousness and proceeds to vomit over Lureene's shoes, she struggles mightily to avoid adding her own stomach's contents to the mess already on the floor. Instead she ignores the smell and helps Jask to his feet (while breathing through her mouth as much as possible).
"Jask, are you OK?"
As she helps him to his feet, she signals Grak to fly topside and make sure there are no more pygmys hiding on the ship waiting for them.
Jask accepts Lureene's hand but grimaces at even the slightest noise, let alone the racket Sasha is raising. "Apologies, Lureene. Bravery, I am starting to think, is something best left to the young."
The old man pauses for a moment to cast a number of spells on himself, after which his color looks a good bit healthier. Looking around by the light shining from Lureene's bosom, he asks, "What place is this?"
Outside, Grak sends Lureene a communique giving the all-clear.
Unknown
Unknown
Cure Moderate wounds
Lureene nods in agreement, ”Sometimes, bravery is forced on oneself, Master Jask. I am glad to see you are feeling better. As for your other question, we are on an old shipwreck at the edge of the Silent Island. Apparently, these vegepygmies are using this as their base of operations. We have not had time to explore this wreck since we needed to rescue you from being turned into dinner!”
She glances around her and also notes Sasha and Gelik handling the last vegepygmy. She then sighs in relief, knowing this rescue mission could have easily ended in disaster.
Lis, I hope your luck holds here!
She calls out to Sash and Gelik, ”Is everything ok up there? Sash, do you need some healing?” Once they have rejoined her and Jask, she asks Jask, ”Could you please take care of that?” Once Jask has finished, she will turn her attention to the wreck. ”This shipwreck must be the source of the blight, we need to find exactly where it came from, and see if we can reverse it somehow.”
Scrubbing, washing, cleaning..
Rinsing in the rain..
Tinkering, toiling, working..
Sleeping, snoozing, resting..
Jask grumbles a bit at Lureene's thoughts on bravery but makes no comment. As he and the wizardess exit the galley and he sees the hold littered with bodies that were burst from the inside, he comments quietly, swallowing hard, "I do not think it was from dinner that you rescued me..."
Nearby, Sasha and Gelik are standing near a dead pygmy that's been pinned to a bulwark by nearly a dozen arrows. It's not until you step closer that you can see it's limbs and head have all been cleanly severed, only the presence of the arrows keeping it together.
Gelik stands upon what might have once been a barrel, or maybe a crate, frowning at it, dancing lights hovering nearby. At Lureene's approach, he turns around and raises an eyebrow, expression quite serious. "Now Miss Ourson, it's one thing to take pride in one's own figure, or even to dress provocatively, but that light spell? You're just fishing for glowing compliments on that radiant rack of yours, aren't you?"
Sasha grins wolfishly at Gelik's commentary and gives him a piggy-back to give him a better vantage point before walking over. She has to bite her lip to keep from laughing.
"And you, young man," Gelik says sternly, "don't stare at them too long. You know what they say about going blind from wank– I mean staring into the sun!"
"Uh huh," Sasha chimes in, "cause if you go blind, you'll have to feel your way around with your hands and a long stick, right Gel?"
"Hmm..." Gelik pauses for a moment, shamelessly enjoying the view. "You know, Sash... I think you just sold me on blindness..."
The huntress' eyes suddenly go wide, as if she feels something jabbing her in the back. Completely oblivious to how much Jask is seething, she says, "Uh, you been holding out on us? Sharp dresser here's packing a polearm, El!"
The old priest weathers the commentary from the two before saying wearily, "Charming. At least we are in high spirits in spite of our injuries. I will handle those thank you."
With that, the tall scribe calls upon the power of his goddess, healing virtually all of your injuries.
"Ah, much obliged! Oh wait a moment," He reaches down and give Sasha a pinch on the rear that makes her jump in surprise. When she looks over her shoulder at him, eyebrow raised, her holds up his hand and says plainly, "He missed a spot, there was a scorch mark!"
While you rather doubt that to have been the case, the fact that Gelik was attempting to compliment her on having a hot ass slips past your notice, even though his appreciation for it does not.
Sense Motive Checks:
Lureene smiles, a bemused look in her eyes. She is content to let the banter continue for a bit knowing it helped build cameradrie between the group.
Certainly, Gelik deserved some reward for helping save Jask's life! And Sash too...
Once Jask has healed the group, she smiles. "Sorry, but the show is over now." She then dismisses her Light spell, allowing Gelik to handle the lighting duties for now.
"OK, let's get started here. Unless, you all want to spend the night on this wreck...I didn't think so."
For the next hour, you completely canvas the ship, but it is a difficult prospect given how thick, slimy layers of fungus are covering every surface, nook, and cranny. Around each of the dead crew members are scattered a small circle of their personal effects from life — teeth, coins, bits of jewelry, and the like. Items made of baser materials have long since rotted away, consumed by the fungus.
.
.
.
All told you find:
- 432 cp
- 284 sp
- 127 gp
- A few small pieces of non-magical jewelry (pocketed by Sasha)
- Bracers of Armor +2
- Mirror Image Wand, 5 charges
- Sash of the War Champion (APG)
Above, in what remains of the desk in the captain's cabin, Jask turns up a moldy ship's log. The pages of it are badly damaged, but he suspects (given that she's an archaeologist), that Ieana might be able to restore it thru her magic, although it would surely take some time to peruse it.
Unfortunately, after all of your searching, you are unable to determine what the source of the blight is — nothing on board or around the ship strikes you as special.
Spellcraft Checks Bracers
x
Spellcraft Checks Sash
x
Spellcraft Checks Wand
x
Lureene sighs in frustration. While the search had gone well in the terms of monetary reward (including the bracers and wand which ended up being pocketed by herself), the cause of the blight was still a mystery.
Maybe that logbook we found will give us some answers, assuming Ieana can reconstruct it.
She turns to the others, "OK, I am not keen on spending any more time on this ship, so let's head out and check this island out. Maybe there are some clues as to the origin of the blight we can unearth."
Time: 2:00et (evening, 8:15pm)
Darkshoal: Waxing Gibbous
"You want to do what?!" Lureene hardly needs to meet Sasha's gaze to tell that she doesn't like that plan. The way she stands, hands on her hips, and lip curled, speak volumes about what she thinks of it.
"Look, I know you three are handy with magic, but you suck at orienteering. You're not talking about hunting around inside a house or a boat, you're talking about a whole damn island! We've got a good bit of moonlight, sure, but all your spell will do is make it so we can't see past it and signal where we are to anything that can't smell us."
She shakes her head and turns to go. "It took us three hours just to cross this sh1thole. The sun would be up and you guys would all be asleep on your feet before we were done aaaand we'd have to go and do it all over again because it's dark. We need to be able to see further than just 50-feet in front of us."
She looks over her shoulder, frowning at the nameless wreck and says, "Only thing we have any business doing at this hour is finding a good place to bed down for the night."
Jask recoils at Sasha's tone, though he nods at the truth of it. "Attitude aside, Sasha raises a fair point. Perhaps the journal Master Aberwhinge uncovered could provide us with some clues. Should we return to the Lady Aycenia's grove then?"
Sasha rolls her eyes in annoyance. "You can walk that long right now? That must have been some nap you got."
Gelik winces a bit and raises a finger, concern etching his face. "Just a small point of order, Jask, a tiny one really."
He pats the surface of the journal raising a small cloud of spores. "I realize that your natural environment is to be surrounded by lots of musty old tomes, but I really don't think our faerie friend is going to appreciate us tracking blight spores inside her home, do you? Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather imagine that would wear out our welcome. Just a thought."
Jask winces and puts a long, thin hand to his forehead, clearly having overlooked that finer point. Before he can say anything though, Gelik continues, "Now Ieana may be a professor, but I'm no slouch when it comes to this sort of work myself. Why I have a great deal of experience with this sort of thing actually."
He reaches up and squeezes Lureene's hand. "Why don't the four of us hoof it back to Parrot Island for now and I'll get to work on this book, hmm?"
Lureene thinks for a moment. Truly, she did not want to spend another moment on this gods-forsaken rock.
She feels Gelik’s hand in her own, and turns to face him, her face unreadable. ”So, you say you can make sense of this journal? I would prefer to show this to Princess Alis first, if that would be OK with you?“ She unconsciously chews on a length of her hair, as she faces Sasha and Jask. ”Very well, let’s camp out on Parrot Island and we can head back in the morning.”
"Well, I suppose if she wants to hike all the way..."
Gelik lifts his hat to scratch his head, wondering how to restate himself since Lureene was obviously distracted by his good looks. "All I'm saying is, Aycenia specifically mentioned she didn't come here herself because she is deathly afraid of this blight. Carrying a hunk of it to her would be inconsiderate to say the least. It would be like calling on your infirm neighbor while you are sick — you just know they'll catch what you've got."
"But for now, yes, let's get out of here."
Lureene asks, ”Is there any way to clean off the remnants of the blight from the journal? Perhaps a cleaning spell such as Prestidigitation?” She studies the outside of the journal for a moment. ”I would help if we could get a sample of the blight for Ieana to study as well…”
"Hmm, that would clean the surface and our clothes of any loose spores, but the problem is, the molds have actually grown into to book itself. That's more than a cleaning job."
As you trudge across the bleak, oppressively quiet island, Gelik thinks on the matter some more, short legs easily keeping pace with the mage and priestess while Sasha ranges ahead. "I don't suppose that either of you know any scrying spells or the like, do you?"
When both Jask and Lureene shake their heads, he nods. "Alright, well there's a little trick I know that might help. When we get to our campsite, if Sasha can find some bit of those parrots, or maybe a bat likes, I'll get one of them to fly a message back to the others for us. I'd wager all the norma animals on this side of The Shiv know where our faerie friend lives..."
He thinks for a bit longer, and asks, "Jask, you're a scribe, don't you have any spells you can pray for that could restore such a volume? I've had other priests perform such work before, wizards too. A make whole spell or something like that?"
Jask presses his lips together, brow creased. "I could pray for that spell, yes. However, I have been praying for spells to keep everyone healthy and to mitigate the effects and progress of poison. After all that has happened, I do not think it wise to abandon such precautions. Come though, it has been some time since this blight began, it will not spread overnight, we should do our research carefully and thoroughly."
"Yes, well, that's all well and good in a comfortable library or some such, but some of us were planning to get off this island when the first ship calls. Speaking of which, I wonder how Darvesch and Aerys are coming on their end..."
"I agree with Master Jask here, we need to be extra cautious here. Before we leave this island, I want that book sealed up in a waterproof bag. I am not going to take any chances of the blight spreading any further." She looks at the others brooking no arguement, "Also we will all wash each other in the water before crossing to Parrot Island." A smile plays across her face on that. "I am sure that will be fun!"
Gelik perks up at Lureene's suggestion. "Why yes, that sounds like a fine idea actually!"
Jask nods, brow furrowed before a thought strikes him.
"But has the blight not already spread to the south shore of the causew–"
However, he is suddenly cut-off in mid-sentence when Gelik hisses something to him in a language that Lureene doesn't understand. The old man sighs, even as Sasha giggles.
"Fine..."
Lureene smiles at Jask, her eyes twinkling. "Well you did soil my clothes and I have not had a good bath in a LOOONG time!"
She laughs girlishly, before something occurs to her. "Jask, did you say there were signs of the infestation on Parrot Island? If so, maybe we should examine it further."
Time: 3:00et (evening, 9:00pm)
Darkshoal: Waxing Gibbous
The sun had set by the time Aerys and Darvesch finally made it back to camp. While the dwarf had decided to scrub himself off in the sea at the earliest opportunity, the sailor opted to wait until they had reached the river at the base of the cliffs instead. Although they had made it back a couple hours ago, upon learning that their Mal and Priyya, nor Lureene and company had returned, Darvesch had seen fit to do some hunting of his own while Alis and Aerys climbed trees and picked fruit together.
At one point, while his queen was high over head, King Tut had the scare of his life when he found himself in the gaze of a large, hungry snake. However, a timely return by an otherwise empty-handed dwarf had not only saved the little fellow, but secured that evening's meal.
"So, how do things look at the lighthouse, you two?"