Darius looks at him and says back, "Our apologies. We were exploring the area and did not know there were inhabitants in this vessel. We needed access to something else entirely and found out how to do so. I don't believe I caught your name..."
"But don't ships do better when they're on the water rather than beneath it?"
"I am Ekubus. Captain Ekubus, and these proud sailors are my loyal crew." He gestures to the various small sea creatures scuttling around the cabin. "This ship did do better above the waves, fire girl." Ekubus looks dramatically into the distance and sighs. "That was many many years ago, lass. We have been an underwater ship for quite some time, and are quite happy with our situation."
"Greetings good Captain, and my apologies once again. You clearly are content with your current situation, and we were unaware this ship was home to so many. If you wish to continue with your status quo, we will leave you to it in peace. If you seek other arrangements, however, perhaps those could be discussed."
"No, no. My crew needs me. The Salty Strumpet needs me. I will not abandon her." The 'captain' waves off the notion.
"Exploring, are ye?" Ekubus quirks one hairless brow at Darius.
Hearing the muted conversation, Placidus sticks his head down the hatch. "Is everything okay down there?" he calls to Ilistra and Darius.
Also hearing a muted conversation, Garland decided to join his allies.
"I will check on them, Placidus," the masked hero said reassuringly.
Once inside the ship, Garland boldly made his way to the captain's quarters!
(Lacking opposable thumbs, Luna stayed outside.)
Upon seeing the present situation, Garland said a few words in the languages he knew ("This one?"), and when Aquan seemed to be the winner, Garland added his two heroic copper pieces in that tongue. He would be operating on some conjecture, but going by his comrade's earlier conversations with Jask, our hero was well aware that Darius could be a smooth talker; the stoic man likely knew which topics to cover first.
"Ah, Darius, Ilistra, I see you two have made some new acquaintances. Greetings! I am Garland. I apologize if recent activities have been disruptive. As Darius likely explained, we were unaware that anyone lived in this ship."
The pretty Narinar surprised her by speaking the water language. She starts at him a moment, then turns back to the creature and nods in agreement. "Right. Can we help?"
Thanks to Ilistra's words, now sensing that an offer of help or compensation had been made by his friends, Garland smoothly nodded along in affirmation; besides, he was always perfectly fine with helping others in need.
"Well, you're just not the first explorers to pass by in the last several days. I noticed another strange tide the other day, so I went up to the deck to take a look. I saw a funny looking person come down from the ledge and swim over to the scary doors to the south. They went inside."
Ekubus tips his hat back, flaps close to the soldiers, and squints at them. "You aren't going into the scary doors, are ye?"
"The scary doors?" Garland wondered aloud. A quick glance at Darius jogged his heroic memory! "Do you mean the temple? The place with all those disturbing pictures? If so, that would be our next destination... and it appears that we would not be alone."
"Yes, those doors. Don’t you think that underwater doors with carvings of vampires on them are scary?"
"No, you aren't. The funny person went in there too. I don't know why you'd want to follow them."
"...Your description does indeed sound very scary," Garland agreed. "Could you tell us more about this... funny person, Captain? Again, we were not expecting company."
His use of the word "Captain" was again conjecture on Garland's part, but the mannerisms of this interesting individual certainly reminded the masked hero of the captain of a large vessel.
"Well funny looking really, they certainly weren't comical. A person with a snake head and a snake tail is pretty funny lookin' in my book anyway."
"Ah, I see," Garland replied, his tone slightly more serious than before. He glanced over at Darius and Ilistra before turning back to the good Captain. "Thank you for this information. We will be sure to keep an eye out for this individual."
Not really sure what else to say for the moment, the masked hero paused to allow someone else to speak.
"You folks seem like a nice lot, I have somethin' for you that may make your explorations a bit easier. I don't ever use it, that's for sure. Wait just a moment..."
Captain Ekubus flies back into the water, and swims out of the cabin down into the ships hold through a hole in the side of the keel. He returns a few moments later bearing a remarkably well preserved rope. "This here rope will go out and tie itself to whatever you want it to. Can tie itself in knots to make climbing easier too. You just hold it and say anarríchisi." The little water creature hands the rope of climbing to Garland.
Garland carefully and reverently accepted the rope from Captain Ekubus.
"...Thank you," he said sincerely. "Do you want us to return it when we finish exploring, Captain?"
Captain Ekubus' words implied the magic rope to be a gift, but our hero felt obligated to make sure that was the case!
"No, you can keep it. I can fly, see? I don't really do the climbing thing."
"Thank you, Captain Ekubus, for your hospitality and your gift. We do not wish to disturb you overly long. Unless you have further guidance for us, we shall let you return to your business in peace," Darius says with a bow.
"Right then, please return my water at your earliest convenience! The crew will be up in arms over the reduced space." Ekubus eyes a nearby starfish worriedly. It does nothing.
"Rest assured, Captain Ekubus, that your water will return," Garland answered with his own well-practiced bow. Our hero wanted to be more specific; however, he also want to give the good Captain false information!
With their business seemingly concluded, Garland lead the way back to the surface.
"How about we give this rope a little test?" proposed the mighty Oracle. "I believe the trigger word was... anarríchisi?"
The masked legionnaire watched in amazement as the magic rope promptly knotted itself!
"...Anarríchisi!"
As if reading his mind, the rope wormed its way to the surface and swiftly tied itself to a secure point.
Garland began to heroically climb back to the surface of the ship!
"Placidus! Cica! Look at our newest treasure!" the masked legionnaire said excitedly as he emerged. "It is quite a story! You see..."
From there, Garland recounted the group's meeting with Captain Ekubus, making sure to give full and proper credit to Darius and Illistra for their good diplomacy.
"Wow, that is quite a tale. Well done, friends. That rope will be useful in the temple no doubt." Placidus eyes the gaping maw of the vampire doors warily. "Speaking of which, are we ready to go in there now?"
Garland took a moment to heal his lingering injuries.
"For the most part, I am. However, before we go, there are a couple of things that I wish to review. The first is that Captain Ekubus informed us of a potential... encounter we might have. You see..." the masked legionnaire said before going into full detail about the snake man. "Given how friendly and helpful the good Captain was, I am inclined to believe him. As for the second point..."
Garland reached into his backpack and withdrew a thin wooden baton.
"This is a fully charged Wand of Cure Light Wounds. Should something happen to me, one of you might need to use it. For now, I am keeping it as a supplement for my healing spells."
The well-prepared Garland carefully stored the wand once more.
"With that said, I believe I am ready to go."
"I am a warpriest. I can use the wand if it comes to that."
Having finished with the ship, the group makes their way over to the temple doors. The whole group can see the lurid carvings of vampiric creatures feasting on the flesh of maidens which Darius exposed.
After drawing his awesome scythe as they neared the temple, Garland observed the composition of the group.
"Perhaps Luna and I should lead?" he proposed. "We could draw our foes' attention while Illistra and Cica attack from afar. Meanwhile, I see Darius and Placidus being good skirmishers. That said, I have noticed that many of you have keener senses than I."
This mask makes it difficult to hear sometimes.
"I am happy to lead the way, or to take up the rear if that is what everyone would prefer. If it comes to battle, I prefer to be up close."
Ilistra hangs back, fine with letting Placidus or Garland be in the front. Nervous from what the strange captain had told them, the heat begins radiating off her body.
"Hmm... You strike me as a perceptive individual, Placidus. How about the two of us lead?" proposed Garland. "I can have Luna guard our backs."
PLacidus and Garland lead the group cautiously down the stairs and into the temple below. Over a dozen stone pillars support this cavernous chamber’s sixty-foot-high vaulted ceiling. On either side of the entryway, four empty alcoves sit in the walls, their edges carved to resemble yawning, fanged mouths. To the south, a pair of bronze doors that seem to drip with blood sit under a stone bridge that passes through the upper portion of the room from east to west forty feet above.
The walls are decorated with unsettling carvings of bats, human sacrifice, and the walking dead. The dismembered, skeletal bodies of three people lie scattered on the floor of this chamber.
Standing on the bridge suspended across the room are two skeletal beings. They are dressed in rotting robes of ancient design, and holding javelins in their bony hands. They turn their serpentine skulls to focus their glowing red eyes on the contubernium as the soldiers enter the temple.
(+2 in jungle)
Group 1 (Ilistra, Darius, Placidus) 19.3
Group 2 (Cica, Garland) 15
Skellies 11.5
Darius readies his daggers and darts forward, putting one of the pillars between himself and the javelin wielding undead.
Ilistra moves in along the wall and throws a blast of fire at one of the skeletons.
Seeing the skeletal figures, Cica fires off two quick arrows.
"If you have a choice, try not to attack with sharp objects. Blunt ones--or fire, I'm sure--will be most effective. Oh, and don't bother trying to mess with their minds. There's really nothing there to mess with."
____________
Ilistra's fire and Cica's arrows strike one of the skeletons, sending chunks of bone flying!
As he boldly stepped into the room, Garland whistled heroically. The masked legionnaire then dropped his awesome scythe (which stayed near his person thanks to a handy weapon cord) and drew his trusty sling. Unlike the prior battle, this time, Garland fired a proper sling bullet at the most injured skeleton!
Upon hearing her partner's command, the noble Luna quickly moved to guard Ilistra!
Garland's bullet finishes off the undead.
Palcidus runs forward, flinging another dart from his atlatl at the remaining skeleton.
Darius readies his daggers and darts forward, putting one of the pillars between himself and the javelin wielding undead.
Ilistra moves in along the wall and throws a blast of fire at one of the skeletons.
Seeing the skeletal figures, Cica fires off two quick arrows. "If you have a choice, try not to attack with sharp objects. Blunt ones--or fire, I'm sure--will be most effective. Oh, and don't bother trying to mess with their minds. There's really nothing there to mess with."
Ilistra's fire and Cica's arrows strike one of the skeletons, sending chunks of bone flying!
As he boldly stepped into the room, Garland whistled heroically. The masked legionnaire then dropped his awesome scythe (which stayed near his person thanks to a handy weapon cord) and drew his trusty sling. Unlike the prior battle, this time, Garland fired a proper sling bullet at the most injured skeleton! Upon hearing her partner's command, the noble Luna quickly moved to guard Ilistra! Garland's bullet finishes off the undead, brekaing it into pieces.
Palcidus runs forward, flinging another dart from his atlatl at the remaining skeleton.
The skeleton still standing on the bridge raises its pilum and flings it at Garland.
The javelin deflects off Garland's breastplate, narrowly missing his flesh.
================================
Ilistra steps so she can see the next skeleton, then summons another gout of flame that she sends towards it.
Darius sheaths his daggers momentarily as he darts from his pillar cover to get beneath the bridge. He reaches the pillar support of it on the far side and attempts to scale it!
"Ha! Not a scratch on me!" proclaimed Garland, realizing that he was the focus of the skeleton's attention. The masked legionnaire promptly assumed a dramatic stance and lightly beat his chest twice with a fist. "Why don't you try again?"
(Secretly, however, the clever Garland prepared to dodge the next attack!)
Meanwhile, Luna continued to vigilantly guard Ilistra!
Cica fires another two arrows in rapid succession at the second skeleton.
"You'll be back in the grave soon enough!"
Cica's arrows break the remaining skeleton apart just as Darius begins to climb the column.
Garland took a moment to inspect the javelin both mundanely and magically. Regardless, our hero intended to keep it; buying a decent javelin actually cost about what he paid for the group's boat ride!
From there, Garland took some time to carefully inspect the room for anything interesting...
The wall carvings depict all manner of vile atrocities visited upon humans and serpentfolk alike by tall men and women wearing ragged capes and bearing fanged mouths. Images of bats, bat-like humanoids, and themes of cannibalism and the consumption of still-living victims are common as well.
The northwestern alcove contains a lever.
The northeastern alcove contains a poorly hidden trap door in the floor.
Darius continues climbing up and looks about on the bridge, seeing what the elevated vantage lets him note of the room and where the bridge path leads...
Darius makes it about ten feet up one of the columns before he slips and falls off.
Placidus winces as Darius falls off the column. "You okay, Darius?" The tall warrior goes to help his companion off the floor. "That's a good idea. We should go up on the bridge and see where the upper doors lead. Maybe we can use the magic rope to make the climb easier?"
Upon seeing his friend take a terrible tumble, Garland quickly rushed over to Darius' side. Thankfully, the other Narinar only appeared to be mildly bruised.
"That sounds like a good idea, Placidus," acknowledged the mask legionnaire. Garland presented the still knotted rope to his comrade. "You are a solid climber, Darius. Using the rope, I do not think you will have any troubles getting up there."