"I'm a really terrible swimmer, but I guess I'll try this. Thanks for watching our stuff while we go, Sapher."
Setting down everything she didn't want to risk getting wet--including her spellbook--she begins to wade across the deep section.
Drask, Mok, Es and Caroliss head into the waters while Sapher and Vel stay behind on the beach. It takes a little time to swim out to the wreck but it isn't too difficult and luckily nothing distrubs the swimmers along the way. Climbing aboard the partial sunk ship you can see the seaweed grows heavily on the other end. As of yet, at least there are no sings of ghosts.
Sapher gets her crossbow out and waits with worry.
Drask moves slowly across the ship, looking for any threats or traps as well as ways into the ship.
Up ahead in the seaweed Mok and Es can see several skeletal remains, likely from the sailors of the ship.
.
Caroliss follows along, keeping a close eye out. She also casts Detect Magic.
"Let's hope the stories are just that, and we can collect some seaweed and get out of here!"
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Esrisi knows that Caroliss also can see these skeletal remains but she allows the oracle to announce the finding before the elf does. "Up ahead, I see several remains of bones that are likely the sailors."
She turns to Caroliss, excited "Remember how you incinerated them all down in the Crow? That was amazing. If they start moving, maybe you can do that again."
Drask takes out his Morningstar of Ignoring Damage Reduction™ and wades up to the skeletons. He eyes them with flared nostrils.
Drask starts moving up toward the skeletons, which do infact start to come to life and pull themselves free of the seaweed to attack.
+2 In dungeons
Even knowing it is likely to happen Drask is shocked at the sheer number that crawl out of the seaweed and encircle him.
Drask isn't close enough to smash them when they start animating. No Sapher with us. Today Es is my shield mate. [b]"Es, with me, just behind. Let me take the brunt of the attack, but keep them from getting behind us. Drask holds his ground, morningstar raised defensively.
"So much for peaceful seaweed collection." Caroliss calls forth a prayer to Calistria to send these undead to their final rest!
otherwise rounds.
Before Es can even get in place behind Drask, Caroliss and Mok blast the skeletons with their spells. Caroliss utterly destroys most of the skeletons, except the one that was clearly the captain. However, with Mokashi's spell following it up that skeleton collapses to the ground in pieces as well.
Veltariel had drawn her bow, ready to fire on the skeletal horde, but relaxed it as she watched Mokhasi and his...pupil...tend to them with ease.
"Goodness" Sapher breathed in soft awe, covering her eyes for a moment at the blast of light "They have gotten stronger, haven't they?"
Drask lowers his weapon. "Ah well...well done." Spellcasters are starting to get scary. Good. He moves forward to continue investigating.
"Ha! That was pretty impressive teamwork there, right Mokahsi?" Caroliss seems to be fishing for approval as she wades forward to begin collecting seaweed.
With the skeletons no longer a threat it is only a matter of time for the group to collect several bunches of seaweed. Checking the piles of bones there is little of interest aside from the sword the captain was still wielding a +1 rapier, though the hilt is a bit encrusted with barnacles and would likely need a little cleaning before use.
A short swim, a hike and another swim and the group makes its way back to the shack on the other island, their prize of almost hairlike seaweed in hand. You hear the caw of the raven before you even see the shack and the half-orc woman is their waiting. Seeing what you brought she beckons you over "Come, you can join me for dinner. Suppose it is the least I can do for you providing your help."
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Esrisi explains the awesomeness that Caroliss and Mokhasi demonstrated to Sapher. She accidentally minimized Mokhasi's part in the story and in her retelling, Caroliss nearly took care of the situation all by herself.
When an invitation to eat is extended, Ez is all ears. Oh! That would be lovely! Do you have lemon cakes by chance? I'm fresh out but have this craving that is driving me crazy!"
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Mokhasi nods at Caroliss, "yes, pathfinder, it was a good application of Burst of Radiance. I am glad you are able to tap into the energy of the good-aligned planes." His expression, though, is neutral, and his tone relatively monotonous.
He identifies the rapier, relatively easily. And begins to scrub off the barnacles with prestidigitation.
"Thank you for watching my spellbook, Sapher," Mokhasi smiles in thanks, and retrieves his things, drying himself and Drask off with prestidigitation.
Mokhasi bows politely, "I cannot speak for the others, but I will take you up on this offer. It is kind of you." Mokhasi will enter her shack and wait quietly where directed, and eat whatever food is offered.
As you enter and sit the half-orc takes some of the recently retrieved seaweed and sniffs it deeply with a grin before tossing a handful into her stew and putting the rest in a jar. She hurries about collecting various items to use as containers, obviously not use to entertaining she only has two bowls and one she reserves for herself. Three people get their stew in a mug, another person gets theirs in a flower vase, one person actually gets a bowl, the last person gets their stew in an old shoe. She gives an slightly apologetic look, but then quickly moves to provide you each with some rough bread and a glass of murky looking swamp water to drink.
As those who are interested start to eat, the half-orc finds a seat and begins eating herself, she seems to really enjoy the meal, sluring on the seaweed you retrieved for her. "So, I doubt you all just came here to help me out. What are you all doing down here anyway?"
. Caroliss's eyes narrow in frustration as Mokhasi dries off only himself and Drask. She takes in a long breath to avoid saying anything too offensive. "Mokhasi, we're wet. Could you help dry us off too?"
. Caroliss does not yet trust this woman or her offer of food much at all. It doesn't help when the stew gets served in random objects, including of all things an old shoe. "That's very kind of you, but I'm not particularly hungry."
She sets down her offered mug. "We're exploring this region because we think there might be an interesting archaeological find. We wanted to meet you and see if you could tell us more about this place, the kind of creatures that live here, and maybe even act as our guide."
Veltariel takes the shoe, looking at it and trying in vain to hide her disgust. She doesn’t eat but does hold the shoe as if she were entertaining the idea.
’We...” she started, but then Caroliss speaks up. Instead, Vel remains quiet and watches how the orc-blood reacts.
Drask happily accepts his shoe-soup, drinking it down. Wasn't the best meal he's had, but certainly wasn't the worst.
He nods in response to Caroliss's words. "Aye, she sums it up well." He says, reaching over and taking her mug for a second helping.
The woman smiles as Drask eats up "Oh, so heading to the Ladies Light are you? I don't know about acting as a guide but I can surely tell you about the locals." She offers Drask more stew if he likes before taking a seat, finishing off her meal.
“The xulgaths, who you city folk know better as troglodytes, and boggards have bickered over control of the Lady’s Cape for years. They’re pretty evenly matched if you ask me. I’ve bloodied their noses when they’ve stuck them in my business, so for the most part they’ve let me be—that’s what the skulls and artwork on my bridge are for.
But then, a few months back, we had some new visitors. A troop of women knights or something, clad in plate and wearing red-plumed helms. Their leader was a woman named Oriana, pretty enough, at least till she took her helmet off and showed off her scars. She sat down to dinner with me just like you did, only she gave me a fine magic wand as a bribe, so I didn’t feel the need to send her off to gather seaweed. Anyway. She told me she and her sisters were from Korvosa, soldiers of the rightful queen who’d been tumbled off the throne a few years back. They’d had to flee the city once their queen wasn’t in charge, and fell into mercenary work until Oriana got the idea to plunder the Lady’s Light for the treasure they think’s hidden inside of it. Made me chuckle a bit, since I’ve heard there’s secret rooms in the Lady filled with treasure too. I’ve tried to find a way into the place before, there’s caves under the
area that are supposed to connect to the chambers below the Light, but those caves belong to the trogs and frogs and bigger critters. I didn’t get far, and since then I’ve steered clear of the Light, the b~&%$ gives me the willies, anyway. Some powerful magic going on in there.
Anyway, Oriana was intent on getting under the Lady’s skirts, and she asked me if I knew a way in. I told her about the caves and warned her of the trogs ’n frogs, but that didn’t seem to bother her. Unlike me, she had herself a whole group of ironclad soldiers to back her up, after all. So off she goes, and damned if she and her mercenaries don’t make friendly with the frogs! Got them some better weapons, gave them some fighting tips, and then helped them launch an attack on the trogs. In return, the frogs gave her permission to use their tunnels.
But here’s the kicker. Oriana found a way inside the Lady— or at least she says so. She came my way ten days ago with a story that she’d found none other than the Runelord of Lust herself in there, and that the runelord had recruited Oriana to help her reclaim her lands and rebuild her kingdom! Oriana asked me to join their crusade! I politely refused and wished her well and she went on her way. Gods above an’ below, I couldn’t get her out of my hut quick enough!
The way I see it, there’s three possibilities. First, Oriana is lying, for whatever reason. The second, Oriana, sad child, is off her nut. And the third, someone or something in there is masquerading as Sorshen the Grand Whore of Thassilon and has tricked Oriana into being her minion. Well, I suppose there’s a fourth possibility, that Sorshen really is alive and well in the Lady’s Light, but if you believe that claptrap, there’s a bridge across the Straits of Aroden I’d like to sell ya!”
She lets out a long laugh as she finishes.
Drask considers another mug of stew, but shakes his head. "No, I have to make sure not to gorge myself. You know, in case I need to do anything...physical." He says with a toothy grin.
Hmm, troglodytes and boggards, and now humans meddling. Territory and riches. He picks at his teeth with a knife. Good place to make some money, long as we survive. As the story continues on Drask just chuckles. This story was getting more and more ridiculous. Making friends with the boggards was weird, but claiming to have met a runelord is just telling stories.
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Mokhasi looks surprised when Caroliss speaks to him as if he noticed her for the first time. "If you wish." He concentrates for a moment, looking at her face, then shakes his own head as if to clear mental cobwebs.
He uses prestidigitation for a little while, appearing to concentrate hard on the matter as he watches Caroliss and Esrisi, whipping away as much of the water as he can muster. During this time, Kiir pulses with an deep red glow. Once finished, his shoulders slump, and his gaze breaks, sliding over both of them, as he returns to focus his look at the shack before they head out. He rubs his temple gently, and Kiir returns to spin around the seemingly pale piece of jade, glowing with pale verdant green light.
Mokhasi takes the first thing offered to him, the flower vase, and smells the food, then eats it quietly and politely, listening to the conversation.
Mokhasi does his best to finish the food, thinking about each bite contemplatively. Mokhasi's expression changes a bit when Kiir seems to change to be greenish yellow. Mokhasi manages to finish his portion, though he himself seems to be slightly unwell, regardless of Kiir's assistance, with his shoulders slumped and a bit of sweat beading on his brow. Kiir remains glowing green for the remainder of the time in the shack.
When the half-orc is finished, he nods, "very interesting, miss. It sounds as if we have our work cut out for us." He seems to be thinking about a question to ask her.
Sapher will try just about anything food wise, Once. She picks up her mug and sips.
Once is enough, her belly screams at her, and refuses to allow another bite down with a warning about what will happen if the dwarf attempts it. She misses most of the conversation as she concentrates on not up chucking.
”Then the troglodytes are likely the weaker option at this point, should we need to fight our way through. Are the frog men more open to negotiation?” Veltariel asks.
The half orc gives Drask a knowing wink at his suggestion and notes "You all are welcome to camp here whenever you need, you should be safe, though you'll need to setup outside, not much space in here as you see." She pauses a moment as she looks to Drask "Of course, you can stay in here with me if you like."
When Vel asks about the frog men she Maroux shrugs "I mean maybe, they negotiated with that other group, but on the other hand, if they already have a deal with them it might be exclusive or something. Who knows."
The half-orc finishes up her meal and looks around to the others "Still a bit left if anyone wants anything."
It is a little after noon when you finish up your 'meal'.
”We should get to it,” Veltariel says impatiently, eager to be away from this barbaric witch. ”The day is quite young and we seem to have more interested parties in the ruin than we knew.”
After an extreme effort to not regurgitate, Sapher quietly thinks about the creatures mentioned.
"Agree" Sapher jumps off her stool, with a slightly embarrassing noise that could be attributed to the stool moving if one was polite enough to do so. "Sounds like too much is in motion already for us to take things slowly."
For a moment, Caroliss feels seen by Mokhasi. She wants to chime in, but is pretty sure there's a lot of . . . something . . . going on with Mokhasi. Was it anger?With Kiir turning red, that seemed like a possibility. Deciding for the moment that she did not want to damage a still functional Mokhasi, she lets it go, but reminds herself to continue observing Mokhasi and Kiir carefully to understand further.
As even the hardy dwarf finds herself sickened from eating, Caroliss is quite sure she made the right choice. Not that there was any other choice she could have possibly conceived of making. "I'm with you, we could really use some lemon cakes here."
"I don't know a thing about troglodytes," she notes.
"And I can't imagine a real runelord being alive, but even a fake one is dangerous!"
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There was no way Esrisi was eating that, no matter how hungry she was. She overhears Caroliss talking to Sapher and leans in to the both of them and asks "Did you say lemon cakes? Did you bring any? I could really go for some right now."
Standing back up she thanks the woman for her information. "That was very helpful, thank you for very much. I'm sure the Runelord can't be alive, that is preposterous."
Turning to face Caroliss, she questions it and asks "Isn't it?"
"Regardless, I suppose we know where are going now. Best we be on our way."
"Thank you, madam, for your hospitality and the information." Sapher says to the bog lady, being polite even though she wanted to spew everywhere.
Outside she holds in her stomach with her hands as she suggests "Sounds like we want to avoid this Oriana woman at all costs. Even if she didn't see us as a threat to her new kingdom, she wouldn't let us just walk off with a treasured artifact. Unless she has it already and is already a nutter. Which means we would have to avoid the frogs as well."
She sighed heavily "Or we just approach them directly, see what is up and deal with them as we can first without getting cornered into it later. Probably when we're tired and covered in guts of something or another." the food is making her a tad defeatest.
"Stealth doesn't tend to be our strong suit. But I'm fine with whatever plan is made. Let's just try not to pick a fight with too many things at once, sounds like we can get quickly outnumbered if we're not careful."
"Well, I'm actually decent when it calls for it."
"And I am not. No matter what calls for it." the dwarf crosses her arms "No offense taken, Ez. It is simply the truth."
"So unless we think we can avoid them so completely there is no chance they will hear me, the noise making machine..." okay there might be a tiny bit of offense taken "We head for the frogs, in hopes we find out about the knights, maybe even talk to them?"
"Quiet people first as always to hunt out threats."
Veltariel simply slips off to begin heading for the frog men. She can at least begin gathering the initial intel while the others catch up or continue talking it out.
"What do you think, Vels---" Sapher looks around "Well... huh... I guess she agrees." the dwarf shrugs and moves toward the frogs as well.
Mokashia knows just about everything there is to know about troglodytes and boggards and can relate as much to the others. He is also well aware of the situation with the previous queen and the grey maidens of Korvosa from all his preparatory research before making his way to Varisia.
Vel heads off back across the bridge while the others finish talking to scout ahead for the boggards following the half-orcs rough directions. After a bit of a trek, crossing one stream and following another you come across an interesting scene.
Scattered upon the ground are obvious signs of carnage, and the vile reek of rot mixed with a pungent reptilian stink assaults the nostrils like a hammer’s blow. Buzzards wheel in the sky above while clouds of flies buzz below. At least three dozen decomposing humanoid bodies lie strewn across the ground here, reptilian and amphibian in form. The reptilian bodies have all been decapitated—the heads are nowhere in evidence. There are tracks leading toward the stream to the south and more tracks leading inland to the northwest.
Veltariel comes trotting back. ”They’ve just recently fought looks like. Couldn’t have been more than a couple days ago. We move soon we still catch them recovering. Which puts the advantage in our favor, for swords or words.”