Polli's lightning rips through the air, slamming into anyone not meant to be on the Siren. Starting with sharp teeth boy. "Goat-faced mold-toed dullard!" she yells at him just because.
Val looses the arrow she has knocked at the colorful intruder, and follows it up with two more shots as she slowly glides closer.
Donomsail looks at his badly hurt body, she considers, briefly, following through on her promise and healing so they can hurt him some more. But he isn't worth the cost of the spell. Instead, she decides to hurt him in the way that most men get hurt the most. "Why are you commenting on his toes? I thought it was his baby boy balls that were the issue. Shouldn't you call him a 'Goat-faced nasty nutted neurotic knave'? " She says this supposedly to Polli but she makes sure that it is loud enough for him to hear as well. Then she turns and gives Polli a deep, loving kiss on her lips.
Harmony continues her creepy song and then throws her harpoon at Captain Fish-Face.
As Harmony's song haunts the enemy pirates' ears, Polli takes a more direct approach with an arc of lightning that Captain Aiger manages to dodge. Not so lucky are some of his fellow pirates that fall to the deck, writhing as the magical electricity overcomes them. The half-elf isn't quick enough to dodge Valeria's arrows and her three shots knock him to the deck. Doni determines that her companions can easily handle him know and settles for simply insulting him.
Round 2
Wiping the water out of her face, Tessa strokes through the calm waves to grab one of the boarding ropes and begins climbing back up to the deck of her ship.
At the display of force, the majority of the enemy pirates fall back, dropping their weapons. Captain Aiger clutches at one of the arrows protruding from his side and gasps. "Parley!" he chokes out, holding out his hand. "I beg you, parley!"
Harmony holds up one clenched hand.
"This is your surrender so make the terms worth our time!" She growls.
Val knocks another arrow but rather than firing it immediately she continues gliding towards the deck.
"I have more ships," the half-elf gasps. He pauses and coughs up a great gout of blood. "In exchange for my mother's sword, I will command them under your banner. If you kill me they will scatter, leaderless." He coughs again and his voice grow weaker. "Please. I have spent my whole life under her shadow, trying to escape her shadow to forge my own future. You can't know how hard it is to be the child of someone so renowned. With her sword I would be declaring my own ..." he gasps for breath, "my own destiny."
Donomsail may look calm and disinterested in what is going on but the reality is that she will make sure that he won't be able to hurt any of her friends. She has a lightning bolt readied to send in his direction.
Harmony curses under her breath and waves her threatening crew away.
"I will have your oath upon this." She says harshly, "And should you ever think about pulling a stunt like this again then we will flay your skin from your body and fly it at the Siren's mast-head. No-one claims our ship, no-one!"
"'nasty nutted neurotic knave' was an amazing string of insults, my love." Polli whispers into Dony's kiss as the violence starts to die down. "We'll see to our crew, making sure they are still alive and then his as well after, captain." Polli says louder, knowing that is any of theirs were dead there is little chance this 'nasty nutted one' was going to survive the night.
Furious, Tessa will not be pushed aside. Soaking wet, she stalks towards the half-elf and buries a balled fist into his face. She pulls out Wayfinder and sticks it under his chin, drawing a bead of blood. "Is that how you need to fight a woman? Throw her overboard? Not even the decency to face be one on one?!"
Unfortunately, Captain Aiger is unable to answer Tessa's carefully prepared question as he slumps to the deck, unconscious from the forceful blow she's given him.
~~~~~
In short order, the invading crew of the Wanton Wastrel are returned to their ship and the crew of the Siren are released from below. It appears that there were no fatalities in the attack, though a few of the Siren's crew sport minor injuries. The bosun, Maheem, seems to have suffered the worst of the lot, now missing two fingers on his left hand and sporting a second blood-soaked bandage on his head.
"Captains," he says, with a timid bow. "I submit myself to your justice. I was unable to hold the ship. I have failed."
~~~~~
As the crew return to the deck, Valeria is grabbed in slender arms as Meiying pulls her in close for a tight hug. "I was so worried about you. With them attacking, I didn't know if that meant that something happened to you or not," she says, relaxing her hold just enough to look her in the face. She pulls Val in for a tight hug again. The white-haired cook is sporting one eye that's swollen closed and her cheek looks as if it will display a very colorful bruise soon.
Standing right behind her is the cook's mate, Turpinia, looking very meek.
Val kisses Meiying then pulls out her wand and uses it to heal the cook’s eye and cheek. “Who did this to you?” she asks tenderly but firmly.
With a silent 'thank you' to Gozreh for being willing to use her for their divine retribution, even though it turned out to be unnecessary, Donomsail turns her attention to helping her other love inspect the crew, making sure that no serious injuries happened and doing any light healing that needs to be done. She ignores the man spouting off about how difficult it is to live under his mother's shadow except to say. "Please, if'n ye be thinkin' that ye be the only one babe who needs ta kruip uit onder jou mevrou se skaduwee, ye'd best be thinkin' different. Do yer ma'am be tryin' ta use ye ta bring forth tha spawn o' Asmodeus? If no then ye best be shuttin' up."
Val kisses Meiying then pulls out her wand and uses it to heal the cook’s eye and cheek. “Who did this to you?” she asks tenderly but firmly.
Mei reaches up to touch her new healed eye. "Oh, it was one of ... them," she waves at the departing crew. "I don't see him. He might be back on the other ship already. It wasn't anything."
"It was so," Turpinia interjects. "When they came down to the galley," she continues. "One o' them tried to ... to take liberties. Meiying ... she protected me."
"I'm responsible for everything in the galley and that includes you," Meiying argues with a roll of her eyes.
"Still ... I won't forget it."
Val keeps her arms wrapped up Meiying but shifts so she can see Turpinia clearly. “What happened?” she probes, [tell me exactly and leave no detail out, I’ll know if you try to hide anything from me.]
In short order, the invading crew of the Wanton Wastrel are returned to their ship and the crew of the Siren are released from below. It appears that there were no fatalities in the attack, though a few of the Siren's crew sport minor injuries. The bosun, Maheem, seems to have suffered the worst of the lot, now missing two fingers on his left hand and sporting a second blood-soaked bandage on his head.
"Captains," he says, with a timid bow. "I submit myself to your justice. I was unable to hold the ship. I have failed."
"No punishment Maheen." Harmony says with a tired sigh. "Sometimes the right thing to do is not to fight and to wait for reinforcements. We have recovered the Siren." She puts a hand on his shoulder and infuses him with magic to cure the head wound. "You are a valued member of this crew, remember that."
Polli is simply busy mending wounds or helping Dony decide which ones would be best healed with her magic instead. She also stems the bleeding on the stupid captain that thought he could take the Siren.
"No punishment Maheen." Harmony says with a tired sigh. "Sometimes the right thing to do is not to fight and to wait for reinforcements. We have recovered the Siren." She puts a hand on his shoulder and infuses him with magic to cure the head wound. "You are a valued member of this crew, remember that."
The man stands silently for a moment before giving a single nod. He doesn't seem reassured.
Val keeps her arms wrapped up Meiying but shifts so she can see Turpinia clearly. “What happened?” she probes, [tell me exactly and leave no detail out, I’ll know if you try to hide anything from me.]
Before the woman can reply, Meiying turns Val to face her. "Val!" A couple of people glance their way and the cook is aware that many people are listening. "Ma'am, she didn't do anything wrong and I take full responsibility for what happens in the galley. One of the pirates - a man with a blue scarf and a scar on his lip entered the galley and ... and attempted to 'claim' Turpinia as some sort of prize. I objected and he ... he didn't like that. They sent Scar-lip on his way and herded us down to the hold."
"He grabbed her by the hair and slammed her face into the table. Miss Meiying grabbed a cleaver and she was going to ...," Turpinia adds, her anger obvious.
Meiying rolls her eyes. "Yes," she interrupts with a sigh. "But it's all healed up. It's fine. We're all safe now."
Val’s mostly hidden anger begins to abate. “As long as that’s the whole story—and my love wants me to let it go—I suppose that’ll be the end of it...” she offers, watching carefully for any hint in their reactions that they might be leaving anything unsaid.
Then she gives Turpinia a nod and informs her, “you can go and see to whatever you need to, I’ll make sure Meiying is well and thoroughly thanked for her bravery today.”
Valeria gets the impression that the duo aren't holding anything back even if each might be relaying events colored by their own perceptions.
~~~~~
Once Captain Aiger regains consciousness you spend the rest of the day coordinating with him and giving him directions to your island, where you'd like to meet his small squadron of ships. With that handled you make preprations for your trip back to Port Peril via the Dragon's Jaws.
- Day 324
A week later and the Siren comes within sight of the twin islands.
Dagon’s Jaws consist of a pair of rocky islands southwest of Motaku Isle. Big Jaw, the larger western island has a peak elevation of almost 300 feet above sea level. The smaller isle, Little Jaw, rises no more than 60 feet above sea level (with 50 feet of that height consisting of the island’s cliff shoreline). A rocky, relatively shallow (never more than 30 feet deep) three-quarter-mile channel known as Dagon’s Gullet divides them.
Big Jaw: The larger of the two islands, Big Jaw is covered by relatively dense jungle. A few small streams provide fresh water as they trickle down the hillsides to
the sea. Tropical birds, foul-tempered monkeys, snakes, and insects make up the primary forms of life on Big Jaw.
Little Jaw: Little Jaw’s soil is rockier and less fertile than that of Big Jaw — no trees grow here, and the place is dominated by tall, hearty, yellow grass. Sea birds and tortoises are the primary inhabitants of Little Jaw. No beaches welcome visitors here, for 50-foot-high cliffs surround the island.
"Val, would you mind doing an aerial sweep?" Harmony asks. "I don't relish the idea of searching the islands on foot. If you can find him and safely approach call for a parlay on whatever terms he feels comfortable."
"Ma'am," Val answers, tugging her hat in salute. She contemplates how exactly to undertake that task as she hurries to the kitchen for a quick goodbye with her lover, then she takes to the air. The black-winged slayer quickly climbs as high she can see the ground clearly from and begins circling the islands in search of structures, smoldering fires, or any other signs of someone living there.
"Wait" Polli says before the archer heads out "I'll go to, not that I'll see anything but in case something insane happens and we need to get back here in seconds."
She gives Dony a smile, an assurance that she won't let Val get her into trouble, and a kiss, then lets the winds gather and lift her into the sky.
Val smiles at the sylph and gives an appreciative nod as they take off together and begin their surveillance.
Valeria and Polli ride the air currents towards the jutting rock that compose the Little Jaw. Circling in the air over the smaller island, they don't see anything more than what was visible from The Siren. Scrub brush, yellow grass, and various birds seem to be the only residents of this island.
Moving westward towards the larger island they find more of interest. They can make out numerous large carved rocks amid the jungle growth and as they fly closer more details become apparent. Their first place of note is the eastern beach abutting the Gullet itself.
The waves have gnawed great chunks from the earth that edges the shoreline along this rocky beach. From the water, the land slopes gradually upward into a series of rocky escarpments. Beyond, the terrain continues its ascent through tangles of dense brush toward the highest point of the island. A game trail leads up into the jungle from the beach itself, while fragments of what appears to have once been a ship’s longboat lie strewn among the rocks along the shore. As the surf rolls against the shore, the shapes of a half-dozen sodden corpses bob face-down in the gentle waves.
Val points out the corpses, and the nearby game trail to Polli. "Those are probably the men that came with Rotgram... or men who came looking for him. We'll want to check them out either way. And, the brush is too thick to see through, but that means it'd be brutal to move through as well; if he's not one of those floaters, that trail must be how he got off the beach. So, that's where we'll have to start the real search. Are you comfortable flying back to the Siren alone? I can wait here for you to teleport the others to the beach, if you want, or we can fly back together and bring the longboat, though that wreck in the channel speaks to the danger in that?"
As she hovers in the air next to the winged Val, Polli adjusts her glasses and squints to see what the archer is talking about, then decides to give up. "I am here in worry for you, Valeria, not in worry of myself." the wizard says to the uncomfortable portion, still prickly she is, but admits "Teleportation sounds like the best approach, but I wonder about the bodies. How often have we had the pleasure of simple dead bodies. Instead they keep rising and trying to kill us. I could firebomb the entire area but any clues might be destroyed as well. I am not subtle." said with her frown "It might be best to have you send a couple of arrows into them to see if they stir... without getting close that is."
"I meant I would wait safely in the air for you," Val clarifies, "but it certainly wouldn't hurt to make sure those corpses aren't going to charge up the on to the beach and attack when you teleport back." The archer takes aim and fires at a couple of the floating bodies, watching for any reaction.
And a reaction Valeria gets. The bodies that she hits twist and turn looking up and around for the source of the assault. It seems that you're correct and that they're not quite dead.
It seems that they're also not quite stupid. Seeing that the attack is coming from a flying archer, the bodies vanish underneath the light waves.
Val scowls at the fake corpses as they vanish below the waves. "Dammit," she mutters as she turns towards Polli and asks, "so, do you want to teleport into a fight, or do you want to fly around a little more and look for somewhere else to arrive?"
"Did they move? Yes?" the nearsighted wizard sighed "Maybe I should have fireballed them. Oh well, let's look for an alternative, then go back."
Val nods and offers, “we can dip down and skim the top of the canopy where the path is... maybe we’ll be able to spot a little clearing you could teleport into.” she leads the way downward towards the mouth of the game trail and does her best to follow it from just above the tree branches, searching for a little clearing.
Donomsail watches as her lover goes flying away. "It's just a recon mission." She tells herself. "What could go wrong? It's a simple fly-by and observe, if there were any problems surely she would teleport back and get us."
Flying along the top of the tree-line, Valeria and Polli follow the game-trail as best as they can as it rises up the steep ridge. A sizable clearing opens along this ridge, the edge marked by rows of upturned boulders that almost seem to be keeping the trees back. In the center, a bubbling spring breaks the surface, forming a small series of freshwater pools dotted with mountain lilies and swarming with dragonflies. Along the west side, the spring waters race downhill through a series of rocky, moss-covered sluices cut into rock, eventually running down the hillside toward the sea to the southwest.
The flying duo see no signs of predators. This would probably be a good spot to bring in the others.
"Sounds like it is as ideal as we are likely to get." she adjust hers glasses and squints but gives up and takes Val's word on it. "I'll be back with them as soon as possible. Stay safe." then the wizard lets the winds carry her back to the ship. There she gives Donomsail a bright smile, quick peck, and warm hug then tells them all that Val has seen. The bodies, the longboat, the clearing they will be teleporting to as soon as they are ready "Are you ready?"
Harmony casts a spell on herself and Tessa and then nods.
"Ready."
With her bow in hand, Val puts some height between herself and the clearing and circles overhead while she waits for the others to arrive.
Donomsail gives away her nervousness by giving Polli a tight smile when she comes back. All Donmy wants to do is rush into her arms hugging and kissing away her fears, however she knows that there is a job to do so she accepts the quick hug and peck before preparing to teleport back to Valeria.
It's short work to bring back the rest of the ship's officers to the clearing. The stones surrounding this sacred spring bear faint carvings of three entwined spirals. The waters from the spring itself channel into the rock, creating a sort of fresh waterspout that emerges off the western shoreline.
In addition to the game trail that leads down the ridge to the east, there are trails leading to the west and to the south from here.
While the (other) spellcasters make sense of the carvings and the spring, Val looks around for any signs that their quarry may have passed by this way.
Looking at the carvings on the rock Donomsail tries to recall what she learned about such symbols. "It be symbols fer Pharasma. The plus o' that is She gits along all right with Gozreh. Ah means ta say that they no be frien's but they donna hate t'other neither. If'n we be runnin' inta any o' 'er worshippers they shouldn' be tryin' ta kill us." She pauses and licks her lips nervously, then repeats her last words. "Shouldn' be in, ye know, normal circumstances. "
Polli listens intently to her loves words, then nods "That explains why the waters are magical, they can heal or anoint weapons to destroy undead. Only enough for three, I suggest Valeria's shortswords and the berry's rapier."
You douse the suggested weapons in the mystical water and then at Captain Violet's direction, the five of you move through the undergrowth following the trail to the west as it climbs slowly higher up the island. An hour later and you've reached its end.
A swath of barren soil stretches atop a forty-foot-high cliff overlooking the Fever Sea to the west of the isle, sheltered
from the sea winds by a lone massive boulder. The boulder rises another thirty feet above the edge of the cliff, an almost
pyramidal structure perched precariously at the edge. A half dozen crude shelters — little more than lean-tos — huddle around a campfire in the lee of the stone. The campfire still smolders, so no abandoned camp is this. But there are no residents in sight.
At a whisper of noise, you look up to see sun-browned hands pointing crossbows at you from the bushes. A woman's voice speaks.
"Lay down your weapons an' we'll not be harmin' ya," she says. "We'll be takin' your ship if'n you don't mind. A fair trade for your lives."
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"Do you know what we did to the last man who said that?" Harmony asks, her tone sharp. "There's nine of you, with no more than eight crossbows between you. You won't fell a single one of us before we can retaliate. I have a wizard who can burn the jungle down around you, a cleric whose lightning could cook you where you stand and that's not to mention my fellow Captain here, who could fight you all with one hand tied behind her back. Or our aerial support."
She gives the men a moment to process that.
"Instead you are all going to step out of hiding and we will speak like civilised people. Then perhaps we will take you with us on the Siren, as long as you behave. If not... then you'll never leave this island."
"I am very tired of people thinking they can take our home." Polli grumbles, while glaring at what she thinks are the ambushers (could be a bush at this distance to her)
At Harmony's steeling gaze, the woman you assume is the leader sighs. Her shoulders slump and she gestures at the others who lower their weapons. They step forward into the clearing and your suspicions are confirmed - these people have been hard put.
"If Harrigan sent you then just make it quick," she says with resignation. "We can't live like this any more."
She explains that their ship, the Devilish Duchess under the command of Scags Rotgram, was running the Gullet to escape from Harrigan when it ran aground in the shoals. Undead swarmed over the sides and the crew attempted an escape to the western island. Only eighteen of the original crew survived, Rotgram himself falling under the teeth and claws of the creatures.
They've been here a couple of weeks now and have tried numerous times to escape the island, but all attempts have been rebuffed by the seemingly endless undead. There are only nine of them left and they've almost given up hope of leaving this desolate place.
They do know that the undead managed to free the Devilish Duchess and the last they saw of it, they were moving it around the other side of the eastern island.
Val contemplates all this for a moment, then gives a meaningful look to her companions. [If there are undead sailing around the small island, we should get back to the Siren quickly before they try to take her. These survivors won't like it, but perhaps we should leave them here while we go back to the ship and hunt the vile creatures, then we can come back for them tomorrow?]
"Wait, you let a pack of undead Steal your ship and now it is out then creeping toward the Siren, while you WASTE OUR TIME!!!" Polli is angry... well angrier than normal. "If we were evil little shits like Harrigan, we'd leave you on this rock to starve to death just for that, but NO you will WAIT while we deal with YOUR mess and THEN the captains can talk to figure out what to do with you. Do I make myself perfectly f!@&ing clear?" Polli's winds are all over the place and lighting flittering about her fury-ridden glare.
If no one complains, she'll turn to the captains "Do you want me to take you back to the Siren now, or scout where this ship is with Valery first?"