That said, the worst of it will probably happen in about a half an hour.
Adriana tries to push Jonah and Splits idea to forget about the cat, but Maso Pareto seems more appealed by Tonny's and Ingolf suggestions "No! I cannot leave Delour back! Yes, help me find him, then we can all look for shelter"
You press through the rain leaving Penbury Printing and Heri's Conservatorium at your backs as you go into Island Town once more. The waves are crashing with the coastline with more strength, and you fear the wooden bridges might not made it.
You do hear the meows of a cat from the hastily erected barricades near the western edge of Island Town.
Jonah will approach the spot slowly
he doesn't hear anything over the waves and wind, but trusts Tonny's ears. he moves around the barricade, watching for the cat. if it jumps out he will try to catch it.
Anyone have something to lure it out with? I don't want to go sticking my hands into a small space with a scared cat!
Ingolf followed Jonah and Splits to the barricades. "I'm smaller and less imposing — let me see if I can coax it out."
He approached the area, crouching down to appear even smaller, and took out a bit of food. "Delour, I have a treat for you!"
Following the meows spotted by Tonny's keen elven ears the group approaches the barricades that stop the water. Delour the cat, a particularly corpulent example of the feline species, crawled into an unused carriage to take a nap and find shelter from the rain, and the townsfolk didn’t think to look inside before making the vehicle part of the barricades they built to keep water from flooding the nearby streets. There in the cart the party finds the cat.
Now awake, Delour howls for release from the closed carriage, the noise audible even over the gathering storm. Resolved, Ingolf squeezes through the logs and bags blocking passages and reaches the cart interior. With some amenable gestures he convinces Delour to help himself and he releases the cat from the barricade.
"Thanks a lot!" exclaims Maso Pareto while Ingolf tries to take bring out the cat.
Just at that moment he is up to get out of the cart, there is a flash of lightning and Ingolf spots something weird just a few meters away. Among the waves hitting the barricade, there are a couple of watery figures trying to destroy the barricade.
Alerted by the loud noises of the cat the translucent creatures, whose shape shifts between a spinning column of water and a crashing wave, float through the water approaching the cart.
Unless somehow stopped, they jump over the barricade hitting it trying to stop the cat release and then looking at the party extending their water towards them with rage.
These are small water elementals. They are not particularly vulnerable or protected to fire or cold, but they are strong, hitting with the strength of waves at anything they come along.
If caught underwater, they can become very dangerous, as they can create a vortex to drag people to the depths of the sea.
Same as other elementals they are featureless and thus, they cannot be critically hit or flanked. They are immune to bleed, paralysis, poison, sleep effects, and stunning.
They are not particularly smart, but they have a mind of sorts and their weakest save is Will.
They are fast swimmers (90') but much slower at land (20').
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worried about how she's going to handle dragging a distressed man to shelter in her condition, Adriana apprehensively works with her companions to assist with rescuing the pet, almost collapsing with relief at the fact they'd found it - the ferocity of the wind and rain almost too much to handle; the storm had to be on them at that point.
Even with the force of the rain and the fact she can barely see Adriana still knows strangeness when she (barely) sees it and draws her scimitar, ignoring the dull burning of her ribs as she moves towards Ingolf.
"Ingolf! The water's attacking!" She shouts as loud as she can, the wind tearing the words from her throat. The battle with the troll had taken a serious toll and even were she not carrying wounds from that fight, even she knows the storm is the bigger issue and they all need to get back to shelter.
"We need to leave! now!" She shouts to everyone assembled and despite being wind-whipped, waterlogged and wounded she points her scimitar at the walking water and fixes them with a hard gaze.
"Away! Away and do not follow!" She shouts, attempting to sound intimidating while unsure if the water things even understood her. She just had to buy the others time.
Drawing his weapon Ingolf cried, "Water creatures attacking!"
How dare these watery figures try to stop him saving the cat! He unleashed his rage and swung at one of the enemies, crying "Ebba, attack!"
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"Elementals!" Tonny wonders if his voice will ever not be hoarse as he tries to yell what he remembers about creatures like these from his studies. "They don't have organs, so don't bother trying to be precise! And don't get caught with them under the water or they'll pull you down and drown you!" The half-elf uncoils his whip as he speaks, ready to distract one of the watery creatures.
Ingolf moved to attack one of the strange water figures.
Ingolf and Adriana quickly draw their weapons.
In his haste the gnome crashes his morningstar only against the cart.
Meanwhile Adriana menaces seem to pay off as the elemental in darker waters tremble in front of the scimitar.
After Tonny's good advise he hits the cart wheel with his whip and expends valuable seconds untangling it from there.
Meanwhile Ebba valiantly jumps over the cart stabbing one of the elementals with its gore!
The druid moves into position and tries to blast one of the elementals away with a gust.
As Splits moves his cane a blast of air pushes through the rain sending forward many drops and pushing the first elemental that falls down out of the cart 10 feet away.
The fallen elemental stands up in the dock and rides all over the waves jumping over the barricade to face the old man that pushed him away.
The other elemental slams over the raging gnome.
As the elemental goes to hit the waves of the sea raise all over the barricade as if the storm was reinforcing the elementals, and hit all over Ingolf without him being able to stop it in any way!
Ingolf reeled from the powerful blow, but he was too overtaken by his rage to consider retreat. He continued to smash at the water elemental.
Ebba struggled through the remains of the barricade to attack the bizzare water creature.
Realizing that his bow will be very little use in the rain, Jonah rushes in to the fight, drawing his flail as he goes. he works with Ingolf and his boar to try to outflank the water creature
Rosemary dive-bombs the same elemental, pecking at it ineffectually
as the battle goes on he continues to try to smash the water creature with his flail, spraying water around but unsure if it actually injuring the thing
Rosemary continues trying to find an opening, while struggling just to fly
Jonah climbs up the barricade while drawing a flail and stomp it with great strength at the mass of water!
Overtaken by the water hit, Ingolf barely manages to swing his morningstar trying to defend himself, while Ebba struggles to walk out of the cart and fails to connect to the small elemental over the barricade bags.
After the force of the waves hit the barricade, Jonah loses balance and fails to connect a second time. He was sure that was going to be a great hit, if only the bags under his fit had not moved in the worst moment.
Meanwhile poor Rosemary, soaked by the rain barely manages to land nearby.
Splits talks with the wind and again blasts away the small elemental that lands far away into the water!
Tonny makes his whip lash, but he is distracted by a sudden thunder.
Seeing the gnome struggling, Adriana comes by and slashes with her scimitar.
She cuts through the water splitting in two. The water spills all over the barricade, the elemental not having energy enough to reform, it is destroyed now.
The last elemental rides the waves once more. The water rolls over the barricade as it looks to smash at Splits, but cannot reach him yet.
Ingolf breathed a sigh of relief as Adriana destroyed the elemental. Taking the chance to tend to his wounds, he stowed his weapon and prayed for healing.
He pointed at the remaining enemy, "Ebba, attack that one!"
Ebba rushed to the druid's aid and attacked his assailant.
Jonah sees that the fight is moving away from him and runs to get to the rest of the group.
He readies his staff and waits for someone to move closer.
"Stay away from the shore and we should be fine!"
With a grunt as she cleaves the walking water in two, Adriana stumbles a little from the strength of the wind and the force of her swing, taking a moment to try and see through the blinding rain and spying the last of the walking water surging towards Splits.
"We need to go!" She shouts to everyone who can hear here as she pushes against the wind and rain to reach the druid while trying to indicate to the others that they had to take Maso and his cats back to the shelter.
Ingolf heals some of his wounds while Ebba impales the elemental with her gore.
Tonny makes his whip crack once more distracting the elemental for Jonah.
The hunter jumps over the bags of the barricade moving swift until he reaches the elemental, ready for the fight.
Meanwhile Adriana reaches the elemental and can attempt to strike while Splits steps to the side to flank with Ebba.
He attempts to give it a thwack but he knows it's really just to provide an easier chance for his allies.
jonah swats at the elemental again, flail flying through water. it's hard to tell what strikes are doing damage and what is just spraying water around.
Rosemary divebombs, flying better in the bad weather this time
Almost blown over by the storm Adriana swings her scimitar against the rain and walking water, practically fighting blind.
Splits tries to pluck the elemental with his cane giving an advantage for the others to attack.
Adriana slashes at the elemental ripping away a bit of its energy.
Not very smart, the water creature tries to keep fighting slamming at Splits without getting out of the flanking.
The elemental hits with a tremendous blow that almost makes the old man faint!
Jonah smashes the elemental with his flail while Rosemary scratches it with her talons!
Ingolf scrabbled onto the sandbags beside Ebba and swung at the water creature.
Ebba continued her attempts to gore the watery figure.
And with Ebba furiously stabbing with her gores at the creature, the water elemental is finally dismissed into a pool of water that soon mixes with the rain.
With a new flash of light you witness Maso Pareto entering the cart and retrieving his cat "Delour! Oh Delour! You are safe!"
The man is ecstatic, he picks up the cat's collar and unbinds what seems a large pearl decorating the cat's neck "This is a family heirloom. Please accept it. You have saved Delour and deserved it. It is said to have magical powers useful for those knowledgeable of the spells arts"
This is a pearl of power I.
The presence of the water elementals is something strange, not natural of a normal storm. You only know of a storm that can bring elementals from other planes, the Eye of Abendego. You think there might be some magical or divine phenomena behind the unusual characteristics of this storm.
The rain and the wind intensifies, a log flying from the barricade and crashing against one of the walls of a house. Öther objects similarly start to fly about.
Ingolf thanked Maso for the heirloom and shouted, "We'd better get to shelter — the Counting House is this way!"
Spitting out rain that seemed to getting more and more vertical and figuring that combat was over for the time being, Adriana paces back and forth in a worry as she's decided that enough time's been wasted and they all had to leave. Now.
"Shelter first! You can reward us after the storm!" She shouts over the howling wind, making sure that the wounded Splits could walk and helping to get the druid to the shelter if his injuries prove too severe.
"All together now! let's go!"
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”This storm’s not natural!” Tonny croaks as the group makes their way back to the safety of the inn. ”Maldebrooke states in his Treatise on Unusual Properties of Meteorological Phenomena that it takes a storm of great power to spontaneously pull creatures like those elementals from another plane. Only one I can remember being used as an example was the Eye of Abendego - maybe something’s trying to recreate it here with spells or prayers!”
With the last straggler convinced, you all push through the rain to escape Island Town and reach the mainland colony. There, you find your way to the Stone Hall.
When you enter the house, you are received with clapping while Maso Pareto shows Delour hiding below his shirt.
Sheriff Adaela approaches you with a smile in his face "Well done. You have saved many lives today. Now, let's rest while the storm passes by. We have to keep everyone's morale high"
You are offered some space to rest and some food and drinks as well.
Jonah wrings out his hat and jacket, laying his hat upside down on the floor. Rosemary cleans her feathers and sits in the hat, obviously used to using it as a bed.
Jonah takes some time from the side of the room to observe people in the room to see how they are handling it. is this normal enough that people are totally calm, or is it scaring them?
The druid limps back slowly, he wasn't sure what to do about the cat and the man and his trinkets but right now he offered a silent prayer that he could make it back safely.
He hears the scholar speak truth but remains silent, speaking was only needed to clarify and the young half elf seemed to know what he was talking about.
Seeing his wounds to be fairly severe, the druid looks at the others who are scattered and worried about the storm, he would do something soon as he could recover himself.
The druid takes a place and eyes the others but begins to pray, "I will attempt to identify all of those scrolls, but there is no guarantee that I can."
When they returned to the Stone Hall, Ingolf asked Sheriff Adaela, "Can Ebba stay in here with me? She's been very brave today!"
He found a place to sit down amidst the townsfolk crowded into the inn, and made sure Ebba got some food. After taking it easy for a bit, he told some gnomish folk stories to keep everyone entertained as best he could.
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Tonny collapses into an empty chair, realizing only a few seconds later that he should probably have taken off his soaking coat first. The half-elf wearily pulls himself back to his feet and hangs his jacket on a wall peg before returning to his now-wet chair with a damp squelch.
"So..." he croaks to his neighbor, eyes barely open. "Do we get storms like this often?"
The druid looks at the others there and prepares a spell to help him identify magic. He was never really good at this but it was worth a try.
He spends some time preparing his magic and manages to identify most of what they got, but the heirloom eludes him.
"It seems like we found ourselves a scroll that allows one to breathe like a fish and a wand that allows one to move like a fish. I will hold them if you have no qualms with that, I am able to use them if Gozreh wills it."
He sits and looks at the others, "So what brings you here? You know full well that I spoke of storms and here it is... Something unnatural." He looks at Tonny, "You know that those elementals weren't to be here. What is your prevailing theory?"
He plucks a scroll from his pack while he waits for an answer and enchants the handful of dried berries.
With the magic in store he consumes the berries, feeling revitalized.
I've never lived anywhere with harsh storms like this. I've heard stories of the coastal lands, especially this far south, getting bad weather, but this seems really bad. is this out fo the ordinary? I've certainly never seen the rain take on the form of a humanoid and attack me! what could be causing this?
Jonah sits down next to Tonny and Splits, interested in their conversation, though clearly the least knowledgeable about the situation.
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"Well, we're not that far away from the Eye of Abendego," Tonny muses, eyes still shut from exhaustion. "It could be a storm spun off from the main hurricane, though we're a bit far away for it to have made it here with so much energy. Professor Thornebrooke would say it's a vengeful deity angry that civilization is encroaching on the untamed wilderness, but he also puts both the sock and boot on one foot before attending to the other, so you have to take his opinions with a grain of salt." He snorts softly. "Or a spoonful. It would certainly take powerful magic to create such a storm out of thin air though."
I don't know much about magic. is a powerful magic storm something that could spawn naturally, or does that automatically mean that some evil wizard is creating these storms on purpose?
The druid looks thoughtful, "Perhaps not a wizard but it is not out of the realm of possibility."
Facing Jonah he bluntly asks, "So you come to hunt the fauna of the area? Tell me you have some other purpose than just the thrill of the hunt."
Ingolf weighed in, "I grew up in Port Peril. It gets its fair share of storms, but water elementals attacking the city during a storm? Never heard of anything like that!"
Exhausted but relieved that they no longer have to brave the storm, Adriana slowly goes to check on all their recent rescues, taking an extra moment to be sure Amil is alright before shedding what clothing she can and letting them dry by the fire, her last stop to check on Splits and offer healing should he need it; they'd all taken a battering in their rescue missions.
With little else to give Adriana simply slumps to her knees nearby and it takes a second for her to catch up to the conversation at hand.
"I am here because...there is nowhere else for me to go." She says simply, her voice as tired as her body. She hopes she doesn't sound disinterested but can't fight off the exhaustion she's feeling.
"I knew of the storms, and the Eye. The troll was unleasant, the elementals too. I'm guessing that doesn't happen often?"
Rosemary cleans herself in Jonah's hat while one of the Longroad halflings that regent the Stone Hall inn look for a proper place for Ebba to lay down.
Jonah, and anyone else checking around, notices behind the current quietness people are tense, and some of them notably scared.
Splits finds a calm corner and studies some of the magical objects for a time, bringing to you the juicy results of his findings. The old man unrolls a scroll and produces a few berries that quickly revitalize him. That, coupled with Adriana's healing, fully heal the druid.
While the conversation livens up, the storm rages outside. Successive cracks of thunder echo across the settlement.