"Sara, well, she has - had - oh, I don't know..." He needs a few moments to compose himself, "red hair and freckles and kind of a Taldan nose. She was almost as tall as me, athletic. She laughs a lot and likes to explore, that's how we met..."
He responds also to Ischell's words, "It was three weeks ago. Nothing fancy, we couldn't afford that. Sara wanted to go back to Blackcove for a visit, she grew up there, to see some old friends, visit the wedding rock - blast that accursed place! - and she said she needed to transplant a flower to our new home as well. Something from her parents' place." He sniffs and stares out over the sea, "We met when she got lost. She was cut off by the tide. I rescued her, I suppose." His face lights, just a little, "She promised to repay me with anything I asked. I asked if I could take her to a dance." He looks up at you with a sad smile, "She was perfect, my Sara."
___
You follow the fisherman's directions and after a few hours trudging through narrow footpaths, you catch sight of the village.
Hidden from the coastal road by overhanging cliffs, the battered homes and hovels of this ramshackle fishing village cling precariously to the coastline, tightly nestled among the rocky crags. The tall, worn, stone tower of a lighthouse perches on a natural jetty that intrudes rudely into the surf, breaking the waves at awkward angles. Old boats tug gently against several rough wooden piers as hard rain pelts the coastline.
A path winds down the cliff to the village and as you arrive you get a great sense of silence and emptiness. No voices greet you and little seems to move beyond the action of the wind. A road winds through the village and, as you follow it, a house to your left creaks sharply and one wall almost peels away. Within you see the body of a creature, perhaps a man? Then the wind shifts and the wall sways loosely back. It flaps in the wind and encloses the interior on darkness.
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"This place is a mess. A ruin almost." Castinus gets ready to yell out loud, hailing the town to see who responds, but halts when he catches sight of the body in the ramshackle house. "Is this trouble?"
He draws his rapier and ventures closer to the swaying wall, hoping to catch another look into the home when the wind pulls the wall open once again...
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Ischell bides his time before finding a side moment to address the other pathfinders. "Something ain't right about these stories. And the flower bit... what are the chances it was the flower we were looking for? Dude, I know Reggy was probably joking and all, but that dude might have, like, married a sea hag for real! Or at least her kid or something. That's crazy!"
Robbyn sees that the foundation is cracked and the wooden wall is hanging on by a handful of crooked nails.
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"Uh, guys... come take a look at this." Castinus, rapier in hand, quaffs an extract then pries the sagging wooden panels wider to step into the dilapidated hovel.
He pauses for a movemnt, casting a careful and attentive eye across the alchemical lab...
...before his focus shifts to the half-formed aberration in the glass tube.
"Two messed up events so far - what odds there is more to find here? Something is wrong..."
If you need a lab, you could use this one. It has a 50% chance of granting a +1 bonus, rather than the usual +2.
You do find two scrolls which seem to be intact.
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Castinus beckons the others inside, to examine the lab and the dead homunculous. He glances through the scrolls, hoping to find alchemical recipes...
If they are of no use to him he shrugs and passes them to either of the two witches outside. "Can you use these?"
In the absence of other discoveries, Castinus will proceed deeper into the abandoned hamlet, rapier drawn. He pauses; "There - the shrine on the outcrop above the town. Maybe we can get a view across this village from there. Get some perspective on what has happened."
If the others agree, he would seek to walk to the steps (A4) and cautiously ascend.
Castinus identifies both scrolls as being marked with Comprehend Languages.
Parvaaz, the large Roc, seems to be uncomfortable in this eerily silent town.
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Castinus offers one of the 'comprehend languages' scrolls to either of the witches and takes the other.
Turning to Aaftaab and Ischell, he nods in agreement, "Right - then let's get to that stairway to climb to a viewpoint over the hamlet, to see what's going on here. And at the same time, he looks at Parvaaz, could the Roc take a few low passes over the town to see if there is anyone alive, or if we have any hostiles to worry about?
Castinus weaves his way through the town, toward the steps. As he skirts a dry-stone wall, the croaking of a wounded pelican disturbs the quiet. Investigations reveal several toppled cottages in a row, perhaps damaged by recent storms, which show no evidence of attempts at repair.
DC 15 Knowledge (nature)
The wounded pelican is perched atop a precariously leaning chimney at the end of this row of houses.
Mist and Ischell hear a loud clatter comes from within a nearby cottage, hinting at life inside.
altar draped in seaweed and adorned with cowrie shells and urchin spines. DC 15 Knowledge (religion)
You notice little activity in the village and the boats on the sea seem overcrowded. You do notice faces looking up at you from within the lighthouse.
For a second, you glimpse what could be a loitering villager on the distant, decaying docks. A moment later, the figure disappears into the waves.
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"By Iori - these are... " he calls the attention of the others to the claw marks in the beam, "This may be one answer to the riddle of an empty village. These scratches here - see? they are the scarring caused by the tentacles of a giant sea squid. I would recognise it anywhere - I saw one once, at the Grand Lodge, in a memory glass acquired by the Society, of an old Chelaxian pirate and explorer. I forget his name... but I would not forget the sight of these tentacles in a hurry." He shudders, but pulls one of the hooks and wraps it in cloth , tucking it away in his pack for posterity.
It is then that the clatter is heard, nearby...
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"But, my dear..." he pauses, for just a moment, and his tone settles into something more far more formal than you have heard since the very beginning. "If this is what my honor calls me too, then I shall gladly assume my duties. Stand back, I would hate for some ill to fall upon you on my account"
Dropping her arm, the now full postured Ischell strides confidently up to the door- testing it a moment before flinging it open.
"Never fear, it was simply some sand and some crabs- strange as that sounds, my dear. Appears they left in a hurry, though it seems unlike any shanty I have ever been in. You just have to come and see what they have done with the place!"
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"If the village was attacked by a giant squid, why would all the townsfolk be out on the water?" Reginald wonders out loud. "You'd think that would be the last place they'd want to go after being attacked by something from the sea. Unless... it was a giant land squid!" Quickly he begins to survey the ground for squid tracks that might lead towards either the ocean or the land.
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Aaftaab returns to the team.
“Team, I noticed little activity in the village and the boats on the sea seem overcrowded. I noticed faces looking up at me from within the lighthouse.
For a second, I glimpsed what could be a loitering villager on the distant, decaying docks. (A1). A moment later, the figure disappeared into the waves!“
He looks at Parvaaz.
”I followed the man in the water but couldn’t see any trace of the person on the dock. But I saw someone approaching the dock from the lighthouse. They peered up at me and waved their arms, trying to attract my attention!“
He looks at the team.
“I think we should visit the docks and then the lighthouse!“
You weave through the town's streets until you are close to the shore. A man stands at the edge of the wharf, staring out to sea. When you draw near, he wanders over to you.
An aging, ugly man with distorted features and a keen shipman’s axe tucked in his belt, he wears the badge of the town’s constable. As you draw near, he whistles with arched brows, “Bah! Poor catch again! Something stirs the deeps, and the fish flee in fear! We haven’t had catches this poor in years!”
The man’s gaze remains out to sea. He flicks something away from his face, ”Got to get the catch in. The boats don’t like to be left behind.”
He slaps Robyyn familiarly on the shoulder, as one would an old friend, "All of this we will discuss this evening, at the lighthouse, when the ships come in."
Then the man strides purposefully away, into the rows of houses.
As you walk around to the path leading up the cliffside, you see the only boat that is not on the water. A grounded keelboat lies buried in the sand. Large piles of washed-up junk, nets, glass floats and other debris litter the beach here.
+1 vs traps
As you ascend the cliffside, you realise that you are approaching some kind of temple.
Before you can draw too near, a young woman comes down the steps toward you, followed by four other villagers, "Stop there, if you please, the Temple of Asmodeus is closed to visitors."