Tobias helps pull Earthsong out of the river and back onto the pylon, where they can carefully finish crossing. Earthsong is soaking wet with streaks of dirt on her.
The path continues after the river through denser jungle. More flies and mosquitoes follow you, annoying you.
Eventually you push your way into a clearing. A terrible stench fills the jungle here, a fetid odor of cheap perfume and rotting flesh. A huge tree stands in the middle of the clearing, draped with some sort of huge tent. Lurid, painted faces cover both the tree trunk and tent, and both are decorated with rotting humanoid body parts and carpets of squirming insects.
If being wet and dirty bothered the elf woman, she didn't show it as the band made their way deeper into the island.
She swats at the random biting insect as the group finds the clearing. "Signs of habitation. Certainly not civilization." She opines. Wondering about the area, she puts her bow in hand and eyes the clearing.
Rosanne casts Mage armor on herself as the group enter the clearing. "The smell alone suggests whoever lives here is unpleasant!"
"Assuming they're alive. Which they may not be."
Tobias draws his rapier. "Oh, Besmara. Please let Sandara be alive and well", the young sailor laments.
"Tashika ni warui chōkō (bad omens indeed)" he says keeping his hand to the scabbard of his sword, ready to draw it, "Keep close by."
Tobias gets a bit of itchy skin from a few of the mosquito and bug bites today.
Earthsong notices some movement of shadows inside the filthy dwelling. There is an entrance to the tent around to your right.
"We are not alone," the elf woman notes, speaking softly. She points at the tent entrance. 'Inside' she mouths.
If no one else move forward, Tobias takes the point and quietly enters the dwelling.
Tobias creeps forward, around to the entrance of the tent and peers in. Inside he can see 3 woman, lying down, trying to avoid the heat of the day. Their skin is pale and gaunt and they look a bit worse for wear. The must have been marooned here some time ago. The contents of the tent appear to have come from a ship. The bunks they lie on, chests of clothes, rotting food and a broken water barrel.
One of them manages to see Tobias creep up and she jerkily turns her head and body to stare at him. The other two haven't noticed. Each of the women are dressed scandalously and their silk clothes are ripped, revealing a fair amount of gaunt, pale skin. Other furnishments adorning the tent suggest that these women were once ship's whores.
Tobias gets the feeling these women might be undead, so Tobias holds a finger to his lips and steps back out of the the tent.
Turning to the others, the young sailor says, "Trouble."
"Trouble?" speaks the aged Minkian as he keeps vigilante, unnerved by the sights of this dwelling. He had seen terrible mutilation in warfare but not like this. These were mackerel of some terrible form.
"Define for us 'trouble', so we can decide how to proceed," the elf woman asks in a low whisper.
"Possible undead. Most likely undead considering the surroundings. Be damn surprised if they come out into the sunlight." Tobias said quietly, still backing away from the entryway.
"Bypass them and risk them engaging us at night, or deal with them now?" She asks quietly.
"Burn it all. This filth is a blasphemy against life... though Besmara does not shun such, it with my own conscious they be cleaned of their curse," he says with a grimace. Besmara didn't indeed shun undeath, but his own cultural beliefs conflicted with his newer religious beliefs.
"Can we burn the hut with them in it? Should we? There might be supplies we can use within. Thoughts?"
The woman that noticed Tobias stands up and walks seductively to the entrance of the tent. She looks at Tobias, inviting him in the share in a good time with her.
Jacques sniffs. "My magic might be used to enthrall one of these creatures, but it hardly seems worth it if they will cease to serve us as soon as they leave the tent."
The woman that noticed Tobias stands up and walks seductively to the entrance of the tent. She looks at Tobias, inviting him in the share in a good time with her.
Tobias wags a finger at the seductive woman. "No. No! My mother warned me about girls like you."
Rosanne wrinkles her nose and makes sure she's back a few steps from the entrance. She is awaiting the sudden and inevitable attack.
Amuro spits on the other direction, "Baka," he speaks.
The druidess eyes Amuro, one eyebrow raised. "In Taldane that means what?"
"Idiot," the ronin cleric says, thinking it vile to carouse with the undead, especially ones as deadly as they appeared to be given their horrible abode.
"Ah. Agreed. Still, put them down now or not?" She keeps her arrow loose but ready to draw and fire.
"Perhaps we should destroy this revolting tent?" Tobias theorized. "If we destroy their one sanctuary from the sun, they'll be very vunerable."
"This seems to be the consensus. So shall we?"
Tobias pulls out a torch from his backpack along with his flint and steel. The young sailor lights the torch and begins to set the tent on fire.
The woman seems disappointed that Tobias has turned her down. Trying again to get him to come inside she parts the torn dress, showing almost all of her pale leg. The other two women have noticed people outside and they too come to the entrance to entice the men inside. One looking at Jacques and one at Amuro. None of them have spoken or responded to your words. To you all they look human and not undead.
When Tobias lights his torch, the intent is evident and the women's attitudes change. In defense of their home they let out an inhuman screech and rush out to stop Tobias.
The woman that had first noticed Tobias is first to move, she rushes to Tobias and tries to bite him! They come out into the sun and are not affected by it at all.
The young sailor drops his lit torch and quick drew his rapier and dagger. Tobias retaliates against the sea siren.
Rosanne nods, seemingly happy her pessimistic view has been proven right. She takes aim at the Whore fighting Toby. "It's nice to be popular with the ladies." She smirks.
Amuro draws his weapon as he takes a step forward, coldly slashing out as he draws his blade.
Tobias quickly tries to strike the women but is unlucky this time. He also gets a whiff of the woman's stench. A disgusting mix of rot and strong perfume fighting to cover it up. These women are definitely undead as you suspected.
A crossbow bolt flies over Tobias' shoulder, missing the woman.
Amuro steps forwards and attacks the woman just inside the tent. His blade slices away the front of her dress and into her flesh, destroying her disguise and revealing green and black patches of rotting skin. She shrieks.
The third woman runs towards Jacques, screeching at the top of her lungs until the moment she tries to bite him.
This humanoid creature has long, sharp teeth, and its pallid flesh is stretched tightly over its starved frame. Ghouls have a deadly touch. They can paralyze with a touch and give a nasty disease that can kill and bring your body back as a ghoul.
Initiative: Rosanne, Amuro, Tobias - ghoul3 - Jacques, Earthsong - ghoul2, ghoul1
Battle Map
Earthsong snaps off a shot at Amuro's foe, her skill letting her ignore his movements to try to pick off the undead creature.
Jacques takes a step back from the once-woman in front of him and fires off his pistol at her.
The bullet does some damage, tearing away rotten flesh.
An arrow from Earthsong also pierces her target. Unfazed by the damage and devoid of the sense of pain, the ghouls keep attacking.
A claw scratches Amuro, wounding him slightly. Thankfully his elven blood renders him immune to ghoul paralysis.
Tobias is also clawed and must fight off the paralysis.
Rosanne, Amuro, Tobias - ghoul3 - Jacques, Earthsong - ghoul2, ghoul1
Battle Map
Rosanne shoots at Ghoul 3.
Rosanne shoots a bolt over the third ghoul's head.
Amuro has more success and cuts off the head of the second ghoul and moves toward Tobias. Tobias realises he can't move and stands there frozen on the spot, now helpless to defend himself from the ghoul.
The third ghoul continues to chase Jacques and claws at him.
Jacques resists the paralyzing effect and stabs back with his rapier.
Nocking another arrow, the druidess opens fire on the same ghoul as before. But her aim is poor, to say the least.
The ghoul that paralysed Tobias now grabs him and pulls him back into the tent with her, dodging the sword swing from Amuro.
Rosanne will move up beside Amuro and shoot at the Ghoul dragging Toby away. "Look, he's taken. And you should buy him dinner first!"
While Jacques is again struck by a claw from the ghoul and this time paralyzed and unable to fight back any more, Amuro chases after Tobias and his captor. A swift cut decapitates her before she can bite into Tobias' soft face. The ship's whore is no longer able to bring a new lover into undeath with her. Tobias, eyes frozen open this whole time, will not join the undead ranks today.
"These things have the devil's own luck," the druidess curses as her arrow flies wide.
Surprised she had actually hit something Rosanne doesn't question her luck and shoots at Ghoul3 before it can harm Jacques anymore.
An arrow and bolt whistle past the last remaining ghoul. It looks about to take a chunk out of Jacques before Amuro rushes up behind her and thrusts his sword straight through her skull, killing her again, for good this time.
The ghouls are dealt with and in time Jacques and Tobias are able to move again.
The rotten smelling tent holds the possessions of the late whip's whores who were well treated and well paid in their station. Though their dresses and clothes are no longer the quality they used to be there are still some valuables remaining underneath the filth.
A potion of cure moderate wounds in a leather hip flask depicting a crocodile (worth 25 gp itself).
Three very sharp, oft-used daggers (one of which is masterwork)
A chest containing six flasks of alchemist’s fire
Two barrels of very cheap perfume worth 25 gp each
A wedding dress inlaid with pearls and set with three tiny rubies (gems worth 400 gp, dress worthless)
A whalebone corset set with mother-of-pearl inlays worth 20 gp
A dozen silver hatpins set with tiny obsidians worth 5 gp each
Scattered gems and coins worth a total of 350gp.
There is also a diary. Some pages are tattered and destroyed but some remain from the time before the women were ghouls. After they were shipwrecked here some while ago, the ghouls their ship was transporting has escaped onto the island after the shipwreck. A stockade was constructed for protection. Soon the ghouls were found and destroyed and the crew built farms and huts on the north beach to await rescue that never came. The last legible entry describes one of the 3 women named Chelsea had become sick from a bug bite that first seemed to rot her flesh around the bite before she succumbed and died.
"That is concerning!" Rosanne speaks with some worry after struggling through the remains of the diary. "Does an insect that carries some sort of undead plague sound familiar to you Earthsong?" She asks the new crewmember.