Des was unfortunately too freaked out by the skulls to figure out much about them. Equally disturbing was the note Seadreamer gave them.
"I guess we know where the cannibals came from," Des shudders. "I don't know much about a Nylithati. She could be anything from this description."
Sunny skips back, having deposited a load of rubbish well outside.
She glances at the leather thing Seadreamer's holding and listens to her friends.
"Nil-ith-arty were a Cleric, though? She were part a tha' crew, like?" Sunny tilts her blond mop. "These 'Chill-axians'? Whut kind'a people's is they?" She asks.
"Either devil worshipers or little more than willing slaves," Shaedeen answers Sunny, a hint of bitterness or disdain in her voice. "Their queen or whatever title she goes by allied with Hell to win a civil war right after Aroden died."
Sunny blinks at Shaedeen's explanation.
Uhhhh... which way does that work?" She obviously lost something in the translation.
"Is that Nill-ithy-party? or tha' Chilly-Axians?" She asks.
"Chelaxians," Shaedeen replies, gently correcting Sunny's pronunciation. "I was born there but luckily got out while I was still a child. I don't have a lot of memories about the place, and the ones that I do have aren't particularly pleasant."
Sunny nods, "Right! Chelax-Ians is tha' devil worshipin' slavery one." She nods again, then looks all concerned. Stepping closer to offer a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder.
"Ye is all okeys, then?" Sunny asks, concerned. Then she blinks.
"But then, this other Lass? Nill-Ith-Party? She were a Chlax-Ian as well, right? Like all'a tha' peoples from on'a ship we seen?" Sunny looks to the rest of her friends.
"Is that mean she got ta' rilly lookin' out fer these demon things? Is that why these folks is all... 'Bity'?" She asks/wonders aloud.
"She could be worshipping a lot of deities," The blonde shrugged. "Desperate people would cling to anyone for survival, even the absolute worst beings who ask you to do unspeakable things. Of course the easiest way is to ask her ourselves, but she'd probably either want us to join them in or be their food."
Aye, those that will do evil, will justify it any way they can. If they get the support of one of the deities that suits them, all the better for them
He continues to make the cave homey and gets a small fire going for heat and cooking.
"Hmpf," Reijo grunts after Seadreamer reads the journal aloud.
"Bloody walkers and savages from the bloody hellhole of the world... and a bloody devil-witch dominatin'em. Sounds like a fun mornin', eh?"
Scratching his goatee, Reijo puffs his pipe as the others talk more.
Eventually he chimes in.
"Right. Get yerselves ready then. We approach with the next rain fall."
Sunny does her best to help make the cave comfortable and everyone's stay there restful in preparations for the coming day's exploring/sneaking.
Seadreamer pauses.
Well, give me a bit of time in the morning, and I will be ready to go.
He continues to get himself as comfortable as he can, including stripping out of his armour.
That night, safe in the old cave…
You’re sitting down in the galley aboard the Throaty Mermaid, then the Jenivere, then back again, getting ready for your meal.
Captain Kovack cheerfully sitting at the head of the table, his yeoman/girlfriend Azuretta draped across his shoulders.
The ship’s cook has given you a steaming bowl of soup, but you drop your spoon.
You see that the deck below is covered with seawater up to your ankles, but that is completely normal.
Then your dropped spoon sinks into the water and washes out to sea through a hole.
You’re forced to lift your delicious bowl of soup to your lips and drink.
But something big goes into your mouth as you do so, and you feel a sharp bite on your tongue.
You drop the bowl, only to reveal a serpent had hidden in your soup that now dangles from your tongue as it chews furiously.
You start awake, biting your own tongue in an attempt to bite through the snake’s body. It takes you a few seconds to realize it was just a nightmare and stop.
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Shaedeen awakens, thrashing madly, one hand going to her mouth and checking for blood. Then she calms down.
"Stoopid dweam! Stoopid, stoopid dweam!"
That night, safe in the old cave…
Dreams; You’re sitting down in the galley aboard the Throaty Mermaid, then the Jenivere, then back again, getting ready for your meal.
Captain Kovack cheerfully sitting at the head of the table, his yeoman/girlfriend Azuretta draped across his shoulders.
The ship’s cook has given you a steaming bowl of soup, but you drop your spoon.You see that the deck below is covered with seawater up to your ankles, but that is completely normal.
Then your dropped spoon sinks into the water and washes out to sea through a hole.
You’re forced to lift your delicious bowl of soup to your lips and drink.
But something big goes into your mouth as you do so, and you feel a sharp bite on your tongue.
You drop the bowl, only to reveal a serpent had hidden in your soup that now dangles from your tongue as it chews furiously.
You start awake, biting your own tongue in an attempt to bite through the snake’s body.[/i]It takes you a few seconds to realize it was just a nightmare and stop.
(>_<)
(O_o)
"GAH!" Sunny bounces awake.
"Nope, nope, nope, NOPE!" She flails about for but a few moments as her mind catches back up with wakefulness... She looks around,
Noticing the reactions of her friends. She frowns and looks to huddle closer to any one willing.
"I am rilly startin' ta' be not likin' this place..." She grouses.
Flailing and rolling around, Seadreamers axe powers into the dirt even before he wakes up.
He brings his hands up to his mouth as he lets go of his axe when the pain finally registers.
Quietly so as to not bother the others sleep.
Trudds beard on a cracker, that was one off dream
He sits up, looks around and then sheepishly pulls his axe out of the dirt and sets it beside himself.
He then looks around as he tries to convince himself that it was just a dream.
He responds to Sunny.
Aye that it is. Will be glad to depart no matter what.
Des wakes up with a jolt, lifting her back off the ground and panting heavily while taking note of everyone's other reactions.
"Same dream?" She asked. It seemed that way, to which she shook her head.
"That's not a good sign... unless you say finding the source of these dreams is a good idea. You don't need to follow Desna to know that." Nodding to Seadreamer, she got herself up and set off on their journey.
Sunny also rises. Helping people gather their stuff in preparation for the coming excursion to the nearby tribe's redoubt. She moves to walk beside Des.
"Wait? Dreams can come from places?" She whispers, sounding some what confused. Though the night's disturbed sleep might also be affecting the tanned Elf.
The oracle's head turned from side to side, as if trying to get the right words out of her head. "Well... the same dreams can sometimes occur to different people at the same time. In that case it's a decent chance where it might end up being true."
During his morning Watch, Seadreamer takes the time to run a whetstone over his axes.
He then stokes up the fire, and cleans up his gear while someone else cooks.
He will then spend about an hour while people get ready and eat to pray for his spells. After that, he will clean up the pots and pans used, and stow them.
Once all of that is done, he heads out with the rest.
Seadreamer settles into the second slot behind whomever is scouting.
Shaedeen frowns at Des's words, not liking the implications. "I hate this stupid island!" she mutters to anyone who might be listening. Regardless of who cooks what for breakfast, the young rogue takes tiny bites as if suspicious that live snake might be a hidden ingredient.
Shaedeen hangs back a bit, keeping watch on the party's rear to make sure no enemy creeps up behind them.
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Reijo awakens, taking a moment to find himself strangling a cervical spine from one of the dead skeletons in the cave. He also finds the skull, detached, lying next to him, and a headless, neckless skeleton to his other side.
"SON OV'A SMALL-BALLED BUGBEAR!" he curses aloud of a bugbear born against all odds. As his gravelly voice reverberates from the cave walls, he angrily throws the vertebrae against the wall and jumps to his feet.
After hearing the conversation of the others, he concludes:
"A bloody witch be sendin' us nightmares, she be..."
"...which means: they're bloody onto us."
He reaches for his pipe and lights up, chilling a couple of notches as he contemplates this new discovery.
Sunny prepares to head out into the (Morning?) rain with everyone to take a peak into the bad people's compound.
"You think so?" Shaedeen asks Reijo. "I mean, with all the ghosts swimming in the surf, I figured they might be responsible...or maybe the whole island's cursed! I have no idea what a snake coming out of a bowl of soup to bite your tongue might symbolize...assuming it even has some hidden meaning."
I am thinking it is either the method she died, or she gained power, and killed the crew
After taking a few more puffs, Reijo contemplates Shaedeen's and Seadreamer's hypotheses for a moment.
"Hmpf. Could be that too," he admits.
Gathering himself for the walk, Reijo adds, "Whatever it be meanin' or not, it don't matter. The sooner we chop the witch's head off, the sooner we get off this bloody shytehole of an island."
For emphasis, he pats the boarding axe at his side.
"Lets move out."
Sunny pads along, not minding the rains, doing her best to be both quiet and helpful.
"I get why we's all unhappy about losing' friends an' missin' tha' boat an' all. But why'd there has ta' be a snek in'a thing?" Sunny muses."Whut'd any snek ever do ta' us?"
Still somewhat disturbed by the peculiar dream last night, No-Eyes served up a breakfast of typically delicious fare.
Following your plan, you waited until mid morning, when the clouds piled up and unleashed another tropical downpour.
Slipping and sliding, barely able to see, you are nonetheless able to scramble down the cliffside to the shoreline and then follow it around the bay until you reached a cluster of rocks, then climbed up onto the peninsula. There you come across the trail leading up to the fort, and are able to close the distance before the sun dawns and the heat causes you to burst out in a sweat again.
You are able to take concealment where the jungle line ends about twenty yards from the walls of the fort.
While you watch you hear sounds of a celebration inside; the sound of drums, cheering and the smell of cooking ham.
It seemed like every two hours a party of eight cannibal warriors leave and walk down the trail to the island interior, and another two hours a different party of eight returns to the fort, claps twice at the entrance and is let in.
The unfinished lighthouse tower juts above the fort.
You don't see any watchers along the pointed tops of the palisade.
Sunny slips cautiously closer to the camp.
Carefully checking the wooden palisade,
Before attempting to climb the wooden barrier for a peek inside.
Shaedeen is taken off-guard when Sunny is the first to try to attempt to climb the palisade to get a peek inside. "MY job!" the teen growls under her breath as she creeps to another section of the wall and attempts to shimmy up it. The recent rains have made the palisade slick, however, and the girl can't find any purchase, try though she might.
Des hesitates to go at first. "I'll let you know... sneaking's never been my strong point."
I wouldnt know how to sneak if it came up and bit me in the arse
He pulls out the rope and grapnel and offers it to one of the 2 climbing the walls.
"We could disguise ourselves, knock twice ta get in..." Reijo ponders as he carefully observes how the cannibal party gained entry.
But his plan is scattered to the stars when he spots Sunny halfway off towards the fort already.
"Need ta get a bloody leash fer that one," Reijo grunts on seeing Sunny chase off towards the fort. Grabbing Seadreamer's grappling hook and rope without further comment, he leaves it to the imagination whether he intends to use it for the wall or for Sunny.
"Bloody nine hells then," he remarks as he begins a furtive foot it to the fort after Shaedeen. He manages to get across the 20 yards to the fort wall near Shaedeen in time to catch the teen as she slips.
Tossing the grapple up, he secures it to the top of the palisade near where Sunny is. "Try this, love" he remarks as he takes the lead and swiftly climbs the rope in a short moment, leaving the dangling rope for the girl.
"That could work... but I don't really play the part that well," she smirked... then frowned away when Sunny already made her way.
"If you can find out the situation and return, we may still be able to do the disguise idea."
OVERVIEW MAP
Sunny, Shaedeen and Reijo sprint across the open ground to the bottom of the palisaide, then are able to climb up and peek over the top without apparent alarm.
You see several cannibals milling around the center of the village, sitting at trestle tables and eating their fill. Looks like it might be a celebration. The sound of drums and screams and laughter pierce the air.
Over by the gate, a cannibal slouches, bored out of his skull.
Nearby, chained to a tree is a large bearded lizard; apparently another guardian.
Daft Bloody Idjits
Seadreamer mutters to himself, as they others run across the opening.
He then turns to Destinie.
I guess we can wait here, until we are needed.
(1) 'Water' blue is obviously 'Cliff'?
(2) Where is/are the party peeking over the wall? South or East?
(3) How 'Wild' or 'Tame' is the lizard? If it gets free, will it seek snuggles or sustenance?
It wasn't something she would like, but there wasn't much either of them could do. With how bad the two of them are at stealth, going in would probably make things worse. The best thing they could do was wait, and she nodded to Seadreamer's response.
"Let's hope that's not the case," she sighed.
Sunny drops nimbly off the palisade and scampers over to her friends.
"Come on. They's makin' waaaay too much nose fer them ta' be hearin' ye selfs.' She assures Des and Dreamer. Though she does help them across the slick and slippery rain-soaked ground.
Before crouching at the base of the wall and whispering a description of what she's seen to her friends. (^_^)
Seadreamer tries to follow Sunnys directions.
But he proves hopelessly inept as he tries to cross the roadway to where Sunny and the rest are.
"If you say so..." Des decides to try her best to sneak along with Sunny.
And she has just as much luck sneaking as Seadreamer did.
Sunny is completely supportive of her friend's efforts.
(^_^)
Shaedeen assesses the situation. "Try to take out the gatekeeper first, then maybe fireball the group at the table?" she asks in a whisper, woefully overestimating what the new party members might be capable of.
"Hmm...Plan B then. What if we charmed the guard, asked if they're keeping prisoners in one of the huts, and rescue and arm them first? Looks like we might need all the help we can get if we're to take this place in one go. Rescue-and-retreat might be a viable Plan C."
Sunny nods at Shaedeen's words,
"Aye. Seein' these peoples, I can right understand me Cousin's words a 'The world would be so much simpler if we could fire-ball all the problems.'."
Sunny peers at the layout of the compound,
"Like, if we could git ta' other side of that building nearest the wall there," She points to the sort of 'bulged' building.
"We could kind'a use it ta' force them ta' only be able ta' come at us from one direction?" She offers.
"Also, makin' sure that skink dun't come try an' eat us. That's be a good thing." She finishes.
Problem with rescue and retreat, is that gives them time to execute the prisoners. But yes, getting them away from cannibals is a solid first choice.