Hana pursed her lips when Seishin mentions setting off at night. "Going into the marsh at night feels like a ripe invitation to get ambushed by the Licktoads," she cautions, knowing full well how devastating and chaotic a night attack could be. "Plus, I doubt going out then will do us any favors personally unless Seishin has enough magic to make us all see in the dark."
The kunoichi gave the cleric of the moon a sympathetic look. The samsaran had likely already saved their lives with his healing magic, but she highly doubted that he'd be able to bless them all night vision and have access to other spells. "It's like I said, we should give it a couple hours and wait until the sun begins to fall. Two or three hours before dusk sounds about right."
Walthus returns from the upstairs, looking at the group. "As I said earlier, you're all welcome to stay until tomorrow - until dusk is not a problem. Let me grab you some food and water, and then I'll get started on the map."
Yuto nods to Seishin listening interested while he eats some of the food brought by Walthus "It would be great to have the Moon blessings, but you are right Hana, night is going to give advantage to goblins. Moving on during evening and dusk is our best chance"
"It... it seems going back to the main road will take us a lot of time. And... and the trail is likely the best guarded entrance to the goblin village... On his books Tamura Benjiro always remember us the art of winning war is to strike where your foes do not expect you to be" to the halfling he asks "Do... do you think it is feasible for us to ford the streams and arrive to the village from the back?"
"It... it can also give us a chance to explore where that shipwreck might be"
Walthus ponders the question. "Well, fording the river itself is out of the question - it's far too deep to wade across. You could swim for it, though. The Soggy River's not exactly rapids, so it should be easy even for those of you wearing armor. It might even keep you cooler!" He grins. [b]"There are some streams that you might be able to wade through - though Miss Torra would probably have to swim even through those... but I don't think there are any on the way to their encampment from here.
Teruko bites her lip at the mention of swimming. "I'm not much of a swimmer, I have to admit." She has a vague idea of how swimming works, but it wasn't something Lonjiku had ever bothered to teach her. Or let anyone else teach her, for that matter. Unwilling to be the reason they have to go all the way around, she quickly adds, "I am willing to try. Just...I might need some help."
Eager to change the subject, she smiles at Walthus. "Mr. Proudstump, are there any other hazards you think we should watch out for? Other than the goblins, of course."
Walthus looks up from his work on the ‘map.’ ”Hm… now that you mention it, a week ago, I came across the torn corpse of a rat. Not normally an issue, of course, but… It was bitten by some sort of jaws like I’ve never seen before. I can’t really describe it, but it was like the bottom jaw was split in two. It was the strangest thing…” He says to Teruko, apparently lost in his memories for the moment.
Hana looks towards Teruko with sympathy as she admits her issue with the swimming plan. "I'm not much of swimmer either, sad to say," she admits sardonically, a fragile smile on her face.
In other circumstances she would have tried to infiltrate Licktoad Village through stealth, but with four other compatriots with her who were likely not as versed in the art of shinobi-iri such an option seemed infeasible. Hana sighs and looks towards the others. "I'm willing to take a chance on it as well with a little help."
The hours pass by slowly, as the party eats, discusses, and rests until dusk is only a few hours away. Just before everyone gets up to leave, Walthus stops them. "Ah, I nearly forgot. I want to offer you a gift for helping me out of that somewhat sticky situation.” He scrambles up the stairs. ”Wait just a moment, please!” He calls back down.
After about a minute, Walthus returns, a brown cloak in his hands. ”This cloak has a handy little enchantment that helps you avoid or resist certain dangers… though,” he says ruefully, ”it didn’t do much for me against Vakrin. In any case, it’s er, a bit small for you all, but I don’t think that will affect the magic.”
"Ah, that's a good question, are there any other remarkable locations in the marsh Walthus San? Or any dangerous creature we should know about?" Yuto remarks Teruko's question.
"Do... do not worry, I am a fair swimmer myself. Mo... mother often made me go an catch fish at the Turandarok" the young man adjusts the armor a bit bothered "I would just need to remove this to be more free, but otherwise I can help you cross with ease. Maybe even set a rope line, that would help a lot. I think"
"The cloak is nice, thanks a lot, friend" Yuto nods and explains he is ready to move on.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The heroes leave Walthus' home as he bids them farewell, the muggy heat of the day smacking them square in their faces as they exit. Fortunately, it's less hot than it was several hours ago. However, as they turn their attentions back to the bog, the sunlight from above Sog's Bay casts deep shadows into the Marsh itself. It will not be long before the humans will need lights to see clearly.
Once they reach the Soggy River's shore (and the campsite that Torra and Yuto had discovered earlier), the group carefully prepares for the swim over. Yuto goes first, carrying one end of a rope, while the other remains in the hands of the others. Within a few minutes, each of the adventurers comes out of the Soggy River soaked and covered with some algae.
Here, without any paths in sight, the Marsh shows its true hostility, and undergrowth harries the heroes at every turn, tugging on their clothes and feet, poking them with thorns, and just plain getting in the way.
Seishin briefly enjoys the relief offered by the Soggy River before getting back into marching order.
Yuto picks algae fragments and removes them slowly from himself "Aren't we concealed with the environ now?" the young man chuckles.
"Le-let's see... with all these reed around it is difficult to orientate ourselves... Walthus said the village is in the middle of the island, by the southern edge" Yuto examines the map, he has preserved it on his waterprotected bag before crossing "I-I think... the safest way to make sure we don't get too lost is to keep going south in a straight line. Then once we reach the next stream of water, we turn left, and follow the shore until we find traces of the goblins"
"If we find the shripwreck in our way, then we decide if we approach to take a look, depending on how do we see the situation. Tha-that's my opinion"
The brief dip in the flowing water is a welcome respite from the heat, but the high humidity means that their clothes do not dry for some time. Torra suffers in silence as they progress through the marsh, feeling as soggy as the river. "Why is it named the Soggy River, anyway? How can a river be soggy? That's like saying water is wet. Doesn't make sense."
She keeps looking around for tracks, signs or any hint of a path. "Alright, south to the village. If the Shields are there, they need help quickly."
Torra does, in fact, pick the tracks of the Battered Shield up once more - rather easily, in fact. They lead southeast, down the peninsula, at the moment. No hint of a path, unfortunately.
"Ah, here. The Battered Shields came this way." Torra points out tracks in the moist terrain that hadn't yet completely filled with water.
"That's great Torra! Let's follow them, I can hardly see a better way forward" Yuto points out enthusiastically "Perhaps we are lucky and we find them calmly resting in the wilderness"
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The going is even slower than before as the group is forced to push through the dense undergrowth. Twice, they have to turn back and circle around a particularly dense tangle of flora, and everyone is scratched and smacked by more thorns and branches they would have ever thought possible. The ground is wetter off of the path, and every step squelches unpleasantly in the mud.
About half an hour since they crossed the river, the group pauses to take some time to catch their breath and perhaps dry off a bit (humid as it is, it’s not easy. Bugs buzz in the air, and the chirping of birds that had been nearly omnipresent earlier in the day has already begun to go quiet. The sunlight is barely visible here, and every noise seems louder than it’s been before.
Seishin turns and levels his spear at the beast nearby. "Enough hiding. If you intend to attack us, then strike or begone."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Teruko once again resorts to carrying her coat rather than wearing it, even if the twilight air is cooler than the midday sun had been. She doesn't complain about the algae coating her clothes any more than she had about the mud earlier...at least not verbally. Her face however is stuck in a near-permanent scowl of disgust. (Although she does try to quickly change expressions if she notices anyone looking at her.)
She's grateful for a chance to catch her breath. Having spent most of her life indoors, the oppressive humidity of the marsh makes her feel like she's drowning.
"It's getting a little dark. I can cast a light if we think-" She stops mid-sentence as something catches her eye.
It seems Seishin hears it too, and calls out to the creature. She bites her lip, then straightens as noble manners fall over her like a curtain. "Greetings. I am Teruko Kaijitsu. We are traveling in this marsh but mean no harm to any of its inhabitants, unless they try to harm us first." She gives a short bow in the direction of the creature. "May we pass peacefully?"
Yuto sniffs the air, then looking at the strange creature hiding, he shakily approaches Teruko drawing his katana and trying to defend the woman "Ca-careful Teruko Sama, it might be something hostile"
The sword shakes in Yuto's hands, but nevertheless he readies himself to defend Teruko and attack the creature if it results hostile.
Even without her compatriots deftly calling the creature out, Hana's own senses are able to spot the rather clumsy river monster before they even remark on its presence. "Hey there! Mind coming out of those bushes so we talk? We mean no harm so its rather pointless for you to be skulking about like that." Despite her chirper and ingratiating tone, Hana takes her wakizashi from her new cloak and draws the weapon in case of a fight breaks out.
The creature erupts from the undergrowth, glaring at the heroes. A bizarre monster, it appears mostly human, if humans had three clawed fingers on each hand, an extra joint on their legs, and three toes on their feet (with one pointing backwards). Most horrifying, however, is its face - where the bottom jaw would be on any normal person, it instead has two vague limb-like extensions, and the tongue hanging out of its mouth splits at the end into four parts. It is totally bald, and its eyes are solid red. Fortunately, it’s wearing enough (ragged) clothing that it isn’t exposing itself to the adventurers.
:
The moment the creature came out of the bushes Hana knew that words were not likely to win it over. The baleful look in its red eyes being a stronger indicator on that end. Fearing that the monster could charge at either Torra or Seishin at the front of the group, Hana shifts her position as quickly as she is able given the marsh's undergrowth and stands between the dwarf and samsaran ready for anything.
The monster rushes towards the heroes, chanting something - the chant rhymes, and sounds almost like a poem, a mantra, or perhaps an incantation. Either way, it’s in a language incomprehensible to any of the adventurers.
As it approaches Hana, its claws outstretched, she slashes it. The blade nearly bites its throat, but she slips slightly and strikes its face instead. It flinches back, but rather than making any grunt or shriek of pain, it simply continues with its chant, its voice growing louder as it lunges forwards, its malformed jaw snapping at the ninja.
Its fangs sink into her shoulder, before pulling away and tearing a chunk of flesh with it. Chewing and swallowing, it resumes its mantra, falling back into a defensive position. Clearly, despite its bestial appearance, it is intelligent enough to use tactics...
Torra yelps as the creature takes a bite out of poor Hana! And after Hana had been nice to them and tried to talk politely! Alright, alright, focus now. Plant your feet, feel the earth beneath you. Draw up strength from its solidity. Gather it, and channel it, and push it outwards.
"OoooOoooh goddess!" Yuto screams when the strange creature gets out of its hiding place "What horror is that?!"
The young man freezes in terror as the creature pounces over the party "Hana!" seeing his friend bitten by the despicable creature makes Yuto finally react. Painfully wading through the reeds under the weight of the armor, Yuto needs to double move in order to engage the creature.
The katana shakes on Yuto's trembling hands.
Fortunately, Seishin doesn't need to move to engage the creature--his spear is long enough to reach it.
With that in mind, he stabs at it!
"No one ever listens." Teruko takes a deep breath as she reaches for the inner wellspring of power she's so recently discovered. Necessary? Perhaps not. But her companions are far more likely to damage the creature than she, and helping them is the whole reason she's here.
Yuto shoves his way through the dense undergrowth and muddy ground to engage with the monster, who barely seems to acknowledge him, focusing instead on its repetitive chant.
Teruko releases a blessing upon her comrades, and they feel themselves uplifted once more. Shockingly, the oracle feels the creature’s eyes upon her and it seems to be chanting directly at her for a heartbeat.
Torra launches a blast of solid earth at the monster but has to swing it wide to avoid hitting Yuto as he approaches the Marsh Monster.
Seishin levels his longspear at the creature before it blurs forwards, stabbing the thing deep in the shoulder. The alien being’s face twists in a grotesque snarl, but it repeats its mantra, slapping the spear haft viciously as it yanks itself off of the point.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Violent memories flash in Hana’s reeling mind as she struggles to keep her wakizashi steady in her hand.
She sees Arika’s idiotic face first, a random girl she hardly even knows and who’s stupidity got her in this whole bloody mess. But there’s more. So much more. There’s her mother and all her damn rules. Her clan and all their lies. And then there’s herself… a vile murderer and thief who deserves all this pain and much more. If anything she should just throw herself at the monster and let the chips fall where they may. Better to die fighting and angry than guilt-ridden and meek.
"No. It’s not true. It’s not true. I've changed. I have. I have.” She practically screams the words through shaking teeth. The anger is so powerful that even speaking beyond growls feels like a challenge. Despite that though, and the blood pumping in her ears and the angry images still running havoc in her mind, Hana somehow, if just barely, manages to back away from the river monster and put herself into a guarded position.
The monster looks at the adventurers once more before cautiously backing away from Yuto, swatting away his sword and Seishin’s spear with its claws before turning and fleeing into the Marsh.
After the creature vanishes, the heroes are left with a choice. The bloody trail the beast has left is clear and would be fairly easy for Torra to follow, but leads in a different direction than the one the Battered Shield’s is headed.
Torra sends a clump of mud flying after the creature. "Yeah, you'd better run!"
Teruko's knuckles whiten around the stock of her crossbow as Hana is bitten. Whatever this creature is, it's not just attacking, it's trying to eat her.
Apparently in addition to being a cannibal it's intelligent enough to know when it's outmatched. A dangerous combination. As it turns to flee Teruko calmly raises the crossbow and aims it at the creature's back. They can't let it get away.
Yuto breaths relieved as the creature decides to head back into the marsh depths "Wha-what was that?!"
With still shaky hands, Yuto sheathes back the katana, and looks back to make sure everyone is ok "I... I think it is just for the best it left. Let's just continue to the goblin village... Do-do you think it might have killed the Battered Shield?"
Torra’s ball of mud and stone crashes into the Marsh Monster’s back, sending it staggering forwards as it continues its flight.
Teruko's bolt strikes the creature square in between the shoulders, and it lets out a shriek before stumbling off into the Marsh.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Teruko lowers her crossbow, frowning. It had been a fine shot, particularly given the low light, but the creature had still gotten away.
"I don't know about the rest of the Battered Shield, but I suspect it killed Koras. Did you see its feet? Three toes, like the tracks we saw." The creature's appearance was bizarre enough to be burned into her memory.
I don't think I'm going to sleep well tonight.
She takes a deep breath, then lets it out. "You're probably right, Yuto. There's no telling how far that thing will run, or how long it would take us to catch up. If there's any chance the Battered Shield are still alive, they're a higher priority."
"Before we move on though..." She casts one last look in the direction the creature had gone, then focuses on Hana. "Hana? Let me see that shoulder for a second." She concentrates, and the hand she lays (gently) on Hana's shoulder starts to glow.
Despite her offer of healing, Hana's eyes flash angrily as Teruko makes her approach. The rover monster might have been gone, but whatever effect its bite or chanting had on her still lingered in her fevered mind. It takes her moment to blink away red-coated visions of getting vengeance on her clan and realize where she is.
"I-I am sorry. I don’t know what that thing did to me but I’m just so…" She stops talking and tries to take a few calming breaths, "…angry." She tries to block out all the anger in her mind with memories of her music, her mother and Ameiko, and in time they actually manage to drown out the hate.
With that, she finally lets Teruko touch her shoulder, letting her healing hands reknit the ruined flesh that the river monster had taken a chunk out of. "Thank you, Teruko," she says honestly, feeling significantly better. "I-I needed that."
Yuto reflects on the tracks left by the first corpse and nods "Oh, you are so right Teruko Sama! It, it is just good you shot it down... I-I think you did, isn't it?"
The young man looks forward with curiosity but avoids revealing the corpse.
As the woman heals Hana, Yuto smiles to her "You are brave. I wonder how you do to jump over and face the dangers that seize us. I am happy to have you here. You are inspiring Hana San"
Then looking back to Torra "So, what is the direction towards the village then?"
Yuto will just follow Torra's lead. She has done good so far.
Torra points out two different directions, one to the east and the other to the south. "The village is that way, according to the map. But the Battered Shields went this way. Are we following their tracks, or are we going to the village?"
Yuto looks surprised and happily relieved "Oh! Those are great news! Perhaps we do not need to fight the goblins after all"
The young man nods to Torra "If they went south, then, we should go south, isn't it? Finding them was our main mission here, is-isn't it?"
The Battered Shields’ tracks lead the group further south for almost fifteen minutes journey - not helped by the fact that the earlier adventuring party seems to have gotten lost itself somewhere along the way. The swampy terrain continues to battle against the heroes, as they have to hack away branches and ivy, turn back to get around enormous pools of muddy water that would be torture to travel through, and swat more bugs than they could ever have thought existed before.
Eventually, the trail turns westwards as it reaches the banks of the Soggy River. However, at this point, the trail… splits into two. One goes west, but the other goes eastwards - towards the goblin camp, the map seems to imply.
"There are more bug species splattered in my neck than all of Sandpoint's population" Yuto says looking at his hand bothered after splatting yet another mosquito.
"Mmm... I see no tracks forward" Yuto looks at Torra hopeful, then at the others at the back "I-Is everyone comfortable enough? Should we light a torch? Sei-seishin San?"
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Torra motions everyone to stay back, so as not to muddy the tracks further. The dwarf goes into a push-up position as she inspects the muddy marks closely. "I see two sets, one going west towards the river, the other going east. The east-headed one is fresher. The one to the west has four people, I think. Hard to tell." She points to a patch of mud that looks like any other patch of mud. "The eastern track has fewer prints, and marks of dragging, as if someone was limping."
She pushes herself to her knees, then her feet. "I think what happened is that they all went west, towards the river, encountered something there, probably the monster that attacked us earlier. One of them died, the body we found. The rest fled back this way, then east. At least one of them was badly injured."
"If we're willing to risk making ourselves a beacon, I can cast a light without us having to use up a torch." Teruko makes no attempt to examine the tracks herself, content to let Torra take the lead. "The spell only lasts ten minutes, but I can keep casting it indefinitely." At least as far as she can tell. She's certainly never found a limit to how many times she can cast that particular spell.
She bites her lip as Torra explains what she sees. "East then? Perhaps we'll be fortunate enough to find them hiding somewhere, as Yuto suggested earlier."
"Before we go, I'll make a mark to ensure we can find our way back."
Seishin turns to a nearby tree and slides a dagger from his belt before using it to scratch three 'X's into its trunk.
"There."
"Tha-that has sense Torra San" Yuto nods to the dwarf's explanations "I do under-understand now why Shalelu was so sure about you. Tha-that all has sense"
Listening to Teruko attentively, Yuto also nods, and after waiting for Seishin to make his mark in the tree, the young grizzled man starts walking towards the east.
"Be-better you place the light on my katana Teruko Sama. I will take the attention fro-from you" Yuto swallows with difficulty a bit surprised of his own words "It will give you a better vision of where to shot, and I can sheath it if we need to quickly stop the light"
Taking the eastern tracks.
"Right. East. East makes sense if they double-backed after losing poor Koras to that... thing," Hana says tersely, as if every words uttered was a challenge to get out. She was in a better headspace after Teruko did her healing, but her mind likely still needed a few more minutes before she was back in peak performance.
Even so, the kunoichi tried her best to detect anything out of the ordinary as they moved on the eastern path, being especially attentive for any sight of the foul monstrosity that had just tried to eat her.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Hana had hoped that she'd find tracks, but instead caught a whiff of something foul if sadly familiar. For better or worse the smell of dead goblin had become a distinct scent to her nose after the attack on Sandpoint a few years ago. "Does anyone smell that?" She asks even as she follows the smell to its gruesome source. When she finally finds the dead goblin only a couple feet away from the others she has to cover her mouth and nose to prevent the full extent of the gut-wrenching musk from overwhelming her.
"Torra," she manages to croaks out, trying her best not to gage. "Do you think you can figure out what killed it?"