Estelle looks down at the barrels she is sitting on. Her mouth opens to say 'oh' but no noise comes out. Her face does turn red. Probably the sun.
She writes, If we can find an actual spring, it'll be faster and more water. But if not, we can at least return with something.
|
Oduim startles awake. He is more than a little surprised at the surroundings, and the fact that there are no knives sticking out of him anywhere.
*******************
The undine accepts the orders without a sound. He may be a dick, but he's smart enough to know that he don't wanna die of thirst.
*************
Aw crap! Oduim points to the hull of the ship. "Looks like maybe they didn't fall overboard in the storm." He makes his way over to scoop up the holy symbol. He tucks it in his belt before joining the others.
***************
The druid mulls over the tiefling's inquiry. He shakes his head."It's not impossible, but just about so. I'm sure there are magics to help somebody track, but I don't have anything like that at the moment."
***************
He tries to sign as he speaks, "I might be able to help you 'find' more water."
"By the way, we should keep an eye on the Promise. I wouldn't be surprised if he decided he's skilled enough to sail on with the few hands he has. I mean, they'd all die, but right now, that's our only way back to civilization."
He scans the water for any grindylow slime floating on the surface of the calmer ocean.
Plugg rolls his eyes. "Whatever. Just be back in three days. We leave the morning of the fourth."
----
----
Oduim searches the waves as the ship's boat slowly approaches the shores of the large island to the south, but sees no immediate sign of grindylow.
----
After a few minutes of rowing, the party finds themselves on the isle's northeasterly shores. A large stone outcropping dominates the tip where they arrive, but beyond that it appears to be a boggy swamp for over a mile until it hits the treeline of the jungle beyond. Past the jungle, over two miles into the island, a high, rocky cliff dominates the entire western end from north to south. It's hard to say what lies around the party, but the fist-shaped outcropping seems easily climbable. Rising some fifty feet into the air, it might give a better vantage point of what is nearby.
Atop the fist is a wide, flat space, piled high with branches, driftwood, and other twigs and natural fire fuel. Their placement is very deliberate; at some point, someone came up here to make a beacon. Considering the fuel is unlit, they clearly never ended up using it. Now that the party is at a higher vantage point, the island comes into view a bit more.
The thin spit of land on which the Fist sits, sprawls in a vaguely westward direction before turning sharply south for the rest of the island's stretch. It's hard to say for certain, but it looks like the island is roughly six miles long or so. It's a decent chance, then, that there will be a spring of some sort somewhere. Unfortunately, it's definitely nowhere nearby. Past the Fist is over a mile of swamplands before jungle trees ever show up. To the west, through the swamp, the tiny specks of buildings can be seen. No smoke rises from any of the chimneys . Further south, far down the eastern shore, one can just barely make out a stretch of land where there is a break in the treeline .
Far, far down the southward ridge, you can just make out what appears to be a large, flat wooden structure of some sort, but it's impossible to say what it is from this distance.
Squirreled away in the nearby underbrush, you spot a bundle of six torches. Nestled in with the torches are two tindertwigs.
|
|
Even given the circumstances, Oduim feels a small sense of freedom while away from the boat. Once on the small strip of land, the druid wastes little time helping to secure the rowboat before climbing the hill.
Eyes acclimated for hunting pick out a structure in the distance below. He makes his way back down to the others. "We may not be alone. A shelter and signal fire could mean surviors of a similar mishap our boat encountered. That said, I doubt we will find the grindys living there."
Estelle clambers up very quickly next to the undine and takes a look. What she lacks in strength she easily overcomes with technique and long arms.
She writes on her tablet, We either head for the 'town' to the west which is probably abandoned but would probably have a well, or head to the other structure to the south that might also have fresh water.
"Let's start with the closer one. It's almost along the way anyway," Asami grunts.
Her fingers clench around the skull and crossbones in her pocket.
"Quickly, if we're able."
"I agree Fox. It'd be quicker t' row there, but if that building's occupied approaching by jollyboat will give up any chance of surprise. First though, we gotta sort these wounds out. Then when we make the shelter I say we stay and get some sleep.
I wanna find Sandara and Barefoot too. But we can only hope that the grindylows haven't eaten 'em yet and that we find some clue to their whereabouts here on this island.
I've got the potions Harrigan gave us. Pipe up if y' want one."
With that, Draxxie starts mending her own wounds.
Estelle raises a hand for one of the healing potions, then slams it back.
She writes on her tablet, I'll be fine. That helped. I agree that the village is on the way, let us go there and if it is decent, we can get some rest. I don't think the swamp or beach is safe to sleep.
Asami takes a potion and swigs it:
Her bruising feels a lot better immediately.
"If those things are on the island, it wouldn't surprise me if they're living in or around the shelters," she points out. "Whether they built them themselves or not. Might not need to find their journey if we find their destination."
|
|
Oduim wavers for a moment before deciding to take the last potion. "If this is going to become a regular thing, we need to find a more reliable source of healing." With that, he waves off the lone remaining flask. "We should save it just in case we run into more trouble."
He stands over one of the barrels. Moments later, the group hears water sloshing along the bottom. "It's not much, but the day is only going to get hotter. May as well take care of ourselves. I can make more now if need be, but no need to drag it around with us."
"Let's check out the building as that will more than likely answer the most important question we have regarding Samms and Sandy." The tone of his voice is not a hopeful one. Nor does it sound as if he has as much affection for the missing crew as some others seem to. I mean, they're probably dead, but we need allies if we plan to make a run at the 'Man's Promise'. Plus she's got some use as a healer.
She takes a deep drink of the provided water and fills a borrowed waterskin to take with her.
The party secures the ship's boat and makes their way toward the buildings to the west. Despite a few lingering dark clouds overhead, there is no rain left over in them from the night before. It is, however, still hot as Hells, and muggy to boot. Occasional mosquito and botfly bites harangue the group but otherwise their progress is relatively unimpeded.
After about twenty minutes of plodding across the sandy beach, you find yourselves at the edge of a tiny hamlet, perhaps eight buildings in total -- seven houses and one structure that seems to be a storage building of some kind. It's quickly obvious that there are no good ways to approach stealthily; the vegetation past the shoreline is thigh-high at best, and the palm trees are sparse enough to be functionally useless for a skulking entrance.
However, as the party approaches, no one comes out to greet you, either with a handwave or a pointy object. Each door you pass is ajar, the contents of the small huts clearly emptied long ago. Dust and cobwebs cover every surface you see, and not so much as a copper glinting in the sand can be found. Straw mattresses have moldered to almost nothing, drawers pulled free and strewn across dirt floors, connected to each other by ancient cobwebs. The memory of ashes are all that mark the simple mud-brick hearths. Even to the most unobservant, these structures have clearly been empty for decades.
On the bright side, however, it does seem like a safe place to rest, insofar as anywhere on this island might be "safe." If nothing else, you think you could possibly shut the door on one or two of these huts and shutter the windows.
On the south end of the village, opposite the shore, a simple packed-dirt path meanders southward.
You scour every inch of every room, and come to the conclusion that you are absolutely certain nothing of value remains in any of these buildings.
There are tracks here of a medium humanoid or humanoids, between one and three; it's hard to say for certain because the tracks are of varying ages. The tracks come in and out of the hamlet from the south, down the dirt path.
Asami seems unbothered by the mosquitoes and flies--although she does still make the effort to slap the more insistent ones for 1d6+5 damage.
When they do skulk within range of the village and find it empty, she takes a moment:
...but keeping a hand ready to slap away incoming projectiles doesn't pay off.
She snorts and skulks around, looking for any evidence of recent inhabitants.
She finds none.
Estelle rubs her head, it still hurts and there is a large lump.
She writes on her tablet, I could use a rest. But I'm okay to push on too.
She notices nothing but the apparent lack of people.
Most likely they left. Maybe this was a camp for pirates and they got taken out in battle and no one left to return. Or a settler camp and they had to leave for one of a hundred reasons.
|
|
Reading the offered tablet, "This place is as good as any for a break. We've been going all night." The undine looks around for a well or cistern. "I'm not much of a farmer, but those crops seem like they should be choked with weeds. In any case, it's clear the ones we seek are not here. If we can at least fill the barrels, that would give us more time to focus on searching for them."
Estelle wipes off her tablet and writes, So rest or move on? You all seem to be pretty used to working together. Which one of you is the leader?
|
|
The undine guffaws at the notion. "These two barely tolerate me. If it weren't fer their hatred of Plugg? Who knows. An' I'm not sayin' that current don't flow in both directions. As far as a leader goes, not sure if any of us fill the shell on that. Good in a fight? Yep. Hard workin'? Yep. Leader? We ain't really had a chance yet. Plugg 'n Harrigan treat the crew like hammer on nails. They beat down anyone who looks like they're gonna challenge authority."
Asami raises her hand.
"As Plugg's least-favorite, I think that makes me leader by default," she snorts.
"As much as I want to push on hard and fast, the only sleep we've had in a day or more was a forced deck nap, and we're sitting in what might be the only shelter we won't have to kill or trust people to sleep in."
She squints out over the rest.
"I think I'm the only one whose magic is inherent, and I haven't used it yet. We'll want to sleep in shifts for safety; I'll take first watch, since I don't need to... do whatever it is you mages do when you sleep."
"New girl, no offense, but I'm not letting you in on watch rotation. I don't doubt you could see a threat coming, but I'm not sure if you could wake us all up as quickly as you'd need to."
Estelle writes, Fine by me, but as usual I just have to do things differently, it doesn't make me incapable. I'm not any more 'broken' than anyone else.
She finds a corner and shows no issues trusting you all to keep watch.
Honestly, Plugg is an ass. But are these three any better? Time and Actions will tell more than words, hopefully.
She drifts to sleep thinking about the fact that 'no offense' usually means 'I don't care that I offend you'.
Fine by me, but as usual I just have to do things differently, it doesn't make me incapable. I'm not any more 'broken' than anyone else.
"We'll figure out alternatives in the m--"
She glances outside to check the time.
"...afternoon."
"No offense" usually means "I don't care that I offend you."
Asami really doesn't.
|
|
Oduim rolls his eyes at Asami's self-proclamation. I woulda thought the half-elf more focused on lookin' out for everyone. The demon-blood maybe cagy, possibly even cunning, but a leader? Haven't seen much of that. She just likes to fight. Made some bad choices just to have a chance to make that happen too. She's likely to get us all killed just to satisfy her bloodlust.
Too tired to care at the moment, Oduim sits down next to Estelle. He tries to sign as best he can as he asks, "Can we practice a bit?"
Eventually the exhaustion he feels catches up to him. He nods appreciatively for the lesson before rolling over and falling asleep.
Oduim notices footprints in the dirt and sand throughout the village. It's hard to say for certain because the prints go back and forth through the buildings, but it appears between one and three medium barefoot humanoids have visited the village in the last couple of days. The tracks seem to come into the village from the dirt path to the south, and lead back the same way.
While it's not impossible that the tracks belong to Sandara and Barefoot Samms, it seems improbable since they don't originate from (or indeed go anywhere near) the north shore, where it is most likely they would have washed up after the storm -- assuming they simply went overboard.
Estelle continues sleeping. She (probably) has no dreams tonight. Perhaps due to exhaustion or perhaps just to give her a break before the next horrid trial.
Draxxie snorts when Asami raises her hand. She grins.
"Sorry Fox, I like you and all but you ain't no leader. You're a Momma Bear. I seen how ya was with Sandara, an' how ya looked out fer Owlbear, an' fer Jack. That's all good, to a point, but it ain't leadership, 'specially not fer pirates.
Don' get me wrong, I like havin' ya around. One day, Besmara willin' it, I'll be a Free Captain an' I'll be glad t' have ya on the crew.
Fer now, get some rest. We all need it."
The party sets up watches and finds a hut where the door more or less closes, though none of them lock, nor have anything really heavy enough to use as a barricade. It's a little cramped with four people, but you manage.
As Asami takes her watch and the other three sink into immediate deep, dreamless sleep from exhaustion, the brawler listens to the nearby waves lapping at the shore, and the soft flutter of the breeze through the grass outside. Perhaps she has Sandara's holy symbol in hand, or perhaps it remains in her pocket, but either way, it feels heavier now, in the dark recesses of night, alone where the mind can wander to all the ugly possibilities.
Yet Asami is no drunken landlubber pissing away the night watch with rum and thoughts of lovers, unaware of her surroundings. Wherever her night thoughts lead her, she never draws her ear away from the present.
And thank Besmara she didn't, because she just barely hears the sound of sand shifting under the weight of feet. It's quiet, almost imperceptible over the lapping waves and through the closed door, but Asami knows the dark better than any human, and knows how to listen. As soon as she hears the sand shifting under feet, the rusty doorknob begins to turn with the barest of creaks.
Asami has just enough time to bellow out a warning before the door slams open and three withered, hideously rotted corpses surge into the room with unnatural swiftness!
The party is awake and alert, but have not had time to even stand up from their bedrolls. The night sky is surprisingly bright from a half-moon and a sea of stars, at least some of which spills into this hut, but it is still difficult to see.
[color=green]ROUND 1
Characters in BOLD may act.
Oduim (15/20 hp, fatigued, prone)
Creature 3 (0 dmg)
Asami (20/20 hp)
Creature 1 (0 dmg)
Draxxie (18/18 hp, fatigued, prone)
Creature 2 (0 dmg)
Estelle (11/17 hp, prone)
[/color]
This creature is a ghoul.
Ghouls are foul undead fiends who retain some small spark of their humanity -- enough to understand what they have lost, but not enough to save them from their newfound, ravening hunger for humanoid flesh. Ghouls secrete a toxin through their skin and saliva that paralyzes their prey, allowing them to murder their victims at their leisure... or even eat them alive, if they so choose.
Ghouls have a second danger, hidden in their rot-tainted saliva: those bitten by a ghoul contract a deadly disease. It functions in many ways as filth fever, and indeed many a novice healer has mistaken ghoul fever for such, to the detriment of others. Like filth fever, ghoul fever attacks the immune system as well as the nervous system, causing tremors, stiffness of the joints, and internal bleeding. Shaking off ghoul fever is exceedingly difficult, and few manage to do so before succumbing to the disease.
Worst of all, however, is that anyone who dies from ghoul fever rises as a ghoul themself at the next midnight, their hunger already overwhelming them, leading them to infect others with their dreadful supernatural affliction... if they even leave the poor soul alive.
Estelle looks up at the things as they bust through the door and her eyes go wide.
OH F~&~ OH F!+# OH F### RUN!!! GET UP AND RUNNNN!!!
Her body does not respond, paralyzed with fear.
Asami has just enough time to bellow out a warning
Draxxie wakes with a start. "Uh? Wuh?"
She turns her head towards the door, squinting in the dark.
They'll paralyse you with a touch then eat you! Keep them back!"
With lightning-fast reflexes, the druid kips up to his feet, using the spear as leverage, and in the same motion snaps his arm like a whip. The spear shoots like an arrow from a giant's bow and buries itself in the guts of the first ghoul, ripping open her bodice at the belly and causing a thick, tar-like black paste to spill out of the wound. The stench that fills the hut is like turned beef left out in the sun for a week in the middle of Rova. She hisses, a dry, raspy noise full of hate and desperation as she stumbles back a step and hesitates.
Behind her, another of the gaudily-dressed ghouls shoves past her, snarling, "Do not ffffear them girlssss! We hungerrrr! We will dine on their fffflesssshhh..."
Having only line of sight on one body, she hungrily dashes into the room to descend upon the prone form of Estelle, ripping eagerly at the young woman with her disgusting claws. Blood splatters against the back wall of the hut as she ravages the witch.
[color=green]ROUND 1
Characters in BOLD may act.
Oduim (15/20 hp, fatigued, prone)
Creature 3 (0 dmg)
Asami (17/20 hp)
Creature 1 (8 dmg)
Draxxie (18/18 hp, fatigued, prone)
Creature 2 (0 dmg)
Estelle (4/17 hp, prone)
[/color]
Asami steps in, instinctively moving to put herself between the ghouls that are still working their way through the door and her waking comrades. One arm lashes out hard, and her leg follows; the other stays back, fingers open, ready to catch and misdirect any incoming attacks.
"You okay, Blondie?"
She raises a bloody hand up while gurgling, her thumb wavers a bit but does point towards the sky.
It’s obvious she isn’t ‘ok’ but also isn’t dead or paralyzed yet.
Estelle feels a horrible stiffness creep through her joints, but while she may appear wispy and frail, she is made of sterner stuff than that! She forces herself to push through the agony of her wounds and the insidious creeping stiffness.
Meanwhile, Asami gut-punches the ghoul shredding Estelle before following up with a roundhouse that sends the fiend flying. She slams into the wall with a loud wet crunch before sliding slowly down the wall to land in a motionless heap on the floor. Long streaks of black, rotted blood stain the wood where her freshly deadened corpse traveled.
The first ghoul recovers from the spear jutting out of her abdomen enough to assess the situation. She is wounded, and just watched Asami turn her comrade into paste, but in the end her hunger wins out. "Please!" she begs as she stumbles toward her attacker. "Pleasssse! I mussst feeeed! I hhhhungerrrr....!" Her long, sinewy tongue lashes back and forth, vile green saliva coating her rotten clothing wherever it smears across it like a wriggling slug. She reaches out with her fangs at the druid and sinks her jagged yellow teeth into his flesh, tearing a chunk from his shoulder. The wound immediately erupts in fiery agony.
[color=green]ROUND 1
Characters in BOLD may act.
Oduim (9/20 hp, fatigued, 2 Fort saves required)
Ghoul 3 (13 dmg, dead)
Asami (20/20 hp, +1 AC)
Ghoul 1 (8 dmg)
Draxxie (18/18 hp, fatigued, prone)
Ghoul 2 (0 dmg)
Estelle (4/17 hp, prone)
[/color]
Draxxie gets to her feet, pike in hand.
"Oduim! Get back here! You don't want to let her at you!" Draxxie takes a step forwards as she warns the undine.
"In the dead of night
We hear the sound of thunder
Undead fiends arise
To terrorise and plunder
Crawling through the sea
A dendrophagic horde
Our ship's no longer safe
The zombies have just climbed aboard!"
The ghoul's eyes alight with some horrible mockery of liveliness as she realizes her prey is vulnerable.
The final ghoul rushes into the room. Seeing only Asami and Estelle at first, she runs toward the closest potential meal, seeming not to care that her ally was just plastered against the wall by the brawler. Asami tries to twist away from the writhing mass of undead hunger as she leaps at her, but the creature is far more bendy than she should be and twists like a snake in mid-air to land with her claws planted on the brawler's shoulders. Before Asami can recover her balance, the ghoul sinks her vile teeth into her neck.
[color=green]ROUND 1/2
Characters in BOLD may act.
Oduim (9/20 hp, fatigued, paralyzed 2 rounds)
Ghoul 3 (13 dmg, dead)
Asami (10/20 hp, +1 AC)
Ghoul 1 (8 dmg)
Draxxie (18/18 hp, fatigued, Raging Song)
Ghoul 2 (0 dmg)
Estelle (4/17 hp, prone)
[/color]
Estelle warily stands up, keeping an eye on the not-moving-any-more corpse in the corner. She clutches her side with her left hand, holding pressure on the wound to prevent more blood loss. She looks over at Odium and then at Asami, both injured and in trouble, but the choice is obvious.
Briefly relieving pressure upon her wound, she collects a bit of fresh stuff and quickly flings it across the room, droplets splattering upon the ghoul and the undine. Very very quietly you hear her muttering, "My life blood, as sacrifice, to show your power."
Suddenly her head snaps back and her hands fall to the side, her eyes and all the blood on her body begins to glow and a much deeper voice booms out of her open mouth, "SACRIFICE ACCEPTED. MAGIC GRANTED. POWER RELEASED."
The blood splatters on Odium and the ghoul begin glowing, bringing some warm comfort to the Undine and horribly burning the ghoul.
The sound of Draxxie's powerful voice strengthens Asami's muscles, and she looks ready to grab the ghoul by the hair and whip her into the wall...
but, curiously, she doesn't do that. Or anything, for that matter; instead, she goes stiff as a board, managing only an indignant snarl through sharp, gritted teeth.
Asami grimaces, and focuses hard. She can't move, no...
But maybe she can will her armor to be stronger?
The positive energy clings to Oduim like a cloying mist. The ghoul weathers the energy with ease but seeing the energy suffusing her prey, seems to reassess her plans to eat his throat out while he's paralyzed.
She sees Asami standing rigid as well, and looks back and forth between the two morsels. One isn't covered in this horrid energy that smells like poison to her, but this one is hers, that one belongs to her comrade...
"Sssurely you don't minnnnd a bite, sissssterrr...!" she pleads, and steps up to Asami to devour her flesh instead. She becomes a flurry of claws and teeth as her hunger overpowers her...
"A bite!" the other ghoul screams in fury. "A bite, you wench! Get off my meal!!"
[color=green]ROUND 2
Characters in BOLD may act.
Oduim (9/20 hp, fatigued, paralyzed 1 rounds)
Ghoul 3 (13 dmg, dead)
Asami (0/20 hp, +1 AC, disabled, paralyzed 2 rounds)
Ghoul 1 (8 dmg)
Draxxie (18/18 hp, fatigued, Raging Song)
Ghoul 2 (0 dmg)
Estelle (4/17 hp)
[/color]
Oh s*~+, come on. Spare me another day, Besmara!
With a silent prayer, Draxxie continues her song...
"Far across the sea
Zombies wait for me
Craving brains and treasure
It's their destiny
Til my dying day
Hear these words I say
Zombies ate my pirate ship
I will make them pay!"
Drsxxie plunges her pike into the injured ghoul as she reaches the end of her verse.
Hang on, Fox.
The half-elf holds her position, knowing she can't protect Asami but putting her pike in between the ghoul and Estelle.
#2 looks sheepishly up at her "sister" with a mouthful of Asami's flesh.
She opens her mouth to respond -- sending a chunk of... biceps, maybe?... to the floor -- when Draxxie steps up and drives her pike into the open orifice. The tip bursts out the back of her skull in a spray of more rotten black blood, mixed with some rancid gray ooze that immediately hits everyone's gag reflex. When the skald pulls her pike free, #2 slumps to the ground dead.
Looking around and seeing only one threat, the remaining ghoul rushes at Draxxie and lashes out furiously with her claws. They find purchase in Draxxie's left forearm, tearing a horrid, ragged gash across it that bleeds profusely.
She seems momentarily confused by the fact that Draxxie doesn't also sieze up like the other two, but then sees the slightly pointed ears and hisses. "Elf blood!" she spits like a curse, but greedily licks the skald's vitae off her claws with relish. She may hate Draxxie's immunities, but she doesn't seem too picky about eating her.
[color=green]ROUND 2/3
Characters in BOLD may act.
Oduim (9/20 hp, fatigued, paralyzed 1 rounds)
Ghoul 3 (13 dmg, dead)
Asami (10/20 hp, +1 AC, paralyzed 2 rounds)
Ghoul 1 (13 dmg, dead)
Draxxie (11/18 hp, fatigued, Raging Song, Inspired Rage)
Ghoul 2 (0 dmg)
Estelle (4/17 hp)
[/color]
Draxxie's pike gores the ghoul as the undead b%@%$ closes in.
Estelle slips around the other side and places a bloody hand upon Asami's frozen face. She closes her eyes and her mouth moves, whispering some sort of invocation or prayer. The bloody handprint flares into light again just as the glow on Odium fades away.
Asami's smallest wound closes up.
Asami does her best to make her face appear… grateful? Is that what it’s supposed to be? She looks almost more scary than normal.
