Asami shrugs. "Sounds good to me."
"Besmara spare me another day" Draxxie prays as she sets her buckler and pike ready.
"I'll not be surprised if the f%!*in' corn tries t' eat us."
As you make your way steadily through the overrun fields, the druid cutting a neat path forward, you find yourselves crossing paths with more heads on pikes. Some are wedged atop the pike like a gruesome eraser, while others are skewered all the way through and sit closer to chest height, but all the pikes are between six and nine feet tall, jutting over the top of the corn stalks like gory fingers pointed accusingly at the sky. Botflies swarm the heads, but thankfully none of them decide to form a posse and attack.
You spot something pale jutting slightly out of the soil. Bending down to inspect, you see it's part of a jawbone. It looks like it's been here a while.
After a moment of looking around, you begin to spot tiny, sporadic bits of bone half-buried in the soil here and there.
You've now made it a good two hundred feet into the cornfield with no sign of reaching the end. Looks like the field goes on for quite a ways.
”Watch out for Corn Spiders. They can’t kill ya but the bite hurts.”
"Starting to wonder if we should have just gone around the corn field," Asami admits.
"We could just burn it down. Back up, set a fire. O' course, if there's anything else on this island as does wanna eat us, they'll see th' smoke fer sure. Man's Promise would see it too, though I reckon Plugg'd do nothin' about it."
"A big fire's a good way to scare off more predators than it attracts," Asami points out, "aside from sapients."
"Then again, it's sapients we're looking for."
Star looks at her compatriots with a bit of concern, ”So uh, pirates really do like to burn everything down then? Cause… yeah. One, we don’t know if this will burn, it could be too damp. Two, the wind, if it was even going the right way, could shift and bring the fire right back at us. Three, no idea how fast it would burn, but regardless we would still need to walk through the embers to get to where we are going. Like… it saves us zero time for a lot of effort and frankly, risk. What if our shipmates are tied up in a giant wicker statue at the other end of the cornfield and you just doomed them with this absurd idea?”
Dear Gods! It’s like they have never been on a ship before!!! Fire is the WORST thing. So uncontrollable.
Asami stares at Star.
"I'd be fine."
"I liked the quiet one better" Draxxie scowls.
Asami looks around at the corn that seems to go endlessly in every direction.
"Can we? I s'pose I could lift someone up on my shoulders to see if they can figure out the quickest direction."
Star glances down at what Odium is pointing out, ”Fair enough.”
She turns around and very easily follows their own path the few hundred feet back out of the corn, rolling her eyes very hard at the supposed future captain’s comment.
She probably just wants to show off how strong she is.
Oduim notes first the small size of the jawbone, and his first thought is "child," but on further inspection the calcification of the hinge denotes an adult. He concludes it belonged to an adult halfling, likely male. There are scorch marks on the jawbone that don't look like they were from fire. Definitely an acid of some kind. However, several of the teeth look... distorted, like they were partially melted. There are plenty of things in nature that can burn or destroy or burn bone, but nothing comes to mind that can melt teeth. Whatever acid did this, it was not naturally occurring.
As Estelle turns to try and back out of the field, the ground beneath the party begins to shudder, then shake, and then explode as a massive bug-like creature erupts from the soil with a hissing chitter and snaps at the party.
[color=green]ROUND 1
Characters in BOLD may act.
Oduim (20/20 hp)
Draxxie (15/18 hp, 1 NL)
Asami (20/20 hp)
Creature (0 dmg)
Estelle (17/17 hp)
[/color]
This creature is a magical beast known as an ankheg. They are of minimal intelligence, and are known to be fiercely territorial. It's unlikely the ankheg was here before the crops were planted; it would have slaughtered the farmer(s). Likely it came in here long after whoever farmed this plot left or died. The bones, then, are probably from others who came after and were, like you, intrigued by the strange break in the treeline they saw from afar and wound up wandering into an ankheg's territory.
These large insectile creatures were allegedly crafted by spellcasters long ago, but have since escaped and begun breeding in the wild. They burrow under prey to ambush them, grab them, and drag them into their burrows to feed.
Ankhegs have a painful bite, but small mouths. In order to facilitate eating, they have a powerful acid that coats their mandibles to melt flesh and soften bone, allowing them to "drink" their meals.
They can also spit this acid as a defense mechanism against attackers, though doing so drains their venom sac and it takes about six hours to refill. During this time, its mandibles cannot coat in acid .
Curiously, while they use acid for feeding and attacking, only their esophagus and mandibles are immune to the stuff. The rest of their bodies have no particular resistance against acid.
Estelle jumps back and then her interest is piqued, ”This creature is a magical beast known as an ankheg. They are of minimal intelligence, and are known to be fiercely territorial. It's unlikely the ankheg was here before the crops were planted; it would have slaughtered the farmer(s). Likely it came in here long after whoever farmed this plot left or died. The bones, then, are probably from others who came after and were, like you, intrigued by the strange break in the treeline they saw from afar and wound up wandering into an ankheg's territory. These large insectile creatures were allegedly crafted by spellcasters long ago, but have since escaped and begun breeding in the wild. They burrow under prey to ambush them, grab them, and drag them into their burrows to feed.”
Once she starts talking, she doesn’t shut up, ”Ankhegs have a painful bite, but small mouths. In order to facilitate eating, they have a powerful acid that coats their mandibles to melt flesh and soften bone, allowing them to "drink" their meals. Fascinating, isn’t it!”
”They can also spit this acid as a defense mechanism against attackers, though doing so drains their venom sac and it takes about six hours to refill. During this time, its mandibles cannot coat in acid. Curiously, while they use acid for feeding and attacking, only their esophagus and mandibles are immune to the stuff. The rest of their bodies have no particular resistance against acid.”
She reaches out a hand to touch it and then snaps it back, ”Sorry, these are rare creatures to see alive anywhere, my curiosity overwhelmed my common sense. We should probably run to get out of its territory.”
RUN AWAY, THAT’S MY BODY YOU ARE GONNA GET MELTED!
"Just tell us how t' f#%#in' KILL IT!" Draxxie rages. And then she RAGES.
"In Okembo there lives a man
Five rusty hooks on his right hand
And rage consumes his every living day
As one against the entire world
His hooks of deadly wrath unfurled
Slashing all the bastards in his way!"
Asami steps up, weapons in-hand, and lashes out with both!
"Same way you kill anything, I figure," Asami snarls.
She ain't half bad, but she's only half good.
Asami's axe and Oduim's spear both dig deep into the creature's chitinous shell and draw acrid green blood from its mottled chitin. It rears back in anger and pain, apparently expecting easy prey. It dives under the soil again before popping back up next to Estelle in an eruption of soil and ears of corn.
The absurdity of the image is quickly replaced with horror and pain as it rears back and spews a stream of viscous green fluid at the convenient line of pirates.
Asami's axe makes a very satisfying chunk this time, but she only has a moment to celebrate her victory before she's covered in acid, hissing in pain and fury.
"You said it could only do that once, right!?"
The huge magical bug dives into the dirt to come up for a flank, but as it smashes into the soil, Asami's axe digs in and catches its... spine?... leaving a long, horrid wound along its back as its weight and momentum pulls the axe through its exoskeleton.
When it bursts up from the soil, hideous green fluid sprays from its back and it utters a shrieking hiss, its many legs and mandibles quivering in futile rage at the sky, before it collapses backward, sending a spray of blood everywhere.
COMBAT OVER!
Asami wipes her axe on a stalk of corn and snorts.
"You said 'territorial,' ah? So there should only be the one, and probably nothing else in here that hasn't been eaten. It's a weird twist, but this might be the safest place on the island right now."
"S'long as the mosquitos don't come out in force, I guess."
You do notice the various piked heads are covered in botflies and mosquitoes, so probably not the best place to sleep. But there are quite a few bones jutting out of the ground. Perhaps some of their equipment survived as well...?
You find a heavily rotted body resting against a head-pike. It looks like something ate the poor bastard's leg. Judging by all the goop under his fingernails, it looks like he was alive and fighting back when it happened. Poor, poor bastard.
Anyway, he has a shiny gold buckle and a potion attached to his belt that looks like it's probably magical.
Your keen eye spots a scabbard mostly buried under the soil, but it's oddly lumpy. Closer inspection -- and a little digging -- find a corpse that looks like it might only be a few months old, eight at the most.
The "lumps" on the scabbard are actually his moldering fingers clutching it; prying those off reveals an exquisitely made dagger sheath inlaid with pearls that is probably worth some coin. Sadly, the dagger inside has rusted away to dust.
A white mound in the dirt turns out to be the top of a very old skull. Some digging reveals a skeleton, still covered in a few strips of ragged cloth. Its ribs and pelvis are marred with strange, unevenly-shaped pockmarks.
The unfortunate soul still holds a mildewing purse in its skeletal hands. It lacks any coins, but it does hold three small obsidians. They're probably worth about 10gp each.
Asami shrugs. "If nobody got hit, we may as well keep going, then. No worse off than we were a minute ago."
Star smiles big, ”My heroes! For some reason I had a strong feeling it was gonna blast us with acid and that would be the end of it. Stupid bug got what it deserved.”
She looks around at the bones, ”I was going to say this before we were rudely interrupted, but we should dig around a bit for loot from all these bodies. Take our time and all. Maybe we’ll even run across the burrow.”
You goooot luuuucky.
"Impressive axe work, Fox." Draxxie heaves a sigh of relief. "And hey, New Girl didn't get nearly-eaten this time!"
"So - the giant bug ain't no farmer, an' I don't reckon it stuck th' heads up on pikes. But mebbe it ate whatever did that? What's them bones?"
"Yeah, I'm betting whoever planted the corn didn't live to see it grow. Barely even had a chance to thin it out, it looks like."
She hems as she comes across another body; this time, she uses her dagger to pry a golden belt buckle from its not-in-great-shape-to-begin-with belt and snags a potion from its waist.
"Anyone know how to ID one of these? If not, I'll give it a taste, see if it feels like healing."
Not long after, she finds a fancy sheath for a dagger that's rusted through.
This is a potion of water breathing.
Star’s eyes take on a now familiar faint glow as she inspects the items, ”The gold is just gold. The vial is a potion of water breathing. Or possibly a cursed potion of death. There is always that chance, you know. I don’t need the potion, unless it is cursed. Death could be interesting to experience, though probably just Estelle would die, so that wouldn’t be fun.”
Asami nods and holds out the potion.
"It won't be as useful to me," she says; for a moment, her visage shifts just enough to make her ears look more like the finned variety some aquatic elves have, but she doesn't shift any further than that; she doesn't want to wear herself out just to explain what she could do if she hadn't worn herself out.
"You can shapeshift?" Draxxie's eyes pop. "Can you, ah, copy people? Like copy Plugg?"
"Hey I'll take that potion. If you don't want it, Fox can be a fish and Fish is, well, ya know."
"Ya missed one!" Draxxie digs out a skeleton, finding its purse and the trinkets within. "Huh. Not much, but I'll take it. Well. I'll split th' take wi' th' three of ya, course."
Asami grins. "For a couple minutes, yeah. Not enough to make a whole campaign out of it, but maybe a crucial minute or two."
She clears her throat a bit. "Sandara and I were actually working on practicing it before, y'know. This."
After several minutes of searching and discussion, the party realizes there is probably nothing else of value in this field -- materially, or information-wise. You know the path forked back the way you came, the other path leading up the steep hills on the west side of the island toward that wooden structure, but you think you could also probably return to the beach and walk the length of that if you chose, as well, though you don't have any idea at the moment how far that would take you. All the way around the island? Another mile? Five hundred feet? You won't know unless you walk it, though if that structure you saw up atop the hills is properly situated, you could probably see from there too.
Star is disappointed they didn’t find a well or source of irrigation in the field. She suggests taking the path to the structure.
"Fair point," Asami admits.
She also votes structure.
You make your way along the route you took to enter the fields and soon find your way back to the path and the fork you passed earlier, banking west and heading for the hills.
After over an hour of hiking, following several switchbacks and clambering up a handful of steeper slopes, the party is at the top of the hill. A small stream meanders east by northeast, disappearing into some foliage and down the slope. A few more minutes of hiking and following this stream (and coincidentally, the path), you see a shoddy stockade. Five-foot makeshift walls, comprised of fallen trees, branches, and quite a bit of driftwood, are all built around the trunk of a tall willow tree, its drooping branches drifting morosely in a light breeze, with a maze of vines creeping up its central mass and strangling it. A small, squat building, no more than seven feet tall, can be seen inside the walls.
You spot a battered spyglass, affixed to the west side of the stockade wall by a makeshift swivel, and pointing down the steep slope on the western side.
Asami spots the spyglass and, shrugging, waves.
Ghouls don't wave, after all, and neither do crabs or giant corn-bug monsters and most grindylows don't look like six-foot-tall human-adjacent tanks.
So if they're just someone trying to survive, hopefully they'll see the approaching group as potential friendlies...
...and not, y'know, murderous pirates.
Deflect Arrows :3
Star is still catching her breath from the wicked climb up the mountain walk up the hill and is thusly thankfully quiet. She leans against a tree to catch a breath, ”I feel like death warmed over, f+~@. Maybe they will have a nice hammock and good boozy drinks. Take the afternoon off.”
No one returns Asami's wave, as there is no one in sight.