“Ooh,” Ankha exclaims when they reach the cave, “the water inside doesn’t look all that deep. Maybe I won’t need this extract after all.” She replaces the recently mixed potion back in her bandolier, retrieving another vial in its stead.
“Ku’Hania, could your octopus scout ahead a little bit, just to make sure there’s nothing hiding under the water? Then we can follow behind in the boat. Though … would it be able to tell you what it sees? I don’t suppose an octopus can talk—could it signal you somehow?” The alchemist isn’t entirely sure about the extent of a cephalopod’s abilities, especially one that seems to have a magical connection to the shaman.
While waiting, she downs the vial’s contents. Within moments her skin thickens and hardens, like the gnarled bark of an ancient tree. Deep, dark wrinkles crease her face like ugly crevasses, and yet she beams with a crooked smile, as if immensely proud of her mutagen. “Just preparing myself for battle,” she explains her transformation to Dakari. So saying, she loads a round, compact bullet into her large halfling sling staff, leaving her fauchard (and the spear she borrowed from Ramona) in the bottom of the boat for now.
"My link to Haplo is empathic. I can feel what he feels but not see through his eyes... enough to know if there is a threat ahead." Ku'Hania explains, as her companion drops dowing into the water and quickly swims down the passageway, barely noticeable in the water.
"I hate getting my boots wet." Braxton grumbles as they pull the boat in as far into the cave shallows as they can. "Remember: Let's try treating with the natives first." He draws his rapier and sloshes through the water deeper into the sunken cave system.
As you get closer to the cave mouth, it's clear that there is no natural illumination. Light gets far enough from outside to illuminate the first 25 feet past the door in dim light, with darkness after that.
Entering the cave you are immediately thrown into the proverbial deep end. Reflected sunlight from outside flickers across the water and reflects on the stone ceiling in this mostly submerged cave. The waters are cold, but not to a life-threatening degree, and the motion of the surf outside sends mild rocking waves across the chamber, making it somewhat difficult to see beneath the water farther than a few feet out from you. A passageway extends to the north, and to the south is the cave entrance.
The light blue portion is the cave floor and is under 5 feet of water, but the water is calm.
After tying the mooring rope around an outcropping and ensuring the boat is secure, Ankha slides over the side and into the water. She keeps her sling staff loaded and ready, with her fauchard and spear slung over her back, in case of melee. The alchemist looks over expectantly at Ku’Hania. In a low whisper she asks “Any feelings from Haplo? Can he check out that chamber to the right? Also … could you do that light spell again? It’s pretty dark in here.”
Tilting her head back to keep her chin just barely above the water, the short human spits out a mouthful of water and flashes a lopsided grin over at Braxton. “Well, we were all wet to begin with, so wet boots aren’t all that bad. Anyway, I’ll let you take the lead with the grindylow, since I have no way of talking to them.” She gingerly advances on tiptoe, using her sling staff as a walking stick for support.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
As Haplo goes further into the first room and takes a look around, he can clearly see the two grindylow hiding and waiting in one dark corner underwater off to the right in the small chamber. Pulses of danger emanate through the empathic link between him and Ku’Hania.
They do hold spears, but don’t seem to be posing aggressively. In fact, they look like they’re fascinated with the octopus.
Dakari knows enough about grindylow to remember that some tribes of the creatures venerate octopi as revered creatures, with their similarly designed kin being held as the epitome of beauty in grindylow culture. Squids, on the other hand, are hated mortal enemies, and to call a grindylow a squid is the most heinous of insults.
Slipping into the water with ease, Ku'Hania takes comfort in the water around her, feeling more confident as they move further into the deepening cave. She smiles at the brief banter about wet boots.
'Not a problem if you're usually barefoot'
With a nod at Ankha's request, the shaman utters a brief phrase, conjuring a quartet of bobbing lights in the water ahead of them, as she takes her spear in hand.
"Danger...in the other chamber off to the right...dark corner...underwater." she relates.
"Hellooooooo?" Braxton calls out in aquan. "We are settlers from the big, wooden ship just arrived. We come in peace!" Would they hear him? Should he duck his head underwater and squeak like a dolphin? "Why don't you come out here and lets have a chat?"
The grindylows seem quite amazed that you can speak their language, and rise to the surface to be understood. They do speak Aquan back, a bubbling nearly whimsical sounding voice that is cut through with a chorus of clicks and whistles meant to carry it across water.
"Ship..." one of them says, seeming to think about it. "Peace? You no bring peace, we have seen your kind here before. The ones from before." it says.
"Yes, yes!" the other exclaims. "Many small fights with them, before they left."
Drakari follows the others into the water and wades into the caverns. He seems bemused by the grindylow's reaction to Haplo and he whispers to Ku'Hania "In grindylow culture they consider the octopus the height of beauty".
He listens to the byplay between Braxton and the grindylows with interest. "They just...left?" he asks in aquan "Where did they go?"
Ankha wisely remains quiet during the conversation, content to simply nod when Braxton translates the grindylows’ response. However, when the creatures surface and reveal themselves, she does make a show of stowing her weapon and holding up two empty palms as a sign of peace.
"I don't know, Queen said they were gone when we raided one time." the second one replies, looking over in surprise at yet another person that can speak their language.
The first one joins back in, seeing the groups' weapons not out and the party not being threatening and seeming to become more comfortable talking.
"We can take you to her, if you want? She might be angry, but that's okay, right?"
Braxton sheathes his rapier. "Ahh, your queen? Wonderful! To talk to the person in charge here: that's what we need! But, uhh, most of us cannot breath underwater, so we would need to meet where there is air."
Though she doesn’t understand a word being said, Ankha tries to follow the conversation by watching Braxton’s expression and the grindylows’ gestures. When one seems to point a tentacle further down the passage, and the brewmaster responds with delight, she prepares to follow the creatures.
Dakari sees the look of puzzlement on Ankha's face and smiles "They're going to take us to see their queen." he translates into common.
"Do not worry, her throne is above water." one of them says, before the two of them move into the tunnel leading deeper into the tribe's cave.
The tunnel runs roughly south to north, its floor about five feet below the water’s surface. Two openings lead to other caves along the eastern wall. At its northern end, the cave jogs to the west. A quick look into the first eastern opening reveals a group of grindylow (about 5, though there may be more behind the columns of rock holding the cavern ceiling up) sleeping and performing other various rest activities.
At a certain point deeper in, one of the grindylows draws your attention to a durable piece of translucent seaweed strung across the path. If he hadn't pointed it out to you, you likely wouldn't have seen it. The grindylow is underwater, but you can clearly see that he is warning you to avoid triggering it.
After a sharp switchback in the tunnel, a gradual upward slope leads out of the water and into this roughly round chamber with a dome-like ceiling. The floor is covered in a mixture of sand and coarse stones. Rising from the ground near the center of the room is a massive statue of a hand, carved from a smooth, pearlescent, sea-green marble. The hand is bent back at the wrist and posed as if to catch something or to cradle something in its palm. If anything more exists of the statue, it is buried beneath the earth.
Sitting atop the hand throne is the biggest grindylow you've ever seen, carrying a spear fit for her size. Although you haven't exactly become experts in grindylow, all the other ones you've seen so far have been small whereas this one can only be described as large. ().
She stands (as much as a goblin with the lower half of an octopus can stand), and speaks surprisingly in common. Her voice is guttural, her vocal chords obviously not used to speaking the language of the land-dwellers.
"You enter my home without permission, but bare the blessing of the revered beasts. What business do you have here?"
Braxton removes his hat and strides towards the throne, a warm smile on his face. With a sweeping gesture, he indicates himself and his companions."Greetings, many-tentacled one! I am Braxton Horatio Wynters. These are my companions: Ankha Brushbender, Ku'Hania, and Dakari Brightshore. We represent the fine ship Peregrine, the wooden vessel anchored just beyond your gates, which sails from Andoran, far to the east, across the ocean." He bows. "May I have the honor of knowing to whom we are speaking?"
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
“Oh! You speak Common!” Ankha blurts out in surprise. “I mean, of course you do,” she blubbers, trying to recover some semblance of poise, “because you’re the queen. Of course you would know such things. And … and what a glorious throne! Absolutely exquisite! Did you make that yourself?” A little voice inside her head tells her to slow down and take a breath, but the awkward alchemist can’t help but rush on in a torrent of words.
“No, of course not,” she quickly corrects herself, “someone of your stature would have had a craftsman make it. Or a craftsgoblin. Or craftsgrindylow. Or … anyway, it’s fabulous! Oh! And we’re really sorry about entering without your permission—we don’t mean any harm.” She attempts a hasty, inelegant curtsy and nearly falls over. “Oh! We come in peace. We heard you had trouble with the other colonists, so we wanted to come here first to live in peace with you. I mean, permission to live in peace with you. Not here in your throne room, but on the island. That’s all.” Ankha’s cheeks are bright red.
“You really are large and magnificent.”
The queen seems impressed by the words Braxton speaks, and goes to reply but that's when Ankha jumps in. She listens to the alchemist speak, a curious expression on her face the entire time she's speaking. After Ankha is done, she laughs heartily and honestly.
"I am called Brinetooth, you may use that name if you wish. I like you, I think." she says, specifically looking over at Ankha. "I didn't have it made, actually, we found it here and I claimed it as mine. Befits a queen such as myself, don't you think?" she laughs again, even louder this time.
"You want to negotiate, then? The last batch of you that showed up on my lands weren't so peaceful when they came here." she says, her voice much more serious all of a sudden.
Content to let those better suited to diplomacy handle negotiations, Ku'Hania takes in their surroundings, noting the unique throne.
Ku'Hania can't identify too much about the hand, but she does know that it truly wasn't made by the grindylow or anyone in recent history. Unearthing it would require powerful magic or a significant amount of labor resulting in a major change of the landscape (not to mention displacing the grindylow queen).
Ankha beams shyly at Brinetooth’s words, relieved that she didn’t offend the queen, but the serious tone unnerves her once again. “Oh, but I don’t think it was anything personal against you or your grindylow—the last bunch of colonists were fighting amongst themselves. Killing each other even. Not that that excuses them of course, but … well, there was something wrong with them. We’re actually trying to figure out what happened to them. Do you know what became of them? Your … your subjects must have seen them from when they first landed to when they all disappeared. We’d really like to know what they saw … to understand things from your point of view.”
Drakari looks at Ankha as she talks to the grindylow "queen". "Yes, it seems things got quite chaotic after the colony was established. I'm not trying to make excuses for their actions but try and understand their point of view as strangers in a strange land." "and I'm sure you were all welcoming of them when they landed as you were when we did" he leaves unsaid.
"Actually, my tribe only became aware of them not too long before they left. We only had a few skirmishes with them, only lost a handful of younglings to their attacks, then they up and left. Turns out they couldn't handle it out here I guess!" she laughs again, the laughter shaking her massive frame.
"Do I wish I had been able to avenge those we lost? Of course. But I don't know what happened to them, and we weren't responsible." she looks down at the group, her face suddenly serious.
"I have no intention of continuing any war with your people, can you say the same about mine? I intend to leave the past in the past, and can promise safety from us at least, should you be more agreeable."
“Oh, I didn’t think you were responsible for their disappearance,” Ankha explains quickly. “Like I said, there was something else wrong, but we can’t figure out what.”
“And we don’t want any trouble either!” the alchemist exclaims enthusiastically, surprised at how pleasant and reasonable a conversation with a grindylow could be. She resists an urge to jot down some notes to that effect. “And we promise—well, actually, Ramona’s the leader of our expedition, so I guess officially she’s the one to make the decision … but she did tell us to take care of this, right?” She looks at the others for confirmation.
“So that probably means we can act on her behalf? So we promise peace on our part too if you promise peace on yours.”
When Ankha turns to the others to confirm Ramona's authorizing them to decide on behalf of the expedition, Ku'Hania nods in the affirmative.
As inured to the ocean depths as she was, and with the reverence they showed Haplo, see was finding herself warming up to the grindylow.
"Our purpose here is one of exploration, discovery, and cooperation. Our predecessors was the same. We do not think their violent actions, nor their decision to abandon their burgeoning settlment, was one the now-missing settlers would have chosen under normal circumstances. Personally, I believe they were enhchanted. But that is a mystery that will be solved in the future. We are grateful that your people are willing to move forward in the spirit of cooperation. Would it be possible to set up a meeting between between our superiors and yourself or your representatives? We seek information, for this land is new to us, and we have goods from far away lands to offer in trade." The colonists mostly have practical goods, nothing too shiny, but Braxton thinks it's a good place to start.
"I think that would be acceptable, yes. Who are these leaders of yours, and where would they want to meet? For obvious reasons we prefer the water." she looks like she's about to keep talking but then she suddenly sits up straighter. "Ah! I have something that might work as a sort of peace offering between from our people to yours." she waves a hand at two of the grindylow next to the throne and they drag an extremely old-looking sea chest completely covered in rust from behind the wrist of her throne.
"Take this, our tribe captured it many decades ago, before even I was the queen. We have no use for whatever it contains, but I assume you shall. Be sure to bring an appropriate gift from your people to match." she says, only half joking.
“Ooh,” Ankha blurts out excitedly when the queen offers a gift, “that’s really nice of you!” She steps forward, looking eagerly at the chest, then appears somewhat ashamed. “I’m afraid we don’t have much to offer in return right now—the only thing I can think of that might be useful to you is this healing potion, in case your people are attacked by sharks or something.” She removes a vial from her bandolier and holds it out for the nearest grindylow to take to their queen.
“I can make some more if you like, but it’ll take me some time to find the ingredients and brew them. But we’ll definitely make sure that our leaders bring you something really nice in return! I think you’ll like Ramona—she has a nice tan and pretty brown hair. And I think you could meet in the middle of the water, if it’s okay for Ramona to be on a boat?”
The alchemist’s mind shifts to practical matters. “Since your people like the water and ours like the land, I think we’ll get along just great! We only use the water for the boat, to bring supplies and stuff. Ooh, and maybe some fishing—would it be okay if we did a little fishing in your waters? Unless there’s lots of food on land? Do you know the land area on the island very well? Are there good food sources, or dangers we need to watch out for?”
"Ahh. Excellent. We humbly accept your gift, and will soon return one in kind." Braxton is a bit taken aback. He had not expected things to go this smooth. Normally he would consider leaving his flask aas a token offering of sorts - the grindylow probably don't have many honeybees down here - but since coming to the new land, Braxton has felt the simple flask, stamped with a simple tankard, held more importance to him. Something magical about it, perhaps. Regardless, this is excelent progress after the disaster that was the previous colony. "I have no doubts that a relationship between our groups will prove profitable for everyone!"
Ku'Hania arches an eyebrow as Ankha comments on the colonists striking to the land. Personally, she had every intention of spending as much time is the water asher duties allowed, though she doubted that would be an issue with the grindylow, given their regard for Haplo.
The queen seems to be amused by Ankha's enthusiasm, and waves a hand towards one of the grindylow who steps forward to accept the potion before handing it to her. The grindylows' hands are slimy and cold when it reaches for the vial, which anyone else but Ankha might find extremely unsettling.
"I think something could be arranged. We can walk on land without harm, we just choose not to usually. Unfortunately, I cannot offer you much advice about the land itself, as we aren't really made for it. Our biggest problem now is the giant shark that patrols these waters, I'm surprised you haven't met it yet." she says, her face scrunching up as if in thought. "Its head and meat from its sides would make a perfect return gift, should you want an idea for one. And it would certainly have enough meat for both sides to enjoy in the kill. You'd have to find a way to lure it out, though."
"And do not worry, the sea is not ours to claim. As long as there are no hostilities between us, we will not stop you from fishing or using the water for your silly boats." its clear here that she's making a small lighthearted joke at your need of boats for longer term swimming trips.
“That’s wonderful! Thank you so much!” Ankha exclaims to the queen, then looks at the others, unsure if there are any further diplomatic protocols to follow, or if they can go now. “Should we go find Ramona now to organize a meeting?” The alchemist runs her hands over the chest, feeling for good handholds while testing its weight—she seems ready to carry the chest out for the group.
“That shark could pose a problem for us too,” she remarks to her companions. “Eliminating it might be beneficial for everybody.” Her eyes gleam with excitement as her mind races far beyond a simple peace treaty. Maybe once they all become better friends, the grindylows would volunteer themselves for some experimentation! She would love to learn more about their physiology—those slimy, cold hands are an invitation, just begging to be studied.
Ku'Hania nods, moving to take the other side of the chest if needed. "We will need to deal with it to make the beaches safe."
Sorry everyone, it's been a busy couple of weeks at work
Dakari doesn't seem too pleased with the thought of tangling with a shark that's big enough to terrorize a tribe of grindylows, but as a way to insure peace between them and the colonists he doesn't see a way around it "It would be pleasure to share the meat with you and your tribe as we would have to deal with this predator ourselves before too long." he hopes his words don't convey his misgivings about the project.
He will pick up the other side of the chest from Ankha and prepare to haul it out when everyone is ready.
Braxton bows. "We thank you for your generosity and hospitality, many-limbed one. We shall take your offer to our superiors. We look forward to working with your people in the future."
“Thanks Dakari,” Ankha acknowledges the archaeologist’s help with the chest as they begin their return to the colony.
When you get out of the cave and row the boat back to the Peregrine, the sun has progressed to the point that it's just above the horizon, indicating its nearly nightfall. Even as you are pulled up in the boat to the ship and climb aboard, you can tell the earlier tension and fear have all but dissipated.
Ramona is in her cabin having a quick dinner when you find her, and she greets you warmly, motioning for you to take a seat at the makeshift dinner table.
"Ah, there you are. I suppose the tribe has been taken care of, then?"
"Probably not in the way expected, but this is likely better." Ku' Hania replies.
"We managed to broker a truce of sorts. We don't bother them and they won't bother us." He shrugs a sort of apology "I don't expect it'll hold very long but it'll at least give us a chance to get our feet underneath us before we have to deal with them."
Given a chance Dakari will inspect the chest the grindylow queen had given them. Satsified, he begins to try and pick the lock.
“Ooh yes, we met the grindylow queen and she was very nice. Surprisingly reasonable,” Ankha prattles merrily as she plops herself down in a chair. “She even spoke Common, which is surprising because none of the other grindylow did, though fortunately Dakari and Braxton were able to speak their language. Braxton was a great negotiator—he was the one who got us an audience with the queen. She wants to meet with you tomorrow to make our peace agreement official. Ooh, may I?” Her hand hovers over a carrot for a brief, expectant moment, then grabs it, her question evidently rhetorical.
After a few moments of satisfied munching noises, the alchemist continues. “Thanks, that’s the first real bite I’ve had since this morning. Anyway, the queen gave us this chest as a peace offering … here, let me help you with that.” She slides out of her chair and walks over to give Dakari a hand with the chest.
“The queen will want a present in return of course. She suggested a shark head—apparently there’s a big one cruising these waters that’s been bothering her tribe.”
Ramona sits back in her chair, processing all of the information you've given her.
"Do you think we can trust them to honor whatever bargain they have struck with you, and will make with me?" she asks, looking at you seriously. She doesn't comment on Ankha taking food, focusing on the bigger issue at hand.
"I am willing to meet her, but I would like to know if I should be expecting a trap or the like."
The chest, in the meantime, has had its lock completely shut. Its a matter of strength to open it, and Ankha can take her time to get it open. Inside is a fancy chain shirt made of mithral, a ring, what looks to be a wand, and 470 gp in Chelish gold coins. The coins themselves appear to be quite old, perhaps dating from before the ascension of House Thrune.
"And if we can trust it, then how do you plan to get this shark head? I am not sure we could find it just sailing around the cove, blindly."
Braxton takes one of the Chelaxian coins, polishing it on his tunic and holding it up in the sunlight. "Hmm. Fancy!" He flips the coin back into the chest and it lands amongst its friends with a satisfying clink. "I got the sense from the queen that she only wants to protect her people. Squids. Squeoples. I think we should try to get along with the natives. Won't be easy to establish a foothold here if we're fighting everyone all the time. As for the shark... I dunno. Are sharks territorial? If they are, making a big splash would probably attract it."
“Ooh,” Ankha gushes excitedly after she pries the chest open, “look at all this! There’s a chain shirt that looks a bit like mine, only fancier, and all this ancient gold. Do you think any of this stuff might be magic? Surely the wand, but maybe the ring too?” She looks expectantly at Ku’Hania and Dakari.
When the shark is mentioned, the alchemist pipes up. “Aren’t sharks attracted to blood? I’m sure the boar flesh we brought is dried up by now, but maybe we could make a fresh kill tomorrow to lure it out to us? And Ku’Hania has a special connection to the ocean, right? Do you have a spell that could help?”
Braxton feels like he would know if there was magic here... for some reason.
"That may be the case." she says to Braxton's thoughts on the queen's motives. "Did they have anything to do with the previous colonists? Have we solved the mystery so easily? I doubt it, you wouldn't have accepted an alliance with them so readily I think."
"Well, I think that plan might actually work. As long as we get close to the area and drop the fresh kill into the water at the right place, it should draw the shark to us. Especially if it's the apex predator of the bay."
She shakes her head wearily before continuing.
"It's nearly nighttime, we should get back to the colony quickly and get people set up in shelter. I'll need you to take me around the place and show me areas of concern, both in terms of danger and living suitability. You also will get first pick of housing for your group, like I promised. Anything else before we head back?"
The chain shirt, wand, and ring are all infused with magic. A quick investigation reveals them as a +1 mithral chain shirt, Ring of Swimming, and a wand of Flaming Sphere with 9 charges left.
Ankha shakes her head at Ramona’s question about the grindylows’ involvement. “The queen said that her tribe didn’t even know the previous colonists were there until shortly before they left. She admitted having a few skirmishes with them, but doesn’t know what happened to them or where they went. They definitely weren’t responsible for everyone disappearing. Like we said earlier, we didn’t find any evidence of foul play, other than between the colonists themselves.”
The alchemist shakes her head again. “I’m ready to head back, though it’d be great if I could borrow a longspear for tomorrow, for killing the shark. Those seem to work better than my fauchard underwater.”
"I see." she says, running a hand along her chin instinctively as she thinks. "I don't think we can conclusively say they'll abide by any treaty we make, but it's better than nothing. And of course, we have plenty of spears for you to keep. Better to have you use it than have them sit unused."
"We'll just have to show the lil' tentacled ones what good neighbors we can be!" They started out on the wrong foot with the lost colonists, but at least things with the natives seem to be going well. Who knows: maybe they'll be amongst his first customers whence he has his brewery built. "I suppose I could ask around and see if any of the fisherpeople have an idea on how to track and capture a shark. I hasten to add that I do not think we should put off our search for our predecessors for too long, but ensuring the grindylow are not hunting us does seem prudent."