The Priestess wipes off her forehead and sheathes her rapier. She's somber as she answers your group "Well, pleasure to meet you Autumn, Vildran, and the rest of you. I would hardly say I've been doing well. Despite the best efforts of these old bones, I was a hairs breadth from my own demise several times, and I achieved naught for the youngsters that escaped the ship with me. The dero caught each of them..." She sighs. "In my younger days it would have been a fine adventure, and you would have met us all not only healthy, but more likely than not eating well and telling stories around a campfire."
When Autumn attempts to treat her wounds without success, Ordwi waves her off "I appreciate the sentiment, but I will handle it. My name is Ceyn Ordwi, but please do call me Ordwi. I fear we are not out of this yet, as there were far more than three earlier. I simply managed to shake the rest."
The mention of one of the guards washing up in Sandpoint Ordwi smiles "Well now, luck shone on at least someone. I'm glad he managed to escape. I had thought all the guards went down when the ship was attacked. As for why they were after me, I cannot at all be certain. Dero here, at sea, is a strange thing indeed. But perhaps it has something to do with my trip up the shore in the first place."
While you speak with Ordwi, San and Vildran are able to bind the remaining dero. Once you're ready, you can rouse it.
With a tight smile concealing her emotions, Autumn puts away her healing kit without comment. “I’m sorry for your loss,” she offers solemnly to Ordwi for the deaths of her fellow travelers. “But you’re right about more dero—we passed a sentry on the way here. We should post one of our own.” She glances around with a meaningful look at the others. Her gaze rests briefly upon Sidonie, but moves on to give the woman some space to deal with … whatever she’s dealing with.
Returning her attention to the priestess, she continues gently. “Could you tell us about your business on this trip? It might help us understand these attacks.” Gods, I hope it’s treasure.
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Bastiano gives Sidonie a worried look before turning to the priestess.
“Bastiano, I mean, my name is Bastiano. And I think Autumn’s asking the right question: what are you traveling to do? I don’t mean to pry - “ he totally means to pry “- but if you think it might have something to do with the attack, it would be good to know.”
Resigning himself to having to carry the unconscious dero, San thinks to escaping this situation, "So should we make our way back to the ship? We know we'll have to pass by that sentry on the ledge back there and cross that broken bridge again..." San looks to the priestess's wounds, "Will you be able to travel? Come to think of it, I doubt the ship will be safe given the reason you are here in the first place. Quite the predicament... Perhaps this one will provide us some answers." San gestures to the unconscious prisoner. "This little endeavor may be more than a simple retrieval if we have to dissuade the dero from coming after us."
A thought occurs that seems pertinent to ask of Ordwi, "You wouldn't happen to know why there are bruises in the vague shape of Thasselonian runes that move about the body on the washed up sailor and the orcish lady we passed on the way here?"
After taking a few minutes to collect herself, Sidonie walks back over to see how things are going with the captured dero. She says nothing about her brief absence.
"Rather than I offer the tale now, I suggest we make our way to safety first. The story isn't a short one, and it'll come easier when we're not jumping at shadows." Ordwi smiles, then raises an eyebrow "You do have a way off this island, I hope? The ship of yours is seaworthy?" While you're talking she takes ten minutes to treat her own wounds and makes good progress on them. She's certainly not in top shape, but is significantly patched up.
"Hm, bruises in the shape of Thassilonian runes? An unwelcome sign, to be sure. Perhaps related to the ailment described in his letter..." Ordwi muses, then shakes her head "No, we will speak of it once we're in relative safety."
As for your dero captive, it wakes when you splash it with a handful of sea water. For a moment it remains slack in its bonds, but then you see it strain against them. When it doesn't manage to force them open, it looks up at you all with its milky, glowing eyes.
“Yes, of course,” Autumn replies reflexively to Ordwi’s questions about a ship off the island. “But let’s take a moment to understand what we’re facing first—then we’ll head straight to the ship.” She glances over at Bastiano. “Ask him how many others there are, and where. I’ll see what tales the dead tell.” The sorceress moves over to the two dead dero and starts rifling through the bodies for information.
She pauses for an instant, raising her head and looking at Ordwi as a thought occurs to her. “Wait … how did the dero get to this island?” The ship might be only a temporary refuge if the dero have a boat of their own.
Vildran eyes the dero suspiciously as the party turns their collective attention to it. He looks to Bastiano to approach and do the translation.
After that question: ask him why they attacked the priestess' ship in the first place.
He rubs his chin, thinking further.
So many questions. But I suppose one at a time.
To Autumn's musings, Ordwi slowly nods "When they attacked, they seemed to come from the water, but dero are no more aquatic than you or I. They must have had a ship or something similar. Yet I did not see one when we were attacked or after..."
Autumn finds the dero equipped with rusty looking tridents, hand crossbows, and a small collection of bolts. Each also has three doses of some black liquid in tiny pods. She doesn't find any missives or useful information.
San is content to let the others do the questioning. He is instead simply standing by with his dagger in hand in case the being gets ideas of retaliation.
After a quick search of the bodies, Autumn turns to the others and shakes her head. “Nothing useful. Just this.” She holds out her palm, displaying the pods of black liquid for everyone else to examine.
At Ordwi’s reply, the sorceress frowns. “Perhaps a spell then …” she muses in an attempt to explain how the dero came from the water. “Or a potion …” she glances down at her hand.
During the interrogation, Autumn watches the dero closely, trying to read its body language even if she doesn’t understand the words. After Bastiano translates, she gives her head the slightest of shakes. “It exaggerates. But however many are left is too much. We should return soon.” She gathers her pack, getting ready to leave, then turns to Ordwi with an appraising look and just a hint of a grin. “Best way to keep you safe is a good disguise. Fancy roleplaying a dero?” Her fingers waggle suggestively, as if intimating a spell.
"Zaiox asks, and the kin answer the call. Pacts must be fulfilled, debts paid. The reason she must die does not matter."
Vildran looks at the Dero intently while listening to Bastiano's translation. His antennae are standing straight up and lean slightly towards the dero, matching his visual and mental focus.
After he looks over at Bastiano (and his antennae lean towards him too), and offers final questions to the dero.
Who is Zaiox? Another dero or something else entirely? What pact do you have with him?
Vildran thinks intently on the name...
From a whiff, Autumn is pretty sure the pods contain a poison, but she's not sure which kind.
The elf then approaches Autum and inspects the vials offered in her open hand.
Scratching his chin and pacing amidst the group (away from the dero), Vildran thinks out loud on their next move.
If we kill this creature now, we will certainly get no more information out of it. I think we should keep it bound and bring it along with us. The strongest of us should bind themselves to the other end of the rope. As we go along, I suspect they will talk more, especially at the prospect of being separated from their kin on our boat back to Sandpoint. But, that does put more translation burden on Bastiano.
He looks over at him.
What do you think?
"Well, I don't think we should just kill him. That's an awful thing to do to someone just because it's convenient. Besides, as long as we have him on the island, we have a hostage. That might be worth something if we come across more dero."
Bastiano translates everybody’s questions for the prisoner and the answers, such as they are. He adds one more question of his own: “How did you know where to find your target’s ship? It’s a big ocean with a long coastline, and even a big boat is tiny by comparison. Finding a ship on that route wouldn’t be too hard, but finding a specific ship would be almost impossible unless you were told where to look.”
Scratching his chin and pacing amidst the group (away from the dero), Vildran thinks out loud on their next move.
If we kill this creature now, we will certainly get no more information out of it. I think we should keep it bound and bring it along with us. The strongest of us should bind themselves to the other end of the rope. As we go along, I suspect they will talk more, especially at the prospect of being separated from their kin on our boat back to Sandpoint. But, that does put more translation burden on Bastiano.
He looks over at him.
What do you think?
“As long as he doesn’t start talking too much, that’s not so much of a burden. Translating Aklo to Taldane isn’t too taxing; it’s speaking it that I find painful. And even then, that wouldn’t be a reason to kill him.” He frowns at the murderous creature. “Not by itself, anyway.”
Autumn hands the pods over to Vildran. “Poison. I don’t know if it’s related to those runes you saw on the body?”
She nods in agreement with the idea of bringing the tied-up dero along as a hostage. “Definitely. But gag it too—we don’t want it warning the sentry or anyone else.” To Ordwi she gives a reassuring smile. “You won’t need to say or do anything—you just need to look like another hostage. And you’ll have a model to imitate walking ahead of you.”
With a comfortable ease, Autumn lays out her schemes. “The dero should go in front, like a shield. Hands tied behind its back, on a short leash. San?” She glances at the elf to see if he’s comfortable being responsible for the hostage. “I’ll do the same with Ordwi at the back, as a second hostage.” She gathers some rope in preparation, but waits until everyone is ready to go before casting her spell. “Keep it facing forward,” she instructs, so that it won’t see her ruse at the back of the line. With her mind focusing intently, she moves her open palm around in concentric circles and casts her spell, transforming the priestess’s likeness into that of a dero. The ruse is completed by loosely stuffing a gag into Ordwi’s mouth, one that can be easily spit out, and pretending to tie her wrists behind her back, to mimic their actual prisoner. “Not too tight, I hope?” the sorceress checks to ensure the priestess isn’t too uncomfortable. “Don’t worry, I’ll help guide you.”
Vildran doesn't recognize the name Zaiox. It doesn't seem to be a prominent or famous figure, as far as he's aware. Like Autumn, he can recognize the small pods contain poison, but he's not sure which kind. It seems it'll remain unknown for now.
Coming to an agreement regarding your captive, you tie a rope from the captive dero to bind them to one member of your team (likely San) and gag the creature. Then, Autumn casts her spell and Ordwi assumes the appearance of a dero. The illusion is fairly convincing from a distance, but up close the more perceptive among you can see that Ordwi-dero is a little too tall and her features are a little too oddly shaped. Ordwi hunches over a bit and submits to being tied up. She comments "Oh, this feels like the old days, certainly. A little bit of trickery can go a long way." before accepting the fake gag.
You begin the trek back to the ship.
San takes his position prodding the captive forward and keeping an eye out for any ambush.
Bastiano stays close to San and the (real) prisoner when they walk back to the ship in case the dero decides to talk. He keeps his rapier drawn and ready.
Sidonie hangs back, taking the rear. The dero are real creepers, so somebody should be watching their backs.
When you arrive at the shore you see Art has lit a lantern and hung it at the bow of the sloop, providing a bobbing light that identifies the ship clearly amid the rolling waves. You don't however see Art or the boy that brought Autumn over, though they may be sitting or resting such that their silhouettes are not obvious.
"We don't want to lose the boat trying to take too many people at once " Sidonie says as she watches for eyes out in the dark.
"There are seven of us in all. We could take things slowly two people at a time, but one person has to come back with the boat, so that's really one at a time. If three went, two of us can stay on the ship while one comes back with the boat. That totals three trips with three people. But there are only two people left on the beach until the boat gets back to pick them up for the third trip. Maybe no so safe."
"If we have the rope for it, we could speed up the boat the second and third time out. We still have the pulley. If the first people over to the ship attach it to something there. Then we tie one end to the boat while the rest is left in the boat after running it through the pulley. The second and third groups can use it to reel themselves in toward the ship without having to row. I'd think that'll go faster, and hopefully offset the extra water the boat is taking on. If it doesn't, at least they have something to hold on to if the boat goes down. They can still get pulled in by it."
Sidonie sounds really tired.
Vildran agrees but eyes the distance to the sloop, pondering how much rope they have between them.
“I’ll go with Ordwi on the first trip,” Autumn promptly volunteers, eager to get back to the relative safety of the boat. “She’s our main priority.” The sorceress helps get the dinghy ready to shove off to sea. While waiting to see who would accompany them (and help row the small vessel), she magically whispers a message to the ship’s captain. “We’re back. Prepare for our return.” She also forewarns him that the first dero is really the priestess in disguise.
Sidonie looks over at San.
"You and I wait for the last round to go San? Your bow to keep them at bay if need be, and back to back with swords if they move in anyway?"
Nodding to Sidonie and gesturing to the rest, "You all get across first. This thing isn't that hard to paddle. Our prisoner should get be in the first group. We'll stand guard on this side and be the last ones across. I figure I have a better chance of swimming if I need to... because that worked so well last time." his bruised hip throbs at the memory of his last attempt.
Vilrdan warily watches the eyes in the distance until it is his turn.
If they attacked the ship before... what is to stop them from attack our sloop now. We must stay alert.
"That's a thought I've had as well. Given that Art isn't visible, you must be cautious boarding the ship. They may already be compromised." San looks to the ship with concern before returning to his vigil watching where the glowing eyes once were.
Autumn and Ordwi enter the dinghy, with the end of one rope with them so they can affix it to the sloop and make subsequent trips that little bit safer and easier. The trip across is uneventful with two people, and while the dinghy takes on some water, its not so much that the disguised Ordwi can't bail it out. Meanwhile the others on shore hold onto the dero captive and the other end of the rope. San keeps an eye out both ahead at the sloop and behind where you last saw the dero following you.
When Autumn reaches the sloop, she realizes San and Vildran's warnings may indeed be true. She hauls herself up and finds Art sprawled on the side of the deck, a bolt sticking out of his gut. The boy is nowhere to be seen. Ordwi climbs up over the railing and into the boat as well, quickly heading to Art's side. She whispers "Not again..." as she starts checking his wound. Other than yourselves moving about and the waves rocking the boat, the boat is quiet.
Those of you on shore don't see anything except Autumn and Ordwi making their way onto the sloop. If any dero are approaching from the way you came, they're evading your notice.
“What’s going on over there?” Bastiano wonders aloud. “Shouldn’t Autumn have given us the signal to pull back the dinghy by now?”
He looks back up the beach and into the trees, clearly anxious.
“Vildran, can you reach her with your whispering spell?”
As soon as she sees Art, Autumn quakes and curses silently under her breath. “Not good …” she announces as Ordwi clambers on deck. She glances down at the dinghy, rocking gently against the boat, then at the priestess. Leaving Ordwi alone on the boat would practically guarantee her death, and there is no way in hell that she’s staying here alone.
Rushing to the railing, she urgently whispers a magical message to San (and repeats it to the others as needed). “Art’s dead. No sign of my sailor. Get over here now.” If pressed, she elaborates. “There’s a crossbow bolt in Art’s stomach. No dero in sight, but they’re probably hiding. Forget the dinghy—I’m not leaving her alone. You need to swim.”
Vildran freezes with fright.
Swim? I'm not sure that's a good idea.
Then out loud.
Quickly, pull the rope! Autumn needs us over there now.
Nodding San nudges Vildran forward. "Hold your breath and pull yourself by the rope, don't worry about swimming. Create some lights once you're at the boat unless other magic is more necessary. They have the advantage in the darkness, might as well deny that. Sidonie, I have some torches in my pack. Care to light them and toss them toward the tree line? I'll keep my bow ready to shoot if the pursuers show themselves."
Horrified at the sight of the wounded fisherman, Bastiano jumps into the dinghy and begins rowing back as quickly as he can.
While Bastiano paddles the dinghy back to you as fast as he can, Ordwi looks up at Autumn from where she was checking over Art. "Not dead, thank Desna, but in poor shape. Something is keeping him asleep, and I would bet my britches its that poison they put on their bolts. I can patch him up, just keep an eye out dear." Even as she says it, she's tearing fabric to fashion a makeshift bandage and moving to remove the bolt.
Vildran hesitates to swim in the surf, and both he and San begin to see more of the glowing eyes creeping closer from the west once more. It seems they were waiting for this moment that the group's members are more spread out. The dero approach slowly and stick to whatever rocky cover they can achieve.
Meanwhile on the boat, Autumn hears a momentary scrabbling from the far side, the side of the boat facing away from the shoreline... It falls silent so quickly that it almost could have been her imagination.
----
At San's suggestion, Vildran sighs. However, given the approaching eyes-in-the-dark, he wades into the water and begins pulling himself along the rope.
Vildran pulls himself up onto the boat. On getting the briefing that Art is likely poisoned, he quickly leans in to see if there is the familiar runic pattern on his skin.
Autumn freezes at the sound, standing stock-still as she focuses all of her attention upon the unwelcome noise. She pauses for a long moment, wondering if it’s just her nerves getting the best of her, then decides she needs to assume the worst. There’s no point investigating—that would just put them into contact sooner. Instead, she scrambles to prepare for what’s sure to be another dero.
With her mind racing, she quickly removes the fake gag from around Ordwi’s neck and sops up as much blood as she possibly can with it. Meanwhile she whispers her plan to the priestess. “Listen: You’re still disguised as a dero. But you don’t speak their language. So I’ll tie this …” as soon as the bolt is removed, she uses the gag to absorb the momentary gush of blood, “… around your neck, as a bandage. You’ll pretend you have a throat wound, so you can’t speak properly. In fact, it’s best if you pretend to be severely injured and can’t do much at all. Hold still …” Autumn fastens the bloody bandage around Ordwi’s neck. “Hurry up with Art—if he’s just asleep he’ll be fine—and lie down. They’ll be here soon.” She retrieves some materials from her own healing kit, ready to pretend that she’s been treating Ordwi’s injury.
Sidonie does her best to count the pairs of eyes out there in the dark...
-
As the dero fall upon your team, Vildran and Bastiano respond quickest to San's warning call, acting before the foes. Meanwhile on the sloop, Autumn also acts first.
|||| INIT ||||
Vildran
Bastiano (2 dmg)
Autumn
San
Sidonie
Ordwi
Green dero (Captive, bound to San, 1 HP)
Red dero
Blue dero
Yellow dero
Pink dero
With troubles of her own, Autumn spares just a fleeting glance when the dero unleash a war cry and charge across the shoreline at her companions. They’ll be fine, she reassures herself, remembering San’s marksmanship and Sidonie’s deadly blade. Instead, she focuses on self-preservation, making a small show of treating Ordwi-dero’s ‘wound’ with her healing kit before slowly raising both palms in a calming sign of peace. “Just trying to help,” she says to the dero in a soothing voice, “I don’t want anyone to be hurt.”
Though she speaks openly and earnestly, she has no illusions about being understood. Her main goal is to keep the dero’s attention squarely upon her, and away from everything else. She achieves this through sight and sound, with evocative hand gestures, gentle inferences from body language, and a steady stream of soft words. Throughout the sorceress holds the creature in her limpid green eyes, subtly connecting its mind to her magic.
Vildran, hearing the war cry, begins pulling more frantically on the rope.
After two strenuous goes at it he arrives at the sloop, pulling himself up.
Taking a steadying breath, San assumes his archery stance. Taking aim through the gloom, he fires two quick shots at the leading dero.
-
In the water, Vildran struggles as the waves pull him to and fro. He makes slow progress toward the sloop.
On the sloop, the pink dero leaps forward to strike at Autumn, not recognizing the disguised Ordwi at all. Its trident stabs once into Autumn's leg before she dodges a second strike. On shore, the dero seem particularly irate about one of their own being so bound. Two of them converge upon San, stabbing with tridents. He gets caught once but evades the second attacker. The last dero stays a little further back, firing its hand crossbow to support its allies. A bolt narrowly misses Sidonie, leaving the dero to toss the weapon aside in frustration.
San responds quickly, sinking one arrow into blue before the creature evades his follow-up.
|||| INIT ||||
Vildran
Bastiano (2 dmg) x2
Autumn (8 dmg)
San (5 dmg)
Sidonie
Ordwi
Green dero (Captive, bound to San, 1 HP)
Red dero
Blue dero (7 dmg)
Yellow dero
Pink dero
Vildran continues to splash and flounder at first, but after another moment of frustration he pauses and focuses.
If I just hold the rope with one hand and dog-paddle with the other and my legs, I think I can make steady progress.
And so he does until he reaches the boat and climbs up...
“Look out!”
Bastiano studies the nearest dero , draws his bow, and fires.
Autumn's lingering thought... they will be fine gave away to things happening very quickly right in front of her. The dero in her face neither charmed nor subdued, she throws a determined expression back at its locked gaze.
Watch this carefully, it disappears and re-appears many times on its path. I wonder, will it be present when it passes through you?
Hmm, it can't even understand me.
She incants a glowing bolt of force that, indeed, does phase in and out as it travels a very short distance into the dero in front of her...
Before focusing on whether the bolt struck the dero she whispers a spell word and raises a forearm which somehow braces a glimmering-blue, translucent circular shield.
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“Heinous.” Autumn winces in great pain as metal skewers pierce her leg, but through gritted teeth she maintains her wits and composure. Her initial instinct is to retry her spell, but out of the corner of her eye she can see the elven wizard pulling on board. Even if she successfully charmed the dero, it would just attack Vildran instead. Perhaps if they were on land, where she could make a speedy getaway, she would abandon the elf to such a fate, but here, trapped on a small boat, she would buy nothing but a few moments of time. Besides, it was her penchant for self-preservation that made her board the ship first, and look where that got her.
At least Ordwi is safe, she thinks to herself with some surprise—when did she start putting others before herself? Focus. Her charm spell, so perfect as a failsafe should a mark angrily discover her con, is of limited use without a common tongue. As much as she hates the idea, in a choice between fight or flight, where flight is not an option …
Desna save me. The sorceress throws up her left arm protectively. The air ripples and shimmers, radiating out from her hand into a glimmering burnt orange shield of force, as her sleeve drops, revealing her arcane tattoo, a sturdy oak with multicolored leaves, now glowing with a soft, protective light. Her right arm thrusts forward in a stabbing motion, as if her extended fingers were knives, and the air here seems to disintegrate into a cold, sharp void that stabs into the dero at point-blank range.
-
On the boat, Autumn's stabbing void pierces the dero's thigh, triggering a howl of anger. Ordwi, still playing the role of captive, "frees" her arm well enough to cast a spell. The effects are not obvious... at least to the dero. For Vildran and Autumn, you feel a bolstering force focus you . The single bulky dero on the sloop ignores Ordwi and Vildran, as its whole fury is focused upon Autumn. It stabs at her twice with its trident, but its attacks are so telegraphed that she's able to duck and dodge both of them. It follows by pulling a dollop of glowing blue salve from a small pot at its waist and smearing it across the wound Autumn just gave it. The wound bubbles for a moment before it scabs over.
On the shore, two of the dero move to flank San, stabbing away with their tridents. He proves an acrobatic match for them, as he dodges away or takes the tridents against his leather armor where they can't do any harm.
The final yellow dero rushes Bastiano instead, landing a single stab as it calls out "Death to the surface worlders!", its true task here forgotten for now.
|||| INIT ||||
Vildran
Bastiano (4 dmg)
Autumn (8 dmg)
San (5 dmg)
Sidonie x2
Ordwi
Green dero (Captive, bound to San, 1 HP)
Red dero (7 dmg)
Blue dero (7 dmg)
Yellow dero
Pink dero