Ekote sees the ladies move into position, shrugs, and fires off another blast from his wand.
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The water mage glides forward over the ground, wand in hand. He eyes the mists that his companion Riori formed with a critical eye before letting loose a blast into the fog where he thinks the remaining cyclopes lurk.
Ekote stays along the ground and moves up through the underbrush, drawing his wand and preparing to assist Sal or Thren as needed.
"Fair points. You can be your namesake another time." The wizard smiles easily. He chants off a spell and points at several of the monsters. "May your blood move as ice," he commands.
Ekote looks at the now much-larger Sal speculatively. "If you want Sal, I can get you into the fray much faster, right now, though it is of course risky...." He asks her quickly.
There's a smile as Ekote lets the women get going up the rope one by one. For his own part, he choose magic. One incantation later and he is airborne, flying up without trouble.
"Perhaps we should camp?" Ekote suggests as the party veers its path northward. "Unless this statue is some sort of shrine," he points at the cyclopean statue, "it is likely that we will be undisturbed. Or so I hope."
"Mangroves. I doubt anyone will land here, captain. Though it may be good for food or perhaps wood?" Ekote notes as the party moves north and east.
Ekote is up and reading through his spellbook at dawn, pausing here and there to enjoy the view of the morning sun striking the waters.
"If need be, I am prepared to fly up and survey our surroundings, captain. I am not fast, but a height advantage is always helpful. My flying may need a bit of practice, I must say. I swim far better in the ocean than the sky."
Ekote will also help as needed and directed, not being an outdoorsman either.
Ekote looks at the canoes and the remains of the docks for clues as to who made them.
I'm with you on that assignment of goods. Ekote doesn't need the headband. Thren can wait for one a bit longer to find one that suits her needs better. I'd say sell the cutlass when the time comes. We've generally not had a lot of loot at any time, then gotten a load and then bought stuff. I'd rather we have some coin honestly.
The water mage draws his wand and blasts the creature point-blank with a small blizzard of ice balls.
The mage points out the strongbox. "Let's get this back to the surface before we open it." He suggests mildly. "Continue the search? Perhaps the cabins retain something of value?"
"Shall we search the hold, then move throughout the ship?" Ekote suggests. Underwater, he seems remarkably at ease.
The mage smirks and throws himself into the water after Sal with a bright smile, taking to water as if it were his home.
"We would be the best suited for this bit, I think. Let us hope though that there are no great octopi about." The Caldaru man grins. "Maybe we can swim a lap to see who is truly the best in the water while we are at it?"
The wizard thinks, staring out towards the open sea. "I can think of nothing else, Riori, can you?" He turns to Sefina. "I appreciate the time you've taken to enlighten us to the nature of this island. Thank you. Perhaps we can repay you in time."
The mage takes this in. "Are there any other troublesome denizens about the island, or is the island limited to the cyclopes and the fort and tree guardians Sefina?" The mage asks politely.
"That should do, thank you Sefina." The water mage nods his thanks. "Sal, would you know anything about tree guardians?"
"The trees have guardians? Sal, would you-" Ekote spins to Sal, who is still laboring under the fey's influence. He turns to Sefina. "Sefina, is it possible for you to not entrance my captain and colleague?" The water mage asks politely.
"Sefina, are there any other creatures on this island? Or resources such as stone or lumber? The waters seem to be teeming with food at least." The wizard asks politely.
"Also thinking...Riori, you said Ed has no living compatriots earlier? So either Bikendi is not connected to Ed in any way or he's not alive anymore."
"Interesting. I wonder if Ed knows this Bikendi fellow? Or anything about him." Ekote muses.
"I don't suppose you can describe this wizard? We may have seen him there." Ekote says coaxingly.
Seeing Thren and Sal are at best stupefied, Ekote shakes his head. "Large one-eyed giants you say? How unfortunate. We have yet to see them. The fort on the bay has had phase spiders, and something attacked us from nowhere, but we have admittedly not been here long."
Ekote adds his eyes to the examination of footprints.
Ekote casts false life on himself as the team disembarks and begins to trek towards the southeast.
Works for me. Sounds like an excellent rationalization for some piracy ;)
Go for it! I'm copying from his spellbook after all. Admittedly, that isn't using it up. As for the loot tracker's neglect...let's get more loot so it doesn't feel left out! ;-)
Ekote tries to answer the tiefling's questions regarding the creatures. "He had no instruments among his gear, though some, such as our captain, are bards that rely on their voices or movements alone. Perhaps he was some sort of investigator, trap finder, tomb raider? His armor was light, sensible enough a precaution on a ship admittedly." The dusky-skinned mage wonders. "It is a good thought, to look for wreckage as we set out. I can function underwater easily enough if we need to explore the waters. Who knows? Perhaps that giant octopus wrecked the ship he arrived on...assuming he wasn't marooned for crimes against his captain, as you say."
Ekote sits down with the man's spellbook and begins paging through it, attempting to decipher his spells.
Upon doing so, he spends an hour scribing away, adding the alarm spell to his own books. "I do note his magical talents are rather limited; he's barely out of apprenticeship, assuming this is his primary spellbook. What other talents does he possess? He's stayed alive this long against those creatures and other potential threats after all."
"Seems reasonable. One direction is as good as another." Ekote agrees. "We can work our way around."
Hearing Sal comment about the catapult, Ekote smiles like a boy with a toy. "Let me help you with that. Siege weaponry is a hobby of mine. I'm sure we can lob rocks at the fortress from the ship. Absolutely sure."
Ekote will make sure to remove anything that might be a spell component pouch or component for a common spell during the search.
Ekote, hearing the order to search the captive, uses detect magic to determine what magic items he possesses and begins removing gear before Sal ties him.
"I'm no healer, but in his current mental state I doubt he's responsible for our problems below. Though there have been crazed savants capable of great magic down through the Ages." Ekote shrugs easily. "Either way, an unconscious man is no threat."
"I'm not sure which of them is worse," Ekote opines as he heads up after the two hotheads.
"Captain...everyone...it is possible we are dealing with creatures from the Demiplane of Dreams. It touches upon the Ethereal Plane, where the spiders came from. They may have put illusion magic to use, strong magic. Little of what we can perceive may in the end be real."
"Then let us pull back and regroup, Captain." Ekote agrees. "We can consider our options from a better vantage point."
The water mage emerges from the mists a few steps behind the tiefling, wand in hand. He cuts loose with a blast.
Ekote waits, watching for the spiders to appear, holding his wand of flurry of snowballs at the ready to blast them if they appear in range.
"One is...retreating?" The mage notes, pointing it out to the team. "They are not very smart, but if only one is moving off that implies it is getting help to me."
Seeing that Sal and Thren have wounded one spider, Ekote tries to provoke it or finish it off. He murmurs an incantation and points to where he can see the wounded spider.
Five bolts streak out and slam into the creature across the planar boundary. The mage reappears. |