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On the journey to the cove from Sasserine, Gwl kept mostly below decks, staying out of the sun and wind as was his wont. Its entirely plausible that he slipped onboard ahead of the others, as he swims faster than most rowboats travel. A cursory inspection of the bilge should locate him, though his absence topside isn't conspicuous. If he doesn't show up for supper - "fresh fish!" - then that would be noteworthy.
Spoiler:
Gwl begins to retort when the serpent's fang punctures the roof of his mouth and lances into his brain. An incoherent garble escapes his lips and he collapses bonelessly to the floor.
Spoiler: "Zouken, me to the pinnacle take."
Gwl points his claw at the crumpled paper, staying at the doorway. "A poisoned heart cannot prosper. This madness will claim you, as it has the others. Zuoken has given me the will to resist, though I struggle still. Abandon your hatred and seek justice, not vengeance. I will help you, but no harm must come to Lady Vanderboren. She is not the cause of her brother's wickedness."
Gwl opts to swim back to the ship, waving the others on the boat ahead of him. GM: Gwl is very uneasy leaving Captain Javell after she threatened to murder Vanthus' family. He will stealthily follow her into the bowels of the vessel and wait for her to see what she is planning. If she continues to get drunk, he will watch for an opportunity to ensure her murderous designs are thwarted.
Gwl jostles Uro's arm and burbles softly. "Uro. I can make my own way onto the boat."
"Angry pirate captain intends to hurt Lady Vanderboren. We have to stop her. Not twisted, but not right in mind, that one. Innocent of her brother's crimes, the lady. Save her fortune and save her from misfortune, we must."
Captain Harliss' observation provokes an unusual response from the fishy frogman: a delirious diatribe almost as arcane as his Abyssal outbursts. "Jym's Juice is legally distinct from the Fixit Flask brand and does not constitute copyright infringement. Also, my client retains his right to consume Jym's Juice at the time and place if his choosing, including several specific scenarios where he is willingly or unwittingly unconscious at the time of consumption. Elebrin, being one of the designated dispensers, is authorized to perform a sufficient search to locate a Jym's Juice Jug upon his person and apply it appropriately." Gwl shakes his head as though go clear it, apparently unaware that he was speaking as he helps El roll Jym on his side so she can access his backpack.
Gwl slides all the way to the ground, still holding tightly onto his spear. He hangs onto lucidity with stubborn resolve and wills himself back into action.
He turns to face the pirate, still leaning on his spear. "Gwlybwr. Not Vanthus lackey. Not crazy like those." Having said his bit, he drags himself over to Jym and carries the flayed halfling forward. "Elebrin, help me. Too much blood. Own blood, friend's blood. Find vial, feed Jym."
Gwl buries the spear butt in the cavern floor and pins it with his foot. The spear impales the angry avian, but it persists, opening lethal wounds in his neck and abdomen. He slumps under the onslaught, barely conscious and bleeding badly.
At the sound of violence, Gwl whips back toward the fire. He tenses for just an instant, torn between pursuing Vanthus and whatever just ambushed his companions. Then, he springs into action, bolting back through the flames with his spear thrust out in front.
Gwl surveys the scene as he lands, and responds loudly. Though the sea-gibberish he spouts might be unintelligible, his agitation is apparent to those familiar with him. GM: Abyssal: "Jebediah?! No, I am Gwlybwr, and I am not here to feed barnacles; I am here for Vanthus. Where is he? And who are you, pirate-queen?"
Wary of her obvious skill with the rapier, he holds his spear defensively, ready to stab should she attack. Even given her prior wounds and exhaustion, his own cuts and burns make him less confident of fighting her alone.
Gwl drives the thrashing body to the ground, taking a face-full of acidic ichor for his trouble. Mindful of the scything claws, he dances his way around the mutant while her death spasms subside. Once she is still, he closes her bloodshot eyes with a careful claw. "Zouken, walk with you to peace." He stands and yanks his spear free, gesturing further into the cave with the blackened blade. "Vanthus is here. Beyond the flames. This was his companion, or what was left of her." He drags the spear back and forth, scouring it in the sand to clean it. "Let's not let him get away this time." No wanting to give their quarry any more time to prepare, he steps back and takes a running leap across the flames.
"Uro, get behind her and strike when I do! Surely she cannot dodge both." Gwl stabs at not-Brissa-anymore with calculated aim, seeking to distract her, or better.
Gwl yelps as the rapier draws a bright line of plain across his abdomen, where his scales are softer and more pliant. Fortunately, Brissa has to push forward to reach him, and his spear twists in her guts as she does. A gush of ichor sprays out from the wound as he draws back to deliver a thrusting, two-handed strike.
Once again, he tries to keep her at bay with the puncturing defense.
Gwl attempts to stab her again, steeling himself to the task.
He sets his spear, ready for her retaliation.
"Zuoken, walk with you to peace." Gwl raises his spear and attempts a mercy blow, aiming for the heart.
His hands are trembling from the haunting vision of his potential future, and his mortal strike is thwarted.
Gwl steps forward and places this claws on her shoulder. "Are you Brissa? Is Vanthus past those flames?"
Gwl, recalling the reactions of the other twisted people, ponders and nods. He enters the cave and approaches her. "Cursed, the gods have us. Burns, this hunger you? Release, sleep seeking of?"
Gwl looks at the area, but the only thing that strikes his eye is the shattered pearl. Something tickles at his mind, but he can't quite recall, so instead he just grabs all the shards and brings them back. "This was in the center of the blight. Something killed all life on the seafloor, in an area the size of Seaward Square. Must be important." He hands the others a piece to look at, if interested.
"Quite astute, Jym. That blood does look fresh, and couldn't have come from the pirates we just ... released. The bridge is a key. The bloody trail goes right up to it, but I can't see anything past with this blazing sky. Once we get into the cave, things should be clearer." Gwl occasionally pauses to lick his spear shaft as he speaks, and his tongue glistens in the bright sun. Soon enough, he has built up a film of oily mucus, and he holds the spear to his back, where it sticks fast. "Before that, though. Elebrin, I saw a great blight on the seabed. It might also be a key. I think it was the locus for what happened here. I don't think I can show you with all the swarming below, but I could bring you a piece of the corruption. Since you are versed in the mystic arts, it might help us. Somehow." Flexing his shoulders to ensure the spear has set without interfering with his movement, he takes a deep breath and dives into the waves. Navigating back to the voided area, he searches for something significant he can bring back.
Gwl seems transfixed by the transfixed corpse. He tentatively reaches a claw out and touches the twisted, tentacled face, tracing the turns of the warped flesh. He withdraws his talon and touches his own face mournfully. "Knew not Zuoken, these malformed misfortunates. Baleful blasphemies beget terrible transformations. Melted men, frenzied fish, sinister simians. Shadowshore studies ward wisdom, without which Gwlybwr gone. Body broken but mind mine. Find filth, cut quickly. Forget forgiveness, death deserving." He looks to Uro, plaintively. "Ask ally, provide promise. Presence precious, rationality required. Clouded clarity, succumbed savagery. Entreating end, Uro understand?"
Gwl tries another stab, still looking a bit unnerved by the twisted pirate.
Gwl interferes again, aiding Uro.
Gwl stabs savagely, trying to impale the pale pirate. His thrust punctures cloth, with a great ripping sound. He yanks the spear free, looking for blood.
Gwl uses his apparent invisibility to trip up the pirate as Uro attacks, aiding him.
Gwl steps up behind one of the mutants and delivers a vicious stab, puncturing twisted flesh.
Gwl steps protectively in front of Jym and El. He cracks the spear off his back - breaking it free from the dried mucus-glue that adhered it there - and waits patiently for the mutants to reach them. He murmurs the koan you've heard him utter before as he waits. The inflection is the same, but the words are broken. "Zuoken agthym mouk saktra kvim."
Gwl stares silently at the lapping waves as Uro pulls the tiny boat across the cove. He looks decidedly unhappy as he gazes at the water, looking less amphibious and more seasick with every passing stroke. As the boat nears landfall, he busts into action, bolting to the front and leaping the last few feet to shore. His frantic movements set the craft rocking as he tumbles on the wet sand and vomits up a great grey mass of bile. He scoots backward away from the gently cresting waves and pulls himself upright on the wreckage of one of the splintered boats. Wiping a strand of clinging slime from his lips, he speaks with obvious effort. "The ... water ... is tainted. Cursed. Don't step in it. The animals have all gone mad. And the fish." He gives a weak smile. "And the fish-man."
Gwl looks at the group with perplexity, and not a small amount of agitation. He doesn't seem to have any difficulty understanding your words, and he scowls at the distraction. Biting his teeth together for emphasis, he points insistently at the pall of smoke. "Vanthus."
Gwl puffs out his chest as if taking a deep breath, but begins choking. Trying again, he breathes with his lungs and begins to speak. His words tumble out, all a jumble. "Qkxz? Hlyphk! Vol horl loks aechorom. Kelm mek mar dugkrzix. Vanthus mordo je, qokxovim nohandron!" DM: Abyssal: "What? Unnecessary! The tracks are fresh. We're here for blood. Vanthus is close, I know it!"
"Shouldn't swim - not nonfish, nohow. Better boat by beach. Mind murderous monkeys. Find fled; verify Vanthus. Question." Gwl seems to get more and more agitated as he speaks. His phrases get shorter and become almost curses spat. Frustrated beyond words, he simply points a slimy claw at the cove
Leveled up.
Gwl's reverie is rudely interrupted as he swims into the cove. Surveying the many and varied forms of carnage on display, his excitement turns to disgust and he kicks himself out of the water. Splashing back down, he draws a deep breath and dives. His newfound delights seem tainted now, and he holds his breath on the way back. "The sea has gone mad. It's all Dagon and Ryleh down in the depths. Ship's burning on the shore, all burning, and the Nixie bug-beast was devoured by the monkeys. Whatever happened here, Vanthus has traded in his criminal chums for some real sinister scum. Best we find him soon."
With a convulsive nod - like a sailor trying to hold down a belly full of seawater on a bet - Gwl dives over the side and disappears under the waves. He swims for the shoals, holding his breath out of habit, until the sensation of water on his gills entices him to try his first underwater breath. Relishing in his new capabilities, he spends a while just swimming before recalling what he came to do and getting back to work.
Roll for level 3:
New job! Just got caught up from when we took that taxidermist to the island. Will work on Gwl when I get the chance, but not by tonight, unfortunately.
'No need to haul it all the way up there. If he knows he's on Parrot Island, he'll talk here on the beach. We can always frog-march him later if he is uncooperative."
"Roblach keeps his word. He'd see you but he's a bit tied up at the moment."
"Flrbl!" Gwl drops like a poled ox.
Gwl reacts as fast as he can, lunging at the finger wiggler with his spear.
Gwl finally reaches the room as the petuant thug has his little outburst. Cautioned by the mage's assumption of their Parrot island imprisonment, he took a moment to secure his hood before entering. He folds his arms in his sleeves and stays silent, though he does give Green Hat an inquisitive stare that lingers as he passes, watching for any sign of recognition.
Gwl takes heart from Uro's carnage, letting himself slip back into bloodlust, but something holds him lucid - some quiet voice, soft spoken, like water dripping in a dockside basement. He rallies and strikes firmly, trying to block out the stabbing pain in his gut.
"Fishing Well! That hurt." Gwl favors his punctured abdomen while lashing out hesitantly. While his previous attacks have had an animalistic frenzy to them, these are more measured - martial even - but they come far from striking."
"Get gutted!" Gwl lashes out at the thugs who attacked him, flecks of foam at the corners of his mouth.
"More dummies! And these ones are even dressed like dummies." Gwl leaps into the fray after Uro, trying to out-disembowel the fearsome orc.
"We should finish here first, I think. Even if Vanthus isn't here, if these thugs see that we're busting down doors looking for him, they might cut ties with him. One less place to hide for him. Plus, people are stupid when they get scared. Bet he's no different."
"The scum stuck me with his pig-sticker. Smarts like a sea urchin sting." He kicks the coirpse angrily. "Filthy rat." "You think there's any chance Vanthus is still here? We should press on and be sure. Question him later."
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