Recalling the Day's Events

JP with Omni, Bandorchu, Jaxx, Strangetides & Lucian

Sentinel Island - Evening of the 2nd Day

Voah pulled her sword as Till rushed her and she put a hand to his chest stopping him. The look on the sailor’s face clearly displayed his horror as he looked up to her and spoke erratically about the dust devils they had seen overnight.

“Till, my dear, slow down… I need you to calm yourself and speak clearly now. What did you see?”

She looked briefly to the apothecary who showed no sign of disturbance before turning her attention back to the babbling sailor.

Till let out a sigh, feeling more relieved now that she had returned. She would know what to do. He continued slower and quieter.

The Arbiter knew that Till believed what he was saying but his description of a one legged, grinning man who could transform into a dust devil sounded like nonsense at the least, insanity at most.

“I prayed to Cambena. and and… the creature seemed to be very agitated with me. Whistlin’ and tryin’ many times to break your circle… as if it… understood… and hated what I was sayin’.”

There was the trigger. Her eyes went wide and she inhaled deeply. She nodded slowly.

Hunter quickly noticed the fear in the sailor’s eyes as he babbled to the holy woman. It was obvious something spooked him while they were gone. As the holy woman calmed him down, Hunter looked around to see if anything or anyone was still watching them. When the sailor mentioned praying to his god to make the spirit go away, Hunter was on high alert. He looked around the camp for clues to identify of the spirit or if the sailor was partaking in questionable herbs or rum. However after seeing the magic on the ship, he was not dismissing any possibilities at this point.

After seeing the odd ice magic of the ship, Tarmen wasn’t all that surprised to hear the camp had experienced their own mystical Hoodoo. What did raise the hairs on his back was the fact that they could bypass traps. One thing you could never trap was the wind, but Tarmen had never thought he would have it set against him. Keeping his cool for now, he wanted answers but knew that running into the jungle would get him killed.

“Were you only payin’ attention to the devil? Most times someone shows themselves, it’s as a diversion.” His question seemed to fall on deaf ears.

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Nicolaus waited for Till's panicked description of the events of the day to peter out and for the Arbiter to ask his thoughts.

Voah's eyes searched the jungle on all sides as Tarmen mentioned a diversion. She moved over to Cagliostro, not yet looking at him, “What do you know of this red-capped creature?"

Once she saw that Hunter was on alert she rested her gaze directly on the apothecary, "Does Till speak true or has he gone mad?”

"The broad strokes of what he said are correct. A creature resembling a man, save for having but a single leg, wearing a red cap and smoking a pipe appeared from a dust devil well pursuing the sailor. It was however, stopped by the salt you placed around the camp. It made several efforts to cross the barrier which failed. It appeared somewhat intelligent but did not communicate with us. It did however, either take offense or was pained by Till's praying and became more agitated and eventually left after realizing it could not pass the barrier." The apothecary paused as she processed the information.

"Perhaps it is time to seriously discuss what you know of such creatures and possible defenses and weaknesses since we have proven they exist? Your salt circle was effective..."

The Arbiter was relieved to hear that her salt had worked.

"Also if this was not just a mischievous wanderer then other things may now know we are here, if they didn't before. This camp may no longer be a safe retreat. Did you find anything of value in your explorations? My own investigation of the artifacts found nothing."

Hunter quietly listened to the scholar then as he heard more details he walked towards the last known location of the spirit. Without passing the salt he scanned the ground for foot prints and any trace the spirit left behind. He was on guard and ready kill if surprised by the spirit again.

“I’ve never in my life even heard of such a creature but from your descriptions it seems to be magikal in its nature or else has the ability to weave it. The sacred salt acts as a barrier to witchcraft…”

She said this next part with a slight hint of concern, “…but the salt is not easy to come by, I’m afraid. I only have enough left for another two circles roughly the same size and it can wear away.“

By this point she already had the ornately carved ivory box in her hand and opening it to take pinches of the stuff. She traced the area to check for any spots that may need touched up.

“I can not be certain, but we found evidence suggesting that the ship has been magikally preserved by an ancient spell that is still active. I AM certain that the ship was holding someone prisoner and that prisoner may have been responsible for the wreckage. We did not perform a deep search of the entire ship but it was clear of any signs of life and there was a shaft leading into natural caverns. Perhaps that will be our next venture unless Alexis wants to start with the natives.”

She let her eyes linger on Hunter for a moment longer than the others as she spoke the last part.

“As for other defenses… and I do not say this lightly… stay alert and say your prayers, my darlings.”

The mercenary answered, “… I’d prefer to check for the natives for now. It is our main objective after all, and given circumstances maybe more important than anyone has assumed. If there are even natives to be found. Thinking about it, up to now they are nothing but ramblings of a man on death’s door and and rumors of the Odsier for all we know.”

Looking around her team she continued.

“I also believe we should move camp as we go. These … red caps know where we are. They seem not overly aggressive as of yet, but their averse reaction to Till’s prayers is not exactly reassuring. We might overstay our welcome very soon.”

Then Hunter spoke up in a dry and cold tone as he looked at the footprint he found outside the camp, "Might be too late for that. The holy woman has limited magic salt and the sailor was not lying about an incoming intruder here, be it a man or spirit. I am looking at a foot print that does not belong to anyone of us... and there is only ONE footprint. Based on the weight indentations it is running on one leg with amazing balance. By now it has already alerted his friends of our presence. I doubt we will get a chance to sleep since it will come back with more soon enough. Our options are limited to running back to the ship, fortifying this place for battle or hiding somewhere else. Its your call." Hunter was back to his cold demeanor as he waited to see what the merc lady would say.

Alexis simply looked at him cooly.

“You don’t say. And here I sat thinking that both Nicolaus and Till had spontaneously turned mad.”

She said with dripping sarcasm.

“I suggest you don’t jump to conclusions quite so fast. Have we not seen those dust devils yesterday? They have known about us quite a while now, but chose not to attack us, or Till, while we were away from the Arbiter’s protection. We know nothing of their motivation. As for your suggestions... For tonight we’ll fortify and have guards. Tomorrow, we move towards the centre.”

Hunter nodded at Alexis and looked around to get some options for more traps. He remembered the traps he made earlier called Mace Traps. Then he remembered an old tool he used called a caltrop. The Caltrop is an area denial weapon made up of two or more sharp nails or spines arranged in such a manner that one of them always points upward from a stable base like a pyramid. Now normally these are made from metal but they can easily be made from wood as well much like the Mace traps in design, but only 1-3 inches in diameter. So he pulled out his long knife and began to cut small strong branches and weave them with vines. he planned to make as many as he could while he was awake.

Nicolaus looked to Hunter, " Did you find a actual trail of tracks? Or merely a footprint near where it appeared? Perhaps the dust devil is not another state but an obfuscating "spell", a form of camouflage."

Hunter replied to Nicolaus, "The footprints are only in an isolated area. It left no trail." He was still on guard as he scanned the area.

Nicolaus turned to Hunter again as he held up the artifacts, "So it truly changed its form, fascinating. It seemed a lesser creature to me, less a threat and more a potential nuisance, though I don't know the extent of its capabilities. It was however largely naked with no weapons or armour, and I would suspect it can bleed if it can enjoy the effects of a pipe."

Hunter replied to Nicolaus, "Interesting. So that creates new questions such as how many of them are there? And are they pack creatures? This could mean they have an Alpha for the pack."

>>Aaand there he goes again, making assumptions on zero information…<<

Alexis sighed and slightly shook her head, but left the man to his strategies while consulting the still hardly filled out map.

Then Hunter asked Voah, "Voah... this salt of yours... is it toxic to these creatures?" Hunter was forming various ways to deal with future dangers.

The Arbiter was momentarily taken aback as she didn't recall the Hunter ever addressing her by name.

"The salt acts as a barrier to weavers of witchcraft. Creating a circle can keep a witch outside or inside, but beware, a native with no more magik than you or I could just as well walk right in. It has no power against arrows or spears.”

Nicolaus directed his next line of questions to Voah, "Arbiter, you say something powerful was loosed here long ago? Could the artifacts we found be a defense or weapon?" He drew out the bracelet and the strange sphere, "This globe of glass has no way to fill with the liquid, it's as if it was formed around it or it somehow passed through the glass."

The Arbiter stood next to Nicolaus and took the artifacts one at a time.

“These are not magikal artifacts from what I can tell, though this globe was most likely created using magik. My best guess for the moment is that they are still intact due to the preservation spell on the ship. They may now start to wear away as normal objects would.”

Voah gathered the artifacts, including Tarmen’s torc and laid them out on a log. She then asked for the transcriptions of the runes from Alexis and she began to study them.