The Wayfinders - Expedition to Tempest Isle

SelcSilverhand · Mar 31, 2011

The elders inform you that the beach is mostly featureless. On one side is the sea and the other is the steep jungle slopes of the volcano caldera. It remains that way for many miles. Eventually the rocky slope levels out to jungle covered hills and ravines. It is far beyond the territory they normally hunt in so their knowledge is sketchy.

Dr Simon · Apr 1, 2011

Although he makes some attempt to downplay his role in procedures, citing the help of the ancestors and the outsiders that they bought, Kraken is secretly delighted by all the adulation and is soon lapping up the attention.

He manages to bring himself to the meeting with the elders, however, where his normally flippant demeanour changes to a serious one.

"These are the most dangerous of our enemies, eh?" he says. "The old captain used to say dead men tell no tales, but I don't rightly know what the old larrikin meant by that. I do know that dead men don't summon any more demons. Reckon these toerags have either got a ship up there that they're heading for, or a bolt-hole of some kind, maybe with more stone bones and crystals if we ain't lucky. I say we finish the job outright and go after them."

jkason · Apr 1, 2011

Midian Rightson, human druid

"We definitely can't leave the island without clearing it of these monstrosities," Midian agrees. "I think the only question is, will we catch up with these remnants faster traveling inland, or meeting up with our ship and circling around by sea?"

OOC:

I'll add a Know: Nature roll to see if Midian has any insights into navigational advantage on land / sea, given what he already knows of the island.

SelcSilverhand · Apr 2, 2011

Midian
[SBLOCK]
You know that travel by sea is several times faster than overland travel. Both groups have a head start. The ambushers have been on the move 6 days, the mercenaries for 3. Both know where they are going and have that advantage. Since you expect the survivors to attempt to escape in a ship, your best hope is to attempt to locate the harbor before they set sail.
[/SBLOCK]

jkason · Apr 2, 2011

Midian Rightson, human druid

"Unless Kraken knows a massive shortcut or his clansmen have a handle on exactly where our 'friends' are going, I think our best bet is the ship," Midian offers after consideration. "They've already got a head start and aren't going to be trying to follow tracks. If we catch up to them only to have them lift anchor, we'll be stuck. If we're with the ship, we can always come ashore if we manage to make up the time."

SelcSilverhand · Apr 7, 2011

The feasting lasts well into the early hours of the morning. The honored strangers are shown to the best quarters and you spend the evening bedded down in the softest furs.

Early the following morning several tribesmen come to rouse you from your slumber. Dawn is just beginning to color the eastern sky as they lead you towards the beaches. During the night a signal fire was prepared for you and with practiced skill the natives soon have a flame kindled.

Several hours pass while you scan the horizon for any sign of your ship. At long last one of the natives leaps to his feet and points excitedly. A smudge far our to sea slowly becomes more defined until at last all of you can see the white sails and proud flags of the Hound of the Deep. Without wanting to delay for the arrival of the longboats you make for the beaches where long canoes are drawn up on the sand. Clambering aboard you paddle furiously to reach the boat as quickly as you can. The sea bobs and rolls underneath you reminding you all with a little tremor in your stomach what it is like to be on the open sea again. Garuk chuffs fearfully and it takes all of Midian's skill to keep him calm and still so as to not capsize the canoes.

Upon your approach a rope ladder is thrown down to you to help you clamber aboard. Once aboard Kraken turns and bids his tribesmen farewell, promising to return one more time if they succeed. Turning round the five of you, plus the two freed sailors, greet Captain Irestone and ask him to set a northernly course while you hold council. The listens to the brief explanation and sets the ship on her way, along with adding another man to the crows nest. The captains quarters are crowded with all of you but you manage to squeeze the last person in. There you begin to describe everything that had happened since the ambush. You tell him of the massive undead skeleton buried beneath the cliff and the cultists goal of bringing it to life. After your attack on the camp the survivors fled taking all their supplies with them. In turn the captain tells you that it saw no sign of the ambushers other than the fires on the beach as they sailed out of reach. Each day they came as close as they dared but saw no sign of you. The captain agrees that if they can, they will cut off the enemies retreat. He says that he will put his best men on watch and hopefully they will spot some sign of the pirates in the days ahead. The two freed sailors your brought back, Jer and Paski, are assigned light duties aboard the ship until their strength returns fully.

Deuce Traveler · Apr 8, 2011

Doral pulls his spyglass from his pack and says, "I'll lend my eyes to keep a lookout, too." He plans to help keep watch for anything odd along the coast or surrounding waters during the day, and to rest at night.

Dr Simon · Apr 12, 2011

Kraken wanders the deck of the ship with a strange expression on his face, almost one of awe.

"Y'know, it's been nearly thirty bloody years since I've been on board anything large than a canoe, eh?" he says as he wanders over the the rail next to Doral. "And it's giving me a right odd feeling in me guts. Not sea sickness," he adds hastily. "I mean, I'll miss the natives, they've been me family for donkey's, eh? But this is where I belong, I reckon."

Deuce Traveler · Apr 13, 2011

Doral puts his spyglass down for a moment and considers Kraken with a blank expression. "Sir, if I may. I know it is only my impression, but I take it you would be at home anywhere there is open air and the occasional touch of alcohol."

Shayuri · Apr 13, 2011

Whisper comes out on deck for a rare, of late, public appearance. The changeling has assumed the appearance of a human female with short dark hair and no particularly noteable features. In fact, one might suspect that this face represents something she put together rather half-heartedly, or in a distracted state. She hasn't put her mask back on though.

The changeling wanders across the rolling wooden deck to the bow and leans against the rail as the ship noses down into troughs and rises up over waves. She doesn't really seem to be seeing any of it though.

(OOC - for some reason I didn't see the little checkmark, so I didn't pay attention to the thread title...in short, I missed this. Sorry! So we're intercepting them via ship, not on foot now?)