Quest #21 "Island Hopping"

[Storm11]

Saracen gets ready to depart. It could make quite a defensible den if we could insure the caves are completely cleared out. There’s food here, though have we seen a stream or river for water? I am ready to leave once the druidess has finished her conversation with the cat kind.

[Quonundrum]

Andronichishche
Andron picks up one of the bamboo poles Maag dropped on the sand. Gauging its weight briefly he props it over his left shoulder. He glances at the half-orc thief ... A very resourceful fellow, I must admit. Shifting his gaze he considers the paladin, Sir Crestbrook ... That one on the other hand is quite odd and a bit unpredictable.

Concluding his brief survey of the beach he assumes his place in the marching order. "The beach itself seems normal enough, perhaps Tlachtga can provide more insight from her conversation with the cats."

[Rex]

Tlachtga

"No need to get a tarp, I was going to rig a shelter for the cats. They belonged to a wizard I think and he abandoned them here. Perhaps he was slain before he could retrieve them. Their names are on their bellies, so magic was definitely involved. This one is named Mittens. I am ready to move out now unless someone has something they want me to ask the cats."

[wolfpack]

where is this other wizard? what do they know of him? the caverns are scrawled with writings about killing a wizard or some such.

[Storm11]

Saracen suggests before the spell is done, that she could ask about the bullmen, the Minotaurs. Have they seen them or had any problems with them? If so where do they usually come from, and how many of them are there? And when did they start appearing? If there s time.

[Rex]

Tlachtga

"Purr..."

"When we come back I can offer you a ride on the boat to the small town, maybe some people there will care for you. What of your master who left you here, what can you tell me of him?"

If there is still time after that question

"Have you seen the bullmen? Do you know anything about them?"

[kruk]

Sir Crestbrook the Mighty

Saracen agrees. She would more likely have wanted this kind of concern for her when she was still breathing,” he says sadly. We should make a pyre and cremate her and sprinkle the ashes over the cleansed altar to Athena maybe, for her redemption.

The paladin turns to face Saracen just as he started tapping the ground in front of him with the pole that Maag gave him. Yes Saracen, I agree. He then turns around to continue prodding with the pole.

[Jernau35]

Maag

"Wasn't der a well or sumfin' in Cora's cave?", says Maag, when the subject of water comes up.

[ravenn4544]

Alordan nods "There was water in the cave. It would be very helpful if the cats could tell us about the trees that move also...or if they ever go into the cave."

[OGRE MAGE]

Back To Cat Turd Beach
Moonday, 15th of Goodmonth
Early Morning, Rainy, Misty, Humid

With suggestions from her new friends, Tlachtga continues purring at the fat cat named Mittens.

"I can tell you that we have been here for a very long time, and that we have no idea if our old human will ever come back here again or not. We have seen the minotaur, yes. But we don't mess with it, and it don't mess with us."

"No thanks on the boat ride, we like it here just fine. And as you know, we cats don't really like you people anyway. And besides.....meow purr meow meow." The power of the druids spell seems to fade mid sentence.

While the rest of the party is still lined up to enter the jungle, Maag reminds them about the well in Cora's cave that was filled with fresh drinking (and washing) water.

Actions?
map:

map hasn't changed

Marching order?
Sir Crestbrook 11/11 LoH
Maag 12/12
Saracen 33/33 5/5 1st 2/2 2nd
Gramble 16/16
Lerrick 11/11 4/4 1st
Alordan 18/18
Andron 6/6 3/3 1st / CL, DM, RM 1/1 1st
Tlachtga 8/8 3/4 1st
Cu AC:3 13/13

[Rex]

Tlachtga

"They have not seen the Wizard in a long time, at least long for them. They have seen the Minotaur, but it leaves them alone and they do likewise with it. There is no more time for questions. Perhaps it is best we get moving, as I suspected cats are not the most helpful of animals."

Tlachtga will fall into her spot with Cu not far from her.

[Quonundrum]

Andronichishche

Andron peers quizzically at the spot on the ground Sir Crestbrook is tapping with his bamboo pole, curious as to whether the latter suspects a trap or the idling is simply playing on his nerves. "It would seem that the cats knew of only one minotaur on the island, and I expect this is the same previously dispatched at the cave entrance. A wizard who both owned, named, and subsequently abandoned several dozen cats is disconcerting and possibly insane, dangerous, or both. Let us proceed quickly to the cave and be alert for anything else unusual this wizard may have left behind ..."

[Rex]

Tlachtga

"I don't doubt the wizard is insane, as a group of individuals wizards seem to be predominantly insane after all."

[Jernau35]

Maag

"Der wizard might be a little ol' lady. Dey have lotsa cats", points out the half-orc, trying to be helpful.

In the same vein, he addresses the idea of a funeral pyre for Cora. "Yer know 'ow long it takes to burn a body, right? A bleedin' long time. An' we'll need a big stack of wood, an prob'ly all der oil we got."

"Der best way to go, is wrap 'er in a blanket, tie a couple o' rocks to 'er an drop 'er overboard out der. Nice an' easy, no awkward questions afterwards". Maag taps the side of his nose.

[wolfpack]

Gramble nods in agreement

Old mable had lots of cats, she wasn't a wizard but she was crazy as all hells.

Burn the body, drop it overboard, feed it to the cats, whatever I won;t be carrying a rotted corpse.

[Storm11]

Saracen tries to usher the others along. We can deal with the specifics once we have actually recovered Cora’s remains. IF she’s even still there!” he says ominously, getting into formation.

[OGRE MAGE]

Back To The Cave
Moonday, 15th of Goodmonth
Early Morning, Rainy, Misty, Humid

When the group begins heading inland again, Tlachtga's dog Cu passes the area where most of the cats are sheltering themselves from the raindrops. The hound usually reacts, at least in some way, to seeing a clowder of cats around. Being such a well trained animal companion, he usually just growls or barks a little, but this time he walks right past them as if they weren't even there. The druid finds this reaction a little strange and rather uncustomary from her trusted friend.

The fishermen wave as you leave, possibly for the last time, and the group soon breaches the foliage, heading up the trail towards the ring of standing stones near the center of the island. The lifelike statues of several minotaur's greet them as they pass, just like on their last trip here. None of them look different in any way.

Many fruit trees are spotted here and there along their travels, bearing several variety of edible and delicious fruit. As the party nears the opening in the ring of stones, they can already see from a distance that the trees that moved to block their escape last time are no longer on the trail. No unusual noise comes from the area ahead either.

Actions?
map:

7E95D199-3DF4-4D65-BFBB-A1E84C5359CE.jpeg (740.51 KiB) Viewed 359 times

Marching order?
Sir Crestbrook 11/11 LoH
Maag 12/12
Saracen 33/33 5/5 1st 2/2 2nd
Gramble 16/16
Lerrick 11/11 4/4 1st
Alordan 18/18
Andron 6/6 3/3 1st / CL, DM, RM 1/1 1st
Tlachtga 8/8 3/4 1st
Cu AC:3 13/13

If the newer players would like anything described in better detail, please just ask. Or, feel free to RP that out IC if you prefer. Thanks!

[Storm11]

Saracen is deep in thought whilst he marches towards the caves. As they approached he says quietly to the others You know, I have been thinking. The cats only mentioned one Minotaur. We have only ever seen one at any given time haven’t we? But there are a lot of very life like statues around the island. Suggesting a company of these man beasts. But what if the magical Dias IS a summoning device. Perhaps it’s purpose is to summon A Minotaur. Whenever the guardian Minotaur dies a new one is automatically magically summoned here. It’s but a thought, but possibly if we capture and do not kill the next one we meet, well, that might be the last one we have to defeat! The medusa is another issue altogether however. That could prove much trickier. I hope she speaks common!

[wolfpack]

That's what I have been saying, the bullmen come through the dias it's some kind of portal. that's why i wanted to bring a wizard along. It certainly wasn't for their scrawny arms.

the problem is how to capture one, they are relentless and powerful.

[Rex]

Tlachtga

"I think the cats are magical. Maybe some sort of protection magic on them. I don't think Cu noticed them at all and they don't seem to fear anything, normally a large predator would have them on nerves and they were completely fine."

Pausing a moment as she thinks about a Wizard, "Not sure what a wizard could do, seems they would need to be very powerful to disrupt something capable of knowing a guardian has been slain and then summoning another and if it is tied into whatever brought the entire island they would need to be even more powerful. Perhaps even Godlike in power."

She becomes silent and more alert as they approach the stones, looking for any details they may help her understand what is going on here.