Ruins of Azlant IC

[farothel]

"Where does this comes from," Laurelata wonders, "and how long will it take. Anybody has any idea what kind of spell this might be?"

She asked the others while she tried to look into the water just in case it's those underwater goblins who have a shaman capable of doing stuff like this.

[u-b]

Laurelata lies down on the dock some distance from the boat to have a better angle and almost puts her head under the water. She looks around and... well, there is some sort of fish attached to the boat and affected by the same aura and the aura seems to concentrate around the fish...

[farothel]

"It looks like it's that fish," she said to the others, "the one stuck on the ship. There the aura is the highest. Can we catch it? And maybe it's the same for the Peregrine."

[Farmerbink]

Still on the Peregrine, Jessica tries to hurry the crew into action. "Get me on that skiff, please! I need to go ashore to help them with the other one!" She's anxious to be ashore, though ignorant of precisely what she plans to do once she gets there.

As they row in, a few minutes later, Jessica joins Hewitt and Laurelata. "In the shallow water, we can go down and drive it off by force! At least, it's a lot less dangerous than the open sea, so let's try it!"

[u-b]

You start to row the second boat ashore but, quickly after it leaves the side of Perigrine, it's movement slows down. Jessica looks into the water, but, without sticking the head underwater, does not sees much of anything besides the semi-clear waters of the bay. You decide to keep rowing towards the shore and eventually reach there. Laurelata can confirm another fish under that boat. She does not have detect magic active by that time, but the fish seems pretty much similar.

Spoiler

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Okay, go ahead and try to handle the fishes.

Also, I'd like to know if Marius would be still here with us.

[farothel]

Laurelata grabs a few harpoons they had brought with them and checks to see if the rope is attached properly and wouldn't snag somewhere. Then, after careful aiming, tries to spear one of the fish.

Spoiler: OOC rolls

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I assume it's a regular ranged attack roll:
(1d20+3)[11]

[u-b]

The fish seems to be waiting for the throw. It darts away with an astonishing speed in general direction of the open sea.

[Farmerbink]

Jessica frowns thoughtfully as the fish darts away. She's not exactly surprised by its speed, what with it being a fish in water and all, but she is concerned as to whether and how the party will take care them. "Well, the good news is that we can draw them into shallow water, where it's much safer to dive in and face them directly," she muses aloud.

She pouts prettily, confused and annoyed by Marius' sudden disinterest- or maybe discomfort with the idea of being in the shore party. Nothing to be done for it. He's his own man. Still, perhaps she glances a little longingly towards the ship. It's no secret he took a deliberate role in keeping her safe, and she's consequently feeling somewhat less safe without him around in light of potential violence. Nothing to be done for that either. Shelyn will guard me.

She nods resolutely, and begins stripping down to only the essentials. Modesty be damned, this fish business needs to be settled! She turns to Laurelata and Hewitt. "Can you guys handle things from up here?" she asks, still not precisely sure of their abilities. "I guess I'm going fishing, but I'm no good with anything but a glaive," she admits. "Let's see if we can at least drive them away." With an expression of determination, she grips the long-handled blade and begins trudging into the shallow water.

Spoiler: OOC

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Alrighty, we need to get moving forward again. I'm not super comfortable with Jessica's abilities here, but it seems like the obvious next step is to take a direct approach.

@u_b: I had forgotten that we lost Tazmara too. Are we looking to replace her as well?

[u-b]

The second fish detaches the boat and leaves a moment before Jessica can get to it. It also swims away towards the open sea. The good thing is that you can now check the boats and confirm the auras on them have disappeared. The bad thing is that you cannot be sure if they will continue to pester the Peregrine some time in the future. Anyway, it seems you can now proceed with the landing and related activities.

Spoiler

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The fishes will not bother the boats or the ship for today. What do you do?

[farothel]

"I think we best offload as quickly as possible," Laurelata proposed, "and before the Peregrine leaves, check underneath it for those fish as well. They seem to scare quite easily, although I must say I find it quite strange to have such small fish with the capacity to slow a ship. Why would they develop such an ability?"

Spoiler: OOC for Henri

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Maybe as you have knowledge(nature), here is a good point to jump in. If you don't want to, no worries. We'll find another way.

[DarkOne-Rob]

"I guess I'm going fishing, but I'm no good with anything but a glaive. Let's see if we can at least drive them away." With an expression of determination, she grips the long-handled blade and begins trudging into the shallow water.

Henri watches the beautiful woman jump out of the boat silently, but when it is clear she plans to do battle with the fish he lifts his polearm and steps out into the water with her. Standing a whole hand or more taller than her, he has to lean down to see the fleeing fish, but he nods as they swim away.

Looking to her with an expression of doubt he leans his head towards the shore as if to ask if she plans to stay in the water or go to shore. He then waits to follow her, ensuring that if she stays in the water to fight the unusual fish she won't do it alone...

[Farmerbink]

Jessica frowns, confusion and thoughtfulness mingling as the fish flee. "Never rightly thought of myself as all that intimidating," she giggles. After staying in the surf long enough to be fairly sure the fish aren't coming back immediately, she turns to wade ashore, and starts as she suddenly realizes the quiet and tall Half Orc is not far behind her. She seems nervous for a moment before forcing a warm smile.

"Oh, it's Henri, right?" she asks. When he nods, she responds curiously to his unspoken question. "Well yeah, I'm not going to stand out here in my underclothes all day. There's work to be done!" True to her word, she takes only a few moments to dry in the sun before dressing in earnest once more and helping the rest of the colonists offload their belongings.

As the day passes, and the fish refuse to return, she's relieved to find the work going relatively smoothly. Morning lapses into afternoon, and Jessica begins to consider their plans for the night. She calls an urgent meeting with Ramona and the others- now including Henri, who has made himself very useful over the course of the day. "The village is much too large for one person to keep watch over all of it," she comments. "We really need to set teams of watchers overnight. It might be for the best that everyone sleeps in one of the two bunkhouses for now, also. It'll be more spacious than the Peregrine was, and there will be less space to watch over..."

[DarkOne-Rob]

Henri listens quietly as Jessica makes her recommendations. At the end he stands and walks outside the door of the building, brandishing his weapons and taking a vigilant stance. Over the next several minutes it becomes clear that he is volunteering to take the first watch and intends to perform the duty seriously. He seems content to do so quietly as he carefully looks up and down the streets of the recently-abandoned-and-resettled colony.

[farothel]

"We best finish the palisade as quickly as possible," Laurelata said, "and build a watch tower at one of the points. That way one or two people can stand watch for the entire village. At least until there's a lot more people around."

[u-b]

Ramona summarizes her opinion thusly: "We cannot limit the people's liberties. Present your case and let everyone decide for themselses."

While you are with the meeting with her, Ramona announces that she is impressed by Marius' actions during these few days and she makes him a corporal and gives him command of the six colonial soldiers. He is to live with the troops. It seems that the arrangement was in place since the morning.

A short time later, Jessica gathers the colonists (well, most of them) and presents her case. The reception is... mixed. Some agree. Some disagree. Some residents of bunkhouses expess their lack of enthusiasm regarding those other people deciding to spend their nights there. It then becomes quite a mess with people arguing shouting, but at least not engaging in physical fights.

[farothel]

"SILENCE," Laurelata suddenly shouted. When everyone was quiet, she looked at all.
"Look, we don't propose this to annoy you," she said, "we do this to keep you safe at least until we have build the palisade.
As you know we've done a recon of the settlement a few days ago and we found a lot of strange animals and stuff here. We killed all we could find, but that doesn't mean we haven't missed any, or that others can come in. And we still don't know what happened to the first colonists. So that's why we proposed to stick together for the first weeks to try to prevent what happened to them will happen to us."

Spoiler: OOC diplomacy roll

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I can't make 25, so I'll just use the help another action.
(1d20+2)[9]

[DarkOne-Rob]

Henri sticks his head into the meeting at all the noise, his heavy brow looking like he is scowling, though a second look suggests that is his normal, resting expression. With a shrug he returns to his rounds, content to let the colonists argue without his input.

Spoiler: OoC

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You most likely don't want Henri's -4 Diplomacy modifier trying to help...

[u-b]

"It's very commendable of you to care for our safety even though we have some colonial soldiers here to do exactly that." speaks out Harcourt Carrolby "But I find it somewhat strange that under your proposal we should live all crammed together exactly until you have your part of the settlement secured. I have a counter proposal. Burn more fires and walk more patrols. Yes, it is not the most lucrative job, but there are people here that can afford sponsoring it if you are so concerned. And it will greatly improve living quality of just about everyone."

This counter-proposal is met with some enthusiasm of some part of the population.

Spoiler

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Diplomacy: (1d20+6)[23]

[Farmerbink]

Jessica nods amicably. "I think you misunderstand my proposal, good sir. My only intention is to keep everyone as safe as we reasonably can- and I at least, intend to bunk right here, with as many of us as I can in relative comfort. However, you're ultimately right, and of course we have no shortage of manpower to collect the wood nor patrol the 'wall'," she pauses, indicating the substantial gathering. "But I think folks will quickly tire of walking so wide a perimeter for the sake of a little privacy." She shrugs, having indicated her own opinion. "My view and my priorities aren't the only ones, though. I was trained living cloistered for several years, and will suffer no distress sharing the space. If that's the cost you are all willing to pay to sleep in different buildings, you're adults. The decision is yours to make."

Ultimately, it doesn't even come across as a counter-argument as much as a detail of the contrast; which is just as well as Jessica wasn't intending to argue. She lapses into silence once more, content to let the villagers make their own choice. She silently decides on a place in the bunkhouses, or at least somewhere near the middle of the village- she's already learned enough to be a bit wary of this island and its inhabitants, despite her usual optimism.

[DarkOne-Rob]

As if to demonstrate his support for the argument of the other PCs, Henri steps inside the bunkhouse and walks over to a rack near the middle of the building beside the door. He drops off his backpack (which contains all his worldly possessions) and looks around at the gathered assembly. Then, nodding to Jessica and Laurelata he steps back outside to continue his watch.

[u-b]

Having agreed to disagree, Jessica and Harcourt set forth to implement their respective plans for the night. The party partols the partially walled area and other colonists with torches partol all three of the outside streets. Colonial soldiers patrol both of these areas, but spend most of the time outside the walls. Surprisingly or not, nothing out of ordinary seems to happen during the night.

DAY 1 AFTER LANDING

It seems to be a fine morning. The colonists start to go about their businesses, which, for the farmers, would presumably include checking the fields, for the lumberjacks would presumably include going out and cutting some trees and for colonial soldiers would presumably include tracking down the rest of the ankheg spawns. What would be your plans for the day?

[farothel]

Unless she's needed for the palisade, Laurelata would go into the forest to hunt something to eat and to gather some fruits/roots/vegetables/spices to do some cooking (as discussed, using cooking and selling the result to get extra resources). She will ask Henri if he wants to join her, as he knows his way around the forest (and she has someone with her in case things go south). They can also check around the colony for some information while they're in the forest.

[DarkOne-Rob]

Henri is already up and about, quietly walking around the colony and inspecting the various buildings, when Laurelata finds him. Upon hearing her request he pauses to think for several moments before smiling awkwardly and nodding. After collecting some gear (mostly his weapons and a bag or two), he meets her at the edge of the woods, ready to explore. Though she hasn't spent long with him, it appears that the half-orc is immediately more comfortable, as his steps appear lighter and his expression unburdened in the wild. "Thank you," he says, his deep voice resonant but quiet in the early morning. Then he turns and enters the trees, his movements quieter than one would expect for such a large man in armor.

[u-b]

Spoiler: Laurelata, Henri and Hewitt

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You go into the wilderness of the island with the intent of hunting, gathering and maybe some local exploration. You wander for about an hour and a half, encountering various sorts of tropical plants inhabited by various small birds, when Henri stops, pointing at the ground. For those not trained to read the footprints he explains that there is right before you a trail left by a family of boars: two adult boars and a number of piglets. Henri well knows that a boar is a dangerous prey. It is your choice what, if anything, to do about this trail.

Spoiler: Jessica

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Jessica helps Ramona and Perrell in the government house when she hears multiple shouts coming from the outside. When she is out, she sees a small gathering with a wounded farmer stainding in the center, clutching a cut arm and explaining that he was attacked by a corn. This seems to cause some agitation among the people.

[DarkOne-Rob]

"Boars, two adults, some piglets, very dangerous...we're outnumbered," says Henri in his deep, quiet voice. Looking around at the thick island underbrush he takes a deep breath and readies his weapons quietly. He looks uncomfortable with the idea of fighting the wild boars without more people in the group...

[farothel]

"True, but delicious as well," Laurelata whispers back, making sure she has her bow ready, "let's go after them and if we're close, we make sure to go upwind and we can shoot them from a tree. They can't climb if I'm not mistaken."

[Farmerbink]

Jessica immediately drops what she's doing- only just not literally- and dashes outside towards the cries of agitation and pain. She eyes Marius in the crowd, present as a member of the militia and guards, but somehow less willing to get involved than before. With a frown, she turns her attention back to the injured farmer and his bloody arm. "Let me in, let me in!" she insists, gently but intentionally pressing through the throng. She wastes no time channeling the divine power of her goddess to staunch the flow of blood. "Corn, you say?" She frowns. "Well, we did report those odd things, but I guess there were more than we found...." After a moment she adds, "or more are being made."

She stands straight and addresses the small gathering. "Please remember, everyone, this island is not safe. We only know the beginning of things, but there was a small colony here before we arrived, and it seems none of them are still here. Yes, of course, we hope to find them still, but... well, why would any of you leave the village and live in the wilds?" Despite her optimism, it's clear that Jessica expects less and less all the time with regards to survivors from the first wave. Once more, she tries to impress on them the importance of caution and the risk of danger. "Just please be careful, and stay in groups."

Spoiler: Rolls

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not exactly trying to make a request, but she is trying to influence the attitudes of the people. Not really directly an application of diplomacy, but it seems reasonable to make the roll. (1d20+7)[15]

[DarkOne-Rob]

"let's go after them and if we're close, we make sure to go upwind and we can shoot them from a tree. They can't climb if I'm not mistaken."

Henri shakes his head. "They don't climb, but these tracks aren't that fresh. We should come back with more hunters," recommends Henri. He then puts his nose to the tracks and takes a deep breath before looking around again. "Might be close, might not." With a shrug he stands and looks around, ready to either follow the tracks or go back to the colony, whatever the others want to do.

[DaOldeWolf]

Hewitt wonders about the chase. On one hand, it would be safer to bring more hunters for the chase but on the other, there was achance of losing the prey and the resultant loss in benefit by asking for assistance. "I think we should go after the boar. If necessary, I can call forth Lightburn or summon a creature for our assistance." Hewitt replies.

[farothel]

"Same here," Laurelata agreed with Hewitt, "We could do with the extra food until such time as we have the fields going. And it might make the other colonists be more agreeable to us."