Ruins of Azlant IC 2

[u-b]

"The water? Yes, it stays in. We use the tank to wet out skins. There's an elemental living in there, but it does not harm us."

[farothel]

"Interesting," Laurelata said, "do you know how many of these fish people are around here?"

It was not because they were at the top of the tower that there couldn't be a village somewhere nearby. And then they would have to take that down at some point.

[u-b]

Eliza shrugs. "I don't know. Dozens? They don't stick around here though."

[DarkOne-Rob]

Henri looks at the tank suspiciously as the answer to his questions leaves him less confident of the party's safety. "Dozens of fish people...we should go before they arrive. Are we going to try and help these two? Take them back to the colony?" he asks his friends as he turns to look down the ramp as if concerned he will see more attackers approach at any moment.

[farothel]

"I'm not sure what the reaction of the colonists will be," Laurelata said, "I mean, they're just farmers and crafts people and they're not used to these strange things. They might lash out when confronted with the unknown and you know that tension is already high at the moment. On the other hand, we can't really leave them here either."

She looked at Taz and Jessica.
"You think any of you can speak with that elemental," she asked, "maybe it can help us, even if it's only with information. And at the moment we're relatively safe as we can pull the same trick as that fishman yesterday did."

[SanguinePenguin]

Taz looks stunned by the request. "Talk to... an elemental? What does that even look like?" She shakes her head. "No, I am pretty sure I can't."

[DaOldeWolf]

"But I am not sure baout leaving them here either. Are they really safe in this place?" Hewitt replies wondering about what to do with the newfound people. "As for the elemental, I am sorry to say that I dont even know what their native language even is."

[farothel]

"As far as I know each type of elemental has their own language," Laurelata said, "but the more experienced ones will hopefully speak another language."

She looked at the two first-generation colonists.
"You have spoken with it? If so, what language did it use?"

[u-b]

Eliza shakes her head. "No. We don't share a languages and it's not very sociable to begin with."

[Farmerbink]

Jessica frowns thoughtfully. "Surely the colonists would be pleased to have the original governor and another well-esteemed member of the first wave back. Remember, they were expecting to join an existing colony, not start one."

She turns to Eliza. "You asked another question that we didn't answer yet." She takes a deep breath- if this is new information to Eliza, their discovery may not be nearly so fortuitous as she hoped. "When we arrived, the colony was abandoned. You two are the first survivors we've yet found. Can you tell us anything about what happened before? Surely you must remember something!"

At mention of an elemental, and the ensuing confusion over their speech, Jessica smiles winsomely. "I ah- I actually might be able to speak with it," she offers. "It's been a while, but I spent some time with a pair of druids who taught me to listen to the waves. It's hard to make sense of it at first, but really beautiful once you know how it... well, flows." After entreating Eliza, she approaches the indicated tank. In Aquan, she calls out, "Hello in there? Can we talk for a moment?"

[u-b]

Eliza shrugs. "Sure we can. Something or the other, though I'm not sure we'd quite agree on what that should be. But maybe better to do that somewhere safe and for the record, if you don't plan leaving us here, that is."

When Jessica tries to speak to the tank, Eliza notes: "You should open the door if you want to have any effect."

Spoiler: If you open the door

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The water held in the tank does not rush out or anything. It just stands there as a vertical wall with a bit of ripple. Repeating the call is met with a distortion in the flow of bubbles in the depths of the tank, then near the open door and then... well, that's it. Nothing is said back at Jessica.

"Not quite sociable, you see. I told you."

Still, Jessica feels she gets some attention.

[farothel]

"The elemental might be held captive here," Laurelata suggested, "maybe ask and if it is you can offer to release it in exchange for information. it might just not like being used as a bath to keep our friends here wet."

She didn't know much about elementals and she couldn't speak their language. And for now she wasn't going to spend her magic to understand, especially if the thing wasn't going to say something.

[Farmerbink]

Jessica nods, of course. With the door open, she continues, though she struggles to make sense of where she should be looking, and precisely what she's addressing.

"If you can communicate, and care to, I would offer you our help as much as these two. I don't know what you might need, but I'm happy to offer what I can."

Spoiler: OOC

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Diplomacy with the... water? I'm not sure if this is getting more ridiculous, or less. XD

(1d20+9)[20]

[u-b]

The water near the door swirls a little and there is some sort of response.

Spoiler: Aquan

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"You will be punished. Stay here and await the master or you will be punished bad."

This sounds more like an advise and less like a threat, but the elemental does not seem too eager to accept your offer.

[Farmerbink]

Jessica starts, wide-eyed. After a moment, she blinks, taking some clear effort to process what she's heard. "Sorry, everyone, it's been a while since I spoke, much less dialogued in Aquan. And.... well, ixithil can be translated a few different ways...." She racks her brain for a moment longer.

"None of them are good, though. So, I'm not at all sure if the elemental is kept here against its will, but these two folks certainly are. There's something it-" she gestures into the tank- "calls 'master', with a.... very unpleasant connotation. It seems to think that our presence has already earned this 'master's' ire, and that if we leave now, it will be worse. All things considered, I think its perspective is... accurate, but I really really don't think we should wait here to find out what the master's punishment is going to be. We need to decide what we're going to do, quickly- including with Eliza and Rayland here, and be about it. I'd much rather enjoy the relative safety of walls and numbers than face such a threat in its own domain."

She glances around the room, increasingly uneasy. "let's head back to the camp, directly. I'll conjure water to keep our friends here nice and wet until we're at the coast where they can do it themselves. How does that sound to everyone?"

[farothel]

"Sure," Laurelata said, "but can you maybe quickly ask that elemental who its master is? If there's someone here on the island that can control elementals, maybe we should know up front."

[SanguinePenguin]

Taz turns to Eliza and Rayland, "do you know who or what this 'master' is? Have you encountered them?"

Spoiler

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Sense motive: (1d20+1)[15]

[Farmerbink]

"It doesn't seem real forthcoming... I'll try."

Jessica turns back to the water. "Who's the master?" she asks, simply.

[DarkOne-Rob]

Henri watches and listens quietly for some time, but when a new threat is described he steps to the ramp, looks down, and calls to Lightburn urgently, "Please help me guard the rear - I'd rather we not be surprised by this master..." He then puts the two original colonists and the water elemental out of his mind as he creeps down a bit to get a better look of the floor below and any potential approaches.

[u-b]

Eliza shrugs and nods at the larger tank - "Ask it if the master is the one from the tank." - she then points at the smaller tank - "I don't think I'll be able to help you with any descriptions or such."

Rayland seems to ignore the question. Maybe he thinks that Eliza's answer is as good as it gets. The elemental, when questioned, says that the new master is indeed the one from the smaller tank, but refuses to disclose any additional information, seemingly out of fear for itself.

[farothel]

Laurelata had a look in the small tank to have an idea of who or what this master dude was. She wasn't sure, but someone pickled and coming back to life sounded very undead to her. They weren't equipped to handle an undead of that strength, so she hoped it would be something else. But any clue was something or they might loose the entire colony.

[Farmerbink]

Jessica nods soberly, thankful for the information they're able to get.

"Well, Eliza? Rayland? Do you want to return to the camp with us? I'm sure we can find a cure for your condition, given time to work on it."

[u-b]

The small tank seems to be a very simple thing, if well-made: thick glass, a glass door with a fancy golden locking device attached to it (now opened), and that's about it. No pipes to run air or water through it, no other major features. Seems pretty much sealed when closed. There is no distinctive pickle smell, or any other notable smell, for that matter.

When you explain how you are going to transport them without them getting dry, Eliza and Rayland agree to return to the village.

Spoiler

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Anything else to do in this tower or moving out and away?

[farothel]

Except for collecting the stuff she wants to take with her to the town (like those automaton heads and some other spare parts), Laurelata is okay with moving back. she will keep an eye out for any ambushes and stuff like that on the way back, she she can't really help with keeping the two wet (except by using her waterskin, but the group too has to drink).

Spoiler: OOC rolls

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perception: (1d20+9)[27]

[DarkOne-Rob]

As the party (plus two) look ready to leave, Henri looks to Lightburn and asks, "Shall we?" Then with a deliberate, deep breath he begins leading the way down the ramp(s) towards the tower exit, possibly out of the ruins, and eventually towards the colony by the way they've agreed upon...

[Farmerbink]

Jessica is more than a little relieved to leave the strange tanks behind. "It'd be a beautiful painting, actually, if it weren't so terrifying," she muses with a final glance at the oddities. "Gods willing, we'll come back under more pleasant- or at least less disconcerting circumstances...."

As the party descends, she prepares mentally to conjure lots of water to keep their strangely-inoculated companions doused. "This island just keeps getting weirder," she murmurs quietly.

[SanguinePenguin]

Taz didn’t like this whole ‘master’ business. For some reason, the water elemental’s desire to stay behind really got to her. She also had a creeping suspicion that Rayland and maybe Eliza were not actually on their side. Then again… what could she do about it? All journey back, Taz helped to keep the two of them wet. With her gifts, it was easy. She also talked to the two of them - a lot - mainly because she wanted to remove that shade of doubt that was lingering.

Sense Motive - (1d20+1)[16]

[DaOldeWolf]

Lightburn nods at te mention by Henri and helps at the front of the party to hopefully detect any threats. Hewitt remains on the back wondering about the situation. Hopefully, they would be as if not more accomodating to fellow humans even if they were a bit strange. He shares his thoughts with Jessica about the setting "The worst part are the disgusting abominations on the area. I just cant help but fill that the worst has yet to come."

[u-b]

When you get out of the tower you notice that there was a storm during the night and the weather remains fairly windy, cloudy and even a bit rainy. As you trek towards the village, the wind blows most of the clouds away so you have to start using magic to keep Eliza and Rayland comfortably wet. You make a stop to have lunch. Tazmara, who has been trying to talk with Eliza and Rayland basically nonstop, finally reaches her decision, about Rayland at least. And it isn't pretty.

Spoiler: Tazmara

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Sense Enchantment: You can tell that someone’s behavior is being influenced by an enchantment effect even if that person isn’t aware of it. The usual DC is 25, but if the target is dominated (see dominate person), the DC is only 15 because of the limited range of the target’s activities.

[DarkOne-Rob]

Henri tries to focus on his task, watching for threats and breaking a trail back home. In the back of his mind he keeps worrying about their new companions and their strange behavior, but he leaves that to his friends to deal with as much as he can. During lunch he sits and tries to enjoy a couple of minutes of peace as he watches and listens to their surroundings and, to a lesser degree, his party.