Seaside

[quillpleasant]

Shore to Jungle

Harley isn't too sure about actually seeking the stranger out, but Raheeda seems confident in it so he's going to follow her lead. As they head into the treeline he swipes at a couple branches with the spear.

Her next comment almost makes him choke. "W- wobble stopper?" Well, it's descriptive. "Sure, yeah, why not." He hangs the undergarments on a treebranch before using the spear to carve an X into the trunk.

As they head deeper into the jungle, Harley can't help but notice as Raheeda tastes the air. She's clearly a snake person, he's known that for a while, but to what extent he's still not sure.

"Neat trick, that," he remarks, "Can you really tell where they went just by smell?" he says, following close behind her.

[Shadowcaller]

Shore to Jungle

Raheeda stops for a moment and glances at Harley. If she noticed him almost choking up earlier she didn't react to it. "Uh, it's an elf trick you see. I can, ah, taste smells, like someone's sweat for instance. Since that's what I'm tasting here. Two people, three tops, going up this hill." She gestures at what at first glance seems to be nothing but at closer inspection appears to be a slight depression in the grass.
"See? They've just walked past here." She gestures ahead. "Guess they were heading up the hill." She let's out her second tongue again while starting to walk forward. "...they were afraid." She concludes as she closes her mouth again. "It's definitively fear-sweat, tasted that before." She makes a face.

"Afraid people are quick to turn to stabbing, or shooting, and since they didn't want to see us I guess they might do that should we catch up with them."

[quillpleasant]

Jungle

Harley narrows his eyes. "An...elf trick. Gotcha. Well however you do it, it's really impressive." He kneels and peers at the bent grass that she indicated. "Yeah I would never have noticed this in a million years, you've got some serious skills Raheeda."

Standing up, he puts his hands in his coat pockets, swaying pensively. "One person was already risky, but if there's two or more and they're afraid... I know you're really good at fighting, but it still seems risky. Maybe we should abandon their trail and look for shelter elsewhere?" There's just a touch of disappointment in his voice, but safety is more important than excitement.

[Morty]

[Draconic Talks]

"It would probably serve little purpose," Askeladd agrees before they step out. "Let us hope we can still salvage this."

[Keeper]

Off the Coast

"This sounds an awful lot like a solution that isn't literally just giving me the boat we got here on."
Krayger groans. This has gotten so ridiculous. They're probably going to do something insane to increase the ultimatum. But he's already once thrown his life away by refusing to engage in banditry; he's not going to break that vow just because some demon told him to.
(whack, whack, whack)

[Shadowcaller]

Jungle

"Erm, yep. One of those seldom known elf-facts. Not all elves obviously. I'm a, uh, rare elf sub-race." Raheeda explains as if sensing Harley's hesitation. She then touches her long ears for empathize. "See?" Then she turns back in the direction of the trail she's been following. "But I suppose we shouldn't provoke anything..." She admits though still lets her gaze linger on the hill. "But we were still going to look for shelter at the hill, right?"

[Draconic Talks]

The townspeople look at them expectingly.
Or more accurately, the majority of them are staring at Megeshi as she emerges from the temple and Askeladd doesn't have to be an exalt to tell that fear and awe is what many of them are feeling right now. Indeed, there might even be a few people who've fled town as some of the faces he saw at church are missing in the crowd. Though it's really difficult to tell with so many people. They might also just be at home.

While there were brief gasps of shock once they emerged it looks like they're holding their collective breath now. Just waiting for them to speak up.

[quillpleasant]

Jungle

Harley shrugs. "Well, I'm certainly no elf expert. Or an expert on anything else for that matter." He's curious as to the need for such a story, but he's not pushing her on it for the time being.

He looks up at the hill. "Oh yeah, I guess it is the same direction." He hefts the spear, pointing forward. "I say we keep looking for shelter, and if whoever's trail this is thinks we're following them, we can just explain. It's not like we've done anything wrong." He pauses, glancing down at his stolen clothes. "Well, you haven't done anything wrong at least."

[Shadowcaller]

Jungle

"But what if we find shelter and those people have already taken it? Might be why they're at this hill." Raheeda reasons just as a strong gust off wind comes in. Powerful enough to rip leaves off the trees and leave the rest fluttering. The sound almost making it sound like the jungle around them breathes.

This is followed up by the sound of distant thunder.

"...we better hurry." She concludes as she had to shield her eyes from the wind for a moment.

Then she starts to ascend up the slope. "Uh, should we go in the opposite direction of the tracks then? Since they're also leading this way. Could just round the hill in the opposite direction."

[Morty]

The Narhum

The voyage of The Narhum is uneventful, at least to begin with. Setting off from Inside, the transport barge departs on high tide and the decks are busy. Despite the fair size of the ship, it seems to be crewed by fewer than two dozen people who run back and forth, checking straps and chains holding down the containers and cargo. In lieu of the foggy morning air that arrived with the ship, a cool spring sun shines overhead and favorable winds blow from behind. Nelle, having chosen to stay with the crew, will find plenty of bunks empty for her to choose from, and the crew is certainly welcoming. Only half seem like the scaled or mutated dockworkers, with the other half looking like a relatively normal mix of men and women of all species. Orcs, humans, even another elf and a gnoll. All are sturdy and swarthy, used to hard labor on the sea. It seems that once they are done with their work, some take up rods to go fishing off the sides.

There are even other passengers!

A pair of lithe scaly kobolds, dressed like professors and academics, have a locked trunk between them and a pair of doctor's bags. They chatter excitedly in draconic to one another, though if Nelle or the pair of Inspectors watch them, they'll find the chatter is partly for show as they talk while keeping an eye on everyone around them. They're slightly nervous, slightly excited, and even slightly fearful especially when the ship rocks a little more than normal.

Henry and Michalson will find the Captain's Quarters quite amenable as they searched earlier, and if Henry insists, a tub is even brought in for him as there were a few to spare on the ship. Given their dealings with the seeming fishfolk, it isn't all that unusual of a request. As for the displaced Captain, they seem to take it all in stride, staying up in the helm through the day with a drink, a pipe, and the maps. Sure, GPS could guide the ship without error, but sometimes it needed a personal touch and adjustment.

The Matron stays on deck the entire morning and afternoon if not approached or bothered. She stands at the highest point, wearing as little as always, and seems to simply be enjoying the currents of air and sea both. It is only the slight glow of her starmetal staff that betrays a work of magic. The glow flows into the air, riding the currents, and every so often she'll tap the deck starboard or port and the Captain will make an adjustment in direction.

The entire ship is free to explore, anyone able to be spoken with, and time can be passed however the guests wish.

"Well, look at that. A luxury cruise on the job," Michalson will sardonically remark to Henry once they're underway and in their quarters. "The matron is very confident that we won't find anything untoward. Either because it's not there or it's well hidden."

[quillpleasant]

Jungle

"If we find an occupied cave, we'll just have to convince them to let us in. Hopefully they're reasonable," says Harley. As the wind blows down around them, he turns and stands facing it for a moment, spreading his arms to let it gust against him.

"Oh, it's going to be a wild one," he says, and his voice sounds like he's grinning under his mask. Then he turns and hurries after Raheeda.

"Yes, good call. We'll search around the other side, and maybe we'll be the ones to find shelter first." If they find it at all, of course.

[Shadowcaller]

Jungle

"Cool, let's go then." Raheeda nods and starts moving to the left as they start ascending the hill.
Once they get closer to the top the vegetation starts to thin out. However it doesn't make it much easier to move as it's also getting steeper. It does give them a great view of the jungle however. Something Raheeda stops for a moment to appreciate.

From up here the sky to southeast is perfectly clear. Not a cloud in sight. While to the southwest the storm couldn't look more foreboding with the horizon filled with clouds so dark that they make the day look like night.

There's a strange beauty in this contrast however, or as Raheeda puts it. "Wow. you don't see something like this every day. Guess it must be more common at sea though, right? Since in my clan they always said the mountains protected us from storms but there's no mountains here. Just a whole bunch of water."

Harley might notice something peculiar as they're walking up here though. Namely that the lack of vegetation doesn't seem completely natural. Since he can see a few tree stumps up here. Cut in a way that suggests people have been involved with it.

[quillpleasant]

Jungle

As they ascend the hill, Harley begins to breathe heavily. The steep slope is aggravating his wounds, but to his credit he doesn't voice any complaint, leaning on the spear as a walking stick.

He looks out at the storm, taking in its ominous splendor. "On the open see there's no protection from above or below. It's scary, but there's something freeing about being so defenseless. Of course, you don't get views like this when everything's flat."

With a shiver, he looks around, studying their surroundings. "This place looks inhabited, which is probably a good sign. If there's people, there's bound to be shelter somewhere, right?" Well, not necessarily, but he's trying to be optimistic.

[Shadowcaller]

Jungle

"Probably, yeah! Just wish I could like, have someone paint this." She points at the horizon. "That'd be cool." Then she moves on.

"I do wonder, why bother cutting trees up here and not just down on the ground? It'd be way easier." She idly wonders as they continue around the slope of the hill. On the other side the vegetation is much thicker. The hill absolutely teeming with green plantlife and trees.
Harley might not have realized it until now but the sound of wildlife have at some point returned. He can't be sure when but whatever had caused the animals to go quiet stopped or left at some point.

Raheeda starts moving into the thick of things but suddenly stops and crotches down on the ground. "...more tracks. There's been people all over this place." She gestures at the underbrush around them and he might notice how its flattened and bent at certain places. "No idea how many but its not nearly as recent as those other tracks. Probably at least a couple of days old."

[quillpleasant]

Jungle

Harley takes one last look at the view. "You're right. It would be a good painting."

As they make their way around the hill, he kicks at one of the tree stumps. "My guess would be that they were making some kind of structure up here, except I haven't seen anything like that. Who knows."

Attuned as his hearing is, Harley definitely notices before too long that the noises have resumed. He breathes a sigh of relief. There was something unnerving about a silent forest, even without the other strange signs they've been seeing.

He looks curiously as Raheeda points out the bent foliage. "How can you tell it's people, and not animals? I'd never know the difference." He looks around, but he's not expecting to notice anything else- if anything its a relief that the tracks aren't recent.

[Shadowcaller]

Jungle

"Oh, that's simple." Raheeda remarks with a dismissive wave. "Had to be an big stompy animal leaving these tracks, right? Which means it probably wasn't a predator since they're more stealthy. Well, big animals eat a lot so they leave all sort of other tracks on the vegetation around them. But there's nothing like that here."

She pauses and then points a thumb back the way they came from.

"Also, those cut down trees kinda gave it away that people had been here, y'know? Plus, predators of that size mark their territories-"

She gets up but after just walking a few steps she stops again.
"Oh."

If he follows he can see that before her is what seems to be a wooden floor. Or possibly a roof. It's hard to tell. But they seem to either have walked into or on top of a building of some sort.

[quillpleasant]

Jungle

"Well you make it sound simple, sure, but there has to be a lot of training to just recognize all that at a glance like you do," says Harley, following her, "Plus you've got- oh well that's interesting."

Walking forward onto the floor, Harley gives it a light tap with the butt of his spear. Assuming that doesn't make it immediately crumble, he beckons for Raheeda. "This is great! Let's scope it out and maybe we can use it for shelter."

[Shadowcaller]

Jungle

It doesn't crumble. In fact, its pretty sturdy. Can't be more than a decade old.
Raheeda walks over and repeats what Harley is doing with her own spear. "Huh... cool."

But then noises can be heard nearby. In fact, it sounds like someone swearing loudly.

Has Harley any gun experience? Since an older variant, a flintlock, is fired. Likely at them but its hard to tell as it doesn't even get close to hitting.

[quillpleasant]

Jungle

Although absorbed in tapping the structure, Harley swivels his head around at the sound of the voice. It's not like there weren't signs of people before, but it's still startling to run into them. And then-

At the flintlock's crack, Harley holds his hands up to his mask's ears, not that it makes any difference. "Ow! What the hell is that?" He clearly does not have any gun experience, but he doesn't like loud noises. He looks around wildly, trying to pinpoint the source.

[Shadowcaller]

Jungle

"Shooty!" Raheeda exclaims as she swirls into action, attempting to pull Harley behind a thick tree.
It does seem like she has at least a little more experience with guns than he has. Since at least she's has positioned them in cover from where the shot came from.

Since as a second shot, equally poorly aimed, rings out it should be clear at least roughly from where they're coming from. They're coming from the slope underneath them. Likely from at least a fair distance away.

[quillpleasant]

Jungle

Raheeda has no problem pulling Harley along, and he crouches behind the trunk beside her.

"They're attacking us? What do we do?" he asks, wincing as a second shot rings out. He risks a glance out of cover, looking wildly in the direction of the noise.

Clutching his spear tightly, he ducks back. "We could run...or rush them," he says, with perhaps misplaced confidence.

[Keeper]

The Narhum

"Well, look at that. A luxury cruise on the job," Michalson will sardonically remark to Henry once they're underway and in their quarters. "The matron is very confident that we won't find anything untoward. Either because it's not there or it's well hidden."

The Narhum

Henry has never actually been on a ship more than twice in his life before. Yet he has found that he is at least biologically incapable of being seasick.
"Well, the trip seems easy enough at least. Do you want to lay low or do you want to talk to anyone?" suggests Michalson's unofficial deputy. "The kobolds seem like educated people; they might know a little about what's going on." he adds. Smallfolk almost make him sigh. He misses being normal-sized like that.

[Shadowcaller]

Jungle

"Uh... not good at strategy..." Raheeda remarks, already looking like she's panicking. "R-uu..." She looks at Harley expectingly as if wanting him to finish the sentence. "...rush? Just wish I had the wobble-stopper, would make it easier."

A third shot is fired at this point but it doesn't even hit the tree they're hiding behind. Just largely in their direction. This person is sure shooting a lot from a distance they probably can't hit anything from.

[quillpleasant]

Jungle

Sensing her hesitation, Harley reaches out to give Raheeda's arm a reassuring squeeze. "Hey, everything is gonna be okay, don't worry. We can go back and get the wobble-stopper later. For now, just hang tight. I totally got this."

And with that he stands up, and then sprints out from behind the tree without warning, heading in the general direction of the shots. Brandishing the spear in front of him, he looks wildly around as he goes, ready to adjust his direction at the first sight of any movement. The only sound is the pounding of his feet against the wooden boards.

[Shadowcaller]

Jungle

"Erm-" Raheeda looks a tad bewildered when he squeezes her arm. "You do?" She inquires just before he starts charging in the direction the shots seems to have been coming from.

Now, before he actually has to deal with the shooter themselves there's a problem.

He's charging downhill and the ground is far from flat. Then there's vegetation, roots and even a few rocks. Not to mention pretty steep.

He will however get a view of the shooter. Or shooters. Since there's two of them down there. Both wearing disheveled sailors jackets. Not too unlike what he's wearing himself at the moment.
Indeed, that fact seems to make them hesitate so he better make those moment count and not just trip and tumble down the hill like some idiot.
Since that'd be bad.

[quillpleasant]

Jungle

Harley is usually very agile and light on his feet. However, he's exhausted and has multiple untreated wounds. As he bounds own the slope, leaping over jungle shrubs and weaving around rocks, the downward momentum gets the better of him. He's sent into an uncontrolled dash, barely able to keep upright, losing the spear as he windmills his arms for balance.

Completely unable to stop without slamming into the ground, Harley continues the desperate charge, heading right for one of the two sailors. It's not an accurate or well trained take down, but unless the unfortunate target gets out of the way in time, they'll both collide full force. At least Harley has head protection.

[Shadowcaller]

Jungle

As he comes crashing down the hill he gets a better look at the two and its clear even in the brief moments he's seeing them that they're rather out of it. Bloodshot, sunken in, eyes and crazed looks in their eyes.

It looks like they were both taking cover behind some rocks near the bottom of the hill. Though the way they were facing they were hiding from someone coming around from the other side.

Their disheveled states does not help with their aim however as they both take shots at him, neither even getting close to hitting. Then before they can get out of the way Harley slams right into one of the sailors who falls over with Harley right on top of him. He grunts and spits, seemingly having the breath knocked out of him.

[quillpleasant]

Jungle

It seems that these sailors may be dealing with some greater threat, and this conflict may be just be the result of necessary aggression. None of that stops Harley from crashing into the man, and after that entrance it seems too difficult to go right into a peace talk. So he does the best and most helpful thing he can.

Harley arches his head back, then slams his face down at the sailor's before he can recover. This wouldn't normally be the most effective move, except for the very hard metal mask that should make such an impact much worse for the unfortunate on the receiving end.

However, to his credit, he follows up the attempted headbutt by screaming out "We're just peaceful travelers, stop making loud noises at us!"

A sentiment that would likely go over better if it had been attempted before the attack.

[Shadowcaller]

Jungle

There's the sound of the sailors nose cracking as Harley slams the mask into him. Followed by a hitch pitched gurgle of pain as it seems like Harley just broke his nose.
"Demon!" He can hear what seems to be the other sailor cry out before throwing his flintlock at Harley in sheer panic and goes for a saber in his belt. Hardly standard issue sailor gear.

[quillpleasant]

Jungle

Getting up from the downed sailor, Harley yelps as the flintlock bounces off his shoulder, numbing his right arm. As the sailor switches to the saber, he raises his left in a pacifying gesture, taking a step back.

"Listen buddy, you shot at us first, and I really don't want to escalate things further. I'm already adding way too much to my sentence by fighting you. So if you know what's good for you, I'd just run away. Or I'll use my spooky demon powers on you!" This last part is shouted, as he wiggles his fingers in what appears to be some strange spell.

Of course, Harley can't do magic, and he's really hoping that these skittish seamen are rattled enough to be intimidated. Even on a good day, there's no way he can beat someone with a sword while he's unarmed.

[Shadowcaller]

Jungle

The sailor does not seem to intend on listening but before he can swing his saber Raheeda, coming tumbling down the hill slams right into him with such force that he's sent flying a couple of meters.

But after just a couple of moments he forces himself to stand. To flee.
He can barely move yet his body forces itself forward. Driven by what must be pure adrenaline to escape.
This man seems driven by a primal fear. That if staying even a moment here would mean a fate worse than death.
"H-hey!" Raheeda calls out, seemingly having suffered very little despite the force which she came down on the man.

There is no reply though, from neither of them.