The Journey through the Woods and Waves

The walk back to the underground cavern which held the port is rather uneventful. In the back of the group, as they walk, Sister Hilan notices Renalt and Denlo starting to whisper. The monastic sister dismisses it though. After all, they did so frequently. It’s likely a discussion of how to do something less than legal, she guesses about one of the odd miscellanea that the Elfi’ika picked up in that watchtower. She trusts that, if the discussion were to turn to any topics of import, they would tell the rest of the crew before things came to a head.

As they can see the entrance approaching through the trees, the pious woman hurries herself, to make it to the side of her traveling companion of old who has been leading them through the woods. “Sari,” she says, stirring the huntress from her focus.

Alessari looks over at her friend. “What is it?” she asks, curtly. But Sister Hilan can tell, it isn’t intentionally so. She’s focused on something.

“Sorry, I assumed being so close to our destination that you might be available to discuss some elements I saw,” Sister Hilan remarks.

Sari shakes her head. “Sorry, just trying to keep the island in mind so we make it to the coast with ease. What is it?”

“That vague sea monster which Felazo mentioned, I think I saw its den. A strange outcropping with odd flow around it. Except all that was there was some shattered ships. Any idea why that would be?”

Sari frowns. “Maybe. I’d need to think about it, so how about when we’re rowing to the island we chat as a group.”

Sister Hilan nods. “I understand,” she says as they cross the threshold into the cavern. “Perhaps Felazo will be more forthcoming if we do so as well.”

Sari chuckles at the muscular woman’s joke. “Go pick up the boat,” she replies with a smile.

Sister Hilan shakes her head as she walks into the side room. Behind her, Felazo asks Sari, “What’s so funny, scion?” Which in turn just causes Sari to chuckle more. Sister Hilan goes to the far end of the rowboat and waits.

Denlo enters alone, and gives the human a nod. He walks up to the near end of the boat, and crouches down. “Ready?” the hulking man asks.

Sister Hilan crouches down as well, and with a nod back, the pair lift the rowboat with a pair of hefty grunts. Denlo turns around, resting the boat on his shoulders as he leads the way out of the room.

Felazo takes charge once more, as a captain would normally do more often than occasionally. “Sari, lead the way. Boat in the middle. Ren, you and I will fan out behind the boat. Anyone notices anything, shout, but I doubt this island will have any threats the three of us can’t handle, so unless someone calls out your names, Den and Sister Hilan, you should just keep the boat out of harm’s way.”

Den nods for the both pair of athletic crewmembers, and Sari, looking clearly impatient to get moving, adds, “Can we head out now?”

Felazo chuckles and says, “Lead the way, scion.”

The travel across the forest is once more uneventful. Denlo following Sari through the trees has his head on a swivel, constantly scanning the canopy. Sister Hilan merely follows him, attached via the boat. To try to calm him, make him less paranoid about the island’s trees, the monastic sister asks, “So, Den, I noticed you chatting earlier. Anything we need to know?”

The man says “Hmm,” continuing to walk while clearly considering the question before he eventually does reply, “Not yet. Maybe. More likely merely things that will need to be considered once we’re back on the Ekzokia.” Then, he turns his head around to face towards the woman carrying the other side of their rowboat. With a sly twinge entering his voice, Den adds, “And you? I could say the same about your whispering with Sari.”

Sister Hilan smiles. “I suppose you could,” she admits. Then, she explains earnestly, “I’ll elaborate whilst we row, but basically, I saw something through the glass that didn’t make sense and I asked my huntress friend if it made sense to her. I would have waited, but I figured I’d check with her before bringing any concerns to the crew.”

Denlo chuckles, turning back to face forward. “So it is like if I thought something was off about a song, I’d bring it up with Ren to be certain there’s something there,” he replies. Then, astutely, he adds, “I take it there was something wrong then.”

Sister Hilan sometimes forgets the murderer is more clever than he looks. “Maybe. At least enough that Sari couldn’t dismiss my concerns without consideration.”

Den nods. Their conversation is slower than normal and getting more dragged with each phrase, clearly both working hard to carry the rowboat through this unknown terrain without really knowing how far they would need to go. That said, even with the slow degradation of strength as the journey continues to drag on, he does eventually realize he left the conversation on a dark note and adds, “Let’s hope it turns out to be nothing.”

Sister Hilan chuckles. He really isn’t good at the whole reassuring thing. But he clearly feels better about it because his head returns to watching the canopy. Perhaps he saw something up there when he was traversing it earlier today, the holy woman considers. But whatever he might have been concerned about never shows its face, and soon enough they break through the tree cover and walk onto a rocky beach, looking out into the archipelago. From here, the dome that Renalt had seen is not visible on that strange, muddy island poking out from the waters ahead of them. Den leads the pair past Sari and to the water where they, with another coordinated grunt, place the rowboat into the water. Then Denlo sighs. Sister Hilan looks at the rest of their crew approaching and admits, “If you wish to row, we can begin now. Otherwise we shall need a few minutes.”

Felazo shakes his head. “We don’t have a few minutes, unless you wish to camp amongst the okraten.”

Sari shrugs. “I would not mind. But perhaps we can row for at least the beginning of the trip there, and they can join in once they’ve rested a minute.”

The pious sister looks to Denlo, who she knew was struggling on that walk slightly more than she was. After all, while he’s just as strong as her, he prefers precision and bursts of strength to prolonged, endurance-based exercises. But he shrugs, and says in reply a simple question. “Sister?”

Sister Hilan smiles. “That sounds amenable,” she offers, and the five of them settle into the boat. Taking up the oars, Ren and Felazo on one, Sari on the other, they begin to slowly row themselves out to sea. Towards their destination, the muddy isle with a dome somewhere on it rising out from the earth.

After they settle in and their journey through the waves has begun in earnest, Den cocks his masked head at the pious human. She sighs, and asks what she’d earlier brought up to her old friend. “I had a question,” Sister Hilan begins, “Mostly for Sari now that she’s not planning a trek through the woods, though the rest of you are free to chime in as well if you have more information you want to share.” With that last statement, she looks directly at Felazo, who merely smiles, clearly working hard to row the boat at the pace Sari is churning.

“Oh right,” Sari says, beginning to slow instinctively as she starts to think about creatures of the sea and how they live. “Go through in detail, what do you remember seeing?”

“So, while we were looking for the old structure from the watchtower,” Sister Hilan begins to explain, “I noticed in the middle of a trio of islands and odd outcropping that I can only assume was the den of some large, shallow water creature that hunts in this area. The only issue is, there was no indication of the creature actually being there, only broken ships in various states of disrepair.”

“Didst thou spot any items of value whilst spotting and noting such an odd sight?” Ren asks.

The monastic sister frowns. Not particularly, as far as she remembered, though one of the ships did seem large enough to have been carrying some goods of worth, assuming it wasn’t looted, and the ship below the waves was still intact, and the goods were not of a perishable sort. But, admitting the large ship might also drive those less focused in their goals to turn to there, which in turn will muddy the question she’s looking for. Unless that is a part of the question, somehow. She hedges, saying, “Not that I could see, though there were several ships and some seemed fairly well intact.”

“That does rule out any sort of powerful dragon, unfortunately for the story,” Ren mutters, “Though some form of elemental may still sit on the table.” Then, to the others, he says, “Captain, could you converse with the crew on the accounts of the creature in these coves?”

Felazo shrugs. “It is entirely unclear,” he admits, “They mention the threat, how to avoid it, and occasionally speak of placating it with a ship filled with food. Other than that, the mentions seem to see it as some sort of great defense against incoming ships.”

Sari frowns. “Well, I can see two possibilities,” she begins. “On the one hand, there’s the option of camouflage. The ships and their shattered forms might well be to disguise the movement of some creature that moves around there, to prevent any other creatures from seeing it clearly in the waters.” Then with a sigh, she adds, “Though those stories do add another option. That the ships are what it eats. And so the wreckages are less what the creature leaves behind after one of its attacks, and more something of a pantry to keep its food all in one place.”

“So, you don’t know?” Sister Hilan asks, “None of you?”

The trio of people currently rowing shake their heads. She looks up to Den, who laughs. “Don’t look at me,” he says, “I hadn’t left the kinslums most of my life.”

“Why are you so concerned by this?” Felazo asks.

Sister Hilan takes the oar from Sari. The huntress turns her eyes upwards, tracking the large birds she’d seen earlier. The monastic sister answers her captain, “Not seeing the creature that is theoretically keeping us safe from the pirates ambushing us when we’re exhausted makes me worried it might have died. And Zeltaro will jump us when we’re rowing back and have no real ability to do anything about it.”

Felazo frowns. “Certainly a possibility, but I doubt it. It’s unlikely, given how the stories described it as some sort of existential monster, that it died of old age. Which leaves a starvation of some sort. But there are plenty of fish and sharks in the waters in and around this archipelago if it eats normally, and you said there were still ships left if it eats those.”

Sari furrows her brow. “That does leave the possibility open that its hunting territory has expanded to include this path,” she notes, suddenly moving her gaze to the water and below rather than the sky. She readies herself as she scans the water.

After another moment, Den sits up, uncovering his sword and keeping it at his side as he takes the oar from the two mages. Together, the two strongest members of the crew pick up the pace of their travel as they row across the waves. Sari, bow out, continues to scan the waters, and Felazo joins her, ready to call on some sort of spell to weaken the monster if it comes at them. But nothing comes, and the boat beaches upon the clay beach of their destination. Felazo, hopping out of the boat, replies, “So, onto this mysterious dome, right?” he asks his crew.