9) This uncharted desert isle.
The consensus was to make our way to Bernard's coast. Some for the reason of getting more loot like me. Others to put off pulling into Port Rogue and having to deal with whatever we would face there for just a bit longer
Now we just needed to figure out how to use a chart to find our way there.
Kev turned to Stist. “Hey Stist, how do we make a chart work?”
Or, I guess. We could just ask the one person we had who would know most of what we needed to ask about. Somehow it felt like cheating. But I’m sure it was only because I didn’t like her.
The lizard woman made her way up to the steering deck. "Lay the map out and tell it. Show me the way. Or just about anything else that would make sense. The main thing is to lay it out something close to flat first."
Kev unrolled the scroll like map that showed a long narrow like island with one half of the isle set up with an area filled in with little wave symbols and the other side colored in gray. The area for water and whatever the gray part was met up with a clear dividing line at the top and bottom of the island. A dotted path led from a picture of a tall jagged stone spire to a pond fed by a waterfall. From there it went up a splint in a cliff to a set of standing stones with another one on top.
An X was drawn right in the middle of the arch. What concerned me was the two monkey like creatures drawn to either side of the arch, mainly because they were portrayed as sitting and were still head high to the arch.
I pointed them out. “Stist, do these mean something?”
She leaned forward and then back before shaking her head. “Sorry, but I broke my focals in a fight months ago. Anything that close up to me just looks like a blob."
Rob took off his glasses and handed them to her. “Try these.” She nodded to him and held them up awkwardly against her face. The frames had not been made for humanoid lizard people.
I guess they might be statues to look out for to help find the arch, or they may be two giant apes we have to fight. Could be both. It isn’t like I have ever seen a real treasure map before.”
I grunted and watched Kev lay his hands on either side of the map. “Show me the way.”
A flicker of white flames sprung up in the sea portions of the map. They quickly burned the lines of a compass rose into the parchment like map and then died out. Only in addition to the short eight spikes marking the cardinal directions in black burn marks, there was also a longer needle in a wet looking red ink floating above it.
Despite being drawn on the map, the red needle spun around like a real compass. The long spike came to a slow stop off to the right side of the ship. As Kev twisted the map in a circle a bit each way the needle wiggled back into the same direction.
The lizard woman leaned over while looking through Rob's glasses. "Then we just go that way and keep an eye out to make sure we don’t run into anything. With Port Rogue, we can see the lights from the town long before we get there. I’m not sure how that will work with an uninhabited isle.’
She shrugged. "Or maybe it is inhabited?" Me, Kev, and Rob all glared at her. She twitched. "What?"
Rob held his hands out for his glasses. “You don’t ever say things like that. Someone may get ideas.”
The lizard woman seemed confused. "Who?" I just shook my head. "Whatever twiste… enlightened person or person is watching us dance to their tune. No one would set something like this up and not watch the fun. The last thing we need to do is give them an idea."
She looked around at the others. Rob nodded a little while Kev shrugged. "He could be wrong, but he could be right. But if someone is observing us just for their entertainment. Screw 'em. I'll say it."
He looked up at the sky and threw his arms up. “Are you not entertained... you sick fucks.”
Fortunately, no lightning bolt came flying down from the sky… ceiling.
Following the needle of the compass it took us four hours until Ryan turned and yelled up at the steering deck. “I think I see something ahead! Maybe! Staring out into the darkness for this long might be messing with my eyes!”
Kev poked at a screen on the instrument panel. “Nope, there’s something there. I got a dept reading.”
Taking the ship to slow crawl we drifted in toward the isle. I glanced around at the others. “Should we use up another flare?”
Ryan had heard me. “No wait. I can see some sort of dim blue light. All except one spot without any. I think that may be the spire from the map.”
I looked around. “So who all is going ashore? Everyone, or do we leave a few people to watch the boat.”
“Ship.” Muttered Kev.
Ryan sighed. “I might as well stay behind. I’m not that useful without any powers and I can’t get experience points anyways.”
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I gave him a sharp look. “Ryan, with Stan gone, you’re the biggest guy on the ship. We could always use your help in a fight. But you're right in that there isn't much of a reward for you." I shrugged. "So yeah, maybe stay behind but with the shotgun, in case something attacks the ship."
Needless to say, there was no way Stist was going to stay behind on our ship with only one guy to take out to steal it. She had been paying a lot of attention to Kev while he operated the ship. But she seemed to be wordlessly preparing to go ashore.
She was probably just waiting until after we got the treasure from the island before she made any kind of move. Hopefully, I could at least count on her not to be an idiot.
The boat had an inflatable tender boat hanging off the back and taking up most of the diving deck that sat only a few inched above the water. We had mostly used it to take drinks and food to some islands without a dock and had just swum in ourselves.
But swimming in the dark, chilled water around us didn’t seem like a good idea. However, the tender only held three to four people and we had six going ashore. Err, seven, no, eight if you counted Erin’s undead skeleton. But I guess that was one of us that could swim in. Or at least be dragged in.
“So I'm thinking me and Kev go in on the first trip, plus Sue and Rob. Then me and Kev come back out for the next two. I don't want anyone on the boat alone in case something comes out of the water.
Since no one had any objection, the first group set out to the shore. Sue jumped out to drag the boat ashore. At which point…
[ Quest. Claim Bernard's Bounty. ]
[ Bonus goal. End Bernard’s horrid undead existence. ]
[ Quest. Clear out the settlement. ]
Sue whipped around to check if anything else got activated by our arrival. After a moment of absolutely nothing happening, we relaxed. “So, undead pirate guarding his treasure. Anyone else surprised?”
Kev grinned. "Undead pirate, so he would have a dead man's chest. Get it?"
Rob laughed, and Sue snorted in mild amusement. I just stared at him until he got the boat moving again. Still smirking as he guided us out with the small motor.
We returned with Sandra and Stist, who got the same message when Sue waded out into the water to pull us in and touched the boat. The same thing happened when we returned with Erin and her dead black boned puppet.
Finally getting out of the boat myself, I could see a very dim blue light in the dead leafless trees ahead of us. Walking forward a bit I could see a faintly luminous blue something on the remains of the tree. Almost like sap running out of them.
And all of it was entirely not enough to see anything but the trees themselves, and anything blocking the trees. Rob wound up standing next to me. "The shore is covered in deadwood, but no seaweed. No dead fish. I don't think anything is still alive from when that lighthouse was lit up to let things grow. On land or sea.”
“Huh.” I glanced around and did a quick head count. “Hey Sandra, I think your light might last us the entire time we’re on the island. At least until we find the treasure since that’s the event. Can you give us some light”
Everyone had either a flashlight, lantern or at least their phones, recently charged, for light. But the princess's crown would put out a lot more, and it shone in all directions. I admit it would also make her a big target, but we still needed to see.
She said "Okay." in a cheerfully clueless way and the glowing tiara made of light appeared on her head. Lighting up an area going off a good sixty feet in all directions.
Which clearly showed us the spire. As well as the dozens of skeletons hanging from manacles from it.
They seemed to be mainly placed to be seen from the water, which meant that on the shore we were only seeing about half of them. Sandra squeaked, Erin said “Cool” and Kev asked. “I wonder if they add up to sixteen exactly.” Then he began to sing. “Sixteen men on a dead man’ s crest...”
Sandra began heading back to the boat. “Nope, I’m done. Kev take me back to the ship.”
I sighed. It took me, and both of her friends to talk her out of the boat and back to shore. Then we began following a narrow path through the dead blacked trees deeper into the island.
When I tried to take point I got an orc girl's hand to my chest. "Healers in the middle. We don't want to waste a healer's vial just to get you back on your feet to heal the rest of us.”
Choking back my objections to anyone telling me what to do, I just shrugged and hung back until Sandra caught up with me. “Fine, but let the undead go first, it’s expendable, you ain’t.
Sue gave me a toothy grin. “Aww, you care.”
Sandra leaned over to me. "Shouldn't you have your gun out too? I mean if my tiara will last, why not your gun?"
I nodded at her without looking. "If I'm wrong about the light, we're all caring backups. If I'm wrong about your crown, I won't be able to bring out my gun when we need it." I glared up at Sue, "And then I'll only have a sword to fight with and I guess I'm not allowed to fight up close anymore."
I mean sure, Sue was right. I had chosen the role of healer and I was right where I was supposed to be in the middle of the group. Protected. But I could still be bitter about it.
About an hour’s walk and we could hear the sound of falling water ahead of us. An old, frankly badly made, footbridge led over a narrow but fast stream. I had to call back at Kev as he paused on the bridge after the rest of us had crossed over. “Kev, get a move on.”
He looked up reluctantly. “There’s nothing in the water. Nothing alive, no even a leaf.’
I just nodded. Not entirely sure what his point was. No sun, no life. We already established that.
Around the bend were the clear waters of the pond from the map. The pool looked pretty inviting after three days with only short, rationed showers on board the boat.
But really, the whole thing screamed trap. With some objections from our equally bath starved princess, we moved on.
A few hundred feet further on the terrier sized spiders tried to spring their ambush. I did say tried. The nearly blinding light from Sandra's crown did a number on them. That’s what you get for not evolving eyelids suckers.
The creature burst out of the dead forest’s mix of dead leaves, branches, and fungi, only to slam to a stop and retreat, squalling like shrill mad children as they tried to flee. Again, tried.
Blind, panicked, and fleeing monsters. Easy picking.
The first one I caught up with went down quickly and messy. From the looks of It, I had caught one of the smaller ones at only the size of a kitten, but as I slammed my cutlass onto its back it also proved to be one of the juiciest. Thick sticky yellowish white goop came flying out as I struck it and cracked open the hard carapace on its back.
Carapace? Do spiders have those?
Undeterred. I set off after another one, only to trip as its carapace split open to reveal a set of wings as it flew up backwards at me. By the time Rob helped me get back to my feet. The rest were gone.
“Wings? What the hell…?" Rob nodded at me. "Yeah, I mean we already knew from the size that those weren't normal spiders. But the wings seemed a little...extra."
[ Encounter ended. You have been judged to be 13 percent responsible for the victory. ]
[ You have received a 10 percent bonus as an Einherjar for winning a combat encounter ]
[ You are now 19 percent of the way to third level ]
Kev shouted out. "Level up!"
The rest of the walk involved me muttering about evil flying spiders and how I was going to hunt down and exterminate their entire race on this island. They could live freely elsewhere until they crossed my path. But here? Mine to kill.
Maybe a half hour later we came to a tall cliff with an enormous luminous patch of knee high mushrooms in front of us. The path we had been following came to a stop at the edge of it and we could see a split in the cliff on the other side. We could see stairs carved into the stone leading up the split and even large metal rings set into the side with the remains of ropes that had been strung between them dangling from some of the rings.
Erin looked out at the field of fungus. "So, they got mouths and try to bite us, let out spores that get us high, or their growing on the back of a giant man eating slug that wakes up when we start walking on its back?"
Everyone, including Stist, glared at her. The lizard woman even waggled a finger at her. "I'm with them now, don't say those things."
The necromancer just grinned at her and kicked a mushroom. Nothing happened but I could already feel the headache coming on.
She spun around. "It's okay, we got someone expendable to find out." She pointed at the black skeleton that had been following us. "Blackout, walk over to those steps." Then she began to run off. "I'm going to watch from back here. You all might want to join me."