Chapter 3: Meeting The Natives

MOSSTracking Elspa and Rygnar would normally be a challenging task. However, the fact that they could only have gone one of two ways is helpful, and you come across an algae-strewn rock that has been overturned and not yet dried in the sun that points you in the correct direction.

ELSPA AND RYGNAR

A preliminary sniff of the cave air reveals no animal presence. You light your torch and walk inside a ways, and the light dances along jagged rocks that you can barely squeeze between. After following the tight path, you find the cave opens up into a larger space. Shafts of light pierce the darkness revealing grand spires of stone, creating a space reminiscent of a cathedral. A flat stone wall directly ahead is covered with primitive pictograms and symbols. There is an opening that goes further underground in the center of that wall.

FRICK, JARVEENA, and YGNE

In response to Ygne's comments

She Who Has Been Beyond the Reef stiffens at the mention of the Troglodytes returning to life.

"Yes, it is true that the spirit does not leave the body after dying here. The way to the lands of the dead are closed here, ever since the Gods bound the demon Ulupoka here. Although Ulupoka cannot leave, bound to a giant black pearl in his golden temple, he snares the dead and sets them to evil purposes. Our people were once his slaves, until some among us learned to free the dead from his grasp. We call them Spirt Mothers; you saw one on your way here, the woman in the white mask. She guides our ancestors to continue to help our village rather than accomplish Ulupoka's evil plans. Now we live far away from his temple, protected by the Great Wall, the Sea, and the Spirit Mothers."

ELSPA, RYGNAR

You sniff the air beyond the tunnel: it is cool, moist, and smells of brine and fish guts.

The opening leads to a tunnel which slopes downward into the earth. It too is lined in symbols and pictographs, but a short ways down those markings are subsumed by a slick, green algae that coats the tunnel from floor to ceiling.

MOSS

There is no sign of the two barbarians, but in the far distance you see an opening in the cliff wall that looks like it would make a defensible shelter.

FRICK, JARVEENA, YGNE

She Who Has Been Beyond the Reef listens to your comments, but there is hesitance in her voice when she responds.

"If you want to go to the big island, you can arrange passage with the Boat Man on the other side of this island. He leaves at noon and returns an hour before night falls, so if you want to make it there today you will have to take your little boat."

You notice she makes no comment about Frick's brazen statement.

"But, hey! Before you leave, I am sure you have things to trade. Your people always do. And I have found that your people often treat like junk what we treasure, and what you treasure we treat like junk. I'll gather our craftsmen and meet you outside when you finish your meal."

It appears to be merely the garden variety sea slime that appears on beeches around the world. It is edible and some believe it wards against certain diseases that develop when your hair turns gray.
You see two kinds of tracks in the green slick on the rocks. One resembles bare human feet, the other is clawed with webbing between the toes.