Monster Party Book 1: I hunt therefore I am!
Chapter four: These castaways were stranded, on this island out at sea...
"So here we are, wherever the hell exactly 'here' is." Alexander reflected as he sat with his back to a palm tree watching the waves lap up and down the beach.
"Pretty much Sir." Mirri admitted.
Unsurprisingly the leader of the group had been the first to regain his wits and Alexander had been mentally taking stock of things as best he could since then.
"Okay, first of all, I'm aware that this situation is somewhat suboptimal to say the least. That said, I want you all to all remember that we've one and all been in worse situations than this. We haven't gotten in scrapes from Blautstein to Vechor to end up being done in by geography. We're going to survive this, we're going to get our asses off this island, and we're going to turn a profit when all is said done.
So lets count off what we need for survival. Step one, food. Devi how are we set for rations?" Alexander asked.
Devi promptly held up a small brown bag.
"Well we've had at least a little luck on the mater. In addition to our own supplies, Cal and I found a barrel of hardtack from the Sunset Empires that got washed up on shore. Our diets aren't going to be very exciting but there's enough food for us for the three of us to last a month or so. That's just what we have on us, not taking into account what we might be able to find around here that's edible. As for Mirri..." Devi got no further before vampire cut in.
"I'll last about as long as the four more conventionally alive of you do. After that, me and Florence are going to get a lot better acquainted and I'll find out if I can drink sap or not..." Mirri reflected.
"Lets try to have it not come to that." Florence answered in a remarkably calm tone of voice.
"Anyway, Florence just sort of drinks in sunlight most of the time and there's still a fair amount of that to be had. Which brings us to James." As Devi paused she shot a glance over at the young werecat also had his back to a palm tree, but unlike Alexander his eyes were wide open and vaguely unfocused as if he was unable to see anything.
"But the rats... why are the rats gone?" James whimpered.
Under Alexander's instructions about how there was not to be a rodent left alive on the ship by the time they made port James had kept right on hunting each night, and continued to expand his collection of four pawed prisoners.
He'd had quite a pack of them strung up by their tails by the time of the kraken's attack, and unlike more conventional rations there was no sign of James' stockpile of uniquely preserved foodstuffs.
"Yes James the rats are gone." Mirri half whispered as she ran a soothing hand through his bright red hair.
While others might have jerked away from the coldness of her hand James simply leaned into it and clearly seemed to be reassured by her touch.
"Okay, I get it. Rat is off the menu unless I can catch some more of it. No big deal, catching rats is what I do best! Hell it's not just what I do best, I am the best at rat catching! Okay there was that one weird swimming cat from Darkon who might be a little bit better than me, but he cheats, what the kind of a cat has poison fangs?
I'm sure I could have take him two out of three but he turned up his nose at the idea of a good honest rematch. Real snob, also claimed he was smarter than me, can you believe it?" He reflected, still sounding decidedly miffed about his defeat in that particular contest.
Mirri just smiled and began to shift her fingers back and forth eagerly scratching James' head and the ears beneath his hat.
"That's right. The two of us should head a little further inland, I'll get even further out of the sun, and you'll round yourself up some more rodents, and then everything will be right as rain." Mirri predicted confidently.
"As long as you're going to be investigating further inland, keep your eyes open for more water. Food is all well and good but it won't be doing us a lot of good unless we have fresh water also. If Devi has her bag then we've got our emergency canteens which will last us for a week, but that's it.
I've got a few ideas for how we can get some more of our own, but if there's an island stream of fresh water so much the better." Alexander suggested.
James threw off a quick salute in agreement.
"We'll take care of it Alex. If nothing else you can always count on me and Mirri to find running water, we'll just figure out which way we don't want to go and then meander that way all the same." The werecat predicted.
Alexander turned his single green eye upon this two more mundane followers now.
"As we move on from food and water, lets talk about weapons. Cal, how are you stocked for firepower at the moment?" Cal unstrapped his firearm and ran a tender hand along it's length.
"Well I've still got Phoenix here as you can see, but I lost my main stash of bullets when we went over the side. Devi do you have my backup?" The elf nodded and reached into the same small bag she had presented when it came to the subject of rations.
A moment late her hand came out of the bag, and by the work of some mystic enchantment she was holding a sack that was much larger than the bag that had held it only a moment ago. She tossed the sack nonchalantly to Cal who quickly pulled out a bullet and went about loading it into his weapon.
"That's all well and good then. I lost some of my choice potions also sadly, but I've got still enough second hand mumbo jumbo on me to give any restless natives a real bad day." The alchemist promised.
Alexander nodded in approval at his subordinates confidence.
"Good. For all I know when we got swept into the waves we ended up getting washed ashore on a completely different end of the island than the rest of the crew, assuming any of them made it. Either way, I'd appreciate it if you two could inspect the beach a bit more thoroughly and see if you can't find where they ended up or possibly whatever is left of the Sunset Empires.
The more tools we have to work with the more options we have, and even if it's a completely useless as a sailing vessel it's still a gigantic collection of wood. That covers the big three, onto more material maters, James do we still have the mystical bauble we were tasked with delivering?" Alexander demanded.
James nodded all too eagerly.
"You bet! I half buried in the dirt of Mirri's coffin once we got on board, just like you told me to. It's probably gonna need a good wash before we turn it over to its original owner but that's a lot better than it being lost at sea." He responded chipperly.
"Wonderful. Okay in that case you lot have your orders get to work. As for the two of us, we, by which I mean Florence, will see about making us some real shelter out of these palm trees." Alexander explained.
"Before we split up, want me to take care of your coffin?" Devi asked holding out her tiny bag towards Mirri.
"Considering it's either that or leave it laying around here at the mercy of the elements.. yes I think I would rather have you take care of it." Mirri admitted.
Then she casually walked over to the coffin that it had taken both James and Cal working together to tote, and lifted it up off the ground all by herself. She brought it over to Devi who opened up the small bag Cal' s backup supply of bullets had come from.
What followed was a sight to make one tilt their head and stare blankly in confusion as Mirri somehow stuffed a coffin that had to be at least seven feet long into a bag that was one tenth as large at most.
Whatever made it possible, in the end she did it successfully and eventually there was no sign of her favorite resting place.
"Make sure not to get yourselves killed while you're off exploring the island I'm going to want that coffin back tonight." Mirri insisted.
"I'll keep that fact in mind..." Devi deadpanned.
(Scene Break)
"Picking up any tasty scents?" Mirri inquired as the pair made their way through the jungle.
The normal half a foot or so of difference in their height had ballooned outwards considerably due to the fact that Mirri was walking upright while James was prowling on all fours.
"Not quite yet, we both know I'm a bit of a city kid, though I'm not completely out of my depth here. If anything I should be better off because they won't have rat holes to run to! I'm in my natural element right now, king of the jungle!" James predicted confidently.
Mirri's eyes settled upon one of the nearby trees, something that large certainly looked like it could have been fairly easily hollowed into a rat haven given enough time. She also didn't have the heart to remind James that felis domestica's "natural" environment was probably much closer to an arid desert than a lush jungle.
Given his otherwise encyclopedic knowledge on the history of man and cat (in the sense of only matters pertaining to both humans and housecats at the same time) she suspected he was knowingly lying to himself.
Instead, she casually clicked her tongue and listened for the sounds that came back. She didn't need to imitate a bat's sonar call, to hear threats approaching but it helped sometimes when she wanted to give her already extraordinary ears a bit of a boost.
She doubtlessly could use that advantage right now, she was picking up all sorts of strange sounds and had a hard time placing most of them. The only good news was that none of them sounded overtly hostile at the moment and she had yet to pick up a the heartbeat of any sentient creature she recognized.
"By the way Mirri your cat has gotten a lot better recently, I can barely hear your human accent anymore." James complimented her as he stalked through the jungle in his pure animal form.
The vampire bent down to run a hand along the length of James' spine from neck to tail tip in appreciation of his complement.
"I had a very enthusiastic teacher." Mirri reminded him.
Thanks to her own shape-changing abilities Mirri had managed to pick up what passed for standard domestic cat fairly easily, not that she needed it really. James could understand her speaking common just as easily in cat form as he did in his human one, even if the transformation's changes to his vocal chords limited his own linguistic options.
Right in the middle of her second stroking of his fur James' ears suddenly pressed back against his head and Mirri pulled away. Werecat body language was almost point for point exactly the same as that of a normal housecat, especially when it came to instinctual activities like hunting.
James had clearly caught the scent of something.
"Go get em kitten." She encouraged him and sure enough James took off racing through the jungle.
(Scene Break)
James Firecat burst through the brush and landed a damn near perfect pounce upon the rat he was hunting. No fancy backbreaking maneuvers of polite chit chat this time around, the werecat hadn't eaten for what he suspected might be over twenty four hours (he had no way of telling just how long he'd lain unconscious on the beach) and was feeling understandably peckish. No, he was going to get this over with as quickly as possible.
"Speak words or perish." He hissed down his prey.
Upon closer inspection this thing had to be the ugliest rat he'd ever seen, and rat's weren't a species exactly known for being all that pretty first place. The thing looked like it might have been either diseased or badly born, it's eyes seemed to big for its head, it's paws too unprotected from the elements and without even tiny claws.
The rat's back wasn't right either, he wasn't sure why exactly but it was doubtlessly something different in the nature of the creature's spine than those he had hunted on board the Sunset Empires.
"Mercy! Please, mercy!" The creature squeaked in horror.
James' brown eyes (one of the few parts of him that did not change whatever shape he took) opened wide with shock. He'd always made sure to offer to let his prey go if it proved it was intelligent, but he couldn't remember the last time one of them had actually taken him up on it!
"You can speak?" The werecat spluttered his own voice becoming a bit of a high pitched squeak itself in the process from sheer startlement.
"I speak the words great hunter, please show me mercy, I am loyal to our land's rightful king!" The mouse wailed pitifully.
James slowly raised a paw off of the rat's body.
"Are all the rats on the island like you?" He asked dreading that he already knew the answer to that one.
"We are all loyal great one! Glory to the Diosamblet that he may spare his pitiful subject from your fangs." It babbled.
James raised his other paw now and then bent down slightly to nose frightened rodent away from him.
"Well then, go run back to your den or whatever. I don't eat smart rats." James said the words as much to remind himself as to inform his prey.
The rat spun about and began to break into the closest approximation of a bow that it could manage.
"We shall be smart, we shall be loyal, we shall be worthy!" The creature promised him before running off.
James watched it go planting his head mournfully on the dirt. Yes, there was something undeniably 'off' about that rat, but that hardly mattered given that plenty of people had said there was something 'off' about him at one time or another.
That didn't mean it wasn't intelligent, especially given that it was able to hold a cross species conversation. Hell, it sounded like the rat spoke common a lot better than James could at the moment!
So, here he was then, trapped on an island where all the rats might be too intelligent to eat...
"What's the matter, did it get away?" Mirri asked as she came upon the scene of James "successful" hunt.
The werecat hung his head, not yet willing to voice the truth of his dark suspicions.
"Yeah that one did. Guess I'm a bit more rusty than I thought. Oh well, there will be always be the next one..." James couldn't do much more than devoutly hope that the next rat he caught a whiff of would be a lot stupider.
(Scene Break)
"Well there it is, wasn't much to look at to start with, even less impressive now." Cal reflected as he and Devi caught site of what was left of the Sunset Empires.
The ship's final fate had been to be all but impaled upon a section of rocks within spitting distance of the shore, each and every one of its masts toppled and otherwise wrecked to the point that it seemed the only thing keeping it together at this point was the rocks which had done so much damage in the first place.
"Guess we're definitely not sailing away from here any time soon." Devi admitted as she sized up the ship wondering just how much of, well anything would be left for them.
It was clear that the ship itself was a lost cause at this point even with Florence's skill at working wood. None the less, it was impossible to tell how much in the way of materials or rations might still remain intact on board. "
Heh, we've only just started on this adventure and sure enough..." Devi reflected as she reached into her back of holding. From it she produced several long coils of rope and started to twirl one of them about her head.
With skill perfected by her use of the flail she managed to send a rope flying so that looped perfectly around one of the broken masts. Then she offered the rope to her companion.
"Beauty before age." The elf quipped.
Cal glared at the rope for a moment and then the one who had given it to him.
"You're just trying to butter me up so I don't complain about loosing the chances I'd get to look up your dress if I climbed second." Cal pointed out.
Devi reached forward with a gloved hand and ruffled the alchemist's dirty blond hair.
"Would you look at that, brains and beauty in one package, I sure know how to pick them don't I? Now only I could get some chivalry added to the package as well..." She noted herself contently.
Cal realizing that he had no chance to win the "argument" (such as it was) took the rope firmly in his hands and headed out towards the Sunset Empires.
He only needed to get his boots and leggings wet before he came into contact with the ship's broken hull. He was about a quarter of the way up when Devi began to ascend the rope as well, and she had managed to nearly close the gasp between them before he pulled himself onto the deck of the Sunset Empires.
Once both were on board they began to carefully search the ship's deck, moving slowly so that the tilted terrain did not send them tumbling. For the moment there was no sign of anything worthwhile or of the crew.
"Lets go below and check the private storage room where they kept the food." Cal suggested, as he half leaned, half stepped through the necessary doorway.
What he found on the other side was not promising. Like the rest of the ship, rocks had gouged holes in this room and it was clear that a great deal provisions had either been washed away or near hopelessly polluted by salt water.
One barrel in particular looked promising soon drew both adventurer's attention, while it was somewhat worn it also lacked any sort of obvious holes or gaps.
Cal carefully began to unscrew the lid and gazed down in delight at what was inside. "Jackpot. Looks like my luck is finally turning around." He said with a smile.
CRACK CRACK CRACK!
Sure enough Cal's words seemed to have an almost mystical ability to summon forth trouble. This time that trouble took the form of Captain Eli Stewart, his first mate Monterey and Old Singe the ship's cook... or at least their heads.
The trio of decapitated heads were each grasped in a separate translucent tentacle that forced their way up into the room from below.
"Well guess we've overstayed our welcome lets be going..." Cal reflected as he tugged at the barrel for all he as worth not willing to abandon his newly gained treasure.
Devi grabbed a hold as well and together they managed to drag it out onto the deck. As the pair looked around at the still wreckage strewn ship's deck they realized it had been tricky enough to cross while unencumbered, there was no way they'd be able to move across it now with any reasonable speed.
That didn't even take into account the issue how they could safely lower the barrel down to the ground without getting grabbed and squashed by the tentacles first. Cal dropped the barrel suddenly and began to sort through his diminished collection of potions.
"Hold that thing at bay for just a moment okay baby?" He suggested.
"Any ideas how?" Devi shot back, starting to uncoil her flail as she waited the arrival of the ghostly tentacles.
She quickly depleted another mystical charge on the ring of lightning bolts which adorned her right index finger, wrecking even more havoc on the ship and hopefully discouraging pursuit for a while.
Luckily with fewer potions it took Cal less time to locate the one he wanted. The alchemist yanked the top off and slathered its contents all over the barrel.
"All aboard who want to keep their heads!" He suggested grabbing hold of the barrel as best he could.
Devi followed suit and the bent his knees and jumped. The barrel shot skyward and easily rose up above the grasping tentacle which pursued them.
"Flying potions, not just for leaving behind mobs of torch and pitchfork wielding villagers." He noted smugly.
As the barrel began to drift back over dry land and still showed no sings of slowing down (even if was moving at a speed no faster than a sedate walk) Devi cast her gaze downward.
"While it pains me to even consider questioning your brilliance... do you have a plan for how we get down, preferably before the spell wears off having carried us to the other side of the island if not out to sea?" The elf pointed out.
Some of the color drained from Cal's face as he began to once again sort through the potions he still had.
"It's not a problem I'm sure I've got a potion of heaviness left. That or at least one of feather fall that we can use to get down from here..." He muttered as he checked a few bottles carefully.
Devi blew out an exasperated sigh and then muttered a mystical phrase in her native langauge before striking out with her flail again. Her weapon extended to a truly unbelievable length and wrapped itself firmly around the base of one of the palm trees.
Devil started to heave and pull as best she could (while Cal kept a tight grip on her so she didn't fall off) and slowly the two of them dragged the barrel and themselves back down to ground level. The enchanted wooden barrel still floated a few feet off the ground but other than that it seemed content not to try anything more dramatic.
"We got it, and we got out alive, I'm calling that a win." Cal reflected.
(Scene Break)
Alexander sat on the beach by a small blaze made from some washed up wreckage. He'd retrieved a few other goodies from Devi's bag of holding and watched a process unfold before him with deep respect.
"Fire... some people say that's what separates man from beast." Alexander reflected, as he watched thin wisps of steam manage to break free from the pot he was carefully observing.
Said pot had its lid turned upside down, and was currently half filled with salt water and one carefully balanced canteen right in the middle.
"I have my own opinions on the matter of course, but still fire is doubtlessly one of mankind's most indispensable tools. It can be used to slay a foe, destroy siege-works, bring light to dark places, warmth to cold ones, cook meat, and it can also be used for the purposes of distillation. Oh yes, distillation, one of my favorite uses for fire, be it the creation of ale, or a few gallons of salt water into a few cups worth of perfectly drinkable water. You've never lost your chance at survival so long as you have fire." Alexander declared proudly.
Florence was sitting about twenty feet off to his side, keeping a fair bit of distance between herself and the flames he was tending.
"You don't have to be that far away you know. I understand the fact that I couldn't find enough rocks for a firebreak makes you nervous, but fire doesn't exactly spread across sand all that well either." He pointed out.
Florence shot him a playful smile of her own.
"No it's fine. You stay over there with your fire and see if you can purify a couple glasses worth of water every few hours. I'm sure you'll be able to find enough wreckage to keep it going, and distill fresh water fast enough for two humans, an elf, and a werecat to have all they need to drink.
Meanwhile I'll just sit over here and try to keep myself from from bursting into hysterical screams at the sight of your raging bonfire.." Florence then calmly plunged a hand into her own pot of salt water.
Her brow furrowed as she swished her limb about the pot several times. Then she withdrew it clutching a small mound of salt crystals which she casually tossed aside. She repeated the process twice more and then pushed the entire pot aside.
"There, now I can finally feel safe again given since I've got this entire pot full of nice potable water to put out your fire with." She informed him cheekily.
Alexander sighed, carefully lifted his own pot up and placed it down on the sand before stomping out the fire he had created. He crossed the distance between himself and Florence in a few easy strides and knelt down beside her planting a respectful kiss on her cheek.
"The problem of course with considering fire some kind of sacred icon is that its important to remember where we get fire from in the first place. If we humans didn't have trees then we'd really be left trying to navigate a flow of excrement by hand." Alexander admitted.
Florence nodded in agreement. "Correct as always Alex, after all I believe most people tend to find wooden paddles a lot more effective than metal or stone ones, to say nothing of water going craft." The dryad reminded him.
(Scene Break)
"Are you sure you don't want me to sort this out?" Mirri asked after James' third 'failed' attempted at hunting.
Luckily so far he'd always managed to put enough distance between himself an her that she didn't seem him letting go of the prey.
"No it's fine." James insisted as he transformed from cat to human form taking a moment to adjust his outfit to make sure everything felt right. He pointed a hand upwards toward some of the brightly squawking birds above.
"Those things can't stay awake all the time, and I can climb trees without worrying about getting stuck in them..." The werecat boasted.
What James left unsaid was his concerns that if Mirri decided to use her abilities some of the weird rat creatures might not be strong willed enough to resist her call. In the obedient trance that descended upon the animals Mirri controlled there would be no way to pick the keekees from their brighter cousins, assuming that there were any keekees at all on this island.
But so long as he made sure to hunt on his own he could deal with that problem, he'd just have to expand his normal hunting preferences a little. He might be limited to fresh meat but cats could hunt and devour all manner of prey!
As that thought drifted through the back of his mind James was careful to sway out of the way of a spider web. Spiders... it'd be a warm day in Lamordia before he got that hungry!
End Chapter
Chapter 4 Author's Notes:By the way, just for reference that cat that beat James at rat catching is totally a thing that exists in Ravenloft, look up Water Cats.
Also some quick restrictions on Devi's bag of holding that the characters in story all know so well I could not come up with a convincing reason for them to discuss.
1: It can't hold anything alive.
2: It can't hold anything sentient.
The above are why Mirri stashes her coffin in the bag but didn't just climb into it herself during the boat trip, and equally why James can't store rats inside it.
Also speaking about magical effects, if you can't tell by now, James' outfit has something like a wild armor spell cast on it (probably by Florence) or whatever the lycanthrope equivalent of it is (there's no real rules for what kind of magic to use to let a werebeast's clothing meld with their body, but there's really no reason that some kind of spell along those lines shouldn't exist and we can leave aside the "keep the armor" bonus aspect of it because James is probably some weird splatbook class like Brawler or Battle Dancer that doesn't use armor at all) long story short, his clothing/stuff is just sort of absorbed into him when he changes shape rather than falling into a pile at his feet/being ripped to shreds.
If you were interested the method Alex is using for distilling water should be perfect accurate /repeatable in real life (the more you know!) Also if you haven't guessed yet, yes Florence has a veritable pile of plant based abilities, in this case she's showing off a mangrove like ability to cast off salt while leaving water behind, though of course she can do it far better than any normal plant. Expect to see more of her tricks as this and other stories go on.
As a warning this and chapter five were sadly too long (had some scenes that needed some space /time between them) to be one chapter, but are too short for two real chapters on their own. So chapter 5 is going to be a lot shorter. On the other hand that also means it should be up sooner!
As always don't be afraid to comment, love to hear what people think of how this story is going!