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Sea Madness

Scene details

Setting: Since landing in the mysterious Island, Reize's seasickness evolved into the worst case of Sea Madness. Rallied by Reize to search for his missing scarf, Ruidosa and Ivo learn more about the island's inhabitants.

Log


  Over the horizon is a sun that shines like gold, giving way to the brilliant blue sky. The wind's breeze, crisp yet offering a kiss, provides a fresh feeling. Fresh greenery surrounds the hilly, rocky terrain. Not too far are large mountains which gives way towards the coastline.

 Out at the coastline is sand that extends past the trees and other greenery. A few large, thin tropical palm trees shimmer. Many of them carrying large orbs at the very top.

 Further down the coastline is a gathering of beasts, lupine in nature, all gnawing on what they took as their kill. But no, they stole it.

 A shadow looms over them, which they take notice.

 "GIVE ME MY SCARF!"

 The presence of doom is in the form of a young boy, wearing only a pair of short trousers and a scarf, crashing down to tackle and roll around with the lupine beast. His descent came from high at the mountainous range. In sheer panic, its friends abandon their comrade to its fate. The 'doomed lupine' wriggles away, yelping while leaving the 'spoils' behind.

 The boy, in triumph, lifts his head to the sky. With a crazed look, he beats his chest while mouth opens. "Ooh! Ooh! GAAAAHAHAHAHHAHAA! I AM REIZE THE HUNTER, KING OF THE BEASTS!"

 Let's talk about what happened up to this point.

DAYS BEFORE

 The group managed to arrive into the strange, unknown island after escaping the beautiful, yet foreboding Twilight Canyon. However, Reize was still seasick from his trip, eventually leading to an agonizing fever that left him debilitated for a couple days. While bedridden, he succumbed to stress over his beloved scarf gone missing.

 He has been afflicted with...

  Sea Madness.

NOW

 In this state, Reize saw little need of clothes. Only his pendant and the trousers, which looks like it was made of animal hide. Reize Seatlan, along with clothes, has been discarded. Now....

  Reize the Hunter calls out to the path behind him, "WE ARE NEAR THE SCARF! I CAN FEEL IT!"

Ruidosa La Crima rolls 1d20>=10.
Comment: Consider Life Choices, Divorce, Fly Away forever?
Roll(s): 13. Total result is 13. This is a success (by 3).

Ivo Galvan rolls 1d20>=10.
Comment: Stop laughing long enough to think up a plan
Roll(s): 4. Total result is 4. This is a failure (by 6).

Ruidosa La Crima is following along. Hesitantly, because Reize is clearly afflicted with SEA MADNESS, while she is not afflicted with anything at all. She could just turn into a bat and fly away from here, she knows the vauge direction to fly. Heck her entire family could do that.

But ugh, she isn't gonna leave Reize behind over this. Surely things will be better once they get his scarf back, and when they get things like fresh water and fresh food under control. But for some reason.

The scarf is more important. Ugh.

"H--how can you feel a scarf, Reize...?" she asks.


 Ivo had thought that Sea Madness was only a tale, a legend, a secret enscribed in occult tomes of dubious authorship and expounded upon by raving mad scientists (not thinking of anyone in particular). But now he knows the terrible truth. It is real.
 And it is very funny.
 Clad in the shredded remains of his typical garb, shirt in tatters and trousers cut short, the castaway magitechnician idly plucks prickly pears from the blooming cacti that populate the sandy slopes and deposits them in a sack improvized from the luxury fabrics they discovered in sealed crates from another shipwreck, all while watching Reize's ravings not far away.
 "Their bond is strong," he quips to Ruidosa nearby, with the tight voice of someone struggling to restrain laughter. "Doubtless amplified by the pendant overtime, akin to how his bond with Kernunnos developed. Call it... Kerchiefnunnos. No, wait. Scarnunnos?"
 Not long before, a rescue mission led by Fabroxo had arrived and promptly shipwrecked themselves, entirely by design, such that our heroes have been joined by more scientific and alchemical minds who could, hypothetically, help to develop a necessary status-cleansing item to free Reize of Sea Madness. But Ivo does not think to suggest this.
 He tries to think of different plays on words instead.


  In the descent into Sea Madness, Reize's sense of reasoning had faded until there is only one thing on his mind: His missing scarf.

  He glances back at Ruidosa, pointing at her with furrowed eyes. "She calls to me! She calls to me!" After Ivo notes of their bond, the boy looks proud. "Yes! He's right! Our bond transcends time itself!" And then the boy leans forward to point at a single eye, "And my single eye can see beyond time and sea... for the treasure's location! Gwahahahahahaha!"

  He turns around, picking up a stick that he found. After all, along with the rest of the clothes, he left his twin crystal boomerangs behind.

  "Onward, my comrades!" He cheerfully exclaims while marching ahead. "Beyond that rock is where the treasure lies!"

  As the group approach the said rock...

  They will find that the large rock has some oddly shaped, rough markings on it. There is a hole, but that hole is soon filled with a head of a tortoise. It stares at them all, confused yet unblinking.
 

Ruidosa La Crima rolls 1d20>=10.
Comment: Still Considering Divorce? Life Choices? Tortoise?
Roll(s): 12. Total result is 12. This is a success (by 2).

Ruidosa La Crima manages to take this all in with a straight face and looks to Ivo worriedly and says. "I hope this is over soon." she says to him in a whisper. "Maybe my tome has a cure for this..." she says as she looks hurriedly thoughout the tome , flipping flapping pages at an insane speed as she reads them. She continues this as she follows along and then they get to a rock...

That is a tortoise? Oh it's a big tortoise. "It's a tortoise, not a rock!" she says as she frowns. "Don't harass the tortoise." she says with a frown.


 "This could be a good thing," Ivo is saying to Ruidosa as he follows the ranting Reize at a safe distance. He has at least brought Hauteclare, in contrast to the boomerang-less Reize, which he is using to help chop cactus fruits off of cacti without getting poked. Don't tell Ivo's Dad about how his sword is being put to use. "You know how Reize developed a connection with beetles through Kernunnos? Maybe through developing this Hunter persona, he'll develop a connection with other animals. There's a giant tortoise breeding ground a little ways down the coast, it seems. Imagine -- giant tortoise pack animals! Perfect for exploring the deserts beyond the dunes."
 Would it be, though?
 "Oh, see, there one is now."
 Ivo, still some distance away, is at least able to see the head of the perplexed giant tortoise peeking out of the hole Reize has found, AKA, its shell, presumably. This is not one of the many large boulders that litter the coastline. It is... just an animal.
 "Perhaps the real treasure," Ivo suggests to Reize, "is tortoise friendship."
 He then glances aside to Ruidosa.
 "If his one eye can see beyond time and sea," he lightly remarks, "what do you think his other eye does?"
 Ivo really seems to be taking this seriously.


  As Ruidosa frantically searches through the pages for a cure and Ivo offers his moral support, Reize is face-to-face with the tortoise.

 Despite Ruidosa's warning about not harassing the tortoise, Reize is pointing at the tortoise with a stick.

 "You! Moving rock! I know you have my scarf! I shall liberate my scarf from----"

 Before the boy could finish his statement, the tortoise spits out a large stone right at the boy's head.

 *CONK!*

 His eyes form into Xs before he collapses on the ground. Reize had been dropped, stick apart from him while the boy's arms are all sprawled out.

 The giant tortoise turns its head towards Ivo and Ruidosa, fixing them a bored gaze that almost says: 'You want some of this?'
 

Ivo Galvan rolls 1d20>=15.
Comment: Giant tortoise diplomacy
Roll(s): 2. Total result is 2. This is a failure (by 13).

Ruidosa La Crima rolls 1d20>=10.
Comment: Animal Affinity: Tortoise Diplomacy
Roll(s): 8. Total result is 8. This is a failure (by 2).

Ruidosa La Crima watches as... a tortoise KO's Reize in one hit. She looks to Ivo. Looks to the tortoise. She looks back to the downed Reize. She looks back to Ivo and then says. "Do you have SEA MADNESS too?" she suddenly asks to Ivo. "I swear to god, I better not be the only sane person here!"

She then flaps flaps flaps over to the tortoise as she turns into a bat, She started trying to speak to the tortoise.

The tortoise probably did not know bat.


 "Ahaha-- ahem-- haha-- AHEM-- that was a good effort, chief," Ivo is saying, stepping forward, repeatedly covering his mouth to clear his throat and not to, say, try and fail to hide his laughter at his good friend's serious head injury. "Never fear, Rui," he says to the girl turned bat. "I am of sound mind. And if you need to negotiate, it's best to leave this to the experts. Now, I don't speak tortoise, but--"
 The moment he steps forward, the giant tortoise promptly spits another rock, which strikes Ivo in the head, felling him instantly. It looks as though someone forgot to add the animations to his character sprite. Ivo is standing and grinning one moment and lying flat on his back with Xs for eyes moments later, right next to Reize. Gathered prickly pears roll down the shore, escaping from Ivo's silken bag.
 Did anyone save their game before this scene?


  The giant tortoise stares at a bat flying its way. If it could make an expression, it would be a frown out of annoyance. Loud creature. And of course, Ivo also gets its attention, making good on its intent with another rock. That's two for two.

 As for the small bat, it realize that it's too small and fast for getting a good hit with a rock. So what does it do?

 It slips its head back into the shell, not wanting to be disturbed.

 After the tortoise retreats, Reize immediately rises, a giant welt on his head as his hand raises high in the sky. "The rock said that it did not have the scarf!" His forehead is turning red, likely induced by the fever still running. "We spoke in great detail!"

 He looks at the fallen Ivo, "Ooi! We can't sleep now! We have to go just ahead to find the lost treasure!"
 

Ivo Galvan rolls 1d20>=10.
Comment: Fortitude saving throw against revival debuff
Roll(s): 17. Total result is 17. This is a success (by 7).

Ruidosa La Crima watched as the tortoise just...goes back to sleep? Minds it's own business Doesn't respond. Oh. Well screw you mister tortoise.

She looks over to the downed two as she sighs and really wishes...

Someone saved the game.

Okay not really. She instead flies over to Reize, turns back into Ruidosa and then sighs and helps him up. Then. Goes to help Ivo up and then sighs. "I hate Sea Madness." she says bluntly, as she sighs and tries to move forward now. They need to find this scarf now.


 "Wh-- what!? What happened?"
 Ivo, blinking awake, with a similar welt on his forehead as to Reize but at least not looking nearly so feverish, is helped to his feet by Ruidosa, looking quite confused. Able to recollect himself, he looks at the shell containing the irritable tortoise, takes a moment to consider, and then nods.
 "Well, at least I persuaded our adversary to withdraw," he concludes. "It's not a new ally, but it'll do. Perhaps we'll find some more receptive beasts along the way."
 Better that they do not encounter anything at all.
 "Oh, the fruits..."
 Ivo takes a moment to gather up as much of the prickly pears as he can salvage before following along wherever Reize is taking them. He wouldn't miss any of this for the world, especially since he doesn't remember being KOed.


  Upon everyone regrouping together, Reize gives a grin, pointing towards the horizon. "There!" As the two continue to regroup, Reize is already charging ahead. "Onward! We shall find the scarf!"

 The journey, unfortunately, has led to a fool's errand. Maybe it had been an hour, even half the day, or most of the day. The sun slowly sets forth, leaving an orange shimmer at the sky. That time had been spent going from monster-to-monster. Some were docile. Others would be violent and prone to things like headbutting the madness-driven leader.

  This leads them back to a cove, a small place for a shelter. There is a bit of darkness around, but it does seem safe, for the most part.

 Reize, looking battered and beaten, has a smile to his face. Exhaustion is getting to him. "We.. shall find... shall find... my---" The boy leans forward and collapses on his face, fever still overtaking him.
 

Ivo Galvan rolls 1d20+3>=10.
Comment: Investigate the cove for useful materials (plus Magitechnician bonus)
Roll(s): 2. Total result is 5. This is a failure (by 5).

Ruidosa La Crima rolls 1d20>=8.
Comment: Search for Materials
Roll(s): 7. Total result is 7. This is a failure (by 1).

Ruidosa La Crima sighs as they face monster, after monster, after animal after animal and soon they make it to A SAVE--Safe Cove and she sighs and starts looking for supplies and instead finds. Ten Tons of Gross washed up Seaweed to which she makes an audible 'ewwww' at and stops searching for items.

She sighs ads Reize topples over and she walks over, and turns him up right and looks around. "I think he needs a cold compress but we don't have anything do we and you also probably have SEA MADNESS and I wish I listened to my dumb mothers stories now because she probably has the dumb cure."

MEANWHILE.

La Crima and Tranquila are indeed trying to make a cure for Sea Madness, back at main camp. This stuff smells awful!


 Nearly a day has passed, and Ivo is still laughing.
 But at least, not actually being afflicted by Sea Madness (or whatever is happening), he has enough sense to properly take stock of things when Reize collapses in a cove some distance from their shelter. Under the circumstances, it is wiser to camp out here until Reize can ride out his fever somewhat rather than try to make the trek back to camp.
 Ivo sets about gathering dry driftwood for a fire to keep Reize warm, despite the lack of proper blankets, and in the process finds a decent sized scallop shell. Chopping up some of the prickly pears with his sword, he strips them of stray needles and then pulverizes them with stones to juice them as best he can before seeking to hand off a shell filled with nourishing prickly pear juice to Ruidosa. Nothing he's found has any enduring value, but altogether, it should help to tide them over.
 "Here... it's no compress, but let's keep him hydrated, at least."
 Ivo would do it himself, of course, but someone has to light the fire and it probably shouldn't be the vampire, and somehow he thinks that TLC from Rui might have greater healing properties. Then again, who knows? Maybe they can trade off administering to their fearless leader and thereby conduct a proper experiment to determine who has the greatest Power of Love.
 Of course, it's just juice, not a healing potion. But it's fresh, at least.
 MEANWHILE
 Laineth and Argent could probably help develop a cure too, but knowing them, Laineth is almost certainly lounging on the beach drinking coconut water while Argent continues to bug her about acquiring a new Tropical Castaway Adventure DLC Costume or whatever.

Reize Seatlan rolls 1d20-3>=10.
Comment: Finding something through dumb luck?
Roll(s): 16. Total result is 13. This is a success (by 3).


  Reize (the Hunter) is not doing so well. Considering the injuries that he sustained while succumbed to the Sea Madness, his constitution is inadequate in adapting in his environment. While Ivo and Ruidosa try to find items of interest and preparing the camp grounds, Reize is rolling along the ground... "Nnggh.... my... precious.."

 "My... preeeecio--ah?"

 Reize manages to find a glimmering seashell, brimming with brilliant color. "... Eh." He chucks it over his head.

 The object will soon roll over to Ruidosa's feet, glimmering enticingly to be picked up.
 

Ruidosa finds the seashell and picks it up. "Eh?" she goes as she looks down to Reize who she sighs and stops from rolling around as she offers him the juice. "Here." she says as she sighs a little and examines the seashell more closely. She isn't gonna be lighting no fires, no. She hates fire and right now isn't the best time to be spooked by it.


 "There we go... hm?"
 Ivo, making to ignite the campfire without the aid of the trusty elespheres to which he has become accustomed, catches a glimpse of Reize's discovery in Rui's hands. Its brilliant colors seem to dance in the light, reflected in turn in Ivo's widening eyes.
 "Could that be... with that, we could... yes!"
 Beaming despite their predicament, Ivo slaps a fist in a palm.
 "I've got it!"

> Ivo has developed a new Schematic: Brilliant Shell Bikini.
> Required Items: Brilliant Shell x2, Beads (Any) x50, Fabric (High Quality) x1.

 "We just need to find another!"
 Pause.
 "And invent beads."
 Hmmm.