"I'll be back tomorrow to pick you up," said the fisherman, cagey as he glanced to and fro. His knuckles where white as he held onto his oar like a weapon. "In the morning." "Much obliged," Claire said, a light smirk making its way across her face. Claire doubted it would take that long to deal with whatever creature was making such an awful screaming sound each night that the local fishermen had put out a formal request to deal with it. All the more time to search for treasure, she thought. Surely there had to be at least some treasure, this being a crashed pirate ship and all. She was mostly in this for the payment. And a chance to prove that she was getting stronger, of course, by dealing with whatever monster this was. She'd just picked up some shiny new pieces of armor and put a few points into a whole other mastery, so naturally she was itching to test them out. Claire glanced over to the short faerin woman who had come along with her, the two of them being nearby when the fisherman came looking for assistance. "So," she began, watching the nervous fisherman take off, "shall we begin? The faster we search this wreck, the better." It was fast approaching sundown. All the stories that they had heard said that the creature began its unearthly wailing as soon as the sky darkened, and lasted throughout the night. Claire was not looking forward to listening to screaming and moaning for hours on end, so getting a head start was definitely something she was looking forward to.
Dusting some sawdust off her borrowed oar turned spear, Velka turned to her companion. She wasn't exactly equipped the best right now, with her set of armor and new weapon still under construction, but she had faith in her skills in case anything went wrong. And given the ungodly sounds coming from the island, it almost definitely would. She gave a small grimace at her choice of clothing, it would do nothing to protect her in a fight and was of poor fit but she hadn't come to Druuk Island expecting a fight. When Claire spoke to her, all she gave was a nod and then took point before starting the search. First, she inspected the coastline. With night swiftly falling, it would get a lot harder to survey the area. Luckily, she had a torch somewhere in her pack. After fiddling with it for a few moments, the torch lit up and gave the pair enough light to see. The torch's fire was strangely dim however, then again, it could just be the annoyance from listening to the screaming for hours on end. She couldn't quite place where the sound was coming from, the noise was constant no matter how much she walked. Could it be coming from beneath her? No, even on the journey there, the sound was constant. It was magical no doubt, that would be trouble. Mages had the tendency to have all sorts of tricks up their sleeves and considering the island's atmosphere, it could be a coven or cult at work. The island was... unsettling. Velka felt eyes on her as she searched the place, but couldn't detect what. In island's dense jungle, the pair found nothing that could be the source and as they emerged from the treeline, she stopped moving. Dashed against some rocks, was the remnants of a large ship. The impact had done the vessel no favors as the ship's belly was split, akin to a butchered animal's. In the shadows that went unlit by the torch, Velka could just barely make out the form of a lone figure, standing amidst a mound of... something.
So! Their results after a grand total of three hours wandering the minuscule little blot of land that was, by mere technicality, an island: nothing at all! Claire grimaced as the screaming continued. The fishermen weren't kidding about the screams. It wasn't exactly deafening in terms of volume, not really. It just seemed to be able to penetrate through any attempt at muffling it, always sounding a constant volume no matter where on the island they were. Something supernatural or mystical, then. Claire was quite sure of that. And from a brief conversation with Velka, it seemed that the faerin woman agreed. Hm. Well, Claire did have a bit of experience dealing with some magic. If the cause of this tried to fling any spells at them, she'd be ready to deal with that. But they passed through the jungle, and found the oft-spoken of shipwreck on the other side of the island. Hopefully there'd be some treasure there that Claire could take her time to peruse at her leisure after the damn creature that was making that infernal noise was dealt with- Something flickering caught her attention. It wasn't the torchlight, meager and weak as it was in the face of the oceanic breeze. It was something shifting, a rasping sound of something hard scraping against something else- "Velka, hand me the torch. I need to-" There definitely was something there. Or, someone? No. No, something was the correct word. Humanoid, tall and thin, unhealthily so. Skin stretched so much over protruding bones that it was more skeleton than flesh; limbs that had chunks missing and covered in mold and algae; green slime dripping and pooling at its feet. Oh, no matter who it used to be, this was no person anymore. And, as if sensing the light, its head swiveled around to their direction--something cracked--and opened its mouth (unhinged its jaw) and began to join in on the screaming.
When the beast started screaming, Velka just sighed internally. With a bunch of wailing and screeching creatures, what was an adventurer to do? Luckily, she had a quick and pointed solution to the noise problem. Jamming the torch onto the ground handle first, to not extinguish the fire, she hefted her oar and charged right at the... thing. As the tip of the weapon sunk deep into its skull and the body fell down, Velka thought that it would be the end of it. But she was wrong. The attack did no lasting harm to the creature as it simply ignored the attack and began clawing and biting at her. At least it stopped screaming. Quickly scrambling away and leaving her weapon behind to avoid losing a hand or two, Velka watched as the creature stood back up and began stumbling towards her with no regard for the wooden implement in its face. Well, that would complicate things, although she really should have expected that an undead target would be much more durable than a living foe, if less tactical. Before she could devise another plan of attack, she could hear some vicious scraping sounds coming from underneath her. Trusting her instincts, she dodged to the side only to see a grasping, bony claw burst out from where she stood before. Well, that complicated things a bit. Left without a weapon and their enemies multiplying, Velka looked towards Claire, "Any ideas?"
Velka sprung right into action, using the makeshift oar she picked up to stab away at the creature. Though her assault looked deadly and effective, it proved to be anything but as the creature simple carried on with its business as though nothing had happened at all. As if that weren't bad enough, the loose sandy soil beneath them... shifted. Claire leapt back a bit, glancing down in to see a long spindly arm emerge from beneath the soil, casting frantically dancing shadows along the coast. She gave it a quick jab, but it didn't seem to deter whatever the arm belonged to. Though the bony protrusion looked brittle, the impact of her quarterstaff didn't seem to do much. Velka backed off, just as three more figures finished clawing their way out of the ground. Claire winced at the shorter woman's question. "Not really," she admitted. "They don't seem to really care about any physical impact." Taking a few steps back to give herself some time to think--though deceptively durable, these creatures were hardly fast--Claire scanned the area. "You need another weapon," she said to the woman. "What do you usually use? A polearm? Find a branch, I'll get some ice ready to make a head for it." Her hand began glowing with a gentle pale blue light. "I can keep them slowed down while you find something." They were right at the coastline, after all. No better source of water to be found. And if that failed... Well, there'd be time to see how well they responded to getting dismembered. Hopefully, they'd take it just like any other creature would: badly. @Velka
Giving Claire a nod, she set off to find some sort of vessel for the weapon. Truth be told, she could have done with just about anything, preferably anything that stabbed, but in this sort of situation any weapon would have been a boon. She left the other woman to do whatever she needed and turned around, taking her eyes off the undead. That proved to be a dangerous mistake as one of the creatures, she wasn't exactly sure where it had come from, lunged at her. They were surprisingly nimble for the amount of decay wracking their bodies. The pair tumbled through the sand, coming to a stop near the torch. Still the only thing providing light, she really should consider picking up some magic. Right now though, she had more... pressing concerns. Or rather, clawing and biting concerns. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she gave the beast a good strike. It did nothing, as expected. Flailing about, she caught hold of the torch and pressed it, fire first, into its skull. The creature began to shriek louder and flail about. Being pinned to the sand by something on fire wasn't exactly the greatest situation but it was probably better than being torn apart by its claws. She called out to Claire the best she could, given her current circumstances, "Set them alight. Fire is their weakness."
Claire hoped Velka would return soon. So far, she was holding out quite well against the small horde and was able to keep them at bay. They were relentless, though, and she would run out of energy to cast spells sooner or later. With the both of them, they would probably be able to go out on the offensive and try to put these things down for good. The sounds of struggle caught her attention behind her. Blasting the two assailing her with ice to keep them in place for a moment, Claire moved out of their reach--and they did try, with their slow and lumbering claws to swipe at her--she risked a glance over her shoulder. "Damn it," she muttered under her breath, watching Velka grapple one of the creatures on the ground. Not good! Just as she was about to move to assist the faerin woman, she watched as Velka smashed the lit torch on the ground into the vile creature's face. Shrieking horrendously as it went up in flames, it writhed and lashed out--the first visible sign that any of their attacks had done something significant to it. She knocked the thing off Velka with a smack of her quarterstaff, then offered a hand to help the woman haul herself up. Her skin was covered in burns, but Velka was still handling it much better than the writhing creature on the sand was. "Fire, got it." Claire grimaced. "Good thing that I've been pouring buckets of water over them to make them extra soggy and all the more resistant to flame," she muttered to herself sarcastically. "Do you have any spare torches? Because the ones that I froze aren't going to be immobilized for much longer, and I don't have any on me."
The situation was degenerating quickly. The burns on her body were definitely troubling, especially with the lack of any sort of medical supplies on her. But now was not the time for that, taking the offered hand to steady herself, she gave Claire a shake of her head. There was another, more pressing issue, about the lack of fire aside from the torch. If it went out they would have no real way to put down the creatures, and with the water the other woman was slinging about, it was a real possibility. Spying a whole... mess of tree debris near the forest edge, a plan formed in Velka's mind. There was simply too much risk in taking down the creatures one by one. And with a mass of potent fuel nearby... The plan was risky, but so was fighting them normally. Sprinting over, making sure to not get leapt upon this time, she called out once again, explaining her makeshift plan. With that done, she prepared herself. One hand on the torch, the other steadying herself on the ground next to the pile. Ready to light up the island and possibly a fistfight with flaming zombies on the side.
At first, Claire thought that she misheard. The stress and chaos of the battlefield, the growling and screaming of the zombies, the crashing of the waves on the shore... All of those could contribute to her not properly hearing something. Unfortunately for her though, Velka did say exactly what Claire thought she said. "Set fire to the island?" she asked, her pitch involuntarily rising higher with each word. "Are you insane?!" Apparently not. Claire whacked one that was getting too close with her staff, she huffed as she tried to consider their options. The zombies just- didn't stay down. She caved a portion of skull in, she tried smashing a knee out, but all of that did nothing to stop the creatures from just getting back up and shambling towards the pair of them again. Fire was the only thing that seemed like it would work. Damn it. Fine. Environmental destruction it was. She said as much to Velka, beginning to lure the zombies deep within the forest. "Once you can't see us anymore, start torching it. Send me a message when the fire's really gotten going so I know when to get the hell out." Claire stood still for a moment, then dashed further inland, weaving through the trees. She always stopped to do a quick headcount to make sure they were all following her, and that one or two hadn't turned around to make their way back to Velka. Nope, all of them still intent on pursuing her and potentially, if horror movies had taught her anything, chewing on her delicious entrails and brains. Great. Just how she wanted them. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a red notification pop up on her game UI. Well, hopefully that was it. With a final burst of speed, Claire spun around and began leading the zombies back to where the wall of flame would start to close around them. Oh yes, there was that smoke and fire that she was prepared for. Yelling the incantation, Claire closed her eyes and held her breath as every bit of her was covered in a thick layer of water. Steam scalded her as she crashed through the fire, which did not make the ensuing slide onto the rough sand any less painful. "God, fuck," she gasped, slowly getting up. With how raw and thoroughly cooked her skin appeared to be, that was no easy task. "Tell me we got them all," she said to Velka. If they didn't. Well. Let's not think about that possibility.
A post barbecue sweep of the island revealed that there were no longer any threats remaining. With that, the pair could take a small breather and wait for morning to come. Luckily, Velka always carried some sort of medical supplies in her bags, used to long journeys far away from civilization. With both of them patched up, however rough the job was, and island calm, things were looking up. Of course, there was the just one more matter to take care of. Velka wasn't an expert in spirits or zombies, but the crashed ship had something... sinister about it. Without even a word needed, Claire and her decided to burn it down too. Just in case. The fire was quite spectacular, despite the rotting and wet wood being somewhat hard to set alight. Still, nothing a bit of perseverance and sufficient fuel couldn't resolve. With the ship thoroughly destroyed, the island's malovent air, and constant screaming had abated. That didn't mean Velka wanted to stay on the island however, and she waited for morning to come for the fisherman to take both her and Claire back to the island proper.
