“You have to tell her,” Lera said solemnly. “She’s not- she doesn’t want to listen to me. I’m the boogeyman now, a story of caution on what not to be. But she’ll listen to you. You represent control to her.” The aasimar sighed. “Just make sure she is alright.”

Before the group heads out. Woe excuses herself. She walks down the beach to the sea and makes sure she is far from any member of the Scarlet Dawn. Carefully she pulls out the sending stone. Then she speaks to it.

What did you do? Teletransportation for Polly? Why not tell me? Captain Segred is dead, my group feels betrayed, I am endangered. Call tomorrow, sunset.

She holds it for 5 more minutes in her hands, to see if there is a reply. All the while she keeps looking back at camp to see if the others are ready to go. 

She is just about to return the stone to her backpack, tightly wrapped in layers of her bedroll, when she hears Lord Eltan's voice: "Meet me in the dream realm. Tonight."

Ah shit. Not good. Not good at all.... and I just overcame the addiction! 

The worries about this meeting stay with her all day. 

Grasalfan finally wakes as the group splits to check out the massive boat that's beached onshore. The sounds of him donning his armor is heard from the tent, and there's a slight grunt as he squeezed in to it. Satisfied, he emerges with a large grin on his face. "This is quite the adventure!" He calls out, looking about at the abandoned campsite. He glances around, walking through the soft sand to the hatch of the flying machine. Peering in, he asks, "Did I miss the modrons?" 

He sees the state of Polly and hobbles in deeper. "What happened here?" He asks, a deep frown on his face. 

“Extreme exhaustion. As near as I can tell, she has been overdoing her magical studies. None of us can do anything for her than watch over her while she rests. My restorative magics are limited. Do you have anything that might help?”

"No," he says, looking her over. He checks her pulse and sighs. "I think the best thing for her would be rest right now..."

He thinks for a moment before saying, "If they were able to take that massive mechanical elephant into the jungle, we can probably move my machine through there as well." He nods to himself, "Yes, yes... we should pack up camp and put everything in here." 

Singe shakes his head, "That's a terrible idea. The modrons will most definitely see us moving as a threat, also, half our group isn't here. They would have no way of knowing where we went."

"Are ye daft boy?" He gives Singe a look, "We're not leaving right now.  But we need to be ready for when they get here." He raises from Polly and heads back out of the hatch to pack up his tent. 

When Perrin gathers Koll, Woe and Dapple and proposes that they go explore the giant ship, the tabaxi quickly agrees. "That, at least, is something I can help with. Will Polly be alright? Everyone seems very worried, but I know nothing of healing." He was fond of the mischievous little girl and she hadn't seemed happy since the incident with the traitorous sea captain. "I hope she is ok." His ears droop with worry.

Koll, Dapple, Woe, and Shanolia form an exploring party and head over toward the massive ruined ship at the end of the beach. It is not a far walk, only about a mile and a half. As the party gets closer, they notice that the huge boat isn't nearly complete. There is a modron working on it, placing small pieces of driftwood in spots that look like it'll fit them perfectly. The whole boat looks like it could easily fall over with a hard push, as it's been puzzled together through centuries of work.

"Are they trying to build an escape ship?"Koll wonders aloud.

"It would seem so," says Shanolia. "I don't suppose anyone hear speaks Modron?"

"But who or what are they trying to escape from? The others like them? It's not as if this," Dapple gestures at the enormous ship, "is hidden." He falls silent as the modron calls out to them.

"Szuuu!" it says as they approach.

Koll holds out his hands in a peaceful gesture and calmly imitates the modron's speech. "Szuuu."

"Szuuu," it says again, rushing over to an area of the ship that looks particularly sturdy, as if it were part of the original ship that this contraption were built on. At that moment Koll recognizes that it is the same modron that Lera and Perrin had captured the night before; Its arm is slightly bent backwards and its wings are still tied.

"That's our guy," says Koll. "He's probably not too happy with us."

"Wait, is he the same one we caught?" asks Dapple. "Is he doing this alone, do you think?"

"Maybe." Koll nods. "Let's wait a bit and see if he comes back out with friends or not."

"What if he's some kind of crazy loner?" speculates Dapple. "Maybe the rest just leave him to his, uh, project, so he doesn't do something more dangerous?"

"Maybe he does this because it's part of his machine purpose." Koll shrugs his shoulders.

"Only one way to find out," Shanolia says. 

Dapple grins. "Can't argue with that. We did come over here to explore that thing."

At that moment, the modron pops up on the deck of the ship. It's holding a ship wheel in its hands and tries to tie it to a pole with seaweed it seems to have scavenged. "Szuuu!" It calls out, just as the wheel falls to the deck. It flies back up, looking at the ship as if assessing what went wrong.

Standing up from where he'd settled to wait, Dapple calls out in a questioning tone. "Szuuu?"

Koll calls out "Szuuu," as well waving at the modron. He takes the rope tied in a coil to the side of his pack and holds it out. "Maybe he is crazy. Seems like he needs some help szuuuing his ship."

The modron flies over towards Koll and looks at the rope, as if assessing its functionality. Koll says "szuuu" in a reassuring voice.

"Szuuu, sregalan bekkana freegat," it responds.

"That's new." Koll proffers the rope to the little modron.

Dapple suggests helping get its wings untied and pantomimes that for the modron while saying "szuuu." 

The modron, however, is more interested in Koll's rope. It takes it from him and flies back up to the ship. Looking at the ship, the group sees that it is a hodgepodge of driftwood and ship pieces. It appears many have tried to get to this island, and the remains have been salvaged by this modron, who then took those pieces and began re-building a ship. As more pieces drifted ashore, it had to improvise. It is in no way complete and in no way seaworthy. But it does appear to have multiple decks, some looking more sturdy than others.

The modron returns. It delicately places a small gemstone in Koll's hand, then flies back to the ship.

"Did it just buy your rope?" Dapple exclaims. "Yeah, let's see what's in there."

"This fellow has obviously salvaged more than boat parts," Koll replies. "I agree - let's have a look. But maybe we shouldn't steal from him. He seems good-natured." Looking at the gemstone in his hand Koll is quite surprised. It is a lustrous green jade, that seems likely to be very valuable. At the same time, the shine of it is odd, and seems like it could be imbued with arcane power. "This jade gem seems highly valuable. Maybe even magical - look at how it catches the light."

"Then I guess you got a great trade. C'mon." Dapple leads the way to the side of the ship, headed for the nearest opening they could fit in through. The others follow. 

Though impressively made, the ship is delicately constructed and incredibly unbalanced. As the group enters the ship,with each step they take, it feels as though a part of the ship gives way. When a foot hits a step, the step shifts and breaks. The ship is massive. Looking about, they imagine it has at least ten levels.

"This does not seem very safe," says Dapple. "Maybe this isn't such a great idea after all. We could just search this level here on the ground?"

Koll shrugs. Looking at his companions he thinks they are probably all nimble enough to take some risk in this ship. With Woe's help, Shanolia finds a more secure section of the ship. It leads to what they would consider the cabins of the crew and the top-deck itself. They're fairly confieant it's stable enough to support all four of them. So they continue up the levels of the ship, exploring as they go. While the others snoop about the crew quarters, Koll stands back and keeps his eyes and ears open for anything else that may be on board other than their modron friend.  In their search, they find that nearly everything that has been retrieved from the ocean has been built into the ship. There's one point where Woe sees what appears to be the skin of some mythical beast. It's an odd addition to the ship, but if the modron grabbed everything that drifted ashore, it would make sense that it found a use for it. Looking closely she determines that it really is integral to the modron's construction, and can't just be removed. A shame, she thinks, as it would  make for a good drum. The modron has crafted some containers but they all seem to be empty, however. They find nothing else is found in that part of the ship, so they make their way to the top deck.

On the upper deck, the first thing they see is hatch after hatch of access hatches. The modron must have taken into account the sheer size of this ship during its construction. The group see that they are indeed about a hundred feet above the beach now. In the distance on the deck, they see the creature tying the wheel to a pole with its new rope. It tests the wheel to make sure that it is secure.

" I think it is definitely malfunctioning," Koll says. "A wheel that doesn't spin is not a wheel. Still, I'd like to help him." Koll calls out "szuuu" again and offers the modron two of his throwing stars. "Maybe he'll like that they look kinda like gears."

"Or maybe he'll take it as a threat," suggests Shanolia. "Who knows?"

The modron flies over, looks at the throwing stars, then blanches. It flies back over to the ocean, hovering over it, looking at the waves.

"What did I tell you?" Shanolia says, cautiously gripping her dagger.

Koll gives his head a slight shake. "Don't be jumpy. Let's see what he does." The modron remains hovering over the water as if looking for more materials.

"I do not like creatures I cannot read," says Shanolia. "Surely you understand."

"Well, how about you have a look around here while he's distracted."

Shanolia nods, and looks around aimlessly for anything that might catch her eye, while the modron dives into the water, retrieving a piece of driftwood, and flies into the ship to find its proper place. She spies what is likely to once have been the captain's quarters and imagines that would be the best place to find anything interesting. Remembering the needle that shot into his chest when opening the secret hatch in the captain's quarters of the derelict vessel they had boarded at sea, Koll says, "Check for traps."

Keeping her hand on her dagger, Shanolia makes her way carefully  to the captain's quarters. "I will be sure to keep that in mind."

Shanolia takes a path that she believes is secure to the captain's quarters ahead and the others follow. Once the door is opened, they note that every bit of potentially valuable item that the modron has scavenged is likely stored within. There are paintings of ancient battles, a huge pile of gemstones atop a desk, and an armory of weapons lined against the wall. As they group stares in wonder at this treasure trove, a sound from behind them announces, "Szuuu." The modron watches them, seemingly interested in their interest.

The bright gems spark Koll's baser instincts, making him forget about his own notion of not stealing from the modron, andhe  instinctively goes to grab one from the pile to pocket for himself. Sections of the deck here appear to be unstable, but, following Shanolia's example, he avoids any danger and makes his way to the treasure pile and picks out a magnificent diamond from the others. Shanolia meanwhile skips over dangerous floorboards and goes to examine some of the weaponry.  None of it seems to have any metal, however. Much of it is made of a dark material, not iron, but obsidian. She spies one that stands out, and inspecting it for a second, she realizes the dagger is made from the glass of one of those snails they saw earlier. It's worthless, and would break in any real combat. But then her eyes are attracted to one dagger, and when she lifts it from its place, it doesn't seem to have been sitting there at all. It's as if it were hovering the whole time. The modron behind them coos.

"Hmmm, no metal," muses Koll. "That's why he didn't like my throwing stars. Maybe he'll like my tonfa." Koll goes over to the creature, whom he has named "Drony" in his own mind, and offers him his last wooden baton. Drony looks at the solid wooden weapon, appraising its value. "Szuuu, I carved it myself," says Koll. It reaches out for it. Koll encourages him. "Take it. It's yours, you strange machine thing."

Shanolia turns to the modron with the dagger in her hands. " Hey, little guy, do you mind if...." She stops as the modron takes Koll's weapon and flies out of the captain's quarters. "I'll take that as a 'yes.'" She removes her older, heavier dagger from its sheath and throws it into her pack, replacing it with the obsidian one.

Dapple then goes into the room to have a look around, moving gracefully, his fingers crossed for a good find. Ignoring value or utility, he finds himself attracted to only the shiniest stuff.

Drony eventually returns and drops a glass staff in front of Koll before flying off again. 

"Wow," says Koll amazed. "Where did that come from? Another stash?"

Whomever is watching... there's a shuffle from the jungle. A single modron appears, a glass spear in its hands. It walks towards the camp. It's a monodrone, like you've captures in the past, but its winds are freshly torn from its back and its eyes are bloodshot.

Perrin has been on watch assuming the others have been watching over Polly. When the Modron appears he’ll yell up into the aircraft “A little Modron friend has appeared. Can someone get down here and communicate?”

Grasalfan stumbles out of the flying machine, covering his eyes from the bright sun. The modron continues forward in a non-threatening manner.

Perrin will go to approach it, also in a non-threatening manner. On the way there he’ll tell Grasalfan “If you can communicate with them come if not get Singe he can read minds or something so I’m sure that’ll help with the communication.”

As Perrin approaches, his sword begins to assault his mind. There's something about the modron that sets it off, as if the weapon is demanding its destruction. (Wisdom Saving Throw: 1d20+3=5+3=8)

The weapon tugs at the back regions of Perrin's mind, causing him to unintentionally grip the hilt of Frank as he approaches. Perrin is able to resist the urge to strike the creature down, barely.

"Come," the modron says, turning on its heels as it heads back into the jungle. "Shit..." Grasalfan exclaims, "It's time! Do we go or not!?"

Feeling the urge but barely holding back Perrin says, to the Modron, ”Not, now. Wait for friends. Polly sick. Will follow trail later. Leave. Or be striked down.”

The modron walks exactly five steps forward before repeating, "Come." It does the same thing again. And again. 

Moving away. Eventually you will lose sight of it in the jungle.

Perrin will think while holding the swords hilt  Soon. Will not leave while Polly is sick.

The modron continues near the jungle, every five steps repeating in perfect common, "Come."

Grasalfan looks to Perrin, then back to the flying machine. "It's an inventation, boy..." He says. "We may not get another."

“I will not abandon Polly. She is in there near death. And will wake up to a whole new realization of who she is; a sorceress touched by the gods. Something only I in this group understands to a certain extend. Being chosen by the gods is hard. Yondalla chose me to represent her in this plane. And I represent the Protector of not only the Halflings but of Children. I will protect this child. So I see two options for you. You can follow the Modron by yourself. Or you can wait for the rest of us to get back and for Polly to feel a little bit better and go with us. The choice is yours and by the sound of the Modron you don’t have long to make it.” Perrin says not really thinking straight with the sword wanting him to do one thing, Grasalfan wanting another, and Perrin’s own devotion to Yondalla demanding him to stay and protect the innocent.

Grasalfan watches as the modron enters the jungle and disappears from sight. "I hired ye fer a reason," he says. "Very well." He bites his lip once he loses sight of the modron, but walks back into his flying machine.

Perrin let’s put a very deep breath once Grasalfan walks away. He chuckles to himself saying “I think I just lost my pay.” He’ll then take out Frank and say, in his mind, to him I trust that those beings are chaotic. If they cannot be redeemed we will strike them down. I promise.

The weapon seems to humm when Perrin takes it out. The air feels thick, but it slices through it with glee.

There's a yell from inside the flying machine, "They're here! " Grasalfan's voice is heard. "Hold on!" The flying machine's hatch begins to close and the contraption lurches forward to follow the modron into the jungle.

Polly, Lera, Zamar, and Singe are all inside the flying machine as Grasalfan begins heading into the jungle.

Moving slowly and cautiously, Woe opens a cupboard hanging on the back wall. The cupboard shifts and she immediately moves her hand back. There's silence for a moment, then the cupboard falls to the floor of the captain's quarters. Shanolia freezes, hand holding a handful of gemstones, Koll is looking at the odd Glass staff in his hands, and Dapple is investigating another corner of the room when this happens. There's a groan, cracks become apparent on the ground and instantly Woe disappears from sight as the floor beneath her opens up. The groan grows as the whole ship begins to shift. You all hear something far outside fall, hard, as one section of the ship competently falls over.

"I don't think our new friend will appreciate this," Shanolia says simply, tossing the handful of gems into her pocket as a hole opens up beneath Woe and time feels like it begins to slow. She feels herself falling, but it's a short impact as she hits the next floor down on the ship. Immediately that level starts to collapse and she's left on her back for the ride. She opens her eyes for a brief second as she falls and sees Koll falling above her. His looks almost controlled as he leaps and rolls from one level to the next. He's able to grab a hold of Woe at one point and angles her fall to help prevent the massive impact when they crash to the ground. They find themselves buried in the remains of the ship, surrounded by complete darkness. The last thing Koll feels is a sharp impact, as though his stomach were pierced by a long wooden spear. He feels the warm blood pouring out of the wound as he loses consciousness.

Shanolia and Dapple hold on to the largest, most secure object they can find. Rushing out of the captains quarters, they both dive for the nearest mast. It's a tangle of rope and tattered sails that have been haphazardly patched and glued together. The fall feels much longer for them and they're pelted with debris as they ride the mast down. As the mast lands on the ground, Dapple finds his leg pinned beneath the massive object. Shanolia sees the fall coming and rolls off the mast with its impact. When she stands and turns, all that's left of the massive ship is a huge pile of debris. The modron hovers above and says simply, "Szuu..."

Shanolia quickly gives herself a once-over, addressing the damage. She feels fine and doesn't look too bad, so she begins to look for their feline companion. She moves parts of the mast off of Dapple, finally finding him beneath a large sail. The mast is cracked in various locations, but working the debris she's able to free him.

"We have to find Woe and Koll. Start calling out and searching the wreckage." Dapple suggests, and they both begin searching.

***

Woe opens her eyes under the mountain of debris, trying in vain to move some of the wreckage off of herself. After a moment of struggling, she shifts herself and nearly pops her shoulder out of its joint as she inches her way closer to Koll. An image of the man on the ship that was impaled flashes through her mind as a reminder that time is of the essence when someone is on the cusp of death.

"Shanolia, Dapple, we're here!!!" She shouts, panicking slightly as she watches her friend bleed before her.

"We're here! Keep calling out so we can find you!" A muffled call is heard from far away. Not wasting any more time, Woe quickly looks over the fallen Monk. The debris shifts as she checks him over and a soft moan escapes his lips before he goes completely unresponsive. Dapple calls out again, "Keep calling! We're coming!"

"You need to be quick. I think Koll is dying. Please, be quick" Thinking quickly, she pulls a crowbar from her pack and uses it to snap the wood impaling Koll - the debris above them unaffected. Woe pulls the remains of the shaft out of Koll's stomach and immediately blood starts to pour out. That's a good thing... it means he's alive. She immediately begins casting a spell, healing the various wounds on Koll's body. The hole begins to close and he lets out a deep breath. The bard pulls Koll into a hug and sobs. "I thought I lost you. I thought I killed you. You're alive. You're alive!!!!"

Slowly, Koll awakens. "oooooooooohhhhhh.....that didn't go as planned. Are you hurt?" Woe sniffles.

"Me? Oh my Gods, you were impaled! You landed on a long shaft. You were dying. Like that diplomat on the ship. I tried to see whats wrong and you stopped breathing!! I was out of time. I thought you were dead. I broke the shaft. I am so glad you're alive" She pulls him closer again, suddenly remembering the others. "We're here. Koll is alive. I got him. We'll try to get out"

"Happy to be here. And glad you made it, too. You just dropped out of sight. I had to follow. But it's you who saved me. Thank you."

"You followed?!?!? You followed? You jumped in after me? You're crazy!!! But I think you did break my fall. So thanks to you, I am alive. Thank you!" Woe looks around, peeking quickly for any of the gems from before.

***

After about an hour of digging, Shanolia and Dapple finally see Woe and Koll, pulling them the rest of the way out of the debris. Afterwards, Dapple takes a quick peek towards the camp, noting the absence of the flying machine. Koll checks on his new glass staff, surprised to see that it's completely unscathed and surprisingly sturdy - like magic.

"They left us behind! We need to get back to camp and figure out where everyone else went." The Modron has already begun reconstructing the ship; this was clearly not the first time it's collapsed.

Lera found herself standing watch over Polly. Nothing else seemed right to her. She stood over the girl's unconscious body, waiting for some kind of movement. If anything were to try and attack them, Lera would be there to burn them. As the flying machine lurched forward, the aasimar had to grab onto the wall so that she didn't fall. For a brief moment, she contemplated running to see what was happening. But that would mean leaving Polly, so instead Lera got into a defensive stance and waited on edge for something to go wrong.

Singe gets out of the flying machine and walks a few feat ahead of the machine's nose. He straightens his suit jacket, looks at Polly's page on Mage Hand, puts it away, looks at the trees, looks at the airship, and then straightens his suit jacket.

Perrin cannot believe what Grasalfan just did. He really decided to just take the aircraftand go. 

I cant leave them with a sick Polly. Espically if the Modron aren’t necessarily good. Perrin thinks. 

With the plane taking off into the forest behind him Perrin will grab any of his supplies and then sheathing Frank and pulling out his dagger. Perrin beings to leave a message for the others in the sand.

Modron came. Me + Grasalfan fought. He left with others into the jungle. I’m tailing them. Follow. Red Modrons evil. -Perrin. 

With the message in the sand he quickly wipes any sand of his balde sheaths it, takes Frank out again, and follows the aircraft; hoping this isn’t a trap. 

Not ten minutes after Perrin, Singe, Polly, Lera, Zamar and Grasalfan head into the jungle, a massive crash is heard. It lasts for minutes and echoes throughout the jungle. The sound seems to have come from the beach that the group just left. Those inside the flying machine hear nothing, as the machine itself is loud enough to drown out the noises from outside. 

Yondalla please be them just blowing up the ship. I hope their okay. Woe is there. She has some healing and Dapple can get them through the jungle. Perrin thinks as he continues to follow the aircraft. 

When they start walking Woe waits for Koll. 

"I had a look at your staff. The staff is most definitely magical and it feels nearly indestructible even though it's made out of glass. I remember a story I heard some time ago of a wizard that carried a similar staff. It allowed the wizard to cast defensive spells. So I think you found something really cool! Maybe we can ask Singe about it!"