As the sting of his wounds subsides Yulmiath is pleased to finally have landed a hit on one of these feathered fiends, Yulmiath readies himself again.

Ready Attack: 19 Damage: 9

The bird was so close that Kairus simply can not miss the opportunity! He dropped the crossbow for the dagger at his belt:

AoO: Attack: 24 Damage: 5

RESOLVING REACTIONS DURING THE BLOOD HAWKS' TURNS

(@Blue: You can't really switch weapons for a reaction attack, so I'll reinterpret your roll as an unarmed strike. The attack roll becomes 21 and the damage is 2.)

Kairus sees an opportunity to slap a passing bird and hits its wing. The strike unbalances the hawk momentarily. (Blood Hawk#6 takes 2 bludgeoning damage.) 

Invigorated by getting a kill, Yulmiath prepares for another incoming attack.

Calling on some spores that have certainly spread by now, Rhogal activates his Dead Man's Finger mushrooms. They respond this time, claiming the life of the bird that was slapped by Kairus just a moment ago. (Blood Hawk#6 takes 6 necrotic damage. and is DEFEATED.)

DM's Screen:

Hun arms himself with a yklwa while his shield auto-loads another round of his frostfire bomb. After taking a few steps, the projectile is launched into the air, strikes the last hawk, and brings it down with small crystals of ice. (Blood Hawk#1 takes 8 cold damage and is DEFEATED.)

The group looks around for any remaining raptors and Krodhen confirms he doesn't see any immediate danger about.

WE ARE NOW OUT OF INITIATIVE. YOU MAY DO AS YOU WILL.

"Hmph! Serves ya.... feathered fiends... Right." The affirmation made, Hun temporarily buries the head of the Yklwa into the dirt, freeing a hand to pull back up the latch. In a moments, the shield's myraid of plates and junk parts slide back into their neutral position with no nozzles or the like to be seen on the surface. With a sigh, he then looks over his own injuries as best he could, muttering complaints seeming more at having to redo the patches holding his jacket together over the actual injuries themselves.  Just as he's about to take out some kind of salve container next, Hun's attention immediately shoots to Yulmiath.

"Are you alright, Mr. Yully?" Asked the half-dead Kobold while trying to inspect the Dragonborn's injuries. "I got some... some mashed goomna berry here.... Won't heal you, but... its a pretty decent salve in a pinch to... to prevent infection." 

Krodhen keeps his attention on the sky as the others go about checking their wounds "It seems we should have taken the warnings more seriously, Mudgraw did say the birds here were dangerous, but too late now"

"Well, now we know and will never forget again. Our boatswain believed in "learning from experience". Sometimes it was rough but everyone who survived proved to be fast learners. Do you think these birds are edible? The feathers are sure pretty."

Kairus checked his crossbow, which he used as a club in the heat of battle, made sure the weapon is fine and grimaced a bit when tried to stow it - the crimson bird left quite a wound on his shoulder. "Do you think we can take a short rest? Can cook the birds while we are on it."

"Anythin' can be edible if yer determined enough." Rhogal says in response. "But, what I can tell ya is almost all birds taste th' same."

"Like a chicken, I know!" Kairus laughed - the expression was quite famous 9or infamous?) and he learned it long ago. "You do not kill seabirds, but I tried some of those living on land. I'd say a duck has a distinct flavour. Though that could be our cook." He collected the bodies of the crimson-feathered birds and showed them to the druid. "We can take them with us to the pits. In case some of them are boiling."

Hun had partially tuned out the conversation held between the others while fussing over Yulmiath. But at the second mention of the pit, he finally looks to the rest, spent a moment pondering, and then nodded while settling on a thought. "We should indeed. The pits can't be too far off. And if word about them is true, a good mud bath will take away plenty of our hurts right quick. So, lets grab'im 'n go. Even the one that look a bit janky. I'll take care of those personally." He said, and would move on to help collecting the bodies at least nearest him, before stuffing them in his back.

Once assured in the others readiness as well to go, he falls in line, though this time making a point to have his Yklwa in hand as well.

Yulmiath gives a long exhale as the last hawk drops to the floor. Casting about for his lost javelin, Yulmiath assumes it lost, still, he had a few more where that came from.

Determining that he'll live from his injuries, Yul shrugs off Hun's fussing, "I'm ok. Take more than a few feral pigeons to do me in anyhow. Let's get to these pits and cook up some lunch. We can go from there."

Following the fight, the group decides to postpone any needed rest until they reach the supposedly magical mud pits. Not wanting to pass the opportunity to make a meal out of their victory, Kairus suggests that they take the bird carcasses along with them and the group accepts the proposal. There is more than a bird per person here, so this should be plenty of food for the day, given they are able to properly cook them. On that front, Rhogal may have indirectly volunteered for that job.

Hun tries to apply some pain-killing salves to Yulmiath's wounds but the offer is refused. Once Krodhen reconfirms that there are no immediate danger around, the group begins moving again even though they are still nursing some wounds from the fight.

The rest of the morning walk goes by uneventfully. The skies are clear and, although the explorers can hear a multitude of wild life noises around them, none of their sources materializes as imminent danger. By the time the sun reaches its pinnacle in the sky, the group can see the pits ahead of them.

(OOC: The group has successfully traversed the road in hex {D-9}.)

In the heart of the island’s jungle are three pools of mud heated by geothermal vents. Each pool is within sight of the other two, is about 50 feet wide, and is roughly circular (the pools shown on the map are not to scale.) The group has learned that the tortles of the island like to bathe and relax in the mud pools for hours at a time, singing and bellowing to pass the time. They do not hear any singing as they approach, suggesting no tortles are taking a mud bath at this time.

Kairus was more than happy to let those better equipped for cooking do their magic. He just plucked a few of the most vibrant feathers from the birds wings and tails, and on the way to the pits weaved them into a charm that decorated his neck. "The feathers look surprisingly good underwater. Or above - but can not survive the transition, sadly." The crimson strokes looked (depending on the observer's imagination) like precious jewels or the fresh scratches (those he had too, though).

Now Kairus was looking at the empty pits. "Well, this is definitely mud." He walked closer (without diving in) and carefully touched the surface. "Warm, but the turtles said the truth - not boiling hot. Not that I did not believe them but had to check. Now, who did we hope to find here? In fact, where is anyone?" He looked around, trying to figure out if any living beings were here recently. Not his forte but who knows.

Perception: 19

Rather than being bummed, Hun merely turned the goopy makeshift salve over his own injuries as the crew made their way. The scent of which wasn't nearly as strong or sweet as the name might've implied, but seemed to get the job done and Hun was satisfied enough with that. But with that out of the way, the kobold is back on full alert for the rest of journey, only now include the tree tops and skies as vectors to keep in mind.

Once they reach the pools however, Hun just about marches right into the pool, abandoning only his jacket and bags to avoid getting them weighed down by mud. "What was that, Kairus? Oh, uh... Right! Shoot, uhh... Right, right! /I'm/ hoping to find Volo, or at least pick up his trail here. Though, it could just as well be that the folk they mentioned were some other folk not unlike ourselves. Either way, would be good to learn their whereabouts, and thereby learn from their -outsiders- perspective on the island!" He explained, pausing at the edge of the pits. "Best we rest and soak for now in shifts. Though, if any of you don't want ta take the plunge, ya can always take a look around. Could be our shell toting hosts might've left some interesting things about as well." He winks suggestively up at the others. Then without further adieu, threw off his pants at last before hopping into one of the pools.

(If able to Short Rest(1): 10.)

"They need to implement a waterfall nearby," sighed Kairus who was done with his pointless attempts to read any tracks in the vegetation around and was preparing to try the mud (as in "trying to get the mud-bath"). The now feathered talisman was placed atop of the clothes, the cittern safely wrapped in bard's shirt and the sailor entered the closest pit.

(If we can get the short rest in the pits, Kairus would use HD: 5)

Yulmiath offers to take first watch if needed, provided that he get a chance to take a dip himself and gets first dibs on getting him some tasty, tasty blood hawk!

Stalking around the mud pits, Yul shifts a few branches around, trying to get a view into the jungle beyond, but its a perfunctory job he does at best.

Perception - 9

Once relived, Yulmiath will begin his mud bath by leaving his belongings in easy reach and then by testing the waters, er... mud with a hand, before gradually getting into the water a toe, then a foot, then a knee, then a leg, at a time.  Eventually the dragonborn, now up to his shoulders, eases back in the warming mud.

(OOC Rolling a hit die = 11.)

DM's Screen:

The group approaches the mud pools and notices that they are bubbling pleasantly. Karius dips a toe in and confirms that the mud is warm to the touch, though perhaps just a bit too much to be considered an purely enjoyable temperature. Maybe that's one of the benefits of carrying a shell on your back: temperatures that just start getting into the uncomfortable range for other creatures are still tolerable to tortles.

Kairus and Hun disrobe and make their way into the nearest pool. The cold-blooded kobold immediately feels his internal temperature rise, like that of a lizard in the sun. It is easy to forget all that is around oneself in this moment. It is hard to believe they are not being charged for this. Kairus tries to keep an eye out just in case he spots someone or something, but the pool is too inviting. Noticing part of the group has already surrendered their caution, Yulmiath volunteers to keep watch until it is his time to take a mud bath as well. His efforts are not as thoroughly accomplished as he had expected, however. No one notices anything of note in their surroundings.

Five minutes into the relaxation session, a mound of mud rises some ten feet away from the group. It seems something is slowly making its way out of the deeper ends of the pool but, the more it rises, the less apparent it is. Mud rises and falls back into the pool, leaving only more mud behind, still up in the air. Then finally, something akin to a wing emerges from the now floating ball of mud, then a second one flaps into vision. Soon, a face materializes in the mess, displaying long ears and an even longer nose. Tiny white eyes are the only part of this creature's body that is not covered in mud. It speaks in a high pitched voice, although only Kairus can understand it:

Hun had already been so relaxed within those first few minutes that it took him an extra few seconds to register the mud creature's presence. But even when he does so, he peeled up the goggles still very much strapped to his head, and squints at the creature as if still disbelieving its very existence. "... Uh....What?" He asked, but mentally cycled through ye ol' catalog of monstrous creatures he once read about in one of Volo's many books. At least the ones that still had pages left after procuring a few unwanted ones in the trash of water deep.

Intelligence: 10.
(Not sure if this would be Nature or Arcana, but if Arcana add another +2 to the roll)

Even if unable to piece together anything, Hun would try to subtly fish around in the mud for his Yklwa, only to realize he'd left a foot or so behind him at the edge of the pit. "... Shite. Any of ya understand what it's saying?" He called back to the others without really taking his eyes off the creature again at that point.

"Nay... All I hears is ear-splitting gobbeldygook!" Rhogal says, putting a finger in an ear in an effort to equalize the ringing in his ears the thing's voice has caused.