Pausing, the... skeletal thing... seems to ponder this for a time. A lens? he finally asks in a curious tone. I may have one somewhere, but it would be very large, as it was part of a celestial telescope. In the meantime...
Bang looks interested "How big are we talking? I could use something for artillery. Its an experimental technology used by my fellow rodents that has shown great promise."
We can, perhaps, discuss this later. I have scro to deal with. Having said his piece, he takes his leave and walks towards the South end of the island. If you choose to follow, you watch as he reaches the shore, frowns, uses some kind of magic you're not familiar with, and proceeds to walk across the water. It does not take long before he is out of sight. You notice he pulled his hood up and hid his hands again...
Bang a bit confused hops back onto Drew's head. He then looks around to the group "so guys what next?"
Drakk looks quizzically and says "Maybe we should wait for him to return? I would very much like to speak with him again."
It does take him a while to reach the big island, but after a couple of hours you begin to hear popping sounds in the distance, followed by a soft whooshing noise.
The noise in the distance seems to intensify for a bit, then dies off. After another three hours or so, Linus returns. His robes are scorched and full of arrow holes. You can see what appears to be metal armor beneath them. He's got the aftereffects of several common spells (scorch marks, bits of webbing, that kind of stuff) dangling from his clothes and body, and he is slowly cleaning blood from the blade of a greatsword as he walks across the water back to his island. You notice that the water under his feet is actually freezing as he walks on it, only for it to melt almost instantly when he removes his foot...
Bang, while waiting all this time was doodling. His sketches look vaguely worrying, they appear to be some kind of device that release... some nasty looking air. He also has sketches for some weird device that appears to go onto the face of the wearer, but underneath the helmet. Whatever it is bang has something nasty planned. He hurriedly hides his sketches when linus comes back until he realizes linus might be able to help out with the project
Walking over to your group, Linus finishes cleaning his sword, then ... well, sheathes it is not the correct word, since he drives it into a rock. Like, ALL THE WAY into a rock. Looking you over, he crosses his arms over his chest and glares at you. That, he begins in an annoyed tone, was a lot of orcs. I am sorry to say that if the galleon was yours, you'll have to refloat it. It is currently sitting on the floor of the ocean about twenty feet from the docks. The orcs are gone, as are the goblins and hobgoblins. A few of the scro got away using some kind of teleport spell - not one I know of - before I could take them all out. He reaches into his robes and pulls out a tattered scroll, which he tosses to Izema. That is the deed to the Order's fortress. Do with it as you please. However, should you happen to find a suit of burgundy-enameled platemail armor, it belongs to me, and I would like it back. The Order confiscated it to, and I quote, "keep me from going on a rampage." It should have a matching helmet and shield with a skull-and-book heraldry on it.
Shiro carefully reviews the facts: 1) Linus is a VERY powerful Liche... 2) He just single-handledly took out half a Scro Army... 3) From what he says he has been Smited several times and is still here Probably best to stay on his good side... As Linus approaches the group, Shiro stands and bows. "Linus, as a Champion of Order I commend you. I am... impressed... you just took on half an army by yourself... Are you sure there isn't anything we can do for you?"
It would be nice if someone halfway friendly to me took over the outer island. I would rather not have to cleanse it again. That makes the third group I have had to chase out of those ruins in the last hundred years.
Looking around the group, seeing nods of assent, Shiro turns to Linus. "We will take care of this island Linus. After all, I feel like I should be warden of this fort as a surviving member of the Order." As the party all gives their gratitude to Linus, they take their leave and return to their ships, intending to first retrieve their ship with all their money on it(!!!) and then to go search the island and fort for money and magic items.
Retrieving your ship is easy. Of course, the catch is that retrieving it will render all three spellcasters unable to cast for the next 12 hours.
Drakk approaches Linus and says "It was great to meet you Sir, and don't worry, we will take good care of the fortress and keep any pesky Scro out!. However, you said you were a scholar, do you think I could come see your book collection sometime? I love to read but carrying books around while adventuring gets troublesome."
Linus seems to think for a while, then casts the kobold a curious look. Perhaps, he finally says. In the meantime, enjoy digging around in the Order's old stomping grounds. We can speak of this again, but not at the moment.
Behold, the island. Fortress is in the upper-left. Bottom picture is a map of the fortress (not showing the secret door Bigbang found). Note that large chunks of the fortress are in ruins. You opt to grab the dragonfly first, waiting until nightfall to venture forth to retrieve it. You rest the night, letting all of the mages regain their spells, then prepare to head to the island. Which brings up a query. Will you bring all three ships or just one of them, and which one?
With the damaged Wasp-ship on the smaller island next to your Dragonfly-ship, all of you pile into the undamaged Wasp ship, taking your captives with you. You consider landing at the land-docks, but ultimately wind up landing inside the fortress courtyard instead. Around you lie the bodies of dead scro, hobgoblins, and orcs. Scorch marks - both round blasts and odd squiggly lines - mark the walls and have left burnt patterns in the scrubby ground cover. From the looks of things, the scro that tried to make a stand in melee met their ends fairly quickly. At least one of them has been cut in half through his chest by what looks like a single swing of Linus' sword. Sending Bigbang out to scout for survivors, you begin to explore...
Running stealthily (kind of a contradiction, I know) through the island, Bigbang hunts around for any humanoids that Linus may have missed. Corpses are everywhere. Goblins lie in heaps, their archer formations blasted apart by fireball detonations. Decapitated orcs lie side-by-side with their scro commander, and the hobgoblins died where they fell, slain by Linus' sword. In the distance, the rabbit can see survivors of the attack, fleeing the island by boat. Apparently when the skeleton sank the galleon, he missed some of the longboats used for emergencies. Most of the occupants of the first appear to be hobgoblin mercenaries, the other two contain a mix of orcs and goblins. You do not see any scro among the survivors.
Drakk looks excitedly at their new home! When he signed up for the crew on the Moonsister, he had never expected going to space, much less acquiring their own space vessel and fortress! Drakk quickly began to race through the keep searching around for what supplies and things of interest were left behind, as well as trying to draw out a map of the castle.
Bang, sensing opportunity starts gathering all the swords, axes, daggers, and any metal scrap he can find. He is going to have a feast on this stuff today