Turn 8: Nothing HappensAGAIN!
The necromancer mutters something about this being silly and wanders off, leaving you unable to use him as an unreliable battery.
[4+2-1-1-1] Once again, the shadow on your hand flickers, but fails to stay down.
+2 Light MagicAction: Try and collect the remaining skins
[2] You find skinning the rest of them much harder, and succeed only in shredding their corpses.
Kemler sits down to rest(heal).
[4] You relax a bit. It'd be easier to do that if it wasn't so windy and cold, but you feel less like falling down afterwards.
+3 HPI'll listen to the Frog-things, and try and barter whatever I can. I need to feed my magic addiction...
You convey that you are a greedy necromancer. They convey that they need a greedy necromancer.
More specifically, they explain how you're in a settlement right now. It's hidden because their foul enemies have driven them from their homes, and now hold the shallow waters. They're interested in things that can kill other things, and should be able to acquire magic items in exchange.
Additionally, they're rather flexible as to how exactly you accomplish your task. The bigger one is fine with anything that results in dead enemies, while the catfish wants a more strategic approach.
Appear!
Appear!
After the rather unorthodox journey to the mage's tower, you are both greeted by a teal-robed mage calling himself Archmage Sorus. He looks rather concerned about something, but begins quickly explaining things.
He explains that they need the help of adventurous types like yourself, and had already sent a team through the portal to begin, but were having trouble figuring out if they were succeeding or not. Combined with some other things, he'd like the two of you to go join them and make sure everything's alright; they can explain what your task is when you get there, but the short version is that they need to use a device he gave them to transform water energy from living things into a water crystal.
He's willing to answer questions you might have, or you can go straight through the portal.
Drzkktizz Kothraze
10/10 HP
-1 Dodge
---
+2 Poison Magic (3/?)
+1 Alchemy
+0 Butchering (1/4)
Kemler Havestin, Scholar of the Dead Peoples
4/10 HP
+0 Dodge (3/4)
---
+2 Archaeology
+1 Swords
-1 Butchering (1/2)
Laz'ka, Wanderer
9/10 HP
-1 Dodge
---
+2 Necromancy
+1 Short Blades
Maikah Moonfur, Light of the Lost
10/10 HP
-1 Dodge
---
+1 Light Magic (10/?)
+1 Polearms
Ochita the Scholar
10/10 HP
-1 Dodge
---
+2 Water Magic
+1 Swords
Athara Opanine
10/10 HP
-1 Dodge
---
+2 Wind Magic
+1 Flight
I'm a bit unsure what to do about SC's efforts to swap a lesser skill for a racial ability, so for the moment I'll just treat it as a very specific skill, with penalties relating to how difficult or complex the task is.