Whoosi check the desk for traps; then takes out all the drawers and examines them empying contents and flipping them over; then sticks head in desk holes; and checks for hidden places (maybe woodworking skill might boost)
Whosi, the desk is indeed trapped, but after having been underwater for a long time, the mechanisms are all rusted in place and you have no problem circumventing them. Inside the desk you find a few platinum coins stamped in an unknown language (17 in all) as well as a circular disc, approximately the size and shape of a hockey puck. It is made of a dull metal, and features several etchings on it. If you fiddle with it, it seems like it could be operated like a puzzle box.
Disable device check to open the box
Splurg confirms that it's the magic thing. Also, the rest of the contents of the desk have all rotted away over the years.
Suddenly Spots' hackles rise and he begins to growl deep in his throat. From below, something seems to be moving around, the sound growing louder as it approaches the stairs below. It is making a wet slurping noise as it moves. It sounds heavy; heavier than a goblin at least.
Getting a weird look on his face Splurg speaks more clearly than normalIt must be the dramatic ambiance "Something wicked this way comes..." quickly reverting back and motioning to some of the waiting goblins "Takes the magik balls to the ship."
Your crew hauls the heavy globe-thing back to the ship, leaving just the five of you to face the noise. The noise continues until it gets closer to the bottom of the stairs, then a sudden wet watery sound echoes up.
Aquan:
"Who dares to disturb my home? What fool comes to feed Dread Gortrub today?"
I stand on top of the desk, holding my greataxe confidently in my hands. swaying slightly from side-to-side and muttering...
Ready to rage if a beastie appears.
Whosi, you feel the disc shift and click, but you can't quite find the right combination of moves to open it.
From below, in the darkness, the voice calls again, in a watery almost soupy version of Commom. " So this your tongue, is it? Who dares to disturb my home? What fool comes to feed Dread Gortrub today?"
Shrugging his shoulders at Splurg "Not sure water Treepass is but these bez morsels." reaching in his pouch pulling out a few human eyeballs probably a bit squish or decayed he holds them toward Splurg.maybez it wants some of my morsels" not sure whether he will share or not just looks to where the voices is coming from with a stern look.
whoosi claps both hands over his mouth trying to hold back replies; face turns red, Garl comes over and crawls up his leg and back to his pouch at which Whoosi llets his breath out and grips his weapons.
"Toss them down the stairs, intruder, or if you please, toss yourself down the stairs. Either way I shall consider your offering and re-evaluate your worth as guests."
From the darkness at the base of the stairs you hear a sudden sound of feasting, a messy, wet sound. Suddenly a series of wet pops indicates the eyeballs have been consumed. A sigh of contentment rings up the stairs. "Ah, so now, my little guests, what do you require? Knowledge? I have much, you see. What can I do for you?"
The voice at the bottom of the stairs seems confused, "Elf maidens? I do not run a brothel here, little guest. I am a scholar, come to this ship by chance to study its use and purpose. And a use and purpose it has! When this ship once functioned, it sailed beyond the stars, from planet to planet through the stuff of space! I have studied its logs, read its purpose and communed with its spirit. Alas, it is dead now and it will sail no more, but oh the sights it has seen and the places it has known!"
A sigh comes from below. "Stand back and I shall join you."
From below comes what seems to a large goblin with tentacles from the waist down. He wears a necklace of sea shells and other shiny stones and he leans upon a spear. He smiles a gobbish smile at you. "So, land-kin, you have seen me. What now?"
"Oh little kin, you haven't seen the hold of this vessel. There is indeed treasure among the spheres. Is that what you've come seeking? Mere plunder? Alas, I had hoped my air-breathing kin would come seeking higher aspirations." He sighs a theatrical sigh, fluttering his hand near his face. "So, you seek treasure, do you? Well, have you entered the merchant vessel near here? I believe you will find all the treasure you can handle in its hold."
Ank-hore silent with almost a reverence walks closer to this "kin" "Did the Lady, do that to youz, make youz like her, in the forms of the sea. he looks at his stump "canz youz givs me a new hand"
Gortrub stares at the stump for a moment, ignoring Whosi's wishlist. After a moment, he sighs. "Alas, I do not possess such magic. But in the library of this ship I have read of creatures that may be summoned, that may serve as a missing limb, appearing for all purposes and acting exactly like the missing limb. They are referred to as parasitic limblings. I could send the notes with you; there are some rare elements needed for the summoning. That is as much as I can provide. As for my appearance, it is the fashion of my people. We are what we are."
"No, it is quite flooded. But in that I may be able to help. I have potions of water breathing. They are minor, only lasting an hour or so, but that should be time enough for you. I should have enough to outfit you four here."
"You will require a gemstone, a ruby, flawless as you can find, the tears of a dead man and the light of the new moon. The price for the binding is your blood, freely given. The creature will live off your life: while you live, it lives. As for a payment for my potions, there is an object aboard that ship that I would like to obtain. It is a small urn, about the size of your leg, sealed with red wax and imprinted with the sigil of a dead noble house. If you swear to bring it to me as soon as you are finished plundering the ship, I will give you these potions. Do we have a bargain?"
Finger on his chin; Whosi thinks out it seriously; tapping his food weeze need ta sqeeze his 'ead I say if not his eyeballs; weeze not wantin ta contaminate it with 'is slobber.
"Indeed, you have the right of it. Find the ingredients, combine them in a pot over fire and when they boil, toss the contents into the sea. The creature will come to you. Now, allow me to retrieve the potions and you can be about finding the urn for me." Gortrub slips back down the stairs and from below you can hear a chest opening, then the clink of potion bottles. He reappears with four potion vials full of a cloudy blue liquid. "Drink this and you will be able to breathe and move freely through water as if on land for one hour. After that, you must be in air or you will drown. Now go and fare thee well, land-kin."
With the potions in tow, the gobs head off to the ship and from there, off to the sunken merchant vessel. As you sail closer you can see that it is a HUGE ship, made to carry large amounts of cargo. There are two entrances you can see: a hatch on the deck or a hole rent into the vessel below the waterline, which is about 20 x 20 and seems to enter a now empty hold.
