After much finagling and cursing, Knives finally hears the satisfying clicks of the lock opening. Thank Besmara!
Haloniel "claps" by lightly banging his morningstar against his buckler.
Inside the chest is a variety of clothing, including a strange-looking belt fashioned of several pieces of metal riveted together , as well as a pouch of 500gp.
"All of that for a lousy bunch of clo-hellllooo there!" Knives interrupts himself as he finds a particularly nice looking jacket with matching pants in just the right shades of green and black. "If only you had a hat... ah, here it is!" Pulling it out, along with one of the better white shirts, he finds the strange metal belt I think this might be a hidden weapon, but I am not sure... best take it with us. and the pouch of 500 gold pieces.
"Now this is a decent start to an offering to Besmara!" Knives holds up the bag for the others to see. "Don't be worrying, ol' Knives ain't filching the whole bag... we will of course split it. I only be meaning that my share will be heading down below to the dread Lady of the Pirates once we finally begin our journey off this rock."
He stuffs the jacket, pants, bladed belt, shirt, hat and coin bag into his pack to join the hook he took earlier.
Haloniel asks, "Are there any other places on the ship it would make sense to find and search? Given her condition the various holds would likely be no good, but are there any other storage areas we could check out?"
Jask shrugs at the question. "There were crew quarters if we'd gone down the set of stairs we came up, but I couldn't say as to their state. Other than that, we could always check the gun deck."
Haloniel says "Maybe we should check the crew quarters."
"Sounds good to me I suppose. Be careful... those men outside did not die of old age. If the 'hooked horror' was not the captain then we have yet to run into it."
Knives puts away his tools and redraws his cane sword, though it is still in its scabbard.
"Oh, Bayani, be sure to give those documents to Jask... I wager they might help him in his efforts. I will return the portrait to his grieving widow."
Haloniel leads the way out of the Captain's cabin and starts heading to the crew quarters.
The route to the crew quarters is quick, the wooden stairs leading down to a hold packed with hammocks. An inch or so of water covers the floor, the sound of waves crashing against the hull filling your ears. As you enter the quarters you begin to hear something other than waves. The sound is quiet at first, but gradually grows in volume until its all that you hear. Its a spectral voice calling out, "My Aeshemara, they stole my beautiful Aeshemara!
And then quite suddenly a spectral figure emerges from the wood of the hull. Its a man dressed in clothes matching those worn by the corpse of Captain Kinkarian, the gleaming metal hook still attached to his arm. His eyes burn with an unholy green fire, the hook gleaming with a ghostly light. "Return to me my Aeshemara, brigands, or I'll have my men swab the decks with your blood!"
Julian sighs. Why did I not see this coming...
"Captain Kinkarian, I presume. Your Aeshemara would, I believe, be both saddened and touched to see this. You have died, sir, and she has not moved on well... still holding out the faintest of hopes of your return. I intend to inform her of your passing and to help bury your men properly so that Besmara will accept you into her crew. Please, do not make this harder than it need to be. Pass on, captain. With the dignity that you deserve, not this cursed clinging to existence."
"What's an Aeshemara? His wife?"
"She is the woman who's portrait you found in the lockbox."
"Oh, of course!" Bayani reaches for the locket and holds it out, "Is there a way this spirit can take this locket?"
At the sight of the locket Captain Kinkarian pauses, reaching out with his human hand. "Open it, elf, so that I may lay eyes upon my beloved Aeshemara one more time before I pass on. I have been unable to do so myself since I lack the ability to open the locket. Those cursed mutineers mortally wounded me, and I died a heartbeat before I could lay eyes on her beauty one last time. That was my final wish, and they denied it to me. They can rot in this wreck for all that I care."
Haloniel moves out of the way so Bayani can show the locket to Kinkarian. Haloniel also lowers his morningstar and holds it down by his side.
Bayani opens the locket holds it for the specter's inspection.
At the sight of the locket Captain Kinkarian becomes transfixed. His human hand reaches out towards the locket, and when his spectral hand comes in contact with the locket a loud sigh echoes through the hold, his form slowly disappearing. After a few moments you hear his spectral voice call out, "Thank you," and then all is silent.
The crew quarters seem abandoned, although a few scattered corpses lay here and there on the floor. Everything seems to have been mostly stripped of valuables, although a few purses of coins adding up to 100gp can be found throughout the hold.
"Be at ease, Captain. She will know you are resting, I swear it before Besmara."
The reason the men near the captain's room looked local is because they were wearing remnants of Chelaxian naval uniforms. It was only a boot here, a tattered surcoat there, but you definitely recognize the distinct uniform, albeit an outdated design from around 70 years ago.
In a flash of insight, Knives realizes where he has seen the uniforms before.
"Chelaxian navy sods... I wonder how long it took them to find the wreck... and I'd bet this belt that they are the reason why there is not much to be found here." Knives spits in disgust.
As Haloniel looks around the crew's quarters he tries to see if he can scrounge a handaxe or a throwing axe.
In a flash of insight, Knives realizes where he has seen the uniforms before.
"Chelaxian navy sods... I wonder how long it took them to find the wreck... and I'd bet this belt that they are the reason why there is not much to be found here." Knives spits in disgust.
As Haloniel looks around the crew's quarters he tries to see if he can scrounge a handaxe or a throwing axe.
Tucked away under a pillow in one of the hammocks is a well-used handaxe, its hilt scored with notches depicting some kind of accomplishment.
Haloniel puts his morningstar away and takes the handaxe. He plays with it a little and then puts it through his weapon belt in a small of the back position. He then draws his morningstar and holds it ready again.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Just as you leave the wreck you spot footprints from two seperate individuals coming from the surf. They lead up to a bluff within eyesight of the ship, but you spot nobody up there. One pair obviously belongs to a man by the size of the prints, but there is something odd about the other. They're a woman's prints, but by the way the prints are laid out she either has a remarkably large stride or is incredibly dexterous.
Knives examines the tracks and the cliff they lead to and motions for help from Mordack. "You didn't see anyone moving out here while you were standing guard did you?"
Haloniel comments, "The tracks come from the surf. I wonder if they are from our Captain and his lady. If so, they must be on the island then. They are a couple of people I would like to talk to."
"If they are then she is able to run at a very impressive clip, given the distance between strides. These are a day old or so, based on the sand and mud."
Knives has a knife in his hand, ready to throw it into the brush as he needs to.
"There is something else. Those bodies were too new and the wrong color to match the uniforms they were wearing. I think they may be proof that the ill-fated effort from Chelax to colonize this place left survivors. We should be especially wary on our return trip, and when we investigate the wrecked lighthouse."
Hopefully we can avoid them... I can't imagine them having stayed civil and surviving all of this time.
Its late afternoon in game for you, you should have just enough time to follow the trail and then get back to the cave.
"Fine, but let us follow the trail stealthily and slowly... I don't think these folks wanted to be followed."
Haloniel maintains his position as rear guard keeping an eye out for anything that might be approaching the group from behind and trying to make somewhat less noise than a marching band.
The tracks lead up to a bluff overlooking the Brine Demon. A similar trail leads away from the remains of a campfire, headed further south along the island. Along with some discarded ration containers, you spot something hanging partially out of the fire.
It's the Varisian scholar Ieana's scarf, right alongside a partially burned hat that matched Captain Kovack's hat. Both seem to have been tossed into the fire to be disposed of, but the fire failed to completely consume the evidence of their presence on the island.
Well this day just keeps getting stranger, and any day that you can say that after multiple encounters with the dead is saying something...
"Well, for some reason the good Captain and his scholar either do not want to be identified... or they were not what we thought them to be."
Knives takes the remnants of both articles and examines them prior to placing them in his pack.
"Well, as exciting as the prospects of following this trail is, I suggest we at least get another night of rest at our lovely little cave first."
Haloniel says, "Sounds good to me."
Not hearing any objections, Julian begins heading back to the cave, being careful to be silent and trying to keep landmarks in mind so that they can resume the hunt in full force tomorrow.
About halfway back to the cave you hear chanting in a strange language, although a word or two you can make out. Among the words are 'hunt', 'Asmodeus', and 'meat'. It seems to be coming from the east, distant enough that whoever or whatever is chanting could feasibly be avoided.