Lilabeth smiles as she turns to leave Pierce's quarters. "Your ship is in such fine repair because you have some fine carpenters. And I would much rather spend time with you than repair some ship. But this seemed the best way to get information."
Lilabeth heads back to the Silver Shark . When she arrives with tools in hand, she walks up the gang plank and looks for Captain Whorl.
Upon spying him, Lilabeth asks, "Is there someone who can assist me in the repairs? A little company while I work would be appreciated. As would a drink if there is any available," she says with her best smile. "Also, did you find any other repairs that need to be done while I was gone or would you like me to take a look around?"
Lilabeth heads back to the Silver Shark . When she arrives with tools in hand, she walks up the gang plank and looks for Captain Whorl.
When Lilabeth returns to the Silver Shark, she isn't able to spot the captain. She does see a pile of materials on the deck near the front of the ship, being supervised by a man who must be "Parrot John." He is an undine with pale blue skin and bright green hair, which is cut rather short and slicked stiffly to the back so it sticks out a few inches past the back of his head. The man is just a little taller than Lilabeth but broad-chested, which is emphasized by his bright red vest with no shirt under it. The final touch that probably gave the man his nickname is his prominent, bony nose. His eyes don't even flick in her direction but he looks off into the distance, as if he were giving her his proud profile to view. It is only when she calls out to ask about Captain Whorl that he seems to notice she is present.
"Greetings, mistress; come aboard! I be Parrot John. Cap'n Whorl said you was a carpenter who'd be doin' some work on the rails? I have some supplies fer ye here, and can lend a hand with holdin' and so forth, though I be not much of a one with a hammer meself."
Given the situation, Lilabeth directs her comments to him, letting him know his help would be appreciated and asking for something to drink. He brings her a mug of watered wine while she settles tools and materials to her satisfaction, then agreeably hands her tools or holds things, as she directs. She does catch him eyeing her work closely, probably to make sure she is being truthful about her skills and not using the work as an excuse to get aboard the ship for some other purpose.
"I appreciate the drink, the materials, and the help, Parrot John. This is my first time in Drowning Rock. What can you tell me about the place and the people here?" Lilabeth asks while she fits a spar into place.
Parrot John seems to be a fairly loquacious fellow. He appears quite willing to talk while you are working, with only occasional prodding questions from Lilabeth.
"Oh, Drowning Rock be a great place to live; much better than Drenchport, to my way of thinking. Drenchport may have more people, but it's a ramshackle place built mostly of driftwood. Here the weather's much better; sometimes, like today, it even stops raining. Indeed, once in a while we even see the sun! Ye must be lucky, miss, for ye've brought the sun; only the second time this year.
"Fishing's plentiful around the island; the great hurricane, the Eye, keeps things stirred up underwater so the fish have good eating, so they stay around for us to catch them. The people of Downpour, over on the west side of the island, used to catch some tasty fish from the river that comes out there, but that's pretty much gone off completely in the past few months so I'm glad to be on a sea-going boat.
"The housing's much better here than in Drenchport, too - good sturdy wood, for the most part, and repaired when the wind tears at it. There's even buildings made of stone, a few of the oldest ones. We undines don't mind a little wet usually, but we like to keep dry what's supposed to keep dry. Speaking of undines, we have a tidy community here in Drowning Rock. Probably one of every ten folks here is undine, maybe more. Makes it real companionable, like. Not that there's anything wrong with humans; I don't mean to say that. It's just that most aren't good fer much of a swim, especially if you want to do much under water. A man's just got to have a few undine friends fer a little undersea jaunt now and then."
Lilabeth manages to interject the topic of mermaids at this point, and Parrot John is quite willing to turn the discussion.
"Oh, aye, there's mermaids here, right enough. Well, merpeople actually, though the maids are the ones I'm most interested in, sure!" He throws Lilabeth a saucy wink.
"There's one village of mers (or den, or whatever they call themselves) near the southeast tip of the island. They don't mind being so close to the Eye, beings as they travel quite a bit deeper than most undines. (We can swim down deep, but since we don't actually live in the water, we have to fuss with all the waves and stuff every time we go in.) There's also another group as lives over on the west side, near Downpour. I've gotten the idea they don't care for each other much, but I could be mistaken. They often trade at the ports, bringing up cargo from ships that go down, or pretties, or food items ye don't get by just dropping a net."
"I've never met a merperson before. What are they like? I would love to be able to meet one. I wonder if there is some way that I can swim longer underwater despite being human. That would be awesome!" Lilabeth saids around some nails stuck in her mouth.
"I haven't gotten to spend much time with the undines before either. I'm glad you are helping me out today. Could you hand me that hammer there?"
"Well, the only way I know for humans to swim underwater much would be to use some sort of magic. They say wizards have spells and things what can do that, though ye'd have to want something might bad to just stand there and let a wizard cast a spell on ye! Talk about creepy! My skin crawls jes thinkin' about it.
"Mers, now, they can be a bit tetchy. You don't want to go telling them one thing and doing another; that's just asking for trouble. They can lie, but they don't bother to do it much. They have a sense of humor, too, believe it or not, but they're three-quarters fish so the things they find funny are rather odd. They're also real picky about who they let into their villages; folks can't just swim in, like you can walk into a human town, unless you're okay with a trident to your throat. They're territorial, too; don't much bother folks who stay up on top of the water, but let other merfolk (or maybe the occasional undine) come into the area and they can be right violent!
"If ye ever do get yer chance to go underwater and meet some merfolk, be most polite but show courage; don't let 'em intimidate you. Don't enter their village without an invitation, though, even if it seems like the way is clear. Wait to be asked, and mayhap also bring a gift out of politeness. They like 'dry world' things - a necklace of beads or a wooden carving that can take the salt water for a while, or a gem; mers have lots of pearls, but aren't likely to find gems that need mining, so they prize those."
"Well, there we be, miss. This whole front rail has never been sturdier, I daresay. Ye've done good work, there's no doubt. Let me get the two silvers Cap'n Whorl promised ye." Parrot John stands and stretches, then heads for a cabin.
Lilabeth packs up her tools and waits for Parrot John to come back. As she waits she looks around the ship and takes notes of the crew and ship.
The colorful man comes back shortly and pays Lilabeth the agreed amount. Then he offers his hand and gives hers a hearty shake.
"I know ye got yer own ship already, but if ye're ever looking fer a job on a boat here in Drowning Rock, jest let me know and I'll put in a good word for ye. Have a good evening, miss!"
He escorts Lilabeth to the gangplank, and gives her a wave as she sets off down the dock. The rain is back and the light is fading, though the setting sun is hidden behind the clouds.
Lilabeth waves back to Parrot John. She walks jauntily back to ship, oblivious to the admiring looks she gets along the way. She can't wait to tell Pierce what she learned and hear what their next step will be. Her stomach growls and she picks up her pace a bit. Dinner will be most welcome tonight.
The ship's cook took advantage of the time in port to get some chickens (or some type of bird, anyway), so dinner is stewed chicken over biscuits. The cook's pretty decent, but there's no doubt biscuits aboard ship are better with something over them! Eldon eats in his cabin; "I'm reading" is all he said when Pierce sent someone to invite him to join you. Gray Fergie hasn't returned to the ship yet when dinner is served, but no one's concerned about that; he's well able to take care of himself, in more than one way. Lilabeth and Pierce relax afterward with a glass of wine while Pierce expounds on the weather in the Shackles, and why he prefers to stay farther away from the Eye whenever possible!
Rory arrives just after dinner is finished
He waits until Pierce and Lilabeth are finished and then walks up
Captain We've got a lot to talk about, my time ashore has produced some new leads, also Tigerlily says hello
Rory is mildly curious how Pierce reacts
Lilabeth turns to smile at Gray Fergie when he comes into the room, so she misses the play of expressions on Pierce's face. At the mention of Tigerlily he frowns a little, looking confused. Fergie can tell the moment the memory hits him, because his eyes widen, then his eyebrows shoot up and he looks momentarily alarmed. The captain quickly gets his features mostly under control, though his eyebrows are still up.
He replies, in what is almost his usual voice, "Oh, thank you. I hope she is doing well."
Lilabeth looks at Pierce inquiringly.
"Tigerlily was a barmaid I knew when I spent time in Drowning Rock several years back," Pierce says. "I recall she had rather fiery red hair. Fergie, roust out Eldon, please, and let's compare information."
Fergie rouses and arrives back with Eldon
He then fills everyone in on everything he found.
Pointing out the clam beds as a high possibility
Lilabeth looks at Pierce with a slightly amused look on her face. She does wonder just how close he got to Tigerlily, but isn't one to be jealous. Provided Tigerlily doesn't try to start something up again now that she is here. That would be a different story all together.
Lilabeth relates what she has learned about merfolk.
Fergie says
"The way I see it we have 3 good options, the merfolk cities or the giant clam beds. I am partial to the clam beds, but its upto you Capt"
"I agree the giant clam beds are our best bet for looking for the treasure of the Blue Banshee," Captain Jarrell replies. "We need more information about the merfolk before we just start swimming around looking for them. Eldon was telling me he spent the afternoon with an undine wizard, learning about some ways their spells are different than most...."
"No verbal components, mostly," Eldon interjects, "And with materials and somatic components - gestures - that are more suited to underwater use. They can learn the regular versions perfectly well, but their own versions are more useful if they plan to spend a lot of time underwater. If we stay around long enough, I may try to persuade the fellow to teach me one."
The captain clears his throat and continues. "I was thinking that wizard also might know if there are any rumors or tales about someone in Drenchport making a suit of magical armor, either recently or in the past. You know, professional wizard rumors, as opposed to tavern rumors.
"However that might work out, I think Fergie has a great lead for us on these giant clam beds and we should go there first. Then, if we still want to hang around this dreary island we can come back here, or go to Drenchport, to look for more information."
Jarrell then gives orders to prepare the ship to leave on the early morning tide.
In the gray light before dawn, the Salty Flagon slides out of the harbor on the outgoing tide. Fishing boats are also on their way out to sea, both from the docks just east of where the ship was berthed, and the docks on the west side of town. The captain stands at the wheel in an oiled cloak which keeps off some of the steady rain, muttering about something being worth this.
Leaving the bay near Drowning Rock, the ship sails west around the curving peninsula that forms the western side of the bay, and then around a small rocky island. Past the island, reefs can be seen below the water, which would be clear if it wasn't agitated by the falling rain. Some places the reef is only a few feet below the surface; others it is low enough that a ship might be able to sail over it, as long as the ship hit the channel just right. At the southwest corner of the island, the reef is wide enough that it forces the ship several hundred yards from shore.
As the Salty Flagon passes that area, Eldon finds Gray Fergie and Lilabeth and asks them to join him on the upper deck. When they arrive, Captain Jerrell passes the wheel to an experienced sailor and joins them out of earshot of any crew.
"I've been reviewing the story about the Blue Buzzard again," Eldon explains. "Supposedly, the ship chasing her nearly ran aground on some reefs; they thought the Buzzard had led them into a trap. I think this may be that spot, which would mean the wreck of the Blue Buzzard is somewhere behind us now. If we alert the lookout and put some more people to watch, we could probably go back and find it. On the other hand, by the time it sank it was supposedly empty of treasure, which would mean that is still ahead of us. What to you think, Captain? Shall we turn around and look for the ship, or carry on with our current plan?"
The captain looks at his officers and then shrugs. "I'm inclined to carry on this direction and check out these clam beds, then come back to search for the ship later. Any other ideas on the matter, Fergie? Lilabeth?"
First post response
"I think this place has potential for a base of operations Cap'n. The local folk do not like government forces and seem to like pirates quite a bit. The longer we stay the less guarded they will be about telling us a tidbit that might help us find the treasures. Besides I really like the seamstress I met"
Second post response
"I'm for staying the course, we're really looking for the treasure not the ship"
"In that case, Mister Ferguson," the captain replies, "Set extra watchers! I suspect the clam beds probably go right along with the coral, but we need to know and this blasted rain doesn't make seeing through the water any easier."
Heading mostly north, up the west side of the island, the watchers very quickly spot beds of mussels. It is oysters, though, rather thn clams, covering the rocks along the edge of the water and the coral in the shallows. A closer look with a spyglass shows some places where the oysters are even growing on top of each other. In others it's obvious that people have been harvesting because there are large swaths with nothing but empty space or oysters too small to gather.
Moving further north, the bulk of the island provides some protection from the perpetual hurricane. The rain slackens and the wind dies down some, making it easier to see below the waves. Most of the oysters are on the reef rather than the rocks, and they seem to be getting bigger as they get farther below the surface; possibly these are a different species than the ones a little to the south. One sailor at the rail calls out to Gray Fergie, "There's some big'uns down there, sir! I saw one that'd feed the whole crew!"
Lilabeth runs some drills on deck with those that are not set to watching for the clam beds.
"Remember, use a stabbing motion! A slashing motion will not work underwater! Try again!"
Suddenly a call comes from a hand stationed at the opposite rail.
"I see a chest! Down there!"
"Naw, that ain't a chest," the sailor next to her objects. "It's just another rock!
The woman (a stocky gunner's mate named Meg Malley) gives him a disgusted look and calls out, "Mr. Ferguson! Sir, I think you should look at this!"
Fergie quickly makes his way to the sailors and peers intently where Meg indicated.
"Good eyes Meg! Drop anchor!"
The Salty Flagon glides to a halt and the hands are busy lowering the sails and otherwise getting the ship ready for some time at a standstill. Leaving the wheel, Pierce Jerrell approaches Lilabeth where she watches as her recent students clamber in the rigging and haul lines on the deck. He seems quite excited.
"I think we're close! Sighting that chest just where we expect the treasure can't be a coincidence. We need to get some folks below the surface to see what's really down there." The captain waves Fergie over to join the conversation.
"Gray Fergie, check with Eldon about his spells and then get him to ready some water breathing for people. Of course, we probably have a couple who can hold their breath long enough for just short dives. Maybe we need to make a point to hire some undines in the future; having a few on board would certainly be handy right now.
"I'm thinking you can each lead a team, if Eldon has enough spells. Each team can go with a ship's boat and a couple extra hands to stay on the surface. The rowboat can carry a team of four plus two to stay aboard; the larger boat can hold six divers plus two rowers, if you want that many. I doubt Eldon has enough spells for ten people, though. He and I will coordinate from here and stand by in case anyone needs help - or finds something exciting." Pierce grins. "Anything we need to add to that plan?"
Each spell would last 6 hours and can be broken up into hour chunks so 6 per spell would give each 1 hour of waterbreathing
Lilabeth finds Pierce's excitement infectious. She smiles at him broadly.
"I'll take the smaller boat, she says. Then she lists the 3 top students of hers.
"I would like these 3 people on my team. We can leave one of the water breathing potions in each boat in case of emergency. Eldon can stand ready with his last spell in case we need more time to bring stuff up."
Lilabeth suggests 5 more people that Fergie might want on his team.
Lilabeth makes a move to go gather the equipment she thinks she will need underwater.
Fergie looks at lilabeths choices and nods assent glad that her choice included Meg
Mr dandreth make sure each boat has plenty if rope.
Eldon if you can cast mending on both boats to be sure there's less chance of interesting times.
Fergie gets the rest of the equipment together and assembles his crew
Assigned to the ship's gig, with Gray Fergie commanding, are:
Meg Malley, Lefty Callrian, Mei-Lin Wonsoo, Crabface Kennit, and Davey Marteen, with Bouncin’ Benjie Blacer and 'Lively Livvy' Sidnell (both strong men) on the oars.
In the rowboat, with Lilabeth Danwin commanding, are:
Ruddy Robby Cofresi, Flora Berry, and Dirty Dunny Therzel, with Gerry Wallner and 'Shelly' Shelroy rowing.
Those on the gig who will be diving will have two hours of water breathing apiece, from Eldon's spell. The divers on the rowboat will have three hours apiece, as there are fewer of them. Eldon waits to cast the spells until just before the teams disembark, to make them last as long as possible. All the divers have weapons they can use for stabbing rather than slashing, as Lilabeth recently instructed.
Captain Jerrell wants the gig to go ahead along the reef, where it gets deeper, while the rowboat(which has a shallower draft)moves a bit closer to the shore and checks things there. The general idea is that the boats will move along with the divers, to be there in case of emergency and to make it easier for the ship to keep track of progress. He also reminds everyone to dive in pairs, to keep each other out of trouble.
Fergie assigns diving partners on the way to the chest
He chooses meg as his diving partner as a reward for finding the chest
As soon as they are as close as they can get to the chest he will send divers down
Lilabeth chooses Flora as her partner. She checks her equipment and tells her team to check theirs. Then they proceed to the row boat. They will look for a likely spot to start their dive.
The rowboat moves northeast into shallower water slightly closer to the coastline, but stops where there is still plenty of depth for swimming without getting too close to the coral. Dressed as the sailors are in nothing heavier than canvas pants and (in some cases) lightweight shirts, they don't want to risk getting cut accidentally on the sharp edges of many coral formation.
The reef ahead of the rowboat is thick with oysters. Below, where the water gets deeper, are larger specimens. Once in the water, the pairs spread out to examine the area. (They seem to all be familiar with the use of water breathing; evidently Pierce has had his crew do underwater exploration before.) Robby and Dirty Dunny swim a little ways back in the direction from which the ship came (east-southeast) while Lilabeth and Flora head the other way. Once below the surface, which is still being disturbed by the rain and wind, the water is calmer and clear.
Besides oysters, the upper part of the reef is alive with various sea plants and small schools of colorful fish. As Flora and Lilabeth move northwest and down, the oysters get significantly bigger and the schools of fish less frequent. Despite keeping an eye out, you're not spotting any treasure yet.
After swimming that direction for a dozen minutes, though, you are among huge oysters that are 5-6 feet across and commensurately deep. Either Lilabeth or Flora could easily hide inside one if necessary - and if you could get them open. Normal oysters take a bit of effort to open; these giants might have to be pried open with Lilabeth's greatsword!
What else you might spot:
If seeing the above:
Lilabeth motions to Flora to point out the marks on the oysters.
"These markings. I have seen them before but don't know what they mean. Eldon does I believe. Do you think we should go back and get him or keep looking?"
Flora suggests the two of you go up and get the attention of the people in the rowboat, then have them take the message to Eldon. That way you can keep looking while the spell lasts.
Lilabeth heads towards the surface and the rowboat.
"I think we need Eldon underwater. There are some oysters with markings on them that I think he knows the meanings of. Could you please relay the message to the ship? We are going to keep looking to see what else we can find."
Lilabeth heads back underwater to look around some more.
Shelly says he and Gerry will take the message back to Eldon, and bring him out here. He asks that you mark the spot in some way (though he doesn't have any suggestion for how to do that), or sort of stick around in the area so you can show Eldon where to look when he gets here. Then the two men dig their oars into the water and head back to the ship.
Flora suggests the two of you take bearings on the coastline and the ship, to be able to get back to approximately the right location, and then come back in a little while.
Looking around, Lilabeth gets her bearings and tells Flora that they will head back in about a quarter of an hour. The she heads back underwater. She swims by the oysters and continues on a little ways.
Fergie assigns diving partners on the way to the chest
He chooses meg as his diving partner as a reward for finding the chest
As soon as they are as close as they can get to the chest he will send divers down
Crabface and Davey end up partnered together, as do Lefty and Mei-Lin. The latter two make an odd pair, because Mei-Lin is much shorter than Lefty and very slender, but she is strong enough to hold her own on the ship and once in the water she swims like an eel. The two pairs of divers slip into the water and head for where Meg spotted the chest. Meg, on the other hand, is nervous. Although she can swim well enough on the surface, she’s never done much underwater swimming and has never used a water breathing spell. When Mei-Lin surfaces with a handful of coins, though, Meg overcomes her reluctance and drops into the water.
What Gray Fergie can take in from a swift glance at the coins, before he heads underwater with the rest:
"Looks like some copper, so probably more and silver an gold maybe too"
Fergie then joins Meg and then they search
When Fergie gets to the location of the chest, Crabface and Davey have loosened it from where it was lying. The metal parts – hinges and lock – are rusted and the wood is waterlogged, but it’s not in too bad of shape. It probably hasn’t been underwater all that long – a couple years at most.
Mei-Lin gets close to Fergie to be sure he can hear her clearly, then says, ”When they started to pull the chest out, the corner dug up the coins I brought you. That was all we found, though.”
As the men turn the chest around, it shows markings on the top and side, burned into the wood. They appear to be words, but not ones that Fergie can read. It is also obvious that this chest was broken into violently; it looks like someone took an axe (or possibly some other type of blade) to the area of the lock and hacked it open.
Crabface, Davey, take the chest up to the boat, it may have clues, then continue searching
Fergie then outlines a search pattern for each of the three teams to maximize time and space searched
The area Fergie’s team is searching is covered with clam beds, on the reef and the occasional rock. The water is deeper here than the section being searched by the other team. After delivering the chest to the pair in the boat, Davey and Crabface take the upper part. Mei-Lin and Lefty take the lower, while Fergie and Meg take the central area to allow Fergie to keep better communication with the other pairs. You haven’t gone far when Meg’s sharp eyes spot more coins wedged in between some of the clams. She’s able to extricate several, but others are firmly stuck. They are probably more copper pieces, since they have the characteristic green coloration. There is a trail of them through the clam bed that gets thicker further away from where the chest was found, then ends abruptly.
Not far past that point, Davey calls something; he points to another empty chest which Crabface is holding up. About the same time Lefty, who is just a little further out than Fergie and Meg at that point, calls out and holds up a chest where he is, also empty. Both chests have the same markings as the first, and both were hacked open.
Fergie warns everyone to be on guard
He has a second chest brought up the the ship
He then has everyone continue searching and has them look in the clams as much as they can
Crabface takes the chest he found up to the boat, and then gets back to the search. After giving his another look, Lefty lets it drop back to the bottom.
Most of the clams on the reef are open, trying to catch as much light as they can. When someone swims over them, though, they close up as a defense against predators. More coins (all copper) are found scattered around the clam bed, but no one really gets a look inside a clam.
Unless people stop to actually pry open clams and look inside (a massively time-consuming chore in such a large clam bed), the group continues to move forward. Fergie notices that the clams he and Meg are seeing are getting larger; previously most were about the size of Meg's hand, now many are larger than dinner plates.
Lefty and Mei-Lin give a shout from their route. They have located a chest mostly intact, and Mei-Lin also shouts something about giant clams.
Mei-Lin and Lefty are trying to pick up the chest they found. (It is about 12 by 8 inches and 6 inches deep including the lid, the same as the others, with handles on the ends.) This chest is obviously much heavier than the last one Lefty hoisted, and the action is complicated by the fact that the corner it landed on is smashed and coins keep trying to spill out.
Lefty is slowly lifting the box while Mei-Lin covers the broken spot, but her hands are too small to completely cover the opening. Lefty turns the chest on its solid end, but a few coins continue to leak out around Mei-Lin's fingers.
Fergie and Meg swim over to Lefty and Mei-Lin. He takes over for Mei-Lin and has her and Meg swim up and attach a line to the dinghy, and to get the treasure chest that's in better shape on the dinghy.
He looks on the chest for a good way to tie a rope to the chest that wont result in loot spilled
The broken chest is so full that coins keep leaking out even with the broken spot turned toward the top. Fergie's hands are quite a bit bigger than Mei-Lin's, so he is able to stop the loss completely, as long as the chest isn't shifted around too much while he's trying to hold his hands on it.
When Mei-Lin and Meg retrieve the more-or-less-intact (but empty) chest from the boat, you all could allow as many of the coins as necessary to spill into it. With the broken box not so full, it would be possible to tie on a line and haul it up vertically rather than horizontally, thus keeping the remainder of the coins away from that broken hole.
Fergie and lefty pour off the excess coins
The rest pick up loot that fell out
Then we hoist both back up to the dinghy
Then continue the search pattern