Not having any other gear to tend to, the half-orc starts to wander around the beach, peering down at the sand and even crouching down to get a better look. Standing up he shakes his head, "Don't look like we washed up," he rumbles in the first words anyone has heard him speak. "Looks like we were brought in boat. That's why stuff is dry." He begins peering across the horizon, perhaps looking for the Jenevere.
Sarai helps several of the passengers to their feet, walking Sasha over to the unofficial gathering place. Aerys refuses any help at all, pushing herself up off the sand with determination and walking proudly over to sit off a bit from everyone else. As for Gelik, he is the mirror opposite of Majest in his appreciation for the situation. Grumbling and cursing he finds his way over to the pile and begins sifting through it to find his own things.
The last person left on the beach is the least well known, for few of you ever saw him. His hands bound behind his back by iron manacles, the man just sits upon the sand, starring out at the surf. As Sasha sits down, Sarai nods her head in the direction of the prisoner as if asking what everyone thinks should be done about him.
"It does look that way, doesn't it?" Abshail says to the half-orc. "Why would the crew take the trouble of drugging us and then carrying all of us and our belongings to shore, though? If they wanted to be rid of us, they could have just killed us and dumped what baggage they couldn't sell without many questions. Not that I'm arguing with being left alive, mind you."
Heading over to the other survivors he gestures to the chained man and asks "Do any of you know what he did?"
Carys closes up her pack and gets her gear stowed in case they have to make a quick exit. She eyes the man in chains and shakes her head. "We could always ask," she suggests. "It is possible the crew was not involved.. whoever took over the ship could have forced them to do this. There could be clues from what we had seen and heard while aboard."
The chained man looks up at Acalon with a weary smile. "I could tell you what I am accused of doing," he answers softly. "I am not sure which story you would believe, however."
Galik nods emphatically to Ilarian's words. "Shelter sounds like an excellent idea. I assume that you know how to build some?"
Aerys just listens for some time before commenting softly. "I doubt that anyone would leave us here with intent. This island is famous for not letting ships out of its grasp."
As if in answer to her comment, though it's doubtful he heard it from his spot some twenty feet away, the half-orc raises a pointed finger towards a point along the shoreline to the northwest. "Ship!" he calls back to the others.
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Ilarian looks at Galik and laughs. "Hells no, that's why I bought a tent back in Cheliax! I guess I just assumed you all did too. I mean, I planned on adventuring, heading out into the jungle, and you don't get very far if you have to keep coming back to town." He thinks for a moment, but is interrupted by Shadak's shout. "Is it ours, or a rescue?"
Abshail walks over and sits down near the chained man. "You're right, I might not believe your story. I would like to hear it anyway, though. If there's any chance of letting you out of those manacles we need to know what got you put in them."
The bound man gives Abshail a grateful smile. "Very well then. My name is Jask. Years ago I was once employed by the Sargavan government. While in their employ I uncovered evidence of corruption involving illicit deals with the Free Captains of the Shackles. Naturally I confronted my superior, only to be betrayed and framed for those very same crimes. Faced with imprisonment, I fled all the way to Corentyn, where I was able to live a modest life as a scribe for about a decade. I had thought my enemies in Sargava had forgotten me, but then a Sargavan agent found me, caught me, and put me in irons. This agent handed me over to the captain of the Jenivere with instructions to return me to Sargava for trial. But now..." He shrugs a bit. [b]"I suppose my future is in all of your hands now. But I guarantee you I would rather die here on this island than return to be 'tried'.
Shadak shakes his head, a bit exasperated at Ilarian's lack of sight. Pointing at the ship with one large finger he looks over at the half-elf. "Not rescue ship. Wreck. Maybe 2 hours walk."
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Ilarian smiles and draws a wand from his belt. "Walking is for those with time on their hands. I present an alternative. I can summon a magical mount which will allow us to get there with haste, however, the magic lasts no more than an hour. If you like, we can go now, and come back to let the rest of our companions know what we-ah, you have found."
After listening very intently to Jask's story, Majest decides, "That's good enough for me! He seems like a nice guy. Let's let him out. Those ... things look uncomfortable." She makes a funny scrunched up face as she points to his manacles.
[ooc] just back from hospital have had double viral pneumonia was in hospital for over a week. I'll try to catch up a post tonight. [ooc]
perception check
having finished a short walk around the beach and not seeing anything exciting himself he walks back to the group. "Well Unless we are going to survive on just the supplies we have at hand we might want to check out that wreak and see if we can get anything else off it. If it is the Jenevere maybe we can get an idea as to why we were removed from our comfortable passage."
Also listens to the end of jask's story and takes a swig from his flask "Let him go I say, if he is telling the truth I couldn't care less what deals he has or has not been involved with and if not how much do we know about anyone here? It is not easy to keep a prisoner in such an environment as this" nods his head and smooths down his beard "My opinion anyway." shoulders his pack from the stack of gear. "Going to the wreak if anyone wants to join the walk"
Abshail reaches inside his coat for his tools and begins working on opening the lock on the manacles. "I agree, there's not much point to keeping him chained up, it frees us from having to care for him and gives us another set of hands."
Pausing for a second he adds "We may want to all make the trip. We don't have a lot in the way of supplies here and no shelter at all. If we go investigate, we can also use the wreckage as shelter if we need to."
Once Abshail frees the man, Majest happily exclaims, "Yay!"
"Oooo! Investigate," she responds in a hushed voice, as she does the whole cliched lookout gestures.
Carys gives the manacled man a wary look as he tells his story and does not seem moved one way or the other. Sense Motive . When they remove the restraints she shrugs. "Sounds like we have a plan." With her gear stowed and ready she moves towards the half-orc who spotted the wreckage. "Any thoughts on why you were spared? You're the only one of the crew that ended up here."
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Ilarian nods to Abshail. "Very well, we shall all go." He looks to Carys and sighs. "Washed up on the shore and feeling just as sick as the rest of us is spared? If Shadak speaks truly, we were all "spared" when we were dragged here by our mysterious savior. Maybe he couldn't get to the rest of the crew, maybe they all drowned or were eaten, we don't know, and I hardly see how it matters. What does matter is survival, so let's get on that, okay?"
Turning away from her, he points his wand at the ground, and utters a command word. From thin air appears a wispy equine figure.He repeats this process, excepting three of a smaller size for the dwarf and two gnomes untill there are enough for all. Ilarian gestures to the conjured steeds. "We have less than an hour. Shall we depart?" With that, he climbs aboard his steed, and looks at everyone over his shoulder.
Pulls his beard a couple of times and after taking a swig from a flask mounts up on the horse "Thanks" he replies dryly as he clings less then expertly to the horse.
Shadak shrugs to Carys, obviously at a loss at to why he was spared, then shakes his head at Abshail's suggestion. "The ship is against a cliff. Not easy for many people to get to, and not a good place for camp. I stay here, start making camp. You all bring back anything to help."
He then turns and heads towards the jungle, presumably to gather supplies.
The other castaways seem to agree with Shadak. None of them seem inclined to go anywhere at the moment, let alone a wrecked ship washed against a cliff that may decide to break apart completely at any moment. Gelik scoffs at the idea, while Aerys seems rather dazed by the whole experience. Sasha at least has the impetus to get up and assist Shadak as best she can.
As for Jask, his manacles are a bit too difficult for Abshail to unlock without the key. "I appreciate your effort, and your intent. I think the key was in the captain's cabin on the ship, along with my affects. I'd be very grateful if you could retrieve them as well."
"I'll go with you. I'd like some answers as well and I don't think we're likely to get them hanging out here. And besides, I don't think I'll be much use in setting up a camp for eleven. I've only ever done it for two or three." Taking the offered horse she heads off along with everyone else.
"Is it truly all rainbows and sunshine in your world? Everyone above suspicion, everyone your friend? Until we have more information it would be dangerous to assume anything about our predicament. Good or bad." The sarcasm dripping from Carys' words might as well be acid. She looks at the horses and then those staying to set up camp, seemingly torn between which group she trusts less. She shakes her head, "Survival is more than food and shelter, but as I do have some experience in that area, I will stay to help set up camp." Carys sets her gear aside and starts to assess their surroundings more. If arrogance were art she would be a masterpiece. Survival .
Before mounting up, Abshail checks the vials in his pockets to make sure they're still good. Satisfied, he grabs his spear and hops on his wispy horse, ready to ride for the wrecked ship.
Allows his summoned horse to fall in behind Ilarian and holds on with an occasional curse in dwarven.
Majest excitedly hops onto her mini horse to follow the rest of the riders toward the wreck.
That sorted out, The five riders head out towards the wreck. With the horses, it take only about twenty minutes of riding along the beach to reach the remains of the ship.
Even a cursory glance is enough to confirm that the Jenivere will never sail again. Only the fortuitous presence of a sharp ridge of rock near the side of the sheer cliff wall has prevented the wreck from sinking entirely into the sea, for only the ship’s stern seems to have survived the wreck. This portion is wedged at an angle between the cliff and the rocks, and each wave shakes and tosses the wreck alarmingly. It won’t be long before the constant pounding of the waves dislodges the wreck and allows the hungry sea to claim the last of this once-fine ship.
The tide is still out, uncovering the slippery, moss covered, rocks that hold the ship against the cliff. It should be possible to carefully climb up those rocks to a point where you could access the upper deck of the Jenivere.
As the others ride off, Sasha approaches Carys with a weak smile. "I hope that you're right about knowing something about food and shelter. I'm afraid that the rest of us are rather out of our element, myself included."
"I'm beginning to be glad that we ended up where we did, rather than being left on the ship. Hopefully something in there can shed some light on what happened," Abshail says before carefully making his way over the rocks.
"All to true, hate to think what may have happened to the rest of the crew" takes a slug from his flask smooths his beard and follows Abshail slowly over the rocks and to the ship. "Anyone aboard the wreck" he yells loudly as he hits what is left of the deck.
As everyone reaches the top of the rocks they begin to make out another noise over the pounding of the waves against the rocks and the creak of wood near to splintering. A scuttling from below decks, punctuated at intervals by a pounding as someone trying to break down a door.
Hearing the noise below, Abshail says "Oh, this can't be good," then continues on to the wreck. Once there he reaches into a pocket for a pair of vials then shakes his head and puts them back, replacing them with a larger vial of some thick, red liquid. He drinks the liquid and grimaces, then says "Ugh, that stuff tastes horrible." He shudders for a second as his muscles seem to increase in size. "OK, let's get going and see what's going on here."
"Maybe I should have been a bit quieter! Takes a quick swig from one of the ever present flasks and cracks his knuckles. "Shall we see what is going on? After which, I believe we also need to check out the captains cabin for shackle keys, maybe a logbook, and just incidentally I heard he had some good wine tucked away as well. Starts carefully searching for whatever is causing the sounds.
Perception
Once Majest hears noises from below the decks, she tries to be more quiet with her steps.
Carys flashes a smile and then nods. "I have learned a thing or two. Between Shadak and myself we should be fine." With a quick check of her weapons she moves to catch up to the half-orc. "Please tell me you at least have experience that lies outside the realm of ships and whimsy," she half whispers under her breath as she starts to look for anything useful.
Shadak glances at Carys briefly as he works to mark out a location for the camp. "I have spent a good deal of time on my own before I joined the crew. Making camp is not hard. Only thing to decide is how long we stay. That can change camp."
The boarding party barely has time to take in the broken remains of the upper deck. Only the back of the ship is accesable at all and even that is s weed dangerously to the side making walking difficult.
Although the Jenivere's only lifeboat at first seems to be missing, as you look about the ship, the fate of this smaller boat becomes clear—it was washed up between the ship and the cliff and was crushed by the action of the waves smashing the Jenivere against the cliff side. Part of the lifeboat's bow still lolls about in the surf, attached to a protruding timber by a thick rope, as if someone had moored the boat to the wreck.
It does not take long however for the source of the racket below decks to male itself known. Another sea scorpion, this one larger than those that attacker you on the beach, comes scrambling out of a doorway to investigate the possibility of easy prey.
Settles into a wide stance on the shifting deck.
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Not wanting to weaken the ship further Abshail readies his spear instead of a bomb.
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