"All right, I'll go take a look." Azri said. Many things wouldn't react to the presence of a dead entity they would a living one - and a cloud formed under her feet before she shot across the distance between the rowboat and the other ship. "Now, what do we have here...?"
His reaction to the pointed stares is simply raising a armored hand palm up and wiggling a finger beckoning. It ether means feel free to challenge me or come at me anytime weakling. Personally he found it as yet more proof of their lacking. To have your spirit wounded at the smallest word or challenge. Pity, not a one even had the courage to fail.
As they approach the ship, he looks over the wreck.
"Should I take Alerdene and do a fly over?"
"I'll round up a crew while you have a look. Don't stray too far." Mihara suggests, seeking a leader of the assembled folk.
"We'll take you up on your offer. We need a few good men or women with nautical experience. Rest assured that your efforts will be appreciated by the city, and that no good deed shall go unrewarded."
The Shadow Archon discussed compensation with the crew before boarding, opening with offering the standard day rate for trained hired workers and making arrangements to visit their settlement to talk more in a few days time. The interaction brought to mind that such things may need to be discussed with Azerna for their stay...another idea. Aibek wanted to make sure people's help was appropriately recognized...and paid for.
When an agreement had been reached, Aibek's mind went to other expenses. Other than this and possibly Azerna, they had little they needed to purchase that was available -- dreams of shadow artifacts aside. Food obviously, some more paper and charcoal and more letters to send and maybe some help finding and gathering a few supplies like tree seeds and making up to date maps... While preparing their bags and readjusting their goggles back over their eyes, the shadow archon idlely commented as the ideas passed that soon they might be looking for people to help within the city that might be suitable for others they knew. If they were going to restore Khalharum, help would be required.
Aibek spent most of the short trip over trying to be helpful and observing people, showing obvious preferences for shadier places.
Aibek hardly held back a low chuckle at Nigrum's taunt and admired the ship workers lack of reaction to it as they diligently worked at their tasks. It reminded the witchwolf of pups when their early changes had taken their senses and training. Some kids went around challenging all at the slightest sign of disapproval, others at the slightest sign of approval ended up...well...both and more were often ignored in the early years but later strictly trained out of them. Aibek shook the memories and smile off as more memories came - when The Sworn came...dealing with those who think a deity will bless them if one dies, and even more if they all die by their 'holy' hands, means everyone must be thought of equally and working together for survival for any death The Sworn may consider a victory... And new Sworn came with blighted bright burning, might and holiness their only justification, not caring the taint they brought on everyone. Rage, fear, tears, not mine but bound and running through me, and then...
Another deep breath, another head shake, Aibek wrapped warm shadows around their hands and claws, more emotions and thoughts rolling through them unbidded, flittering over the shadow archon's features before they schooled their face again as they looked out over the wreck. Clenching and unclenching clawed hands before moving to the prepared row boat, thanking the crew for their help and advice with a smile and a nod, attempting to keep their voice warm and even and so said little else...
Aibek tilted their head slightly as they stared at the strange vines, expecting movement from infected plant psuedo-undead creatures at any moment...but not sure what form that would take. Swiftly, Aibek pulled the shadows into a finely crafted appearing shadowblade light repeating crossbow while looking over the boat carefully, glancing back occasionally at their own vessel...
The sounds of the sea and the creak of the soaked wood are all you can hear. The vessel rocks, very slightly, as the waves hit it. However, the main deck seems to be clear. Two huge, iron bound hatches lead from the deck into the ships cargo bays. Another door leads off the main deck and down, it's door missing. A final door, likely leading to the captain's quarters, is also visible.
Shrugging, Azri made her way towards the Captain's quarters. If there was information to be found, that was usually a good place to find it - and the sooner they got everything all figured out, the better.
Mihara follows along. She motions for the party to wait as they come near the door, and creeps ahead to listen at the door, taking her distintive three-tailed fox shape along the way.
Serena follows after the others in the captain's cabin,keeping her guard up in case the vines tried anything funny.
Aibek did their best to secure the rowboat to the wreck to prevent it from floating away. The witchwolf didn't much care for trying to swim in this nor losing a useful rowboat.
After looking back over the ship that had brought them, Aibek took up the rear position, walking slowly behind the others, with crossbow raised, watching and listening carefully as they moved.
The captain's cabin was oddly neat. There was no sign of that the ship had even run aground, bar the obvious tilt. Any items that were not screwed down had been removed for safety. The back wall, however, and the glass window in it were both covered by thin tendrils of vines, pretty violet flowers blooming now ad then.
For Aibek and Mihara, the strongest scent came from the cargo hold shutters. It was not a pleasant smell.
Azri fixed the room's layout in her mind, then shrugged and headed over to rejoin the others. "Not much in the Cabin." she noted, moving over to the cargo hold. That was about the time her cloud ran out of energy, and she didn't bother to renew it. "Right... in here, huh?" Azri said, bending down and putting her ear to the hatch. Mostly, she just wanted to see if she could hear anything close to the hatch - and if she didn't, she'd pop it open and go inside.
"Nnngh. There's something extremely foul-smelling down in the cargo hold, and I'd wager it's not friendly. We'd better proceed carefully."
Nigrum flies on his mount overhead. Circling until needed, his armor had no play on such a ship if it could be avoided.
Azri didn't hear anything as she placed her ear against the hatch. Opening it revealed...slaves. The hold had been converted to hold them, so perhaps it wasn't a surprise. Dim eyes looked up as the hatch opened and what was left of the poor souls rose to their feet, clustering in the sunlight with a look of...pleasure? Hunger? Satiation, perhaps.
Of course, soon eyes turned to you, but there was no obvious way out. Only the hoist that was used to lower or raise people up.
Aibek caught on the foul smell, pulling their watchful eyes towards the cargo hold as Azri opened it. "Oh shadows no..." were the first words to fall out of the witchwolf's mouth. Aibek had remembered that this ship had crashed around three months ago and there were plant-pseudo-undead causing problems, but the idea of a whole hold of enslaved people who...
After a moment of thought, Aibek continued in a pained voice that slowly calmed into a calculating ramble, "They're obviously stuck in there...the ones causing the people of Khalharum problems must be the former crew of this...slaver ship. I suggest finding and dealing with those first, possibly by following some of these vines, then decide how best to handle those in the hold. They seem attracted to the light..."
The shadow archon stepped back, pulling their gaze from the people to the other plants. The plants leading them to others was only a theory but it seemed sound. Another theory the witchwolf had was attacking any of it might bring all the infected down on their heads, but didn't want to test that one yet...
Eyes focus on Ayreth, but there is neither intelligence nor life in them.
Aibek can see there is no other entrance into the hold. However, the smell comes from what appears to be the ships supplies mixed with water. Fertilizer. Thin tendrils of green are just visible beneath the creatures skin, and extend into the water.
"Until it's determined that we have no hope of curing them, yes, I believe it is only fair to call them people." Mihara says, having returned to bipedal form.
"Well, you'd need something pretty powerful." Azri observed. As she carefully moved forward - another undead, and so quite unlikely to trigger any hostility towards the living - she focused on the plant and tried to recall anything about it she could. The sooner they knew what they were actually dealing with, the better.
The plant has been warped and tainted with magic. It is likely a fusion of several plants, including the Cordyceps mushroom and the clematis vine, but with others likely included as well. As to why someone would create such a thing...
The witchwolf quietly pondered over what they saw, which only further convinced Aibek that those in the hold weren't the priority concern, stuck as they were with no way out. The plants went down, it seemed the way to go...
"I'm going to see what other rooms this ship has...where the crew and the rest of this plant are hiding Aibek commented, listening and watching for signs of others as they slowly moved with careful, quiet incorporeal steps out of where the others were to seek out other lower rooms...hoping to find them before they found Aibek...
"I'll come with you. Safety comes in numbers, and two heads are better than one."
Mihara follows Aibek, creeping through the ship and looking for potential clues or threats herself.
Nigrum keeps lazily circling above on his mount. Keeping an eye out until someone says otherwise or he spots something.
At the moment, Azri's opinion was leaning towards 'burn the whole thing down', but for the moment she stayed with the others and kept an eye on both the corpses and the plant's vines, ready to act if either decided to be a problem.
Accessing the lower decks was a simple enough matter, but the ship was oddly abandoned. The crew quarters, galley, sickbay...all showed signs of fighting, but none of the bodies from whoever did it.
Finally, you reach the cargo hold. The one not dedicated to slavery, but for ship's supplies and anything else that might be worth selling from plundered vessels. The door stands open, and among the remains of the ships food stores, once again smashed open and mixed with water, stand several of the plant creatures. The six of them stand before a heavy metal door, sealed shut, hammering on it in a mindless effort to enter.
They are paying you no attention, but anything of use or value aboard this vessel is likely behind that door.
"Hmm... want to just blow away them, and the door with them?" Azri asked, apparently having no problem at all with such violence. She seemed to think the boat was pretty much a wreck anyway, given the problems with the plants onboard - that could come back with a vengeance later unless they firmly got rid of it.
"Let's see of we can just shove them away from the door and open it." Selena comments, cautiously moving toward the metal door.
It turned out that entering the room was a step too far Blank eyed stares turned on you, and the monsters turned from the door and began walking towards you.
One of these days, she was going to have to learn how to command shambling hordes of undead. What kind of self-respecting lich couldn't exert her will over lesser corpses, eh? Raising one hand, she flicked out a ray of fire that shot towards the closest corpse. ...Plants hated fire, right?
for
Scanning the most-likely-crew while remaining back, Aibek fired a shadowblade bolt quickly at the closest creature to Selena to allow her more room to move forward to the door if she still wanted to do so.
On seeing Azri's fire hex, a low chuckle rose out the witchwolf with the words, "I was going to suggest light magic could be used as a distraction, if they are similar to the others...but being on fire is likely more of one..."
Aibek looked around wearing an amused smile, with a quick glance back, as they prepared their next shot. It was a wonder whether people or daylight would be a bigger draw to those infected with these plants, but not one Aibek wanted to experiment with right now.
"I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, but we don't have a choice."
Mihara draws her blades and lunges for the closest target.
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ayreth chants a few words, firing off a spell, hoping to avoid the need for violence. Lights flash out of her palm toward the infected crew.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
"Looks like it, Foxy." Selena clicks her tongue, moving forward to restrain one of the creature that were still unharmed.
Between there attacks, Aibek and Azri destroyed one of the creatures, and Mihara dropped another.
...and the remaining four, utterly entranced by Ayreth's spell, were easy pickings.
The monsters defeated in brutal and swift fashion, the path to the metal door is open. It soon becomes apparent that it is locked, and a large keyhole suggests the source of that problem.
"A keyhole that large? Child's play."
"Fire is a good disinfectant." Azri noted as Mihara worked. Her expression, as usual, was calm and serene - even if her suggestion was a little more... well... active.
It does not take long for Mihara to pop the lock. Inside the small room are several chests...and in one corner, what is left of a body. Vines and creepers emerge from the bulk of the corpse, attempting to find ways out. It looks like only a minimal number - the small tendrils you've seen - have managed to escape the sealed room. The plants themselves look ill, withered and browning. Not too surprising given the lack of light, water or anything else in the room.
The corpses hand holds a small red journal.
"Let's see if we can find out exactly what happened here." Selena says, walking to the corpse and gently prying the red journal from it's hands.
Azri simply kept her fingers pointed at the corpse, ready to torch it the moment it showed signs of animation. ...Same if the plants started growing wildly. She didn't have any interest in taking chances with such things.
If there was anything left in the creature, it didn't show it, and didn't resist the journal being pulled from its grasp.
It is, perhaps not shockingly, the ship's log book. Most of the entries are horrible, but routine - number of people captured, prices they were sold for, punishments of the crew an the like. The last few entries prove to be a touch more interesting.
We received a commission to hit that ruined city on Stonespine. Odd work, but paid well enough. Our job was to enter that collapsed tower in the middle and report back. Seems simple enough. We'll see if we can take on cargo as well.
~~~
Of course it wasn't the simple job it seemed. I lost twenty crewmen to some plants, of all things, as we tried to continue up. And the damned peasants who lived there cripped the rudder and sails. I ordered the sea anchor to hold us in position while repairs are made, at least enough to let us limp to Okeno.
~~~
We brought some kind of parasite back with us from those towers. Some of the crew have changed. One got into the cargo, and now the whole lot will be a loss. Damned shame, some of them were worth a pretty penny. Worse, I seem to have something too. I can feel it itching beneath my skin. I'll get the hacksaw to look me over.
~~~
Some of the infected got free somehow, and attacked the crew. During the fighting no one noticed the sea anchor had gone, and we grounded on a reef. The hull is pierced and we've taken on too much water. I suspect the ship is a loss. I have holed up in the rear locker, but don't have much food or water.
~~~
I'm infected. The tendrils are beneath my skin. For some reason I can still think. I don't know why. This morning I found myself rooted to the deck. It took everything I had to tear myself free. I can hear the crew, beyond the door, waiting for me. I can hear what they're thinking, too, such as it is. There's nothing left of the people I knew.
~~~
Stuck now. Too tired. Can't pull free. Need...need the sun. I crave it more than the water that ran out days ago. I can feel the green, pushing into my mind. I willed the crew to find help - any help - so I could feel the sun once more. They went to do so.
Whatever is left of me when someone finds this, it will not be me. I can feel that much. For all my sins in life, I do not fear the Boneyard. If you have an ounce of mercy in your souls, send me and my men to Hell, where we belong.
"...For the record, I have no problem with fulfilling that last wish." Azri noted, although she didn't go as far as starting to do so. They had to do something with this place, after all.
"Should we do the same for what's left of the others, or do you think there's a cure?" Selena clicks her tongue "Doesn't look like it. Should we open those crates?"