Esmerelda has her suspicions confirmed as she pulls herself onto the ship. The rotten deck of the this ancient barge seems to be barely intact, its hull worn and thick with seaweed and barnacles. The barge is held together primarily by the layers of old rope that lash it securely to the pilings that support the fishery and the nearby boardwalk. A single wooden door leading into the aft cabin bears a crude painting of a red fish on its surface.
Esmerelda waits for the others to catch up before attempting to open the door. "Looks like this is the only way in. Let's hope Lamm is still here."
Caulder loads a bolt into his crossbow as he watches Esmerelda and then Tendrizu carefully board the ship. "You going on board?" he calls ahead to Pagrip. "I've always heard dwarves and boats don't mix."
"Might as well," Pagrip says. "I wouldn't want to be seen as too grumbly." Pagrip steps gingerly onto the boat. Once he's sure the floor won't fall out from under him, he joins Esmerelda and Ten.
Caulder smiles grimly as he watches the dwarf join the others on the boat. "I'll keep watch from here. If they run from you, they'll have to choose between facing me or the sharks." He raises his crossbow, ready to shoot.
The door opens effortlessly, revealing a dank room beyond. The air in this room is thick and musty. Thick sheets of cobwebs hang from the walls and mounds of blankets, cushions, and straw clutter the floor. A narrow flight of stairs leads down to the south into the ship’s hold.
Motioning to the cobwebs "Doesn't look like cleaning was a priority here." She takes one look at the pillows shaking her head "Poor children." Then she leads the way into the hold.
While Esmerelda walks in the cabin, a cat-sized spider propels itself at her. Angry mandibles chink harmlessly against her armor as the vermin lands on her shoulder, eight hairy legs clinging to her arm and neck.
Next up: Pagrip, spider, Esmerelda, Ten, Caulder
"Eek. Get it off. I hate spiders."
Oh, well done, Esmerelda. now everyone thinks you are a little girl.
Pagrip moves into the room beside Esmerelda. With a grimace, he reaches out, grabs the spider, and pulls it away from her. He drops it to the side.
Holding the handful of vermin by one hindleg Pagrip manages to lift the spider off Esmerelda; in spite of the agitated stirring of the arachnid its just too small to get a bite on Pagrip. When it lands it immediately rears into an aggressive stance, scrabbling forward on its many legs to latch onto Pagrip's leg. A moment later an intensely stinging sensation courses through his shin as the spider bites with vicious accuracy.
The spider is unusually aggressive; though it isn't clear why this should be so.
Next up: Esmerelda, Ten, Caulder, Pagrip, spider
"Ooow!" Pagrip yells as the spider bites him. "Blasted thing!"
"Hold still, Staurmbar or I might trim a bit more than necessary."
Drawing her greatsword, Esmerelda attempts to slice the spider without giving Pagrip too close a shave.
Esmerelda's greatsword leaves spatters and arachnid debris throughout the room. Her bosom heaving with the adrenalin and aftershock of spider embrace; but for now the room is quiet and the intensity of battle dissipates with the dull lapping of the river against the boat.
Caulder hears the girly scream from inside the cabin. "Darkbane! You all right in there?"" he calls, taking a pre-emptive step forward but stopping with an eye on the creaky boardwalk.
"We're all right!" Esmerelda shouts out the door.
Then more quietly to the dwarf "Um, thanks, Staurmbar. Now that everyone knows were are here lets take a look in the ships hold."
Weapon still drawn she proceeds down into the bowels of the ship.
"You're welcome," Pagrip says, bending over and rubbing the wound on his shin. "I think this thing may have poisoned me. Don't suppose anyone's got anything to help with that?"
Dark and dank, the ship’s hold smells of mildew. Several barrels, crates, and other containers lie stacked here and there, and a shallow layer of river water has collected in puddles. Both Pagrip and Esmerelda notice soft scratching sound that comes from behind a few of the crates. However, Pagrip also notices some unusual workmanship along the side wall - a few unusual latches and crossbeams... apparently some form of secret door is in the side of the ship.
"What's that noise? Hey Arentz, Baradin, you joining us?"
Esmerelda goes to look behind the closest crate, sword at the ready.
"I hope its not more spiders"
Hairy crawly ugly things Esmerelda glances at the Pagrim Hairy like the dwarf. Focusing back on the noises Don't get distracted.
Caulder looks at the barely floating wreck and sighs. Then he makes his way carefully along the boardwalk to the boat. "What'd you find?" he asks Esmerelda. "Another dead-end lead?"
"Nope!" Pagrip calls back. "Looks like some sort of secret passage! A secret passage on a boat. Who'd've thought?" He pulls out his warhammer and moves to help Esmerelda. "Oh, and maybe more spiders!"
Secret passage to where? Besmara's watery embrace? Gozreh's basement? Caulder stops at the top of the stairs and gestures expansively to Tendrizu. "After you, citizen."
Taking a deep breath first, Ten climbed down the stairs, with trusty club in hand. "You do not have to call me 'citizen'. Try calling me Ten."
It doesn't take long for the party to acclimatize to the body of the ship, the soft swaying in the water, the creaking of ancient timbers, the sound of rope stretching to tautness and relaxing. Pagrip discovery turns out accurate: a secret door, of sorts, graces the ship's body to the east. It isn't immediately obvious how the door is opened, and before the assembled can leverage their superior cunning the skittering from beyond the crates to the south becomes a full scale invasion of remarkably large spiders. Each is easily the size of a large rodent or small cat.
These spiders are sometimes known as dream spiders; their secretions are used by certain alchemist to extract a drug popular in all echelons of society.
Up next: Ten, Pagrip, Esmerelda, spiders, Caulder
Esmerelda lets out a small squeak as Pagrip says the s-word. And a slightly louder squeal which is quickly cut short as she sees the spiders crawling closer.
Have got to stop doing that she thinks angry and embarrassed at herself.
Breathing a bit more heavily than strictly required, Esmerelda attempts to move toward the closest spider and swing at its millions of tiny staring eyes that seem to gleam with evil intelligence.
"Ugh. Hairy and beady eyed."
Ten rapidly calculates the potential monetary value of each spider. Capturing them alive would be best, but he didn't have the necessary gear to do so. Plus, the skittish paladin was apparently not going to be of much help until the spiders were thoroughly squashed.
"What a waste of good stock."
Ten's small explosive detonates with a small flash, a short-lived fire engulfs the two spiders. The direct target of the impact curls up with a screeching cracking, landing on its back and uncurling two front legs that slowly fold back into the main body of the arachnid. The second spider survives the blaze, looking much worse for wear.
Up next: Pagrip, Esmerelda, spiders, Caulder, Ten
Caulder seems affronted by the very existence of the spiders. When Ten makes his remark, he turns outraged eyes on the alchemist. "Kill. Them. All," he commands and then moves to do exactly that.
"Blasted spiders," Pagrip says and moves up to the nearest where he attempts to smash it with his warhammer.
Pagrip acts swiftly and decisively, his attack finishes of the fire-damaged spider. Esmerelda is not nearly so effective. Her greatsword is far too cumbersome to be wielded effectively in these cramped quarters and she only succeeds in smashing a small leak into the side of the ship. Water oozes through the tiny crack in with a slow but steady rate. The spider lunges forth as Esmerelda tries to wrench the giant sword from the wood - but the paladin reacts quickly this time, ripping the greatsword out and slamming it into the spider with such finality that little but spidery goo remains, that clings to the mighty weapon.
The second spider escapes the swing and scrabbles onto Esmerelda's leg and its tiny pincers pierce her skin; leaving little more than a swelling scar.
Caulder, very matter of factly, comes around the stairs and with a cold efficiency slays the spider right off Esmerelda.
"Damn," Caulder says, looking at the trickle of inflowing water. "Dwarf, you seem to have some ... unconventional methods for opening a door. See if you can get that open without sinking the ship. Darkbane, let's tear open these crates. If there's evidence of criminal activity in them, we can't let them be lost."
Pagrip hurries over to the secret door. "Unconventional?" he says. "I suppose you could say that. All it really is, is just knowing how doors work and how they're put together. That's all." He goes to work on the door.
Clearly relieved the spiders are taken care of, she breathes "Thanks, Caulder."
She wipes the ooze off her blade and follows Caulders lead looking for evidence, stepping around what's left of the corpses.
"Um. The boat appears to be going down, sorry about that. Arentz... Ten... Could you help Staurmbar with that door? Force appears to work."
In spite of Esmerelda's apology, there's no immediate threat of sinking away just yet; the leak allows a steady trickle to seep into the hold.
Though there is a chance of the water pressure opening the crack more over time.
Caulder and Esmerelda find nothing meaningful within the crates, only a few mouldy rags. However, around the rear cargo and particularly the aft of the hold is covered with dream spider webs.
The webs, along with actual dream spider venom, are essential ingredients in making shiver. A highly addictive drug.
"Useless," Caulder mutters under his breath. "Just a lot of junk. The presence of the spiders alone could be incriminating," he goes on hopefully, "but Lamm could credibly claim they were a population escaped from a shiver distiller that simply staked a claim in his old ship," he concludes in disgust.
"Sorry folks," Pagrip says, still working on the door. "This door is pretty...uh...stuck. This could take a little while."
He'll keep trying as long as he has time.
"Aha!" he says triumphantly. "That did it!"
Note to self: keep mouth closed.
Ten approached the dwarf, drawing his crowbar at the same time. Just as he was about to offer help, however, Pagrip declared his success. "Good work, dwarf.
Esmerelda gingerly moves the stands of spider web out of her way with the greatsword as if they might be hiding more spiders. At Staurmbar's exclamation she breathes "Thank the gods. Lets get out of this infested hold. After you." She motions the dwarf to lead the way.
Pagrip quite enjoys this puzzle. The secret door, though not sophisticated, shows a remarkable degree of cleverness. A good minute later the broadside of the hull opens a sizable 5-by-5 foot hatch, and it is apparent that a lower gangway leads from the boat a scant 2 feet above water level to a door on the east side.
Caulder eyes the gangway warily, hoping this one is of newer and sturdier construction than the one on the upper level.
Pagrip takes a close look at the gangway, making certain there aren't any traps.
If it appears safe, he steps carefully onto it and begins moving towards the door at the far end.
The gangway proves to be as sturdy as the previous one; the planks creaking ominously as Pagrip steps onto them - but holding his weight. His cursory inspection finds no errant danger about the walkway, other than the age and rot that was obvious to start with.
"Let the dwarf go on ahead a ways before you follow," Caulder advises the others. "I'll bring up the rear. That way if I fall in, the rest of you can still get Lamm. Besides," he grins humorlessly, "I'm already wet anyway."
"Sure, let the dwarf attract the sharks!" Pagrip quips. He chuckles a little as he moves along. "Oh well, they'll probably find me tough and flavourless anyway."
With a serious expression, Esmerelda says "Really, Baradin. We have to get you out of those wet clothes after we are done here."
To the dwarf she continues "Sharks are better than spiders at the very least. Move along Staurmbar, we can't put too much weight on these planks at once. I'll follow. Are...Ten. You watch my back."
With a serious expression, Esmerelda says "Really, Baradin. We have to get you out of those wet clothes after we are done here."
Caulder grins at Tendrizu as the paladin follows Pagrip down the gangway. "It's the uniform," he intimates. "Catnip to the ladies." He gestures with his arm for the alchemist to precede him onto the hidden path.
"It's the uniform," he intimates. "Catnip to the ladies."
Although it is hard to see from the vantage point under the fishery, the sun is setting deep in the west. The late light paints the river with a deep crimson tone.
"I'm going, I'm going," Pagrip mutters as he makes his way along the gangway. When he reaches the door at the end (assuming a shark doesn't leap out of the water and swallow him), he stops and listens at it. If he doesn't hear anything, he'll give it a check for traps. If he does hear something...well that'll depend what he hears. :)