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"Good thinking, let's secure this side of the bank first, stealthily. We might be able to spot something or force the hand of whatever is causing trouble."
Vivian moves down the bank, following cover and taking her time. She tries to be stealth about it and watch for signs of activity, past or present, on both sides. Once she's passed a ways down the shore eventlessly, she'll trek back to the bend by the ship and confer with Gad on the best way to cross.
"Understood."
While Viv and Gad still can't see anything on the other side of the river Vivian does stumble upon a bullseye lantern and a series of mirrors strung throughout the trees further down the riverbank.
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Vivian takes a long moment looking over the lantern and mirrors.
"This is, too odd." She whispers to Gad.
Back up by the horse and where they started to see the crashed boat, Vivian turns to the trusty half-orc again, "Ok, we need to get across the river now. What are our options? Swim or Boat token? Swimming is not an option for me, so if you want to save it for emergencies leave it with me and swim. Then I can use to to boat across if you get in a bind."
Smiling with a novel idea, Gad hands the token to Vivian easily. Winking at Qina, Gad then takes a big breath, lifts a small boulder from nearby into his arms, and wades into the river casually, but on alert. He then just starts walking across the bottom...
"Oh no, you're not wandering off by yourself. I may not be able to do whatever it is you're about to do but I'll be...well I don't know what I'll be but it's something really weird if you think you're leaving without my protections."
Before Gad could get too far into the river, Qina chased after him, chanting her magical words as she went.
Neither Vivian nor Gad'larr know what the deal is with the lantern and the mirrors, though Gad posits that it may be a form of signal system. As Gad begins walking into the river Qina tags him with one of her spells before waiting with the others by the horse.
The stones along the rivers bottom are slick with algae and loose sand, but this is nothing to the half-orcs trained balance.
Carefully sticking his eyes above water, Gad tries to hide among the reeds and see if there is any noticable danger first before he exits. Luckily his skin in naturally green-tinged and matches the surrounding flora and algae-covered flotsam pretty well.
Gad uses the terrain to his advantage, gently setting the large stone down under the water and coming up in an area heavy with reeds. Closer to the barge it is clear that most of the damage is superficial, though it will take work to clean it up. Again Gad sees no sign of habitation or movement on or around the boat.
Seeing no enemies and no traps, Gad will stride out of the river easily and obviously, no longer hiding. If there is a trap, he now WANTS it to go off.
No rush of movement, no sounds outside nature, no hidden trap draws Gad'larr's vision. It appears the area around the barge is empty of intelligent beings.
Gad waves back at the others, then points at the river barge without shouting.
He checks over the hull first with a professional eye...
Then checks for tracks.
If the boat looks sturdy enough and safe, then Gad will take a running jump to leap up on board the deck suddenly with his Horn of Fog in hand!
Gad scrutinizes the barge and finds the hull sturdy enough to allow it to float, though he can't see into the small cabin with the doors only partially open. His following leap causes the boat to rock a bit in the sand, but otherwise it is a relatively stable surface.
Putting the Horn away, Gad moves stealthily towards the cabin to check it out...
As Gad moves towards the cabin he picks up faint hints of oil. Stopping and looking more thoroughly he finds some tripwire along the bottom of the door that hooks upwards to a spot that he can't see just behind it. On the floor of the cabin itself is oil, surrounding a locked chest that has been shoved against the far wall with plenty of dents and scratches in its surface.
Looking fairly simple, Gad will attempt to disable...
...and fail.
Gad tries to mess with the wire, but stops when the tension seems to be a bit off, threatening to set off whatever the trap is.
Sighing, Gad tries to quell his internal vibrations to steady his hands.
Gad'larr works the wire out from its position and places it out of the way. He opens the door and discovers several flasks of alchemist's fire hanging and ready to be dropped on the oil slicked floor. The locked chest is actually stuck to the floor and nothing Gad does is able to move it from its spot.
"GAD. SEE ANYTHING?" Qina shouted. Despite the many days and lessons spent with her favorite dwarf, many teachings remained unmastered. She meant well, but still had a lot of growing up to do.
Gad removes the alchemist's fire, and puts them away safely in his pack. He then moves back out and onto the deck. He hears Qina and moves out on the deck to be seen by the others. He waves.
"Everyone come over! Use the token! It appears safe for now!"
The rest of the Keepers quickly pull out the token for the boat, making it appear with a puff of smoke. There is a small moment of terror as Vivian, in her armor, makes the entire vessel rock unsteadily, but fairly quickly the your team makes it across to Gad'larr standing on the slanted deck.
"Brezik? Qina? I've got a strange chest for you to look at and see if you can open it."
Bel does his best to help as the makeshift craft makes its way across the river but it is clear he is distracted, his mind is on other things. Shaking his head vigorously he steps of the boat and on to the opposite bank, ready to lend aid in any way he can.
Gad shrugs.
"It's all I've found. River cargo barges tend to be mostly 'barge' than anything else really."
"Oooh, let me try it first. I bet I can do it. I've been practicing with Brezik."
"That's odd. Why is it stuck in place?" she asked as she blushed, her tools almost stuck into the lock on the chest.
"I mean, how are you supposed to take it with you if it's stuck to the floor. That doesn't make any sense."
Scratching his head, Gad answers as best he can.
"Ships can get very tossed around from time to time. Nailing stuff down is one way to keep some things from moving when you don't want them to do so. A river barge? I'm unsure. I've heard of trap doors and smuggling holes disguised as chests too...on some ships."
Upon further inspecting the chest you realize, contrary to Gad's words, the chest is not nailed down at all. But that doesn't explain why it won't move from this spot, and the oil surrounding it would probably help with that if it could move.
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"What about the ship, has it been compromised? Could we push off?" Vivian shudders at the thought of being on the water again, but as she watches the riverside she doesn't feel comfortable staying very long here either unless they properly case the area and setup warning devices. "If we're going to be here over night, we should secure the area."
Gad nods emphatically and gestures broadly.
"Captain, if you would secure the area with Bel? Then Qina, Brezik and I can inspect the ship for problems and other traps. I will determine if the ship is water-worthy at least and with Brezik's help fix any small problems. We should also try and figure out the owner's name eventually, if they are not all dead. We can then try and return the ship once we are finished...commandeering it temporarily for our immediate needs?"
Turning to Qina, Gad wonders aloud.
"Is the chest magical Mother Dragon? If it's not nailed down then it might be magical in nature...or cursed. Seaman are superstitious and often worry about curses and bad spirits. The chest could contain something unnatural. That may be the real reason why it was trapped."
This part of the beach is sandy for a small stretch of twenty feet before quickly changing back to the light woods of Lastwall with the Fangwood forest further north. Visibility is difficult further than about 200 or so feet because of the abundant cover in the area.
Qina's inspection of the chest reveals that it is not magical, but the edges around the bottom of the chest are an incredibly powerful transmutation magic. Spending more time looking at it she discovers it is being held in place with sovereign glue.
Gad'larr has less luck, discovering that the barge has no way to repair its mast and the sails that are still on board are soaked in oil. The barge itself has only taken surface damage and remains sea, or in this case river, worthy, though you'll need to find another way to propel it with the sails useless.
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Vivian and Bel start by marching upriver roughly 30ft off the bank where the footing is better. After going a considerable ways, they begin a half mile long arc centered on the wrecked ship. Ending at the river again but now considerably down stream, they continue back to the ship wreck roughly 15 minutes later.
"How are we going to steer it?"
Smiling, Gad waves at the rear of the ship.
"Well there is a rudder and a wheel to guide it, but the sail does a lot too Mother Dragon. If we can get the mast repaired somehow, that would be ideal. Any sign of that magical glue around anywhere? That would probably hold the mast together long enough for us to get to a civilized area and replace it."
Vivian and Belathorian make a quick patrol of the area surrounding the ship, crunching through the rough terrain in their heavier armor. They discover the remains of several crates, smashed open and their wood scattered among the foliage. Whatever was in the crates is long gone, and the crates are not too far away from the location of the boat.
After doing a second check of the barge Gad grumbles but spits out the truth easily to the Captain once she gets back.
"Without a sail, the pace would be slow going, and we would not be able to really stop easily without a dock to tie up to. However, the river is running in the direction we need to go in and the barge should float with the current easily enough. Once we get started, we would need to continue until we reached a specific destination. It would be faster than walking in the end, but you guys would have to help me sail this thing somehow. We could use the magical boat we conjured to get us pulled back into the water I think, but that one won't last beyond today. What say you Captain: Should we salvage the boat, or move on?"
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Vivian nods to Gad's logic, watching the river idly flow by. The water made her skin crawl. She tried to imagine it as molten metal but the daydream didn't help, the two didn't act the same. When Gad was finished she thought for sometime before speaking. "Am I right that you're saying it is barely maneuverable? We'd need to get river poles to push off the banks and sandbars as we went? I don't like the risk, personally. Crashing and being thrown or pinned, drowning. Maybe if more of us had more of an idea of what we were doing, but..." she shakes her head. "All we found was evidence of shattered crates, in-land off the river from here. This lot seems to have been looted already. Brezik, can you attempt to break into that chest? Then we should be off, across the river again."
Turning to Gad for more of a personal aside, "I'm sorry, this might be an opportunity for you but I see too much risk in it. I'm much more comfortable on the land and our pace isn't too foul. If you wish, take the magical boat for as long as it lasts with whomever once I've been ferried back to the horse. I can catch up with you all down river. Maybe you'll see something? I hope you understand." In her eyes is honest apology but no regret. Despite her uneasiness, she believes this is the right course of action.
"Hmm, I wonder..." Qina leaned down in front of the chest at first. Then she got down on her hands and knees. First she put her ear up to the key hole. After a few seconds, she nodded.
"Okay, that makes sense" she said, talking to the chest. She turned her head and put her mouth right up to the keyhole. She whispered a few quick words to the keyhole and finished by shouting "OPEN!" at it. Then she tried to lift the top.
Gad shrugs.
"I may have put too much caution into my words Captain. We would have the ship's wheel/rudder to basically guide us, but if the water got choppy or too quick, it might be difficult to turn or stop quickly yes. Either way we travel is fine by me. As far as the magical boat is concerned, we could all ride in the boat along with the horses until the magic is spent. I'm sure you noticed, it runs by YOUR thought power since you activated the token, and it takes a lot to sink it that kind of magical vessel. Besides we should stay together since it travels pretty fast on its own. I can almost guarantee your...everyone's safety until we reach a stopping point on land with it."
Gad tries to sound convincing.
The chest springs open at Qina's command, seeming almost eager to do so. Peering into the confines there is surprisingly little inside, though what is there is incredibly shiny. Several platinum bars line the bottom of the chest. Folded neatly among them is a cloak with what appears to be eagle feathers around the back and arms of it.
In a large leather wallet is what appears to be a shipping manifest, mostly clothing and leather worked items. It is dated from a two weeks ago, indicating that the attack on this barge may have happened a week or more earlier.
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As Gad insists Vivian tries not to visibly cringe, "Let's all take the magical ferry then, if it is that safe."
When the chest opens Vivian is keen to see what is in side as well. Looing at the manifest, Vivian will try to deduce from whom and where, and to whom and where this vessel was operating. "That's an interesting eagle cloak, anyone have an idea about it?"
This appears to be the merchant that was mentioned when you were still in Kassen. This barge came from Tamran, though its home port was Crossfen.