Since Gatherine insisted and she is here anyway,Iolana looks the lockers in these rooms i don't remember being so much dirty,i'ld give everything now for a long hot bath and loads of soap
"Some of these trickets may be of value,if we were in a city with lots of markets.I'm more interested in food or survival means now.If any of you wants to take this stuff we'll share it when we can"
Gatherine went back into the hall to retrieve both footlockers and set them down near the bed.The dwarf maid rummaged through both,offering Iolana the wool blanket to cover herself and picking up the ledger and the canvas journal.Her eyes switching to darkvision,she began to skim from both for anything relative.
She shoved the second footlocker with the tribal trinket and bones over to Mugambi with a foot.Oi,Mugambi,I think these bones and dolls belong to her.Some jewelry here as well.And I also found...this lock of hair,pressed flowers,sketches,and this odd flute.
She distractedly motioned to the other doorway across the hall,unsure if anyone saw as she read.Also found a body in the first room over there.Could be the captain.
"Thank you darling."
Iolana takes the wool blanket and rolls it around her chest,than cuts away a strip of it and uses it as a sort of cord to tie it up,fixing it just over her breasts.
"Not very elegant,but better than before"
Mugambi casts light on his shield and then detect magic in all the contents of both footlockers and in both rooms. While doing so he says:
Ma Gatherine, would you please read aloud the journal?
The journal has only a dozen or so entries .. it starts with the writer "Berzac" saying he was anxious about his first assignment with the Tears of Grog mercenaries .. Their clients were a Mwangi brother and sister who had hired them to rid their little village of pirate invaders. Their payment was a few magic trinkets.
When they arrived they realized that the "invaders" were fellow Chelaxians .. that certainly upped the price. When the twins were unwilling to renegotiate, it became clear it would be much more simple to just get rid of their Mwangi clients ... when things turned physical, the male used another magic trinket to try to defend himself.
Therefore they figured they would try to find out what else the two had for the taking. When they resisted, the mercenary captain keelhauled the brother and chained the sister to get her to speak. Unfortunately she just kept repeating the same thing in her native tongue (which no one spoke). She repeated it so many times, the writer of the journal copied it down phonetically.
Gatherine frowned at the sparse amount of entries in the faded canvas journal but a shudder of dread squeezed its way down her stout spine at what she read,...Ugh.How awful...these guys were Chelexians!Some sod named Berzac wrote this...apparently he was nervous about his first job aboard the ship as a sell-sword.It says that thier last job was to rid a pair of Mwangi siblings of pirates invading thier village.Those trinkets were suppossed to be thier payment but when the mercs found out that the invaders were 'fellow' Chelaxians,they raised the price.The twins didn't want to renegotiate so the crew decided to just slay them.
The dwarf maid's chubby face twisted into a sour grimace in the gloom as she continued reading,stubby fingers digging into the journal with enough force to twist it out of shape.She clenched her teeth against the rush of sorrow and anger that swam through her chest as she read the last few entries.
Those...bastards!The crew of the Tears of Grog,those dirty Chelexian mercs...!When the siblings tried to fight back,they keelhauled the brother and chained the sister to get her to tell them what else they had of value.She only Polyglot,which none of them spoke.She just kept saying something over and over until she died.
Gatherine peered at the last entry,which sounded out what the native Mwangi woman had said until her death.Uncertainly, she sounded out the few sentences phonetically as it was written before looking at Mugambi's masked face uncertainly.
So...what did she say,Mugambi?
Iolana listened to Gatherine feeling sorry more for her grief than for what happened here past is past, and we didn't take part in it
Still when a woman endures what the sibling had to go through she cannot just stay idle.She always feared what could be of her if she was the one to be caught by pirates or slavers.
"I know the language called Polyglot too hun',let me see please"
Sniffling back angry,bitter tears, the dwarf maid passed the slightly wrinkled canvas journal to the Varisian woman.She started to flip through the ledger she had found in the first footlocker,eyes darting furiously across the pages in the dark.
Now what else can i find out about these devil-kissers...?!
I call down a curse to those on this ship. May calamity find you. May you rise from the dead. Shepard of souls accept mine - and all its burning rage - as your plaything for all eternity in place of their souls.
detect magic shows faint auras from, the pan flute, the pearl inside the ring, sling bullets, crossbow bolts, and two of the tribal fetishes.
(Know-arcana checks for each if you care to determine schools of magic)
this appears to be their "accounting". It shows their clients and payments, number captured killed -- working out bonuses etc .. last few pages before blank pages have been torn out. ... the last date shown is over 80 years ago.
After hearing the words said by Gatherine Mugambi turns very seriuos.
We should leave dis ships, now. Dis place is cursed!
Also some of dis trinkets be magical. Lets bring all dis stuff with us and we figure it out later.
Tol listens to the goings-on wide-eyed and tense, but silent. The dishonor of the Chelaxians mercenaries, to turn upon those they had sworn to protect, makes him shake his head and grit his teeth in silent reproof. At Mugambi's mention of a curse, however, he bustles into action. "A curse!" he looks around fearfully, "Well, let's grab what we need to grab and get out!" He does what he can to assist in removing the treasure with his left hand, leaving his right arm free to wield his axe if necessary.
At Mugambi's haste,Gatherine tossed the ledger back into the first footlocker and seized it in one hand,gripping her pick in the other.
Shouldn't we Unchain her first...?
Iolana hold tight the knot that ties the blanket which covers her torso, so that it won't slip away during the run out the cursed wreck.
"My thoughts exactly.Take the magic trinkets and leave this place.Gatherine,if you think you have the means to release the girl's bones we should try at least."
Gatherine eyed the chains binding the skeleton to the bed thoughtfully.She tucked her pick away and brought the morningstar up to smash the chains where they attached to the bedpost.
Perception!
Aiming carefully,she swung at the chains and the headboard.
Attack the chains
Damage
After several blows the chain breaks free of the headboard .. and then the other.
You do notice any effect (good or bad) freeing the remains from the chains. Everything remains quiet.
"I only prepared damaging spells,and ghosts aren't my area of expertise really.Mugambi,do you think something happened or changed?"
knowledge(religion) take 10 .. may have helped .. may be all that can be done for her. But the longer you linger, the more agitated your own "cavorting spirits" that you play host to become.
Maybe...maybe we did
But who evar she was, she sold her soul to da reaper for revenge. Curses like dat dont go away easily. We should go before we became part of dat too.
The mwangi looks very distressad.
Iolana had already began running.
"Don't want to look a coward,but survival is more important"
Tol hauls the footlocker out into the sunlight of the rocky islet. Gazing across the water to shore, he says, "So, Miss Gatherine. How do you propose we get this lot back to land? What's in here, anyway?"
Goodies,The dwarf maid replied to the elder dwarf.At Mugambi's comment at the curse ensnaring them in its insidious grip,Gatherine snatched hold of the first footlocker with her free hand and motioned with the morningstar as she started to hustle out of the room.
We've done all the good we can do so let's scoot.Before that ghost pops up screaming again.I wanna try on some of this jewelry--after I clean it and if its not cursed.
Iolana had already darted out of the room and was sprinting down the hall,her feet slapping hard on the floorboards.She,Mugambi,and Tol steadily made their way back outside the wreck and stared back out across the water.
…Um,how about you go get Gorra,tie some rope together,tie the footlockers together and float em across while Gorra reel them in from shore?
these footlockers are smugglers' crates .. airtight, water resistant, and buoyant up to a certain weight... might even make swimming easier for an unskilled swimmer.
"If it is a matter of going back to Gorra i can do it,but not sure if i'll be able to handle the horse,never been good with animals"
Tol considered the plan. "Aye, that could work... If we had the rope. I certainly don't have anywhere near enough."
Its a 10 minutes swim to da shore. We dont have that much rope and Mugambi would rather not wait around that much. Can't we gather wood and make improvised floater? Maybe use a barrrel...
The mwangi says looking around for a good floater.
"these footlockers are smugglers' crates .. airtight, water resistant, and buoyant up to a certain weight... might even make swimming easier for an unskilled swimmer."
A bit reluctant,Iolana removes again the blanket Gatherine gave her would have took it off anyway to swim back and uses it to wrap the footlockers.
"I think one of you can simply embrace this wrap and it will help floating.And Mugambi, i didn't strip for your entertainment,please stop staring at my boobies"
Thought not angry with the mwuangi man,Iolana is quick to turn on her heels giving the masked doctor her back,than she dives in the sea.
Gatherine giggled at Iolana's comment to the masked Mwugani man and she struck a pose,wiggling a hip and winking,Oi,stop being naughty,Mugambi!Besides,mine are bigger.
Hearing Tol's scandalized sputter and Mugambi turn pink about his ears,the dwarf maid stowed her buckler,pick,the shield and the morningstar into one footlocker and re-wrapping it,she started shoving it into the water.The dwarf maid plunged in after it,both hands gripping the floating mass while her feet kicked to stay afloat.
C'mon,then!
After a few minutes you lash together a crude raft made of barrels crates and random planks of wood.. it takes close to 30 minutes to get to shore with leg power and a couple makeshift oars.
The red faced tribesman looks embarressed while making to the shore.
women...
Iolana during the waiting on the beach for the dwarves and Mugambi reassures Averin that everything went smoothly.
She then wipes herself with her towel and recovers clothes and armor at long last
"Averin,can you please help me with these buckles? I'm exausted"
When he reaches shore, Tol helps to secure the raft, then makes his way to Gorra. After satisfying himself that she is fine, he dresses and begins to don his armor. "Dry land! For a bit there, I never thought I'd see it again!" He stamps his feet on the ground happily.
"Doctor, might you give me a hand here?"
After his armor is properly arranged, he heads to the trunks and begins to inspect their contents. "Now, let's see what all the fuss was about..." He scans the treasure pile to see if there's anything of sufficient value to justify the trouble they went through.
much of it looks like primitive crafts .. the crossbow bolts and sling bullets are very well made and like the morningstar, have aged well. All should be worth masterwork prices. Morningstar is made with rare smelting process using Alkali salts .. it will never rust, process is rare because of the increased risk of unavoidable flaws, but this weapon looks just fine -- although a little bland in the detailing department .. probably worth 400gold.
pipes are well-made but a little creepy, unless they are magic maybe 30 gold. Maybe more because a slick little suede pouch comes included.
costume jewelry worthless .. pearl maybe 12 gold err Mugambi said that was magic so more than that.
polished bones .. who knows..
Tol rummages through the footlockers. He picks up one of the pieces of jewelry, looking at it with a critical eye, then throws it back in the trunk. "Worthless junk..." he mutters. He examines the crossbow bolts, holding them up to his eye to check their straightness. "Well, those are fine quality... if only one of us had a crossbow, eh?" He chuckles wryly and sets them aside. He picks up the morningstar, testing its balance. "Now this... This is well made, if a bit plain to look at." He inspects the oddly colored metal, and begins to lecture to anyone who happens to be listening. "Now, weapons like this are quite rare. Totally impervious to rust. This alloy is very hard to work, and finding a weapon made of it without flaws is quite a stroke of luck. I'd reckon... 400gp to the right buyer, maybe more. I suppose our trip out to the island might be worth it after all."
Gatherine practically swaggered over to them once she had wiped herself down with a clean rag,changed back into her clothing and armor,and strapped Sneezy Dragon to her left wrist by its leather weapon cord.I'll never leave you behind again,Sneezy.Even when I scrape together enough gold to buy another pistol…
She gathered the wool blanket,wringing it dry and folding it to keep.It was ripped at one edge but serviceable as a blanket for someone her since she hadn't thought to bring a bedroll.
She eyed the tribal jewelry and doll trinketsMaybe worthless to you but Ill take the trinkets for momentos,The dwarf maid started taking out the items she had taken from the wreck of the Jenevire.
May as well split this up here.Don't fancy doing it back at camp with the others--especially with Sasha.So…who gets what?
Gatherine piled the items neatly in a row next to the footlockers.
The darkwood model of the Jenivere that Iolana had mentioned wanting to keep ,the small coffer containing 350gold,the leather satchel containing 11potions,the ring of several keys that had went to Jask's manacles,the captain's log,the manacles,and a spell component pouch.
She gave the items another look.Who wants what?I wanna keep some of the potion s.And my share of the gold I found.
Tol strokes his beard, greed clearly warring with expedience in his thoughtful expression. That is a beauty of a morningstar, quite a collector's item... But in a fight I'd still take my axe or lance. No telling whether I'd be able to get a good price in Sargava, and what I most need is coin to get Gatherine home. Stalling for time, he says, "Well, I believe the good doctor mentioned that some of these knick-knacks might be magical? If so, that adds considerably to the value. Can you be more specific, Doctor? Or, hmm, perhaps Ms. Zerengo?"
After having dressed and equipped back,Iolana untied her hair trying not to worry too much of how much they need washing.
Then she lied down on her bedroll relaxing a bit while the dwarves were rummaging through the loot.
"Sorry mr.Cherthand, i need to rest to replenish that kind of spell.And i would't care so much how to distribute the loot now,not very useful out here.I'm interested just in the money if there isn't a better light armor than mine,spell scrolls or a magical scimitar"
"As a final note,if you think that mace should be put to good use instead of selling,who doesn't use it should anyway recive his/her part of the weapon value."
Iolana also had already put the potions she took from Gathrine's bags back to their place.
Still lying on her bedroll,Iolana turns on her left side and stands on the elbow,then talks to Tol and Averin.
"What our stocks of food are? After all of this swimming back and forth and all the emotions of the last hours i'm starving"
After helping Tol strap his armor on and putting his own chainmail on Mugambi joins the dwarfs.
Its save to assume all dis potions are cure ones. We should split dem between da party so you guys can heal yourselfs when Mugambi is not around.
Now that the itens are all together the tribesman double checks and detect magic in all of them.
I could use a good morningstar while on dis cursed island. Mugambi says pointing at his own morningstar. We can sell it once we get back to Sargava and split da money. And a lot of dis other stuff have magik on it.
"I'll need to rest before being able to read those item's auras.I'm afraid we'll have to wait tomorrow,as i cannot study new spells more than once per day"
Gatherine rubbed the back of her neck reluctantly as she handed the bluish morningstar over to the masked tribesman.She held up the shield with the spilled tankard and crossed morningstar and battle ax.
I'm not sure but I think this might have been those mercs' motif for the Tears of Grog …its a nice shield.Its magicked too?
She started sorting through the potions,adding the one from the first aid kit she had retrieved for Tol,which brought the total back to twelve.Okay.Each of us gets six potions,and the one left over goes to Gorra.She's a part of the party too.
Next,the dwarf maid started counting the gold coins that shone brilliantly in the highnoon sun.350 gold…each of us gets...70 coins apiece.
Cringing as her inherent greed wailed in protest,she placed each pile of coinage at the feet of its owner.She put her own into her leather drawstring purse,which was pathetically empty,and tucked into back into her cleavage.