Celine gathers her wounded companions around her and away from the dead scorpions and lifts her hands in a prayer to the Sacred Veil to heal their wounds.
"By Asmodeos left ball, where are we and why the friggin are we here? Where is our ship? And why do I feel as if my stomach is full of rotten horsepiss" Looking around the burly half orc checks for any more survivors in plain sight.
" Scuse me " At the mention of rotten horse piss I walk towards the sea double over and hurl.
" oh That's better! "
I start searching around for my armour and the rest of my stuff.
As the party recovers from the fight, with some help from positive energy channeled by Celine, try to remember what happened to them. All that any can recall is a confusing jumble of images remembered as if in a dream -- feelings of nausea, panic, fear, and drowning. Then waking to find themselves, mostly dry, on the water's edge, where they find their combat and other gear stacked in a neat pile.
Starting to look around, the group sees they are not alone on the beach. Scattered here and there are other passengers recognized from the Jenivere: a dark-skinned Mwangian man in manacles and chains, a tall red-headed girl, a gnome, a bearded Tien man, and a half-girl wearing a tricorn hat. They all lay unconscious on the beach to the left of where you stand. One other fellow passenger, Ieana the scholar, is not anywhere in sight. None of the officers or crew of the Jenivere are in sight.
It only takes a few moments of scanning the northern horizon to see a familiar looking ship. The Jenivere sits there, listing heavily to port, partially submerged, and with her hull a gaping ruin as he leans against a jagged cliff-side among many sharp rocks.
"Last night(?) is a jumble of nothing that makes sense. But look here, someone dragged us and our gear ashore. Can anyone help the others laying here?"
St. John then moves towards the red-headed woman and tries to wake her.
"It must have been some kind of poisoning, sir, although I don't understand how: I clearly remember blessing my food every single time. Any poison in it should have been rendered harmless."
Celine moves to assist the other passengers and ascertain their conditions.
I clean off my axe shaking my head at the bodies littering the beach. " I'm not much good at healing or checking people over. I'm just going to sort this gear and put some armour on if I can find it. In case anything else turns up trying to make us lunch. "
"Well folks, we should get the others inna shade and then we hav to see if we can get to the ship and scrounge it for some supplies. And water, we might need water."
Looking around for some shade Felix walks to the half-girl and loads her over his shoulder, carrying her first.
Smythe finds it easy to stir the red-headed girl, who is on the verge of consciousness anyway. As she lies there, on her side, the Taldan man is able to see a strange tattoo on her back. It looks like a large red "N" made of three thin red marks.
Stirring, the girl's brigth green eyes flash open, and she sits up with a start, her tousled red hair bouncing as she does so. "Where am I? What? The beach...I love the beach!" And oblivous to the situation, she rises and goes to wade in the surf, frolicking joyfully. She is long, slender, and athletic as she romps through the waves.
From Celine's perspective, all the others on the beach are alive, just unconscious. A few are more battered or bruised than others, and one, the Mwangian man, has his legs bound in chains, and his hands in heavy manacles.
Harbek finds his gear, weapons, armor and pack, in the pile of loot in the center of the beach. The placement is a bit curious, but no one else, besides these castaways, is visible.
Felix bends down to pick up the half-elven woman, and as he does, she wakens with a start and a scream. "What is...Put me down, you big brute! Take your paws off me this instant!" and she wriggles and kicks so much that Felix can't help but drop her back to the sand with thud.
"Think you can take adavantage of me while I am sleeping? What is this world coming to?" she cries furiously, before the strangeness of her surroundings starts to intrude on her indignation.
"This isn't the ship? Where are we? What happened to us? Why are you all staring at me!"
" Seems we've been ship wrecked. " I say still struggling into my scale mail. I point out at the ship. " It's a little strange, we might have washed up here but all this gear has been piled up by someone. "
"You awake, good. No need to carry you to shade. Check if you are uninjured, your stuff is here and then we can make pow wow."
St. John mutters under his breath, You're welcome my lady. and then looks over the beach.
He yells out to the rest of the group, Leave the prisoner for last. The longer he is unconscious the less effort we need to spend watching him.
Celine will wake up the rest of the castaways, give them water and try to comfort them the best she can, and keep them calm.
"I agree with Mr. Felix, a thorough search of what's left of the ship might provide something useful to our survival here."
Looking dubiously at the listing and broken Jeniveire rocking back and forth against the cliffs. " I don't know, it doesn't look safe at all. "
With my armour on and my axe secured on my back I start to help with the unconscious passengers. Waking them or moving them into the shade if they won't wake up.
Stroking his beard, Felix mentions to Smythe."I ain´t no officer, but me thinks we ain´t no passengers, crew or prisoners, but friggin lost souls in some gods forgotten island. We might need every hand and eyes to survive and get home!"
The red-head, Sasha, does not come back from playing the surf.
As Celine offers water to Aerys Mavato the half-elf, the woman snarls at her. "Poisoned, more like as not! You all already drugged me once, and threw me out on this beach, now you are trying to do me in again. First that big galoot manhandles me, then this princess tries to poison me. I see through your schemes and shenanigans."
Heeding Smythe's advice to wake the prisoner last, Felix moves up to the still form of the gnome and gives him a gentle prodding. After a bit of stirring the little fellows eyes pop open. "Say you're a big fellow aren't you?" he says to Felix who is standing over him. "I didn't know the ship came with turn-down service. Careful, you're big enough to turn-down the whole bed. Now, let me...Wait! Where are we? This isn't the ship, and it sure isn't Eleder either." He leaps to his feet brushing sand of his fine silken shirt and fancy stylish trousers.
"Let me guess, it's all a phantasm of my imagination, right? Pinch me, my orkish friend. Wait on second thought, let's let the tall dark beauty do the pinching. Hello miss!" he calls to Celine batting his eyes at her in an overly dramatic way. "I don't suppose you'd be up for pinching or slapping me around a bit, eh? Not a Calistrian, I gather?"
Addressing those just now awaking, "The ship has been wrecked and all of us have been poisoned. I awake first to one of these creatures, pointing at a sea scorpion, trying to make breakfast of me. Someone took all of us off the ship and put us here with this pile of gear. We've killed the creatures but there may be more around so keep your eyes open."
St. John then goes through the pile and dons all of his gear and items in the pile.
The next body on the beach is an older Tien man, with a scraggly greying beard and pony tail. He is very lean and rugged looking. As he is woken, he looks around the beach and jungle carefully studying the surroundings silently. Then he shrugs, as if to say, "What can you do?" and squats in the sand, drawing strange pictograms with a stick.
There remains only the Garundi man in manacles left unconscious.
I check the manacles on the Garundi, making sure they are secure.
" Should we wake this guy up now, or go check the ship first? "
"I suppose now is fine, but how are we going to get to the ship? I don't see a boat here."
" Maybe we could rappel down from those cliffs? Probably just as dangerous to swim out. I don't know. It was his idea. " I indicate Felix with a wave of my hand then I grab the manacled man and drag him over to a tree sit him up against it.
The red-head, Sasha, does not come back from playing the surf.
As Celine offers water to Aerys Mavato the half-elf, the woman snarls at her. "Poisoned, more like as not! You all already drugged me once, and threw me out on this beach, now you are trying to do me in again. First that big galoot manhandles me, then this princess tries to poison me. I see through your schemes and shenanigans."
Celine looks back at the half-elf with a cold stare.
"You're welcome to try and survive out here alone, wherever it is that we are now, madam, but I believe you'll find it rather challenging. On the other hand, you could try and be nice to the people who are offering their help... but I gather gratitude and civility are also challenging for you."With these words Celine gets up and leaves the woman alone. After a while, she looks around to find the red-head Sasha, a worried look on her face.
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"Let me guess, it's all a phantasm of my imagination, right? Pinch me, my orkish friend. Wait on second thought, let's let the tall dark beauty do the pinching. Hello miss!" he calls to Celine batting his eyes at her in an overly dramatic way. "I don't suppose you'd be up for pinching or slapping me around a bit, eh? Not a Calistrian, I gather?"
Celine frowns for a moment at the gnome's words, then shrugs and decides to ignore the harmless joke. "No sir, definitely not a Calistrian. Best of luck for your next shipwreck though!"
The tide is out at present, which makes it a not very difficult proposition to march out to the wrecked ship and check it out through the waist deep water. Alternatively, as you point out, you could climb the cliffs on either side, and lower yourselves down to the deck.
As Harbek hauls the man in chains up to the shelter of the jungle, he wakens. "Hullo friend, what has happened to us?" Upon hearing the news, the man laughs long and loud, a discordant cheerful sound among the misery of the shipwreck. "I guess The All-Seeing Eye works in strange and wonderful ways. I am out of the frying pan, into the fire, as they say. Do we know where we are?"
The man is a middle-aged, plain looking Garundi man with hair starting to grey, and watery eyes. His clothes are quite ragged and his manacles bind his hands behind his back.
"Well, Calistran or not, I am sure you'd like to spend some time sitting on my lap and telling me all your troubles. Or perhaps I would sit on yours?" laughs the off-color gnome.
Celine leaves the group behind and goes after the angry Aerys Mavato. She finds her leaning against the bole of a tree crying.
"Leave me, I can't believe this is happening. It's so terrible. Shipwrecked. We will all die here."
"With the tide being out it may not be a bad idea to check out the wreck and see if we can gather more provisions or anything else useful."
Where are we? That is the big questions at the moment. Maybe my map will help.
St. John rummages in his pack and pulls out a map and tries to figure out where they are.
Looking down the map Felix snorts. "You landlubbers, you need the stars to guess any idea where we are. Heck. But fella, you look also quite strong let us walk to the wreck. And do not forget your weapons!"
Celine leaves the group behind and goes after the angry Aerys Mavato. She finds her leaning against the bole of a tree crying.
"Leave me, I can't believe this is happening. It's so terrible. Shipwrecked. We will all die here."
Celine looks at the crying woman for a few seconds, then she sits nearby, without touching her, looks at the sea with a very serious expression in her eyes, and sighs.
"You are right, of course. This whole situation is terrible. Our chances of survival are quite slim. It would be stupid to deny the obvious."
She sits there in silence for a while, then she gets up and whispers in the woman's ear.
"I want to live though. I so want to live! There's so many things for me to learn, and experience. I think I'm going to take those chances, no matter how slim. It would seem many of the other castaways feel the same way, so... perhaps together we could try and NOT die today?"
With a gentle touch on the woman's hair, Celine goes back to the others, leaving Aerys to think over her words.
The tide is out at present, which makes it a not very difficult proposition to march out to the wrecked ship and check it out through the waist deep water. Alternatively, as you point out, you could climb the cliffs on either side, and lower yourselves down to the deck.
As Harbek hauls the man in chains up to the shelter of the jungle, he wakens. "Hullo friend, what has happened to us?" Upon hearing the news, the man laughs long and loud, a discordant cheerful sound among the misery of the shipwreck. "I guess The All-Seeing Eye works in strange and wonderful ways. I am out of the frying pan, into the fire, as they say. Do we know where we are?"
The man is a middle-aged, plain looking Garundi man with hair starting to grey, and watery eyes. His clothes are quite ragged and his manacles bind his hands behind his back.
" I've got no idea where we are but we'll find out somehow. " I say as I tie him by his manacled hands to a tree, making sure it's good and solid. " Nobody untie this man till we get back. We're gonna go check out this ship for supplies. " then I go meet with the others on the beach.
As Harbek drags the manacled man around, eventually tying him to a tree, the man gives out a sigh.
"No need to be so rough friend. I am no threat to you or any of these people. I am a liability to you bound, but free, I may be of some aid. Try removing these chains, and see if I don't earn my keep around here."
"Yeah," snaps the gnome, " I am sure those chains are only there for fashion's sake. I imagine they will be all the rage in Eleder next season...Right, friend. 'Take of my chains, and I'll earn my keep...'.. You think we were born yesterday, pal?"
"I know a thing or two about chains," says a dripping wet, and nearly naked Sasha returning from a dip in the sea. "Whips too. Those aren't really chains though, just manacles but some damn fine ones. Be hard to get them open without the key. Maybe that's the point, eh?"
She sits on a large rock, and lounges her long lean body in the sun.
As Harbek drags the manacled man around, eventually tying him to a tree, the man gives out a sigh.
"No need to be so rough friend. I am no threat to you or any of these people. I am a liability to you bound, but free, I may be of some aid. Try removing these chains, and see if I don't earn my keep around here."
" If you weren't any trouble you would not be in chains. What's your story then? Wrongly accused? "
Stepping over to the dwarf the burly half-orc bends over to whisper in his ear.
"Chaps has some truth in his words, has he? I ain´t no offcer, ya know, so I ain´t have a clue about his story, but it ain´t difficult to get the clubbers to send someone to jail. Especially in that hellhole cheliax."
St. John pours over his map and finally says, "Got it!
He then looks at the chained man, "Oh the savage wants to be unchained so he murder us all in our sleep. Trust you. Yeah right. For now you can stay chained. Let us go and see what we can find on the ship."
"Aye," says Jask Derindi bitterly. "Wrongly accused, wrongly imprisoned, wrongly transported against my will, and wrongly shipwrecked with pinheads who see a man in chains as guilty without the benefit of the doubt."
He slumps against the tree, miserably hanging there, ignoring the rest of you.
Smythe's study of the map, and his knowledge about Desperation Bay and the course of the Jenivere lead him to believe the ship has crashed on a small spit of land known as Smuggler's Shiv.
Drawing on the knowledge, stories, rumors or tall tales about the place, you may know some of the following:
Stepping over to the dwarf the burly half-orc bends over to whisper in his ear.
"Chaps has some truth in his words, has he? I ain´t no offcer, ya know, so I ain´t have a clue about his story, but it ain´t difficult to get the clubbers to send someone to jail. Especially in that hellhole cheliax."
I look up at Felix with a quizzical expression " Uh, What? "
He then looks at the chained man, "Oh the savage wants to be unchained so he murder us all in our sleep. Trust you. Yeah right. For now you can stay chained. Let us go and see what we can find on the ship."
"Aye," says Jask Derindi bitterly. "Wrongly accused, wrongly imprisoned, wrongly transported against my will, and wrongly shipwrecked with pinheads who see a man in chains as guilty without the benefit of the doubt."
He slumps against the tree, miserably hanging there, ignoring the rest of you.
" Look this whole situation is worse than gas in a mine. We don't know anything about you. We can talk more about it when we get back from the wreck. "
"Smuggler's Shiv. So we are north of our destination. Not a nice place to be. Let's take a look at what's on the wreck and then see what we will have to do next."
"Gentlemen, I think it would be best for me to stay with the others, to keep them calm, take care of them and try to inspire some hope and confidence about our current situation", Celine tells St. John, Harbek and Felix under her breath. "I'm sure you can handle your expedition to the Jenivere's wreck without my assistance, yes?"