Shorga, he isn't quite sure he trusts you.
I am going to make a post on party mechanics on the discussion that is a must read. See you all over there.
Wren looks around for her equipment, grateful to have it back. She thanks Travis profusely.
"Oh Plumie! Look! It's my lucky backpack! And our warm fuzzy blanket!" Wren nuzzles her face into her favorite blanket, unmindful of how useless a warm blanket is during the heat of the day.
Wren coos as various supplies are freed from the ship. She makes herself useful by sorting and cataloging the supplies into neat piles.
"We can build a fine shelter with all the supplies here. I'd like a nice little nest, I would," Wren says, not seeming at all disappointed by their predicament. "This is just like home, isn't it, Plumie?"
When given more time, she will peruse the captain's log and maps for items of interest and to confirm their location.
When Wren is finished, she has created piles that look like this:
Adventuring Gear:
4 Potions CLW
1 Potion CMW
4 Potions Lesser Restoration
1 Potion Remove Disease
1 Potion Water Walking
1 Potions Waterbreathing
MW Shortsword (Alton's)
Treasure:
Darkwood model of the Jenivere in a glass bottle
Small coffer containing 35gp
Maps, Logs:
Several sea charts and maps (One of the west coast of Garund that plots the ]enivere's route to and from Sargava. The island of Smuggler's Shiv is not marked on this map, but it is marked on a second map ofDesperation Bay, though the map provides no details on the island apart from its general outline and a note warning of danger).
Captain's log
Supplies:
Bottle of brandy
Food for a single person for 24 days
Block and tackle
3 large canvas sheets
Two fishing nets
Grappling hook Two bullseye lanterns
12 flasks of lantern oil
150 feet of hemp rope
5 shovels
I spent all my time for this morning laying out my concerns and hopes for this AP (and the island at least) in the discussion thread. I would like to get your feedback. And I don't mind a discussion happening there, it it arises.
As far as a shelter, it is a DC 12 Survival to make a camp, and the higher the roll the faster it happens. I assume that the entire party wants to pitch in. So I need Survivals from everyone. I will take the highest roll as the base roll, and anyone that gets over a 12 will make the time go down by one hour.
It takes 8 hours for one person to make a sufficient enough camp for the purposes of staying dry out of the rain and alternately dodging the heat.
Ishirou grabs a saw from the tools and wordlessly goes to his pile of wood.
Aerys grabs the bottle of brandy and walks to the nearby shoreline.
Jask looks expectantly at Travis.
Sasha grabs a hammer and walks to her pile of wood with a "Well, this will do, but it would be better knocking some brains lose," and a chuckle.
Gelik proceeds to tell jokes, humor clearly being his coping mechanism, and he seems to be in shock.
Shorga looks at those who aren't helping, but inclindes his head at Sasha, "Thanksh for your asshishtance, Lady Shasha." and moves to help as well. He calls over to Ishirou, "Need shome help shir Ishirou?" he asks, trying to build some good will with the man.
At some point Shorga takes stock of what was left of his equipment, throwing away the destroyed rations, recoiling the rope, and getting everything stowed into his pack. Given the heat, he doesn't make Ursa wear her barding, indeed there doesn't seem to be anything to fight at the moment anyways.
Wren begins work on nest, plying reeds and sticks together in a quiet part of camp.
Survival
Wren doesn't seem to mind working in the heat much, her feathered 'armor' providing no hinderance.
It's clear that a bit of help (such as moving a heavy log or two) would really help Wren's efforts to build and appropriate shelter for herself. While trying to move the heavy logs, she looks helplessly at others.
Alphonse goes around the camp, helping everyone get their shelter in order while putting his own together.
He tries to take note of all the people who are building their shelters easily and seem to have experience in surviving the wilderness.
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Shilyn mutters as she pours the water out of her pack and takes inventory. "Well, not as well equipped as I was, but at least I have my weapons, armor, and a few other things that will come in handy. Not bad for having survived a ship wreck," she mutters as she carefully repacks her much-lighter pack and straps on her weapons.
She takes her few remaining arrows and sticks them into the sand so that the fletching can catch the sun and dry out. "Worthless until dry.. ugh." A string of Elvish expletives follow as she turns to help the others prepare shelter for the night.
Shorga takes a moment to assist Wren in her efforts with her shelter, "We shouldn't work too hard on theshe in thish heat. We should shet up a more permanent camp next to a shtream or river on the island."
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He observes Shilyn working on cleaning out her pack, and looks around at the others, a thought striking him. He speaks loudly, and tries to include everyone in his question, "Hash anyone given any thought ash to how we all shurvived and made it to thish beach?" He points out to where the Jenivere is slowly pounding itself to pieces, "That ish quite a waysh away. All of ush made it to thish narrow shtretch, moshtly unharmed. How?" He looks around to see if anyone has any ideas.
Travis, he takes his gear with a look of extreme gratitude on his face.
Travis smiles warmly at Jask and ahrugs. "I guess the order of the day is making shelters. Do you feel up to helping? I know your shoulders and arms must ache after being shackled so long." He gets to work, following the lead of Alphonse and the others, building as best he can with no real engineering skills.
Jask helps Travis. It is pretty clear though young in appearance he doesn't seem to be very strong.
Are you making a big shelter for everyone, or individual ones? I need to know how to tabulate your efforts. Declare "community" or "individual" or "shared with". Discuss if you must.
Shorga, you recall much of the gear being by Alton. He had an old rowboat and it was pretty clear that he was carrying you all to the shore in shipments. He was getting ready to ferry your stuff when he came across the sea scorpion and succumbed to old wounds.
As far as water, you are on the beach. It isn't drinking water, but by boiling it and setting up a filtration system you have water there.
Or just use magic.
Are you wanting to set up temporary camp for the night and look for more permanent shelter later?
Also, Wren was wanting to read the captains log.
The Captains Log.
An examination of this log reveals that the Jenivere's captain seemed to be suffering from some sort of madness that grew over the course of the ship's final voyage. Earlier entries from previous voyages are precise in recording progress and events along the way, as are entries from the first two-thirds of this last trip. Yet as one reads further, the more recent the entries get, the less common they become-in some cases, several days are missing entries. What entries do appear are strangely short, focusing more and more on one of the passengers-the Varisian scholar Ieana, with whom the captain seems to have become obsessed. Several entries are nothing more than poorly written love poems to Ieana, while others bemoan Captain Kovack's inability to please her or catch her attention. Near the end, the entries begin to take on a more ominous tone with the captain starting to complain that other members of the crew are eyeing " his Ieana." In particular, he suspects his first mate is in love with her, and writes several times about how he wishes Alton would just "have an accident." The final entry is perhaps the most disturbing, for in it the captain writes of how he's changed course for Smuggler's Shiv at Ieana's request. He hopes that the two of them can make a home on the remote island, but also notes that the crew are growing increasingly agitated at the ship's new course. The captain muses that "something may need to be done about the crew" if their suspicions get any worse.
Shorga details his rememberings about Alton ferrying them back and forth to the shore to the others, "Poor man, he could have saved himshelf, but he looked out for ush firsht."
He then praises whoever figured out how to filter and create drinking water from the salty sea. It tasted horrible, but they wouldn't die of dehydration at least.
Shorga ponders their problem, "Why don't we shet up smaller sheltersh for each of ush tonight, and find shomeplace more defenshible tomorrow?" He waits to see if there's any objections, and if not, proceeds with that plan in mind. He glances at Wren's nest building as he works, unable to decide if it's a terrible idea or a brilliant one.
To Shorga, Travis replies, "I'm impressed you were aware at some point of what was happening to us. Can you recall anything else? As for Alton, he was a good man, fair with the crew and a good boss. Sad fate for him. I wish we had had time and capability to bring him to shore and give him a proper burial. Good plan for the shelters... let's get it done."
Travis works doubly hard to make up for any failing on Jask's part. If the young man wasn't strong enough to pull his own weight, either due to his long imprisonment, or simply his nature, Travis is more than capable enough of taking up any slack. "Let me take care of the heavy lifting, Jask... help me as you can, that's good enough. You're doing fine, especially considering what you've been through."
At some point, when building is done for the day and some kind of lean-tos are constructed enough for all to sleep with a degree of protection from the elements, Travis will sit in the shade with Jask and ask him quietly, "I noticed a spell component pouch among your gear. Such skills could come in handy, but I saw no book. I'm hoping you're not a wizard, or we will have to go back to see if we can find your book. Mind sharing what kind of caster you are? If not, that's okay, no hard feelings."
At Sir Shorga's recommendation, Osmillar nods in agreement. "That would be wise indeed."
"Before anything else, we must focus on three priorities: Food, water, and shelter. Perhaps it would be best is we split our efforts between these three requirements. Is anyone here skilled in hunting or foraging?
I'll see what I can do to get us some water that's safe to drink. However, this may take a while; I would appreciate if someone kept me a spot in one shelter or another. Thankfully, my alchemy supplies are more or less intact."
Spreading his alchemical supplies out in the shade of a tree, Osmillar collects a vial of seawater and leans on the question of how to efficiently convert it to drinkable water.
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Walking up with an armful of leafy branches, Shilyn looks over at Osmillar and replies, "I can hunt.. as soon as my arrows dry a bit.. but I've only got a few." She drops her armload between a couple of close trees and sits down to weave them together to form a rough lattice.
"As for water, I do have my waterskin.. so we at least have something to carry some in. Unfortunately, it's empty as we were on ship."
Wandering over to the supplies, she cuts a ten foot section of rope and starts to unwind the thicker twists into three separate, thinner ones. "Gah, this rope is stiff," she mutters as the braids keep slipping in her hands.
Wren comes over to sort and peck through Shilyn's stack of leafy branches. She holds up a few...comparing them against each other based on factors known only in her birdlike mind, and takes a few of them back to her nest.
"Thank you, Dearie, these are perfect," Wren coos appreciatively as she walks away, quite content.
As she walks away, she pauses, almost absentmindedly, to prestidigitate dry/clean Shilyn's arrows.
You build a shelter for the night, help the NPC's and manage to stay out of the heat.
Oz, with your training you know that boiling water is a good way to purify it. You also take the charcoal from the fire and pass the water though it using a series of your tubing and beakers.
It serves to not only purify it, but to separate the salt from the water. So it tastes decent too.
Anything that you want to do particularly during the night? (ie chat with an npc , or set a watch etc?)
Sasha will take a shift, aerys is pretty wasted and singing to herself by the fire, jask is tired from building the shelter. Ishirou is sitting by himself, and Gelik is telling you all a story about a kingdom whose emporer once wore no clothes, but everyone pretended he had on the finest of clothes. But that was because he was a blood magi, and would steal their souls of they didn't pretend.
You have 2hrs to sundown.
Jask speaks up while everyone is around the fire. "A man was once employed by the Sargavan government, but when ee uncovered evidence of corruption involving illicit deals with da Free Captains of da Shackles, ee confronted his superior, only to be betray and framed for dose same crimes. Faced with imprisonment, ee fled all the way to Corentyn, where ee lived a modest life as a scribe for a decade."
"Ee thought his enemies in Sargava had forgotten him, but den a Sargavan agent caught up with him one day and put him in chains. Dee agent handed Dis man over to the captain of a ship wit instructions to return him to Sargava for trial, upon which ee might be put a death for treason. But as fate would have it, ee was shipwrecked on an island wit strangers who shared da same fate."
He pauses for a moment for a second, for everyone to reflect on his words, and then to make eye contact with a few and then continues:
"But fate be kind to dis man, because one of da bad men dat dis man uncovered, ee wreck years ago to dis same island, and dis man ee think he find papers dat show ee not a bad man. Ee a good man. Da name a dis ship name The Brine Deemon. And dey say it wreck here and nobody never did see dat ship no more."
Will you help me find dis ship and I can go home wit papers and da bad men no come looking no more? I will help you all wit my magics. I know da power of healing. (medic)
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Shilyn will volunteer to take a watch shift, her half-elven eyes being better in the dark that some.
She listens to Jask's tale and shakes her head. "If we have a chance to help prove a man's innocence when he is death sentenced, should we not take that opportunity and save a life?"
Looking over at him she simply says with a smile, "I'm in."
"I agree, I'm 'in' as you say, as well."
Wren listens to Jask's tale with a smile on her face, every word and nuance from the description going into her long catalogue of gossip and history.
She resists telling a tale of woe of her own, for she does love to share her stories with others.
At the end of Jask's tale she not only agrees to help, asking only a few questions.
"I will help you dearie. Do you know on what side of the island the ship sank? What is looked like?"
Wren will lean over to Shilyn, awhisper with gossip and innuendo. "Is it not too strange that we found ourselves here with the very same man who needed to come here? Coincidence?"
"Jask, I promise to help you find this ship and the papers you seek. That would be a boon indeed if we can help prove you innocent, and then get off this lonely island to bring the proof home to bear witness. You have my solemn vow as a monk of the Four Winds Monastery that I will do all I can to see this accomplished." Travis looks very solemn as he makes this promise, and this carries over to his voice as well.
"It is good to hear that you are a healer as well. Any group of lost souls on a remote island can definitely use a healer. You are kind to offer such to us. Thank you."
He nods towards Wren as she asks her questions, as they are good ones, and need answering if Jask knows.
"You can count on my help as well," Osmillar replies, in the midst of passing drinks of purified water to everyone.
"Speaking of treatment; I will gladly assist you in treating anyone who gets injured, Jask. While I have no access to the divine as you do, and I have yet to crack the secrets of making my alchemical concoctions compatible with different bodily chemistries, I have a certain experience with first aid. It is, I think, the best I can hope to bring to this expedition, beyond a few useful pieces of information. A time like this makes me rather glad I've studied Sargava's jungles extensively, though I wish I had gone further in the realm of practical knowledge."
Osmillar's eyes scan the island's shores, and suddenly, he pauses, almost mid breath.
"... Something about the shape of that beach over there seems familliar... Hold on... Could it be? Might it be? It couldn't be... could it?"
Osmillar dives for his bag, wide eyed, and pulls out his journal, flipping franctically to the pages.
Just a moment later, he returns to join the others by the fireside, brandishing it triumphantly, revealing a sketched map of the area.
"Do you see this island here? Feast your eyes, companions, for this is where we have landed, and it is where we must now escape from." He asks, pointing out a blot in the approximate shape of a dagger.
"Smuggler's Shiv, that is the island's name. I am sure, certain, and persuaded of it. Now, this brings forth good news and bad news. The good news are: There's a lighthouse on the southwest shore of this island. If we can reach it and light it anew, someone is bound to come and rescue us. However, the bad news is: This island is said to be haunted, and also populated with cannibals. I dare not pronounce myself on which of these two things are worse, but suffice to say, many obstacles await us. It'll be very dangerous to reach, I have no doubts of this, but that lighthouse is our best hope."
You are on the Northern most cost.
Shorga starts to feel a little sick as the night wears on.
"Well, I guess that answers my next question. I was going to ask if it were to be to our advantage to build a signal fire, and be ready to light it if we spotted a ship. I guess finding that lighthouse is a good alternative to setting up a permanent camp here."
A ha. I guess I should have been more specific about that. The log is available for anyone to read, and Wren just mentioned she wanted to go over it.
Seeing as that is a major plot point, I'd like it brought up one way or another, and was just following up on it. I don't mind how it comes up, I think we'll give wren first pass at it, as I think she would really like to share that with the group. :P
After Jask's story and plea for help Wren rises and subconsciously tries to steal his thunder with a tale of her own.
"So, dearies, as long as we're talking, might as well share this..." Wren says, opening the Captain's log and reading selected passages.
"Pretty much normal stuff...jello keelhauling...blahblah...tricorn shoes all the rage in Taldor...blahblah...shorter entries, weird stuff...blahblah...wanting to lay with a were-sheep...blahblah...focusing more and more on one of the passengers-the Varisian scholar Ieana, with whom the captain seems to have become obsessed...blahblah...'that saucy tart'...blahblah...love poems! And they are not very good either...blahblah...'My love for you is like diarrhea, I just can't keep it in'...blahblah...he whines incessantly about wanting to 'tie his dinghy to her dock'...blahblah...wishing harm upon Alton...blahblah...I just don't get it...blahblah...starts to get really weird...blahblah...that half-orc smells awful...blahblah...'something may need to be done about the crew' if their suspicions get any worse."
Wren closes the log after her reading and sits down, happy to take questions.
"... It seems that our marooning was not entirely accidental, though I suppose the gassing was a giveaway all its own... Could this Ieana, whoever she is, be the cause of our... incident?" Osmillar ponders out loud.
" Could this Ieana, whoever she is, be the cause of our... incident?"
Wren tilts her head, gives Shilyn a look, and nod-points at Jask.
"Sounds like the captain had an unnatural yearning for the missing passenger. And now they are both missing and Alton is dead. I guess I should tell you all something that I noticed when we were searching the ship. Rambar the cook looked like he was killed by some kind of fanged creature, maybe like a snake or a vampire? I wish I were trained in healing arts, perhaps I would have been able to tell more... However, this was interesting as well. Alton was killed by both a rapier thrust and stings from like those scorpions, so maybe wounded by one and finished off by the other?"
He glances over at Shi a moment, then shrugs and gives her a half-smile, avoiding showing teeth. "I don't think Shi killed him, so who else on board the ship was armed with a rapier?"
"It sounds like the captain had something against both the First Mate and us... and we were drugged or poisoned when in his quarters. And Shorga had enough presence of mind to be aware of Alton bringing us to shore somehow. I wonder if he was already wounded before he did so."
He pauses and considers, scowling slightly, which is not a good look for him, as it seems to accentuate his demonic features slightly. "Since we don't know the fate of the captain or Ieana, and their bodies weren't found, we pretty much should assume that they could be alive and on this island with us. She might be his captive, or in cahoots with him, but I'm sure he means us no good. So we may have more problems here then just rumors of cannibals and mere survival."
"Wait... I wonder. The captain has been sailing his ship for a long time, would he not? It seems surprising that he would suddenly do something so strange. Wren, while you have the journal in hand still, do the captain's strange actions start around the same time he meets this Ieana? Isn't it possible that the captain was a victim of some external interloper, scoundrel, and villain, much as we are now?"
Alphonse speaks up after his long and inexplicable silence.
"I wouldn't be surprisedif mind altering magic was involved, though I suppose we can't be sure. If so, this could be a sticky situation. Casters are always trouble."
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Catching Wren's look, Shilyn simply shakes her head in response.
Turning to Travis and giving him a smirk, she replies, "Nope, wasn't me. My rapier was, most unfortunately, locked up. Can't blame me.. nuh uh."
She listens to the others and taps her lip before pointing to Osmillar. "Wouldn't be the first time a man lost his reasoning where a woman is involved. Considering, we saw her board.. but where did she sleep? It wasn't with us girls.. and we rarely saw her after boarding. So.. just what was she doing while on ship to keep occupied?"
Redotting
Shorga nods at Travis' summation of the captain and Ieana, "Alive until proven otherwishe. I agree."
He listens to the others give their input, "Ieana kept to hershelf, and I know she had a shingle cabin. She could have been cashting shpells, or jusht ushing the... magic found in all femalesh to captivate the mindsh of men." He blanches a little and looks to the females gather around, "No offenshe intended ladiesh."
Thinking on Osmillars question he can only shrug, "We have hish log, which hash many wordsh but revealsh few factsh. We need to find him and ashk him in pershson to know for shure what happened."
He tips his head and takes a long drink of the filtered water, lifting the glass of clear, live-giving liquid in salute to Osmillars remarkable talent.
Shorga approaches the relatively quiet members of the group, walking slowly and with a friendly grin on his face.
Crouching on the ground nearby he dips his head at Ishirou, finger doodling in the sand and dirty, "Greetingsh Ishirou. You've cshertainly kept cool deshpite the cshircumshtances. How are you holding up?" After listening to the mans response he nods absently and asks what's on his mind, "Sheveral of ush having been shpeaking of how to help out around the camp. I wondered where you shaw yourshelf fitting in? We've a need for defenshe, hunting for food, shtanding watchesh, and acting ash medicsh." He inclines his head toward Gelik with a small smile, "Good shir Galik sheemsh to have declared himshelf the Entertainer for the group." and chuckles over an amusing memory from the gnomes most recent story. He turns his large eyes back to Ishirou and waits patiently for the mans response.
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He approaches Aerys cautiously, remembering her attitude earlier and quick interest in the lone bottle of brandy. He keeps his voice low and friendly, "Aerysh, ishn't it? We never shpoke much on the boat, but I am wondering how your doing, given the s~~+uation we find ourshelves in?" He also presents Aerys with the same question regarding her perceived role in the survival of the group.
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Lastly the half-orc sits nearby Sasha, a grin on his face, "Hello Shasha, not too burned by the shun I hope?" After the initial small talk, he presents her with the same question as the other two, "Gelik ish keeping ush shane, Jashk apparently hash shome shkill with medicshine, the othersh are acting ash guardsh and huntersh and the like. Where do you shee yourshelf Lady Shasha?"
It is common knowledge that the captain had a rapier. He wore it quite proudly around his belt (the only one allowed to have a weapon carried around during non training times).
He was good with it. Best on the ship, as far as any of you could judge.
It is also pretty common, especially on Travis' side of things that the crew were actually becoming quite suspicious of the Captain towards the end of the voyage. He had done a 180 as far as personality and became a very dark person towards the end.
The crew did suspect Ieana as being romantically involved with the captain. They caught her whispering to him more than a few times "when no one was looking."
They chalked up his bad mood to being close to the dangers of the Shackles and the Eye of Abendego, and possibly for Ieana being somewhat of a tease.