Kahuranga redoubles his efforts to twist fortune around the jellyfish.
The jellyfish goes for another round of attacks against the sharks.
The first three strikes kill the second of three sharks.
Even knowing his attacks weren't having much effect, Chakam pressed and attacked the enemy with his tresses.
The rusalka's hair struggle's to penetrate the giant jelly fish flesh but still manages to hurt it. It is on its last... tentacles, but it still thrashes about, the mindless beast ready to fight.
Chad takes time to sheathe his axe and pull out his bow.
Still singing, Thren waits for a moment, lets her magic charge up her arrow, and then lets fly one last shot. Her arrow flies through the core of the jellyfish, puncturing the membrane and slamming into the wooden wall beyond.
"That's done. What else?" Thren says with a satisfied smirk.
The jellyfish flops into a giant pile of goo, and you are free to explore the fore cargo section. The anemone-like jelly nymphs float harmlessly along the walls--it is probably not a good idea to touch them, but they are incapable of moving from their spot.
You can spot a number of sealed metal cases down the stairs, perhaps promising something worthwhile for your efforts. Checking carefully for no further surprises, you go down and see that while some cases have cracked open, and contain now-ruined bottles of both aromatic oils and Oldlaw Whiskey of would have been a fine vintage, three cases remain unsealed. Markings on the cases suggest the contents are similar.
Chad pipes up. "Look, my air bubble will burst soon. Why don't I take those up, and you guys keep searching. I can't use my best skills underwater anyway. But send me a signal if anything goes wrong, or if you don't return soon I'll come back down with a new spell."
While the cargo hold once held much more of value, they appear to be furs and foodstuffs thoroughly ruined by saltwater. You still have the starboard and port cabins above you to explore. There is no obvious way into the port cabin because of wreckage blocking the door to it. The starboard cabin is accessible by swimming out to the main deck and entering the door into it. Currently you are standing directly "beneath" both cabins, although given the tilt of the ship, you are facing the ceiling/floor rather than it being over your head, so you can touch the thick ceiling/floorboards easily enough.
The summoned sharks fade into obscurity as they return to their heavenly home.
"Sounds good, Chad, we will let you know if we find anything else."
Kahuranga and Taniwha will swim out of the hatch and over to the sideways (I think) door of the starboard cabin. "Perhaps the officers kept the best loot for themselves."
If the door opens, and nothing attempts to eat them, they will explore the room.
"Go ahead Chad. Get that stowed away and stand ready." Thren orders. She nods to Kahuranga and Taniwha. "Starboard it is."
Taniwha is distracted by a shine gleaming in the corner of a room, and finds a silver-inlaid sextant that, thanks to the less corruptible (if tarnished) metal coating it, is as functional as it is lovely. (Worth 1 point of plunder). Nearby the sextant is a wax-sealed vial unmolested by the wreck marked as oil of slipstream.
Threnody notices something more subtle, bubbles rising from a section of the "floor" (the center wall of the cabin) in an even row, and she realizes there is a carefully concealed door that definitely leads to the port cabin. The water-swollen wood and underwater pressure keeps it from opening, however, and seems to require some brawn.
Chakam approaches the "floor" as pointed by Thren, but shrugs.
Strength isn't really ma' thing, mates. - says the druid, before continuing - I can try ta' assist if someone would force it ta' bulge, but not much more than that. And I can't really think on any other ways ta' open it here.
Thren decides to try to force it with muscle first.
"Let no watery barrier be between me, my goddess, and possible treasure!" proclaims the Besmaran priestess. With determination driven by the promise of shiny, Sandara manages to get herself purchase on the door that with just a little help from Thren and Chakam, the stuckdoor becomes unstuck and slides aside, revealing a room beneath you.
You see the skeletal remains of the room's last occupant, strips of bloated flesh rising off its body. In its bony hands it clutches a large, steel-banded lockbox. The remains of a desk lies half shattered against the bottom of the wreck, and bits of paper and ruined leather booklets float around the wreckage--the water has rendered the pages illegible, but they appear to be ledgers. It appears you have found the quartermaster's office, and most of you have been at sea long enough to recognize a well-sealed payroll container when you see one.
Getting to that payroll may be more difficult. Two strong locks keep the box sealed, and the box radiates a magical aura to boot. The way the locks are placed, it looks like the two need to be unlatched simultaneously to open the box. If there was a key, where it is now is unknown.
"It's a fancy skyglass or something," Taniwha says as Kahuranga investigates the sextant. "Whoa, look at that chest! Let's open it."
"Whoa. Let's make sure it's not rigged with a trap first at least?" Thren advises. She looks at Sandara and grins ruefully. "I'm not that bad am I?"
Kahuranga moves to the door so he can inspect the magic of the chest.
Or
"Yes, let's investigate more carefully first. It might be best to bring it to the ship and work on it there."
"Maybe between the captain and Lark they can figure it out. Let's take this stuff topside and then I guess we need to get to the other half of the ship."
Kahuranga analyzes the box's magical aura, and the good news is it does not appear to be anything suggesting a trap. The bad news is that it is a low-level but effective abjuration that enhances the strength of the locks on the box itself. The locks themselves are also extraordinarily well made, so combined with the abjuration, a master lockpicker would still struggle opening it.
Good point, Thren. - says Chakam, waiting for Lark and the captain to leave with the box and other details to be analyzed in the ship.
As for us... Yes, let's get ta' the other half. If we press, we'd be able to keep most of our effects already ongoing. - said the pirate, tapping his hardened Rusalka skin.
Kahuranga attempts to cover his fear with false bravado. "Well, the front of the ship certainly did not pay off our search for the secrets of the vessel. Let us seek answers in the deep."
In truth, Kahuranga is a creature of wind, and, to a lesser degree, wave. Descending far beneath the surface makes him nervous.
From the surface, once the good are delivered, Kahuranga drops himself back into the water. He moves to the edge of the drop off before casting Cat's Grace on himself and Chakam. He picks up a good sized rock or some ballast dropped from the ship to help him sink more easily.
"Let's get this over with and get back to air as soon as we can."
And with that, he steps off of the "cliff" and sinks into the darkness.
Taniwha lets out a whistle as his tail lashes in a serpentine pattern and the two of them disappear over the edge.
Chad gives Threnody the ring of the iron skull to trace the remains of the ship's officer.
You swim past the top half of the wreck into the dark chasm, where the other half of the ship must have sank. As you swim deeper and deeper, the sunlight of the world above abandons you, and you must rely upon your darkvision or other senses or spells to see.
Chakam finds his rusalka shape's low-light vision is inadequate. Another form may be preferable.
Without the sun to warm the water, it likewise gets cold, and once you start approaching 100 feet, uncomfortably so for anyone without the cold resistance quality. At depths of 100 feet the water starts feeling oppressively heavy as well, and moving is actively painful, if not actually bone-crushing.
The tug of the ring, regardless, draws you ever deeper into the depths. You know you are close, but if you are to find what you seek, must keep going into the inky blackness of the deep ocean. Anyone with darkvision is able to see the outline of the wreck below you once you swim about 120 feet down; it is another 60 feet ahead. Anyone with superior senses might detect its presence sooner.
"Can't stay down here long," Thren mutters. The cold doesn't seem to faze her, but the depths are troubling. "Let's see if we can do this fast."
Thren focuses on using the ring of the iron skull to find the ship's officer, the cold and darkness not seeming to bother her much.
Can any of you cast light or dancing lights or something similar? - says the Rusalka druid - I'm aquatic right now and can deal with tha' pressure and breathing things, but 'ay feel my senses aren't so fine fah' the pitch dark.
As the team adjusts, Chakam holds the torch-glowing dagger, and casts a spell to cover the temperature issues for the party. Ready to depart, the Rusalka druid moves with the group to the deeper dark.
The party is protected from the cold by Chakam's spell, though Chakam and Threnody remain literally painfully aware of the water pressure in these depths.
Not long after Chakam brandishes his glowing blade to help him see in the inky black water, you see up ahead of you, almost as if answering your light, three lights appear about 120 feet away, in the direction of the shipwreck. They look much like the dancing lights spell Threnody is capable of casting. You are too far away to be able to make out anything other than the magical lights gently hovering in the water.
"Be careful, many creatures of the deep use light as a means to attract prey. In this case, I imagine that we are to be the prey."
Thren keeps her bow ready and looks about, seeing if there's anything else of note in all 3 dimensions.
The Rusalka stops, making himself ready, tresses moving hypnotically.
Well, it seems we found something... But 'ay can't really pinpoint what it is. 'Tis no anglerfish, though!
In the darkness and depths, even though Chakam has keen senses, he is too far from the source of the lights to make anything out other than they are there and something probably put them there.
"Chakam, care to spring the trap? Or I could conjure up some more sharks to send in..."
Well... You only live once, right? Or at least one should! - says the pirate, slowly moving closer ahead until he can get close enough to discern the lights, or until something else happens. If the others are following, he will make sure they keep together.
Thren moves forward with the other pirates, not wanting to spend any longer this far down than necessary. "Whatever it is, it's a trap. Let's get this over with."
Yep, these are totally ordinary magical lights. Just plain old ordinary magical lights that you are moving toward, and you know it's a trap, so you're being extra careful, but they are totally ordinary... really pretty... awesome... so very wonderful lights that you absolutely must move toward. You aren't going to move toward them in any kind of silly way that would hurt you, because of course you know to avoid trouble, and that is what you are totally doing, but you are going to move toward the beautiful, pretty, wonderful lights through the most safe, direct route possible because they are beautiful lovely warm lights and it is so cold and hurty here and surely they are friendly and wonderful and probably after all totally not a trap. I mean really, who would put a trap down here? That's just crazy talk.
The party swims carefully toward the lights--at the moment the only really visible thing in the distance, even if their presence seems suspiciously convenient.
About 100 feet away from the lights (in other words, after having moved about 20 feet), Kahuranga, Taniwha, and Threnody begin moving with especial intent toward the lights.
Chakam (and Sandara if she is with you) still mainly sense the pretty, floating lights and little else, though you know you are approaching the shipwreck.
Sandara notes the strange behavior of the party and tries to get Thren to stop, grabbing her to hold her back.