Riori stays back. She lets herself float to the shoal floor. As her spell allows her to speak normally, she has no trouble casting searing light.
The water mage draws his wand and blasts the creature point-blank with a small blizzard of ice balls.
Thren charges her blade with magic and stabs directly into the creature's face with her first strike and then follows up with a second thrust into its body as it writhes in pain.
The piranha-whale thing writhes and then convulses as its warm blood clouds the clear water.
It isn't fighting, and will probably bleed out soon enough.
Thren stabs it again for good measure to finish it off.
"Where were we? Oh yes. Strongbox and looting." She says brightly.
Given some of the flitting predator shaped shadows moving at the edge of your perception, probably best to continue to the shore and open the box.
Sal keeps an eye out for trouble as they drag the box to shore and then examines it for any unwelcome surprises before opening it.
Sal will take 20 on breaking the lock open.
Making your way on around the beach to the east and north. To the left, there are rows of palms and then a long high ridge. On the northern end, the ridge slopes down to the beach and then into dense mangroves that stretch out into the sea. Here again you find a natural harbor, this one slightly smaller than the one in which you are docked.
At "L," the beach is pocked with hundreds of tiny holes, and the sand is marred with large swirls.
Sal recognizes these marks as a likely shark-eating crab breeding ground, the small holes being the burrows of the tiny crabs and the large swirls the tracks of their fully grown kin. The large crabs are likely in the water hunting this time of day. Shark-eating crabs are voracious carnivores, nearly mindless and always hungry.
"I'm not sure if I should be glad the crabs aren't here, or sad. Lee could make some great stew from crab."
"Given one would probably feed the whole crew it'd be an easy meal... problem is if we attracted the attention of multiples." She blinks. "What? I like to hunt monsters, but I'm not that crazy. Now if we take this island and then come up with some clever trapping systems... giant net woven from spider-silk maybe...?"
Sal trails off, muttering about how to anchor a giant net system in the water, while leading the party around the crab nests to leave the critters be for now.
"Something to think about later. Let's keep going." Thren suggests.
Huge stone pylons lead from the shore into the island’s easternvbay here. The broken beams and timbers that once formed a giant dock lie smashed between them, half-submerged in the water. Three giant-sized canoes and a catamaran lie beached on the sand nearby.
Big canoes. Which means big people. But the dock's a wreck. Water's probably deep enough for some ships then...." The tiefling muses as she draws closer, looking to see if there's any evidence of who smashed the docks or made the canoes.
The breaks in the stone docks are clearly recent, with nothing growing on the freshly smashed stone.
There are tracks on the beach from something clearly not animal. Great sweeping movements that could only be from one of the walking trees you were talking about earlier.
"So the walking trees didn't like the docks. Probably because the canoes are made of their friends." Thren muses. "If there's any of the native would-be boat-builders around, maybe we can make an alliance. Sal, you see anything else of note?"
Sal tries to determine from the tracks how long ago the treants were here, and in what direction they came from and left. She also looks for tracks of the creatures who owned the boats.
If the canoes are lying face down on the beach, she also taps them with her ranseur and then, if nothing sounds out of the ordinary, uses the weapon as a lever to tip them onto their side to see if anyone is hiding within. Not that a treant would be, but she doesn't any other surprises after the strongbox incident.
"Sun's getting low. We should probably find camp as well. Preferably without damaging vegetation. I'd say if we find a clear spot closer to, but not right next to, the creek flowing into the sea over there, sheltered by the hill." She points in the direction she is thinking of.
"Ekote or Riori, you familiar with those style of canoes and such? You think you'd know who built'em?"
Riori considers whether she knows the answer to Sal's question about what kind of giants might have built these canoes.
As the stone of the docks seems older, she also wonders of their history.
Ekote looks at the canoes and the remains of the docks for clues as to who made them.
The canoes and the stone docks are both Cyclopean, though from vastly different time periods. The docks are ancient, from the time of the Ghol-Gan empire. The canoes are much more recent, quite contemporary. The cyclops have fallen far from their ancient might, though of course they are still dangerous foes.
There are prints in the sand from giant boots leading inland. From the sand of the beach emerges a stone paved road, not cobblestones, but massive slabs of stone carefully fitted together. They have shifted in places in the millennia since they were placed, but still form a remarkably solid road.
The movement of the trees is even easier to track, as they make no effort to hide their movements and their massive multirooted feet make large drag marks in the sand. Their are at least three different sets of tracks, easy to distinguish for a trained tracker. They head south, up the ridge and into the palms.
"No one is here now. Unless those bootprints are really recent no one's coming down here again soon." The tiefling considers. "We should probably camp and keep a watch in case the cyclops show up in the night."
The most recent boot prints lead from the road to the beach, where it looks like some other canoes headed out into the water, and that looks like a couple of days ago.
"The piers are Ghol-Gan, but obviously the more primitive wooden things come from today's Cyclopes. Not that that's very reassuring. We can only hope the trees have kept them busy.
Riori nods at camping. "I need to meditate and pray beneath starlight to recover my capacity for magic so I can take a mid watch if needed."
"Cyclopes were here couple days ago. They went up that ancient road there." She points.
"Since they haven't returned, yeah, I guess we can camp here. I'll see to getting us started."
Sal looks for a suitable spot and then works with whatever help is offered to pitch canvas shelter over hammocks and bedrolls.
Per Sal's statement earlier in this conversation, Sal is aiming for a spot near the bridge you see on the map, near where they currently are, further back on the beach, sheltered by the nearby hill, not in the trees, near but not directly next to fresh water. She will aim for the grassy area over the sandy area (because tent stakes don't hold well in sand), but still sheltered by the higher elevations nearby.
She will be using the equipment she pulled from the ship to build the camp. She is avoiding relying on any living trees, so will use poles from gaff hooks and broken wood salvaged from the dock (the treants themselves wrecked the dock so clearly they have no reverence for the corpses of their brethren, they just don't want the cyclopes there) and rocks to anchor a large canvas shelter over the four of them. She will use both supply of cord she got from her ship as well as her own rope to guy out the canvas to keep it sturdy, both to help support the poles holding up the canvas as well as keeping it safe in the wind (though hopefully the shelter from the nearby hills will protect it from too much winds). As her rope of climbing also will stay wherever it is anchored, she will use it if necessary to keep the shelter in place.
People with bedrolls can sleep on the ground. Anyone with hammocks (Sal) will need to use poles partly buried in the ground to support the weight of their hammocks. If she needs to she'll use her ranseur as one of her poles.
Once the canvas shelter is secure she will hang mosquito netting from the canvas, securing it with her own extra fishing line to the extra eyelets along the canvas. Rocks will hold down the mosquito netting at the floor level. There will be one area where party members can enter or exit through the gap in the netting. And just in case, she'll sprinkle holy water around the edges of the shelter.
She will probably not cut up branches to camouflage the shelter so as to not cut any living vegetation, but is hoping that by being tucked in the shadow of the hills they won't be too noticeable. She will urge using minimal light sources at night, which will probably only be a problem for Ekote, but as he'll probably be last person on watch in the early dawn that shouldn't be too much of an issue.
She has a traveler's anytool she can use as needed to dig pole-holes, poke holes in canvas, cut rope and cords, cut the broken pieces of wood, etc. (Riori also has a traveler's anytool if they need more than one tool at a time.)
As any seasoned camper knows to do when camping in bear/giant octopus/treant territory, she will set up food preparation at least 100 feet away from the tent site, probably on the sandy part of the beach nearer the fresh water. Sal will go fishing to give them some fresh protein.
They could leave it raw, but she will probably cook it in the coals of a small cook fire that she will thoroughly put out and bury before going to bed. Said cookfire will also drive away bugs while they are eating. With a reminder that said fire will be at least 100 feet away from where they are sleeping, down on the beach. Sal will send Riori to collect firewood, as she's noticed Riori does not leave tracks when she walks. ()
Riori and Sal may also dip into their wandermeal stores for some extra sustenance. Sal will be sure all signs of their meal are cleaned up and buried in the sand a further 50 feet from the buried remains of their campfire.
Fortunately as they can all store their food extradimensionally, they do not need bear bags or vaults to hide its presence/scent.
They will not need a fire near their shelter/bedding area because they are in a tropical environment and will not need anything to stay warm.
They will set up a night watch, and Sal will defer to Captain Threnody to determine the rotation. Thren and Riori have darkvision (though bear in mind Riori's limited vision), and Sal has low-light vision and Scent.
For her part (apart from collecting firewood), in the morning should they have survived the night, Riori will make coffee.
Thren will take a late shift for watch when it's darkest. Ekote should take one with the most light as he lacks appropriate vision. Otherwise, she will defer to Sal's superior survival skills (Thren having lived in a city most of her life).
Otherwise, Thren will help as directed by Sal.
Ekote will also help as needed and directed, not being an outdoorsman either.
There is an abundance of palm offcasts, leaves and stems that have been naturally dropped. Sal would be knowledgeable enough to know that in places where firewood isn't abundant, these fronds and stems can be woven tightly to make a serviceable fuel source. There also plenty of fallen coconuts if you want to eat those. Coconut husks are also a fine source of tinder and fuel.
There are many bugs. Anyone who sleeps on the ground attracts ants and roaches by the middle of the night and would need to make a DC 12 Fortitude check to avoid being awakened.
Your preparations otherwise avoid attracting any other unwanted attention before morning.
As far as Riori is concerned, the only unnatural light here is whatever is on your ship, so the sky is filled with stars.
Riori spends her watch drawing some charts, not engaging in a full augury, but generally tracking celestial movements. For her it is a form of meditating/praying to Desna.
In the morning she makes the coffee as promised; since they are in the jungle, likely she actually cold brewed the grounds the night before rather than percolates it hot, and uses her brewer simply to hold and filter the grounds. She mixes the resulting concentrate with coconut juices, which she decides isn't half bad. Fortunately an adamantine starknife is sufficient for opening coconuts.
"Do we want to continue exploring the edge of the island, or see where this old cyclopean road leads?" She wonders aloud to the party.
"I want to see the outer edges first. There may be other places where we can safely harbor a ship on this island, and I want to know about them." The tiefling decides. She tries the coffee, drinking a bit instead of morning tea.
Ekote is up and reading through his spellbook at dawn, pausing here and there to enjoy the view of the morning sun striking the waters.
"If need be, I am prepared to fly up and survey our surroundings, captain. I am not fast, but a height advantage is always helpful. My flying may need a bit of practice, I must say. I swim far better in the ocean than the sky."
Up the stream beyond the road you can see a massive stone statue, and ancient statue of a cyclops holding a sword. Its one eye must have once held something interesting, but is now just an empty hole. It looks out over the small bay.
Beyond the stream, the beach spreads into a mile wide mangrove swamp. Salt clings to the roots of the twisted trees.
"Mangroves. I doubt anyone will land here, captain. Though it may be good for food or perhaps wood?" Ekote notes as the party moves north and east.
"Food, yeah. Wood, I wouldn't. Mangroves help prevent inland flooding during tropical storms," Sal observes. "I once heard of a mythical peninsula where almost everyone there were total d@&~*&#s, except for their ratfolk plutocrat ruler, and they had cut down all the natural mangrove forests on their coasts and they had their homes wrecked and drowned in storms every year but never once thought to replant them." She shakes her head. "Of course I don't think anyone in real life could be that stupid, but anyways, the mangroves are servin' a purpose I wouldn't mess with. Better for the wildlife they attract."
Speaking of wildlife, Sal keeps an eye out for anything unusual.
"Never hurts to have a source of food on the island. I wasn't planning on cutting them down though. Let's keep going unless we find something else interesting." Thren suggests.
As you move through the wet terrain, Sal picks her way through sandbars and tufts of vegetation that are sturdy enough for you to keep your footing. In the water, she spots a truly massive green and brown mottled snake mostly submerged. The giant anaconda must be 60 feet long.
Anacondas are ambush predators who move mostly under the cover of night but who will hunt whenever the opportunity presents itself.
Thren draws her sword and goes completely on defensive, waiting to see what the enormous snake will do.
The snake stays in place, perhaps not sure if it has been spotted or not. It's head is mostly submerged, but its tongue flickers out at the air, grasping at your scent.
As much as it is enormous, Sal wants to fight it, but she also knows they have bigger fish, so to speak, to address as they continue exploration. So she tries to identify a path where she can lead the party out of the interest-range of the snake.