"...so do we explore the west coast on our return," Siri asks, pointing in that direction,"Or the east coast?" She points there, waiting or the others to come to a decision - if they can't, she stalks off towards the east coast to explore it on the trip back.
"East works for me," Paulinus replies.
Ishirou smiles at Kenton, but shakes his head. "I'm going to stay here and try to help protect the camp. I'd like to help, but, well..." Here he trails off, then smirks. "Word around the camp is that you four who are going off to explore are going to save us--unless you get yourselves killed. Some are a little more pessimistic than others, but I believe you four can do it. We're all just a little too shaken up to risk our necks out there right now."
-----
Cutting east across the island, the castaways reach the edge of a high cliff looking over the ocean to the north. It's roughly one hundred feet down the vertical cliff to a beach, just off of which is another shipwreck resting in shallow waters. Its sails have all but rotted away, and an enormous colony of barnacles cling to bottom of it. By the time the party reaches the cliff, it's noon, and emerging from the humid jungle into this sunshine is nearly unbearable, especially for those with heavy clothing and armor.
"We should break until the temperature lowers," Siri says, taking a rest for now, peering at the wreck. She tries to make out if there's a legible name on the side of it, while also speaking to her fellow survivors.
"We could scavenge the wreck for any useful supplies. It's possible not everything inside it is rotten." She says, looking at the others. Her curiosity is slightly piqued now, and with nothing better to do on the wait, she asks a question.
"Why were you all traveling on the ship?" She inquires.
"Business. I work for a trading firm out of Eleder. Pineapples mostly. I had to watch over a shipment and handle some contracts in Corentyn, now I'm on my way home. Well....I was anyway," Paulinus replies to Siri.
Paulinus joins Aleris in looking down on the wreck. "We should definitely find a way down, that might be Jask's former ship."
"I plan to return to my mother's tribe to rally all the Ekujae into an army for the purpose of driving foreigners out of our lands," She tells Aleris in all seriousness, pulling out some dried fruits to nibble on while they wait. "I haven't decided if we will take back Sargava as well. I suppose it depends on what they do with the Aspis."
She looks at the cliff face, thinking for a few moments before deciding something. "It's too risky - we're just too high up, and we do not have enough rope with us to make it safer. Mark it on the map, and perhaps we can return later."
"We ought to at least look around after it cools down. There might be a hidden path down," Paulinus counters. "If we don't find anything I'll be happy to come back from another way later."
Once the extreme heat dies down, the party sets off again, heading back north. The cliff descends in elevation, and when they reach a small cove, the cliff descends more quickly, offering a walkable slope down to the beach. From the cliffs, it looks like there are some unnatural objects on the sand. Once the explorers get closer, they find the remnants of a hastily rigged shelter and a sooty smudge of a campfire on the sand, sitting well above the high tide line. The camp has obviously been abandoned, but fairly recently--within a few days.
"Huh, wonder who camped here?" Paulinus says, looking about. "We should go back down the beach now and check out that wreck."
The barbarian frowns as she takes a look around the campsite - it's not been here long, perhaps a few days at the most. She picks up the tricorn hat and the scarves, recognizing them both from the ship. "This must be where the captain and the woman washed up," She says, looking at the nearly faded footprints heading south, back along the slope. That certainly confirms what the tengu had told them.
Looking in the direction that Paulinus wanted to go, she thinks for a moment, looking at the sky, before shaking her head. "It will take us five hours to return to camp from here. If we wish to return before dark, we should go now. Tomorrow we can return in the morning and look if you still desire." She tells him.
When asked about why he was on board the ship, Kenton replies, "I'm actually a wanted dissident in Cheliax and I'm desperate to be a part of the fomenting revolution in Sargava."
After a few moments of awkward quiet, Kenton laughs to himself.
"Gods, I wish it was that interesting. Business dried up in my part of the Mwangi Expanse. I decided to try my hand at acting as a guide on the other islands. This... was not one of the islands I was considering."
Kenton is obviously covering something up, but the scout refuses to talk anymore about the past with 'so much still to do' to survive.
The scout nods in agreement with Siri.
"Though we may want to keep exploring. If that's Pezock's ship, I'm sure he would have already scavenged the useful things by now. He may be insane, but he's definitely resourceful."
After a moment, he adds, "Besides, if we keep coming back with little to no success, morale will get worse and worse. These berries will at least give Aerys some relief. And Aerys being happy will help raise the spirits of the rest hopefully."
Inwardly, Kenton thanks the gods that Ishirou has a thing for Aerys. Making her happy would definitely go a long way to making him happy in the end.
Now, I just need to talk with her about Ishirou without knowing a single thing about him. Can't believe he trusts a jungle guide whose main company is plants with his love life.
Hoping to boost morale with extra supplies, the group decides to make a minor detour, heading north around the mouth of the cove and down south along the beach toward the shipwreck they saw from the cliff. It isn't too long until they see it out in the surf, tilted on one side, the hull rotting and covered in barnacles, but surprisingly still intact. A worn, but legible name carving marks this ship as the Bloody Doll. The tilt is such that the lip of the gunwale is easily climbed over, and the deck of the ship sloped but navigable with just one's feet. The planks groan in protest, but do not give. There are two entrances leading to stairs below deck, one at the stern and one at the bow.
The lower deck is filled with seawater up to the ankles. It seems that floor of the deck here mostly survived, creaky and rotting but it has very few holes in it through which sharp rocks poke (for a shipwreck, anyway). Piles of human bones are scattered about the ship, with ragged scraps of cloth still clinging to some. One of the bones seems to twitch--it jumps up, and the rest follow, each climbing on top of each other, until six animated humanoid skeletons stand before you, each holding a rusty cutlass. Some are put together incorrectly, with long arms made of another's leg bones, or one having acquired two heads and another none. But the thing they all share in common is a haunting, distant flame of hatred burning in each eye socket.
-----
Paulinus leads the way down one stairwell, while he motions Siri to make her way down the opposite one. Seeing the skeletons come to life, he stops in the doorway to the hold and raises his shield. Knowing that the skeletons can only be damaged effectively by blunt weapons he readies himself to bite the first one that comes into range. "Skeletons! Use blunt weapons!" he growls over his shoulder to the others.
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Siri doesn't - can't, really - heed Paulinus' advice as she doesn't have a blunt weapon. What she does have is a powerful swing, stepping in and striking the closest one. She strikes heavy, but with a fluid grace that is absent in her anger.
As the first skeleton approaches Paulinus, he strikes out to chomp down on it. He crunches through the salty, dusty bone, and the skeleton falls apart. Two others move up to him, though, striking out with their rusty blades. They clang loudly off his shield, though, leaving the beast-headed merchant unharmed.
Siri slices out with her blade, but the skeleton manages to jump back, and the edge of the sword glances off hard skull. The one in front of her retaliates, and two others move up to slice at her as well. Only the first one's sword lands, though, leaving a nasty cut across Siri's cheek.
-----
When the rusty blade gouged her cheek, the half-elf could contain herself no longer. She roared out, swinging her sword wildly to tear the skeletons apart, attacking with vigor.
Paulinus roars at the undead, snapping out at the next skeleton in front of him.
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Kenton draws his swords at the sight of the skeletons piecing themselves together and snorts in laughter as if listening to a private joke.
"At least they don't have wings."
The rogue rushes to help Siri, attacking the skeleton nearest him that he can get a solid swing at with the short sword.
Siri returns the skeleton's attack in more than equal terms. Her sword tears through bone like paper, slicing bits off and sending bones flying everywhere. No one else can seem to land any solid blows, though. The ex-sailors continue to lash out mindlessly at the targets in front of them.
The skeletons near Siri manage to slice into her after her reckless blow, one cutting her arm and the other leaving a deep gash on her side.
-----
Siri roars as she swings again, trying to tear apart the skeleton that had hit her the most grievously. Her swing is wild, missing by a mile.
Seeing Siri take a beating, Kenton decides to up the ante and leaps over the nearby barrels attempting to jump between the skeleton facing Siri and the one next to Paulinus.
20
17
Smoothly jumping on the other side of the skeleton, Kenton strikes with the masterwork short sword with all of his might.
Kenton isn't as effective with his stabbing weapons against just bones, but he manages to find a weakened crack in one of the skeleton's spines. The sword enters and goes through, splitting the ancient bone and causing the skeleton to collapse into a motionless pile.
Paulinus looks at the wounded Siri and sighs. "Sorry for the invasion..." he says to her before briefly concentrating. He magically asserts himself on Siri, forcing a piece of his life force into her. There is no outward sign of this, but she can feel Paulinus's soul inside her now. "Let me take your pain away," he says, grimacing as feedback from Siri's injuries starts to stream through the bond. Siri can feel her own pain lessening, as her injuries begin to heal.
____________________
The skeletons continue their assault, rattling their broken blades and the bits of chain armor rusted to their bones.
The only thing they manage to cut, though, is the sea air.
-----
The raging barbarian continues to howl as she lashes out against the skeletons, her blade whirling around in a deadly arc that nearly takes Aleris' head off behind her, ripping through another of their assailants.
Paulinus grunts, as wounds begin open on his body to mirror the claw slashes on Siri. Siri's wounds close up in equal measure across the room. Even through the haze of her rage she can feel her pain draining away into the part of her that is Paulinus crammed into the back of her mind.
Paulinus holds his shield up defensively, hoping that Siri can take out the skeletons quickly while his magic heals her. He tries to bite a skeleton, but it's a half-hearted effort and yields no results.
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Realizing that Siri has things taken care of, Kenton turns to the skeleton behind him with a wicked grin. Stepping slightly behind the skeleton, Kenton strikes out with both swords at the creature's unprotected back.
Once again, his sword(s) find rotten bone as Kenton's arms whip around in combat.
Kenton thrusts at the skeleton with the first mate's sword, but the creature catches the blade in its free hand, curling mismatched finger bones around it. It leans in close enough that Kenton can see the hateful pinpricks of flame in its eye sockets, but he stabs at it again pushing it off him and cracking a rib in the process.
Aleris' bolt goes wide as she tries to avoid hitting her allies.
The remaining skeletons' awkward bone configurations seem to impede their ability to land any blows. Their swords and claw-handed swipes are useless against the shielded Paulinus and the quick-footed Kenton.
-----
Once more Siri's blade flashes as she strikes out against the nearest skeleton. It goes wide again, missing her target.
Paulinus continues to defend with his shield, letting the others do the work of killing the undead while he suffers Siri's wounds.
Kenton turns to the last skeleton (assuming Aleris' bolt kills the one he was fighting) and sidesteps behind it to attack.
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23
The scouts blades once again whistle through the air and strike bone.
Aleris and Kenton finish off the remaining undead, sending their bones clattering to the floor!
With the threat of the cursed sailors' bones lying quietly scattered across the deck, the explorers can search the ship without any more hostile interruptions. Most of what they find is brine-rotted wood. Paulinus, however, discovers a secret compartment behind a cupboard in the kitchen. Behind its waterproof seal, he finds: a set of masterwork studded leather with the initials "J.R." embossed on it, a shortbow and quiver containing arrows, and several small leather pouches. One pouch contains silver coins, and the others contain a foul and musty smelling white powder. Whatever it used to be, it seems to have gone bad despite the waterproof seal.
Siri has to take a few moments to calm down after the battle ends, but looks particular confused when she checks herself over and realizes that the cuts and scratches she'd endured were all but gone. She didn't remember receiving any healing during the battle - but then again, she tended to block out everything but what she was trying to kill in the red haze of a rage.
She humors the others in searching this place for anything useful - the studded leather armor looked usable, but the shortbow was the best discovery by far. The barbarian took it up, testing its draw and ensuring that the wood wasn't warped or rotten. There were a decent number of arrows with it as well - though they would have to be careful of using them all up.
The rest didn't concern her much, coins not exactly valuable shipwrecked as they were. "Let's head back now," She tells the group.
"Siri, we are linked now. If you get injured, the wounds will transfer to me. It will allow me to monitor your safety in battle more closely," Paulinus explains to Siri after the fight.
He makes no comment about the pesh.