A Ochre Eurypterid is trying to claw it's way into a door to a small storeroom. A drying blood stain has seeped under the storeroom door, and runs down to where the ship broke up, and drips into the ocean.
Tidewalker-er-er! We kill-ill-ill.
Jayem limbers forward, walking crookedly with the rolling ship, and brings his serrated axe whistling down.
for
Linard clasps his holy symbol and touches Harper before he attacks the crustacean. "May Abadar guide you."
Whip, Scorpion w/luck (Touch of Law makes it 14 to hit)
Damage:
Harper's hit, with Linard's blessing from Abadar, kills the Eurypterid. The door it was trying to break down is damaged, but looks to be wedged shut now.
Harper, using Jayem as a living shield, rotates his whip over his head ending in a strike at the creature scraping the door. The strike hits a vital area between the creature's natural armor. Thank you Linard! Jayem, can you break down the door? There may be a survivor in there.
Nngara continues to follow behind the others carefully watching the others to make sure nothing else surprises them, not that she expects these lobster-scorpions to do any sneaking.
Kalis kicks the door a few times, and it shortly gives way, revealing the ships supply room. Just inside the door, the source of the blood becomes obvious, as First Mate Alton’s body lies slumped against the wall, quite dead.
A search of the rest of the supply room turns up several tools and lumber for ship repairs that could come in handy in building campsites , a block and tackle, three large canvas sheets, two fishing nets, a grappling hook, two bullseye lanterns, 12 flasks of lantern oil, 150 feet of hemp rope, and five shovels.
After we search the rest of the ship, we should work together to carry this gear to the deck. We can use the rope to haul it up the cliff. Does anyone know if low tide will allow us to drag the gear to the camp late this afternoon?
"The first mate's dead - that's a shame. He looked like he was well able to take on a sea scorpion..."
Linard closely inspects Alton's body for a minute, then straightens up, thoughtful.
"It looks like he was already wounded by the time he met the beast here. Someone attacked him with a stiletto - or a rapier, perhaps. Was there a mutiny on the ship?"
We take all on deck. Tie rope, pull up cliff.
Nngara is surveying how much there is and trying to calculate how long it would take to get it all up on deck.
Rock slip. Even low water is danger.
Di good spirits watch ovah dis man, may he be at peace.
Jayem goes back and checks any other doors belowdecks before heading upstairs to check on the door there. He will help carry and bundle stuff to be hoisted up the cliff.
"I hope so, Jayem."
Going back to the galley, Jayem opens the larder door. A foul stench puffs out as he tentatively opens the door.
The body of Rambar Terillo, the ship's cook, looks to have been rolled under a shelf here.
There is some food stored here as well, preserved goods that would go into the stew, hardtack, and grain for the breakfast gruel.
Nngara looks from behind and shutters as Jayem opens the door revealing the deceased cook. Poorly attempting some comedy she comments: Looks like his food disagreed with him even more than it disagreed with us.
After we search the rest of the ship, we should work together to carry this gear to the deck. We can use the rope to haul it up the cliff. Does anyone know if low tide will allow us to drag the gear to the camp late this afternoon?
Looking out the ship, it is quiet probably that the water will recede enough that rocks will be exposed at low tide.
Linard shakes his head. "More corpses... Looks like we should be thankful to whoever helped us escape the ship alive."
He kneels over the cook's body, checking for symptoms of unnatural death, and sure enough, founds some pretty quickly.
"It was poison all right, but probably not from the food, or it would have killed us too. Looks like the poor man was bitten by a huge snake. But how could it have avoided everyone for so long? Has anyone ever seen a big snake on the ship? Or perhaps it's another kind of sea dweller?"
He pauses for a moment with a quizzical look on his face.
"The stage of decomposition suggests that the cook has been dead for at least a full day, but I remember him serving us the food just last night... Something is very wrong here."
"What if, it was not the cook, but one who looked like the cook?"
The captain’s cabin is a wreck. A jagged hole in the side has allowed most of the room’s contents to spill out into the surf and wash away. The captains desk fills a large hole in the wall, the desk being too big to fit through.
A footlocker is haphazardly leaning against the desk. A quick inspection reveals the name "Jask Derindi" on the side.
Harper inspects the desk looking for traps and locks.
Perception:
The desk is not trapped, but the bottom door is locked.
Top drawer:
* Keyring with several keys
* Captain's log book
The middle drawer contains several charts and maps, including:
* Map of the west coast of Garund, with the ship's route marked.
* Map of Desperation Bay
"This is a place of death, we should be quick about this." As the others search the captain's cabin Kalis frowns and starts to pile the foodstuff and other useful items on the deck.
Nngara looks at the barbaric elf: You climb, I tie on rope, you pull up, get food and wood off ship before sink.
Jayem gestures to ward off the evil eye when they find the cook.
Di serpent bites and di blade cuts on t'ese dead men speak bad mojo. We best get what's good and go.
---
He taps the side of the footlocker they find in the captain's chambers.
Dis be dat man wit' di chains, no?
---
Jayem assists Kalis in hauling the goods up the cliff. If there is a particulary large load that needs hauling, he will eat one of his dead frogs and grow twice his size: Whoa, mon! Dat be a big big bundle. Sit a spell and let we make juju, den we haul dis up.
Harper pulls out his tools and attempts to unlock the bottom drawer.
Disable Device with Luck:
"I'll give tyou a hand with that, Jayem"
Harper pulls out his tools and attempts to unlock the bottom drawer.
Disable Device with Luck: 1d20+8
After some time, Harper manages to pick the lock.
* A bottle of fine brandy
* An intricate wooden model of the Jenivere in a glass bottle.
* a small coffer containing 350 gp
* 12 potions in a long leather satchel
4 potions of cure light wounds
1 potion of cure moderate wounds
4 potions of lesser restoration
1 potion of remove disease
1 potion of water breathing
1 potion of water walking
"Water breathing and water walking? Why didn't the captain use them himself when the crash happened? Unless he had more of those, and got to safety with their help."
Also, while Harper was fiddling with the lock, Linard was browsing through the captain's log book, hoping to find some clues to the recent events.
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.
Linard's face is changing from surprise to anger to resolve, as he skims through the pages. Finally he slams the logbook shut and speaks through gritted teeth:
"Remember one more girl who was on the ship? Ieana, she never really talked to anyone? Well it seems the captain's got madly in love with her, and so perhaps did the first mate. They apparently had a fight over her, that explains Alton's punctured wounds, and he decided to stay with her on the Smuggler's Shiv forever. Oh no, wait - it was actually she who suggested they get off here. Just what was he thinking? And what could that woman possibly see in this bloody island?"
When the others are done, Nngara casts Detect Magic and scans the whole ship to see whether there is anything magic on the ship. <-- This should go through the wood as it can pass through 3 feet of wood I believe.
Nngara also wants to get as much wood as is available to be grabbed for firewood and to make a shelter.
Outside of the potions that you found, nothing is magical.
What do you want to do with the bodies?
Nngara looks at the corpses: Do we bury these. I no know how you north people do dead.
You work to carefully pack up tools, food, potions, papers, and wood together. Eventually, the ship settles down on to the rocks, and stops rocking, though it does not settle evenly.
The air is hot and sticky, which seems to be just fine with the local biting insects. It seems like the islands population has you swatting them a few times a minute. You see catch glimpses of colorful birds through the foliage, scare a few small lizards from underfoot, and occasionally hear something unseen moving deeper in the forest.
Arriving at camp, you find the other castaways sitting around a campfire. The smoke seems to be somewhat effective at keeping the biting insects at bay, and there is charred Eurypterid meat for dinner, (or perhaps raw Eurypterid meat), the first time in many days that there won't Terillo's water stew for dinner.
Aerys calls out as you come into sight, "Did you find anything interesting?"
"That depends on what you call interesting."
We find cook and mate murder.
She pauses for a minute before asking the other castaways:
Who missing from ship. Where crew? What other passenger not here?
"That depends on what you call interesting."
The impeccably dressed Gnome, Gelik, quips, "Contrary to popular opinion around here, that would mean something relevant to our situation. Not just something shiny."
Eating his raw meat with relish, he pauses, swallows, and says, "di ship is broken bad. We bring di t'ings we find of good use. We also find di dead cook and di othah man. Bad deaths, bad juju. We no like o go back."
Kalis lays out the equipment and supplies salvaged from the wreck. At the gnome's quip he replies, "Our situation is that we must survive, as it always is. The food here will only last a few days, and we must find a good water supply." He looks out at the ocean, "Where is this place? I must get to the the great jungle."
Ishirou says in a low, raspy voice, "Together, we have strength. We cannot fight the ocean, for it is endless. But we can call for a ship." Ishirou nods, seeming to agree with himself. "We don't fight the ocean, we fight," he points inland, "the jungle."
Jask lies forlornly against a tree, hands still manacled behind his back, looking out across the sea.
Aerys asks, putting her flask away, "So, what 't'ings of good use' did you find?"
Nngara reaches up and scratches the small dinosaur sitting on her shoulder's chin. We make camp here? In morning we search land. Do anyone know how big is this island? Or what island is shape?
Di Rope, di feesh-hook, di feesh-net, di lamps, di ... eating t'ings, and di juju-bottles. See here -- we find di big-man's spirit-watah. He go crazy, fight ovah woman, wreck di big boat.
Jayem goes over to Jask, bringing the footlocker and the keyring.
Dis be yoahs. We find in di big-man's room. We see di irons, find di keys. We try.
He tries the keys from the keyring in Jask's manacles.
Kalis watches Jayem unlock Jask with a slight frown. "This is not the place to camp. We should look for a better place. One we can defend if there are flesheaters here. One with water. One that we can go in many directions to explore. A place the gods favor, not so close to that." He nods over to the ocean.
"I agree with Kalis on that camping here is a poor choice.
Though if we camp to close to a fresh water source,
we'll need to deal with the local wildlife more often."
Nngara looks around at the assembled group: Has anyone magic to make water? Also, food more and danger less by beach. In jungle is killer gorillas and might be men who eat men. Very dangerous. It better we camp here, then search island and come back rest.