"What brought you lot here?" Daliya called. She was surprised they were so willing to answer - she'd be using this information to barter her way off this rock - but if they wanted to keep answering...
"And how long have you been here?" Krom adds.
As Jrahk showed us, everyone's luck runs out eventually. Scags might already be dead. Or even UNdead.
Softly, to his crew, Ixrul says, "If Scags is undead, this may still be workable. If he's dead but hasn't been dead for too long, this may still be workable."
More loudly, he says "And when did Scags vanish?"
Ace mentally noted Well, at least they are not against us.
"Weeks at least. We stopped keepin' track o' time a while back. T'weren't 'elpful and we'd all but given up hope aught help would come. We lost the Cap'n in the first push and morale's been in the gutter since."
"Inconvenient for resurrection if he died weeks ago... Where were you when you lost Scags?"
Daliya shrugged. It seemed unlikely he was alive. Perhaps the crew would have some of the information Scags was meant to, but that seemed like a final question, in case they got demanding.
"We did come here for a rescue after all. I'm certain you can make yourselves comfortable on the Devil's Bullet, or provided you can wait until we're satisfied with the results of our search for Scags." Gremory makes an offer calmly.
Splendid, I'm in the market for more lackeys!
"Right at the beach we was. He stayed back to fight off the bastards and cover our escape, with a few brave volunteers."
Well, that didn't sound good. He was almost certainly dead. Still, that was rarely the end when magic was a thing. "If we need him for evidence then reincarnation won't be an option," she murmured softly to the others. This could get...pricy.
She begins to look impatient.
"So, eh, what's yer plan fer gettin' us off this rock? I'm all fer sheddin' a tear o'er Scags but this hellhole ain't the place to be doin' it."
Daliya eyed the captain. They had been helpful, and might serve to replace any crew lost to the disease. On the other hand they might not be what one could call trustworthy, even by pirate standards.
Krom, unlike most of his crewmates, speaks openly to the captain.
"Well, we've got some open positions on our ship as of...well, about an hour ago. Would you lot be interested in joining us?"
He doesn't seem worried about their trustworthiness. After all, this wouldn't be the first time the crew of the Devil's Pallor had to put down a traitorous new recruit.
"Aye, you're welcome. Fail to carry your weight and your weight will carry you to the seabed. Any of you who are competent in combat may feel free to come with us - we're going to try to find Scags, and this is a fair chance to prove your loyalty."
The leader looks at her crew and shakes her head.
"We've bare eat fer days, the men ain't up to much. I'm made o' heartier stuff if'n ye wish me help. I know me way around a blade and a lock in equal measure."
"Name's Alisa. Alisa Grogblud." she says, finally approaching near enough to extend a hand.
Daliya smiled and took her hand for a moment. "Charmed. I'm Dalia, the ship's surgeon. Who among you is poorly off, beyond what some food and rum will do for you?"
"Only heal them if they need it desperately, Dalia. We may have greater need of your skills than they shortly."
"None of the wounded lasted past the first week. They died either of infection or ghoul fever."
Daliya nodded. "Not surprising. They're unpleasantly virulent." She gave them a quick look over to make sure none of them had been infected themselves. The last thing she wanted was to send more potential ghouls down to the ship.
The crewmen are, as she said, malnourished but uninjured. They should be safe to bring back.
The journey back to the ship is uneventful, the ghouls seeming to be biding their time for now.
"Let's do a search for Scags, see if we can find his corpse. Or, given the presence of ghouls, maybe his weapon."
Arron is a bit stymied.
"I don't really have anything to go on here. Not sure what I'm meant to be tracking, exactly."
"Don't you have any magic or something that can help? Maybe one of these schmucks knows of some distinctive feature or item Scags might have had that gives me something to go on?"
Alisa: "Dunno where the Cap'n is. Obviously, but even if'n 'e's dead 'is diary's probably in the ship. 'e 'ad a secret stash in 'is cabin none o' the rest o' the crew knew about. Look behind the bookshelf and ye'll find it."
"I don't think I have the spells to track him right now," Daliya mused.
"Right. Let's rest, then track down this stash. We may find enough information in the diary alone."
"Aye. We know where the Duchess is. We spied the undead bringin' 'er into a cave to the east side of the island, on the Little Jaw."
"Aye, we'll take the ship tomorrow. For now, we must rest."
Ixrul instructs the crew to move away from shore a bit and double the watch. If possible, he will assign crew with night vision to the watch.
"I'll help with the first watch. Gurram has nightvision, but she can't stay on this plane while I'm asleep."
"Well, since I guess I can go for a turn, if there is not enough manpower"
The night, surprisingly (and perhaps suspiciously) passes without incident. Your new crewmates speak up in testament to this.
"It's...eerie." says Alisa
"Since we been on this rock, they been howlin', screamin', scratchin' at the rocks, an' sendin' groups to attack us ev'ry night. Why would they stop now?"
"It suggests an intelligence behind the attacks, one that is adjusting to the new presence." Daliya murmured as she considered the problem. "It'll probably be waiting for us to head back to land."
"Aye. When we go ashore, pull a bit farther out. If I want you to come in, I'll signal with dancing lights - one red, one blue, one green on repeat."
"Now - a potential plan worth considering. We teleport directly into the cave, strike them by surprise."
"Before that, maybe we should stop by that spring and make our weapons all glowy and undead-hurting again."
"It can't hurt...well, most of us." Assuming it worked again.
You upgrade your weapons, and head off.
Sailing around to Little Jaw, you look carefully for anything suspicious. Eventually, you spot it: a cave under the high tide, barely visible from above the water.
"Who doesn't have a way to breathe underwater? I have an amulet of adaptation."
"Even if we don't go in during high tide, we might still be there when the tide comes back in, and the rest of the cave may be flooded."
Ixrul pauses, for a moment, considering the situation. "Preferably ways that are difficult to dispel. A smart magic-user defending an underwater area from surface-dwellers might prepare abjuration magic to asphyxiate invaders."
"I have two Water Breathing spells prepared. I can cast one on myself and one on someone else." Daliya shrugged. "Or I can keep one as a back up in case someone does dispell it."
"I can't give myself water breathing, but I can give Gurram gills by casting an Evolution Surge. I don't think that's any harder to dispel than a normal Water Breathing spell, but at least she'll look cool."
Krom looks thoughtful for a moment. "I wonder how I'd look with gills..."
Ace smiles smugly and points with a finger. "I have my cape"
"If I do indeed become the victim of dispel magic, I think the effects wont last long on it.'
"That just leaves me and Grem. We can use the two scrolls, and that'll leave Daliya's second cast for a dispel backup."