"This place is getting rather dreary anyways"
Shortly after noon on the day that Sandara and Bellara are found missing, you hear Mr. Plugg berating some of the sailors, which ends with him yelling, "go get me that dwarf doc and his mates."
Sly Lonegan comes to you and says, "Plugg be wantin' youse all, best you not dally."
When the group comes into Plugg's presence, he is cussing up a storm, but finally, "see here you lubbers, when the ship's side stove in, our barrels of fresh water was busted too. You scurvy dogs is to take the cutter over to that there island with some barrels and see about getting fresh water and supplies. Repairs here will take us the next day and half, so at the next high tide after that, when she lifts off this rock, we be off, so be back by then."
The Man's Promise is just short of a mile off the north shore of an island that doesn't appear much more than a couple miles long.
We take the cutter and find the missing ones first before we search for fresh water. Yes? Chaenath whispers to the others.
Alessandra flashes a quick smile at both Malevor and Chaenath. "We're going to get along just fine."
Favouring Plugg (barely) with the very smallest of nods, she gathers her belongings and starts steering the cutter towards the island. She is looking not for freshwater but for the likely site of the grindylow lair.
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Rogar carries empty water barrels to the cutter with surprising enthusiasm - no doubt due to the rum bottles hidden in the barrels. Once the barrels are loaded, the dwarf returns to ship, and gathers his weapons and armor. "I reckon them grindilows came from somewhere, right?" he says aloud what's everyone suspecting.
As you sail the little cutter away from the ship, you see the island in question. Not that there's any way the PCs could know this, but it's called "Bonewrack Island."
You are nearest to the farthest NE corner of the island. Directly to your south is a reasonably high section of the island, with pretty unscaleable cliffs. Just to the west, there appears to be some more approachable beach area with some seemingly abandoned structures, and several miles west, the island appears to turn to the south out of your view, although you can clearly see that the western end of the island rises quite a bit. To the east of the high hill area with the unscaleable cliffs, there is open water, so you are definitely at the easternmost end of the island. The water is crystal clear, and you can see deep into the depths around the island. There are coral reefs around, which in the small cutter you can avoid. You see a series of stakes in the shallows around the island with skeletons, or parts of them, tied to the stakes, clearly some sort of warning. The island has a decent amount of vegetation, trees, etc. There are decent waves, and the tides seem strong, it would take a strong swimmer to survive here.
Obvious courses of action are:
Grindlylows seem like they like water, so do not think they would go on cliffs. Somebody tied the skeletons to the stumps. We can ask that somebody about where grindlylows go with their captvies
Whatever it is we do. We should do so quick. Time is not long
Whatever it is we do. We should do so quick. Time is not long
I concur, let me know what you do.
"Let's get out of sight of the Promise, and do a reconnaissance of the island before we decide."
Unless someone disagrees, Alessandra will steer the tiller to go East and then South.
"No complaints from me."
Very well, east and south it is.
You skirt around the east side of the island, and as you come down maybe only a half a mile, the island then turns back towards the west.
You can tell that the island is roughly crescent shaped, and you have just rounded the NE "corner" of it. It slopes down and away to the SW.
The coast continues to be rough, and pretty vertical with a jungle containing various types of plants, trees and such for several more miles. It also appears somewhat marshy in this area.
Finally it does open up into a sandy beach as you start approaching the SW end of the island. Back behind the beach, the mountain (such as it is) rises up again, and you can tell the island is "thicker" at this end than the NE end. Also, somewhere between the beach and the mountains you can see what could almost be a tended field of crops.
There do continue to be staked out skeletons along the shores.
At this point the obvious options are:
If we describe it is a thick crescent, the concave side faces SE, and the convex side faces NW. The Man's Promise is just about a mile due north of the NE corner.
You are currently midway down the SE side of the island. The island is roughly 6 miles long running from SW to NE.
Alessandra's plan is to do a complete circuit of the island, staying out of sight of the Promise.
To that end, she steers the tiller to go West round the next point before going North.
As you continue around the island you conclude several things:
1) there are only two "easy" places to land. The ramshackle village on the north shore, which can be seen from the Man's Promise and the beach on the SE side, "inside" the concave side of the crescent
2) there are signs of civilization on the island: the ramshackle village, and the apparent crops
3) the creepy staked out skeletons surround the island
The only additional thing you discovered is that just west of the island, due to the clearness of the water, you can see the remains of a wrecked ship beneath the waves.
I assume you did not complete coming up the west side of the island, as you did not wish to come back in view of your ship, correct?
The shipwreck is in roughly 20-25 feet of water, pretty clearly seen from the surface.
A large rusty cage, large enough for three medium creatures is visible within the wreckage. The cage is still locked, but the bars appear to have been broken open by force.
"Anyone recognize the name Infernus?"
"Nuh-uh." Alessandra is looking at the broken cage. "Wonder what got out. Wonder where they went." She looks pointedly toward the island.
She looks down into the clear water. "Anyone up for exploring?"
Assuming that at least one other person will accompany her, the half-orc girl dives into the water, down towards the wreck.
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"Mmm, looks like she was called 'Infernus'...", Doc says peering down into the crystal clear water. He drinks an extract of Touch of Sea, and stands up. "Read me mind, lassie! Race ya t' the bottom!" the dwarf winks to Alessandra, and jumps into the water with a big splash.
In the water, the dwarf swims like a fish, diving effortlessly to the wreck.
Alessandra and Doc have no trouble swimming down to the wreck. As they swim down and get a better look at the wreck, they can give the following check a try:
You can identify that this ship is definitely Chelish.
Alright, so no one spots the creature, so it gets a surprise round against:
Alessandra
A medium sized moray eel comes out of the coral and attempts to bite Alessandra.
Success
It will then attempt to grab her.
Which I believe fails.
Initiative then, Doc goes first, then the Eel, then everyone else.
I provide this for rules on underwater combat.
Alessandra avoids being grabbed by dint if tearing her arm from the eel's mouth, leaving a fair amount of flesh behind. Bleeding profusely, the teenager grits her teeth in pain, knowing that crying out will make her lose the precious air in her lungs. She draws her magical short sword and drives it with both hands at the beast, hoping to persuade it to find easier food elsewhere.
EDIT
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Rogar is oblivious to the aquatic predator until water explodes into movement, and blood fills his view. Seeing the eel taking a big chunk out of his friend, the dwarf motions upwards, and starts swimming toward the surface, drawing his crossbow.
Nearer to the surface, Doc stops for a moment to load a bolt into his crossbow.
With Rogar having a swim speed, I'll permit him to drag Alessandra to the surface.
You guys can absolutely see things under the water. The water is crystal clear!
Ok, so Rogar and Alessandra get to the surface.
The eel then swims (charges) up and attacks Rogar for taking away its snack.
Miss
Alessandra then swings and strikes the creature soundly with her sword.
The eel is right next to Alessandra and Rogar.
Chaenath, Malevor, and Rogar are up.
Eel: 9
Chaenath hisses at the eel You will die for this eel. DIE! Chaenath casts Cause Fear at the eel.
Fail
Everybody go ahead and get your licks in, once it runs, it's not coming back for the day.
Also, feel free to let me know what you do once the combat is over, so we can press on.
Eel: 9, frightened
"Mother******* b**** son of a ******* ****!" As soon as Alessandra gets her head above the water she lets loose with a string of curses in Common and Orcish.
Her efforts to get out of the water are hindered by the damage to her arm; once back in the boat, she ruefully examines the injury and sighs. "Oh well. What's one more scar? Oh, and thanks Doc. That could have gotten nasty."
Wringing out her sodden clothing (insisting that Doc and Malevor turn their backs while she does so), she does her best to hold the wound closed until it stops bleeding.
"OK - that was a mistake and we haven't even reached the island yet. Someone else want to make the decision as to where we land? Beach, or village?"
Next time, I can have something to heal that Chaenath says after glancing at the wound.
Was there anything interesting in the wreck?
Unfortunately the two were not down there long enough to sort through the wreckage and determine if there was anything of interest/value.
Chaenath bobs her head below the surface for a bit and stares at the ship.
Do not think anything else dangerous would have been in there with the eel. she says as she comes up. One more try?
The half-orc teenager shrugs, and then winces. "Ow. Whatever you like. I'll keep an eye out for anything from up here."
Once bitten, twice shy.
If he won't go... I will. I have been asea for many weeks but until now could not swim. It chafes.
With her otter on her shoulder Chaenath will drop backwards into the ocean. Before heading down she touches Rogar and casts a Water Lung Hex on herself and then him.
And heads down.
Ok, so if each of you who went down can roll four DC 15 Perception checks.
You find several useless ruseted weapons buried in the silt among the wreck.
You find three bottles of fine Chelish perfume (15gp each).
You find a pair of chopsticks made from manticore spikes (15gp)
You find three wax-sealed clay ewers.
I should add that now that you're down here, the ship has a gargoyle as its figurehead.
I believe I'm quite content keeping the boat in check.
Meager loot procured. Identification of the ship accomplished. Young giant moray eel "trap" overcome.
So what's the plan?
Let us land on the beach out of sight of the ship. Then maybe we'll find someone who knows where it is that grindylows go.