The ghost continues to haunt the cove, ignoring the legionnaires. As dawn rises over the eastern horizon, the ghost slowly fades from sight.
As the morning light causes the ghost to fade, Cica sighs loudly. She realizes that her shoulders have been tight with anxiety ever since the ghost appeared over the water.
"Mornin' Legionnaires. Rise and shine. You just missed our first ghost."
Cica pauses to enjoy their reaction, and then continues, "Happily, it didn't seem to notice us, so Ilistra and I watched quietly. At any rate, it was clearly the ghost of some sailor. He kept crying out for 'Aeshamara', and cursing his crew."
Turning to Jask, she asks, "Any of that mean anything to you?"
At the risk of a beating or bringing shame to the unit, Ilistra begins cooking a morning meal with the supplies they'd brought with them.
”We should begin our search of the ship as soon as possible. Give us the most amount of time to utilize the light of day for our task.”
Upon learning that there had been a ghost so near to them, a surprised Garland quickly looked to Luna, who seeming nodded to confirm the sighting.
Using his mighty magic to boost his mental faculties, the masked man pondered if the name "Aeshamara" had any significance to him.
"I agree with Darius," affirmed Garland. "With the appearance of that ghost, I am concerned about what else might lurk in the dark."
A search of the Brine Demon reveals that the vast majority of its booty has long since either rotted away or been lost to the sea — much of the ship’s hull is missing, wedged tightly amid the jagged rocks. Yet an investigation of the captain’s cabin reveals a skeleton slumped on the floor, its bony hands clutching at a well made, watertight darkwood coffer sitting in an opened secret compartment in a rotting desk.
This coffer is locked, but time has not been kind to the mechanism.
The ledgers and journals contain irrefutable proof of collusion between Captain Kinkarian and half a dozen Apollonian and Bloodcove government officials, who were skimming off the tithes and taxes offered to the Free Captains of Bloodcove.
"Allow me, Darius."
The mighty Garland swiftly delivered an expertly placed kick to the coffer, easily unlocking it! Our hero began to carefully examine the contents inside...
"...It appears that these papers prove Citizen Jask's innocent. Additionally, it seems that 'Aeshamara' might have been the captain's sweetheart."
Placidus nods to Jask. "It seems Craftsman Derindi was telling the truth."
Cica, hearing Garland read the papers, nods to Placidus. "Indeed. Citizen, if you'll hold out your hands, it seems taking these mantacles off is in order. Congratulations on exonerating yourself."
She pulls out the key and removes the cuffs from him.
Ilistra eyes the locket. "Would the ghost chase us for this? Locket and pretty dagger are only treasure." She glances over to Alexandria, mindful of their bargain. Further, she hadn't mentioned their other purpose for coming to the island. The hidden treasure trove.
"I know nothing of ghosts. Should we not sail for the temple now that we have established the truth of things? We still have a full day of light ahead of us."
"I thought Derindi said temple was on this island."
"Yes, but presumably not this beach. Given the reputation of this place and the ghost, I would rather sail around than try to walk across."
Jask nods to Cica. "Thank you." He takes a moment to rub his freshly freed hands. "Placidus is correct, the location described in the journal was further south along the island's coast. It is supposedly at the end of a long curved inlet or bay. I think sailing there would probably be the easiest way to find it."
With his hands now free, Jask says a brief prayer making several mudras as he does so. His eyes begin to glow a soft yellow. He looks over the items from the chest. "That dagger is enchanted."
Alexandra doesn't look interested in the locket. "A magical dagger? How exciting!" She rushes up to look at it. "If you give me this, I will ask no further reward for ferrying you about. What do you say?"
Ilistra shrugs. She feels a twinge of covetousness about the dagger, but ultimately she would prefer to scorch someone from afar rather than let them close.
"I have no objections with that proposal," affirmed Garland as he took the dagger out of the coffer and examined it. He gave a nod of approval and appreciation for the quality of its make. Provided that there are no objections, our hero then presented the enchanted item to Alexandra.
Darius eyes the dagger appreciatively, but ultimately doesn’t object to their benefactor having it as their entire pay for their services. ”Very well, then,” he says quietly, ”Let is be on to the temple then, while the day is with us.”
When Alexandra proposes she take the magic dagger, Cica pauses. That's a whole lot more than a sailor's wage for 2 days of travel! I'm going to have to talk to my colleagues about negotiation. Still, what's done is done...
After a pause, she nods, "Very good. You're paid. That said, let me warn you: if we see another ghost--or that one from yesterday takes an interest in us--that may be the only weapon amongst us that could damage it. Are you comfortable standing at the fore if we're attacked by a ghost or other undead? If not, why don't you lend your reward to one of us, and we'll return it when we're off of this island."
At Darius' suggest, Cica nods again. "No objection here!"
If noone objects, she pockets the brooch for now. If the ghost does come after us...I wonder if this gift would abate it?
Alexandra nods. "Can any of you tell me what the enchantment does?"
Ilistra shakes her head.
"Well, no worry. I will find out its use in time. Thank you." Alexandra says. She tucks the dagger into her belt, next to the one already there. "Let's go, we need to push the boat back into the sea."
Working together, the group doesn't have too much trouble getting their craft back into the waves.
The weather is warm and balmy, as it seems to be most days around Apollonia. Alexandra has the legionnaires row the boat out of the Brine Demon's cove. Once they are free she sets the sail into the wind. She sails the group south following the coast. Jagged rocks, jungle and small beaches stream by the right hand side of the boat. They pass a few small rocky islands lying close along the Shiv's flank before they round a point and see a long inlet open up before them.
Jask points to the opening, "There, sail between the four small islands, along the cliffs. Follow them inland."
Alexandra nods, guiding the boat away from the open sea, through the gap between the islands Jask indicated. Fifty to sixty foot sandstone cliffs rise up to the left of the boat, the jungle mainland of the island to the right. The cliff face is riddled with caves, and the group occasionally sees man-sized crustacean creatures scurrying from opening to opening as the boat glides by. The long bay swings first north, then hairpins back to the south-west, before finally curling south-east, forming an overall spiral shape into the island's heart.
As the boat reaches the end of the bay, the crew is presented with a dramatic view. A large waterfall tumbles one hundred and fifty feet from a cliff face down into a lagoon below. To its left, there is a a bluff, with a group of standing stones at its peak. On the left side of the bluff is a small canyon which looks like it might be a way to climb up to the top.
"Well, this is as far as we can sail," Alexandra comments.
Jask nods. "The waterfall fits the description from the notes. This should be the location of the temple, but it looks different than Haggikos described..." Jask squints, studying the scene. "Almost as if the water is too high. He described the doors as being at the base of the cliffs to the right of the waterfall. Maybe they are submerged?"
Darius looks over the edge of the boat into the water, wondering if it was clear enough to make anything out, either from the surface or if one were to dive in...should the water be calm enough.
"What of those?" Placidus asks, pointing up at the standing stones. "Did the notes you found mention those, Jask?"
Jask considers for a moment. "I honestly don't recall. It might be worth checking out if we can't find anything in the water."
Alexandra says, "I will stay with the boat, we need to beach it if we are to stay here."
Jask nods. "I will stay with Alexandra and the boat if that is acceptable, Legionnaires. I am not cut out for exploring..."
...Did I really just say 'these papers prove Citizen Jask's innocent'? I must have been thinking of three different ways to say the same thing and uttered them all at once!
Before handing over the dagger, our hero tried to identify its magical properties!
"...Given their rarity, it has been awhile since I have studied a magical item. I will try again tomorrow."
As the group sailed, the vigilant Garland kept his heroic eyes peeled for danger! Luckily, he and his noble allies were able to arrive at their destination without incident. Upon being presented with two possible options, our hero began to think through his approach.
"I have no qualms with you staying here, Craftsman Derindi. You are a free man now. As for our approach... how about we start with the stepping stones? I am a decent swimmer, but this armor also impedes my movements."
Ilistra shakes her head at the idea of swimming through the lagoon to get to the beach. "No swimming," she says.
Seeing no one else volunteering to go into the water, Darius sighs and secured his belongings snugly to himself before diving into the water and looking around for their entrance.
Darius doesn't see any doors, but he does see a lot of coral and plant life, and a sunken ship lying on the bottom of the lagoon. If there are doors in the cliff, they are definitely covered up by seaweed.
"Well, if Darius doesn't see anything under the water, it looks like we need to go and examine those standing stones. It looks like we can beach the ship over there, Alexandra."
He grabs an oar, "Come, let us get her on the sand."
It is little trouble for the group to row over to the small beach, and pull the boat up onto the strand. A hundred-foot tall rocky cleft cuts into the bluff, its bottom strewn with seaweed-covered rocks and tide pools. Several ledges, each connected by rickety-looking rope bridges, lead up into the cleft to the bluff above.
"Hmmmm, thanks for taking the first look, Darius. A sunken ship is interesting in its own right. We might want to investigate that more--and perhaps search that seaweed to see if it's hiding anything.
"I'm happy to take the next dive down, but in the meantime I think checking out the stones seems reasonable."
With the boat secured, Cica starts to lead the way up. When she gets to the first rope bridge, she takes a hard look at its construction before trusting her weight to it.
"What about water going up and down? High water, low water? Is water high now?" Ilistra ventures, thinking about why a supposed door would now be underwater.
The bridges are old, but not damaged beyond wear from time and exposure. They look like they could probably support the weight of a normal adult man. Putting multiple people on one at once would be risking a disaster though.
"It's getting close to low tide, that's why I wanted to get the boat out of the water. For some reason this lagoon doesn't look like it's draining. Strange," Alexandra answers Cica.
”I will cross first. Have a look around on the other side...”
Darius then carefully makes his way over the bridge.
Before Darius starts to walk, Cica hands him a rope. "Hold on. Tie this around your waist."
While he does, she tosses part of it to Placidus, and says, "I like to be extra safe with things like this. Plassy and I can should be able to hold you up if the bridge is worse than it looks.
"You wouldn't look nearly as pretty, smeared on those rocks down there."
Darius has no trouble crossing the bridge. It sways under his feet, but holds his weight easily. There are three bridges in all; the easternmost one is 80 feet above the watery ground, the middle one is only 40 feet high, while the western one is a mere 10 above the water.
What appears to be a large nest of driftwood, grass, bits of cloth, and perhaps bones seems to be wedged against the easternmost extent of the cleft. The easternmost bridge leads up to the bluff where the ring of standing stones is.
Cica follows, with Darius holding the rope from his side. Unless something surprising happens, she attempts to lead the party one-by-own over each bridge, using a rope held by at least two people as a backup.
When she first spots it, she remarks, "Heh. That's a rather large nest over there. I wonder what lives in it?"
"It looks like it could burn," Ilistra comments, then looks around at the others to see their reaction.
Darius shoots Ilistra a chilly glare. ”And it has every right to live as the rest of us. As do it’s young. So long as it leaves us in peace and doesn’t upset the balance of Life, we should do the same!”