Cough. Splutter. Out. Awake. Cough. Thunk. Out.
Easiest.Roleplay.Ever.
Heh....
It is dark. And warm. The air smells of smoke, and damp earth, and wet clothes. He is in some sort of hut, lying on a packed dirt floor, circular stone-built walls surrounding and a roof of wooden beams and turf over his head. In a central hearth a fire crackles, smoke filling the room until drifting lazily from a small hole in the peak of the roof. The exit is a low doorway covered by a curtain of skins.
Someone coughs. There are several people in here. By the dim orange light of the fire he recognises some of the sailors from the ship. The majority seem to be carrying injuries - cuts and bruises mostly, although a few with what look like broken limbs - and most are sprawled motionless on the floor or huddled by the wall. They include Mister Ward, his long grey hair falling in bedraggled locks about his face, one of his eyes blacked and swollen.
"Are you alright?" Turning, Ujarak finds Cedric leaning over him. He has a few scratches but otherwise seems to be uninjured. Next to him Cyriphrain is groggily half-sitting up, propped on his elbows, and looking about with a dazed expression.
It is dark. And warm. The air smells of smoke, and damp earth, and wet clothes. He is in some sort of hut, lying on a packed dirt floor, circular stone-built walls surrounding and a roof of wooden beams and turf over his head. In a central hearth a fire crackles, smoke filling the room until drifting lazily from a small hole in the peak of the roof. The exit is a low doorway covered by a curtain of skins.
Someone coughs. There are several people in here. By the dim orange light of the fire he recognises some of the sailors from the ship. The majority seem to be carrying injuries - cuts and bruises mostly, although a few with what look like broken limbs - and most are sprawled motionless on the floor or huddled by the wall. They include Mister Ward, his long grey hair falling in bedraggled locks about his face, one of his eyes blacked and swollen.
"Are you alright?" Turning, Cyriphrain finds Cedric leaning over him. He has a few scratches but otherwise seems to be uninjured. Next to him Ujarak is groggily half-sitting up, propped on his elbows, and looking about with a dazed expression.
Warily, "Seems so. Should we assume they are friendly?" He is picking up driftwood, looking for signs of more bodies on the beach. When the approaching light-wielder is within 60', he studies the approaching individual(s) to see if he recognizes them.
Walker will grab the sunrod and put it in his bag, and will move towards the light, sneaking slowly. He keeps his blanket wrapped over him like a cloak, with the heatstone keeping him warm against the heat and slowly drying his clothes. He moves from cover to cover, seeking to break up his outline against the night sky. He will look to see who or what this light signifies, without getting closer than 60ft for now.
"I've been better. Thank you, young sir. Took a rough tumble on the reef after I pitched down the deck. How'd you fair?" Ujarak experimentally moves his arms and legs, and pats himself gently.
Then he pulls his walrus tooth from under his shirt and conjures up a bit of light upon it. With an apologetic look at Cyriphrain, he says "Clients first. Let's have a look at you then, Cedric."
After a cursory examination of Cedric, Ujarak turns his attention to Cyriphrain. "How about you, my friend? What ails you?"
He moves toward the second mate, "How are you Mr. Ward?"
Only once these three have been examined does he take a longer look at himself.
"Well we don't know yet if our ward lives or not. Hearing that he at least fell of the boat is good. If he would have went down with the wreck that would make me very concerned. Cedric did claim to be a decent swimmer and he wasn't weighed down so I would say we have decent chance. Though once we get the fire going I would like to start searching for him and the others."
"Berrycloth - he went out the deck just before I did. I don't know how he fared, but it looked like some falling debris hit him and swept him off the deck as I threw myself back - so he was off the boat. I don't remember seeing Cyriphrain or Walker after we began our exit. And the only sailor I've seen is the corpse lying in the surf over there."
"Once we have gathered the survivors we should probably give the dead a proper funeral. This seems like a decent sized island, so hopefully this has people living in it or we are in major trouble. The sea is far too perilous to manage with some makeshift raft we could make ourselves. Granted if a suitable number of the sailors ended up here, they might know enough of ship making to make that an option."
The light ahead suddenly disappears as they begin to get closer. Then up ahead in that direction they see a lone figure walking slowly towards them, skulking as if trying to hide, wrapped up in a cloak or blanket. Rish with his night vision and superior eyesight recognises Walker.
Cedric just looks at him with round eyes.
”Another survivor - it’s Walker. I think he’s concerned about not knowing who he’s meeting.”
Raising his voice, he calls out, ”Walker! It’s Rish! Do you need help?”
Daenan had already moved his hand to his weapon once the other light disappeared, he then looks at Rish at the statement. "What in the name of new and old gods are you doing man?"
Another - presumably Daenan - shouts, ""What in the name of new and old gods are you doing, man?"
As Ujarak makes his inexpert examinations of the wounded, Mister Ward growls, "Don't fuss yourself. I've been in bad situations, it's just a scratch. Worry about yourself." He looks about the narrow confines of the hut. "The Captain would never have fallen for something like this if we hadn't had the storm blow us off course and stop us all from sleeping. But wreckers normally want cargo, not people. There's some nefarious purpose here, mark my words."
Cedric just looks at him with round eyes.
Ujarak looks at the mate. "They pulled us out of the water. That's enough for me right now. Has anyone tried to go outside?"
"Ah, some friendly voices," Walker says, just loud enough to hear.
He walks over to the pair, wrapped up in a blanket as if it were a poncho. "Who all do we know has survived? Have you seen the boss's kid? Man, all my cargo went down with the ship..."
“I saw Cedric fly off the deck into the waves about the time I did so. Once I hit the water, I couldn’t find the ship, let alone a person. I barely made it to shore, and that only by divine luck. I’ve only seen the two of you since that point. Well, and a sailor who didn’t make it.” He points down the beach where he believes the body lay earlier.
A moment later he adds. "Good to see you made it."
"Ah, I have no such potion. I have a thunderstone. I have a sun rod, which is what you saw. Other than that, I am not well-prepared for this event. I had imagined they would have picked the crew most likely to make it, not one that would slam right into the reef. We can look for a cave, set up a fire, maybe set up a beacon with the sun rod on top of a long piece of driftwood or something. At first light, it would be good to scour the beach for anything that washes up. Hopefully by that time, or at that time, we will see any other survivors."
"Thank you, Ujarak. I'm somewhat drenched and battered, but serviceable. Cedric, good to see you whole."
He begins to pat himself down, searching for his holy symbol.
Ujarak gestures toward Cedric before responding to Cyiriphrain, "I'm afraid it's just the three of us now. I didn't see Daenan, Rish, or Walker. There's plenty of wounded, but whoever took us has kept us alive. Ward is the ranking officer. No sign of the captain, or first mate."
"Seems fine enough plan for me. I don't like the idea of waiting but dawn seems to be breaking so it should not be too long. Would also prefer more potent light source as a signal but I like less assuming that this island has resources."
"Yes, let's get you two dried off. I could use some warmth, too - this chill just won't let go of me."
Ujarak raises his voice to a hoarse shout. "Has anyone tried to go outside yet?"
As the sun rises the extent of the beach becomes clear. They are in a small bay, cut off by a headland on either side. However, a cave disappears into the cliff at the far side. Wreckage from the ship is scattered about the shore.
"There's guards by the door outside," grumbles one of the sailors, nursing a bloody gash on his forehead, "Gave me a whack when I tried to get out."
They have barely gathered up the material for the fire near / in the cave and Rish is already acting antsy. "The light is getting better. Maybe I will look for more survivors along the beach. I'll stay in view."
He waits to see what the others think first.
It may be obvious from the sailor's short tale, but Ujarak recaps it anyway. "So we're prisoners then. Mr. Ward wins his point about nefarious purpose. I suppose I should try talking to them."
He moves to the doorway, and speaks before even trying to open the door.
"Ах минь, би чамайг зовоож байна уу, би ярихаар гарч ирэх үү?"
Common translation "I am sorry to trouble you, brother. May I come out to talk?
"Yeah, a sunrod isn't gonna signal anything once dawn approaches. We'll have to see what the day brings."
"Well, at least some wreckage is here. I'll search among that as well. I want to see if my stuff is there, and see if there are any survivors. But most likely, any bodies I find will be dead. We can build a large pyre, the smoke from that would alert others and burn the dead. However, the natives might see. Will they attack? In all the commotion, I thought I heard the sailors mention 'Wreckers' as some sort of organization? I assumed natives...?" he trails off, scanning the debris on shore for barrels and chests.
"Doubt we missed anyone in the immediate vicinity but if idle hands are troubling you I see no harm in it." Deanan notes about going outside.
"Wreckers...now that you mention it I did hear that. I did try to study up on the locals and nothing by that name came up, then again not like I am an expert on the subject. Could just as well be sailor slang for hidden rocks...or some manner of beast. Regarding said studies, the only real threath that I learned of are prisoners here. Granted opportunists exist in every society, then again if we do meet some it isn't like we appear easy pickings." The elf muses on the subject.
The group gather some driftwood and make a fire near the cave entrance.
Rish finds no more survivors but he does notice that air seems to be blowing through the cave and he can hear the sound of waves coming from inside.
Dry once more, Walker gives his armor a once-over for rust, and pulls his weapons out of his bag. He hangs the morningstar by its loop on a hook on his belt and slings his quiver to his belt on the other side. He strings the bow and hangs it by a loop on its handle to the hook at the top of his bandolier.
Ujarak is quick to back up, before replying meekly in Allam, "All I want to do is talk, sister. To find out to whom we owe our lives, and what our fate will be."
"Get back inside!" snarls the man and swings his club at Ujarak's head.
"Could be echo but I say it is worth checking out. Not comftarable yet but feeling tolerable now, so I say we get moving again. Even if it ends up being a dead end we still have the option of climbing the cliffs. I say we don't put out the fire just in case we missed someone or someone comes looking for us, that way it will be easier to track us." Daenan voices his opinion on the matter.
Ujarak closes the door and retreats into the hut for a conference with Cyiriphrain, Cedric, and Ward. He gives them a synopsis of the negotiations, finishing with, "You'd think they'd be more careful with the property of their goddess."
"I will hazard a guess that we're all due for sacrifice. The only question is whether they'll take the weak, the healthy, or all of us together first."