A consensus reached, the team guides the wagon and oxen away from the cliffs and into the shelter of the trees and brush for the night… The decision proves wise as nothing eventful happens.
DAY 2
The next morning sees our heroes back on the trail after a quick breakfast, the concern over the sextant being forefront in several peoples’ minds.
The morning passes pleasantly with fair weather and an intermittent breeze off the sea. As the wagon rolls on, the tree-line recedes even further from the coastline until you are traveling on open sward with the trees being no closer than a record-breaking bowshot away. Around noon, you climb then crest a high open bluff. The world opens before you.
To your left is the vast expanse of Inner Sea. In front of you, the bluff descends quickly down to roughly half its height and ends in a gently sloped gully. On the other side of the gully is another bluff close at hand and the rest of the land beyond that and to your right gives way to rolling hills and stands of trees in the distance. The bottom of the gully gently flows down towards the shoreline where you see a boat. As advertised, it has bottomed out on a sandbar roughly ten yards from shore. It appears to have taken a good deal of damage as well. There are broken and floating spars of wood and rope around it. At first glance, you see no sailors moving across the deck.
One other thing dominates the scene… across the gully and atop the neighboring bluff, probably a quarter-mile from where you stand, is the ruin of some sort of structure. It is surrounded by a stout – but deteriorating – wall along with the collapsed remains of at least two towers. From your vantage point, you can see a bit over the wall. Curiously, you see no sign of a castle within. So, it doesn’t appear to be a proper fort or a keep. You also see the remains of some impressively large front gates that are ruined and laying on the ground.
Mama doesn't catch anything, But lady, who is currently riding on Yash has a much better vantage point.
Looking out across the area below, Lady Sable sees nothing definitive, but she frowns anyway.
"Nothing is ever as simple as it sounds is it?"
"No sign of the ship's crew. I doubt the would leave the ship unattended by choice, too easy for it to be lost if a wave, wind, or tide dislodged it. Even if most went for help I think they would leave a couple of sailors behind for insurance."
"The two-headed giant may have run them all off, but they have had time to return by now if they wanted to or could. They could be up there," she points toward the walled structure. But if so, I'd wager as captives rather than guests. As I said, they would want someone watching the ship."[/b]
If the crew is truly lost, the ship could be claimed as a salvage... Lady Sable thinks. It would be tragic, but one must find the positive in everything.
With her keen eyes and sharp nose turned into the wind coming off the sea, Lady notes...
The ship is grounded at the front, but not the back. The waves are breaking her. I also don't see anyone, but I do smell something behind the blood that isn't ettin. We need to get there carefully, and quick. No telling how long she has left. Lady reports.
"We go" Yash said, as he scooped Mama Cookie up with his free hand and quickened his pace.
"Agreed. Quickly but cautiously."
Mama makes a little yelp and giggle as she's swept up but doesn't complain about the ride. She just grins and enjoys the view.
DAY 2
The team descends the bluff’s slope then follows the gully down to the shoreline. You move from sandbar to sandbar, with periodic dips in the saltwater pools between them to reach the boat. As you draw closer, Lady’s observations prove accurate. The boat is holed below the waterline, near the keel. The cracks splitting the wood up the side show the boat is coming apart. That said, she isn’t about to sink yet and it looks like her main deck is still mostly in one piece… which might be what’s keeping her together for the moment. But you wouldn’t bet on her making it through a rough storm. You can see some daylight through the hull, which makes you think there is likely a bigger hole on the seaward side of the ship.
At they approached the water, Yash slowed his approach, stepping more cautiously. "Not good" he muttered, mostly to himself. He shrugged, and kept moving around the sandbar to get a better view of the ship.
"ANYONE HERE?" he shouted.
Sabelina climbs up onto the ship to get a look around from the deck.
Upon being told that Yash could throw her, Lady's tail twitches in Excitement. I've always wondered how flying foxes feel! she says with a little yip that could be a chuckle.
Mama looks toward the ropes. I feel like a climb is in order. If you threw me I might bust on landing! She jokes... mostly.
While Sabelina climbs up to the main deck, Yash walks the sandbar to get a better view of the boat. The ocean-facing side shows far more damage. There is a sizable hole with a view into the guts of the ship. In the hold a few crates, many spars of wood, and at least one body bob in the water that fills the space - halfway to the ceiling.
Yash humors the fox and agrees to toss the creature up the side of boat. Unfortunately, a wave breaks on the half-orc’s knees mid-throw and the planned launch becomes a flailing, unbalanced, effort. Dextrous and skilled at jumping, Lady manages to launch herself off Yash’s forearm as he falls into the surf. Her tail corkscrews wildly in the air trying to balance the fox as she climbs skyward. Instead of clearing the ship’s rail, Lady hits the hull below the rail with a thud. She scrambles desperately up the hull, claws digging into the damp wood. With effort, she manages to scrabble over the rail and onto the main deck.
Sabelina and Lady observe the tilting and splintering deck. The only good news, is despite the sea spray and motion of the canting deck, their footing is reasonably firm. The bad news is the reason they have traction is because most of the deck is sticky with copious amounts of coagulated and slowly drying blood. There are no bodies on deck and no living soul aboard.
Xing — who's been standing idly (and unhelpfully) off to the side — begins climbing up behind Lady and Sabelina.
Once atop, she stoops down, seeing if there are any prints or signs that might tell them what happened. "This seems like more blood than a simple grounding would account for."
With her better view of the ship, Lady Sable's optimism flags.
A lot of blood... But how much blood is in a body? I've always heard it's more than you think...
She looks up at the structure on the bluff again for a moment, feeling less confident the crew went there for shelter and a meal.
"It doesn't look to me like the ship ran ashore by accident. Maybe a storm, but the damage appears to be localized. Could have been attacked by something in the water. That wouldn't be the ettin we killed I don't believe."
Peering down into the hold as best she can Lady Sable lays out a new plan for consideration.
"As bad as this is I don't think we should delay to start salvaging what we can. We can look for any crew that might still be alive later, but this really doesn't look good."
Sabelina starts looking around at the masts and rigging to see if some part of it can be used to set up the block and tackle in the wagon.
"F%$~! I should have thought to bring an axe as well. Anyone have an axe?"
As soon as she "lands" Lady gives a distressed bark. Blood! It had to be blood! This is going to take forever to get our of my fur! She peeks over the rail and seems satisfied that Yash got wet for his failed attempt to throw her. Nagyapától kellett volna segítséget kérned! she quips back at him.
While the self-styled lady goes about with salvage, the actual Lady starts weaving in and out of places a human just can't go in search of clues or, more vitally, survivors.
Sabelina assesses the problem. With some effort, she believes it will be possible to rig up a block and tackle to get supplies from the hold to the deck and then down to the wagon. It will take more work to safely lead the oxen and wagon out to the sandbar.
The main hatch to the hold is open and nearly wrenched off its iron hinges. Looking down into the hold, Sabelina discovers a whole other issue. The hold is half filled with water. There are a few crates, along with a body, bumping around the flooded lower deck… But most of the expected cargo is gone.
Xing and Lady search the deck and remaining spaces. They find no one alive. They do recover a blood-soaked eyepatch, an ear, and some rent clothing. They also see the scars of recent battle on the ship itself: chop marks in the rails and deck along with a few large divots in the railing - likely from some heavy, blunt weapon.
In addition, Xing notes some footprints in the drying blood. They are simple bootprints that give no evidence of the creatures wearing them… But noting the large size of the shoes as well as the evidence of the wearers’ strides, she suspects the attackers are large and powerfully built. There are several wide streaks of blood along with some drag marks that suggest some bodies were dragged off the boat on the landward side.
Yash sat up, spitting out a mouth full of water. He glanced around the surf, looking for Lady, as his own landing had left his vision obscured. Not seeing the little fox, he stood and began to wring himself out. At the request for an axe, he held his own aloft.
"Yash axe" he called out and began making his way towards the ship wreck.
Xing points out the footprints, then looks around at the surrounding bluffs and potential hiding spots.
”The tracks are of big humanoids.” She points at Yash, ”Maybe your size? Thought I cannot tell anything more. And the bodies of the sailors were dragged off.”
She pulls out Nine-Toes’s list of items, ”We should begin finding what we seek.”
Then she steps up next to Sabelina, muttering a string of Tian curses. ”This is not good.” She looks over at her new friend, ”I guess we should investigate further.” She is clearly cautious, searching the water below for signs of threat before wading in.
While Xing looks around for the supplies in the flooded hold, Lady Sable sets up the system to remove what they can salvage. She cuts away any sails on the lower boom of the closest mast and attaches the pulley system to it. She attaches a separate rope to the top of the contraption so the pulley can be moved back and forth along the boom. She also attaches a rope to the opposite end of the boom so it can be swung around by pulling it from one side or the other. The system as a whole works like a makeshift crane.
If needed, Lady Sable puts Yash to work with his axe, cutting away enough deck to make way for the supplies to be lifted freely from below.
The process is multi-stepped but fairy simple. Boxes are tied up with ropes like the ribbon on a wrapped present. The pulley's hook is attached. The box is pulled up out of the hold and the pulley' brake catch is applied to hold it. Everyone pulls on the rope to swing the boom, and thus the box, out over the beach. Finally the pulley system is pulled out over the beach with the other rope as far as is safe. Lastly the pulley is re-engaged and the box is lowered.
"First this stuff so we don't lose it. Afterward we can look around for anything that might have been carried away. If we can find it and it's still in decent condition we'll add it to the haul. It not out of the question we could find some sailors alive as well I suppose."
Yash climbed aboard the wreckage, watching for a moment in confusion as Sabelina set about deploying the pulley system.
"Should wait. Find men" Yash spoke. He looked around at the cargo, and began to carry what he could, following any directions given.
"Need wagon" he finally said.
"Patience Yash" Sabelina replies. "If we bring the wagon too far down onto the beach, it may get mired in soft sand. Once we have the cargo on the beach, we can bring the wagon down as close as seems prudent. We can use wood from the ship to make a track for pushing the stuff the remaining distance to the wagon."
Xing goes for a dip in the water while Sabelina quickly assembles the hoist. The battle cat sees no particularly interesting evidence outside the ship. It seems the tide has carried all but the most stubborn spars of wood and rope out to sea. She swims through the hole into the flooded hold. She notes there are just a few crates left - two either floating or showing above the waterline and just a couple submerged ones. The hold is largely empty.
She approaches the floating corpse and rolls him over. Crabs feasting on the bloated flesh of the sailor's face, scuttle back into the safety of the water. The wound that killed the man is curious. It appears that a roughly spherical object slammed into his sternum, breaking his rib cage and driving bone shards into the underlying organs. There are several deep punctures marks in the wound as well. You suspect the damage was done with either a morning star or a heavy mace.
Looking at the walls and ceiling of the hold, you see dings in the wood and some drag-marks. Some of them are reminiscent of the scrapes in the bloody deck and seem equally fresh.
In short order, Sabelina's hoist is ready.
Mama is far too old for this kind of thing (or so she lets on) and coordinates things from the ground. Whenever you're ready, dearie, I'll run and fetch the wagon! she offers.
Yash moved cautiously across what remained of the ship, taking up position near the pulley's rope.
"Yash pull? he inquired.
"Yes, we'll pull." However Sabelina is far from brawny. She's not confident just the two of them will be able to lift the crates.
"If the crates are particularly heavy we may need Xing to come up and pull as well."
With Xing in the submerged hold and the strength of Yash and Sable on deck, the process becomes relatively simple. The battle cat lashes the crates and attaches them to the block and tackle hook. Then Yash and Sable haul them up.
In short order, you have four soaking crates on deck. The streams of water begin to sluice the blood off the deck.
Two of the crates have no discernible markings.
The other two are branded Lodi Farms
When the cargo is on the beach the wagon is brought down as far as firm sand will allow. A few timbers as tracks for the wheels will get it the rest of the way there.
Crates loaded, Lady Sable asks "Do we do looking for the rest now? What we have is better than returning empty-handed, but not by much."
We have a few days yet before we leave. Can't hurt to look around at least. Mama says.
Xing wipes the soaking grime from her hands as she joins the group, inspecting the crates. "Nothing on Uller's manifest says Lodi Farms. I see Lost Farms, but that can't be the same."
She looks around, squinting up at the bluffs, then at the ominous structure. "Unless we can find tracks indicating where the other ship's goods were carried ... that building is likely our best bet."
While the team decides which way to move, she searches the ground around the ship, radiating out from its wrecked location, seeking any tracks or signs that someone moved the ship's goods.
"Water maybe?" Yash asked.
He looked to Senna.
"Może zostali wciągnięci pod wodę. Coś uszkodziło statek, zanim się rozbił."
"Maybe they were dragged under the water. Something damaged the ship, before it crashed I would guess."
He shrugged.
Xing pauses her studying of the terrain around them and looks out over the waters. She frowns, "We can definitely take a look. But if something has dragged the loot out into the deeper waters, we may as well head back to Threshold now."
She smirks, "Unless you have a way of providing us with ..." she pauses, struggling to find a word, then puts her hands flat against her neck, opening and closing them like fish gills, "... those things that fish use to breathe?"
She shrugs, then finishes her study of the area for tracks.
"Yeah, if the rest of the cargo was washed out to sea, I think we have to consider it lost. If we have stuff that isn't listed among the things we're supposed to be reclaiming, should we take a look at see what we have?"
When Xing finishes searching for tracks , she'll take a swim around the ship to search for anything in the shallows.
Senna regards the damage to the ship along with Yash. Her response is a frustrated growl, ”Może. Chciałbym wiedzieć więcej o łodziach...”
Xing expands her methodical search to the beach surrounding the boat. Where the tide touches very little evidence remains. However, as she searches towards the bluffs above the tide-line, she finds a few dried blood spatters and several sets of the large footprints. Some of the prints are deeply embedded in the sand. Some of the deeper prints show a staggering gait, others appear too uniform – as if two people were walking in lockstep. The vast majority of the prints lead up the bluff – presumably heading for the building. There are a few sets of print that move further down the beach, paralleling the cliff on which the building sits… but these tracks are quickly lost due to the rising and falling of the tide.
Sable peeks into the Lodi Farms crates… but she almost doesn’t need to. The smell of damp earth and mushrooms wafts out at her.
She then checks out the unmarked crates. One is filled with clothing made of reasonably fine fabrics – dresses, doublets, cloaks, etc. The other is also filled with clothing but seawater has penetrated the crate and damaged or possibly destroyed much of the clothing. It’s possible some of them are salvageable.
After looking at the crates' contents Lady Sable grumbles "just barely enough to prevent all this trouble from being called a total loss."
She does of course intend to look more carefully through the recovered clothing for choice items she might want to reserve for herself, but that can wait. It will give her something to do during the ride back to the city.
Xing lopes back and reports her findings. "So maybe someone escaped down the beach, but there is no telling how long it would take to track them down, and it might give us no more information about the supplies we seek." She points up to the blood and prints heading towards the building. "Maybe soldiers and a prisoner? If these soldiers are taking those on the ship, we may want to investigate."
"I certainly do think we want to investigate! Let's get going!"
While Sable thinks the clothes might be worth a fair amount of gold, she is quite certain the crates of mushrooms are worth a LOT more. She only encounters mushrooms like this served in small slivers at the most elite parties.
"Find people" Yash agreed. He drew his axe and began to follow the tracks towards the building.
Xing scrunches up her face as another thought hits her, "Or ... maybe it was one person carrying a crate, and no prisoners." She looks up at the structure, "But whether it is prisoners or the cargo we're seeking, that building looks like the place."
Xing crouches down, resting for a moment as she watches the building looming above them.
Cookie, who has been largely quiet, has been considering the options and observing the cliff. She points out that it may be possible to move down the beach a bit – following those errant footprints – and possibly find a way up the steep cliff which might crest pretty close to the ocean-facing side of the keep. From here you can see the top of one of the ruined towers and it does look pretty close to the cliff's edge.