From the hallway Shevan called out "Is this it? Should we head back to camp now? It's nearly midday."
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Left with just the items the corpse had on it and the firewood with the ancient books, Shevan shrugged and joined the others in the hallway. "I'd say a prayer for him, cleric." he told Adriano in passing, "But that guy's long gone."
"Huh." Shevan grunted, lifting the lumber that had been gathered, perhaps as firewood by the deceased inhabitant. "I don't think we need this wood, Phillip, there's been plenty of driftwood on the beach for the firepit." The archer looked around again. "The other problem is, who's going to carry this stuff all the way back to camp? Ashana? Adriano?" he asked out loud.
Shevan stared at the writing on the wall. "Not a good omen." he said soberly. He looked at the body on the bed, then at the torch on the floor, his gaze moving to the fallen books and parchments. "What do you think, Adriano?" he asked the cleric. "I didn't study books where I grew up, so I have no idea who this person worshiped in the past. Was this a holy man, or a scholar?"
Shevan lends a shoulder. STR check:
"Fine craftsmanship, to last this long." Shevan agreed. He went to the aft door, where the seagulls had perched. Trying the door, he grunted when the wood would not give. The raven-haired man backed up and gave the door a good shove. Strength check: Strength check: Cracking open, dust drifted down from the chamber. A ship's galley with tables and a cast-iron stove at the far end was the only contents of the room. Bird droppings littered the open hatch and one of the tables. "Nothing here!" Shevan called back to the others. "Somebody try the other door."
"My flail works, but only one at a time. A heavy mace would be good as well." Shevan grunted, keeping an eye out. He poked at the pile of bones in front of him with a booted toe. "Huh. I guess I could Detect Evil, I was taught it back...where I come from." he stated, changing his tone halfway through the sentence. "Well, I see two doors and a hatch. Which do we pick?" he asked.
"Appleblight!" Shevan swore, holding his side where the skeleton had sliced him. He let his flail droop, as he stopped the rotation of the metal ball. Shevan looked at Ashana's wounds, then his own, before turning to Adriano. "If you could, Adriano, check our wounds? I think Ashana took the worst of it, but that last undead got lucky on me." Shevan asked.
"Not bad, Dawnflower cleric! Good to see you're not all tomes and vespers!" the archer called out. Shevan looked at the animated skeleton in front of him. "Now you, ugly, annoy me." he declared, swinging his spinning flail at the creature.
The skeleton with its' rusty chain mail and weapon fell apart. The black-haired man took a step towards the skeleton still on Ashana.
Shevan grunted. "Somebody else knows how to flank. Take this!" he told the skeleton on Ashana .
"Remember that flank maneuver, Ashy-cat?" Shevan said loudly, smiling, unhooking his flail as he stepped in front of Adriano. The man swung his right arm in a sharp arc, trying to get speed with the chained ball at the end of his weapon as he attacked the skeleton. Attack: The animated bones easily ducked the flail.
Perception Shevan, from beside Phillip, looked around and said "It doesn't appear so bad from up here. Maybe we could make a lookout for ships going through the area."
"We haven't seen skeletons or zombies burst through the floor yet, so I would rather search in the sunlight." Shevan said.
"As long as we don't have to swim." Shevan muttered good-naturedly. He held up a hand to shield his eyes as he looked at the ship.
"So you found a chest. Nice to see some reward for this barge." Shevan commented. He nodded at Ashana's and Phillip's dialogue, and unstrung his bow to swim back to shore. Shevan struggled in the undertow current.
Finally making it to shore, the warrior breathed hard, casting a glace back at the Tears of Grog. "The river back home was nothing like these waves." he complained. "The next shipwreck had better be on shore."
"I'll keep watch outside. We don't want another one of those huge crabs visiting." Shevan offered.
"I haven't fought undead yet, but there's no need to hold back!" Shevan said loudly to the group. The ball-head of his flail scoured across the bones of the skeleton in front of the man.
The skeleton fell apart, and Shevan stepped to where it had stood , swinging his weapon as he stared at the last remaining skeleton.
Perception check: Shevan drug himself over the side. "Let's...find..ships...closer...to...shore." he puffed. The ravenhair lifted himself to his feet, looking around. "All right, it's not a merchant ship, it's more like a slave galley..." his voice trailed off on the last.
Shevan decided to unstring his bow before going into the salt water. Seeing Adriano falter, Shevan hit the same hole in the sand. "Just my luck! Give me -ack- a minute!" he called out to Phillip. Shevan paused, panting, before taking a deep breath and fighting his way through the waves again. The large man, sending up spray with each stroke, began swimming to the outcropping.
Having finished getting his armor on, Shevan is ready.
Shevan finished a long draught on his cup. "Yes." he declared, his voice stronger than before. "Let me get my studded leather on, and I will join you today. This paladin of Erastil will prove his worth!"
The ravenhaired fighter came up, his eyes slightly bloodshot. "I think I know what everyone was talking about with the dreams here." Shevan announced to the crowd getting their breakfast around the firepit. "I just had the worst dream. We were eating that poisoned meal again, but there was seawater coming in, and a snake bit me from the soup!" The big man shuddered, then covered a yawn with his fist. "So if Sasha's hatching an egg today-" Shevan caught a ration biscuit thrown at his head by the redhead, ", er, I mean, I think I'm up for going on the explorer team today." he said, looking at the hardtack.
The archer paladin greeted the explorer party. "I've been making stake traps all day." he told the four. "As well as working with our Tian friend." Shevan's eyes shift to the other side of the camp, nodding where the trail to the beach began. "He likes to watch the horizon for ships for some reason." The ravenhaired warrior took Adriano aside. For Adriano only!: Shevan says "Ishirou is almost as bad off as the drunk - he puts up a good front, but his hands shake when he thinks no one is looking. Maybe you could help cheer him up? You've spent more time with him, I've been hunting or trap making all this time."
"Mine was not soup, it was everyone sick on deck, except for that Varisian woman Ieana and the Captain. And the Jenivere was sinking, with no one doing anything..." The man took another sip from his cup, shaking his head as if to clear it.
Shevan looked up from where he was restringing his bow. He shook his head. "I can't imagine what she thought she was going to do in Eleder - find the nearest tavern?" he asked the crowd. The man began checking the fetching on his arrows.
"I did not find any game, although I tried climbing the hill to the north-west." Shevan told everyone. "The heat was too much, and slowed me down greatly. Then that rain came and I could hardly see more than a few feet in front of me." the man grumbled, restringing his bow. Shevan looked at Varash. "Maybe I should stay at camp tomorrow and let you look for rabbits and birds." he said to the half-orc. |