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The Splintered Isles
A blue sky and gentle breezes bless the party. The small boat rides the midday waves, as its sail flaps from time to time.
Behind is the diminishing view of Musaal, in front lies the fertile volcanic island of Shelitan.
This side of the isle of Shelitan is sheltered from the open straits. The thin beach looks like a white ribbon at this distance; however everyone can make out the thick grasses and jungle that stand beyond. Rising high from the forest are the green slopes of the central volcano, with what must be a wide crater across its summit.
The sun beats down but it should only take an hour or so to cross to the shady jungle of Shelitan (that does depend on someone being able to sail over there).
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Spoiler for Fudrick
You remember Zartari as an inquisitive and talkative cousin. In particular how happy he was when the Badasah accepted him into their ranks. How many times during your childhood had Zartari said he wished to join the explorers? Since then the gnome has always been travelling, his letters showing up from time to time whenever he remembered you.
This morning Fate smiles on you, the island is due to be replenished with supplies this very day by Old Hazir of Musaal. You soon find yourself with a small boat and work, when the grouchy sailor offers you and Yrar the chance to take his place at no cost. Hazir mentions that the boat will be crowded as Zartari has other guests coming.
Spoiler for Roman
Tired from prolonged swimming you decide to take advantage of the boat. The owner, Old Hazir, did warn you that it would be crowded with three other visitors for Zartari.
Note that Roman starts the adventure as fatigued but that will pass by the time he reaches the island of Shelitan.
Spoiler for Shulim
Yesterday evening arriving in Musaal came as a welcome relief. A generous family looked after you last night. They only asked that you take kind words to their first son, Fundit, who is working on Shelitan with the explorer Zartari.
This morning Fate smiled on you, the island is due to be replenished with supplies this very day by Old Hazir. You soon find yourself with a small boat and work, when the grouchy sailor offers you the chance to take his place at no cost. Hazir mentions that the boat will be crowded as Zartari has other guests coming.
Spoiler for Yrar
Then Fate smiles on you, the island is due to be replenished with supplies this very day by Old Hazir. You soon find yourself with a small boat and work, when the grouchy sailor offers you both the chance to take his place for no cost. Hazir mentions that the boat will be crowded as Zartari has other guests coming.
Yrar breathes deep, sucking in the fresh salt air while looking up and enjoying the freedom that the soft blue sky offers. After exhaling, Yrar looks down at the Gnome by his side, “Well my friend, I have promised to see you to your cousin. If he is across the seas, then may Krakis grant us a safe journey.”
Riding on the seas hours later, Yrar has mixed emotions of his situation. His youth was full of fond memories journeying through The Seamaster’s domain, but there were also dark times that the large Half-Orc is still trying to forget. Yrar feels his freedom somewhat subjugated by the constraints of the small vessel which reminds him of his dark past.
Strong, capable, and experienced with rowing, Yrar takes up the role. His chin-length dark black hair overlaps his sprawling beard that leads down to his chest. With the Half-Orc stripped to the waist and the sun shining on his dark green to almost black sun-baked skin, it is hard not to notice his powerful frame and many time-dated scars across his arms, chest, and back.
While rowing, Yrar takes notice of his surroundings. He is constantly aware of his top clothing, armor, and weapons, especially his big hammer, under his strained, pumping legs. He also turns his head at regular intervals to verify the vessel’s movement to its intended destination. Whenever he locks eyes with his Gnome friend, he gives an assuring smile. He also stays alert to the movements and positions of the others on the voyage while also watching the waters for other ships.
“We will be there and find your cousin soon, my friend,” Yrar says to Fudrick in a rough voice that conveys a genial tone.
Roman lounges idly by the prow, watching the half orc and the gnome with some unrestrained curiosity. He keeps an eye out to ensure we're going in the correct direction but otherwise lystfully and lazily looks out to the sea.
his staff is never out of his hands.
{spot 21 but aiming to check for course, not crazy things}
Yrar, frustration on his face and feelings of rage coming to surface, takes a deep breath and sucks in his pride, "Aaaaa! My time in the forest has left my skills at sea less than sufficient. If any of you have suggestions or knowledge, I seek them now. I would like to reach our destination before nightfall."
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For Roman
With anger and frustration, the yawing from side to side becomes more pronounced. The half-orc sailor must be more used to bigger vessels than this.
Several miles away, next to Shelitan is the much longer island of Covosan.
Seeing the once relaxed Sea-Elf move and offer assistance, Yrar straightens, looks around, and asks, "What is it? What is wrong?" Then the mighty Half-Orc doubles his efforts to get the small sailing ship back on course with more efficiency. "Come on you little dingy," Yrar growls, "Come on!" Yrar then looks around at the rest of the crew and screams, "Could use some help here."
Fudrick closes his eyes as the boat rocks gently in the waves. He thinks back to the attack on his ship; the look of terror on his families faces, the killings, his father gutted while protecting Mom. Even now he can still smell the odor of burning wood and bodies. He suddenly jumps not realizing it was all in his head this time. Embarrassed he looks at the others to see if they noticed. Apparently the half-orc is struggling with the small boat and the sea-elf appears to be trying to stare down the island. Fudrick takes a quick look but the glare off the ocean is making it hard to make anything out.
The sea-elf stirs for a moment and says, "Just take your time, and get your feel for the deeps back, I am in no particular rush at the moment".
"hmm, strange traveling companions. I wonder how Zartari knows them. Maybe they are explorers from the Badasah"
Suddenly Yrar growls, "Come on you little dingy, come on!" Yrar then looks around at the rest of the crew and screams, "Could use some help here."
"Yrar my good man. Let me give you a hand with the tiller while you work on the oars. I apologize deeply. The gently sway of the boat put me right to sleep."
Fudrick maneuvers around to the tiller and gives what help he can.
Prof: Sailor (1d20+1=11)
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With the influence of Fudrick and Roman, it all becomes clearer to Yrar and the boat arrows forwards towards Shelitan. The beach is about 500 yards ahead.
Spoiler for Yrar-Kynlas and Roman
But the water 200 yards ahead is discoloured and dirty, probably sand from an underwater sandbar. The boat needs to take evasive action. Quickly. Or this boat may ground out or worse 300 yards from land.
Fudrick turns the tiller to swing the boat towards the starboard side.
"I can't tell if we are going to make it from here. Can one of you other fellows tell how close we are to the sandbar?"
"Gentlemen, I would hate to get stuck this far out. The wind seems dead set on pushing us into the sandbar. I will work the tiller, Yrar you keep us out of that sandbar, and you," Fudrick points at the sea-elf, "pull the sail down and get it tied down. Quickly now. The winds in these parts can be tricky and a strong gust or two will strand us in a blink of an eye."
Yrar takes to rowing with extreme effort to avoid the sandbar. His hope is that with the Sea-Elf taking the sail down, he will have a better chance of maneuvering the small vessel.
French Wolf:
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"Gentlemen, I would hate to get stuck this far out. The wind seems dead set on pushing us into the sandbar. I will work the tiller, Yrar you keep us out of that sandbar, and you," Fudrick points at the sea-elf, "pull the sail down and get it tied down. Quickly now. The winds in these parts can be tricky and a strong gust or two will strand us in a blink of an eye."
Yrar Spoiler
Fudrick claps Yrar and the sea-elf on the back. "You guys did great. We should be hitting the beach in no time now." nodding at the sea-elf, "Excuse my roughness. My name is Fudrick. The gentleman at the oars is Yrar. What name can we call you by?"
"Roman by name, so what brings you guys here?"
Fudrick isn't comfortable with telling to much information. Who knows what eyes and ears the pirates have on these isles. "Yrar is escorting me to Zartari. I am not sure what we will be doing once we are there." Fudrick gins, Maybe help him look for whatever he is digging for? What about you two? Your friend is on the quite side. Hmm you don't think he has gotten the sea sickness from our little ride?"
the Half Elf's ears perk up, "Zatari you say? Zatari bin? I also look for the gnome... Perhaps we could travel together, you certainly seem to know your way to him better than myself"
Roman sounds eager but not creepy or obseive.
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The white sandy beach stretches before the party.
It is a thin ribbon between the jungle and the sea. Marred by a body lying face down one arm pointing into the water. Beside this is a canoe dragged from the woods. Every now and then reddish stains can be seen paralleling the drag marks.
A cawing burst of parranwings spread from the jungle and fly off towards the volcano. Their calls almost hide the cruel squeal of some beast.
As the boat nears the sand,a breeze brings a faint whiff of corruption from the body. Faint but unpleasant.
Yrar lets out a deep breath as the small sailing ship passes the sandbar and moves closer to the shoreline. The Half-Orc smiles as his new friend smacks him on the back. Then he nods to the Sea-Elf during his introduction. Yrar stays silent while Fudrick explains why they are there and keeps alert while he rows closer to shore.
As the boat nears the shoreline, the stink of death wafts through the air. Yrar shakes his head in a vain attempt to rid himself of the stench. "That smell. I know that smell," growls the Barbarian. Then the sound of some beast from the forest reaches his hair-stained ears. "Be ready when we hit the beach. There is something foul in the jungle." Finally hitting the beach, the Half-Orc grabs his gear and launches himself onto the grainy white sand. He quickly dons his top clothes and armor, then, with maul in hand, scans the treeline.
Eventually making his way to the body, he investigates the corpse and the boat. He looks for wounds and any identification on the body and searches the boat for other possessions and possible beast-made claw marks. He also checks the sand for tracks.
As Fudrick gets off the boat he glances at the jungles briefly before checking the body.
"Keep an eye out. Whatever made that noise and scarred those birds could be watching us." Fudrick bends down looking over the body before touching it.
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The human body is dead. But not long dead as streaks of blood mixed with something foul still seep from a wound on his outflung arm. The wound is round and puckered about the size of a gold piece. Several more can be found up the arm but each smells foul on closer inspection. The wounds are something new to Fudrick and Yrar.
Nothing stirs in the tangled jungle.
Before Fudrick can turn over the body or examine him more closely, Yrar-Kynlas disturbs something under the canoe. The sand by his feet shifts and out sidles a 3 foot wide shorecrab.
While Fudrick makes to examine the body, Yrar checks out the boat. Upon lifting it, "What the ...," Yrar growls as he steps back and grabs his maul in two hands.
Inititive 3
"another deep one far from home, it appears as if his jourey to his maker will soon come"
"Well guys, it looks like I found us some dinner. I get first dibs on the legs," Yrar shouts with a smile as he extends his arms backwards and puts all of his might into an overhead chop.
Fudrick jumps up at the sound of the crab snapping its claws. "You can have the legs my friend. Just save one of those claws for me. There is enough meat there to last me a week." He draws his scimitar and prepares for combat.
What position are we in? Yrar is standing right in front of the crab, from the description I should be almost right beside him (which side? am I in flanking position?), Shulim is 10ft away looking at the forest so the combat should be behind him, and Roman is entering combat but what is his location?
Just trying to visualize the whole thing. Heck after being hit with the maul there may be nothing left to fight.
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The shorecrab tough exoskeleton is built to withstand most things. But not Yrar's maul. It shatters and the legs flop useless. White meat glistens inside the shell.
Fudrick nearly slices into Yrar's leg unexpectedly. It must be his inexperienced haste to help.
Roman and Shulim barely have time to realise the danger before it is over.
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Brief though the fight was the wounds on the man's arm have festered noticeably.
When he is examined more closely, he is a wiry male, with calluses on both hands and a slashing cut across his chest. This injury is not puckered however the same distinctive smell of a butcher's yard is around the gash.
Around his waist is a grey sash with a curved dagger tucked out of sight. The dagger is bloody on closer inspection, black blood though.
The corpse also has a belt pouch which contains a small amount of coinage, 12 silver pieces (called lacoo) and a single gold piece (called an auris).
Roman watches in amusement before staying a healthy distance away from the body, you can't burry a body at sea this close to shore unless the tide is with you, and Roman doesn't bury things on land, he also doesn't eat vermin.
Roman stays close to the others enqiring about zatari , and their own exploits that bring them here.
Yrar looks down at the cracked crab, and a smile dances on his face, “I told you we’d have dinner,” he laughs. Then he looks over at the body, “Well my guess is that something got this guy real good, then this crab here was enjoying the scraps. Fudrick, grab that bag of coin. We can split it up later.” Yrar then tilts his head and looks up at the midday sun. “Well, Krakis has approved our journey, may Hettama shine on us also.”
Yrar takes his face from the sky and looks to his companions, “So who’s hungry. Maybe we should fill our bellies before we hit the jungle. Fudrick, do I remember correctly that you know how to cook? Maybe fill in our new friend Roman here about why we seek Zatari and prepare some crab. I will take a look along the treeline for any more dangers and possibly a well traveled path.”
Yrar then bounds along the beach towards the treeline.
Yrar bounds back down the beach, returning to his companions, "Found a trail. When we are ready, we can go."
After a moment, Yrar realizes that he never truly investigated the boat and moves over to do so.
When he is done with the boat, he faces his companions, "Sorry I took all the fun away. That crab almost surprised me." Yrar gives a smile, "But, I got him good." Turning to Roman, the Half-Orc asks, "So, why do you also seek Zatari?"
Fudrick grins embarrassingly at Yrar. "Sorry that I nearly took your leg off Yrar. Getting attacked so suddenly must have fuddled my mind." He nods when instructed to take the coin pouch. He uses his scimitar to cut the sash and scoot the pouch over before picking it up. "I don't know what this fellow got into but it doesn't look healthy. Not at all."
"No my good man cooking was not something I picked up. Besides we still have some daylight left to us. I would rather not have to trudge through that jungle in the dark. We can have a meal once we get to Zartari. I am sure they have cooks on hand to feed all the workers."
Yrar says, "... Maybe fill in our new friend Roman here about why we seek Zatari ..."
"He is a very distant relative of mine. I have some bad news I need to bring to him. After that who knows. Like I said earlier I may end up helping him dig for whatever they are looking for."
Fudrick looks at the jungle again, rubbing the pommel of his sword, "Are you three done looking around? We should get going. I don't like being out in the open with a fresh corpse that seems to be rotting by the second. Besides whatever is out there may have already spotted us."
Fudrick grins embarrassingly at Yrar. "Sorry that I nearly took your leg off Yrar. Getting attacked so suddenly must have fuddled my mind."
Yrar only grins at the apologetic Gnome, "I hope that butter knife is sharp to be cuttin' into my skin," the Half-Orc lets out a guffaw as he looks at the Gnome's small blade.
"No my good man cooking was not something I picked up. Besides we still have some daylight left to us. I would rather not have to trudge through that jungle in the dark. We can have a meal once we get to Zartari. I am sure they have cooks on hand to feed all the workers."
"Fair enough then. Sometimes I forget I have the advantage of seeing at night as well as seeing by day."
Fudrick looks at the jungle again, rubbing the pommel of his sword, "Are you three done looking around? We should get going. I don't like being out in the open with a fresh corpse that seems to be rotting by the second. Besides whatever is out there may have already spotted us."
"Well then, what are we waiting for," the Half-Orc grins. "We have some traveling to do."
Yrar starts leading the way to the trail. Instinct kick in; though, and he is on alert.
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The canoe only has an oar inside.
As the dagger is moved, the blood smears on the cloth. Now instead of a whiff of rot, Fudrick gets a much stronger odour of corruption. However the blade itself seems to be undamaged and of good quality.
Shulim agrees with Fudrick plan of action and carefully starts into the trees, his crossbow at the ready.
Roman keeps his distance from the purifying body as well as the crab, listening intently to what is being said, but not saying too much.
"A member of the family, what luck I have the deep one must be watching over me, I look for Zatari, I am looking for my father and was told your father was one of the last to see him."
this declarative over, the half sea elf follows merily along with the others, seemingly in a better mood for the company.