Without a word, Tar'kanas draws his blade and heads slowly downstairs, listening and keeping an eye out for any sign of trouble. As he approaches the door, he uses the end of his blade to see if it opens.
"While I am concerned about the others back at the beach, I think that if any of us are going to survive this ordeal, we need to gather all the equipment and supplies this wreck has to offer, even if it means more than one trip. I can tell you this, and I'm sure Tar'kanas will agree with me, the jungle is a harsh enviroment and if we're not prepared we will not last long. As for the captain and his mysterious new love intrest, if their remains are not found onboard then we can only assume they are somewhere on the island. If the captain truly is mad, perhaps that Varisian woman had something to do with it. I have questions for the both of them and I don't intend to ask nicely. Let's gather what we have found here and see what Tania and Quariel have discovered." Focusing her attention on her missing shipmates, Fi'Vannali gathers her share of the supplies and departs the captain's cabin.
Tania stands ready behind Tar'kanas, shurikens in her hands, ready.
"Hey! I think you may all want to see this! Quariel yells up to the others, concerned by the strange wounds the cook has suffered.
As Tar'kanas begins his attempt to push the door open, he hears Quariel call out and grimaces at the thought of drawing unwanted attention, "Quariel." He speaks with frustation in his voice, and as quietly as possible, while trying to determine his location and hoping not to alert anything from the other side of the door. "Do any of you know what part of the ship he's in? It sounds urgent."
"Can we just focus on the door with blood underneath?"
While pushing the door open does nothing, turning the handle works wonders. Inside is a storeroom with several piles of still intact goods. Slumped over one of the crates is the body of First Mate Alton. Trails of blood lead across the sloped floor to the splintered door. It seems this was the room where the sea scorpion was making so much noise trying to enter.
"Is he still alive?"
An examination of his body reveals two sets of wounds—the first seem to be a bit older and consist of rapier wounds while the others are inflamed stings (from the eurypterid). Inspecting him also reveals that it was poison that finished him off. Alton still wears his masterwork studded leather armor and clutches the masterwork short sword gifted to him by the captain.
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Eranla shakes her head and closes the man's eyes. "Stabbed with a rapier and dagger, and then poisoned. He probably ran in here to escape from the Euryptid, which is how he died. There's nothing I can do." She takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself. "Love could not possibly drive anyone to this by itself. The captain must have been disturbed long before our voyage."
"Let's go check on Quariel, then. We'll come back after to see what we can salvage from this room."
Quariel is standing over the corpse of the cook in the larder.
"Look here--these wounds are very unusual. They're not from a blade or one of those sea scorpions...something very strange is going here." Quariel gestures to the cook's wounds as he speaks.
Tar'kanas remains for a moment and walks over to the body, examines it, and takes his armor and sword. "You will no longer be needing these." He states coldly and completely uncaring. With that, he turns and heads out to meet up with the others.
Fi'Vannali gives the piles of goods in the storeroom a cursory examination, noting any useful supplies that would come in handy. Joining the others in the larder she ponders over Quariels comment while examining the cooks body. Hmmm... Interesting, these bite marks look like those of a common viper, but a snake or other dangerous animal would have to get pretty close to bite on the neck. "Eranla can you tell us if he was poisoned?" While waiting for a response from the young cleric, Fi'Vannali examines the cooks hands and arms for similar bite marks.
Looking around him at the state of the ship, Quariel says "This wreck is probably not stable--we should remove any useful supplies and the bodies of Alton and Rambar sooner rather than later. Having said this, he follows his own advice, and gathers as much food and gear as he can carry before carrying it up to the rock ledge.
Without a word, Tania follows Quariel's advice and starts bringing items to the shore. She'll take the heaviest items and listen to advice as to what should be brought first.
Looking around him at the state of the ship, Quariel says "This wreck is probably not stable--we should remove any useful supplies and the bodies of Alton and Rambar sooner rather than later. Having said this, he follows his own advice, and gathers as much food and gear as he can carry before carrying it up to the rock ledge.
"Let the sea have them. The supplies are all we need. We might could salvage a lot from the storeroom." Tar'kanas then heads that way to collect all that he can.
After examining the remains of the ship and carefully moving everything to the beach the group looks over everything that was found.
-a ring of keys
-several sea charts and maps
-the captain's log
-four potions of cure light wounds
-a potion of cure moderate wounds
-four potions of lesser restoration
-a potion of remove disease
-a potion of water breathing
-a potion of water walking
-several tools and lumber that could come in handy in building a secure campsite
-a block and tackle
-three large canvas sheets
-two fishing nets
-a grappling hook
-two bullseye lanterns
-12 flasks of lantern oil
-150 feet of hemp rope
-five shovels
"I was part of their crew; I will not leave them behind." Quariel says calmly but firmly. "They at least deserve a burial on dry land; Gozreh has taken enough of my crewmates from me this day."
The other castaways have gathered on the beach and started looking through the goods. Jask spots the locker with his items inside. "My stuff! Not only am I a free man, but I have my stuff as well. This is wonderful. Did anyone find the keys to these blasted manacles? I would love to help, but it is hard with my hands chained up like they are." He looks over to Quariel who is dragging the First Mate's body along the edge. "I could even do the last rites for those we've lost."
Trying to keep a low profile for now, Tania tries her best to show that Quariel's words are echoing her thoughts, though she doesn't say it openly. Subtly, she gathers the canvas sheets and some rope in the event that the bodies would need to be transported.
After a minute though, resolute, she simply grabs a shovel and hands one to Quariel.
"Thank you." Quariel says quietly as Tania hands him the shovel.
"I would appreciate that; I will come find you once I have dug their graves." he says to Jask.
Heading a short distance inland from the campsite, he finds a suitable spot and begins digging, his mind churning with memories of his recently deceased crewmates; though he didn't know them for long, it was still shocking for so many lives to be snatched away so suddenly.
Hearing the plea of the manacled stranger, Fi'Vannali produces her lockpicks. "Let me see if I can get those off of you. So your a cleric huh? Why did they have you locked up? You seem like a nice guy and we need every set of hands we can muster so I will try to free you, but if I take off these manacles and you start acting crazy, I will not be pleased."
"Now that your free, lets give Quariel a hand burying the bodies of Alton and Rambar." As they walk to the burial site, Fi'Vannali makes smalltalk with Jask. "You mentioned something about last rites. My brother Jaryial is a man of the cloth as well, a dutiful worshiper of the great hunter Ketephys for many years, he often spoke of the gods when I was young. What god do you worship?.... Well no matter what god you worship, I'm thankful to have another cleric with us. We will have sufficient need of your talents if we want to survive the Shiv."
Looking at Jask as he gets his hands freed, Tania focusses her training, studying the man's microfeatures, looking for signs that would help her predict the man's behavior.
As she helps with the shovelling, Tania takes a few steps with Quariel, a little away from the others. "Do we know what Jask has been charged with? Do you think we should keep an eye on him?"
"I have no idea, the captain was very secretive about it. In a situation such as ours, I would hope everyone would contribute whatever their past. I'll be keeping an eye on him all the same."
"Thank you so much, friend. It makes me happy to use my hands again," Jask grins broadly, "Do not worry I will not go crazy. My god is Nethys, lord of magic, though he is a little crazy." As he says this he begins to work his hand in divine gestures a small, glowing blue circle appears between them. It begins to steadily stream water as though from a pump. "The creation of water is one of the simplest and greatest divine spells. It will come in handy I think."
Watching the prisoner gives Tania Teg no clues about his intentions.
Burying the the bodies finishes at the sun reaches it's height. The incredibly hot afternoon descends upon the group. Even with fresh water and shade it is so humid that sweat barely evaporates. The heat clings to everyone and is nearly unbearable. Having no time to build a real shelter everyone is exposed to the full brunt of it. Luckily the next few hours pass peacefully, small flights of flying lizards dart through the air high overhead snapping up insects. Gelik does his best to cheer everyone up by telling a long bawdy tale, but even his annoying energy wanes. Around three o'clock the air starts to cool and by four it's bearable again.
3:00 P.M. - The edge of the beach
This heat is oppressive...I feel as if I could hardly move. Plenty of water for me to work my magic, though...so I suppose it's not all bad.
Ignoring Gelik's rambling, Quariel tries to work on his spellbook, but finds the heat and humidity too much, so he uses prestidigitation to de-humidify his books and puts them back away. Reeds spends the afternoon hiding in Quariel's shadow, trying to stay cool.
As the temperature drops, his thoughts turn to shelter. "If every afternoon is going to be this bad, we need to turn our thoughts to shelter. Perhaps we could find somewhere inland with some natural shade or a source of good water?
This heat is oppressive...I feel as if I could hardly move. Plenty of water for me to work my magic, though...so I suppose it's not all bad.
Ignoring Gelik's rambling, Quariel tries to work on his spellbook, but finds the heat and humidity too much, so he uses prestidigitation to de-humidify his books and puts them back away. Reeds spends the afternoon hiding in Quariel's shadow, trying to stay cool.
As the temperature drops, his thoughts turn to shelter. "If every afternoon is going to be this bad, we need to turn our thoughts to shelter. Perhaps we could find somewhere inland with some natural shade or a source of good water?
"Yes. First the sea and now the heat. I prefer an enemy that can be bested. Let us find shade." He states in his normal flat tone. After letting the armor he retrieved from the dead first mate air out over the last few hours, Tar'kanas dons the armor and grabs his gear, and whatever else he can, and readies to leave.
"I don't know much about these things I guess, but wouldn't it be better to secure shelter here first, then proceed inland starting from that base? We could first see that everyone has had enough water and food. Jask, Eranla and I could prepare some sort of clinic for curing ailments. As we move inland, we could try and find a way to build a raft to get away from this place. We need a plan before we just head out."
Tania looks at Tar'kanas, hoping he'll share his thoughts with the others. If anyone knows how to survive in this place, it must be him. But what he suggests just seems hasty.
"Your concerns are reasonable; however, this beach seems a very poor location for a camp...it is exposed to the sun and storms, and frequented by those sea creatures that ate my finger." He holds up the hand with the missing digit for emphasis. "I'd rather not lose any more, or I will have to rewrite all my spells to use only three fingers."
"If you insist on setting up a camp here, we should do our best to make it as temporary as possible, so that we can reuse the materials when we establish the superior location."
Turning toward Tania, he thinks a moment before responding, "Very well. We will set up camp and take care of what needs to be taken care of. But Quariel is right, this is not the best place for camp. I do not like being out in the open like this. We should at least move to where there is some protection from the direct sunlight and those sea beasts." Tar'kanas then attempts to discern a better place for camp than out in the open.
A camp could be established at the edge of the jungle, where it meets the beach. A better vantage point would be required to look over the island for an ideal location. The jungle is too thick to simply peer through. The sun will be descending in six hours and that's when the air will fill with insects.
"There." He points to where the jungle and the beach meet up. "We will set up there. It at least provides some cover from the sun and is far enough away to where we can see any of those sea beasts, if they decide to pay us a visit. Let us make haste. The sun will be setting in a while and we need to be set up before then." Tar'kanas will then assist the others in moving the equipment and setting up camp.
"I agree, and I also prefer your spot! Let's get moving!"
Grinning sarcastically, Fi'Vannali chides the confident tribesman. "Glad to see a man taking charge and making some solid decisions on the spot, and I must say you do point well Tar'kanas. All jokes aside, I think it's a fine choice. Especially since we are short on time and it keeps us close to the wreckage of the Jenivere. Perhaps the Captain or Ieana will return to investigate?"
"We will need a fire. To cook with and for light sources after dark."
Quariel does what he can to help set up the camp, but it is clear he lacks most of the relevant skills to do so; after a number of botched setups, he is relegated to tying off ropes, a job he can handle.
5:00 P.M.
It only takes an hour for Tarkanas to organize the assembly of a base camp. Clearly a man at home in the wild and with the basics, his array of convenient tricks and survival know-how make it an easy task. The rest of the castaways slump together under the new shelter near the smoke producing fire, driving away the bugs.
"We'll want to organize a watch, to keep the fire going and warn us of any hostile creatures. As there are ten of us, I suggest five two-hour shifts, with two people taking each shift; that way we ensure no one falls asleep and everyone gets a full night's rest, which we will surely need to face the coming day. I am accustomed to late-night watches from my time on the Jenivere, so I'll take the fourth watch."