Oscar would give Bree hard pat on the shoulder. "Whatever that is over there sure sounds dead. Dead things cannot hurt ya! So you have nothing to worry about" Oscar would reply with a grin before jogging a bit in his heavy armor so that he is standing shoulder to shoulder with Gallo. The halfling would keep his shield on his back and one hand on his helm as he made his way towards the stink. His armor would continue to rattle and clank as his mace bounced up and down against his shoulder as he approached the stinky scene.
"Worry?" Bree says with a chuckle. "You know me better than to think I am worrying. I'm all for checking this out, just know the elders would say we are being rash, as usual."
"The elders are always going on about being rash... at least, to me anyway, not sure about the rest of you... I've never seen a problem with it personally. It gets things done quicker. And really, how much harm can we actually come to? It's just a small detour from a fishing trip. No-one ever died fishing!"
Secretly Faleon is a little dejected that he's now not even second in the matching order, but chooses to overcome this with seemingly relentless positivity.
"Exactly right." Bree says with a grin. "What could possibly happen on a fishing trip. This is just a side trip to find out what is making such a smell. Nothing more than stopping to smell a batch of flowers, just these ones really stink..."
Gallo lets out a loud fart marching at the front of the line and asks after about 3 steps, "So which one do you prefer, the dead or the other one?" He continues forward chuckling to himself.
With the decision made that there's nothing to worry about you all start heading upriver.
You start skirting the edge of the last large hill that makes up, what most consider, the border of Hickorydale. After clearing the last hill you come to a marshy area sandwiched between the river and a stretch of fairly dense forest. The area is familiar to you all for different reasons but most commonly you've come here to collect the "sweet flag", "flowering rush', and other edible plants that grows on the border of the marsh. Or to hunt in the little patch of woods. It's easy to pick a dry path between the woods and the marsh and continue upriver.
The evening is starting to quickly turn to night now that the sun has fully sank below the mountains. Coming past the marshy area you can make your way down closer to the river again and notice immediately that there is debris here and there scattered along the bank. mostly chunks of woods, probably some kind of planking. Many of them burnt. Every now and again burnt pieces of fabric. The smell has gotten worse. Looking further up river in fading light you can see some kind of structure in the river. It's difficult to make out from here but looks somewhat like a pointed boulder with trees stuck on it. However you all know there's never been a boulder in that part of the river before.
"Hey, you guys see that?" Bree calls to the others. "How'd a boulder get there?" She moves closer to it, curious as to what sort of boulder suddenly was in the river there. "Think that a giant tossed it?"
Gallo keep his eyes peeled, "Lets figure out the source of the stench first, then worry about new boulders. It must be a hell of a lot of dead or something very large has died to have the stink travel so far."
"Oh yes, the smell... I was sort of getting use to it, but yep, need to figure out what that is too." Bree says with a glance around. "Maybe the giant threw that boulder and it hit another giant. Maybe the other giant is under the boulder. We should check out the boulder, maybe it has the source of the stink under it." With that logical jump, Bree continues on towards the boulder.
As you all close to within 100' of the 'boulder' there are a few things going on. First is that you can hear the water fall up river and know it's not that far away although you can't see it because it is almost full dark now. The sky is fairly clear and starts are starting to shine but you know the moon will not rise for another hour or so. In the last bits of light you all see that the 'boulder' is not a boulder at all. It's the prow of a ship pointing downriver. It rests about 15' from the bank and is riding very low in the water. You assume it's resting on the bottom. It's still mostly upright and from this distance doesn't look very damaged except for the mast that has fallen to this side of the bank.
The smell is almost unbearable and every now and again over the sound of the waterfall you hear screeching and scraping sounds coming from the direction of the ship.
"I wonder what in the hells a ship like that was doin this close to the shire" Oscar would ask as drop to a knee and begins digging through his pack and looking for his light. "I can barley see a thing out here. Sounds like something with claws might be hidin in that stinking ship and I wanna see it." After taking a few moments, Oscar would pull out a small glowing hooded lantern. As he opens the shudders, bright white light would spread out around the group of halflings. "Ahh, that's better." Oscar would say with a grin as he holds the holds the lantern in his left hand and continues to clutch his mace with his right.
"A ship?" Bree asks with a frown. "Why is a giant tossing a ship around? Would have made more sense if it were a boulder you know." She gives a shrug. "Probably not a very smart giant then, what do you guys think?" She listens then, hearing the sounds from inside. "Wonder if it was a ship hauling beasties to the market or something. Maybe it is full of puppies or kitties that need helping. Best go and see. You guys with me?" She glances over her shoulder as she heads on towards the ship. "Oh, that will be good, thanks for the light, it is getting a bit dark."
Gallo says, "Lets take this one slow. We are at a clear disadvantage here and also not in a whole lot of a hurry. The fishing has turned out decidedly different than I had in mind earlier."
He stays near the front of the pack, but lets the others do the investigating while keeping his eyes open to any danger.
"What disadvantage? I don't think we need to be so cautious. They clearly didn't see the waterfall and went over it in their boat. And it must've happened a while ago, based on the stink. Poor souls. But we should go and rescue whatever animal had been stuck in there ever since."
Faleon picks up the pace further, now half jogging in his eagerness to solve the mystery.
As you all move closer and the side of the ship is revealed you can see a great rend in the side of the boat, split almost belly to deck. You can also see that it was set on fire at some point in time. Much of the deck is completely charred with almost nothing left of the captains quarters. You can now see that it's a two mast ship, well was. One looks like a burnt up sapling with the one that broke onto the bank being in better shape but still charred.
From within the rend you can see shadowy shapes scurrying around in the belly of the ship.
Oscar would give Bree hard pat on the shoulder. "Whatever that is over there sure sounds dead. Dead things cannot hurt ya! So you have nothing to worry about" Oscar would reply with a grin before jogging a bit in his heavy armor so that he is standing shoulder to shoulder with Gallo. The halfling would keep his shield on his back and one hand on his helm as he made his way towards the stink. His armor would continue to rattle and clank as his mace bounced up and down against his shoulder as he approached the stinky scene.
"Worry?" Bree says with a chuckle. "You know me better than to think I am worrying. I'm all for checking this out, just know the elders would say we are being rash, as usual."
"The elders are always going on about being rash... at least, to me anyway, not sure about the rest of you... I've never seen a problem with it personally. It gets things done quicker. And really, how much harm can we actually come to? It's just a small detour from a fishing trip. No-one ever died fishing!"
Secretly Faleon is a little dejected that he's now not even second in the matching order, but chooses to overcome this with seemingly relentless positivity.
Mordekai | Tiefling Warlock/Bard (Lv.12) | Pizazz's Beyond
RavenloftAnnihilation"Exactly right." Bree says with a grin. "What could possibly happen on a fishing trip. This is just a side trip to find out what is making such a smell. Nothing more than stopping to smell a batch of flowers, just these ones really stink..."
Gallo lets out a loud fart marching at the front of the line and asks after about 3 steps, "So which one do you prefer, the dead or the other one?" He continues forward chuckling to himself.
Faleon makes a show of sniffing the foot to mask the smell of Gallo's fart. Then tries his best to hide his instant regret.
Mordekai | Tiefling Warlock/Bard (Lv.12) | Pizazz's Beyond
RavenloftAnnihilationWith the decision made that there's nothing to worry about you all start heading upriver.
You start skirting the edge of the last large hill that makes up, what most consider, the border of Hickorydale. After clearing the last hill you come to a marshy area sandwiched between the river and a stretch of fairly dense forest. The area is familiar to you all for different reasons but most commonly you've come here to collect the "sweet flag", "flowering rush', and other edible plants that grows on the border of the marsh. Or to hunt in the little patch of woods. It's easy to pick a dry path between the woods and the marsh and continue upriver.
The evening is starting to quickly turn to night now that the sun has fully sank below the mountains. Coming past the marshy area you can make your way down closer to the river again and notice immediately that there is debris here and there scattered along the bank. mostly chunks of woods, probably some kind of planking. Many of them burnt. Every now and again burnt pieces of fabric. The smell has gotten worse. Looking further up river in fading light you can see some kind of structure in the river. It's difficult to make out from here but looks somewhat like a pointed boulder with trees stuck on it. However you all know there's never been a boulder in that part of the river before.
That's what happens when you wear a helmet your whole life!
My house rules
"Hey, you guys see that?" Bree calls to the others. "How'd a boulder get there?" She moves closer to it, curious as to what sort of boulder suddenly was in the river there. "Think that a giant tossed it?"
Gallo keep his eyes peeled, "Lets figure out the source of the stench first, then worry about new boulders. It must be a hell of a lot of dead or something very large has died to have the stink travel so far."
"Oh yes, the smell... I was sort of getting use to it, but yep, need to figure out what that is too." Bree says with a glance around. "Maybe the giant threw that boulder and it hit another giant. Maybe the other giant is under the boulder. We should check out the boulder, maybe it has the source of the stink under it." With that logical jump, Bree continues on towards the boulder.
"Dang it Bree slow down!" Oscar would growl as he hustled to keep up with the halfing as he clanked his way towards the boulder.
As you all close to within 100' of the 'boulder' there are a few things going on. First is that you can hear the water fall up river and know it's not that far away although you can't see it because it is almost full dark now. The sky is fairly clear and starts are starting to shine but you know the moon will not rise for another hour or so. In the last bits of light you all see that the 'boulder' is not a boulder at all. It's the prow of a ship pointing downriver. It rests about 15' from the bank and is riding very low in the water. You assume it's resting on the bottom. It's still mostly upright and from this distance doesn't look very damaged except for the mast that has fallen to this side of the bank.
The smell is almost unbearable and every now and again over the sound of the waterfall you hear screeching and scraping sounds coming from the direction of the ship.
That's what happens when you wear a helmet your whole life!
My house rules
"I wonder what in the hells a ship like that was doin this close to the shire" Oscar would ask as drop to a knee and begins digging through his pack and looking for his light. "I can barley see a thing out here. Sounds like something with claws might be hidin in that stinking ship and I wanna see it." After taking a few moments, Oscar would pull out a small glowing hooded lantern. As he opens the shudders, bright white light would spread out around the group of halflings. "Ahh, that's better." Oscar would say with a grin as he holds the holds the lantern in his left hand and continues to clutch his mace with his right.
"A ship?" Bree asks with a frown. "Why is a giant tossing a ship around? Would have made more sense if it were a boulder you know." She gives a shrug. "Probably not a very smart giant then, what do you guys think?" She listens then, hearing the sounds from inside. "Wonder if it was a ship hauling beasties to the market or something. Maybe it is full of puppies or kitties that need helping. Best go and see. You guys with me?" She glances over her shoulder as she heads on towards the ship. "Oh, that will be good, thanks for the light, it is getting a bit dark."
(Out of interest, the waterfall up ahead, are we at the top of it or the bottom? Presumably we know the local area fairly well and would know that?)
Mordekai | Tiefling Warlock/Bard (Lv.12) | Pizazz's Beyond
RavenloftAnnihilationGallo says, "Lets take this one slow. We are at a clear disadvantage here and also not in a whole lot of a hurry. The fishing has turned out decidedly different than I had in mind earlier."
He stays near the front of the pack, but lets the others do the investigating while keeping his eyes open to any danger.
(You're at the bottom. There is a map on the campaign page)
That's what happens when you wear a helmet your whole life!
My house rules
(Ah, that totally changes my assumptions!)
"What disadvantage? I don't think we need to be so cautious. They clearly didn't see the waterfall and went over it in their boat. And it must've happened a while ago, based on the stink. Poor souls. But we should go and rescue whatever animal had been stuck in there ever since."
Faleon picks up the pace further, now half jogging in his eagerness to solve the mystery.
Mordekai | Tiefling Warlock/Bard (Lv.12) | Pizazz's Beyond
RavenloftAnnihilationGallo jogs after Faleon and unbuckles his whip, just in case.
As you all move closer and the side of the ship is revealed you can see a great rend in the side of the boat, split almost belly to deck. You can also see that it was set on fire at some point in time. Much of the deck is completely charred with almost nothing left of the captains quarters. You can now see that it's a two mast ship, well was. One looks like a burnt up sapling with the one that broke onto the bank being in better shape but still charred.
From within the rend you can see shadowy shapes scurrying around in the belly of the ship.
That's what happens when you wear a helmet your whole life!
My house rules