Shipwrecked in Saltmarsh

     Fianna looks about the ship for...  Well, a life vest is out of the question but... Something?  Something that looks like it may float that she could tie a rope to and try to throw out as far as possible?  "I don't suppose anyone knows how to swim?"

“I think we should just leave them be. If they think they’re passengers, then let’s bring the ship into port.” Molo goes looking to see how we could steer with a broken tiller. (Do I have that right?)

Dain comes to the rail next to Fianna.  "It's been a long while but me pappa taught me to swim when I was a wee lad.  I'm happy to jump o'er and try and help."  Dain puts his maul down on the deck and unclips a series of smaller hammers from his belt.  He shrugs out of his backpack and lays it besides the weapons.    He climbs carefully onto the rail and throws himself out into the darkness.

Dain jumps into the dark, frigid, turbulent waters below. It is shockingly cold. It takes him a moment to stave off the extreme temperature differential and get his bearings in the black waves. Being of hardy stock, he manages to acclimate somewhat, but he will not be able to survive long. No longer able to see the floundering sailor, he begins to swim toward where he remembers her being.

Molo hobbles his way back up to the poop deck, where he examines the tiller he accidentally destroyed. It will require substantial repairs to make functional. The ship is slowly drifting northwest, toward Saltmarsh, obliquely toward the black cliffs. It may take tens of minutes or maybe even hours, but without a tiller, the ship is on a slow path to eventually ground itself somewhere along the coast. 

The Stone, and its dead captain, is also drifting. It has separated from the Sea Ghost and is now some fifty feet west (downwind) of the larger ship.

The three lizardfolk have exited their cabin and now stand outside their door on the main deck, looking around curiously.

Kelnan frowns at Dain leaping into the water. He tries to find and light a lantern so he might see the ship in the dark seas.

He talks with the party members on the ship. "I agree with the little one. These folk didn't attack us, and if all they want is to get ashore, it looks like the wind is taking care of that for us." He motions toward the slowly approaching shore. "They don't look like slaves. Can't blame them for choosing the wrong cab. Of course any goods stay with us and the ship. Since steering this ship seems out of the question even if we were proper sailors, I suggest we put our weapons away and be patient."

Does this ship have ballasts or sails or anything I can use to make this crash on the beach as painless as possible?

I've got a bad feeling about this.  Never one to back down from a challenge, Dain continues to stroke out into the freezing water, looking for the girl as he tops any rises in the swell.

Kelnan picks up the signal lantern, still lit, that the missing boy dropped. Its illumination barely reaches the struggling sailor, but he gets glimpses of Dain's efforts to reach her through the black waves.

Molo looks up.The sails are down, but ready to be raised. If you had a couple of people who knew how to sail, *maybe* they could use the sails to keep the ship away from shore without steering. As to ballast, he'd need to look in the bilges. And that means going belowdecks, where he knows at least one sailor has retreated.

Dain manages to get close enough to the sailor to see her. She is panicking less than she was a minute ago in the ice-cold ocean. "Git away from me!" she shouts, hoarsely, as she divided her attention between the dwarf, the unseen voice, and the shore. She starts swimming toward shore again.

 The three lizardfolk continue to watch, carefully and curiously, their weapons in hand.

Okay, this lassie does not want savin' and I can only imagine she's gonna pull me down wit' her.  This is a bad idea.  She gets one chance...

Dain shrugs in the water.  "Tis up ta ye lassie.  I can help ye back to the ship or I can leave ye ta drown.  Make yer mind up now.  I ain't fer hanging around in this freezing water..."

Molo will wait for Dain and try to help him get back aboard, and using a bit of magic to cure wounds once he’s aboard

9 

Katernin watches from the edge, ready to help pull people up out of the water.

     FinFin has been staying close to the swimmer the whole time, and Fianna talking through the pseudodragon trying to reassure them that we want to help, to let Dain help when he gets there...  But in the end if they want to swim away we aren't going to try to stop them.  

Quote from Blakey >>

Dain shrugs in the water.  "Tis up ta ye lassie.  I can help ye back to the ship or I can leave ye ta drown.  Make yer mind up now.  I ain't fer hanging around in this freezing water..."

FinFin (Fianna) or Dain may roll Persuasion, with advantage, as they team up to convince the fleeing sailor.

Katernin and Molo wait to assist those who return, lit by Kelnan's lantern.

The cold wind continues to gust. The lizardfolk talk quietly to each other. The ship remains dark and quiet.

((Fianna's + is a bit better so I will roll...))

Persuasion: 19

The sailor goes limp, succumbing to the reassuring words emanating from the little dragonoid, and weakly allows Dain to lead her through the rough, ice-cold waters back to the ship. 

Katernin finds a rope ladder coiled neatly at the base of the mast, clearly intended for boarding the ship. Soon, everyone is back aboard, the sailor sullen, quiet, and shivering. Nobody is injured, so Molo's readied healing spell is unnecessary, but Dain and the sailor could use some dry clothes and a warm cabin.

     Liberal use of Prestidigitation by Fianna assists the two swimmers in getting clean and warm... over time.  The spell can only do a bit at a time, but over time it should get the job done.  Meanwhile, Fianna is talking to the sailor and explaining we really mean no harm beyond what's done.  We were hired to put an end to the piracy going on, we have no personal grudge here.  If this ends the piracy, our job is done and no harm need come to anyone...

     FinFin will fly to the small boat we came in and attempt to drag it to the real ship...  Though I'm kind of assuming it's much too heavy.  I also assume it's too far out for them to carry a rope...  The boat is likely lost.

     "What do you know about the scale people?>" Fianna will eventually ask the swimmer, once they've had some time to relax.  "And by the way.. You know how to sail a ship?"

FinFin flies to the boat, but is unable to move it as it slowly drifts further from the ship (and too far away now for a line to reach.) Fossie's body remains upon it, partially acid-dissolved – a grim sight.

The sailor is cold, frightened, and dejected. She fears for her life. She knows the basics of sailing the ship. The lizardfolk, she says, smell bad, and are mean and dangerous. They accompany a cargo, but she doesn't know of what. She just wants to get off this ship and go home to her family who live in some city called "the Styes".

The boat rocks and drifts in the cold, dark, gusty wind. The black cliffs appear slightly closer than they did when you boarded. The Stone drifts ahead of you into the rough, black sea, its distance from this ship continuing to increase.

The young sailor, drier and warmer now thanks to Fianna's cantrips, weeps quietly on the deck where she is slouched among the heap of bodies of the dead.

The pots and pans clank and clatter with the motion of the ship through the shattered door of the galley.

The open door belowdecks continues to beckon you, blocked by a corpse. The sailor who retreated into it is nowhere to be seen. A faint, stationary light can be seen reflecting somewhere below.

The lizardfolk continue to watch and wait near the door to their cabin, curiously eyeing your every move. Their demeanor is alien and impossible to read. One of them edges toward the open door belowdecks.

Under the poopdeck are four more doors, all closed. There is also a large hatch set into the deck, presumably leading directly down into the hold. It is also closed.

Molo pops the hatch and jumps into the hold.

Molo opens one side of the large cargo hatch. (The captain's crumpled body is splayed across the other half.) A steep, narrow stairway leads down into the lit hold.

It's an orderly cargo hold, illuminated by lantern light. Through the center runs the base of the main mast. Against the aft bulkhead are stacked bolts of cloth, lashed by ropes to brackets bolted to the deck so they are secure. On each side are stacked a large number of small casks, also secured by ropes to the deck.

A large hatch in the floor leads down - presumably into the bilges - and three doors lead further both forward and aft. The two doors aft are closed; the forward door is open and leads to an unlit cabin. 

The hold appears to be unoccupied.