Avaria doesn't notice the altercation starting between Jan and Marrin, but when the call for bodies seen, she heads over to where Jan is.  After her friend's failed attempts, she leans in and assists her on trying to grab the second body.

Athletics to snag the body: 16

If that catches it, athletics to bring it in: 19

Jan struggles to wield the hook but Avaria deftly steps in, quickly uses the boat hook to catch the second body just before it drifts past the ship. She flips it up quickly and onto the deck where it lands with a sickening splat.

Marrin looks forward into the fog. She thinks she sees something large ahead, a little to port but she can't be quite sure yet.

"Bodies?"  Ethel's nerves are suddenly on edge.  They were a long way from shore.  What in the Nine Hells would bodies be doing floating way out here?  

"Captain Bigge!  Any thoughts on what we're dealing with here?" 

She knees down beside the water-logged corpse and examines it.  Is it terrestrial or aquatic?  Any obvious cause of death?

Investigation:  9

Bigge looks down from his place at the helm. The sight of a dead body on the deck of the Xanthe's Wish causes a raised eyebrow but not much else. He goes back to concentrating on the fog and his crew.

"Could have fallen overboard from another ship," Bigge calls down to Ethel. "Anglers too far from shore?"

Ethel doesn't see anything 'aquatic' about the body. Looks human-sized, with human length arms and legs. The body is clad in black leather and is still wearing black boots. From the back (the body is face down) and doesn't show any obvious signs of what killed them.

Ula and Hammerdasher join Ethel, and the pair turn the body over.

"Oh" is all that escapes from Ula.

You don't need to be a keen investigator or know much about medicine to realize the likely cause of death is the gaping wound in throat.

Just as the body is flopped over, Geffroi comes up on deck with a thick sandwich on a plate and one in his other hand, a bite missing from it.

He stops when he sees the body, but the initial horror is replaced by a frown.

Jan will check the pockets and armor for anything identifying (or of value).

Jan finds a sharp dagger and a handful of copper coins - though the markings on the coins aren't something she's seen herself.

Marrin will call back the potential hazard to Bigge.

"Good eyes," Bigge calls back to Marrin.

One of the sailors, Lun, moves forward to look where Marrin was indicating. There's definitely something large in the fog but still not quite visible.

Geffroi steps closer to the body, still chewing his bite of sandwich.

Jan can see that a crest on the chest of the dead man's leather armour is what is drawing Geffroi's attention more than the gaping wound.

Avaria leans in as well and checks the wound, trying to discern if it was an animal that did it or a weapon.. or anything else she might learn from it.

Investigation 15, add 2 if a medicine check is relevant.

Avaria takes a good look at the wound and from what she can tell it's not from a weapon. It's a bite. But she's seen enough animal bites from her childhood scavenging and adventuring in the woods to rule that out here. The size and tearing seems wrong for that. She doesn't have much experience with sharks but she'd guess any bite from one of them that could kill someone would be larger with more jagged edges. If she had to say what it most looked like she'd say it's a bite from a humanoid; a humanoid with a mouth about the size of her own.

Avaria recoils as she realizes what she is looking at.  "Guys... this was done by a humanoid.  What kind of person would take a bite out of someone's neck?"  and she reaches back and starts rubbing the back of hers instinctively.  And starts to wonder... what could she do when she was raging... was this in the realm of possibilities?  She would like to think not, but well... sometimes she kind of blacked out about it when it was real bad.  She looks to her friends to see if there are any accusatory looks...

"Hrmph.  Wonderful."  She stands over the sopping wet body, comtemplating if they should throw it back over the side.  "I can think of a number of possibilities," Ethel ventures out loud.  "Any number of undead could leave wounds like that... zombies, ghouls, ghasts.  Out here, though..." she ponders, looking out at the waves as they disappear into the fog.

"I don't possess a vast knowledge of sea lore.  The various aquatic humanoids... merfolk, sahuagin, koalinth... are they known to predate humans and shipfolk?"  Without waiting for an answer, she looks to Jan and Avaria.  "We best be ready.  If these souls were taken from a ship... then our own ship may offer little in the way of protection."

Marrin turns her head hearing that something bit out the bodies' throat, but that only redoubles her focus on not ending up like them.

Bigge comes down from the helm to join the group to examine the body.

"Merfolk, koalinth, yeah, they can get right angry at times, but they'll use those tridents on you or other blades," Bigge says, looking at the throat of the dead. "Sahuagin on the other hand are savage. They'll stab, claw, bite, whatever it takes. I'm no expert but they've teeth like sharks. All jagged. It would look like an animal attacked him."

Geffroi finally swallows the food in his mouth and points down at the red crest on the leather armour.

"I'm not sure, but I want to say I've seen that before. I just can't remember where." Geffroi says.

Bigge turns back to look to the bow.

"We can worry about the body later," Bigge says. "Marrin's spotted something in the fog."

He trots back up to the quarterdeck, retaking the helm.

(Any more examination of the body?)

"This doesn't look like an animal bite."  Is all Ava says as she stares at it, wondering what that could possibly mean.  

She looks up as Bigge mentions something in the fog.  She leaves the body and marches to the bow and tries to see what Marrin was talking about.

Perception:  19

Trusting the other to be able to spot threats in the fog, Ethel remains with the corpse.  Perhaps it is her recent necromantic studies, but she can't shake the feeling the body could rise up at any moment and attempt to feed upon the living... she shakes the thought away.  Where did that come from?

She does take a closer look at the crest, trying to deduce if she has seen it before.  History:  15

Ethel examines the crest. It appears to be a red hand, fingers spread slightly. One thing that strikes here is that the fingers appear quite bony. But she has never seen it before.

Beside her Geffroi also looks at the crest, frowning.

After several tense moments with only the lap of small waves against the hull breaking the quiet, out of the mist comes the looming, shattered hulk of a derelict ship.

Bigge quickly orders a change in the sails to keep the Xanthe’s Wish from getting any closer than 500 feet to the derelict. He keeps the ship far enough way to avoid collision but close enough to make out its major external features. Its masts have been shorn off, but the upper deck appears clear of debris, as if whatever hit the ship was strong enough to carry off the masts, sails, and rigging. Its figurehead, once a majestic angel in flight, has been hacked and disfigured.

While much of the ship has been devastated, along the side can still be clearly read the name: Emperor of the Waves.

“How is she still afloat?” Bigge says with amazement in his voice.

It’s clear to everyone that the ship has suffered heavy damage across its upper decks, consistent with the effect of a typhoon or tidal wave. The vessel lists noticeably to port, evidence that the Emperor’s ballast has shifted, though the incline doesn’t appear severe enough to make moving around on deck hazardous. The ship rides low in the water, implying that the bilge and possibly even the lowest deck are flooded.

Geffroi’s frown deepens when he sees the ship.

“Does that say Emperor of the Waves?” Geffroi asks as his complexion pales.

Marrin responds to Geffroi,

"Yes. That mean something to you?"

She scans the water around the wreck for more bodies and signs of trouble.

She then directs to Bigge, et al.,

"I'm guessing we would have noticed a storm big enough to do that to a ship. Thinking magic?"

Arcana: 15

Marrin examines the ship, and while she’s no expert, she’s picked up enough from sailing on the Xanthe’s Wish as well as spending time in multiple ports now (though not always by choice). She sees no sign of magic, but also, not all of the ship’s damage is due to weather. There appears to be impact damage to the ship’s hull that indicates it recently came under attack from a seagoing creature.

Bigge confirms what Marrin is seeing. “They got hit by a storm for sure. Maybe the same one we went through before – “ Bigge trails off for a second. Then starts again. “But they look to have been hit by tentacles too. Maybe even the same squid family we dealt with.”

Geffroi nods. "That's where I've seen that crest before." he says. "I remember seeing the Emperor of the Waves when I was getting out of Gheldaneth as fast as I could. It was hard to miss with the ebony black wood highlighting the red sails. But what was even more noticeable was that the crew wouldn’t let any of the local longshoremen onboard. All supplies had to be dropped off on the dock and the crew would carry them up the gangway ramp."

At that, anyone looking over at the ship can see that despite the battered and torn shape of the sails, they're definitely red sails with black stripes.

"There was a particularly fearsome looking half-orc who seemed to always been on deck, watching the docks and the city." Geffroi says. "I was mesmerized by the black uniforms with the red hand crest on the chest so he watched them for a while. Someone watching nearby said the crew had come from the desert, arriving almost at the same time the undead attacked the ruins outside the city walls."

He looks back at the dead body on the deck then back to the ship.

"The last thing I remember seeing loaded was a shiny blue metal chest. It must have been quite heavy from the look of the strain the two carrying it exhibited. A local dockworker accidentally bumped into the chest and the ship’s crew froze for a moment and stared at him. The half-orc leapt over the side on to the dock, swinging a quarterstaff even before he landed. The dockworker fell to the ground, dead. The crew loaded the chest on and then left."

Geffroi looks at the ship for a while longer. "I'd love to know what they brought out of the desert in that chest."

"Well that's a well told story there Geffroi. You should consider a career change..."

She looks the ruined ship over again.

"Well it would be a shame to not get the answer to what they have, and were so willing to kill over."

She looks to Bigge,

"If the captain allows? I'd be happy to go take a quick look."