Shipwrecked in Saltmarsh

     If there are parts of the ship unstarched, Fianna makes that priority one.  Not expecting the council to pay them or anything, Fianna is feeling they best find any small valuables they can bring with them if they want to make this fiasco profitable.  As for the water elf, if they're in some kind of war with the lizards that's they're affair.  Fianna will let the others negotiate that if they wish...

There are two unopened doors: one leading forward from the galley; the other from the lizardfolk quarters. Is there one Fianna would like to open first?

She’s probably closest to the lizard folk room so she’d start there I guess.

Kelnan gingerly fans the fumes out of the cabin and collects the items within the chest. Upon finding the others, he excitedly greets Oceanus in Elvish.

He goes on until someone shuts him up, then joins the search of the rest of the ship.

Oceanus smiles and nods quietly, clearly happy to see a full-blooded elf aboard. Not a chatty sort, he demurs over sharing much about his settlement, and instead sticks to the business at hand.

To Kelnan:

Quote from Kaemgen >>

She’s probably closest to the lizard folk room so she’d start there I guess.

Fianna wanders through the Lizardfolk quarters. There is little evidence of their time here, other than a lingering swampy smell, a silver jug of wine, bits of food remains, and a small empty nest for their winged companion.

Passing through the door forward, Fianna finds a storeroom. Two coiled lengths of rope and three rolls of sailcloth lie on the deck alongside a large box. A large wooden cask stands next to six lengths of wood planking. Set into a wooden rack, fastened to the bulkhead by the door, are two metal-headed hammers, two wooden mallets, two saws, and an adze. It is unoccupied.

The door to port is open. Peeking in, Fianna finds what is evidently the galley stores. From iron hooks set into the ceiling hang three long strings of sausages, a large ham, and a hunk of meat. Against the hull are three sacks. Set against the bulkhead beside the door are a cask and a ceramic jar. Against the other bulkhead are set a large and a small cask and another ceramic jar. 

     What's in the box? Fianna thinks to herself, curiously, and go about opening it to settle her curiosity.  She'll then wander over and check the sacks, casks and jars.  At some point during this (assuming not ambushed by sentient smoked meats) she'll call out to the others saying "We're eating good for breakfast, at least!"

     I wouldn't have put the lizards so close to the meats, Fianna thinks again, but maybe they were last ditch meals themselves?

Fianna pokes around.

The box contains copper nails, and the cask is three-quarters full of hard, dry tar.

Next door, the sacks contain dried beans; the casks contain flour, salt, and ale; and the jars contain honey and olive oil. The ship’s food stores are relatively fresh, though nothing is particularly appetizing.

A stiff wind still blows from the southeast, but the anchor continues to hold. The haunted house is now visible in the morning gloom, looming over the top of the nearby cliffs. Fish are jumping nearby, and the parrot is entertaining itself swooping unsuccessfully at the silvery leaping shapes.

Oceanus quietly pokes around the cabins in the upper deck, methodically and seriously, but respectfully. (If you want to steer him toward or away from anything, or if there are items you do or don't want him to see, let me know.)

Elbows makes herself some tea then goes back to sleep in her hammock in the crew quarters.

Dain is shattered and mostly uninterested in looting.  Though fully aware he's not going to be able to get an uninterrupted eight hours, he's going to go and find a bed and try and get some sleep until a decision is made on where to go next.  

     Fianna is ready to leave whenever the rest are.  FinGin is still (again) flying to Saltmarsh to advise of the location and disposition of the ship but that doesn’t need completing before the company leaves.  She believes the options are down to Saltmarsh and helping Molo but Katernin has the help Molo plan and wants to head to Saltmarsh so that seems the first destination.. 

     With that in mind, Fianna will recruit Elbow to start lowering the smaller boat into the water so as to be prepared for departure.

Molo will snuggle into a ball under a nest of some smelly sailor’s blankets, with his beak sticking out, but not before trying to set a broom against a door so that if anyone opens the door, it’ll clatter

((Sorry, did I lose track? Thought we did a long rest?))

Kelnan will offer Oceanus the clothes found in the chest, then produce the book to examine, asking if he knows anything about it.

((We did do a Long Rest but Dain didn't get one.  He's had enough, he's tired and he's not interested in the loot on the ship - he doesn't have anything to spend money on - so, given there is no danger and he's knackered, he's crashing out!))

It's a damp and gloomy winter morning. As Dain and Molo try to catch a little more sleep, Fianna wakes Elbows to get her help lowering the boat. She quietly agrees. The two of them manage to turn it upright, push it to the rails, and maneuver it into the water using the old winch. It's now afloat and tied to the main vessel, equipped with two sets of oars and ready to launch. Elbows goes back to her quarters to gather her belongings.

Meanwhile Kelnan shows Oceanus the clothes – they don't mean much to him, nor do they fit the slender elf –nor does the book mean anything to him. But upon a second glance, Kelnan realizes that the contents of the odd book do mean something to him. It's a wizard's spellbook, and he is able to discern the spells contained within it. (Cantrips: friends, mage hand, prestidigitation, ray of frost. 1st level: disguise self, fog cloud, mage armor, witch bolt  2nd level: gust of wind, Melf’s acid arrow, misty step . Kelnan may add it to his own spellbook "...if you can spare the time to decipher and copy it. ... For each level of the spell, the process takes 2 hours and costs 50 gp."-RAW)

Maybe it's the daylight hours, or maybe the guards are a little less senile or a little less drunk, but FinFin is met with a little more respect this time. Enough, at least, to bring Commander Clay outside to talk with the magical pseudodragon. She listens and asks questions in a completely businesslike (if humorless) manner, as if she were speaking with a city bureaucrat rather than a miniature spiritually-infused talking dragonoid.

(I presume you are informing her of the location and condition of the ship and its former crew? But what else are and aren't you telling her? ...About Elbows, Oceanus, Fossie, the Stone, the lizardfolk, the cargo, the papers, or your immediate plans?)

     Fianna reports incidents as they happen, more or less.  The battle was a lot more dramatic, the groups actions much more daring and logical and awe inspiring.  The lass of the life of the one who rowed us out to the ship is made into a touching scene of self sacrifice for the greater good with Fianna doing all she could to try to stop it, and falling just due to the overwhelming odds they faced. 

     The fact that some crew members, and some strange scaled green folk of dubious but potentially lizard like lineage, is revealed - One wants whoever comes to salvage the ship to know what they may be stepping into.  The small statured but entirely helpful Elbow is not mentioned or described at all.  Any bounty Fianna is aware that we are taking (which isn't much... we didn't find much portable goods) is left out of the description of what was aboard the ship but she does mention maps and papers and weapons... 

     There is little mention of future plans other than the fact that the group is going to be boarding the boat and making for land.  Fianna cannot get much more detailed than that for she is leaving that up to the others to decide...

((Could he just lug around two spellbooks and not have to copy one over into the other?))

Quote from Kaemgen >>

 

((Could he just lug around two spellbooks and not have to copy one over into the other?))

(RAW: "Copying that spell into your spellbook involves reproducing the basic form of the spell, then deciphering the unique system of notation used by the wizard who wrote it. You must practice the spell until you understand the sounds or gestures required, then transcribe it into your spellbook using your own notation. ... The cost represents material components you expend as you experiment with the spell to master it, as well as the fine inks you need to record it."  - So, unfortunately, no, the other spellbook isn't immediately usable, as-is.)

Commander Clay listens to Fianna's tales with a flat, businesslike air, but with subtle undertones of boredom and impatience. She seems quite interested in the Captain, the cargo, and the maps and papers, and genuinely surprised and uncertain about the lizardfolk and the weapons. She'll report this all to Fireborn. "We'll send some Guard out to investigate it immediately," she concludes. 

That gives you at least an hour before the Guard arrives. 

     Fianna whistles Sharply to grab everyone’s attention.  “Our position has been reported to Saltmarsh.  Supposedly some guards will be heading out here.  Time to decide now if we are waiting for them or not.  But either way I’m rowing Elbow here to shore.  We had a deal and I’m seeing it’s kept before the guards can interfere with it..,  so if we’re all going ashore, climb in!  If we’re waiting, wait here and I’ll be back...”

     “Goes for you too, Oceanus.  Stay if you want to talk to people from Saltmarsh...  otherwise you’ll be wanting to leave soon.”

     With that, Fianna starts climbing down into the small boat with Elbow.  If one could tow it alone back to the ship, she’ll only wait a couple minutes for the others to decide...  if she’d need help towing back, she’ll recruit at least one other to do that much at least.