Shipwrecked in Saltmarsh

(She seems like a nice enough lady.)

Xendros holds out one crimson hand, jingling her grotesque skull-motif jewelry. "Fifty gold, payable now. Two weeks. Torpid brown ichor." She grinds her teeth audibly.

– – – 
(Does anyone else have any business before your two-hour rendezvous at Solmor's Wharf? Katernin?)

As the departure hour approaches, unless you have other business, the party gathers on Solmor's wharf, awaiting pickup. 

The wharf swarms with fishermen and longshoremen loading and unloading vessels. Wavechaser and a foreman watch from an office nearby, engaged in quiet conversation with Vertheg.

A modest size merchant ship arrives and ties up at the wharf. It disgorges a group of rough-looking human sailors, as Solmor's longshoremen scurry to unload a large number of barrels from its hold. One of the sailors spits at Dain as she passes.

Vertheg silently joins your party. "They'll be here soon," he finally says.

     Thanks to Thaumaturgy there is a large, wet sounding fart sound that emanates from the sailor who spit.

     Thanks to Prestidigitation there is also a harmless yet still quite vile odor emanating from the same sailor.

     "Oh my!  Someone sharted!" the invisible Fi'Finella cries out before giggling while flying past the sailor...

The sailor looks surprised and alarmed, and quickly hustles onward. 

Wavechaser joins the party. "You should have told me you were looking for immediate work. I wan't expecting to see you leave town so quickly. I trust you'll be back quite soon?" 
Vertheg looks annoyed and tense, but remains silent.

A sizable skiff ties up at the end of the busy wharf. A pair of dwarves in grey climb out. "Here we go," announces Vertheg, quietly. "Windrune's crew. Let's make this quick."

     "Permission to board?" Fianna will ask the two dwarves with a smile, and assuming assent (or at least not denial) then she climbs aboard and takes a look around.  "How long will the journey be?"

     Fi'Finella, still invisible, flies above and around the ship, checking everything out and picking a perch up in the rigging.  

Vertheg hustles ahead to have a quiet word with one of the dwarves on the wharf. A third dwarf remains on board the skiff, tidying up.

The other dwarf greets Fianna. "Ye' Aubreck's people? Ye' ready?"
Then, answering her question, "Well, five, six days, maybe? We'll find out! I'm Oskar. Clan Shellgrim. First mate, Soul of Winter. Got everything ye' need?"

You can see the large sailing ship anchored offshore. If you have no further business, the rest of the party is invited to board the skiff with Oskar and the pilot. (The third sailor is remaining in Saltmarsh.)

Oskar and his crewmate welcome you onto the clean, orderly skiff, then each grab oars. "Goodbye to Saltmarsh," says Oskar.

Molo will try to explore the ship to see what it’s like.

(sorry been a crazy week so I haven't been on much)

Kelnan confidently boards the skiff. "I'm sure we'll be back before too long."

It's a medium-sized open skiff that easily fits seven, plus gear. Two sets of oars and a place for a small, removable sail. It's just to get you to the big sailing vessel anchored out in the bay.

Fi'Finella sees lots of interesting waterfront activity, but nothing especially of note.

All aboard?

Fianna is onboard and trying to stay out of the dwarves way...

All aboard!

The five of you make your way slowly out into the bay. Oskar is quiet; his crewman is a whistler. In the distance you spot Wavechaser watching calmly from the wharf, his arms behind his back. Vertheg is nowhere to be seen. 

The sun makes a brief, rare appearance. You appreciate just how colorless Saltmarsh really is. But the water sparkles, and the bay is reasonably calm.

You soon approach the sailing ship, Soul of Winter, a 100-foot long, three-masted merchant vessel, equipped with a ballista and a mangonel. A rope ladder is waiting for you. Climbing aboard, you are greeted by the stout and stern captain, Wolgar Windrune.

Windrune makes a few polite and humorless introductory remarks. He also insists that you remain in your quarters below deck during the voyage, so as not to impede his crew. 

     The invisible Fi’Finella will again find a perch in the sails and riggings from which to observe unobtrusively..,  Fianna will comply and stay in her cabin.

Dain will greet the captain in their natural tongue and just generally be pleasant before he agrees to go below deck and wait to be called.

"We leave by sunset," the captain tells Dain.

You are led to your new quarters on the lower deck. The guest cabins are clean and orderly, although each bed has a set of manacles attached to its frame, as the rooms evidently also serve as the brig.

Aubreck has purchased supplies for you, which await you in the cabins. His gear consists of: five sets of studded leather armor, two light crossbows with twenty bolts each, five 50-foot coils of rope, two grappling hooks, twelve torches, two healer’s kits, six vials of antitoxin, two potions of healing, and two sacks. (Take/divide them as you wish.)

Off-duty crewmen - all dwarves armed with spears - lounge in the hold, outside your doors. They sleep on bedrolls among the crates and barrels of food, water, supplies, and cargo. They give the party a rather cool berth, although they respond a little more warmly to Dain.

Katernin seems to just... give up, on trying to get Fianna to act in anyway respectful to other people. Once they're on the ship, she shuts herself in her room and spends the time trying to apologize to everyone she hadn't had a chance to save or give proper burials too.

Dain is going to try and spend as much time as he can speaking to and building a relationship with the dwarven crew. 

- Where are they from?
- How long have they been working as ship crew?
- Are they all part of the same clan?
- Do they know the waters we are about to sail into?
- Have they heard of the Emperor of the Waves and what do they know about it?

Probably more questions once he gets these ones answered. 

OOC:  Perhaps surprisingly, Dain has 13 Charisma and is proficient in Persuasion, though he is not being at all pushy in this instance and is simply getting to know these dwarves as he's been away from his kin for a long time.

Dain finds the dwarves cool and suspicious, but warmer to him than the others. He learns a few things about them:
- Clan Shellgrim is unusual, for they are home on the water, not the earth like most dwarves.
- Their clan is small, and has no one home; they can be found scattered along the coast in many ports, including Saltmarsh, albeit in small numbers in each.
- Their true home is on the sea, where for centuries they have plied trade between cities along the coast. They own at least several sailing vessels, although they are coy about the exact number.
- They are coastal; the deep sea where the Soul is heading is not their usual domain. But the captain is confident about locating the search area.
- They know little about the Emperor of the Waves, specifically, although most remember it as a merchant vessel years ago. It was an ordinary merchant sailing ship then. It's been missing for a few years now.
- This journey seems to be the repaying of an old favor to Aubreck from the captain. 

Are they a different race?  Like Hill dwarves, Mountain dwarves and Sea dwarves?

     Fianna suggests we each take a vial of antitoxin sand Katernin holding on to the extra.  She suggests also that Dain and Molo take the healing potions, as they’re most likely to need them.

     “The healer’s kits may be best in less than front line combatants hands though?  Perhaps  Kelnan and myself since we try to stay out of hand to hand and are this hopefully more mobile?” Fianna offers.

     The studded leather is likely no better than what we have already. Same for the crossbows? Rope and grappling hooks are always handy, strong dexterous types should take those.  Split the torches?  Extra sacks always handy...