(Everyone's a critic!  I'm good to move on.)

Zan dodges the cup.  "Alright, it might need a bit more work.  Luckily we got weeks at sea fer me to get it right!"

The meeting of Blux happened on day 3 of your trip, we are now on day 7.

You start to see small black specks mixed in with the bright blue sky.  By the end of the day you see barren rocky isles come into view, and there are wisps of grey smoke coming from the center of the island.  The next morning  rocky crags appear, spewing steam and cinders from thermal vents. The accumulated fog and smoke cuts the visibility to only a few hundred feet. The Hal cautions all to be on the lookout for rocks and other sunken hazards, as the sails are raised and the ship’s speed brought to a crawl. In the fogs beyond, the shadowy outline of another ship’s sails ghost through the mists. The party is not alone in their search. You have spent the 8th day traveling around the island, as the ship moves the compass continues to point to the island.

As the 8th day at sea is coming to an end Hal raises his voice to be heard, but the silence makes it so he does not have to yell, “Drop anchor.”

When the ship comes to a stop Cendrail comes running onto the deck, the old man has mostly been held up in his room on the ship, avoiding Hal specify and angry that there was even a discussion on if he or Hal would be on this trip.  “Why have we stopped?!”

“The compass is pointing right at this island, getting closer seems to be a bad idea, I have been trying all day.  I suggest that we stay here for the night, we need to keep watch, we’re far from alone here, then in the morning a party goes ashore to find whatever it is this compass is pointing at.  Leaving The Last Castle unmanned seems to be a bad idea, I think two of us should say with the ship, and the rest should head to the island in a row boat.”

(Pick 1 NPC to come with you to shore, Hal, Cendrail, or Blux.  Keep in mind that Cendrail might not be ok with the compass being so far away from him, you might want to find a way to get Magnus out of Cendrail.)

Aubric would chat quietly with Druquilla in elvish. "Do you think it is wise to leave the ship in the hands of any of them. What is to stop them from leaving us on this island."

(If only we still had a cleric..........................)

"Bigman," Mist whispers to Gintarou. "Think you can talk that blasted ghost back into your head? I don't trust him but we just met Blux and don't know much about him yet so I don't fancy leaving him behind with our only way off the island. Can you manage with a passenger again?"

"Looks like we don't have much choice here. Okay. Magnus-dono came here. Let's share a room once more." Gintarou scratches his head and signs. He gives the ghost a signal to get into his body.

Cendrail stands tall and looks relieved. "Let's go Magnus out of here." Cendrail clasps hands with Gintarou and a mist slowly moves from hand to hand.

So Hal and Cendrail are staying behind and Blux is going with the team in.  3 yeahs and I will post the trip in.

(Yeah!)

Gintarou tilts his head and taps his ear as if trying to push the ghost into the corner of his brain. "My roommate is back. Now let's get the compass and move to the island. Good grief! My gut tells me that I have to do the same thing every time we land somewhere!" 

(Uh yup)

"I think we should be fine," Druquilla answers Aubric in Elvish. "Cendrail will keep Hal from leaving, he wants to see this to the end I believe and he will need the compass to do that. My concern is the bloody ghost we have hitching a ride." Druquilla watches as Cendrail and Gintarou pass the spirit between them shaking her head, "Greed is the only thing keeping it here and greed can easily turn it against us."

Druquilla turns to the rest of the party, "Should we split into two teams? Half of us don't truly need the longboat to get there. Mist, Kraven, and I could scout ahead find a good landing spot for the rest of you."

So are we splitting the party?  The boat can fit all of you.

Zan scratches the beard that's been growing on his face since setting sail.  "I don't know, lass.  Seems it'd be safer to row in together.  If a beastie does attack, we'd have strength in numbers."

(I vote to stay together).

"Having Kraven in the air would not be a bad idea, he should be able to spot anything moving towards us." Aubric says moving towards the row boat

Kraven chirps up, "I will fly over not too high mind you, don;t want to make an unnecessary target of myself. I can try and carry one other person with me, but it would have to be someone small as I can not carry all that much."

[OOC: If I did my math right, I can carry about 93 pounds before I am over my limit.]

"With the steam coming from these thermal vents in the water all around us, I'm not sure how safe it'll be to swim," Mist says while lowering a bucket into the water on a rope to draw a bit up to check the temperature. "Might be best to stick to the boat with Kraven as a lookout like they say."

"I vote to stay together. What Zan and Mist said makes sense to me." Gintarou raises his hand. "If we all get on the same boat, it will be easier to pay attention to the surroundings and response when emergency occurs."

"Very well," Druquilla shrugs. "We go together then. Cendrial if Hal tries to leave without us use what ever magic you have to keep him here."

Mist the water is warmer than most sea water but it is not so bad that one could not swim in it.

Ok with Kraven flying, and everyone else in the ship we are having a group skills checks, from the boat only a total of 3. Athetlics and Perception checks, I need a min of 1 each, and the third can be either one.

Aubric will keep an eye out

Perception: 3

Kraven Athletics: 4

Kraven Perception: 5