“Hmm… iffffff- we can avoid this area, here on the map. Uh huh… with the undead! Hmm… … That would be best!!! Yup yup yup!…”.

Ok, it is the end of day 26, and you are near the location of the supposed crashed airship. There had somehow been communication from the ship to Port Nyanzaru many months ago, hence the rumors of this crashed vessel in the town. This is how Azaka and Eku know about it. They didn't pay attention enough to the rumors to know who might be on it or where it was coming from or going. They just heard that some flying ship crashed in the general location of where you are now on the map.

The naga didn't know anything about this wreck. Kind of makes sense given she's not in Port Nyanzaru to hear the rumors. 

7:45PM, END OF DAY 26

There is still some daylight left as the party starts their evening rituals for finding a proper campsite and getting prepared for the evening. On the way to find a suitable location, you see it. Azaka says "There. Look. That must be..." and Eku interrupts her "the ship." She continues, "looks like it's been here awhile." 

A wooden vessel is caught high in the tree branches, broken into three chunks. It resembles a ship, but there are differences that mark it clearly as not a seagoing vessel. The stern is the lowest piece, hanging precariously by its rigging about 50 feet above ground. The middle section appears to be 15 feet higher, and the bow section is firmly wedged into a nest of branches another 10 feet above that.

Climbing up to the wreck (the sturn) would be relatively easy, thanks to many vines in the trees and lines of rigging hanging from the ship. It will still require an athletics check, however. The same check must be repeated to move from one section of the ship to another; alternatively, you can jump down from a higher to a lower section with a successful acrobatics check.

Azaka immediately shakes her head. "No. I will sit this one out. Unless Gotur might have some magic that would make my climb easier? Even then... it seems pretty uneven." she looks to you all "What do you all think, friends?"

Eku says "I can fly up and take a peek, if you'd like. We can also camp nearby and investigate it in the morning. We are also getting close to Omu and I'm not sure slowing down right now would be best. I agree we will need to travel slower as we approach the lost city, so we might be better off just camping and heading out."

Azaka = No. Will require magic + successful persuasion check by someone to get her to come up.

Eku = Leaning towards no, but will fly up and scout if the majority of the party wants to. 

What would you like to do/how do you vote?

Ignore it for now and camp, then investigate the next morning? Investigate it now? Or simply pass it by?

Please roll any initial checks you might have as well as any questions and I will be happy to answer them. 

The map of the crashed ship is posted to the 'SHIP' tab. I will not uncover anything up there or add any icons unless someone goes up there. I just wanted to give you an idea of what it looks like. 

*the rumors Azaka and Eku heard also mentioned the name of the ship. :)

"Aye can fly up with ye Eku but aye agree we should be on our way if it will slow us down. That said it may have something to help us. May be worth a quick look?"

((Evo would be happy to skirt the worst of the undead, whatever pace the guides recommend.))

"I can give you some vine boots again Azaka if you'd like, and I can take on a spider or other form that would be able to climb well, but that'd leave Alton needing to scramble up unless we've a way to carry him, don't know if that's something you could do Eku? If Alton would be interested in going up and checking it out hat is.", Gotur looks at his halfling friend.

"Aye don't mind spiders Gotur, ye could hitch a lift with meh."

"Would save me having to scramble up. Azaka, if Alton wants to go up, I can boot him and you can keep watch at the base, then you don't have to bother with the heights, or if he doesn't you could both keep an eye here?"

Alton nods towards Gotur. “Sure, as long as I’ve got the proper magic and all to not fall, I’m happy to.” The halfling says. 

“Whatever works best for everyone else!”

Phillip looks up in wonder at the broken airship, “How wonderfffful!! Uh huh!… If Miss E’ku can quickly take a look up there, uh huh… That might be best… … And then ifffff- it’s safe and there’s anything worth getting, some more of-fff us can head up there. Yep yep yep!… … I’m small and light, and can climb and jump! Yup!… I’d gladly join the team going up….. ifffff- it looks worth while. Yep yep yep!… Think of-ffff the magic and technology on a ship like that!? Hmmm?……”.

Eku looks at P'Lip and nods and decides she will fly up first to ensure there's nothing 'mean' waiting for the party.

She flies up to the closest spot (the stern) and then immediately flies back down at double the speed she flew up. She whispers to the party "Ok, there's a bunch of... well.. zombies up there. Zombies that you who are not familiar with Chult might not have came across before. Azaka will know. P'Lip, maybe you too?" 

She continues whispering.

"Gorillas. Horrific mutated zombie gorillas. Not surprising really, they've probably created a home in the wreck up there. Not sure how many. They saw me, too."

Azaka says "Are you serious... ok, I am not sure about this. If we go, myself and Eku should lead as they will not be able to harm us. Although if they get close to one of you, it will not be a good thing. I've seen a tourist get obliterated by one of these things one time."

Eku would go on to say that she saw a good number of dead bodies as well up there. She didn't get a chance to count them, she just knows she saw a lot of corpses along with the zombie gorillas. Maybe more than 5. And they had armor on. Maybe she saw weapons too? Can't be sure. The bodies are semi decomposed from the glance she got at a few of them. She didn't see anything else, but again she only had a few moments before she saw the gorillas. The corpses were on the middle and bow sections, and the gorillas were on the same sections. 

The gorillas also saw her as she mentioned. She wasn't trying to be sneaky when she flew up there, and she flew a bit over the stern to be able to see the entire wreck. The zombie gorillas didn't seem to come at her or anything, although she was only there for a moment so it's unclear if these creatures are hostile at the present moment. 

If the party still decides to head up, let me know if the following is correct:

You would all get to the stern section if you make the climb without a roll. I would place you on the map and then you would confirm positioning before anything might happen.

It is unclear if the gorillas will initiate combat if you go back up. They are not freaking out or anything right now, but if you look up from the ground you can now notice movement up there. So they are disturbed. You do not have the option to try and be stealthy when coming back up, as the gorillas already saw Eku.

Oh, I won't show you what they look like yet, but Eku would tell you that they have 4 arms. They look like evil skeleton gorillas. And they are big. And fast. Almost 10 ft wide. 

What would the party think/do after all of this?

P'Lip can make a nature (jungle) check to see if he knows about or has ran into one of these before.

"Might not be worth it with so many. Once aye'm up aye can probably hit most of the with meh magic but they can maybe throw things at meh? What do the rest of ye think?"

Phillip’s nature (jungle) check: 13 

((Gotur has seen a giant spider before (the brewery basement), but it's a higher CR than he can take on. I don't have him down as having seen a giant wolf spider to be a mount for Alton.))

"I'm not too keen to try climbing up when they know we're coming, picking us off would be... unpleasant. If we continue on, they might leave us be, or we could try getting them to bring a fight to us down here. I could just blast them on the ship with lightning, but it might damage the ship, or even send it the rest of the way to the ground."

P'Lip, you haven't seen one of these up close. You might've seen a family of them moving through the trees at some point in your life (they moved at a very fast speed you remember) but you never got a good look at them. You know the things that Eku has told you (they have 4 arms, they look like evil skeleton gorillas, big, fast, etc. etc.)

((Yes, that's right about the giant spider! Soon enough then. Yeah I don't recall the party seeing a giant wolf spider. So did you mean you will morph into a 'normal' sized spider and make the climb?))

Let me know what the plan is!

Knowing that the gorillas are big and, more importantly, fast, Phillip would be reluctant to go up. To him it seems too big a risk to take if they don’t know what the reward or benefit might be (perhaps there’s nothing of use up there at all).

Phillip would support whatever the group decide, but he’s leaning towards passing it by (for now), since it’s not like they saw a magical weapon or anything obviously useful up there.

((I don't think Gotur would have a way to carry Alton up as a mount given the forms he has, so it would either be leaving someone behind, or Alton being carried by Azaka or one of the fliers, were we to try to storm the ship.))

"I think lightning would be really noticeable to any yuan-ti about, and might damage the ship, but Evo and I could double moonbeam, perhaps. That would probably bring their attention to us, if we wanted to push matters."

((P'Lip, Eku would've indeed cast detect magic when she initially went up and it came up blank, but with its range and where she was, the entire ship was not checked.))

P'Lip is leaning towards leaving, Gotur is contemplating him and Evo double-moonbeaming to get their attention to see if it brings them down - what will the party do?

The more time passes, the more Azaka is against this. "Maybe we should just leave. It doesn't look like there's anyone up there alive anyway. Right Eku?"

Eku nods sadly.

Azaka also says "And I'm assuming if there WAS anything of value up there that it's long gone by now." she shrugs her shoulders. 

Eku frowns at Azaka's comment about valuables.

Oh, the gorillas are starting to move a bit more. Nothing crazy, but more than they ever have since Eku came back down. Gorilla antsy check 18

What will the final plan be?

Evo is happy to listen to the advice of the three guides,

"We'll see when we get heading back this way."

"Sure. No need to push things today."