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Post by Former Fiend on Oct 4, 2017 23:24:13 GMT -5
He was struggling to breath. That was the first thing he was aware of. Before he could see, before he could hear, before he could feel, that was what he knew; that he was face down and couldn't breath.
Then came taste; salt and sand.
Then pain. As he tried to push himself up a jolt of pain shot through his muscles as he exerted the effort. That pain didn't stop him, however; his hands sank into the wet sand that gripped and clung to his body, trying to hold him down in it's clutches, but he broke free, coughing, sputtering, and spitting sand and sea water from his mouth.
Feng Kesh stood to his feet, though not easily. And for all the muscles in his legs, he found little strength there, and his stance was unsteady.
The wind wasn't helping with that. He suddenly became aware of the fact that his body was being battered by the wind and rain, the howl of it filled his ears along with the crashing of waves and the sound of the wind ripping through the leaves of a palm forest.
He opened his eyes and they stung, though not from the light; it was day time but the storm clouds were thick and heavy, leaving the landscape grey and overast, illuminated only by a flash of lightning followed immediately by the crash of thunder. No, his eyes stung from the sea water that was nearly blinding him, but he could do nothing about that. His hands were caked with wet sand, his clothes beneath his armor soaked completely.
His vision blurred, his body battered and sore, Feng Kesh's hands went to his belt; he felt for his swords and both remained secure in place. That was a blessing, at least; those swords were his life.
The half-orc raised his hand to shield his eyes from the wind and rain as he gathered his thoughts. He had been on a ship when a storm hit. Judging by the debris that littered the beach – including a large piece of timber at his feet that he could only assume he had clung to – that ship had gone down in the storm.
Blurred from salt and dirt, it was hard to make out if any of the shapes on the beach were people or just more pieces of the ship. He began moving toward some to check for other survivors when another lightning bolt struck near by. Feng Kesh knew he was the tallest thing standing between the water and the tree line, wrapped in segmented metal. He scowled, but turned to move towards the trees, hoping he could find shelter from the storm further inland.
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Post by Rex Apium on Oct 5, 2017 23:48:07 GMT -5
Things were not ideal.
Things had started out much better than they were currently, but wasn't that how it always worked?
It was a normal day. Well, a normal day where she needed to investigate someplace someone hadn't been in a while. It had started with a cave behind a waterfall that lead into an underground ruin of some sort. She wasn't a historian, so what the ruin was used for she had no idea. It didn't matter. What mattered was whether or not there was anything of value left in the place.
Josette didn't have much luck, and while the place seemed thoroughly picked over, she did happen to find a secret passage. The looters before her always missed the secret passages. She wasn't sure if it was because they weren't as thorough as she was, or if it was just her natural sense for finding secrets that helped her find the doors. It also didn't matter, what mattered is the familiar sound of stone sliding against stone as the mechanism that held the secret door in place worked, opening up the path before her.
The tunnel or hallway ahead was dark. They always were, but the runes on her sword gave off enough light when activated for her to see. As she stepped through the doorway, she looked around, noting the layers of dust. This was a good sign. It meant that no one had been here in a while. She carried onward and about ten feet into the tunnel is when it happened. She heard a click when she stepped on uneven ground, and behind her heard the secret door starting to close. A quiet elven curse whispered as she looked behind her. No reason to no keep going forward, her path was set... she just hoped it didn't mean her death.
The hallway went for a long time. There were murals and writing on the walls, but she didn't stop to inspect them. What this place was didn't matter to her. She wasn't even curious. She'd been through these abandoned places so many times that the novelty had worn off a long time ago. There was something eerie about this place. Something strange about it that made the little hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She wasn't sure exactly what it was, couldn't quite place it... but it was there.
It was ages of walking. And when she started to think that maybe this hallway would never end, that maybe she died and this was her purgatory, she found a set of stairs. Thinking that strange but not really caring anymore she started to ascend them. At least it wasn't a hallway anymore. The stairs spiraled upward for longer than she thought they should have, but what did she know about distance?
Finally at the top of the stairs was a small platform and a door. This was the first time she paused. It was strange. So strange she took the extra time to check around the door and the floor to make sure that there would be no surprises.
She wasn't that lucky.
The door wasn't locked, but when Josette opened it she found herself staring at nothing. Well, not nothing. She was staring at a forest. One she didn't recognize. Cautiously she moved out of the door, letting it slowly close behind her as she took a long look around her. Definitely trees. Grass. There was a mountainside behind her and sky... sky that was starting to look angry. She shook her head and rubbed between her eyes, trying to calculate how far the underground hallway could have taken her and where in the fuck she was now. When that failed, she let out a sigh of frustration and turned back to the door. This wasn't worth it and she was better off heading back the way she came.
Which is absolutely something she would have done had the door not been gone.
She quickly sheathed her thin bladed sword and in a panic felt along the wall of the mountain that absolutely had a door there just a few moments ago. There should still be a seam, or a button or something to open or even signify that there was a door here at all. The thing was, she couldn't find anything. Even her heightened sense at discovering secrets wasn't alerting her to anything being there.
Another frustrated sigh and Josette leaned her head against the stone. She had no idea where she was. The one good thing to this whole... bullshit... was that she'd brought her backpack with her, and it contained everything she owned. Usually she left it hidden outside of a ruin so it didn't hinder her mobility, but this one didn't have a place good enough to hide it in, so she'd brought it with her.
She had just resigned herself to her fate when she felt the first rain drop. She'd need to find shelter or she'd be soaking wet and that wasn't something she was interested in. A cave would probably work best and since she was near a mountain, it shouldn't be too difficult.
By the time she found a cave she was drenched. The rain started as a drizzle and escalated into a full blown storm in what seemed like moments. The mountainside she thought the door had come out of was less of a mountain and more an outcropping of large rocks and she needed to move further away than she'd thought she'd need to.
Once she found the cave she took a quick walk around it. It wasn't very deep and at one point had nested some sort of animal. That animal had long gone, leaving the place deserted. With a sigh she dropped her backpack off and looked to the opening of the cave. She was cold and should make a fire... but with the rain there was no way she'd be able to get any of the wood out there to light, even with magic. She peered around the cave again, using the glow from one of her swords to see. There were roots sticking out between the rocks and dirt walls and she set to work hacking as much of them down as she could, or at the very least enough to start a small fire.
With her deed done and the roots and dead grass she'd found in the cave in some semblance of a campfire she murmured a simple spell and lit the dry wood, sitting down next to it and removing her boots. She probably wouldn't be able to get herself completely dry for a while, but at least this was something.
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Post by Former Fiend on Oct 8, 2017 11:28:17 GMT -5
The pirate vessel had been on their tail for two days. The captain had managed to keep them out of range of the hunter's guns up until that point, but headwinds from a sudden storm had slowed them, and their enemy had closed the distance. They took aim at the ship's mast and rudder. They had no intention of sinking the ship, at least not yet. They meant to board her.
Feng Kesh walked out onto the deck of the Wealthy Father in full armor. He had heard some of the crew say that the pirate vessel would be on them in just over an hour. Their adversary, identified as the Promise of Oppara by it's colors, had raised the black flag, not the red, showing intent to give quarter so long as the crew surrendered. However, despite most of the crew calling out for it, that wasn't going to happen. Hence why Feng Kesh had donned his armor.
Catus Volus, captain of the Wealthy Father had declared that they would stand and fight. Feng Kesh had pondered the wisdom of it; the ship was a merchant vessel, not a war ship. It's crew was made of hard men, men with strong arms and strong backs from their labor. But they weren't fighters. Scrappers and brawlers, maybe, but not soldiers and killers. Feng Kesh had an eye for that; for measuring the worth of someone in a fight. These men may well be good men, and perhaps they would find their courage in battle, but all the same it was a battle they were ill prepared for.
The half-orc had pondered to himself that the captain's decision was folly. The ship was insured – all Taldan merchant ships were. Perhaps the Promise had a reputation for slaughtering surrendering crews, but if so, Catus didn't say. Feng Kesh had wondered if perhaps Catus was ferrying some cargo that the rest of the crew didn't know about, a cargo that had been too valuable to allow to be taken by pirates.
It didn't matter. Catus was the authority on that ship and Feng Kesh would defer to it. For all he knew, whatever Catus felt they had that was worth fighting for, was worth fighting for. The captain certainly seemed to believe it. Besides, none of the men had approached him to aid in a mutiny, and he wouldn't have if they had asked. Likely they saw better of it; while none of the crew wanted to fight, at least half of them would support Catus' orders regardless. A mutiny would split the crew and lead to a fight here and now. A fight that either wouldn't be finished by the time the Promise was upon them, or would leave their numbers too depleted to resist the pirates once they arrived.
So the men had tried to steel themselves as best they could, and tried to take comfort in Catus' promise that Feng Kesh would be enough to turn the tide of the battle in their favor. The looks they had given him when he emerged from below deck indicated doubt. Perhaps they were right; these were men of the sea. Feng Kesh hadn't seen the ocean until he was already a man. They knew that even a strong, trained man would flounder in armor. They knew the sea.
Feng Kesh didn't know the sea; but he did know battle.
As the Promise dew closer, Feng Kesh had found himself gazing into the storm. If the Promise was the rock, then the storm was the hard place that the Wealthy Father had found itself caught between. The men had called it a ship-killer. They feared it; feared it more than the pirates that would soon be upon them. It had formed so suddenly that the men had been sure that it had formed by magic, conjured by some dark wizard, or worse, was the will of an angry god.
As he gazed into it; the roaring waves, the water spouts, the lightning flashing in the clouds and the angry shapes they illuminated, Feng Kesh couldn't be sure that they were wrong. He knew little of magic and little of the way of the gods. But he knew that something about that storm struck him as unnatural. The crack of thunder shook Feng Kesh from his memory. He wasn't on the deck of a ship, staring into a storm. He was standing in a forest, caught in the middle of one. Was it the same storm? As violent as these winds were, as heavy as the rain was, it struck him as mild compared to the ship-killer. Perhaps the storm had mostly spent itself and was winding it's way down.
That storm was the reason he was here; it had turned and caught the Wealthy Father even before the Promise had. The men had feared that storm so badly that they wanted to surrender rather than risk being caught in it during the middle of a fight. It had ended up being a moot point. The winds and the waves tore the merchant ship apart, and despite the sailors casting Feng Kesh a doubtful eye for wearing armor at sea, so far it seemed he alone had made it to shore.
But he couldn't know that for sure yet. He hadn't seen any sign of other survivors, but he still couldn't see much of anything for the salt and sand blurring his vision and the heavy rain flying by passed that. It had occurred to him that perhaps the Promise had suffered the same fate; close as it was on the Wealthy Father, it was unlikely that it would have been able to turn and escape the storm.
Which meant that if there were any other survivors here, they may not be friendly. And so as he struggled through the forest, he kept one hand on the hilt of one of his swords.
Having pieced together how his ship had gone down and how he had gotten here, Feng Kesh now tried to figure out where 'here' was. That was something beyond his capacity. He liked to think of himself as an intelligent man, but in many ways he wasn't a particularly well educated one. He knew little of the sea, he knew little of magic, he knew little of the gods, and he knew little of geography. They hadn't been within sight of land when the ship had gone down in the storm, but from what he knew he didn't think they had been close to anything he'd call tropical. He couldn't even be sure that this was an island and not the coastline of a peninsula or just a continent. His hampered vision and the weather hadn't allowed him to get much of a lay of the land as of yet.
Finally, Feng Kesh stopped, leaning against a palm tree that itself was leaning in the wind. Before him it looked as if the forest gave way to a rock face, and through the blur of salt and sand and rain, he could see the dim orange glow of a small fire coming from the stone. Perhaps sparks from a lightning strike had been spared the rain by shelter of the cave. Or perhaps, someone occupied that shelter.
Feng Kesh tightened his grip on his sword and approached the cavemouth. As he got closer, he called out, hoping his words would not be lost on the wind, and that they would be understood; “If anyone's in there, I'm coming in! I'm not looking for a fight!”
With that, he stepped inside the cave. It was shallow, and only had one occupant; a woman, so far as he could tell. But he knew better than to underestimate women, and even with his blurred vision, he could make out the pair of swords that this one carried.
“Do you have any fresh water?” He asked, hoping the fact that he asked instead of just attacking her was proof enough that he had spoken truly and that he didn't want a fight.
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Post by Rex Apium on Oct 8, 2017 18:48:26 GMT -5
At the time Josette heard the voice call out to her she was somewhere between debating the merits of stripping down to help her clothes dry faster and running through the possibility of coming across something dangerous out here in the middle of a strange cave on a strange island.
Her initial reaction to the shouting was to move her hands to her swords. It didn't matter if he shouted that he was bringing in fresh baked cookies, she still wouldn't trust a word he said. Whatever the case was, there wasn't a place for her to run to in this cave, so she was stuck fighting if this went as south as she was expecting it to. The campfire made it difficult for her to see who or what was there and she wasn't about to move from where she was.
The second question was a little more confusing. It could be a ruse, it was probably a ruse but what a very specific thing to ask for. She did have fresh water. Not much in a water skin she carried with her and creating fresh water was one of the few non-augmentation spells she knew.
The storm was still raging outside the cave. It was possible that whoever was out there got stuck here much like she did. Would explain needing water. Maybe. Would make more sense if where she ended up was at the coast... which actually didn't make a whole lot of sense. If she'd found a second entrance to that cave ruin it should not have led her to the coast. She was too far inland for that. Maybe whoever was at the entrance to the cave would have a better idea.
“Yea... yea. I have water in here,” she shouted back, hesitant at first.
She readjusted where she sat, shifting her weight so that if the voice at the entrance to the cave decided to attack she was prepared to react. Relaxed, but poised to spring into action should it be necessary.
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Post by Former Fiend on Oct 8, 2017 19:23:48 GMT -5
Feng Kesh stumbled further into the cave, leaning back against the wall on the opposite side of the small fire from the other occupant. The rain water had washed most of the caked-on sand from his body but he was still a mess, having spent the last he wasn't sure how long being battered by leaves and debris blown by the wind. As huge and intimidating a figure as he normally was, he mused that he must look a sorry sight in his current state.
The folding plates and chain link of his armor made a scraping sound against the stone wall of the cave as he lowered himself down to a sitting position. He reached one hand to the opposite wrist, and then the other hand to the other wrist, unclasping his gauntlets from his armor and removing them, along with the gloves underneath. His palms were still soaked and pruned, but cleaner. He reached them out to the fire for a moment before turning his attention to the woman on the other side of it.
“Pass the water here, please.” He said, cupping his hands in a catching position. Pain, blindness, and thirst were no reasons to forget respect and courtesy. That was rewarded as she tossed a water skin into his hands.
“Thank you.” he said quickly before bringing it to his lips and drinking down two mouth fulls. He probably needed more; he couldn't be sure how much sea water he had swallowed while unconscious and adrift. But he needed the water for other things as well. He brought the mouth of the skin to his face, one hand holding one eye open as he poured some into it, and then repeated the process with the other eye. He poured a bit on his hands to wash them off, tossing the skin back to Josette, still a little less than half full, before rubbing his eyes clean.
“Again, thank you.” He said as he blinked repeatedly, his sight returning to him. His eyes still stung but his vision was clearer now, and he focused it on his benefactor, looking at her across the cave. Two swords, like he thought, and leather armor. And a pack for traveling and adventuring. Drenched, but more in a way that she got caught out in the storm than in the ocean.
“I am Feng Kesh.” He introduced himself at last. “My ship went down in the storm, I washed up on the beach. You don't look like a shipwrecked sailor. Any chance you're from here, and know where we are?”
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Post by Rex Apium on Oct 9, 2017 19:23:55 GMT -5
Turns out her caution wasn't entirely necessary.
The guy that walked into the measly excuse for a cave was huge. Now she'd seen large men before, traveled with one once – however he was in some sort of enhanced suit of armor that made him much larger than he actually was – but this guy, this guy wasn't small, even without armor. She could tell that much. Despite all that, he looked like shit and as he sat and started removing his armor she found herself relaxing. At least he wasn't shouting or threatening her. That was a nice change of pace.
When he asked for the water she stood and tossed the skin to him. Her relaxation was turning to restlessness and details of his state were starting to sink in. She was pacing when he tossed the skin back to her. Half full. Courteous too.
All those tiny details she'd noted about him as she paced were brought to the forefront of her mind when he spoke again and she let out an audible groan. Sand. From a beach. Some sort of coast. He'd been shipwrecked. That meant for sure she had no idea where the hell she was. What was worse was that he had no idea where they were either.
“Josette,” she replied, rubbing between her eyes, “And don't worry about the water, you can use more if you need to.”
The woman resumed pacing like a caged animal, looking at the ground in front of her. No matter what way she tried to make sense of the tunnel she'd taken to get here, none of it did. She'd ignored the climate outside at first, assuming that she'd not remembered what the forest and underbrush looked like. The only thing that made any amount of sense was that maybe, just maybe, she'd walked through some sort of portal and hadn't realized it. If she'd been magicked here, then that would explain everything.
“I have no idea where we are,” she said at last, “I'm not even sure what here is. Storm came out of nowhere so I didn't get a chance to get my bearings.”
Josette let out a sigh and stopped pacing to look at him. Yea, if she thought she was looking pretty bad right now it was nothing compared to this guy, “I was in a ruin. Looking for treasure and found a secret door. Followed the hallway behind it all the way up to a set of stairs that deposited me here. Door I came out of disappeared. All I know is that I can't be anywhere near where I was before. I wasn't anywhere near a coast.”
She let out a sigh and flopped onto the ground near the fire. She could still hear the storm outside the cave. It sounded as if it hadn't let up since she first came in, but that didn't really mean anything. She could be mistaken.
“Shipwrecked, huh?” she said, mostly as a way to make conversation.
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Post by Former Fiend on Oct 10, 2017 5:27:30 GMT -5
When the woman – Josette – told him that she didn't know where they were, either, Feng Kesh couldn't hold in his groan of frustration. Frustration and no small amount of pain. He nodded to the water skin and she tossed it back to him. This time he caught it actively, snatching it out of the air rather than holding his hands out as a target for her. That gave him a little satisfaction as he took another drink, draining the skin of it's contents.
He wasn't sure if she could conjure water or just meant to collect and purify the salty rain water that was falling, but if she said there was no need to conserve it then he wasn't in the mood to turn down her generosity and endure thirst.
He began the process of releasing the clasps of his armor as she recounted how she arrived here. A ruin, a door that opened up into the mountains and deposited her here, far away from where her journey had begun. Feng Kesh knew little of the mechanics of magic but he had seen it's effects many times in his life; the idea of a door acting as a gateway to far off places, even different worlds, wasn't alien to him, even if he had no idea how to spot such magic when it wasn't obvious, or the ins and outs of how it worked.
He thought back to the storm raging outside, the storm that sank the Wealthy Father and deposited him here. He thought back to the sailor's fear of it. To his own unease, and the unnatural feeling on the wind as it approached. He wondered if that storm wasn't the same as this door Josette walked through. Just another kind of gate to far away.
He looked up across the fire as he heard her ask about him being shipwrecked, and nodded. “I had booked passage on a merchant vessel, traveling to visit a friend.” He said as he dropped his kikko vest onto the cave floor with a thud. “Pirates chased our ship into a storm. The storm sank the ship, and I washed up on the beach about two miles that way.”
He gestured in the direction he had come from before lifting his undershirt up and over his head. The left side of his muscled torso was covered in a nasty bruise, green skin giving way to purple and dark blue. He could only surmise that that was where the jolting of the ship had sent him crashing into the railing or some other solid surface. His memory of the actual sinking of the ship remained vague. He grimaced as he tested the bruise gingerly, then returned his gaze to her.
He was about to speak when he was distracted by illumination from the cave-mouth; a flash of lightning. This time the thunder didn't follow it for several seconds. “The storm was much worse on the sea. Water spouts, gale-force wind, enormous waves. Strong as it is now, I think it's dying down or at least moving on. Hopefully in a few hours it'll be calm enough to get out there and figure out where we are and how to leave.”
“In the mean time, I don't suppose you have any healing magic, do you?”
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Post by Rex Apium on Oct 10, 2017 22:01:40 GMT -5
Josette had pulled her knees up while she sat in front of the fire and had started to absently rub her feet before she realized her gloves were still on. At the very least she could remove those along with her boots. Why she hadn't in the first place didn't make sense, but when did any of her decisions ever make sense?
She was unbuttoning the small inner buttons at the top of the gloves when she noticed that he had taken off his armor. She was so busy pacing around like a lunatic that she hadn't noticed it prior. Catching herself staring she quickly looked away, focusing on the suddenly difficult buttons. Why were they so small again? Was there a point to it? Why did she insist on such a complicated outfit, it's minor conveniences or not. Of course the buttons were small, they were suppose to be mostly hidden... and they were only there to keep the gloves up anyway.
First glove off and she let out an internal cheer. The second glove would be much easier, as she wouldn't be fumbling with it while wearing another water logged glove. It was in the moment of victory she'd realized he'd answered her question and she looked up at him again. How long had she been sitting there just... ignoring his answer? The battle of the glove had certainly felt like an eternity as she struggled with it, sure he'd been watching her fail at the simple task the entire time. Good job Josette, not only was she sure that he'd have noticed her intentionally not looking at him, but he'd at the very least note her non response.
Her options were laid out. Either respond to him however many minutes late and solidify her apparent dumbassery or just not respond and try to pull off the silent and contemplative look. Considering she was staring awkwardly at him (when did he take off his shirt?), something that only just occurred to her, there was really no way to save this. Maybe he was still half blind.
A quick look away, hiding it in focusing on the buttons attached to the other glove. Good save. She was right in thinking this one would be much easier, even with her pruney fingers. Honestly, why had she left the gloves on? She had succeeded in getting the glove off when he spoke again and like a fucking idiot she looked back to him. Despite all her attempts to seem nonchalant and ignore him her damned good manners kept getting in the way. Conversation. She needs to pay attention to him and his bare chest and... okay, that is a huge bruise. At least it gave her something else to look at.
She made a face at his question. Usually she carried at least one healing potion around with her, but today was different. She'd been out for some time as her most recent expeditions hadn't been as lucrative as she'd hoped. She was considering trying to blend into Hema with how bad her luck had been.
“I can't cast any healing spells... and I'm out of potions. I hadn't been able to restock for a while now. Honestly, I'm pretty low on most supplies. I can make water with magic, so at the very least we have that... and unless you happen to have a mess of rations to share I'm gonna have to see what I can find once the storm lets out. I have some myself, but I've been rationing my rations.”
With a sigh she held the palms of her hands to the fire. She knew a spell that would instantly dry her body (hair too!) but so far it hadn't worked on clothing, and with her being in mixed company she wasn't about to strip completely down so she could dry herself. Though that didn't really seem to stop him from half stripping, that wicked part of her brain reminded her as she scowled at the fire.
The thought came to her then, “Hey, actually... when the storm ends, what are your plans? We're probably both a long way from our homes, so I'm assuming that trying to figure out where the hell we landed is pretty high up on the priority list. Makes our goals even and I don't immediately see a reason why we shouldn't travel together for a bit.” Except for maybe an apparent inability to keep your head in the game. Did her gaze wander again? “There might even be something useful washed up on shore from that shipwreck of yours... or even some survivors out there. I'm not opposed to helping out with that.”
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Post by Former Fiend on Oct 11, 2017 4:51:17 GMT -5
After answering her question, Feng Kesh had thought to ask if everything was alright with Josette when she hadn't responded to him. At first he had written it off as the potential gravity of their situation landing on her; that they had been magically deposited potentially thousands of miles from their respective homes and that return may be exceedingly difficult. Maybe impossible.
He had dismissed that thought primarily because he didn't feel like considering the implications just now. He wasn't a man to shy away from harsh truths, but it was far too early to jump to such a conclusion. For all either of them knew there could be a port just down the coast. They needed to assess the situation, and even in the worst case, despair wasn't an option.
But that brought him back to her strange behavior. Several long moments of near silence where the sound of her bare feet pacing back and forth through the small cave had given way to the sound of her fumbling with her glove. She was alternating between awkwardly staring at him and quickly averting her gaze whenever she caught herself doing so.
It occurred to him that he might have made her uncomfortable by taking his chestpiece and shirt off. In truth he hadn't really been thinking about that when he did it; he just felt that he needed to check on his injuries now that he had a chance to sit down. And it had been a while since he had been in the private company of someone who wasn't comfortable – or even preferred – being around him when he was without a shirt.
He thought to apologize for his presumptuousness & thoughtlessness when the lightning struck and counting the seconds between the flash and the thunder distracted him, and he instead told her about how the storm was weakening and asked her if she had any healing ability; manners aside, the pain from his bruise was the more pressing issue, especially given that her eyes seemed to be more focused on that now than they had been on his bare chest in general.
To his disappointment, she didn't have anything in the way of healing magic. It was, perhaps, too much to hope for. But her point about supplies brought up something that he could help with.
“I do have a fair bit of food, actually.” Feng Kesh said as he reached to a pouch on his belt. “First mate on the ship I was on had studied just enough magic to conjure water, like you, but warned me to bring extra food just in case we were becalmed in open water. If I were truly wise I would have prepared for him not making it. It's good fortune that I ran into you.”
“Sticking together is a good idea.” He said when she asked about his plan and offered her own ideas. “My first thought had been to find a source of fresh water but with you around that isn't an immediate concern. There was a fair bit of wreckage on the beach when I came to. Hopefully survivors, or at least supplies. After that, walk the beach. Determine if this is an island or not, and if we're lucky find signs of civilization.”
He reached into the pouch, deeper than his hand should have been able to go into it – a bag of holding – and pulled out a pack of rations, offering it to her. “I packed enough for myself for three weeks. We should still probably be cautious with it, though. Don't know what game this place has, and I don't have any weapons on me suited for hunting at range.”
As he offered her the rations, he looked her over again. Her clothes were still wet and clinging to her. “I think I'll step outside for a while, keep watch for wild animals looking to use this cave for shelter or other survivors from the ship making their way inland. Let you get out of those clothes and dry off without worrying about me. I'd feel guilty if you were in here shivering and miserable on my behalf.”
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Post by Rex Apium on Oct 11, 2017 22:10:32 GMT -5
Josette let out a sigh of relief when Feng Kesh mentioned he had more food. She also hoped he was well stocked, but was pleasantly surprised when he mentioned he had more than enough. At least one of them was prepared for something. Or... at the very least had the kind of money to buy enough food to sustain them for longer than a few days. She really should consider finding a new job. Her current one just wasn't lucrative enough.
She nodded at his suggestion to walk to beach and check out what was left there. Having this conversation was good, it was keeping her occupied and she spent almost no time berating herself for wandering thoughts. “It's a good idea. I didn't see anything immediately to suggest that this was or wasn't an island. Also didn't see the beach, so there's that. There is a larger rock structure further inland a bit, it's probably part of a mountain of some sort. I didn't get a very good look before the rain started.
As he offered the rations to her, she took them and nodded a thank you. He packed well enough for them to at least get started. There was enough between the two of them that if they didn't immediately find a source of food they'd be okay. It also helped that Josette was used to not eating much... although with how large of a man Feng Kesh was, she couldn't help but wonder how much he usually ate. This, of course, spurned more scandalous thoughts that she scolded herself for.
Instead, she took the opportunity to comment, “Yea, neither do I. Only swords.” If she was being perfectly honest, she actually had enough spells that if she combined them the right way she could use them to turn herself into a pretty effective hunter. She just wasn't sure if Feng Kesh knew how to cook. She barely did. Honestly, if it was any more complicated than a soup or just sticking the thing over the fire she was pretty much useless.
When he offered to leave she couldn't help but internally cheer. She hadn't removed the bulk of her clothes to dry them out for fear of having to defend herself, but with him at the doorway she'd be free to shed most of them and as he left she immediately started doing so.
Josette was normally almost entirely clothed and while it made protecting herself that much better, when she found herself in situations like this it was terribly uncomfortable. The leather went first. It was mostly for show anyway, as she wore a set of reinforced cloth underneath it that had done a pretty good job of protecting her from most things. The cloth was buttoned together at her waist to keep it from shifting out of place and the sigh of joy that escaped her lips once she removed the wet clothing was probably audible to Feng Kesh, even if he didn't have enhanced hearing like she did.
She set each piece of clothing out so they would dry easier. She really wanted something to hang them from, but she'd cut down most of the dangling roots from the cave's walls. She'd opted to leave her small clothes on. They would dry quickly now that the water logged thicker clothing wasn't on top of them and moved to her backpack. It was waterproof, but she'd never put it through the amount of water she'd be through recently. She knew there was a shift shoved in there for emergencies like these and she was right, there it was at the bottom of the bag.
With a murmur she cast the simple spell she'd learned from that witch all those years ago, drying her body in an instant and mused to herself at how random the spells she knew were before slipping the shift over her head. It was shorter and showed more skin than she was generally used to but it would suffice. Desperate times and measures, after all.
The shift in place she picked up one of her swords and murmured the word that made the runes etched into its blade glow. She walked around the inside of the cave, looking for more dry wood to set near the fire. What she had there already wouldn't last forever, and certainly not through the night if it were anything close to night soon. As she gathered the last of what the cave had to offer she deposited it near the small fire. It wasn't much and she frowned at it. Perhaps there was downed wood near the entrance to the cave she could drag in and set near the fire to dry out. Something was better than nothing, after all.
Josette moved to the mouth of the cave, bringing her glowing sword with her. “Look like it's gonna die down soon?” she asked once she was in speaking distance, coming to a stop next to the half orc. Compared to him she was tiny. She was already slight in her build, a little on the tall side being around 5'8”, but she may as well be a child in comparison. While she stood there waiting for his response she peered around the entrance to the cave, looking for some semi-dry wood.
“We're gonna need more wood for the fire if it ends up being dark by the time the storm lets up... and especially if we want our clothes to dry any time soon.”
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Post by Former Fiend on Oct 11, 2017 23:59:34 GMT -5
Reading the approval of his offer to step outside on her face, Feng Kesh nodded and stood up, turning to leave. As he did, the small fire cast it's dancing light on the snarling oni face tattooed on his back, highlighting the contours and lines of his muscular body as he stepped outside of the cave. Was unlikely that she noticed, however; he heard her starting to undress almost as soon as his back was turned, but resisted any impulse he may have had to glance back over his shoulder.
Feng Kesh stopped at the mouth of the cave, reaching his left arm out and bracing it against the cave wall to lean against it so as to keep the pressure of his arm off his bruised left side. The injury wasn't the worst he'd suffered but it was significant and it could hamper him if he didn't find some source of healing. He sighed and hoped that they wouldn't face any combat in the mean time.
Turning his thoughts from his pain to the weather, he took stock of the state of the storm. From where he was standing he was mostly dry – well, as dry as he had been. From the swaying of the treetops, he could tell that the wind had died down significantly and the rocky outcropping that the cave was in seemed to be blocking the worst of what remained, keeping it from blowing the rain into his face. Not that he'd mind that much given that he was no longer half-blind and wind-battered with armor pressing down on his bruised ribs; on it's own, Feng Kesh didn't mind the rain. It was preferable to his homeland where storms rained ash, not water.
He didn't see any signs of motion or movement in the forest beyond what was caused by wind from the storm. There were certainly animals here – the signs in the cave were clear enough – but it would appear they had all found shelter already. Likewise it would seem that if anyone else had made their way inland from the beach, they hadn't found themselves here, which wasn't entirely surprising. Feng Kesh had stumbled upon this place by chance, himself, half blind and wind-battered. Anyone else fleeing the beach for shelter could find themselves scattered significantly.
Though it was equally, if not more likely, that there was no one else making there way from that beach because no one else had survived.
Of course, while prudent, his taking watch was more an excuse to give Josette some privacy. Privacy she apparently had enough of as he heard her approach and saw the glow of her enchanted sword out of the corner of his eye.
“I'd give it another hour.” He answered her. “Rain's falling straight down now instead of sideways and the lightning is a good ten miles away. Clouds aren't showing any sign of breaking though, so they'll probably linger after the rain's stopped. Makes it hard to tell how long until dark we have; I have no idea what time it is, truth be told.”
He shifted his gaze to his side to look down at her; tall as she was he didn't imagine there were too many people in her life that could do that regularly. Not to the extent he could at least. Difference in height allowed him to examine her body without being too obvious now that it wasn't nearly so covered. And not just to examine her beauty – though she was beautiful – but to see for himself if she had the kind of body that could make use of those swords she carried.
And to his eye, she did. Fit like a dancer, the kind of strength that allowed for graceful, athletic movements. Fighting with one's whole body. It wasn't his style – though he was more than just a pair of strong arms – but it was a style he could appreciate and knew not to underestimate. She was someone who could handle herself physically, at least.
When she mentioned needing firewood, he nodded, and reached to his belt to take hold of the hilt of the shorter of his two swords – though it was still a full length katana. Drawing the blade in as non-threatening a manner as he could, he spoke a word in his mother's native tongue and the blade came alight with fire; holding it out into the rain, steam came off the sword as drops fell upon it.
“It's good for burning enemies but not so much for igniting fires. Still, I can use it to dry out some firewood.” He said before speaking the word again and sheathing his sword. “You stay here. I'll see if I can't find us some kindling.”
About ten minutes later, Feng Kesh stepped back in the cave with a bundle of wet wood under his right arm; apparently the forest wasn't entirely palm trees. The half-orc was now more soaked than he had been when he first entered the cave, with his bare chest covered in a sheen of water that glistened in the dancing light of the fire. More so as he once again drew his sword and commanded it ignite, and set about the process of drying out the wood he had gathered and feeding it to the fire that Josette had initially started.
Satisfied that it was burning well enough for now, he returned to the spot he had been seated at when he first entered the cave, across the fire from Josette. Gazing at her through the flames, he noticed that her shift had slid down to one side off her shoulder, revealing a scar from a piercing weapon. Kind that looked familiar to him.
“See this one here?” He asked, tracing his finger along his neck, from the center of his throat out towards the right side. “Goblin jumped up and nearly sliced my head off when I charged at his boss.” He then gestured to her shoulder. “How about yours? Pistol, right? I've had a few fired at me, but I've been lucky enough that they've all missed.”
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Post by Rex Apium on Oct 12, 2017 3:38:04 GMT -5
Josette was starting to relax around Feng Kesh. You'd think with the type of job she had and the places she frequented she would learn not to trust as quickly. But no, here she was getting all cozy with him like she'd known him her entire life.
She hadn't said much as she stood at the entrance to the cave with him. To be honest she was trying her best to not pay attention to him at the time. Especially after he went running into the rain to go collect some wood. The fire sword was a nice touch and it got her thinking about what type of fighting style he used. She hadn't seen a sword that looked quite like that one before, so she was having a hard time placing sword with man. Of course, that entire line of thinking had her thinking of him. Shirtless. With a sword. Mentally trying fighting stances and she let out a sigh. Perhaps she should just stop trying to stop herself. Just fuckin' let it go. Wouldn't be the first time.
The woman followed after him as he entered the cave with the wood in his arms. She'd noticed the tattoo on his back when he left but hadn't really registered it until now. It was intricate and a design she hadn't seen before. Something she would be interested in looking at more closely eventually. Not now, of course, not while he was busy. Instead she moved back to her spot by the fire, stacking some of the sad roots onto it. It was enough to keep it going so that Feng Kesh could add more to the flames. In fact, it was finally starting to feel warm in here. Probably helped she wasn't damp anymore.
As he set about his work, Josette picked up the rations he'd handed her earlier, fully sitting and curling her legs under herself. The shift she wore was a tad to big for her, especially in the neckline, but it wasn't like she normally wore it as clothing. It tended to shift around as she moved and was generally not something she noticed. So sometime later when Feng Kesh started talking about his scars she looked at him momentarily confused, interested, but a little confused where the topic came from. Mentioning the scar on her shoulder caused her to look down to it and let out an “Oooh” as she realized what caused it.
“Probably. I was told another name for it, but yea. I was shot in the shoulder. That wasn't even the worst part. The bullet didn't go through, just lodged itself there and we had to dig it out with a knife. That hurt like hell, lemme tell you. I was pretty worried I'd end up with sand in the wound too since I was in Aziz when it happened but it ended up alright in the end.”
She absentmindedly rubbed the spot on her shoulder, her gaze shifting past Feng Kesh and to the wall behind him. She sat like this, lost in thought, for several moments before a smile tugged at the corners of her lips, “A hour on the storm you said? Maybe we should try to get some rest. Give the storm a chance to get out of here and we can investigate where we are after.”
Even as she spoke she'd pulled her backpack up to her. She didn't have a sleeping mat or anything, usually choosing to just find a comfortable spot of ground. She did, however, have a blanket that she kept in the bag. As she pulled it out, she noted the dampness. It had been near the top of the backpack and while the bag was mostly waterproof it appeared that it wasn't completely so. She let out a sigh, only a few damp spots. It would have to do.
“Whatever you choose, I think I'm gonna try to get some rest,” she spoke as she inspected the damp spots of the blanket. She shifted again, moving herself a little further away from the fire so that she wouldn't accidentally catch herself or anything on her in the flames and began to lay down. This of course caused the shift she wore to adjust itself in ways it wasn't intended, but before she could consider any of that she had thrown the semi-damp blanket over herself and propped the backpack up under her head to use as a pillow.
It would be daylight when Josette awoke. Whatever time she'd fallen asleep at, she had slept well into the morning. The fire had died down and the sun could be visible at the mouth of the cave.
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Post by Former Fiend on Oct 12, 2017 10:05:05 GMT -5
Feng Kesh nodded to Josette when she suggested rest. The truth was that he was exhausted. He hadn't allowed himself to feel it yet, but he was. It was there just on the edge of his awareness. He wasn't sure how long he had been out cold on the beach, but unconsciousness wasn't the same as sleep. And hunger, thirst, and hauling his injured bulk miles inland during a raging storm all conspired against him to deprive him of energy. Feng Kesh was a man of considerable stamina, but even he had his limits when he couldn't breath to his fullest, something the pain in his ribs was reminding him of.
But he didn't let himself sleep just yet. He reached into his bag to retrieve some of his rations for himself, consuming more carefully and slowly than he normally did so as to not aggravate his injury. As he ate, he stared into the fire, through the fire, gazing at his new companion through the flames. He appreciated the view that the shift in her, well, shift, gave him before she covered up with her blanket.
He chuckled to himself. It had crossed his mind that she might be interested – it would be one explanation for the awkward staring. But it was as likely that he was misreading that entirely and she was just off put by him. After all, they had just met. Even if he was right, it wasn't as if anything was going to happen; with his injury he doubted he could perform without significant pain. And there were... other considerations.
He pushed such thoughts aside and instead considered how he envied her blanket. He wasn't so fortunate to have even that much on him. There was a time he traveled with full camping gear, but he'd grown used to staying primarily in cities over these last few years. If he wasn't in his home with his own bed then he was somewhere with an inn or at least a flophouse. He had told himself that it wasn't so much a lack of preparedness as it was only carrying the essentials. But he wondered if he wasn't going soft, getting so reaccustomed to city life that his survival instincts were dulling.
But then again, he had been the one to bring food with him. He took that notion to remind himself that he wasn't omniscient and couldn't foresee every outcome. People who spent all their time preparing for the future paid so little attention to the present that they were often caught unaware when it finally sneaked up on them.
Finishing his meal he made himself as comfortable as possible and closed his eyes. In spite of the pain, he almost immediately succumbed to sleep. But while that pain didn't prevent him from getting to sleep, it did stop him from sleeping perhaps as long as he would have wanted.
He awoke before Josette did, the fire between them having died down to embers, though the cave was not without illumination as the first rays of light were creeping into the cave. The half-orc was stiff and sore, so much that he had to grab hold of the cave wall to pull himself to his feet from his seated position, gritting his teeth to hold in a groan of pain as he did so.
He stepped outside of the cave to take care of what needed to be taken care of in the morning. With that done, he took a moment to survey the sky. The stormclouds had broken completely, the sun was a fair distance into the sky, only just reaching the height that it's rays could enter the cave through the trees, and what clouds remained promised nothing but occasional spots of shade as the sun rose in the sky. The storm was over, and they had their heading; they knew which way was east, and so could navigate the island easier.
Feng Kesh drew his sword as he watched the sun rise through the trees. His goddess, Shizuru, was goddess of the sun and sword play. He wasn't the most devout of worshipers but he did try to hold to the practices as best he could. And one was to practice swordplay at sunrise. He drew his katana first, holding it in his right hand. The less adept required two hands on the grip to work the blade, but Feng Kesh was skilled enough to wield it in a single hand, with proficiency, executing a precise and practiced kata of smooth, powerful strikes through the air.
Sheathing the smaller of the two swords, Feng Kesh then drew his nodachi. This one even he couldn't use one handed; the sword was nearly as long as he was tall. That presented certain problems given his state. But never the less he gripped the handle with both hands, took a stance, and slashed through the air. Pain jolted through his body, but he worked through it, following his practiced motions, slashing and thrusting at imagined targets, with the kind of precision that only came with endless repetition, until the movements became instinct, the sword became an extension of his arm.
Once he finished, he sheathed the sword, dragging the length of it along the opening of the scabbard before sliding it in. He rolled his left shoulder and gingerly rubbed the flesh around his bruise; it was satisfying to know that he could still defend himself if he had to, but he was definitely hoping that he wouldn't have to.
He turned back to the cave only to see Josette standing at the entrance. He wasn't sure how long she had been there; he had been so focused on ignoring the pain from his bruise while he practiced that it had left him oblivious to much of his surroundings.
“If we run into any trouble,” he said, heading towards the cave, “I think I'll stick to this one.” His hand tapped the hilt of the shorter sword. “I'm going to get dressed. When you're ready, we'll head towards the beach, see what we can salvage.”
With that, he stepped inside, picking up his dried shirt and slipping it on, followed by his guantlets. His kikko chest piece, however, he slid into his bag of holding. He was too hurt to wear the armor, but he wanted something covering the bruise so that if they did run into anyone looking for a fight, they wouldn't have an obvious target.
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Post by Rex Apium on Oct 12, 2017 22:56:05 GMT -5
Josette dreamed that night. She dreamed of the man from the other world. Dreamed of being shot in the desert by people that didn't belong there. Dreamed of their first night together and their last night.
She awoke disoriented, confused as to where she was. Part of her was still in the dream and she sat up rubbing her eyes and thinking that she should go and figure out where he went, as he wasn't in the cave with her. With these thoughts she stood and stretched, moving to the mouth of the cave to look for her companion.
The woman found him of course, but it only confused her sleep addled brain even more. The man she watched practicing sword play was not the man she expected and as she watched Feng Kesh go through the motions with the katana he had shown earlier the events of the day prior came back to her. She took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh, turning to go back into the cave, shaking her head as she did so. She really needed to wake up. And probably wear some real clothes.
A quick check of her armored clothing revealed that they were still a little on the damp side. It was warm out, very warm, actually. She hadn't noticed the heat or the humidity until just now as she thought of it. If she needed any more reminders that she was nowhere near where she was suppose to be, this was certainly one. Regardless, it was warm enough out that setting the clothing in the direct sunlight should help them dry. She gathered everything up and took them to the outside of the cave to lay them out on the smaller stones and outcroppings. Places in direct sunlight.
Standing in the sun felt good after the day prior. She'd been cold and damp for hours and feeling the warmth on her skin and permeating through the thin fabric of her shift brought a renewed sense of vigor to her mood. She normally prefer standing out in the night, but at that moment the sun felt good.
When Feng Kesh spoke she turned to look at him, the ghost of a smile on her face, “Good idea. Don't wanna aggrivate the wound.” Her answer was only partly there and after she'd answered him she looked off into the forest around them. He'd be going back into the cave to get dressed. She'd need to as well, but she needed to let her clothing fully dry.
Her mother had shown her some plants to help the healing process, but as she peered into the woods she couldn't help but note that a lot of the plants she was looking at she didn't recognize. The possibility that what she was shown when she was little not being in this area was getting more and more likely. With a sigh she turned back to the cave.
“My clothes weren't entirely dry. Shouldn't be much longer, I have them sitting in the sun,” she said to him as she walked past to pick up the blanket she'd left on the ground and fold it up. As she shoved it into her bag she grabbed something small to snack on. She had her own rations, but was fairly low. Still, nuts could be spread out for a while.
She returned outside, staring with renewed interest into the forest around her. The sun wasn't high in the trees. She mused to herself that perhaps she should stretch as Feng Kesh did. Keep the limbs limber. She hadn't done any of the nightly stretches she usually did the night prior and she did have to wait for her clothing to dry. Eh. Maybe in the evening.
Instead she climbed up onto one of the smaller rocks and sat in the sun, eating the nuts she'd grabbed from her bag and letting her mind wander, going over the events of the last 24 hrs. She would stay that way for quite some time before hopping off the rock and moving to gather up her clothing and return to the inside of the cave.
“Alright, my turn,” she'd say to Feng Kesh and if he was still in the cave she'd wait for him to leave before putting her reinforced clothing back on. Grey pants and a long sleeve shirt, the navy blue leather over top. The result left her covered from her chin down in nearly skin tight armor. It wasn't only aesthetically pleasing, but the best combination of form and function for her fighting style. She buckled the the belts that held her two long, thin swords around her waist and slung her backpack onto her back before heading out the cave.
She looked to Feng Kesh appraisingly, “I'm ready to go.”
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Post by Former Fiend on Oct 13, 2017 13:05:36 GMT -5
It hadn't been difficult to follow Feng Kesh's trail through the forest. As it turned out, a man who weighed over three hundred pounds and wore nearly fifty pounds of armor left obvious tracks in the wet ground and tore an obvious trail through the undergrowth of a forest. And while the trail was a bit twisted and uneven, once they found it, they had a very solid direction to go in to find the beach, and they made it in good time now that Feng Kesh wasn't stumbling around half blind.
There was little in the way of obstacles; a few of the taller palms had been uprooted and turned over, but it was easy enough to step over, under, or around them. The underbrush of smaller palms, ferns, and bushes was never so dense as to impede them.As they moved through the forest, the smell of the sea grew stronger and the sound of gulls could be heard on the air. As they got closer, the underbrush thinned out until it reached the point that they could see the water through the trees. Even the grass began to give way to sand before they broke the treeline.
When they finally did, the weren't greeted by white sandy beaches but rather dark, wet sand mixed with silt and seaweed and a field of tidepools. It appeared as if the tide and the storm surge had covered the beach entirely, even passed the tree line, before receding back to the point that the surf lapped against the sand some two hundred yards from the trees, much farther out than it had been when Feng Kesh had come to. And the water left much behind.
Dead and dying beached sea creatures were strewn about, being fed upon by scavengers both amphibious and aerial. And there weren't just gulls and hawks and cranes, but strange beasts the likes of which Feng Kesh had never seen before; winged lizards with bat-like wings for forelimbs and large, colorful crests, and long, pointed beaks full of sharp teeth. Along side the squawking birds they feasted on the alien creatures that had been washed up onto land from beneath the sea.
Fortunately none of the scavenging animals seemed large enough to be a threat to the pair of Feng Kesh and Josette and either recognized that fact or simply didn't want to expend the effort trying to take down larger, living prey that could fight back when they had an abundance of dead or otherwise helpless meat to sate themselves on.
There was no sign of humanoid life, no sign of any other survivors from the ship, but the beach was littered with more than just dead sea creatures; the tide had deposited no small amount of debris and wreckage from a downed ship, more than Feng Kesh had noted through the haze of rain and saltwater blinding his eyes. And it was more than just the ruined remains of deck, hull, mast, and sail. There were barrels, casks, chests, and crates strewn about the beach, buried in the sand to various degrees.
The birds weren't the only ones who found a bounty in the wake of the storm.
“Well. This is more than I was expecting.” Feng Kesh said, surveying the situation. “Let's gather up as much as we can, haul it back up off the beach. If we end up stuck here for a while, I don't want to have let any of it wash away when the tide comes back in. Once we get it secure, we can start taking an inventory.”
It took them about half an hour to haul up all the salvage. Feng Kesh did most of the heavy lifting; even limiting himself to one arm, he was strong enough to lift and carry as much as a whole group of sailors, even wrenching some of the heavy chests and crates out of the wet sand, overpowering the force of suction, even as it clung tightly to the cargo as if trying to resist his attempts to reclaim it from the sea.
When it was said and done they had over a dozen containers of supplies hauled up off the beach. Feng Kesh took a seat on one of the larger chests, wiping the sweat from his brow as he took a breath. He reflected on the notion that if not for his hurt ribs he probably wouldn't be the least bit winded right now, even after all that effort. He asked Josette for the water skin and drank down a good half of it's refilled contents before handing it back to her. “Thank you. Now, let's see what we have.”
He checked the barrels and casks first; food and water were the top of the priority list, even with his rations and Josette's ability to conjure water. Of the three barrels, two were full of food – one beef and the other pork – while the third was filled with beer. The casks were mostly water, with one being full of rum instead.
“Well, at least we've got something to drink besides water,” Feng Kesh laughed, sealing up the barrels before the smell attracted the animals. “And more to add to our rations besides. If the gods are good, we won't be stuck here long. But if we are, we won't be hungry. At least for a while yet.”
Moving on, Feng Kesh approached one of the chests and drew his sword, striking off the padlock that held it closed. He repeated the process for each in turn, unlocking them all before opening one to speed things along. The first chest he actually opened was full of fabrics, bolts of silks and linens. Valuable for trade, and perhaps valuable to them now as utility.
The second chest – that had been the heaviest – was full of gold and jewels. That was more or less useless to them in their current situation. But as Feng Kesh noted, “We'll have something to show for it once we've made it out of this.”
Most of the rest of the chests didn't contain anything of note. Personal affects of crew or passengers, letters and papers that were either too water damaged or written in such poor handwriting as to be illegible, clothes that wouldn't fit either of the stranded pair. But one did have some tools and supplies in it – including some healing potions, one of which Feng Kesh was quick to drink down. He lifted up his shirt to look upon his chest, his bruise fading and shrinking before their eyes.
His wound healed, for the most part at least, he reached shuffled through the chest to find two other useful tools; a pry-bar and a spy glass. He took the bar to the crates, cracking them open to reveal more tools, tools both for farming an carpentry.
With inventory taken of their newly found supplies, Feng Kesh took the spyglass and extended it, looking out to sea. “We can take this up to that mountain you mentioned,” He said as he scanned the horizon. “get a good lay of the land...”
He trailed off as he looked down the beach to the south, putting it down and then looking back through it again. “There's a ship on the beach, that way.” He pointed. “On the other side of some rocks towards the horizon.” He handed Josette the spyglass. “Might just be our way off the island.”
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