Before anything else, we had a LOT of inventory management to do. The spoils from Durlag's Basement were so huge, we had needed multiple trips just to sort it all out. We went around the Sword Coast, selling winterwolf pelts at Nashkel and Ankheg shells to Thunderhammer.
Finally, it was time to visit Ulgoth's Beard once more.
---
Taking the Soultaker dagger to Ulgoth's Beard would trigger a HUGE encounter. We wanted to complete the Isle of Balduran quest first, so we left it in Beregost, locked a small chest which we buried in the dead of the night.
---
Therella was very appreciative of our rescue of her son, Dalton. "He arrived back here just a few days before you did. The tales e had to tell were quite fantastic – demon knights! Well, it was nice seeing my son even if it wasn't for long."
She rewarded us with some money for our efforts, 300 gold.
"Your rescue may have been in vain, however. Dalton has set off in search of adventure again. That stupid, stupid child," Therella added, sighing.
Well, we weren't in a position to scold him. Hopefully he's learned something from the whole ordeal.
---
Mendas was waiting impatiently for us to be ready to sail to the isle where the Balduran last sailed to. Now that we were ready to sail, he charted a boat and passed us a copy of the sea charts for us to find the isle.
And that's how our journey by ship began. The ship cut across the Sea of Swords without incident, passing by the Moonshae islands where Branwen hails from to the north, until we reached the truly open waters of the Trackless Sea.
The merchant vessel Mendas had charted was a fine ship, but the crew was not accustomed to journeys so far off the established trade routes. The more superstitious among them speak of a great waterfall off the edge of Faerun, of a secret elven nation that scuttles all that dare come near, or even of island-size turtles that eat whole ships. Such fancy weighed heavily on the minds of nervous sailors, and the mood aboard ship slowly turned. Tensions began to mount, and rumors of mutiny threatened our resolve. It was a mixed blessing that all aboard are soon given a very real danger to occupy their thoughts.
The storm came without warning and hit with a fury that seems almost deliberate. Gale force winds tossed the ship about like a cork, and it is all the crew can do to keep her afloat. Their efforts, though valiant, are ultimately futile, and when the mainmast splintered, I knew the ship was lost. As the hull gave way, there was a glimpse of something in the distance: a steady illumination against the black of night. Grasping debris for flotation, I abandoned the wreck and began to swim under the burden of my equipment. I headed towards the glow, hoping it was not a sea wisp or some other nefarious trick of the eyes.
---
I awoke the next morning with a mouth full of sand. I was waterlogged, exhausted, and had an aching pain that let me know you are very much alive. Thankfully, I was surrounded by my whole party. Everyone had made it.
The ship on the other hand, had not. The ship was so much kindling, there was no sign of the crew, but there do appear to be footprints in the sand…
---
The first person we found on the beach was a child named Solianna, who looked at us curiously. "Hello, you… you smell funny. You swim in?"
Khalid had a conversation with this child, who didn't seem at all afraid of us strangers. We quickly learned we were not alone on the island.
"Hello, child. You are quite brave to speak with strangers washed-up on the beach. What if we were dangerous?" Khalid asked.
"Silly, you are not dangerous. You're driftwoord and all soggy and hurt. You are from outside, but maybe you belong if you are nice," she replied.
Belong? Interesting choice of words.
"Then I will try to be nice. Who lives here? You are not all by yourself, are you?" Khalid asked further.
"Alone? Of course not, silly. There's Mommay, Poppay, my brother too. We've got neighbors too. The village is very nice. It's boring sometimes, but I like it."
"The seas are treacherous in this area. How did you come to live here? I saw no ships nearby."
"Mommay says great-great Grammay came here on a ship-home like you. Somethin' happened and they had to swim or be caught by the fishies. The ship-home is here somewhere, I guess. We're not allowed to go there."
Ship-home is here somewhere? That sounded relevant.
The child also had something to say about strangers.
"You don't seem alarmed to see me. How often do strangers come here?" Khalid asked.
"Strangers don't always want to make friends. That's what Mommay says, but I never seen anyone that doesn't belong. Until I meet you, anyway. You still smell funny, but you not scary. Not like the beasties."
THAT caught everyone's attention.
"The "beasties"? What do you mean?" Khalid asked, tentatively.
"The beasties are scary. They sometimes look like us, but the change and get mean. Mommay say they are nothing more than animals, but the other animals don't hate us so much. Maybe… maybe you will help us?"
"Perhaps, but I should meet with your people and find out what is going on first," Khalid said.
"Yeah, you go to the village and speak to Mommay's friend, Kaishas. She leads while mister chieftain is away. Dunnow where he went, but he's away and you should speak to Kaishas. I gotta go, but maybe we will see each other later, maybe I too busy playing. We'll see. Bye-bye!"
---
After Khalid's conversation with the child, I nudged Imoen. "Did you notice?"
"The sniffing? Yeap, the child sniffed Khalid," Imoen confirmed. "Nothing serious. Just curious. There's something else too, but I haven't put my finger on it yet."
We shared our little observation with the rest.
"Nothing definite. Just, keep your eyes peeled. Especially if anyone tries to sniff you out," I told them. "Also, we're looking for the so-called ship-home."
Just to the west there was a village, the huts made of simple straw and reeds. Even the wall around the village was made of reeds. Everyone we met had the same message for us; "Go speak with Kaishas Gan."
We explored the village a bit first, picking up the odd item from the storage huts. And in the Great Hall, I found evidence of a secret door. Locked though.
"Gonna put a pin in that one. It may be more relevant to us later," I told the rest.
Finally, in the large house in the middle, we found Kaishas Gan and Tailas.
Kaishas Gan turned out to be a middle-aged woman. "Hello to you that do not belong. I greet ye, and ask your purpose to be here. We are wary of those stranger to us, and some may fear your coming. Please assure my worry you are not here to harm."
"We will not harm you. Our ship foundered and we washed ashore on your island," Jaheira explained.
"Then you are as we, for our beginning was as yours. Long have we been on this home, but not always. The mothers of our great-grandmothers were from away, but traveled near and the depths swallowed their ship. Accursed cliffs below have sharper teeth than we."
Did she just admit to having sharp teeth? I gave Imoen and Neera some side eye, who gave me a little nod back. They noticed the comment too.
"You were shipwrecked? How long ago? We have come looking for an ancient shipwreck," Jaheira asked.
"You have? How you know of his place? We are undisturbed for age upon age, but you know of our wreck?"
"A merchant ship sailed close during a storm and spotted it. It bears the markings of Balduran, a hero that went missing some three hundred years ago. A man named Mendas hired me to find it. His accent is not unlike yours," Jaheira explained.
Jaheira spoke honestly, but there was a certain undercurrent in her voice. She was playing the good Harper, testing the waters with info to see what information she turns up in return.
"Mendas? I do not know this name. I had hoped… one of our kin left the home some time ago, and I thought he might have send you. Selaad was his name, and he was our chieftain," Kaishas Gan said, "I know not Balduran either. He was not among our founders; he never belong as we. The wreck I have not seen for year upon year. But know where it is, I do."
"Have you tried to repair it? Maybe we could use it to rescue ourselves?" Jaheira asked.
"Repair is not likely. It has been age upon age since landing and freedom. Our wreck was skeleton then, and will not have endured the years as well as we. I have not been for long time gone, though."
"Why have you not visited the wreck in so long?"
"It is not safe to go. Cursed by beasts, this island is. Our wall protects, and we fight tooth and nail. The village is refuge, but the island is wild. There are those that do not belong; they are death to us, and we to them."
"Is there any other way off the island? A away around the "beasts"?"
"There is a way. We did start to build a ship-home. After all, if we can build the wall and village, we can build the craft to leave. The first of the mothers were concerned with survive, but now we wish to go. The beasts have caused us trouble no end though. We could not build ship-home on this edge of island because of reef and cliffs below the sea. The other side of the isle is calm, but the creatures live there. We have fought tooth and nail, but we wish peace in life. Perhaps… perhaps you can help? If you kill the beasts, we could be free to leave all. I trust you have charts for sea directions? If we could finish ship-home, we cold be delivered all."
So, she was offering a promise of a way home after we defeat these beasts for them.
"I must know what beasts you speak of. What must we fight?'
"The beasts? They evil, and kill us on sight! We have held them back, and lived as human as we could. They are animals, and live as wolves or carrion-feeders. They disgust, and we despise them."
"That was very informative, but exactly what type of creatures are they?"
"Wolf-like, but not wolves. Man-like, but not men. I sorry, but I do not know what you would call them. All we know is that they are like us, but not like us. They do not belong."
There's that choice of words again. Focus on 'belong'.
We tentatively agreed to help Kaishas Gan to deal with the 'beasts', and she promised we would leave the island together once we were done.
"You will find the gates are open to you. Please close tightly behind, and we shall guard while you search. They have a leader, the beasts do, Their howling calls him Karoug, but it is hard to understand for sure."
Not yet, though. Time to gather information first. Now that Kaishas Gan has speaken to us, the villagers had more to say to us.