Shipwrecked 1752

[Kensen]

You remember the storm, the fire, the panicked screams, the prayers said by desperate men and women. You remember climbing into the boat, drifting aimlessly in a thick mist, and the awkward silence that followed the last screams of drowning men fading into nothingness. You remember the accusing stares at the captain who was among the survivors, you remember the twilight hour and how the setting sun painted the horizon red. Then a loud bang. And then... nothing. Just blackness.

Am I still alive? It hurts...

You regain consciousness. You find yourself on a narrow strip of rocky beach surrounded by cliffs rising steeply to over 80 feet from the sea. A number of other people have washed ashore, some of them alive, some quite dead.

Dozens of seagulls are screeching and circling above. A light rain brushes your face. You are hungry and thirsty. Your clothes are wet, torn and dirty. But you're still alive!

[Voshkod]

Captain Lionel Mandrake

The Devil take me, I'm alive. Captain Mandrake opened his eyes and looked up into the rain. Should have gone down with my ship. He propped himself up on one elbow and tried to ignore the pain. The beach was strewn with wreckage, with the dead and dying.

I may not be Captain anymore, but these are still my people. He hoisted himself to a standing position, nearly fell as his left knee buckled, but found a shattered spar to support himself with.

He started down the beach to start pulling the living safely up the beach, shouting as he went, a voice that could be heard over storms. "Come on! Get up if you can! If you can't, call out!"

There's no time for self-pity, my lad, he told himself. You can cry for your ship when the job's well done.

[Krrth]

Doctor Michael

The doctor was having a nightmare. He was back in his regiment, attempting to save a poor few souls from their injuries. The bodies of those he wasn't able to save were being carried away, and the pitiable few that he had saved were little better off than the dead. He was just getting ready to remove a mangled limb when the Captains call brought him back to consciousness.




Coughing water and standing up


Well, that was an experience I shouldn't care to experience twice. I've lived through this, Praise God. Let me see if I can extend the same courtesy to a few others.

Noticing his bag on the beach next to him, he picks it up.

Here Captain!

[Kensen]

As Michael picks up his bag, his Bible falls out and he notices that a small fish has somehow gotten trapped between the pages of the book, the end of its tail waggling back and forth.

[Krrth]

Michael


Picking up the Bible, Michael looks to see which pages the fish had gotten between. As he does so, he glances at the fish and throws it back into the ocean.

As the ocean spit me forth to live, so I give you back to the ocean. One good turn deserves another.

[Feirgon]

Kayode

Kayode slowly lifted his head up and slowly opened his eyes. The captain's distant shouting pulled him from water-logged slumber. Pushing himself up onto all fours, he looked down at his sand-covered and very tattered clothing. He slowly stood up as he brushed the sand off of the front of his shirt and looked around.

Lord have mercy...

The beach was full of death and debris. It seemed that Mother Nature could be crueler than man could ever be.

Joining in the effort to find survivors, Kayode began searching each body that lay upon the shore.

[Kensen]

Michael

On the pages between which the fish was have chapter 17 and a few verses from chapters 16 and 18 from the book of Matthew on them. The fish left a wet stain on the following passage:

"27": Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.

Kayode

Peering about to see if there are more survivors he could help, Kayode notices a set of child-sized footprints emerging from the sea. He didn't see any children on board the ship, however.

Lionel

With the help of Kayode and Michael, the captain finds three more survivors who are still unconscious but slowly coming to: a young woman, a middle-aged noble and a suspicious looking fellow still clutching his pistol.

[Organozinc]

Annabelle

Still feeling the rocking of the ocean, Annabelle opened her eyes, hoping the events of the night before were simply an unfortunate dream. Seeing the beach, however, drove the truth home. Fighting a wave of nausea, Annabelle stood up and took a few clumsy steps up the beach, before falling to her knees. After a brief spell of dry hives, Annabelle sat down and watched the men checking the bodies. Her head hurt, and she was unhappy.

After a moment, Annabelle got to her feet and approached Captain Mandrake, a stern look in her eyes.

"Where are we, captain?" , she asked coldly.

[Voshkod]

Captain Lionel Mandrake

Having helped carry what he could above the tide line, the Captain sat upon a rock near the surf, studying the rescued log book of the Kateryn. He did not meet the young lady's eyes. "A fair question, madam." He looked up to the clouds. "Should the sun make an appearance today, perhaps I can determine that through a sunsight and the logbook. But I fear both my skills at navigation and sailing have failed us this day. Rest assured that you will be recompensed for loss of cargo and goods."

He checked the sextant. "It was likely a huracán, madam, named for a cannibal god of a cannibal people. No ship can survive them. You may recall the Bard set a play amongst one of them."

[TheThan]

Lord Robert McDonnell

Uhh

His body ached, his head throbbed and his throat was parched. His long gangly limbs protested as he tried to move them, suddenly he began coughing, salty water spilling from his mouth, burning his throat and sending shocks of pain through his chest. When he finished he wiped his mouth on the sleeve of his ruined white shirt.

Slowly the man rose to his feet, seemingly a feat in itself. Impossibly tall and gangly, with a hooked nose and pronounced chin, the man is thin in face and body. He has short black hair, a wet seeping mess at the moment. His sunken eyes are, gray but bloodshot from the salt in the sea.
He wears fine adventuring clothing. Brown breaches, tall black boots, a white shirt, now ruined and a brown leather vest. Set about his thin waist there is a thick black belt, with a large sheath knife in its scabbard and a tomahawk from one of the savage tribes found in the New World.

The tall man stretches his arms and legs, trying to work the pain out of them before taking his first few steps on the rocky beach. He spots the captain and the young lady talking and heads over to them and says in his baritone voice.

Captain, Miss Richmond, it’s nice to see the two of you managed to survive our little catastrophe.

[Krrth]

Michael

Looking back at the sea where he had just thrown the fish...


Well, perhaps that was a little hasty. No matter, I'll try my luck again in a little while.

Gathering his things he approaches the others.

Right. Which of the others still breathes? I don't want to loose any that we can save.

*almost as an afterthought*

We should also probably inventory any useful items the deceased have. God knows they don't need them anymore, but we just might.

[Organozinc]

Annabelle

Annabelle listened to the captain's reply, angry and set to launch into a rant. Here she was, stranded on some almighty forsaken little island beach strewn with the bodies of fellow travelers, and the captain whom they'd all trusted and paid to deliver them to their destination safe couldn't even tell her where they were. Only by focusing on the tasks at hand did she manage to bite her tongue, long enough for her rage to subside. Now was not the time to throw a fit.

On seeing Lord McDonnell and the priestly gentleman approach, Annabelle nodded to each in turn, not quite ready to speak. That was, however, until the priestly gentleman spoke of searching the corpses. "Ugh! that's... that's awful!". Annabelle shuddered at the thought of searching the bodies. Pick through the belongings of the dead! Certainly not. However, the gravity of the situation wasn't lost on her, and she decided that it would probably be better to work, if just to keep her mind distracted from the horror of it all. "Very well, I'll search through the wreckage", she replied, still with no intention of touching any bodies.

With a sigh, Annabelle turned to go search through the wreckage for anything useful. At least she was good at this sort of thing. Of course, she was still giving the bodies a wide birth. Let someone else handle that job.

[Feirgon]

Kayode

Kayode paused as he saw the miniature foot prints.

Stowaways? But I don't recall any children on the life boat...

Captain, you may want to see this!

The life boat...we were in a life boat. Why did we wash up on the shore like we did?

Lost in his own thoughts, Kayode could do little but stare at the markings in the sand.

[Kensen]

Michael

Michael, Annabelle, Kayode and Captain Mandrake find the following items:

• Pocket watch (stopped)
• Bottle of rum (full)
• Purse (full of silver coins)
• Broken oar (snapped in two pieces in the middle)
• Blanket (wet)
• Waterskin (half full)
• Pieces of wood (various sizes, from the lifeboat and the Kateryn)

Each character gains a luck point. Michael gains an additional luck point.

Kayode

Kayode looks at the sea and spots jagged rocks barely visible beneath the ocean's surface some 30 yards from the shoreline. Perhaps a wave threw the boat onto the rocks, shattering it.

His gaze wanders back to the small footprints and then towards the cliff surrounding the beach. Lifting his eyes slowly he scans the rocky surface of the cliff for anything interesting. Then, suddenly he notices a small figure - a pale boy with large eyes - perched on the edge of the cliff, staring back at him.

OOC:

I'll award luck points for making decisions that help you reach your goals, in other words to stay alive and get the heck out of the island. There are no hard and fast rules on how and why you get luck points, but generally speaking, whenever your character does something that makes me think "that's a very good idea!", I'll be likely to give you a luck point or two.

[Feirgon]

Kayode

A shiver runs down his spine. What thoughts had been once racing through his mind vanished at the chilling figure before him. He wants to shout out, but his vocal chords are frozen.

OOC:

Spoiler

Show

I forgot to add a description in my opening post, so here it is.

The African native stands at about 6 feet give our take a couple inches. He is well muscled and has great fortitude from a life of servitude and hardship. His accent is an odd mix of African and British spoken with a deep voice. His hair is short and black and his eyes are a chestnut brown. What clothing he has left on is tattered but was obviously meant for a deckhand. His boots are still on and seem to have held up slightly better than the rest of his clothing.

And anyone approaching him now will find a rather surprised/horrified look on his face as he stares up at the cliff face.

[Krrth]

Michael

*as he is working*

For those of you who may have forgotten, my name is Doctor Michael Daigh, late of the 21st foot.

*grunting slightly as he pulls a body further up the beach*

Once we get these poor souls out of the water, we should bury them. They'll attract less scavengers that way.

[TheThan]

The mighty hunter turns to Annabelle,

Miss Richmond, it may be a grizzly and distasteful task, but a necessary one if we are to survive until rescue, or until we find a way off this island.

Sensing something afoot, the hunter glances down and sees a snake writhing between his boots. He jumps back before realizing its jus the edge of a rope. Sighing with relief, the hunter grabs it and starts winding it up. afterward he hangs the rope from his shoulder, across his torso, very adventurer like.

I suppose I should go help the others. You just wait right here, no sense in you getting involved in such tasks.

[Voshkod]

Captain Lionel Mandrake

"Right, then," the Captain said, standing upon his rock. "No sun today, no chance to determine our location, and we have more pressing matters at hand."

He glanced down the beach both ways. "Doctor, Lord Robert, would you both mind joining me in starting a grave for the dead? Above the tide line, of course. Miss Richmond, would you begin to gather all that we can salvage that might be of use?"

He walked down the beach toward Kayode. "What is it, Kayode? Stop gawking at those cliffs and see if you can find a way up them! We can't stay here on the strand for too long. We'll need water and food, and the only path to them is up those cliffs. We'll also need to start a signal fire up there, high enough for passing ships to see."

With that, the lanky Captain put the log, his sextant, and his sword on the rock and jumped down to start digging.

[Feirgon]

(Um, so the captain is going to ignore Kayode's call out to him?

I'm ok with that, I just want to make sure you didn't miss the post in case you actually did want to respond to it.)

[Voshkod]

[OOC: Edited to include him going to talk to Kayode.]

[Organozinc]

Annabelle

“Well, at least someone’s talking some sense”, Annabelle replied to the Scot and the captain, glad to be dismissed from the grizzly task. Not that she planed to “wait right here”.

Annabelle quickly piled the salvage nearby where the men were working. Not that they had found much. She picked up the broken watch, tapped it a few times, and seeing that it was broken, tossed it back into the pile. She might take a look at it later, to see if she could get it working again, but now was not the time.

Seeing as the men were going to be busy with the salvage and the dead (with the exception of the African man, he seemed to be staring at the cliff for some reason), Annabelle decided to look around the beach a bit more. They couldn’t much just wait here on the beach to be rescued, seeing as the captain didn’t even know where they were. Hopefully he’d find something in that book of his that would get them home safely.

Annabelle walked away from the others, following the beach left, and tried to find a path to higher ground. Maybe with a view, she’d be able to see something which could tell them where they were. Daddy’s telescope might come in handy after all.

[Feirgon]

Kayode

Kayode grabbed his captain's shoulder as he pointed to the cliffs with his other hand.

Captain, do you recognize that child?

The question was rather rhetorical, but it was the only thing he could think of saying at the time. He really wanted to ask "Where did the child came from?", "Who was he?", "How did he get here?", and "Why is he staring at me?", but that was far to many questions to ask all at once.

[Krrth]

Michael

pausing just long enough to grab the lower end of the broken oar, Michael heads to help with the digging


This might help.

*glancing over at the sword*

You might want to keep that handy. We don't know of there are natives or dangerous animals here.

[TheThan]

Lord McDonnell

Stooping to help the doctor with the bodies the hunter says,

Ahh doctor, good to see you survived as well. I’m sure the skills of your trade will come in handy, particularly if we’re stranded here for a while.
His baritone voice slipping into a Scottish accent for a moment as he spoke to the other Scott.

[Voshkod]

Captain Lionel Mandrake

The Captain peered up the cliff, trying to spot the child. "What child, Kayode? There were no children on board."

[Krrth]

Michael


Aye, a good doctor can usually find a use for his skills.

*glancing up*

It's good to hear a fellow Scott again.

[Kensen]

Kayode & Lionel

As Kayode points his finger at the pale boy, the boy drops to a prone position. Captain Mandrake sees nothing but the cliff and can't help but wonder if the African man has gone mad.

Annabelle

Annabelle inspects the cliff for any path that would lead to higher ground. Unfortunately, the cliff is far too steep to walk up. The only ways to get away from the beach are climbing and swimming.

The Scots

The Scottish gentlemen soon discover that the ground is hard and it'll take at least 5 hours to dig a shallow grave for the bodies because you don't have proper equipment for the task.

OOC: Two Scots would be likely to speak Scottish Gaelic or Scots to each other. Scots is mutually intelligible with English for the most part (well depends on the speaker I guess). Which is why many people consider it a dialect of English than a language in its own right.

[Krrth]

Michael

Michael stops digging long enough to catch his breath, they calls out:


This is going to take several hours to complete. While we finish this, perhaps some of you could build a temporary shelter and a small fire? This rain isn't going to do us any good.

[Feirgon]

Kayode

Do not play tricks child!

Kayode shouts out at the cliff. Recomposing himself, he realizes he still has the captain's attention.

Sir, the child may not wish to be seen, but his footprints do not lie.

Kayode speaks calmly to the captain for fear of any retribution as he points to the sand.

[Organozinc]

Annabelle

Seeing no obvious way of ascending the cliff (other then the obvious), Annabelle returns to the others to sit and mope. Upon prompting by Dr. Daigh, however, she decides to take a shot at building a fire (seeing nothing with which to build even a half decent shelter).

To begin, Annabelle takes a larger board and used it to scrap out a flat area in the sand. She lines the pit with some flat-ish stones, collected from around the beach. Gathering up the driest pieces of wood, she begins stacking them in the pit, but then thinks better of it. She walks over to the working men, approaching Lord McDonnell, and gets his attention.

“Excuse me lord, but could I borrow that hatchet you’re carrying? I’m trying to make a fire, and some kindling would help. And, um… I could also use your help lighting it, when it comes to that. With wet wood, and no coals, I’m rather at a loss on how to start the blasted thing. Although we do have that bottle of rum, if it’ll help.”

Mentally, Annabelle chides herself. She’d be far better off proving herself useful to the older men, but without any real outdoor experience, her abilities fell far short of theirs. This wasn’t her home, not any home.