Scouting Around [Sari]

[Gabrielle Seawind]

"Over there," said Gerald as he pointed a finger at a mass of debris on the shore. Planks, shrapnel, and bits of cargo were scattered all throughout the beach. The beach itself was in disarray as the nearby forest made a mess with its fallen trees and leaves, but one could spot the shipwreck, although half of its mass seemed to be missing, probably swept away by the sea. "Alright," replied the Svefra as she moved around to lower the boat's sails. Gerald and Beran exchanged words as she did. They both had eyes on Sari as she swam towards the beach. Gabrielle grabbed the anchor and heaved it overboard. They were not too far from the shore, and the water was not too deep, perhaps fifteen to twenty feet by her judgement. "Are we really going in the water?" grumbled Gerald as Beran went ahead and jumped into the sea. "Can't you swim?" asked Gabrielle. She watched Beran swim after Sari. Although he was much less skilled than the kelvic, he was nonetheless getting to his destination. Gerald glared at Gabrielle and reluctantly went into the water. The Svefra looked down at the sea and saw Kairo, her dolphin tavan, who paddled around waiting for Gabrielle. The Svefra dove into the water, feeling the iciness against the skin. She was used to it, though she shivered just as well. Kairo swam around her in circles, making her laugh. Her clothes and her shoes weighed her down, but it seemed senseless to her to have taken them off beforehand since it might be dangerous once on the beach. She kicked forward, making her way towards the shore, where she guessed Sari might have already been. Gabrielle was a Svefra and was accustomed to swimming, unlike the two men who did it awkwardly and clumsily. She passed by them and went ashore. The Svefra wrung the water out of her hair and waited for the men to arrive. Gerald complained about the discomfort of his wet clothes, but there was nothing he could do. "It should dry in a bit," said Gabrielle. The sun was strong by now and she liked the feeling of the warmth against her skin. Gabrielle waved over to Sari, gesturing at the shipwreck. The two men were already making their way towards it as well.

[Sari]

When she climbed out of the water, Saei shook her head a little, and water droplets splashed out. She laughed a little at the ring the water droplets had made in the sand around her. The hot sun-warmed sand burned her bare feet, and she missed the cool water, but she trudged on towards the wreck site.

Hearing splashes behind her, Sari saw Gabrielle swimming neatly through the water and onto land, while the Sylrians were slowly paddling towards them. As the men got out of the water, Gabrielle waved at Sari and she waved back, rising up on her toes like a child. She laughed a little, and got the gesture was meant to tell her to go on ahead. And so she kept trudging through the sand and reeds.

Other than the sand, only one thing hurt her, the sand burrs. The first time she cried out in pain, and cried out with every pull it took to remove the sand burr. She stepped on at least 5 more, but these were greeted with decreasing cries of pain and surprise.

Finally reaching the grass where no burrs lived, Sari sighed in relief. She was closer to the shipwreck now, and stopped to wait for the rest of her party. She saw them hiking over a sand dune a bit of a distance away, and she sat down to relieve her sand-burned feet.

[Gabrielle Seawind]

"That stench..." whispered Gabrielle when she arrived by the wrecked ship. It smelled like rotting bodies, but when the Svefra looked around, she could see none. Perhaps they were somewhere beneath the debris—Gabrielle didn't know. Just she was told earlier, the ship was just about as big as her casinor. If it had any cabins, it was no longer evident. It had been split apart and the walls had collapsed inwardly. Wood and cargo were scattered around in a mess. When Gabrielle glanced at her employers, she saw that they were pulling debris aside as they searched for what they came for. "Maybe we'll find something worth taking as well..." Gabrielle told Sari, who seemed to be tending to her hurt feet. The Svefra followed the footsteps of the men. She started to pull debris aside, careful not to cut herself in the process. There were some crates but she saw that they had been split open, and there was nothing in them. 'Probably had been food...' she mused. Gabrielle, nor the men, didn't stop to think if food, or bodies, would have completely rotted and disappeared in four to five weeks. They didn't take a minute to wonder if the shore was safe, nor did they realize there was a sleeping leopard seal on the other side of the ship wreck. However, when they started throwing debris aside, the animal stirred, waking up to the noise. It was one of the animals mutated and drove crazy by the djed storm. It was not fully an adult yet, but the size was frightening nonetheless. At the moment, none of them knew about it, but it was soon to let them know about its presence in a dangerous way. "Here it is," said Gerald as he put up a small, velvet box. The box looked damaged but it was kept shut by a strong-looking lock. The Knight pocketed it, and nobody else but him knew what was inside it. "That's all we need." Gabrielle was still scavenging for valuables, but it was evident that she was becoming frustrated at her lack of progress. Irritated, she kicked a plank of wood aside. It hit a pile of debris that collapsed in a loud noise, probably loud enough to taunt the mad seal to pounce.

[Sari]

Following Gabrielle's lead, Sari looked around and under objects for interesting peices of wood or glittery bits of shell. Her search efforts proved fruitful and her arms spilled over with a spiraling piece of driftwood, a couple of beautiful shells, and one thin necklace with a stone on it. She didn't know what metal the necklace was, but it glinted and glittered in the sun. The jewel slid around on the chain, a little pocket of deep purple.

Sari picked up a few more peices of driftwood, and slowly working her way over to Gabrielle to show off the pretty necklace. As she lifted a plank of wood, she uncovered a rotting human hand. She gasped in surprise and horror, knowing that hands were supposed to be attached to arms, but where was his arm? She gulped and walked closer to Gabrielle, who had apparently not had the luck Sari had had. But then again, Sari had been looking for shells and driftwood, accidentally tripping herself in the necklace. Despite her complaints of earlier, she was glad she did not had shoes, or else she would have just cursed the tree roots.

Even in the closeness of her friends, Sari was tense and jumped when she heard a slow shuffling and dragging noise. She gulped, but saw nothing to the left and right. However, looking up got her the disapproving glare of a Djed seal. She didn't bother to take time to identify which type of seal, Sari found herself sceaming. In return the seal let out a half bark, half howl noise that hurt her ears. Even through the din, she heard the shushing noise of someone drawing their swords. It must've been what was weighing the Knights down as the jumped from the boat. Even with the knights protection, Sari grabbed a nearby weapon, the rotting hand. Seeing the hand held a dagger inside, Sari was all too eager to drop the squishy, slimy, moldy flesh. With one hand clenching her treasure, Sari held her dagger at the ready, or what seemed like the ready. She was sure that if they weren't in a life-death situation, Gerald would scoff at her attempts.

[Gabrielle Seawind]

"Sari!" called out the Svefra as she rushed towards the kelvic. The seal looked angry, and she didn't know how powerful or dangerous it was. When Gabrielle found herself beside Sari, she saw that the kelvic was able to salvage a dagger from a... rotting hand? Gabrielle felt her stomach lurch from the sight of it. Gerald and Beran were far from them, and the seal was closer to the girls. Gabrielle was cautious, as if afraid to move. However, following Sari's lead, she slowly unsheathed the dagger from her belt and held it steadily. 'If only I had my longbow...' cursed Gabrielle. While not an expert, she was much more skilled in using the longbow compared to using a dagger. She had not brought it along since they had swum here and also because she had no idea they'd be facing such a danger. The seal suddenly lunged at the two women. Its heavy body slammed against the ground as it moved, sending wood and splinters everywhere. Shards of debris pierced its thick skin, but it didn't seem to care. At the corner of her eye, Gabrielle saw the two men rushing at them, but they wouldn't make it in time! Gabrielle violently threw herself at Sari, attempting to keep them both from the path of the seal. The svefra winced as her body hit the ground. The large creature snapped at air, and when it sharply turned its head at the women, Gabrielle blindly slashed at it with her dagger. The blade hit its snout. Blood splattered as it cried in pain, and the wound was nowhere near to actually slaughtering it. All Gabrielle's action resulted in was an angrier seal. Staggering, Gabrielle tried to get up and run, gesturing for Sari to do the same. It wouldn't be too long before the seal came at them again. It was happening too fast, and at that moment, Gabrielle had no idea if the Knights would reach them before the creature snapped once more.

[Gabrielle Seawind]

“Don’t show it your back, you fool!” came the powerful yell of Gerald. He and his partner were rushing to them, their blades in their hands. But they were too far. Gabrielle would have to ward off the creature on her own. Did he just call her a fool? Despite the situation, she seethed. The Svefra pushed her kelvic companion, shoving her at the ground. It was a harsh action but it would get her out of the way. She heard the sound of Sari hitting the rough sand, and she turned around, dagger in hand. It might be futile, but Gerald was right. It was much more dimwitted to run from something you couldn’t escape. Blood was spilling from its snout. It ran down its face and it was blinded with rage. The fact that it was so was to Gabrielle’s advantage, as it appeared to be not of its right mind. It was rabid to begin with, and provoked with anger, it was even more so robbed of its sense. It charged forward, attempting to headbutt her. Shrieking, she threw herself to the side, and she teeth roughly and painfully scrap her ankle. It hadn’t bitten down; else she would have lost her foot. It had merely scraped her, but blood was running down her ankle. Growling, she turned around and sank her dagger at its neck. Its skin was thick and she plunged her blade further, feeling it go through skin and meat. The seal gave a painful howl but it was not done. It snapped its head to the side and was just about to bite down on her arms when she heard two more blades plunging deep into it. Beran’s blade had sunk down its back, while Gerald’s had swiped it across the neck, just above where Gabrielle’s own dagger. The seal gave strangled sounds as blood splattered everywhere, and Gabrielle pushed away from it, afraid that it would fall on her. The creature’s blood littered her arms and face, its stench unbearable. Suffocating on its own blood, Gerald finally ended its life with a final slash across its neck.

[Gabrielle Seawind]

The seal landed in a heap of its own blood. There was a loud thump as it fell, and the sand surrounding it went up in a cloud.

“Are you alright? Any injuries?” came the concerned voice of Beran. He was helping Sari up and had his eyes on Gabrielle. His question was addressed to the both of them. Gerald was also looked between them and was wiping the blood off his blade.

Her ankle was bleeding. Gabrielle folded up the ride leg of her pants until her knees and saw the blood which flowed down her skin. She stood up to see if she could move properly. It hurt, but the pain was bearable. The wound was not deep enough to need any stitching. Looking across at her Kelvic companion, the Svefra was happy to see that she had been able to escape with only some scrapes and scratches. The seal had not touched her.

“Can you walk?” Beran asked Gabrielle. She nodded.

“We have the box,” said Gerald, holding it up to show her. “We should leave before anything else come. We have no idea what are in these shores.”

Gabrielle snorted. It was just like a land dweller to be afraid of the unknown. Ironically, she didn’t even stop to think that many Svefra were wary of land as well.

“Wait,” she said, surprising them. Gabrielle dropped to her knees right in front of the corpse of the seal. Suddenly, she swiped out her dagger and started to hack at its mouth. The blade sunk deep into the dirty flesh of the insides of its mouth, and she manipulated the dagger to cut around a tooth. Then she took another two, ending up with three bloody pieces in her hands. She pocketed them right away, and didn’t miss the look of ridicule that Gerald was giving her.

They started to walk back towards the direction of the casinor. Several times, Beran offered to help her walk, and all of his offers were shot down. The Svefra looked at the expanse of water between the land and her casinor—a length that they would have to swim back. Swimming actually seemed easier than walked. Once they were in the water, she could feel the sting of the sea’s saltiness washing over her wound.

Gabrielle gently kicked with her feet, her arms going up and down in a natural pattern. It propelled her towards the casinor in a steady speed. She could hear the rest of her companions around her, water splashing as they swam.

When she was near her ship, she climbed up on it using the ladder that was half in the air, half in the water. The sea had cleaned her ankle, and it was no longer in a mess of blood. Once onboard, she helped her companions up one by one.

[Gabrielle Seawind]

Gabrielle impatiently waited for everyone else to get onboard. Once they were, she pulled the ladder up and set it aside. The entire group appeared to be tired as they slumped back in their seats and fought to catch their breaths.

The Svefra was at a haste to get out of there. She pulled the sails back down and fixed them to their proper position. It took her a while to do it in the correct way as she fussed over the knots longer than usual. Her mind was still hazy, a fact she refused to admit. As the sails were pulled down, the casinor started to sway with the wind. It didn’t stray far though, its anchor keeping it in its place.

“Perhaps we should rest for a few chimes?” inquired Beran. His eyes were on her ankle.

She ignored him and leaned over the side of the boat. She started to pull the anchor up to set it aside. Finally, she did the final preparations and the ship was on its way back to Syliras. A few times on the way back, Beran attempted to strike up a conversation with her. However, as rude as it was, the Svefra girl had shut out the world. Her only focus was on the sailing forward of the ship. When it was clear that they were on a steady pace and that their route was set, she dug into her pockets and brought out the pieces of seal teeth.

“You could put those around your neck,” said Beran. “It would be a good prize to look at.”

“She didn’t kill it,” said Gerald, loud and clear. There was amusement in his voice.

Gabrielle shot him a glare and almost pushed him off the ship. “Yeah, I might just do that,” she finally said to Beran. She would just need to clean it of its blood, hack off the remaining piece of flesh that still clung to it, and find a way to make it into a necklace.

For the rest of the trip, she said nothing else.

[Anchor]

Loot Gabrielle's Find : Skill Points Sailing 2 Sea Navigation 1 Swimming 2 Weapon: Dagger 2 Running 1 Lore 512 Djed Storm: Destruction of Syliras Docks Naked Sari: A Knight's Distraction The Stench of Death The Little Velvet Box Rabid Djed Seals are Dangerous Shipwreck South of Syliras Other Stuff Seal Tooth x 3 First grading, so bear with me here. I like the pacing of this thread, how it builds up as a search at first before plunging into a bit of action. Maybe we'll get to see what's in the box sometime. Anything you want to discuss, PM me. Have fun with your stuff! Sari, if you come back, PM me and I'll go through this thread again and award you your loot.