Marn's Crossing

The Inn

“He’s a cheat!, Get him!” The man yelled to the other men in the small back room of the Tavern. Myro looked about nervously. As a stranger in Marn’s Crossing the room looked to be siding with this dumb oaf. Best to get out of here with my winnings Myro thought.

I have made a small map to show the locations that appear in my previous few posts of fiction. Marn’s Crossing is an old stone bridge that spans the Croydes Stream. The stream is dry throughout the year except in the Spring. Snow meltwater turns the stream into a raging river and blocks travel. A few hundred years ago a stone bridge was built to allow year-round travel.

A few carpenters and stone-workers were settled near the bridge to help maintain it. One of the more enterprising carpenters expanded his cottage into a simple Inn. The Inn at Marn’s Crossing has had several expansions in size since then.

The current Innkeeper is Lars Montefelo, a middle-aged, heavyset man. Lars brings in extra coin by hosting dice and card games in the back room of the Inn. The games draw in the usual local rabble and travelers.

The Inn and cellar map

Tavern Area

There is a mud porch outside the door to the Inn and a nearby outhouse in the yard before the river road. The tavern has a bar stocked with local ale a little else. There are six wooden tables surrounded by stools and chairs. No two alike. Three doors exit the tavern to other rooms, Lars room, a sleeping area and the door to the kitchen.

In addition to finding Lars working behind the bar, he has two maids/helpers who work the tavern. Sisters Jona and Caelia serve drinks, make beds, clean and do just about any other odd job around the Inn. They sleep in the loft above the tavern. It is accessible by a ladder against the wall.

Owners Area

Lars and his wife Marion live in this simple room. There is little more than a bed, table, and a few chests of clothes.

Sleeping Area

For a pair of silver pieces, a traveler can purchase one of five beds in the sleeping area. The tavern and the sleeping area are kept warm in the fall and winter by a large fireplace.

Kitchen Area

The kitchen has a cooking fireplace, preparation tables and crates and barrels of food. Marion, the wife of the Innkeeper, does the cooking. She is a passable cook but is often let down by the scarcity of fresh ingredients. A wooden door leads to a rickety wooden stair to the cellar. A young boy lives in this area, sleeping near the fire on a bundle of wool blankets. Roald is an orphan that Lars has agreed to look after in exchange for work gathering firewood and tending the fires in the four fireplaces.

Back Room

In the back room, there are three tables that can be used for drinking, eating or gambling. A game of cards or dice can usually be found here once the sun goes down. Aside from a few local toughs, most of the gamblers are travelers on the river road passing through.

Occasionally, a lone traveler will go missing after winning one too many hands at cards. Whether it is at the hands of a local tough or passing mercenary. Lars can be counted on to dispose of the body for a share of the winnings.

Beneath the Inn.

Lars uses the cellar beneath the Inn to store non-perishable foods and supplies for the Inn. For some reason, the cellar is always very damp. Lars is unaware that the Inn is built over the ruins of an old temple to a forgotten god. Previous Innkeepers many years ago used the crypts beneath the Inn to hold smuggled goods.

Marn's Crossing

Three Crowns, Part 4

Picking up the candle again, Myro quietly headed back out into the hallway. He passed down the hall and moved past the stairs he had come down. Ahead was another stone archway. There was a very dim light bleeding through the archway.

“A way out”, Myro exclaimed. He quickened his pace. Then Myro heard a sound echoing down the hall toward him. Something was moving in the chamber. There was a scraping sound and a metallic rattle. Like the chains on a ghost, Myro thought to myself.

Softly Myro advanced to the archway, beyond was another small, stone chamber. The chamber was almost as dark as the hallway but a dim light came through an opening barred by rusty metal bars halfway up the far wall. It looked like the entrance over a long forgotten sewer.

Myro felt the hairs on his right forearm come to attention. Glancing down, he spotted a dim, blue glow emanating from the short sword. From out of the shadows by the wall came motion and a skeleton of a man lurched out of the dark holding a shield and swinging a rusty sword.

“Ahhh!”, Myro screamed and brought the sword up defensively. The sword met the skeleton’s sword mid-arc with a thunderous clang of metal. Jumping back, Myro tried to prepare himself, but the skeleton moved forward and was on him again. He desperately parried two more ringing strikes from the skeleton moving back as he did. He felt the cold stone wall at his back.

Myro leaped forward trying to get around the skeleton and swung the sword in an arc as he vaulted by. Landing past the skeleton, Myro turned toward the hallway as he heard a clatter of metal and bones behind him.

Moving into the hallway, Myro carefully, looked behind himself into the room. The skeleton was an unmoving pile of bones on the floor. A rotted wooden shield and rusty sword lay nearby.

“Hah”, Myro yelled. Exhilaration filled his muscles with energy. His breaths were short and ragged. Myro paused and breathed out slowly for a few short, long breaths.

Myro walked over to the sewer opening. He could see a tunnel and a dim light in the distance. A slight, cool breeze played across his face. Myro gripped two of the rusty bars and pulled. The bars budged slightly. Looking about, Myro picked up the discarded rusty sword on the floor. Placing it between two bars, he levered the bars until they began to move. With a sudden start, one of the rusty bars snapped off and fell to the floor. There was just enough space for him to fit.

Myro tossed the bent, rusty sword into the opening and squeezed in after it. Picking up the rusty sword in his left hand and clutching the short blade in his right Myro crawled down the tunnel.

After a dozen feet, he came to another opening. Rusty stubs of metal marked where the opening was once barred. Clumps of grass ringed the opening. Pushing through the opening, Myro tumbled out into a dry streambed. Looking up he could see the stars wheeling above.

Myro lay on his back for a few minutes taking an inventory of the night's events. Pushing himself to his feet, Myro slid the short sword into his new scabbard and trudged off into the night.

THE END.

The Exit

Three Crowns, Part 3

Descent into the Depths

Myro looked about in the near total darkness. Four walls with no sign of an exit and a few dark shapes rising out of the floor. Picking up the nearby candle, Myro leaned over the stairs in the bottom of the crypt. The stairs were old, stone and very steep. They appeared to descend about twelve feet to a passage.

Shivering to himself, Myro thought, “There is no obvious exit up here so down I go I guess”.  Not likely to find an exit if I keep going down Myro thought. I could wait up here until the furor in the inn settles down.

“Where is the adventure in that,” Myro said out loud. His voice sounded a little tremulous to him. “Screw that,” he thought. And stepped gingerly into the crypt and descended the stair.

Upon reaching the passage, Myro saw ancient stone walls before him. The passage went a short distance before entering another passage at right angles. Nervously, Myro extended the candle into the new passage. The flame atop the candle guttered for a moment then was still.

“There must be a way out!”, Myro thought. There was clearly a breeze from somewhere. Myro looked left and right. Both directions looked the same. Stone walls of large worked blocks leading to an archway. The passage was fairly wide, at least five feet and just over six feet tall. The ceiling was slightly arched. The entire passage looked old. Far older than the buildings of Marn’s Crossing.

“Scrittch”, an odd scratching sound came from Myro’s left. He could barely hear it but in the deafening silence of the passage, it seemed really loud. The hairs on the back of Myro’s neck stood at attention and he felt a cold chill run down his back.

“Right it is then”, Myro said aloud. No, I am not scared at all he thought to himself.

Myro softly padded to the right, passing under an archway part way down the passage. To his left and right were two openings in the stone walls. In each opening sat an old wooden coffin.

I am not looking in those coffins, no matter that they might be bodies buried with gold, Myro thought. I can come back later, let's just get out of here.

Ahead was another archway but this time it led into a small chamber. Myro looked about, raising the candle high. The chamber was filled with old wooden barrels and crates. Broken wood and straw littered the stone floor. Thick dust and cobwebs covered everything. To the right behind a broken wooden crate, there was a pair of moldy boots. Myro breathed in sharply. The boots looked to be attached to feet and legs but were unmoving. Slowly Myro advanced and shone the candlelight around the corner of the crate. Beyond was the corpse of a long dead man. The man was slumped into a seated position clutching one hand to his chest. In his other hand was a short sword.

“Juvan's reach”, Myro exclaimed.

Putting the candle down, Myro took a good look at the unfortunate man lying on the floor.

“You’ve been here a long time, haven’t you my friend.”

Myro noted the small leather pouch at the bodies waist., Well I am sure he has no use for it anymore thought Myro. He reached for the pouch and slipped it off the belt. There was the beautiful sound of metal on metal. Dumping the contents into his hand, a number of silver coins fell into his hand. Counting them quickly, Myro counted 24 silver coins.

“Thank you good sir”, Myro said to the corpse. He turned to leave, but then he spotted the short blade again.

“Pardon me”, Myro said to the corpse and gingerly picked up the sword. It felt light and well-balanced in his hand. Not used to blades much longer than a kitchen knife, Myro swung it awkwardly. The blade swished through the air.

“Better to take this too”, Myro thought to himself. He looked at his waist. His simple leather belt did not make much of a scabbard. Looking back down at the skeleton he noted the leather belt and scabbard at its waist.

“Well, I guess I need this as well”, leaning in close Myro carefully unbuckled and removed the belt, the skeleton shifted and leaned against him. Glancing to the right, Myro looked directly into the skeletons face. Dark, empty eye sockets looked back at him. Gingerly, Myro pushed the skeleton back against the wall. It stayed put, then the head seemed to nod forward in agreement with Myro’s actions.

“Well, that is unsettling”, Myro whispered. I wonder who he was and when he died Myro thought. And I wonder if what killed him is still down here. Myro gripped the borrowed short sword more tightly in his right hand.

Looking about Myro could see no other exits from the chamber. Well, I guess I have to head back Myro thought to himself.

An Unfortunate Adventurer

Three Crowns continued.

Three Crowns
Chapter 2

Myro took a moment to take stock. The chamber he was in was pitch dark. The floor and walls were old, worked stone. The stone was cold and seemed to suck the energy from his body when he brushed against it. He waved his hand in front of his face and thought he could see the hint of motion or it could be his imagination. Once he had closed the opening to the Tavern’s cellar all light had been extinguished. Myro paused his breath and really listened. All he could hear was the blood pounding in this ears

Well, he was safe for now. Time to get his bearings. Myro reached into his cloak and his hand closed on his flint and steel striker. Working it from memory he struck the flint. A spark lit the chamber briefly. The chamber was small, nearby on the wall was an old unlit torch. Now that it was dark again, Myro reached for the torch on the wall and closed his hand on the dry wood. Bringing the flint to steel again he sparked the head of the torch that glowed red. Blowing on the head of the torch Myro worked it to a flame.

Able to see the chamber now, Myro saw that it was an empty room, only about five feet square with a low ceiling. Facing him in the far wall was a stone door. On the face of the door was the symbol of three crowns.

“Huh”, Myro said aloud. What were the chances he thought?

Myro stepped forward toward the door and put his shoulder to it. It did not budge. He examined the crowns on the iron surface of the door. The symbols were raised figures. By the looks of it, the symbols could be depressed. Myro’s hand wavered over one of the crowns but he stopped before pressing it. Why would all three crowns be part of the door latch? It was likely, he thought, that only one of the symbols was the correct symbol. The other two might be trapped. Or maybe it has to be a pattern?

The torch guttered and slowly the flame went lower. Myro checked the torch. It was old and was going to stop burning soon. He needed to make a decision quickly before the chamber was plunged into darkness again.

Looking at the crown symbols more closely Myro could see that one seemed to have received more use. The edges were not as sharp and the others. The torch guttered again and the flame went out. All that remained was a low glow from the torch. Making up his mind, Myro pressed the more worn crown symbol. The raised symbol depressed smoothly until it was level with the surface of the door. There was a loud click sound. The door shuddered but did not move. Myro cautiously pressed against the door and it swung open easily. Beyond was a larger, cooler chamber. In the dim glow of the torch, Myro could see little. Rough shapes on the floor and no hint of the size of the chamber.

He stepped forward into the room and took a few steps. His foot slipped on something round and brittle. Like a small stick. Myro reached down and his hands closed on a slick, foot long stick. He took a few practice swings with it satisfied. Feeling ahead his hands came to a stone form rising from the floor. Feeling along the top of the stone Myro felt the familiar shape of a large candle. Relieved he used his flint and steel again, this time to light the candle. The wick lit almost immediately. The candle was a pale brown colour and longer than his forearm. The light flickered with the motion of his hand but lit a small circle of the chamber. Myro looked down at his other hand and immediately dropped his stick. It was not a stick it was a human bone.

Raising the candle, careful not to put it out, Myro took stock of the chamber. He was in a large chamber, at least fifteen feet square. Four stone biers rested against one wall. Atop the bier were several candles. One of which was now lit in his hand.

No windows and no doors, Myro mentally said in his head. It looks like the basement of some old temple. Perhaps for some long-forgotten god. The building must have fallen into ruin and the buildings of the Marn’s Crossing were built atop it. Hopefully, there was a way out of here somewhere they did not involve going back to the tavern. Myro thought that worst case he could wait a few hours and slip back into the cellar. Probably the excitement would have died down.

Myro walked carefully down the aisle in front of the stone crypts. I wonder if they buried their dead with their gold he thought. Myro moved to the closest bier and looked at it carefully. There was an obvious indentation along the edge marking a lid on a crypt. He quickly made the sign of Juvan the patron of thieves. Then he pushed against the lid of the crypt. The stone moved a few inches revealing that there was indeed a crypt beneath the stone lid. Re-doubling his efforts, Myro put down the candle on the nearest bier and put his back into it. The stone lid slid off the crypt and fell onto the floor with a crash. Myro nervously looked about then chuckled.

“No one is coming.”

Myro reached over, grabbing the candle and shone it into the crypt. Expecting to see a moldy skeleton he was surprised to see a set of stone steps leading down into the darkness.

“Well, what do we have here, then?” he said.

Three Crowns

I have not posted in more than a month. I have not been gaming or even reading gaming material. I will have to read some more rules I have on my bookshelves and post some more reviews.  Instead, I will post something I wrote recently to accompany a piece of 3D rendering of a seedy, fantasy tavern.

Three Crowns

Chapter One

“That’s three crowns!”, the big man said and looked at Myro in expectation.

“Hey, well that’s pretty good,” said Myro.. “But it doesn’t beat my four swords!” Myro reached forward and flipped his last two cards over revealing the four swords. His opponent sputtered in disbelief. Myro leaned forward to sweep the small pile of coppers on the table to his pile.

“You, You Cheat!” The big man staggered to his feet towering over Myro and fumbled at the dagger at his hip. Myro quickly swept the coppers into his open pouch and prepared to back away.

“He’s a cheat!, Get him!” The man yelled to the other men in the small back room of the Tavern. Myro looked about nervously. As a stranger in Marn’s Crossing the room looked to be siding with this dumb oaf. Best to get out of here with my winnings Myro thought.

“I won fair, I bet you yell cheat whenever you lose!” Myro said. “Am I right” Myro looked about the room and saw a few heads start to nod in agreement. Myro could see that the mood in the room was turning in his favour. The big man looked about nervously and his dagger started to edge down.

Myro reached into his pocket to toss a few coppers on the table, “For the drink”. There was a noticeable intake of air in the room. Myro looked down at the table. Two coppers lay there and a fifth sword card from his pocket.

“Oops”, Myro shrugged. He grabbed the edge of the table and tipped it toward the man. The small wood table went over and fell in the lap of the bravo knocking him to the tavern floor.

Time to leave, Myro thought. Amongst the yelling and confusion, he continued to edge toward the door to the kitchen.

“Getim!”

Myro darted for the door to the kitchen just as the men about the table began to move forward. Looking up he saw the enormous cook blocking the way. The fat, bald lout smiled with amusement at Myro.  That smile turned to an open grunt of surprise as Myro kicked him in the nethers and vaulted over his doubled over back.

Reaching the kitchen, Myro quickly scanned the place for exits. Two doors and a young boy tending a fire. Left, thought Myro and he tossed open the door and raced through. Abruptly, Myro’s feet flew into the air and he tumbled down the stairs to the cellar.

Damn, the cellar Myro thought. Now I am trapped. He glanced about the dirty room filled with crates and barrels. Diving behind some barrels he crawled into the darkness.

“He is in the cellar, follow me!” Myro heard from above. They are going to find me in a moment Myro thought. He crawled back against the stone back wall of the cellar behind some casks. A loose stone jabbed him in the back. A cold draft ran along Myro’s neck. He heard the sound of many feet clattering down the cellar steps.

Wait, a cold draft. Myro glanced about and saw a small opening at the point where the floor met the wall. Barely, a foot high and a foot wide. Luckily, I’m small Myro thought and squeezed himself through the tight opening. Beyond was a small dark chamber lit only by the light from the cellar. A block of stone on a metal swivel marked the entrance he had come through. Myro quickly slid it closed.

What is the innkeeper up to here with a secret chamber in his cellar thought Myro as he gingerly stood up? This bears investigating.

Graverobbers

Chapter One Graverobbers

I decided to go to southern Italy in the summer and found myself in Taormina Sicily. Staying at a nice, reasonably priced hotel clinging to the hillside with a clear view of smoldering Mount Etna. The last bit might be poetic license it was probably just normal clouds clinging to the peak. I had a pretty mundane day and decided to go out at night for a walk. I took the path up from the hotel up the hill toward town and I took a wrong turn in the dark and ended up in a small cemetery.

The path had clearly led up to the cemetery but when I had done the same trip twice during the day I had not seen any sign of a cemetery. Just hotels, stone steps, and rocks. I looked about puzzled. It was a small cemetery. Not more than twenty graves in the plot surrounded by a brick wall. All of the gravestones looked old. Some did not appear to have names on the stones.

Then I heard the distinctive thump of a shovel digging into the dirt. I froze. Someone was digging a hole. In a cemetery. In the middle of the night. This had gone from mildly amusing travel anecdote to seriously scary.

I realized I had frozen at the sound and was not moving. Barely breathing. Everything was quiet. Even the normal sound of cars on the nearby winding road had stopped. The shovel noise was probably just my imagination.

Then I heard it again and someone speaking in hushed tones in a latin language. Which I knew all of two words so I could not make out anything. It sounded like “sestito qualcosa”? I held my breath for a moment.

“Niente,” came the gruff reply as clear as day. It was off to my right. Looking I could see a number of tombstones covered in overgrown weeds. And a mausoleum. A dim, flickering light reached around the edge of the mausoleum.

Before I had time to think things through clearly I had shuffled forward near the mausoleum and stopped behind a tombstone. Peering around its edge I saw two men armed with shovels busily scooping dirt out of the ground and laying it to one side. On a nearby tombstone was a red lantern lighting the scene.

Real graverobbers. I could not believe it. This could not be happening in the present day. I reached down for my cell phone. I needed to call the police but I could not recall the number for police in Italy. Maybe I could just take a picture and run to the police. I always had my cell set to vibrate so there was no fear of making a noise. Positioning it carefully I opened the camera app and pressed the button, and then the flash went off!

I dropped the cell phone in surprise and scrambled to run. Behind me, I could hear a cry of astonishment and more shouts of what I assumed were “get him” or “kill that guy”. I put my head down and ran. Straight into a tombstone at ankle height. I slammed my foot into it and went down hard. Pain lanced up my leg and I could feel that I had scraped my knee and elbow as well. A weight dropped onto my legs. I struggled and kicked but could not move. They had me.

There was a loud crack followed by a groan and suddenly my legs were free. Then another thwack and the sound of a something big hitting the ground. I rolled over onto my back to look. Both graverobbers were lying at my feet dead to the world. Standing over them was a man armed with a shovel. He was dressed like a renaissance gentlemen like the pictures I had seen in a museum in Palermo. A jaunty hat on his head. And most importantly, I could see right through him.

The “man” said something to me in thick Italian. I stared at him in shock. He also seemed taken aback and reached out toward me. I flinched and scrambled back and small a smile appear on his face.

“Well, Englishman you can see me, No?”

Graverobbers

The Voyage

Once more into the Void Session 3 - The Voyage

I am going back and posting session reports of the early adventures of my D&D 5th edition group. I started writing session reports after the fifth session. But I have the notes to write up the older sessions.  In this session Otrivush Oto joins the team and the heroes go on a voyage.

A Meeting

“Another ale, barkeep,” Oto slammed down his nearly empty tankard and waved at the approaching barman. The barman held out his hand in askance.

“Fine, fine,” Oto said in exasperation. Reaching into his pockets he searched about and found two coins. His last two gold coins. He handed out one of the gold coins.

“That should pay for the several ales and a spot on your floor tonight!” The barman snatched up the coin, sniffing at it suspiciously then shrugged and placed another full ale in front of Oto.

Otrivush Oto, a scholar of Candlekeep, brought to this he mused. My last two gold coins. Well, better to go out smiling. He drained the last of the ale and picked up a new one, looking about blearily. Across from him was a new face. A great big half-orc sat at the common table of the bar.

“Cheers, big one,” said Oto said raising his ale to the half-orc. Digging out his last coin Oto looked at the half-orc. “Can I buy you a drink?”

The half-orc looked Oto over for a moment then made a grunting noise. Oto realized it was a laugh.

“Big One,” he chortled, “You are twice my weight human!”

Oto took another swig of ale. “Now hear me, do you know who you are talking to?”

“Clearly not”, laughed the half-orc.

“Otrivush Oto, lately of Candlekeep, wizard second class of the School of Evoca.. Evo.. Evocation,” Oto mumbled.

“A wizard?” The half-orc rubbed his chin. “We might have some work for you wizard, Maybe  I’ll take that drink”. Oto looked at the half-orc unsteadily. Did he say work? Why I never. And then things started to go a little dark.

“Yes - I think I have some friends who would like to meet you”.

A pirate ship appears.

Session 3

As the new adventure opens the heroes are in Neverwinter. Thyrell the drow ranger, Mukah the half-orc barbarian, Alcor the tiefling monk and Talrek the dwarven cleric are joined by Otrivush Oto the human wizard. The group takes a job loading cargo onto a galleon and protecting the cargo on a long voyage at sea.

As the heroes are loading the cargo they are interrupted by explosions in the harbour area. Zombies appear and start moving along the docks attacking dockworkers and travellers and turning them in turn into zombies. A wayward traveler emerges from the mob of zombies and runs toward the ship yelling for help. Oto fires a magic missile at a zombie chasing the wayward traveller but it shrugs it off with little damage. Thyrell retreats up the ship’s gangplank as the captain begins yelling orders to shove off and make sail. Alcor runs onto the ship.

Talrek moves forward and smashes a zombie with his war hammer destroying it. Oto runs for the gangplank but trips and falls in the harbour. Thyrell throws Oto a rope and the wizard grabs hold and is dragged up onto the deck of the ship. Mukah runs for the ship but it is already pulling into the harbour so he leaps and misses the ship landing in the harbour. The rope that was used to pull up Oto is thrown to Mukah.

A large, grotesque creature appears in the zombie horde holding a longbow. He shoots the wayward traveller who stumbles into the harbour. Mukah scoops up the wayward traveller and both are dragged onto the ship.

The arrow that struck the wayward traveller in the back turns to black powder. Turning the man over the heroes see that the man is convulsing and black veins are spreading over his body.

“Don’t give it up,” he gasps and then hands a package to Talrek. Inside the package is a shiny, black rock. The man dies. Moments later his eyes open and he attacks, his hands transforming into huge, malformed claws. It claws Mukah and the half-orc crushes him with his longsword. The body is tossed overboard.

The heroes look back as the ship clears the harbour. The zombies are pushing out onto the docks. The ship heads out to sea.

The ship sails on for several days. One night a thick fog bank rolls in around the ship. In the distance, the sound of water splashing over rocks can be heard. The captain calls everyone to the deck to look out for rocks.

A ship comes unerringly out of the fog and crashes right into the bow of the ship. Pirates come pouring over the gunwales and attack. Oto casts magic missile at three pirates and kills one. Alcor strikes and kills one with his forearm. Thyrell runs one through with his short sword. Oto casts Acid splash with little effect but Mukah strikes down the pirate marked with acid. The pirates start to be pushed back but then another wave of pirates jumps onto the bow and push forward. Oto casts Magic missile again and is out of spells. It becomes a desperate melee and Oto readies his prized quarterstaff.

A fireball flies off the pirate ship and crashes into the galleon blowing a hole in the deck clear through to the waterline. Water begins to rush in. The captain calls to his crew to abandon ship. While engaged in melee Talrek realizes that the pirate is one of the weird black-veined zombies. A commanding voice calls out from the pirate ship.

“Grab the dwarf, forget the rest!”

Talrek is grappled by several of the undead pirates. One of them grabs the package holding the black rock. There is a horn blast from the pirate ship driving the zombies into a rage. The zombie who now has the black rock breaks free and jumps back onto the attacking ship.

Oto moves up to help Talrek swinging his quarterstaff but he strikes Talrek’s shield instead of a zombie and the quarterstaff splinters into several pieces. The heroes redouble their efforts and clear the foredeck of zombies. But the black rock is gone and the attacking pirate ship pulls away and disappears into the fog.

Looking about the heroes see that the ship is awash and sinking. The masts are engulfed in flames. The crew has abandoned ship and is nowhere to be seen. They launch the remaining lifeboat and drift away into the fog. They see the glow of their ship burning and then sinking out of sight.

Otrivush Oto ends up swimming in the harbour