"Well, let's hope it ain't ghosts again," Ventus says, stroking Beaks' side as she chirrups nervously.
Jessamy shrugs and nods to her companions as she advances, looking warily for any traps or other threats in this odd ship.
Ventus follows a short distance behind, signaling for Beaks to stay put for now.
The older dwarf follows behind the rest, his eyes scanning the scene.
The ship is decrepit and rotting but the party sees no signs of traps or habitation. Yap keeps his distance but continues to nervously flit about.
"We better see to this and make sure it's no threat," Kaplan suggests.
"Agreed, Jessamy nods. "Plus, maybe there's pirate treasure? Reminds me of this dream I once had -- I was shanghaied on a ship called the Wormwood Mutiny. There was this strange frog man there and all sorts of other people."
A search of the ship proves it to be deserted. The ship's holds and most of its holds are empty but in the captain's quarters the long-dead captain sits at a moldering darkwood harpsichord carved with demons battling angels. He (whoever he was) is still dressed in his rotten uniform and clutches nautical charts that seem completely alien in his skeletal hand. In the other is a silver goblet inlaid with opals. A book of sheet music sits on the harpsichord.
"Fah! I wouldn't touch this stuff lest you want to disturb the souls of the dead," Kaplan huffs.
Jessamy looks nervous.
"Um, do you think that's a problem? I mean, it's just sitting here. It seems like it'd be a waste to ... well, waste it."
"I'm sure some collectors would pay a pretty penny for this harpsichord. Of course, getting it out of here would be a pain," Ventus leans in to get a good look at the charts clutched in the dead man's hand.
"Uh, Captain? If you're lingering here, sorry for coming aboard without permission and all, we wanted to know how your ship ended up here. If you have a problem with me taking those charts out of your hand to look at, please speak now."
"Well, I just get a sense that it could lead to no good," Kaplan muses. "If you're willing to risk it, I'll support you."
Kaplan shrugs. He wasn't in charge here nor did he want to be. Even mistakes can be good.
The skeleton remains silent and inanimate.
Jessamy shrugs.
"Maybe it's not worth it. Let's go try to find Myriana. That's why we came here, after all."
"Bugger," Ventus breathed and pulled the navigation charts out of the former Captain's hand.
The charts easily come free at Ventus's efforts. The skeleton's hand seems to relax as the papers are relieved.
"Where were you going Captain?" Ventus asks the skeleton as he gives the papers a quick look over, trying to figure out just what the ship's route had been.
Jessamy hops up and doing, looking over Ventus' shoulder as she tries to glance at the map.
Kaplan peers upwards at the charts in Ventus' hands.
The currents, landmasses, and star-headings on the charts are all wrong. Whatever seas these nautical charts are suppose to provide guidance to, they're not on Golarion. In fact, it's doubtful they could work anyplace except a dream.
"I'd say this was nonsense, but I've already seen enough to know that there may be something to this," Kaplan grunts. "Maybe Myriana can explain."
"Onward then?" Ventus asked, returning the charts to the skeleton as best he could.
Pirknok moves across the cabin from where he'd been examining the other furnishings, and peers at the charts and instrument dubiously.
With what Pirknok's learned about other worlds across the past few months, it certainly seems possible these are charts for the seas of another plane. Which specific plane is unknown to him.
Pirknok grunts softly, trying to understand what he's seeing and put it together with what he's been learning. "Maybe..." he begins, taking the time to enunciate as he thinks of his teachers in Sandpoint, "maybe they're for anuhther wurld? Ah dunno how they got here, though... an' it doesn't have anythin' ta do with us, anyhow. Let's go."
The party exits the mysterious ship and returns to the swamp outside. Visibly relieved, Yap zips over. ”What did you see inside?”
The dwarf shrugs. "Sum instruments an' sum kind of charts fer ocean travelin'."
Yap points and gasps. ”Where did it go!?”
Sure enough, the section of swamp where the displaced vessel was, is now completely empty.
Pirknok's eyes widen and he shakes his head. "Sum kind of magicks goin' on... I don't like this. C'mon, let's hurry to yer mistress. Can ya tell us more uhbout her?"
”She has hair like spun gold and skin so smooth it could be marble. Some say she’s so beautiful that looking at her is like staring into the sun!”
”Well… that’s how she used to look. She’s different now”, the tiny fey says sadly.
"How long's she bin... diffrent?" asks the dwarf, wondering at the description and the circumstances around this creature's request. "Can't you go fin' thuh missing man like you found us?"
"Holy Cayden's Cups!" Jessamy swears as the boat disappears. "Good thing we weren't on that! Or was it really real at all?"
With no one else seeming concerned, she settles in to listen to Yap.
"What's she look like now?"
"She looks the same but sadder... and deader..."
Yap shakes his head at Pirknok. ”He could be anywhere! I tried talking to my mistress about him but she’s too sad to talk to me. She needs help!”
Pirknok shrugs his burly shoulders and trudges on, unsure what else there is to be said. I wonder what we're supposed to do to help... I don't think he knows either.
"Well, we'll help her," Jessamy says, with more confidence than she really feels.
Somehow...
Pressing on, the party ventures farther still into the hostile swamp...
Eventually, the tangled swamp gives way to a relatively large clearing, a calm pool of unnaturally still water ringed by twisted, decayed willow trees. Wind blows, but the trees do not sway. It is as if the very land has died.
Yap nervously zips back and forth in the air. "She's in there but I dare not get any closer. I can't bear to see what's she's become!"
Kaplan nods. "We'll see to it, Yap."
Jessamy waits nervously.
"Um, do you think she's going to attack us, Yap? We don't want to hurt her, but if we have to defend ourselves... Is there some way we can let her know you sent us?"
"She knows", Yap explains. "She sees everything that happens here. She's waiting for you."
Pirknok purses his lips grimly and nods, then steps forward to enter the clearing.
Kaplan believes the swamp is under the effect of a dire curse, the likes of which only the mightiest of witches or those with a spiritual tie to the land (like powerful fey) could perform. With time, the curse will poison and kill everything within the area.