The Peninsula

Hex: The Peninsula, 5am
A narrow peninsula dotted with shells and pristine sand.

You come to and immediately feel give on the earth beneath your feet. It’s soft, and shifts away under pressure. You raise a hand to block the harsh burst of morning sunlight until your eyes adjust. Looking around, you sea beach for miles. And ocean for further than that, in almost all directions. Overhead, sea birds circle and squawk. You also see each other. Five unfamiliar faces in a circle upon the sand. A distant rumble breaks your reckoning with the situation.

All of you recognize that a storm is brewing just off the coast, but the experienced among you feel certain it will be nothing more than rain and noise. Still, in unfamiliar land, even the minor can turn dangerous if precautions aren’t taken. To your East, the beach stretches further still, and in the distance you can see mounds of sand peppering the beach. To the North, your vision is mostly blocked, as the beach turns quickly away out of view, but you get that sense that it continues. To the North East, a tree line greets you. A thick canopy of jungle awaits.

Yuè-Lung, your familiar casts off. It flies high, widening and widening its circle above you, trying to spot anything that would be of interest. Unfortunately, the thick jungle canopy blocks much of the hawk’s view in that direction. It does spot mounds of sand that appear to be moving of their own will, not too far from your location. It can’t quite make out what they are. The mounds will require closer inspection.

In addition, to the north, a few hours travel away, it spots the sails of a large ship, a ways out on the ocean. Atop the ship flies a black flag. A white skull stands out against the black.

After an hours flight, your familiar returns to you.

Rigo, you spend an hour combing the beach. You find two things of interest. First, you find several abandoned burrows dotted around the coast. Inside are the skeletal remains of small animals, birds and, in one, the body of a small humanoid. The burrows have been abandoned, as best as you can tell. At least in this part of the beach.

Secondly, just as you are about to give up your search, you stumble across a wooden crate. It’s almost completely buried in the sand. You find one, and another, and another. What seem to be supplies, in crates, left on the beach. The tide has washed over them multiple times, and the wood is gritted with sand and small pieces of shell.

Rigo uses his crowbar to open crates to get a look at what’s inside.

The Peninsula - 6am

Rigo, you remove crowbar from your pack and slide it under the lid of the first crate. Your face begins to contort with the effort and then...

DING DONG DING DONG

A chime rings out across what feels like the entire island. A bell, or a clock, or maybe both. It’s 6am.

You return to your task. ccccrraaack...
The first crate is pried open. A stench immediately hits your nose. Rotten fruit. A crate full, all stewing in its own juice from the hot sun. Another crate. Fish. Another. Large eggs. Spoiled food, for the most part. You do find one or two eggs that you think would service as supper. As your brush down the crates and remove them from the sand dune built up around them, you see an insignia on the side. A large black circle, painted on the wood. Within it, a large black hook. It’s tip is painted blood red.

A final crate. You pry it open. What looks like canvas, or tarp. Supplies for shelter. Some of the wooden poles are wet from sea water, but you think it will service well enough for the storm that will be blowing in, especially if built among the tree-line.

Yuè-Lung and Sylvar, the chiming rings all around you. It fills the air, and you’re sure you can feel it in your feet too, coming from the earth. Sylvar, you find no animals outside their burrow at the chiming hour, not on this beach, and for good reason...

Yuè-Lung, as you’re looking at the approaching storm, reckoning the time you have to find or craft shelter (you estimate you have an hour before it arrives at your location), you see the very thing that has caused the wildlife to remain in their burrows.

Sylvar, you see it too. On the peninsula, at the point where the land juts furthest into the sea, you see a figure appear. The second the first chime rings, the figure appears on the sandy beach, and steps towards the ocean. One step, two, three. It begins to wade into the water. It’s hands cover it’s face. It’s shoulders bob up and down. And then you hear it. The mournful, deep weeping. It weeps for only a moment. The chiming stops. The ghostly figure looks directly at the party. And at once, it is gone...

Sylvar peers as far inland as he can see. He can hear commotion in the forest. Animals squawk, and chirp. Not all life is quiet on the island. It seems localized to the beach, and only briefly while the ghost wails on the water. A moment after the figure disappears, the sea birds screech back into life. Drawn by the crates that Rigo has opened, they begin to gather in clumps around the rotten food supplies, not as bothered by the stench as your party. If you make your way to where the figure was on the beach, you find nothing. No footprints. No depressions in the sand where the figure stood. Sylvar spots a clump of trees that would make good shelter. It’s about 30 minutes walk for all party members to get there while carrying the supplies for camp.

If you follow Sylvar and help Rigo with supplies, I’ll need a perception check from all of you.

Sylvar, your companions are busying themselves with heavy work of moving the supplies across the beach. The lute player is busy leading the march, strumming a tune. Yuè is pensively watching the approaching storm. He thinks you have about 30 minutes to make a shelter once you reach the trees. Rigo sets the supplies down on the beach to take a short breather. But you, Sylvar, you see it. As you march across the beach, you notice an almost imperceptible bobbing in the sand. You look again, to double check. Yes, you’re sure you can see what look like trap doors opening a hairs breadth. Out of one you notice a long spindly leg jutting our, rearing back to strike. You just have time to shout a warning to your companions, before mounds of sand explode all around you. The leg shoots over the head of the lute player, as he ducks his head. The element of surprise gone, five broad and flat giant sand spiders burst from their trap like burrows, intent on making a meal out of you the hard way.

The corpse found in an abandoned burrow earlier is a warning of what will become of you, should the spiders have their way. Order of Combat
Spiders (3)
Rigo
Spiders (2)
Sylvar
Erikkson
Yuè-Lung
Ivory

One spider is going to burst forth and barrel down the beach at Erikkson. When it reaches him, it rears up on its back six legs, and stabs out with both front legs.

A second spider will scuttle it’s way to Rigo. It will try to sweep him with its powerful front legs, and follow up with a bite.

Sylvar, the spider that missed its easy meal because of your warning screeches. It’s a high pitched whining squeal. It barges past the two remaining spiders and tries to grab you.