1: What a strange view

The bug crawls around on Leo, until it finds a place that does not move too much. Then it jams its mandibles into his bare flesh. There is not that much pain, almost non, but a tiny piece of flesh is missing and blood starts to flow. There are a lot more bugs visible in the hallway now...

Takeshi watched the exchanges underway. He pauses to correct himself, "The whole ship may not be segmented, but the ceiling of this infested hall appears to act as covers to allow the sailors to raise and lower cargo into the hold. The righthand door may lead to the hold proper, though this abundance of insects bodes ill for what may reside there."

He notes the firbolg's plight and remarks, Shall we rid ourselves of the swarm? I believe we would do well in not feeding them with our flesh."

He recites an incantation, but he refrains from releasing the energy. Meanwhile, he mentally instructed his tressym to maintain its distance. He did not wish to part with Akio so soon...

Nirion watches the bugs uneasily, remembering the infestation of boring beetles that nearly destroyed the great oak housing the library when he was young.
We would do well to rid ourselves of them quickly. I've a spell that might help...if my magic behaves

A bug does crawl up Takeshi's foot and he kills it with his mind and as Nirion draws in power to form a spell, bugs come rushing in from everywhere. As they near Nirion you can all see their carapaces glows as they are in contact with the wild mana.

There are hundreds crawling out of the woodwork straight towards you.

At first they were cute, but anything in that number is terrifying. Without much ability to affect many creatures at once, Leo stands in the center of the hallway and yells out to the incoming bugs (with Speech of Beast and Leaf) "Hey listen, little fellas! We're not here to hurt you! We're a little lost, any help would be great from you guys!" Leo hears Takeshi yell out about the cargo hold to the right and backs up towards the door, trying to open it as he is yelling out.

I think they want our magic.... he stops channeling the spell and backs toward the indicated cargo hold.

As the wave of bugs rolls in, Khezzik quickly tries the door in front of him.

Death of a thousand bites was entirely possible when you were only prepared for one or two. Nirion seemed to have the way of it as the beast were attracted to magic. Choosing not to cast Turner bolted down the path cleared by Thunderwave to what she hoped would be an insect free room.

Takeshi squares off and sends a thunderwave down the hallway. Bugs splatter and the wave is thrown back.
But. They. Keep. Comming

They bite into Takeshi's feet, legs, chest as they crawl up him. So fare they are only biting into his clothes.


Khezzik opens the door into the room on the other side of the hallway. The door seems heavy, as he is pushing something lying just behind the door. The door half-open, he can see it is another crew cabin just for one. There are some more bugs in here, most of them are smaller in size, but they all come rushing out. Especially from just behind the door. Khezzik have a glimpse of some bundle of colorful clothes.

I am out of ideas...I don't think any of you mentioned being a druid did you?

Leo is struggling with the heavy door, but it gives. Inside is a big dark hallway, that seems to open into a larger room. The cargo hold.

Leo nearly falls as he finally pushes the door open, and is somewhat pleasantly surprised that his lanky arms were able to open that secure of a door. However, he quickly realizes that he can't see that far into the dark hallway. He uses Druidcraft to cause a small burst of harmless, gentle flames to burst out from his hands, illuminating the ground just before him. If there are no great masses of strange colorful bugs immediately visible, Leo will call out to the others,

"I can't see very far, but I think we should go this way!"

If everyone else follows, he will run in that direction. As they run down the hall, Leo searches the bag that was at the end of his bed for a torch. If there is one within he will cast Druidcraft again to light it as they traverse down the hallway.

Nirion will follow. terrified of what the strange bugs will do with his unstable magic. He dashes into the cargo hold, following behind Leo.
He squints, hoping his elven eyes can see in the darkness beyond

The elf mentally commands Akio, fly for the hold!

He then backs towards the hold while unleashing another thunderous wave. The scholar calls to the others, "Head inside! I shall continue to throw back the swarms!"

Takeshi flowed like an ancient spring, supple despite his age. The venerable wizard repeated his arcane gestures and another crack of thunder rumbled within the ship's bowels. The energy surged over the bolstered swarms, offering another brief outlet for the group to fall back into the hold. The wizard took his own opening to enter the darkened hallway.

Khezzik claps his hands over his ears as he runs toward the cargo hold. "Too loud! Too many bugs!"

As the magic forms again, all the bugs kneel down, raising their backend. It looks coordinated, and when the magic is released their carapaces glows and thunderwave glides over them. Several bugs are smashed to goo, by the shock wave, but they hold their ground.

Turner is the last one in, and she closes the door with a boom. 3 bugs manage to get inside, but they are no threat to your massive boots and sandals.

You are standing in a large dark room. At the moment your only light source is Leo's glowing hand. From this light, he finds a lantern and light it.

Those without darkvision can now see.
Just behind the heavy door you entered is a small room, that can be lock from the outside. This is the brig.
In the cargo hold are some barrels, boxes, rope but most interesting, is a large chest. 50x160x30 centimeters



On the chest lies a pen and a note. The note seems to be a transcript of the symbols around the chest.A quick examination of the other crates, reveals iron rations (biscuits and preserved meat) and water. You are not going to die of thirst or hunger anytime soon, but you won't enjoy it.

Khezzik examines the chest to see if he can determine its mechanism, then looks at the note and furrows his brow for a few seconds.

"Yes, good," he says, "So much easier when people leave instructions on how to open their safe just lying around. Let us try."

Experimentally, he twists the left side of the chest upwards, and the right side downwards.