PROLOGUE
Christopher Perry barrel maker extraordinaire, sat nibbling his pinky nail. Watch was boring as hell since Commander Hannik and the other lads had taken care of the roving packs of undead. What could he do anyway if something did happen, he felt in his heart that he was a bit of a coward, not a warrior just a damn good cooper. He kicked his feet and whistled to himself and thought to himself, that it would be better in a few days when the walls were erected with the vines that Bootjack and the others had gathered.
A few minutes later Kendrick walked down the pier stifling a yawn with his hand. Perry smiled and wished Kendrick a good morning. The sky was starting to turn mauve as the sun began to think about rising. Perry stood and began the walk down the pier. Slash walked past him and nodded, heading to relieve the other watch.
They both heard it at the same time. A loud snarl and Kendrick crying out. He looked over and saw a large lizard like creature standing over a face down Kendrick. He could see blood oozing from several cuts on the young boy. The creature pawed at Ken a few more times seeming confused, before gathering him up in his mouth and barreling out into the jungle. Perry was stunned, it had moved so fast.
He shouted for Slash to sound the alarm, and tore into the jungle trying to find Kendrick. He ran as fast as he could sprinting through the trees in the direction he had seen the creature last moving and after a while he could see the creature ahead of him. It ran over the top of a hill and through some brush. Perry drew his knife, and moved forward cautiously. He caught some movement off to his left, and he slowly went down the hill and pushed through the shrubs. The creature turned back and stared and at him for a moment then bolted again through the brush.
Perry immediately attempted to bolt after the creature, but found he couldn’t move his legs. He looked down in time to see stone climbing up his chest and into his mouth. The last thought that went through his head was that his tongue felt so dry, and just like that, Christopher Perry, barrel maker extraordinaire was turned to stone.
Episode 6
The party was awakened to the ships bell being rapidly rung, sounding the alarm. Everyone got up rapidly and rushed to find out what had happened. They soon found out from the few remaining crew members that Kendrick had been snatched into the jungle by some large lizard like creature. Slash had sounded the alarm and Christopher Perry had stormed into the jungle to try to get him back alone. The party gathered their supplies and headed off into the jungle in search of their shipmates, with so many dead already they could not afford to lose more people.
They ran through the jungle Hannik and Wulfhelm alternating tracking the beast. After some time following the trail, they came upon a humanoid statue, they recognized as Perry. Disheartening as it was they couldn’t afford to lose another member of the crew.
After travelling a bit longer they came to a gully, inside the gully were scattered and broken stone remains of many creatures. The party found a small cave at the bottom of the gully, and approached it. They entered stealthily and inside found the large lizard like creature lording over its recently captured prey. Kendrick appeared to be unconscious still. The creature didn’t notice the party. Blake searched his memory banks for any information he could glean regarding this creature and he seemed to recall a creature that could turn things to stone with just its gaze. Hannik handed Wulfhelm a burlap bag and told him to get it on the creatures head so they could fight it safely. Wulf grabbed the bag and snuck up behind the creature, pouncing on it and getting the bag over its maw and eyes. The creature began to thrash around and tried to claw at Wulf, but he managed to hold strong keeping the bag over the creatures head. With the creatures prime means of defense, the party made short work of him.
Kendrick was recovered and the party returned to the city. Another expedition was mounted to recover Perry’s stone body. The party decided that getting walls up was the new priority and spent the next several days ensuring that the walls rose and were secure.
The party decided it was time to check the lighthouse and see if they could find their lost sister ship perhaps by using it.