deercountry | he ate my heart

he ate my heart

AUGUST 2022 EVENT

EXTRA WARNING:

IMAGE DESCRIPTORS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE
Prompt One
[Image One: The shore line lit up by some sort of bioluminescent organism. ]
[Image Two: A sunken pirate ship covered in algae, seaweed, and suffering from wood rot. ]

Prompt Two
[Image One: A tentacle wrapping around a persons hand. ]
[Image Two: A close up of someone's shoulder which is turning black and cracked and dripping water. ]

Prompt Three
[Image One: A statue of a human face, split in half, with a golden devil mask between the two halves. ]
[Image Two: A number of golden hands reaching up for a white sphere. ]

[NAVIGATION]

Prompt 1 • Prompt 2 • Prompt 3 • Plotting • Newsletter

[JUMP TO COMMENTS]

WE GLOW SO DIM

WHEN: August
WHERE: The Ocean
CONTENT WARNINGS: Deep diving, possible drowning, possible death

Early on in the month, the waves start to have a strange look to them. They seem a little brighter, even at night, and it's then that it hits you: the waves are glowing. It's easy to at first to brush it off as the bioluminescence of certain types of plankton, but the way it moves and sparkles has an other-worldly quality to it that can't be explained by science. Those who look even closer at the glow will notice that it seems to be forming some sort of path into the watery depths.

Those who choose to follow the path despite the angry waves and awful storms that plague the seas this month will find that the ocean seems to be at its calmest along these illuminated, watery roads. Diving down to follow them won't require any equipment, as Sleepers will find that staying within the glowing path allows them to breathe under water when they might normally not have been able to. The pressure changes don't seem to be impacting anyone who follows the light either, allowing them access to deeper depths of the ocean than may have previously been explored.

Continuing to follow the path will lead Sleepers to a series of ship wrecks under the water. These ancient vessels are rotted and covered in seaweed, but anyone who is familiar with the cultures of Earth will notice that they seem to come from all over the world and their styles vary by multiple centuries. But all the ships seem to be covered in this same, strange glow that has brought people here.

Exploring the ships will lead to multiple different discoveries. There are chests filled with ancient artifacts: carvings of squids, statues of various sea creatures that feel a little off somehow, and stones carved with a strange text that is almost impossible to decipher. The artifacts are covered in strange, rust-looking stains that penetrate deep into the materials they're made of. These artifacts can be brought back to shore, and if someone were to try and ask the Trenchies what the writing said, they would only be able to say that these are clearly texts of the Old Ones from long before any recorded history that Trench has in its Archives. When asked about the sea creatures, they'll think it's obvious: these are Mariana's various forms from over the years. The off qualities are her unique takes as a Pthumerian on the creatures of the ocean.

Prolonged exposure to these statues of Mariana will cause people to become more bluntly honest, more open with their emotions, and often much more prone to large outbursts from said emotions, both good and bad. However, Sleepers who keep these statues near them will also find that they are able to keep more control of their blood powers. It's up to each individual if it's a worthy trade off.

If you leave the path, two things can happen: Sleepers will either turn into their squid selves and can continue to swim or they will drown. There will be nothing of interest outside of these paths, just typical ocean creatures, and maybe some of those monsters that have been crawling out of the watery depths as of late.

[JUMP TO TOP] • [JUMP TO COMMENTS]

MONSTER WITHIN

WHEN: August
WHERE: All over
CONTENT WARNINGS: Body horror, mentions of potential cannibalism/vore, possible death, contagious curse

Soon after people start to explore the ships, a strange occurrence will start to sweep through the city. Locals start to mutter something about a curse, one that seems to only be impacting Sleepers. The early signs that there's something off is an increase in strength and stamina. For example, Sleepers will find that they might go to pick up a chair or a mug and it shatters in their hands. Some people may find that they are incapable of sleeping. Others might find they're able to move quicker and for longer periods than normal.

If they look themselves over, they will start to find small patches of skin that have started to gray and blacken. These patches will be cracked, almost scaley, and will be consistently damp no matter how hard you try to dry them off. As time passes, this odd rash will start to spread, taking over more and more of the body. The torso might start to swell and distort, making Sleepers feel particularly top heavy. And eventually, suckers will start to form on the arms and legs.

This curse isn't beasthood in its usual forms; instead, it seems to be some sort of malady in of the magical blood that Sleepers have been granted. If the blood of an infected Sleeper is looked at under a microscope, there will be black patches clinging to the cells, similar to the patches that people see on their skin. If it isn't stopped, the person suffering from the curse will ultimately turn into a monstrous form of their squid-selves: these monster forms are large, aggressive, and able to move on land. They will feel a hunger for destruction and some Sleepers may find in these forms that they are only satisfied if they feed on other, uncursed Sleepers.

There are two ways to lift the curse. One is through a thorough blood transfusion with a blood type that is compatible with your own. This becomes more difficult to do the closer to the monstrous form people get, both due to aggression from the curse, and also due to the fact that the black patches of skin are highly difficult to puncture. Once the blood is completely replaced by fresh blood, the skin patches will disappear over 48 hours and the Sleeper will be left feeling thoroughly exhausted.

The second way to lift the curse is through death. While these monster squid forms are difficult to kill, it is not impossible, and they are particularly susceptible to magic over weapons. Once a Sleeper has died, they can be reborn, and their blood will be completely free of the curse.

The blood malady can be spread outside of those who come into contact with the ship wrecks. People who touch a cursed Sleeper, particularly the scaley patches of skin, will also run the risk of being cursed. It takes roughly a week for the signs of the curse to show, and can spread as slowly or as rapidly as players choose.

[JUMP TO TOP] • [JUMP TO COMMENTS]

LAVISH DESIRES

WHEN: August
WHERE: All over
CONTENT WARNINGS: Personality changes, mental manipulation, hoarding, obsessive anxiety, disassociation, depersonalization

The high waves seem to just be getting higher at the beginning of the month. Rougher and rougher seas start to cause something anyone who's lived around water will be familiar with: flash floods. These floods are large, powerful, and fill the streets of Trench. First-floors of buildings may get extreme damage, though they can be protected with physical and magical barriers if people are smart about it. The floods happen multiple times throughout the month without warning, so it may be good to get that protection built up sooner rather than later.

The after effects of these floods aren't just structural devastation though. People who get caught up in the water, particularly those who end up swallowing it, will have one word echoing in their mind on a regular basis: More.

More of what? That seems to be different for each individual. Maybe one person wants more and more food, anything from an extra slice of cake after dinner, to wanting to stuff themselves until they just might pop. Or maybe they want to hoard all of their favorite objects or pieces of clothing, filling more and more of the space in their homes until they're ready to burst at the seems. Some might find it's their emotions that come in excess, with over the top anger, or irregular excitement that leaves them unable to sleep for days. Anything and everything can come in excess and it certainly seems to be this month. Some people may get these obsessive needs to such a degree that they start to feel disconnected from themselves, fractured by the overabundance that has taken over their lives.

If people ignore these desires, they'll start to find they're plagued by hallucinations. Strong, life-like visions that riddle them with anxiety and leave them petrified of what might happen if they don't partake in this gluttonous behavior. They'll feel shaken to the core and slowly go mad with need and desire for whatever it is they've been craving. This feeling of madness can make them become violent, lashing out at those around them, even killing those who try and help them out of belief that they're trying to force them to give in to their vices.

The impact of the water will wear off either after one week without re-exposure, or by using a Moon Drop to help to cleanse the mind.

[JUMP TO TOP]

CODING

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I've got pockets." Sure, they might be smaller pockets, but he can figure something out. It's not going to be an issue. He's got a cape, after all... he can always gather things up in that.

When Dabi sends in a flame he has to try to not laugh. Silly Dabi... he takes out his omni and lets the glow from the device light up the cabin. There's the tattered remains of a bed and another chest. He swims over to it, bypassing the captain's desk for the moment.

"Locked. Again." He doesn't bother waiting for Dabi and instead kicks the thing with the heel of his boot, breaking it open. Inside are more stones with the same sort of writing on them and a few more statues of sea life in strange and twisted forms. "... Odd that they'd protect these so well..."

"Big pockets." Those weren't exactly yen-sized statues in there. Dabi might hang around, mostly to see Nara'a slogging out of the water with chunks of rock bulging out of his pants legs. But there's none of that going on right now.

Oy. He's only testing. This water lets them breathe in it; why not see if it also provides that "oxygen" to other things. But the glow of the omni rewards his efforts and Dabi brings his own out to start shining it around the room. He heads for the captain's desk immediately. There's a skeleton behind it... Bones-san.

"That either means they're valuable and someone was comin back for them. Or they're dangerous and ya shouldn't be messin with 'em."

With that, he starts messing with the captain's desk, pulling open drawers and finally getting to a locked on. There are a few notable things in the desk. Buckles and fasteners for journals and logbooks with the papers long-gone, bottles of liquid still stoppered, a flintlock pistol, two daggers, navigation tools, and other odds and ends a captain would want in his desk.

"Dibs on the stuff over here." Yep, like a little kid. DIBS! S'mine!

He can move with bulk in his pockets, he's done it before. His pockets and bags at home tend to be filled with the most random stuff imaginable.

The bones don't bother him - he almost starts to go through the motions to pray to Thal out of habit but then aborts the gesture. He beat up the god of commerce and the underworld, why would he offer a prayer? He shakes his head and drifts over towards the desk, looking it over. ... He wonders if the Admiral has similar in her desk. She's definitely got at least the ammo for pistols stored away, given her penchant for wearing two of them.

He pulls his focus back to the present and looks at the chest, scooping out one of the rocks with weird writing and looking it over. Still no luck in terms of finding any sort of language he knows about. "It might be something of religious value? I know a lot of cultures make icons of their gods. This could be the same. And people tend to want to protect those sorts of things."

It makes sense - these things are sea creature-like and the people here have a big focus on the sea. He'll have to confirm later, but he's studied enough religion to know a few things. "Or it could be things that they stole from other people and didn't want people to steal from them. But I don't know why you'd steal things like this..."

There's a difference if he's going to magically make said pockets and their belongings lighter than air. Versus lugging around small boulders in said pockets. Dabi's... expecting the former will be the case. The guy's some kinda wizard.

"Hn. That would fit with the theme of this place. There are a lot of gods wandering around here." Making a mess of things, though admittedly some of them try to help. Dabi hasn't paid much attention to them, having dismissed the notion of things like "gods" a long time ago. It's little more than some creature or person with a lot of power pushing their rules and ideas onto people weaker than them. So long as you can do that, you can call yourself a "god" over anything below you.

"Some people pay a lot of money for what they think is a one-of-a-kind relic. These could be cheap knock off copies of something that's supposed to be rare." It might explain why it's a bunch of stone statues of sea things, which honestly look more at home decorating someone's garden than sitting around in a museum or private collection. That's Dabi's opinion at least.

He starts setting the contents of the desk on top of the furniture. The two locked drawers finally get broken open, with some help from his underwater blowtorch (piss off, Nara's; his fire is useful even underwater). What he pulls out of those...

"I'll take these." And drops a small chest on the desk as well as two stuffed, albeit modest, sacks of what sound like coins when they hit the desk top.

"There are. I still don't know all of them..." He's not even certain which is his - as far as he's concerned his only patron is Thaliak, the Scholar. Whatever this place has assigned him doesn't really matter. As for the 'gods' around here... none of them seem to be draining aether from the land, so as far as he's concerned they're not his responsibility to try to kill.

Money? He's not sure... the trading system in Trench seems to value bartering for useful things rather than shiny things, but maybe it's from a pre-bartering system. Or maybe they're from far away... his thoughts get interrupted by the sound of coins hitting a desk, and he sighs. Dabi claimed the desk's contents and he's not about to push it... not right now, at least.

And his earlier thought about money still stands. There's not much use for it other than as something shiny. "You've got a lot to haul back. You sure you can make it with all this stuff?" He's not planning a return trip, so he's got to pick and choose which things to take. "I'm not sure how well you can swim carrying all of that."

Dabi has his written down in the book that was in his pack when he found it at the beginning, but has given little thought to it since them. He isn't sure whether the gods in this place are for or against them, whether they're behind all the shit they have to deal with or if it's entirely out of their power. Survival is a better use of his time than trying to figure out how this crazy world works. Not that he'd be against murdering them if it got them back home.

Money is only useful for the "shiny" things, which Dabi sometimes finds a purveyor for. His first trade here was for shiny rocks rather than anything all that "useful" in terms of bartering. But in this place, a bar of gold can be traded and a fresh chicken can be traded. All it matters if finding which the other person wants. Easy enough. Besides, you never know what comes in handy.

"I can managed." So far he's got two meager bags of coins, a flinklock pistol, and whatever's in this small chest that he's working on trying to open. A few other things scatter across the desk, but those three are currently Dabi's interest. "I ain't the one wantin to lug around a buncha rocks."

"Good." He's not going to haul things for Dabi since he's sure that Dabi wouldn't haul things for him. "How much ammo's in those pistols?" He's a little curious about them - he's not brought his machinist job stone, but he doesn't need it to have knowledge of how a gun works. ... Some guns, at least. "Wonder if there's any more around here..."

The chest opens and reveals... a heart-shaped locket. There's a faded engraving - a picture of some woman. There's nothing very noteworthy about her. Nara'a floats over and looks at the locket. "I wonder if you could get that engraving worn off or filled in... it could be worth something to someone sentimental."

The only pictures he's ever had are sketches or paintings, not something like that. But he doesn't have anyone who he'd put in a locket like that. That doesn't mean that other people here don't. It's a good find, though he doesn't care too much about the value of objects here aside from the historical. He's got everything that he needs, for the most part. He doesn't really want for more.

"I think some of the rocks are repeats... it must be some kind of prayer or standardized chant that people used to use."

Aww, and here he thought they were pals enough he could entice Nara'a into being his little pack mule. Right. Dabi arches a brow at the questions, as well as what's revealed inside the chest. If it were some moldy old photo, that'd've been one thing, but an actual engraving inside the locket? Rather unique. It reeks of sentimentality too. "Dunno... might keep it the way it is. Unique." And when it comes to trading, "unique" is as key as "useful" when cash isn't much preferred.

"Probably. Ships like these usually have some kinda armory to keep the weapons." He's expecting swords and maybe some more guns, but the shit the captain owns is likely the highest class. As for the ammo, Dabi sweeps around behind the captain's desk and kicks the skeleton right off the chair with a watery clatter. Then sits himself down in it (testing first to make sure he won't send himself crashing through to the floor) and kicks his feet up on the desk.

He starts working on the guns, figuring out in a short time where to find the ammo. "Looks like two or three shots..." The gunpowder section is completely sealed up, so it might even be dry. But he's pretty sure even if it was wet, he could find a way to get the guns working again. Dabi fishes around in his pocket and pulls out a small pouch. Moleskin if curious. ~~Yep, right outta Harry Potter thanks to the caves a month ago.~~

He opens it and drops in the locket. Then starts sliding the coins in. It's probably soon very apparent something's going on with that pouch because there's no way all those coins would fit inside it without some major stuffing. And Dabi's just dropping them in like a personal piggy bank.

"Ya think they're ceremonial things? Might wanna be careful. That shit's usually cursed." In books and movies at least.

"That's true. I was just thinking that whoever got it might want to put in their own picture, but I guess a photo would cover it up anyway." Photos are handy... he's not sure exactly how you make one that you can hold, but he's seen a few around. Something to consider... but it's still nice.

He's about to object to Dabi kicking the skeleton, but then it's on the floor and he sighs. He wanders over to it and picks it up, tucking it into a corner for now. Even if he doesn't have much respect for the god of the dead anymore he still has respect for the dead themselves. You never know when you'll find their spirit hanging around as a monster...

"Two or three shots... probably a decent kick to them too, given the way the gun looks. It probably doesn't use ceruleum or an aetherconverter so it's got to have some way of igniting it... maybe I'll grab one if I see another one, just to take it apart and tinker with it." He's gotten his guns to fire ridiculous things before - with the help of aether, yes, but a lot of the mechanical skill is still him with his own two hands.

He watches the pouch with interest... gods, he's got to get one of those sorts of things. It seems more useful than just having a bunch of pockets sewn into his clothing or a heavy sack to carry around. "Yes, I think they are. But I doubt they're cursed... people don't usually put curses on things without a good reason, and I can't imagine why someone would want to curse an idol or a prayer that they actually use..."

"Some people got cameras around here, so maybe. This place ain't too big on tech." Dabi gives the pouch a toss in the air, watching it float through the water before catching it out of the lazy arc. And goes back to slotting the rest of the coins into it. No plans on putting anything inside the locket, however. Keepin it as is for now.

Oy, don't defend a skeleton's honor; it's dead and couldn't give less of a shit. One of the arms comes off when Nara'a messes with it (and the man might notice a pistol dangling from its rotten coat inside an equally eroded holster). Of course the idea had flashed through his mind the skeleton might react to getting kicked. But guess that's not happening.

"Nah, it'd use somethin called gunpowder from the looks of it." Certainly wasn't something modern like you'd see in his world. Didn't eve know what those things were that Nara'a listed, so he's tossing them up to "magic world" shit. "Could probably find some more around here." The potential, hypothetical armory might still on the ship. Dabi slips the tip of the pistol into the pouch and more or less pulls the pouch over it like you'd pull a glove or a sock on. Gets the gun inside without an issue. And then the second one.

Sorry, Dabi's not willing to trade his pouch for even that stone he's coveted from Nara'a since their first (or second) meeting. It's far to useful for him. He's kept his eyes out for more like it during events and beach-combing trips. "Some booby trap against someone stealing somethin they use often. Like givin the robber the middle finger from afar."

"Maybe. You'd have a better idea than I would about the technology here." Then again Eorzea has technology too... just different sorts. A lot of magical technology... and that's not even counting other places.

Nara'a does indeed notice the pistol and he slips the gun into a pocket, rifling through to see if there's any other goodies in the pockets. "Ah, like firesand, maybe? I've seen some of the guns in Limsa Lominsa use that. I'm not too familiar with it myself." He's not very good at blacksmithing. It's been a little bit of a failing of his - he wants to know how to maintain his weapons and armor, but hasn't really gotten into that sort of crafting.

"Booby traps? Mm. I've been the... ah. Victim of some of those. Usually while going into ancient tombs and things like that. Not places where death happened by accident. Those tend to have monsters rather than traps. At least in my experience... it's likely different here." He's also not had a lot of trouble with traps... he tends to either avoid them or take them pretty well.

"Nothin's gonna happen so long as they're wet." Dabi knows that much about guns. Not about to waste bullets underwater either. These don't look to be cutting edge pistols in the first place. Still taking them with him just in case.

The holster almost crumbles when Nara'a goes for the gun, pieces floating off easily as the man pulls the captain's sidearm to himself. It's not hard to put in his pocket. There's an old compass in one pocket, though the needle seems to continue flipping around, suggesting it can't find "north" that well in Trench. A few gold pieces. A set of keys. Some papers that long-since rotted away. And a rather nice stickpin on the inside of the coat.

"Dunno what firesand is. But sounds kinda similar from the name alone." Dabi's only got basic knowledge of guns, not having been allowed them as a child and not having much care or need for them as an adult.

"Same kinda idea. If someone thinks somethin's worth stealin, odds are they've thought about puttin traps in the way." From the littlest coin pouch in a locked desk to the trap-lined halls of a yakuza bunker.

The leather pieces don't bother him, but he frowns at the compass. That's... annoying, but he'll take it anyway. The stickpin is worth holding on to, as are the coins... but he holds up the keys. "Wonder what these go to? ... Maybe the stuff we kicked open."

"It's a powder that gets ignited by either a mechanism or aether and propels bullets. So if that's what gunpowder is then yes, probably the same." He's tinkered with them enough to figure out how they work and how to adapt them to his own fighting style... but it's a shame he didn't bring his gun with him. It's quite nice, if a little unconventional due to his modifications.

Traps in the way? He's not so sure. "True, but I suspect the sinking was unexpected. And unless they were setting traps for their crewmates, I don't think there's much to worry about." In his experience crews are much like families and trust each other as such - at least to a point. Then again some families are more dysfunctional than others...

He stands up once he's done with the skeleton, resisting the childish urge to put it in a funny pose to surprise the next person who finds it. He wanders over to a cabinet and pulls it open, revealing half-rotted coats. He tilts his head and stares at it a moment. "I bet I could fix some of these up and trade them..."

Maybe Trench doesn't have a "north" like they'd expect from their own worlds? Or it's just been down here so long shit's fucked it up. Who knows. Maybe it'll figure itself out once it's brought to the surface and cared for a bit. Or maybe it doesn't point north in the first place, hmm... Could be magical.

Dabi glances to the keys, then to the drawers he broke open on the desk. "Probably." So much for the patient way in. "Might be other things around the cabin. Like a safe." Don't captains usually have strong boxes locking things away? Finishing with scouring the desk-bound goods, the villain pushes out of the chair and starts to inspect the walls.

"Yeah, that's how gunpowder works. Modern guns don't use it though." It's done through other mechanisms and propulsion. The details of which Dabi is unable to offer Nara'a any learnable portions of. Let's see, there's a chest of drawers over here, and something that looks like a china cabinet or a curio cupboard. Oh, a door as well, but it's locked... even if they could probably kick it open.

Best he not engage Dabi in talk about dysfunctional families. "Got a locked door over here," he notes before rapping on said door with his knuckles. Just in time to see Nara'a start bundling around through a coat of clothes. Looks like something use to have a nest of some kind in there, but it's long gone now. "If they don't fall apart while you're bringin em to the surface."

Who knows? It's still holding on though, so it might be fixable. It's worth giving a shot.

"Maybe a safe... maybe it's in the floorboards." He starts taking a look, nudging things with his boot. It's a definite possibility. That's where He'd hide one at least... it'd make the most sense. Who'd look there? He's probably wrong, but eh.

"They might, but I could probably use the scraps. Nice material." It's worth trying at least one - he can always come back for more. "Anyway, here's the keys." He tosses them over to Dabi, throwing them a bit harder to compensate for the resistance of the water. "Better than wrecking up your shoes."

Sure, they're tough - but why spend the energy on it if you don't have to? All the more to drag stuff back with.

~~If you want, feel free to make it a "magical compass" for Nara'a's later usage.~~ Dabi's not about to tell the man to not take something he finds interesting.

He glances down at the floor. There are a lot of floorboards, but with a few steps or stomps, they should be able to test them easily enough. The toss of the keys gets Dabi floundering a bit in the water as he lunges for them, barely catching the ring on his finger before running an arm forward to propel himself back up. Better.

Taking the keys, with a brief grunt towards his shoes, he starts to test the metal pieces on the door. The first two don't work, but the third one does, fitting in the lock. Soon followed by a muted "clock" as the lock clicks open. Much better.

It swings away from the wall with a pull, revealing a secret room that seems to be a supply storage. There are a number of items here, ranging from precious to personal to pricey to potential... and more of those statues.

"Oy."

He doesn't laugh at Dabi's fumble, despite his strong desire to. He knows the other isn't going to take it well, and he'd rather not get into a fight underwater. Sure, he could win, but at what cost? He looks around as Dabi looks for compartments. One of the old jackets has an old pen in it, the feather half gone. Still, the nib looks fine - he can take it and fix it up later.

Nara'a turns around at the click and eyes the room, swimming over and looking inside. There's... a lot here. Odd glass orbs, more coins, and plenty of curious statues. Seems the captain was a bit of a hoarder. He shines a light inside and doesn't see anything... but when he sticks a hand in the storage there's a dart that shoots out. He ducks it and watches it embed into the wood on the other side of the cabin.

"Rude." He waves his hand inside again, but no more darts appear. He sighs and slips into the room, floating near the ceiling to get a good look at what they have. "Definitely too much to take with us." No books as far as he can see, but so many statues... just what do they mean?

About as well as he takes other mockery. Usually as apt to ignore it as he is to kill over it. Generally it's not worth the effort. He wouldn't expect mockery from Nara'a either, though a smile or laugh wouldn't surprise him. But neither happens and he's free to open the door without comment on his fumbling. It's somewhat of a pique to find and open a secret room. Guess you never completely outgrow the childish wonder of that event...

Dabi lets the other man go first, though quickly jerks to the side when something zips past. As "quick" as you can in the water like that. The dart sinks into the wood and he's left head turned looking at it with a bit of surprise. Not just that there was a trap, but that it still worked well enough to fire at them from only a hand being stuck inside.

"Didja snap a string or somethin?" Otherwise, that's a hell of a sensor...

Rude, he says. Dabi offers a bare 'hn' in callous agreement before following the other man into the room. Damn, coins... He immediately starts collecting the money. "Speak for yaself." He's not interested in dragging up statues. But he can make good work on the coins and glass orbs. Might be some jewelry or stuff in here too.

There's a small library somewhere on this ship, but they'll have to find it first.

"I think so... aha." There's a thin strand of some kind of string - just barely there. It looks like the thread was just barely hanging on when it got broken.

He's a little surprised there's no magic, but basic traps are their own kind of danger. He sighs and floats over to the pile and looks again, reaching in and grabbing what at first looks like something carved out of silver, but then reveals itself to be the hilt of a knife as he pulls it out. Hm.

"The weight on this is totally off." He can tell even with the water making weight a strange thing. "This must be more ornamental than useful." He tucks it into his belt and goes searching in the pile for any other weapons. He's out of practice with some of them, but good swords would probably fetch a decent price.

"Still gonna keep it?" Dabi indicates the knife when Nara'a holds it up and pronounces it unbalanced. It looks pretty ornate and silver isn't exactly the strongest of metals. The pile of items is tempting, but rather than paw through it alongside the miqo'te, Dabi busies himself with the coins and lets the other man rifle first.

Ends up grabbing handfuls of coins and sliding them into the pouch one fist after the other. There's plenty of space in the moleskin and he's got places to empty it out later. Looking around the room reveals other stored items, including two swords that Nara'a finds. One of them is pretty rusted and would take some work to restore, but another one is fairly well preserved despite being in the water.

There's also a book in the corner, but the pages are rotted and soaked to the point the ink has all worn off. But the cover looks more like leisure reading than some ledger or record book, suggesting other texts might be on the ship.

"Yeah. If nothing else it's good material." He's going to try to look for some more swords - aha. These are better. Shortswords... he could use these for training at least. They're probably not as good as his current sword, but he can find a use for them anyway.

The book catches his attention, and he squints at it. Some kind of... romance? He's guessing at least, given by the vague blobs on the cover. Still... he searches along the walls, trying to see if there's another hidden panel.

"I doubt any books will have been preserved unless they're magical, but there might be other things in a library. Bits and bobs... something more. It's worth checking out. "There's got to be more around here somewhere. There's more than one key on that keychain, after all." At this point he's about ready to kick holes in the ship, but he's aware that's a stupid way to go about it.

"Material for what?" He doesn't know if Nara'a looks to be the seamstress type and the rotting clothing isn't the sort of cloth he thinks would be best suited for salvaging. Noticing the other man's interest in the swords, he leans over in the water to look at the weapons. Never was one for blades... "Keeping those?" Obviously.

Unfortunately there's no further hidden panel inside an already hidden room, though he's free to keep searching. Dabi resumes his collection of the coins into his pouch, almost halfway through emptying the little treasure trove. "Ya lookin for books. Shouldn't be surprised," he drones in realization. Someone like Nara'a would be more interested in knowledge than wealth after all.

Once he's picked the room clean of everything he wants, Dabi pushes himself up and makes for the door again. Skeleton is still wherever Nara'a left it, so they can check haunted ships off their list. "Where to now? You're the one with ship knowledge." Where things might be on the ship and all. Captain's quarters is only one potential hit.

"Metalworking. It's not my particular skill, but it's definitely someone's. The cloth might be salvageable, but these will get a better price." He can probably clean up the rust on the sword - he knows enough for that, at least. It still might be usable.

He smiles at Dabi. "If there's any magic to any of the books they might be saved. But yes, I'm looking for things that might help us understand where these things were from. If we can get a message out to someone beyond Trench, we might know what happened to the rest of the world." Trench is small, after all. It's not the whole world. It can't be.

"The only place I can think of where there might be another secret compartment is maybe back down in the hold?" There wasn't a lot of the hold left, but there's still a chance that there's enough of a section left that there might be something.

"Enjoy." If he's gonna drag them to the surface, go for it. There are probably some rope or chains around to make a bundle and drag it to help cart it along the sea. Less trips. Dabi gives one more look around the captain's cabin, then drifts out onto the main deck of the ship again.

"You sure ya wanna know what happened to the rest of the world? Might not be anythin left out there." They were bundled in, encumbered by the forests, and though people have tried to strike out and search, little progress has been made. Well, the outpost that vampire-looking guy made is some beacon way out there...

"Do ship's have an entertainment section? Or a study? Can't just be captain's quarters and the crew's sleeping area." Kitchen, sure, but he rest the villain's not much experienced on. The hold they went through seemed not to have much beyond the statues. Chests of statues.

He'll make use of that chain - more material to use, anyway. It's not going to be an easy drag, but he can do it. He swims out to the edge of the ship for a moment and sticks the bundle into the side of the ship to grab on his way out. He swims back to Dabi and thinks for a moment.

"Well... yeah. Even if there's nothing out there, I want to know what happened. Maybe it'll help us understand our own situation better. I know some people just operate on survival mode, but you can't really do that indefinitely..."

An entertainment section... "Maybe near the crew quarters, up towards the... bow, the front of the ship. That seems the most likely place. It's not going to have a lot, but it's a better place to look besides just floating randomly." There's got to be another section to that deck that they haven't seen.

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6.1 spoilers

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