The Wreck of the Constellation

The orc nodded, letting out a soft grunt of affirmation. Roderick, on the other hand, paid little attention to Colby, his attention caught up in an instructional scroll.

"Did you know that ghosts are usually bound to a certain place or object? That's what it says right here, on line seventy-four of How to deal with ghosts in your day-to-day life. It's pretty interesting, actually. Apparently, they're usually caught up in a loop, doing the same things over and over until they find a purpose and can final- ggk!"

He was cut off by an orcish fist clamping around his throat. Ugg sighed, bored by the man's jabbering, and released his grip after a couple seconds. Dave chittered in amusement, and Roderick choked and coughed.

As the motley crew crested a hill, the shipwreck loomed up ahead. The beach sands were a smooth, soft white, littered with debris from the wreck. More notably, gold coins glittered in the surf, shining like little drops of sunlight from the sunset on the horizon. There wasn't much sunlight left, and there was quite a bit of wreck to search.

Dave scampered and skittered around Ugg's boots, fetching all manner of gold coins and small trinkets. As they walked, Colby would spot what appeared to be a small wooden box half-buried in the sand. It looked to be about the size of a large brick, and had very clearly once been very ornate. However, the sea had not been kind to it. It hinges were rusted and the wood was battered and worn, the finish almost completely worn off.

"You're dropping your flowers everywhere, sir. Please, be careful. You're making a mess."

Turning around, Colby would see a knight in plate armor and a closed helmet, prodding at the flowers with the point of his sword. He looked down at Colby, face hidden behind his visor. Despite his heavy armor, he was somehow able to walk through the wet sand without sinking down and getting stuck.

The squirrel scurried off to investigate the box. He poked and prodded and chewed on the wood, but was unable to make any headway as to opening it. It seemed that his diminutive size and lack of opposable thumbs had failed him once more, and he chittered sadly as he scampered back to climb up Colby's leg and onto his shoulder.

The knight let out a sound that could probably be considered a chuckle, and sheathed his sword. Meanwhile, Roderick and Ugg slowly moved into position behind the armored figure. hands moving towards their own weapons. In Ugg's case, his weapons were his knuckles, which he cracked menacingly. Roderick, on the other hand, reached towards an amulet hung around his neck. The knight removed his helmet, revealing a remarkably thin and pale face with an equally thin beard.

"Hello there, small one. I am Sir Artois, Knight and Adventurer. Who do I have the pleasure of addressing, may I ask? What brings you here, and your companions?"

The box was locked tightly, and was rusted shut. It would take quite a bit of work to open it, and no small number of tools. Sir Artois didn't seem to register Colby's annoyance, and simply grinned at the little gnomish man.

"Plunder? Why, a knight of my standing does not simply plunder shipwrecks! I will be engaging in no such activities, Mr. Tebick. Why, that's simply ridiculous, not to mention dishonorable. No, I am here to save any damsels in distress and slay any foul beasts that may be around, whatever they may be. Er...have you seen any foul beasts around?"

He glanced back at Ugg, wrinkling his nose but holding his tongue.

"What evil magic would you be talking about, anyways? And how do you dispose of it?"

Ugg fiddled with the box for a few moments, but found himself unable to pry it open with just his bare hands. Meanwhile, Sir Artois seemed unamused at Colby's suggestion to totter off. He frowned, mustache wrinkling as he did so.

"Well now, there's more than you might imagine! Mermaids, for example. Must never forget about the mermaids! They're always having to be rescued from pirates and sharks and that sort of thing. Everything wants to eat mermaids, it seems. Then again, they're always trying to drown people...not that that matters to a chivalrous man like me! As for the beasts...well, they're all over."

When Colby turned away, the knight fell silent. If he glanced back, he'd see that the man was gone. Perhaps he'd simply sunken into the sand.

Inside the wreck was damp and dark, as would be expected. The wood was soaked and rotten, and had very clearly been at sea without maintenance for a very long time. Barnacles and clams clung to every surface, looking like stalagtites in the ceiling of a cave. Roderick plucked a clam off the wall, prying it open with a knife.

"Hey, look at this! These are Southern Rock Clams. They're pretty tasty if you fry them. Let's pick some up and cook them for dinner!"

He began pulling the clams off the wall and putting them in his bag, the shells clunking hollowly as they bumped against each other.

"I used to be quite the mollusk enthusiast, you know. Before I joined the order, of course. I was a pearl diver! Y'know, I bet there's pearl oysters around here somewhere. Let me know if you see something that looks like a rock stuck to the side of this wood, ok?"

Roderick sighed as Colby swiped the knife from his hand, looking down sadly at the open clam in his hand. He poked at it for a moment, before pulling the squishy meat from the shell.

"You know, you can eat them raw, too! Apparently it's a delicacy...somewhere. Here goes, I guess..."

He raised the clam meat to his mouth, but it was snatched away by Ugg, who swallowed it and grinned. Roderick sighed, and the orc took the opportunity to smash the box over a barnacle-encrusted beam. The rusted hinges gave way, revealing a small glass bottle sealed with cork and wax and filled with a rich brown liquid. A small paper tag proclaimed the bottle to be full of "Dr. Berkholdt's Marvelous Rum", but offered no other explanation. Ugg inspected the bottle for a moment, before handing it to Colby.

"There ya go, boss."

Colby's blade glowed, illuminating their walk through the damp passageways. Dave scurried around, trying not to cut his paws on the sharp barnacles. Roderick and Ugg followed Colby, following their fearless leader deeper into the dripping, creaking ship. Eventually, Dave tired of getting his paws wet and climbed up onto Colby's shoulder to ride along. He glanced back, then chittered in Colby's ear, informing him that Roderick had vanished. If Colby glanced back, he would realize that his chattering teammate really was nowhere to be seen.

Looking back into the hallway, Colby would see no signs of any struggle. The path was covered in several inches of water, eliminating any sort of footprints. When asked where Roderick went, Ugg simply shrugged. The only way the blabbermouth could have possibly gone was off through a side passage, leading out to the left. Perhaps Roderick had wandered off, or gone back, or simply vanished.

Ugg glanced back at the side passage, not seeming to care that Roderick had vanished. He pulled a clam off the wall and broke it open with his teeth, spitting out the broken shell and slurping the unfortunate mollusk out from the inside.

Ugg nodded, walking ahead of Colby down the narrow passageway. The flowers floated on the surface of the water, drifting about as Colby stepped through them. As the gnome reached out to sense for magic, he would suddenly realize that the ship was absolutely soaked in it. The magic seemed to drip down the wood like oil, pouring into the water. It wasn't clean, pure magic either. It reeked of sickness and filth, like a bucket of maggots. Clearly, there was nothing right about this place at all. Colby had obviously been mistaken: the evil object wasn't inside the ship. The evil object was the ship.