Chapter 26

The howling was a short-lived event since everyone was exhausted. Two of us were actively bleeding, and one of could feel ribs sliding about as he breathed.

Dusty (the only one of us who wasn’t injured) had his hands on the rotting rails and was trying to peer into the ships hold. “Will d’ere be a treasure chest sir?”

I tried not to laugh, he was so earnest ... that, and my ribs were killing me.

“Look for one, also look for anything clean or out of place, like a filthy table with a perfectly clean plate or a totally gross kitchen with a perfect kettle ... something like that. I’ve also heard of normal items like cups or lunchboxes or candleholders being filled with Silver. Keep your eyes open.”

Dusty hopped the rail and strode across the tilted deck like he’d been doing it all his life. Come to think of it, he probably had.

Mace was showing Frosty the fine art of looting a body for Silver and trinkets. Already they were about twenty feet from me and working their way back down the beach. “Hey...” I called out, then immediately wished I hadn’t tried to do that as my broken ribs reminded me of their existence. I motioned to Frosty who jogged back to me. “Have an eye out for things like this.” I gasped, and I pulled a yellow coloured stone out of inventory. “They’re each worth a few Silver at the Store, and there could be up to six here if the internet knows anything.” I lobbed him the stone and waved him off, wishing him happy hunting and sagged back against the hull.

I sat there taking shallow breaths. Looking out at the water I could the small waves break against the shore. Pebbles rolled up and down the beach, polishing themselves round in the ceaseless cycles of the ocean. I must have been nearly hypnotized by the process when it suddenly occurred to me what I was seeing. Perfectly round small black stones rolling in the surf suddenly became large black marbles as my addled mind fired up. I pushed myself up and gasped as the pain came screaming back. Gingerly picking my way across the shifting sand and stone to where I’d seen the priceless marbles rolling around in the surf, I looked desperately about for almost a minute before kicking myself and recalling that I just had to will them into my inventory. If they were close enough, they’d go.

I waded about finding two almost immediately but it took another five or so minutes before I found the third. Stomping back out of the water I shuffled back down the beach casting about for pretty rocks or more marbles. I found two stones, dark green but clear like fine emerald and also another black marble. I was too excited to stop, even though my ribs were screaming at me to rest. It was like having Gold Fever ... four marbles in one Portal was absolutely unheard of, and when you strike a mother-load, everything in you drives you to find more!

“Find anything?” I’d nearly run right into Mace while I’d been keeping my eyes on the ground. I pulled out the two green stones and he smiled, pulling out two more just like it. I thought I’d keep the marbles secret until I had a chance to talk to him privately. These ones were good, a +1 to attributes. I turned silently and stepped out about thigh-deep into the water, hoping to find any that had been just beyond my range earlier. Wading all the way back down the beach to the wreck, I didn’t find anything more than a stubbed toe before returning to the hull and leaning gingerly on it, trying to regain my breath without breathing too deeply.

Looking over the wreck, I could see worn timbers scattered about and what remained of one of the masts sticking up from through what remained of the deck. A corpse was tied to the stump of the mainmast, whether part of the Level or just part of the scenery, it was almost as decayed as the skeletons, but covered in rotting black rags. The head was slumped forward and its eyes were covered with a piece of black cloth tied behind its skull. I stared across at it for a little while. The odd bits of breeze about us flapping the torn and tattered sails above me and moving the edges of the rags on the corpse in front of me. I could hear Rocky or Dusty (or whatever) rummaging and splashing around inside the wreck and a minute later he popped out, carrying big thin black sheets of some hard material with what looked like strings running all through it.

“Baleen! It’s real Baleen! The whalers must have been very good, there’s tons of it here along with a whole bunch of rancid whale oil.”

“Can you equip any of it?” I asked, impressed with his knowledge of old-time whalers from Centuries before.

“Uh ... no.” He replied, suddenly a bit less excited about his find, realizing that he couldn’t carry it out.

“I’ve heard of a Native band here on the island. They’re kinda famous for being able to take material out of portals to our world. Maybe you could run the portal with one of them?” I asked. He perked up a bit and I suddenly recalled that Mace had to show his brother how to pick up Silver at a distance, so I waved him over, pulled some Silver and a Emerald coloured stone out, and showed him how to do it.

Dirty (or whatever his name was) skipped off again and tried to pick up everything he saw. It was kinda comical, watching him cast about like an old guy with a metal detector.