Re: The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
Over the next several days, Dany and the captain go over the charts. There's little that the captain doesn't already have on his charts, most of which comes from the Navigator's Guild.
There is nothing about the land of Zu on those maps, which makes sense since supposedly only one ship has been to Zu. In fact, it has one of those amusing map notations more-or-less where Zu should be: Here Be Monsters!
When one of the captain's marks match up with a Menite mark, it helps translate. So when a symbol =/= shows on the Menite map, the captain's mark equates to 'treacherous shoals'.
The other aspect is that the Menites have three designations: rumored, reported, and confirmed. There is also: friendly, neutral, unfriendly.
Some of the logs, once translated, further explain some of these. For instance, a place called Queery is marked Neutral on the map, but the Menite captain makes mention of it in his log indicating they can be bribed with a single gun, other mechanical devices, or possibly even gold or alchemical ingredients.
For the most part, it has to be explained to the Iron Fist members that ships may stay at see for 2-3 weeks at a time, but they never go out of sight of land. That's mainly because there's nothing Out There. The longest attempt at exploration to the west was six weeks out and six weeks back, with about half the crew dead from disease or starvation by the time they got back.
The fact that something was found to the south is a great wonder to the captain, and the main reason he agreed to this mission.
According to the captain's calculations, you reach the halfway point to Zu when the lookout spots something out in the water. From his vantage point in the crow's nest, it is more visible than on the deck. However, the call comes down:
"Serpent!"