The first thing you notice is the taste of sand in your mouth; gritty and salty. You spit it out, on reflex as much as anything, and a volume of acrid sea water comes up with it – burning a throat you now realise to be raw and painful.

Blinking open salt-caked eyes you are nearly blinded by the glare from the white sand which you are slumped, face-down on. Coughing up more water you roll, groggily, onto your back and find yourself staring up into a clear blue sky with a fierce sun, beating down from high in the sky. It was night when the ship went down so you've been out for at least half a day. The sudden thought about the ship brings it all come flooding back.  The storm came on hard and fast; the crew unprepared for the viciousness of the weather. You remember several days – or was just hours? - of brutal heaving decks and desperate attempts to keep the ship afloat before panic overtook professionalism and terrified sailors abandoned their posts. After that pretty much everything devolves into a haphazard collection of memories of crashing waves, cracking wood and screaming men.

Sitting up slowly you can see you are on a long curve of white-sand beach which marks the edge of what seems to be a wide lagoon – the water clear and inviting. Out in the distance you can see the shoals which mark the edge of the lagoon and, canted at a sharp angle against one of the rocks, the outline of a ship. Without being of a more nautical persuasion it's hard to be sure but you would guess it is all that remains of the Sunset Mist.

The beach you are on is a wide expanse of sand which runs gently uphill for some twenty feet until it hits the treeline of what appears to be a thick forest or perhaps jungle would be a more apt description. Vibrant trees and plants are everywhere and tropical birds call out songs you don't recognise or emerge briefly in a blaze of colour before disappearing back into the undergrowth.


To the left as you stare out to sea, you would guess roughly North-West from the position of the sun, you can make out some sort of unusual rock formations jutting out into the water in the far distance. To the right, again some distance away, you think you can make out what might be an estuary emptying out into the lagoon.

Across the otherwise pristine beach is strewn the flotsam and debris of your previous conveyance. A number of bodies lie scattered across the sands, some moving and others obviously unlikely to ever move again.

Skitterlung wobbled to his feet, and started looking about himself. He ignored the talls--the word he used for anyone not goblin-heightlike--because the talls ignore goblins, and most talls are witchfolk, says Brother Popzit. But the first short he saw--this being his word for anyone goblin-heightlike--he scuttled over and started slapping their face lightly, taking care not to scratch. "Wake up, wake, wake."

The hulking form of the clockwork laid sprawled on the sand. The creatures were never meant for the sea, and it had taken a risk going on the boat, where the true horror became reality. It had managed to land, however, in some miraculous form. However, it was quite unmoving. As it sprawls on the beach, laying on its front, the form of its porcelain face in the sand, there is one clear thing; the key on its back does not turn. Whatever it had to do to get to land, had worn it out. The key needed turning once more, should its assistance be needed. Thankfully, this was a simple task for anyone.

Kaine awoke with a start, spitting out the sand in his mouth reflexively. Gathering his bearings he slowly rose to his knees, gazing about him in bewilderment. His mind snapped into focus quickly though, and he recalled the nightmare of the storm and the cowardice of the thrice accursed sailors as they abandoned their posts and left their passengers to their doom.

The sound of frenzied words intermingled with slapping sounds caused him to glance about and he saw a goblin, one of the passengers he recalled, trying to waken others. The goblin seemed to have ignored waking Kaine for some reason, he wondered why.

There were other bodies lying scattered about but Kaine's eye was immediately caught on the hulking form of a clockwork nearby. It had been one of the passengers, mostly silent and withdrawn, much like Kaine himself. Curiously Kaine got to his feet and moved towards the inert Clockwork; it did not appear to be moving but it also did not appear to be broken in anyway.

Kaine knew Clockworks did not need to breathe so there was no chance it had drowned to death, which could only mean...reaching down he grasped the key jutting out of the Clockwork's back and began to turn it cautiously. He had never done this before, in fact he had only met a bare few of the rare sentient beings in his life, so he hoped he wasn't doing anything untoward, like turning the key the wrong way.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 22:46, Sun 10 May 2020.

After a series of cranks of the key, the clockwork stirred once. Life comes back to its mechanical form, and with a few stiff movements, it rises to its full height - near enough ten feet tall, towering over most. Its voice has a hollow, metallic ring to it, as something inside of it speaks, not its mouth. The mouth of the porcelain mask remained still. It was a mere grim imitation of a man. Not more.

"I awaken again. I do not know this locale." it says, confused, looking about. Ah, yes, the human, it remembered him from the ship. Head turns, and it spots the goblin, among the others. "What happened to the ship?"

As if only now remembering, it reaches for its waist. It had had a belt, with a mere few items and belongings attached to it. The items were gone. How disappointing.

Seth woke up as his eyes burned from the brine water and sand, he slowly opened his eyes and was greeted with the blazing sun which caused him to wince. Shading his temple with his hand he slowly stood up letting his eyes adjust to the light of the morning as memories started to set in.

Storms, waves, winds and screaming passengers of Sunset mist. Did he drown? Did he died? Where was he now? As he looked around his fear was promptly confirmed by the ruined form of Sunset Mist seen in the distant rocky shoreline. So the ship sank, but what happened to the survivors? It was then he could see the bodies floating on the waves and the ones waking up.
He grimaced at the dead passengers, thinking about their painful passing. There were three others who were standing, a goblin, another man and the hulking clockwork which was hard to miss.

He surveyed the beach and observed the surrounding. The birds and plants in the distant were familiar to him. It dawned in him that he read about these wildlife and considering the beach and the sea route they were taking, it was evident about where they were right now.

Seth, walked towards the other survivors and greeted them, "It is great news that you all made it. We have to find our supplies and make a camp. Maybe save other survivors if possible. I am fairly confident where we are."

When Gren came too he noticed two things at once, first he had a mouth full of sand, not an uncommon feeling after all he was a molekin so eating a bit of earth or in this case sand was not uncommon.
The second and more annoying thing was he was being slapped across his flabby bulbus and rather sensitive nose.

With a moan and heave he back peddles across the ground away from the second annoyance while simultaneously spitting out the first.

Holding his shovel like hand up over his eyes to keep the glaring sun out of them "ENOUGH!" He shouted "I am awake please refrain from administering further aid you have done your job well and Gren thanks you" with that he rubbed his rather sore nose to make sure it was ok

Taking stock he squinted at his companion, ah the goblin, he nodded his thanks but at the same time his hand went to his belt to check he still had his pouch

Skitterlung, of course, was dumb, but not dumb enough to steal when he knew he'd be caught--and he was not well disposed to stealing from smalls either. If the talls gave him a chance, maybe. "Skitterlung saw you quick, helped quick."

"We were caught in a terrible storm, and the crew abandoned us to our fates, curse the ingrates," Kaine replied to the clockwork. "And as for the ship, that's all that's left of it," he added, gesturing towards the ruins of the Sunset Mist on the rocks in the distance.

Kaine watched another human survivor make his way towards them and listened to what he said with a raised eyebrow. "You know where we are? That's great news, could you pray share our location then? If we are anywhere near a major shipping route we can hope for rescue soon enough, otherwise we will have to hope to find some kind of a settlement here if we are to survive."

Kaine glanced about him for his staff and the meager belongings he had carried in his travel-bag, hoping it had survived the plunge into the deep.

Gren looked at the goblin for a moment then realised that he should say something , he thought for a moment then remembered seeing a man help another load his cart a few days before they set sail.

"Thank you, your help is much appreciated. I am called Gren" he added as a way of introduction

Seth nodded at the man, "Based on the wildlife, vegetation and the beach this is probably one of the island of Kingdom of Sails. If we can get to a city close, we should definitely have a port nearby. We need to gather our supplies and find the rest of the survivors. With luck we can salvage and make a camp before moving out. By the way, I am Seth Avano, you are?"

The clockwork nods, indicating that he took in what Kaine said. "I understand." it echoes, simply.

While Seth approaches, he looks over to the goblin helping the molekin. Such strange creatures, but it was relieved that more people were alive and that the tragedy did not reap all of their lives.

It looks back to Seth as he introduces himself. "My creator named me Cavalier. Is there anything I can do to aid the survivors? I assume that unless we can make for a port or city before too long, then some protection against the elements is advisable."

Gren  moved over to the others as they were talking of shelter

 "Perhaps I can help, if we could locate a bank, mound or hillock I could dig out a cave like space for us to shelter in this night" the million suggested

"I am called Kaine," replied Kaine to Seth and Cavalier. "The Kingdom of Sails...I have heard of this place, and if that is where we are then all is not lost at all!" he added with a smile.

Glancing about at the survivors he went on, "There is still light enough, let us gather what supplies we need and head out right now. I doubt there is anything left to salvage from the ship, all we really need is food, water and weapons to keep us until we find civilization."

Seth was talking with the others when this peculiar burrowing creature came upto them. At first he was surprised and his mouth was wide open with excitement. He had never seen such a creature, let alone a talking one! How curious!

Realizing how idiotic and uncouth it had been for showing such behavior, he promptly shut his jaws, "You . . . . You, can do that? That would really help us for making a viable camp. Pardon me, what is your name? I haven't seen the likes of you my entire life!"

"The tall is always ignoring the shorts, of course of course." Skitterlung gave a severe coughing fit as he half hid behind Gren. "And they always make the witchcraft, and they whisk away the shorts like Skitterlung, yes, yes."

Gren noted the goblin using him as a shield against, what was it he called them, the tall. The million shrugged, the little creature had obviously been badly treated in the past, he knew a little of that but to him the strong had the right to control the weak but he would treat carefully around his new companions for now in case his ways were not theirs

Turning his attention to the one who seemed surprised at his presence "I am called Gren" he replied holding up his shovel like hands to show the thick wicked looking class at the end of his thick figures " yes you could say we are designed by the earth mother to dig in the soil. We molekin are the masters of all under ground territories there is nowhere we cannot go" there was an edge of pride in his words, he was proud of his people and suddenly realised he missed his clan

" if we are to spend time together I will tell you a little about my people, it would be good for us that the surface dwellers know of us so they will keep our of our lands"

Kaine listened & looked at the little mole creature with a degree of fascination before saying, "Excellent, I am sure we will like to hear your tale as we journey. Your ability to dig will certainly be useful, especially if we need to dig for water further inland."

He turned and glanced towards the treeline in the distance and went on, "There is light enough, why don't we start off by looking for a trail in the forest to lead us further inland?"

Kaine had little skill in tracking or foraging through woods, so he hoped there was someone more capable to do it.

A quick survey of the wreckage spread across the beach turns up a few items of use. In addition to an impressive quantity of broken and battered timber in various sized pieces there is a bin of hardtack (which should provide enough food for a couple of days), a quantity of shredded sail, a sea chest filled with silk (which seems to have weathered the storm surprisingly well) and, bizarrely, the captain's table which you can see half buried in the sand but apparently in one piece.

In terms of making inroads into the jungle there are some beast trails you can make out leading away from the beach but nothing obviously man-sized meaning it's likely to be hard going to plough through though with weapons and perseverance it wouldn't be impossible.