Storm Island Expedition

Last Leg

Ella was lost somewhere.   A full day of prodding by everyone, asking questions, but she never spoke of what happened to Hodgins or Cedric.  David flipped through hers and Gavin's journals, but there were no entries, nothing since their final day in the Cyclopes Village.
No one dared to ask Gavin what had happened, he was now missing an arm and a leg.  David and I guessed that whatever treatment they tried did not help the arm.  We're not even going to guess about the leg.
The junior Slayers humored us with a cursory search along the path for us to see if the others had fallen behind or gotten lost.  Barely two days of searching came up empty.

The 'healer' kept reviewing my mental state and looking over Gavin.  I was deemed fit to walk.  He made a bad joke about Gavin not.  It didn't take David long to coax Ella into moving on with us.
The four of us, in the company of the 'healer' and another pair of wandering wannabe adventurers who had their own fill of the island, decided to make back to Port.
Some of us took turns helping Gavin or keeping Ella focused on the path.  Five long, slow days and David and I were both glad that nothing else happened along the way.

On the sixth day, we finally made it back into the Port.  It had grown a little since we had first arrived. Several new buildings, a few dozen new faces, not to mention a few shops.  A few dwarves even mingled among the crowd.
I tracked down Han and Mei who were a little glad to see I had survived our little exploration.  I asked them to keep an eye on Ella and Gavin while David and I went about securing a boat.

The docks were in better shape than the day I first arrived.   A few small boats, more fit for rowing or fishing, were tethered, but I was a little upset not to find any bigger ships docked.
A few chats with a dwarven engineer and a first mate revealed that the grand plan for an intermediary platform away from the coast had failed miserably.  Their first two attempts within a week of each other resulted in the small boats used to ferry workers and materials capsizing.  The third attempt saw them build about half a structure, before the currents finally took out the supports and sent the whole thing to the bottom of the sea.  Fifteen workers drowned.  No one was willing to work out there again after that.
Approaching ships had finally found some safe passes through the reefs, but were still seeing one out of three ships getting run aground or sunk.  A shipyard back home had talked about restoring the old 'Crandorian' hull design; a few others were working out designs for a whole new type of ships, but would be some time before they were ready.
A few intrepid engineers started to make smaller boats that could navigate the waters to the island more safely.  While not enough to sail the open seas, they could at least handle transporting people and goods.  Several were ready and tested.
David managed to find a small crew willing to take us out, and a ship was ready to set sail the next day.  It was estimated that another ship wouldn't be available for another week, assuming it didn't get sunk along the way.

I killed some time waiting browsing what passed for shops.  I almost felt sorry for the owners with their limited selections.
Later that night, I caught up with David at what could barely be called a tavern.  A glass of water in one hand, and his closed journal solemnly in the other.
"I'm tired."  Was all he muttered.
"I know the feeling."
"What next?"
"Home I guess."
He took a drink.  "As good of an idea as any other I've heard.*
I looked at the journal.  "I'm starting to wonder if this was all worth it."
"Maybe. Maybe not."
"The lives we choose, huh?"
"Yep."
A few of the patrons noticed, and someone caught on that we had explored the island.  Han walked in. Everyone seemed to start asking question after question.  Everything from treasure, to excitement, glory and where it could be found.  David and I looked at each other, and instantly knew they were new arrivals, probably hadn't even left the port.
David started telling a few of his mundane tales.  I held back on a few as well.  We were reluctant to talk about too much.  Eventually we pulled out maps, and let them all make copies.  Might as well let them find out a few things for themselves.
After most had left, I had brought up a few of the other things our group had experienced.  Even Han was stunned at some of the more grisly descriptions.  Some were barely even known among them, most even he didn't seem to believe could have existed on the island.
Han invited us both to find a place to go to sleep, since in the morning we would be off.

The next day, we helped Ella and Gavin to the boat.  In the distance, we saw a dozen geared up as if they were about to go on a journey into the island themselves.  Young men and women, some I recognized from the night before.
I turned my attention back to the sea.