The Mokers stopped pondering and opened the chest, taking out some gold and silver coins as well as two scrolls, a potion and a cloak. Mera used her skills to attune to these items and discover that the cloak was magical and that it would help protect from harm. She took this herself. The two scrolls were give to Mezezar, one of which was clearly a scroll of Gusting Wind, the other they could not decipher until a spell was cast that could read the magical writing. The potion would harden the skin of the imbiber to make it more resistant to blows. Obur took this.
Leaving by the other door, the Mokers came to the stern of the ship and a room that had once been the galley. This room was also covered in webbing, but they realised that a patch of this was less thick than the rest and that it concealed a trap door leading down. On the other side of the room an obvious staircase was choked with debris. This, the Mokers tackled, clearing a path upwards into the sterncastle. After a noisy, sweaty effort the party emerged in the cabin above and took their bearings.
This cabin did not suffer from the webbing of those below, but it did have large piles of broken furniture, crates and decking. A crude stone altar had also been installed against the rear wall, this altar was inscribed with runes which Mezezar identified as being connected with a god of vermin venerated in the south, but as they moved into the room a huge centipede swept out of one of the rubbish piles to attack. The Mokers were all able to approach the creature and land blows on it, so it fell fairly quickly. Searching the debris, the Mokers managed to find a tattered journal and pieces of a cargo manifest. These indicated that the ship had been bound for the Free Cities of the South bearing grains and wine out of Khorl.
The party went back down the stairs and uncovered the trapdoor to the deck below. When they opened it they could see a ladder immediately below them leading into shallow water about ten feet beneath. Lowering a lantern, they could make out crates and boxes along the port side of the deck, which seemed to have no divisions, being open to the hull on all sides. They could see here that the ship listed slightly to port as the water there was waist height, but shallower to starboard. Ke-tant climbed down to investigate but slipped on the wet wood and fell to the deck with a splash. Before he could raise himself up properly, he was enmeshed in a web of sticky strands that had been thrown around him. Mezezar just managed to make out two humanoid figures with long arms and spider-like heads at the edge of his vision towards the prow. He identified them as ettercaps. Obur jumped down to help Ke-tant and Mera ran along the deck above to see if she could come upon their assailants from a different angle.
The Mokers down below suffered a frustrating time or breaking free of webbing only to be caught again repeatedly, until Mera above managed to open the hatch and release a hail of metal on one of the creatures. The other moved forward to attack the giant who had freed himself and was swimming forward in an attempt to avoid further entanglement. Oburç—´ crossbow began to be put to use against the creatures and Ke-Tant managed to land a blow. Mera came down from above to lend support and eventually the creatures were killed.
The Mokers quickly searched through the chests and crates, finding the one marked with an X. This they opened, revealing the blue metal casket within. They also found a jewelled belt and a necklace which they thought might be valuable. The shifting of the ship increased while they were below, so the party gathered up their prizes and headed back to the Bloody Vengeance.