(Takes 20 on a search check)
The guard is slowly woken up by Betimi's question. He takes a moment to think and gives you the date which was yesterday.
Mardak hunkers down and does a thorough search of the boat and eventually notices that the bench at the back of the boat has a hidden locked compartment that's made to look like it simply supports the seat. You note that you don't remember other Riverboats you've seen having this modification and if there's anything inside, the boat most likely had special passengers. Passengers who are now most likely prisoners of the Kobolds.
Shivering and sneezing from the swim earlier and a bunch of complaints later, Mardak tells them of the secret compartment. "Hey if yer done with the survivor, get over here and help me with this."
Having returned from his scouting and informed the group of the footprints leading upriver, Jonath nods agreement with the idea of following them. It was, as Betimi had said, clear that the caravan they had been looking for was the one they had come across here, and even if it hadn't been, if there were survivors that had been taken away by the kobolds, Jonath would have insisted they do their best to try and help. The timing had not been right for the last group, but this time they had at least a chance of following and overtaking them, though if there were a dozen or so kobolds as it seemed, they would have to be very careful how they went about things.
At Mardak's call, Jonath joins him at the boat. "What have you found?" he asks as he clambers over the gunwale to get a closer look.
Mardak was going to jury-rig the small compartment off with a sharp piece of wood. Though he sees Jonath and hears his words. "Yeah. This here thing is locked, never seen anything like it before on this kind or any kind of boat. I reckon you can rip her off or use some kind of finesse. Got a piece of wood here that could help."
Betimi stands up after she gets the reply from the guard.
"Thank you good sir."
She then wanders over to the boat to see what Mardak and Jonath are looking at.
"Well now, someone didn't want that found easily. Wonder if it is water-tight?"
She moves aside to give the stronger men some room, unsure how she could assist.
"Ah, before we resort to brute force, let me take a look at that lock," Jonath replies, climbing to the back and kneeling next to the hidden lock-box.
"I'm no locksmith mind you, but small mechanical devices are my craft and trade, and that's all locks are, after all." Removing a small kit of tools from his pack, he gingerly opens it up and selects several slender lengths of metal and sets to his work.
Jonath easily pops the lock open and the removes the fake panel that was built to appear as a support for the bench. Reaching inside, the gnome pulls out a metal box that is also clearly locked.
[OoC: Obviously Jonath will try to unlock the box...]
Trying his luck a second time, Jonath tries to
open the lock but fails. Refusing to be beaten, he works on the lock until it finally opens.
[OoC: Take 20. Sorry, I'm making an assumption that you would keep working on the lock rather than waiting for you're reply post because the back and forth would only waste time when it's pretty obvious that you're going to keep trying. Makes sense? If you planned something else, let me know and I will happily backtrack. Otherwise...]
Opening the box, inside you see many items of worth...
- choker, wrought silver, with a moonstone pendant (1,015.1 gp)
- 1,117 gold coins
- 90 platinum coins
- 1 photo album with lots of family pictures
- 1 diamond ring (500gp's)
- 1 gold band (100gp's)
[OOC: Your assumptions are correct and I appreciate the time-saving nature of them, PbP is slow enough as is.]
Jonath's eyebrows raise as he scans the contents of the box. "Quite the treasure trove here...luckily there are these pictures which may help us identify its rightful owner." He takes a few moments to briefly scan the pictures, sharing them with any others who are interested in taking a look, before returning them to the box and closing it. "I think we've found all we can here, we should set off to follow those tracks as soon as possible, the more we delay the more of a lead they gain on us."
Selina stays with the guard. Her talents were needed here more. She was not very dexterous with her fingers, nor perceptive enough to notice subtle differences. She was a healer. Right here was a man still in some danger. Though he was alive and would probably be fine, she would rather make certain of it.
"Tell me sssir, from where do you hail?" She blushes again. "Ssorry." She ducks her head, hiding her face within the hood of her cloak as he is close enough to also see the color and shape of her eyes.