Last night while waiting for the boat on the Butcherblock dock I volunteered
to assist another player locate his corpse. He said that he crashed while
riding the boat and that when he logged back on he started out at the bottom
of the ocean. He eventually ran out of stamina and died. He also stated
that his corpse was somewhere in the ocean in the Butcherblock zone. I
started singing the locating song and immediately got a bearing on his
corpse. I told him to follow me and I jumped into the ocean. I continued
swimming along the bearing until I ran into the zone barrier. I was
underwater at the time I ran into the zone barrier. His corpse was nowhere
in sight. At this point, I apparently encountered a bug because I could no
longer swim in any direction. It was like I was stuck to the zone barrier.
I still had plenty of air left but all attempts at breaking away from the
zone were unsuccessful. I tried every arrow key, the PageUp key, and
PageDown key. Nothing. I eventually drowned myself.

When I died, I got the overhead view of my corpse. The funny thing is that
there was someone (in full armor) walking around the bottom of the ocean
next to my corpse. The person had two names but I couldn't tell if it was a
player or a NPC. It looked like a human and I know for certain it wasn't a
dwarven guard. I know bards have an underwater breathing song
(unfortunately for me I'm not high enough yet to sing it) but does the song
allow you to walk on the bottom of the ocean? Do other classes have spells
that allow them to breathe underwater?

Now my character is back in Freeport and will have to ride the boat back to
retrieve his corpse. Adding insult to injury, I won't have time to retrieve
my corpse before the boat leaves Butcherblock so I will have to wait until
it makes the round trip back from Freeport. Bummer.

Here is what I would like to know:

1) Was getting stuck in the zone barrier a bug or what was supposed to
happen?
2) Since my corpse is right at the zone border, will I get stuck again if I
try to retrieve it? Can I use the /corpse command underwater to pull my
corpse away from the zone border?
3) Why did the locate song not lead me to the other player's corpse? My
theory is that his corpse was not in the Butcherblock zone but in the Ocean
of Tears zone. Will the locate corpse zone still point you in the right
direction even if you are not in the same zone as the corpse you are looking
for? If the other player's corpse was indeed in the Ocean of Tears zone
then I guess the answer to this question is yes. If his corpse was in the
Butcherblock zone then it makes the situation even more puzzling.
4) What is the most likely explanation for the character walking on the
bottom of the ocean? Another player or just another bug?
5) At the time I drowned, there were no GMs online for me to /petition.
Assuming one is online the next time I play, will they automatically
retrieve my corpse for me since it is at the bottom of the ocean? I sure
hope so because I don't relish the idea of having to go back to retrieve it.

Thanks ahead of time for any replies.

Galtin
Bard of the 14th Chorus
E'ci