Bernard leans in, looking him over to see if he's trying to see if he's telling the truth about his allies.
"Oh your wife already bolted to find them. Thing is, she ran straight into the place we kept our reserves in case this turned really ugly. Now tell us where to find Ulf and once we get him back we'll return her to you."
"You don't even know!" spits Asvig angrily at Lyraesel. "I knew you'd come! You can't get away from-"
Quite suddenly, he starts to choke, then blood gushes out of his mouth! Even bringing the healing wand to bear, he thrashes and his eyes go glassy before someone can even bend down toward him.
One of the prisoners' eyes widen and he says, "What did you do to him?"
Bernard looks about.
"Let's get out of here. I don't like the way this is going. We need to get back to the shop."
As Asvig starts spasming mid-rant, Lyraesel takes a step back, looking at the blood gushing from his mouth in surprise. She shares a look with Shalelu,, shrugging slightly in indication of her confusion, before listening to what Bernard was saying.
The druidess' eyes narrow as she considers their circumstances, her gaze sweeping across the prisoners.
Morgrym quickly comments.
I guess it is time to leave and take our chances with the others.
He then starts picking up the packages and passes them to the group as we leave.
Alara's eyes widen as Asvig suddenly dies. "...okay, what was THAT? That's not any magic I've ever heard of!"
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”Oh what the Hells...” Kersey grumbles before a thought occurs to him. ”Instead of falling in battle he was revived and perspired out of it due to some trickery. As an Ulfen, that’s gonna suck something fierce on his soul’s Planar applications.”
Agreed, but now is not the time to discuss it. Now is time to leave.
Morgrym grumbles as he slings the stuff that he is going to carry over his shoulders.
I doubt that we can get further information right from these people, besides the house is going down and someone is going to come look.
Alara brushes off her robes and gets ready to leave.
You move quickly and quietly through the night. Cutting through part of the city to obscure your trail, you return to the caravan encampment. Sandru is standing near the fire pit, keeping his hands warm, while Ameiko plays her samisen.
As you return, Sandru gestures for you to come join him.
"Ssst," he hisses, glancing around. "Someone's been watching us. I sent our brother-sister team to get some more firewood, just to flush out any lookers, and sure enough some cloaked fellah trying to avoid notice took off after 'em."
Ameiko, still concentrating on plucking her instrument, adds, "Either someone's trying to see if we're an easy mark, or someone's suspicious of us."
"So what have you learned?" she asks.
Upon return, Morgrym takes the time to hide the gear brought back, in one of the wagons, and then comes back to the fire pit.
I don't think trying to offload that gear here would be a good idea.
As for what was learned, I will leave up to the others to explain.
"Longthews was under some magic not to talk I think. He started going on about his allies coming to avenge his defeat and died violently coughing up blood." Lyraesel offers.
Ameiko stills her instrument and says, "Wait, what? That means he was working for someone else, someone powerful enough to put some kind of lethal geas on him."
Sandru chimes in, "Well, what's our next move then? He's dead but we don't know who his boss was. Any luck with that guide?"
"Headed back here to check on you all. With his wife running off and the house burning. Not really the best time to look for one."
"His wife. She escaped into the night, but her late husband's men are disarmed and they're probably going to need time to recover whatever forces they'd want to bring against us. More importantly I think they know who we are. He seemed to recognize Lyraesel and said we couldn't get away from soething or someone."
Needless to say
Morgrym adds as he approaches the fire.
I am thinking that we be on our guard, and if we do head into town, we do it in pairs or other small groups
He sits down at the fire pit, and starts chewing on some jerky that he had in his pack.
Dinner seems to be a somber affair. Kelda doesn't seem terribly concerned about the massacre at Asvig's: "Raiding other holdings is part and parcel of rural Ulfen ways," she said. "Besides, he was an ass."
Ameiko says, "If this fellow Ulf is going to be burned in the morning, better get some sleep now so we're ready to intercede."
Kelda responds, "Interfering in a funeral like that is a big deal, but burning someone alive is also no good. Besides, Asvig isn't around to object any more. Just... people might not take it well, so best we strike fast and get out quickly."
Alara pulls her robes tighter around her. "Oh my..."
...looks like I got involved just in time.
Lyraesel sits next to Shalelu, as they eat. "I guess the hair braiding will have to wait until tomorrow." the druidess says with a sigh. "Besides if there it a funeral fire, it would prabably be good to wash the smoke out first."
Bernard takes the walrus-headed short sword "In case I run out of arrows tomorrow." and checks in with Koya.
"How are you holding up? Is the caravan life everything you remembered it to be?"
Shalelu replies to Lyraesel, "Unfortunately yes, we'll have to be up early to get there in time. Well... we can wash out the smoke and debris tomorrow and give it a proper braiding, wolf."
To Bernard, Koya says with a twinkle in her eye, "Oh, it's better! I chose this time to go a-wandrin', and I'm seeing more of the world than I ever did with young eyes. Each mile we go makes me feel more sprightly, seeing more than I ever thought I'd see. And with the best friends and family I could hope to have." She pats Bernard's knee and says, "What about you? More than an acrobat now. Oh, I can see you're not too fond of the fightin'. But 'tis more challenge than you would ever see doing tumbles in the circus or on the road."
Bernard's eyes almost betray his internal sarcastic 'ha' when Koya suggests he's not fond of violence.
"Well, I don't know about that, I've never seen a circus with... such a patron." he nods in Ameiko's direction "I imagine it'd be quite the spectacle. Now's not the time to build it however. Good night!"
He kisses her on the head and turns in.
Lyraesel smiles, enjoying Shalelu's nickname for her. "All right, Shay, something to look forward to after all this chaos. We may as well call it a night." she says stretching.
Koya chuckles again, a dry laugh directed at Bernard, and says, "You just make sure to get some sleep before you go off shanking anyone again!"
At supper, Koya also gives a brief prayer of thanks to Desna and releases a soothing, dreamlike wave of upbeat energy.
Everyone turns in to get a few hours' sleep before the ship-burning on the morrow.
~~~~~~~~~~
In the morning, as you're cooking some sausages for breakfast (and Ameiko is reprising her role as hostess from the Rusty Dragon), you're approached by a short visitor in a heavy, fur-liked cloak. Upon arrival the visitor pulls back the hood just enough for you to see that it's Uksahkka. She makes a quieting gesture and says in a low voice, "What was the result of the raid?"
Alara purses her lips. "Long story short, Ulf wasn't at the house--he's supposed to be on a funeral ship that's due to be burned today."
"We're going to save him."
"Funeral ship... Snorri Stone-Eye's?" says Uksahkka in a low tone. "We're in luck. There's a heavy fog coming in off the sea this morning. They will have to postpone the launch."
Kelda says, "Well, we can go to the promontory, maybe see if we can spot anything useful."
"The fog should help. Would control the spread of fire too." Lyraesel adds. "We need to keep an eye out for Longthews' wife. She's in the wind."
Bernard grabs his gear and smiles slightly.
"We got any of those fireworks left?"
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Having stayed up reading pieces of paper before putting them back into a small bag Kersey found a nice corner to take off his armor and doze off in before awakening shortly after while it was still dark. Reading again he stops as the others begin to awaken to prepare for the day.
As breakfast is prepared and Uksahkka returns he listens quietly to the plan so far before sheepishly asking. "I hate to be a bother, but would anyone mind giving me a hand to get back into my armor? It's kind of a pain to put back on by myself."
Even heavily muscled and his hair shaved out of his armor the man's Chelish features are quite obvious, with the pale skin and deep blue eyes. Aside from various scars here and there the one that stands out looks like a cross between burns and claws raking the right side of his face. The right eye has little specks of violet throughout, most likely due to the damage.
Sandru stifles a nod and says, "Sure, of course," while Ameiko sees to the cooking.
With Uksahkka's revelation it's clear that you have a little more time - you don't have to hurry out before dawn; the fog will cover your approach regardless. Breakfast is thus not a hurried affair, and with fresh local vegetables and bread, Ameiko is able to prepare much better meals than some of the dry hardtack and preserved meats that are all too common when on the road for several weeks.
While quietly devouring gruel with some steamed raisins in it, Shalelu quietly says, "So what does this mean for us? When will they launch the ship?"
Uksahkka sits on a log and rolls her head back, then snaps forward again and replies, "Probably tonight. The fog will clear later as the weather cools, and they will light the ship and send it out on the water. Against the evening the flames will be even more spectacular."
"So, think we should scout out the ship's launch point while we still can?" Alara asks once she swallows the lettuce in her mouth.
Shalelu tilts her head back and forth, considering. "We'll see better in daylight with fog than we will in dark with fog," she finally says.
Quietly thoughtful for a bit, Lyraesel speaks up. "When we are close, I may be able to.......commune with the spirit of the river....or at least a part of it....See what it sees."
"We'll see better, but they will too, and they're not exactly going to be hiding. Based on the Ulfen celebrations I've seen, they won't exactly be hard to find."
"That just means we've got to properly disguise ourselves, right?" Alara scratches one of her long ears. "Does anyone happen to have a disguise kit or something?"
"Why would we have disguises?" Lyraesel asks, genuinely puzzled.
"Do YOU want them to know what we look like when we're scouting it out? Besides, Asvig's wife might've warned them."
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”The point of going when it is foggy was that people wouldn’t notice us I would think.” Kersey offers.
"Still, couldn't hurt to have a disguise in case the fog isn't good enough."
”If the fog isn’t good enough then we have bigger issues.”
All to true about the lack of fog. Morgrym steps in for breakfast.
He then sits down and starts to work on repairing the small dings and dents in his armour.
I Guess all we can really do is go there, and look to see what we can see, or storm the boat in the fog to look for the missing person.
He takes hearty bites of the breakfast, and continues to work between bites.
Lyraesel frowns. She didn't see the point in trying to dress up just to show themselves to the enemies, when stealth would work just as well if not better. She would try to commune with the river and see what she could find out, like a proper hunt.
After breakfast, Morgrym prepares his gear.
So are we going to go look at this boat or not ??
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Shalelu is organizing her arrows in her quiver and says, "Yeah, we were just waiting for the DM to get the new map up."
You head out to the appointed area - Spear-shaker's Point. As predicted, a thick fog had rolled in during the morning, making everything nearly invisible - when you first arrive you can barely see five feet away. As the afternoon wears on the fog slowly clears, and it looks like by nighttime it will be gone, just as Uksahkka predicted.
Uksahkka meets you at the point, where there are a small number of kayaks pitched in the sand. "Hello," she says as you approach the beach. "I've brought these so you can reach the boat after it's launched. There's no sense attacking it while it's still aground - Snorri Stone-eye was a powerful and influential jarl, and there will be too many people to defeat in a direct assault. But you can sneak in through the remnants of the fog with these kayaks. Noiseless, quick, in and out!"
There are four two-person kayaks. "The extra spot is for Ulf," says Uksahkka, "should you succeed. Now, time for you to learn."
She hands out a series of paddles. "This is simple," she says. "You stow your gear here, by your feet." She puts her arm inside one of the kayaks to demonstrate. "Then you keep your back straight in the seat and you dip the paddle in the water. Push on the left and it will move you forward and to the right. Push on the right and it will move the other way. If you think you are clever you can push backward to try to spin. Most important: keep your back straight. If you lean you will roll the kayak over in the water and you must then climb out or you will drown. Any questions?"
Looking at the water with trepidation Morgrym grimaces.
I think I got the concept, but you expect us to row out there?
How do we get out of these things when we are there?
Also, these look like they would break with a hard tap.
He drops his gear at his feet, and accepts the paddle.
Bernard turns and winks at the camera after Shalelu makes her initial comment.
Uksahkka says, "You sail up to the boat, and you grab the edge and climb over. Ulfen longboats have a low prow. You can use a pickaxe, or a boarding axe, or a weighted rope if you need to."
"... I hope it will hold me." Kersey comments while looking at the kayak.