Tane's bobbing head appears in the distance as he comes barreling towards the river.
Tane was running with a full head of steam, staring at the boat coming down the river and totally missed the fact that Selene was walking towards him from a different direction. He plowed into her and knocked her to the ground, landing on top of her. Completely unprepared for this situation he freezes more out of embarrassment than anything else. He puts pressure on his elbows and lifts himself off her, but hovers a few inches from her stuttering, "Uhh.. Selene. I, uhh. I-I didn't see you. I mean. It's not like I don't like looking at you. It's that I-"
When he hears the giggles and laughter of the others in the distance he lifts his head and turns a deep red, inhaling a long breath and flopping off onto his back.
"Eheu, Quod in malum!" Selene yells falling down onto her back, and dull thump emanating from the back of her head. When she opens her eyes, she sees Tane speaking gibberish and she makes a confused look to match. "Quid dicam vobis?". She slowly stands up holding the back of her head, and lends the other hand toward assisting Tane up.
"Ego Galeam." Selene gives a second glance toward Malya and Essa in disbelief that this Tane was anything more than normal behavior.
Argh! That hurt! _ What did you say? _ I really need to get a helmet
Tane clears his throat, clearing forgetting about Selenes curse. He shakes his head and squeezes his eyes shut tight. He pushes himself off her and offers his hand to her to pull her to her feet.
He summarizes in Celestial, "Dixi me paenitet, non advertenti."
Tane quickly gathers up all of his dropped possessions and gives a attempts to ignore the giggling girls in the distance.
Selene pauses a long moment to look at Tane, narrowing her eyes and leaning in as if to get a better look at him. She takes his wrist in hand and steadies herself back on her own two feet but still grilling him with a inquisitive stare. She touches the back of her head again to check for any reminder of pain before she breaks the examination, smiles, and turns to pull Tane by arm to quickly join the others
Mayla watched the collision and winced before giggling. "Tane strikes again." She jokes lightly as she watches them. Seeing Selene touch her head a couple of times she would grab another handkerchief and dips it in the cool water. Once she returns with a large smile she would hold it up. "For the bump on your head. The cool I think will keep it from swelling. Good job finding Tane." She teases Selene.
She would move over. "Now this makes four good byes I don't have to say."
"And so our merry band embarks on its newest journey!"
Finally, the boat comes to shore, and Cygat welcomes it.
Ah, here's come the "Black Mist"! Hello Captain! How are you doing, Walren? What are the news?
A dwarf answers
No trouble so far, Cygar.The toughest part of the trip will come later.
A man with big scars over his body jumps on the shore and ties the boat, while the dwarf shows your group.
Are these the folks I was supposed to take aboard? They look quite young, aren't they?
They are good hearted and valiant, and already proved themselves. You will have plenty of time to know each other, Captain Walren.
Sure, sure. A week along the river, if the weather is good. Ewen, double the knots! I don't want the Black Mist to wander about!
The scarred man nods and obey.
I got a surprise for you, Cygar. A special guest!
Putting his hands around his mouth, the dwarf happily shouts
Come here and don't be shy, Laina. Or Leena. Or Leanna.
He shrugs
Never had the good sounds of her name. Nothing like a true dwarf name, with strenght in it.
Cygar smiles a little
I won't say a thing against true dwarf names, "Captain Walren".
The dwarf laughs
Mayla's eyes light up seeing the dwarven captain. Curtsying to him she would say.
'S e urram a tha thu a' coinneachadh ri Caiptean. Tha mi duilich ma mo Dwarven Chan eil suas ri snaoisean. Tha mi air a ghleusadh cho math as urrainn dhomh. Is e m 'ainm Jayla Cardigan.'
It is an honor to meet you Captain. I do apologize if my Dwarven is not up to snuff. I have practiced as much as I can. My name is Mayla Vardigan.
Deciding to make a pointed effort to engage people more, with her new found heroic confidence, Essa steps up and greets the captain. "Hi, I'm Essa! Nice to meet you Captain Walren." Not knowing whether to curtsey or bow or shake his hand, she does a feeble half attempt at all three at once, and instead looks like a fool. "Umm, this is Roguk, don't mind him, he's housebroken, unlike Tane here!" Essa guffaws and snorts as she points a thumb over her shoulder at Tane. Satisfied with her lame joke, she immediately feels bad because there was a time when she was the butt of many jokes. "Umm, I mean no, Tane is housebroken, he won't cause any problems. I..didn't mean it.." tongue tied, she turns and shuffles off embarrassed at her first impression.
Mayla couldn't help but snicker at Essa's lame joke. Seeing her get embarrassed she would reach out and grab her hand giving it a squeeze and her a reassuring smile.
"Yep, Selene has been training him." She says with a wink.
"That would be me. Nice to meet you." Selene said with a smile and a wave "Though it was Tane that taught me how to fight, not the other way around."
A female voice shouts in reply:
"For the four hundreth time, it's Lenna!!! And I'm not shy, I'm just allergic to bad dwarven humour!"
Soon, a halfling woman joins the Captain. Qne look at her is sufficient to determine that she is not a sailor: slim, not very muscular, soft hands with very long fingers, unlike the rough hands of the sailormen, used to work hard on a boat. Her movements are fluid, and rather graceful, and she has a pretty, round face, a bit childlike, like many of halflings have, with big dark eyes. The black armor she's wearing seems very well-crafted, adapting to each of her movements, and she has a small pouch on her belt.
Captain Walren's statement seems almost laughable, now. With her mischievous look and a general self-confidence, Lenna doesn't seem "shy" at all. In fact, when she speaks, it seems almost impossible not to hear her.
"Seriously, I'll never understand how you can possibly get it wrong" she still grumbles, speaking to the Captain. "It's like, two syllables! Or... You're doing it on purpose, aren't you, you devilish dwarf? That's it, you shall be called 'Wally' for the rest of the trip! Do no protest, you know you deserve it!"
Judging by her tone and her faint amused smile, she isn't really angry. These two must like to tease each other a lot. She has to tilt her head back to look at the group.
"Hey, Cygar, how ya doin'? And I guess these ladies and gentleman your little protégés, is that it?" she asked, as she observed the group.
She gives everyone a handshake.
"Greetings. How do you do? Gods, four humans? You sure you want me to help them, and not the other way 'round? And, uh... Is that a gorilla?" she frowned when she saw Roguk. "He belongs to someone, right? Please tell me he does."
"Thanks Malya, I let my brain get ahead of my mouth sometimes."
Essa beams at the newcomer, another halfling, like Enev! "Do you know Enev? Ummm, well, maybe not. I guess you don't all know each other."
She takes the tiny woman's hand in hers when offered the shake. Don't squeeze too hard, don't squeeze too hard.
"That's Roguk. He and I are inseparable. He's not exactly a gorilla, a closely related type of ape. It probably makes no difference to think otherwise though. He is friendly. But if you have food, he may not leave you alone!" Essa laughs heartily, and Roguk seeming to understand he is the focus of attention, rolls onto his back pulling his feet up into a ball and rocks back and forth around the people comically.
"He's such a ham."
Tane scratches his head, confused by the joke told at his expense. He starts to speak but clamps his mouth shut as other introduce themselves. When everyone is finished he shakes Lenna's hand and says, "I'm Tane as you probably guessed by now.".
He winces in reflex when he sees Essa shake the newcomers hand, remember how ungodly strong that girl is. Tane looks around, waiting for more to appear from somewhere. He frowns, counting all the women. He asks, "Uh, who else is coming along on our adventure?"
"It looks like just us I am afraid. The others wished to stay to help the town. Keep it safe." Mayla said looking at him. Looking to Lenna she took her hand and shook it firmly but not with the strength others possessed. Her hand was also soft and she was decently dressed.
"I am Mayla."
"Um... No, I don't know Enev," the halfling replies, seemingly very confused by the question. "And, uh... I'm glad that you're here to watch over him, if that's the case," she says, looking at Roguk.
She doesn't seem very relieved, though, as she clutches her pouch nervously, and doesn't dare to go nearer the ape.
Despite Essa's care and caution, Lenna could almost feel the fragile, tiny bones crack in her grip when she shook her hand.
Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch! Gosh, she's strong!
She cannot help but wincing, and quickly hide her aching hand in her pocket, presenting her other one to Tane and Malya. She still giggles when she hears Tane's remark:
"Poor thing feels outnumbered! Don't worry, Tane, women don't bite. And if you're too afraid, you can still stick with Cygar and Wally. I'm sure they won't mind. And a dwarf is the best shelter you can look for, you know."
She also greets Malya and Selene.
"It's a pleasure to meet you all."
"Poor thing feels outnumbered! Don't worry, Tane, women don't bite. And if you're too afraid, you can still stick with Cygar and Wally. I'm sure they won't mind. And a dwarf is the best shelter you can look for, you know."
Tane scoffs loudly, exasperating the situation and making his uneasiness abundantly clear. "What? No. I mean. Pffft! Seriously? Me, afraid? HA! No way. I mean, no. Just, no. HA! We'll be fine. I was just thinking, that uh-" He clears his throat and abruptly turns towards Cygar and moves off in that direction. "So. You were telling me about that really important thing?"
Cygar and Wallen both laugh at Tane, or maybe with Tane, who knows?
Then the dwarf says
We'll be leaving soon. Half an hour. Get your things on the boat, and let's go. Hope no one here is sick on a boat? Do you know how to swim, boy?
Mayla giggled watching Tane's reaction and smiled. Dragging her stuff on board she would check it one more time ensuring she had gotten the inks and parchment she would need and also the waterproof bag considering they had been in water and were going to be traveling down the river. Also, she made sure she had the supplies to transcribe more spells into her book. She was making some headway into her research for more.
Tane's chest puffs out and he stands up straighter? "Do I ever! Why, I used to compete again Essa all the time in the river. I uh, let her win a lot, but don't tell her that."
Tane shoots a glance at Essa, hoping she was too occupied to hear here for fear of a solid thwap.
The "Black Mist" is a rectangular 60 feet long,20 feet large barge.
The cabin occupies the back third of the barge, and contains enough cots for the entire party, as well as the captain and his deck hand, Ewem, the Kellid man.
The cabin also has a simple stove and enough provisions to last the entire journey, with the remainder of the barge’s hold containing iron ingots bound for the forges in Tamran.
Settle yourselves, then the trip will begin. Of course, as long as your are on my boat, you'll have to obey my orders, and you are supposed to help to the defense of the boat. But I guess you have no problem with that? You're in for 10 days on my boat, so if you have any doubts, you can still get back on the shore, but you'll have to leave now.."
Essa comes walking by again after stowing her pack, and untangling Roguk who decided to play in a large pile of ropes.
"Did I hear my name?"
After listening to the captain talk about their duties. "Of course we will help defend it. I will keep my club handy. Are we going through any dangerous areas?"
Later, "Hey Tane, weren't your parents from Tamren? I guess you said you were born after they moved to Kassen. Are you excited to see the city? I haven't been to many cities. I traveled some with the Circle a few years back, but I was only twelve or thirteen and they kept a close eye on me. "
She sits down on the deck at the prow of the ship and watches as it goes downriver, fascinated by the process.
Brushing back her hair as a pine cone falls out of it Huh, how did that get in there? she leans against a crate so she can chat with her friends, watch the river, keep and eye on Roguk, and put some serious thought into some new scrolls. "Malya did you get ink and parchment too? Maybe we can do some scribing together again."
"No need to warn us. We are ready to go and understand what is needed." Selene walks to the ship and turns to wait for the others.
"Yes I did. I had to come prepared because I wasn't sure what we would be dealing with. I also got a watertight scrollcase." She produces that and smiles.
To the Captain. "I will do what I can. I am not that strong in the physical aspects but I have magic to help protect."
Tane looks away when Essa perks up and potentially overhears him. When Essa mentions Tamran though, his face lights up and rushes up next to her. Childlike giddiness explodes from every facet of Tane as he reaches out and grabs Essa's shoulders, shaking her. "YES! I've never been! I'm so excited! I'm trying to maintain a level of calm inside about this because, well, you know, we are professional now after our crypt adventure and all but..."
He lets go of her and pumps his fist, "I can't beleive we're going to Tamran of all places! It was meant to be." Tane steps inline with Essa and motions before him with a wave of his hand. He lowers his voice and speaks in a deep stern voice "Fabled hero and son of Tamran returns home for secret mission with trust companions."
He turns to Essa to gauge her reaction, his face full of excitement.
Chuckling at Tane's good spirits she asks, "Your parents must have known people, didn't you say your dad was a smith, he surely knew other people in the trade. Maybe you will run into them if you ask around."
"Are you a fabled hero now?" Essa scrunches up her face a bit. "I thought those fought dragons and stuff." Essa tries to maintain a seriously face, but the corners of her mouth quiver as she fights off a smile. Before breaking she turns away "Oh look....water.."
"I've never been sick on a boat. Well... Almost never. A few times doesn't count. I mean... I'm sure the fish wasn't fresh anyway! Evil fish!"
Lenna listens to the group's conversation without interfering. She's sitting on the main deck, seemingly amused.
"My, we've got an excited one," she commented as Tane bursted into joy. "You'll have no problem to get along with Wally. He's the type of guy who has a soft spot for enthusiastic youth. Nobody's more eager to do the chores," she adds, smiling playfully.
The first three days of travel pass without too much trouble-except that time when Roguk was sick on the first night...
Captain Walden comes to speak to you, shielding himself from the small but persistent rain, while Ewen leads the boat.
Do you enjoy the trip, young ones? We're leaving the Tourondel river in a few hours, and will enter Lake Encarthan. Then there might be troubles. These days there is more to worry about than the occasional beasts that
lurk in Lake Encarthan. Molthuni privateers prowl the waters looking for victims and loot ,and sometimes, travelers meet the accursed faith barges of Razmiran. Whatever happens to these poor souls, I don't know. But the people on it disappear, the boat is sinked if too old, sold if still solid.
He rubs his hands together.
Bah, we'll see. We still have nearly a week to travel, before making it to Tamran. Uneventful journeys are the best. And if anyone wants to takeover the Black Mist, he'll have to feed me to the fishes first.
[spoiler=GM rolls, day 2]
"Ok Roguk, don't eat that seaweed anymore."
Essa would spend a few hours a day sitting on the top of the cabin in the sun, scribing scrolls, laying on her stomach slowing etching the ancient magic runes carefully with quill and ink. It was a relaxing thing actually, and allowed her to focus.
She would stop if it started to drizzle or rain and then just lie there in the cool refreshing downpour on her back, face to the sky. It was a good time to wash her shirt too so she would hang it on a line somewhere and let it get a good soaking.
Selene smiles at the captain's conversation, and looks concerned at the idea of dying before giving up the boat. Since he was in charge, that probably meant his commands would see Selene and her friends to death as well. "Should something happen, we will do everything in our power to make sure we arrive at our destination successfully. No pirate or priest is going to stop us from seeking restitution for your Kessan brothers and sisters."
Tane reassures the captain that they will be fine and there is no need to worry, "This ship is quite well protected!"
Tane takes the opportunity to get to know Lenna better on their three day journey. A jovial spirit, nothing tends to keep Tane's spirits down for long. Often at the end of all of the jokes of the group, he rolls with them (mostly because he doesn't get half of them) and tries to always keep a cheerful attitude. He strikes up numerous conversations with her and assaults her with numerous questions on her past and what has brought her here. He takes special interest in her weaponry and training, curious as to her strengths and quietly assessing her weaknesses. He mentions, twice daily, that he and his companions are the heroes of Kassen, and that they have completed an epic quest together.
"I'm sure you've heard of all of our deeds, but tell me, what brings you here? Are you an inspiring Pathfinder perhaps?"
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When available, Lenna is a cheerful companion, as if she was always in a good mood. She is definitely talkative, and sharp-tongued, liking to joke around. She often teases Tane; after some days in her company though, it is clear that she is mischievous and playful with people that she especially appreciates.
Although her seriousness and reliability can be questioned (because she is often slacking off), she sometimes shows a surprisingly pragmatic, down to earth attitude, and is quite good at precise work.
Her equipment is very basic, and she seems like the kind of person who likes to travel light. Her weaponry is more adapted to fight from afar. Her armor seems to be the only truly valuable object that she owns.
From the point of view of a warrior, she doesn't look like she has taken miltary classes, and followed a proper training. In a one-on-one battle, it would be easy to have the upper hand. But she certainly has already held a weapon in her hands, and knows how to aim a crossbow; you wouldn't risk turning your back on her.
Learning about Lenna's past is surprisingly difficult for someone so outgoing, as asking her questions reveals that she possesses a special talent for making up stories. Most of them are too far-fetched or too exaggerated to believe, others leave the interlocuter puzzled and suspicious; but it is clear that she greatly enjoys telling them, as the story changes each time Tane ask her a question.
Needless to say that it is annoying, frustrating... And entertaining. She sure is quite imaginative, and a good storyteller...
Although these stories about how she joined the Pathfinders are really surrealistic.
All you can learn in three days is that she used to live in Ustalav, raised by her aunt, as she was an orphan, and that she has had small jobs before being hired by the Pathfinders roughly a month ago.
"Oh yes, Tane, I've heard," Lenna sighed. "With you around, not a risk I'll forget!"
She cannot help but giggle when Tane asks her his question.
"An inspiring Pathfinder? Me? Naaah. I ain't no hero. I'm here 'cause they pay me. And might I ask what your quest is, o mighty hero?"
Tane grows two inches when he hears himself called a Mighty Warrior. Despite his best efforts (which really aren't that much actually), Tane is unable to hide his grin. He squints one eye, leaning back against the railing of the ship and waves a hand dismissively. "Mighty? I didn't say I was mighty? I mean. I'm strong. Don't you think I'm strong? I train hard, I do think I'm fit to be a hero. But a mighty hero? I mean, that's like -" he frames his palms out in front of him for a few seconds and then flexes his muscles -". Yeah I mean I don't think of myself in that light."
Pausing he tilts his head and moves a step closer, "You think I'm mighty?" By this point Tane has completely forgotten what the point of the original question was, only remembering he was called a Mighty Hero.
Selene gives a sly smirk to Malya as if to say, "You sure about that?" as she passively listens over the conversation.
Mayla would be spending time looking over her spell book and transcribing from the mostly ruined book along with making scrolls with Essa. While, she didn't go shirtless she seemed to more try her best to keep the sun off of her skin as much as possible.
Using a parasol she had brought to set up a little bit of shade. Even with her efforts her skin would turn red.
Overhearing the conversation between Tane and Lenna she smiled and seeing Selene look her way she grinned and held back her own amusement.
Once she was able to control herself she would speak up. "Selene, I was thinking of focusing my studies on learning to craft some of the wondrous items I had heard about. What do you think?" She asked having a book on just that she had gotten from her mentor.
"Would you be interested in learning that? I also have books on how to make other items like potions and the like."
Selene's orange eyes dance with flecks of gold in the sea's sun, as she chuckles saying, [b]"I hardly understand my own magic, I wouldn't suppose to even begin to understand your book. There defiantly aren't enough pictures in there. But I'd be more than happy to help you with anything if my assistance would be of benefit. More so if I would learn more about what kind of magic user I actually am in the process."[\b]
While flexing for Leana, Tane turns and takes note of the large fish bumping the boat. He frowns and points to the fish and shouts to loudly for everyone to hear, "HEY ESSA! There's a buncha big fish bumping into the boat over here. Can you tell them to stop? I'd uh, you know, hate for them to get hurt or something."
He leans in to Leana and whispers, "Essa talks to animals. Just roll with it, it's sort of her thing."
Essa grabbed her shirt and began tugging in on over her head. It was mostly dry by now anyhow. Tane always seemed to act strangely otherwise.
"I noticed that too just now. What a peculiar thing."
Essa looked down into the water at the creatures.
Mayla looked up and would quickly stopper her inks. Last thing she needed was to lose those.
She strained to see what they were looking at.
The long, strange fishes swim near the boat for a few minutes, bumping into it from time to time
"Those fish are eels, the kind that hurt if you get near in the water. They seem afraid of something. Normally they are predators, so something big must be making them afraid. Hey everyone I would be ready for a really big fish or some other watery monster."
Essa grabs her pack and hefts her club waiting for gigantic tentacles to come over the boat's railing and attack her, as her mind races with fantastic stories of aquatic denizens.
Selene stands and readies herself at Essa's caution.
Lenna giggles, and gives an amused look at Malya and Selene, as if to ask them: "Is he always like that?
"You're what you want to be, pal. But you might want to keep your feet on the ground- wait, what was that?"
Frowning, the halfling grabs and loads her crossbow, watching the big fishes.
"Essa talks to animals. Just roll with it, it's sort of her thing."
She doesn't seem really reassured.
"Oh, yeah? As long as we can avoid getting attacked," she mutters; but she lets Essa do her stuff.
"Those fish are eels, the kind that hurt if you get near in the water. They seem afraid of something. Normally they are predators, so something big must be making them afraid. Hey everyone I would be ready for a really big fish or some other watery monster."
Lenna sighed.
"Great. You know, it's reassuring when things get worse, because for a moment, I almost thought I had overreacted at fishes. Don't stay too close to the water, guys!"
The halfling warns Walden:
"Hey cap'tain! There's probably a big creature coming right towards us!"
There is, indeed, something wicked coming this way...
It's.. big.
Probably ten feet tall.
It's an huge humanoid, with pointed teeth, and powerful muscles.
It's swimming under the water, following your boat. The eels quickly go their ways.
"Guys....that's an Ogre following behind us....normally they are not supposed to be underwater and swim....usually." She would call on her Lotus shield as she pulls out her wand as her eyes scan around for any more threats.
"An..an ogre?! Yikes!"
Essa casts Shillelagh on her club. "Roguk stay close, there is a bad monster near the boat."
Selene moves to a where Malya first spotted the ogre and lends a determined nod while saying something in her strange celestial tongue. She then readies to the short phrase.