"Uuuuuuh, goblins," says Rudrik with a roll of his eyes. "A constant nuisance."
"Yeah, I guess we could do a good turn."
A on-again, off-again member of the town militia, Calendula eagerly agrees to put herself forward to save the lost merchants. "Saving the world can wait," she says to Nime. "These people might die without our intervention."
Nime looks confused.
"Isn't that what I said?" she says. Her brow furrows. "Maybe I misremembered."
She smiles at Calendula.
"Yes, good idea, let's ask Larenza where she sent the guards off to."
Calendula stares at her blankly. "I was agreeing with you," she explains, suppressing a shiver.
"I'm sorry," Nime says, the growing confusion on her face. "I thought I was agreeing with you."
At seeing the shiver, Nime wraps her long arms around Calendula from behind. "You look cold," she says.
Shenuska just watches Nime with a slight smile.
"I used to find her confusing." She confides to Calendula. "Now I understand her much better than I used to. She's brilliant, just not always at the same point of the story as the rest of us."
Calendula, secretly very grateful for the addition of body heat, twists away from Nime. "I'm always cold," is all she says. "An it's gettin colder."
To Shenuska she nods, scratching her head. "Oh, I know, see, I've known her for fifteen, sixteen years. Nime may be annoying, certainly," she says, loud enough for Nime to hear but intended as a playful jab at the blue woman, and not an attack by any means, "but she is bright, helpful n' kind. Like having your breath returned to ya when ya thought you were drowning. She was my first friend here in town, an we've been doing this for a long time. At this point, correcting her is more for my benefit than hers. Sometimes, the way she says things just twists up in my head and she doesn't seem to mind terribly when I do it."
Nime suffers Calendula's barb with a friendly smile.
As she waits for the others to gather themselves together, Nime wanders the stone circle. She's replicating her prior behavior of walking a little bit and then lowering herself down to feel the stone foundation.
She pays no heed at all to the infrequent odd looks from those that aren't familiar with her peculiarities.
Governor Thort directs you to speak with guard captain Julit Freson. The gruff middle-aged woman offers a brisk handshake to Calendula before listening to your inquiry.
"Aye, we sent three guards into the Churlwood to look for those dwarves. They crossed the river at Hallen's Ferry to search one of the Bramblemouth tribe's known lairs, but they never came back. I can mark the goblin lair on your map. With luck, you can find my men and bring them home."
"I agree with Calendula, what we found on that map is only a potential; these goblins are an active and known threat."
"... plus I might actually get more use out of my magic against them than I did yesterday."
"So, we've got five people missing - the wagon driver, his wife, and the three guards?"
"Correct," Julit says. "We can only hope the goblins haven't claimed any more victims."
"Then we should probably get going. If we can deal with the goblins easily we can push on to this ruin as well." Shenuska suggests. "Is everyone ready to go?"
Nime nods her head with confidence.
"Yes. It's time to go."
She listens to the breeze for a moment and smiles.
"Definitely time to go."
Rudrik busies himself with getting some new gear - a worn but serviceable large shield made of a very dark wood, and a broad but stubby sword, also in a worn scabbard, to replace his family shortsword, which he returns to his sister. He also adds a quiver of javelins to his belt, and tucked in back is a small round mace.
"I'm all prepared!" he says. "Check out this new shield! It's so light, but so strong! I got a good deal. Wow, we're actually gonna fight some goblins, like real... adventurers or somethin'!"
"Bah! Adventurer? You look to me like a little green baby playing dress-up!" comes a scratchy voice. This is followed by a prodigious belch.
Looking up to the rooftop of a nearby building, you spot a disgusting little creature peering down at you. Dirty gray fur covers the small creature in a haphazard mishmash of long, thick tufts and bare, bald spots where his flaky, pink skin is visible. Crusted vomit clumps in his fur in places, especially around his mouth. His round belly protrudes past a ratty leather vest, and a few occult talismans and other trinkets hang on cords around his neck. He wears a braided length of rope around his waist like a belt, from which hangs a bag of rocks and a set of thieves' tools.
"Whoa! I mean, I've seen ugly before, but you take the cake! No wonder you live in the gutters, digging through--*BURP*--trash all day! There's no way any girl could love a mug like that!"
Rudrik recognizes the pest as Mister Retch, a gremlin that's been annoying people in town for months, despite several attempts to get rid of him.
Nime looks up with a disapproving gaze.
"Now there's no need to be rude, Mr. Retch," She says. "And that's a provably false statement, because I love Rudrik. And please be careful up there, I think it may rain later today and some of those roofs are slippery when they get wet."
"Oh yeah, I'll bet you do love him," Mister Retch laughs. "Him and everybody else in town! People say you're the--*URP!*--the loosest pair of lips in the Cove, and they're not talking about the ones on your face! Bwa ha ha ha!"
Shenuska snaps her fingers and a piece of loose tiling comes flying across the roof to strike the gremlin on the head.
"If you can't speak civilly, then don't speak at all!" She says firmly.
The gremlin yelps as the tile strikes him, leaving a small welt. "Ouch! You asked for it, missy! *BLAAAAARGH!!!!*"
Mister Retch lives up to his namesake, spewing a line of putrid vomit onto Shenuska, dousing the psychic with the disgusting fluids! Cackling, he scampers away, disappearing behind the eaves of the roof.
"Well that was unpleasant. Why on earth do people here put up with him?" Shenuska asks, as the fluids run off her clothes and the stains begin to magically disappear.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Nime says, moving to assist Shenuska. "I'm not sure why he insists on being so anti-social."
She steps back in surprise as the woman magically cleans herself of the vile fluids.
"Now that's handy," she says with a grin. "And just to be clear, they're not loose. I check occasionally."
She turns to the others.
"Shall we go?"
You depart Roderic's Cove, heading east up the Chavali River, traveling for about two-and-a-half hours. Almost 5 miles up the river, where it grows shallow for a short stretch, twin rows of mismatched wooden pilings protrude from the water. This was originally intended to be the site of a bridge that would cross the river and continue the road south along the edge of the Churlwood, but plans for its construction fell apart after the pilings were driven into the river. Yet the Covers are tenacious, and rather than abandon this handy link to the south side of the river, a resident of the cove took it upon herself to set up a ferry service that uses a barge attached to a set of ropes hung between the pilings.
Hallen Rosker sits in a comfortable chair by a small dock which has a barge tethered to it. The old woman looks up at you from beneath the brim of her large sun hat. "Greetings, friends. Hello there, Nime. Come to take my ferry cross the river? It's 4 coppers for the journey."
"Good morning, Hallen. It's good to see you again," Nime says with a smile. "Yes, please. We'd like to cross."
She hands over the expected payment.
When they reach the barge, Nime slips her vest off and shimmies out of her shorts, hanging them on her spear.
"Would you take this across for me?" she asks, holding out the weapon to Calendula.
She then knifes into the water to accompany the barge on its journey.
"That gremlin's just mean-tempered but nobody can ever manage to get their hands on him," Rudrik says after the gremlin makes its sickening assault. "He'll get his one of these days."
~~~~~~~~~~
Rudrik rummages around to produce some small coins. "Don't mind if we do! Anyone else been on the ferry today or yesterday?"
Hallen doesn't seem fazed by Nime's ecdysiastic tendencies. She shakes her head at Rudrik's question. "Nope, ain't nobody been out here since those guards crossed two days ago. Never saw them come back, come to think of it. You out here looking for them?"
The old woman hobbles over to the barge as you board. Though her advanced age has made walking difficult for her, she has plenty of upper body strength from years of strong labor on a nearby farm. She starts to pull the barge across the river using the ropes she's attached to the pilings. The ropes are attached to iron rings driven into the pilings, allowing them to be dropped to the riverbed so they don't snag passing vessels when not in use.
Physical exertion often leaving her winded, Calendula graciously takes the ferry.
As the barge slowly crosses, Nime pops up out of the water to put her arms on the weathered wood of the craft.
"You should try swimming sometime, Calendula," she says, her voice taking on an odd tone. The scarred woman can see that parallel lines under both sides of the tall girl's jaw have opened. "It's good exercise and would probably do you wonders."
She thinks for a moment.
"Unless you drowned. Then it wouldn't."
The oracle smiles and then slips soundlessly back into the water.
Seeing that the water looks calm Shenuska slips out of her long outer robe, handing it casually to Theo and dives into the water after Nime. She doesn't stay underwater the way Nime does, but seems to enjoy the swimming none-the-less, although the initial shock of the cold water catches her out and she spends some time treading water before breaking into a stroke.
Hallen is chatty and talks a lot as she ferries you across. "Ought to be careful now heading off into the Churlwood. There are bandits, goblins, and monsters all about. You pick which one is worse. Though, most of the time the bandits at least leave people alive. Goblins you never know, and monsters... well, that can go all kinds of ways."
It takes about 10 minutes to cross the river, Nime and Shenuska keeping pace as they swim alongside the ferry. As the barge nears the southern shore, Hallen curses under her breath. Two smiling men and a tall, lanky woman casually flipping a coin in one hand step out of the woods. "Roadkeepers," she says under her breath. "Just give them what they ask for and they'll let you on your way. That one who's flipping the coin is Lullaby Vancaskerkin. She's a piece of work--you'd best not be giving her a reason to get angry."
The barge reaches the southern shore, and Lullaby steps up with a grin and a swagger. She gives Hallen a nod; the old woman responds with a scowl and a rude gesture. "Greetings, friends! Welcome to the scenic Churlwood!" Lullaby says. "We Roadkeepers work hard to patrol the forest and keep its trails nicely pruned and free from clutter. Alas, our services don't come for free. Although it pains me to ask for charity, I'd appreciate a donation of 10 gold pieces from each of you as appreciation for our hard work."
Hallen lets out a small gasp of surprise at the amount of money Lullaby is asking for. The woman's two smirking companions step forward between Lullaby and you.
Theo just ignored the gremlin, having made its 'acquaintance' once before (well... Sam made its acquaintance, Theo was thankfully outside of the 'blast radius'). When it lived up to its name all over Shenuska, he'd been about to help clean up the mess when it all faded on its own.
"Impressive; wasn't aware that there was a psychic version of that spell. Mind you; only ever met one other person using that kind of magic so I think my ignorance is a little justified there."
Theo let the others handle the negotiation and chose to just ride on the raft, though certainly appreciated the scenery - especially once the ladies added to it.
On the other side, he decided to let someone else deal with the Roadkeepers. He wasn't sure what the going rate for the toll was - and knew his perception about money was skewed enough from his lifestyle that he'd probably consider even an exorbitant fee to be dirt-cheap - but if negotiations failed then he could certainly cover a good chunk of it from his own funds.
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Nime steps from the cold water of the river. She reaches back with both hands to twist the majority of water from her hair. She then steps to Calendula to grab the shorts hanging from her spear. After pulling them on, she takes back her weapon. Her vest continues to dangle from the end of the spear, though.
"She's wearing a very pretty hat," Nime says quietly to Calendula. "I wonder where she got it. Perhaps I should ask."
She produces the requested price and steps forward. "Here is my fee," she says. "If you don't mind my saying so, you would probably generate a lot more income if you also dealt with the menacing creatures of the forest."
She shows an innocent smile to the thugs.
"You would get much more traffic and would consequently generate much more in the way of fees."
Nime turns her eyes to Lullaby.
"And I must ask where you got that lovely hat. The color is wonderful."
"That is a ridiculous request." Shenuska says firmly, despite being dripping wet and clad in a light, and now extremely clingy shirt and once loose trousers.
"I will pay one gold, and even then you are getting an excellent bargain. Take it."
She fishes for a coin and holds it in her hand, but makes no move to give it to the 'Roadkeepers' without their agreement to her terms.
Lullaby's men goggle at the topless undine and soaking wet psychic for a few moments before she elbows them. "Hey, pay attention! The nice blue woman is offering us payment." Chastised, the thugs take Nime's gold.
"Meh, that seems like an awful lot of work. Better to leave the beasties to itinerant folks like yourselves. You like the hat? Got it for a steal in Riddleport." She adjusts it to a jaunty angle and gives Nime a wink.
Lullaby sighs, though, when Shenuska tries to negotiate. "I'm afraid the price is fixed, lady. It's either 10 gold or back the way you came. Now, you can pay up freely, or we can resort to doing things the hard way..."
The two thugs gesture significantly to their sheathed weapons.
"Oh don't be silly," Nime says with a giggle. "We're on a quest to save the world. Stopping us would be foolish."
She looks to Lullaby.
"And if the world ended, there would be no one to make lovely hats like that anymore. You wouldn't want that would you?"
Calendula shakes her head when Nime suggests she swim regularly. "No thank you," says the grump, "I get plenty of exercise already."
Of course at that point, the barge bumps into a piling and she falls in. She struggles to keep her head above water, though she is quickly rescued. She stays on the barge, holding herself, shaking and coughing, soaking wet, until they reach the other side.
Vancaskerkin's appearance causes her burnt and scarred eyes to narrow. She keeps a hand on her sword, waiting for something more to happen.
Lullaby clucks her tongue and flips her coin again. "Nah, I like money more than world peace. You know what to do, boys."
Calendula's blood heats and thins as her anger simmers within her. Her clothes dry from her own heat. As battle is called, she slams sword first into anyone in her way, making a beeline for Lullaby.
"I'm comin fer you next, girlie," she screams.
"I'll give you a stabbin'," Rudrik rumbles, and then everything breaks into violence.
"You should have taken the coin." Shenuska says calmly, folding her arms under, and emphasising rather dramatically, her breasts.
"Bloody extortionists," Theo muttered before casting a spell on one of the thug's weapons. Figuring Calendula would prefer an unarmed opponent, he aimed for the one she had struck and channelled raw heat into his weapon.
Theo uses his magic to heat up the sap in the Roadkeeper's hand, but he reacts quickly, dropping the weapon before he gets burned.
Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, though, Calendula rushes up to him and drives her sword into his gut! He gurgles and falls as she pushes him aside, eyes intent on Lullaby.
Nime shakes out her wet hair and closes her eyes listening to the words of the breeze.
With purpose, she opens her eyes and places her hand on Rudrik. She leans over and whispers words in his ear.
"Lullaby! Don't be foolish! Don't throw your life away for gold!"
"But it's so shiny!" Lullaby protests. She casts a spell, and a burst of sound explodes in your midst! Her remaining goon swings his sap at Calendula, but fails to hit.
Nime screeches in a high pitched tone, closing her eyes and clapping her hands on her ears.
Unimpeded by the sound, Calendula swings at the next man to get in her way.
Shenuska takes a step back under the physical effects of Lullaby's spell before sending a pointed tree branch hurtling at the woman.
Rudrik just barely manages to hang on as the blast of sound comes out. "That's it, doin' ya the hard way," he says, drawing his gladius as he rushes past her henchman.
With one down, Theo charged to help deal with the second and free Calendula to go after the ringleader.
The thug swings at Rudrik as he runs past but misses. The half-orc misses with his attack, though, as do Shenuska and Calendula. Theodric manages a good strike, impaling the thug with his spear and dropping him to the ground.
Lullaby yelps and steps back from Rudrik. "Oh, sorry! I didn't realize you were the real deal! Here, have my magic coin and leave me alone!" She tosses the copper piece she was flipping to the ground and casts another spell, disappearing from sight.