Out on the Lake the Heroes Go!
So Grainne began gesturing to Eldaria for them to sneak out and go to the herbalist shop, so that Sylas would know what was going on. Grainne was trying to communicate that she was going to go upstairs to their room, sneak out the window, and meet across the street. Turns out that all of the gestures were meaningless, so everyone, including Eldaria, was very confused when Grainne just got up and disappeared from dinner. Eventually Sylas and Eldaria decided to go to their rooms, while Elzy would head to the stables for the night. Eldaria got up to the room and was very confused why the window was open.
As it turned out, Elzy decided to go for a short stroll before tucking in up in a hayloft, and say Grainne sneaking down from the side of the inn to the street below. Not known for his subtlety, Elzy said, a little too loud, “who are you sneaking out with?” At which point Eldaria hears the shouting, sees Grainne below, and decides to follow, only to misjudge getting down and landing on their back with a painful thud. Somehow, Sylas heard nothing, and was blissfully ignorant of the shenanigans about to occur. Grainne administered a bit of first aid, but thankfully, Eldaria’s leather armor took most of the blow.
Though offered, Elzy was not interested in joining the midnight shenanigans, and fed the boars and drifted off to sleep to the smell of the lake town air. Eldaria and Grainne headed to the market circle where the herbalist shop was. The moon, about 4 days until a full moon, was bright enough to get around town at night. The front door was too visible, even this late at night, but the back door was locked. Eldaria deftly climbed up the side of the two story building, and got in through an unlocked window. They then found a set of stairs, and was able to get down and let Grainne in. Grainne had to summon some light from a small candle size fire on her palm, so they could see to even get around the shop and the house above. She ended up finding a note, partially burnt, that had only the words “I know what you did” left. They found a cellar with potatoes, apples, and some wine and beer in casks. From the cellar, they took two casks of ale for Elzy, and apples for the boars. In the shop, they found some paprika, which they new was a fancy spice, for Sylas, some tea for Grainne’s mom, and Hawk Leaf, which Eldaria knew had mystical properties.
Rules Break Out:
The ale, apples, paprika, and tea were mostly narrative loot and have no real cost associated with them. The Hawk Leaf though creates a magical property where someone who chews it gains the effect of Telescopic Vision 1 (B92) or Hawk Vision (M111) for a minute. There were six doses taken.
The following morning, Sylas went to Riverfolk Island and found the Goodworts to talk about traveling north. Riverfolk Island is a very small island just off the shore from Patra proper. Linking the town and the island are set of boat houses and planks. About 35 families of halflings, often called Riverfolk, live between houses on the island and the boathouses. There are a couple of barges owned by the richer families, but most families have at least one small boat. Cedric told Sylas that he would need another day to get the barge ready, line up some goods to take north, and gather a small crew.
So the Heroes relaxed for a day in Patra and arrived the next morning to meet up for their ride north upon Mermaid Lake, Cedric Goodwort introduced his crew to them. Rothad Whitbottom, the youngest of the crew. He very much loved being on the boat more than anything else. He was strong and is really mostly hired for moving cargo. Emma Brownlock, was the master of the sails. She knew the winds upon the lake like no-one better in Patra. Finally there was Brice Wanderfoot. He loved to smoke his pipe and assisted Emma with whatever she needed. His knot-tying skills were one of the Riverfolk’s best. Already loaded on the barge, were barrels of salted fish and wine, along with crates of other goods to sell at Paradise Cove or Lynhare. Grainne helps Emma with getting the sails ready, freeing up Brice to help get the boat away from shore by oars. Though this barge is not the fastest, it was clear it was well made and sturdy, but they would not reach Paradise Island until close to nightfall.
Elzy discovered that in this lake are creatures known as mortugas. They are long and cylinder with large fins midway down their body with a tail like a rudder that helps direct their path. Mortugas have a pudgy face that allows them the ability to easily eat naiad kelp and other aquatic plant life. They will eat slow moving or dead fish as well. They looked like they could be rode, so he talked to one, and they said sure. So he hoped on and rode the mortuga for a couple of hours until it wanted to go eat. Eldaria also hopped on one, having never rode a single creature before, or really knew how to swim if she fell off, but perhaps she was blessed by Farlun or Tybeeda that day, because she rode a mortuga for a couple of hours as well. Elzy spent the rest of the time fishing, though fishing on a moving vessel, even a slow one, was difficult. Regardless he did catch a few dusk trout.
They reached the island and the dock at Paradise Cove right on time, as the sun was just setting over the hills. Cedric knew it was likely too late to check into an inn, especially before tourist season had began, and offered that the Heroes could sleep on the boat if they wanted (along with his crew), by Sylas would not hear it. He would rather sleep on the sandy beach than on a boat. So that’s what they did, set up a makeshift camp on the beach, curl up in blankets, and fell asleep.
The World of Lycretia 