Category: Graveyard of Empires: The Islands of Curabel

41

Bookkeeping Joe hasn’t leveled 

Back to town

Guards shout out 

Quicklings stringed up

Heading to 12th night

Alessandra is taking charge of the situation 

Rescue Slaves Dusty Gnome(Meaning Finklemur is still armless)

Calligan not friendly(A few hundred people)

Lack of services 

Wall District lack of dock (east harbor recommended) 

Went to 12th night

Rotho caught 

Letter opened

It says (Read post)

Barney suspected 

They cut out hardcore

We may go party (Peter Theral)

Paw print stamp Agrees to invite

General store

New threadZ for  Quickling Rags

Going to the Lone Barrel

Leather Worker (Orabell)(John underestimates my awful spelling)

Fink gets ripped a new one by Leather worker

Meet Adelard at Lone Barrel

Baywin -Times of transition 

Magic User (Arnell fillet)

Adamantite cube (maybe magic)

Detect magic is cast on a cube and a dagger 

Aldus Runndlebrook is mentioned

we arrive at Peter’s

Directed to set together

Starchy is fed 

We ate dinner

Peter clears his throat

Gives a speech/Lifestory

 Invest in Bargemen

Treasure given to slaves

we keep things hush hush with  peter

Firmhand shakes exchanged

the spell protection from magic

we decide to show up super early for wizards

Late as usual, but at least it’ll be fresh in our minds for next session 😛

We return to the party sitting down to dinner at the Twelfth Knight, the room filled with it’s usual patrons, and Jaharis bustling around to serve us our complimentary meal. 

 

After some time, one patron stood out to the party, an angry-looking, heavily muscled dwarf. He soon approaches, recognising us as having dealings with the Bargemen. We talk, and learn that the dwarf, Angry Jack, was once a prisoner and slave of the Bargemen, forced to work at a mining camp. Now escaped, he looked now to work against them. 

 

He had looked for us, the Starchie Boyz, as we were known to have put a thorn in the Bargemen’s side and broken up thier slavery ring. We invite him to sit with us and dinner is brought. 

 

Talk turns to what to do next, as we feel we are no longer needed in Vargen with the recent developments between the two guilds. As a whole, the party leans towards Newton and the undead threat there, since the river passage is currently blocked. Axel and Thorfus wish to make sure to keep abreast of news from the city at least however, so they know if the city remains safe to at least pass through. 

 

We retire to our rooms, setting watch both within the rooms and without, as Chuq chooses to watch from a tree in the nearby garden. The night remains quiet up until Chuq hears a commotion down Wall Street, along with what looks to be flickering light. He climbs up to a higher vantage point, the nearby Brewery’s roof, seeing that the fire is over near the city wall, near the Watchmen’s barracks. A number of guards are rushing down the street in that direction. 

 

Chuq quickly descends from the roof and heads in that direction. The source of the fire turns out to be the barracks themselves, and teams of guardsmen and citizens are working to fight the inferno, either by water or pulling the building down before it can spread. He spots Elisandro amongst the crowd, and learns from the injured guard that it was the Quicklings who had caused the fire.  

 

They had infiltrated the building in the night, coated the second floor in oil and lit a blaze. Captain Beamsley was still inside, having also been doused in oil and presumed dead. 

 

As the fire begins to spread to nearby buildings, Chuq tells Elisandro to evacuate the buildings and rushes back to the Twelfth Knight to gather help, shouting warnings of fire as he ran. At the Inn, Jaharis is already awake, preparing the morning’s breakfast, and the innkeeper instantly heads out. Chuq opens the nearest room, awakening Finklemur, Brice and Ashton, before waking the others. The whole party, barring Finklemur, who was nursing his wounded arm, heads out at once. 

 

Back at the watch house, the fire has further spread, and now five buildings have caught ablaze despite the fire-fighting efforts. Ashton and the three dwarves take over the hooked poles, and with their superior, battle-hardened strength, pull down the outer buildings, safely containing the fire. Once this is done, it is but a matter of carrying water to the flames and seeing to the wounded.  

 

The sun is beginning to rise once the job is complete, and as the final flames are put out, we are left only with smoking ruins and the charred corpse of Adalun Beamsley. The gathered guardsmen are gathered in the street, seemingly now at a loss with what to do. 

 

Chuq speaks up, voicing the opinion that the Quicklings need to pay for what has happened here, revenge for the Captain’s death. The guardsmen are quick to agree, as are the Starchie Boyz, and we rush off to gear up for a fight and fetch Finklemur, discussing battleplans en route. 

 

When we return, Odard Brevomen has arrived and is talking to Elisandro and the other guards. He initially believes our actions to be rash, but Chuq is quick to convince him of the seriousness of the situation, that the Quicklings are nuisance that needed to be dealt with before any more damage or injuries were caused. Odard steps forward and calls for any guardsmen that wish to assist, and fifteen, led by Elisandro step forward, armed with a mixture of longswords and bows. 

 

We head out almost immediately, coaching the guardsmen on what to expect. At the Copse, we halt at the treeline, deciding to smoke out the Quicklings with fire and surround the stump to stop any escaping. We throw down kindling and oil, and Axel tops it off with one of his improvised firebombs. Finally, Chuq covers the opening with his shirt, and improvised net to prevent escape. 

 

Nothing happens for some time, until we are alerted by Starchie barking at something within the trees. Whilst Ashton and a pair of guards keep watch at the first stump, we investigate and discover a second stump and tunnel, and repeat the process. Figuring their maybe more, we split up into groups to search or guard. Jack and two more guards watch the second stump, whilst Chuq, Brice, Elisandro and three more, hold between the two as backup. Finklemur and Axel, and Thorfus head more guards and set off in a circular search pattern around the copse. 

 

Starchie alerts us to movement, which Axel instantly firebombs, catching a small creature in burning oil and drawing out a loud scream. The rest of the group charge, but it evades them and attacks Axel angrily, though is unable to get passed is armour. 

 

Seemingly on signal, more Quicklings burst out of the trees, one attacking Ashton’s group and two more attacking Jack’s, injuring a guardsman at both points. Once more, the Quicklings prove near impossible to hit, despite our numerical advantage. Eventually however, Tys, one of the guardsmen fells one, and as reinforcements from Thorfus’ group arrive to support Jack, Guardsman Yves kills another. 

 

Not having any luck with his sword, Axel kills the one he is fighting by bombing it, at the cost of injuring himself. As everyone runs towards Jack’s position, the dwarf lands a blow, prompting it to try and escape, only to catch another guardsman’s sword. Believing it to be over, we collect the bodies, noting a viscous coating on the dagger of Axel’s opponent, who appeared to be the leader. 

 

In an odd act of barbarity, Chuq strips and grills the bodies of the Quicklings whilst we wait for the fires to go out. Elisandro sends guards back to the gates in this time to take up watch. 

 

Finklemur decides to climb down the Quickling warren, being one of the few that will actually fit, and Chuq joins him. It seems to be quite sprawling, with many tunnels leading to further exits, but they find a room littered with animal corpses, particular those of cats. Another room contains makeshift beds with animal skin blankets. Eventually they find a strongbox and what looks to be the stolen treasures from Vargen. The box contains an orange-yellow potion and a large cube, each face inscribed with the ancient dwarven sigil for the letter ‘k’. 

 

They count up the money, finding 973 unknown coins, and 2506 silver coins, which they dump into the box and carry back to the entrance, transferring the coins to sacks to lift out. The dwarves take the time to investigate the cube, only noting that is made of an unknown metal, that is neither silver or platinum, and very heavy. After a final bit of fruitless searching, we pull the two out of the tunnels, injuring Chuq in the process when he got stuck. 

 

We return to town in good cheer, the guardsmen carrying the bodies of the Quicklings to display at the gates.

Session 39

January 7, 2015

Joe, Anthony, and Larry were the only player present, so Ashton, Axel, and Thorfus made a lot of decisions to the benefit of the group.

We left about 3:00 PM on the 8th of Denrildon in pursuit of the bargemen. We rowed for about three hours until dusk and pulled off to the southern bank and slept near the river. We were surprised at how uneventful our travel was.

At dusk the discussion was whether to pull off and rest overnight, or keep going. The prevailing opinion was to rest. So we took three four hour watches. I slept well when not on watch and my watch was uneventful, a welcome change. Pelgax swore up and down there was something terrible in the woods near us when he and Ashton were on watch. Ashton assured us it was only some beetles. [Two rhinoceros beetles tearing up a bunch of trees about 40 yards away.]

At sun up we ate a quick meal and then began rowing north. IN about a half hour, Finklemur, Axel, and myself all had the evil, slimy feeling when a devil fish is doing it foul mind reading. In truth, it was a new devil fish who introduced himself as Gronsk, and new of our working with Drayze and made sure to note that he would tell him what we did because Lord Thornton tricked us.

Gronsk tried to enlist us to help him retrieve the dragon orb. This orb is of the make of my ancient ancestors in their war with the dragons. It enables the bearer to control a dragon. It seems that Barnier holds. The bargemen got here just about another half hour ahead of us yesterday and captured the young river dragon and were indeed extorting the dragons of their treasure. A four man team was using the breathing apparatus to go to the bottom of the river and enter the dragons’ cave that has air, to haul out the treasure.

The devil fish said that it need us to distract the adult dragon, in human form, so that he could get close enough to “freeze” Barnier in place so that he can’t use the orb. We were needed because river dragons can compel water creatures to stay away or do their bidding. The young dragon and the other adult were also in human form. 

The devil fish said that we were needed because the bargemen left five days ahead of schedule and the mermen who were coming to help the devil fish did not know of the change in time table.

We debated and considered it and perhaps how to do an ambush as they returned to Vargen, but we decided that we were outmatched, and returned to Vargen.

When we headed north and passed on the far side of the river from the bargemen’s compound, they were packing up boats like they were looting the place. When we came back, the compound seemed deserted. We landed our boats outside the area of bargemen control and Adelard took us to where Mercer spies were watching and learned that they left and they weren’t sure where. All was calm and we were told it was safe to walk along the main roads instead of winding our way through the back alleys.

As we headed up to High Street to return to the Lonely Barrel, a scragly thin man with wavy blond hair ran past. Ashton attempted to clothesline him, but he was too agile and got past us. Three guards from Fen’s Edge chased him, but they gave up when they reached the boundary with their territory. We could not track the man, so we went to the Lonely Barrel. 

When we got to the Lonely Barrel we met Phyllis & Odard who told us that when Peter Thorell, the leader of the bargemen guild learned of the slavery and other antics of Rotho, that Peter was appalled and said this was a rogue element and that he was on the side of the Mercers all along, and pledged to work with the Mercers. There is a new arrangement where the bargemen will work with Odard on the council. We relay what we learned of the orb and the dragons and treasure, and it is not a concern to them, the problems with the politics is solved. It was made clear to us that our services were no longer needed and that we would be more “comfortable” in the “much nicer” Twelfth Night” We have assurances that there are no hard feelings and that the bargemen will not harass us

We went to the Twelfth Night without incident anywhere along the way. Joharis, the proprietor exclaims, “You’re Alive!” when he sees us, as he knew of the rough characters who had been looking for us.

We secure two rooms and board the horses and wagon and go to look for Elisondro, since it was only mid-afternoon,  and see if there is anything else going on with the quicklings. At the gate, we meet the guardsman, Tyce, who is worried about Elisondro, who has become obsessed with the quicklings. Tyce tells us that Elisondro is out there now looking for them, and hopes that we can talk some sense into him.

We find Elisondro and he tells us of his failed efforst to find the quicklings and he is convinced that they live underground. He shows us to the statues and we discover that it is a dwarven automaton nearly 20 feet high but only about 8 feet are visible above ground. It is covered with moss and the accumulation of detritus from centuries in the open air. Thorfus tries to clear a patch on its nex=ck and Axel tries to clear a seam near its elbow in a search for writing. While doing this, Thorfus detects a low rumble/humming and it is decided we don’t want to wake up a huge automaton, if we are not sure we can control it.

Elisondro doesn’t think it is a good idea to mess with the statue as the Brothers of the World Forge will not like it, so he goes off to look for quicklings. Thorfus tells him to look for hollow trees, and he realizes he hasn’t tried that. As we end our efforts of fiddling with the automaton, Elisondro yells for us. We find him off the path to the statue and he has found a hollow tree stump with a dug out shaft about two feet in diameter and aobut 20 feet deept. We lower a lantern and the last 5 feet the light goes off to the side, but we can’t see any more.

Elisondro wants us to go down there an fight, but it is so narrow, we would barely fit, so we will the shaft with dead trees and have Elisondro take us to Guard Captain Adelaird Beamsly. thorfus tells him what was found and what we did and made clear that we did not see or hear or find any signs of the quicklings, we just plugged up the shaft as a precaution. Thorfus also told the captain that it was Elisondro who found the shaft. The captain changes his outlook to Elisondro and appoints him in charge of some en to do further investigation now there there is a solid lead. The captain says that there is not longer a reward, but used the petty cash to give each of us 10 gp. 

We then go back to the Twelfth Night and eat our complimentary supper and listen in aon the conversation and the road from Midmark is now much better, with only a little trouble from Harpies or other things from the jungle. the ability to use the ford for free is very good. The merchants talked like it was all the work of the men from Midmark. We did not mention that we had a hand in any of it.

We waited a few hours and retired to our rooms.

I wonder how long until the bargemen with Rotho and Barnier come back and what will happen. Will we be able to go to Xen Kel, or would we be better off dealing with the harpies in the castle. I would like to rescue Em, but is she really up the Vargwater at the mines? These are my thoughts as I drift off to sleep. This the 9th of Denrildon.

Session 38 – Dec 17, 2014

Morning at the Lone Barrel, 8th of Denrilden, 

Adelard escorts us to the East Harbor docks. Before we shove off, he wishes us luck and wants us to take revenge for the Mercers slaughtered by the Punters lost last night. He has not heard anything about Ardman. He agrees to send word via canoe if anything significant happens while we pursue Rotho and Barnier.

We row north by northwest pass the Rock of the Kelwater prison, von Waybeck’s place then Waterman’s former office. Inconspicuously giving the Punters compound a wide berth, Finklemur notices Aardman walking along the rope bridge from the central tower to the covered pier along the Kelwater. The Boys quickly change plans.

Finkelmur jumps over board. Feigning drowning, Fink calls Starchie for help. Starchie heroically leaps and mimes a rescue, dragging Finkelmur towards the Punter’s open piers. Thorfus, Axel, Sturloc and Kotarr start yelling encouragement at Starchie. Thorfus drops in several admonishments at Fink for being a silly old man. The punters collect about their pier marveling at the spectacle. Chuq and Perrett use the distraction to slip into the water. They hide below the row boat’s gunwale opposite the Punters.  

At the most opportune moment, they swim for the covered pier. It is unoccupied. The two climb out of the water. Perrett bars the double doors along the northern wall. Chuq attempts to lock the single door near the double doors. Not having the key, his attempt fails. He directs Perrett to the wooden ladder to the 2nd floor. They emerge into an empty anteroom then burst through the west wall door.

Sitting at the only desk in this room is Aardmann. Chuq dives and misses. Perrett follows and pins Aardman to the floor. Aardmann is not cowed, he scrambles from underneath the spear held at his throat. Working as a team, Chuq and Perrett pin Aardmann to the floor. He is brained by Perrett. 

Along the open piers, the Punters present have helped Finkelmur and Starchie onto the pier. They ignore Thorfus’ entreaties to allow Finkelmur and Starchie time to recover from their near drowning. Under protest, the Boys row off to the north slowly. 

Wrapping the ledgers strewn about the room in one of the blankets from the bed, they and Aardman are secured in the large chest by the window. Both Perrett and Chuq carry the chest to the anteroom as the exterior door can be heard being unlocked. We are discovered! A punter tough and guard lieutenant attach Chuq and Perrett. During the scuffle, Chuq sticks the lieutenant with his spear and the two punters flee across the rope bridge. Perrett severs the rope railings with his sword. Falling with the bridge, both punters are slain by the fall. 

Death by severed bridge alerts the punters loitering on the pier. Slamming the door shut, Chuq and Perrett maneuver the chest to the trapdoor. Perrett lowers the chest to Chuq as Chuq is descending the ladder. The two successfully arrests the chest’s fall to the deck below. Aardmann is only slight tussled. Scurrying quickly all three plunge into the water still within the covered pier. Chuq and Perrett are pushing/towing the floating chest as fast as they can as Punters charge through the unlocked single door. Most follow along the wooden pier as two dive after us.

The ruckus caught the Starchie Boy’s attention and intuitively they row down river to cover Chuq and Perrett’s escape. The swimming punters can’t close fast enough. Finkelmur hurls a patch of 15’ darkness about the covered pier’s single door. It covers their approach and confuses the punters caught within. Axel and Kottar pincushion the swimming punters. Both slip below the waves dead. 

Boat side, the ledgers and Aardmann are extracted from the chest then we haul it in with us. With subdued haste, we row back to East Harbor. Aardmann is placed back into the chest and we send a runner for Adelard. Surprised by our early return, he adroitly switches gears and helps us sneak the Aardmann to the Lone Barrell.

Osith Whixley clears the inn of witnesses so that Aardmann can be put to the question. As expected, Aardmann obfuscates. That is until Perrett calmly takes his left hand pinky finger. Aardmann didn’t expect such ruthless treatment. Once his situation is made clear, his testimony overflows with details.

Here is what we learn before and after Perrett takes his pinky:

Almrich is supposedly his birth name; some other aliases used are Reinaldus and Crispin.

Originally from a local fishing village on the Kelwater, he moved to Vargen to find his fortune. Taking up with the punters two years ago, his lack of scruples made him a perfect herder of Grell’s Lambs. 

Perrett was pleased to hear Aardmann confirm that Grell’s Lambs are indeed enthralled intelligent peoples. When asked specifically about the Grell’s, Aardmann suspects the whole family is responsible for all the lambs from the City of Midmark. Newtown Islanders picked up by Midmark City watch are very likely to be found guilty for any infraction by Judge Grell. Custody is then assumed by his son, Elain Grell, who arranges passage across the bay to Caligan. Aardmann has worked the trip across the bay as well as from Caligan to points upriver along the Kelwater and Vargwater and seldom into Vargen.

It is an open secret amongst all the punters that Grell’s Lambs are slaves but not all the punters know any intimate details. The Mercers will be pleased to learn this.

His promotion to Weaponsmaster for the Punters was precipitated by his foiling a liberation plot. One of his partners, Aubrey Grodecop, became enamored with Em. The infamous Em liberated from bullywugs by an earlier team of Starchie Boys. She was a lamb and Aubrey a shepherd, the two conspired to escape together. Their mistake was asking Aardmann for help, he sold them out and the lovers were sold to the SilverThrone trading company; specifically, the Whitefall station located along the grey flood branch of the Vargwater. Axel and Thorfus were intrigued when they heard this bit. Unfortunately, we cannot share this with Aubrey’s brother at this time, he has left Vargen.

Rotho Waterman himself raised Aardmann to Weaponsmaster. Currently Rotho joined by Barnier Brocket and 63 punters are barging up the Kelwater. Rotho plans to search the Kelwater for an underwater cave entrance to a river Dragon’s lair. He expects to kidnap a young dragon to ransom it back to the parents for their treasure. The contraption Chuq discovered in the cover pier last night will allow Barnier to explore underwater without surfaces for breath and the young dragon will be secured with the special shackles they have. Supposedly, the dragon sphere will help in some way.

The Dusty Gnome moored in Caligan is waiting to unload a lot of the latest lost lamenting Lambs unto punters barges. Since Rotho left about dozen punters behind, the Dusty Gnome will likely wait for few days before anyone shows up to unload its cargo. Aardmann is willing to show us various delivery points upriver along the Vargwater and Kelwater but he doesn’t have any names to share. The only one he knows is Grimtooth, a gnoll leader working on Merchant’s road. 

Crispin Eichmeir captains the Flaming Maid, a ship that also ships Grell’s Lambs across the bay. He doesn’t know where the Flaming Maid is at this time. More than just curious, he was reading the ledgers for any leverage against his bosses. Lastly, he is willing to cooperate for leniency.

Taking a moment to confer amongst ourselves, we decide Aardmann’s testimony will be best used in Midmark. Lord Thorton can publicly denounce Judge Grell before the elections; he can also dispatch ships and marines to confiscate the Dusty Gnome. The liberated Dusty Gnome lambs along with Aardmann’s sworn deposition should help the Mercer’s publicly shame the Punter’s, perhaps bring justice to all of its members. Axel and Thorfus are eager to pursue the lead up the Vargwater to save Em and Aubrey. Chuq looks forward to dismantling the remaining slave trade routes up the Varg and Kelwaters.

Captain Ischaq Stans welcomes Perrett and Aardman aboard the Chastity Snake bound for Midmark. The Starchie Boys remain at the Lone Barrel to explain the current state of events to Phyllis Chaumbire of the Mercers. At first incredulous, especially as prestigious an organization as the SilverThrone as well as others using slave labor, she accepts our handling of the situation. 

Concerned that Rotho Waterman might have an adult river dragon under his persuasion, we want to follow him upriver. Hoping to thwart his plans and return in time to help in Caligan, we rush to the Starchie Boats moored in Eastharbor. Our team is augmented by several Mercers Mercs – Kelgax, Erris, Hangust and Barromir under the command of Adelard. Let’s get to rowing!

Session 37  December 11, 2014

7th of Denrilden

After Perrett and Brice conduct their investigation we decide to interrogate Ellisondro from the Wall District guardsman detail. Only now he is formerly of the guardsman detail. Captain Beamsly has placed Ellisondro on indefinite leave. Ellisondro’s has pursued the Beggar’s Copse Quicklings with almost quixotic zeal. Even now with a limp, he still plans to police Beggar’s Copse. Hoping to curb his enthusiasm, Chuq has committed his help in the near future. 

Changing the topic to why he was summoned, Ellisondro explained his habit of asking travelers if they have/want slaves is his own twisted sense of humor. It tickles his fancy that there might be a kernel of truth to the half whispers of Punters trading in intelligent flesh. When random caravan members clam up after his idiosyncratic questioning, he gets a little tickled. Believing his testimony, Chuq suggests Ellisondro not pursue any rumors himself but to keep an ear open for any news. 

Discussing this and other threads of our investigation, our war council decides the highest priority is the slave trade, specifically rumors of Grell’s Lambs in Caligan. Judge Grell of the City of Midmark will likely win his bid for Lord Mayor in next year’s election, and if he is part of the slave cabal his assumption of office could be catastrophic to the people of Midmark. Perrett eagerly agrees with this assessment. 

He also agrees that since Aardmann/Renauldus, the current Punters’ Weapons master, offered to get Ashton started doing milk runs from Kaligan with Grell’s lambs that there is deeper connection with the Punters than just Aardmann. This coupled with reports that a successful Dragon Sphere expedition will not only make the Punters incredibly rich it would also guarantee Rotho Waterman would replace Peter Thoral as Guildmaster, Perrett agrees interfering with the expedition tangentially forwards his mission and could create an opportunity to incriminate/expose the punters. For a while we consider that with Waterman & Brocket away on expedition, there might be a chance to secret into the Punter compound and unearth bookkeeping about the slave trade. Conceding that Waterman has a team of bean counter better suited to obfuscation than us, we figure any potential evidence might be unusable. 

The mercers are asked to hire several canoes/row boats to monitor the harbor and the KhelWater in addition to the spies loitering about Fens Edge and the punter’s compound. Its hoped that while we investigate the Punter’s compound at night or apprehend/trail Aardmann, that if the expedition gets underway we can pursue via rowboat whichever route they take. 

Fearing we are losing a chance to hinder the punters before the expedition begins; the Starchie Boys take a Mercer row boat that night to infiltrate the punter’s compound via the Khelwater. The plan is to use our potion of Clairvoyance to discern the location of the Dragon Sphere before it leaves Vargen. Chuq clandestinely swims towards the Punter’s piers as Ashton, Axel, Brice, Finkelmur, Thorfus and Starchie watch from the row boat. Approaching the covered pier known to house a fourth barge for the expedition, Chuq sees 6 punters fussing over a large mechanical contraption on the barge. They are arguing with each other about how to repair the machine in time for its intended use. Chuq hears that Barnier Brocket will rely on the machine to breath while searching the bottom of the river for whatever the expedition pursues. The weakness inherent in its use is discovered – the air that Barnier breathes will travel down tubes that connected to the machine. If something were to happen to the tubes, the machine will not help as intended.

Slipping outside the warehouse among the other piers, Chuq sneaks out of the river and infiltrates further into the compound. Within the center of the walled compound is a tower with four elevated rope bridges connected to warehouses cardinally located around the tower. One of these four warehouses is that which Chuq heard the mechanics fussing over the contraption. Another ware house directly opposite the covered pier is obviously occupied. It is well lit from within and many voices can be heard cavorting inside. The last two warehouse are dark and silent. 

Before slinking to the central tower, a punter guard armed with a short sword and hooded lantern is seen patrolling the bridge. Locking the send floor door of the covered pier, he saunters to the central tower. Locking the door behind him, he exits the opposite side and continues across another bridge into the loud warehouse. Avoiding detection, Chuq takes a moment at the central tower to imbibe the potion. Questing for the Dragon Sphere, his vision is of a dark room with a large locked chest, a more than modest bed occupied by a sleeping man and a single door opposite an open window overlooking a river. Willing his vision to the window, Chuq sees the silhouette of the Starchie Boys rowboat. Moving his mind’s eye without the window, he sees that the room is on the second floor of the covered pier. 

On the spur of the moment, Chuq takes a stab at the Sphere clandestinely. He climbs the tower wall to the rope bridge. Hearing the patrolman within the tower, he scrabbles further up the tower to a window ledge overlooking the bridge. The patrolmen exits the tower, unlocks the door to the warehouse and enters. Dropping down to the bridge, Chuq scurries across to the warehouse and clambers to its roof. Hearing the drop to the bridge, the patrolman quickly returns and calls out if anyone is there. Keeping still, Chuq watches him leave the warehouse door open and enter the tower. 

Trying his best to remain quite, the monk slips from the roof and spills onto the bridge making even more of a ruckus. This brings the patrolman back to the warehouse calling out for the intruder to show himself. Chuq hides behind the open door within the warehouse, surprising the patrolman as he bursts into the room. A quick thrust of Chuq’s spear misses the mark allowing the patrolman to reply in kind with his sword as Chuq launches into the air. Lifting himself up to the roof, the patrolman yells out load that an assassin is trying for Waterman. The compound comes alive as Chuq dashes over the roof to the river. 

The other Starchie Boys first know something is amiss when they see Chuq leap into the air and plunge into the river. Keeping quiet, he is quickly lost in the darkness. Not wanting to bring the bargemen down onto his buddies, Chuq swims down river past the piers. The Boys watch the commotion from the river. They are able to slip away.

Fighting fatique, Chuq swims/drifts with the current past Fens Edge. After resting under a pier in the predawn hours, Chuq eventually emerges from the water somewhere in South Harbor well after the fishermen have set out for the day. Wearing little more than briefs, Chuq visits the tanner that outfitted Ashton with his leather armor. They share a morning repast. Hearing a yarn about an overly ambitious morning swim, the tanner takes pity on Chuq. He tasks an apprentice to escort him to the Lone Barrel, asking for the cost of tolls only in return. Returning to the Lone Barrel, Thorfus pays the boy with a little something extra and the Boys compare notes. 

Adelard has bad news. The Punters’ have killed the Mercer spies in Fen’s Edge in retaliation. Our infiltration spurned the Punters to launch their expedition today. The Boys rush to follow – to the Starchie boats!