Star Metal Marauders- Highway Harvest

Sparhawk looks at his friends and smiles, shaking his head no to the offer of healing . "Yes, sometimes we connect things that really don't have a connection." He grabs her hand. "I suppose it makes us feel better, knowing we are part of a bigger purpose."

"Remember when I spoke of my three year exile to my order?"

He strokes his nose........"And your nose will forever be broken, as a constant reminder of your broken oath.." Sparhawk mumbles, in a different voice, recalling a painful memory.

He looks at the group. "Ah my friends, my purpose in this world is to restore balance. To stop those from abusing their power or station. The captain was tied to his chair. The crew, conspiring against him. The octopus, likely took the Kraken because of this dishonor and disloyalty. Our friend, Sorsha, the sole survivor of a cursed crew. We have restored the captains spirit and that of Sorshas lost crew." 

"Justice has prevailed, balance restored, and the circle closed."

Sparhawk looks at his group around the fire. Seaming to regain his poise and strength. He raises a glass of wine, clearly intent on making a toast.

"To our friend Vars, a man with no trust, no crew, no purpose and no honor, who found our haphazard group of misfits.  Vars opened his hardened heart to us. He sacrificed himself to save us all. A selfless act from our brother. We will never forget."

Frangipani looked around for something to raise and eventually settled on a rather battered looking dandelion, " I will try very hard not to forget."

( Actually I forget is Vars body in the ship or did Sparhawk drag it all the way up here?)

(he left it, or whatever was left of it after the explosion, at sea).

Quote from shimshon123 >>

(he left it, or whatever was left of it after the explosion, at sea).

   ( Probably for the best....)

Quote from Damian_May >>

 

" Its probably Gods....it seems like the sort of thing Gods do.  Lir? Do you think its Gods?"

 

  Lir shrugs. Sometimes a Kraken is just a Kraken. 

“Vars was a good man. It’s a shame.” Eberk gives Sparhawk an odd look. “Is this some goof you’re playing on an old man? We fought puddings. I don’t remember any trolls.” Eberk pulls a bottle of wine from his bag and takes a seat. He pours a bit on the ground, “For our fallen friend.” He takes a pull from the bottle and passes it to Frangipani. “Now I don’t know about any Kraken, but I do know of a lead on Abernath.

Sparhawks firm grasp turns into a fond hug with both arms.  For the first time in a while, he smiles and laughs, the life back in his eyes.

"Yes old friend, it was a pudding and it ruined poor Var's prized weapons. He was so attached to that sword, he was willing to use it even though it was dull, bless his pig headed soul."
"Forgive my tricks, I was just making sure you weren't our dwarven assassin friend."


"Tell us what you have discovered during your sabbatical about our mystery wizard, the good Abernath."

"Wait, maybe he is a barbarian after all. Think about it, Captain: telling us about Abernath, he's either a villain who wants us dead, or a savage fool." Bjorn lies down by the fire, and stares up at the sky.

Sparhawk smiles,  “Hey I’m the half orc here and I’m no fool.  Now, he don’t look much like a barbarian and he can heal you, so I’ll take him.  look at our group, he’ll fit right back in.
Besides, he does the cool magic floating mace thing.”

"I'm no more a fool than any of you." He looks at Bjorn. "Well... Most of you." Eberk gives a hearty laugh. "There are some ruins nearby. I think they are connected to one of the towers."

" Go sleep. I'll watch....decide in morning."

”Let’s allow our gear to dry and get a good nights sleep.” The weary war trained paladin falls asleep almost instantly.

We set a watch schedule and take a long rest

Frangipani

Bjorn

eberk

sparhawk

Lir

(Hoping Frangipani whips up something with her magic spoon, which is also a +1 weapon...)
Sparhawk wakes up refreshed, the horrors and loss of last evening behind him. He finds it interesting that Lir called down a moonbeam and then Eberk Earthlord appears, almost as if he was called back to help his friends. (Like Batman called by the bat light)

He puts on his clean armor and well oiled sharpened weapons and double checks all straps for water damage and rot. He repairs anything needed. 
"So I've been thinking about Abernath. He seems to keep coming up everywhere. He was friends with our dwarven chef. We think Butterman, the goblin from Abernaths home, went crazy and tried to kill him....but we also found love letters from Butterman and his fiancee. Fighting Bugbear Bernard, the minotaur opens something and goes crazy and runs for the hills."

He looks at those who are more clever than him.

"Then we have an invisible illusion wall in the cave, and I'm wondering how guests arrive at this establishment.  Certainly not through this cave with the trap floor."  He strokes his chin, "I'm guessing there is some sort of teleportation tower that goes to Mirabar, and if we are lucky, maybe even one to Luskan.  If we can find it, we could take days off of our journey."

"Am I way off here?  Thoughts?"

The bright Morning sunlight helps to take off the chill of the morning.  There is a light coating of ice on the grass and trees giving everything a magical sparkle. You all rested deeply and in peace.  Up the road you can see more clearly the ruins Eberk mentioned last night and it is not too far from your current position. 

Bjorn is surveying the party's gear, laid out to dry. (Rations are heavy, I'm guessing we didn't carry more than a day's worth into the cave.) Torches, ammunition, spell components, rope, all fine. Water's empty, though.

"That's a tricky problem, with the wagon being down there and the tower being up here. Let's cross that bridge when we get to it." He frowns. "Think that cave water is good to drink? We're out. Hard to boil it, too, without a pot. Might have to just take our chances."

"I've probably drank as much as a fish!" He looks at Lir and Frangipani, "No offense. Haven't died yet."
"Bjorn, what do you think of my theories, the teleport wall in the cave, the towers, Abernath?" (Post: 3383)

"Could be. This place is old, though. Teleporter could be old, forgotten, collapsed, if it exists at all. No point wondering, though, we're gonna crack her open and see anyway. Unless yer trying to place bets?"

"Not that I wanna go back into that accursed carnivorous fish forsaken death trap, but it did have a wall of illusion. When we threw something threw it, we never heard it land."
"So, yeah, I'm betting we find a teleport thing there. 5 gold and I'll clean your boots for a week if we find an instant way to get to Mirabar.!"

"When the magical... seal around the water collapsed and flooded the chamber, did it flow into the portal you mentioned? 

"I was busy fighting skeletons as a giant sea horse at the time."