Once he sees Burr get up into the boat with Soren, Giles hunkers down in his own rowboat trying to keep a low center of gravity and shifts the mage hand over to the rope that Zefla is pulling, trying to help her, tugging on it and helping her hold.  “Everyone aboard, everyone safe?  Speak out now…”

Zefla braces her feet against the stempost and gunwhale, refusing to surrender her rope to the deep.  The unseen force on the other end of the line pulls straight down... and then away from the boat.  Then hard to the left, then back to the right.  Zefla wrestles with the rope, coiling at around her forearm and leaning back to balance herself.  The boat isn't so much pulled around as it is jerked violently back and forth as the other end of the rope zigs and zags with a speed that shouldn't be possible.  Giles has to keep himself low in the boat to keep from spilling over while Zefla battles.  Finally, the rope heads out and away from you, stretching toward the horizon.  At this angle, whatever is on the end must be drawing close to the surface.  Soon the roped itself begins create a slight wake, finally coming to rest, slack on the surface of the water. 

Zefla pulls the rope back in, coiling it back up.  When she finally retrieves the other end, it emerges from the water, dripping wet but completely unmolested, showing no cuts or tears.  There is no sign of what was pulling on the other end, nor of the mysterious fisherman.

In the other boat, Burr successfully heaves the package up over the side.  With the urgency of getting that person out of the water gone, Burr is able to pull himself slowly back into the boat [no further roll necessary from Burr].

Soren, upon setting the package in the bottom of the boat, finds that the sack resists opening... it has been sewn shut.  With his dagger, Soren is able to slit open the side, before stepping back and wild shaping himself into a fox.

A figure spills from the sack into the bottom of the front of the boat.  Burr and Fox see a short, lithe human in an orange and blue shawl emerge, bound at the wrists and ankles.  There is a smaller sack wrapped around its head, and you can hear it trying to suck air through the wet fabric.  Before either of you can assist, the figure - freed from the confines of the wet sack - is able to maneuver its bound wrists enough to pull the hood off.  As she takes a few deep, heaving breaths, you get your first look at a young vistana.  Her skin is remarkably pale, contrasting her raven-black hair, which is pulled back in a long braid.

As she gets her breathing under control, she opens her eyes, looking first at Burr, then at Fox, then back to Burr.  She speaks, surprisingly calm.  "Who are you?"

Around you the water is calm as glass again, dark against the light grey clouds in the sky.

Zefla's eyes go wide as she stares at the end of the rope.  She holds it there for a bit, just staring at it, trying to comprehend what happened and then back into the water, concern for the man and whatever it was that grabbed him etched in her mind.  Finally, she slowly and methodically coils up the rope and slips it back in her pack.  

Finally, she looks at Giles and asks, "Did that man just disappear?  I mean, we went for a ride in this boat, didn't we?  It wasn't just my imagination?"

She then hears the unfamiliar voice and her attention is drawn to the other boat.

" Oh, hello.", says Burr uncomfortably.

" Um....I'm Burr.  This fox is called Soren, he's also a.....anyway....whats your name?"

" And, um, if its not too terrible to ask.....why were you in that sack?"

To try and reassure her a little he searches for information in his memory, " Its ok, you can trust us we know....uh......Madame Eva."

The girl, who looks to be about 10 years old, watches Burr and Fox skeptically as she works at her wrist bindings.  At the mention of Madame Eva, however, she stops and looks Burr square in the eye.  "Madame Eva?"  she whispers, then goes back to working on her bindings.  "That makes sense.  They say she has the sight.  Did she tell you where to find me?" 

She stops again.  "No, wait.  That doesn't make sense.  If she had sent you, you would know my name."

"How did you come to find me?" She looks at you, dark eyes in a pale face searching Burr for answers.

She sighs.  "My name is Arabelle.  A silent man accosted me three days ago and has kept me prisoner since.  Apparently, intending to drown me."  She looks over at Zefla and Giles in the other boat.  "Where is he now?  I don't understand.  Please explain what is going on here."  For a child who just narrowly escaped death, she seems surprisingly focused and determined to grasp what is going on, rather than succumbing to shock or fear.

Quote from Bartjeebus >>

The girl, who looks to be about 10 years old, watches Burr and Fox skeptically as she works at her wrist bindings.  At the mention of Madame Eva, however, she stops and looks Burr square in the eye.  "Madame Eva?"  she whispers, then goes back to working on her bindings.  "That makes sense.  They say she has the sight.  Did she tell you where to find me?" 

She stops again.  "No, wait.  That doesn't make sense.  If she had sent you, you would know my name."

"How did you come to find me?" She looks at you, dark eyes in a pale face searching Burr for answers.

She sighs.  "My name is Arabelle.  A silent man accosted me three days ago and has kept me prisoner since.  Apparently, intending to drown me."  She looks over at Zefla and Giles in the other boat.  "Where is he now?  I don't understand.  Please explain what is going on here."  For a child who just narrowly escaped death, she seems surprisingly focused and determined to grasp what is going on, rather than succumbing to shock or fear.

" By Luck.....or rather by Fate!"

" The Lake ate him.  There is something down there that pulls folk under....it almost got you but I swam faster."

The fox at the back of the boat gazes at Arabelle and Burr, back and forth as if it clearly understands the conversation but is unable to interject.

It glances up and seems to nod at Nettle, the owl circling overhead.  At that, the bird flies by the vanished fisherman's boat a few times to give it a quick inspection for anything else remarkable inside the boat that has been left behind.

Giles responds to Zefla, saying “Yes, he disappeared, that wasn’t your imagination.  I have no idea what that was that took him, but he is gone.  Did you see anything?”  Giles looks at the rope, as she puts it in her pack, looking to see if the end was chewed, trying to process what happened.  

He also focuses on the boat with Burr and Soren and the inhabitant of the sack.  He readjusts the oars in his hands and starts rowing to move their boat closer to sort out what is going on..

"No, nothing.  I honestly don't know if it was the guy that grabbed the rope or something else..."  She looks over at Burr, "Sure glad it didn't get him."

She listens to the child, confused how she can be so calm and wondering if Burr's explanation is enough.

Giles rows them closer to Burr and Soren.  “Are you alright?  Who’s this then?  The man who was in that boat… is gone.  Something took him.  Should we row to shore, then have more of a conversation?”  He looks pointedly at the Vistani, trying to see if he recognizes her from any of the prior encounters with them.

" Everyone. This is Arabelle and yes, we should get back to shore.", he said as he started to row,

Soren:

 Arabelle looks over at Burr, then at the others, then back to Burr.  "Yes.  If you don't mind, I would very much like to get back to shore."

[Assuming Zefla/Giles also row for shore...]

Pulling up to the dock, you assist the vistana girl with the last of her bindings and help her out of the rowboat.  The area around the dock and shoreline huts is still quiet and deserted.

Arabelle stands there, shivering slightly in the chill morning air, still soaking wet.  She looks around, taking stock of the situation.  "This is Lake Zarovich, yes?  And Mount Baratok, beyond.  So..." she slowly makes a 120 degree turn to her left until she is facing southwest.  "My father's camp should be in this direction."

Burr doesn't really have a jacket or anything for the girl but he pulls out his blanket from his bedroll for her to wrap about herself.  Being wrapped inside the leather bedroll and leather pack it should only be damp at the edges he wasn't in the water that long...

" This way?", he said looking to the others to start heading off.

When Soren (as a fox) receives the telepathic report back from Nettle, he is truly puzzled and does not know what to make of the charcoal sketches of apparently elven females.  He does not really think too much about the states of undress.  His mother's clan of wood elves, while usually clothed, did not really share the same concepts of modesty and decorum as city folk, and being without clothes was nothing so unusual.  Still, perhaps a clue...

The fox in Burr's boat yips slightly and looks pointedly at Nettle, who glides down to land on the prow of the fisherman's empty boat, looking down at the waterlogged charcoal sketches at the bottom.  The owl lets out a small hoot, looks at Burr, then at Giles and Zefla, then back down inside the boat.

Giles looks over at Nettle and sees the clear indication.  He uses his mage hand telekinetic power to pull the boat closer, up alongside his own, meaning to look at what Nettle is indicating.  If he can reach them, he scoops up the papers, transferring them over to his own boat so that he and Zefla can have a look at them.  If there is nothing else of note in the boat, he ties it on to the back of his and starts to row for the shore, hoping to examine them there and speak with the Vistani girl there.

The party obtains the charcoal sketches as described in #912.  They are... provocative... and depict what look like nude and semi-nude elven women swimming, lying on rocks in the water, or floating beneath the surface as if asleep.  They are almost photo-realistic in their detail.

Arabelle starts to hand the blanket back to Burr.  "Oh, that is quite alright.  I am sure I can make it home from here on my own.  I should not like to trouble you any further."  She looks off to the southwest.  "I do appreciate your assistance in this matter, but I should be getting back to my father.  I don't doubt he is worried terribly at my disappearance."

Not paying attention to the pictures or what Giles and Nettle are up to, Zefla stares at the girl.

"Hang on one moment missy.  You mean to tell me you were abducted by this man, held captive for days, he was drowning you and you'd be dead if we hadn't happened along.  And your reaction to all this is that you appreciate our assistance and that you are worried your dad is wondering where you are?  God I hope so!  Is this a common occurrence?  Who the hell was that man we saved you from?!"

She shakes her head.  "I only saw him for a moment before he covered by head.  I'm sure he was no one I knew."

"And no, this is not something that has ever happened before.  I was careless.  I wandered into the forest beyond the encampment and was daydreaming.  Foolish.  I never realized he was stalking me until there was no time to escape."  She lowers her eyes.  "Father will be disappointed."

Giles listens to the line of questioning, nodding at the excellent point Zefla made.  “Yes, I see, but … we want to know why he did this thing.  Did you overhear anything in the boat?  Any reason that he was drowning you in the lake in a sack?  At a minimum I would think you would be curious, as to why he chose you, and why he was doing this.. he paid for it with his life, and you almost lost yours, you seem to be taking this so ..well….”

Having reached the dock, the fox hops off the boat onto the dock, then shimmers briefly, transforming back into a still tired-looking Soren.  The owl, Nettle, circles once more, then swoops gracefully down to land on his shoulder and begins to preen herself.

The druid too pays close attention to Arabelle's responses to his companions' questions and her somewhat unusual demeanor after being rescued.  Murmuring for Silvanus' guidance, he attempts to deduce (through his own exhaustion) the girl's truthfulness and sincerity.

He murmurs slowly, almost to himself:  "Aye, it was almost as if the fisherman was giving the female youngling to the spirits of the lake as an... offering?  The same spirits underwater who ended up dragging him down in turn, ironically.  Perhaps it was these submerged female elves in the drawings..."

When the girl suggests that her father will be disappointed, Soren shakes his head in bafflement.  "Is this truly the way of city-folk?  I certainly did not think a human father would be disappointed by the return of his nearly-grown cub who has been missing for three days, then rescued from drowning.  If you would permit it, Arabelle, I would be interested in accompanying you southwest to what must be a Vistani camp to meet your father?"

Soren Insight on Arabelle at disadvantage due to exhaustion plus Guidance:  16 + 4 = 20 (dirty)