If allowed by Sylyra, Hex gives Morisúrë little scritches around the beak while waiting for Romsan to return with the supplies. She looks to him with an amused smile. "I know your whole thing is animals and stuff but I honestly never thought you would be so..." she looks away for a moment, struggling to find an appropriate word that wouldn't offend the druid. "Affectionate? Yes. I never thought you'd be so affectionate to your little pet, haha. It's quite cute." She nods in satisfaction at her choice of words before letting out a little chuckle and trying to feed Morisúrë a bit of jerky from her own rations.

Once Romsan returns, Hex takes one of the lanterns for herself and suggests to Briny that she take the other, considering her lack of vision in the dark. If there is one left, she will also take a blanket but she'd let the others have first pick.

At the boat, Hex helps the others pack their things and themselves in before hopping in last. As she sits, she pulls out her bow, laying it across her lap for easy reach just in case something attacks them on the water. "Do you need any of us to help you row?" she asks Taroo.

When Hex shows an interest in his new friend, Sylyra smiles a proud smile, but at her revelation of her surprise, he frowns and looks down his nose at her. "To those deserving, I have plenty of affection," he pronounces before turning his back on the tiefling. When Romsam returns, Sylyra gives the man some food for Morisúrë and then bids the raven farewell using his speech of the woods.

The olive-skinned elf follows the group out to the small boat, and when he sees how cramped the ride is going to be, he clucks his tongue. "This will not do," he says with a sigh. His form shimmers and shrinks, and in his place is an exact replica of the small monkey with gray fur the party met in town over a tenday ago. The small creature hops on board the boat and climbs atop the small cabin to sit alone.

"I can guide and steer, but with more of us rowing we'll get there faster," Taroo says as he crouches over the stern and ties his own small boat to trail behind the keelboat. It is midafternoon when the boat departs, pushed off of the docks by Taroo's pole.

OOC: Added a lantern and blanket to Hex's inventory. The remaining lantern and blanket will be left behind unless I hear confirmation from another character that they're taking them.

Hex will help Taroo row the boat to speed up the journey a bit. "So, anything you can tell us about the Renon's and this particular kidnapping? How'd you realise they were gone"

Uragum picks up the rest of the gear that is needed, confident that he isn't carrying to much.  As the get to the small boat he was going to voice a similar concern as Sylyra, but as he shrinks to a monkey form, he holds his tongue.  Carefully he steps into the boat and tries to be careful of his weight as to not overly rock it.  

Looking at Taroo he says, "Give me an oar or two and I'll lend my strength.  All that walking was fine enough work for my leg muscles, this will be a good warm up for my arms before we get to the real action."

With Hex on one side and Uragum on the other to help keep the keelboat straight, Taroo has no trouble guiding the boat down the river. The farmer manages to stop gawking at Uragum's impressive size long enough to answer Hex.

"Well, I've worked at the farm for nigh on two years now. I've got me a tiny house on the premises and everything, but I've been away for the past day and half seeing family. Should count my blessings, I suppose, I was supposed to get back yesterday but it got dark before I could return. No one travels after dark; I stayed at a friendly farm a few miles to the east."

"Got back around midday or so, found the doors to the Renons' house smashed in, and they were gone. Saw some obvious signs of a struggle. Took some quick stock, noticed a few pigs and a pair of cows are also missing, then dashed to the Crossing to let Romsan know."

"I see... well hopefully we can find them soon." Hex looks out at the water as the they row, remembering Romsan's comment about noises in the water. "Do you live near the water? Romsan mentioned some had heard splashing and movement in the water at night. Do you know anything about that?"

"N-noises in the river?" Taroo says, his eyes shifting from shore to shore.

"The farm is very close to the river and the marsh. The Renons aren't adventurers or anything but they're quite capable of taking care of themselves...you have to be, living that close."

Sylyra-monkey sits with his back to the others, watching the river and listening to the chatter behind him.

"That makes sense, we've heard about the lizardfolk that live in the marsh and attack every now and then. Do you have a safe place to stay now that the Renon's are gone, Taroo?"

"I don't know that there is a safe place anymore," Taroo sighs.

The river curves slightly, leaving a wide gravel bar on the east side a half hour from when your keelboat departed the Crossing Inn's docks. The banks on each side of the river here are steep, though only about ten feet tall. Both sides are heavily wooded. A pair of very wide, wooden steps lead up the embankment past the gravel bar on the east side, turning into two trails through the woods.

"We can beach the boat anywhere here on this gravel bar," Taroo says.

"How about near the steps over there? They lead to the farm I'm guessing?"

Taroo nods, dutifully helping the party drag the keelboat and his tied boat up onto the gravel bar. He leads you to the smaller of the staircases. "This will take us directly into the Renon Farm. The other is one end of the Farmer's Trail; it connects to other farms and small villages many miles east of the river. That's the one I used during my trip."

Staying in his monkey form, Sylyra lightly bounds up Uragum and perches on the wizard's shoulder.

Hex looks ever so slightly disappointed that Sylyra-monkey decided to perch up on Uragum's shoulder instead of hers but shrugs it off and gives the monkey a scritch under the chin while speaking to Taroo. "Well, we'll let you lead the way to the farm then." 

While the party makes their way to the farm, Hex is looking around the path for tracks or any signs the Renon's or whatever took them might’ve come through this way.

The trail from the stair leads through a strip of dense woods. When you eventually emerge from the trees, you can see a stout wooden farmhouse about 230 feet uphill from the stair. The trail passes north of a plowed field, wraps around the farmhouse and ends in the middle of a small group of buildings. Another trail splits off to the southeast and winds downhill. If it weren't for the knowledge of what had happened here, the farm might make for a beautiful visit between its sun-dappled trail and quiet atmosphere.

The farmhouse is a well-built, low 20 ft. x 40 ft. sturdy wooden structure. In the cluster of remaining buildings is a story and a half tall stout wooden structure, a small coop, a rough wooden house, and a stone-lined well. There are fields to the north and south.

For Hex:

When Hex reaches up and begins tickling the underside of Sylyra-monkey's chin, the creature screams and attempts to bat away Hex's finger. The druid scrambles across the back of Uragum's neck and ends up on the goliath's other shoulder, scowling and baring his little pointed teeth at the tiefling. He says a few more choice words in monkey-speak, which none of the others can understand ... thankfully.

Uragum lets a out a slight laugh at the Sylyra-monkey and Hex's antics before he says,  "Even though Sylyra is a monkey, he still has his own mind.  That said, I think you'd get the same reaction if you tried to tickle Sylyra's chin in his normal form."  WIth that Uragum hoists his back a little more securely onto his shoulders before heading to the steps.  As he walks his summons his magic and puts a protective barrier around himself.  Magic to deflect attacks, just in case.

"We all best be careful, just on the off chance someone else is here or they left a little surprise for us all." he says.  "Figure we shouldn't spread ourselves out too thin in case of a fight as well."  He then slowly made his way towards the farm house while looking for clues.

Casting Mage Armor

Investigation check 14

Hex laughs at Sylyra's reaction to her attempts to pet him. "Aw, but he enjoyed it so much in his other animal forms. Maybe I should try it when he's in his normal form. You know, just to experiment." She gives Sylyra a cheeky grin and wink before leaving him alone.

Hex hums in agreement at Uragum's suggestion, walking behind him with her bow drawn. "So where did you see the most damage on the farm, Taroo? I'd assume in the farmhouse?" she asks.

Taroo nods grimly. "Not hard to see something bad went down there," he says while moving with Uragum and Hex toward the farmhouse. The structure's wooden shingles and sturdy structure speak to its fine construction. Inside, the walls are stained dark green, it has wooden floors and a six-foot high ceiling, and each room possesses a pair of small rippled glass windows. The windows, along with the front and back door, have been smashed and broken.

Inside the front door is a large living space with a fireplace. There are no interior doors; a narrow hallway leads past a small bedroom to the kitchen in the back. A large fireplace dominates the kitchen, and it is clear at a glance that food preparation occurs both inside and at tables behind the house.

Furniture throughout the home is broken and stored items are damaged or displaced. There are dried, coppery blood spots and splatters on the floor and walls, though it is not extensive. Uragum finds a bloody woodsman's axe with a broken handle stuck at an odd angle in the wall next to the front door, and in the kitchen Hex finds a broken, crude club. The wood floor also has deep scratches from clawed feet.