Twig raised her invisible eyebrow at the now visible half-elf. I can see you, silly

"I will be there momentarily," she called, still gripping the boat as if her life were in jeopardy.

Twig slowly made her way to the indicated patch of ice, gingerly testing the surface to make sure it could hold her weight and that she would not get unnecessarily wet. Reassured, she tied off the boat and made her way up to the road with Cor.

By the time they made it to Garth, he was visible again. He didn't look good. There was blood on the ground around him and on his chainmail, but he looked to be breathing. It was honestly surprising that he lived, based on the extent of his wounds. He did, however, look to be stable and no longer bleeding. 

The fight and the subsequent skedaddling of the thugs has yet to draw the attention of the authorities, but it likely won't be long before they arrive. There is also no sign of the couple that you protected. The shutters on the nearby buildings are all closed despite the summer afternoon heat, hinting that some folks didn't want to get involved in what had transpired moments before. The traffic on the river still hadn't picked up, though. You determine it must be the afternoon lunch break for all the shipping workers. 

”Well, I would suggest we get a move on, but I am unsure of how we could move our companion” Twig said to Cor, nodding at the fallen and bloodied Garth. ”Perhaps we could put our packs down and drag the great fellow? I’m not sure how we could safely get him into the boat, unless you have any other....” Twig vaguely waved her paws towards the ice block “....that you can do? Perhaps we should wake him, first”

Just then, Twig’s discarded bow caught her eye. Without waiting for a reply,  she jogged over to retrieve it, stowing it in her pack on her way back. She then puts down her pack, looking to Cor to see what he wants to do next. 

"Yeah I can do it again but if I do it too much, the spell will drop and unfreeze." Cor says thinking of a way to wake up Garth. I could always hit him with my crowbar...Nah that's not a good idea.

Cor then digs in Garth's pack for his waterskin. He pours the water out all over his face and slaps him once to see if that'll bring the big guy out of it. He then casts Prestidigitation making a harmless odor of manure appear right in his face. I doubt that this is an unusual smell to this guy but who knows, this might work

Garth is abruptly brought back to his senses - senses that are apparently all being assaulted. The first thing he notices is a terrible smell, followed by an overwhelming pain running through his body. He is in utter agony and fights the urge to writhe in pain on the ground. He is unable to really move at all, but he is able to talk with great effort. 

(Garth has 0 HP still until the hour passes for when he should have woken from unconsciousness. He cannot move or perform any actions, but he can talk.)

"He seems to be on the edge of consciousness. Do you think we should drag him to the boat or wait and see if we can get the local  authorities to come and thank us for helping stop those thugs?" Cor yells over to Twig.

He then looks around to see if he can notice anyone watching them.

Perception:4

Twig grabs her pack and runs back to assist Cor. “That sounds dull. Let’s drag him to the boat. That is,” She paused, and speaking to Garth, “if you’re okay with that? We don’t want to make it worse.”

Taking her cue from Cor, Twig also looks around to see if anyone has witnessed the turn of events.

 Perception: 20 

Twig puts her pack back down and moves over to Garth, waiting for his consent to be awkwardly dragged across the cobblestones. 

Both Twig and Cor see nothing but an empty street and closed shutters on the windows. No one seems to be watching them at all. 

This type of occurrence might not be that uncommon, this close to the Sunken Quarter.

"GAH! What is that smell?!" Garth sputters as he comes back to consciousness.  "And please don't tell me you dispatched those ruffians while I dozed here on the ground!  Seems that life after soldiering left me softer than my cousin's lisp." Garth grunts out.

His eyes moved to look at Twig and said, "I spose you can drag me to the boat.  Seems we found one despite your negotiatin skills."

With that, he let out another noise, though this one seemed to carry an odor all its own.

Cor and Twig grabbed Garth by the shoulders and, as gently as they could manage, dragged the big man to the boat. He was extremely heavy with his armor, and it took them almost 30 minutes to drag him as many feet. Things sped up once Cor remembered he could create an icy pathway with his Shape Water spell. Even with the spell to help them along, they were both sweating profusely by the time they had made it. They lowered the big man into the boat with an icy ramp from Cor and climbed aboard, untying the boat after they were all inside. 

(OOC: Hope you don't mind that I took some liberties with your actions here to speed things up. You are currently at that bend in the 'river' north of Queen Street. What's the plan? Where do you go? Also, who's steering, rowing, etc. In what order are you arranged in the boat?)

Cor sits himself near the back of the boat, if there is a tiny rudder then he would be holding that to steer.

"Well, that was exhausting. Why don't I see if I can steer us down the river towards the place we need to be." Cor says as he digs in his bag for the map. "As you witnessed, I do have some power to manipulate the water. I should be able to guide us where we need to go but it would be easier if we could row as well. Garth, you just rest up my good man. We need you to be a bit stronger in case we run into some else you can fall asleep on."

With this Cor waves his hands casting Shape Water and the water pushes them towards the way they need to go. Man, I hope all combats don't end up like this. Perhaps I should have been praying to Selune. I did used to worship her in the past. Oh well.

(OOC: I don't know if the water is already flowing in the direction we are planning on traveling but if its not then he will be getting it to get them a shove in the right direction, if it is then its more of a speed boost.)

(OOC: You going South toward Queen Street or North to the alley that cuts back to Queen Street?)

"Cor, do you think it wise we head in that direction just now, seeing as I need a few hours to heal up?" Garth asked.

Pausing for a moment, Garth said, "Since we don't know what we don't know 'bout the place, my vote is we hole up until I heal, and then we scout the area out before rushin in. Seeing as our lizard friend from earlier didn't want us takin his boat near Queen Street, I recommend stayin away from there for the moment as well." 

(OOC: In about a half hour, you'll be able to use your hit die, your Second Wind feature, both, or neither, Garth. You'll regain your Hit Die after a Long Rest (8 hour sleep) and your Second Wind after a Short Rest (1 hour of no real physical activity). So you'll be able to heal up a bit by those. 1d10+1 for Second Wind and 1d10 for Hit Die.)

Based on the speed at which you can see Cor propelling the boat, you all estimate that it would take about 45 minutes to get to the marked location in both routes available. 

“Yes, we need to let our warrior heal,” Twig said matter of factly. “I have a suggestion on our direction, if you don’t mind?” she asked tentatively. Indicating towards Cor’s pack, she pulls out the rolled up map.  “We are here,” she says, pointing with a furry digit to the bend in the river north of Queen Street. “While the most obvious path would be here,” she traces her paw down and around the bend in the river and then up Queen Street, towards the spot they needed to investigate, “I feel, especially based on our most recent experience, it would be more prudent to go this way,” Twig then traced from their starting point, up the river north and then down a street that led them directly to their destination. “It looks to be approximately equidistant, and after the Lizard Man’s indication that we ought to avoid Queen Street, perhaps a back way would be the best way to approach. Or perhaps this way is more dangerous? Do either of you know the area at all?”

Twig looked to her companions to gauge their reaction to her plan. 

“Also, do either of you know of a place nearby or on route that would be a good place to hole up, as Garth requires?”

(OOC: It has been brought to my attention that I didn't label the Castle/Keep where the Queen/royals live. It's the walled area to the South East of the map, the big building surrounded by walls. Farrin is the capital of the country/continent of Issrisyl. I probably should have included this information in the initial post of the campaign. I'll go back and edit this information in for future reference.)

"Yeah I guess we should do as you say Ms. Twig. I just got caught up in the moment. Let us rest up a bit but let's travel northward so we don't have to deal with all the travel at once."

Cor then maneuvers the boat to keep the boat headed towards the northward path into the sunken quarter.

"We can tie up when we get near and wait till we feel good to head into the quarter."

(OOC: Alright, you're headed North. Garth, you want to use your Hit Die or Second Wind? You'll be traveling for at least 30 minutes, so you'll be back to regular consciousness and able to move again with 1hp without any additional action.)

Hit Die 8

Sitting up, Garth stretched out his arms, and then bent over the map with Twig.

"I like your plan of taking the side route to our destination.  I would recommend hangin back far enough away so that we can observe from a distance before we rush in.  Wouldn't want to end up like my uncle Nubs.  Thought he saw a woman bein attacked in a shop, so he ran right in to save her.  Turns out she had just placed an order with the butcher, and by the time my uncle realized his mistake, he had a lost a hand!"  Garth let out a soft chuckle at the end.  "I never actually knew his real name."

After an awkward pause, Garth said, "Point is we don't want to rush in not knowin what we don't know."

The group coasted along in the boat under the power of Cor's Shape Water spell, traversing the narrow canal that was once an alleyway. Garth is feeling quite a bit better after his rest. It is now around 2:00 pm. 

Perception Check:

Twig: Perception: 9

Cor: Perception: 13

Garth: Perception: 15

Garth and Twig begin to have their noses assaulted by a terrible scent of rotting meat, while Cor initially thinks it was Garth again. The smell gets stronger as they near their destination. In the distance, they see a bright violet glow emanating from the windows of a building. The building used to be a tall one, three stories, but is now just two stories due to the water level. The glow is coming from the top floor. As they get nearer to the building, they see a faint dome of the same color surrounding the building and a bit beyond. As you watch, you see a bird fly through the dome as if it weren't there. The area is pretty quiet - all you can hear are the sounds of the water around you.

What do you do?